I close the laptop and get to my feet with it under my arm. I’ll be taking this one with me. Not sure if I’ll be useful in the long run, but it allows me to see the hunting schedule. I can see when bookings pop up or disappear, which happens frequently. As if those booking this trip suddenly have a stroke of morals.
I’m hoping to crack the case of who’s behind this before they catch on to that I’m looking for them. As soon as we get home, I’m diving full force into this. Three days is what I’ll need, by my estimation.
I crouch beside the bed where Brek is asleep. He’s been primarily sleeping since Mark and the triplets showed up. I think it’s the stress he’d been under since arriving, in combination with his injuries and the heavy antibiotics Mark has him on.
He’s so beautiful when he sleeps. Such peace on his features. The bruise on his jawbone is gone, so I can look at him now and pretend he hasn’t been through hell.
His eyes flutter as I touch his jaw. When they open, I smile. “Hey, you. How’re you feeling?”
“Tired,” he answers and brings a hand up to rub his face. My gaze catches on the numbers burned into the back of his hand. 718. My gut twists. I know it’s not my fault, but guilt fills my chest every time I see it.
I should have insisted on picking him up that day. If I had, none of this would have happened.
“We’re going home now. You ready?”
He grunts. “I’ve been ready.”
“I know. Come on. Up. You can sleep on the drive.”
Brek nods. He struggles to sit, and his hand goes to his side. I watch him closely. There’s a chance that he does so out of habit since he doesn’t appear to be in pain. Mark has been keeping him drugged, which is another reason he’s been sleeping so much.
I get to my feet and offer him my hands. Brek lets me pull him up, and I bring him to my chest, holding him for a minute. He leans his weight against me for a minute. “Thanks for coming to my rescue,” he says. “I feel like a damsel in distress.”
I snort. “This is a worse evil than found in fairy tales. This is humanity at its worst. Somehow, you got caught up in it.”
“I must have done something wrong in a previous life,” he muses.
“No,” I disagree. “Other people’s evil isn’t at all a reflection on you—not in this life or any other.”
Brek sighs.
I kiss him gently and take a step back. “How steady do you feel?”
“Actually…” He trails off as he tests his ankle. “Not bad. What did Mark say about my ankle? I don’t remember.”
“He says you might have a sprain, but he won’t know until we get somewhere that he has access to an X-ray machine. He’s been treating it like one. You have a brace, and we’ve been icing and heating it.”
“You have?” his eyebrows knit together. He pauses on his way to the door to look at me.
I grin. “I have. Imry’s been helping too, so I can try to unravel the secrets of who’s running this shit.”
Brek sighs. I follow him to the door and down the stairs, keeping close to make sure he doesn’t topple over.
The triplets and Mark are waiting by the SUV that Brek shot at. We found where his bullet hit, and it was not only a dozen feet in front of the vehicle but also a dozen feet to the right. I’m glad he wasn’t actually faced with someone he wouldn’t have been prepared to defend against.
“Good to see you on your feet,” Mark says as we approach the vehicle. “How’s your ankle?”
Brek nods. He’s fucking exhausted. I can see it in every step he takes. “Much better. Thanks.”
“Glad to hear it.”
Avory and Ellory climb into the third seat, and Brek follows, taking his seat in the middle. I join Brek, and Mark closes the door. Imry is behind the wheel, so Mark takes the front passenger side.
Almost right away, Brek lies down. He winces and rolls over so he’s not lying on the side with his gunshot wound. This makes him lie awkwardly with his knees pressed against the back of the seat, his ass hanging off, and his face pressed into my stomach.
I gently take his glasses off and set them in the cup holder so he can get comfortable. He’s out before we get off the bumpy dirt road.
Carefully, so as not to wake him, I pull his shirt up so I can look at the bandage on his side. I like to make sure he isn’t bleeding.
