My mouth clicks shut as I slowly turn toward him. My throat bobs with the force of my swallow. “The Intensive Care Unit of theLes Beaux VoyousCompound, apparently.”
“Ella,” he grunts, shooting me a tightlipped glare. “Explain.”
With a sigh, I sink into the chair I’d been napping in and grip Hunter’s hand tightly. I can’t seem to let go. “I don’t even know where to start,” I breathe.
He gives me a soft look. “At the beginning, baby.”
His words are so similar to Madeline’s that I cringe, my eyes burning all over again. “I don’t really know much. I woke up here while you were in surgery and then passed out again.” I shake my head, those first few moments, or fuck, hours, hazy. “Idon’t know how much time passed, but then, I was looking at my mother.”
Hunter sucks in a sharp breath and bolts upright before groaning loudly. “What the fuck?”
“Christ, Hunter!” I snap, jumping up and fluffing his pillows before adjusting the bed so he can sit normally. “Is this okay?” I murmur.
“Ella,” he grunts, batting my hands away from his bed and tugging me toward his face. “Tell me.”
So, I do. I tell him everything that’s happened so far, which is literally everything and yet nothing. When I’m done, I’m back in my chair, my head smashed into his thigh as I sob for my missing men, my Diablos.
I’ve tried to ignore the throbbing, twisting pain, but it’s impossible. I miss them. I’m terrified for them. I just want them back.
“I need them, Hunt,” I rasp. His hand smoothes down my hair as I continue to cry, releasing all the hurt so I can hopefully think straight for whatever’s bound to come next.
“I know you do,” he murmurs calmly. “What does your heart say?” I look up and sniffle. He wipes my cheeks. “Does your heart say they’re dead?”
I wince at his blunt question but pause, really digging inside myself for those moments, those painful memories. I remember seeing them fighting, killing Eric, battling with gun-wielding, masked men. I don’t remember seeing them fall or get shot. I didn’t hear anyone scream in pain.
I also didn’t see them get taken the way I was.
Because in those seconds, all I saw was Hunter.
But deep inside my soul, I feel like I’d know if they were dead. I know it’s silly, but I’m connected to them. All four of them, five if I count Hunter, and I do. They’re my soulmates, my happily-ever-afters.
“My soul, my gut, tells me they’re alive,” I rasp. “It also says they need me.”
He bobs his head as if he knew that, too, and tucks my messy hair behind my ear. “And what do you want to do about that, my love?”
My love?
Fuck. He’s killing me.
His fingers trail over my chandelier earring, and my heart pangs, thinking of Maddox. Hunter’s brows crash together as his fingers slide down until he’s gripping my necklace.
He sucks in a sharp breath, his eyes colliding with mine. “The trackers!”
I jolt upright, a grin spreading across my face. “Thefuckingtrackers!”
I grab his cheeks and slam my lips to his. Hunter groans, pulling me into his body. For just one second, I lose myself in him. His taste, the soft caress of his mouth against mine. For just one second, I let myself breathe him in as if he’s filling me with the hope I need to go on.
We pull apart, breathless and giddy. My forehead lands on his. “What’s next?” He murmurs. “What do we do?”
“Well,” I breathe, standing upright. “I need to go to this meeting and find out everything I can about where and what I am. And then, I need to leave.”
“Who,” he grunts, his eyes narrowing as he starts to shift his blankets. I arch a brow. “Whoyou are, notwhat.”
I grimace, stepping back. “Yeah, I don’t know, Hunt. The way these people talk about me and look at me.” I shrug. “I’m kind of feeling like a sideshow freak instead of a nameless ex-orphan.”
His brows waggle as he tosses his blanket off his legs. “You’re not nameless,Ms. Mo—”
“Don’t say it!” I cut in, slashing my hand through the air. “I’m fucking tired of that name already, and I don’t even know what itmeans.” My eyes crash together as he shuffles down the bed and swings his legs over the side. I jump forward, shoving him back. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
