My arms.
“No! Help them! Don’t go in there!”
But they don’t listen… they’re just kids! Oh, god… they’re… just… kids…“HELP THEM!”
“Goddammit! Get the lorazepam! Parker! Fuck the IV, straight to the thigh. Get it together, Marine!”
My lungs want to seize.The beeping climbs higher and higher.
I choke on the stench and the fumes of seared, charred flesh, the vision of eyes melting in their sockets like wax as they stare back at me.
My body aches.I. can’t. move.
The burns.
It burns… No, it’s… it's…
Col
laps
ing…
Can’t. breathe.
FLASH.
A name caught in my throat at the sound of a gunshot—SABRINA!
Another garbled, whispered prayer that reaches my ears, the taste of iron filling my mouth.“You can't leave me… I love you.”
I fade…
“I love you…”
Fade into a familiar embrace that smells like spun sugar and berries. “I’m here, Savage. Come back to me. I can’t lose you. Youpromised.”
Home.
I inhale; the beepingrescinds to a monotonousconstant beep.
I'mhome.
Chapter Two
Sabrina.
My only pronouns currently areseek and destroy.
Parker lies beside me, no longer screaming in his sleep. He’s been like this for four days. He lost a litre of blood on my floor and then almost another being transported to Doctor Tiliano’s residence after being shot in the chest. Two more inches to the left and he would have been gone. Elio was already with Dr. Tiliano when we arrived here. It took two days of blood transfusions, being administered antibiotics, and of course, IV fluids. Niko and Aleksi decided Aleksi’s practical fortress close to the Canadian border would be the safest house. I have not moved from Parker’s side unless it’s to use the bathroom or eat.
But I don't exactly have an appetite.
My husband’s been taken.
Taken.
Parker twitches a bit before his dark blond brows furrow. I shush him with a kiss to his lips and wait for him to settle further before getting off the bed and going back to Aleksi's large kitchen. I hate leaving Parker, but I haven't allowed anyone else into Parker's room except Dr. Tiliano or Damon. And they’re here now to check on his vitals and bandages, so I give them the privacy he’s owed.
