I blinked the gunk out of my eyes, or tried to, and turned my head to the speaker, but the movement hurt so damn bad, my vision went dark for a second.I heard a high-pitched yipping noise.Had I hurt my head to the point of getting auditory hallucinations?Was this what a concussion felt like?Not good.
“Take it slowly.You hit your head pretty hard, and you were out for a while.Nothing’s broken though, and you’ll be fine.”
I blinked and wiped at my eyes with my sleeve, only this wasn’t my sleeve.This was…flannel.And these were so not my clothes.Panic rose, and someone touched my arm.I jerked back.
“It’s all right, you’re fine.”
This time, I managed to get my eyes to focus on the speaker.He was a broad-shouldered guy with straight black hair cut neatly yet fashionably short.His blue eyes were sharp and observant.He smiled at me.
I wasn’t sure what it was about him, but he exuded an uncanny air of calm.I wondered whether Ted Bundy’s victims had thought that as well.I sure as fuck wasn’t going to let the Mister Nice Guy look fool me.
Something moved close to my legs, and I looked.Damn.There was a…dog?Dire wolf?Small pony?What the fuck.The thing had reddish fur, burnished brandy eyes, and a black muzzle.Unless that was dried blood around the muzzle, but I didn’t think so.At least, not yet.
This was not good.Better than being fed to pigs maybe, but I didn’t want to be fed to a freaking dog either.
My head; he’d said something about my head, and it sure hurt like a mother.I lifted my hand to feel the back, where the pain radiated from.
“Oh, no, hold on,” the creepy nice dude said.“I had to stitch you up last night, so it’ll feel a little strange with the stitches.Just be gentle and don’t pull, okay?”
“You what?”I started into a coughing fit.My throat was so dry and sore.The damn dog came up to nudge my arm with its snout, and the guy gently patted my shoulder.The coughing made my head hurt twice as much.
Once the fit had passed, I realized the guy had been talking, but over the pain and the coughing, I hadn’t heard him.
“…some water.”He was holding a glass out to me.What did he think, that I was suicidally stupid?
“I’m…good.”I was totally not convincing anyone.Coughs broke out of me in between syllables.At least the dog had left at some point.I wasn’t getting eaten just yet.
“What’s wrong with him?”
That was a different voice.Not good, and getting worse.I maybe could have outrun one guy, but two?
I looked up.I was in a room, nice, mostly wooden furniture, no TV, cream curtains keeping out what looked like morning sunlight.
The nice guy sat on my right while the other stood in the doorway behind the first guy.The second guy had chestnut brown hair that he kept longer than the first guy’s, and while the second one wasn’t as broad as the black-haired guy, he was still large.Definitely too large for me to take on, not that brawn was anywhere in my wheelhouse.Or even in the vicinity of my wheelhouse.I was so fucked.
“Just a bit of a dry throat, and maybe a slight cold from the sounds of it,” the first one said.
A third face appeared behind the shoulder of the second man.All I saw was reddish hair the color of rose gold.
“I’ll go make some tea,” he said, and damn, tea sounded good.
But I wasn’t stupid.I wasnotgoing to let them drug me.Three of them, which was so much worse than two.
“Here, you should really drink something,” the first guy said, and this time, while I was still trying to get the damn coughing under control, he moved in to rub my back and held the glass so close I was sure he’d hold it to my lips if I let him.
Well, my throat was dry, and they could’ve drugged me while I was out, so I reached for the glass.
Water?Best thing ever, not even the finest oolong tea was as good.I gulped the whole thing down.It helped with the coughing, but not with the pain in my head or my throat.I reached for the back of my head again and felt the rough ends of stitches sticking out.Ugh.What had they done to me?I needed to get out of here.
“Let me get him a refill,” said the second guy, and the glass was whisked out of my hand too quickly for me to follow.
“Feel a little better?”the first guy asked.“I’m Ellis, by the way.That was Lincoln and Dominic.”
I looked at him.I wasn’t going to ask him too many questions.I had to make them think I was oblivious.
“Marcus,” I said, my voice super raspy.
“We know.We went through your bag to figure that out when we found you.”He hesitated, a muscle twitching in his jaw.“Linc also called Steven for you.”
