“We’ve got him, babe,” I heard a calm voice say before I was lifted and my arms were slung over Angel’s and Phoenix’s shoulders. The movement sent blinding pain through me, and I gasped.
Feet nearly dragging, they quickly brought me to the infirmary. As I was laid on the gurney, I coughed, and blood sprayed across my stomach and onto my thighs.
“If you make it, you are in such deep shit. Venom ispissed,” I heard Phoenix mutter as he helped Angel.
“If? I’m offended,” I heard Angel throw back at him.
“Why would he be pissed? We’d all do the same for our ol’ ladies,” Voodoo questioned from next to Laila.
She gasped, and I saw Venom pass her to enter the room.
“That true?” Venom asked me.
“Fuck, I hope so,” I groaned as white-hot pain burned in my lungs and I coughed again.
“Oh, it’s true,” Voodoo insisted, but his voice sounded like it had been electronically slowed down.
The room was spinning as the cold blades trailed over my skin where they cut my shirt off. My head lolled to the side to see Lila with tears streaming down her face and hands over her mouth. I realized she was standing there in front of my brothers in her bra, and possessive rage bubbled within me.
“Get her out of here and give her a shirt,” I mumbled before I passed the fuck out.
When I came to, my head was pounding, and my mouth was dry as the Sahara. I groaned as I tried to sit up.
“Don’t get up! What do you need?” I heard her whisper as her small hand splayed over my bare chest.
Blinking to clear my vision, I croaked, “Need water.”
A bottle was thrust into my hand, and I fumbled to open it. After one of Angel’s healings, I was always dizzy and disoriented. Despite her order, I sat on the edge of the bed, bare feet hitting the cool floor and causing me to hiss. I fucking hated cold.
“Oh, shit. Here, let me do that,” she said and took the bottle back. I heard the crack of the lid turning as it broke the seal. “Careful,” she said as she gently held it to my lips.
Like I hadn’t drunk in days, I swallowed every drop. My hair fell over my face as I dropped my head.
When I raised it, she was sitting in front of me, lips pulled between her teeth and green eyes wide and worried. My gaze traced her slight figure practically drowning in one of my Pink Floyd T-shirts as she sat on my desk chair next to the bed.
“I have no idea what happened tonight. I’m pretty sure I’m stuck in a crazy nightmare or I’ve lost my fucking mind,” she finally whispered. I snorted at her cussing, because it was so out of character for the Lila I remembered.
“Oh, I can assure you, you’re very much awake.” Despite my assurance, she sat there blinking owlishly at me.
“I have questions,” she finally said.
“Yeah? Well, so do I. You go first.”
“How did you know to come and get me tonight?” she started with.
“Facet was tracking a hacker that got into a client’s bank account and computer files. His search led him to you. He found something that told him they found you and were going after you tonight.”
“Facet is who was after me?” she asked.
“No.” I didn’t give her anymore.
“H-H-How did that guy do that?” She waved a slender hand in the air as she motioned to my chest and arm. As an afterthought, I glanced down to see he’d done a pretty damn good job of patching me back together. There was barely a mark on my skin.
“Long story. Let’s just say that a lot of my brothers have certain… abilities. We’ll talk more about that later, but you can’t tell anyone about what you saw.”
“I wouldn’t!” she indignantly replied. Searching her eyes, I was finally satisfied she was telling the truth. I took a deep breath, slowly exhaling before I nodded.
“My turn.” My gaze locked on hers before I demanded, “Where the fuck have you been? And why didn’t you reach out to me once in the past eleven years?”