YATES CARTER
“Where is she?”
I didn’t recognize my own voice as the nurse practically jumped out of our way, pointing towards a door down the hall. I would have been pissed that she gave away the information so easily if I wasn’t positive that they’d already been briefed about who we were. I ignored Dermot completely as he came out of the room, despite him looking like he’d been through hell, and felt my entire world come to a sudden halt upon seeing Dahlia in a hospital bed.
No. No, that wasn’t right at all.
Dahlia shouldn’t ever be in a hospital. It was completely unacceptable, and the feeling of failure hit into me. I had promised her that no one would ever take her from us… But someone had tried, and now she was here.
My bunny was laid out in a cold, sterile room with tubes attached to her arms and her skin covered in ash and debris. My knees felt almost weak as I grabbed the bed, not understanding how this kept fucking happening. What the hell weren’t we seeing? A cold energy seeped over my skin as I let out a harsh breath.
Brushing a kiss over her head, I retreated to one of the chairs in the room. I didn’t trust myself to do anything but sit and watch over her. There was something we were missing here, some element to the picture that wasn’t occurring to us, something larger than this just being a simple internal team issue… And it could cost Dahlia her life if we weren’t careful. That wasn’t acceptable.
If I lost Dahlia, there would be no point in continuing on.
Without her, there was no reason to exist.
* * *
Lincoln Gates
Leaning against the doorframe of the hospital room, I rubbed the back of my neck, unable to calm to the rapid tempo of my heart. When we had gotten the call about the explosion, it had felt like my entire world had narrowed at the idea of her being in an explosion. At the idea of possibly losing Dahlia.
“You good?” Sterling asked me quietly.
I nodded sharply.
I wasn’t, of course, but I was doing better than a lot of our group, so I had to keep it together for now. Especially for the sake of the nurses who were doing their best to keep our girl comfortable. I knew rationally that she was stable, but it didn’t make me feel any better. I wanted to hear it from the doctor’s mouth, and thenmaybeI would feel slightly relieved. Although it was highly unlikely.
The only thing that would truly fix this would be Dahlia opening her gorgeous eyes. I closed my eyes and sent up a prayer to a god that no doubt couldn’t hear me over the crackling flames of hell. No, I had a feeling I was as far from heaven as one could imagine if that shit actually existed.
That was okay with me, though, as long as my Dahlia was okay.
As long as she opened her damn eyes.
“Lincoln.” Sterling’s warning had me looking down to the doorframe, which I was gripping so hard I was nearly white-knuckling it. I cursed, stepping out from the room for a moment to gather myself.
I needed to get it together for Dahlia.
I couldn’t lose myself until she was here with me, in my arms.
* * *
Stratton Lee
The sound of the heart monitor was the only thing that seemed to be grounding me to the moment. If it wasn’t for that, I would be losing my shit. My hand was wrapped around Dahlia’s far too delicate one as I stared down at the standard hospital bedsheets, wondering if these places were supposed to be this silent.
I suppose, since the entire wing had been cleared out, it made a lot of sense.
Were these sheets comfortable enough for her? Probably not. Maybe I could get them to switch them out…but then she would have to be moved, and that wasn’t acceptable.
I looked up to see if she’d opened her eyes yet, only to find them not just closed, but her face devoid of any expression. Usually when she slept, she would either smile slightly or make a small frown that dipped her brows, but this? I didn’t like this at all. I had watched her sleep far too many times, so I knew well that this wasn’t normal.
It didn’t help that her skin was chalky and pale, showing just how much blood she’d lost. Dahlia was stable now, and besides a hit to the head from flying debris, Dermot had taken most of the damage. Well, except for the glass that had wedged itself in her leg, but luckily that hadn’t hit any major veins or arteries and was now removed.
I had no doubt the recovery process was going to be a bitch, especially since my angel didn’t like to sit around for long. Maybe I would just carry her everywhere so she could still be happy. I wouldn’t complain—having her in my arms was beyond ideal.
Especially after…I closed my eyes, trying to not think about the single most terrifying moment of my life. She had jumped in front of a fucking bullet for me. I took a deep breath to steady myself. I had no idea how to even handle that; it left me feeling weak in my knees.