Emrys is scowling at the paramedic. Ashton is glancing around the room. Jason is tapping his foot on the floorandhis fingers against his arm.
Sindri lifts a dark brow at me.
I lower my gaze to where the paramedic is rubbing antiseptic over some of the shallow cuts on my arms. She lifts my blouse higher and rubs the cream into another cut under my ribs that I hadn’t noticed.
When I next glance up, the boys are all staring at me. They’re slowly stalking closer to the cot, their eyes fixed on my bared midriff that’s already turning an interesting shade of blue and black.
“I don’t think there is anything broken,” the paramedic says, “but you will hurt. I’ll give you some cold compresses and painkillers.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re lucky. With hits like this, your ribs could have snapped. Other bones, too. I honestly recommend you report this.” She clucks her tongue. “If you don’t, I might.”
“Don’t worry,” Emrys growls, “we’ll take care of this.”
“Take care of it?” The paramedic turns on them. “Please. This isn’t your bloody playground, Mr. Ramsden. It’s a school. We have rules for a reason.”
He glares. “And see where your rules have gotten her. What help were they when those girls attacked her?”
“Girls.” The paramedic’s gaze swings back to me. “So girls were the ones who attacked you?”
“Rys.” I sit up carefully, pulling down my blouse. “I’ll take care of it.”
“You will report this, then?” the paramedic asks.
I nod, though I’m pretty sure that if I do report these girls, their revenge on me will be epic. Teachers and staff don’t seem to realize sometimes what a jungle a school can be.
Then again, these girls beat me up pretty badly, and what if the boys hadn’t shown up? Who knows in what shape I’d be now?
Not something I want to think about too hard…
“I can walk,”I say for the tenth time. “My legs are fine. Put me down.”
“Nope. I like carrying you,” Emrys rumbles.
He actually shoved the others away and scooped me up, his face unreadable as he’d carried me out of the infirmary.
“I’m not going to your room,” I say. “Take me to mine.”
His lips peel back and he grins savagely. “No.”
“Rys! You can’t force me.”
“Hey, hand her over,” Sindri says and reaches for me. “She doesn’t want to go with you.”
“I think she should come with me,” Ashton says. “I’m the only normal person here.”
“By what measure? You’re a vampire.” Jason snorts derisively. “You’re sickos, the whole bunch of you. She’s coming with me.”
“Hey, hey!” I struggle in Emrys’ hold. “Put me down.”
“But—”
“Now!”
We’re standing at the entrance to the girls’ dormitories and a few girls heading our way are staring at us.
“Mia…” Emrys sighs and carefully puts me down on my feet. “It’s not safe for you here.”