77
SEVEN
I tried to tell them my name, but my knees hit the gravel, then my hands, and then the ground rushed up to my face and I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer.
Someone shouted for the gate to open. It sounded like I should know them.
Footsteps raced across gravel and then hands grabbed me and turned me over. The pain was excruciating. Instead of darkness, blinding light burned through my eyelids.
“Seven. Fuck—” I knew that voice.
“Oh my god.”
I smiled, because I knew that voice too.
I coughed. It hurt my chest. I forced my heavy eyelids open and squeezed the hand that was suddenly in mine. I looked over at G and smiled—I’m sure it didn’t look very nice with how fucked my face felt.
“Hey, G—” A sharp pain assaulted me, and I groaned.
“Don’t talk,” G said roughly.
I turned my head and the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen filled my vision. Blond hair curled around her face, haloed by the sun—she looked ethereal.
“Ah, this must be heaven—wait—I’m not supposed to be here—is hell really this beautiful?”
Emersyn gripped my other hand as she choked out a laugh. Unconsciousness called to me again. Each breath was more painful than the last as the air rattled in and out of my lungs. I closed my eyes and listened as more people arrived.
Someone barked orders. Hands grabbed me, and the move onto a stretcher flooded me with pain.
But, it was okay, because I’d made it.
I hadn’t given up. I was home.
The bright light faded and the darkness tore me away.
An incessant beeping pulled me back toward the surface. That, and what sounded like something scratching at a door. I didn’t want to leave the darkness, but I wanted whatever that noise was to stop. I blinked awake with a groan. The place smelled sterile.
Thankfully the pain was only a dull throb, courtesy of whatever pain meds were being pumped through the IV that I was attached to. I noticed Emersyn first. She was asleep curled up in a rather uncomfortable looking chair.
“She hasn’t left.”
I slowly turned my head and saw G. He had heavy bags under his eyes and looked exhausted as he leaned over his thighs.
“Doesn’t look like you have either,” I rasped. “Is there water?”
G immediately grabbed a cup with a straw in it and helped me take a few sips.
“God, that’s good,” I leaned back against the pillows, the simple act exhausting. “I’m not dead, right?”
G reached out and pinched my arm. “Ouch, jeez, I’m in enough pain!”
He smirked. “Yeah, you’re alive. Haven’t been out long either—you got here yesterday evening.”
I looked around to see a clock on the wall. The digital numbers told me it was mid afternoon.
“How the fuck did you make it off the island? I could have sworn that explosion—” G swallowed hard, and a shadow passed across his face.
“I got into some trouble there for sure,” I said dryly. “But, I told you I’d see you later. I had to uphold my promise.”
“Stop deflecting,” G growled.
I sighed. “It’s a long story.”
“Fine. But, I expect the full rundown later, in great detail,” G said grudgingly. “Also, Rune is beside himself. He said your tracker wasn’t showing as live—”
I waved away the words. “Probably got slammed by all the boulders that fell on me.”
G’s eyes gleamed with emotion I rarely saw on his face, and for once he didn’t attempt to hide it. His jaw clenched, and he shook his head.
“Bastard,” he muttered, but it hid a grin and he put his hand over mine and squeezed hard. “Don’t ever fucking do that to me again.”
“Roger that, boss.”
Emersyn stirred in her chair. Her eyes popped open and when she saw I was awake, a beautiful smile of relief tugged on her lips.
“Jesus, baby girl,” I groaned. “Don’t fucking smile at me like that—I already can’t breathe.”
She laughed, a sound I wanted to hear over and over again, as long as I was still alive on this earth. She moved the chair closer.
“I was going to get you a get well soon balloon,” she teased. “But, I heard you don’t like those.”
I looked over at G, aghast. “You told her about that?”
I shrugged in an attempt to hide my own grin. “You were dead. I was grieving.”
“Fuck, I need better stories if those are the ones you’re telling people at my funeral.”
I heard the scratching again, followed by a whine.
“What the fuck is that sound?” I asked.
Emersyn looked sheepishly at the door. “Oh. That’s just Fang.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
She stood up and went to the door. When she opened it a wolf slunk through the opening and curled around her legs. His ears were pinned at us as he tilted his nose up to sniff the room.
“This is Fang,” Emersyn said, looking at the beast fondly. “My dog.”
“I’m sorry to break it to you, gorgeous, but that is a fucking wolf,” I stated.
She grinned and shook her head. “I’ll let you two catch up. Griffin has a lot to fill you in on.”
Thankfully the animal followed after her and even though I was bummed she left, I knew G and I had a lot to talk about.
“How’s the homecoming been?” I asked.
G’s eyes gleamed and I chuckled, only to wince when it hurt my ribs. “That good, huh? Alright, spill man, I want to hear all the gossip.”