8. Amara
CHAPTER 8
AMARA
I kneeled on my bathroom floor, shaking with nausea at the sheer amount of panic and pain flickering through the bond. I tried to remind myself that this was better than the bond going silent, but after throwing up for the second time I wasn’t so sure that silence wasn’t inevitable. Moaning softly, I hauled myself up to lean on the sink and scoop some handfuls of water from the tap.
The frantic buzzing from my doorbell scared the shit out of me and I rushed to answer it.
“Let me in.”
I punched the button to unlock the doors and ran out in the hall to meet him as he came off the elevator. The metal doors slid open and I almost threw up on the spot.
“Oh god, oh god, oh god. What the hell happened? Scratch that, we have more important things to worry about. Let’s get you inside.”
Elio was covered in intricate burns. Anywhere I touched would hurt at least one of them, but I tried my best, wedging my shoulder under his arm and carefully placing my hand at his waist to guide him to the apartment.
He smelled of sweat and panic, char tainting the usually smooth spicy amaretto scent of him. Fuck. I’d dealt with all sorts of stupid injuries for my dad growing up, but it had been a few years since I’d had to worry about things like that.
“Should I call an ambulance?”
“No hospital. I can’t explain this to them.”
Double fuck.
“Okay.” I sat him down on the couch. “Wait right here.”
I bustled around, trying not to throw up again as I gathered up the first aid kit and a bottle of sports drink from the fridge for him to sip because some documentary had impressed upon me the importance of preventing dehydration from burns. I filled a mixing bowl with cool water and added a cloth, settling myself in front of him to tend to the burns.
He hissed at the first bit of contact, the cool water dripping down his skin. “Fuck. I might pass out if they all feel like that.”
“I’m sorry. Can we get you into the bathtub?”
“We can try.” He walked unsteadily to the bathroom, climbed into the tub half-dressed, and sat on the bottom of the basin.
I stared at my terrycloth towels, wondering if the loopy fabric would stick to the injuries, and opted to fetch a pair of my flannels, ripping them apart with kitchen scissors before soaking the strips in cool water and laying them over his skin. At least this way the water from the showerhead would hurt a little less. Once the running water was a reasonable temperature, cool, but not cold, I set about meticulously keeping all of the flannels soaked while he cursed and shivered and held on to the edge of the tub to keep himself conscious.
Eventually his breathing evened out, and I could feel the pain dripping away through the bond. I knew it wouldn’t stay gone, not with this many burns, but I was so fucking relieved that it was a little better.
I had plenty of aloe vera, considering how often I burned myself every time I baked anything and when I spent too long in the sun. I left him there in the tub for a moment, chucked a pile of towels onto the couch, and grabbed a couple extras before helping him up and getting him to sit atop them. He was painfully silent as I worked, gently dabbing the aloe vera over each burn and then setting up the fan so that it would keep the gel cool against his skin.
“What’s the mark?” I asked.
“I haven’t had time to look.”
I snapped a photo of a particularly clear design with my phone and showed it to him.
“Gallo family crest. Of fucking course.”
“I don’t understand. How could she do this?”
Elio raised a shaking hand to me and cupped my cheek. “I don’t wanna talk about her right now. Come as close as you can.”
I awkwardly balanced on the couch on my hands and knees, bracing one hand on his thigh and letting him pull me so that he could tuck his face against my throat. He breathed deeply, and I tried my best to keep any of the stress out of my scent so he would be able to relax.
Having him here helped a lot. If he was here, I could reassure myself over and over that he was still alive and I wouldn’t have to go through the absolute misery of losing a bondmate. I stayed like that until my wrists ached and my fingertips went numb.
Bianca had branded him everywhere , front and back, all over his torso. They would probably hurt for weeks and I had no idea how he was supposed to be able to sleep when no position would let him avoid them.
I fed him slowly with a few things I had on hand that would help hydrate: packets of soup, juice, Jell-O cups. Each moment that passed fueled my hatred of Bianca Gallo a little more. Elio was certainly putting on a brave face, but I could feel him struggling in the bond. Each of the burns was so crisp, leading me to believe he hadn’t moved while they’d been applied. Had someone held a gun to him while they did it?
I kneeled at his feet and offered him a hunk of watermelon in between the softest kisses, hoping I would be able to help. His skin was a map of his trauma, marks he would likely carry for the rest of his life.
What kind of monster did this to anyone, let alone someone who’d served them faithfully? I supposed that was the nature of monsters. It didn’t matter how much someone gave; they were always willing to take more.
Eventually we were both so exhausted that we were forced to try for sleep. I shoved all of my nest to the floor, ignoring my instinctual protest to that. Elio needed as few things touching him as possible. I stripped down the bed and put on fresh sheets, chewing my lip as he carefully lowered himself down and I adjusted the fan. With a fresh coating of aloe, I had done all I could do at this point.
I woke a dozen times in the night when his pain burst through the bond. Each time, I helped him get readjusted, applied more aloe when he rolled over, and lay as close as I dared. When he was asleep, he didn’t resist when I took his hand and curled into a ball underneath my singular blanket so I could be nearby.
A month ago things had been so simple, and now they were more fucked up than I could imagine. I laid a hand over my churning stomach, sleeping fitfully even without him waking me. My phone pinged and an email from the Tim Lavall Law Office popped up.
What the fuck was that?
I clicked into it.
As per the will of one Elio Angelo, Amara Pesci is now sole holder of the following accounts.
I set up sharply. “Oh, shit.”
Elio peeled open one eye. “What?”
“Why do I have your accounts now?”
“Fuck. I forgot to tell Tim I was still alive.”
I stared down at the groggy alpha in my bed. “Are you fucking kidding me? You gave me all your money in case you died?”
“It was the only way I could make sure you would be taken care of if I wasn’t here.”
Of all the things to make me burst into tears today, I hadn’t expected it to be that.
Elio sat up with a wince and cupped the back of my head. “Why are you crying? I just made you a millionaire.”
I choked out a laugh. “If you weren’t covered in burns, I would slap you.”
He laughed quietly and let out an exhausted breath. “Keep the accounts. I’ll open new ones. Could you find my phone so I can tell Tim I’m still kicking?”
“Yeah, of course.” I found his phone and his waterlogged wallet in the pocket of the pants he’d worn into the bath. Luckily manufacturers had gotten a hell of a lot better at keeping phones functional when they got wet, so it was still working when I brought it to him.
He tapped out a message and set the phone aside, lying back down with gritted teeth.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like shit,” he replied.
I stretched out next to him and he laced his fingers with mine, bringing my wrist up to his nose.
“They should figure out how to bottle this scent for the pain -relief properties.”
“It only works like that because we’re bonded.”
“It works during heats too.”
“Yeah, but I can’t go into another one of those for you.” I traced my fingertips over his cheek. “You don’t have to go back, do you? This sort of seems like the end of whatever you were involved in.”
Elio sighed, squeezing his eyes shut. “I wish it were that easy. She wants me to bring you to the compound.”
“Why the fuck would I go there after seeing what she’s done to you?”
“She threatened to kill you to break the bond.”
At those words, the nausea I’d been doing my best to keep at bay reared up. I tumbled into the bathroom and hurled my guts out into the toilet.
Pain sparked through the bond, and a moment later Elio was on his knees next to me, gathering up my hair while I heaved.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I whined. “I’m supposed to be taking care of you right now.”
“I think right now we can take care of each other. The opportunities for that will be few and far between.”
I hated that I couldn’t crawl into his lap, couldn’t tuck myself against him with his injuries. Maybe Bianca had picked this particular punishment for that very reason.
“What’re you growling about?” Elio asked as I rinsed out my mouth.
“I need alpha cuddles and she ruined it. I can’t get all up in your business without hurting you.” My pout was petulant. I should be more worried about him being in pain than his inaccessibility to shut up my omega instincts demanding we soothe each other by plastering ourselves skin to skin.
“If you have enough bandages or a shirt I can borrow, I can fix that. I’ll suffer.”
My bottom lip wobbled and he kissed it in a surprisingly tender gesture.
“I don’t have anything that will fit you.”
I didn’t really want to, but reaching out to my dad for some supplies was an option. I hadn’t been very forthcoming with him since I’d gotten out of the hospital. I certainly didn’t owe him anything, but I could use his help right now.
“Let me call in some reinforcements.”
My dad already knew where I lived, and he showed up within twenty minutes. I let him in, about to thank him for bringing what we needed, but his face went red with fury, his arm craning back to prepare for a punch.
“No!” I shrieked and shoved myself between him and Elio. The impact had stars dancing in my vision, and a moment later the whole world went dark.