Chapter 27
I wasn’t sure what woke me.
I opened my eyes, and my heart stopped at the sight of a shadowy figure standing over me in the moonlight.
I stared at them, my body locked in frozen terror, and tried to convince myself it was Wolf or one of his crew.
I couldn’t see a face because they were standing with the moon behind them.
Nothing happened for the longest few seconds of my life.
Then, the shadow moved. I sucked in a breath to scream, but liquid suddenly poured over my head, choking me.
I lurched up to sit, coughing, and screamed as soon as I could breathe.
Below me, commotion exploded. The ladder rattled as someone climbed up to the loft. I tried to open my eyes, but the liquid ran into them, forcing me to close them again. I tried to wipe my face, but my hands were also coated, and as I gasped in a breath, I gagged on the scent of blood.
“Fuck! Emmy!” Wolf’s shout sounded frantic. He swore again as he crashed to his knees beside me and yelled, “Sable!”
I was shaking, trying to hold my breath, and desperately trying to wipe the blood out of my eyes. Wolf was trying to help, wiping my face with rough fabric and demanding to know if I was hurt.
“Someone’s here! Someone—” I gagged again at the smell, realizing with horror that it wasn’t just blood. It was Madame’s scent, too.
I lurched sideways, barely managing to be sick on the floor instead of my mattress, steady hands catching me and holding me up.
“We’ve got you, Ember,” Sable’s calm voice murmured, and I felt his cool hands searching my face and head for an injury. “No one is here.”
“Is she hurt?” I heard Wolf snarl.
“I don’t think so?” Sable replied, his voice terse.
“Get it off,” I gasped as soon as I managed to stop retching. “Get it off!"
“What happened?” Wolf snapped, but he sounded more worried than mad.
“Please, get—get it—off!” I choked out, still desperately trying to wipe my face, and my hair was drenched. I retched again, my head swimming as I fought to breathe.
Together, they maneuvered me down the ladder.
Next thing I knew, I was sitting on the counter next to the sink, and a dripping washcloth was wiping the blood from my face.
I was finally able to get my eyes open and realized Wolf stood on one side of me, holding me upright while Sable wiped the blood off my face.
Both of them were smeared in the blood that covered me.
I shook uncontrollably, breathing in short gasps, and all I could smell was Madame and blood.
My stomach heaved, and I clasped a hand over my mouth to avoid getting sick again.
“It’s okay, Em,” Wolf murmured, but his voice was rough.
“Here, lean her over the sink,” Sable ordered.
The room spun as I moved, and then I was leaning over the sink while someone poured water over my head.
I clung to the side of the sink and closed my eyes so I didn’t have to see the red water running from my hair and down the drain.
Madame’s scent was getting slightly fainter, but it was still there.
I realized I had my jaw clenched tight, trying to keep my sobs contained.
“Not sure this is gonna come out of this quilt.”
I straightened so fast I knocked the bowl in Sable’s hand into the sink with a clatter. I twisted to look at Kai, my stomach somewhere on the floor, to see him holding my quilt, Trey’s quilt, covered in dark red blood.
“No,” I whispered.
I pushed away from Wolf and strode toward Kai, only partially aware of the water running in rivulets down my neck and clothes.
He handed over the quilt when I reached for it, his brow furrowed.
I turned around and returned to the sink, feeling like I was floating outside my body again.
Wolf was saying something, but my ears were ringing too loudly.
I dumped the quilt in the sink and started trying to scrub the blood out.
Someone touched my elbow, but I jerked away.
I had to get the blood out. I had to. I couldn’t lose this quilt. I just…I just couldn’t.
There was so much blood, and the quilt was so large that I struggled to get the whole thing rinsed. The red faded to pink, but I couldn’t get the entire thing clean. I lost track of how many times I rinsed it, but I couldn’t get all the pink out.
“Em.” Wolf’s voice was so gentle.
“Don’t,” I said through my teeth.
I felt him hovering at my side, watching me try to squeeze the water out of the quilt. Everything blurred as tears filled my eyes, and soon, I was sobbing too hard to see what I was doing.
“Let me try, Ember,” someone said, prying my hands from the quilt.
“Here, I got her some clothes,” someone else said.
Wolf half pulled, half carried me to a corner, barking at everyone to turn away, and Scar appeared before me. She towel-dried my hair like I was a child as I sat on one of the wooden chairs and cried, covering my face with shaking hands.
“Let’s get you in some dry clothes,” she murmured.
I realized she was watching me warily as though expecting a fight again, but I didn’t have a single spare fuck to give about my scars at the moment.
I stood and pulled my shirt off. I watched her eyes flick down to see the brand; her nostrils flared, and her eyes hardened, but she just handed me a dry shirt.
“What happened to your arm?” Scar asked suddenly.
She carefully ran her fingers over a ring of dark bruises on my upper arm. My brow drew together as I stared at it. I had no fucking idea where it’d come from.
“These look like fingerprints,” she added, meeting my gaze.
The fury in her eyes startled me. Fingerprints? I pressed my fist hard against my breastbone, rubbing it. Had someone grabbed my arm?—
Hawk.
Hawk had grabbed my arm. I remembered how much it had hurt as his grip tightened. I hadn’t even noticed the ache in my arm until now, but I was so accustomed to bruises?—
“Ember?” Scar caught my attention again. “Did someone do this?”
I bit my lip hard and pulled away to put on the jeans she’d found in my dresser, but I saw her expression darken. She’d given me the sleeveless shirt Trey had found for me when I first came here. I hugged myself, covering the bruises with my hand and shivering.
“Here, Em.” Wolf reappeared and draped Mac’s jacket that he’d lent me the other day over my shoulders.
I put it on and pulled it tightly around me. It smelled like Mac, and that comforted me. Kai was scrubbing my quilt in the sink. Sable, Lee, and Tuck were missing. Wolf and Scar ushered me outside, the three of us sitting on the porch. Scar lit a lantern and set it on the worn wooden floor.
“What happened, Em?” Wolf asked.
I glanced at him. His gaze was intense, his jaw tight, and his entire body felt coiled like a spring. I ran my fingers through my damp hair, working out the tangles.
“Someone was in my room,” I said, my voice shaking.
“In the loft?” Wolf’s brow drew together.
“I w-woke up, and they were standing over me. I couldn’t see their face. They dumped the b-blood on me.”
“No one went up or down the ladder.” Wolf frowned.
“Were any of the windows open?” Scar asked in a low voice.
“No,” Wolf answered. “They don’t open.”
In the silence, pain began to pound behind my eyes.
“Could it have been a nightmare?” Wolf finally asked.
“That blood was very real,” Scar said. “Just like those bruises on your arm are very real, Ember.”
I winced as Wolf demanded, “What bruises?”
“She has dark bruises on her arm like someone grabbed her,” Scar answered, her voice dark.
“Em—” Wolf started furiously.
I turned toward him, wrapped my arms around his neck, and pressed my face into his shoulder like I used to when I was little.
He froze briefly, then slowly wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight.
I squeezed my eyes shut and wished I was still a kid and Wolf would fix this—would fix everything like he used to.
“Who grabbed your arm, Emmy?” Wolf finally asked, but his voice was more gentle this time.
I hesitated, then whispered, “Hawk.”
I felt his entire body tense again, and he went unnaturally still and silent. If he and Scar spoke again, it wasn’t out loud. Eventually, the door opened, and Kai quietly announced he’d gotten the blood out of my quilt. Voices approached, and I recognized Nemo, Sable, and Tuck.
“Can you take her so I can talk to Nemo?” Wolf said to someone. He pried my arms from his neck. “I’ll be back, Em.”
I wasn’t at all surprised when Lee sat in his place. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and tucked me tightly against his body. I rested my head on his shoulder, wondering when Lee’s presence had become comforting.
Nemo and a few of his men entered the clinic with Wolf and his crew, casting curious glances my way. I pretended not to see them. I let my eyes close, suddenly exhausted.
I wished I hadn’t given them Hawk’s name. I didn’t know he was the person who did this. Hawk might hate me, and rightfully so, but to do something like this? The rage in his eyes flashed through my memory, and I felt sick. When did I start assuming people wouldn’t do the worst possible thing?
I closed my eyes again, listening to Lee’s heart beating in his chest. We sat there for a long time, and I drifted into a half-asleep daze.
“—like to use my spare room again, you’re welcome to.”
“You goin’ right now?”
“Yes, Smith is roundin’ up a few more men.”
“You can go with him if you want,” Lee said in a low voice. “I’ll take her to Nemo’s.”
“Don’t leave her alone,” Wolf warned.
“I won’t.”