Chapter 11
“It’s so boring…” Warden Sook’s voice grates on my nerves, each word scraping across my skull.
“She’s a Yldarwright. Although my kind hate them, we understand their strength. You won’t get any begging from her.” There’s a sharp edge of frustration beneath her tone. “Has she said anything?”
“No, it stopped making any noises. That includes speaking.”
I yank hard on my chains and slam my forehead against the cold wall in front of me. The metal bites into my wrists until warm liquid trickles down my arms, soaking into the thin white fabric that clings to me.
“And the wards are working?”
I turn my head just enough to see the blonde woman fix her gaze on me. Something flickers between her brows—empathy. She knows what they do to prisoners here, and she’s seeing firsthand that I’m treated no better.
No. I’m treated far worse.
“Perfectly. We thank you, Dr. Harper,” the warden says cheerfully.
“I need to get back to a very needy client. If I miss our appointment, I’m certain she’d kill me. I’ll see you in six months.”
My lips part, but I can’t even summon the strength to plead for her to stay. From my throat down to my toes, the ones that have long lost their nails, I ache. Gods, I hurt so badly.
As their footsteps fade, I press my forehead against my arm and let a quiet whimper escape.
“She needs water.” Dr. Harper’s voice lingers faintly as she walks away, trailing off like the last echo of mercy I’ll ever hear. “I also know this place has a reputation, but be mindful that she still has rights.”
Warden Sook just laughs, low and humorless. “People like that don’t have rights, Doctor. It’ll take its punishment for the ten life sentences it’s due to stay under our care.”
Care.
Fucking care.
A soft beep filters into my ears.
My head throbs as the darkness behind my eyelids thins, brightness bleeding in around the edges.
Groaning, I squeeze my eyes tighter before forcing them open. The harsh fluorescent light nearly drives them shut again, but I grit my teeth and push through. Square ceiling tiles, the antiseptic sting of bleach, the faint plastic tang—all of it tells me instantly I’m not in a hotel.
“And she’s awake.” The voice isn’t Butcher’s. Too light. Too friendly. But familiar enough that my pulse stays steady.
A warm palm presses against my forehead, sweeping back stray strands of hair before resting there solidly. “Fever’s gone. That’s positive.” The hand retreats, taking its shade with it and leaving me blinking up at the man it belongs to.
Handsome. Blond. Defined features softened by a five o’clock shadow. His slightly upturned nose and the dimples that appear when he smiles should make him look boyish, but the sharpness around his blue eyes says otherwise.
“Who’re… you? Where’s…” My throat rasps, so I swallow and try again. “Where’s Butcher?”
“We met on the phone. I’m Atlas.” Oh… right. His voice does sound familiar. “And grabbing us coffee.” He grins like that’s normal. “He’ll be glad to know you’re alive.”
My slow eye roll earns me a laugh. “You know… because you’re helping him.”
“Right.”
I lift my arm and the movement sends a lance of pain straight through my shoulder. Even beneath the clean bandages, the memory of Pyrehound teeth throbs. My skin feels too tight, like it’s struggling to contain the wound beneath.
“Why am I here? How long have I been out?”
When I shift, he steps in immediately, adjusting the bed and guiding pillows behind my back. The action is meant to be kind, but it makes me uneasy. Why is he being nice?
“Three days,” he says. “And we’re at Clydesdale General. Small hospital, about an hour from the lake.”
“I asked why, not where.”
I let my head sink back into the stiff pillow and breathe deep, trying to collect every scattered thought. I don’t remember anything between the moment my vision went black, and opening my eyes in this hospital room.
“Right, well…” Atlas rubs at his jaw, eyes flicking toward the door like he’d rather not be the one to explain. “I’ll let Butcher tell you that.”
Exhausting.
“You can just tell—”
“I’m here and can tell you myself.”
My heart stutters hard.
I turn slowly, dreading what state he’ll be in after what happened near the gate.
Butcher steps into the white and cream room like he owns the place.
Behind him, the whiteboard cluttered with messy scribbles looks almost frantic in comparison to the rest of the sterile space.
He looks… different. Hair pulled back into a high bun, tension in his jaw, and shadows under his eyes.
Strange, for a creature who doesn’t need sleep.
“Good to see you awake.”
I swallow against the raw burn in my throat, and nod.
“My blood didn’t heal you,” he continues, blunt as always. “And I could swear you were about to die, so I called Atlas here, then brought you to the closest hospital.”
Atlas whistles. “Peculiar. I’m intrigued to know why Vampire blood didn’t heal you… Is it because of being a Yldarwright?”
He drops into the chair again and crosses his leg, denim stretching tight around his knee.
I return my attention to Butcher. “Our blood is pure, so anything foreign we counteract. We naturally flush out poisons, blood, and all other foreign liquid from our system.”
“Your body did a shit job of getting rid of that poison—”
“No…” I cut him off sharply, eyes narrowing. “I wasn’t poisoned.”
“Actually, that’s what the doctors said,” Atlas adds, raising his brows. “They flushed out your system. You’re lucky to be alive. It was a lot.”
I say nothing.
There’s no point arguing. They’re wrong, but not stupid. It wasn’t the toxin threatening my life—it was everything else. Exhaustion. Blood loss. The drain of trying to channel when I’m barely connected to anything but a void.
I can’t die thanks to this fucking hex. It was a means to make my several life sentences last, regardless of the treatment I was given.
If I’d listened to Butcher and left after the attack, maybe this could’ve been avoided.
“Because I couldn’t heal you,” he says, dragging my attention back to him with that gravel-deep voice. “Your arm will be useless to you for some time, but we can’t stay here for longer than a few more days.”
The words hit heavier than they should.
Not because of the injury.
But because he sounds worried.
Dropping my head back, I let out a long groan. “We can go once the doctor discharges me.”
Atlas laughs. “You’ve got tubes pumping pain relievers into your system. I promise you, you do not want to leave right now.”
My mouth’s opening to tell him he has no idea the kind of pain I can handle, when the door opens. I choose not to say anything, and just watch as a nurse walks into the room.
“Oh, you are awake.” She smiles sweetly at me, but then wearily looks at both men.
Her hand goes into her pants pocket to pull out her phone, and after typing something, her gaze meets mine.
“I would like to go over some test results now that you are conscious. May it be alright that I speak with you alone?”
“No—”
“Yes.” I shoot my gaze straight to Butcher. A silent, not so nice, conversation happens between us. He cannot dictate anything for me; how dare he answer her question obviously directed at me!
The nurse moves around the bed toward my hand and begins checking the tubes, then reads the machine that’s steadily beeping on my right.
“Well, this is fun. We will give you a few minutes. Come on, Butcher—where’s my damn coffee?
” Atlas moves around my bed, grabs the Vampire by the arm, and starts dragging him toward the door.
All the while, those crimson eyes never pull away from me.
Not until they are both stepping through the door and it’s closing behind them.
What the shit is his problem?!
“Miss?”
I force a smile and look up at the brunette. I’m grateful she’s either ignorant of curses or simply so professional she doesn’t care, because she holds my gaze without fear. Still, there’s worry written in the flecks of green in her eyes.
“May I ask your name? We have you down as a Jane Doe.”
“You can call me Ivy.” It’s my mother’s name, and the one I usually give when I need to. Since she’s dead, she doesn’t need it anymore.
“Alright, Ivy. My name is Elaine. I’ve been your dedicated nurse, along with Dr. Alvarez.
We’ve applied some Velarex—based on your bloodwork, you’re a Yldarwright, and it works on your kind if applied quickly enough after the affliction.
It’ll heal, but you’ll still be in a lot of pain for a few days.
” She smiles wearily at me, and I give her a nod. “How are you feeling?”
I tilt my head slightly to the side, feeling the pull on my left, which makes me wince. “Sore.”
“That’s to be expected. Your arm was damaged quite a bit from the dog attack. Lucky you didn’t lose it.”
Yes… so lucky.
“May I ask how you know the two gentlemen who were just in here?” The question takes me by surprise, and whatever crosses my face keeps her talking. “Usually only family are allowed with the patients in situations like this.”
“Oh. Right. I just met the blond one, and the other is… a friend. I don’t have any family.”
“A friend… How long have you known him?”
This line of questioning is going in a different direction. “Why?”
She rests one hand on my shoulder and places the other on my forearm, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’m here to advocate for you, Ivy. You can be honest with me, okay?” My heart plummets to my stomach. “Have those men hurt you?”
As I shake my head, something hits me. I look down at my chest and realize I’m not in the clothes I had on before I passed out. “O-Oh my Gods. Who undressed me?!” I jerk away from her, pain rocketing down my spine.
Fuck!
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep myself from screaming the word instead of thinking it.
“Ivy, it’s alright. I was the one that undressed you. We had to do a full body examination upon your entry.”
My jaw clenches, and as she leans in, I swear my blood runs cold. “There’s evidence of rape, and the scars—”
“Shut up.” I pull my hand—the one with the tubes coming out of it—and start yanking them free. “He’ll hear you.”
“No, they can’t. These rooms are soundproofed to Dylox for patient confidentiality. Ivy, I promise I can protect you.”
A harsh chill runs down my body. “Did you tell anyone else what you saw?”
It isn’t like he’ll care, but these are my burdens to bear. They are mine to share as I decide to, and the last person I want to open up to about them is Butcher.
Regardless of that, the fact she would accuse him of doing what she saw to me, makes me irrationally angry. I don’t know him well enough, but I just don’t see him being the kind of man to do what was done to me. Considering his hatred for me stems from killing children.
She grimaces and fear slaps me across the face. “The authorities were notified, but because we—” I tear out the rest of the wires hooking me up to the machine. “Please stop, you can’t do that! Ivy, listen, it’s okay to be scared.”
She presses her hand onto my shoulder and pushes me down. I bite hard on my bottom lip, trying not to scream at how much that hurts. “Let me go. Neither of them did what you saw!”
The moment she pulls a capped needle from her front pocket, I know it’s a sedative. I slam down the barrier between Kayn and me and shout, “Help!”
Not even a second passes before the door is slammed open, the force so violent I don’t need to see it to know it’s been ripped from its hinges.
Kayn is hovering over us now, his shadow casting completely over the nurse and across my face.
Elaine immediately pulls her hands away, and I throw off the blanket, making sure to slip from the bed without giving him my back. I know these gowns open from the backside, and the last thing I need is Butcher catching sight of anything he shouldn’t.
“What’s wrong?” he asks as I turn back to him.
“She called the authorities on you. I don’t know when, but we need to go.”
He growls. “That’s why you were looking at us so strange. You think I did that to her?!”
My face turns cold as she says, “No, not her arm…”
Footsteps approach—it’s Atlas, rushing in and looking between Butcher and myself. “I envy your speed. What’s wrong?”
“We need to go.” I tear off the sheet from the bed and drape it over my shoulders. “Elaine, I promise he didn’t do anything to me. Is there any way to undo what you told them?”
“I had to make the report. I’d have to say I mistook what I saw, and—”
“Stop. Okay… fine.” The moment I’m limping around the table, Atlas rushes to my side. “Odds are they’re here already, and were probably waiting for my confirmation on her… accusation.”
“Well, that’s complicated,” Kayn groans. “Authorities are already looking for you, and if they see those eyes they’ll know it’s you. Then things are going to get very—”
“Bloody.” I sigh.
One look at Kayn says there’s no question he would rather annihilate an entire army than have to drag my ass out of prison again.
“Sit down, please,” Butcher says to the poor nurse who has likely already pissed herself from fear. She does as he says, and sits onto the bed.
“Give me your phone.”
Without a moment of hesitation, she reaches into her pocket and hands it to him. He immediately crushes it in his hand.
“You’re going to wait here, and when they inevitably come in, you’ll tell them exactly what you’re about to hear. Do you understand?”
She nods her head quickly, and the moment that confirmation comes, he’s standing before Atlas and me.
“We are going to head to Sidence. I’ve got friends there to help keep us hidden.”
My eyes narrow on him. What the fuck is he doing?
“You can hear me, can’t you?” I suck an anxious breath through my nose. “That’s confirmation enough.”
“What’re you doing? She’ll tell—” I speak intentionally through the bond for the second time.
“We aren’t going to Sidence.” He suddenly slides one hand under my knees and lifts me into his arm. I gasp as my shoulder presses into his chest, my weight settling on his forearm like it’s a makeshift chair.
He mirrors the motion with his friend, and I stare—heat rising in my cheeks—right at the blond. He looks far from pleased with the arrangement, even as Kayn adjusts me more into Atlas’s lap than his arm.
“If you tell anyone from our old unit about this, Butcher…”
I swallow and curl my legs in further to help with his hold.
“I’ll tell them you let me peg you.”
This is the first time I’ve seen Kayn smile, and I can’t help but hold my breath at how well it suits him. “I do the pegging. Everyone knows that.”
Then, he turns from the nurse, and jumps out the godsdamn window.