Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 93727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
All of us were exhausted.
My body didn’t even feel like my own. Every muscle ached. The stitches on my thigh barely registered, because everything hurt anyway. It was worse than the mating heat, which had dissipated. That ache had felt clean somehow, purposeful—this ache felt dirty and wrong.
My hands hadn’t stopped shaking.
By the time we’d gotten to the house, Rosemary had been pretty out of it. Alice had already been finishing up on Seamus, and it hadn’t taken her long to rescrub and get started on my mate, but it had felt like forever.
When we’d taken off her pants, I’d finally seen the damage that the bullet in her hip had caused. A large-caliber round had torn through the muscle. Without the pressure of her waistband, the blood had been hard to contain.
I didn’t know how she’d stayed on her feet.
I didn’t know how she’d even been awake.
Alice had managed to staunch that bleeding first, her hands moving over my mate with speed and expertise that I’d never equal, no matter how long I’d lived.
Then she’d moved to Rosemary’s shoulder.
She’d cursed the entire time.
There was so much damage that she wasn’t sure how much function Rosemary would have in her arm.
My mate, who could take me down like it was nothing, who climbed like Spiderman and flipped an old tractor tire when she felt overwhelmed, may never be able to do those things again.
The scar that would bisect my mate’s cheek for the rest of our lives felt inconsequential in comparison.
“How’s he doin’?” Gary asked Dalton, wheeling himself slowly into the room.
“No change,” Dalton replied tiredly.
“Not a bad thing,” Gary replied gruffly as he passed the Vampire. “Means he’s not any worse.”
“I’ll take it,” Dalton mumbled.
“How’s my girl?” Gary asked, stopping at the foot of Rosemary’s bed.
“Still sleeping,” I replied, my voice hoarse.
Gary grimaced as he looked her over. “She’ll be all right.”
I nodded tightly. He’d gotten the same information from Alice that I had. Yes, Rosemary would survive, but there was a chance that she’d never fully recover. I was terrified for her to wake up.
And though I knew it was irrational, I was terrified that she wouldn’t wake up.
“I’ll stay with her,” Gary said, rounding the bed. “You go get something to eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“All right,” he said, his tone never changing. “Then you go see your mama. She’s been sittin’ at the kitchen table for the last two hours waitin’ for you to come out.”
“You’ll come get me—”
“The minute she wakes up,” he confirmed, cutting me off. “Go on now.”
I took my time sliding off the bed, careful not to jostle Rosemary as I went. Alice had inclined the head of the bed after Rosemary puked up blood in her sleep, and my mate started listing to the side as soon as my body was no longer propping her up.
My eyes burned as I gently wedged a pillow in beside her where I’d been lying.
“It’s all right,” Gary said softly. “Go take a few minutes.”
I didn’t meet anyone’s eyes as I walked out of the room. I had enough emotions of my own to deal with. I didn’t want to catch a glimpse of the fear on Dalton’s face. I’d already listened to his mate quietly weep for hours.
My mother was in the kitchen, but Gary had neglected to tell me that the rest of my family was there too.
Zeke’s mate, Charlie, rose as I entered the room and stepped forward to hug me tightly.
“Thanks, Charlie,” I said, patting his back.
He’d been Alice’s second pair of hands the night before, handing her what she needed before she could even ask for it. He’d also been the only one to calm Rosemary down when she’d fought the oxygen mask on her face. It was a stark change from the timid, devastated man who had greeted me the first time we met.
“How’re you doing?” he asked kindly as he pulled away.
“Not great,” I replied, pulling out a chair so I could fall into it.
“She’s doing well,” my mother said, reaching over to squeeze my hand.
“That’s what Alice says,” I agreed.
The rest of the table was silent.
“And she’s very pretty,” Mom added, her lips pulling up in a small smile.
“I thought looks weren’t everything, Mom,” Beau huffed good-naturedly.
“Oh, you be quiet,” she scolded.
“Did you tell your mother I was ugly?” Reese asked, staring at her mate.
“Of course not.”
“Then why—”
“Later,” Beau said with a grin, leaning over to kiss her.
I looked away. Had Rosemary and I ever had that ease between us? I’d thought we did, but now looking back, I wasn’t so sure. I’d left her over and over, and she’d gone out of her way to hide what it was doing to her. She’d been so fucking convincing.
Had all of it been a lie?
“How are you feeling?” my dad asked, watching me closely.