Demon's Vengeance The Complete - Jocelynn Drake Page 0,102

gushing blood will get you ushered back with a bevy of nurses, physician assistants, and even a doctor or two will poke his head in while people with mops remove the trail you’ve left on their nice clean floor.

I was covered in blood, not all of it mine, but I didn’t need to explain that. They were content to deal with all the blood that was still leaking out of me. Happily, it was a flesh wound that just needed a bit of stitching up. While I was being bandaged and hooked up to an IV that unfortunately didn’t contain painkillers, another person was asking me a barrage of questions that were all necessary for billing purposes.

With a bit of a struggle, I handed over my insurance card, though I had no idea why. My insurance wasn’t going to cover a goblin attack. At least I’d taken the time to use what little energy I could pull together while in the ambulance to mend my fractured ribs. This little production was already taking long enough.

On the plus side, I got to close my eyes and relax a bit when someone finally gave me a painkiller. Muscles all over my body relaxed and my eyes slid shut on a sigh. The past several days had been hell and they didn’t look to be improving anytime soon. I was tired down to my soul. Sleep sounded so good. And not just a good night’s sleep. I wanted to sleep for months. I wanted the world to drift away and I wanted to float in a black blanket of silence that covered everything.

“Gage?” A soft, tentative voice drew my eyes back open to find that the doctor who had been stitching me up had left and Ellen, Gideon’s wife, was standing in the open doorway. A look of concern furrowed her brow as she took in my disheveled appearance.

“Hey.” I smiled, extending my good arm to her.

Closing the door, she quickly crossed the distance between us, taking my hand in one of hers while her other gently brushed back the hair on my forehead. She was a natural mom.

“Are you okay? I heard someone say your name and I had to check. I hope you don’t mind.”

I squeezed her hand and let my eyes drift shut again. “It’s fine. I shouldn’t have been brought in, but there were too many people about.”

“Of course you should have been brought in. You’re covered in blood.”

“It’s not all mine.” A lopsided smile lifted my mouth as I opened my eyes again to look up at her. Yeah, this was a great painkiller the doc had finally given me.

“I’m not surprised.” A frown replaced her smile.

“I’ve been through worse.”

“It doesn’t mean you don’t need help every once in a while,” she said tartly. I wondered if she ever used that tone of voice with Gideon.

“Thanks,” I sighed, letting my eyes drift shut again. With my wounds taken care of, they were likely waiting for the painkiller to wear off a little more before finalizing my discharge. Not much more time to enjoy this relaxed feeling before reality came crashing back in.

“Gideon told me your news,” she started, her voice dipping to a whisper as if she was afraid someone else might be listening even though we were alone in the private room. “I’m so sorry, Gage.”

A different kind of pain intruded on my blissful, relaxed peace. Being on the run, chasing after one killer or another had helped me push back my troubles with Trixie and our baby. But it all came crashing back with Ellen’s sweet concern.

“Why did you stay?” I asked when I could swallow past the lump in my throat. “Particularly when you were pregnant with Bridgette? What did he do to make you feel safe? To protect you?”

Ellen regarded me silently for a minute, her hand gently brushing my hair back in a soothing caress. “I stayed with Gideon because I loved him and I thought he was worth the risk. I knew the dangers and there is no protecting against all of them. You take your chances. I’m grateful for the time we’ve had together. It could all end tomorrow or we could have another fifty years ahead of us. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that we appreciate the time we have right this second.”

“But you’re not scared?”

“Of course I’m scared.” She shook her head at me, making feel as if I had asked why the clouds couldn’t be covered