Grievous (Wanted Men #5) - Nancy Haviland Page 0,113
light, sluggish flutter was a gift from God that he vowed right then not to waste.
He snapped her up and was out the door in a blink. He raced through the corridors until he reached the small sickbay that was slightly larger than a doctor’s office. It wasn’t equipped to perform surgery, but it had what Lucian required.
He brought her to the examination table and laid her out without looking at the blue line around her lips that made him want to rage. He grabbed the mask, twisted the knob on the tank, and brought the life-giving oxygen to his pet’s mouth and nose.
“Breathe. Take it in and open your eyes. Allow me to fix this.” His chest clamped tight at the knowledge of what he was about to do. He disregarded it and the ferocious feelings of possession rising like an enraged army inside him.
She belongs to us.
His demons were angry. As usual, he paid no attention to what he didn’t want to deal with.
She belongs to us! they roared, refusing to be ignored.
I know. He couldn’t deny it, so he didn’t try.
They settled back after his acknowledgement, not knowing it wouldn’t change anything.
“Yasmeen. Wake up, my pet. Wake up, please, I beg of you.”
Apparently, she’d been waiting to hear him plead with her because that’s when she coughed and did as he demanded. Her lids lifted to show him a window to the loneliest soul he’d ever encountered.
“Very good. Just breathe. Do not sit up yet.” He held her down with a hand on her navel. “Let me give you what I took. Just breathe.”
She blinked slowly, sleepily, and held their connection. He didn’t look away. He took what he could while he could. She slipped her hand in his and something inside him rumbled and shook as if a small earthquake was taking place. The plates of his protective shell shifted, allowing minuscule pockets of steam to release.
After a few long minutes, she lifted her free hand and took the mask away. “I’m okay.”
“I do not know what to say. I am sorry is worthless and insulting in comparison to what I wish to convey.” He was sickened to the bone when he saw his hand-marks darkening around her neck, becoming permanent reminders that wouldn’t fade for days, maybe weeks. His study narrowed, focusing on something, and he reached out to lift her collar…
“Oh, iubita mea, what did I do to you?”
The edge of the platinum collar had cut into her skin to form a perfect ring that was beading with blood now that he’d removed it.
“Nothing. It was an accident. I’m okay.”
He was shaking his head, and he didn’t know if she was reacting to him or if it was her own thoughts, but she began to look afraid.
“No, it is far from okay,” he said. “What do I say to this?” How could he make her understand the scope of his regret?
She sat up and hugged him. “We’re good. Seriously. You don’t have to say anything.” Her voice was raw. “I can see it in your eyes. You don’t have to say anything, baby. I see it.” She held him tighter, offering comfort only minutes after he’d almost killed her.
He banded his arms around her. “You were Sergei. You were Sergei in my mind, and you were taunting me for leaving Markus an easy target for him. I…I had to silence him.” He would have woken next to her corpse.
She ran her fingers through his hair. “Well, I’m just glad it wasn’t my snoring that finally got to you.”
Her immediate forgiveness wasn’t right. Nor was her attempt to lighten the atmosphere with humor. “Would you like me to call a doctor? Do you feel—”
“I feel fine. Wide awake, actually.”
“That would be the oxygen,” he murmured as he pulled back and scrutinized her pale face. Why had he never considered he might be a threat to her? “Yasm—”
“Yeah, of course. The oxygen.” She kissed him to prevent him from finishing, then slid off the table.
“Yasmeen. Why are you not acknowledging what I have done?”
She came up on her toes and kissed him again. “We did acknowledge it. It was just one of those things, and now it’s over. Will you feed me? I’m starving.”
She yanked him into motion, pulling him along, looking back at him when she didn’t know which way to go because, to his knowledge, she’d never been in this area of the castle before. “It is not that simple,” he insisted.