The Price (House of Sin #5) - Elisabeth Naughton Page 0,11

where Luc was sprawled on his stomach on the bed, dwarfing the mattress with his big body, thrashing from side to side while Marco and Felicity tried to hold him down.

The wounds on his back continued to ooze, only it was worse now. Worse than when they’d pulled him out of that truck. Fresh blood trickled down his back and stained both Marco’s and Felicity’s clothing where they fought with him.

“What are you doing?” Panic built inside me all over again, and I rushed to the side of the bed. “Oh my God, you’re hurting him! Stop.” I grabbed hold of Marco’s big hand and tried to pry it off Luc’s arm. “Stop!”

Luc’s head jerked my direction. Dark, damp hair fell over his forehead. His eyes were tightly closed. But for a split second, he stilled.

“Cazzo,” Marco mumbled, getting a better hold on Luc while he was frozen. “Talk to him, Natalie. Let him know you’re here. He’s delirious from the pain and the drugs, and he doesn’t understand what we’re doing, but he knows your voice.”

Luc grunted and shifted his arms and legs, growing agitated all over again. Beside me, Marco and Felicity fought to keep him down.

“We can’t get these wounds closed until he stops fighting us,” Felicity said between clenched teeth. “Natalie, now, dammit. Talk to him.”

All I could see was blood. Blood and misery and pain. Nausea swirled again, but I forced it back. Rubbing my damp palms along my thighs, I dropped to my knees at the side of the bed, closest to where Luc’s head was almost hanging over the side.

“Luc?” I swallowed hard. “It’s me. It’s Natalie.” I reached out with a shaky hand and brushed the scraggly hair back from his eyes. “I’m right here.”

He slowed his struggling. As if just the sound of my voice calmed him.

“Yeah, just like that.” Marco’s muscles flexed as he shifted his hold on Luc’s arms and legs. “Keep talking to him, Natalie. You’re doing good. Fee, you got it?”

“Yeah. Keep him still.” Felicity grabbed something I couldn’t see behind Luc.

I scooted closer toward Luc, trying not to see what they were doing, focusing on Luc’s handsome face instead. “I’m here,” I said again. “I’m right here. I’ve been waiting for you.”

His eyes remained closed, but he tipped his chiseled face up toward the sound of my voice, and when my fingers grazed his temple and his cheek, I heard him mumble, “Angio...letto?”

Tears filled my eyes all over again, and my chest felt as if it might explode as I slid one hand into his damp hair and used the other to touch his face, his arm, his hand, any part of him I could reach that wasn’t injured.

“Yes, vita mia.” I pushed the words past the tears trying to clog my throat, using the term of endearment he sometimes used for me and which I knew meant “my life”…because he was my life. He was my everything. “I’m right here.”

Luc’s body jerked, and his muscles tensed. Behind him, Marco and Fee mumbled in low voices.

“You’re safe,” I whispered, tuning them out, not wanting him to get agitated again. “You’re safe with me.”

I pressed my forehead against his, then gently kissed the spot with lips I couldn’t keep from trembling. “No one’s going to hurt you anymore. I won’t let them. I’ve got you. You’re mine, and I’m yours, remember? Stay with me, baby.”

“You’re doing good, Natalie,” Fee said in a steady voice. “Keep him centered just like that so we can get these drugs in him.”

“I’m not leaving you,” I whispered, continuing to stroke Luc’s hair. “I’m never leaving you. I love you. Do you know that? I love you so much.” I kissed his forehead again. “I love only you, Luc. Just you.”

Luc tipped his face higher, and his warm breath fanned my throat as I continued to play with his hair.

Closing my eyes, I pressed my forehead to his and held him to me, wanting to do anything to protect him, to help him. Then I felt his arm near me shift. I felt his hand close over mine. Felt him draw my fingers beneath him and close to his chest. Felt him shudder and exhale a long breath against me as the muscles in his body relaxed one by one.

“There.” Felicity pulled a needle out of Luc’s arm. “Good job, Natalie. Worst part’s over.”

He went limp against me, whatever drugs Felicity had given him having already hit his system. But his steady