Queen of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #4) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,12

I had four men waiting for me who I’d never gotten to show the depths of my feelings to.

My monsters, my saviours.

I’d once stood on a beach in the pounding rain and placed my hand against the Sacred Stone before swearing an oath to belong to the Night Keepers. I hadn’t believed it and I certainly hadn’t wanted it. But fate had bound us and now I knew why. Because through all the pain, the suffering, the way we’d tortured one another, we’d all somehow healed each other too. They were four kings of the dark, and I had become their queen. The girl my father had always wanted me to be, the girl I had always aspired to be. So I needed to return to them and reclaim my position in our tribe.

“I thought you might not make it through another night,” the nurse murmured to me even though he must have believed I was out cold, and I recognised Jonas. The motherfucker hadn’t gotten sick after I’d coughed on him and I was pissed as all hell about that. “It’s a fucking miracle.”

You know what’s a miracle, assface? You still being healthy and well.

He took hold of my arm, rolling it out to get access to the bruised skin around the crook of my elbow which had been punctured by countless needles. “I’d be more grateful if you hadn’t kicked me in the balls though, but I guess I still got one of the first vaccines last week because of you so I can’t be totally bitter,” he said icily. Of all the people my blood could save, why this guy?

I felt his fingers on my face as he pushed my hair away from my forehead and I released a small murmur as if I was coming to, shifting on the bed.

“Shit,” he muttered then he moved away and I cracked my eyes open, watching as he drew up some sedative in a syringe just as I’d expected.

As he turned back toward me, I shut my eyes again, my fingers prickling as I mustered my strength. It wasn’t much, but all I had was going to be directed at this shit stain.

He gripped my arm again and just as the needle grazed my skin, I whipped my other arm around, catching his wrist and twisting it sharply, plucking the syringe from his hand as his grip loosened. He gasped, but he wasn’t fast enough to run as I jammed the needle into his neck and slammed my thumb down on the plunger with a squeeze of satisfaction in my gut. His eyes widened behind his visor and I grinned demonically.

“You little bitch.” His hand whipped out, crashing into my face and my head wheeled sideways from the impact. “Help!” he choked out, lurching toward the emergency button beside the door.

But he was stumbling, the sedative already taking affect. I pushed out of bed as his knees hit the floor, staggering toward him as my vision went from dark to light. He crawled toward the door, still reaching for the button then gave up and took his phone from his lab coat pocket instead. I leapt on his back with a grunt of exertion, making him crumple to the floor as I prised the phone from his grip.

“No one’s coming for you, so pray to whatever god serves small-dick douches,” I rasped.

He growled angrily, trying to fight, but it was no good. He was slipping away second by second and I pushed his face against the floor, hearing his visor crack as I waited for him to pass the hell out. “Goodnight, asshole.”

He finally fell still and I drew in a wheezing breath as I slumped down beside him and looked at his phone, finding it needed face ID or a code to unlock it.

I shoved Jonas to roll him over, the effort it took making my vision blacken again for a moment. My muscles shook with the exertion, but I didn’t slow as I ripped his visor and mask off, finding a hairy face beneath. Not a real beard, more like that bum fluff teenagers liked to grow when they couldn’t actually achieve proper facial hair. Gross.

I angled the phone down at him and the screen unlocked just as a cough crashed through my body. The doctor had given me a steroid injection which had slowed the bleeding on my lungs, so I didn’t taste blood this time. I was gonna take that as a good omen.

Adrenaline gave