Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41558 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 166(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41558 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 166(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)
Alive. She’s alive.
A shudder wracked my entire body, and I clutched her to me more tightly. Someone was at my side, shouting at me. I ignored them until they tried to take her from me.
An animal snarl slipped between my bared teeth, and I allowed the monstrous mask to twist my ruined face. The paramedic paled and shifted back slightly before his tanned features firmed with determination.
“Let me help her.”
I was dimly aware of flashing lights and the blast of a firehose. I saw the waiting stretcher and got to my feet, laying her achingly delicate frame on it. She looked so fragile, bloody and dusted with dark ash.
The paramedic pushed me aside and went to work. My knees shook, and I locked them to prevent myself from falling again. My head spun, and nauseating waves of heat rolled just beneath the surface of my skin. I couldn’t seem to draw in enough air, despite the fact that I’d escaped the smoke.
Someone guided me to sit down, and an oxygen mask was pressed close to my face. I tried to shake it off, desperate to keep Allie in my sight.
The second paramedic ordered me to be still, and I only complied because she shifted aside far enough so that I could see Allie. But within seconds, they were loading the stretcher into an ambulance. I surged to my feet and followed, pushing my way inside with her.
The paramedics eyed me up and down for a few heartbeats, then seemed to decide that I needed to go to the hospital too. I didn’t give a fuck about going to the hospital for treatment. They weren’t taking Allie anywhere without me.
Her chest convulsed, and she coughed beneath the oxygen mask. Her eyes fluttered open, slightly unfocused. She wasn’t looking at me. I needed to look into her peridot eyes and assure myself that she was truly alive.
My hands fisted at my sides as the male paramedic placed a steadying hand on her shoulder. I was so focused on her that I didn’t notice the female paramedic tending to the burns on my forearms.
My heart leapt into my throat when Allie coughed again, and I barely managed to force down the urge to tear my way through the people helping us so that I could get to her side.
After a few horrible minutes when she struggled to breathe, the man asked, “Can you tell me your name?”
“Allie…Fitzgerald,” she wheezed, fighting for each word.
The man’s eyes widened, and he sat back for a moment to study her face. Recognition dawned on his tanned features. “You’re the mayor’s daughter?”
She cringed and gasped for air. “Don’t tell…”
“Stay calm, Allie,” he soothed in a firm tone. “We’ll need to notify your family.”
She shook her head, then stilled with a groan.
“She doesn’t want you to call her father,” I growled, allowing my menace to fill the cramped space.
The man glanced at me, flinched, then dropped his gaze back to Allie.
But she wasn’t looking at him. Her eyes finally caught mine, and all the air whooshed out of my chest.
Alive. My Allie was alive. She was injured, but I hadn’t lost her forever.
“Max,” she croaked.
“Hush, Bambi,” I urged gently. “It’s okay. I’m right here.”
“But my father…”
“Don’t worry about your father.” I struggled to keep the snap from my tone. The last thing she needed right now was that bastard.
“He’ll come to the hospital,” she insisted, her eyes focusing with full clarity. “You can’t…be there.”
The ambulance came to a stop, and the doors were opened. I hopped out so that they could get Allie the help she needed immediately. She grabbed my hand as the stretcher passed me.
“Please.” Her lovely eyes shone with desperation. “He can’t see you here with me.”
My lip curled with contempt for her old man. “I don’t give a fuck about him. I’m not leaving you.”
“We need to get you inside, Allie,” the paramedic insisted.
She squeezed my hand like a vise. “I’ll come to you as soon as they’ll let me. I swear. Please, Max…”
She coughed again, struggling for breath.
Fuck. I had to let the doctors treat her. I was only getting in the way.
I lifted our intertwined hands and brushed a kiss over her knuckles. “I’ll be waiting,” I promised gruffly. Then I turned my most forbidding glower on the paramedics. “Take care of her.”
The man swallowed hard and nodded. Allie’s grip loosened, and her hand slipped from mine as they took her away from me.
The loss of her tender touch was a knife in my chest, but I had to let her go for now. She would be safe in the hospital. Her father would come, and there was nothing I could do to stop that from happening. If my presence caused her stress when she needed to focus on recovering, then I would give her some space. Her wellbeing was all that mattered.