Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 113936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
“Where did my burn patient go?” she demanded as she pointed at the bed. “What happened to him?”
Weaknesses had to be hidden in the prison camp, and though her physical faults were obvious, she did what she could to camouflage her mental ones: Revealing to this killer that she had developed a tie with Kane was not smart.
But she had to know for sure what she feared in theory.
“He’s dead.” The head of the guards pivoted and walked out into the forest of shelves. “Your patients are arriving shortly. I’ll get you your supplies.”
Nadya listened to the retreating footfalls. And knew if she had been in another body, she would have gone after the female. In her mind, she had a fantasy of hand-to-hand combat, but that was never going to happen for so many reasons.
Kane had been a stranger. Yet in his suffering, he had become a part of her.
It was as if she had died, too.
And the prospect of going on without him cast her already gray world into a mourning that reached her soul.
CHAPTER FOUR
The sound of tires crackling over loose gravel entered Apex’s ears like shards of glass, the soft volume at odds with the pain the noise caused inside his skull. Meanwhile, in his nose, the smell of blood, gas, burned rubber, and fresh grass was likewise too much to handle. Groaning, he pushed at what was against his face—
He was back in the wheel well of the SUV. Except this time, it was vertical, not horizontal.
Shit, they’d rolled over. And those were more guards pulling up on the shoulder of the road.
As brakes squeaked, he forced himself into motion and patted around for a weapon he didn’t have, while off to the left, a car door opened—no, two. And that spelled certain death if he couldn’t find something to shoot or stab with—
Footsteps on the ground cover, rustling on the approach. At least two sets, closing in.
No scent that he could catch over all the stench, but like it mattered? He knew what was coming.
Determined to at least go out punching, he flipped around in the tight squeeze, and as his head lifted, he felt a foot on the side of his face. Kane’s.
In a sudden surge, he pushed himself up, only to get caught in a tangle of legs and the folds of that cover he’d wrapped Kane in when he’d carried the male out. The seat belt he’d fastened around the other prisoner at the last second was holding what was clearly dead weight in place above him, all those loose, unresponsive limbs making Apex’s gut twist.
Batting the blanket aside, he was able to see better, thanks to the glow of the dashboard. Breathing. Okay, at least Kane was breathing. For how long, who the fuck knew.
“Mayhem?” he hissed.
No reply. No movement, either, from the guy behind the wheel who was hanging in his seat from his belt just like Kane was.
With the grim triaging done, Apex assessed whether he could squeeze into the front to look for another grenade or maybe a gun. The impact should have thrown anything loose forward, the kinetic energy of the objects unchanged even as the SUV hit a hard stop—
“Apex,” came a voice from what seemed like far, far away. “Don’t start shooting, for fuck’s sake. It’s me.”
“Lucan?”
“I’m going to get you out of this wreck.”
Apex put his hand to his head and winced. Maybe this was because of a concussion? Then again, he’d had a few in his lifetime, and they’d never come with auditory hallucinations before.
“What the hell are you doing here, wolven,” he mumbled.
There was a pause. “Are you complaining? Because I’ll leave you in this wreck if you’d rather wait for Santa-fucking-Claus.”
“Hollow threat, wolf.”
But come on, of course the guy would return. That half-breed had too much lupine DNA in him to desert anyone from what he perceived as his clan, and too much vampire in him not to protect those who he thought were his. Even though he’d escaped the prison camp with the human woman he’d claimed as his mate, and in spite of the fact that he shouldn’t get anywhere near the place, at least not without a pistol to his pea head, here he was.
“Take Kane first.”
Lucan’s voice was muffled. “Cover your head.”
“What?”
“Cover your damn head, just in case.”
An absolutely insane part of Apex wanted to stick his fucking neck out because he was just that kind of a defiant SOB. But he ducked down and took shelter behind the seat.
“Be careful of Kane!” he barked. “And Mayhem!”
Up at the front windshield, there was a dull thud. And then a second that was louder, and a last—
“I’m in.” The wolven’s voice was clear as a bell now. “Oh, hell, Mayhem…”
“Is he dead?” Apex said as he pushed himself up.