Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 86230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
She lifts her long lashes to look at me. “You could say that.”
Sensing she doesn’t want to elaborate, I change the subject and nod toward Odin on the bed. “You know he’s not going to improve, right?”
“Yes,” she replies softly, and again I feel the smoothness of her voice roll through me. “But we can at least make him comfortable.”
Her compassion is bigger than my own.
I glance at my watch. It's a little after eleven, and I’m exhausted. To say today has been wearing would be like declaring the sky is blue. “There’s nothing else we can do for him until Otto gets back with supplies. We should get some sleep.”
“You sleep. I’ll keep first watch.”
“You sure?”
“You look like hell.”
“Thank you.”
A small smile plays on her lips. “You ready to take those painkillers now? Or do you still think I’m trying to poison you?”
“The jury’s still out on that.”
Her smile grows, and I feel it hit me square in the heart like a goddamn arrow. I tell myself to stop noticing these things, but it’s hard when her beautiful lips are glossy and full, and her teeth are so perfectly straight and white. And I haven’t touched a woman in six years.
She pulls a small bottle from her jeans and tips out two pills onto the palm of her hand. “Here, they’re just Tylenol.”
This time, I take them, downing them with a glass of water taken from the faucet in the bathroom.
“Thanks,” I say, crawling onto the other bed in the room. I pull the blankets over me because it’s getting colder, and fatigue has settled into my bones, making everything ache.
“You’re welcome.” She pushes the mass of dark curls over her shoulder and turns her attention back to Odin. I watch her for a moment, thinking she might just be the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
“Wake me when Otto gets back,” I say, ignoring the thought.
She turns back, and at that moment, I feel a little piece of my heart break away.
“Sure.”
Rolling onto my side, I try to convince myself that this attraction to Lily is nothing more than the result of being knocked on the head.
And the fact I might not get out of this alive.
LILY
Lucien and Otto arrive back just before two in the morning.
I’m asleep and awkwardly squished into a battered chair in the corner of the room when they walk in. I wake up and for a moment, I’m confused. I don’t know where I am or what’s going on, but I quickly regain my bearings and usher them out of the room because I don’t want to wake the doc. He wanted me to wake him when they got back, but he looks too peaceful to disturb. And after the trauma he’s sustained, he needs rest.
In the hallway, Otto shows me what they got from their haul. Apparently, they broke into a medical center a few towns away. I don’t ask where because I don’t want the details, I’m just grateful they managed to get the morphine and the antibiotics Doc asked for.
I’m desperate for some more shut-eye, but I need to get fluids and meds into Odin first.
Lucien disappears down the hallway, but Otto hangs back, and I feel the hairs on my neck stand on end. He wants to talk, to rehash the past, and as Doc says, I’d rather ram needles in my eyes.
The day I left the Inferno, I left Otto, and I have no desire to travel down memory lane with him. But the hall is empty, except for us, and there is no avoiding him. He towers over me, and I can feel the tension is tight between us. He still thinks I belong to him.
Always did.
Always will.
As a brainwashed Inferno girl, I thought his possessiveness meant he loved me. That it was normal behavior, but once I shed my Inferno skin, I realized his jealousy and controlling behavior meant he thought I was his damn property.
He didn’t love me.
He thought he owned me.
Now I’m back, and in his warped brain, he thinks he has a right to me, which is confirmed when he hands me the bag of medical supplies and his fingers brush over mine. He looks at me, and I see the familiar look of want on his face.
His eyes roam my expression, searching for any sign of the old Lily. The one who didn’t know any better because she was so young and programmed by her father and his rules. But this time, he won’t find any sign of her because she’s dead. Long dead.
I take a step back, desperate to get away from Otto because his touch makes my skin crawl. “Odin needs these.” And without looking back, I step inside Odin’s room and close the door behind me, locking it.
Inside, I quickly set about hooking Odin up to the IV which starts administering the antibiotics he needs to fight off any infection. Then I top up his pain medication so I can redress his wounds.