Page 103 of Remnants
“I’ve got you, beautiful,” I rasp, struggling through the disorientation until I’m confident enough I can move without dropping her. I lay her on her front, and the world goes out of focus when I see the damage to her back. So much blood. So, so much. And I realize now I’m covered in it.
“Infirmary. Now.” Aiden staggers to the foot of the bed, his free hand grasping it like he needs it to stay upright while he grunts into the phone.
Grabbing the sheet on the bed, I rip the bottom off and bunch it up, then press it against her wound. I tuck the hair out of her face behind her ear so I can see her. Her eyes are closed, her breathing still. So damn still. “Stay with me until Cassandra gets here,” I tell her, my voice rough. “Let me know you can hear me.”
A quiet, low groan barely escapes her lips. I hang my head, shuddering with relief.
“Is she okay?!” Dane scrambles toward us, trying to shift beds out of the way but unable to move them far enough for him to fit on the other side.
“Go check on Jack!” I bark before he causes him any more damage than I already have. He was moving before we left. That has to mean he’s okay, right? Or was that only because he couldn’t feel any pain?
Dane curses, searching the room for him and then pushing beds aside when he finds him. “What happened to his face?”
I grind my teeth. “Me.”
Aiden moves beside me. “I’ll hold that. Get Jack in one of the beds.” His hand joins mine on the red sheet that was once white.
I almost argue for him to do it, but when I look at him, his face is bleached of color. Aiden’s lips are pressed to a thin line, his brow furrowed as if it’s taking all of his concentration and focus to stay upright and hold the sheet. An aftereffect of Royce?
Removing my hand, I knock the bed behind me back and stalk around Aiden to get to Jackson. I’m careful when I scoop him up, offering up an internal apology for what I had to do. I don’t regret it. I’d do it again in a heartbeat if he threatened Raegan. I doubt he’d criticize me for it. In fact, I’m damn sure he’ll be glad I stopped him before he could have done worse. He’ll already be beating himself up over attacking her—and injuring her—after he wakes up.
Once he’s on the bed, I see the full extent of the damage I’d inflicted when I crushed him into the cliff. That one side of his face is swollen like a balloon. Blues, blacks, and purples mottle the swelling, followed by cuts here or there and one big bleeding scrape. His eye is hidden behind the swelling, and his nose is crooked, fresh blood still draining from it.
I tear a strip of fabric from his bed and hold it to his nose. “Dane, take this.” I check on Aiden, and he doesn’t look good. “Aiden, sit or lie down.” Dane takes my place at Jackson’s side and I grab the sheet from Aiden, nudging him to the bed next to us.
Dane’s worried gaze is pinned on Raegan. “How bad is it?”
“I don’t know,” I growl, frustrated that Cassandra isn’t here yet. How much blood had she lost between when she was stabbed and now? She hadn’t stayed still after it happened, making it worse.
Reid reappears with Cassandra, I guess having picked her up from her apartment upstairs, and for the first time I notice Harvey sitting on the floor holding his head. I completely forgot about him in the rush to leave, but I’m glad he’s here, so we don’t have to go back for him.
Cassandra trips on her way to Raegan’s side, her eyes wide as they rove over me from top to bottom, then freeze between my legs.
Snarling viciously, I shout, “Heal her!” I don’t give a shit that I’m butt-ass naked. Raegan doesn’t have time for her to stop and stare.
She coughs and runs over, snapping back without looking at me, “Then give me some room.”
Once Cassandra’s hands are on her, I move back and to the side. Something soft hits me in the face. Growling, I find Dane glaring back at me. “Put it on.”
I hold the thing up, but the hospital gown is tiny compared to me. “This isn’t going to fit me.”
“Then at least use it to cover your dick! As usual.”
I don’t have the capacity to joke or make fun of him at the moment as I normally would, so I tie it around my waist as best I can without a word and get back to watching Cassandra healing my girl.
She must have used the sheet to wipe away the blood enough that I can see the wound and watch it slowly shrinking in size. Tension sucks from my muscles like a riptide, leaving me drained and unbalanced. I lean into the bed Aiden’s seated on and watch the scales of gold fade to my natural, golden-brown skin tone.
A bang snatches my attention to the other side of the room, where Reid’s fist shakes against the cracked drywall. “She was there!” hegrits out lowly, sounding more like he’s saying it to himself than the rest of the room. “She was right there, and I couldn’t do it.”
Aiden rubs his face, trying to wipe away whatever he’s still caught up in. “You saw her?”
“No, but…” He lifts a hair tie with two green leaf charms attached. “I found this.”
Folding my arms, I quirk a single brow. “You’re going to need to be a helluva lot clearer than that.”
“It’s hers.”
With an exhausted huff, I counter, “Or any other girl’s.”
