Page 27 of Scarlet Wars
“Yeah, you know another Sean?”
“Don’t fuck with me, Jackson. I’m not in the mood.”
“When are you ever?” he muttered back. “Look, you’ve been cooped up in her room for twelve hours straight. You need sleep. A shower. And most importantly, we need to talk. I’m coming down there, and we’re going for a walk and talk.”
I shook my head, while pacing the hallway. “I’m not leaving her.”
“Oh yes, you are. We need to talk about Cyclos, about Emma, about whatever the hell you and everyone else have been keeping from me. And we need to figure out how to get in contact with Matthew, Nino, and Justine.”
He wasn’t wrong. I had responsibilities piling up, things I couldn’t afford to ignore.
“I don’t want to leave her alone,” I mumbled, glancing back at the closed door.
Jackson sighed. “She won’t be alone. Caden Colt can stay with her while you bring me up to speed. It won’t take all day, for gods’sake.”
My fists clenched at the thought of Caden in the same room as Emma. “I’m not leaving her with that psychopath while she’s vulnerable.”
Jackson rolled his eyes visibly through the Nexus. “He’s not a threat to her. She was with him for months and came back unharmed. She’ll be fine.”
My mind went dark. Yes, she had come back, but I hadn’t forgotten the first thing she’d said when she set foot in my Collective, words imprinted on my mind forever. Words I couldn’t afford to dwell on right now, or I’d rip Caden’s head off.
There was no way I was letting that manipulative, mutilating asshole near her in this state.
“He’s not going anywhere near her.”
“Jesus, James, set aside your idiotic stubbornness for once. Do you really believe having Colt by her side for an hour is going to change anything?”
I hated to admit it, but he was right. It wouldn’t.
“No…” I grumbled, reluctantly.
“Good. I’ll be there in two minutes. Be ready.” Jackson cut the line.
Fuck me.
SEVEN
CADEN
I was going out of my fucking mind.
For twelve hours straight, that asshole James wouldn’t let me inside her room to check up on her. And I might’ve just killed him for it, had he not been her godsdamn boyfriend.
Call me crazy, but I had a feeling, me ripping off James’s head, wouldn’t go over too well with Emma once she woke up.
So I tried to be respectful, and settled for the updates I got from Hillary Hugh, Kanata C’s resident Healer, but when I got the intel on what had happened at Boston, I nearly lost it.
How I managed to knock on the door instead of breaking the whole damn thing down, I’ll never know.
After Jackson—thanks to some not-so-subtle nudging from my brother Sean—convinced the possessive prick to let me in, I barged into the room less than a minute later.
The room was empty, aside from the beautiful creature laying on the bed in the center of it. My heart was pounding as I took in the woman who’d invaded my every thought for the last few months, and I swallowed at the sight of her so lifeless.
My legs carried me to her bed without thinking.
“Emma,” I whispered, drinking her in. “Fuck, baby… What the hell happened to you?”
She didn’t stir. Didn’t move. Didn’t make a sound.
