Page 3 of Aftershock
Too quickly, white light floods my vision, washing everything away. I grimace, shrinking into the hospital bed, desperate for the darkness where it doesn’t hurt.
“Hey,” he says quietly. “Lilith, are you okay?”
The sound of his voice cuts through the pain and sudden fear.
It gives me something to cling to.
That’s why I ignore the blaring lights, blink the world into focus, and then…
There he is.
My savior.
He’s right there, towering above me, tall and broad. Hope flutters in my chest, seeing how huge he is. He’s the kind of man who could stand up to my mom without flinching.
“Lilith.”
My eyes snap to his navy-blue ones that match his scrubs. I can’t look away, taking in his short black hair, the light scruff shadowing a jaw so square it almost looks carved. He looks like a warrior.
“There she is,” the woman whose voice I recognize from before murmurs. “Such a pretty shade of blue in your eyes. We’ll do everything to make sure they stay open, sweetheart.”
That’s not what they said in the ambulance.
They said things that made it sound like I might die tonight.
And for what?
“An A-minus on my math quiz…” I croak as they wheel me through swinging doors. “Disappointment.”
“What math quiz?” Alaric’s brow furrows.
“School… I messed up.”
“Lilith, I don’t care about your grades.” Rage overtakes the confusion, the tendons in his throat working. His jaw tics. “Stay with me.”
“Hurts…” Dark spots dance around the edges of my one open eye. “Stomach…”
In my periphery, I catch Alaric’s hand moving.
Then—“Ow!”
“She’s tender across the abdomen.” His features harden. “Let’s prep for imaging.”
The second he lifts his hand, my body loosens, the ache easing.
It’s the same kind of relief I felt earlier. When the police officers pulled my mom off me. They dragged her out of the penthouse in cuffs as she went on and on about calling their captain, and still, they didn’t let her go.
Maybe their captain would.
Maybe he already has, and she’s on her way to get me back.
I don’t want that.
Don’t want to see her.
Don’t want to die either. I don’t.
“You’re not going to die, Lilith.” Alaric leans over me, his eyes locking onto my open one. “Not on my fucking watch.”
