Page 109 of Problematic

I choked. The masked man’s head turned slowly toward her.

She stared back, unimpressed. “Don’t look at me like that. You came in with silver poisoning, a punctured lung, and enough blood loss to make a vampire’s whole week. You get rules.”

She handed me a small brown bottle. “If he shakes, two drops. If he bleeds black, call the red app. If he passes out, let him. If he tries to leave before morning, hit him with something heavy.”

“I have a ceramic cat mug.”

“That’ll do.”

He sighed.

She pointed at him. “You’re welcome.” Then she left.

Silence dropped hard. Just me, him, and my ruined couch. Amazing.

He sat upright, bandaged, shirt cut open, one gloved hand pressed to his ribs. More muscle than I knew what to do with sat on display beneath blood and white gauze. I should not have been turned on.

“Don’t move,” I said.

His head turned toward me.

“I’m serious. Frizzy medical woman said no fighting, no moving, and no sex, and that if you tried to leave, I should hit you.”

A pause.

“You remembered the sex part.”

“You’re dying on my couch, and yet you still find the time to be disgusting.”

“I’m not dying.”

“You looked like a corpse twenty minutes ago.”

He laughed. It scraped out of him and turned into a pained breath.

“See?” I pointed. “Listen to women with emergency medical bags.”

“I listen when I feel like it.”

“That explains so much.” I rubbed my temple.

His head rested back against the cushion. For the first time, the menace drained out of him, leaving exhaustion behind.

“Liv,” he said.

My pulse did something stupid. “Don’t say my name like that. You left for four days.”

“I didn’t leave because I wanted to.”

“I know who you are.”

He went still. Total, absolute stillness. The way predators did when their prey made a sound they weren’t expecting.

My heart slammed once.

“Lux,” I said. The name sat between us like a lit match. I rushed on before courage abandoned me. “You’re his assassin,” I said. “Right? Lux Draven’s assassin. The guy from Broken Halo. That’s you.”

His head tilted a fraction in amusement.