Page 8 of Sinful Empire (Mount Trilogy 3)
Keira’s small hand closes over mine. The tension leaves my body at her touch, even as the scent of disinfectant fills my nose.
“I made them move you closer to me since they threatened to handcuff me to this bed to keep me in it when I tried to get to
yours.”
Her voice is husky and barely loud enough to hear over the beeping of the machines, but her words wrap around me, settling me down even more. How I earned that kind of loyalty from her, I’ll never understand. I’ll never let her take it back, either.
I scan every inch of her body, from her messy red hair down to the blue scrubs she’s wearing. No signs of blood anymore. She’s in one piece, and her face isn’t pinched with pain.
“Please fucking tell me you’re okay.” In my nightmare, she was screaming because she was dying, and I couldn’t save her. Those screams were worse than the pain of any of the bullets I’ve had punch through my body. A million times worse than being hit by that Mercedes so fucking long ago. Worse than any stab wound or other injury I’ve endured or could imagine.
“I’m fine. You’re gonna be fine. We’re both going to be fucking fine, or I swear to God, I will hunt down whoever did this and kill them myself.” Icy determination backs her every word.
My bloodthirsty hellion. My defiant queen.
I shouldn’t smile about it, but when it comes to this woman, nothing is rational. She came from a bubble, a world that I’ve never inhabited. When I dragged her into the shadows and darkness, I gave no thought to the consequences of my actions beyond the satisfaction I would gain from her submission.
I’m a selfish man. I know myself well enough to accept it. I take, and take, and take.
That’s what I intended to do with Keira Kilgore. Take her until I was sated. But tonight, the only thing I wanted to take was every single bit of her pain, regardless of whether it killed me.
I’ve never believed in selflessness. I thought it was a myth. But where Keira Kilgore is concerned, my beliefs have shifted.
Everything has shifted.
Life taught me not to get attached to a single fucking thing, because nothing in this world is permanent. Everything is temporary.
I no longer accept that when it comes to her. She’s mine. She’s staying mine. Even my black heart couldn’t handle losing her. I will keep her safe with my very last breath, if necessary.
I’ve avoided weakness like other men avoid the devil . . . or me. But I didn’t care about weakness in the moments when I thought I might lose her. That’s when something else became clear—losing Keira Kilgore would mean losing my strength.
This fiery redhead, with sparks flaring in her green eyes, shifted the foundation of my whole world.
“I thought I lost you,” she says, her gaze filling with anguish. “I never want to feel like that again.”
“Never. The devil won’t even take me.”
“Promise me.”
Nothing is permanent, my inner voice reminds me. But I’m Lachlan fucking Mount, and I make the rules and can change them anytime I want.
“I promise.”
She squeezes my hand tighter. “Good.”
“I should make you go. Send you somewhere safe, as far away from me as I can get you, but—”
“I dare you to try.” Keira lifts her stubborn chin.
“If I were a better man, that’s exactly what I would do.”
Her expression turns mulish, her jaw clenching. “Then it’s a good thing you’re not.”
The door opens, and one of the docs whose name I can’t remember comes in. “Mr. Mount, how are you feeling?”
My first reaction should be to drop Keira’s hand, to make sure he doesn’t see how fucking gone I am for her, because it would be an admission of weakness. But that’s not at all what I do.
Instead, I thread my fingers through hers, and we present a united front to him.
