Page 97 of The Devil's Fire

“Who’s Ellie?” Althaia tried to open her eyes, but the brightness of the lights caused her to squint and shut them once more.

“She’s our doctor.” I replied, almost smiling. Despite her agony and clouded mind, the mere mention of another woman fueled her jealousy.

I dressed her in one of my t-shirts and carried her to the bed again, placing her to sit against the headboard for Ellie to examine her.

“Okay, what do we have here?” Ellie placed her medical bag at the end of the bed and sat next to Althaia to look at her. “How are you feeling?”

“Not good… I have a banging headache, an annoying ringing in my ears, and my eyes can’t really focus. It’s making me dizzy.” Althaia blinked a few times when Ellie turned off her penlight.

“It sounds like you have a mild concussion. I wouldn’t worry too much about it as long as you rest. Avoid screen time and loud noises and you should be good.” She carried on and examined her brow. “You’ll need a few stitches for that, though.” Ellie rummaged through her bag to get the things.

“I’m sorry, what?” Althaia frowned.

“I just need to stitch you up. It’s nothing major and won’t take long.” Ellie gave a small smile while she cleaned the wound.

“Oh, hell no!” Althaia yelled and scrambled to get away from Ellie. She sprang up from the bed too quickly, making her sway and losing her balance.

“Althaia.” I warned her sternly as I steadied her.

“A needle is not going near my face! Just put a band-aid on it and call it a night.” She tried to dismiss it with a wave, inching away from Ellie.

“I need to close it to prevent a nasty infection.” Ellie explained while she put on her gloves and prepped the needle and suture. “Now, sit.”

Althaia’s eyes widened and made a run for it.

Only to fall face-first to the floor when she supported all the weight on her injured foot.

“Oww…” She rolled on her back with a hand to her face as a fresh wave of blood trickled from her brow. I sighed in annoyance at her recklessness. I pulled her up and sat her down on the bed.

“Are you trying to fucking kill yourself?” I sneered out, giving her a firm look.

“Stop moving so she can fix you.” Arianna told her, not impressed with how she injured herself more.

“No needles!” Althaia yelled.

“Don’t be such a baby!” Arianna crossed her arms. “I won’t hesitate to hold you down so you can get that nasty brow fixed.”

“No, no, let us not do that.” Ellie quickly said. “How about I give you something so you can relax? I’ll have a look at your foot in the meantime and then come back to your brow, okay?” She suggested with a smile.

Althaia kept her eyes on the needle until Ellie packed it away. Only then did she relax and gave a nod.

“So, what happened to your foot?” She asked after giving her a pill and examined her.

“Uh, I kicked a door… And then someone tried to kill me, and I kicked him in the face.”

Ellie felt around at the center of her foot, causing her to scrunch up her face in pain. Even though I didn’t show it, I was surprised to hear that she had kicked him in the face.

“Can you tell us what happened?” Arianna asked. I watched Althaia closely as she became quiet. I didn’t miss the way her hands trembled before she clasped them together on her lap with her eyes looking down at them.

“Not now, Arianna.” I glared at her.

“It’s okay.” Althaia said, and I looked back at her. Twiddling her thumbs, she let out a deep breath and told us what had happened.

I could feel my anger rising, and the urge to leave and search for the fucker myself grew stronger. Instead, I clenched my jaw as she spoke while my fingers were twitching to get hold of the bastard to give him a painful death for what he had done to her. If she hadn’t been fast enough to grab the knife, I would have found her dead.

Dead under my protection.

The mere thought of anyone taking her away from me made me see red. No one was going to take her away from me.

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