Page 2 of Crave Me

“All right, keep me posted. After I see Skylar, I’ll put out a statement to the press to calm the drama outside.”

“They certainly do love her thanks to your efforts,” he said, trying to give me a silver lining. A flimsy one, yet that really was all we had right now. “Discovering she’s back in the city and hurting has them up in arms, the public rooting for their Warrior Princess and the City Prince. Seblyar as I believe they are terming their ship.”

I laid my hand on his shoulder. “Thank you, my friend.”

He smiled. “Of course. Go see your woman and we’ll discuss the rest when you return to King Manor, namely the damage we were still able to do to Bane Industries. I’ll keep you posted in the meantime on this… unexpected fallout.”

As he took off, rushing back down the corridor to see to what I’d tasked him with, I scrubbed my hand over my face.

Unexpected fallout didn’t quite cover it.

Elijah had known we were coming.

His second had revealed that much.

But he’d also known other things.

I had no evidence of him watching me and mine, so it meant he’d had a source.

A source I hadn’t been able to pick up on.

A ghost among men.

My fingers clenched white-hot as I stood outside the room assigned to Skylar.

I forced myself to lock it up. I couldn’t walk in there in front of her with all this rage brimming. She’d been hurt. Although, I already knew she’d been stabilized, that didn’t take away from the fact that it had happened, that somebody had harmed her, that she’d been in such a state that she’d been rushed to the fucking hospital. I felt absolutely sick with it.

Stop.

Focus.

I took a moment to calm myself, then I opened the door and stepped inside.

A test to my calm hit me right away as I took in Damien leaning back in a chair beside her bed, holding vigil.

He swung his head toward me and tensed.

I looked away, needing to focus on what mattered so much more.

Our love.

I winced as I approached the bed where she was clad in a hospital gown, tucked up in plain white sheets, her eyes closed as she slept, far too many tubes and needles connected to her.

She looked so pale, a pained look on her face even in sleep.

Her hair was mussed and fanned out over her pillow, her knuckles of both hands bandaged, stitches across her right cheek, her left eye black and blue.

I reached out and gently stroked her hair.

“She’s gonna be fine,” Damien spoke, his aggravating voice echoing through the still room. “They got that big shard of glass out of her side and it didn’t penetrate anything vital. She’s stitched up. She did lose a lot of blood, so she’s gonna be out for a while yet recuperating.”

“All this I know,” I bit back.

He rose to his feet, shoving his hands into the pockets of his white and gold hoodie. “King—”

“What I want to know is why Bastian isn’t here with us.”

“I reported what happened to your staff, I’m sure you’re already well aware.”

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