Page 7 of Crave Me

“Noooo!”

Bastian… they’d taken him!

Oh my God, they’d taken him!

My hands shaking, I pulled out the IV, then struggled to push out of the bed, my body protesting every movement, sluggish and not moving fluidly at all.

Although the pain in my side was numbed thanks to the medication, there was still a noticeable pull there and considerable restriction thanks to my injury.

I managed to plant my feet on the floor, then very slowly push to a standing position.

Staggering over to the bedroom door was a whole other thing and it took me a ridiculous amount of time before I was able to reach it and then open it.

I stumbled out into the corridor and I had to slap my hand to the railing in order to steady myself.

“Where you headed, Bluebell?”

I jolted at the sound of the voice and turned, in a frustratingly necessary slow way, to see Damien walking down the upper level corridor toward me.

In King Manor?

What was happening?

My brow furrowed as I tried to make sense of this strange reality before me.

“No! Save her!”

“Seb—”

“Please, brother!”

He’d helped me. Damien had somehow shown up at that gas station and intervened.

He’d stopped those bastards from taking me too.

“It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay, Bluebell. I’ve got you.”

“You… you got me clear?”

I needed to hear him say it, to confirm.

In my addled state, all the confusion that the heavy-duty painkillers were serving to amplify, I guess I had to have it spelled out to me.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “I got you clear, then took you to the hospital. Once you were stabilized, King brought you back here where you’d be more comfortable—and under his round-the-clock protection.”

“And Bastian?”

“He—”

“Did Caspian get him back? He did, right? Tell me he did, Damien.”

Pain played on his features, giving the answer away. He shoved a hand through his shaggy hair. “It’s being worked on. Everything will be fine. King will make sure of it like he always does.”

I slumped against the railing, trying to absorb it all. “They have him… Bastian’s not here… he’s been taken from us… he’s—”

“Skylar.”

Hands landed on my shoulders, jarring me from my emotional and panicked state, and I looked to see Damien’s steady gaze burning into mine. Conviction rolled through him as he told me firmly, “We will get them back. There’s no other outcome possible. King won’t allow it.”

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