Page 140 of Javier

“We’ve got some time.” He selected a bandage. “They’re good with snake bites here. If you have to get bitten by a viper, this is the place to do it.”

“Right.”

My body felt hot as a coal on fire. I wiped off the sweat beads forming on my forehead. I looked down at the redness spreading over my right hand and watched the wound swell before my very eyes. Blood continued to ooze from it, a little too fast for my taste.

A paragraph from the Raider’s snake catalogue flashed before my eyes:The Fer-de-lance venom is designed to kill its prey and initiate the process of pre-digesting the tissue. It affects the blood’s ability to coagulate, leading to internal bleeding and low blood pressure so the prey can’t run away. Without antivenom, death for a human occurs within hours, provided the patient is not allergic to the venom, in which case death can occur at any time.

Fucking great. I was snake prey. Any time now, my tissues would begin to decompose from the inside out. That is, if shock, cardiac arrest, or a stroke didn’t kill me first.

I hadn’t been afraid of dying a day in my life. In my line of work, death was a significant probability, but for a moment there, panic rushed through my system. I’d finally earned my chance with Missy. She’d stood up for me, unafraid to tell the world about us. She’d declared I was the man she loved. And now I was on my way out?

A wave of regret washed over me. I’d wasted so much time. I’d kept away from her when I should’ve devoted my everysecond to being with her. I hadn’t told her that I loved her. Hell, I hadn’t even claimed her as mine as she’d done with me in front of everyone today.

“Hey, King?” I called out while Ferranti bandaged my hand.

“What is it?” King crouched by my side.

“Tell Missy I love her.”

“Fuck, no.” King grimaced. “I ain’t telling her shit. You tell her.”

I tried again, dizzy as a lizard stuck on a top. “But if I die—”

“You’re a big, mean, tough motherfucker.” King got on my face. “We’re gonna get you to the hospital.”

“Bekker and his mercs are not gonna let us get there and you know it.”

“Fuck the fucker,” King swore. “We’re getting you there. They’ve got the antivenom waiting for you. So, you fight for time. You fight to stay alive. You got that?”

“Bitten by a fucking snake,” I muttered as the burning pain pulsed through my veins. “What a fucked-up way to go. The gods in Valhalla must be laughing their asses off. I’m pure venom right now. This fucker’s gonna die a miserable death.”

“You willnotdie,” Dagger snapped. “That’s an order, Marine.”

“I wasn’t talking about me.” I smirked through the agony. “I was talking about the snake.”

Chapter Thirty-four

Missy

“Tell me more about your dreams.” Instead of calling the men in white coats, Thena propped her cheek on her hand, and studied my face. “What do you mean when you say you dreamed of Javier before you met him?”

“Two or three weeks before he showed up, I began to have these crazy dreams.” I tracked Thena’s reaction, but she didn’t seem alarmed yet. “I don’t know what to make of them. I dream stuff, and then sometimes it happens.” I paused, expecting her to laugh at me, or at the very least to tell me she was worried about me, which was the Thena thing to do.

“Give me an example,” she said instead.

“I dreamed of the snakes slithering on flat stone and water before it happened today. My dreams don’t always come true. At times, the details don’t pan out. But this was close. In my snake dream, there were six snakes, not five.”

“And you’ve had other dreams—or nightmares—that have come true as well?”

“Yes.” I clasped my hands on my lap. “In fact, when I saw Javier in my dreams, I saw us, you know, together, as in really together.”

“That’s amazing.” Thena considered what I’d said for a moment then flashed me her knowing smile. “You’re amazing.”

“I don’t know about that, but… I dreamed of Nix,” I blurted out. “I saw him and Javier in a foxhole on the day Nix died.”

“Did you?” She drew back. “So, you know that Javier and Nix were friends?”

“Yes, and more than that.” I might as well tell her everything. “I felt Nix’s presence in my dream.”

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