Page 139 of Javier

I set my cup down. “This will sound crazy to you.”

She leaned back on the couch and crossed her legs. “Try me.”

“I dreamed of him.” I took a deep breath and forced the words out. “I dreamed of himbeforehe came looking for me.”

***

Javier

I snatched the creature from the air, caught it right under the head. Mouth open, fangs dripping with venom, the viper writhed, thrashing its muscular body in my grip. The fucker was stronger than I expected and fierce in its own defense.

One step, two steps, wrench the screen doors open, then the sliders…

I pitched the snake into the suite, sent it flying all the way to the other side, and slammed the doors shut.

“Holy shit.” I forced myself to breathe. “Did that just happen?”

I turned around to find Dagger’s face leached of color, staring at me with a look I’d never seen on him before.

“What?” I asked. “If you’re thinking of turning me in to the humane society, that snake just tried to kill you.”

“I know.” His throat rippled. “You saved my life.”

“Holy fuck.” King rushed to us. “Is everyone all right?”

“No.” Omega’s gaze slid down my right arm. “Your hand.”

I turned my wrist and found a thin trail of blood on the side below my thumb.

“It’s just a scratch,” I wiped off the blood and watched as the streak of red swelled again, oozing from two small holesetched into my skin.

“Ferranti, down here, now,” Dagger shouted. “King, get on the horn. Alert Bozeman. We need to—”

His voice became a distant drone.I didn’t hear the rest. A flame flared from the wound, a burning sensation growing and spreading to the rest of my hand and up my arm. My heart began to gallop like a racehorse, and my pulse swooshed in my ears. My knees went weak. It all felt surreal and yet the pain spiking through me was very real.

“Sit.” Dagger pushed a chair under me. “Hand on your lap. Don’t move.”

Ferranti trotted up the stairs. “What’s up?”

“Snake bite,” Dagger reported. “Move!”

“Fuck.” Ferranti took my pulse. “Too fast. Help me out here, Guzman. Try to slow down your breathing as much as you can.”

Inhale… Exhale… In… out...It was my turn to work on my vagus nerve. Hard to slow anything down when my heart was banging so hard.

“We need antivenom.” Ferrari zipped open one of his pockets and pulled out his med kit.

“There’s a hospital in range.” King relayed from whoever he was talking to on the cell. “We’re notifying them now. They’ll be expecting us.”

“We can’t just go.” I clenched my teeth against the burning pain. “Bekker is waiting for us to make a move. If we leave Missy and Thena behind, he’ll come for them. If we take them with us, he’ll attack along the way.”

“I’m aware,” Dagger said, his phone glued to his ear. “Let me worry about that shit.”

Meanwhile, Ferranti cleaned and disinfected the wound. He pulled a pen from his pocket and drew a circle around the punctures and also the time of the bite. For an instant there,the world whirled. I understood how Missy felt right before she fainted. I fought not to pass out.

“Goof?” Ferranti waved his hand across my face. “Are you listening to me?”

“I hear you.”

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