Page 13 of I Will Mend You

XERO

The laptop crashes against the wall along with the foul video, the pieces rebounding on Tyler’s shoulder. I throw off my oxygen mask just as Jynxson rises from his seat.

“What are you doing?” He places a hand on my shoulder, trying to push me back on my bed, but I knock him into the wall.

Before I know it, the IV has slipped out of my arm, and I’m barreling toward the exit.

The man in that video wasn’t me.I would never allow any man to touch Amethyst, let alone four.I would never release footage of the woman I love onto the internet.

Jynxson lands on my back, sending me sprawling onto the hallway floor. I roll us to the side, driving an elbow into his midsection before scrambling to my feet. Jynxson grabs my ankles like an asshole, yanking hard to stop me from leaving the infirmary. I kick back, aiming for his face. My foot connects, and he grunts, loosening his grip just enough for me to pull away and race down the corridor.

“What the hell happened?” Tyler catches up with me and grabs my arm.

“Isabel!” Jynxson roars.

My sister emerges from a door on the left, her eyes widening as she spots me trying to escape. Jynxson springs to his feet and wraps both arms around my torso.

Pivoting, I run the other way, dragging Tyler and Jynxson, not wanting to hurl Isabel into the wall.

“Dixon!” she yells.

Shit.

A door on the right opens. Dr. Dixon steps out with a tranq gun. He’s one of the few men in our group taller and bulkier than me, and the only Moirai-trained doctor who defected. And he isn’t afraid to overmedicate. If he hits me with that tranquilizer, there’s no telling how long I’ll spend here sedated and unable to explain myself to Amethyst.

I raise both hands in surrender. “Alright.”

The doctor flicks his head back toward the hallway. “Return to your room, operative.”

My jaw clenches. Dr. Dixon is our Chief Medical Officer. He outranks me across all our infirmaries, but being ordered around by him in my own organization is still irksome.

A needle slips into my arm. I turn around and lock gazes with Isabel, who scowls.

“I told you to stay in bed,” she says, her voice laced with disapproval.

“What did you…”

My knees buckle, and the hallway spins as the sedative takes hold. I want to explain, but my tongue thickens and settles to the back of my throat.

Jynxson catches me around the waist before I fall, and he drags me back to my room. As darkness closes in, I try to make sense of who the hell would make a deep fake of Amethyst being violated in that graveyard.

The next time I wake up, I’m strapped to the cot in a mockery of my last day in prison, with thick bands around my shoulders, chest and waist. Moonlight streams through the vertical blinds, illuminating the infirmary room.

Instead of a hated half-brother in the bed next to me, Jynxson’s head rests on my mattress. I knew he’d be here, watching over me. He’s the brother I always wanted. The only man I’d trust with my life… Maybe even with my little sister.

“Hey,” I rasp.

He raises his head and gazes up at me through bleary gray eyes. “What the hell is going on, Xero? And don’t bullshit me this time.”

My throat tightens, and I swallow. “Sometime this morning, Amethyst attacked me with a bottle of chloroform. By the time I woke up, she was gone, and the entire crawl space was on fire.”

“So, she tried to kill you,” he says.

“She had her reasons,” I reply.

“You know what you sound like?”

“I don’t give a fuck.”

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