Page 47 of Fury

Chapter Sixteen

Sawyer wincedat her whispered question. Since she hadn’t mentioned anything he’d said in her final moments of consciousness, he’d assumed she’d either forgotten or never heard. Apparently he’d been wrong. There’d been no doubt that when she woke he would have to face the consequences of his actions, but a little more time with her not hating him would have been nice.

“First,” he started. “Tell me how you feel. I’ve been worried sick and no one would tell us anything.”

She laid her head back on the pillow and shuttered her eyes. “I don’t know for sure. For some reason my stomach doesn’t seem to hurt at all, but my head feels like it’s going to explode. And everything is so loud. You’re the only one that sounds normal.”

“That’s because I knew that I needed to speak softly during this time. Your senses are going to be overwhelmed until you can learn to adjust.”

She looked at him curiously. “What does that mean?”

“Back on the island, you were dying. I could hear your heartbeat slowing. There wasn’t enough time to get you to a hospital before I lost you.”

“I don’t understand,” she said. “What did you do? How am I here?”

He looked away from her for a moment, gathering his thoughts before again meeting her gaze. “I did what I had to to keep you alive. You, Penelope Bishop, have charmed me. I couldn’t bear to lose that.”

Her eyes narrowed, worry lines creasing her forehead. “What did you do?”

“There was no time to get your permission first. So, I made the call.”

Her hands balled into fists, gathering the sheets around her as she pulled away from him. “What the hell does that mean, Sawyer? I want a straight answer in plain fucking language,” she hissed at him.

“I bit you,” he blurted, wishing he could handle this with more finesse in a better place than a hospital bed.

For a moment she sat there just staring at him, her mouth set in a firm line her eyes glued to him with what seemed like a lack of emotion.

He held his breath, waiting.

She didn’t make him wait long.

“And what exactly does that mean?” she asked, seething between nearly compressed lips.

“Penelope, you’re a smart woman, I’m sure you’ve got a pretty good idea exactly what I’m saying. Your sensitive hearing, the itching skin, and I’ll bet the lights in here are driving you crazy too.” He stood to find the switch and turn them off.

“Don’t patronize me. And don’t lie to me either. You and your friends have already put me in an impossible position, it’s not necessary to lie to me.”

He turned back to her. “I would never lie to you.”

She scoffed at him. “Bullshit. I think you and the rest of your gang will do or say anything if it means I will keep my mouth shut about what I saw out there.”

A sudden burst of anger flashed through his veins. “We are not a gang. We are a family and that now includes you. And yes, I will do everything I can to protect them—us. But I will always draw the line when it comes to you. I won’t throw you under the bus for anyone. If anything, I will take the brunt of any problems we have created for you. You tell me what you need and I will do everything in my power to see that it’s done. We have resources.”

She turned away from him and stared at the wall, leaving him unsure what to do next. He’d been waiting for her to yell and scream, maybe even throw shit at him. But this silence—it gave him chills.

“I think I would know if someone bit me,” she whispered, her voice sounding distant.

“Your neck, just below your right ear. I’m not surprised you don’t remember. You were in my arms, fading into unconsciousness. All I could hear was the fading sound of your heart beat. I couldn’t allow it, Penny, I just couldn’t.”

His throat clogged with all the emotion of that moment flooding back into his mind and ripping through his gut. He hoped to God he never heard that sound again.

She reached for the spot and froze when her hand encountered a small bandage. “Does this mean I’m now a—” she stopped, her face going stark white as her brain connected the dots.

The pain in her eyes hit him somewhere deep. A place where he couldn’t protect himself against her. He gasped for air at the white-hot sensation.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Probably. It’s not an exact science. It’s a little hard to explain.”

“Try,” she demanded, her voice rising.

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