Page 182 of Burn Like An Angel

Doctor Kilton huffs at my sharp tone. “She’s awake and ready for visitors.”

“We should’ve been in there hours ago,” Raine snaps at him.

“You are not listed as next of kin.”

“Because she has none!” I try to retain a sense of calm. “Just take us to Ripley.”

Waving tiredly, the weary doctor leads the way into the mixed ward. We both raced to the ward as fast as our battered bodies would allow when news of Ripley’s arrival by helicopter filtered down to us.

We’re escorted past several occupied rooms, accompanied by the sound of beeping machines and nurses bustling all around.It’s a busy emergency department, taking the most severe triages from across London.

Doctor Kilton gestures towards the final room. “In there.”

I don’t bother to thank the old bastard. He could’ve bent the rules for us hours ago. We all know Ripley has no relatives or emergency contacts to call. He was just deliberately being difficult.

“You want to go first?” Raine asks me.

I snag his arm. “Together. Come on.”

The frosted glass door clicks open, granting us access to a private booth. Hearing a fluttering heart rate monitor causes me to stride faster with Raine in tow beside me. We quickly round the corner to enter the room.

That’s when the terror dissipates.

At last.

Sitting upright in a wide hospital bed, Ripley’s propped up on several fluffy pillows. She watches us run in through one eye, the other blackened and swollen to the point of being closed shut.

Like us, she’s covered in cuts and scrapes from the car crash, the deeper ones closed with stark white strips. I survey her body, searching for any other injuries. She’s pale and rumpled, her septum piercing off-kilter, but she looks whole.

“Lennox. Raine.”

“Rip,” I gasp.

We both stop at her bedside, searching for anywhere to touch her. Raine finds one of her hands while I feather kisses across her mouth and face. Ripley’s here. Safe. Alive. Fucking breathing.

We made it.

The sound of her crying reaches into my chest and rips out what’s left untouched inside. There isn’t much of me she hasn’t sunk her claws into, but I’ll happily surrender the rest to her now for the relief she’s giving me.

“Oh god,” Ripley hiccups, her face burying in Raine’s chest. “You’re both okay.”

“Us?” I look at her quizzically. “What about you? Fuck, Rip. You were kidnapped!”

“I thought you were all dead.”

She’s sobbing, hands fisting Raine’s shirt.

“We thought you would be too!”

Stroking her hair, Raine plants kisses on top of her head. “Nobody is dead. Everyone take a breath. We’re all here safe.”

Jolting in his arms, Ripley pulls back to look around behind us. The frenzied look in her one working eye matches how we’ve been feeling for the last fifteen hours, waiting for any updates from Sabre’s teams.

They tracked us down as soon as emergency services attended the crash, assuming jurisdiction to prevent any further public spectacles. By then, Ripley was already gone. They were too late.

“Xander?” Her head hurriedly swings back to me.

“Hush,” Raine soothes, still stroking her hair. “He’s fine, Rip. Just had some sense knocked into him.”

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