Page 26 of Shadow

With that, he released me, and I dropped back onto the mattress, gasping. My shoulder and chest wereburning. Rurik stalked away from me, pacing to the window and staring out over the dark world outside, his hands in his pockets again as if he hadn’t just choked the absolute shit out of me. I mean, fuck, I was going to have bruises in the shape of his chain.

“I’m sorry,” I said again. I wasn’t used to apologizing. Wasn’t used to feeling guilty. But even though Rurik and I hadn’t always seen eye to eye, he’d given me freedom in my mind. When he was in control of me and Ilethim, my mind was free of all the millions of thoughts that constantly plagued me and left me feeling on edge. He left me feelingcalm.

I couldn’t lose that. I couldn’t losehim.

He turned to face me, that mask of his carefully put back in place. An almost pleasant smile tilted his lips, and honestly, it scared the shit out of me. No one should be able to flip their emotions like that.No one.

“I know you are, baby,” he murmured, his voice like silk. I swallowed thickly. “And once we get out of this fucking hospital, I’ll make sure you don’t make the same mistake twice.”

Fuck.

21

Malik

Islowly peeled open my eyes, the drugs the hospital had me on making me feel a bit loopy. So when I saw Hyram and Chet standing at the foot of my hospital bed talking quietly amongst themselves, for a moment, I thought I was just seeing shit. But when Rurik gently squeezed my palm, I knew I was definitely awake.

“What are you two doing here?” I rasped. I coughed after, groaning in pain. Now that the anesthesia from surgery had worn off, I was in even more pain, despite being doped up.

Fuck, I never wanted to get shot again.

Hyram and Chet both turned to look at me. Rurik released my hand, and a moment later, he was pressing a straw between my lips. I greedily swallowed down some of the water, and when I turned my head, Rurik took the hint and set the cup of water back down.

“Heard you got shot,” Hyram said, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “Rurik thought you could use a couple of guards.” His gaze flickered to the hospital room door. ‘Seems to me that you’re protected well enough though. There are two Russian soldiers in front of your door, and they’re checking IDs and hospital credentials before anyone can enter your room. There are soldiers at every entrance to this hall, too.”

“Christ,” I growled, turning to look at Rurik, who was typing away at his phone. “Bit overkill, don’t you think?”

“No,” he said calmly, not bothering to look up at me. I sighed. “The only reason I don’t have this entire hospital on fucking lockdown and you as the only patient is because Anatoly talked me off the ledge.” I stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out if he was joking. But when he just continued to do whatever it was he was going, I knew he wasn’t.

“So, are you two a thing now?” Chet asked, pointing between me and Rurik.

I opened my mouth, then shut it. Because I didn’t know what the fuck we were. We fucked once and then Rurik went all psycho, possessive alpha on me. What the fuck did that even mean?

“Yes,” Rurik said calmly, still not looking up from his phone.

If my heart skipped a beat in my chest at his answer… well, I was going to pretend like it hadn’t.

Chet grinned. “I fucking called it.” He held out his hand to Hyram, making me narrow my eyes at him. “Where’s my money? Told you Malik would fold eventually.”

I sneered at them as Hyram pulled his wallet from his pocket with a heavy sigh. He counted out three hundreds and slappedthem into Chet’s palm. Chet kissed the bills, then stuffed them into his pocket.

“You two fucking bet on me?” I snapped in disbelief. Didn’t know why I was shocked. I shouldn’t have expected anything less. Chet was an asshole that way. I just hadn’t expected Hyram to join in on the dick’s games. Usually, he ignored that kind of stuff.

“I was at least on your side,” Hyram said, shrugging one shoulder. “I thought you’d have more willpower.”

Rurik snorted andfinallylooked up from his phone, his blue eyes meeting mine. He didn’t say a word, but he didn’t need to. His lips quirked up in that fucking cocky smirk, and my dick came to life beneath the blankets piled on top of me.

Jesus Christ. How did he affect me so damn easily?

I looked away from him. “Does my mom know about this?” I asked, referring to my hospitalization.

Hyram shook his head. “No. And she’ll be pissed she was kept out of the loop, but Rurik and I both decided this would be the better route until you could get back home. There’s no reason for her to rush up here when we don’t know what’s going on or if it’s even safe for her.”

I nodded in agreement, a bit relieved. I wasn’t sure if I could handle my mother’s overbearing nature right then, no matter how much I loved her. Chet pointed to his throat, that fucking shit-eating grin tilting his lips again. “What’s this, Malik?”

My good hand lifted to finger the chain around my throat. Rurik stood just as his burner phone began to ring. “That’s his collar,” Rurik told him. “And his tracker.”

Hyram frowned at Rurik’s back as Rurik paced to the window, lifting his phone to his ear. Chet was positively fuckinggleeful. “Acollar?” he asked. “A fuckingtracker?” He whistled low. “Hot damn. Now I want one.” He looked at Hyram. “You think Will would collar me if I asked him?”

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