Page 63 of Wanted

Her apology makes a connection in my brain I didn’t realize I was missing.

Chloe… who has only been a vampire for a few days... Is she the same woman Father McCall wanted to rescue?

Wait… When did Father McCall tell me he wanted to rescue her?

“What’s wrong? Is the compulsion wearing off?” Chloe asks as my heart rate picks up again.

Racking my brain, I try to remember what happened to Father McCall and how I ended up here.

But only end up drawing a blank.

The last thing I can remember is him thanking me.

Everything after that is… gone.

I can’t even remember how I ended up in the hands of the vampires who kept drugging me into submission.

Only bits and pieces of what those vampires did to me whenever I woke up.

“I hate to interrupt, but if Alena is calmer now, I need to have a look at that cut on her hip,” Andrei says as he suddenly appears by Chloe.

I blink at him in surprise but otherwise feel no fear over his supernatural speed.

His size, on the other hand, is quite intimidating. I was too freaked out to notice it before, but he’s very tall and bulky.

He may be wearing a suit, but with his size and beard, I can easily picture him chopping logs in a forest somewhere.

Chloe nods her head at Andrei and scoots over, giving him more room but remaining close. “Please do.”

Andrei sets his black medical bag down on the floor and asks, “Is it all right if I touch you to examine your wound, Alena?”

I blink at him in surprise again. He’s actually asking me my permission…

Andrei frowns at me. “If you’d rather I not, I can walk Chloe through it.”

I shake my head. “No, it’s fine. You can examine me.”

Chloe gives my hands a reassuring squeeze, and I realize she’s been holding onto me this whole time.

“I’ll do my best not to hurt you,” Andrei says as he moves even closer and bends down, peering at my hip.

I can’t see anything due to his massive head being in the way.

I have no idea how big or small the cut is, but, “It doesn’t hurt at all. I didn’t even realize I had it until…”

Unable to speak Raphael’s name out loud, my throat closes up.

“Are you sure?” Andrei asks skeptically. “It looks pretty deep.”

He straightens with an expression of distaste on his face and gives Chloe a look I can’t decipher.

Chloe peers intently back at him, and I get the feeling they might be communicating privately in some way.

I look down at my hip and see a shard of wood sticking through my pants.

“I should feel that…” I murmur and look back up. “Shouldn’t I?”

“Feel what?” Caden asks, then he’s crowding into the space.

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