Page 74 of Guardian's Soul

HANNAH

We brought Sloane,as she had introduced herself, to an empty room that would be hers now, I supposed, and laid her on the bed.

"I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do. You'll just have to ride out the pain," Zoe advised.

"Ah fuck," Sloane cursed.

The men had stayed in the common room with Vraax, and at my last glimpse, I watched him empty a large cup of alcohol. That might be a good idea.

"Do you have some alcohol?" I asked Luph.

"Do you want a stiff drink?" Nova asked Sloane.

"What the hell is happening to me, and how long does this shit last?" Sloane gritted out, staring at the lines appearing on her arm.

We looked at each other and shrugged. "An hour?" Zoe asked.

"Felt like twelve to me," I said.

"A couple," Nova added.

Sloane stared at us with pain-filled eyes, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. So we showed her our arms.

"What the fuck?" Sloane exclaimed.

"I'm not gonna explain this." Nova waved her hands in front of her.

"Oh, for Christ's sake." I huffed. "Okay, this is gonna sound bad, weird, and nutty." I prepared Sloane, whose face was scrunching up in pain.

"Go ahead. I've had my share of nutty," Sloane encouraged me.

I doubted that, but I dove right in and laid the whole Soulweb Glyph, Soulweb Bond mess out to her.

"Fuck, you're right, that's loonier than loony," she said when I finished.

"Told you so." Nova shook her head.

"You've been hurt," Zoe said, pulling out a healing wand. "At the very least, we can heal those injuries."

"Not sure how you're gonna fix a broken ankle, but…" Sloane trailed off as another wave of pain engulfed her.

"I have something to put you to sleep," Luph offered. "When you wake up, the pain should be gone."

Sloane didn't look too happy about the suggestion.

"We're friends. We're not going to hurt you while you're out," I promised, cringing inwardly because she had no reason to believe me, and I wasn't sure I would have believed me in her situation.

When she nodded weakly, it was a testament to how much pain she was in, and Luph rushed from the room. When she returned, she held a small flask in her hand toward Sloane, who hadn't reacted whatsoever to Luph's strange appearance.

"Thank you." Sloane drank the concoction down with the expression of a woman who fully expected never to wake up again.

Seconds later, she was out.

"Now what?" Nova asked after Zoe arranged pillows and blankets to make our new guest comfortable.

"Let's go back to the guys and see what they're up to," I suggested.

We found them in the common room. Vraax was sitting in a corner, knees pulled up to his chest while he gently rocked in misery.

---