Page 103 of Lust

“Luke, you’re fine,” he says, intuiting my concern.

He reaches under the blanket and takes my hand. I feel his touch, so it’s not bandaged, which throws me. And then he displays it for me. “Look.”

My jaw drops. My hand looks a little paler than normal but unharmed.

“What—How?”

“It was bad. Really bad. Just like in the vision. We called the paramedics, and as they were transporting you, they were trying to work out what the black stuff on your skin was. They discovered it was some kind of film covering your body. When they removed it, you were fine underneath. At least physically. They brought you in because of how they found you and because you’d passed out. They’re running tests on the black film. And they’ve done an MRI and other tests to make sure you’re all right, but everything looks fine so far.”

He releases my hand and pulls out his phone, turning the camera to display my face.

I’m not just fine—my skin looks better than it did before the attack. I’m even missing a lone faded freckle I used to have on my forehead. I gasp with relief, tears welling in my eyes.

Thank fuck.

“It’s okay,” Brad says. “You’re alive. And you’re here. With me.” He runs his knuckles across my cheek.

Here? With him? Can it be real?

No, it has to be some kind of dream.

His touch soothes me as he asks, “Are you in any pain? I can get the doctors to come in to give you something.”

I shake my head, and as relieved as I am that I’m all right, I have to know how the others fared. “Alexei?”

“He’s fine. Finn’s fine too. He checked out this morning. Needed some stitches and he was concussed, but that was it.”

I’m happy to hear that Finnegan’s okay, but with Alexei, how’s that possible? “No, it stabbed something right through Alexei.”

Brad opens his mouth like he’s about to explain, but then presses his lips together. “I don’t get it either. Cody was there when it happened, and he and Seth are in the waiting room now. But just know, everything’s okay.”

I wasn’t expecting to hear those words after the night we had.

He leans over the bed rail, puts his arm around me for a hug, then kisses my cheek. “I was so scared,” he whispers. “I didn’t want you to have to go through all that pain and suffering.”

He continues kissing my face, and I bask in the sensation of his lips against my flesh and his warm hold around me. It’s something deeper than the Lust, something that fuels me.

I run my hand through his hair as he kisses down to my neck, tightening his hold.

Despite everything he’s said, given the moments I remember before this room, it’s hard to accept.

As he buries his face in my neck, warm tears push up against my skin. I want to freeze this moment, cherish it for as long as I can, since as far as I knew the other night, I was never gonna see him again.

Once we finally manage to pry away from each other, he texts Seth and Cody to come to my room. When they enter, I sit up.

“Brad said Alexei’s fine, but I’m trying to understand what happened after I left that trench.”

“He has a little scar where the Slasher stabbed him,” Cody says, assessing my skin in a way that makes me uneasy. “And you don’t even have that much, but from how you looked last night, you should have something.”

“Cody, tell me what happened. Just give me the quick, thirty-second version, at least.”

“Thirty-second version: When I was working on the spell to make that circle of protection, something connected with me from the Rift. And it started controlling my movements. That’s why I was writing in the notebook.”

“I remember that. You wroteI am Kysar.”

“We’ve seen that name before,” Brad says. “Kysar is one of the Guides.”

“So when Cody grabbed me and I had that vision…”

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