Page 73 of His Fate

It does indeed.

"How did you break your ankle all the way up here?"

My beloved grins. "I kicked him in the nuts but at a weird angle so he was able to grab it on his way to the ground. Snapped it like a twig."

"Where else are you hurt? What happened to your head?"

"Hilt of the dagger."

"Your nose?"

Posey scowls. "Apparently, his mama didn't teach him not to hit a lady."

My dragon roars and begs to be freed so he can climb down the tree and eat Ivan like a tasty little snack but I push him down, reassure him we will have our vengeance. "Your ribs?"

"Human pin cushion."

My brow lifts as I start searching in her hair.

"He stabbed me with that dagger about five times."

I stop and look at her, my disbelief clear on my face and in my mind.

She shrugs. "See for yourself." Posey lifts her shirt to reveal five stab wounds in her rib cage, all of which are still bleeding but the blood running from them is tinged black as is the flesh around the wound and veins spidering outward.

Instead of alarming her or drawing attention to the fact that she should have died from one of those wounds, let alone five since they were all delivered with poison, I pull her shirt down, kiss her again, and thank the universe she is alive.

Without asking, I cradle her in my arms and get to my feet, walk to the entrance of the blind and go to tell her to hang on only to find her eyes closed.

"Josephine?"

"I'm so tired, Kasimir." Her arms go slack around my neck and fear races through my body.

Perhaps the effects of the poison were merely delayed. That does not align with what Will has told me about the others the poison was used on, but then again perhaps the dose was only meant to debilitate her until I arrived. Regardless, I need to get her home quickly, have Henrich look at her immediately to see exactly what is going on.

I jump from the blind and take off running the instant my feet hit the ground. Hank sees us right away and throws open his door and runs awkwardly toward us, his expression horrified.

"Is she… oh gods, is my baby girl..."

I shake my head. "She breathes, but we need to get her back immediately. Where are—"

I don't get to finish asking my question because Andrej and Karel appear a few seconds later with Ivan, his body broken in various places and hogtied but still alive. They toss him in the bed of my truck, Andrej shooting me a worried look before he jumps in next to him and kicks Ivan in the ribs for good measure. Karel takes the passenger seat as Hank helps me into the back, still holding Posey against my chest and then we're off.

I look down at my mate, trace her injuries, her features, her beautiful face with my eyes, my heart thundering and head a mess. If she does not recover, does not survive whatever hell Ivan unleashed on her I will personally pick the flesh from his bones and make sure there is nothing left for the buzzards afterward.

Whoever coined the phrase “search party” was an asshat. Nothing about searching for someone you love is any sort of party. It's a raging storm that rarely produces a rainbow.

Limbo

Ten days later

Istretch my arms above my head, push my face into the pillow, and roar out a yawn. As my mind awakens, I register that Posey is not wrapped around me like she usually is so I reach out only to find her side of the bed empty, cold.

I sigh.

This is our new routine.

It has been just shy of two weeks since my Josephine was held captive in the woods, since she learned nothing in her life was as it seemed, almost two weeks of recovering from injuries that by all accounts should have killed her. She slept for two days after we returned home and that was enough for her mind to start stitching her actual memories back together.

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