Page 17 of Shadow's Heart
Wrath
Megan might think she’s in hell with whatever Mrs Knightlye has planned for her, but personally, I think she’s gotten off lightly. I’d have made her wish she’d never have been born if we’d kept her and dealt with her ourselves. I don’t give a fuck that she’s a woman. She hurt my twin. She nearly cost us Wreck. Yeah, I’d have had her wishing for fucking death. The decision wasn’t mine to make though; it was Shadow and Wreck’s, and I can’t really blame them for letting Mrs Knightlye take her and getting her as far away from them as possible.
I can’t wrap my head around what Megan was even thinking when she came up with her wacky plan and set it in motion. Did you really not know Jake’s connection to Devil’s Inferno, or did she not care? Did she think Wreck would be dealt with and disposed of before the truth was discovered? I really don’t know, and I doubt I ever will. Whatever her reasoning was for whatshe attempted, it will never be good enough. Not for me. Not for Shadow. Not for Wreck.
Entering The Clubhouse with Flame next to me, my constant steady support, and Jake just a few steps behind, I’m not even remotely surprised to see The Common Room full. Everyone is clearly hanging around waiting to hear more updates about Wreck and why any of it happened. They already know about all the information we originally discovered when Jake rescued Wreck, and just like us, they were all confused as hell too. Well, this is going to be fun. I can’t imagine anyone being happy when they learn the latest information we found out. No point in me calling Church for this; everyone needs to be made aware of what happened, not just our members. Everyone associated with Devil’s Inferno needs to know what’s happened so they can take their own precautions to make sure this sort of thing doesn’t happen to them.
Every conversation comes to a halt with our entrance, and without uttering a single word, I have everyone’s attention. That’s how badly everyone wants any information I might have.
“First things first. Wreck is awake and doing well. Shadow is with him now.” I start to say and have to stop when the entire room breaks out in cheers at the news. I can’t help but smile. I fucking love my club.
Waving my arm, I signal for them to quiet down. As much as I want to allow them all to celebrate the good news, I need to tell them the rest first. Once that’s done, they can throw a party for all I care. I won’t be here; I’ll be heading back to the hospital after picking up some supplies that Shadow and Wreck are going to need.
“That’s not all. Thanks to Jake here,” I say, pointing to our Prospect, “we know who was behind Wreck’s abduction and subsequent torture. It turns out Megan orchestrated the whole thing to try and get Wreck out of Shadow’s life. You alreadyknow The Khaos Group, especially Rex, was involved, but none of us could figure out why. Well, Jake put all the pieces together, thankfully, and before you all start losing your mind, she’s gone. She was handed over to The Khaos Group to deal with. Actually she was handed over to Jake’s mother, and I’m sure you can all agree that she isn’t going to get off easy.”
I can see the shock on every face in the room that Megan was the one behind everything. It looks like we weren’t the only ones who didn’t see it coming. Yeah, it really did come out of left field. I’m just glad she’s gone and that Shadow and Wreck can focus on each other and heal from the trauma all this has caused them both. I’m under no illusions that there isn’t trauma there for them both. They’ve both been through hell; maybe it was a different hell for each of them, but it was hell all the same. Maybe by the end of all this, they’ll both realize their true feelings for one another. One can only hope and pray.
Chapter Twenty-One
Wreck
Waking up this time around is so much more pleasant. There’s no commotion taking place in my hospital room; just Shadow curled up next to me asleep. He feels so right there. Like, that’s where he’s meant to be. I know that’s wishful thinking on my part, just like the dream I had of his lips brushing against mine. There’s no chance he actually kissed me as I was falling asleep. It’s just my mind running away with itself. Showing me the thing I want most, the thing I will never have. I need to shut these thoughts down; they aren’t going to do me any good. They’re just going to make me want what I can’t have even more than I already do. If that’s even possible.
Looking down, I see his eyes fluttering open. His beautiful brown eyes are still looking sleepy, but I can’t help but notice he looks a hell of a lot less exhausted than he did earlier. That certainly makes me happy.
“Hey. Feeling better?” I ask.
“Yeah definitely. I needed that more than I realized.” He replies, but there’s a look in his eyes I don’t understand, and I don’t have a chance to ask him about it as my hospital door opens and a doctor steps through. Ah, it’s time for me to bepoked and prodded. Oh yay. Can’t they just accept I’m fine now and release me? No. Guess one can only dream of such things.
The doctor isn’t alone though; there’s a nurse with him who holds up supplies and signals to Shadow to come over to her so she can clean up his hands. Thinking about it now, he probably should have cleaned them up before we fell asleep. Hopefully not cleaning them before now isn’t going to cause him any issues.
* * *
Once the doctor has finished poking and prodding me and the nurse has cleaned and dressed Shadow’s hands, they leave. According to my doctor’s latest checks, I should be able to go home tomorrow. They just want to monitor me for one more day because of how long I remained unconscious after I arrived. Yeah. Yeah. I get it; being unconscious for so long isn’t a good thing. They’re also a little bit lost as to why my injuries aren’t a hell of a lot worse as they could tell I’d been put through the ringer. Well, they aren’t the only ones. I was convinced I was dying at some points during my torture, so the fact that I managed to walk away with only a minor concussion and bruised ribs instead of cracked and broken ones as my internal injuries has me at a loss. I’m not going to complain though; I’m in enough pain with the injuries I do have.
I can’t wait until I get released from here. I want to put all this behind me and move on with my life. I’ve got a feeling it’s not going to be as easy as I want, but I’ll deal with whatever life throws my way. I didn’t think I would get to carry on living my life, and I’m determined to make the most of every minute now.
Despite feeling ready to put all this behind me and get on with my life, I couldn’t have been fucking happier when Shadow told me that I’ll be staying with him when I’m released. I can admit to myself that I’m not ready to be on my own; I spent enough time alone during my time away. I know I won’t cope well yet, and I’m not going to complain about spending more time with Shadow. There’s no one I’d rather spend time with more than him.
There’s a knock on my hospital door, which draws both of our attention. We watch as it opens, revealing Sera and Blade. Fuck if I’m not happy to see Sera. She looks good, just tired. So I know my plan definitely worked and she was safe. I have to laugh when she launches herself across the room to my bedside, immediately wrapping me in a loose hug as she leans over the bed.
“I’m so fucking glad you’re okay.” She whispers in my ear.
“Me too. I’m glad you’re okay too.”
“I am thanks to you.” She says as she pulls back, tears in her eyes.
“Hey, none of that. There’s no need for tears.”
She swipes under her eyes, giving me a smile in the process. “I can’t help it; my hormones are so out of whack.”
Glancing to where Shadow was sitting next to my bed, I realize while I’ve been distracted with Sera, he’s got up and moved across the room to talk to Blade.
“I can imagine so. Everything’s okay with the little one?” I say quietly, I don’t know who knows she’s pregnant, and I don’t want to be the one to let the cat out of the bag.
“Yeah. You don’t have to keep your voice down, Shadow knows. Wrath told him when he wanted to know why you didn’t hide with me.” She explains.
Ah, that makes a hell of a lot of sense to me. There’s no way he wouldn’t have asked a million and one questions after helearned I didn’t hide away with Sera. He’d have wanted all the facts so he could wrap his head around what happened and why.
