Page 96 of Fangs
When he suddenly sat on the bed beside me, I flinched, and more tears slid out of my eyes. He leaned forward and raised a hand. I tried to brace myself, but his hand just gently brushed my hair from my face.
“You know this hurts me even more than it hurts you, right?”
I didn’t know how to answer that question, either. I clenched my trembling fists at my sides.
“I promised I’d protect you. You remember that?” His hand stroked down my face so gently. “When I found you wanderin’ in the desert?”
I managed a tiny, terrified nod.
“This is me protectin’ you, Angel. You’re mine, and I’m not gonna let anybody else touch you.”
Vulture had to be dead.
He leaned down and kissed me, his lips rough and possessive on mine. My stomach churned, but I automatically kissed him back, a reflex he’d ingrained into me with pain. He smelled like blood and smoke. I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling sick with despair and pain.
“It’s alright. I forgive you,” he murmured. “I’m gonna get you some medicine.”
My eyes popped open. He was pulling back and standing, heading for the small lockbox that held a couple narcs.
“Juck,” I choked out shakily, “please don’t. I’m okay. It doesn’t hurt that bad.”
He removed one of the vials, his expression patronizing. “Angel, you don’t have to be brave. Let me take care of you.”
“I’m really okay. Please. Please, Juck, I don’t want a narc.” More helpless tears were rolling down my face.
He approached the bed, prepping the needle and ignoring me. I managed to get an arm out from under the covers and hold it up, begging him to stop as pain from the movement screamed through me.
“Please, Juck!” I was sobbing now. “I don’t want it! Please stop!”
He easily pinned my arm under his knee, injecting the needle into my shoulder, still smiling as I tried to fight. “It’s alright, Angel. I’m gonna take care of you.”
I tried to brace myself and be strong like Wolf would want, but I crumbled into pieces instead. I felt the shadow man appear and stand next to where I lay curled in a ball, sobbing. He didn’t move for so long I thought maybe he’d left. Then, a hand ghosted over my arm.
“What have they done to you?” he growled.
The darkness seemed to surround me, gently cradling me and turning my body to reveal the “J” burning painfully on my chest. I felt his shock and then his growing fury.
“Who did this to you?” he asked, his voice menacing.
I didn’t answer for a moment, but I was so scared and hurt and broken that I turned my head toward him and opened my eyes. Gentle hands cradled my face as he looked through my memories of Juck branding me with his initial while I screamed in pain, but his intrusion into my mind didn’t hurt this time. Maybe he was being careful, or maybe it was because I was volunteering the information. I couldn’t find the strength to care. His rage grew, but for the first time, it felt like a shelter for me to take refuge in.
“I will kill them for this,” he seethed. “You are mine and only mine.”
That sounded eerily similar to what Juck had said, but I shoved that thought aside. I was so tired, and his arms around me didn’t feel cold now. They were warm and comforting, and I didn’t want to think about the consequences. Someone seemed to care for the first time in a long time, and I wanted to feel that so desperately.
So I didn’t fight, didn’t try to stop him as I felt him rifling through my memories. My head rested on what felt like a broad chest, my face tilted upward, staring into the darkness where I somehow knew his face was. His arms around me remained gentle despite the anger radiating from him. We stayed that way until I felt the drug begin to fade. I didn’t try to escape this time. I just stayed where I was as he started slipping away.
“They will pay, Ember,” he promised right before he vanished. “I swear it.”
I felt shaky and nauseous as I came back to the present. I’d just shown Mac far more than I’d ever told Trey, and exposing my vulnerabilities like that terrified me. As I opened my eyes, I realized there were tears on my cheeks. Mac still stood by the sink, but as he blinked and seemed to return to himself, his eyes locked on mine, dark and stormy with emotion.
“What happened after that?” he asked.
I twisted my fingers together nervously. “The Reapers turned on each other four days later.”
His eyes narrowed. “You think he had something to do with it?”
“He had to. None of it made sense.”
