I dipped the cloth into a bowl of cool water, then used it to wipe the rest of the blood from around his mouth. He was still a mess. Still reeking of death.
His gaze locked on mine, his eyes half-lidded, consciousness fading fast.
“Haley,” he whispered.
“Sorry, Saint.” I tried to smile. “I’m your nurse tonight. I’m not as cute as she is, perhaps, but I’ve been working on my bedside manner.”
This got a response—something that almost sounded like a laugh. But of course it didn’t last.
“Where… where is she?” he pressed.
“She’s with Hudson. I promised her I’d take care of you. She needed the break.”
“G-good. I don’t want her to s-s-see me like… like…” He trailed off and turned away from me, but not before I saw the tears leaking from his eyes.
Then you shouldn’t—
I stopped the thought from even forming. What the hell was I going to say, anyway?You shouldn’t put yourself in this situation? You shouldn’t be addicted to a drug I helped you invent? You shouldn’t have been stricken with an illness you can’t fucking control and sure as hell didn’t ask for?
“She won’t,” I said instead. “Hudson won’t let her out of his sight.”
He nodded.
“Jax?” he whispered.
“Yeah. I’m here.” I watched him, waiting for his question, but no more words came.
He was, blissfully, out.
I sat at his bedside for another hour as he fully succumbed to sleep or unconsciousness or some combination of both. Made no difference to me. I was just glad the pain had subsided enough to let him rest.
I needed to stretch. Get a drink. Clear my fucking mind.
I’d just headed out to the kitchen to get some water when an intruder barged into our suite, her mouth pressed into grim line, her traitorous eyes blazing.
Three quick steps and I had the bitch pinned to the wall, my forearm pressed to her throat. “You’d better have adamngood reason for showing up here, Gem.”
She raised her hands in surrender, but didn’t flinch. Didn’t look away. “I do.”
“Convince me. Five seconds.”
“Orders from Keradoc,” she choked out. “New intel from the war front.”
With my free hand, I hastily patted her down, surprised she wasn’t packing. No signature crossbow. No daggers that I could find. I released the pressure on her throat just enough to let her speak, but I wasn’t about to turn my back on her.
“New enemies inbound,” she wheezed. Then, attempting to clear her throat, “According to Oona, the generals are estimating a couple of weeks at most before the enemy forces reach the wall.”
“Whatenemy forces?”
“Sorry. Specifics are above my pay grade. All I know is they’re all freaking out, everything’s completely fucked, and Keradoc needs us to move up the release date on the new Black.That’swhy I’m here.”
The dread in my gut turned to cement. “How soon does he want it?”
“Two days.”
“Not happening. We have to start over with the testing—that’sifwe can even find anyone willing to risk volunteering after what happened tonight. Gem, there’s no fucking way.”
“Keradoc isn’t interested in scientific integrity, Jax. He doesn’t even care if the shit’s pure. He just wants it out on the streets and quickly making its way onto the battlefields.”
