Page 74 of Winter’s Fire

“I’ll do my best, but you need antibiotics. It’s going to take a miracle for this not to get infected.” She set to work, and tried to ignore Logan’s reflexive jerk away from her.

“Have you done this before?”

Should she tell him the truth? “In a manner of speaking.”

“On a human being?”

So he still had a sense of humour. Okay, she might have sewn up the odd joint of pork in the beginning, but everyone had to start somewhere, right? “Sam let me practise on Ben… eventually.”

“Lucy—”

“Save your breath. This is going to hurt.” Whatever else he’d been going to say, she didn’t need to hear it.

Deep in concentration, Lucy stitched up the gash as neatly as she knew how. Sam had taught her well, but she was a poor substitute for professional help in a hospital, and she knew it.

“We have to get out of here. You can’t take much more of this.”

“I’ll take whatever I need to, to keep us all alive.”

In spite of how he’d taken advantage of her, Lucy didn’t doubt his words. The ache inside her kicked off again. She’d never known loving someone could be so tough. If only…

She shut down the thought immediately. That way lay madness. If not madness, then at the very least, more humiliation.

With a determined effort, she finished the row of stitches, then dressed the wound, careful to keep the tape away from the sutures. When she was done, she snapped off the gloves and stuffed them into the bag where she’d deposited the used swabs.

“Thank you.”

Lucy shrugged. She wasn’t about to dissolve because of the way he was looking at her. The man was in agony, probably semi-delirious with pain. “I’m just glad they gave us the kit.”

“Is Diana all right?”

“I’m here!”

Diana launched herself at him, and the knife in Lucy’s chest twisted and forced itself deeper.

Logan waited until he could no longer hear the guards’ receding footstep before speaking.

“We have to get out of here. I heard them talking on the way back—they’ve brought the auction forward. They were also discussing getting the two of you cleaned up and adding you to the programme.”

“What do you mean? Logan, what are you talking about?”

The panic-stricken questions were accompanied by fingers digging into his forearm directly over the spot where a baton had connected during the latest “training” session. The physical pain wasn’t enough to make him react—no, it was the fact that his ex was clinging to him that angered him. Finding the patience to deal with her was becoming more and more difficult, but he’d do it to protect Lucy. He’d do anything to protect her. If Diana had any idea what Lucy meant to him…

“Shh, calm down, Diana. It’s not going to happen, but we need to focus, and come up with a plan.”

Lucy edged closer. “What can we do?”

“You can’t let them sell me! You can’t!”

Now he had no choice but to offer physical comfort. Diana was letting hysteria get the upper hand—if she carried on like that, she could end up getting them all killed. Lucy recognised it too. Logan watched her fingers flex and splay. His little spitfire was spoiling for a fight, but she also knew this was neither the time nor the place—if such a thing existed.

“No one’s being sold, Diana,” she said, keeping her voice low and her tone forceful. “We’re going to get out of this, but freaking out isn’t going to help anyone, so shut the hell up!”

Lucy’s gaze flew to him, but before he could offer her a grateful smile, she looked down, as if she were afraid of his reaction. That needed a conversation they couldn’t have here, or in front of Diana.

“Don’t you tell me what to do, you little bitch!”

Only Logan’s lightning reflexes prevented the slap from landing across Lucy’s face. He tried not to show any reaction to the sharp tug of pain in his side, where Lucy had sewn him up. “Enough! Fighting amongst ourselves isn’t going to get us out of here. Diana, I need you to concentrate on staying as calm and as quiet as possible—can you do that for me?”