Page 143 of Pucked Around and Found Out

“Drive faster,” I order Gauge.

“Already going twenty over⁠—”

“I don't give a fuck. Drive faster.”

He does.

And as the city blurs past, I make a decision.

I'm done running.

Done being scared.

Done pushing her away.

Toren almost died tonight. I nearly lost my fairy.

And when I thought she was gone, I realized something.

I don't want revenge anymore.

I don't want violence and blood and lips in jars.

Well, I do.

But I want her more.

I want our baby.

I want a future that doesn't end in fire and death. And I'm going to fight for it. Even if it means admitting I'm terrified. Even if it means being vulnerable. Because losing her would be worse than any pain.

Worse than Em.

Worse than anything.

And I'm not losing her.

Not to death.

Not to Carnage.

Not to anyone.

She's mine.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

TOREN

I wake up to the sound of beeping.

Steady. Rhythmic. Annoying.

My throat burns like I swallowed glass. My lungs ache with every breath. My entire body feels heavy, wrong, like it doesn't quite belong to me. I try to open my eyes, but the light is too bright.

Someone moves beside me, I hear the rustle of fabric, the scrape of a chair.

“Toren?” Harper's voice, sharp and worried. “Finally. Don't move, I'm getting the nurse⁠—”