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Chapter20
Everything was dark. Everything hurt. I opened my eyes, but nothing came into focus. There were voices around me. Arguing. Talking heatedly.
Nothing made sense. I let the darkness take over again.
A jolt of pain woke me up. I was outside, and someone was holding me.
Jaiden.I couldn’t see him and sounds still didn’t connect, but his warm energy surrounded me. Whatever hurt me, he’d stop it. I knew it. My stomach rolled and added to the millions of other aches and pains. I let unconsciousness take me over again.
The next time I came to, it was different. I was surrounded by warmth and comfort. There was still a piercing headache, but it was more muted at least. I was in a massive four-poster bed in a gigantic suite.
Everything was still blurry and the room started to spin whenever I tried to focus, so I let the darkness take me again.
My eyes popped open, and I was wide awake. Bolting up, I gasped for breath and held the blankets firmly around me as though they would provide a shield.
Not that I needed it. I was alone.
The room was unlike any I’d ever been in before. The walls were giant stone blocks and even though it was a bedroom, it was large enough to be an entire campus apartment. There was a bed, sitting area, large bathtub right in the middle of the room, and numerous dressers and a vanity.
There was also an open doorway leading somewhere that was connected to the room and a closed door that I assumed led to whatever was outside the room.
What the hell had happened?My memory was slow, and it hurt to try to recall anything but I pushed through.
Seran had me at the prison. Jaiden had come for me for some stupid reason. And...
The son of a bitch stabbed me!
I tossed the covers aside and only then realized that my utilitarian sweats had been exchanged for a delicate silken nightgown. Finer than anything I’d ever worn in my life.
Adding that to the list of things to worry about later, I pulled up the fabric until I could get a view of the space between my ribs where the knife had slid in.
There was a tiny white line. It could hardly even be called a scar. If I hadn’t specifically been looking for it, I never would’ve found it.
But it was there and it was healed.
What had happened after the stabbing? Jaiden!He’d picked up the vial, and I thought he was going to kill himself for sure. I didn’t have clearance to use the bomb, but what did it matter when he was about to kill himself? I was already bleeding out.
So I’d slammed the bomb against Seran, activating the chemical reaction and sending burning chemicals and shrapnel flying everywhere.
I thought that would be it for me, but here I was. Whole and seemingly healthy.
Taking a steadying breath, I slowly moved off the bed. My legs were shaky but they still worked. But now that I was standing, where would I go? I had no idea where I was, and I didn’t see any phones lying helpfully around.
Not that anyone used landlines anymore.
I reached the corner of the four-poster bed when the door opened. My heart leapt into my chest, and I moved back, setting the thick column of wood between the newcomer and me.
I hoped it was Jaiden and terrified it would be Seran. But it was neither.
It was a woman. A familiar woman.
She wore a long green tunic and tight black pants, with knee-high leather boots. Her red hair was in a braided updo and her eyes were lined with thick black circles, but I knew the face.
“You’re one of the missing women,” I said before thinking. That was a sign of how out of it I was. I never said anything without thinking.
“And you’re awake!” said the redhead. “The guys said you’d be out for a while still, but they always underestimate how resilient us humans can be.” She winked.
I leaned on the post, telling myself it was for support and not because I was hiding from her.
