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When I open my eyes, I’m in my room at the den. My throat burns, my stomach is hollow, and my body aches. It takes me a solid minute to wake up and remember what happened. I get up with a groan and stretch out each of my stiff limbs. Then I head straight into my bathroom to brush my teeth and rinse my mouth out. Once I’ve scrubbed away the last of the vomit taste, I slowly make my way out of my room.
The smell of chili and cornbread has me heading for the dining room. I hear the voices before I enter. “—going to do?” Rook asks. “We can’t hide down here forever, and contrary to what Illren thinks, we can’t just kill every damn mercenary in town.”
“I wouldn’t kill themall,” Illren says. “I’m sure some would be smart enough to leave the city.”
I smile at the sound of amused snorts and chuckles.
“Well, we can’t do anything while Nora and Oliver are both still out.” That’s Terrance.
I enter the room with a yawn and look at most of my men sitting around the dining table sharing a home-cooked meal. It’s unbelievably domestic and plucks at my heartstrings. Terrance sits at the head of the table with Parker to his right and Rook on his left. I don’t think that’s coincidence. I’ve noticed the guys have fallen into certain roles. If we were a pack, Parker would be Terrance’s second and Rook his third. Illren would be our enforcer. Trolls must rank themselves similarly to wolves, or maybe that’s all clan structure. I’ll have to ask Terrance about it sometime.
Nick, Ren, Charlie, Illren, and even Wulf and Enzo are all lined up on either side of the massive table. The only people missing are Oliver and me. “How’s Oliver?” I ask, entering the room and taking a seat beside Ren. He gives me a side hug, and I kiss his cheek. “You okay?” I ask, because he looked distraught the last time I saw him.
He sucks in a deep breath and kisses my temple. “Better, now that you’re awake. I can’t handle both of you being unconscious.”
Without being asked, the guys fill me a bowl of chili and a plate of cornbread. I inhale deeply and my mouth starts to salivate. “Mmm, this smells good. I’m starving.”
“You should be,” Rook mutters. “You’ve been out for about twenty hours.”
I drop my spoon, and it clatters against the side of my bowl. “Twenty hours? A whole day?”
My eyes look to Nick for confirmation. He nods. I blink a few times. Twenty hours. “That’s a new record.”
“You were stuck in the imprint for nearly twenty minutes,” Nick says. “And I’m sure it was violent. You said yourself those are the worst ones.”
I sigh. “You’re right. I guess it’s not that big a surprise.” I think back on the vision I had of Christov’s death and shudder.
A new thought occurs to me, and I sit straight up in my chair, my entire body going rigid. “It’s been twenty hours, and Oliver’s still out?”
A heavy silence fills the room. When the guys all send each other weighted glances, I bolt from the table and dash into Oliver’s room. I stumble to a stop at the side of Oliver’s bed and cover a gasp. He’s so pale! His skin is almost translucent, and his face is gaunt. His eyes and cheeks are sunken in like he’s been unconscious for weeks and not days. His hair is still soaked with sweat. “Ollie,” I croak.
My eyes fill with tears. I rake his hair back, and his forehead is still burning. But when I grab his hand, it’s so ice cold that I shiver. My tears spill onto the bed as I lean over my best friend.
The men all shuffle into the room. I find Enzo in the crowd. “Is he going to die?”
Enzo’s gaze slides to Oliver, and he swallows hard. “I can’t say, Miss Nora.” He moves to the side of the bed and he presses the back of his hand to Oliver’s forehead. “I have been rejuvenating his body as best I can, but the magic is breaking it down so fast.”
A sob escapes me.
Strong arms come around me, and Rook’s woodsy scent fills my head. I whirl around and bury my face in his chest. The men let me cry for a minute before Rook forces me to sit in the chair beside Oliver’s bed. Terrance brings my bowl of chili to me. My stomach churns, and I shake my head. “I can’t eat right now.”
For once, Terrance doesn’t give me a hard look, but he still thrusts the food out to me. “You need to eat,” he says. “You don’t look much better than Oliver right now.”
I know he’s right, so I give up my argument and take the bowl from him. The food that smelled so wonderful before has no taste going down. I can’t think of anything but Oliver and how close to death he looks right now.
All the guys find various spots around the room. With all of them in here it’s a pretty tight squeeze, but no one seems to want to leave. Enzo climbs onto the bed beside Oliver, and, sitting with his legs crossed, holds out his hands over Oliver’s chest. I want to ask what he’s doing, but I also don’t want to bother him.
“Nora,” Nick says hesitantly, breaking the deafening silence in the room. “I know now is a horrible time to have to think about work, but I need to know what you saw back on the island.”
It’s hard to focus with Oliver lying so helpless beside me, but I pull my thoughts together for Nick. Christov was his family. “There were three of them, but Christov killed one of them,” I murmur, gently holding Oliver’s pale, freezing fragile hand. “They wore ski masks. I couldn’t identify them by face, but I would recognize voices, and I got names—a woman named Galina, a man named Sabin, and a second man named Terlack. That’s the one Christov killed.”
“I know of them,” Illren murmurs. “Fey mercenaries.”
Nick cuts Illren a sharp look. “You know where to find them?”
Illren shakes his head. “But I know who might.”
“Good. You can come with me to pick them up. We’ll bring Parker with us.”
