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Gasping with agony, I glanced around the room.
Wires, monitors, sterile equipment, and a man towering over me in scrubs. His hazel eyes met mine as his lips lifted in a smile. A smile that was supposed to be comforting but merely looked like an executioner’s grin.
“Glad you’re awake. You slept through all the fun stuff.”
I swallowed hard, wincing at the rusty, metallic taste on my tongue. “Wh-Where am I?”
“Townsville University Hospital. You were in a car accident.”
Car accident?
I hadn’t been near a car.
I’d been fighting the bastards who’d threatened Neri. One of them broke her necklace and pushed her to the ground.
I’d lost myself.
I’d won—
I shook my pounding head as everything went blank apart from one thing.
One excruciatingly important thing.
Neri.
My heart thundered. “Where’s Nerida?”
“Nerida?” The male nurse with shaggy brown hair frowned, peering into my eyes as if checking me for concussion. “Who’s Nerida?”
“Nerida Avc...I mean, Taylor. She’s my wife. They were hurting her. They touched her—” Fury blazed through me. I wanted to kill that bastard for daring to lay a finger on Neri.
I’d promised her no one would ever touch her against her will again.
And I’d failed.
I’d fucking failed just like I failed by losing her.
Anger bled deeper than any wound. Physical pain didn’t stand a chance. “Nerida. I need to see Nerida. Right fucking now!”
“No need for language, sir. I’m here to help—”
“Please,” I snarled, remembering my manners. “I need to see her please.”
“Just calm down and—”
“I’ll calm when I see her.” Rage cracked through every limb. Pain burned like wildfire. It felt as if the barrier of good and wrong was broken inside me. My temper was out of control. My fear making me violent.
Neri.
Where the fuck are you?
Shaking my head, trying to get free of the thickness inside, I snarled, “Don’t you get it? I’m the reason she was hurt. I’m the reason she’s always hurt. I need—” Agony stabbed in my skull. “I need to find—” Excruciating pain stole my words. I swayed and gagged on sickness. My fingers went to the back of my head, searching for a way to be free of the blinding discomfort. A bandage was stuck in my hair, thick and padded, covering a wound I couldn’t remember.
“Easy,” the nurse soothed. “I know you’re concerned, and you have every right to be, but you need to calm down.”
Tearing my hand away, I fought for stability in a sea of misery. “I need to find Neri.”
“Neri being your wife? Nerida Taylor?”
