Bay of Sighs (The Guardians Trilogy 2)

“Hey, a wolf whistle.”

Riley glanced back, smirked. “Glad to see you’ve got your lame humor back. Okay, shit.” She walked to him, took his face in her hands, kissed him hard on the mouth. “I’m going to help Anni. And get a beer.”

“I want a beer.”

“No alcohol without Dr. Sorcerer signing off.”

He’d have sulked over it, but as Riley strode away, Sasha dashed out. And as Riley had, kissed him.

“Maybe I should get tortured more often. It gets all the girls.”

“Your color’s good. How’s the pain?”

“It’s there. Not bad, but there.”

“We’ll take care of that. You’re hungry.”

“I’m starved.”

“Let’s see the knife wound.” Without ceremony, she lifted his shirt, gently probed as Doyle strode across the lawn. “It’s healing well. And the shoulder . . . better. Your wrists, better yet. Stay with him,” she told Doyle. “Bran’s coming down, and I’m going to help put food together.”

With a nod, Doyle sat across from Sawyer, studied him.

“Aren’t you going to kiss me? Everybody else has.”

“I’ll pass on that. They beat the fuck out of you, brother, and sliced you good while they were at it. And a cattle prod, was it? From what Annika described.”

“Something like that. Malmon?”

“Not a sign or a sound. After some considerable bitching by certain parties, Bran and Riley went up. You couldn’t be left unconscious, so they won that battle. There’s nothing left in the cave, and no survivors they could find. Malmon, according to Riley’s sources, hasn’t been back to the villa. His things are there right enough, but he hasn’t been seen.”

“If I had a fucking beer, I’d drink to that.”

“Considering all, I’ll get us both a beer.”

“Not for Sawyer, not as yet.” Bran, one of his kits in hand, walked out.

“Have a heart. I’ve been mostly dead all day.”

“Excellent Princess Bride usage.” Riley came out with a tray—the glass of sun tea, the pasta. “There’s more coming, but you can get started.”

“First, the pain—one to ten.”

Sawyer shrugged at Bran. “Maybe four and a half.”

“That means a solid six,” Riley said. “He’s downplaying.”

“I agree.” Bran took a vial from the kit. “For the pain,” he said. “Not for sleep. Just to take the pain down a bit. Sasha will insist on dealing with it, and I’d as soon she didn’t take on that much.”

“Fine.” Sawyer waited until Bran added a few drops to the glass, then downed the tea. “I gotta eat.”

He shoved in two healthy bites, sat back, said, “Whoa. For the pain?”

“It’ll give you a bit of an energy boost as well.”

“I’ll say. You need to get Annika to the water—seawater.”

“I’ll see to it.”