I shifted on the bed slightly and instantly hissed out as the searing pain encompassed me. I froze and closed my eyes, just breathing through it. I’d dealt with pain plenty of times. I could handle this.
I was in a bed, one that was soft. The blankets smelled faintly of lavender, but it was the artificial kind. I sifted through the rest of the scents and picked up the one that had me squeezing my eyes shut with a pang of homesickness.
Saudade.
I smelled salt water.
A lock of my hair hung over my shoulder, and I turned my head toward it and inhaled deeply. The strands smelled like the ocean. Gods, it had been so long since I smelled the sea.
When I opened my eyes, I realized I was smiling. And crying. I looked around the room as much as I could without moving my body and feeling that pain again.
The room was darkened by the night, a swatch of moonlight peeking out from between the partially closed curtains. There was a dresser to one side and a door right beside that. Across from that was another door.
Memories of what happened—escaping the facility, Odhran and I running, and then the point when we broke free, when I glanced at the entrance only to see D standing there with a gun pointed right at me. It all played through my mind like a reel.
There had been pain. And then there was nothing.
One of the doors opened, and I looked over to watch Odhran coming in with a glass of water in his hand. He froze when he saw me, his nostrils flaring and his free hand going to his chest. Right over his heart.
“Don’t move, darlin’.”
My pulse picked up at the sound of his voice so clear, his Scottish accent thickly laced through the words.
He came over to me and set the glass of water on the little table beside the bed. “Ye’re wounded verra badly, Larkin.” His big body was shrouded in shadows, but the scent of the sea mixed with his wild aroma hung around him. It was the most glorious fragrance I’d ever taken into my body.
He gingerly sat on the edge of the bed, the mattress creaking softly from his substantial weight. And when he took my hand in his, I felt my throat tighten for reasons other than thirst.
“Is this real?” I asked. “I’m not dreaming?” I blinked back my tears, because I was afraid this was all a fantasy, one of the many dreams I had when I’d first been captured.
I remembered waking up, gasping out, clutching at the air, crying out for Odhran, my family… for freedom.
Odhran lifted a hand and gently smoothed his fingers over my forehead, pushing the locks away along the side of my face. “Aye, sweetheart. It’s real, and ye’re safe.”
I found myself leaning into his touch, and although the room was dark, my vision still hazy from the pain, I could see the way his lips curled as he smiled.
“How much do ye remember?”
I gave myself a few seconds to focus on his question before answering. “I remember everything up until I was shot.” My heart started racing as I thought about D. As if Odhran knew where my thoughts were headed, a deep rumbling noise came from the center of his chest, and he shook his head slowly.
“No worries. That bastard has been handled and is never going tae hurt ye again.” He said that last part on a growl, his eyes briefly flashing blue before he garnered his control. “I wanted tae drag out his death, make it slow, painful.” He glanced off as if thinking of all the things he wanted to do. “But ye were injured. I had tae get ye out of there and tae safety.”
I licked my lips. It didn’t matter how much or how little D suffered. He was dead, and that was all I cared about.
“What about the facility?” My voice was rough from days of not using it, my throat feeling raw. My words caught on the last part as memories of my time within the clutches of the Assembly played through my mind. Gods, am I really free? Truly? “What about the Assem—” I couldn’t even finish saying the name out loud.
“Shhh.” Odhran kept trailing his fingers along my forehead and temple. “Everything is fine.”
It took me a second to respond, waiting until I made sure the horrors of the past didn’t make my voice shake. “What about Sebastian? He said he would handle it, ruin them. Did he succeed? Did he make it out okay?”
Odhran smiled and leaned in to press his lips to my forehead. I heard him inhale deeply before he pulled back.
“Sebastian and the rest of the Otherworlders he freed destroyed the facility. And last I heard—every human in it.”
I felt something burn in my chest. It wasn’t fear, wasn’t anxiety. It was something close to hope, a painful pleasure. Although I knew it was foolish to think anything could end that evil entity. I knew, despite this one facility being taken down, it wasn’t going to stop the whole organization. I was sure they had places planted all over the world.
“They’ll never stop being a reality, at least not for the foreseeable future. They’ve been around far too long and have deep roots,” Odhran finally said. “But I heard from my king, who spoke with Adryan, the leader of the American Vampire Clan, that convoys have already started moving out all across the world from both the vampires and the Lycans, as well as allies of many Otherworld factions. It’s the age in which the Otherworld hunts down the Assembly.”
“But Sebastian—he’s okay?” I repeated. He saved my life, and the worry that he didn’t make it out after risking everything for me and others made me anxious to know he was fine.