Against my instincts, against my will, I did
When I next woke, the pain had finally eased. I lay in darkness, and no longer felt like I was under the grill setting in an oven. The ache in my arm had muted, on a par with the pain coming from my ankles and wrists. I shifted, and was relieved to hear only the whisper of the sheets. The chains had finally gone
I opened my eyes. Saw shadows mingling with strings of cobwebs. I blinked, noted the corrugated iron roof beyond the cobwebs, and realized I was still in the shed. The air was dusty, rich with the scent of wood and smoke and vanilla. But overpowering that was the warm scent of spice and leather. A scent I'd recognize anywhere. I smiled and looked left
Rhoan sat in a chair near the bed, his short red hair sticking out at all sorts of angles, his bare feet propped up on the dresser, legs slightly apart. He wasn't wearing jeans, simply black boxers, but he did have a sweater on. Again, it was black. Considering his love of bright colors, finding him in basic black was quite a surprise
His smoke-colored gaze met mine, and I saw the relief there. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever wake."
His voice was etched with tiredness, and I raised an eyebrow. "The wound was obviously worse than I'd thought."
He took his feet off the dresser and walked carefully over. The bed creaked as he sat down. "Worse is an understatement."
He picked up my hand and held it to his chest, just over his heart. The steady beat reverberated through my fingers, and I knew, without his saying a word, just how close I'd come to leaving this life
"Don't ever try and die on me again, you hear? It's not allowed. Ever."
Tears touched my eyes, and I blinked them away. "But it was just an arrow - "
"An arrow made of silver," he cut in. "With barbs that had been designed to break off in your flesh and travel through your system. You were being poisoned, inside and out."
Horror recoiled through me. No wonder I'd burned. I swallowed, but it didn't seem to ease the dryness in my throat. "But why would they do that if they were after the same thing from me as they were from you?"
He shrugged. "Jack's theory is that a woman is born with all the eggs she'll ever have, whereas a man keeps on producing sperm. Maybe those eggs were all they really wanted."
They were bastards. Whoever they were, they were bastards. And crazy ones at that. "So how did you get the barbs out?"
"With an experimental medical scanner Jack borrowed from the Directorate. One barb had reached your shoulder, the other two had headed down your arm." He hesitated. "You were delirious by that time. It wasn't easy."
His tone suggested something had happened, and it wasn't hard to guess what. Once the silver had been removed, my natural instincts would have taken control, whether or not I was delirious. I took a deep breath and released it slowly. "Whom did I attack?"
He grimaced. "Quinn. Savaged his arm pretty badly before we gained control again."
Attacking the man I wanted to seduce was not the brightest thing I'd ever done. "Has he wolf in his background?"
"No."
At least that was one good thing - we didn't have to keep an eye on him the night of the full moon. "So how long was I out?"
"Twenty-four hours. It's Tuesday, and four in the afternoon."
"I hope you let Jack know I'm not going to make it to work."
He smiled. "Jack knows. He's still downstairs."
I yawned, then asked, "Why?"
"Because another attempt was made on his life. Until we know what's going on, this shed is our temporary headquarters."
"I'm sure the owners will be pleased about that."
"The owners are currently overseas and not expected back for another two weeks. We're as safe here as we would be anywhere."
"Only problem with that is the fact we're out in the middle of nowhere."
"That means squat in this day and age." He grinned, kissed my fingers, and rose. "You feel ready for something to eat?"
"I suppose." I paused. "What about the moon? We can't avoid what it does to us, and out here, it's going to prove a problem."