Sabine shakes her head. “Calla, calm yourself. You don’t know what happened. You need to…”

But I’m already running out the door and her voice fades to nothing as I sprint through the halls toward the front door. My weariness from travel has been forgotten.

“Jones!” I call as I near the foyer. “I need a ride.”

He appears from nowhere, as he always does. “Miss?”

“I need a ride to the hospital.”

He stares at me. “Does your mother know?”

I nod, a lie.

“Yes.”

He can’t check with her, because he knows full well she’s taking a nap to rest up from the trip. He’s apprehensive, but he can’t say no because I might be a child, but I’m a Savage child.

“Very well. I’ll pull the car around.”

We’re heading toward town within a minute.

The country turns into the city and the streets all lead to one place.

To Dare.

I’m out of the car before the wheels have even stopped turning, racing into the hospital, through the people, only stopping to ask directions to Dare’s room.

Then I’m off again, running through white halls and sterility, and I don’t stop until I burst through the door of a room on the fifth floor, until I see Dare resting in a bed.

He’s alone, and the room is quiet.

I pause, hesitating now.

He’s asleep, his dark lashes inky against his cheek.

I marvel at how big he is, how much he’s grown over the last nine months, at how beautiful he is even in slumber. He’s long, he’s slender, he’s strong. He’s a man. I gulp and the wave of warmth that gushes through me is confusing at the same time that it’s familiar. I’ve always felt it when I looked at him, but

it’s more pronounced now.

It’s unarguable.

Dare opens his eyes.

“Cal?” he asks in confusion, groggily, and he searches the doorway behind me.

“I’m alone,” I tell him quickly, striding into the room and sinking into the chair next to him. “What happened? Why are you here?”

I itch to reach over and grab his hand, to offer him comfort, to touch him.

But I can’t. Because he probably wouldn’t want that. He’d reject me and that would be devastating. I’d never recover.

“I’m fine,” he assures me. “It’s no big deal. Just a minor hiccup.”

“Did my uncle do this?” I ask, the words cold on my lips, the thought even colder in my head.

Dare shakes his head. “No.”

“Where is he?”

Tags: Courtney Cole The Nocte Trilogy Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net