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“And that scumbag who came after them?”
More hesitation from River, then the scraping of words. “He’s down. Permanently.”
Nausea spun, and Kane hugged me closer.
Energy curled between us.
Both disorienting and comforting.
“What’s the status?” River asked, turning his focus to Dr. Reynolds and Charleigh who’d been bustling around on the other side of Kane during the exchange.
“He was stable on the flight. Blood pressure is good. The injury was mostly superficial, and he lost only a small amount of blood, though I have no doubt that it hurt like hell.”
“Like bloody hell.” Kane grinned.
My chest tightened. This wasn’t funny. Wasn’t a joke. Wasn’t something to be written off.
As if he sensed the turmoil, Kane squeezed me tighter, coaxing me to bury my face in the sanctuary of his chest, his voice rough when he muttered, “If I’m all good, then I’m going to need you all to step out.”
I started to straighten.
“Not you, Little Warrior. Need you right here with me.”
“That should be fine,” Dr. Reynolds said as he scribbled something into an old-school chart before he patted Kane’s opposite shoulder. His words turned poignant. “You did well.”
Confusion continued to race, and River hesitated. Charleigh came around the table, her hand brushing across her fiancé’s chest to scoot him back before she ran a tender hand down my arm.
A soft show of encouragement before she ushered everyone outthe door. It clicked shut behind them, and the dense air only thickened more the second Kane and I were alone.
A pounding that thudded against the walls. Reverberating. Multiplying the tumult that barreled through me.
“Hey,” Kane murmured.
I peeled my head back enough to look at him.
Intensity blazed from his expression, those magic eyes so full of emotion, lapping and swimming with secrets and truth.
“Who are you?” I finally managed to whisper.
Mournfulness flicked and flashed across his striking face, and he brushed back a lock of hair stuck to my tear-stained cheek and tucked it behind my ear. “Told you I wasn’t a good man. That you weren’t going to get a white knight but a dragon.”
The warning filled the enclosed space.
Ballooning to unbearable.
I sniffled. “You never told me what that really means.”
Severity creased the corners of his eyes. “You want to know, Emery? Do you really want to know me? You want to see inside to the man that I really am?”
My nod was frantic.
A fool.
A fool.
Wanting to dive straight into whoever that was.
“I tell you this, Emery, and I’m letting you into something that can never be revealed to anyone else.” Ferocity underscored the words. “It’s a secret that we carry. One that very few know about. One that I want you to hold and share with me.”