Page 30 of Beautiful Scars: Unshakeable

Someone touches my face, fingers gentle against my cheek. The softness startles me. Zane. His face comes into view over mine, and I want to smile up at him. Tell him I knew he’d come. But I can't.

"She's breathing." His deep voice rumbles above me. "Pulse is steady but slow."

Colt's voice crackles through what must be their radios, urgent updates about secured floors and captured guards washing over me in waves. I catch fragment—"upper level clear" and "no sign of Coleman."

…he's a slippery snake, that one…

I struggle against the darkness pulling at my consciousness. My fingers twitch, a small victory against the drugs flooding my system.

"Angel?" Zane's voice drops lower, meant only for me. His fingers find my pulse again, lingering longer than necessary. "Stay with me, sweet girl."

The relief in his tone when he confirms I'm alive breaks something loose in my chest. A small sound escapes my throat, barely more than a whimper, but Levi's sharp intake of breath tells me he heard it.

"Sunny?" His voice cracks on my name. "Can you hear me?"

I fight hard against the drugs, desperate to respond. My eyelids flutter but won't stay open.

Finally, I manage to turn my head towards him.

"That's it, Angel." Zane's encouragement wraps me up inside it. "Fight it."

Footsteps thunder nearby—more noise, more people. The room fills with controlled chaos, voices overlap and run together. Someone mentions a stretcher.

"Z." Levi's voice carries an edge of desperation. "Her fingers..."

Gentle hands lift my right hand, and I hear Zane's sharp curse.

"Motherfucker," Zane growls, but his touch remains careful as he lowers my hand. "We need to move her. Now."

"Sir." A new voice joins the mix. "Building's secure but we've got incoming police. Five minutes out."

"Colt?" Zane calls out.

"On it." Colt's voice comes through the comms. "Wolf's handling the local PD. Clean exit's still good through the loading bay."

More hands touch me, professional and clinical this time. The medic, I think. They shine lights in my eyes, speak in clipped medical terms I can't follow.

"Heavy sedation…" the voice is soft, kind.

"…ketamine mixed with something..."

"…stable enough..."

Stable? Am I stable? I don't think I am.

Then hands are on me. Grabbing. Pushing. Moving.

Panic claws at my throat where a scream is stuck. The last time I was drugged, Garrett...

My body tenses and flails wildly as it's flooded with adrenaline. I fight as hard as I can.

"Wait. Wait." Zane's voice slices through my fear. He moves closer, his presence solid, giving me something to anchor myself to. "Shhh. Shhh. Sunny, it's just us. You're safe now. We've got you."

I want to believe him. Need to believe him. But I can't trust it. The drugs play tricks on me. They make everything twist and blur and turn upside down.

"Let me." Levi's voice, closer now. "Please."

Instead of a stretcher, strong arms slide under my shoulders and knees. Levi lifts me and holds me against his chest and for a moment I'm back in the before. I'm safe in his arms, breathing him in, back before it all went wrong.