Page 22 of The Sirin Sisterhood (The Sons of Echidna #2)

Lai

Escaping with just one injury would be too much to hope for.

Eleanore was prepared to let Lai walk out of the manor, but her crew wasn’t as generous.

Lai had slaughtered a lot of their friends that night.

He knew they wouldn’t kill him, not when Eleanore needed him to deliver a message, but she had never suggested that he had to do it in one piece.

He was already bleeding heavily from his torn-up face.

Taking on a dozen well-trained soldiers in a proper fight wouldn’t end well for him, not if he wanted to do more than crawl down the driveway, so he ran.

He ran through the procession of pain and humiliation as quickly as he could, arms wrapped protectively around his face, taking each hit and punch that came at him.

He felt a bullet ruin his ankle and hopped gracelessly down the last few feet of the drive.

Death was not something Lai usually concerned himself with.

On any other day, dropping dead would simply result in his transformation into a wyvern, but not today.

He’d already shifted less than a week ago to act as griffin bait and to drag Lucy back to the manor.

Transforming put an enormous strain on his body, and he simply hadn’t had time to recover. Today, if he died, he died.

Lai reached the gate with broken ribs, a swollen face, a shattered ankle, and a bruised ego. His body would recover, scarred but whole. His pride he was not so sure about. He just hoped that his ride was still waiting for him.

Something had to go right today. The car was waiting at the end of the drive, the pizza logo shining through the darkness like a beacon of hope. The Domino’s sign always made his heart soar; that night, itpracticallygave him wings.

The driver jumped when Lai collapsed against the car, leaving a bloody smear over the windscreen.

“Oh, fuck–hold on!”Greg threw himself out of the car and rushed to the trunk, throwing aside piles of empty pizza boxes and grabbing his bright red first aid kit.

“Not now. No time,”Lai managed, his mouth filling with blood as he spoke.

“Yeah, well, you’ll bleed out before we get back to town if I don’t do something. Is the other guy coming?”

Lai shook his head.

“Oh. Shit, okay. Don’t panic, I got this.”He opened the passenger door and pushed Lai inside.

The broken ribs sent a jolt of pain coursing through his body, but Lai managed to hold on to the scream.

Greg surprised him. He’d expected the man to panic and drive off at the sight of so much blood, but instead, the delivery man pulled out an antiseptic spray and dressing pads from the plastic kit.

“Here, bite down on these.”He pushed a couple of wound stuffers into Lai’s mouth and made sure he was holding them in place before securing the dressing with a long roll of bandaging.

“Did that thing in the woods get you? Man, it always tries to take a bite out of me; that’s why I always bring extra garlic bread.

”He smiled, making sure Lai was buckled in before slamming the car door, tossing the first aid kit in the trunk, and slamming that, too, before he climbed into his seat and started the engine.

“That should buy you some extra time. Not my first time plugging holes in people, you know. I’m the only driver who’ll still deliver to blacklisted streets.

”He glanced at Lai. “Try to stay awake.”

So it wasn’t just nervous chatter; Greg was talking to help keep him conscious until they got help. Strange. Lai hadn’t taken him for someone so cool-headed in a crisis.

Mumbling a ‘thank you,’Lai leaned back in his seat, watching the almost empty road whiz past at breakneck speed. His pain became a dull ache that only flared up when they hit the occasional bump in the road. It was manageable. Lai had other worries.

He knew Eleanore wouldn’t kill his father. She would make his stay as her hostage highly unpleasant, but she wouldn’t kill him. Lucy, on the other hand? Who knew what would happen to the woman if Eleanore got her hands on her.

And perhaps Lucy really was something more than just a human with a magical gift, after all.

He considered throwing away the message to protect her. Lucy would want to rush back to the manor to save his father and trade his fate with hers out of misplaced guilt.

Klein would stop her .

The epiphany startled him. He was so used to depending on no one but himself that he didn’t even know his brain was capable of suggesting that his brother could help. Al would, too, and Xim! Xim seemed like a smart woman. Collectively, they wouldn’t let Lucy do anything stupid.

Lai had already counted himself out of the equation. He could barely think anymore as the city rose on the horizon.

“Stay with me,”Greg called softly. “The hospital isn’t too far away.”

Hospital?

“No,”Lai mumbled, forcing himself to sit up. He pointed to a skyscraper in the distance. “There.”

“What? The Farrowatcher headquarters? Are you sure? You need to be seen by a doctor.”

Lai reached over and placed his hand over Greg’s on the steering wheel, squeezing to convey the urgency.

“I mean, okay. They probably have their own little hospital, right? It’s all labs and medicines. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Lai nodded and let go, reaching into his pocket for the last of his leftover cash and tucking it into the glove box. His last four notes.

Funny, how little his life was worth.