Whisper padded toward the door without any further encouragement, and I let her drag me. I let her think I would obey before slamming on the brakes next to the desk where I assumed they’d stitched me up, thanks to the bloody towels.
Prying her fingers off me, I turned to face the doctors again. “To put your minds at rest...as long as Marcus believes he can trust you, he won’t kill you. Not because he’s kind but because you’ve proven yourselves valuable in keeping me alive. You can go about your life as normal. Your families won’t be hurt because he’ll keep you in mind next time he needs you. However...the moment you even think about dialling an emergency number, you won’t live to see morning. Your bodies will vanish into a very well-used incinerator. Your families will never know where you’ve gone, and they might even become collateral damage to his temper.”
The doctors shared a horrified look. “Then...what do you suggest we do?”
Leaning against the desk—trying to look nonchalant but really needing the support—I crossed my arms and shrugged. “I suggest you play by his rules and forget you ever saw us. Pretend we never existed.”
Rook sucked in a sharp breath. “Lucien...what are you doing?”
“But...won’t you be taken back to wherever you’re being held?” the older doctor asked, his silvering hair catching the chandelier. “Aren’t we just condemning you to whatever you’re trying to escape from?”
“Not if you do me one last favour.”
“What’s the favour?” Harry asked suspiciously.
I couldn’t stop my hand going to the vitalsync core, exposing my plan—
“You can’t,” Rook gasped. “There’s no way they can do that here. You’ll die.”
Our eyes locked and the room dropped away.
It was just her.
And me.
And that damned electrifying awareness.
“Don’t.” Rook shook her head, tears welling. “You can’t ask them to do this.”
My fingers found Whisper’s ear out of habit, seeking comfort as a question I wasn’t going to ask spilled free. “You didn’t leave when you had the chance.” I shook my head, still unable to believe that a girl who’d meant nothing to me seven weeks ago had somehow become the most important person in my life. “I was unconscious and you didn’t run away.”
“Do you truly think I’m the sort of person who would do that?” Hurt flashed in her stare.
“You told Marcus that you weren’t pregnant—”
“To keep you alive! If I hadn’t, he might’ve taken your life right there.”
“He might.” I nodded. “But that was the gamble I was prepared to take. By revealing you’re not carrying an Ashfall, you’ve just given up the only protection I could give you.”
The doctors shuffled on the spot, awkward at being our unwanted audience but...fuck it.
I needed to say this because Rook was right. I might die tonight, and I didn’t want to have regrets.
“Leave.” I clutched Whisper’s ear, making the poor panther flinch.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” I hated the sudden tightness in my chest at the thought of never seeing her again. “Go.”
I’d used her to get this far.
She was the first and only to help me.
The least I could do was set her free.
“Go with the doctors once they’ve finished.” I narrowed my eyes. “The guards won’t question it and by the time Marcus figures it out, it will be too late. You’ll be gone.”
“Do you really think I’d leave you?” Her face turned white.
“Do you really want to stay?”
“Of course I don’t.”
I froze as her words punched me in the heart. Words I’d expected yet—
“I want to leave with every fibre of my being,” she continued. “But...I want to leave with you.”
I froze.
Why?
Why was she willing to put her life on the line for me?
There had to be a logical explanation why we affected each other so much. Why she made my entire system turn haywire with a single look.
The air grew so thick with unspoken things, I struggled to breathe.
A throat cleared loudly as one of the doctors interrupted our staring competition. “In that case, we’ll get going then.”
My gaze snapped to the eldest doctor. “Not yet, you’re not. You’re not dismissed.”
“Listen here, you can’t just—”
“I can and I am.” Letting go of Whisper’s ear, I crossed my arms. “I have one more task before you can leave.”
“Look, I think we’ve been extremely accommodating,” Harry muttered. “We’re leaving—”
“Remove these cuffs from my wrists.” I held up my arms and the silver bondage trapping me. “And yank this torture device out of my heart.” I tapped the vitalsync core. “Do that and I won’t just let you leave, I’ll ensure you’ll never have to work again if you don’t want to.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Harry asked.
“It means get these fucking things out of me and I’ll give you whatever you want.”
Chapter Fourteen
I LAY BACK DOWN ON THE DESK—trying to be obedient so they would do what I asked. It wasn’t comfortable. I would’ve preferred being unconscious again but...I wouldn’t let them out of this room unless they did what I commanded.
Whisper would be only too happy to provide the threats if they tried to be difficult.
Arching up on my elbows, I looked at the two doctors standing stiff and awkward by the door.
“Do it,” I hissed, interrupting the stagnant silence. “Remove them and you can go.”
With a heavy sigh, Harry and Roger shared a glance then moved to flank me on the desk.
“Lie down,” Roger ordered.
Having men this close to me. Men towering over me like they had when they’d inserted the very thing I wanted them to take out.
Fuck, it was hard.
Every part of me wanted to slaughter them, but...I gritted my teeth and lay back.
Grabbing my wrists, each doctor inspected a cuff, manipulating my arms almost in synchronisation. Wordlessly, they turned my palms up and down, studying the metal.
“Why do you have vascular access ports?” Harry finally asked. “Why one on each wrist? Why not in the usual place on the chest?”
Before I could reply—not that I had any intention of doing so—Harry pressed along the edge of the cuff. The skin had long since turned into scar tissue. His touch sent nasty vibrations right to my bones.
I fought the urge to kill him.
“You were bled regularly?”
I held his stare. “Are you sure you want to know?”
“Permanent shunts like this can sometimes become fused with the vein itself.” Roger returned my hand to the desk. “Without imaging, haemostatic gel, or a surgical team...” He straightened as if fortifying himself to give bad news. “If we tried to remove them like this—in a room not equipped and with no emergency gear on hand—we could run the risk of rupturing.”
“So?”
“So?” Harry scoffed. “You’d bleed out in under a minute.”
“Wait.” Rook sucked in a breath. “It’s that dangerous?”
“I don’t care,” I hissed. “Just get it over with.”
“Your haemoglobin levels don’t match your blood volume,” Roger said, frowning at my arm. “You can’t afford to lose any more—”
“I’m not arguing with you.” My teeth ground together. “I’ll ask nicely one last time, then the panther will ask instead.”
Whisper helpfully exposed his fangs with a rabid snarl.
The two doctors tensed but Harry shrugged. “Hey, it’s your funeral. I’ll agree to remove the ports. But that thing in your chest? I’m not touching it.”
I went deathly still. “You don’t have a choice. That’s the most important part.”
“Anything dealing with the heart must be done in a controlled, sterile environment where we can monitor every vital you have,” Roger said, keeping a careful eye on Whisper. “We’re not refusing to be awkward. It would genuinely be a life-threatening procedure, and your chances of survival would be negligible.”
