Authors: Susan A. Bliler
Her body
slammed
violently against the driver’s side door. Her head smacked the glass and it shattered into a thousand tiny ice-cube like pieces. The screech of
tires
and groan of twisting metal was deafening. The
front of both her thighs smashed
painfully i
nto the steering wheel and she didn’t know whether to hang onto it or to brace her hands over her head. She didn’t get the chance to do either as the vehicle rolled repeatedly tossing her about the cab of the car like a rag doll.
When the car finally slammed to a jarring halt the vehicle was upside down. Aries sucked in a ragged breath and tried to scramble for the busted out rear window, but her limbs refused to
obey
. Something warm was pouring into her eyes and the heat of it matched the melting feeling in her limbs. She knew she was passing out and tried to fight it, but the most she was able to do was to moan weakly before her head slumped forward on her sprawled hands and everything went black.
Chapter
24
“Is she alive?”
Conn couldn’t control the tremble that seeped into his voice.
Icy fingers of fear
gripped
him and
clawed
painfully at his soul.
His body
was
tensed
, his
eyes
closed as he
prepared for the worst.
“She’s alive Commander, but she’s in rough shape. You should get here soon.”
Barely registering Monroe’s last words Conn’s eyes welled with relief. His head dropped and he drew in a slow breath allowing
h
is chest to expand and his heart
contracted
painfully at the action.
York eyed Conn before issuing orders.
“James, you and Shane find Remy. The Comma
nder and I are heading to
Stone
Crow
. We want him found without fail.”
“You got it,” James slapped Shane on the shoulder, “Let’s go bro.”
The two Walkers shifted and
took flight
.
York stared at
his Commander. It was the first time he’d ever seen him unable
or unwilling
to
issue
orders. “Shift Sir, Monroe said we need to get there soon.” York shifted and took flight hoping that Conn would follow his lead. Several moments later York was
relieved to be
flanked by his Commander as the two raced for
StoneCrow
.
Conn felt several mental nudges as multiple Walkers attempted to contact him through
the mist
. He permitted none. If it was bad news about Aries, he didn’t want to hear it until he was able to see for himself, and if it wasn’t about Aries than it didn’t matter
.
He beat his wings hard and York strained to keep up. To keep from thinking about Aries lying broken in the infirmary he thought of Remy instead and the thousand ways he’d hurt the Walker if Aries died.
Even if she live
d
, and he prayed she did, he still intended on hurting the Walker. Remy McCabe would regret ever having touched what belonged to Conn
Drago
!
He
ignored the little voice inside his head that tried to remind him that she wasn’t actually his
,
that he’d bound her on her insistence to impede the effects of his affliction.
The flight was rapid yet silent and in under an hour Conn dropped to the roof of
main estate house of
StoneCrow
. He didn’t wait for York as he jerked open the door that led down into the building. His booted feet thudded loudly as he raced down to the main floor of the west wing where the infirmary was located. His blood began to rush through his veins
and
his adrenaline roared to life. He hoped Aries hadn’t died on his flight to her, and he hoped for everyone else’s sake that they stayed the fuck out of his way.
When he hit the main floor he shoved the door from the stair well open and it crashed loudly against the stone wall behind it. He didn’t care. He stomped toward the infirmary, glowering at the nurses that stopped to gape at him before they scurried away.
He’d always hated the scent of the infirmary. It smelled sterile
,
like a mixture of drugs and cleaning products. Having only ever been to the infirmary for negative reasons, the scent always invoked a sense of dread. Snorting, he tried to clear the sting of the strong aroma from his nostril before he began breathing through his mouth.
Hearing
footfall quickly approaching from behind
he didn’t turn knowing
it was York.
The two large men stormed down the hall.
Chief of Surgery Jenny
Arkinson
stepped out from a room and her eyes darted around the hall until they locked on Conn. “Commander
Drago
, a word before you enter.”
York doubled his pace and
effortlessly lifted Dr.
Arkinson
out of Conn’s way seconds before the Commander rushed past and entered the room she’d just exited.
Behind him he heard the Doctor squealing, “Put me down!
He can’t just barge in there!
”
He entered the room and turned quickly locking the door behind him. When he turned back he was met with a long white curtain that had been pulled to block the patient from view of the doors. Drawing in a slow breath he instantly scented Aries’
blood. His heart skipped a beat and he tried to steady his hand that had a firm grip on the curtain even as his ears picked up the
rhythmic
beeping of a machine he recognized as a heart monitor.
In the hall his ears picked up Monroe’s alarmed voice, “What’s going on?”
Jenny’s voice was shrill in response. “Conn’s with her.”
He heard York’s fierce
growl
, “Don’t even think about it!”
He knew his second in command would keep everyone out.
Conn slowly peeled back the curtain and when his eyes settled on Aries’ fragile form
the air rushed out of his lungs and
he dropped to one knee. His head dipped and he fought to hold back his tears. His breathing had increased and he couldn’t control the emotion that overwhelmed him. For long moments he stayed down trying to regain his composure. When he was finally able to control the tremble in his fingers, he blinked back his emotion and slowly stood before he approached his angel.
The entire right side of her face
was black and purple. Her eye
was swollen so badly that he doubted she’d even be able to open it. Whether it was the from the stark contrast or just from the trauma he didn’t know, but the other side of her face was too pale in his estimation. There was a thick bandage wound around her head and the hair that stuck out was matted with her dried blood.
One of her legs was elevated and was covered in a cast from the tips of her
delicate pink polished
toes all the way up to her hip. A bandaged arm rested across her stomach and she looked so small and helpless that it actually terrified him. He didn’t know if her body would be
able to handle so much trauma. His teeth gnashed together in anger. He wanted to do something, help her,
fix her,
but he was powerless and it was the worst feeling in the world.
Slowly approaching he lifted a hand but was afraid to even touch her anywhere for fear he’d hurt
her. He settled on stroking the hair that peeked out from the bandage.
A slight moan escaped her parted lips and his eyes locked on hers. Her swollen eye didn’t move, but the other one slowly opened. He leaned close to hover over her face and plastered on a reassuring smile
that he didn’t
quite reach his eyes
.
“Hey beautiful,” his words were a mere whisper.
Aries blinked several times then her lower lip began to quiver. She tried to lift her bandaged hand to her face but Conn caught her fingers.
“
Shhh
, it’s
gonna
be okay. You’re fine now Aries. You’re safe.”
Tears welled in her eye then slid down the side of her face as she spoke softly, her voice scratchy as if she were severely parched. “They
shaved my hair.” Her shoulders shook and she closed her eye even as more tears slipped free.
Conn’s heart felt like it broke in two.
“It’s alright baby, they didn’t
shave
it all.” He leaned down and pressed his lips to her shoulder before pulling back to swipe the tears from the un-bruised side of her face.
“They only shaved a small part,” he reassured her without even knowing if he spoke the truth or not. He didn’t care, he just wanted desperately to soothe her.
She nodded but kept her eye closed.
“Look at me.”
She opened her eye and stared up at him.
He made a show of studying her face
and
glancing down her body
, drinking in the sight of her
. “Do you know you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life?” He
leaned closer and brushed
her bottom lip with his thumb. His eyes locked on hers, “Do you know if you asked me to I’d gladly kill whoever it was that cut your hair and made you cry?”
She smiled through her tears and Conn’s heart melted.
“D-did I hit the deer?”
“No,” Conn lied. He didn’t know if she had or not and he certainly didn’t care.
“Was it Remy?”
His teeth clenched and the muscles in his jaw worked as he bit back the response he wanted to give. “No, Remy’s fine.”
She smiled again, “I got away from him.”
He couldn’t believe that in her condition she was actually beaming with prid
e at having eluded yet another
Walker
. “Of course you did beautiful.
” He trace
d her jaw, his eyes following the
movement before he looked at her again, “And just where exactly did you think you were going?”
She sobered then, her brows drawing together, “I was coming back to you.”
He had to swallow several times before the emotion that thickened his throat finally subsided. “Why?”
“You were alone and you couldn’t wake up. It wasn’t safe.”
“You were coming back to make sure
I
was okay?”
She nodded frowning at him as if it
should have been obvious
. She lifted her bandaged hand and one finger slowly extended to finger his halo. “Did it work? Our binding?”
He smiled, “Yes Aries. It worked.”
She sighed and her eye clo
sed. It was closed so long he
thought she’d fallen asleep when it opened again. “You can take it back now. I-if you want to.”
His hand found hers and gently eased it back across her body. “Not now Aries. You need to rest and heal.
Don’t worry,” his eyes flashed dangerously, “no one will ever take you from me again.”
“Promise?”
He leaned closer until his nose touched hers
and his warm breath whispered across her lips
, “I swear it to you on my life.”
“Will you stay until I fall asleep?”
“All the Walkers in the world couldn’t drag me away.”
Aries inhaled slowly and her eye closed.
“Conn?” Her eye opened again and she stared up at him, “Do something for me?”
“Anything.”
Her tongue darted out to wet her lips. “Don’t kill Remy.”
“Aries, he did this to you, he…
”
She cut him off,
“He
’s just hurt and alone. He misses his angel.”
Conn was silent for long moments.
He didn’t bother telling Aries that Amanda wasn’t Remy’s true angel. He’d only been sleeping with the woman
and
a slew of others when Mason met and claimed Amanda Chandler. The woman had been so insignificant to Remy that he hadn’t even gifted her his halo. It was
galling to watch Remy pretend that his mate had been taken from him. Amanda was n
ot
Remy’s Angel.
Sighing Conn didn’t know how to respond to her request. He
was looking forward to killing Remy and certainly didn’t want to promise Aries that he wouldn’t, but he didn’t want to upset her either.
“Please?”
He couldn’t say no to her, not when she was in this condition.
“Fine. I won’t kill him.”
However, he
still
intended on inflicting some serious pain.