Chapter One

Several Weeks Prior

Shelby

“She’s waking up. Put her back under!”

“The blood panel isn’t back. I’m doing the best I can. If I give her anything else, I might kill her.”

Two people then, the first a man, the second a woman. I didn’t hurt, not really. Something was wrong, though, I could tell that much. My mind shied away when I tried to concentrate on it, so I let my fluttering lids rest and contented myself to listen to the commentary around me instead.

I must have drifted back off since I came to, somewhat anyhow, when I was roughly jostled. Chest on fire, gasping for air, my eyes blindly searched for the source of my pain. Slowly, several fuzzy forms came into view, but I couldn’t be bothered with them as I tried to get my thought process working and figure out why my ribs were killing me. Other places hurt as well, and I tallied them up in my head until a shout interrupted my inventory.

“Wait, we got her back!” The hands that had been shoving on my chest retreated, one waving someone off, but whoever it was pushed past the masked figure. A face appeared in my line of sight.

Familiar worried eyes held mine as the man leaned over me, edging the other out of the way. In response to my unintelligible moan, he started filling me in. “Shelby, I’m Gavin. You gotta stay with us, alright?”

My confusion cleared when I realized the eyes had a ring of silver around the iris. Not Carter then. As my gaze tracked down, I was able to pinpoint other differences. Even though he looked like Carter at a glance, it wasn’t him. I couldn’t tell if I was disappointed or relieved. My mind was scattered with the constant onslaught of pain I could only try to compartmentalize while I assessed my situation, but then panic set in.

Where are Dirk and Milo? Flashes of the last hours I could remember assaulted me in a rush. He killed me. But I wasn’t dead.

Instead, I struggled to breathe. My chest burned with unfathomable agony, as did my throat and jaw that I couldn’t force to make words. There were other points of discomfort, some I knew would be from the broken glass I remembered in the bed, but I couldn’t quite recall how, when, or why I had been moved to a hospital room.

The woman, a surgical mask covering the bottom of her face and blood-covered gloves on her hands, barked commands at the hovering man from the foot of the gurney I resided on.

"Gavin, you have to go. Blake and I need the room to work. Get your boys out there under control, too. Their curiosity is about to get the better of them, and I don't need them underfoot.”

“Shhh,” Gavin said, smoothing my hair back from my face. He ignored the woman, attempting to soothe me as I tried in vain to move. "You're safe with us. Carter sent you here." Unfortunately, that wasn’t exactly comforting to hear.

I wanted to tell him that Carter wasn’t a savior, having intervened too late, that they should have let me be and I wouldn't be in this agony, but all that came out was a pained whine and a starburst of pain in my jaw. My words were trapped in my throat, rendering me completely helpless.

Panic and pain vying for supremacy, I finally lost the battle with consciousness. I sank into welcoming darkness, aided, I was sure, by the syringe the other man inserted into the tubing attached to my arm.

***

Shelby

I was awake again, coherency coming to me quicker than the last time. The tenor of men's voices had woken me, briefly causing my heart rate to double. I focused enough to tell that my ears weren’t deceiving me—the voices weren’t familiar. Taking in their appearances, high-cheekbones, straight noses, too-wide mouths over tapered jaws that ended in square chins all topped with odd golden eyes and shaggy black curls, I verified that they were strangers. They reminded me of jungle cats, if jungle cats could be men. I was sure they weren’t anyone that I'd encountered before.

Or have I?

Their eyes stared at me expectantly like they knew me, but I couldn’t be bothered to try to communicate. Really, all I cared about was the cool rush in my arm hitting my bloodstream and floating me away from the pain that plagued me every time I woke up.

"Hello, Shelby," the first ventured, immediately followed by the other finishing the greeting.

"It's nice to see you awake this time." This time?

Then they spoke in unison, like that was going to help clear matters up. "We're the cousins. We saved you."

At least I know who to blame now, creepy fuckers. Pretty, though. Or maybe that was the liquid bliss coursing through my veins. Maybe I was hallucinating. Wouldn't be the craziest thing that had ever happened to me. Besides, insanity ran in my family, just had to look at Mama to know that much.

"Jesus, you two, will you knock that shit off?" This man, him I knew, but his name eluded me and then I began to drift off again, the nightmare and pain temporarily at bay. When my eyes slipped closed, I almost felt bad because the man looked sad. His voice echoed that as it followed me into sleep. "She's been through enough. Don't scare her."

***

Shelby

I groaned when the doctor hit a particularly tender cut on my back. I’d have called the woman a sadist, except the swelling in my jaw had rendered me mostly mute. Not to mention just thinking the word brought the memories of Dirk and Milo to mind, something I wasn’t ready to face just yet.

“Sorry, that one could have used a stitch or two, but I’m already worried about infection, so I’m going to bandage it up,” she informed me. She went about checking me from top to bottom, the same thing she’d been doing since I’d woken and she’d informed me I’d been out for almost two days.

“Ngh,” I garbled, shying away from her touch as she drew the sheet down behind me. Shifting as I had set off a coughing fit, streaking red-hot licks of pain throughout my face and ribs, blackening the edges of my vision.

“Shelby?” The doctor was in front of me when I was able to focus again, concern pulling her face into a frown.

Communicating while unable to speak and my free arm hindered by an IV was frustrating to say the least. I balled the sheet into my hand, pulling it up as I shook my head against the pillow.

With a sigh, the woman’s eyes softened, holding more than a hint of pity, but she nodded and stood, giving my white- knuckled hand a careful pat. “Would you like a sedative so I can finish the exam? Or I could bring Blake in to stand guard if that would help? He won’t see anything. I’ll keep you covered with the sheet or have him face away.”

My eyes widened in shock and fear at her suggestions. Did she think I knew who Blake was? I didn’t want her touching me despite knowing that she was the one who’d fixed me up, and she wanted to bring someone else in? I shook my head again, the bruised skin of my cheek unappreciative of the paper-like pillowcase rubbing against it.

Adopting a soothing, even tone, the doctor tried to reason with me. “Shelby, I understand you’ve been through some trauma, but please believe me when I say that no one is here to hurt you. I need to see to any injuries that haven’t been treated. When you were brought in, my and Blake’s focus was to handle those that were life-threatening and then those that you wouldn’t want to be awake for.”

She might have been logical and calm, but that didn’t mean a thing when my mind screamed not to let anyone touch me. I could only lie there on my side, my trapped arm hurting and starting to go to sleep, a fine tremble taking over at the thought of an audience for what was sure to be a degrading experience.

Despite the doctor’s attempts to keep me in the present, a memory swamped me in an instant, dragging me back to the last time I’d seen Dirk and Milo.