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“Je
It beckoned to something deep within her, gave her something to grab hold of when she had nothing but fathomless dark sea around her. She moaned, still lost, but feeling a slender thread of hope that she might survive.
The low voice she somehow needed desperately to hear came again. “Kade, Alex. Holy shit, she’s coming out of it. I think she’s finally waking up.”
She sucked in a hard breath, gasping for air. “Let me go,” she murmured, uncertain she could trust her feelings. Uncertain she could trust anything now. “Oh, God … please, no … don’t touch me. Don’t—”
“Je
The words registered slowly, bringing with them a sense of relief and comfort. A feeling of peace, despite the chill terror that was still washing through her veins.
With effort, she dragged her eyelids open and blinked away the daze that clung like a veil to her senses. Three forms hovered around her, two of them immense, unmistakably male, the other tall and slender, female. Her best friend from Alaska, Alexandra Maguire. “What … where am …”
“Shh,” Alex soothed. “Hush now. It’s all right. You’re somewhere safe. You’re going to be okay now.”
Je
The one she’d been pounding on relentlessly for God knew how long, mistaking him for the hellish creature who’d attacked her in Alaska.
“Hey,” he murmured, his broad mouth curving gently. Dark brown, soul-searching eyes held her waking gaze. That warm smile quirked with unspoken acknowledgment as she loosened her death grip on him and settled back onto the bed. “Glad to see you decided to join the land of the living.”
Je
Except the Oz in this scenario had been a seemingly endless torment. A horrifying trip to some kind of blood-soaked hell.
At least the horror of that ordeal had ended.
She glanced at Alex. “Where are we?”
Her friend came near and placed the cool, damp cloth to her forehead. “You’re safe, Je
“Where?” Je
“Not exactly,” Alex replied. “We’re in Boston, at a private facility. It was the safest place for you to be now. The safest place for all of us.”
Boston? A private facility? The vague explanation hardly made her feel better. “Where’s Zach? I need to see him. I have to talk to him.”
Alex’s expression paled a bit at the mention of Je
“I’ll get Gideon,” he said, offering her a tender caress as he spoke. This man—Kade—was obviously a friend of Alex’s. An intimate one at that. He and Alex belonged together; even in Je
The dark head nodded once, grimly. Yet when Je
Je
Alex’s expression was heavy, her hand tender where it came to rest on Je
Je
Brock had moved closer to the bed without her notice. He stood directly beside her and reached out to stroke his fingertips along the side of her neck. His big hands were warm, and impossibly tender. It was the oddest sensation, the peace that emanated from his light caress.
Part of her wanted to reject his uninvited touch, but another part of her—a needy, vulnerable part that she hated to acknowledge, let alone indulge—could not refuse the comfort. Her banging pulse slowed under the gentle rhythm of his fingers as they traveled lightly up and down the length of her throat.
“Better?” he asked quietly as he drew his hand away from her.
She exhaled a slow sigh with her weak nod. “I really need to see my brother. Does Zach know I’m here?”
Alex’s lips pressed together as an aching silence grew long in the room. “Je
“Where is he, Alex?” Despite the fact that it had been years since Je
Brock’s big, broad hand came toward her again, but this time, Je
“What the hell?” Brock’s eyes narrowed, something bright and dangerous crackling in his dark gaze, there and gone before she could fully register what she was seeing.
And at that very moment, Kade returned to the room, two other men with him. One was tall and lean, athletically built, his disheveled crown of blond hair and rimless, pale blue sunglasses that rode low on the bridge of his nose giving him something of a geeky mad-scientist vibe. The other, dark haired and grim faced, strode inside the small room like a medieval king, his very presence commanding attention and seeming to suck all of the air out of the place.
Je