Page 3 of Warrior

“He wanted to keep you unconscious forever,” Kade says softly to Reese. “I couldn’t let that happen. I had to give him what he wanted.”

“Which was…?”

“Artemis. She was the one who he wanted most, and I didn’t realize that when we arrived.”

Because they arrived in Sterling Falls together.

“Motherfucker,” I growl. “Where is she?”

He swipes his hand down his face. “It’s too late. Whatever he’s going to do to her?—”

I’m going to beat him half to death, drag him back from the edge, and then do it again. Over and over again. I’ll tattoo him blind. Cut off his fingers?—

“Stop.” Kade’s voice is pained, but it’s directed at Reese.

Reese, who is pulling the stickers from his skin, then removing the IV needle. The shrill beeping of the monitor as it loses contact startles all of us, but he doesn’t stop. He swings his legs over the edge, putting his feet flat on the floor, and stands.

Wobbles.

Kade is there in a flash, gripping his forearms.

They exchange some wordless conversation, and Kade finally grunts.

“Clothes,” Kade says to me.

I scowl.

There’s just one problem with that demand. We brought Reese into the hospital in his boxers and a sweatshirt, essentially, after we removed everything to search for signs of trauma. Which means that, besides the boxers they kept him in, he’s got a zip-up sweatshirt. That’s it.

“Hang on,” I bark.

I get creative.

I act a bit like I own the place when I head down the hall and into a utility closet. There are scrubs there, clean and in plastic sleeves. I grab a shirt and pants, then find a bin of slip-on shoes.

When I return, Reese has gone back to sitting. The monitors are silent.

No nurse came running, though, which is even more strange. There wasn’t one in the hallway either.

“What did you do?” I ask Kade. Suspicion colors my tone. “Are you going to try to kill me next? Because I won’t go down without a fight, that’s for damn sure.”

Kade rolls his eyes. “Calm down. I’m not going to kill you. I paid the nurses to take the other patients down for some fresh air, so we have a few minutes to ourselves.”

Lovely.

I throw the packets of clothes at him and go back to the doorway. He helps Reese change and soon shuffles him up beside us. Reese seems in pain, but his head is held high. I can’t see how him coming along on a rescue mission is a good idea.

“Terror,” Reese says simply.

Kade narrows his eyes.

“What?” I scowl at him, then Kade.

“Artemis and Gabriel’s history goes back to Terror. You know, the sex trafficking club. If he wanted her, it was probably to hash out some past trauma, or revenge or something.”

Kade’s getting stiffer by the second.

Why? Because he knows something? Because he and Gabriel are buddies?

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