Page 99 of Wicked Dove
“Me? She was on a rampage, and she swallowed this,” she bites back, taking the empty vial from my open palm, but my vision blurs so I can’t be sure.
Finally, the fear creeps in. The realization of how dangerous this is sets in, and the anxiety claws at me.
I should have taken a moment to think. I should have let him explain. I should have kept my cool. Instead, I chose to act without caution. I chose to run from him. I chose to give in to my rising emotions and lose my shit.
“Fuck!” Rion grunts, and I try to open my eyes at him, but all I can make out is his frame. “We need to get her some help. Thorne isn’t here, so we need to get her to the medical center now!”
“I’m having nothing to do with this,” Ocean snaps as I feel the thumping of my heart slow.
“It’s your poison, Ocean,” Rion roars, and it almost sounds like he cares. But that can’t be true. Not when he’s worked so hard to keep me here for the sake of his friend.
“And it’s your fault she took it,” Ocean bites back as my mind turns to jelly, just like my limbs, leaving one last lingering thought in my mind.
It’s not an act; Ocean really is psychotic as fuck.
But even worse…
So am I.
THIRTY-TWO
ELODIE
Beeping echoes around me, vibrating through my soul and awakening me from the shadows of Hell. My eyelids flicker, but I can’t pry them open. My limbs ache, my fingers weighing so much I can’t even lift one. My breaths are sharp and crisp, echoing loudly in my ears, and after a few more attempts, I manage to open my eyes.
Disoriented, I can’t recall where I am, but it’s clearly somewhere medical since there’s an oxygen mask secured to my face. Panic threatens to set in, but I’m too exhausted for it to take root as I look past the end of my nose and familiarize myself with my surroundings.
I’m in a white-washed room. The door is open across from me, and there’s little in here other than the bed I’m lying in, a few cabinets to my left, and the beeping machines to my right with a small chair nestled beside them.
Think, Elodie. Think.
I groan as I lift my hand, tugging the oxygen mask off my face as my eyelids close and the memories flood back to me. I stiffen, forcing myself to sit up despite the pain radiating through my bones. Brushing my hair back off my face, I swing my legs over the side of the bed as I rattle through my memories, trying torecall everything Ocean said, even though all I want to do is pass the hell out.
But I poisoned myself for this. I can rest later, when I’m home free. Or when I’m dead. Either will do, I just have to wait first.
My gaze snaps to the door, where the silver engraved number sits.
Room twenty-six.
“Elodie, if you’re in rooms one to fifteen, head right; if you’re in rooms sixteen to thirty, turn left.”
Looking down at the length of myself, I grimace at the fact that I’m still wearing my oversized tee and panties. I should have thought this part through before I made a run for it, but this will have to do. Barefoot and all.
As I stand, I hiss as something tugs on my arm, and I realize I’m connected to one of the machines. Grumbling, I yank it free, only for the machine to start beeping.
Dammit.
Tossing it aside, I hurry to the door as fast as I can, which is nowhere near as fast as usual. With my back pressed against the door, I peer into the hallway. Nurses buzz around, hurrying from one room to the next or gathering to my right at the nurses’ station. There is a couple sobbing down to the left, but it’s the security guard standing by the door that holds my attention.
That’s where I need to go, and fast.
Wetting my lips, I take a deep breath as another thing Ocean mentioned consumes my thoughts.
When life shuts a door in your face, open it again. That’s how a door works.
I don’t have long until Kael is notified as my guardian, if he hasn’t been already, so I need to get a move on.
Stepping out into the hallway, I’m immediately greeted by a nurse who smiles at me compassionately.
