Page 89 of Sweet Violence
I threw the bloody implement aside, and winced as it hit the barrier and rebounded—but Arkan kicked it like a football and it rolled safely away. Gritting my teeth against the rattling panic in my body, I slammed both hands over Joseph’s open wound, stemming the flow as much as I could.
"Give me your shirt," I barked at Arkan without looking away, strangling a sob of relief when he handed it to me without question.
"M'fine," Joseph rasped when he stopped screaming.
"Lie to me one more time,I dare you," I growled at him, my fear emerging as anger.
Joseph gasped, startling me.
"What?" I demanded. "What?"
"I can feel … working."
"Your healing?" Arkan asked as urgently as me. "It's working?"
Joseph nodded tightly. "Hurts."
"Shhh," I murmured, leaning over to kiss his sweaty, bruised forehead. "It's gonna be okay."
Pretty hypocritical of me when ten minutes ago I'd all but given up on life, but Joseph waking had given me the kick up the arse I needed.
Arkan knelt beside me and gripped Joseph's other shoulder, and I jumped, my hand slipping on his injured shoulder, when power spiked through my bonds with both of them.
Arkan's clever blue eyes flicked my way, then to Joseph, then back to me. The tiniest smile curved the edge of his mouth, something fierce about it.
"I know how to get out of here. And how to heal X, too. We'll need to be quick if we're going to save Taj and the devil."
"What?" Joseph demanded, rearing up.
"Easy," I chided, pushing him back down none too gently. "Wait until you're healed, or you'll pull all your metaphorical stitches."
"What happened? Wait, when didyouget here?" he demanded, looking at Arkan.
"Long story, cuddle monster," I murmured.
"And what do you meanheal X?" Joseph went on, his panic rising, infecting my own.
When he surged off the floor this time, he was too strong to push back down, and my hands fell away from his shoulder to show a half-healed wound. It was still raw pink flesh covered in blood, but I couldn't see all the way through his shoulder anymore, which was progress.
"No," Joseph rasped, freezing when he saw X, pale and splayed on the ground, no axe buried in his stomach anymore but an awful, gaping wound that reminded me too damn much of being gutted myself. "No, no,he can't be—"
"He's still alive," Arkan rushed out.
Joseph pushed us both off and crawled to X, hovering his hands over him, too afraid to touch.
"Is this my fault?" he asked, looking back at me with tears in his eyes. "Because I was captured?"
"No," I swore fiercely, flying across the space to hug him—carefully, and mindful of his healing wound. "No, Joseph, no. They grabbed you because ofme; they knew who I was this whole time. Izan was my dad."
"Shitting hell," Joseph grunted.
Yeah, that was an appropriate sentiment.
"And everyone else was playing with us, trying to get me into a blood bond so I'd kill Dev."
"Why do I sense this gets worse?" Joseph breathed, burying his head against my shoulder. His fingers, I noticed, were linked with X's. I knew circles bonded deeply, but I hadn't realised how much it would hurt them to even contemplate losing one another. It was like Joseph had lost a limb, and I knew from the jittery panic I sensed from Arkan that he felt the same.
"I agreed to do the blood bond," I admitted, my throat thick. "They had you and X; I couldn't save you, Ihadto. But before I could do it, Taj and Arkan burst into the room. That's why that wall's blown out."
