by Dark, Raven
His mouth turned up slightly. “You know me too well. It’s good to have you back, Setora.” He squeezed my shoulder. “Maybe there’s a bright side to Sheriff having been out cold when we walked out of that hellhole. If he’d been awake, he would have cut off the heads of every one of those J’nai for what Damien did to you.”
“I’d have done the same if we hadn’t needed to get out of there before Julian’s men showed up.” Hawk tilted my chin up when I tensed at the mention of Julian. “He won’t get near you, Kitten. We’ll make sure of that.”
With nothing else to say, I nodded. We were well hidden from Tahmi and his soldiers. I had to trust Hawk to take care of me, and the others.
I hugged him close for a moment. “May I go and sit with Sheriff for a while, Master?”
Hawk nodded and lifted me gently off him. “I’ll check on the rest of the camp. I’ll be back.” He left, looking more tired than I’d ever seen him.
Everyone else must have thought I wanted to be alone with the General, because all but Doc departed, and Doc sat on the other side of the cave, easily within sight of Sheriff, but far enough to give us privacy.
I sighed and ran my hand along Sheriff’s cheeks, his forehead. He was burning up.
Strange how he looked so peaceful. Too peaceful. Right then, I missed his ornery, cantankerous, combative presence. His features were slack in sleep; without the fierce, demanding glint in his eyes, that impatient voice, that scowl I knew so well, he seemed almost like a different person. Someone I didn’t know.
“You’ll be all right, Master. You have to be.” I bent and kissed his forehead, the skin there almost burning my lips. I dropped kisses on his lips, his cheeks.
He didn’t move a muscle.
My chest constricted. I let out a broken sigh and closed my hand around his tightly. Trying to give him all the will, all the strength I could offer.
When he didn’t open his eyes, a sudden flare of anger hit me as I recalled his last words. “Maker, Master, how could you ask that of me? I couldn’t have let you go. I won’t. You hear me?”
Nothing.
I blinked back tears. “I can’t handle this anymore, okay? It’s too much.”
His hand lay heavily in mine, like stone. I lay my head on his hot chest. Feeling the erratic rhythm of his breathing. The shallow thump of his heart in my ear. With every breath, his lungs rattled.
His chest stuttered for a moment. I put my arms around him, willing him to come back to me. He didn’t move, didn’t snap at me that I was making a fuss, that he was damn well fine.
The silence crushed my heart.
“You’re the one who always complains about what a hero I am. But you were ready to give your life to save me. To save the others. Who’s the hero now?”
What he’d done for me, what he’d done for this club--all that he’d always done—hit me so hard it made it difficult to breathe. He’d sent his men and himself into danger so many times to save me. He’d nearly died. His men had nearly lost everything. And now he might lose his own life because he’d been unwilling to give up his men to Damien.
I squeezed my eyes shut in fear for him.
And I felt as if I were being crushed under the weight of another, much more powerful emotion that threatened to shatter me. My heart grew huge with it until my chest hurt and I couldn’t ignore what was staring me in the face.
I loved this man.
Oh, Maker, I loved Sheriff.
I loved him so much, the truth of it washed over me in a torrent, painful in its intensity. All that he’d given for me and for his club hit home until I wondered how it had taken so long for me to realize that my heart was his just as much as my body.
Maybe I’d always loved him. Maybe I’d been kidding myself and the love had always been there. Except I couldn’t ever risk letting him know. A man like Sheriff couldn’t ever afford to allow himself to worry about his woman’s heart and mind being weakened by such a thing. But right now, he couldn’t hear me.
There would always be a darkness in him, a darkness that made loving him dangerous. But if he couldn’t hear me, then he’d never know.
Instead of shying away from the growing emotion that filled me, I reached for the burning flame in my heart and held onto him with everything I had. Hoping the words would somehow heal him.
“I love you, Sheriff,” I whispered. “I love you.”
Sheriff’s chest shook under me. I drew back sharply.
“Master?”
He drew another breath and his eyes snapped open.
“Doc!” I shouted.
Everyone came rushing in at once, Hawk, Steel, Pretty Boy, and Doc kneeling around their General.
Sheriff’s eyes seemed to flicker everywhere at once, his muscles straining as he tried to sit up. A wracking cough shook him.
Doc helped him sit up, thumping on Sheriff’s back. When the coughing stopped and Sheriff flopped back on the furs, Doc bent over him, taking his face in his hands. “General. Look at me.”
Sheriff’s head swiveled, his eyes wide and wild. For some reason, he swung violently at Doc, narrowly missing his jaw.
“Sheriff, what the hell, man?” Pretty Boy growled. “Doc, why is he acting like that?”
“I don’t know. It’s like he’s…Hawk, hold him.”
Hawk grabbed Sheriff’s flailing arms and held them down at his sides. Sheriff bucked against him.
“Sheriff,” Doc said loudly. “Look at me, Brother. Come on. Focus on me. Fuck, I think he’s in shock. Or maybe it’s the fever?”
“Drowning,” Sheriff muttered. “Sleep. Water. Setora!”
The pained way he said my name clawed at my insides.
“He’s not making any sense.” Hawk pushed his arms down with a grunt.
“He thinks he’s still in that fucking hole.” Doc snapped his fingers near Sheriff’s ears. “Sheriff. It’s us. We’re here.”
Sheriff finally went still, his eyes settled on Doc, and his chest gave a rattling heave. I had a strange feeling he was looking not at Doc, but through him.
“Doc… Did they make it? Did they save her?” he croaked out between coughs.
“Yes. We’re all here. Setora’s here. We’re out of that fucking place, we’re safe now.”
I moved to kneel by his head, took his hand, and looked into his eyes until he turned his face up toward me. His chest slowed and he gradually relaxed. “I thought…I thought I was still…” He swallowed and reached up, laying his hand around my nape.
“Sheriff, do you know where you are?” Doc prompted.
“Fuck, Doc, I’m all here. My memory isn’t the fucking problem.”
Doc gave an unsettled grin. “Well, he sounds like himself. How do you feel?”
Sheriff ran his hand down his face. My heart rate slowly sped up. I could feel it, something was wrong and he knew it. When he took his hand away, he lay oddly still. His eyes were fixed on the cave ceiling.
“Sheriff?” Hawk said slowly, evidently picking up on the same thing I had. “What’s wrong?”
His throat worked. “I’m fine. I just…” He blinked.
“General?” Doc again.
Sheriff cleared his throat. A sinking feeling washed over me. I sensed he was choosing his words.
He blinked one more time. Then, with a terrible calmness, he said, “I can’t see, Doc. I can’t see anything at all.”
The end of Book 6 of
SAVING SETORA
Watch for SALVATION, the seventh and FINAL book in the Saving Setora series, coming soon!
REVOLUTION.
IS.
COMING.
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<
br /> Acknowledgments
From Raven & Petra
Thank you so much for continuing this journey with our lavender-haired heroine and her twisted men! We look forward to getting Book Seven out to you as soon as we can.
We’d like to thank all the members on our ARC team, our beta readers, our proofreader, and all of you in The Grotto! To our families and friends, and most especially, you the reader, thanks for all the love and support. You rock!
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