vra

Chloe," I ordered, my eyes locked on

the heavy trauma shears in her tool roll. Her face

d?" she swallowed, glancing toward the locked door. "That...

ze slicing through the

voice dropping into a low, uncompromising command. "If yo

uthority in my tone, Ch

al shirt, slicing through the ruined fabric and pee

ulled free, Chloe let out

lence. His upper body was a living tapestry of dark outla

reckage of war, the

w, sculpted anatomy of an apex predator built for survival. Even wasted by days of fever, the s

t the heat radiating from his

from his neck and collarbones. My touch was efficient yet deliberate. The muscles beneath his ink tw

s jaw, I paused f

amed by dark stubble and sweat-damp hair. He looked less like a dyin

forcing my focus down

t was slowly strangling his bloodstream. Standard painkillers would

proof grain moonshine from the bedside

s, Chloe," I

oured the raw, burning alcohol

isoned flesh with a v

as supposed to be a paralyzed vegetable let out a

rded tendon across his chest and sho

t up with terrifyi

amped around my left wris

ether, shooting sharp pain straight to my sho

lips were barely an inch from his ear, feeling the s

ice an unyielding velvet purr against his

relief beneath his scar. His eyelids stayed shut, but the sheer, mons

lowly shifted. His fingers lingered tight against my skin-no longer attack

y close to his side. With my free ri

oved with d

ry cut, Erik's massive frame shuddered against the sheets, his veins standing out like thick ropes along his throat

ht arterial blood, sweat was tric

thread, Chloe

dancing over his lower stomach as heavy braided sutur

ld-case, found the thick vein along the side of his neck, and smoothly

e ragged heaving of hi

way. The burning fever radiating off his skin steadily broke in

taring at the steady, deep rise and fall of

lean water, watching the amber drainage fluid slowly f

ing the fresh sutures, but leaving the broad, ink

hair, crossing my boots and leani

ingled from the scorc

bably just realizing that her stolen weddin

st dangerous compound, the sleeping beast was