Keeping Him by E.V. Darcy

Author:E.V. Darcy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Darcy's Royal Library

Why doesn’t it hurt more?

The thought floated through his mind as he stared back at the attacker. The other man’s eyes, almost completely white in the moonlit landing, were wide in horror as he stared at Cormac—clearly, he hadn’t planned on Cormac getting in the way.

A slurping-sucking sound filled the air a second before pain seared through his body. It ripped like fire from his gut all the way up his chest, to his head and right down to his toes. His fingers clenched, his stomach convulsed, his knees shook, and his head throbbed. He bit back the agonised cry he wanted to shout, to release some of the pain, but didn’t want to give the bastard before him the satisfaction.

Cormac didn’t see the man flee—he’d shut his eyes tight to fight off the pain—but he heard the hurried steps as the attacker disappeared.

It was not a moment too soon.

The strength from his left leg vanished and he fell to the ground.

‘Cormac!’ Victoria cried as she dropped to her knees at his side. ‘Where did he get you?’ she asked as she ran her hands over his chest, looking for a wound.

‘Here.’ He could hear the strain in his voice. He managed to raise his left hand, despite it feeling like it was made of lead, and laid it to rest above the inside of his left hip. He groaned, the pain intensifying as he pressed down and if he had been able to look, he’d have seen the horror in Victoria’s eyes as he lifted his hand away and she saw it stained, his blood appearing black in the dim light.

She lifted his shirt and she gasped as the air hit his stomach and then it went silent, save for the wail of sirens that sounded so close now, yet still so far. A rustle of fabric tickled his ears, and Victoria almost whispered an apology into the darkness.

‘I’m sorry. This is going to hurt.’

He didn’t know what she meant, but—

He threw his head back, his neck stretching, the veins bulging along it as he roared with the agony that came from where she suddenly pressed against his wound.

‘Cormac,’ she said his name quietly, calling him back from the brink of unconsciousness, something his mind told him would help the pain go away, and he was very much for that. But her voice, her ragged plea for him to answer her, refocused him. He tipped his head up slightly, just enough to look at her.

She smiled at him, but it wasn’t the one she usually reserved for him. This was a frightened grimace, one she was forcing out to try and comfort him, and he knew, the moment he saw it, that he wasn’t going to survive this, that he was losing too much blood. He was becoming lightheaded, and it was difficult to think, but he needed her to know. He couldn’t go without telling her the truth…

‘I’m sorry, princess,’ he managed to say, his voice thready, barely more than a whisper, but he managed a smile for her as he reached out.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.