SEAL'd Heart by Alice Ward

Author:Alice Ward [Ward, Alice]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Alice Ward
Published: 2017-06-09T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

I stopped breathing, my chest filling with intolerable pain, making it impossible to speak. Hugging a pillow from the bed, I slumped onto the floor and rocked back and forth, in too much anguish to cry.

Gently, Noah took the pillow from my arms. “Imogen, listen to me,” he commanded. “The reports were about Corey, but they were inaccurate. He’s not dead. He’s in the hospital, having collapsed. The revolutionaries must have thought he had died and left him. He was found and taken to an emergency room. I’m going to go get him now, and then we’re all going home.”

“He’s alive?” I needed to hear him say it again.

Beaming, Noah nodded. “He’s alive.”

I threw my arms around Noah’s neck, elated, and somewhere in the sea of emotions that poured between us, tearing at our depths with its powerful current, my lips found his, and we kissed with a passion that outshone the sun. Like a picture reel, the time we’d shared together in Chicago flashed before me — the seduction, the storm, his lessons, my father, the gala — they seared into my brain. It was healing, drawing us together in a way that left me breathless and weak when it was over.

And undeniably still in love.

***

With reluctance, I’d watched Noah walk out the door, fearing the worst. The jungle was a dangerous place, and Corey was far away. But I had nothing to worry about. When the door opened again, the Stafford brothers walked in together, Noah supporting Corey on his shoulder.

Happiness burst through me as I stood to greet them. “Corey, you’re here.”

“And so are you,” he returned, beaming through a slightly bruised eye. “I knew you could handle it. You’re strong.”

“We all are,” I said. “And now that we’ve proven it, let’s go home. I’m sick of this place.”

I reached for my rucksack, but Corey didn’t follow. Instead, he hopped over to the bed and sat. “I’m not leaving.”

“What?” I cried. “After everything you’ve been through?”

“It was only a concussion. It wasn’t my heart. I’m fine. And now that I’ve seen firsthand the conditions the hostages are living in, I can’t go back, not until they’re safe. I have important intel I can provide. They need me here.”

Recognizing the stubbornness in his tone, having heard it many times from Noah, I accepted that there was nothing we could say or do to change Corey’s mind. I was devastated. “I can’t stay,” I muttered softly.

“I know,” Corey said sadly, our paths dividing once again “You’re not meant to.”

Grimacing as he listened, Noah didn’t look any less distraught than the rest of us, but for once, he didn’t argue. “Promise us you’ll come home and visit when this is all over.”

“I will,” Corey vowed. “I may even stick around for a while.”

With a heavy spirit, I threw my rucksack over my back. “If you don’t come home, we’ll find you,” I said, attempting a smile.

Corey took a deep breath. “I know you will. Be happy. Be together. Love each other.

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