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. And you not to kill him. Damn it&  Marc whispered.Then,  Faythe,you re drunk.Just shut up and hold still. Don t talk to her like that, Jace snapped,scooting closer to my head. How much did you give her? Enough so that she won t feel much of this. I m seriousss, I insisted, raising my head tolook at Marc. You guys should be friends.You have so much in common.That time Jace cursed, and Marc glanced upsharply. He s right, Faythe. Jace slid off the579/839bed onto his knees on the floor, eyeing mefrom inches away.He was trying to tell mesomething, but his eyes didn t match hiswords. Just go to sleep.When you wake up,you ll be all sewn up and ready to Shift.I tried to go to sleep, but my arm wasn t asnumb as I d thought, and the needle hurt. Will I be able to fight when you re done? Iasked, rolling my head to face Marc again. I think so.You ll just need time to rest andfinish healing, even after you Shift.Jace made an unhappy noise in the back ofhis throat. She s only got three hours.Marc frowned and looked up from the neatstitches he was sewing in a jagged line downmy arm. Why?580/839 Oops. I laughed, and Marc pinned my up-per arm with one hand to keep me still. For-got to tell him that part.Twenty-Four What the hell is she talking about? Marcdemanded, glaring across me at Jace. Sew while you yell, I insisted, and whenMarc made no move to comply, I tried topoke him with my free hand.But Jace gentlyforced that arm back onto the mattress, and Istopped struggling when pain shot throughmy still-broken wrist. You re going to hurt yourself, Faythe.Justhold still. He rubbed my shoulder, and Marcbristled.581/839 She d be easier to reason with if you hadn tgotten her drunk, he snapped. She s never easy to reason with. Jacegrinned at me.Then he met Marc s glare andhis brows dipped so that their scowlsmatched. I hate seeing her in pain. You think I like it? I don t know what you like. Shut up! I laughed and rolled my head toglance from one to the other. I know whatyou both like. Fuck!  Jace threw his arms into the air,then eyed me desperately until Marc grippedmy chin and turned my face toward him. What does that mean?I laughed again, but then suddenly I was cry-ing, and I don t know how that happened.582/839 Let go of her, Jace growled. She doesn tknow what she s saying. Yes, I do. I jerked my chin from Marc shand and stared up at him, wishing I couldwipe the stupid tears trailing down the sidesof my face. You both like me, though I can tfigure out why right now.Marc relaxed, and Jace exhaled slowly in re-lief.What had he thought I was going to say?I was drunk, not stupid!  Okay, now thatthat s out in the open, please be quiet and letMarc finish sewing you up.Another sharp point of pain pierced my armwith the next stitch, and I bit my lip. That was never exactly top secret, Marcsaid as the thread tugged at my flesh. Every-one knows about Jace s little crush.Jace went stiff on my right.583/839 Not everybody&  I was horrified to hearmyself say.Had Jace given me tequila orfucking truth serum? He squeezed my elbow,desperate to shut me up, and I smiled at himin sympathy. I know.It s the tequila. Marcglanced first at me, then at Jace in confusion.Like I wasn t making sense!  Don t you re-member what happened last time I had toomuch tequila?Damn it! Okay, maybe I was drunk andstupid&Marc laughed, and Jace froze, until Marcturned back to the needle. Now, that was ahell of a night!Jace scowled at me, and suddenly I re-membered that tequila had given them botha chance to get back into my& life.And withthat realization, I silently vowed to keep mymouth shut until the alcohol had left mysystem.584/839Fortunately, without my own voice to keepme awake, I fell asleep in spite of the re-peated, prickling pain in my left arm.Some-time later, I woke up on the hotel bed, stillwrapped in the towel.My left arm was en-cased in sterile gauze, which gave off an un-familiar chemical scent.My right arm was bare and stretched outacross the mattress.I was grouchy, in pain,and distressingly sober.And alone.Or so I thought until I heard thesoft rumble of male voices from just outsidethe window, where two familiar silhouettesstood side by side. Damn it, Jace, this issuicide.There s no way we ll make it out of the territ-ory with Lance. If we don t try, we re dead.And so s Kaci.And Calvin will wind up with Faythe.585/839 He will, anyway, if this goes wrong, Marcgrowled.Jace s shadow shrugged beyond the thin cur-tains. She s willing to take that chance forKaci.For all of us. Of course she is.She has no concept of herown mortality.I rolled over and levered myself up on myright elbow, careful not to let my hand orwrist brush the bed.The towel slippedhalfway down my chest. Yes, she does. Jace sounded mad, but hewas holding it in. She s courageous, notcareless.She just values everyone else s life more thanher own.That s an Alpha trait.586/839 You think I don t know that? Marc paused,and I could practically hear him counting toten in his head. Maldito sea! When this isover, we have to have a serious talk&. Hey! I called, knowing they d hear, andMarc would shut the hell up.Was I going tospend the rest of my life standing betweenthem? The door opened and Jace brushedpast Marc to be first through the door.I shothim an angry look.Marc wouldn t put upwith much of that, whether or not Jace un-derstood what he was going through. How long was I asleep? The alarm clockread 9:34 in the morning, presumably butI had no idea what time I d passed out. Less than an hour, Marc said, and Ibreathed deeply in relief. Good.Jace filled you in on the plan?587/839He frowned and sank onto the opposite sideof my bed. You mean that slow-motion sui-cide attempt? Yeah.I got the basics.Wesneak onto Malone s property, break into theguesthouse, and somehow drag Lance outwithout alerting anyone else [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]