Chapter Four
Damien
When I woke up, I felt worse than when I was hungover. In fact, a hangover would have been a gift. My whole body hurt, but my stomach was the worst. I had the whole range of sensation, from dull ache to the feeling of someone stabbing me in the organs with a hot poker.
“Oh man. You should just put me out of my misery,” I said and grabbed my side as a wave of nauseating pain rolls through my abdomen. “Why did you bother saving me. There can’t be much left worth more than scrap.”
“Are you saying that you want me to put you down?” he asked me with a soft smile. There was a hint of sadness and worry in his words, and that threatened to amp up my anxiety.
“I’m Damien,” I choked out as I tried not to cry.
“I know,” he said and put a comforting hand on my arm. “I’m Rory. Staff Sergeant Rory Shipmond to be exact. I’m a Medical Officer with the United States Army.”
“I’d salute you for saving my life, but it feels like my arms are going to fall off,” I said with a chuckle. “Did you duct tape me back together or something?”
“You’ve got jokes,” Rory said. “That’s a good sign. I’ve heard you’re quite the pill, and I’m glad to see that you’re not too mentally altered.”
That’s where I wanted to make a joke about him swallowing me, but I kept that one to myself. My eyes were mostly swollen shut and watery, but from what I could see, Rory was intoxicatingly handsome. He was older, but not too much.
His looks didn’t matter, though; it was his Alpha scent that really got to me. There were a few other Alphas I’d met in the past whose scent aroused or interested me, but for the most part, they made me nervous. Being bonded to a mate meant you had to give up control and submit. At least that’s the way I saw it. You gave up the ability to be the master of your own destiny in exchange for comfort and protection.
Rory was the first Alpha whose scent made me feel comforted. I understood it now but it was terrifying nonetheless. I could lose myself in him, and I knew it. The worst part was that I wanted it. I wasn’t supposed to want something like that. Could I even be the person I’d told myself that I was if I willingly turned my life over to an Alpha.
But Goddess, he was sexy. His voice melted like butter in my ears, and I could breathe through the pain. My chest still felt like it was in a vice, but at least with Rory around, I could get oxygen.
No.
I had to get my mind on something else. After looking around as much as I could, it became obvious that the other hostages were nowhere to be seen.
“What about the others?” I asked. “What happened to the other hostages? Are they okay?”
“I’m not sure how you got yourself into this mess, but whatever you did, it completely spared the other hostages,” Rory said. “You’re lucky you’re alive, though.”
If I’d been able to move or even sit up, his praise would have made me sit up straight and hold my head high. As it was, I had to settle for a proud smile.
“Don’t get too cocky,” Rory said. “If you were my Omega, you’d be in for a spanking once these wounds healed. I’d never let you out of my sight again.”
I should have been incensed but something inside of me lit up. The thought of Rory’s hands on me, even to spank my ass, killed off some of the pain.
Not enough of it.
I moaned in agony as a fresh tear of pain thundered through my guts and made its way out to my limbs. It was as if my entire body was contracting.
“Whoa, hey, baby,” Rory whispered as he set me down and swept the hair off of my forehead. “Let me give you some more painkillers. Would that be okay?”
I nodded my head yes because I was not the kind of person to turn down a little pharmaceutical relief. Rory retrieved a syringe from his bag and I felt the slight prick as it went into my arm. Seconds later, relief flooded through me.
“That’s better,” I said in a voice that was surely slurred.
“I’m sorry I don’t have any whiskey,” Rory said and patted my shoulder. “You were asking for some while you were unconscious.”
“You’ll just have to take me out for a drink.”
“I promise I’ll take you out for a drink when we get stateside if you just hang on.”
At first, I wasn’t sure why he’d said it that way, but then the world began to swim around me. Blackness creeped into the corner of my eyes and it felt as though I was going to fall through the floor.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” I said.
I knew that if I puked while I was lying down, I could choke. So I decided that I needed to stand up. It was a terrible idea, but in a drug-induced haze, I felt it perfectly reasonable.
As Rory’s arms went around my waist to catch me, it became clear to me that I was far more hurt than I’d wanted to admit to myself. I collapsed against Rory and tried not to think about that fact that I could be dying.
If you just hang on.
Rory had said that moments ago. That meant he had doubts too. Well, if I were going to die, I thought, there was no better place than in his strong arms. I took as deep a breath as my broken body would allow and let his scent flood my senses.
Later, I’d blame it on the drugs, but I imagined that rolling around naked with Rory would be as close to heaven as one could get. If I survived, I promised myself, I’d want to inspect every inch of his muscular form.
With my tongue.
I felt myself being lowered back down. There was shouting around me. People were worried. Were they worried about me? I didn’t know. No point in worrying if you don’t know. My last thought before everything went black was of Rory bending me over his lap for that spanking he’d promised.