Turned out, the carpenter was a woodcarver, skills passed down from generations and he’d leapt at the chance.

Sully had accepted the gift and hadn’t said a word. He didn’t need to. His eyes said everything. They touched me, kissed me, fucked me, and married me all in one grateful stare.

“What are you doing out of bed? Someone was coming to help you.” Louise stopped folding her clothes, glaring at her tetchy patient. “You’re determined to kill yourself, I swear.”

“Determined to walk, that’s all.” Sully swayed a little as his legs grew used to his weight. He’d slipped on an off-white t-shirt and a pair of khaki cargos. No suits or ties. No sign of the gatekeeper of Goddess Isles. His legs had filled in thanks to his daily exercises but the discolouration of healing bones and weaker areas hinted it would take months before he could do much more than stumble.

Moving to his side, I waited until he looped his arm around my shoulders. “We’re going on a drive,” I said. “I’m your chauffeur.”

“Finally, a change of scenery.” He bent and kissed the tip of my nose. “Where are you taking me? The beach? The restaurant? Lunch with Cal and Jess?”

“We can do all that if you want, but first...there’s something I want to show you.”

* * * * *

“Are...are you going to say something?” I asked softly as I turned off the engine to the ATV and glanced at Sully.

With Joe’s and Louise’s help, we’d assisted Sully from his villa and into the ATV and we’d driven, just the two of us, down the private laneway from Nirvana, beneath sweeping palms and dense jungle to the large oasis where Euphoria was housed.

The virtual reality playground soared into the sky with its thatched roof and aura of hidden fantasies. It might look the same on the exterior but the interior was totally reformed.

Last time Sully had been here, he’d killed a few men and saved me from his brother, all while I’d been helplessly high on elixir.

His hands balled and his jaw clenched as he focused on the building and the memories. “What’s there to say? I wanted this burned down.”

I hadn’t brought him here to relive nasty pieces of our past. I’d brought him here to heal a fractured part of him that’d died on Serigala.

“I couldn’t let it burn. But...it’s not the same as it was, I promise.”

When he didn’t reply, I turned on the ATV again and drove away from the front courtyard and Euphoria’s main double door entrance, heading toward the side of the large building where open-air bathrooms had been turned into entranceways for animals of all kinds. A shower had been removed in one, and the big stone bathtub relocated in another, allowing wet areas for creatures who required access to water like the two injured otters who’d arrived three days ago.

Driving as close as I could to the villa, I once again cut off the engine and hopped from the quad. “Wait here. I’m going to get someone to help—”

“Don’t.” Sully grasped the side handle and gritted his teeth. “I can manage.”

Rushing back to him, I wanted to argue. To find some way to keep him inside the vehicle until I could get someone to assist, but he already swung his legs out and sank his bare feet into soft sand.

He closed his eyes and groaned. “Christ, I’ve missed that.”

And just like that, I couldn’t share this moment with anyone else. We would take our time. I would carry him if I had to. But I wouldn’t take any more of his independence away. “Lean on me.”

His blue eyes met mine. For a moment, he looked as if he’d argue. His cane sank into the sand and he poised to push upright to stand. Inhaling sharply, he looped his arm over my shoulders and allowed me to take some of his weight as he unfolded from the ATV and stood trembling, getting his balance.

“Okay?” I asked gently.

“Okay.” Stepping forward, his momentum was stifled and constituted a shuffle instead of a step. I moved with him, not complaining at our slowness or begging him to rest when his t-shirt grew damp with sweat from strain and island heat. Slowly, we made our way into the building and gradually became surrounded by chaos.

Sully sucked in a breath as he slammed to a stop, leaning on me as his gaze darted from the temporary pens holding the bandaged recuperating animals from Serigala and the latest arrivals of skittish lab creatures who were undergoing vet checks before they would be found comfy enclosures to begin healing.

Four vets had their hands full and no one paid any heed as we stood on the perimeter and let life ebb and flow around us.

A scruffy jack russell got loose from one of the vets, bounding over to us. He barked at Sully, sniffed his sand sprinkled feet, then bolted off before the male vet could grab him. He wasn’t running from fear...it was a game.

A tongue-lolling play that I doubted any lab creatures had ever indulged in.

I didn’t know how long we stood there as the soft hammering of nails and the rasps of a saw added background noise to chirps, snuffles, and wuffles, but Sully slowly lost his tension.

He eyed up the construction, his quick intelligence understanding what I was doing without asking a single question.

The workmen had started on the extension for a fully equipped surgery. Equipment and medical supplies had already been ordered. The vets who worked here had been given accommodation in the goddess villas along the beach, and Cal had been in touch with the rehoming outfit Sully used, to advise they would soon have a few cows and donkeys ready to go to a new forever farm.

I’d done my best to give these creatures a second chance.

And in a way...Sully too.

Finally, Sully cleared his throat and clasped me tight to him. His hand turned white around his cane and his body shuddered. Burying his face into my hair, he inhaled and exhaled, seeking comfort and strength before pulling away and murmuring, “What you’ve done here, Eleanor, surpasses what I could’ve imagined. I know you were worried how I would react with yet another rescue facility and you are right to be worried. Most of me wants to shut this place down before anything else gets hurt because of me.”

He grimaced but continued, “Each time I try to help, I end up hurting instead. My good intentions seem to come with pain—”

“Don’t be—”

“Let me finish.” He glanced around the busy space before twisting me to face him. He stumbled but glared at me when I went to hold his weight again. “Stop babying me. If I fall, let me fall. I want to look at you while I say this.”

It took everything not to help him but I let go and nodded. “What is it?”

“I need you to promise me something.”

I narrowed my eyes, looking up into his intense ones. “Okay...”

“Tell me you won’t allow me to get obsessed. I...I have a tendency of trying too hard when faced with an animal that’s suffered. That’s why I didn’t have much involvement with Serigala. I’d visit but the day-to-day running wasn’t my responsibility.” He laughed coldly. “I take each case personally. I seek out those who hurt them. I plot ways to deliver the pain tenfold. I become consumed with the need to have them live, regardless if they’ve given up the fight. It’s not healthy for me to be so involved. And you’ve just brought them right to my door. You’ve made their healing personal and...honestly, that isn’t a good thing.”