Kissed by a Dark Prince(46)

She had. She had lost it the moment Loren had come into her life. It was the only reasonable explanation for the insanity that had occurred in the few days she had known him, both in her world and where her feelings were concerned. She had to be crazy to have felt attracted to him.

He was rude, inconsiderate, treated everyone as though they were liable to attempt to bed her or kill her, and she’d had enough of him.

“Get away from me.” She shot to her feet, regretting it the moment the dizziness hit her and she almost collapsed.

Loren caught her and she wanted to punch him, but she didn’t have the strength. She tried to knee him in the balls instead but he blocked her and smiled softly.

“Olivia, you need to rest.” He cradled her against his chest and righted her, and she cursed herself for leaning into him, seeking his warmth and how safe he made her feel. “You are injured and need proper medical attention.”

“No.” Olivia wouldn’t let him coddle her. It would be the last straw. She didn’t need a man to take care of her, especially not Loren. He only wanted her to rest because she was in pain and that meant he was in pain too, because of this ridiculous bond. She pushed out of his arms and looked around her at the blood and the glass, the fire and the chaos. Olivia calmly brushed her hair from her eyes, wiping her tears away at the same time, and faced Loren. “I can’t take a break... because people are dying. My friends are dying.”

Regret shone in his blue eyes. “I should have anticipated this. I shouldn’t have left you here alone. It made you an easy target and I am sorry.”

“Save your apologies for them and them.” She pointed to the injured and then the row of covered corpses, and then swung her hand behind her and pointed at the building. “And them... Loren. Apologise to them... trapped in there... afraid... dying because of you.”

Olivia turned away and scrubbed the heels of her hands across her eyes, sniffed back her tears and focused on the people who needed her.

“Olivia, please,” Loren called after her but she didn’t slow down.

Sable left a group of hunters who had been helping the injured out of the building and glared beyond her at Loren and Bleu. “Want me to kill them?”

Olivia smiled and shook her head. “No. There’s been enough death today... and I do think he’s honestly sorry for what happened.”

“What did happen?” Sable drew her collapsible crossbow anyway and played at pointing it at the two men who hadn’t dared to move after her.

Which was Sable threatening?

It had to be Bleu. If it had been Loren, he probably wouldn’t have hesitated to attack her.

They had both been injured though. Had they been fighting the man who had blown up her world?

“His enemy just became our enemy.” Olivia trudged towards her next patient.

She focused on taking care of the injured with Sable’s assistance. The night wore on, the fire department put the blaze out and more were rescued from the building, many of them from the floors above the laboratory levels, including Mark and others she thought of as her friends. Olivia found it increasingly difficult to concentrate through the pain but she soldiered on, unwilling to give up while there were still people who needed her.

The sky lightened and the sun broke the horizon, painting ribbons of cloud in pinks and gold, but she found no warmth or beauty in it today.

The last of the injured were ferried away to one of the medical facilities used to tend to wounded hunters.

Olivia sat in the middle of the square, surrounded by blood and glass, tired to her bones.

Sable patted her shoulder. “I think he’s about to lose patience.”

Olivia could feel it in him. He had kept away from her, but had never been further than a few metres, and his eyes had constantly been on her. He had protected her from a distance, ignoring Bleu’s suggestions that they return to their world, determined to watch over her.

She lifted her heavy head and looked across the square to him.

He wobbled in her vision and darkness loomed up and swallowed her. The world came back a heartbeat later and she slowly opened her eyes and found him looking down at her, his blue eyes flooded with concern and his anxiety mixing in with her weariness and the pain throbbing deep in her bones.

“No more arguing,” Loren whispered and she nodded, too tired to resist him. He gathered her closer and she leaned her head against his cool hard chest and shut her eyes.

The scent of smoke and blood disappeared, replaced by a crisp fresh breeze that carried the scent of blossom.

He had taken her away from her world again, back to his.

She opened her eyes and looked up into his, and he softly stroked her cheek, his crystal blue eyes warm with tender concern.