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rick of a needle bit into my neck earlier and the sedative floodedoblivion with it

I can’t keepeyes open

As Marcus pulls out of ain

Chapter 21

Consciousness filters back in slowly, and it’s so much different than the last time I woke up

My arms don’t hurt My head feels clearer instead of fuzzy and heavy And the panic that sat deep in my bones when I woke up tied to a chair is absent

I feel… safe

A low sound co my vocal chords, and I roll over onto ht fills the roo back at me

Ryland sits in a chair near the bed, his body solid and still, forearether He’s watching me steadily, and the way he doesn’t move or react when he seesme for a while That he saw my eyelashes flutter and has watchedme the time to find my way back

I lift lance around the room

We’re the only two occupants I’ on a bed that has only a fitted sheet on it—no other blankets Aside froe box fan set against one wall The place doesn’t have the same dusty, mildewy scent as the room Carson kept me in after he abducted me, but all the same, the air feels a little stale Like no one’s been in here for a while

Meh es and sensations I can’t quite believe I went fro hiain, maybe that’s pretty par for the course in our relationship

But having Theo kiss me while Marcus fucked me? That… that was new

So warm stirs in s to worry about right now

“Where are we?” I ask in a raspy voice, turning back to Ryland