Authors: Elle Boon
Xan's Feisty Mate (23 page)
The next time she woke it didn’t feel like she’d been run over by a Mack Truck, and then backed over again. Lifting her eyelids, she risked a glance down her body, expecting to see blood crusted over every inch of her.
“Thank you jeezus. I didn’t think you’d ever wake the fuck up. I swear you scared like ten years off my life,” Joni said, coming to stand beside her, a glass in her hand.
It took Taryn a couple seconds to get her voice to work, and then she was able to speak. “How long was I out?”
“Three mother fucking days,” Sky growled.
Taryn tried to sit up at the announcement, but the world spun a little. “What? I didn’t wake at all?”
“I almost hauled your ass in to the hospital. One more day and you were going.” Joni held the drink out, the anxiety she’d obviously felt clear in her tone. “Drink this, and then you need to eat, and no you didn’t wake.”
Gulping the orange juice down her parched throat, Taryn was glad her friends had stayed with her.
“How do you feel?” Sky asked.
The thought of moving her body didn’t appeal in the least, but Taryn was no pussy. She stretched her legs out, expecting a little pain. When none came she tested her arms, again no pain.
“We took turns watching you, making sure none of the assholes decided to come in and take advantage of you. The second day we decided to wash you up a bit. I couldn’t stand to look at the blood on you a moment longer, but we didn’t want to jar you too much. Do you think you’re up for a bath?” Sky was the mothering sort. Someday she’d make a great mate, just not to one of the jackholes in their pack.
A bath sounded divine, but her rooms didn’t boast that extravagance, only a small stand up shower cubicle. Not that she wasn’t completely healed, her friends just didn’t know that. Both Sky and Joni had better accommodations than she had due to their parents being higher up in Keith’s hierarchy. Their alpha would still slit their throats if he felt like it, but he needed them since they provided money to their pack. Sky’s parents were lawyers, a needed attribute in their world, while Joni’s were the technical geeks who kept Keith up on the latest gadgets. They were like the step sisters in the fairytale, while she was Cinderella. The thought made her giggle. She had no prince charming who would ride in to save her. One day her time would come, when Keith decided she wasn’t worth keeping alive and end her. Until then she would enjoy what life she had, and lying around in bloody clothes, stinking to high heaven wasn’t on the agenda.
She wished she could hang out with them like regular girls. Go out and have drinks. Dance at the clubs and meet guys. Their world wasn’t normal. Sky and Joni’s parents would never allow their girls to go anywhere with Keith’s thing. Their fear for what he’d do to them if something happened to her, or their hate for her because of what she was made it impossible. Taryn accepted the fact she had no pack outside of her rooms. Joni and Sky loved her as much as they could, would even go against their parents if her life was at stake, which they’d obviously done to stay with her. But she’d never put them in danger. Again. They couldn’t handle the beatings she could from Keith. Seeing their pain was worse than feeling her own.
No, Taryn would rather be friendless than have to witness Sky or Joni’s tears, or hear the sound of their bones being broken.
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