Any closer and they would be observing the dust motes that settled on my eyelids while I slept.
“Do they have any idea who is responsible?” I angled myself toward him. “It must be another patient, right?”
His voice dipped an octave. “Crazy isn’t always confined to the padded rooms.”
“Yeah.” My throat, suddenly parched, tightened. “Does that mean you suspect someone on staff?”
“I suspect everyone.” Lam leaned in closer, as if about to confide a secret, but reached beside me and poured me a cup of water he topped off with a bendy straw. “It’s the only way to always be right.”
I took a sip of crisp water and studied the man holding the cup for me. “How did you know I was thirsty?”
“I wasn’t in your head,” he said, reading my mind. “You were projecting your thoughts. Loudly. I can’t help but catch what’s thrown at me.”
Deciding to accept his explanation at face value, I drained the cup. “Any idea how my door got opened?”
“Maintenance examined your lock this morning, said it malfunctioned.” He set the cup aside and reclaimed his seat. “Whoever tucked you in last night must not have closed it all the way.”
Oh, how I wanted to believe him, but I had watched that knob turn. Hadn’t I?
“And you, a highly trained security specialist, didn’t notice the door was ajar while you were checking up on me?”
“Have I mentioned how glad I am you found your voice?” His full lips twitched. “Consider my ego stroked.”
Not about to entertain thoughts of Officer Lam and stroking, I couldn’t resist wheedling. “I’ll toss in a freebie about your keen observation skills if you give me deets.”
“You were cleared of any suspicion by the fact the other patient’s door was triggered prior to yours. The current estimated time of death supports the theory he was dead before you stepped foot out in the hall.”
A dead body could take minutes or hours to reach the ambient temperature of its surroundings. Considering how tight a ship Edelweiss appeared to be, I was betting on the former.
“Another curious factoid.” He pointed to a blacked-out hub mounted to the ceiling. “Cameras were down in several dorms last night, so your shenanigans can’t be visually mapped except in starts and fits, but there’s enough evidence there to exonerate you.”
Surveillance going wonky at the time of the murder? How convenient…for the killer.
No patient had access to that equipment, and I doubted orderlies did either. Could the system have been hacked? That might explain why my door popped open at random. Maybe the killer got confused by the complicated dorm organization system. The other alternative, that one of the guards might be in on the killings, turned my blood to ice.
“What happens now?” I crossed and then uncrossed my ankles, trying to get comfortable. “How long before I’m returned to my room?”
“You witnessed a traumatic event. I don’t have to know your patient history to know that if you’re here, you’ve been touched by violence.” He gentled his voice. “They’ll keep you overnight for observation. They’re big on that here.”
“I figured.” I wiggled my toes, glad they had skipped out on the matching ankle cuffs. It was a small freedom, but it was heartening. “And then?”
“Then you’ll get a stern talking-to about the dangers of leaving your quarters unchaperoned.” A mischievous tilt of his lips, and he said, “I would say you’d get spanked, but they’re not into corporal punishment here. They prefer hugging it out.”
I snorted at how very right he was even as I wondered at the tone in his voice that sounded more like experience than observation.
“This is going to be a long night,” I predicted. Most of them dragged, the hours long and dark and sinister.
“Oh, I don’t know.” Lam shifted his weight in the chair and reached into his back pocket. “How do you feel about poker? I have a fresh deck. Scored them from the lost-and-found.”
“I don’t know how to play.” Not to mention I couldn’t work a hand while mine were bound.
“Good.” He cracked open the seal. “That makes two of us.”
For some reason, that struck me as funny, and I laughed until the first real tears I had cried since he took me rained down my face.
Chapter 3
Lam and I ended up playing Go Fish, and I had to teach him even that much. Why the man had palmed a deck of cards without knowing how to use them was beyond me, but I was glad for his sticky fingers. Lam won every game, but that was to be expected since the restraints meant he handled both sets of cards.
Laughter and conversation helped pass the time, and I discovered Lam was more than just a pretty face. He was kind in an endearing way I found refreshing. More than I liked looking at him, I liked him. I hadn’t had this much fun since leaving the comforting deeps of home to explore my human heritage, which cast a sad light on my adventures considering I was currently tied to a bed in a mental institution.
Despite my best efforts to avoid sleep, it tackled me when I closed my dry eyes to rest them.
Hours later, I woke to find Lam grinning at the screen of his phone, his presence a comfort that allowed me to relax into slumber. I blinked blurry eyes at Dr. Pradesh when he made his rounds, and I grumbled at the nurses who popped in like clockwork to check my vitals, but with Lam there, I didn’t fear the gentle tug of unconsciousness that dragged me back down each time.
No one relieved Lam at shift change. He must have volunteered to work a third shift while I was catching Zs. Some fae required little to no sleep, but it still struck me as odd that he hadn’t been spelled out even once. No one had spoken to him today either. They must prefer their security seen and not heard around here.
With my internal clock so attuned to my regular sleep schedule, I blinked out of my dream at two in the morning to the faint sounds of metal scraping. My gaze ping-ponged from the door and its wiggly knob to Lam’s slumped figure. Poor guy had fallen asleep with his elbow resting on the nightstand and his fist mashed into his cheek.
The crack forming in the doorway allowed light to slice through the darkened room as the first haunting notes of a keening song swelled in the corridor. This time I found no comfort in the sound. It wasn’t—as I had first assumed—Bianca’s nightly unburdening. Despite the similarities in tone, the feminine richness of the voice was more potent than the warg’s. This was the same ephemeral melody that had coaxed me out into the hall last night.
“Officer Lam.” I tested my restraints when he didn’t flinch. “Officer Lam.”
My dozing protector didn’t bat a single long, dark eyelash.
I rammed my elbow into the call button for the nurses’ station until I dinged my funny bone, and a manic giggle escaped me.
No response.
The door inched wider, and a tendril of black mass unfurled across the bed, chilling my skin through the sheets.
“Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap.” A whimper passed my lips as the heavy buckles securing my wrists to the bed railing unfastened in front of my eyes. “That is not natural.”
The instant I got free, I leapt from the bed and flung myself at the sleeping guard. Gripping his shoulders, I shook him until his glasses slid from the bridge of his nose. The unobstructed view of his face stunned me for a full second. The glasses didn’t exactly shield his good looks, but without them… The man was too beautiful for his own good.
He was also a candidate for somnoplasty, because wow. His snores could wake the dead. Though apparently not himself.
Biting my bottom lip, I made a decision. I hauled off and slapped him. “Wake. Up.”
Silver eyes popped open and latched on to me, the light within blinding in such close quarters. Eyes like whirlpools lulled me into his lap, where I curled and pressed our noses together. Lam’s eyes had all the right parts—whites, irises, pupils—except each glinted in varying shades of platinum, each rotation of his pupils causing a glimmer.
Mesmerizin
g.
Firm hands shifted me aside while Lam dug under my thigh for his glasses then slid them onto his face. I reached up on reflex to yank them off, but he caught my wrist and flattened it against his chest.
“Don’t take those off. Ever.” He pinched my chin between his thumb and finger, forcing me to look at him, as if I could tear my gaze away. The barrier of his lenses was nothing against the memory of that sterling interest. “Snap out of it, Pinks.”
The subtle command shocked me back into that bright moment of panic where those black tendrils had unbuckled my restraints, and I scrambled off his lap a heartbeat after realizing I was cuddling up to him.
“I was trying to wake you up,” I babbled while flames engulfed my cheeks. “Not give you a lap dance.”
Fanning my face, I turned my back on him and studied the entryway. The inky blackness was gone, banished by Lam’s light?
“It’s all right.” He gripped my waist and spun me to face him, his half smile out in full force. “I have that effect on women.”
“Listen.” I placed my hands over his as if that might hold him still, force him to focus as I waited for that first chord of ethereal agony. “There. Did you hear?”
“I don’t hear anything.” He shackled my wrists with his fingers, flashing me back to last night. “How did you get free?” He turned over my hands, searching for abrasions with his thumbs. “You’re a regular Houdini.”
“It wasn’t me,” I protested. “I was sleeping, but something woke me. That voice… And then the door…” I whirled around and jabbed my finger at my proof. “Look. It’s open.”
Keeping his hold light but sure, he leaned forward and followed the direction where I pointed. “That’s…not good.” He guided me backward until my knees hit the mattress, and I sat. “Stay put. I’m going to investigate.”
“Let’s don’t and say we did.” I clutched his arm, a tremor in my voice. “Who knows what’s out there?”
Unsheathing the flashlight from his hip, he adjusted the brightness. “There’s one way to find out.”
A groan in my throat, I let my head fall back. “I knew you were going to say that.”
“Call a nurse to sit with you if… Never mind.” He extracted himself from my grip. “I’ll be right back. Promise.”
“Famous last words,” I muttered as he left.
Tempted to press the nurse call button again, not that it had done me much good earlier, I startled when his unspoken intention whacked me between the eyes, and a red haze descended over my vision.
What Lam meant was I should call a nurse to sit with me…if I was scared.
Lucky he had left when he did or I would have ripped off those stupid glasses and ruined his good looks. I hadn’t asked to be made into this echo of my former self. I hadn’t asked for the courage I once took for granted to be shattered. And I sure as hell hadn’t ever cowered behind a man, and I wasn’t about to start now.
Pushing to my feet, I approached the door and gave it one last chance to cooperate, gave fate one final opportunity to intervene. I flipped the switch on the wall, flooding the room with comforting light. Gripping the knob, I pulled the door closed and stepped back. It popped right open.
Pull closed. Pop open. Pull closed. Pop open.
Fate, it seemed, was feeling bitchy tonight.
A quick examination showed the latch bolt was stuck inside the door and wouldn’t engage the strike plate. Great. I couldn’t lock myself in, thus locking murderous whatsits out, which left me no choice but to wait on Lam or go in search of help on my own.
Had his words stung my pride less, I might have sat there like a good little girl. But it hurt being reminded of who I used to be and finding myself lacking.
Déjà vu crept down my spine as I stepped out into the hallway. At least this one was well lit. A glance from left to right didn’t help me pick a direction. I appeared to be on the backside of a U-shaped corridor. The nurses’ station had to be around either corner, so I did a little eenie-meenie-ing to pick a direction and started walking.
A chill whisper glided across my skin, cool fingers of dread skating over me, and gooseflesh prickled down my arms in primal awareness. I spun a circle, but I was alone with my paranoia.
A hand landed on my shoulder a heartbeat later, and I didn’t think. I reacted. I whirled on the ball of my foot and slid my arm around my assailant’s chest while stepping forward. I flung him onto the floor with a hip toss I’d learned in the mixed martial arts class Dad had enrolled me in when I was three and too small to defend myself against the other kids my age who wielded their sleek, muscular tails as whips to deliver punishing blows. Magic might have granted me a tail, it might have granted me the illusion of fitting in among my peers, but my strength had always been standing on my own two feet.
All I had needed was the reminder.
“You’re under arrest,” Lam wheezed. “For assaulting an officer.”
“Sorry, not sorry.” I dropped onto my knees at his side. “Reflex.” Muscle memory I had allowed to grow as soft as the chocolate pudding we ate on Fridays during my stay at Edelweiss. “You brought it on yourself when you called me a chicken.”
“I don’t recall mentioning poultry.”
“You didn’t have to cluck for me to get the point.” I rolled my eyes. “I appreciate the nudge. I feel like I’m waking up. Finally.” I patted his chest. “Thanks.”
“Don’t thank the fae.” He pressed a finger to my lips. “Don’t thank me. I’m not a guy you want to owe a debt to.” A winded laugh eased out of him. “Besides, I like a girl who can defend herself.”
“Physical strength doesn’t matter.” I stood and offered him my hand, which he accepted. “Not when there are fae who can climb into your mind and break you from the inside out.” I hauled him to his feet. “At the end of the day, I’m just a human.”
“You’re not just anything.” He kept that link to me, skin to skin. “You’re a survivor. Whatever happened, you’re still alive.”
“For now.” I snorted to break the tension. “Unless that thing comes back.” I withdrew my hand before I got too comfortable holding his. “Did you find anything?”
“I didn’t go far,” he admitted. “The halls are clear, so I figured you couldn’t get a response from the nurses’ station. I didn’t want to leave you alone.”
The urge to ask if he had called for backup was strong, but the fear of forcing him to admit the wailing might all be in my head kept my mouth shut. He would call for help if—and when—the threat presented itself to him, and I had to be content with that. I was the one on the wrong side of admission paperwork, after all. “Where is everyone?”
Night shifts staffed as many employees as the day shifts. They had to with so many nocturnal fae here at Edelweiss. To accommodate their patients’ needs, the institution kept diurnal fae in the east wing and nocturnal fae in the west wing. The grounds near opposing wings were locked down every twelve hours to prevent patients given outside privileges from waking those already in bed.
The med ward was, to my understanding, the one area where the two fae groups overlapped. So where was the staff?
“A fight broke out in the chow hall in the women’s NocT dorm.” He took my elbow and guided me toward my room. “The doctor and three nurses were attempting to wrestle a spoon from a spriggan before she scooped out the eyes of an ashray for stealing one of her tater tots. Apparently those must have been grade-A tots, because even the orderlies got in on the action. Security got called to break up the fights and escort patients back to their rooms, and the rest of the emergency medical staff is examining the worst of the injuries.”
“Do you think it was a distraction?” A dusty region of my mind reawakened. “It can’t be coincidence that a fight broke out that cleared the halls at the same time I heard…whatever that was.”
“An organized diversion?” He cocked his head to one side. “Ladies and gentlemen, the girl is pretty and smart.”
“I was a con
sultant for the Earthen Conclave.” I had hauled bodies—and body parts—out of lakes, rivers and streams, but at least that work had been honest. It had hurt my heart, but it had been a service to those communities. “Before he took me.”
“I didn’t realize that.” Lam stunned me with a full-on smile. “You continue to surprise me, Pinks.”
“You know my name is Harlow.” I tapped the side of my head. “You heard me say so.”
Keeping pace with me, he rubbed a section of my hair through his fingers. “Pink suits you.”
“What about you?” We reached my room, and I let him hold the door open for me. “What’s your first name?” His thoughtful silence spurred me on. “You don’t go in for the mononymous names, do you? Like Cher? Or am I supposed to think of you as Lam?”
“You think about me?” His grin widened, exposing a divot in one cheek that aspired to being a dimple. “Exactly what do you think about me?”
Fire rippled across my cheeks with the whoosh of a gas burner igniting. I should have kept my mouth shut, but he made it so easy to open up to him. Prior to Lam, my lips had been sealed like a stubborn oyster, but then he had to come along and snap the hinge. Now I was falling back into my chatterbox ways.
“Carter.”
The rich timbre of his voice startled me from my self-castigation.
“Carter,” I echoed. “I like that.”
A crease lined his cheek, but he was hard to read with those shades blocking his eyes.
Enjoying the freedom of standing outside of the box for a change, I loitered in the doorway. “Want to play another hand of Go Fish?”
“I don’t know.” Carter rolled his shoulder and winced. “I took a nasty spill. I’m not sure my brain is done bouncing around my skull yet.”
“In other words—” I read between the lines, “—you’re afraid you’ll finally lose a hand since you won’t be playing both.” I cut off his smart-alecky comeback with a raised hand and a gasp. “Please tell me you hear that too.”
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