Chapter 275
WILLA
"Get off," I puffed as she grabbed my head and slammed it against the tree again.
She punched me in the face and ribs so many times I lost count. Then she let me fall. She stood over me, grinning. She started to get all blurry around the edges.
"Let's see you open your fucking mouth one more time," she said.
She went off leaving me there, weak and bleeding.
The clouds and trees above me started to get even more blurry. I dug my fingers into the soft dirt, fought to hold on to consciousness.
The world wavered on and out of focus. From far away, I heard Lucian call my name and then everything went black.
********
I woke up with a start that sent bolts of pain shooting through my entire body. I groaned, clutched my head.
The pain there was worse. My skull pulsed like a rotten infected tooth.
I was on an enclosed space, I realized. A tent. Thaat was as far as my functioning brain got.
The scent of Lucian overwhelmed the rest of my senses. I turned quickly to the right and there he was, watching me with those unsettling eyes of his.
"You're finally up," he drawled.
His eyes kept going over me. They would stop at my face, then take in the rest of me.
"How did I get here?" I asked and reached up to rub the back of my head.
He exhaled in a rush. "You really are ungrateful, aren't you? That's the first thing you can think of to say? Not even a thank you for starters? Here."
I thought he was still scolding me not until I saw he was holding out a cup to me.
"Drink it all up," he said.
I took a tentative sip of the dark grey liquid. It was good. Delicious.
It warmed me in the inside and pushed the pain away.
"It's all your fault," I told Lucian after I had taken a larger sip.
Lucian quirked a brow. "Just what do I have to do with you getting beaten up and passing out?"
"Everything. You kissed me. That started all this."
"Keep telling yourself that," he said. "I think I'll stay away from you from now on to stop you from getting your heart broken, that's if it's not already too late. I'm sure you're falling head over heels for me."
"You're out of your mind if you think that," I said hotly. "I think that after I deal with Naomi, I'll come for you."
"You're weak and feeble, Willa. You can't do anything." In an undertone he added, "An unworthy mate."
That one hurt. I slopped some if the tea as I set it down. I started for the tent door.
"Where do you think you're going?" Lucian barked. "Your tent's been destroyed. You can't possibly survive the night in there."
I was struggling with the zipper on the tent flap. "Too bad. I'm going anyway."
"Think carefully about what you're about to do. If you go back out there, I won't let you in here if you try to come back. Stay here. It's a one time offer I won't repeat no matter how much you beg."
"Beg! There's no way that's going to happen. Sleeping in the open air is a million times better than spending one second in here with you."
I got the flap open and left. The brisk wind coming from the east and blowing through the tears in the canvas had made my tent sag a little into the ground.
I did my best to make it stand upright. At the end it was leaning drunkenly to one corner.
I crawled inside and immediately realized I never should have left Lucian's tent. It felt like I was lying outside.
It was too late for regrets though. There was no way I was going back to beg Lucian and give him the satisfaction of saying 'I told you so.'
As evening came, the wind freshened. It became cold. An equally cold mist made an appearance soon after.
Through the tears in my tent, some as large as small windows, I watched as the others huddled into their tents and zip them up. After some minutes I heard soft snores from the tents next to mine.
I didn't think there would be any sleep for me. I covered myself up with the blankets.
Soon the bugs came. The crawling ones that just kept buzzing in your ear long enough to drive you crazy and then the stinging ones.
Swatting them away was useless. The damn place was their habitat!
I drew the blankets over my head as the bugs crawled and flew around. I told myself no matter how bad it got, I would stay right there.
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