Page 58 of Haven

With her out of the way for now, I could have my pretty princess to myself. I was ready. She should be awake and waiting for me, but when I arrived back home, she was still unconscious and blood seeped through the bandages. Fear gripped me as I rushed to her side. Her skin was warm with a sheen of sweat kissing her body. I rubbed her chest with my knuckles and she barely reacted.

Those beautiful blue eyes barely moved. She needed help, and I couldn’t provide it. I might want her to myself, but I needed her alive and well for us to have our future together.

I brushed her hair away from her face, caressing her soft skin. “I’ll wait for you, and then we can be together forever.”

I scooped her up in my arms and took her to my truck. Her pink bike that was totaled was in the back, but I could use it to set the scene. They needed to believe a false narrative. She would be alive, and the next phase of my plan would start.

While she was healing, I would work on my passion project. The bitch would regret taking my princess from me. And when the time was right, I would save my princess once again and bring her to my castle, where we could live happily ever after.

I took her to the entrance of the park. It would be dangerous being so close to my own cabin, but I was deep within the forest. It would take them a while to locate me, even if they had any idea who I was. They would worry about her. It hurt to let her go, but she was mine and would always be. She needed help I couldn’t provide her, and having her alive was better than her dying before I could make her mine completely.

With my burner phone, I called 911. “There’s a woman who wrecked her motorcycle at the entrance of the state park. She’s unresponsive and bleeding. Send help.” I disconnected and admired my princess.

She looked like her namesake, delicate and fragile, waiting for her prince to come set her free. I brushed her hair from her face, pressing my lips to her. If only true love's kiss could bring her back to me, and we could live happily ever after.

Forty-Nine

Widow

My phone rang, and I answered it immediately without looking at the caller ID. “Rory?”

“Widow, it’s Lauren.” Lauren was a part-time member of the Vipers, since she worked full-time at the hospital as security. “Rory is in the ER. Motorcycle crash. She’s alive, but she has a bad head injury.”

Fuck.

“I will get there ASAP. Is Cinder with her?”

“No? She’s not in the waiting room.”

“As a patient?”

“Sorry, Widow. She’s not here.”

Double fuck.

“Okay. Thank you, Lauren. We’ll be there soon.”

I messaged Vesper and told her to get everyone to the hospital. We needed to secure the perimeter and figure out what the hell happened. How long had she been there? I found her phone, but her bike wasn’t on scene. From my knowledge and the contacts we had on the inside of the police department, no one reported a wreck, but there were skid marks and small hot pink chrome pieces of her bike. She and her bike were both gone. Someone was trying to hide something.

When I arrived at the hospital, Lauren was waiting for me. She led me through the ER until we got to Rory's room. She was unconscious, a bandage on her head and wires connected to her. My heart dropped seeing her in a hospital bed like that, and I knew it was all my fault. The reason she went and messed with Vesper in the gym was because I rejected her in my office. If I would just have caved, she would be in my bed instead.

Cher was on vacation, or she would have been in charge of our girl. It could also be why it took so long for us to get notified, over twenty-four hours after Rory left on her bike. Had she been laying on the road? There was something else going on here, and I needed to know what it was. Vesper was the first to arrive, which was perfect. I needed her ready to go find Hades and take her back to the clubhouse so we could question her.

“Is she okay?”

Before I could say anything, a short Indian man walked in towards us. Lauren had informed me he was her doctor. “Good evening, I am Dr. Saxena. Are you here for Aurora Vincent?”

“Yes. Please, how is she?” I asked, wringing my hands as panic laced my tone.

“She came in via ambulance with a serious head injury and road rash. We performed a CT scan and X-rays. She doesn’t have a brain bleed, but we can’t rule out a concussion yet. She has several bruised ribs with two cracked ribs on her left side, and three on her right. There was a deep gash on her ankle where her motorcycle trapped her. When she wakes up, we will do an MRI and do more tests, but she’s incredibly lucky.”

Vesper and I released a simultaneous breath of relief. “Thank you.”

“One thing I found strange is that when she came in, most of the bleeding was coagulated. Head wounds normally bleed for a while until medical staff can apply pressure. Was there anyone with her during the ride that might have been on scene to try and help?”

“No,” I replied curtly. I would find the cop that responded and have the Vipers talk to the med crew to figure out more. Something wasn’t right about this entire situation, and I had a feeling a certain she-devil was behind it. I grabbed Vesper’s wrist and pulled her into a supply closet, ripping the door open then pushing her inside.

“Haven Morningstar.”