Created (Talented Saga) by Sophie Davis Read Free Book Online Page B

drill sargent. Machines and contraptions were produced as if by magic as the team assessed the situation.
    An explosion rocked the plane, and I stumbled sideways, my shoulder slamming into the wall of the aircraft. My brain barely registered the pain, my nerve-endings unreceptive to any sensation that interfered with my need to reach Erik. The medics blocking my view shifted with the plane, and I caught my first glimpse of Erik in the harsh neon glow of the overhead lights.
    I gasped at the sight of his naked torso. Erik’s chest looked like a black and red checkerboard, complete with misshapen lumps for playing pieces. Bands of shiny, raw skin ringed his biceps and wrists from where he’d been restrained with ropes or too-tight metal cuffs. Track marks covered both of his hands, his wrists, forearms, and even the side of his neck, creating a giant constellation of red stars across his ashen skin.
    A second eruption – from below this time – sent me pitching forward several paces, and into the back of a short, squat medic readying a syringe. He grunted as the female medic who appeared to be in charge grabbed my arm to steady me. Any other time I would have thanked her, at least acknowledged her. Not then, not when my eyes were glued to Erik.
    “Oh god, no!” I cried, reaching past the medic with the needle to take Erik’s limp hand.
    “You need to stay back, miss,” the woman in charge told me. She wasn’t unkind, but the tone of her voice suggested that disobedience wouldn’t be tolerated.
    Ignoring her subtle warning, I curled my gloved fingers around Erik’s. Through the thin suit material, his skin felt normal, but the easy way our hands slid apart when the woman drew me backwards told me it was clammy with sweat.
    Daring to pull my gaze from Erik, I looked up at the female medic and snarled. We were nearly the same height, my boots bringing me almost level with her hazel eyes. I gave her a withering glare, anticipating she would wilt like the delicate flower she appeared to be. Only, like me, her size was misleading. Despite being a waif of a woman, when she straightened her spine and said, “Do you want him to die?” I was the one who wilted. Her tone wasn’t cold or impersonal, just matter-of-fact.
    “Then go sit up front,” she continued when I didn’t answer her rhetorical question.
    With one last glance at the love of my life, I turned to go, praying that this no-nonsense woman was as capable a doctor as her confident demeanor suggested.
    “Tals?” His low, raspy whisper was music to my ears.
    I spun to see Erik, eyelids fluttering spastically as he made a feeble attempt to sit up. Alarmed by the sudden movement, the medic that I’d crashed into aimed his needle towards the crook of Erik’s elbow. In response, Erik’s hand shot upwards, and his fingers clamped around the man’s windpipe. I watched in horror as the same fingers that were always so gentle when they touched me, so soft when held me, squeezed until the short man’s face turned beet red and his dark eyes bulged like a frog’s.
    “Erik, no,” I breathed, even as he lifted the medic off of the ground far enough that the man’s feet dangled in empty air.
    The female doctor and I reacted in unison. She went for her colleague and I went for Erik’s mind. Frantic, terrified thoughts raced through his head: fight, protect, kill. All around him, Erik saw danger. Each of the medics in their scrubs reminded him of the doctors at Tramblewood. My presence wasn’t having the calming effect I’d hoped for. Instead, it thrust Erik’s protective instinct into high gear.
    There was no time to be gentle. I took complete control of Erik, mind, body, and will. Being so weak, the fragile resistance he put forth was easier to squash than a bug. Different factions of his brain played tug of war with one another, with no one faction being strong enough to fight the intrusion. I forced him to release his grip on the medic’s throat. The man