Forgotten in Darkness by Zoe Forward Read Free Book Online Page B

They stood for a few moments in a staredown, obviously having some sort of mental shouting match that none but the two of them could hear. Ashor’s face mottled red with anger.
    Kira shrugged and said out loud, “He was a complete gentleman in the prison and that’s the end of it. You can’t go with us. Look at your shirt and your face. It’s a mess of blood, as is Ethan’s. You two would attract too much attention, especially in a hospital. Christian and Dakar will be with me. Don’t worry. I’ll call if there are any problems. I promise you can kick Christian’s ass if he allows anything to happen to me.” She removed a baseball cap and a hair band from her shoulder bag and handed it to Dakar. “Pull your hair up with this. It’s a little too memorable.”
    Dakar stretched the hair band between his fingers unsure what it was.
    Kira went on tiptoes and had his hair banded in a few seconds. She pushed the cap onto his head.
    His face hadn’t burned from this much humiliation in thousands of years.
    “I don’t appreciate being volunteered for an Ashor ass-kicking. And what was that shit about Dakar being nice to you? If you aren’t careful, Ashor will padlock you at home and never let you leave,” Christian said to Kira as they entered the hospital.
    “The truth will only make him lose it. We all know a rage-crazy Ashor is tough to rein in. He’s not in a good mood today. Eric phoned before we deplaned and admitted he borrowed Ashor’s car.”
    Christian’s face paled. “Not the supercar?”
    “Yeah. He wrecked her.”
    “Fixable?”
    “Not so much. Kind of drove her off a bridge. Sounds like he neglected to use the brakes on a curve.”
    Christian whistled low. As they entered the hospital, he said, “You two wait for my signal.” He sauntered to the reception desk and flirted in Spanish with the ladies. He waved behind his back, allowing Kira and Dakar to slip by.
    As they walked down the hall, Kira said to Dakar, “The woman you seek had a little accident. No one knows what happened. An unknown man brought her in a month ago. He paid a lot of money up front for her to be cared for. For the first week, her chart says she was in and out of consciousness. After that, she slipped into a coma from which she has yet to wake. They don’t have a lot of resources here, which means I’m not sure how good her care has been.”
    “What’s wrong with her?”
    The windowless room they entered housed four different comatose patients. A few flies buzzed around. A solitary fan at the window did little to diminish the stifling heat. Kira pointed to the far corner near the wall. The bandaged head and immobile form was visible above the sheets. A clear bag of fluid hanging from a metal pole dripped liquid slowly through a tube connected to her arm. He’d never seen anything like it before.
    Dakar couldn’t tell if it was Shaiani. Outward appearance meant nothing. The gods gave them different forms when reincarnated. Except for his streaky hair. That he would do almost anything to get rid of.
    Gently, he pulled away the covers and eased up one side of her head bandage. Thick, dark red hair peeked out. The breath he hadn’t realized he held whooshed out. This had to be the woman from the church. That auburn mass had flapped wildly behind her in the wind outside the church when she launched herself like a goddess at the daemon’s back. With horror, he’d watched the daemon sideswipe her, jettisoning her over the cliff into the ocean. Because of her distraction, he’d been able to decapitate the daemon.
    His gut clinched tight. She suffered. Because of him. He couldn’t tolerate her pain . “What’s her name?” he asked crisply as he glimpsed beneath the bandages, prying them up as far as they’d allow. Swelling and bruising distorted her features. Bandages wrapped her chest, making it impossible to find the one identifying mark he knew could confirm this pitiful woman was she.
    “No name here,” Kira