Lover Redeemed

Chapter 2

Darla was floating in a warm, calm sea...

And, then the shark bit her. She couldn't see it, but she felt the jaws grip her heart and squeeze. The pain was so intense that white light sparked behind her eyes, and she flailed in a panic. Soft warm hands forced her arms down and struggled to secure them with straps.

"WE'RE LOSING HER!"

A woman's commanding voice. The sounds of paper and metal. The sting of disinfectant. A hospital.

So, she'd failed in her attempt to kill herself, and now the doctors were working to save her. A NIN refrain pinged in her skull, "I do not want this..."

Darla's nightmares increased. Memories of being tied down "for her own good" flooded her brain. The soft male voice that soothed and tormented told her she needed this.

The pressure on her heart and ribs eased. She heard her own shocked gasp for air and snapped her eyes open.

The hazy outline of a woman's face filled her vision. Short blond hair framed a serious face.

"Listen to me. I need you to fight to stay with us," the woman said. "Stay alive, and you will see a wonderful new world." The woman's smile was gentle, but Darla struggled to remember a reason to live.

A chiseled-face, full-lips, dark wings and the exotic smell of rich, dark chocolate. My angel... The one who had saved her from something evil that looked human but wasn't. Her angel's scent was fainter now, but Darla would know it anywhere. She had to see him again.

Determination lit through Darla's body as the waves threatened to sink her under again. Then pain swamped her, radiating out from her chest to her toenails, and she prayed that seeing her angel again would make the pain worth it.

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Doc Jane slumped at her desk in the office under the mansion. Fighting to keep the girl alive hadn't been easy. She'd coded eight times. Jane wouldn't have been able to pull her through it without same help on the other end. Just when Jane thought she'd lose the young woman, she spoke to her and the change had been almost instant, but her body was weak from drugs and malnutrition. If she was as close to her transition as V said, she wouldn't make it in her weakened state.

Ehlena's soft knock preceded her head around the door.

"She's stabilized and sedated for now. Why don't you go home, and I'll stay for a while? Rhev is out of town." The sag in her face told Jane exactly where Ehlena's mate Rhevenge was, the sympath colony.

Jane smiled. Loving these males wasn't always easy, but in the end, Jane would  have it no other way.

"I'll do that. Maybe V has some details on her. But, call me if there is ANY change in her."

Ehlena nodded once and ducked back out.

Jane followed the underground corridor to the Pit. Her feet moved, but her brain was back in the emergency suite with the girl. Keeping her from ODing was only the first hurdle, so she'd called on Mary, the human social worker, to be on call to counsel the young woman when she woke up. Proof of a hard life of prostitution and drugs was written in the shadows around the young woman's eyes and the collapsed veins of her arms.

Hard-thumping rap greeted her as she stepped into her home with V. The spicy mellow scent of his Turkish tobacco also greeted her, and she saw the cloud over his work station. As soon as V saw his mate clear the giant-ass TV screen, he smiled and reached for her. Jane smiled back and felt his arms snake around her hips. They clung together a few moments before Jane backed away.