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Seizing muscles strained her small form into a bow raising her off the bed and shouting could be heard above the buzzing in her ears as a burst of white light filled with warmth and acceptance stole her vision.
As muscles relaxed one by one, the pain sailed from her as if it had never been. The buzzing and blurred vision remained as her consciousness set her free of the pain flowing through every fiber of her being and she was open to float asunder.
Chapter Seven
No beauty shines brighter than that of a good heart.
Loch couldn’t believe the amount of shit his girl had to go through just to be free. Not only crazy fucking parents but medical issues mounting with the days. Every time she moved past one, another would pop up, and each scared ten years off his life.
It shouldn’t have been so damn hard for her. She hadn’t lived properly yet. She shouldn’t have to battle one illness after another so quickly.
After his mother had dropped off the soup and some clothes for them both three days ago, Sage had been moved to intensive care because of the mini seizures she kept having. At first, the doctors thought one of the snake bites had been poisonous, but the blood tests that were run every four hours for twenty-four hours after being brought in had shown no sign of toxins.
Her oldest brother, Porter, had gotten in touch with the hospital to find out her condition and was able to answer some questions about her overall health and tell them enough to know that epilepsy didn’t run in the immediate family.
Loch was beyond exhausted. After spending every moment with Sage they would allow and sitting in the waiting room for the next visiting hour, he didn’t know how he was still functioning.
Thankfully, the police had been by to take statements on Sage’s condition and any previous injuries they could tell them about. With her birthday… Shit! It was her eighteenth birthday, and she was so drugged up she wouldn’t be awake to enjoy it.
Looking at the clock on his phone, he had another forty minutes until he could sit with her for twenty. Dialing Nox as he left the ICU floor, he knew the perfect person to enlist for help.
“Yo, bro, how’s Sage doing?” Nox had been around for every freak-out call Loch had made in the past few days, and his respect for the older man had grown tenfold.
“She’s good. Still sleeping. I need Soph’s help, though.”
“I’m sure she’ll be happy to.”
“It’s Sage’s eighteenth birthday.”
A long whistle came through the line. “Damn. I’ll pass the phone to her.”
“Thanks, man.”
Giggling could be heard as Sophia came on the line. “Lochlan,” her voice reflected her smile, “how can I help?”
“Could you go shopping for me?” He wasn’t a big shopper, but he knew exactly what he wanted to get for Sage but didn’t want to leave the hospital in
case she woke up.
“Of course!”
After explaining what he needed, she squealed with delight and hung up before he could thank her. His phone buzzed with a text from Nox showing a dozen question marks.
Possessive bastard.
Likely wasn’t thrilled that another man made his fiancée so happy. Ignoring Nox’s text, he turned the device off and headed back in to see Sage again. Entering the waiting room, Loch was shocked and outraged to see her parents there speaking to two police officers.
All of them froze when he entered. As much as he’d like to give them a piece of his mind, it wasn’t the time nor place for it.
“That’s the heathen,” Sage’s mother spat out, pointing at Loch. “He poisoned our daughter’s mind.”
“Lochlan did?” The officer, Frank, a man Loch and his family had known all their lives, fought to hide his laughter. He’d served with Loch’s father on a few tours overseas, so the man knew him as well as his own son.
“Yes.” Her hiss sounded just like the snakes she’d dumped her daughter into.
Sitting in a chair across the room from the small group, Loch ignored them as he watched the clock on the wall, waiting to see Sage again. The minutes felt like hours as they slowly passed by.
When the nurse Kirsten entered the room, shooting daggers at the Marlowe’s as she spoke to his father’s friend quickly, she nodded for Loch to follow as they both left the room with her.
