Forsaken (The Netherworlde Series) Read Online Free Page B

cardboard boxes that had been stacked everywhere, as if someone was either in the process of moving in or moving out. She cut a glance down his torso toward his groin, because he was naked and bleeding. “I’ll…uh…get you something…”
    Tearing her eyes away, she hurried over to a box that had already been opened. She dug around until she found what she was looking for, a large, dark blue wool blanket. She hurried back to his side and wrapped it around him, drawing it tightly together so he could clutch it beneath his chin. “Here,” she said again gently.
    The dog sat nearby watching them. It hadn’t tried to attack Jason again, but its lips would occasionally wrinkle back to reveal its teeth, and it would utter a little sound that would start off as a growl and then end in a short, rasping sort of whoof, more an expulsion of air than a bark, it’s way of saying I’ve got my eye on you, pal.
    This has got to be a joke, Jason thought again, looking helplessly around while Sam turned again, darting down the hallway toward the bathroom. They moved my stuff while I was out in the alley—Eddie and David and the rest of them—packed up all of the tables downstairs, shoved it all into the storeroom somehow, maybe the kitchen. Then they came up here and packed my furniture, everything. Just one big practical joke.
    Except being stabbed wasn’t anyone’s idea of a joke, Jason thought, wincing as he eased the blanket back from his shoulder, trying to get a look at his wound. The electricity hadn’t been working downstairs but was on in the apartment, and by the orange glow of a nearby lamp, he could see that he’d suffered one seriously gruesome injury. The fissure in his flesh was wide and ragged, the blood-crusted edges puckered in an oval like crude lips, the exposed meat beneath bright red and spongy. He was still bleeding heavily, and when Sam returned, carrying a first aid kit in her hand, she gasped, her eyes wide.
    “What happened?” She fell to her knees and threw open the kit, ransacking it until she found a large gauze dressing pad. Using her teeth, she bit into the paper wrapping and tore it open. “Oh, God, who did this to you?”
    “A man…in the alley,” he murmured, jerking and sucking in a hurting breath as she pressed the pad against his shoulder. “He had a gun. I mean a sword. I…I mean…” With a frown he pressed the heel of his hand to his brow as his head swam. “I can’t remember.”
    “Hold this,” Sam whispered, close enough to feel her breath against his face, to her smell her perfume. This, at least, remained familiar and the same, Estee Lauder’s Pleasures. “I’ll go get some water. We need to stop the bleeding.”
    He nodded, draping his hand against hers, holding the bandage in place. They stayed this way for a long moment, during which Sam’s rapid-fire, frantic breathing drew to a complete and silent stop, and then she stood again, pulling away from his touch.
    “Just hold it,” she said, winding her way once more through the maze of boxes and ducking into the galley-sized kitchen. He heard more clanging, then the rush of water pouring full-blast from the tap. When she returned, carrying a large pot between her hands and sloshing a trail of water in her wake, the dog rose to its feet, its tongue lolling out of the corner of its mouth, its tail wagging expectantly.
    “No, Barton, this isn’t for you.” Sam knelt in front of Jason again, dunking a dishrag into the water.
    “Whose dog is that?” he asked.
    “Mine,” she replied, and he blinked in surprise. “I got him at the pound right after you…”
    Her voice faded and she cut her gaze away. Right after I what? he wondered, bewildered. Then he shook his head. It didn’t matter, not the wound in his shoulder or the fact that his entire world had otherwise seemingly been turned upside down and inside out, then given a hard shake. Only one thing remained that truly mattered, the one thing he’d been