Dream Shard by Mary Wine Page B

of stomach acid teased his nose. He shifted his attention to a glistening patch on the floor. The white pills stood out plainly.
    She’d managed to vomit.
    “Kalin?”
    He patted her cheek and her eyelids fluttered.
    “Kalin, open your eyes.” He was being harsh, but strength meant you survived. “Open them now.”
    She was sleepy.
    So incredibly drowsy.
    Someone slapped her. The sound seemed like it was somewhere off in the distance, but the sting was definitely on her cheek. She reached up to push her tormentor away.
    “Look at me, Kalin.”
    “All right.” She opened her eyes but it took a moment for her vision to focus.
    “You threw up the pills.”
    Devon was leaning over her, his gaze locking with hers. She felt the touch of his mind and smiled.
    “You escaped.” Everything felt fuzzy and off balance like a dream. Even if it was a dream, she was still going to enjoy it.
    “And it looks like you’ve managed to escape too.” His tone was full of something that she wanted to savor. Like appreciation. He wasn’t the sort of man who handed out compliments to the undeserving.
    Escape .
    Her mind shook off enough of the haze from the medication. “Oh God. I’ve got to get up. Don’t let me sleep.”
    She tried to push her body off the kitchen floor but didn’t have any coordination. Her hands were half-numb and slipped out from behind her when she tried to push herself up.
    Devon grasped her clothing and hauled her off the floor in one powerful motion. She gasped, unable to hold back her emotions. It was all she could do to keep her knees from folding.
    “Tell me what to do,” he demanded.
    A rush of dizziness assaulted her. She closed her eyes to avoid pitching forward.
    “Open your eyes, Kalin.”
    “You sound like a drill sergeant.” But she complied, and this time her vision wasn’t blurry. “Coffee. I don’t know how much is in my system. I need to stay awake. Caffeine…sugar. How many are left in the bottle?”
    She tried to turn around and find the little beige bottle. Devon set her against the counter with an ease that stunned her. All those cut muscles weren’t just for show.
    He counted the remaining pills and the ones on the floor.
    “There are two in your system.” He came back around into the kitchen. “That’s a double dose. Can you survive it?”
    Her brain was foggy. “I need to move, work it out of my…um…system.”
    “We have to leave anyway,” he said. “This location isn’t secure.”
    He rummaged around in the cabinet and pulled out a soda. “I put those four down, but there will be another team. They will be looking for us.”
    He popped the top on the soda and put it in her hand. He didn’t just hand it to her, he actually closed her fingers around it and lifted it to her lips. The sweet, fizzy beverage helped wash the oil from her mouth. “I haven’t done that since college.”
    He was halfway into the living room and turned around to peg her with a questioning look. “Taken an overdose?”
    “Willingly drunk vegetable oil…to avoid getting too drunk…”
    Instead of a look of distaste, his face brightened with approval. “That’s thinking on your feet.”
    He disappeared into the bedroom. She heard him rummaging before he returned with her small backpack. It was stuffed full of clothing and he dropped it on the kitchen counter with the top still open. He began to pull packaged foods from the cabinets. Just the lightest and quickest things like crackers and peanut butter.
    “Did you remember anything? Devon?”
    He paused when she used his name. She could feel the burn of frustration coming from him before he jerked the zipper closed.
    “No. We have to go.”
    He went back to her sofa and picked up a black vest of some sort. It had pockets all over it, and all of them were full. He swung it up and pushed his arms through the openings before zipping it up. There was a click as he checked the pistol he’d stuffed in his belt before he tucked it into the