Her Heroes

Chapter Twenty-Two

Muddled voices flooded my ears and I groaned. Nobody seemed to notice though, as the conversation continued to flow above my head.

"She should be awake any minute now."

"What do we tell her when she wakes up?"

"Nothing; the less she knows, the better."

Words were voiced in approval before I groaned again. It felt like someone had crashed a plane into my head three times over. The conversation came to an end quickly, but one thought remained in my head. What didn't they want me to know?

Adding it to the ever-growing list of questions I had, I forced myself from my drug-induced thoughts.

It took another moment for me to collect myself completely. Once I did however, my body shot upright. Their proximity was too close, my fingers tapped and dug into my thighs.

A set of hands took my shoulders and guided them back to the surface I was laying on.

"Easy there belle, the drugs are still wearing off." My tongue scraped across my mouth, searching for any liquid to help the desert called my throat. He needed to let go of me. I didn't want his hands touching me ever again. They were all liars, dirty, nasty liars.

Forcing my eyes open, I stared into the darkness that I recognized as my bedroom. "How do you feel? Any itching, swelling, burning?" Armel's voice reached my ears before I felt a hand press against my forehead. Hissing at the contact, I pushed myself to a sitting position, before moving as far away as I could from everyone.

The guys were all either sitting on my bed or leaning against the walls. My eyes raced between them all. What had they done to me while I was drugged? Why did they drug me? Who were they? The second one I knew the answer to, they drugged me so that I wouldn't run, so that they would have the calm before the storm.

Well now boys, the storm has awoken and is ready to rage.

Hercule seemed to understand my apprehension and smiled. "We'll be back in the morning mon étoile, try to get some sleep." He smiled gently at me before turning to the boys. "Out, all of you, now."

"Comment allons-nous la surveiller si nous partons tous ?"
(How are we going to watch her if we all leave?)

I hated their French conversations. Like, if you have something to say, say it to my face. Well, scratch that, maybe don't say it to my face. My heart and head could only take so much. My eyes didn't leave my brothers as Valentin and Matthieu left with Armel.

On the other hand, Léon hadn't moved off the wall yet. Hercule turned to face his baby brother and smiled slyly. "Une fois endormie, l'un de nous reviendra la surveiller."
(Once she is asleep, one of us will come back to watch her)

Léon grinned in response and left the room, followed quickly by Gabriel and Alexandre.

When it was only me and Hercule in the room together, he turned back to me. His dark eyes bored into mine as he searched for something. Sighing, he stalked towards the door. His hand was on the doorknob when he spoke again, his muscular back to me. "One day, I hope you can trust us again. But until then, we will wait." It was an odd thing to see Hercule vulnerable like this. His shoulders trembled as he drew in a breath, forcing himself to don his mask again. "Get some sleep, Nadia." And with that, he left the room, leaving me in the dark.

The last thing I wanted to do right now was sleep in a house full of people I couldn't trust; but he was right, I needed sleep. Shutting my eyes, I tried to hide from the demons, and fall into a thoughtless rest.

***

Howling rain woke me from my sleep.

Sucking in a breath I scanned the room. Thunder struck somewhere close by and I jumped. Storms were my least favorite weather, the loud noises scared every part of my body, fingers included.