Nix. (Den of Mercenaries Book 3)(23)

His eyes found her before she could cross the floor, scanning over her as though looking for something, but she wasn’t sure what there was to find.

Feeling a bit self-conscious, Luna cleared her throat, looking away from him. “Morning.”

“Luna, this is Emma Hobley—I’m sure Aidra has explained why she’s here.”

“The doctor, right?”

The woman looked like a doctor with a pair of wire-rimmed glasses perched on her nose, and though she was smiling, there was a clinical air about her.

“I am,” the woman said standing. “We’ll need privacy for the duration.”

Kit whispered something to her that Luna couldn’t hear before he and Aidra walked out and closed the door.

“It’s nice to meet you, Luna. Nix has asked that I perform an exam to ensure you’re healthy. Would that be alright?”

If there was nothing else, Luna appreciated that she was being given a choice in the matter. “Sure.”

“First, I’ll do a cursory overview, and if you’re feeling up to it, we can go from there.”

Though she didn’t outright say it, Luna knew what the woman was alluding to.

They didn’t know, but Lawrence had brought in a doctor every few weeks or so to ensure that she was free of any diseases or STDs—he had seemed to take great joy in how humiliating those exams were.

Emma checked her heart rate first, then her lungs, having Luna draw in deep breaths as she pressed the cold end of her stethoscope against the bare skin of Luna’s back.

Laying a hand on Luna’s shoulder, she had her squeeze and relax her hand as she went over to a bag she’d left on the sofa, pulling packaged needles and tubes from inside, laying the materials on the table beside her.

Sterilizing a small area on Luna’s arm, she gingerly inserted a needle, holding it in place as she connected the tube that went with it. In seconds, blood began to pool inside of it. Once Emma had about three of these, she cleaned her arm, then wrapped it.

As she was maneuvering the gauze around Luna’s arm, Luna felt her hesitate, and knew almost immediately what had caused it. There was a scar there on her inner bicep, one that had healed over time that made it nearly impossible to see unless one was looking for it.

Another product of Lawrence’s drunken rages.

But Emma didn’t comment, making Luna wonder what else the woman had seen before.

Clearing her throat, Emma stepped back. “Do you want to continue?”

She didn’t. She really didn’t, but Luna thought it better to get it out of the way now just so she could have peace of mind.

Emma was very efficient, finishing in record time, and once she did, she snapped off her gloves, tossing them in a waste bin nearby.

“There’s a bit of tearing,” Emma said softly, “but that should heal in a few weeks time. I recommend that you avoid any intercourse for now.”

Oh, she had no idea.

Once they were finished and Luna was redressed, Emma put away her things and headed for the door.

“I should have your blood work back within the next few weeks,” she said once she had the door open. “It was nice meeting you.”

Aidra replaced the doctor’s presence in the room, Kit’s voice fading as he walked off with her.

Drawing her attention to Luna, Aidra said, “You must be hungry.”

Yeah, but she was more curious about the conversation Kit was having with the doctor, and if they were talking about her.

But Luna didn’t say any of this, instead taking the almost familiar route to the dining room.

Unlike yesterday when it had felt like the cavernous space was barren, there were others seated around the table—four others, in fact.

She recognized Fang, sitting at one end with a plate in his lap, his feet kicked up on the table. As she and Aidra entered, he dropped down, giving them a two-finger salute, the same way T?cut had outside.

“You’ve met Fang,” Aidra said with a nod of her head in his direction, then pointed to each of them in turn. “The others are Thanatos, T?cut, and Invictus.”

Thanatos sat opposite Fang, long blonde hair in disarray, his gaze down on the paperback in his hands. Unlike the other three he was sitting with, he wore a bulletproof vest over his clothes—and whatever he was reading left a prominent smile on his face.

T?cut, she knew from the night before, and he only looked less terrifying than he had then. When Aidra said his name, he spared them the briefest of glances before turning his attention back to his phone.

Invictus was … odd. He was quiet like T?cut, but there was an intensity around him that was almost tangible.

Luna wondered what their names meant—Thanatos and Fang she could guess at, but the others were names she hadn’t heard. She also wondered at the stories behind them.

“They’ll only be here for the next few weeks, so they shouldn’t bother you,” Aidra continued, glancing down at the rose-gold watch that adorned her wrist.

“Is all this security really necessary?” Luna asked, spotting another set of highly armed men outside the front windows.

“They’re merely a precaution.”

Yeah, but a precaution from what exactly? “For Kit?”

It would make sense, she reasoned, given his home and the shadowy business practices that his brother seemed to participate in, but she couldn’t imagine it warranted this level of security.