Chapter 9

Kira's POV

The steady beep of the heart monitor drags me back to consciousness. My eyelids feel like they're weighed down with cement. The pain in my shoulder throbs with each heartbeat, a constant reminder that I wasn't dreaming.

Someone got shot at my birthday party.

My mother is dead.

And somehow, Damon f*****g Lockwood is back in my life.

I force my eyes open, blinking against the dim light of the hospital room. Dawn is just breaking outside the window, casting long shadows across the floor. And there, folded awkwardly into a chair that's clearly too small for his massive frame, is Damon.

He's asleep, his head tilted at an angle that'll give him hell when he wakes up. His clothes are still stained with blood—my blood, my mother's blood. The sight makes my stomach turn.

I shift slightly, and p……