“They’re gone,” Fox said, as if he knew exactly why she’d almost paused.
“Right.” There was no way these men would leave anyone alive that could potentially harm them. “Is anyone else injured?”
“Hound caught a graze on his shoulder and Deal has a stab wound to his leg, but it’s not deep. They’ll be fine. Isaac needs you.”
Marie blew out a breath, fear doing its best to drown her, but she wouldn’t let it happen. “How much farther?”
“Right here.” Fox led her into a large room and in the middle of it lay Isaac, a discarded chair, and the dark stain of blood on the ground near him.
Marie rushed over to his side, in that moment as a woman in love and not the doctor she needed to be. She was unable to keep her cry of distress from erupting out of her when she saw his battered face. “Oh my god, Isaac.” Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks. She wanted to sob into his neck, but she couldn’t do that. She had to keep everything locked down because he needed her as a doctor. She could be his lover and partner once she knew he was going to be okay, because he was. There was no other option. “Hand me my bag,” she demanded.
She had a life to save.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Pain wasthe first thing that registered in Isaac’s consciousness. The second was that to feel pain he had to be alive.
He had a hazy memory of seeing his mom, but it was so fleeting that he couldn’t be sure it was real.
Subtle noises joined the pain. The beeping of the heart monitor. A ringing in his ears. A squeak of a wheel as something went by where he was.
A weight rested on his leg, not hurting, but heavy. He tried to move his hand to find out what it was, but the message wasn’t getting from his brain to his limb. He tried to wiggle his toes, and eventually he got some movement. He tried his fingers, and they moved. Maybe he just needed to do little by little movements and eventually he could move his whole arm.
But maybe in a little bit. He was being pulled backinto the comfort of a dark, healing sleep. He wanted to wake up because he knew he needed to see someone important, but he just couldn’t summon the strength to do it.
Not thinking or feeling was the better, safer option. He was alive and that was all that mattered.
“How’s he doing?”
“Healing. He still hasn’t woken fully yet. There have been a couple of times when he’s looked like he was going to regain consciousness, but he’s drifted off again.”
“You should go home and rest.”
“I’m fine. I’ve been able to use the doctor’s facilities, they’ve been really understanding.”
“Still. you probably need a good night’s sleep.”
“I’ll sleep when I know he’s back with us.”
The conversation flowed around Isaac, the voices familiar to him. He wanted to tell them to stop talking about him like he wasn’t there, but he couldn’t form the words. He wanted to wake up. Wanted to join the conversation. He wanted to tell whoever wasn’t sleeping that they should go to bed.
That voice.
It called to him. Beckoning him closer. He wanted to hear her again.
Marie.
“Isaac?” A cool hand touched his forehead, followed by a brush of lips. “Come on honey, open your eyes. For me.”
Yes, he wanted to do that.
For her.
For Marie.
For his love.
It took some effort, but eventually he was able to lift his eyelids that felt as if they were weighted down. “Marie.” Her name a hoarse whisper.
