“Navy…SEAL?”
“Yes. And that, right there,” he jerks his thumb at me, “is a man who loves you and probably wouldn’t mind if you let him hold your hand while I examine you.”
“Ronan? Oh, God. You’re real. I thought…”
I’m at her side in a second and ease her into my arms. Her eyes flutter closed on a sigh. “Zephyr, stay awake, luv. West needs to know what they gave you.”
“West? Who’s…West?” She’s slurring her words, and I wish I could kill those fuckers all over again. Slowly and painfully.
“He’s the SEAL. Open your eyes. You have to stay awake now.” Taking her hand, I swear under my breath. Her nail beds are dark red. All of them. Deep welts around both wrists ooze blood, and fresh burns mar her stomach.My sleeve—pressed to her back—is sticky with her blood.
“Zephyr.” West checks her pulse again, his fingers on her neck as he looks at his watch. “They gave you something. What was it?”
“Amphetamines. Some combo. So I wouldn’t pass out.” She turns her head toward me. “Can we go home now?”
“Soon, luv. Pay attention to West. He’s going to make sure you don’t need to go to the hospital.” With how bruised and bloody she is, I’m afraid that’s exactly where she should be, but hospitals ask questions, and Dax has a private physician on call who’s paid enough to keep his mouth shut.
He checks her pupils, asks her how many fingers he’s holding up, and if she’s had anything to eat or drink.
“N-no food. So thirsty.” She’s also shivering, and West pulls out a thin, reflective blanket and drapes it over her.
“I’m giving her a sedative to get her heart rate down,” he says. “Help her sit up.” Rummaging in his kit, he comes away with three pills and a bottle of water. “Diazepam and two ibuprofen. She’ll need something stronger for the pain once the stimulants wear off. I’ll call Dax from the van and he can have the doc meet you at your place.”
“No doctor,” she whispers after she swallows the pills and a few sips of water. “No one else. Just you. Please.”
Shooting West a questioning glance, I hope he’ll agree. Zephyr hates asking for help. Hell, she hates asking for anything.
He frowns. “If she runs a fever, if she can’t keep food down, or if she isn’t completely lucid in eight hours, I want your word you’ll call the doc,” West says.
“You have it.”
He nods and zips up his kit. “Then let’s get out of here so we can burn this place to the ground.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Zephyr
From the couch,I stare out the big picture window at the snow falling steadily over Boston. A fire crackles in the hearth, and I’m wrapped in blankets. I can’t get warm, even two full days after Ronan and his team rescued me from that abandoned warehouse twenty miles outside of town.
He spent hours pulling the splinters from my back and shoulders while I bit down on a washcloth so I wouldn’t scream. Stitched the worst of the gashes. Then helped me bathe, cleaned and wrapped my wrists, treated my burns, and laid me in his bed.
I thought I’d sleep for a week. But I can’t go more than a few hours without a nightmare. They’ll fade, as they did before, with time.But until they do, I’m so raw. So tired.
“Zephyr?” Ronan’s voice startles me, and I jerk. The blankets are too much pressure on my fingers, and I stifle a whimper of pain. Guilt swims in his eyes, and he curses under his breath. “I’m sorry, luv. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Don’t apologize. You did nothing wrong.” If I say it enough, maybe he’ll start to believe it. He’s barely touched me since my very first nightmare, and all I want is for him to hold me.
Setting two cups of tea on the table in front of us, he helps me extricate myself from the layers of wool and fleece. My mug is only half full—my hands are too stiff to hold anything heavy—but the warmth seeping into my fingers feels like heaven. Until Ronan takes his seat at the far end of the couch.
“You can sit next to me.” I cup the mug carefully, bringing it to my lips and inhaling the sweet, floral scent of Irish Gold, but he doesn’t move. “Ronan, Ineedyou to sit next to me. To hold me and tell me you still want me. Youdostill want me, don’t you?”
“Shit. Zephyr, I want you so much, I can barely stand it. But I won’t be causin’ you more pain.”
“I’m not suggesting we have wild sex all night long. Yet. Right now, I just want your arms around me.”
Ronan closes the distance between us, and I settle against his chest. “If I hurt you—”
“You won’t. And you didn’t cause any of this.” He stiffens at my words, and Icast a glance over my shoulder. “If you’d come in with me, they would have killed you. I’m safe. You and your friends saved my life and cleared my name. I’m free, and that’sallI care about. That…and you.”
