Chapter Seven
Elena buried herselfin work.It was the only way she knew how to survive fear.You didn’t look at it directly and you didn’t let it bloom.You folded it up tight and shoved it somewhere quiet and then you kept your hands busy until the feeling dulled into something manageable.
The ER gave her no shortage of distraction.She moved from bay to bay, charting vitals, checking IV lines, answering call lights, offering calm words she didn’t always feel.
The hospital smelled the same as it always had, antiseptic and stale coffee and something metallic that never quite faded.The rhythm of it settled her.The beeping monitors, the clipped exchanges between staff and the practiced choreography of controlled chaos.
If she focused hard enough, it almost felt normal.Almost.However, the awareness never fully left her.It hummed under her skin, a low, constant tension that tightened every time someone unfamiliar stepped too close.Elena kept gazing at people, cataloging faces, and reading body language.
Reaper didn’t leave her.Instead, he lingered.She noticed him early on, even when she pretended not to.He stayed near the entrance at first, then drifted closer to the nurses’ station, leaning against walls like he belonged there.He didn’t wear his cut.There was something about him that bent the air around him, that made people unconsciously give him space.
Staff noticed him too.A few nurses whispered.A security guard gave him a nod that was half respect, half wariness.Elena kept her head down and pretended she didn’t feel the heat of his attention every time she crossed the floor.
He wasn’t watching her the way men sometimes did.There was no leering, no hunger in it.To her, Reaper was acting protective and watchful, like he was mapping every exit and threat in relation to where she stood.
It should have made her uncomfortable.Instead, it made something in her chest loosen just a fraction.
She was checking a patient’s chart when she felt it again, that prickling sense of being observed.Not Reaper this time.This was different, the intent seemed colder.
Elena looked up.The man stood near the vending machines, pretending to scroll on his phone.He wore scrubs, but like the others she’d noticed before, they didn’t sit right on him.He lifted his gaze briefly, met hers, and slid away too fast.
Her stomach tightened.Across the hall, Reaper went still.Elena didn’t see the exact moment it happened, but she felt the shift in him like a pressure change.One second he was leaning, relaxed but alert.The next, he was moving.
He didn’t rush or draw attention.Reaper simply crossed the distance with easy confidence.The man by the vending machines noticed too late.
Reaper stopped close, perhaps a little too close for comfort.Elena couldn’t hear what was said at first, only saw the cartel man stiffen, his jaw tightening as Reaper leaned in and spoke low.
Something dangerous flickered across Reaper’s face.Rage?The cartel man glanced toward Elena despite himself.That was a mistake it seemed.Reaper followed his gaze and then looked back at the man with something like cold promise in his eyes.His mouth moved again, his words curt.
Whatever he said drained the color from the man’s face.He nodded once, sharp and jerky, and backed away.He didn’t argue or posture.He turned and walked out of the ER without looking back.
Elena exhaled slowly, only then realizing she’d been holding her breath.Her hands shook as she finished her charting.She hated how close it had been.How easily it could have gone another way.She hated that Reaper had been right about the cartel still having interest in her.
She worked harder after that, if such a thing was possible.She volunteered for extra tasks.Elena kept moving, she even helped where she wasn’t strictly needed.If she kept her mind occupied, she didn’t have to think about how thin the line between normal and nightmare had become.
By the time her shift finally ended, her legs felt like lead and her head ached with exhaustion.Reaper was waiting near the exit.He straightened when he saw her, eyes scanning her automatically before softening when he met her gaze.
That look did something dangerous to her.It made her want to lean into him.Made her want to believe that standing next to him meant nothing could touch her.She grabbed her bag and walked toward him before she could talk herself out of it.
“Ready?”he asked quietly.
