Page 32 of Her Wicked Hero

“Did you get everything? Milk for Hana?”

Zed chuckled. He guessed she was doing better if she could remember what he had been out looking for. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nurul investigating the contents of the duffle bag.

“Yes ma’am, I carried out my mission successfully.” He felt her relax. “Now, would you mind telling me what the in the fucking hell happened here?” he asked in a calm and relaxed voice.

He saw her swallow once, then twice. “Come on, take pity.”

He took a deep breath, so he didn’t come unglued. This whole set-up had him shaken, and it shouldn’t. It was his job to be able to handle any situation but seeing her so damn helpless was killing him.

“Goddammit, I am taking pity,” he bit out.

Zed saw her eyes fill up with tears. Ahhh damn. “Marcia, it’s okay. You survived. You did great. Everything’s going to be fine, honey.” He tried to pull her in closer, but she shook her head.

“Why are you yelling at me?” she asked in a dejected voice.

“I didn’t yell,” he said, surprised.

“You swore. You said ‘goddammit.’ That’s the same as yelling. I can’t handle it right now, okay?” How could she sound defiant with tears in her voice?

“I’m sorry.” He meant it too.

Her eyes searched his, then she nodded.

Nurul peered over Zed’s shoulder. She shoved a liter bottle of milk toward her. She kept repeating a word over and over. Finally, she pretended to drink from the bottle, and Marcia realized Nurul wanted her to drink some milk.

“She’s right. You need to eat and drink,” Zed said.

“I’ll just throw up again.”

Zed stood up with her in his arms, and Marcia let out a surprised squeak.

“Just how strong are you?”

“Strong enough,” he said as he settled her against the log, well away from the gore of the dead snake. What he wouldn’t give for some 7-Up and tapioca pudding, right about now, he just knew that would settle her stomach. Instead, he pulled out a wadded-up ball of rice and a warm bottle of water and squatted down next to Marcia. “Wanna rinse out your mouth?”

She greedily lunged at the water bottle. He watched as she swished and spit, then she took long sips of the water.

“Don’t overdo, otherwise, you’ll be right back to square one,” he warned.

“Huh?”

“Marcia, your stomach’s going to protest too much water too soon. Take little sips.” He eased the water bottle out of her hands, then gave her the plastic wrapped ball of rice. “How about a bite of this?”

Marcia pinched off a little of the white sticky rice and savored it, then swallowed and smiled.

“Good?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said as she took a bigger piece.

“Why don’t you concentrate on eating while I take a look at your leg. Then you can kindly tell me about your adventures with a snake,” he smiled.

She gave him a half-hearted smile, but at least she wasn’t close to tears this time. She stretched her neck, then slowly closed her eyes.

“I think it was a python,” she started.

Zed continued to listen to her as he started to examine her leg. Everything above the knee looked okay, but below the knee, they had a fuck-load of a problem. Her canvass shoe was having trouble containing the swelling and so was her pant leg. Around her ankle, where there was nothing to contain it, it was swollen to three times its normal size. He had to bandage it ASAP.

“Repeat that,” Zed said to Marcia. He’d been listening with half an ear, and now he needed to make sure he’d heard her correctly.