K-9 Detection by Nichole Severn

Author:Nichole Severn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2023-12-08T17:16:45+00:00

Chapter Nine

Today would be a cookie dough day.

Because the beeping was back. The sound she hated more than Maverick’s howls in the middle of the night. She was back in a hospital. Jocelyn lifted one hand, though something kept her from extending her fingers completely. She fought the grogginess of whatever pain medication the staff had put her on. Her breathing came easier when she couldn’t feel, but it wasn’t permanent. It couldn’t be.

A low growl vibrated through her leg. Then something familiar. A metallic ping of ID tags. She turned her hand upward, fisting a handful of fur. “Maverick.”

He was here. And pinning her to the bed with his massive weight. The German shepherd licked at her wrist before laying his head back down, and Jocelyn summoned the courage to force her eyes open. Only this time there were no bright fluorescent lights or bleached white tile to blind her.

She wasn’t in a hospital.

Instead, black flooring with matching black cabinets encircled the private room. Socorro’s medical wing. The overhead lights had been dimmed, and the beeping, she just realized, was definitely not as loud as it could’ve been.

“Thought you could use some time together after what happened.” Baker’s voice pulled her attention from her K-9 partner to the man at her left. Dark bruising rorschached beneath one eye and across his temple. There were other markers too—cuts and scrapes that evidenced what they’d been through. Though the splint around his wrist was the most telling of them all.

Jocelyn didn’t have the will or the energy to try to sit up. “How long have you been sitting there watching me sleep?”

“About six hours.” Baker got up from his chair positioned a couple feet from the side of the bed. “Dr. Piel—is that her name?—patched me up nicely, and hey, no waiting to get looked at. I think I might switch providers. Do you know if she takes my insurance?”

“I’m afraid she only sees private patients.” Her laugh lodged halfway up her throat, stuck in the dryness brought on by aerosolized dirt and debris and ash. But there wasn’t any pain—which, now that she thought about it, shouldn’t have been possible.

Not as long as she’d been given the right painkiller.

Jocelyn followed the IV line from the back of her hand to the clear baggy bulging with liquid above her. Morphine. Dr. Piel wouldn’t have known. Nobody in this building knew. She moved to disconnect the line from the catheter, but the moment she pulled it free, the pain would come back.

Maverick lifted his head, watching her every move. Not unlike Baker. He was intelligent, focused and observational. No one in their right mind would choose to go through unending waves of pain after what they’d been through rather than numb out with painkiller. Weaning herself off the meds now would only raise suspicion. And she couldn’t deal with that right now.

“You okay?” Concern etched deep into the corners of Baker’s mouth. “Do you need me to get the doctor?”

“I’m...fine.” She tried

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