Study in Color (Hunting Grounds Book 5) by Nichole Severn

Author:Nichole Severn [Severn, Nichole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nichole Severn Books, LLC
Published: 2022-08-22T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTENN

Pain erupted down her side.

Rowan counted off the screeching rhythm pinging off to her left. If this was hell, her creator had chosen a fair punishment. Bright lights, ear-grating sounds, some kind of sterile smell. Not exactly bleach, but something close.

Maybe not hell.

A hospital.

Rough sheets scraped against the exposed skin of her arms and legs. She blinked against the overwhelming sluggishness trying to convince her to go back to sleep and rolled her head to one side. A pile of blankets lay crumpled across the padded window seat.

The IV tube leading into a catheter in the back of her hand swung back and forth, trying to obscure the rest of the monitors and machines aiding her recovery. She’d run after Elijah Mason. She’d fought him. And then… Then there were only snippets of memory. Cold. Alone. Hurt.

Faust.

She’d heard him. Heard him call her name as though he were drowning, and she was the only one able to save him. She’d tried. But she hadn’t been strong enough. So then how did she end up here?

“You look like you could use one of these.” Movement demanded her attention from the other side of the bed. Tension climbed her spine as a man she didn’t recognize held out one hand. He shook a Tic Tac container half empty of brightly colored mints. Thick beard growth shadowed a devastatingly handsome face but failed to hide the slight crookedness of his mouth. Dark tattoos wrapped and curled around heavily muscled biceps and disappeared beneath a T-shirt branded with the American flag. “That’s not to say you have bad breath. They just make me feel better.”

Her head cleared for a fraction of a second. “You’re not a doctor.”

“No, I’m not. At least not the kind you’re thinking. Oh, wait. Here.” He pocketed the Tic Tacs when she didn’t move to take any and excavated a pair of thick-framed glasses. He put them on. “Does this help?”

“Shrink.” She’d seen enough of them through her career to spot their dry humor and attempts to distract her from reality ambushing her full force. Whether she’d gone willingly after her sister’s disappearance or been ordered to visit the department therapist when she’d run out of leads, psychologists were all the same.

“Profiler to be more exact, but yes, my background is in behavioral therapy and analysis. Raider King.” He half waved like an embarrassed teenager who’d been caught staring at his secret crush.

“Raider?” What kind of name was that? “Really?”

That crooked smile deepened the lines stretching around his right eye. Not so much the left. She’d seen that kind of lopsidedness before. Her mom had suffered a stroke a couple of months after Raylan’s disappearance. She had the same smile now. Raider held up his hands in surrender. “Not my choice, believe me. My parents were huge Indiana Jones fans when I was born, and I’ve considered changing my name several times.”

“Are your siblings named Doom, Crusade, and Crystal?” she asked.

“No, but that would be awesome. Fortunately, I’m an only child, and no one else has to suffer my parents’ obsession.

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