Dead on Arrival by Nichole Severn

Author:Nichole Severn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-07-09T20:01:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

She’d run out of time.

Alma rolled her face away from the itchy hospital bed pillows and scanned one side of the room. The medical center in the middle of town wasn’t much with its dated equipment and small patient rooms, but what it lacked for in modernity it more than paid off in staff. The emergency room physician had stopped the bleeding in her side, but it would take time and skin grafts to put her back together fully. The scent of antiseptic and sweat filled her lungs...with a hint of smoke. The reminder should’ve scared her, but there was only one reason her room would smell like that. “Didn’t they make you change your clothes when you got here?”

A deep rumble of a laugh chased back a majority of the grogginess clinging to her brain and lightened the heaviness of throwing herself back in the investigation. Where bombers killed innocent women and started forest fires. Where she was alone and didn’t have anyone to fight for other than herself. “They’re fresh out of scrubs, and I’m not sure the hospital staff would appreciate me walking around in my boxers.”

She closed her eyes against the bright fluorescent lighting, the blood pressure cuff too tight around one arm. The monitor off to one side recorded her stats, then quickly triggered the cuff to release. Blood rushed back into her fingers as a weight in her muscles urged her into unconsciousness. Alma sank deeper into the bed. “I can lend you a blanket.”

“I’ll keep my clothes on, for everyone’s benefit. Especially yours.” Movement registered from behind, then circled around the end of her bed. A gentle weight settled on her calf, but she didn’t have the inclination or the energy to pull away. In fact, the contact was nice. Solid despite his light touch, grounding.

“Prude,” she said.

The slide of metal against tile urged her to open her eyes, and she found Cree pulling a chair closer to the edge of the bed. “How are you feeling?”

“Like someone sewed a bomb to my stomach and left me for dead.” Fatigue lifted with every inhale, and Alma noted a red hue to his skin she could’ve sworn hadn’t been there before. Like a sunburn. Only worse. The last few memories of panicked desperation flashed across her mind. The timer on the bomb counting down. The realization the bomber had attached the device to Alma’s skin. The pain as she’d ripped the bomb free. And the suffocating sensation as she’d thrown herself into the lake. Then his voice. So clear. So close. She’d convinced herself she’d imagined it until she’d seen him fight through the flames. For her. “You’re hurt.”

“It’s nothing I haven’t survived before.” He made an effort to hide the back of his free hand, but Alma threaded her fingers through the bed’s guard to keep him from retreating. The course hairs she’d noted before had been burned away, exposing angry skin and burn ointment. “I only wish I’d realized you’d been taken sooner.

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