Heated Pursuit (Alpha Security #1)(55)
He didn’t need a flashlight to tell the gnarly gash on her leg was an unsightly shade of red. It was puffy and puckered.
And infected.
“It’s nothing. It’s just a scratch.” She tried tugging away.
“It’s not nothing. It’s f*cking infected!” Rafe pulled the Maglite from their pack and inspected the wound.
He fought off a string of curses. It looked ten times worse than he thought. Not only was the cut itself infected, but the redness looked to be spreading to the tender tissue of her thigh. He’d seen two-hundred-pound hard-asses get taken down by a single scratch while in the middle of a jungle. The heat and conditions helped the infection seep into the bloodstream where it could wreak havoc on the body.
Ignoring her protests, Rafe pinched her chin and aimed the small beam of light into her eyes. Unfocused and dilated, her gaze skirted around his face in a haze that had nothing to do with arousal and everything to do with a fever. Her out-of-norm behavior all made painful f*cking sense. Now.
“How long, Red?” Rafe asked, pushing the panic from his voice.
“How long what?”
“How long have you had that gash on your leg?”
She rubbed her temples as if trying to remember. “A day. Or two.”
“Which is it, sweetheart?”
“Since the compound…,” Penny said, her words starting to slur, “when you told me to—”
She dropped, unconscious and half-naked, into his arms.
“Red!” Panic tightened Rafe’s chest as he shifted his hold on her limp form and recited a silent prayer. He stroked her damp cheek, forcing himself to calm the f*ck down. “Baby, wake up. Penny. This is one hell of a time to go lights-out on me, sweetheart.”
Fuckin’ A, this wasn’t good, and way beyond his minuscule first-aid training. She needed a doctor, a hospital, and a heavy round of antibiotics, and she needed them right this f*cking second.
Rafe centered her body weight and made a halfhearted attempt to pull up his damn pants when he came to an abrupt stop.
Never once could he remember being so outmaneuvered, but the proof was right there in front of them…surrounding them. A dozen men, all armed with homemade weapons and deep scowls, looked a hell of a lot more menacing than he did with his out-of-reach Glock and his pants an inch from falling to his knees.
Holding a half-naked Penny, there wasn’t a hell of a lot of options.
“I don’t suppose you can direct us to the nearest hospital?” Rafe asked dryly.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Pain surged and ebbed in waves, from the throbbing in her head to the cascading sensation of needles ricocheting down her left leg. It was one of two things that kept Penny from falling down the dark well that weighted down her eyelids. Pain…and Rafe.
Hazy images drifted through her mind like a cloud. They rolled together, one after another, until memories took the form of his eyes, glittering with an unnamed emotion as he stared down at her in concern; and his arms, strong and warm and cocooned around her, had made her feel safe. At home.
Now there was nothing.
A chill seeped into her already trembling limbs. Each panicked breath spun her dark world and took her stomach along for the ride. She needed air. She needed light. She needed Rafe.
A cool drop of water brushed across her forehead right around the time she registered the soft coo of a voice. One painful centimeter at a time, Penny’s eyes opened. It took a few blinks and a minute or two for the blurry images surrounding her to come into focus. And when they did, she had no clue as to where she was.
Sheets of roughly cut timber formed four walls, and a thatched roof, inlaid with remnants of jungle brush, allowed for a few scarce rays of sunlight to slip through the gaps. A rotund woman dressed in dingy Western-style clothes stood in front of an open-flame fire pit, her back turned.
A soft giggle redirected Penny’s gaze to the source of the cool water and soft touch. No older than three, a curly-haired little girl holding a damp rag excitedly turned to the woman, the words they exchanged sounding similar to Spanish.
“Go, child.” The woman ushered the little girl from the hut. “Fetch him.”
Penny tried forcing her throat to work. “Where am—”
“Shh,” the older woman hushed, brushing the cool rag over her brow. “Sleep.”
She must’ve obeyed, because it felt like only a second had passed when her eyes flew open at the sound of a loud crash. Rafe’s broad shoulders filled the width of the doorway, his sapphire gaze locked on hers. He’d shed the clothes from the jungle but looked no less lethal in a basic dark shirt and frayed cargo pants. The circles beneath his eyes made him look haggard and tired, but he was still the best thing she’d seen in forever.
She didn’t register the soft sob as hers until in three long strides, Rafe was by her side, palming her face between his hands and drying her tears with his thumbs.
“What’s wrong? Are you in pain?” Concern weighted down his every word.
Penny cleared her throat and winced from the trail of fire that zipped down her leg. “I’m okay.”
And she was—now that he was here.
Rafe’s shoulders dropped their stiffness as he slowly scanned every inch of her face. He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek, making her eyes open again. A healthy dose of worried relief was etched in every line of his face. “Okay is right up there with fine. Jesus Christ, Red. You scared me shitless.”