A sob broke past my busted lips.
The only thing that reached me through the haze of excruciating pain was the sound of my gasping breaths, loud and echoing, in the darkness, and Hank’s muttered “Fucking hell” before I sank into oblivion.
The dripping of water was the first thing my waking mind processed. Slowly my other senses kicked in. The air was cooler and damper here.
My head ached. My torso was on fire from what had to be several broken ribs. The left side of my body had taken the brunt—left arm and leg possibly fractured. Three fingers on my right hand were bent at an odd angle.
Hot tears leaked from my swollen eyes. My exposed skin was raw and scratched, clothing ripped in places. I had no idea how long I’d been out, but I did recognize the healing process had aeady begun.
A series of coughs gripped my sore throat, every push of muscle causing extraordinary pain.
After several minutes, I pushed up enough to lean my back against the wall I’d slammed into. I grabbed my fingers with my left hand and prepared to reset the dislocated ones.
I set them right one after the other, crying out each time I did. Nausea gripped me hard by the time I got to the last one, and I had to force down the urge to puke before shoving that final knuckle back into place.
I must’ve fallen back into a state of healing because the next thing I knew, Hank was kneeling beside me, speaking Elysian in a near whisper. His flashlight lay beside me, creating a soft glow in the pitch darkness. I ached. Everything was stiff, but the intense pain of earlier had receded.
Heat engulfed me. My nose was stuffy from crying.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, kiddo, I’ll live. Looks like we fell into some kind of cave or ravine. There’s water nearby. Can you walk?”
“I don’t know. Where’s Brim?”
“He’s by the water.”
“Is he … dead?”
“No. He’s not dead, Charlie.”
My eyelids fell in relief.
With Hank’s help, I pushed to my feet inch by punishing inch. My vision wavered as angry pain screamed through my hip. The scent of blood reached my nose. My wounds were a nasty concoction of congealing blood and sand.
Hank’s arm slid under mine. “This way.” His touch set off my mark, and his deep voice bouncing around the cavern walls gave a little extra jolt to my system; though I felt it on the inside, it did little to help the scratch of sand through my wounds as I walked. It filled my boots, my clothes. It was everywhere.
I smelled the water before the flashlight beamed over the surface of the shallow pool. Beyond the pool the water trailed into a ravine, and moonlight filtered in at gaps in the rocks above. It looked as though, once upon a time, an underground river had cut out the caves beneath the ridge above, leaving deep grooves in the rocks.
Brim lay by the edge of the pool, panting. He lifted his head when we approached, saw us, and then returned to his position.
The water was a godsend. My mouth watered for a taste as Hank led me to the edge of the pool and I noticed that his feet were bare and his hair was wet.
“The water is drinkable over there where it’s coming in from the rock,” he said. “I’ve already washed up in the pool and got most of the sand from my clothes. I healed you some while you were unconscious, but I’m wiped out and need to regenerate before I can do more. You need help?”
“No. I’m fine.” I went to bend down, but pain shot through my torso so fast I swayed. Shit. My eyes burned and my dry throat grew thick. I wanted so badly to get to the water, but it hurtoo much.
I blinked rapidly, not realizing until he spoke that Hank was kneeling in front of me. “Put your hand on my shoulder so you don’t fall.”
I frowned, but did as he asked. And then it became clear as he gently placed one hand on my calf while the other pulled off my boot. Sand rained onto the ground. It took all my willpower to stay on my feet as each movement threatened to buckle my legs.
After my feet were bare, he stood. “We’re going to need to move soon, but you’ve got sand everywhere and you’ll heal faster without it rubbing your wounds raw. You can’t get in there with your clothes on. They’ll never dry and will be hell to get back on.”
“Take them off, I don’t care,” I said. Modesty didn’t factor at that point. Neither did romance. We were battered and bruised, sweaty and ripe. And Hank had seen most of me before anyway, just recently after my visit with Nivian and then Emain. “This is becoming a habit,” I mumbled as he removed my pants and I tensed in pain.
He chuckled softly. “No doubt. And a bad one at that. God forbid I ever get to do this when you’re not wounded or half dead …”
I smiled.
Hank removed my belt, my sidearm, and then my pants, which I stepped out of very carefully while holding on to both of his shoulders.
He straightened, eyeing me with concern. “Can you manage lifting your arms?”
I winced, knowing it would hurt like hell. “Not really. But my jacket and shirt are full of sand. It’s even in my armpits. Let’s get it over with so we can catch up to Rex and Bryn.”
He smiled.
“Brave girl.”
“If you say so.”
Carefully Hank peeled off my jacket, my weapons harness, and then waited as I sucked in a readying breath, gritted my teeth, and lifted my arms. He made quick work of my shirt. Sweat was rolling off me, tears streamed down my face, and I was shaking. My arms fell limp at my sides, the action causing even more pain.
Hank leaned down and rolled his pants legs up and then held out his hand.
And I froze.
The way he stood there … hair wet, a busted lip, his cheek scraped raw, a bruise shadowing beneath his eyes, yet strength and power still radiated from him … And holding his hand out to me. The image seemed suspended as though my brain decided to pause and take a snapshot.
Then it was over almost as soon as it began. My chest ached and I wasn’t all that sure it was because of my wounds. Feeling exhausted and foggy, I slid my hand into his. His fingers closed around mine, warm and strong, feeding me some of his healing power, though I knew he had very little left.
Once my foot hit the cool water, I sighed. The cold wrapped around my skin, easing the burn of scrapes and hurts. Hank walked me to a ledge where I could hold on while going deeper into the pool, then he left me alone so I could soak in the water and rub the grit, sweat, blood, and sand from my body. Bra and underwear were completely soakedthrough, but I didn’t care.
Feeling better, I headed for the water coming in from the rock crevice, cupped my hands, and brought water to my lips. It was heaven.
After I drank my fill I turned. Brim had finally gotten to his feet and Hank was shaking out my clothing and had our weapons set out in a line on one of the rocks. No doubt having cleaned them of sand the best he could.
I guessed if I was going to be stranded in a hot desert world, he wasn’t a bad guy to have on my side.
Brim walked into the water as I walked out. I patted his head and approached my clothes. Hank kept his eyes averted and worked on brushing sand from his thigh harness and then strapped it back on. He had his socks and shoes back on, too.
I dressed as quickly as I could and had more of an issue with the smell of my clothes and the blood than I did with the pain of getting back into them.
“If we keep walking beneath this ridge, we should be going parallel with our original track. Rex said to head east.”
I grabbed my belt. “Thanks.”
