Page 14 of Kidnapped By a SEAL

And now?

Her body jostled with movement, and she whimpered. Were they taking her somewhere else? What has happening?

Someone was carrying her, she realized, someone big.

She blinked, her eyelids fluttering. Strong arms cradled her close to a broad chest, jostling her slightly as the man jogged forward, carrying her as if she weighed nothing.

And what was that strange sound?

A light shone at them in the middle of the darkness, and she caught a brief glance of a U.S. flag stitched onto a desert camo uniform. Deep male voices shouted around her, and she wanted to cry in relief if she could just muster up the strength. She felt safe for the first time in over a month—relieved.

She didn’t know who the man was who held her, or where they were going, but she’d been rescued. Saved.

He held her even tighter as they boarded the helicopter, and he smelled of sweat and the desert and something else distinctively male.

She shut her eyes tightly against the onslaught of pain as she was laid down on the hard floor. The constantwhomp, whomp, whompof the helicopter blades was exacerbating her headache, but she’d listen to that sound all day and night if it meant she was finally on her way to freedom.

Something cold was laid over her forehead, and she shuddered and cried out.

“Easy sweetheart,” a deep voice said. “We’ve got to get the swelling down. It looks like the bleeding has stopped.”

She opened her eyes and saw a man crouched beside her. He was holding onto her shoulder, she realized, steadying her as the rest of the men jumped on and the helicopter lifted off the ground. She helplessly reached out and clutched onto him, and his large, gloved hand held hers as her eyes watered.

It was crazy to be clinging onto this man.

She’d rode in helicopters before, provided security to all sorts of important government officials. But at the moment?

She was weak. Injured. Scared.

Helpless and dependent on him.

This one guy was the calm in the midst of chaos.

Voices shouted around her, over the loud noise of the helicopter. “ETA is seven minutes,” one man barked out. “Tell them to have a medic waiting when we arrive.”

The man kneeling beside her lifted up his night vision goggles, and despite the dark interior of the helicopter, she could sense that he was looking at her. Watching her closely. She could barely see him, but she clung onto his hand like he was her lifeline.

“What’s your name?” he asked urgently.

“Em—Emily.”

“Good,” he murmured, ducking down so that she could hear him. “Do you know where you are?”

“In a helicopter?”

“That’s right. We’re heading back to base—the same place you were taken from over a month ago. We rescued you from your kidnappers. You’re safe now.”

She whimpered again, and another man knelt beside her, taking her pulse. “Are you in pain?” he asked gruffly.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Quick, give her some morphine!” the first guy at her side said. “Don’t let her just lie there.”

“Easy, Ryker,” the second man said. “Let me do my goddamn job first.”

She blinked, beginning to feel dizzy. Her grip was lessoning on the first man—Ryker’s—hand. She’d feel better if she could just close her eyes for a moment and get some rest. Then she wouldn’t be so damn confused. Then everything wouldn’t hurt so much.

“Shit, she’s crashing!” Ryker yelled.

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