Page 60 of Knight's Fall

His shouts brought Isobel and Judah rushing forward. Isobel produced her medical kit from her pack. Both she and Judah had medical training, hers coming from her military days and his from preparations to operate a wilderness training facility. Judah spread a blanket on the tarp.

“Lay her down, man, so we can assess her injuries.”

Wings did, but he placed his hands on each side of her face. She didn’t want him to let go, and he wouldn’t. But he had to compromise, so they could treat her.

“Most of these are shallow, but she’s lost a lot of blood. We have to get her to a hospital,” Isobel told him as she used antiseptic wipes to clean her wounds.

“Here.” BB handed him a T-shirt from his pack, and Isobel helped him to pull it on to cover her. Then Wings lifted her carefully, cradling her against him as he started to move. He was used to carrying packs a lot heavier than her while on missions, but he wanted to be cautious with her injuries so she wouldn't lose more blood.

“It’s too far to carry her. I’ll go on ahead and get my truck.” Judah was already running toward the door, sprinting the distance.

BB and Zane flanked Wings as he left the cabin. BB carried Wings’ pack and gun with him. Wings knew if he started to tire, one of them would take over carrying Courtlyn, but no way in hell was he letting let her go.

He was thankful she stayed out of it because he was sure his fast pace was causing her pain. Years seemed to pass before they were meeting up with Judah. At that point, he passed Courtlyn off to BB long enough to settle in Judah’s truck. Then he reached for her and cradled her in his arms as Judah sped away.

He buried his face in her hair and murmured words of comfort to her. He couldn’t remember what he was saying. He only knew he needed her to be alright. She had to know he was with her. He wanted her to know he needed her.

∞∞∞

Wings hated hospitals, but he wouldn’t have left this hospital if his life depended on it. Once Courtlyn had been examined, treated and admitted for observation, he’d pulled a chair next to her bedside and held her hand in his. He’d only moved once to take a piss, and then he returned to his vigil.

She’d slipped in and out of consciousness during that time. She would rouse and search the room frantically. He would stand and lean over until she could see his face. Then she would relax and fall back asleep.

Her color improved as her fluids were replenished, but he would continue to worry until she woke for good and gave him one of her thousand-watt smiles.

He barely slept, nodding off a few times only to wake when Olivia or one of his teammates would drop in or a nurse would come to check Courtlyn’s vitals and replace her bag of fluids. He was exhausted and in need of a shower, but no way in hell was he leaving her side.

“Hey.”

Wings didn’t have to look to know who stood by the door to Courtlyn’s room. He had no idea what time it was, but he figured it was either really late or really early for BB to be at the hospital, especially when they all needed rest after tracking Courtlyn and her captor.

“Checking up on me, man? You know you’re not my damn babysitter.” Wings was more cognizant of his booming voice since sitting with Courtlyn at the hospital, and he tempered his tone so he didn’t disturb her.

“I figured you’d want an update on the case.”

“The bastard is dead. Courtlyn is alive. That’s all I need to know.”

BB snorted. “Yeah, right. You’ve been sitting here by Courtlyn’s side since we brought her in. You’ve done nothing but think about this case.”

“Are you saying you guys have some new intel?”

BB wandered further into the room, leaning his slender frame against a counter. “We turned our evidence over to the FBI. They’ve cleared you of the shooting obviously. Then they ran Malcolm’s picture through facial recognition. No hits. They linked his MO to a dozen cases, but they had no leads to his identity. Then they ran his prints. They hit pay dirt. He was in the system as a juvenile. He was arrested as a suspect in the disappearance of a girl at his high school. He was cleared of the charge, and he sort of fell off the grid not long after that. He’s been living like a ghost.”

“He’s no ghost.”

Courtlyn spoke before opening her eyes. Wings stared at her a moment before his tired mind registered that she was awake and alert. He immediately stood and clutched her hand to his chest as he leaned over her.

“Hey, baby. It’s good to see those gorgeous eyes. How are you feeling?”

She turned her head to stare into his face. He wanted to crush her in his arms and kiss her until they both forgot what had happened. Instead he held himself still to allow her as much time as she wanted to study him. It felt good to have her awake and talking.

“I hurt.” She licked her lips, and he lifted his chin for BB to pour her some water from a pitcher on her nightstand. “Everywhere.”

He took the cup from BB and held the straw to her lips. She sipped once, winced at the pain the movement caused and closed her eyes for a moment.

“I’ll go. We can talk later.” BB moved to the door.

“No, stay.” Courtlyn opened her eyes and raised her hand to stop BB. “Thank you. To both of you. For coming for me. I wasn’t sure anyone would find me.”

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