Page 87 of Phoenix Falling
Half an hour later, the petite woman I’d met mere days ago strode through the door to the ER. Following behind was a massive redhead, his face scarred, his expression unreadable. I stared until the two spotted me, then forced my gaze to stick to Nala as they approached. The guys I’d fought with had been scary as a group, but it was the collective that had given them power; this male was a collective all his own. There was no doubt in my mind that he was a shifter, and that was too scary to even consider right now.
“Raine!” Nala squatted in front of me, taking in my torn jacket and bruised face, the hair that had fallen out of my ponytail and tangled in the bloody scratches from the bus grill. “What happened?”
I explained, grateful for the Tylenol I’d been granted when the young nurse had taken my vitals. The throbbing in my head was slowly lessening, but I was still waiting on a scan to see if I’d sustained a concussion from the impact with the bus or the ground, either one.
“Why were you out so late? Don’t you work early mornings?” Nala asked.
“That’s why I called you. Or asked the nurse to call.” I waved my broken cell in the air. “Risk is missing. I went to her apartment. I’ve called for two days, texted her… I can’t find her, and I’m afraid something awful might have happened. What if—” But I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Risk had told me the creatures who had attacked me were no longer here in Nashville, but what if they’d returned? What if they had her somewhere and I never found her?
Nala glanced over her shoulder at the impassive male behind her. Whatever she was looking for, she must have gotten, though I didn’t see him move or change expression. Nala, however, eased into the chair next to mine and took my hand. “Raine, it’s okay. Risk is with us.”
“What?”
“She is with us. She’s safe.”
“Then why hasn’t she contacted me?”
Again with the look at the big shifter. I forced myself to focus on his scarred face. “Who are you?”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “I am Basile,” he said. His voice had an accent I couldn’t place, a slight slurring almost. The name sounded French, theashort instead of long, but that wasn’t quite it. At least he didn’t sound pissed off despite how rough he looked. “I am an Archai warrior here to keep you both safe.”
“Then why does she keep looking at you?”
Nala sighed. “Basile is in charge of our security, Raine.”
I put two and two together. “So he gets to say if Risk can contact me?” I stared up at him. “Why hasn’t she?” Then, when he took more than two seconds to answer, “You know what, never mind. Take me to her.”
“I don’t know that I can do that,” Nala said. Basile shrugged, whatever that meant.
“I want to see her.”
Basile spoke up. “We don’t take just anyone to the lair.”
I wasn’t just anyone, was I? “I thought I was one of you; isn’t that what you said, Nala?”
Her expression was a mixture of concern and consternation. “It’s complicated.”
Tears tingled behind my aching eyes. I was done getting the run-around. I was done with tonight altogether, actually. “Then uncomplicate it,” I snapped. “I don’t know you. Risk didn’t know you, and now you want me to believe she’s gone with you voluntarily and is fine? She would have contacted me if she were fine.” My voice was rising and I didn’t care. I wanted Risk. She was more my sister than my friend, and I needed her with me right now. I’d been attacked. Hit by a bus, for Christ’s sake. And that was on top of worrying over her for two freaking days. I needed to know she really was safe. “I want to see her, so make it happen.”
Nala stared at me for a long moment, then sighed. “You’re right.”
The nurse from before appeared behind Basile. “Is everything all right here?”
Was it? I didn’t really know.
“It’s fine,” Nala said, giving the woman a calm smile.
The nurse didn’t appear to agree, but she focused on me rather than arguing. “We’re ready for your scan now.”
I looked at Nala. “Well?”
She turned the smile on me. “I’ll make it happen, I promise. You get that scan so we can make sure your head is all right, and then we’ll go see Risk.”
That had been easier than I’d thought it would be, which, conversely, made me suspicious. But getting worked up had made my head throb again, so I decided to believe Nala for now. Taking a careful seat in the wheelchair the nurse had brought over, I watched from the corner of my eye as Nala walked a short ways away and pulled out her phone. As we started toward imaging, I heard her say, “Hey, we have a situation.”
ChapterThirty-Three
IMOGEN
