“What?” What the fuck did that mean?
“He means that you’re being selfish. You’re thinking of yourself and your needs instead of her.”
Okay, something was seriously wrong if Wolfe was explaining this stuff to him. Wolfe, who didn’t even smile at cute kitten videos.
And the fuck of it all was he was right.
“Fuck. Okay. What do we do? I should call for an ambulance, right? She needs a hospital.”
Wolfe was running a light over her body. Her cheeks were flushed. She was dirty, sweaty. Her arm was wrapped with what looked like a T-shirt. And her ankle was swollen.
“No. No hospital. Please. They’ll find me,” she protested weakly. She sounded so weak. She looked terrible. Her hair was matted, her clothes dirty and damp with sweat.
“Who?” Caleb asked her. “Who will find you?”
“Please. Please. No hospital. Please.”
The way her voice broke tore at him. He wanted to do whatever he could to ensure she never sounded so broken and scared again. But they had to do what was in her best interests. Even if that wasn’t what she wanted. He waited for Caleb to explain that to her. Caleb always did what he had to, even if he didn’t want to. He and Wolfe were far more selfish.
“Okay, jelly bean. Shh. Don’t get upset.” Caleb ran his hand over her hair, which was a mess of tangles around her head. Aleki winced at the thought of getting those tangles out.
“No hospital, please.”
“All right. We won’t go to the hospital, I promise,” Caleb soothed.
Aleki stopped his pacing and turned to gape at Caleb. Wolfe also stared down at him from where he stood by her feet. Aleki noticed he hadn’t once touched her.
“Caleb, she needs the hospital,” Aleki said. What did he mean, she didn’t have to go? It was their duty to take care of her. And Caleb never shied away from doing his duty.
“I know that,” Caleb snapped. “But she’s obviously afraid and I’m not going to force her to do something that scares her.”
“Caleb, if we don’t take her to a hospital, she may get sicker. She may die.” Wolfe spoke in a monotone voice, as though he didn’t care either way.
“Fuck. Fuck. Okay. There’s got to be a way to get her a doctor but keep her safe.”
“I have an idea,” Wolfe said. “It’s going to cost us, though. And it would be better not to use her name. Just in case someone really is after her and that’s not just a delusion.”
“Okay, good. Go set it up,” Caleb told him.
Wolfe turned away, already on his phone.
“Aleki, go get the car and bring it to the entrance of the alley. We’ll claim she’s my wife.” Leaning down, he reached under her to pick her up. “I have you, jelly bean. I won’t let you go. Not again.”
4
I have you, jelly bean. I won’t let you go.
She sighed dreamily. Caleb. When things were bad, she could always count on them coming to her in her dreams. Three white knights.
Well, okay. Two knights. And Wolfe.
She snorted.
“How come I don’t get to be a knight?” Wolfe complained.
Whoops. What was that beeping noise? Why could she smell disinfectant?
“You’re at a private clinic. You’re also speaking out loud,” Wolfe replied dryly.