Upon waking, Kevin became aware of three things immediately.
One, he hurt. All over. But most of all his head pounded and his thigh twitched from a deep throbbing pain.
Two, he was naked.
Three, he wasn’t alone.
Blinking grit from his eyes, Kevin carefully rolled his head until he peered at the petite, peaceful sleeping figure beside him. He closed his eyes and opened them again to make sure Raina remained. Four years he’d fantasized about this exact moment. She didn’t disappoint. Dark lashes swept across her cheeks, flushed from not only being buried under a mound of blankets, but wrapped around him as though she were afraid he’d slip away. The steady rise and fall of her breathing sent a silky rush of air across his bicep and made him acutely aware of her breast pressed into his side. Her thigh rested atop his, fitting her curves along the entire length of his torso.
Desire, sharp and strong, shot straight through him. The pain in his thigh faded in the rush of heated blood. He wanted to pull her onto his chest, strip off the layers of fabric she’d kept between them, run his hands along every inch of her, and claim what he’d been denying himself for so long. But first, he had to figure out why she slept beside him.
As if sensing his return to consciousness, Raina inhaled deeply. Her beautiful pale brown eyes opened on a flutter. A sleepy smile graced her lips. “You’re awake.”
Then her brows furrowed and she shot up. “You’re awake…” She gasped and before he could react, she straddled him, had his cheeks pressed between her warm palms and her mouth slammed to his. She kissed him hard and then jumped off his chest. “Sean! He’s awake!”
Before he could process what happened, she was gone in a flutter of wrinkled fabric and tousled hair. That was the second time she’d managed to be faster than him. What in the arctic…
Groaning, Kevin attempted to sit up. Every muscle in his body failed at the same time and he collapsed into the mattress, breathless. Well, this was interesting. What was wrong with him?
“You almost died,” Sean said.
Kevin was reminded his Sympath friend and team-leader might as well be a mind-reader for how easily he understood expressions. Sighing, Kevin stopped trying to find any strength. “That explains a lot.”
Sean pulled a chair close to the bed and sat. He braced his elbows on his knees. “You’re very lucky. Why didn’t you send word of your injury when you arrived in the Northern Boundary?”
“I didn’t think it would be this bad. I’d cleaned and treated it.”
Sean let loose a heavy sigh. “A day or two longer and if you didn’t die, you may have lost your leg. Though, with the resources available here, I couldn’t have done such a terrible procedure. There would have been nothing left to do but try to keep you comfortable.”
And leave his wife to watch him fade away. Kevin clenched his jaw. “How did you find out?”
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
Kevin managed to pull his arm up to his head. He covered his eyes with his forearm and exhaled slowly. Memories slowly played out in his mind. “I went outside, I hadn’t been sleeping well. I was heading back to the house and then… nothing.”
“Raina found you. She dragged you back to the house, and then she went to Rails End and radioed Haven City.”
Shocked, Kevin lifted his arm and stared. Guilt hit him fast and hard. If something had happened to him… if she hadn’t been able to pull forward a strength he’d never thought her capable of, she’d be left alone in a world she had no clue how to navigate. The level of his stupidity for keeping his injury to himself increased.
In his effort to shelter her, he’d placed her further in jeopardy. Instead of leaving him to fate however, she’d stepped up. Not only rising to the challenge, but staying when she could have hopped a train and run back to her father’s safe arms. He wanted to list a dozen reasons why, none of them having to do with how she personally felt about him, but Sean held up a hand and continued.
“And before you go thinking she did all this to protect her father from whatever nefarious plan Enbrackon has, she hasn’t left you except to eat. Sometimes not even then. Without her, I wouldn’t have been able to help until you did a ridiculous amount of further damage to yourself. You threw Mason off. Mason. And you’d been unconscious for almost a day at that point.”
Kevin considered Sean’s words. He didn’t want to focus on Raina, or what her actions meant. “Have we learned exactly why Enbrackon kidnapped her?”
Sean shook his head. “I think Raina knows though.”
“She’s said nothing.” Kevin heaved another sigh. “Voklane had his suspicions.”
“What were they?”
Kevin shook his head. He didn’t want to contemplate the complicated conspiracy or Raina’s lack of volunteering information. Enbrackon liked to talk, to brag. Kevin knew the man had laid out his intentions to Raina. Why she’d kept them to herself so far, he didn’t know, didn’t really want to think about. He’d purposefully avoided discussing anything related to her abduction, hoping she’d adjust on her own and come to him with anything she felt relevant.
He was filthy, exhausted, thirsty and hungry. Anything else could wait. For now. “Help me up, please. I need a shower.”
“You need food first. I’ll bring you some, then Mason and I will help you.”
After eating and drinking what he could manage, and being helped into a robe, Sean and Mason assisted Kevin downstairs to the small bathroom off the kitchen. Sean kept vigil outside the door, calling Kevin’s name randomly while Kevin did his best to not fall on his face in the cold shower. If Kevin didn’t answer within a specific amount of time, Sean would barge in. Sadly, it wasn’t the first time Kevin had needed supervision after a bad injury, and likely wouldn’t be the last.
He made swift work of washing up, brushing his teeth and getting into clean clothes after Sean did a quick check of his thigh. At least, clean pants. He didn’t bother with a shirt, he’d be crawling back into bed.
When he had yet to see Raina again, he asked on their way back to the bedroom, him hopping on one foot while Mason and Sean guided him back to the room, “Where are the women?”
“Raina is seeing to Eadric. Kat is… wherever she is,” Sean muttered.
“She’s bored,” Mason said with a chuckle. “She was shooting at driftwood and whatever else that was large enough to annihilate on the beach yesterday.”
Sean grimaced in embarrassment. “The beach is pristine now.”
Mason grinned. “She’s been moping about since. Said the one fun thing she’d found to do won’t come back until the next tide.”
Kevin stopped and looked between the two men, aghast. “How did Raina handle that?”
Sean shrugged and urged Kevin to move again. “She didn’t leave your side. If the sound of Kat’s rifle and her equally enthusiastic responses when she succeeded bothered her, she kept it to herself.”
“Wouldn’t you if said woman came waltzing in with a smirk and a BACR-18 in her hand?” Mason asked Sean, leaning forward.
This time it was Kevin’s turn to frown. “Well, I suppose she’s had a crash course in an Intel Guardian team now.”
They helped him to the bed. Kevin handled the rest, situating pillows behind him so he could comfortably sit. “Anything new while we’ve been gone?”
Mason straddled a chair. “I’ve noticed something else odd with the maps. But until Raina can look over them with me, I’m not a hundred percent sure what it is.”
“Did going over Enbrackon’s properties produce any yields on where the missing cargo, or what it might be, is being stored?”
Sean shook his head. “No. Asherwick discreetly looked into them over the past week. I’m sure they made sure Enbrackon isn’t associated with the shipment once Raina was rescued and they realized how badly their plan failed.”
Mason scratched at the underside of his bearded chin. “Will he be in trouble with Cairo since none of the Sentinels will be returning?”
Kevin shook his head. “No, he paid for them. When you purchase a Cairoen Sentinel, you’re paying for the life. Any returned alive are reimbursed, minus a small fee. It’s in the purchaser’s best interest to keep the Sentinels alive.”
“We took out at least thirty. That couldn’t have been cheap,” Sean noted.
“No,” Kevin agreed. “And the way he lives, he may not have had the assets to lose.”
“I can’t see Synintel letting his daughter’s kidnapping go unpunished,” Mason said with a shake of his head. “I think it’s just a matter of time before orders show up in Sean’s hand for Katria.”
Kevin ran his hand over his face. “Maybe we can get something that will give him a little more incentive. Raina and I can’t stay here forever, and by now he’ll be daring enough to pull a Wystone on me.”
They all frowned at the reminder of the homicide Enbrackon had made to look like a suicide. As the First Prefect of HCES, he had easily made the witnesses murder disappear. Making Kevin disappear in the same manner would be extremely difficult, but not impossible. And the Shield Guardian was likely desperate enough to attempt the feat now.
“You have two weeks,” Sean ordered. “Don’t go to the house when you return, unless it’s with Synintel personally. Go to my house, or Mason’s. We’ll go over any new information with Voklane and Asherwick.”
“We have lots of room. I can give you your own wing,” Mason said with a bit of a smile. The man had claimed the smallest downstairs room for himself. Space wasn’t a luxury he basked in.
A little weight eased off Kevin’s shoulders. They had a plan, and he had two weeks to heal. He wouldn’t be completely ready to take on another Sentinel force, but he wouldn’t be useless either.
When they both went to rise, Kevin asked, “How long was I out for?”
“Almost four days,” Sean answered.
Kevin’s mouth fell open.
“Don’t worry, we won’t leave until you can walk to the kitchen on your own. I’ve been trying to get Raina comfortable in the kitchen, but she has as much passion for cooking as this one here.” Sean hooked his thumb Mason’s direction.
Mason held up his hands. “Hey, I like my food to taste like something other than burnt. Or salt.”
Gratitude and affection formed a lump in Kevin’s throat for the small group of people who’d become his family over the years. He swallowed against it and tried to find his voice. “I’m…”
Mason shook his head. “Nope. We aren’t doing that. You keep all of us out of trouble, so don’t go thinking we were selfless in showing up here.”
But Kevin knew they were. He nodded and closed his eyes against the fatigue pulling him under. He felt a firm hand squeeze his shoulder, and Sean quietly said, “You’re welcome.”