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Was he serious?
With him sitting up and the lights shining on him, I could see his white tee was soaked with blood.
Terror coursed through my body.
My hold tightened on him, my voice nearing a shriek. “Don’t you dare try to stand, Ezra Patterson. You’re going to let these people take care of you.”
Those eyes flashed to me, raking over my exposed flesh. They flared when he found that the only thing I had on was what I’d gone to bed in. “You need to get back inside, Savannah. It’s freezing.”
“I already told you I wasn’t going anywhere.”
One of the paramedics pulled a blanket from his pack and came around to wrap me in it. “Here,” he murmured.
Warmth enfolded me, and I hadn’t realized how badly I’d been shaking until I was clutching the fabric around me. “Thank you,” I whispered.
“I’m Xavier, this is Everett, and that’s Christa.”
“It’s nice to meet you all.” I could barely force it out because introductions seemed a little low on the priority list right then.
“You, too,” Christa said before she turned her attention where it should be. “Let’s get that injury checked out before you take off trying to hunt down a bad guy, yeah?”
She eased to her knees in front of him, and she dug into her bag and pulled out a pair of scissors.
I pushed to my feet and edged back a little to give them room, but I hovered close. She cut through the fabric and peeled it away, and Ezra hissed as the area was exposed.
The man was a giant sitting on the ground with the headlights lighting him up in a spotlight, his shoulders and chest bare in the bright blaze. I could see the way he vibrated with violence. Without a doubt, he wanted to do exactly what the paramedic had suggested he might.
“It’s nothing, Christa.”
“Nothing my ass,” she shot back as she angled down to inspect it. “You’re bleeding like a burst water main over here.”
I couldn’t do anything but move around to his opposite side so I could see, and my heart fisted when I saw the wound. It was about an inch wide and gaping, blood gushing from it and sliding down his side in fat rivulets.
“As long as it didn’t hit any vital organs then it’s nothing,” Ezra spat.
Christa rolled her eyes like this was expected behavior. “Well, you certainly aren’t going to die because it appears to only be about an inch and a half deep, but you are going to need a few stitches.”
“Then hurry and stitch me up so I can assist my officer.”
Everett laughed. “I’m thinking a trip to the ER in Poplar is in order.”
Ezra sent him a surly glare. “I’m pretty sure one of you assholes can handle it.”
“We need to recommend that you see a doctor, Ezra,” Xavier urged.
Ezra growled. “Not gonna happen, Xavier. Stitch me up.”
All three of the paramedics shared a look, and Christa wavered before she said, “Only if you promise you’ll stay in bed for the next twenty-four hours. You’re going to have to let Samson do the job this time.”
Were they actually considering this nonsense?
“Isn’t that like…against protocol?” I mean, I was thinking a doctor checking him out and doing the stitching seemed like a solid idea. We needed to know he was really fine. That there wasn’t some underlying injury that they were missing out here considering they were doing an examination in the middle of the night, outside, in the freezing cold.
Christa laughed. “This guy right here loves to buck protocol.”
She shoved Ezra’s shoulder before the three of them stood, and the man had the audacity to grin.
I didn’t know what it was about it, but I guessed it was that expression, the one that somehow made me sure he was okay, the one that cracked a hole of relief through the middle of me and allowed the adrenaline to drain away. Only it was replaced by the terror I’d felt when I’d found him falling to the ground.
It welled, thickening my throat and making my stupid eyes burn.
I tried to hold it back.
Contain it.
But there was no stopping it. A sob erupted.
Ezra’s expression softened, and he reached out the arm on his injured side, holding his other hand over the wound. “Come’re, Little Trespasser.”
Crap. Crap. Crap.
I was in so much trouble. So much trouble. Because I knew I was falling when I shuffled forward and again dropped to my knees at his side. But this time the circumstances were reversed, and Ezra was the one comforting me. Wrapping me in that arm and trying to pull me against his hurt side while he pressed his lips to my temple. “Don’t worry about me.”
Too late.
It was far too late.
I choked over another cry, and Ezra murmured, “I know. I know.”
THIRTY-SIX
EZRA
My bedroom door creaked open, and Savannah popped her head through the doorway. Her gaze was filled with the same shaky concern she’d been watching me with for the last hour.
