Page 37 of The Deadly Shallows

“Hang on, boss.” Caleb clutched his arm.

“It can wait.”

“Noah, you need to know this before . . .”

Noah stilled. Caleb only responded that way when it was dire. Steeling himself for what was coming, or doing his best to do so, he turned his full attention on Caleb.

Caleb looked down, then back up with a pained expression. “They”—his voice cracked—“tortured her.”

Noah squeezed his eyes shut. Dear God. Please be with her. Be her shield. Because he’d failed her. They’d taken her right from under his nose. If only he’d walked her to the car.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing he needed to ask but terrified of the answer. “How bad?” he asked. He didn’t want to walk in uninformed, to let shock steal his composure. Brooke needed him to remain strong for her.

Caleb looked down and shuffled his feet.

Noah swallowed. That bad?

“We won’t know the full extent until she’s examined at the hospital.”

“Make sure Finn’s there too.” She needed to be processed as a crime victim.

His chest closed in on him, the air horse-kicked from his lungs. No. Brooke was not a victim. She was a fighter, a survivor, and she’d gotten free on her own.

“Sir, did you want to ride with her to the hospital?” an EMT asked Noah. “They asked us to hold the ambulance until you arrived, said you’d want to be with her.”

“Definitely.” He strode for the ambulance, then looked back at Caleb. “Thanks, man.”

Caleb nodded. “Mason is spearheading the manhunt.”

Noah prayed the perpetrators were found and brought to justice. Better Mason catch them than him. Right now, he’d be tempted to apply his own brand of justice.

Approaching the ambulance, he said a quick prayer. Please let me be what she needs right now. Noah prepared himself to keep his expression full of love and not react in shock or outrage when he saw her wounds. Brooke would need his outrage for the criminals responsible, but not right now. Now she needed his love and steadiness.

The EMT attending to Brooke stood and moved toward the open doors, concern etched on his brow. “Sir, you should let me look at your leg.”

Noah glanced down at the blood seeping through his pants, feeling the warm moisture for the first time now that the adrenaline was dissipating. How long had it been bleeding?

“I’ll be okay until we get to the hospital. Just tore open my stitches.”

“If you’re sure?” the EMT said, climbing out of the ambulance. “She’s stable, so I’ll give you two some privacy.”

“Thank you.”

“She’s going to need to be examined by a CSI,” the EMT said quietly.

“My guy, Finn Walker, will be waiting.”

The EMT nodded, his dark eyes full of compassion.

Noah returned the nod and climbed up into the ambulance, wincing as pain shot through his thigh with the motion. The EMT shut the rear doors behind him.

She rolled her head to face him, then reached out her hand and grimaced.

A blanket covered most of her, but as it slipped from her outstretched arm, he saw the marks those animals had made, imagined the scars they’d leave, and a rage he’d never known lit inside.

But she was alive.

He fought to keep the tears from his eyes.