Fuckin’ A, that was a goddamn symphony to Rafe’s ears. It was a testament to just how far-gone he was, because ever since the ripe young age of fifteen, he’d never once considered going bareback, much less gone through with it. Feeling Penny wrapped around him without a single barrier sounded like fucking heaven.
She pumped his cock again, making him hiss. “Goddamn, sweetheart. I’m clean, too. Alpha makes sure we get triannual checkups, and I’ve never once gone bare.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” Penny rolled her hips against his aching erection.
At this point, he had no clue. With the flick of his fingers, he unsnapped her pants and followed them as they dropped to the ground.
Bringing his mouth to just below her mound, he nibbled and tasted, locking his gaze on hers from his vantage point on his knees. Her gorgeous green eyes watched him, clouded over in a haze of desire that only made his cock harden more. Standing up and slipping into her hot body would be too damn easy, but he wanted to give her more.
“Rafe. Please,” Penny begged in a whisper. Her hand dropped to his head, urging him closer.
With her damp pussy his goal, he skated his mouth over the inside of her thigh. She spread for him on trembling legs, making him suck down a curse. Her mound was right there, damp and ready and practically begging for his tongue. He coaxed her stance wider and was about to take his first eager swipe with his tongue when her pain-filled cry made his blood run cold.
Rafe’s muscles froze him in place. Penny shifted away from his touch, but not before he saw the piece of gauze halfheartedly taped to her thigh.
“What’s this?” he asked, gently peeling it off the rest of the way. “Fuck, baby. What the hell did you do?”
He didn’t need a flashlight to tell the gnarly gash on her leg was an unsightly shade of red. It was puffy and puckered.
And infected.
“It’s nothing. It’s just a scratch.” She tried tugging away.
“It’s not nothing. It’s fucking infected!” Rafe pulled the Maglite from their pack and inspected the wound.
He fought off a string of curses. It looked ten times worse than he thought. Not only was the cut itself infected, but the redness looked to be spreading to the tender tissue of her thigh. He’d seen two-hundred-pound hard-asses get taken down by a single scratch while in the middle of a jungle. The heat and conditions helped the infection seep into the bloodstream where it could wreak havoc on the body.
Ignoring her protests, Rafe pinched her chin and aimed the small beam of light into her eyes. Unfocused and dilated, her gaze skirted around his face in a haze that had nothing to do with arousal and everything to do with a fever. Her out-of-norm behavior all made painful fucking sense. Now.
“How long, Red?” Rafe asked, pushing the panic from his voice.
“How long what?”
“How long have you had that gash on your leg?”
She rubbed her temples as if trying to remember. “A day. Or two.”
“Which is it, sweetheart?”
“Since the compound…,” Penny said, her words starting to slur, “when you told me to—”
She dropped, unconscious and half-naked, into his arms.
“Red!” Panic tightened Rafe’s chest as he shifted his hold on her limp form and recited a silent prayer. He stroked her damp cheek, forcing himself to calm the fuck down. “Baby, wake up. Penny. This is one hell of a time to go lights-out on me, sweetheart.”
Fuckin’ A, this wasn’t good, and way beyond his minuscule first-aid training. She needed a doctor, a hospital, and a heavy round of antibiotics, and she needed them right this fucking second.
Rafe centered her body weight and made a halfhearted attempt to pull up his damn pants when he came to an abrupt stop.
Never once could he remember being so outmaneuvered, but the proof was right there in front of them…surrounding them. A dozen men, all armed with homemade weapons and deep scowls, looked a hell of a lot more menacing than he did with his out-of-reach Glock and his pants an inch from falling to his knees.
Holding a half-naked Penny, there wasn’t a hell of a lot of options.
“I don’t suppose you can direct us to the nearest hospital?” Rafe asked dryly.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Pain surged and ebbed in waves, from the throbbing in her head to the cascading sensation of needles ricocheting down her left leg. It was one of two things that kept Penny from falling down the dark well that weighted down her eyelids. Pain…and Rafe.
Hazy images drifted through her mind like a cloud. They rolled together, one after another, until memories took the form of his eyes, glittering with an unnamed emotion as he stared down at her in concern; and his arms, strong and warm and cocooned around her, had made her feel safe. At home.
Now there was nothing.