“I don’t believe you,” he said, his gaze probing her face. “I told you why I’m here, what’s your reason?”
“Really, it’s nothing,” she repeated, looking away and hoping he would let it drop. “You should give Fletcher your message and go. It’s probably dinner time by now.”
“Hey,” he said, reaching out to gently grasp her shoulder and turn her back to him.
The movement surprised her and she hissed when her torn flesh spasmed painfully.
Kaiden dropped his hand at her reaction, but then his face hardened with determination and, before she could stop him, he leaned around to look behind her.
She flinched away from him, but the damage was done.
“What happened?” he demanded, his tone both concerned and unexpectedly protective.
“It’s—”
“If you say it’s nothing one more time…” he interrupted, leaving his sentence hanging with the threat.
He wasn’t going to let it go, she knew. But before she could decide what to tell him, Fletcher arrived.
“Now that everything is sorted, what can I do for you, Alex?”
She looked from the smiling doctor to the narrow-eyed Kaiden and sighed in defeat. “I was attacked by an animal out in the forest.”
There. Done. Just like ripping off a Band-Aid.
Fletcher sent her a look, clearly knowing that she was downplaying the situation. “Where are you hurt?”
She carefully eased herself off the bed and turned around. She hadn’t had a chance to look at her injury and Kaiden had barely glanced at the wound, but from both his and Fletcher’s sharp inhalations, she could guess it wasn’t a pretty sight.
“Alex…” Fletcher breathed. “Why didn’t you tell me you were this badly injured when you arrived?”
She turned to face him again but kept her gaze averted and shuffled her feet. “You were busy. I didn’t want to interrupt.”
He tsked quietly and ordered her to get back on the bed while he went to get medical supplies. When he returned, he instructed her to lie down on her stomach and he lifted the hem of her shirt. The wound was on her lower back so it wasn’t too awkward, but she was very aware that Kaiden was still standing by her bed.
Fletcher pressed something wet against the wound and she had to bite her tongue to keep from crying out at the stinging pain. The doctor tried to take her mind off what he was doing by launching into his interrogation.
“What sort of animal did this?”
“I don’t know what it was,” she said, trying—and failing— to keep her breathing steady as she focused on his question and not the burning of her flesh. “It was big and black and hairy, with creepy red and black eyes, and claws on its front feet. Its teeth were as long as my hands. And its blood was a strange brown colour.”
Fletcher’s voice was contemplative when he said, “It sounds like a Hyroa. But they’re practically extinct. And there certainly shouldn’t be any of them left near these parts. What do you think, Kaiden?”
His face troubled, Kaiden responded, “That was my first thought, too, given the description. But like you said, Fletch, they’re supposed to be nearly extinct. And definitely not roaming free in the Ezera Forest.”
“If that’s the case,” Fletcher said, turning back to Alex, “how did you manage to get away from it? I’ve never encountered one, but rumours claim that they’re extremely bloodthirsty and move much faster than the average human can run. They’re very dangerous, Alex.”
Gee, you think? she thought, only just managing to keep her sarcasm internal.
“It didn’t look like the type of animal that could climb very well, not with different front and back feet,” she said. “I decided to use that to my advantage and I climbed up into the trees. But it caught me before I was high enough and swiped me with its claws.”
“That must have been intensely painful,” Fletcher murmured.
“I’ve felt worse,” Alex said quietly, remembering with vivid clarity the feeling of Aven’s ice-like dagger slicing through her back and into her lungs. She shuddered at the memory and turned her head, only to find Kaiden’s curious eyes on her. Why was he still here, anyway?
“Nevertheless, this likely caused you no small amount of discomfort,” Fletcher pressed. “How much time has passed since you were attacked?”
Alex tried to calculate it in her head. She’d left to visit her parents after lunch and stayed with them for about an hour before she was unceremoniously dumped in the forest. So that meant…
“I think it happened around two-thirty.”
There was a weighty silence after the words left her mouth.
“What?” she asked, feeling self-conscious.
“Alex, it’s six o’clock,” Fletcher said. “You only arrived here about half an hour ago. What were you doing all that time?”
“Making my way back,” she answered. Obviously.
Kaiden sent her a probing look. “Back from where?”
Oh. Oops.
“Uh, I was kind of lost in the forest,” she said. Until she’d found her bearings, that was definitely true.
“Why were you out there if you weren’t applying for SAS?” Kaiden pressed.
“That’s an excellent question,” Alex said. She then closed her mouth and turned her head to look in the opposite direction, having no intention of answering. The last thing she needed was for Kaiden to learn about the murderous Meyarin hell-bent on using her for his own nefarious purposes. Uh-uh, no way.
She heard him exhale in frustration and she felt a little guilty. But come on. She hardly knew the guy. She didn’t owe him an explanation.
“All right, how about this one?” he said, moving around to the other side of the bed so she could see him again. “How do you know the colour of the Hyroa’s blood?”
Alex blanched at the new line of interrogation. She absolutely couldn’t answer, not without talking about Aven.
Upon seeing her startled reaction, Kaiden leaned in further. He didn’t say anything but continued looking at her, waiting for her answer.
“I—I—Uh—” she stuttered.
Fletcher chose that moment to apply some kind of paste to her back, and she couldn’t supress the whimper that escaped her lips.
“Perhaps it’s best if you leave, Kaiden,” the doctor said gently but firmly. “It sounds like Alex has been through quite an ordeal and she could do with some rest.”
Alex saw Kaiden hesitate and she braced herself for his response, but he then he relaxed and nodded at Fletcher.
“Thank you for reporting back to me,” Fletcher told him. “And for everything else you’ve done to help as well.”
“No problem,” Kaiden said, stepping back. He caught Alex’s gaze once more, his eyes telling her so much more than any words could express. He was asking her to trust him.
But she couldn’t. Too much was at stake. She closed her eyes and turned her head away.
A quiet sigh reached her ears, and then he whispered, “Feel better, Alex.”
For some reason, his kind words made her feel worse.