The Complete Lost Children Series

by Krista Street

That was the last thing I heard before everything went black again.

  IT WAS DAYTIME the next time I woke. Bright sunlight pierced my eyelids. Trying to get away from it, I rolled into something heavy.

  I opened my eyes. It appeared I was in a bed, and the heavy thing I’d rolled into was Flint. “Hi,” I managed.

  “Hi. Are you hurting?” His gaze darted across my face.

  “Yeah.” My head pounded, and my body felt . . . broken. I didn’t know how else to describe it. I coughed. “Ow, what the . . .” I grabbed my side. “My ribs really hurt.”

  Flint frowned. “A few are cracked.”

  “They are?”

  “I’m going to get Di. I’ll be right back.”

  In one of his lightning fast moves, he disappeared. The movement was so quick and agile it barely disturbed the mattress springs. I was grateful, since the little movement it had caused hurt my throbbing side.

  A few minutes passed before Di appeared in the door frame. Flint stood behind her.

  It was then I realized I wasn’t in my cabin. Instead, I lay in the guy’s bedroom. Their cabin was smaller than ours, just one bedroom with a queen bed and a set of bunk beds.

  Jet and Jasper were nowhere to be seen. I guessed they’d slept here, though. The bunk bed sheets appeared mussed.

  Di approached. Flint hovered behind her. Di kneeled by the bed and placed a bag beside her. From it, she withdrew a syringe and a vial. “Flint said you’re in pain. I have pain meds.”

  “What are they?” I tried to lean forward. Bad idea. I winced and lay back.

  “Morphine, but if that doesn’t do the trick, I also have Fentanyl. We’ll use these for a few days while I start you on a regimen of oxycodone and acetaminophen. Once your pain subsides enough, we’ll only do oral meds.”

  I vaguely wondered how she got the drugs or knew how to use them. I didn’t ask. I hurt too much to be curious.

  With a deft movement, Di filled the syringe and the pungent smell of alcohol filled my nose. She scrubbed something sticking in my arm with an alcohol swab.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “An IV. It makes it easier to administer drugs and fluids.”

  “But why . . .” My voice trailed off as the pain slowly subsided.

  Di tossed the syringe into a plastic box in the bag. It bounced off something. I wondered what else she had in there. “Feeling better?”

  “Yes.” I sighed as a blissful numbing sensation filled me.

  “Good.” Di fingered my wrist and felt my pulse before pulling out a stethoscope and listening to my chest. “Your pulse and respirations are good.”

  I tried to sit up but felt so weak.

  Flint was on the bed before I could blink. He easily repositioned me until I sat upright, then he fluffed the pillows behind me.

  I frowned and surveyed the room again. “Why am I in your cabin?”

  “Because,” was the only reply I got.

  Di stood from her kneeling position and began assessing me. Or at least, that’s what it felt like.

  She started at the top of my head and worked her way down. She looked in my mouth, flipped down my bottom eyelids, inspected my ears and felt along my jaw and neck. After that, she pulled back the covers and did everything from listening to my chest and back, to palpating my stomach and tapping her fingers all around.

  Next, she asked me to move to the edge of the bed and dangle my feet. She made me do all sorts of funny things—I had to follow her finger with my eyes, flip my hands up and down on my lap, touch my nose and then touch her finger, squeeze her fingers, flex and point my toes against her hands, follow her finger with my gaze.

  It almost felt like a game, but after a while, I just felt tired.

  She took a few more things out of her bag, and after taking my blood pressure and temperature, she put me back into bed. I stared at her for a moment.

  “Di, are you a doctor?”

  She shrugged and arranged the covers around me. “I don’t know, but it seems I might be. Now, tell me, what do you last remember? Do you know what happened or what day it is? And more importantly, do you know who you are and where you are?”

  I frowned. “Um, yeah, I know who I am. My name’s Lena, and I don’t know what day it is, but I’m in the guy’s cabin.” Flint put his arm around my shoulders and squeezed. A grim smile covered his face.

  “It’s Friday today,” Di said. “You went for your ride two days ago and didn’t come back. Do you remember any of that?”

  “Ride?” I exclaimed.

  Suddenly, the dam broke loose. Running away from the ranch on the bay gelding, wandering through the mountains, stopping in the ravine, encountering Aaron, galloping away, flying off the horse. The tree.

  Fear consumed me.

  “Aaron . . . he . . . he followed me . . . into the mountains. I don’t know how, but he . . . he tried to attack me.”

  A hot wave of energy rolled out of Flint. He took a few deep breaths. I could tell he was trying to control his rage.

  Despite the angry emotions emitting from him, I felt nothing but safe. Safe, I’m safe. I’m with Flint.

  A warm, relaxing feeling settled over me.

  Di scowled. “I thought something like that happened. After you left the cabin, I got a vision. It was of you and Aaron in the forest. You were frightened. That’s when Jacinda and I chased after you.”

  I vaguely recalled seeing them before I left the barn, but it was hard to decipher what was what. I felt so tired. Leaning forward, I rested my head between my hands, but that made my ribs ache despite the morphine so I leaned back.

  “What’s wrong with me?” I asked. “Everything seems so fuzzy.”

  “You have a concussion,” Di said. “From how we found you on the ground, I’m assuming you collided with that giant tree you were leaning against?”

  Her words brought back a sharp memory: sailing through the air when the horse jumped and my head colliding with a tree. “I think so.”

  “You were knocked unconscious,” she continued. “You’re lucky. You could have broken your neck.”

  “But that doesn’t explain what happened out there.” Flint’s hot energy still poured out of him. His efforts to subdue it weren’t working. He pulled me back against him. “What did Aaron do to you?”

  “He, well, nothing really.” I paused. I remembered Aaron advancing on me, but I had no idea why. “I remember riding into a ravine, getting off the horse, and then he was there.”

  A picture of his ugly, black cloud entered my mind. I shuddered. “His cloud was black and pulsing when I saw him. I think he was there to hurt me.”

  Heat exploded off Flint. “What? He was there to hurt you? He followed you out there intentionally to hurt you?”

  “I think so.”

  “I’m going to kill him.”

  “Flint,” Di said in a stern tone. “We can’t do anything rash. Besides, he hasn’t shown up yet and considering how he chased Lena, I’d be surprised if he did.”

  “What?” My head snapped toward her. I regretted the movement. “He hasn’t come back?” I rubbed my neck.

  “No.” Di crossed her arms. “No one’s seen him.”

  “Then where did he go?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine,” Di replied.

  Flint fumed silently beside me. He took a deep, steadying breath before he asked quietly, “What were you doing out there anyway?”

  The memory rushed back for why I’d run so impulsively from the ranch. I glanced at Flint. He waited for my answer with an unreadable expression on his face. Was it because he felt guilty? Denial crushed me with its weight. No, he wouldn’t have gone on a date with Amber. Or had he?

  “Um, I was upset,” I replied.

  “About what?” He pulled me closer.

  I glanced at Di. I wasn’t sure I wanted to have this conversation in front of her. Ignoring him, I said, “How’d you find me anyway?”

  “Amber found you,” Di said.

&nbs
p; “Amber?” I stiffened and pulled away from Flint.

  “She followed your scent,” Di continued. “And the scent of your horse, which stood patiently waiting a few yards away from you, in case you were wondering.”

  “Was everyone there or just you and Amber?” I asked.

  Di shook her head. “No, Jacinda, Jet and Flint were there too. When we realized you were truly missing, we sent Val, Pete, Mica, Jasper and the other three cowboys looking for you in the opposite direction of where Amber thought you were. She was fairly certain she could track you, but we didn’t want the other cowboys or Pete and Val there. They’d ask too many questions.”

  I frowned. So Amber had found me and possibly saved my life? I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I pushed that thought aside. “How are Pete and Val?”

  “Okay, now that you’ve been found,” Flint answered. He was frowning. I’d put at least six inches between us. “Pete’s had a few guests over the years go missing when they’ve wandered off. He said a guest once got seriously injured and almost died before he was found.”

  I raised my eyebrows. Guilt pummeled me for putting Pete and Val through that. “And everyone else, how are they?”

  “Currently, everyone’s at work,” Di replied. “Jacinda’s worried since you hit your head so hard. She and Amber are up in the kitchen while the twins and Mica are out working with Pete. The cowboys are doing their usual thing.”

  I licked my lips. My mouth felt like the Sahara. “Is there any water?”

  “Of course.” Di stood and left the room. With her gone, the bedroom turned into an echoing void. The silence hung. I felt Flint staring at me, but I refused to meet his gaze. A second later, Di returned.

  “Here.” She handed me a large glass of water.

  After I drained it, I placed it on the nightstand. The movement bumped my ribs, causing my breath to hitch.

  “Ouch,” I muttered. I wanted to rub them but knew that wouldn’t do a thing. I rubbed them anyway. “How badly am I injured?”

  Di’s brow furrowed. “Without an x-ray, it’s hard to say, but I believe you have a cracked rib, if not several cracked ribs, thanks to that tree you collided with.”

  “So cracked but not completely broken?”

  She frowned. “I’m not sure, but I think so.”

  “Oh.” That didn’t sound promising. “Why didn’t you take me to the hospital?”

  “No—”

  “That’s right,” I said. “No hospitals. I guess it’s good you’re a doctor.”

  She shrugged. “If I’m not, I know enough to help you.”

  “But where’d you get all that stuff?” I nodded toward her bag.

  She frowned. “Well . . . we . . . or rather . . .”

  “I stole it,” Flint said.

  I turned to him with wide eyes. “You what? How?”

  “Little Raven’s outpatient clinic isn’t very hard to break into,” Flint replied.

  I gaped. “But what if you get caught?”

  “I didn’t leave any prints, and I only took what was needed. It won’t be obvious anything is missing. They probably won’t know until they do an inventory.”

  I shook my head. This was all getting to be too much. “So you know how to break into a building?”

  “It seems so,” he replied.

  “And you’re a doctor?” I said to Di.

  “Perhaps,” she replied.

  “Yet we still have no idea how we know any of these things,” I finished.

  “Correct,” Di said.

  It was all too much. My head felt incredibly heavy. “I’m tired.”

  “You will be for quite some time.” Di arranged the covers around me again. “Head injuries take a while to heal, and it’s important that you tell me if you start having uncontrollable headaches, dizziness, nausea with frequent vomiting, increased confusion . . .”

  She spewed out a list of symptoms that I assumed meant my head injury was getting worse instead of better. To be honest, I only half listened. My eyelids felt like lead again. I couldn’t believe how tired I felt.

  “Enough,” Flint interrupted. “She needs to sleep.”

  Di smiled. Somehow, the expression didn’t seem right on her, like a badger trying to look meek. “Right, sorry. Go to sleep.”

  I had no idea what time it was but felt that was good advice. I sank into the pillow and barely felt when Flint gently caressed my hair and softly kissed my cheek.

  “Sleep babe, I’ll be here when you wake up,” he whispered.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Flint was indeed there when I woke up. I questioned if he moved. He still sat propped against the headboard, his long frame stretched out in front of him. Dressed in the same clothes, with a book propped on his lap, I wondered if he slept at all.

  Daylight spewed through the sheer curtains. The light shone muted gray and had that dusky glow that only came with sunrise.

  “Hi,” I mumbled.

  The book flopped to Flint’s side. In a flash, he leaned over me. “You’re up.”

  “How long did I sleep?”

  He glanced at his watch. “From six last night till now. It’s six in the morning. Twelve hours.”

  “Oh.” I glanced toward the bunk beds. “Where are Jet and Jasper?”

  “Working. They left half an hour ago.”

  I fumbled with the covers. “Excuse me, I’ll be right back.”

  Before I could pull the covers off, he was at my side, lifting them. My movements were stiff and clumsy. I groaned when a breath sliced through my ribs like a hot knife. At least my head no longer pounded.

  “Here, take these.” Flint’s brow furrowed. He picked up two pills from the bedside table, laid them in my palm and gave me a glass of water.

  I didn’t ask what they were. I guessed it was Di’s regimen of pain meds. I washed them down with a quick swallow and tried to stand.

  “I’ll carry you.”

  Before he could sweep me up, I shook my head. I was surprised I beat him to it. “No, I’ll walk. I’m fine.”

  As much as I loved the feel of his arms around me, I didn’t want to be carried to the bathroom. Besides, I still didn’t know how I felt about everything. For the first time since meeting him, the safe feeling he evoked didn’t pacify my nerves. Was his concern genuine or out of guilt? That unreadable expression from last night flashed through my mind.

  Flint frowned when I took a hesitant step. His face was masked with so much worry I actually smiled. He was like a fretting mother hen. “Flint, I’m fine.”

  He just frowned further.

  When I reached the bathroom, I managed to close the door without falling over or jarring my ribs. I finished my business and went to the sink. At least my toothbrush was here. While brushing my teeth, I looked in the mirror.

  I wished I hadn’t.

  The sight wasn’t pretty. Cuts littered my face like a bad cross-stitch. A bump on my head resembled a misshapen egg, and my hair was, well, I won’t even go there.

  I lifted my shirt. An ugly, purple bruise bled across one side of my chest. I was a sight.

  With less enthusiasm, I hobbled back to the bedroom.

  Flint waited for me. He tried to help me into bed. I refused and dumped myself rather unceremoniously onto the mattress which only made me yelp.

  “I never was very graceful,” I muttered.

  “If you’d let me help you, it wouldn’t hurt.” Flint pulled the covers over me despite my protests. “Are you hungry?”

  “Starving.”

  “Be back in a minute.”

  Of course, he was back in roughly thirty seconds. When he sat beside me, he presented me with a steaming mug of coffee and a large, warm caramel roll. My mouth watered.

  “Where’d you get this?” I bit into it. Caramel oozed along my tongue. Delicious.

  “Val made a pan this morning and brought them down. She knows how much you love them.”

  “Yeah, they’re great,” I mumbled between bites. The d
oughy goodness hit the spot. When I finished, he took my plate and laid it on the table. I settled back into bed.

  The silence stretched.

  I’d only seen Flint’s room a few times. In general, the group rarely hung out in the guy’s cabin, and the few nights Flint and I had been together, we were outside. I chewed my lip. Had Amber seen his bedroom?

  I reminded myself I still hadn’t heard his side of the story.

  “I’ve been staying here since Amber found me?” I asked.

  The worry was back on Flint’s face. I wasn’t sure if it was from my tone or something else. Guilt maybe? I arranged the covers, refusing to meet his gaze. “Why am I not in my cabin?”

  “I didn’t want you away from me. Just in case—”

  “Just in case Aaron came back?” I finished. My heart inadvertently raced. What if Aaron had caught me?

  “Something like that.” Flint pulled me to him. I didn’t realize I was shaking until he touched me. Despite my will to put distance between us, I momentarily sank into him. Once again, my body betrayed me.

  “It’s stupid. He didn’t do anything,” I whispered.

  “No, but he could have.” His skin grew warmer. Energy pushed off him like the tide coming in. With each passing second, I not only relaxed but felt safer and safer, but then I thought about Amber and pushed Flint away. I still needed answers.

  Flint sighed harshly and raked a hand through his hair. “Lena? What’s going on? You said you rode off because you were upset. What were you upset about?”

  I stared at my toes.

  “Tell me. What’s going on?” His voice was tight, laced with demand.

  I met his gaze. I needed to see his reaction when I told him. His eyes didn’t lie, not when the curtain was wide open like it was now. I took a deep breath. “It was because of you . . . and Amber.”

  Genuine surprise glowed in his irises. “Me and Amber?”

  “She said you two were going on a date.”

  “What?”

  “She said you two were going on a ride together, the day I went missing. Were you?”

  His mouth tightened. “No, she asked me the previous day if I wanted to go on a ride with her, but I declined.”

  “You did? So she did lie?”

  “Yes, she lied,” he replied icily.