Page 58 of Savage King

“Who took Tessa, Skathi!” Odin demanded, he shot to his feet, hurrying toward his bike, urgency flooding him. He needed to get to her. Skathi grunted, the sound pained. Alarm shattered the last of his calm. “Are you okay, baby? Tell me you’re okay!”

“Jus-just come, please….” Silence followed, and Odin knew horror for the first time in his life.

“Skathi, baby, you got to wake up. Please….” The desperation in Odin’s voice make Skathi jerk, her heart twisting in her chest.

“Skathi?” The desperation turned to hope. “Come on, show me those gorgeous golden eyes.”

She groaned, slowly lifting a shaking hand to her head.

“I feel like a bus loaded with elephants ran over my head. Twice,” she moaned, licking desert dry lips.

“Here, drink this,” a new,female, voice murmured softly as the tip of a straw brushed against her mouth. “Slowly.”

She took slow, deep pulls of clean, cool water.

“I’m Dr. Simpson,” the woman offered, her kind hazel eyes observing Skathi as she spoke. “How are you feeling? Dizzy? Headache? Blurry vision?”

“No, yes, and no.”

She hummed then turned to pick through a large black bag on the floor.

“I have some Advil or I can give you some Vicodin, whichever you prefer. But, keep in mind, the Vicodin is a little stronger. It’ll take away the pain, but it’ll also make you loopy.”

“Advil,” Skathi blurted. She couldn’t take the opioid, not if she was going to get her friend back. She needed to be clear headed not hopped up on drugs. Tessa was counting on her.

After another quick check of Skathi’s eyes, Dr. Simpson stood up and gathered her things.

Odin stood as well, reaching out to shake the doctor’s hand.

“Thanks for coming, Liz. I know it was probably awkward to get my call, but—”

She shook her head, cutting off whatever else Odin was going to say. “It’s my job to help those who need me. While it was strange to get a call from you out of the blue, I wasn’t going to disregard a patient just because coming here is that last thing I ever wanted to do.”

Odin stared at her, a look of understanding and concern on his face.

Those two had a history. There was something there that neither one of them was willing to talk about, and Skathi hated that—once again—there was something Odin wasn’t going to share.

Give him a chance.

Give him all the chances.

You love him!

Yes, she did, but that didn’t mean she was okay with being left out in the cold, on the periphery of his heart, instead of on the inside where the love, true intimacy, and soul deep connection resided.

“Whose Merc is that outs—” Trouble stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the woman beside Odin, his eyes wide. Shock. Pure, unadulterated shock. Whoever this woman was to Trouble, he wasn’t expecting to see her.

“Skizzy?” he murmured hoarsely, as if, for a moment, he’d forgotten how to speak.

Dr. Simpson jerked, her frame snapping straight, her expression gone from warm with Odin to absolute chilly disdain with Trouble.

Whoa. There was a story there. But her head hurt far too much to want to dissect all she was witnessing.

“Don’t call me that,Erik,” Dr. Simpson snapped, gripping her bag against her chest like a shield over her heart. She tore her glare from Trouble to glance at Skathi in the bed. “I will call to check in with you tomorrow. I gave Odin my card, so you can call me before then if your symptoms get worse.”

She didn’t say another word, hurrying from the room like her hind end was on fire and the hounds of hell were nipping at her heels.

Trouble turned to hollow her retreat with his gaze. A gaze filled with questions, anger…and so much pain.

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