Page 2 of Her Avenging Angel

Raven had already noticed the bruise developing over her ribs on that side. Seeing them made him want to teach the sorry piece of shit who’d left the print a lesson, before he made sure the fucker would never do this to another woman. Ever.

Once they had her on the blanket, Raven folded it around her, covering as much of her body as possible while leaving her face uncovered. He could only imagine how much she must be hurting, even if she was unconscious, and knew if it were him waking up hurting like that and with his face covered, he’d fight. He didn’t want her, whoever she was, to wake up and hurt herself worse by fighting so he kept her face uncovered. It would also let him know right away if she started to wake up.

He picked her up as gently as he could, making sure it was her right side against him not the bruised side where Freud had said she had possible broken ribs.

“One of you grab that and roll it back up.” He jerked his head toward the tarp still lying on the ground, then carried the girl to his bike.

Raven fumbled for a moment, but finally managed to get onto his bike and get her positioned across his lap, without jostling her too much. Once he was settled and had her head leaning against his left shoulder, he was almost ready to pull out.

“I’ll put this on my bike with my bag,” Freud said as he walked by lifting the rolled tarp in one hand.

Raven nodded at the medic and waited for Panther to pass him. “Is Bear on his way?”

“He is, but I don’t know how long it will take him to get out here. At least twenty or thirty minutes.”

Raven nodded. He knew how long the trip was. As he waited while the other men made it to their bikes, Raven turned to Diesel.

“We’re going to take it easy. Once we’re across the county line I want to keep going, at least a little ways. I would prefer it doesn’t look like we just crossed the line into our territory if someone spots us with her. If everything goes well, we’ll keep going until we meet Bear. If it doesn’t go well, or if she starts to wake up, I’ll signal and pull off again.”

The Angels’ road captain didn’t say anything but nodded his understanding.

Raven moved carefully, starting his engine, then cranking the accelerator and steering out onto the road after making sure there wasn’t anyone coming. Because of the bundle in his arms, Raven didn’t mind when everyone dropped back a bit, even Diesel, so they could watch in case he had any problems or gave any hand signals.

They made it the two and a half miles to the county line without any issues. They hadn’t seen any vehicles at all, which was a relief, at least to Raven. The woman was still out, and while it wasn’t the safest way to ride, she was secure for the moment, so he kept going. The sooner they could get her to the clubhouse and Freud could do what he could for her, the better Raven would feel about it.

He glanced down at her face, making sure she was still out, before he turned his attention back to the road. The light lacing of dark lashes against her bruised and swollen face made his stomach churn. Once she was able to talk to him about it, he would find out who had done this to her, then they would pay.

Chapter Two

The first thing Taylynnwas aware of was she didn’t hurt as bad as before. It was more of a dull throb now instead of the sharp, stabbing pain that had been so insistent for so long. She had hurt so bad before, she hadn’t cared if she died.

Before when?Something had happened to her, but what? She searched her mind, and while she remembered how she’d gotten hurt, or at least most of it. Then she remembered waking in the brush off the side of the road somewhere she didn’t recognize. The pain had been nearly overpowering, but something told her that if she didn’t move, then she would die there and no one would find her body any time soon, if ever.

She’d done her best to ignore the pain, to crawl toward the highway, hoping she could get close enough that someone would see her, and maybe stop. Or if she didn’t survive, maybe she would get close enough that at least her body would be found. Though, why she hated the idea of no one finding her body, she wasn’t sure.

“Hold on, sweetheart, I’ve just got a couple of things left I need to do, then we’ll let you rest.” The deep rumble of a voice she didn’t recognize penetrated the haze that surrounded her brain, and the fog of pain she was doing her best to swim to the surface of. “Just relax, sweetheart. I’ll get you fixed up as good as I can. You’ll heal, then you can tell us who did this to you.”

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