“He is of the forest then,” Tama said.
Drake scowled when Rio nodded. “It would be unlikely that you wouldn’t recognize the scent.”
“The stench is still on Fritz,” Rio challenged, “see if you can tell me who it was.”
“Send Franz out,” Drake said. “He looks hungry.”
“Be careful,” Rachael warned, “he attacked me. Viciously, I might add.”
Drake’s scowl deepened. “He attacked you?”
Rachael nodded. “And he bit me, so just be careful around him. He has teeth like a saber-toothed tiger.”
“It wasn’t Franz,” Rio pointed out, “it was Fritz who actually bit you.”
“Does it matter?” Drake burst out. “The animal really attacked you? You’re lucky to be alive.”
“I want Tama to take a look at her leg after he finishes with Kim,” Rio said. He peered at Rachael’s face closely. “You’re breaking out in a sweat. Are you getting too tired, because I’ll put you back in bed. She hasn’t been up at all yet and I don’t want her to overdo.”
“Let me see,” Tama said, looking up from where he was smearing paste over his brother’s bare back.
It was Rio who pulled the blanket away from Rachael’s leg, revealing the swollen mass of punctures and lacerations. The two puncture wounds drained continually and it wasn’t a pretty sight. Rachael was embarrassed.
Drake winced visibly. “My God, Rio, that must hurt like hell. Does she have an infection? We have to take her to a hospital.”
Rachael shook her head, shrinking back into the protection of Rio’s larger body. “No, I told you, Rio, I can’t go to a hospital.”
Kim and Tama examined her leg carefully. “She’s right, Rio. If you take her to a hospital, even under a false name, one of Tomas’s spies will hear of it and let him know. Some are paid, some fear him, some just want the association, but they will give her up to him. You cannot protect her in that environment.”
“I don’t want anyone to risk their life by trying to protect me,” Rachael protested. “My leg is healing fine. I’m way better than I was a few days ago, ask Rio. As soon as I can travel, I’ll be on my way. I won’t have anyone risking their life for me.”
Rio reached across her to lace his fingers through hers. “Rachael, no one is going to turn you over to Tomas, and you’re not just going to walk into the forest alone. It doesn’t work that way.”
Rachael wanted to argue with him that it wasexactly that way, but she wouldn’t do it in front of the others. For all his relaxed appearance, Rachael felt the tension coiled tightly in Rio. She knew him, inside and out. He was a stranger, yet all too familiar. He was uncomfortable in such close proximity to the others, although she could tell he felt a camaraderie for them. Without conscious thought she moved closer to him, shif ting her weight until she was nestled beneath his shoulder, fitting into his frame as if she were born there. It was a movement of protection and he felt it.
Rio looked down at the top of her curly head. So much hair. Thick and black like a raven’s wing. Curls rioting in all directions. His fingers slipped into the thick mass, rubbed and caressed the curls, watched as they coiled around his thumb. The gesture was completely familiar, was something he did automatically for comfort, for a connection between them. He would never get used to being around people, not even those he called friend, but Rachael was different, was a part of him. Belonged with him.
“Is your wrist broken?” Tama asked her, obviously concerned. “How did that happen? In the river?”
Rachael looked at the makeshift splint. Her leg always hurt so much, she almost never remembered her wrist. “Rio thinks it’s broken. He splinted it, and to be honest, I hardly notice it.”
Emotion welled up, nearly choking Rio. It took him a few moments to realize it was happiness. The warmth of joy spread through his body. It had been such a long while since he’d experienced the feeling he barely recognized it for what it was. Rachael didn’t want to tell the others that he had been responsible for her injury. It shouldn’t have mattered to him, but it did.
“Rio.” Drake said his name sharply. “This traitor, the one you say was here last night, he had to be looking for her.”
“I thought he’d been sent to assassinate me, that he’d joined with the bandits for the reward, but with a million dollars at stake, I doubt if they gave me a thought,” Rio said wryly. He leaned over Rachael, a smile tugging at his mouth. “I guess you’re worth a lot more than I am.”
“She’s prettier too,” Drake teased.
“Well, you don’t need to be looking.”
Kim and Tama sank down onto the floor beside the chair, pushing the blanket from Rachael’s leg to examine the wounds up close. Rachael could see the terrible marks crisscrossing Kim’s back. “It makes me sick to know they did that because of me. I know you don’t think it’s my fault, but it feels that way.”
Kim smiled up at her. “All of us have things we are responsible for. There is little value in taking on what you can’t control. Let it go.”
Rachael wished it was that easy. She looked away from him to stare out the window into the wild green foliage. The leaves appeared feathery, the creepers wild and twisted green ropes while orchids vied with brilliantly colored fungi for space among the other flowers growing on the thick tree trunks and branches. It was beautiful and primitive and called to something inside of her. She longed to disappear into the deepest forest, simply become something else, something untouchable and wild and free.
She felt it first in her chest, a tightness making it nearly impossible to breathe. Then it was a fire in her stomach, muscles contracting and stretching. Heat seared her flesh, her bones, sizzled in every organ.