Shadow of My Heart - By Caryn Moya-Block Page 0,13
from shock and the cold of Shadow. Tears still leaked from her eyes as her breath shuddered.
“Hang on, baby,” Raven said, walking down the hall and laying her on the hospital bed.
“Miss Hamilton, I’m not sure you remember me. We met at the awards dinner. I’m Dr. Rick White Fox. Just call me Dr. Rick. Now what exactly happened?”
Raven reached over and drew a sheet across Cara’s body, while he told how she had been thrown from the horse. Rick might be a doctor, but Cara wouldn’t like being exposed. Raven held her hand on the uninjured arm. He needed to touch her, to feel her with him.
Rick called for a technician to bring in a portable x-ray machine. Forcing Raven to give up his position at Cara’s side, Rick checked her pupils and took her pulse and blood pressure. Raven gritted his teeth, the need to hold Cara was a compulsion. The technician hurried in and took an x-ray of the injured arm. Rick gave Cara a shot of pain medicine while they waited for the results. Raven moved back to her side and feathered a kiss to her temple. Reaching for her hand, he poured reassurance into her mind with his telepathy.
“Quiet Thunder said he was going to come in,” Raven said. “I think he intends to heal her.”
“Really? That always takes such a lot out of him. I can set the bone and put her in a cast. It’ll be six weeks of healing time, though.”
“He said to set it and wait for him,” Raven insisted.
Thank goodness, Cara seemed to be drifting from the medicine. Except for her tight grip on his hand, she wasn’t responding much. Her tears had stopped. Raven wished he could wash the dirt and grime from her face. His heart still thudded painfully in his chest from the fear of watching her fall. He could have lost her today. She could have broken more than her arm, or fallen from the side of the mountain. Thinking about it, he shuddered.
“I’m right here, Raven,” Cara whispered to him as she gave his hand a squeeze.
“I know, baby. You scared the hell out of me.”
“Well, the good news is you don’t need surgery to set the bone,” Dr. Rick said, after looking at the x-ray. “The bad news is we’re going to have to immobilize your whole arm.”
Cara moaned. How was she going to get through the rest of the school year with her whole arm in a cast? How did they get here anyway? She hurt so badly. She remembered Raven picking her up, but did she faint?
They had gone into the dark, and she had felt a cold so sharp it took her breath away. The cold sunk into her very bones till she ached with it. Then, they were here. She must have passed out. But what happened to her shirt? She didn’t remember the doctor taking it off and where were her boots? Why did her left breast burn? Did she cut it when she fell? Thank goodness, Raven was here to look out for her. She must be drugged up pretty good to forget so much. Raven leaned down and kissed her hair.
“Just rest, baby. We’ll get things fixed up for you.”
Cara picked up Raven’s thoughts, but that often happened when she touched someone. Now they were clearer, and it wasn’t one fleeting thought or memory. She and Raven seemed connected somehow. When she could think about what was happening, she knew he felt the pain in her arm, while she felt his fear for her well being. But she was confused from the pain medication. Forcing herself to think became an exercise in futility.
“Sleep, Little Mother,” Quiet Thunder said. “Did you set the bone, Rick? Raven, light the sage. I want to get your mate healed so you can come back to the ranch. I need to talk to you about some things.”
Cara drifted. She heard a drum beat, felt the vibration deep in her heart. The smell of sage filled the air. A voice, aged and rich, chanted . . .
Chapter Four
Cara woke slowly. She looked up at the ceiling and realized she was no longer at the clinic, but lying in a regular bed. Raven’s arm was draped across her. His tanned skin contrasted with her white flesh. She glanced up at his sleeping face. What happened? What time was it?
She sat up in bed. A small clock on the bedside table let her know it