Chapter 9

Nine

H olden and Riley flanked her on either side of the hospital bed, hulking over her like two Neanderthals. From beneath half hooded eyes, she watched her men. Smoke still clung to their clothes and bits and pieces of ash were still in their hair. Black soot streaked across their cheeks from their failed attempt to wash it off.

The ER doctors had been wonderful to her, but she didn't understand why they wanted to keep her overnight for a few light burns on her leg and a bump on the head when she felt fine, just exhausted by the crazy shit she'd just gone through. What normal person wouldn't be?

"Did they give any indication of why she needs to stay?" Holden asked Riley, who answered with a shrug.

"Not a clue."

"While you guys were out, the nurse said the doctor would be in shortly to talk to me." Zahara pushed up on the bed and cringed from the bruises and aches in her muscles. Oh yeah, come morning those puppies would be black and blue and she wouldn't be surprised if her legs refused to move.

"Hey, baby. Are you okay?" The right side of her bed dipped as Riley eased down. "Do you want us to bring your computer? How about your phone? Or you could just use the hospital phone."

She must have looked confused because Riley pointed at the phone and added, "Your sister. She'll want to know you are all right."

Right. She smiled to comfort him and ease the tension from his face. She knew he and Holden only worried about her. "Riley, I'm fine. My phone would be nice, though. Thank you. Ivy is probably worried sick and wondering why I didn't make my flight."

"You didn't call her and tell her?"

"I was slung over someone's shoulder and didn't get the chance. Remember." She arched a brow at Holden, who sheepishly gave a half tilt to his lips. "Yeah. Gotcha."

"You sure you're okay? Does anything hurt or feel wrong?" Riley ran his hands up and down her arms before he moved to her midsection and then her legs, inspecting every inch of her for his satisfaction, she mused.

"Yeah, just a little tired after all the fuss and the adrenaline crash gave a slight headache. But you guys," she trailed a hand up their arms, "how are you?"

She sat up fully. "What about the others? Jin, Rebel? Are they okay? The cabin?" She swiped at the dampness on her lashes. "Was everything lost?" She looked between them.

"Shhh… take it easy. You took a nasty fall and a bump to your head… you'll be seeing stars for hours if you move too fast." Holden pressed a hand on her shoulder, adding in a quieter voice, "A part of the cabin was saved, but we'll probably tear it down. Rebuild. Start over. Everything else will regrow."

She guessed change, good or bad, was inevitable even if forced on you like Ashwood senior had done.

"But we don't care about that. We only care about you." Riley reached for a bottle of water and held it to her lips. "From the first moment you walked into Damon's bar with your cute smile and teacher's air of innocence, it's always been about you. Everyone else doesn't matter."

Holden tightened his hold around her hand giving her strength to ask the hard questions.

"Riley what about your father? Your mom and sister?" She asked in a quiet tone. "What happens now?"

He placed a gentle hand over her bandages on her leg and head.

"I honestly don't know. My mother will have to figure out what matters most to her and my sister, well, we've always been close. I'm sure now, without my father's overwhelming presence she'll spread her wings a little."

Zahara wound her fingers around Riley's. "And you? You can't keep pushing forward and ignoring what happened today."

Riley stood quiet for a moment drinking all of her in with his eyes. Like he couldn't believe she was there in front of him.

"My father is lucky you were not harmed today is all I'll say on the topic, baby girl or he wouldn't have been the one wearing the cuffs. Nothing else needs saying. We lose you and the fucking world will burn from our wrath."

"Riley, that's not like you," she offered with a half trembling smile. All the anger and fear she held earlier gave away to even more love for the men by her side. "You can't love me so much that you forsake your people. Yourself. I won't accept that."

She watched as Riley stalked over to the window on the far side of the room and leaned against the frame. Late afternoon sunlight spilled through the slatted curtains to cast a broken shadow over the man obviously tormented by his past. Anger that ass-hat father of his bore into him. Helpless from her hospital bed, she gazed out the window and accepted the small gift of sunlight. She would never take the small things in life for granted after today.

"We'll talk more about this when we get home." Holden soothed her with a hand over hers.

"Home." Another gift.

Holden's dark head tilted, his mouth turning up into a wide grin. "Which is another topic we'll need to discuss. I'm going to miss the quiet time we had up at the cabin. Just the three of us." He raised her hand to his mouth and kissed the tips of each of her fingers. "We had planned on fucking you long and hard by the waterfall."

Riley turned from the window. "Which we did."

Wow. What was it about these two men that left her breathless? She smiled at them both. "I remember."

"Then we'd planned on tying you up to our bed and covering every part of your body in our milk."

"Tits, ass, and pussy. You would have been dripping with our cum."

Her mouth fell open a little. Wow. Her body thrummed with an instant rush of need.

"Mr. Savage. Mr. Ashwood. Be glad that part of your ‘plan' failed or your day would have turned out completely different." They all turned to the door and the newcomer to the room and Zahara wanted to melt into the floor. Red. Her face, neck and every other part of her body had to be red with embarrassment.

"If you don't mind, can I have a moment to talk with Ms. Kennedy?"

Both growled low in their throat and the doctor stiffened, but Zahara didn't think it was out of fear. "We stay."

The doctor cocked a hip and looked like a force to be reckoned with. "If you think you can intimidate me you have it all wrong. You tough mountain men are all the same. Broody beasts on the outside and big teddy bears on the inside the second you fall in love."

Zahara hid a smile. The local doctor wagged a finger at Riley and Holden, a clipboard in one hand and a permanent smug grin on her face that she wielded against Zahara's guys like a weapon. Dr. Rachel was a regular at Savage Fire. Their favorite topic was the doctor's over-energetic son and Zahara's favorite student.

Every Rachel she'd ever met had steel balls and an attitude to go with it. She knew her friend not to be any different with her cocked hip and unwavering stare.

"Zahara," she said with a frown, "believe me, this is something you and I should discuss first."

"It's okay, Doc." She didn't want to go from hospital bed to jailhouse to bail them out and that was exactly where this was headed if the subject was pushed. If she had to wonder if they loved her, the answer stood in front of her as clear as the white walls and beeping heart monitor. "Really. It's okay. What you have to say you can say in front of them."

"Sorry, if you are unmarried and unrelated it's hospital policy to have the room cleared."

Now she began to worry.

"We'll step out," Holden offered, thank goodness, "but we'll be right outside the door if you need us."

They both leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"I'm sorry they are a little overprotective," she offered as the door closed behind them.

"Sweetheart, as they should be. You guys did a shitty job of keeping your romance hidden by the way." Her friend slid onto the edge of her bed and patted her foot. About the only place that didn't hurt. "I know for a fact you haven't had a check-up in the last year since you haven't been in to see me. I don't suppose you can tell me when was the last time you did have a checkup?"

Zahara's eyes glazed over and her mind threatened to go back there. The pale green hospital room where she learned she would never be a real wife to anyone. Never know the feeling of holding her newborn. She was lucky to even walk again, they said, but all she felt for weeks afterward was void—hollow. Like a black hole swallowed her whole. She worked her throat past the dryness that clamped like a vise, fingers already working the ends of her hair.

"A year ago next month." Oh god, what did they find? Her heart rattled in her chest and heat bloomed across her body. The beeping from the heart machine ricocheted off the walls and grew louder and faster every second.

The door bounced off the back wall and her eyes sprang open to see Holden and Riley's golden eyes flared with anger.

"What the fuck is going on, Doc?"

"Mr. Savage, Mr. Ashwood," the doctor warned.

Her breathing came fast. What if she had something incurable? What if she died and left Holden and Riley. They would be devastated. What if?—

"Zahara, breathe. You're okay. That's it, in and out."

Rachel signaled Holden and Riley over. "You can stay as long as you calm her down."

Zahara tried but nothing she did worked to slow her racing heartbeat.

Both men took her hands and slowly the stars began to fade one tiny dot at a time. "Why do you guys have to have so much lead up?" she managed as her breathing took on a more normal pattern.

"I was trying to tell you, but you went into panic mode." The doctor patted her foot from the end of the bed. "You can't expect me to tell you congratulations when you look like you are going to pass out."

She stared, mouth wide open. "You're not saying what I think you're saying, are you?"

Holden and Riley stayed silent for the first time she could remember. Their grip became tighter.

"Yes. We don't know for sure how far along you are just yet. We'll need to do an ultrasound for that, but you are definitely in your first trimester."

"What? I'm sorry that can't be. You see, I can't have children." Her heart sank. The false hope this gave the men would kill them when they discovered her tests somehow got mixed up with some other lucky couple.

"I assure you, Zahara, it's very real. I would guess no more than two months along."

"Doc, seriously? We used condoms. You know safety and all that…" She let her words trail off.

"Yes, Holden, Riley. I assume it's the three of you in this unorthodox relationship."

Riley pegged her with a so what kind of glare.

"I'm not judging," she added, holding her hands up. "But I am saying you are all going to be parents come February or March."

"The fall. The hit she took. Is she okay? Did it hurt the baby or her?"

She forgave Riley and Holden acting as though she wasn't lying in the bed between them. Anything to get the answers they all wanted faster.

"Thankfully, Riley, you took most of the impact as I understand it." The doctor looked at her for confirmation and Zahara nodded.

"Good. You guys were lucky this time. If I were you, I'd stay out of the way of fires or anything else that puts you in harm's way."

"Yes, ma'am." Given the same circumstances, she would do it again, though. There was no her without both of her men.

"So yes." Rachel looked at her. "Your baby is fine. I wanted to keep you overnight but the last few hours have shown that you'll be fine. You can go home now, but if you plan on staying in Savage Ridge, I'd like to see you back here next week for prenatal care and a full checkup. If anything comes up or you have any questions, I'm always on call." Her friend gave her a warm smile.

Holden took the card the doctor offered.

Zahara melted into the bed as her attention zoned out. Riley's father would hunt her down and make sure the world never knew Zahara Kennedy ever existed. Then he'd put his son in the morgue—his words—and not bother with having to transport their bodies back here.

Despite everything Zahara's heart did a two-step. Pregnant. She was going to be a mother?

When they were finally alone, she looked between both Holden and Riley. "Guys, I wanna get married."