Page 98 of Deserving Lara
“I want to meet you,” she blurted. “You saved my life.Ourlives.”
“You did that all on your own,” Lucas said, refusing to accept her praise. “But I’ll do what I can to make a meeting happen. Now, go.”
Almost robotically, Lara unclenched her hands from around the controls and took off the headset. She turned to Owl just as their rescuers reached them.
After that, things moved very fast. She was whisked from the helicopter as Owl was removed and placed on a stretcher. She was escorted to an ambulance, where Owl was placed in the back. She had to sit up front, but she turned and watched through the small window as the paramedics worked on Owl.
There had been so much blood. His seat in the chopper was soaked, and the sheets on the gurney quickly turned red as it continued to flow.
There was no way anyone could live with that much blood loss…could they?
Once they arrived at the hospital, Owl was wheeled down a hall, while Lara was gently but firmly led to a small room. She spent at least two hours going over everything that happened with the police. Then when the FBI arrived, she had to start all over. She had no idea where the island was located, but she told the authorities the name of the airport where they’d been kidnapped, and said Lucas could probably tell them at least the area where he’d picked up her signal. She also begged them to find Stone. Gave them the little information she had, which wasn’t much, and tried not to take their unencouraging looks personally.
When the door opened for what seemed like the hundredth time, Lara didn’t even look up. She was exhausted, scared, and having one hell of an adrenaline dump. She didn’t want to talk to anyone else. She only wanted to see Owl. She was told he’d been brought into surgery to try to repair the hole in his artery, but that was all she knew.
When she heard her name being spoken in a gentle yet familiar voice, Lara looked up in surprise. Standing in the doorway was Alaska.
And everyone else from The Refuge.
Well…almost all of them. As her gaze flicked from face to face, she didn’t see Tiny, but the remaining men and their women were there.
Lara burst into tears, unable to hold them back anymore. Seeing her friends, knowing they’d have her back, she let her guard fall. She was finally safe…
But without Owl, she wasn’t sure she could ever be whole again.
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
The first sound Owl heard when he regained consciousness was an annoying, relentless beeping. The second was quiet laughter. And he’d recognize that laugh anywhere.
Lara.
He felt floaty from whatever painkillers were coursing through his veins, but he remembered everything…up until he’d passed out. But Lara had obviously flown them to safety, just as he knew she could. He was so damn proud of her, he could burst.
He managed to crack his eyes open and saw Lara sitting next to his bed. Now that he was waking up, he realized his hand was held gently in hers. She was looking at their friends, smiling tiredly at Cora, who was sitting next to her. Owl saw Pipe standing behind Cora, his hand on her shoulder.
Involuntarily, his fingers tightened on Lara’s. Her head immediately whipped toward him.
“Hey,” Owl croaked. He hated how dry his mouth and lips felt, didn’t like the smell of hospitals—he’d had enough of them after he’d been a POW to last a lifetime. But waking up to Lara, and his friends, made the experience not so awful.
“Owl!” she practically yelled. She leapt from her seat and leaned over him. “Owl?” she said a little softer.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
His Lara chuckled and shook her head. “Yeah, it’syouwe’re all worried about. You had to go and catch a bullet with your leg and because you’re an overachiever, it nicked an artery and you almost freaking bled to death!”
“Sorry,” Owl said. But he was smiling as he said it. He was so damn happy to be alive that he couldn’t get upset about a bullet wound. But then his smile dimmed as he thought about everything else that happened.
“Grant?” he asked.
“Dead,” Pipe said from behind Lara.
She slowly eased back down in the chair next to the bed but didn’t let go of his hand, which Owl appreciated.
“We all flew up to Seattle the second we found out you guys were in trouble. But before we could even put any plans in motion, Tex called and told us you were on your way to the hospital. While you were lazing around, sleeping in the OR, we rescued Lara from an interrogation by the FBI, got her fed, and even though we insisted she lay down and get some sleep, she refused to leave your side. She got us caught up with everything that happened. Brick and Spike are working with Tex to try to find Stone. Tonka’s on watch with the other ladies, back at the hotel.”
It was a lot to absorb right then. Owl frowned. “You haven’t found Stone?”
“Not yet. But we will,” Pipe said firmly.
