Berserker's Rage (3 page)

* * * *

Hal was ready to rip the hospital and its staff apart. For fucksake, they couldn’t even keep watch on one patient. Felicity had just woken from a medically induced coma less than twenty-four hours ago, and already she was fighting to get free. He pulled his phone out, dialing Mr. Evans cell number.

“Hal, how are you doing?” Mr. Evans answered, clearly happy to hear from him. He hated to give the older man bad news.

Running his hand over his bristled jaw, Hal took a deep breath. “I’ve been better, sir. You need to move Felicity to a private facility, or hire a private nurse. I’m sorry to say, had I not shown up when I did, your daughter would be face down on the tile floor, undoing all the surgery she’s gone through.”

“What the hell are you talking about, son?” He asked angrily.

He explained what had happened. The pitiful sounds she’d made still rang in his ears. Mr. Evans assured him he’d have it taken care of, and Hal knew Rand was a man of his word.

It had been two weeks since he’d found her beaten, and he still shuddered, remembering the image of what her face had looked like. Covered in blood and having no true shape anymore, thanks to the bastard Hal had killed, she had been minutes from dying, Hal was sure. From what he’d read from the other victims reports, the monsters would have continued with their torture of her body.

He walked back into Felicity’s room after disconnecting the call. She was hooked up to half a dozen monitors and had more tubes running out of her than he cared to count, but what bothered him the most was the bandages. Her entire head was wrapped in white gauze. Even her eyes had been covered, keeping the light from filtering into her newly made eyelids while she was sleeping.

They estimated she’d been hit no less than six times on each side of her face, shattering her jaws, her cheekbones and her right eye socket along with her nose. The attacker had worn a ring with spikes that tore into her flesh as he’d pummeled her.

“I didn’t think she’d wake up, and especially didn’t think she’d try to get out of bed. I’m so very sorry, sir.”

Hal looked down at a small, young nurse. He concluded she was the one who’d gone off to use the ladies room, leaving Felicity alone. She stood wringing her hands, and he could tell she was truly remorseful, and he felt like a dick, but this was his…his what?

“It’s very important she not be left alone. First of all, one of her attackers is still at large. Second, she could have been seriously injured. If you need to leave you call for backup. We clear?” He looked her in the eye and watched her swallow and nod.

“Absolutely. We aren’t in danger though, are we? I mean by the people responsible for doing this to her?” She waved toward Felicity.

He shook his head. “The doctors don’t believe she will have any memory, and even if she did, I couldn’t tell you what they looked like, so I can’t imagine she could either. Why don’t you take your lunch break? I’m going to be here for a couple hours.”

His vacation was officially over due to a wildfire in Texas. His team had been called in, leaving him no other choice but to fly out. Sitting next to the bed, he placed his hand over her much smaller one. The difference in their sizes were stark in the white room. Her nails had been broken and bloody when she’d been brought into the hospital. In the last two weeks someone had come in and painted them a soft pink, probably her mother. He rubbed his callused fingers over the tips and marveled at the blue veins running up her arms from each hand. Hal didn’t know how she’d survived such a beating with such delicate fingers.

Rage threatened to consume him, his berserker closer to the surface anytime he thought of her attack. He took a deep breath and then let it out. Time passed by while he concentrated on soothing his inner beast, and holding onto Felicity. He swore he felt her in his mind, calming him as well. Wishful thinking, but it seemed to bring him back down unlike anything else. He’d never felt as out of control as he’d been since the night she’d been attacked. His sleep had been in small increments, waking from a nightmare he swore wasn’t his own. The need to check on Felicity rode him so hard after one of the dreams, he would jump in the shower and be at the hospital before visiting hours. The Evans money was the only reason he’d been allowed to come and go as he pleased. Now, he didn’t know how he’d function, being unable to visit her daily. Maybe the distance would be good for him.

“I’m leaving today
, ma petite.
I have to go back to work. There’s a huge fire down in Texas. My team’s been called in since they couldn’t contain it. We have a special set of skills,” Hal said and then looked up when her monitor beeped as if something happened.

The door swooshed open, its sound one he’d gotten used to. Hal didn’t turn from looking down at the hand he held.

“Hi, Hal. I heard my baby gave you quite the scare today.” Mrs. Evans kissed the top of his head.

Hal smiled at Felicity’s mother. “That’s putting it a bit mildly. How are you, Mrs. Evans?”

She straightened her designer jacket. “Well, now that I’m aware there are deficiencies here, I will be making plans to move my daughter to a better facility. We’d had plans to do so, but wanted to wait until she’d woken from the coma. Clearly, she’s out of the danger zone. My husband and I are looking at options.”

He watched her walk to the other side of the bed and wince at the prone form of her daughter. Mrs. Evans picked up Felicity’s hand and bent to place a gentle kiss on the only uninjured part she could find. He was amazed the woman didn’t seem to mind touching her less than perfect daughter.

“I got called out on a fire. I’m leaving for Texas in less than six hours. My cell will be with me except when I’m in the middle of a hotspot or the zone. I’ll check my messages when I get back to base and call you when I can for an update on her status.”

Mrs. Evans shook her head. “Hal, while I appreciate what you did for my daughter, and my family, we knew you had to leave at some point. I’m glad you were here as long as you were, but please don’t feel it’s necessary. You don’t even know Fliss. You don’t know that is her nickname, or that her favorite color is rainbow. Such a silly thing for a girl to say. But there you have it. That’s my Fliss.” She wiped away a tear and smiled across at him. “I’ll tell her about the big blond Viking who saved her life, and therefore mine. If she wants to contact you, I’ll give her your information.”

Hal felt like someone stabbed him in the heart and was twisting the knife. If Felicity wanted to contact him her mother would give her his information. He was to leave and hope and pray to get a phone call someday. He didn’t even know what the sound of her voice was like.

He didn’t trust himself to say anything, wasn’t sure his own voice wouldn’t crack, so he nodded. Hal realized he still held Felicity’s hand. It seemed like her fingers had tightened around his, but the doctors had said the nerves twitched and that was a normal phenomenon. He didn’t think to question the fact she was no longer in a coma, and that her nerves were no longer trying to come back on board because they were already awake. He gave the delicate fingers another squeeze and bent his head, his blond hair blocking his view of her mother. He kissed her bruised knuckles, a tear he fought to keep back dropped onto her hand. Hal rubbed the moisture into her skin, careful his salty tear didn’t touch any of her wounds.

“Goodbye,
ma petite
. I will see you again.” Hal released her hand and walked out the door, hearing the swooshing sound of the door close behind him seemed like the finale to a movie. He wanted to punch a hole in the wall, go back and break the door down so he didn’t have to hear that sound again. Hal didn’t do either of those. He put one foot in front of the other and pulled his phone from his pocket.

“Brax, I need you man. I feel like I’m dying here. You need to do that mind bending shit you do so I won’t remember her.”

“Slow down, Hal. What’s going on?” The sound of fabric shifting could be heard.

Hal explained how Mrs. Evans told him to leave and not come back.

“Fuck her and the horse she road in on. Listen, you feel a connection to this woman?” Brax asked.

“Yes. The night she was attacked I wasn’t even supposed to be in that area. I mean, do I look like the Beverly Hills boutiqueish type? I’d just got done surfing with the guys and decided to go for a ride. I parked my rental on the side of the road and started walking. Mindlessly walking. I can’t explain what was drawing me, but my legs kept moving and something was telling me to go a certain way. The next thing I know I had supersonic hearing, or some shit. Now, I’m supposed to forget all about her, unless she calls me. I can’t unless you do your thing.” He walked outside, ignoring everyone walking around him.

Brax sighed. “Hal, I can’t do that. You won’t be happy if I did. You’ll always be missing a piece of your soul. Trust me on this. Get your ass down here to Texas, and then when this is over, you and me will head to Cali for a little convo with Mrs. Evans.”

“God damn, Brax. I can’t stand feeling like someone just ran over my heart. I don’t even know anything about her, or what the sound of her voice could be like, and I miss her. Fuck I sound like a stalker. I’m hanging up now and getting my shit together, figuratively, and physically. I’ll see you in a few hours.” Hal hit the end button on the phone and shoved it into his pocket. He thought of deleting the Evans’ numbers from his phone, but changed his mind.

What he thought would be a quick job, turned out to be one long assignment after another. He’d lost track of time, and hadn’t thought of the month. The busiest times of the year for the smokejumpers were between April and June. Hal shrugged his backpack off, dropping it near his feet. He and the rest of his crew had just finished beating back a huge fire. Night had fallen, and it had been over two weeks since he’d heard anything about Felicity. He’d tried calling her mother, only to get her voicemail each time. Finally he’d decided to wait until he was finished with the fire, and head back to California. This time he was taking Brax with him.

“Still no word about your girl?” Brax asked, handing him a bottle of water.

Hal shook his head, the light from the overhead moon lending them sufficient lighting to see by. They’d already packed up their gear and were waiting on their pickup. “I fear her mom’s going to change her number.”

Brax squeezed his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. You know I’ve got contacts.”

That would normally settle everything, except he didn’t think things were quite the way they seemed.

The next morning as they were preparing to leave, Brax’s phone rang. Hal’s nerves, already stretched thin, ratcheted up another ten notches. He knew before Brax hung up he wasn’t going to like what his friend and captain had to say. When the other man looked at him with sorrow and shook his head, he dropped his duffel.

“What’s wrong?” Hal asked.

Without prevaricating, Brax told him about another fire. Their team was being called since they were the closest firefighter crew with the right skills. Hal wanted to throw up his middle finger and walk out the door, but lives were at stake, while Felicity would still be healing. He’d go out and do his job, then he’d hop on the first plane to Beverly Hills.

“At least we got a good night sleep,” Brax said as he hung up his phone.

* * * *

It had been over eight weeks since she’d woken up after she’d been attacked. Felicity was ready to have the last of her bandages removed, and see what kind of damage she was going to have to face for the rest of her life. She shuddered, thinking of the pain she’d endured at the fists of the man intent on causing her as much destruction as he could. The sound of the woman laughing rang in her ears, and in her nightmares.

The echo of her mother’s distinctive clip clop walk could be heard long before her overly obnoxious perfume could be smelled. Felicity wanted to tell her mother to stop walking so loudly, to stop drowning herself in so much of the floral stuff, but she didn’t do either of those things. She sat in the comfy chair on the veranda of some tropical clinic, waiting for the queen to arrive, aka her mother.

“Ah, are you ready to get those pesky bandages off, my darling?” Felicia asked.

Felicity rolled her eyes behind the protective covering, accepting the air kisses her mother bestowed upon her. “Yes, mom. Can we get on with it please?” There was something different about her mom, but until she could lay eyes upon her, Felicity couldn’t figure it out. She’d been closer to her mother than to anyone else in the world.

“You always were so impatient, Fliss.” Her mother’s deep sigh was followed by the sound of approaching feet.

The heavier tread she recognized as Dr. Watkins, the man who’d been in charge of her overall care. Felicity didn’t understand what she needed him for, nor all the nurses, but she was happy for the meds to help her sleep.

“Did you ever find the man who saved me?”

Her mother’s swift intake of breath was telling. Felicity may not have been able to see for the last eight weeks, but she’d utilized all her other senses. Her time hadn’t been spent sitting doing nothing. She’d been training her body and brain to use the parts that did work. When she’d woken from the coma to find she couldn’t see, and that she was strapped down to a hospital bed, the only thing that kept her sane was the thought of the man with the deep rumbling voice. Her savior. She’d tried to call out to him, but her mouth had been wired shut due to both jaws being shattered. Panic had made her thrash around, setting off all kinds of alarms in the hospital room.

Even now she was scared to move her mouth apart. The wires had only been removed from her jaws two days ago, but they’d reapplied the bandages immediately. Felicity hadn’t questioned the why, only wanted to know where the mysterious man was. The following days and weeks after the attack were a blur to her. She honestly couldn’t remember much, other than excruciating pain, and the loss of the man, until she’d woken up on the tropical island. Her mother said he’d made sure she was safe, but he’d not left a contact number, that he was a tourist on vacation. However, Felicity felt in her heart, her mother wasn’t telling the truth.