EDGE (40 page)

“No need to check,” Sergei said.

With an eye out for the bear, they carried Mel back to Ramsey’s as fast as they could.

Where the hell was Garrett?

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY-
S
EVEN

The closer they got to the beach, the louder the rotors of a helicopter sounded above them.

Thank God.

Cache’s leg was killing him. The pain was nothing compared to seeing Mel laying on the packboard they used as a stretcher. Blood bubbled from a wound in her shoulder and seeped from the bear’s claw marks in her thigh. She was pale, shivering, and he was more scared than he had ever been in his life.

They broke through the trees onto the beach with the chopper hovering. Wind whipped up from the helicopter, gusts tearing at their clothes, trying to rip them off. Sand stirred up and spit in their faces. The helicopter landed and out rushed Garrett, dressed in the blue and gold of the Alaska Wildlife Trooper uniform.

“What the hell happened?” he hollered.

“We’ll fill you in on the way,” Cache returned. “She needs a hospital.”

They set Mel down on the beach, and the three of them efficiently cut her loose from the packboard. Garrett gathered her into his arms and boarded the helicopter in one efficient move. Cache and Sergei weakly climbed in after them.

“No hospital,” Mel said, when they were lifting off.

“Mel—” Garrett warned, wrapping a blanket around her wet, trembling form.

“No hospital. L-Linnet can stitch me up. She’s done it before.” Mel jutted out her stubborn jaw. “The Whitneys need medical c-care asap. Possibly Nicole. There isn’t enough room in the helicopter for them and m-me.”

“Mel, don’t be stupid,” Cache started, and knew immediately he’d taken the wrong path.

She stared at Cache. “The Whitneys and my sister come f-first.”

Garrett narrowed his eyes. “We’ll see what Linnet says. Then we’ll decide.” That settled the subject, and within minutes they were hovering over The Edge’s beach. Emily and Quentin ran out onto the deck followed by a slower Linnet.

They landed with a bump, and the helicopter powered down. The pilot took off his headphones and exited his side of the aircraft. Garrett stepped out with Mel still in his arms. He made the actions look effortless, while Cache could barely walk himself up the beach toward the lodge. He glanced at Sergei who hadn’t said a word since they’d met up with the helicopter. At least he looked like Cache felt, and seemed to be struggling as much.

“What happened?” Linnet demanded. The kids looked on in shock and awe.

“Bear.” Garrett spoke the one word that caused them all to gasp in unison. “Woman refuses to go to the hospital. Thinks you can sew her up. Look her over, and see if you’re up to the job. Otherwise, she goes with the rest.” Mel went to object, but Garrett silenced her with his next words. “We’ll find the room.”

They crashed through the doors into the great room. Cache breathing hard. Mel suspiciously quiet. He’d feel better if she was cussing up a storm over the pain she was in. Sergei stood steady, tight-lipped and obviously worried.

Garrett moved toward the couch.

“Bathroom,” Mel said. “I’m n-not bleeding all over the sofa.”

“Okay, bathroom it is.” Garrett steered them down the hall. Once there, he helped Mel settle on the edge of the tub. She tried, but failed, to smother a moan of pain.

Cache looked down at his shirt still tied around Mel’s wounds. Blood had already soaked through it. “Mel, you need a hospital.”

“Linnet, will fix me up.” Mel grimaced as she took in her leg and the blood soaked shirt.

“Mel, you’ve lost a lot of blood—”

“While you hash this out, Mark and I will board up the other patients.” Garrett leaned down until he was eyelevel with Mel. “I want you in the hospital. Don’t be so brave that you’re stupid with it.” He hardened his jaw when she didn’t budge. “Damn it, Mel. You are one pig-headed woman. Don’t let that flaw kill you.” He grabbed her chin and planted a hard kiss on her lips. Cache bristled. Garrett straightened and left the room.

Linnet burst into the bathroom, stopping short upon seeing Mel. Sergei bumped into her back. Linnet’s eyes widened and she swallowed hard. “Well, you really
did
go a round with a bear. What about that Jed character?”

Mel nodded. “Went a round with him t-too.”

Linnet tsked and shook her head. “Sergei, get me my first aid kit.” She turned to Mel. “Okay, let’s take a look at you.”

“She needs to go to a hospital,” Cache repeated, hoping he’d have better luck convincing Mel with Linnet’s help.

Linnet looked at Mel, and Mel shook her head. “I hate hospitals. You all know why.” She gazed up at Cache with shadowed eyes. “D-don’t m-make me go there, when Linnet can bandage m-me up.”

Oh, hell. How did he say no to her? He remembered all those hospitals she’d been taken to. The long stay the first time, when Daddy Dawson had cut her up, the court-order drug rehabilitation in the state hospital, the suicide attempt. Hospitals were another form of hell for her.

Sergei returned with the first aid tackle box. Linnet popped it opened and grabbed the scissors. “Let’s get you out of these wet clothes.” She went to work, cutting off Mel’s blood-stained pants while ordering Cache to gather towels from the cabinet near him, Sergei to boil water and bring in a bigger bottle of rubbing alcohol for disinfecting.

Linnet sucked in her breath once she had the fabric freed of the wounds. “Crap, Mel. You really pissed off that bear. What the hell happened?”

“I’ll fill you in later.”

“By the looks of you, the story’s probably going to give me nightmares.” Linnet curled her lips as she studied the jagged rips in Mel’s flesh. There were four in all. Different lengths, varied depths. All bleeding. All had slowed to a seep, but one. The deepest and longest claw mark started at Mel’s hip and ended eight inches across her upper thigh.

Cache blinked back the burning in his eyes. He should have gotten there sooner. Somehow kept her out of harms way.

“Cache,” Linnet hollered, jerking him back to the present. “Damn it, man, this is no time for daydreaming. I need you over here.” Linnet moved to make room for Cache. “Help her stand in the tub so we can wash off the blood.”

“I c-can do it,” Mel said.

“Just shut up, and do what you’re told,” Linnet scolded, the fear in her voice coming out in sharp, short demands.

Mel shut up and let Cache help her into the tub, wearing her underwear and a t-shirt.

Linnet ran the bath water. “Any other scratches besides the ones on the leg?”

“Knife w-wound on m-my shoulder,” Mel said, her chattering getting louder. “Little c-cut on m-my hip.”

“Don’t you be going into shock on me, understand?” Linnet eyed Mel. Mel jerked her head in what resembled a nod.

Mel’s body shook and Cache grabbed a big bath towel to wrap around her. She settled her head onto his chest, and he held her tighter to him as Linnet washed the wounds. This shouldn’t have happened. In New York, this wouldn’t have happened. Hell, pretty much anywhere this wouldn’t have happened. How many people were attacked by bears in the state of Alaska in a given year? This was the second bear he’d seen in as many weeks.

Sergei bustled in, a pan with boiling water in one hand and a large bottle of vodka in the other. “Could not find rubbing alcohol. Use this. First, let her drink.”

“Mel doesn’t drink.” Linnet didn’t even look up as Sergei came into the room, making the bathroom smaller with four people crowded into it.

“Must drink.” He looked to Mel and then Linnet who wasn’t paying him any attention. “At least for the pain.”

Linnet reached for the bottle. “No, we’ll have to use it for disinfecting.” She looked at Cache. “Hold her tight.” She poured the vodka over her legs wounds, soaking a gauze pad with the alcohol and applying it to the shoulder wound, instructing Cache to hold it there.

Mel hissed, but that was the only sound she made, though she did hang on tighter to Cache. He cradled her in his arms, wishing that it was him instead of her going through this hell.

“I don’t like the looks of the shoulder.” She glanced at Mel, ready to argue the hospital, but seemed to change her mind, taking a deep breath and let it out. She put the bottle of vodka down, picked up a towel, and patted dry Mel’s legs. “Let’s get her on a bed. I need better light to in order to sew her up.”

Linnet glanced up at Cache’s worried expression. “Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to stitch someone up around here.” She seemed to take pity on Cache and tried to reassure him. “We’ll have her good as new in no time.”

It didn’t help. He was worried. A bear had mauled the woman he loved, a madman had stabbed her, knocked her on her head, and she’d nearly drowned. She was shaking, and bleeding, and hurting, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to take it all away.

He bent to pick up Mel, knowing that if she walked on the leg it would increase the bleeding.

“Put m-me down,” Mel muttered through trembling lips. “Your leg m-must be hurting.”

“It’s fine. Just do what Linnet said and shut up, okay.”

“Go to h-hell.”

“I’m already there, love.”

“Enough time for mushy stuff later,” Linnet said barking orders again. “Sergei! Where the hell is he?” Sergei showed up at that moment. “Grab some extra blankets out of the linen closet. Cache, let’s get Mel to your bed.”

“No,” Mel frowned. “I want my bed.”

“Sorry, hon. While you were gone, Rinka showed up. She’d hunkered down deep under the cabin and had her puppies. She refused to be put anywhere but your room. Carried each one of her pups in there and refuses to leave.”

Tears flooded Mel’s eyes. “Rinka’s alive?” With all that had happened she’d kept it together until now. Sobs rocked her body.

“Ve have little dogs?” Sergei said, his face lit up. “How many?”

“Too many,” Linnet muttered. “Seven.”

“Lucky number, seven is.” Sergei grinned from ear to ear and went to find the requested blankets.

“Cache, let’s get her in your bed,” Linnet said, leading the way.

Linnet marched into Cache’s room and threw back the quilt. She laid out the clean towels she’d carried from the bathroom along with the first aid kit, and motioned for Cache to set Mel down.

Cache gently laid Mel on his bed, grabbing a pillow and carefully placing it behind her head, and took a seat on the edge of the bed. She leaned into him, her sobs somewhat under control.

“I w-want to see Rinka.” Her lower lip trembled, and she shivered.

Linnet grasped her hand. “Child, as soon as we get you cleaned up, I will bring her in to see you. If she sees you now, it won’t do either one of you any good.”

Linnet opened the first aid kit on the opposite side, and prepared her tools. “All right, Mel. What’s your drug of choice? I have Tylenol, Codeine, and a few Demerols.”

“Just the Tylenol,” Mel said, her teeth chattering, her body shaking.

Linnet stopped rummaging through the kit and eyed Mel. “This isn’t going to be a picnic, hon. It’s going to hurt like a bitch.”

“Superglue?” Mel asked, hope in her voice.

“Not this time, baby.”

Mel sucked up her remaining tears and tightened her jaw. “Just the Tylenol, please.”

“All right, you want to be a masochist, knock yourself out.” Linnet handed her the Tylenol.

“Mel, take something stronger,” Cache urged.

Mel narrowed her eyes. “I don’t want anything stronger.” She took the pills and swallowed them dry.

Realization dawned on him. Her abuse problem when she was eighteen wasn’t just alcohol. Drugs had been an issue too. Hurting, bleeding, and still she had the willpower to turn away aids that would lesson the pain. He didn’t know—if in the same situation—he’d be as strong.

“You want a piece of wood to bite down on, instead?” Linnet asked, the tone of her voice clearly annoyed with Mel for not taking the heavier drugs. She didn’t look at Mel but went about the work of readying her needle.

The sharp curved instrument had Cache breaking out in a cold sweat.

“Here are more blankets.” Sergei entered the room, piled high with extra bedding.

“Cache, get her wrapped up,” Linnet said. “Shock is the last thing I want to be dealing with today.”

“Give me a b-break,” Mel muttered through chattering teeth. “I’m not g-going into sh-shock.”

“We aren’t taking any chances. You’re already shaky.” Linnet went back to preparing her tools.

“Can you sit up, honey?” Cache reached his arm behind her.

“I’m not an i-invalid and quit c-calling me h-honey. I don’t l-like it.” Mel let Cache wrap the blanket around her.

“Not much you can do about it, is there?” He carefully draped the blanket around her, covering her good leg, leaving the other exposed for Linnet. Then, with her sitting up, he sat behind her, glad to see the knife wound on her shoulder no longer seeping, and pulled her back against him. She didn’t struggle or complain and he wished for a moment that she had some more fight in her.