Chapter 326
[ 504 words ]
Chapter 326:
She didn’t correct him. She couldn’t. Instead, she nodded weakly, burying her face deeper into the crook of his shoulder to hide the lie in her eyes.
Jarrod tightened his left arm around her, vowing silently to protect her from the world, from the memories, and even from himself. He continued to soothe her until her silent crying subsided into exhausted, shuddering hiccups.
He checked her forehead with his lips, a surprisingly tender gesture, and confirmed the fever had not returned, though he noted her extreme fatigue.
“Tomorrow morning,” he said, his voice firm, leaving no room for argument, “you’re going to the medical bay for a complete physical evaluation.”
Caroline was too exhausted to argue, too drained to do anything but close her eyes and let the heavy silence of the room consume her.
Pale morning light filtered through the tactical blinds, waking Caroline from a surprisingly deep, dreamless sleep.
𝘋𝘪𝘴𝖼𝗈vеr 𝗁idde𝗻 g𝗲𝘮𝘀 o𝗇 𝘨𝘢ln𝗈𝗏𝘦𝗅ѕ.𝗰𝗼𝗺
She found Jarrod already awake, fully dressed in his pristine combat uniform, sitting on the edge of the bed watching her.
He handed her a glass of water, his tone authoritative but gentle. “Hydrate.”
Caroline drank the water, her throat raw. Her voice was raspy as she complained, “I feel fine. I don’t need a doctor.”
A smirk touched Jarrod’s lips. He leaned down, trapping her against the pillows, his face inches from hers. “I can carry you there over my shoulder. Your choice.”
He leaned back, his expression serious again. “Dr. Reed needs to run full blood panels. Make sure that mountain mud didn’t cause an infection.”
Knowing she could never win a contest of stubbornness with an apex predator, Caroline groaned and agreed to go.
Jarrod kissed her forehead, a brief, possessive press of his lips. “Get dressed. I’ll be outside securing a perimeter route.”
He picked up his tactical radio from the desk, his thumb pressing a button that transmitted an encrypted code to K. C. Bell.
The signal shot across the SOC compound, a silent, invisible thread connecting the commander’s quarters to the brightly lit Medical Bay.
Inside the reception area, Corporal Evan Riley awkwardly shifted his weight from one combat boot to the other.
He was holding a small, slightly crushed protein bar, glancing nervously down the sterile, white hallway.
Dr. Evelyn Reed walked out of Trauma Bay Alpha, holding a clipboard. She spotted the lingering soldier immediately.
She raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Corporal, do you require medical attention for a phantom injury?”
Evan blushed, a faint pink spreading across his neck. He snapped to attention. “No, ma’am. I was just… checking on Mrs. Romero. The Colonel’s wife. I wanted to make sure she was doing okay after we brought her in last night.”
He stammered, holding up the snack. “I just wanted to give her this. Thought she might be hungry after the storm.”
Evelyn stopped writing on her clipboard and looked at the young, impossibly naive soldier with a mixture of pity and disbelief.
“Corporal,” she asked, lowering her voice to a sharp, clinical whisper, “do you have a death wish?”
Evan looked confused. “Ma’am? I just thought, since I helped carry her stretcher…”
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