Page 37 of The Hunt

“As soon as she’ll let me. She’s…skittish, for some reason.”

The patient came running out of exam C, yelling. Chad turned back toward where he had last seen Genny instinctively.

Chad cursed, cutting Caine off and started running. The patient was bellowing at the top of his lungs. The guy was just as big, if not bigger than Chad himself. Chad wasn’t a small man.

The guy jerked around, a wild look on his face. He was obviously in an altered state, on something, or in the midst of a mental break.

The man had one focus now.Genny.

Genny had nowhere to go. She was trapped between the patient and the intake desk. Chad watched in horror as the man kicked out. Genny was trying to pull herself out of his range.

She couldn’t.

The guy’s kick connected. Chad could hear the sound it made. Chad just ran.

Genny went almost through the air. She crashed into the intake desk and slid to the tile floor.

People screamed.

Aubrey was already moving toward Genny—between Genny and the patient. Reaching to pull Genny out of the way. To get to Genny, to help.

But the man was in a rage, and he wasn’t about to stop.

The patient swung out. Aubrey didn’t get out of his way in time; his swing caught her in the chest. She stumbled, landing over Genny’s legs. Both women were down now. And trapped against the front of the desk.

With an enraged bull focused right on them.

Chad just kept going, aware of Caine right behind him.

He and Caine together reached the patient at about the same time, along with some of the other staff members who’d been close enough to help. Within seconds they had the man wrestled to the floor.

It didn’t feel fast enough.

It took everything Chad had not to shove his fist down the guy’s face when the scent of booze almost overwhelmed his senses. The guy wasn’t altered or having some sort of medical emergency—he was flat-out drunk.

“Deal with him before I do what I really want to right now!” Chad snarled at Caine.

Chad went to his knees next to Genny instead.

Hands were there to help Aubrey to her feet first. She pushed aside the hands. “I’m okay. Gen?”

Genny had her hands on her ribs. “The jerk kicked me.”

She was gasping and pale and afraid.

“Stay still, I’m going to get you to an empty exam room.” Chad lifted her as gently as he could. “You seem to draw trouble, Genesis Isabella Hiller. I almost think you need a keeper.”

Her arm slipped around his neck. “I seem to be having some seriously bad luck lately, Chad-wicked Leopold Fields.”

“No kidding. How badly did that jerk hurt you?”

“I think Greer kicks harder, honestly. It was the surprise. But I’ll probably feel it in the morning.” The gasping belied her words. The force behind that kick…fear for what damage they would find filled him.

She felt so damned fragile in his hands.

He carried her into the nearest exam bay and lowered her to the gurney. Not exactly standard procedure, but if Caine didn’t like it…he could kiss Chad’s ass.

Caine came in behind him, anger on his face. It turned to concern immediately when he looked at Genny on the exam table. “I’ll handle this, Chad.”