Chapter 4 Raven
White light burns through my eyelids. I groan and try to turn my head, but even that feels like dragging my body through wet cement. The steady beep of a monitor cuts through the fog, grounding me in a place I don’t want to be. Shit, I’m in the hospital. How? Why?
“Raven?”
My eyes crack open. I recognize the woman standing over me. She’s Caitlin’s sister, Tally. She’s also a doctor.
“How are you feeling?” Tally asks.
“What happened?” I mumble. “Where am I?’
“You’re in Alvaredo Hospital. I’m Dr. Chambers; we’ve met before, but I don’t know if you remember me.
Min found you unconscious behind the dojo and called for an ambulance.
You were still unconscious when you arrived.
You look like you took a beating. Someone punched and choked you.
The good news is that you don’t have any broken bones, but your throat is going to hurt for a few days.
It will likely feel like you gargled with glass.
I’ve given you something for the pain. You need rest, but you have a few people who would like to see you. Are you up for it?”
I nod.
Tally leaves the room. I don’t know how long I’ll have before she’s back, so I need to come up with a story quickly. By the time the door opens, I’m ready. However, my heart sinks when I see Athena. She’s trained to recognize lies. Damn.
“What happened?” my mother asks immediately, already reaching for my hand. “Do you remember anything? They said you were found unconscious—”
I blink slowly, letting confusion settle over my features. This isn’t hard, considering my head is pounding like a war drum. Her question causes a flash of memory. The taser slipping and Tony’s hands around my throat. I shudder as I shove the memories down.
“I… don’t know,” I rasp. My voice sounds wrecked, which helps. “I was taking a walk. I think.” I swallow, wincing. “Next thing I remember is waking up here.” I let my gaze drift, like I’m trying to piece it together. “Tally said someone hurt me.”
“Min found you unconscious behind the dojo,” Athena says, brushing my hair from my face. “Do you know who attacked you?”
“I don’t remember,” I whisper again, letting my eyes slip closed like it’s all too much. I hate lying to my mom and my friend, but it’s my only option. They can’t know what I’m doing. No one should know.
“Maybe you’ll remember more after you sleep,” Athena says. “I’ll leave. Your dad wants to see you, but he let me come in first.” Athena leans forward and kisses my forehead. “I’ll come by tomorrow.”
My father comes in, and I go through the questions again. What I really want is for everyone to leave so I can get some sleep. However, before I can express my needs, there is a knock on the door. Tally steps over to answer it. I hear Athena’s voice.
“Hi, it’s me again. I just wanted to introduce Carver to Raven. He’s offered to stand guard over her to keep her safe.”
“This is against hospital regulations, but I know better than to argue,” Tally says, opening the door wider. “Come in and introduce yourself, but then you have to stay outside until Sade and Karl leave.”
“I don’t need a guard,” I protest.
“Of course you do. We’re very grateful,” Sade says.
“Shield is investigating the attack. They’re pulling camera footage, so hopefully they’ll identify your attacker and arrest him. In the meantime, Carver has offered to stay here and guard you,” Athena says, squeezing my hand.
I try to protest again. Insisting that I don’t need a guard, but my mother and father have a different take.
“That’s so kind of him,” my mother says.
“I had planned to stay myself, but I like the idea of someone younger and fitter protecting Raven,” my father says. “Is this him? He looks like he could fight off any attacker.”
I shift my eyes to the man he’s studying and gulp. The air shifts in the room, and suddenly it’s harder to breathe.
He’s tall. Really tall. At least six-two with broad shoulders stretching the seams of a plain black T-shirt.
His kutte covers what is undoubtedly a chiseled chest. Everything about him is solid—muscle layered over muscle, the kind that says he uses it, not just builds it.
His movements are controlled and deliberate. He’s dangerous.
My gaze drags upward, and that’s when it gets worse.
Short-cropped black hair. Sharp jaw. And eyes—green, bright and cutting, like they see too much. Like they could peel me apart without even trying.
Yummy.
The word slips into my head before I can stop it, and I almost laugh—because wow, my instincts are clearly broken.
He has those eyes trained on me. Warmth flows through me, followed closely by an itch.
Maybe it’s a tingle. Is it lust? Or fear?
My pulse kicks harder, betraying me, even as every survival instinct I have starts screaming.
He may be here to guard me, but who’s going to guard me from him?
I close my eyes to block everyone out. I need a minute to regroup.
“The pain medicine is making her sleepy,” Tally says. “It’s best if everyone leaves her so she can get some sleep. That will help her body heal faster.”
My mother and father take turns kissing my forehead before they follow Athena out of the room. I’m hoping they take Carver with them. He crosses toward the door, but instead of leaving, he simply pulls a chair over so he can sit facing me with his back to the door. We’re alone, except for Tally.
“You don’t have to stay,” I tell Carver. “I’m sure I’ll be safe in the hospital.”
He grunts but doesn’t respond.
“Don’t waste your breath arguing with him,” Tally chides me. “You need to rest your throat, and he won’t listen. Believe me, I have one just like him at home, and he never does what I want. I think the helmets they wear make them hard-headed.”
Carver rolls his eyes at Tally’s remark. Tally just grins at him.
“Don’t worry about him; he’ll be quiet. You need to rest. With Carver here to guard you, you can do so knowing no one will bother you,” Tally assures me.
I close my eyes and try to ignore the sound of his breathing. Instead of keeping me awake, his presence makes me feel safe enough to drop off.
Tight hands on my throat. They’re crushing. I can’t breathe.
Tony’s face is twisted above me, his eyes wild, spit flying as he shouts something I can’t hear over the roaring in my ears. My fingers claw at his wrist, nails digging in, but he doesn’t feel it. He doesn’t feel anything.
My lungs burn. My vision tunnels. This is it. I’m going to die.
Darkness creeps in from the edges, swallowing everything, and just before it takes me, his grip tightens—
I jerk awake with a strangled gasp.
Air rushes into my lungs like fire, sharp and painful. My hands fly to my throat, pressing, checking, making sure.
“I can’t—” My voice breaks. “I can’t—”
“Raven.”
A deep, steady voice breaks through my panic.
I suck in another breath, my gaze snapping toward the sound. Carver is there, sitting beside my bed, leaning forward, his forearms braced on his thighs. His green eyes lock on me, sharp but not hard.
Grounded.
“You’re okay,” Carver says, calm and firm. “You’re safe.”
Safe.
The word doesn’t quite land, but his voice does.
I drag in another breath, then another, each one a little easier than the last. My heart is still racing, slamming against my ribs like it’s trying to escape, but the room is coming back into focus. The steady beep of the monitor. The sterile smell. The weight of the blankets.
Not Tony.
Not his hands.
Carver shifts closer, slow enough not to startle me. “Nightmare?”
I nod, swallowing hard. My throat aches, phantom pressure lingering like a bruise beneath my skin.
“Yeah,” I manage. “It felt so real.”
His jaw tightens, just for a second, like he knows exactly what I mean. Then it’s gone, replaced by that same controlled calm.
“Look at me,” he says.
I do.
“Breathe in,” he instructs, demonstrating, slow and measured.
I follow, shaky at first.
“Out.”
Again.
We do it a few more times, my breaths evening out, the panic loosening its grip little by little.
“That’s it,” he murmurs. “Stay with me.”
And I do.
Because right now, in the middle of the fading nightmare and the too-bright hospital room, Carver’s voice is the only thing keeping me anchored.
And I don’t know if that’s a good thing… or a very dangerous one.