Reagan (Dresden Pride #3)

Chapter 1

Reagan was ready to call it a day when he got a last-minute change in his schedule with a walk-in.

Being a doctor for a small town was great in that he knew everyone who was around, but it did have its drawbacks.

He was just going in to see the woman when he could tell that she’d been beaten. And badly too.

“What’s happened to you?” She said that she’d fallen. “I see. I guess that when you were falling, you managed to hit your eye badly enough to bruise it. It looks like you’re going to need stitches, too.”

“I fell.” She lifted her chin, and he had to hand it to her. She was brave for someone who looked like she’d gone a few rounds with a prized fighter and come out on the bottom. “Unless you can get me away from my abuser.”

Alarm bells went off in his head. Her voice had gone from defeated to sexy, almost like a purr. He backed up a step and opened the door to the examining office. She pouted but didn’t say anything.

“I thought you said you fell.” She said that her husband was abusing her and that she needed to get away. “I only do stitches and such in my office. In order for you to have anything else done, such as x-rays, I’m going to have to send you to the emergency room.”

“Is that where I’ll get moved out?” He called for his nurse. “You don’t need her to help me. I just need to get away from my boyfriend. I heard that you could make that happen.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.

I can get you fixed up, but for you getting away, that would be up to you how you did it.

” She smiled widely at him. A really toothy grin, his grandda would have called it.

“I thought you fell. Then it was your husband. Now you’re saying it’s your boyfriend?

Which is it? Not that it matters, but I’m afraid that I’m going to have to send you to the emergency department so that they can get some x-rays of your head. ”

“I don’t need x-rays. I just need to get away.

And what does it matter what he is to me?

He’s still knocking me around, ain’t he?

” She looked at Shelby, his nurse. “Does she have to help me with my getting away? I just want you to make it so that I can disappear, too. You can do it. I know that you do it all the time.”

“I’m going to call the police and see what they can do for your situation.

Where is your husband/boyfriend right now?

” She told him that he was in jail. “Then I think you should take this opportunity and get away. I don’t know how you expect me to do anything for you other than to sew up some wounds that you might have. ”

“That’s not the way it works.” He asked her how it worked then. “I’m not sure. You take women away from bad shit, and they get to go far away from here. I want to go away.”

“I can’t help you.” He picked up the phone to dial the police station on their nonemergency line and reached out for his family.

Pretending to push the buttons, he waited for his family to finish speaking before he did.

If this wasn’t an emergency, he didn’t want to know what might be.

“I’m in deep shit here. I have a wounded woman here wanting me to make her disappear. ”

“I’m on my way.” He was never so glad to hear from his big brother as he was in that moment. “I’m in uniform, so don’t be surprised if I talk to her like she’s the suspect.”

“I won’t. I just never had anyone talk about this to me before.” He turned and looked at the woman. “There is something off about her that I can’t put my finger on. Like she’s trying to bait me into telling her what we do.”

“You were right to call for help. She might be with some other group that is trying to catch us at doing something like this. Remember that guy from a few weeks ago? He thought that Alaric was selling women to some other country and profiting from them. We’ll just play this one by ear.

” Reagan hung up the phone and turned to the woman again.

“Just play it cool, and I’ll be there in a few minutes. ”

“Thanks so much. I’ll try not to freak out over this.” They teased him about it, but he knew they’d be there if he needed them. “Just be careful. As I said, there is something off about her.” He told the woman that the police were coming.

“Is that the way it works? The police take him in, then you get me out of town? That seems like a step you don’t need, but I’m happy for whatever you do to me.

I want out of town so he can’t find me anymore.

” He told her that the police would talk to her, but he still had no idea what she was talking about.

“Sure you don’t. How do women get away from their abusive husbands if not for you guys?

I want out, too. I’ve had enough of living daily with some guy who thinks I’m a punching bag. ”

“I don’t know what to tell you other than while he’s in jail, you should think about your options.” She told him that was what she’d come to see him about. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“All right, I’ll tell you. You guys get women out of town without their other half knowing about it.

That guy who is going around town has it right.

You took his wife away so that she could be free of beatings all the time.

I don’t know how you did it, but I want that too.

He said you kidnapped her, but I don’t know how that works, so you’re going to do the same thing for me. Or else.”

“Else what? I have no idea what he was talking about, nor do I with you. I’m just a doctor who sees patients here in my office or at the hospital if they have to go there.

I heard what that guy was saying. That my brother kidnapped a woman and sold her to other countries.

That’s just not true. How would he kidnap a grown woman in the first place?

” His brother came into the room. “This is Agent Aaron Dresden. He’ll be able to tell you the same thing that I did.

There is no such thing going on that we kidnap women and take them out of town. ”

He was so frustrated that he went out of the little room and to his own office. He just knew that he was going to be in jail for something that the woman was going to say he said. He sat down in his office chair and pulled up a game on his computer. He was too stressed out to do anything else.

He was on his third game when his brother came into his office. He just sat down in the chair opposite him and stared at him. Not knowing his stress level, but could feel that it was high, he continued to play his game until he spoke. It didn’t take him long.

“She doesn’t know anything.” He asked about the kidnapping of the other woman. “She heard her husband spouting off some things and decided that was the best way to get out of the situation that she’s in.”

“Is she in an abusive relationship?” He nodded. “So that part was true. We’re going to have to be more careful, I guess. It didn’t help that the Feds were in on it too, did it?”

“No. She still has it in her head that we’re going to take her off to someplace and have her living a beautiful life.

Her words, not mine.” He nodded and closed his computer.

“I’m going to drop her off at the emergency department to have them do some x-rays on her head. She said she has a bump there.”

“I never got a chance to examine her. She does have that black eye, but that’s all I can see right now.

” Aaron stood up and said he’d been smart in calling for help.

“She has a one-track mind when it comes to me getting her out of town. She only knew that someone took them out of town, and that’s all. ”

“I think I set her straight, but I have no idea. She, like you said, has a one-tracked mind about what is going on. It amazes me how much people are willing to believe when it comes to people getting out of situations.” He nodded back to his brother.

“I’m going home. I have a big day tomorrow, and I don’t want to be tired when it happens. You’ll be there, correct?”

“Yes. I’ve got everything I need in my bag for whatever might go wrong.

I have faith in you that you’ll change her just fine.

I guess Zeno is waiting on permission to do Anna now, too.

” He asked if he’d do his own mate when she came around.

“I have no idea. She might already be one, then I’ll have a purebred all on my own. ”

The two of them laughed, and he said that he was better now.

His stress levels here of late had been high because he was taking over his dad’s patients.

His parents wanted to retire and go see the world now that they were all out of the house.

He didn’t blame them; he’d not had a vacation since he’d been twelve, and the class had gone to Dawes Arboretum for a fun day.

He’d taken one-day trips, but nothing like his parents were planning.

He was jealous that they were going to get out soon, but couldn’t think of a better couple getting to do it.

He loved his parents so much that he never thought that there would be room for a mate in his heart.

Going home when Aaron loaded up the woman, Caroline Smith, into his cruiser and took her to the emergency department, where they could deal with her.

He hoped that there was nothing more wrong with her than just her eye blackened.

He felt bad for not being able to examine her more when she started talking about getting out of town.