He had to go slow, which irritated the hell out of him. He wanted to give her everything she hadn’t had, and he wanted her nearly lifeless form to spring back to life.
He wanted Ellie back, and no matter what it took, he’d see her smiling and whole again if it killed him.
I won’t quit. I never quit.
It took him a while to get her free from her bonds of steel with the tools he had in his car, and he continued to curse violently as he freed her.
If James wasn’t already dead, Zane would have murdered the bastard without an ounce of remorse.
After he’d given Ellie everything he dared give her at one time, he scooped her up from the cold floor. Christ! She was so light that it scared the hell out of him. Ducking around the corner, he went into the bathroom, hoping the hot water worked. He turned the knobs on the shower, relieved when warm water eventually emerged.
Setting her gently on the floor, he quickly stripped off his own clothing and hefted her back up and into the shower with him. The cabin had some heat, but it was still damn cold. Ellie had no meat on her bones to protect her from lying on a cold floor. He needed to start off easy and gentle, increasing the warmth to her body carefully.
He used a bottle of liquid soap he’d found in the shower, scrubbing her body and hair until she was clean again. A small, weak moan escaped her lips, and it gave him even more hope that she’d come around eventually. She shivered in his arms, another good sign. His slow warming of her body was starting to bring up her core temperature.
Frustrated, Zane knew there was no way he was getting her to a medical facility because of the blizzard roaring outside the cabin walls. If something happened on the way back out of the remote wilderness, she’d never survive. He was a doctor. Granted, he was in research, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t gone to med school. Since he was academically gifted, he’d sped right through his degrees and then focused on biotechnology. But he knew what he had to do, what she needed right now. Unfortunately, he had very few resources or equipment to help her as much as she needed.
He turned off the water and dried them both the best he could with the threadbare towels in the bathroom, and then carried Ellie to the only bed in the house, the one that had been denied to her because of her confinement. Pulling back the bedspread, he was relieved that the bedcovers looked fairly clean, and he tucked her beneath the blanket and the sheets. Sitting beside her, he attempted to comb her long hair with his fingers. Ellie had beautiful, light-blonde hair, and he was starting to see the fair locks again now that it was clean. Pushing the hair away from her face, he was practically ready to go ballistic over the healing bruises and cuts on her skin.
He’d looked her over while he was washing her, and he hadn’t seen anything life-threatening as far as injuries, but it fucking pissed him off that James had even touched Ellie.
Zane rose and went to work cleaning up the mess in the corner, washing down the floor and disposing of the metal bindings and the portable potty. When he was done, he wrapped a blanket around his nude body, put on his boots, and sprinted back out to his SUV, grabbing the overnight bag that he always had in the cargo space.
He dressed in the spare clothing he had, wishing he had something more he could put on Ellie except one of his flannel shirts that was tucked away inside the bag.
After he got her into the garment, he gave her a little more fluid, and then went and rummaged through the small dwelling, trying to find anything useful. He came across Ellie’s purse in one of the cupboards, but he didn’t see any sign of her clothing. Zane put his dirty garments in the sink and washed them by hand, and then hung them in the bathroom to dry. He didn’t think he’d need them because he planned on getting Ellie down the mountain soon. It was more his restless energy that wouldn’t let him keep still.
He found some basic supplies, mostly canned goods, but at least there was something.
Since the antiquated heating system was producing very little warmth, he loaded the old stove with wood that was stacked against the wall and started a fire that was soon blazing. He shut the metal door, glad that the old piece of crap actually worked. The cabin was so small that it should help keep the limited space warmer.
Having rummaged through every cupboard, Zane paced back and forth from the bedroom to the small window beside the door, wishing it would fucking stop snowing.
Ellie needs so much more than I can do for her right now. She needs IV fluids and feedings, x-rays, and testing.
Hell, he knew she was bad, but he had no idea if her body had more wrong than what he could see just from looking at her and doing a superficial exam.
Unfortunately, the blizzard was still raging, and he was frustrated that there was little he could do except keep giving Ellie everything he could in intervals that wouldn’t overfill her shrunken stomach.