Sworn to Protect
Author
Kimberly Van Meter
Reads
16.9K
Chapters
23
Chapter 1
A parade of pain marched across Iris Beaudoinâs body as she slowly opened her eyes and squinted against the harsh white light. Her best friend, Dr. Mya Jonson, was staring down at her, an expression of fear and worry warring with her need to fix what had been broken.
âWh-ere am I?â she managed to croak. Her clothes were gone and she was wearing a hospital gown, which meant she was at the urgent care facility, Healthy Living, where she worked with Mya. âM-Mya? What happened?â
âI donât know, honey, but you were found alongside the road before the Pititchu Bridge. Youâve been beaten pretty bad,â Mya answered, gingerly clutching Irisâs hand. âDo you remember anything?â
Iris swallowed and closed her eyes against the pain radiating from every pore of her body. âHurts,â she whispered. âI canât thinkâŠâ
âOkay, honey, donât worry. Weâre going to get you fixed up and then weâre going to find out who did this to you.â
Iris nodded in a faint movement but even that small action cost her. Mya rubbed her hand and gave it a light squeeze, then said, âI have to do an SAE,â she said, her voice breaking.
SAEâŠIris was a nurse and she knew what that meant. Sexual Assault Exam. A tear leaked down her cheek and she nodded again. âOkay,â she whispered.
âIâm so sorry, but we have to know,â Mya said. âIâll make it quick. I promise.â
Iris squeezed her eyes shut and allowed her knees to part even as she fought the shuddering cries that felt trapped in her chest. Someone had assaulted her, that much was apparent, but her brain was fuzzy in the details.
She rememberedâŠbeing at the barâŠdancingâŠkaraokeâŠand then nothing.
Iris winced as Mya swabbed her insides, quickly, efficiently, yet still Iris wanted to scream at the violation.
Finished, Mya packaged the wet mount for DNA testing and then made quick work of the pelvic exam. Iris was thankful for her friendâs sensitivity but she was nearing hysteria. The blank spots in her memory were frightening her as much as the realization that someone had done this to her.
âWe had to take your clothes for evidence,â Mya said in apology. âBut I donât think youâre going to want them back anyway, honey, because theyâre pretty messed up.â
âSâok,â she mumbled, knowing her clothes were the least of her problems at the moment. She watched her best friend fight for composure and waited for Mya to tell her. But she was stalling, bringing a blanket to lay it over her, fussing over her comfort when nothing wouldâve made a difference.
She met her friendâs brokenhearted eyes. âThe SAEâŠit showed I was raped.â It was a statement, not a question, and the realization sank into her slowly awakening consciousness like a brick to the bottom of a lake. Sheâd been raped.
Mya drew a halting breath as she jerked a nod. âThere were serious abrasionsâŠconsistent with forcibleâŠâ She swallowed and a tear escaped Myaâs control. She wiped it away quickly but another followed. âOh, IrisâŠâ
Iris lifted her chin but it trembled. What was there to say? Both turned at the discreet knock at the door. Sundance Jonson, Myaâs brother and the tribal police officer, walked in, presumably to take her statement. She turned her head, groaning. Not Sundance. She couldnât let him see her this way. âNot you,â she said, wanting to curl on her side but the pain prevented it. âSomeone else.â
âIris, Sundance is the only officer on the rez, you know that. Heâs here to help.â
âNot him,â she whispered, covering her face with her hands. âGo away.â
âIrisâŠâ Mya tried again, her tone distressed, but Iris didnât want to hear it. She wanted to get off that bed and run, and if she couldnât run, she wanted to crawl. Iris felt herself folding in, anything to avoid telling Sundance what had happened to her, or rather, what she didnât know had happened.
Iris and Sundance had historyânot romanticâbut rather childhood history. Iris and Mya were best friends their entire lives, and so sheâd known Sundance, as well. But theyâd never been friends. And heâd never seen her as anything more than his little sisterâs troublesome sidekick. That wouldâve been fine, if she hadnât awoken one morning with a completely different feeling about Sundance than sheâd had before. Suddenly, she saw the man, not the overbearing, control freak that sheâd always seen before.
Sheâd gone to the bar in an attempt to get Sundance off her mind. She didnât want to see Sundance as anything other than the annoying big brother of her best friend who lived to antagonize her. The fact that sheâd begun to see him as a man had disconcerted her to the point of irrationality.
A sob remained trapped in her throat. How had this happened? Her whole life had been tipped on end and it felt as though everything she held dear had fallen to shatter on the floor. How could she bear to look at herself in the mirror ever again? How could anyone else see anything aside from what had happened to her?
âIrisâŠâ The softness of his voice nearly undid her completely. âTell me who did this so I can bring them to justice,â he urged.
âI donât know who did this,â she answered, wiping at the tear slipping down her cheek. âI donât remember.â
âDid you check for drugs?â he murmured to Mya.
âYes, weâll do a tox screen with the blood and urine samples but they wonât be ready right away,â Mya answered. âWeâll screen for every known date rape drug. Ketamine, GHB, RohypnolâŠif thereâs anything in her system weâll find it.â
Iris closed her eyes, wishing she could block out their voices as they discussed her case. She knew both Mya and Sundance were doing their jobs but she couldnât handle the routine just yet. âPlease go away,â she whispered, meaning both of them. She turned to meet Myaâs questioning gaze. âI just want to be alone for a minute.â
Mya nodded but the worry remained stationed in her eyes. âOkay, honey. Just a few minutes, though. I need to scrape underneath your fingernails still.â
âRight,â Iris managed, but her vision blurred as more tears followed. Then Mya hustled Sundance from the room to give her the privacy sheâd asked for.
Her body ached and throbbed while her numbed brain wrestled with one question: Why?
Â
Sundance struggled to remain impartial, to stay cool but inside a white-hot poker of rage punctured his good intentions. âIs she going to be all right?â he asked, his jaw grinding on the words.
âI think so,â Mya answered, wrapping her arms around herself. âWhat kind of monster does this?â she demanded in a harsh whisper so that her voice didnât carry to Iris in the trauma room. âThereâs not a piece of skin that doesnât carry some kind of mark. Itâs a miracle sheâs alive, and honestly, I think thatâs what this devil had in mind. When I think of how close she came toâŠâ Mya shuddered. âI just get sick to my stomach.â
Sundance understood his sisterâs anguish. Seeing Irisâa woman heâd known his entire life and had most often found irritating, infuriating and intrusiveâall tore up caused something inside him to roar like a wounded bear, swiping and snarling at anyone with the misfortune to get too close. And the reaction shocked him.
âIâm going to have to question her,â he said, still processing his own reaction to the situation, trying to put it into perspective. Of course, he was bothered. It was his job to safeguard the tribe, to be the one to protect the people. To think there was someone on the reservation who could do this to one of their own⊠Sundance didnât want to believe it. An outsider had to have done this. And he was going to find whoever it was and show him a little justiceâAmerican-Indian style.
Mya hesitated, something plainly causing her to temper her tongue, and he furrowed his brow at her expression. âWhatâs wrong?â
âItâs just that you and IrisâŠyou havenât always had the best track record with each other. I donât know that sheâll open up to you. Maybe I could ask the questions for you.â
âNo, I have to ask them. Iâm sorry but thatâs procedure.â He understood Myaâs motivation and he didnât fault her for it. His sister had a loving and protective heart, just one of the many reasons he thought the world of her. But he had a job to do. He met Myaâs eyes and gave her the most heartfelt assurance he could offer as he promised to be gentle. âI know weâve had our differences, but I wonât let that get in the way of doing anything and everything I can to find whoever did this. I promise.â
Mya searched his gaze and found truth. She exhaled and nodded. âI know youâll do your best for Iris. I trust in you, my brother.â
Sundance gave his sister a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder and then returned to the room where Iris remained curled in as close to a fetal position as her injuries would allow.
Again that swell of rage welled inside him and he had to force it down. âIrisâŠâ
âSundance, please, just go away,â she pleaded with him, eliciting a wince on his part for Iris had never, in her life, pleaded with anyone. She barreled, she cajoled, she went so far as to manipulate but she never begged. But she was doing it now, with him, and it nearly broke the grip he had on the gates holding everything in check.
âYou know I canât do that. I canât catch who did this unless you help me.â
When she realized he wasnât going anywhere she played with the swollen tissue on her bottom lip and stared at the floor. When she finally answered, it was without any emotion. âI donât know anything. I told you, I canât remember.â
âOkay, letâs start from what you do remember,â he suggested softly, but she only squeezed her eyes shut and sealed her lips. âCâmon, letâs start from the beginning of the night. You remember that, right?â
âYes,â she answered, an edge returning to her voice. âBut what does that matter? Remembering what I wore and what song I sang for karaoke isnât going to tell me who managed to drag me from a bar full of people to some secluded place where the guy raped and beat me. So just go away, Sundance. I donâtâŠwant to talk about this anymore.â
That last part came out as a choked whisper and his hands tightened around his pen as she plainly locked him out for reasons he couldnât really fathom.
âForget our troubles from the past, Iris. All I want to do is help you. We can do this together.â He tried again, coming at her from a different angle, but she wouldnât have any of it. Her silence was answer enough.
He swallowed a frustrated breath, not wanting to push, but needing to anyway. He felt rather than saw Mya hovering at the doorway and turned to find her standing there. âIâll come back tomorrow, Iris,â he told her, giving her fair warning. As he passed Mya in the doorway, he murmured, âTry talking some sense into her, please. Maybe sheâll listen to you.â
Mya nodded but her expression was bleak. âIâll do what I canâŠsheâs so hurt, Sonny. Iâve never seen her soââ
âI know,â he acknowledged grimly. âMe neither.â
Iris may not want his help but she was going to get it anyway.
Someone was going down for what theyâd done.
That was a promise.