A Seacat's Love (Oceanan Trilogy Book 1) (34 page)

He spotted Jugar. The cougar stood transfixed. Challen could see Jugar was shocked by what he had done to Tigif and the bed-sheet. Upon hearing the commotion, several other Seacats rushed into the room. They stopped next to Jugar and stared at the human beating a fellow feline. They turned to their commanding officers in question.

“Jugar!” barked Challen. “Contact the infirmary. Have Dr. Bengali ready for my arrival.” He headed for the door with his sister. He would talk to Jugar later.

Jugar called after him. “What about Tigif?” The door closed.

Waking up in the infirmary, Leonora’s mind was instantly alert. She recognized her surroundings. Only one thought popped into her mind. “My babies!” she cried, wild-eyed and full of terror.

“Calm down,” instructed a male from her left side. “Everything is going to be all right.”

“My kittens! What about my kittens? Are they going to be all right? Are my kittens all right?”

“Your kittens?” The doctor nodded. “Yes. Your kittens are fine. So, please, calm down.”

“Are you sure?”

The snowy white tiger patted her arm. “Calm down, Leonora. You and your little ones are going to be fine. You have a broken nose, cuts, and bruises. You also have a concussion. But all you require is bed rest,” informed Dr. Bengali.

“Really? Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure?” She was on the verge of hysteria.

“Yes, Leonora. I am positive. Please, try to control yourself, or we will have to sedate you. I am sure you do not want me to do that, being that it may have some harmful effects on your little ones, correct?”

Leonora shook her head. She closed her eyes and willed herself to do as the doctor ordered.

“Good then.” The young doctor patted her shoulder. “Relax. Everything will be fine. I promise you. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly.” He watched her as she did as instructed. “Good feline. Again. This time more slowly. That is correct. You will soon feel relaxed and a lot calmer. Continue to take deep breaths. Slowly exhale. Good feline.”

For the first time, Leonora did as she was told. It was not long before she felt the calmness flowing within her anxious body.

“Good feline,” Dr. Bengali repeated. “I will leave you, so you can rest. I will be back in a little while to check on you. Is there anything that I can get for you before I go?”

“No. Thank you, Dr. Bengali. I am all right now. Thank you.”

“Very well then, I will speak to you later.” He squeezed Leonora’s shoulder once before he left.

Leonora continued to breathe deeply. She gave thanks to her creator for sparing her little ones. Commotion taking place outside her section of the infirmary drew her attention. She could hear lots of muffled yelling, going back and forth between parties. However, she could not distinguish the voices. Her door swooshed open unexpectedly, and she jolted in her bed.

“Get out of my way! No one is going to keep me from Nora again. No one!”

She recognized that voice. A bearded man stormed into her room with a very red-faced, white bangle tiger behind him. He froze beside the foot of the bed. Rick and Leonora stared wide-eyed at each other. Each feared if they moved the dream would be over. Neither was ready to feel the pain of losing the other again.

Leonora could not believe the male who stood before her was the male of her dreams, the one and only Rick McCall. The Predator. Her brows wrinkled at his bedraggled appearance. His expressive eyes touched her features. His body jerked once and grew rigid. She knew he noticed her injuries. She spotted his eyes darkening. It made her tremble. She was immediately afraid of her husband. She was even more fearful that Rick would kill the doctor if the white tiger lay his hands on him again.

When Dr. Bengali intended to do just that, she immediately protested. “Dr. Bengali, no! It is okay!
He is
my soul mate."

“Your soul mate?”

She would have laughed at the doctor’s shocked expression, if it were not for Rick’s countenance. “Please, leave us.”

“Are you sure about this, Leonora? I can have security here in two seconds.”

Leonora nodded. “Yes.”

“Very well, then.” Doctor Bengali gave Rick a look of disbelief and left.

Leonora watched him leave. She looked back at Rick’s bearded face. She saw the savage fury in his eyes. She wondered what made
her tell the Doctor to leave her alone with this male. She realized she did not know Rick McCall when he got this angry. She swiftly recalled the warning Carol Ann gave her, tides ago, about his temper.

“Rick?” she timidly called out his name.

Rick did not speak. He continued to glare at her facial injuries, at the bandages on her head.

She hesitantly smiled. “It is not as bad as it looks.”

“That’s a bold-face lie,” he said in a tone that would make anyone shiver.

“Really, I am okay.” She paused for a brief moment. “How did you get here?” She tried to act the innocent. She knew all along that once Challen saw her mark, he was going to confront Rick about it. It was exactly what she had hoped he would do.

“That’s not important,” clipped Rick.

But it was important, especially after what Tigif said to her when he attacked her. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here because
my wife
is here.” Rick added with a cold snarl, “Tigif will pay with his life for touching you.”

Leonora caught her breath. She instinctively knew he meant it. “I do not want you to kill him.”

Killing someone in an honorable battle was one thing, but killing someone out of revenge was not honorable at all. She could not allow the male she loved to commit such a disgraceful act.

“What!?” Rick’s shocked expression changed to a scowl.

She knew he questioned her sanity, but she chose to ignore it. “He will pay. I promise you. I will see to it.”

“No!” he barked. “
I
will see to it. I do not want him
near you… ever…again!”

Leonora’s eyes grew wide. Rick’s behavior was shocking and a bit frightening. She wondered if he had always been like this. How had she missed it before?

Rick closed his eyes. Lowering his head, he took a deep breath. He went to sit beside her and reached out with his left hand to gently caress her hair.
“I want him dead,”
he said softly but icily.

“I know you do. But killing someone out of vengeance is not an honorable deed. You know that. You are a male of honor. Try to understand.”

“But there’s no punishment worse than the one I have planned before killing him. Please, Nora, let me have him,” he begged with his words as well as his eyes.

Leonora stood strong. She was doing it for both their sakes, as well as for their unborn kittens.

Shaking her head, she looked him straight in the eye. “No, Rick. I prefer that you did not.”

Rick felt like hell. He was so riled up that he desperately needed to vent. He was hoping to vent on the cause of his anger. Tigif.

“Ah man!” He looked away and whined. “Bloody hell! What the bloody hell am I supposed to do now? I can’t let him get away with this!”

“Of course not.” She tried to calm him down by placing her hand on his. “We will have him arrested.”

Rick rapidly shook his head. “Nope. Not good enough.”

Leonora pressed her lips together as she fought back a smile. “It will have to suffice.”

“Never! How could it? That bastard has, and is, getting away with murder!” He began to shout again.

“Rick.” Her eyes and voice held a “do not dare” to them.

“He could have killed you, Nora! Twice! He was going to rape you!” Hearing his own words fueled his fury.

“How did you know that?”

“How did…Challen and I stopped him. That’s how!”

Her mouth fell open as realization struck. “So that was why he did not violate me.”

Rick’s eyes changed again. “If he had…” He could not go on. He abruptly placed his head on Leonora’s chest. His left arm draped over her midsection.

Rick stayed in that position until his body stopped trembling. He closed his eyes, so he could absorbed the feel of her nearness. The beating of her heart took him back to the first time he had lay in that same position. Four months of loneliness, his anger toward
Tigif, his concerns for Leonora’s health and safety, gradually eased from his body.

{Rick…I love you.}

Rick did not move. He did not respond. Once he had relaxed, his mind had registered the firm roundness of Leonora’s abdomen underneath his arm. He opened his eyes. He stared in amazement at the mound that was covered by the silver sheet.

{Rick? Did you hear me? I said I love you.}

Rick could not move. He had come close to losing not only his wife but also his unborn child for the second time in his life. Leaving Earth had been the right choice. His eyes filled with tears. He closed them and pressed his face into her chest.

Leonora sighed. She began to caress Rick’s limp hair. She wondered why Rick never responded to her words of love. Could there possibly be any truth to some of the things Tigif had said about Rick not being able to love her? Would Rick one day become tired of her? She heard a sniffle.

“Rick?” She tried to sneak a peek over his head. “Rick, are you all right?”

Rick raised his head and faced her. Leonora was stunned to see his bearded face covered in tears.

“Rick!” she cried, genuinely concerned for him. A male like the Predator did not cry. She hurriedly framed his face with her hands. “Are you all right?”

Rick chuckled at her question. “When the woman I love more than my own life says that she loves me and is carrying my baby, how else can I feel? I am the happiest man alive.” He sniffed.

A wave of relief washed over Leonora. “By thunder, Rick, I missed you. I missed you so much.” She pulled his head closer to hers. “I love you so much.” She kissed him.

Rick pulled back before she could deepen their kiss. “Nora, don’t, you’ll hurt.”

“I do not care. Please, kiss me. Kiss me, my beloved.”

Rick saw the painful longing inside her pale eyes. It matched his own for her. He could not deny what they both desperately needed and wanted. Therefore, he kissed Leonora
with a fervor that originated from the deepest regions of his restored soul.

The next day, Leonora was discharged from the infirmary. Since he arrived, Rick had not left her side. Once they were back in her bedchamber, Leonora led her husband straight to her bed.

Two days have passed since Rick entered Leonora’s quarters, and he still had not seen the space and stars that sped past their window as they headed toward Oceana.

With his fingers buried deep in her rich, brown hair, and his manhood buried deep inside her beautiful, rounder body, Rick thoroughly kissed his beloved wife.

Breaking their heated kiss, he looked lovingly into his kitten’s hypnotic eyes. “I can never live without you. I don’t want to spend one second without you, ever again.” He caressed her face with his gaze. “Don’t ever leave me, Nora,” he pleaded. “You will kill me if you do. Dear God, you will literally kill me.” He kissed her, renewing his deep claim of her body. “I love you,” he spoke against her moving lips.

Leonora arched her back and purred. {I could never leave you, Rick.} She tightened around his probing heat. {I could never live without my soul.}

The End