Bradley nodded his thanks and continued a conversation with the troll. Once Todd had left and was well out of ear shot, Griff answered him.
“I am to assure you that you will not be harmed in any way. No matter what happens, I am to return you to your family in two days time.” Griff looked back behind him before he continued. “My mistress is dying and if she doesn’t feed soon, she will. The bullet wounds are taking their toll on her. Not only has she lost a great deal of blood and will not seek any medical help, but she is suffering from a broken heart. It is most likely that under the current circumstances, someone would expedite her death rather than prevent it anyway. She sent me to you to see if you are in need of anything.”
“Griff, why? Why is she willing to die for this? If Aaron knew what the real truth was, he’d do anything to help her.”
“Do you think that she would have a chance to explain?” Bradley knew that Griff was correct. “I do not, nor does she. Her grace, the queen, has assured us that she is very close to finding the woman responsible. Once she does, then she is free to tell the reason why my mistress has done what she has done.”
“But she’ll be dead by then.” It wasn’t a question of if she would be dead, but more of a statement of fact. “May I see her? I’d like to be with her, even if only to sit next to her.”
“Yes, but she is very weak, I’m afraid. She is extremely stubborn and is yet moving about the cave as though she were fit. You will have to go to her, I’m afraid. I have forbidden her to leave the warm room. A fever is taking hold and will take more of her strength than she can give.”
“I understand. Yes, of course I’ll go to her.” Bradley followed the creature. “Griff, can I contact anyone? I would like to contact just one person, one I trust more than anyone I know.
Aaron MacManus, he is the master vampire of the realm in which I live.”
“You may not speak to anyone other than those in this cave. My mistress is afraid someone will see you and all will be lost. But I believe that we are too far from a town for anyone to see you.” Griff hadn’t turned around, but led the way to the makeshift stairs. “The part of the cave were my mistress is now is far above here, near the mouth. If you should find a need to get a breath of fresh air after visiting with Todd, then I can allow that. His stench is very…floral. But if you run wolf, I will hunt you down and kill you myself.”
“I won’t run, and a nice breath of clean air sounds very inviting. I so love North American air.” He didn’t know where he was really, other than the cave. He hoped that Griff would help him figure it out.
“Then I am sorry to say you will be somewhat disappointed. In the Netherlands, the air is crisper up here in the northern mountains. I wonder how the master here, a Leighton Chalmers, stands such weather. But alas, it is not my home, so I think it should be a nice place to visit.”
“Nor do I, Griff, nor do I.” Bradley grinned, and felt good for the first time since he woke up.
There was a blazing fire in a pit in her room. The cot where she lay was close to it, and she was wrapped in a blanket. The room smelled of blood and impending death. Bradley was sorry he hadn’t come to see her sooner.
Bradley walked to her side and knelt down next to her. Her face was pale and drawn and her hair was wet with sweat. He could hear her heart beating much too slow and she was breathing so faintly that he held his to assure himself he was hearing it. She was indeed very weak.
“I’m sorry.” Her voice was faint and weak. And his heart broke for the girl.
“Don’t talk, and don’t worry about it. I’m fine. I’ve met my first red dragon troll. Todd.
What an odd being he is. He had me rhyming like a character from Dr. Seuss.” He held his breath again when she began to cough up blood. “Bailey, let me call your mate for you.”
He had figured out that this was Bailey, the mate of Tristan St. James, the one David had been talking about. He wondered what the vamp must be thinking about his mate killing the alpha.
“No, not safe. He’ll…she will give him freedom.” She tried to roll to her side to look at him, and he moved to help her. He pulled the covers back and was shocked by what was there.
“Bailey, love. Oh God, honey.”
She had been shot three times, all in the chest and near dead center. David really was a good shot. Each wound was about an inch apart and just over her right breast. Her blood seeped from each hole. He looked up at her face and saw that she had blacked out. He knew it was now or never and if he didn’t hurry, never was very close for her.
He stood up, left the little room, and walked out into the open night. He reached for Sara.
“Sara, bring Tristan St. James to me right now. Tell no one, not even Aaron. I will explain when you get to me.”
~~~
Tristan was sitting in the study looking over the list of clues that Mel had given him. Key phrases, she had called them, to help figure out the person who had called his Bailey.
“You can help her by finding the woman responsible for the hit,” she’d told him. “Bailey gave me this list and said that these are going to be unique to her. Once we find the ‘who,’
finding out the ‘why’ will be fairly easy, Bailey said.”
Mel didn’t sound too confident, though. She had told him everything she knew about the phone call and the arranged hit on Bradley. He wasn’t any closer to finding out where she was than when he had come to the realm, but at least now he was helping to bring her back.
“Is she all right, do you know? I need to know she’s coming back to me, Mel. I need to be able to show her how much I love her.”
“I don’t know, Tristan. I truly don’t. She hasn’t contacted me, nor has Griff since she left here yesterday morning. She wouldn’t even tell me where she was taking him.” He could see that she had pissed her off with that.
Tristan had already figured out that Bailey had taken the bullets to keep Griff strong so that he could heal Bradley. He knew without a doubt that she wouldn’t kill anyone without good reason. So wherever she was, Bradley was alive. And if Griff had healed Bradley, then he couldn’t heal her. She could very well be dying right now.
He looked at the list again and frowned. It wasn’t long, just ten words, three phrases. Why?
he wondered for the hundredth time.
Why? H
e stood and walked over to his makeshift table and started straighten up the pens. He didn’t want to think it was possible, but he knew who the woman was who’d ordered the hit. Patrice Skidmore was the one they were looking for.
He picked up his cell phone again and dialed his home in France. He’d almost called four times now and had hung up every time. This time, he let the call go through. The cell phone line that was supposed to be his mother’s office rang halfway around the world. He wasn’t a mama’s boy by any means, but sometimes, like now, one conversation with her could make all the difference.
“Mom, it’s Tristan. I need you to come here. I…it’s Bailey. She’s been hurt, hurt bad. I need your help. Can you come here?”
“Of course you do. How silly of you to think you needed to ask. Your father and I are boarding our plane as we speak. We should be there in about six hours, less if your father will hurry himself along. And I’m bringing my wedding dress. That lovely young woman needs a beautiful wedding, dear. Every woman needs a big wedding and I have it all planned out. She’ll love it. Did you want to speak to your father? Trey, here, assure your son things are going to be fine.” Tristan smiled. His mother was one in a million, thank goodness.
“Son, things are going to be fine. Your mother says so. Do you need anything else?” His father was not a man of many words, but he did mean every one he uttered.
“No, Dad, just Bailey.” Then he realized what she had said. They were getting on the plane now. “How did you know that I needed you to come now? I don’t understand. And the dress, why is Mom bringing her…what’s going on, Dad?”
“Strange thing, that. Patrice called. Said that you had made a mistake with the stupid cow and that you were going to ask her to marry you very soon. We didn’t say anything, of course, but your mother got a bee in her bonnet and off we are to the States.” He could hear the concern in his dad’s voice and loved him all the more for it. “You didn’t make a mistake. You know that, don’t you, son?”
“No, no, Dad, I didn’t, but Patrice did. I’ll explain when you get here, but don’t let on to her that we’ve talked. She’s dangerous. I believe she is responsible for Bailey being in the trouble that she’s in. And I plan to rectify that as soon as possible.”
“All right. She will be fine, Tristan. Bailey is a very strong willed girl. But you’ll make her see reason.” Tristan smiled and thought that his father had a lot of confidence in his powers of persuasion.
He hung up the phone and turned in the chair to look out at the dark night. The pieces fell into place like a perfect puzzle. Patrice had ordered the hit on the one person she knew would get Bailey killed so she could have Tristan.
Sara came into the room just then, took one look at him, and smiled. “You are so going to love me for this.”
~CHAPTER TWENTY~
Bradley paced across the room again. He had taken off his borrowed shirt and was still sweating. Griff had said that she had had a fever off and on and keeping the room warm would keep her from getting an infection. Bradley didn’t say anything as they both knew it was just a matter of time before a fever would be a blessing. She had been tossing and turning for the past hour and she was no longer talking about anything that made sense. The commotion at the mouth of the cave had him turning toward it. The shouts had him smile.
“Bailey? Bailey, where the fuck are you?”
Bradley thought he’d faint with relief. Finally, the troops had arrived. He went to the mouth of the room to show them where the two of them were. He was amazed to see not only Sara and Tristan, but Aaron as well.
“She isn’t going to be happy about this. She is going to be really pissed off, as a matter of fact. I said specifically not to…” Bradley said as soon as he saw them. He suddenly couldn’t breathe. Aaron had him in such a tight hug that all the wind had been knocked out of him. He could either hug him back or…Bradley hugged his friend. Aaron meant the world to him and he was very glad to see the bloodsucker.
“Aaron, you’re killing him, let him go. Besides I want to hug him too.” Sara was crying, he noticed. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she had a huge smile on her face. “Come here, fur ball, and give me a hug. Don’t you ever scare us like that again, you hear me?”
Bradley looked over Sara’s shoulder to see Tristan kissing Bailey. He’d forgotten about that for a moment. He pulled away and walked over to the cot and knelt down on the opposite side of Tristan.
“She’s really weak, Tristan.” When Tristan looked at Bradley, he could see the anguish in his eyes. “You’ll be free as soon as she draws her last breath. You need to decide what you want to do.”
Bradley looked over at the vampire. Surely he wasn’t thinking about letting her go. This woman had given her life for him, for Bradley too. Had he even thought that the vamp would turn her down, Bradley would have turned her himself. His pack could have used a woman like her.
Sara had knelt beside Tristan as he spoke. “The choice was taken from me the moment I saw her lying in a pool of her own blood all those weeks ago. I’m in love with her, and if she dies or not, I will never be free of her, and I never want to be. I need her more than I need anything in this world.” He kissed her hand and tucked it back under the covers. Bradley had held her hand earlier and the coldness of it still bothered him.
“So be it,” Sara said with tears in her eyes. “Bailey Morrison St. James, I command you to wake and drink of this man your mate. Wake now, Bailey Morrison St. James.”
They all watched as Bailey’s eyes fluttered open then closed. Holding their collective breaths, they watched as they opened wide and looked directly at Tristan.
“There you are,” she whispered softly. “I love you so much.”
Tristan had opened his vein and put his wrist to her mouth. At first they thought she wouldn’t sip from him, but as soon as his blood touched her tongue, she drank greedily. Finally after a few minutes, she stopped. Tristan closed the wounds and held her hand. They all watched her, watching for any sign that his blood was healing her.
Sara could only wake her to feed, but couldn’t save her. It would be messing with the order of things, the Fates, and she didn’t screw around with those broads. What happened now was in the hands of Bailey. And Tristan.
“Will this be enough? Will this heal her?” Tristan looked at Sara. “Is there anything else I can do for her? I need her, Sara. I will not lose her now that I’ve found her. Tell me what else I can do to save her.”
“She needs to believe, Tristan. She needs to know that you’re really here and that you’ll forgive her for what she’s done.”
“How? She saw me, talked to…our link. I can talk to her through our link.” Tristan smiled.
Everyone left the couple alone as they went to talk to their host and Griff. Bradley introduced them to Todd and told them how much help he’d been in giving them shelter. Bradley thought that Aaron was a brave man for hugging the large troll and when he stepped back, Aaron’s eyes were filled with tears. Bradley wasn’t sure if it was from emotion or from the stench. Bradley thought it was the latter of the two, especially when Sara declined a hug from her mate.
It was twenty minutes later when Tristan came to find them. He was holding Bailey in his arms and she had her arms wrapped around his neck. Bradley took his first easy breath since he’d awakened hours ago.
“Bailey is…we’re going home. She’s not going to die and I’m taking her home. I’ll…I’ll meet you all there.” And they disappeared from the room.
Bradley looked at Sara and Aaron. “I’m not letting either of you carry me. She’s too small.”
He pointed at Sara first then at Aaron. “And you stink.”
~~~
They all met in the large salon of the mansion at sunset. Tristan had already gone to Bailey and fed her again.
She was much stronger, but still weak, and now staying with Colin and Shade near Becca’s Place. She needed a few more days of rest before she would be herself again. Tristan was looking forward to a long life with her and ordered her to stay in bed until this was over. He had also told her he loved her. She had cried, of course, and they had held each other and not said a word for a long time.