Authors: Bianca D'Arc
“I laid in some perishables at the cabin,” Mr. Miller let her know. “Your father said you had a wounded man with you.” He looked toward the passenger side of the car, where Mitch was slouched, unconscious.
“I’m going to need a little help getting him out of the car. He’s a big Alpha.”
They walked together around the car.
“Royal Guard, your father said. Do you think it’s wise to bring him here?”
“It’s the only place I could
think of where we’d be safe. When we left the city there was a concentrated effort to kill the
pantera
Nyx. This Guard’s partner thought it would be safer for me to get out of Dodge, just in case, and I agreed.”
“He knew about you?” Mr. Miller frowned in concern.
“There was no way to hide it.”
She opened the passenger
-side door and they spent the next few minutes wrestling with Mitch’s unconscious form. Mr. Miller maneuvered one of the snowmobiles over and they got Mitch onto it. Gina would have to ride behind him to keep him on the machine. They would have to go slow, but it would work.
“Joan will stash your car while we go to the cabin. She’s on surveillance right now. Or she’d have come out to greet you.” Gina knew the Millers had cameras and sensors hidden all over their property—just like her father had—and a bank of screens in a hidden room, which could show live feeds from every inch of their land. “You need anything else?”
“Just the bags in the back seat. Can you take those with you?”
“Sure thing.” Mr. Miller got the bags that contained a few changes of clothing and some other
supplies, and hopped on to his own snowmobile. With a roar of engines, they prowled away over the snow into the darkening night.
They arrived at the cabin as the sun was setting. Mr. Miller helped her get Mitch inside and onto the bed
and then hightailed it back so he could get home before full dark. She knew the Miller family would be on high alert and would be the first line of defense if anyone with bad intentions had followed Gina’s circuitous route from the city. After Mr. Miller left, silence descended. She was alone with Mitch.
She looked around the cabin, locating a few things she’d need
and then turned to contemplate the unconscious tiger
shifter. Another infusion of her blood might be just the thing to bring him around.
Universal shifter blood was a rare and magical thing. Gina could donate blood to any other shifter or
were
species with no fear of incompatibility. Just a few drops of her blood could purify any poison or contagion in another person’s system—shifter or human. In fact, her mother had covertly used Gina’s blood to save a number of students in her grammar school when they’d all been exposed to viral meningitis.
It only took a minute or two to take a few milliliters of blood from her own arm and inject it into Mitch. She’d done the same when he’d gone into convulsions back in Ellie’s apartment and it had saved his life. So far. But then she’d given him the nectar. She was kicking herself over that misstep.
She might’ve killed him with the nectar. She felt horrible about giving it to him, but Cade had been so adamant about rousing Mitch so he could answer questions. She never should have done it. The nectar had to have caused this relapse. Her blood had been working to heal him. She knew it had.
Five milliliters of her blood was more than enough to restore good health to anyone. The human kids in her grade
-school class had only needed a few drops each to rid themselves of the deadly disease.
Even this huge Alpha should have been fine with the small amount he’d been given back at the
apartment, but he’d relapsed. He had rallied for a little while and then collapsed again while they were in the car. With any luck, this second treatment would do the trick and put him back on the road to recovery.
“Come on, big guy.” She did her best to settle him more comfortably on the bed.
He wore a giant sweatshirt she’d bought for him on the way out of town. She’d had to make a quick stop at a large chain store to get Mitch some clothing. The shirt and pants he’d been wearing when he was attacked were ruined and it wasn’t worth the risk to get his own clothing. So now the tough Alpha sported a shirt that loudly proclaimed he really
loved
New York.
It was the only thing she could find
that was big enough for his extra-large frame and warm enough for where they were headed. Winter had already hit up in the mountains. His pants were likewise sweats with a drawstring waist. There was another set in her bag along with some of her own clothes. It wasn’t much, but it would have to be enough for now.
They had to lay low until things settled down.
Mitch’s golden eyes opened.
“Where am I?” The words rasped out of a throat raw from what he’d been through, yet his tone was still compelling. If Gina had been made of more timid stuff, she might have cowed before the Alpha. As it was, she met his unvoiced challenge on even footing. Actually, she held all the power in this situation, but she was a little too nice to point it out to the injured warrior.
“Safe. In the mountains, at a remote cabin well-guarded by others of our kind.”
“Your kind or my kind, milady?” One golden eyebrow rose in an almost teasing question.
“So you remember that?” She sat back on her haunches next to him on the wide bed. She’d climbed up beside him to administer the blood and hadn’t left his side as she’d willed him to wake. She’d been that worried about him.
He still wasn’t out of the woods. She
would have to keep close watch over him until he showed marked signs of improvement and could stay awake without yet another infusion of her blood. He was perilously close to succumbing to the poison and would have been dead already if not for the magical properties of her blood.
“That and more. I may have looked unconscious
, but this particular poison seems to leave me aware but unable to respond, not even to open my eyes.
“You’ve been awake this whole time?”
“No. Not completely. But I was aware for some time after that first dose. I heard what Cade said and your plans to take me out of the city. I faded as he put me in the car.”
“Good. So I don’t have to go over too much old ground. Your partner is with my friend Ellie in the city. You’re out of the action for now, I’m afraid. In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t responded better to my treatment. One dose should have been enough.”
“Whatever they got me with is more potent than anything I’ve ever experienced.” He grimaced as he tried to move. “The tingling is starting again. If I go out, remember I can hear you.” His voice began to slur a tiny bit. “Talk to me, milady. Keep me company.” His hand gripped hers as a frisson of fear entered his eyes. “Stay with me.”
She covered his big hand with hers, pressing gently. “I will. I promise. We’re safe for now. My father will come tomorrow and the Millers have guard duty tonight. This cabin is on the edge of their land where it meets my parents’ retreat. They’re a good and loyal
tigre d’or
family. Mr. Miller and his wife were Royal Guard, like you. When my father went into exile, they went with him, as did a handful of others. Your recovery will be guarded by those like you, Mitch. Trust their skill to keep you safe as they have kept my family safe all these years. I bet they’ve forgotten more things about stealth and secrecy than you’ve even heard of.”
His grip relaxed as his muscles went slack and only a small grunt followed. The poison must be doing its work on him again. Dammit.
She was really worried. She leaned over him, peering into his golden eyes.
“Are you still with me, Mitch?”
One hand rose to cup her waist loosely, surprising her. He wasn’t completely under, though his motions were sluggish and his eyes half-lidded. The heat of his hand on her body sent little shivers of awareness through her that were totally unacceptable. He was her patient. She shouldn’t feel anything but doctorly compassion for the big brute, no matter that he was the most attractive tiger shifter
she’d ever seen.
Not that she’d seen a whole slew of her own kind up close. No, she’d been raised away from the Clan, but her father had a few loyal families living up here in the middle of nowhere with them. She’d had
tigre
playmates and friends all her life. And humans too, though they lived down the mountain in the nearby town. She’d gone to the human school in the valley with both human and
tigre
kids. That’s how she’d met Ellie and they’d been best friends ever since—even though there was one really big secret between them. Until just recently, Ellie hadn’t had a clue about shifters.
But the shifter Guards and their children
were always watching out for Gina. Even when she’d ventured out on her own. Her father wouldn’t have let her go off to the city without some protection, especially at first.
By the time she’d graduated
, at least one part of her protection detail had already mated and had cubs of their own. They lived nearby and she saw them often, but they weren’t really guarding her anymore. After years living among humans with no problem, even her father had been willing to allow her to roam alone. After all, cats needed their space. He understood that better than most.
“I’m here, blue eyes.” His words were slurred even more and his gaze spoke of the same attraction she was feeling—and fighting. Only he didn’t seem to be fighting it right now. “You’re lovely, Gina.”
Now that was a little more intimate than she was comfortable with. Especially coupled with the way he drew her closer, tugging at her hip as he slid his hand over her waist to urge her forward.
Her balance was precarious as she leaned over him on the soft bed and she found herself unable to resist the pull. Before she knew it, she was within range of those firm lips and he was kissing her.
It wasn’t a light buss, but it also wasn’t the tempestuous claiming she’d feared. It was a sweet kiss, full of promise and wonder. Something she wouldn’t have expected from the tough Alpha, even in his weakened condition, and it completely seduced her.
She gave back all that he asked and more. Her hands went to his wide shoulders for balance, though the simple act of touching him turned easily into a caress. He was bigger and more muscular than any man she’d ever kissed before and she liked the sensation of his muscles moving under her fingertips. Such a feeling could easily become addictive.
When he ended the kiss, it was a gentle parting, like something out of a fairytale. Gina was stunned momentarily while his eyes searched hers.
“Tell me true, milady. What are my chances?”
His words hit her like a bucket of cold water and her heart wrenched to think this man—this gentle man who had kissed her with such beauty—might still die. Her hands tightened on his shoulders and though she tried, he refused to let her move away. The hands that secured her waist made certain of it.
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
“My arms and legs tingle like they don’t want to work. I can also feel myself slipping back into that nightmare of being aware but unable to move.” A little of the horror he must’ve felt came through in his voice, though she knew he tried to put on a brave face.
“No matter what happens, I’ll be with you, Mitch. Now that I know you’re aware at least some of the time, I’ll keep you company. Nobody can get to us without considerable trouble here
, and my father will be by in the morning. He may not have the title any longer, but he certainly still knows how to organize and protect things. This area is part of his fortress of solitude. It’s well hidden and protected by more than you can imagine. He’ll keep us safe while you heal, and my mother is a registered nurse. She’ll help too, if we need her. You’ll have the best care any shifter could hope for.”
“You have my thanks, milady. And if the worst should happen, I have no family to return my bones to. Just tell Cade. He’ll know what to do with my few possessions.”
“Don’t talk like that, Mitch. So far, my blood is keeping you alive and awake for longer periods of time. It might just take more of it than usual. That’s okay. I’m willing donate whatever you need.”
“You’re not only a princess, but an angel as well.” He still had strength enough to tease her and his face brightened in a weak but devastating smile.
She wasn’t unaffected. Mitch had more than his share of charm.
“Not a princess or an angel. Just a doctor. With a family and loyal friends that will keep you safe while you heal.” She knew the predator in him paced at the idea of being unable to protect himself from others who would prey on any weakness.
She kept reinforcing the idea that he would be safe, knowing it would reassure the beast side of his nature. Even Alphas needed to take time to heal once in a while. As long as she could placate the beast inside him, his rest would be peaceful and healing.
“I’m not used to trusting anyone but my partner or other Royal Guards,” he admitted. Some of his natural protections had dissolved along with his grasp on reality. He seemed to be floating in a half-awake sort of state, though she knew it was the poison affecting him. He was aware, even if the poison took him under again and he appeared to be unresponsive.