Shifter Wars (27 page)

“I’m fine, let me up!”

“She’s got him down, Bruce. She’s fine.” I watched out the door window as Bea pinned the leopard to the ground and waited for two orderlies, who ran up and gave the leopard an injection. Gil went slack, and his head dropped. By the time the orderlies had him on the gurney he had turned back into his human self.

Bea padded over to the door, and I backed away. She lifted up and placed her front paws on the door and pushed it open. I held my breath, hoping her earlier statement about keeping her humanity while in animal form was accurate. Her large head swiveled, looking at me first and then Jason, before finally settling on Bruce, who was half propped up against the wall. She walked over and nuzzled his shoulder as he sat there wide-eyed.

“You’re gorgeous,” Bruce murmured.

“Thank you, Bea,” I whispered.

She turned and blinked at me.

Chapter 33

I was officially done, as in stick-a-fork-in-me done. My adrenaline had abandoned me half an hour ago and I was having trouble focusing. Jason and I watched Doc stitch Bruce’s shoulder while Bea paced in the hallway.

“How’s he doing?” Jason asked.

Bea stopped moving as if waiting for an answer.

“Good, so far. I’ll be done shortly.” Doc answered as she tugged another suture tight.

I turned to the door. “Did you hear that, Bea?”

She gave us an enigmatic feline stare before ambling down the hall and out of sight.

Not long afterward, Griffin came tearing into the room and grabbed my arms. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Bruce is the one Gil attacked.”

Griffin turned to Sabrina. “How is he?”

“Luckily, Gil didn’t get a good grip with his teeth, so there’s no bone or tendon damage.”

“Once again, we owe you, Bruce.”

Bruce rolled his eyes and laughed. “Damn straight you do.”

“I gave him something for the pain,” Doc explained.

Bruce interrupted her. “Am I going to turn into a werewolf now that I’ve been bitten?”

“That’s urban legend,” Griffin answered. “Shifter’s bites don’t cause humans to change into animals.”

Bruce smiled. “Good to know, huh Jason?”

“Hallelujah,” Jason agreed. “You dodged a bullet on that one.”

I frowned. Jason was a being little too agreeable on that subject. We needed to tell him about his genetics, but tonight wasn’t the night to do it. I decided to change the subject. “Do we know how Gil got into the hall?”

“Stephen is looking into it. He was caged, so I’m not sure how he got out.”

“Unless someone let him out. I still think you’ve got a fox in the hen house,” I insisted.

“You can turn into chickens too?” Bruce asked.

Jason laughed, and I sat down in the chair next to Bruce’s bed and cringed when a sharp pinch ran up my right side.

Griffin walked over to me. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I answered too quickly.

His eyes narrowed.

“My side’s a little sore. It must be from when Bruce grabbed me earlier to save me from Gil.”

Bruce turned to look at me. “Or maybe you got banged up when the bear fell on you?”

I scowled. “Why didn’t you just knock him out, Doc?”

Griffin went deathly still. “What is he talking about?”

I sighed. “I’m the one who shot the bear shifter. When he died, he fell on top of me. It was nothing, I’m fine.”

“When were you going to tell me?”

“There hasn’t exactly been a lot of time to talk about anything, now, has there?”

Griffin didn’t answer me. “Sabrina, when you’re done with Bruce, would you take a look at Kyle?”

“Stop trying to control me,” I argued.

Sabrina glared at me. “Kyle, enough. Even if he hadn’t asked, I would have insisted.”

I shut up and glared at big-mouth Bruce, who started whistling an out-of-tune rendition of
Eye of the Tiger
.

* * *

“I don’t want to go to bed with you,” I announced loudly as we walked into Griffin’s house.

Griffin’s eyebrows shot up. “I’m not taking you upstairs to ravish you. I’m taking you upstairs to sleep. You’re exhausted. Luckily you only have bruised ribs.”

“
Ravish?
Good Lord, I’m in a historical romance novel. Does that make you the immoral wealthy rake with the wicked tongue, and me the plucky heroine who defies her conventional upbringing?”

He stared at me with wide eyes. “You aren’t making any sense right now.”

“Next you’re going to tell me my corset is too tight and I’m having a touch of the vapors.”

The corners of his mouth turned up. “Quite a few women in my day suffered from the vapors.”

“I’m sure they did when they were around you. I bet you had no trouble relieving them of their corsets as well.”

“Gentlemen never kiss and tell.”

“Right. I’ll remember that.”

“It’s time for bed, Kyle.”

“Isn’t this where our conversation started?”

“I’m putting you in one of the guest rooms. You shouldn’t drive home tonight.”

We climbed the large staircase and walked down the hall. Griffin left me in front of a bedroom door.

A door opened across the hall, and Trina’s head popped out. She was wearing a yellow nightgown with a large, fluorescent pink peace sign on the front. “Is everything okay?”

Griffin walked over to her. “Yes, poppet. Back to bed with you.”

Trina frowned and studied me for a moment. “Are you okay, Kyle?”

I smiled. “I’m fine. Just tired.”

She didn’t appear to buy my explanation. She tugged at Griffin’s sleeve, and he bent down, allowing her to whisper in his ear. Trina backed into her bedroom and shut the door.

Griffin’s eyes tightened on mine. He stepped over and opened the door to my room. He leaned down and kissed me lightly on the forehead. “Good night, Kyle. I’m next door if you need anything.” He turned and walked away without another word.

Before I could convince myself to let him go, I blurted. “What did she say to you?”

He paused and looked over his shoulder. “She said you’re scared and sad and I need to take care of you.”

My heart pinched in my chest, and I mumbled, “Good night,” before walking into the bedroom and closing the door.

Trina was too damn smart for her age.

Chapter 34

I stood barefoot in a field. Arctic air whipped around me, and my body quaked uncontrollably, yet for some reason my feet were warm and wet. I glanced down. Blood bubbled up from the ground and ran over my toes. I sucked in a breath and gagged on the copper-tinged air.

A low growl vibrated in front of me, and I looked up into the glowing eyes of a bear. Eyes that should have been lifeless, but instead, glared furiously at me. He stepped forward on his hind legs, teeth bared, and swiped his paws at me.

I stumbled backward, slipped on the blood, and slammed down hard on my butt. A voice in my head screamed, “This isn’t real, he’s dead. I killed him. He’s dead.”

I looked down. My hands were soaked with blood. I jerked them up from the ground and watched as the crimson faded and white fur sprouted from my skin.

Hands wrapped around my shoulders. I struggled to escape, lashing out.

“Kyle, wake up!”

I shot to an upright position. I was in a strange bedroom, and Griffin was holding me. It took me several seconds to realize I was at his house, and then the previous night came back to me. He sat next to me on the bed, the glow of the bedside lamp surrounding us. I concentrated on my frantic breathing, taking steady breaths and mentally pushing away the remnants of the nightmare.

Once he saw I was fully awake, Griffin rubbed his hands slowly up and down my arms. “Are you okay?”

I tried to shrug out of his grip, with no luck. “I’m fine.”

He frowned. “Obviously you’re not fine. Will you tell me about your dream?”

“If I say no?”

“Then I’m staying here with you.”

“Is this supposed to be a punishment?” I tried to respond flippantly, but it sounded flat even to my ears.

“Please. I want to help you.”

I closed my eyes to picture the scene…and to avoid looking him in the eye. I told him my dream, and he listened quietly.

“It was just a trippy dream. Nothing to worry about,” I murmured.

He shook his head. “Have you ever killed someone before?”

My chest tightened, and I had trouble breathing again. “No. I’ve shot plenty of demons and vamps over the years, but they didn’t die.”

“He would have killed you if you hadn’t acted, Kyle. Don’t forget that.”

I shivered.

“Are you cold?” he asked. The covers had fallen down around my waist, and I had nothing on but my bra and panties. He glanced around the room. “I asked Bea to leave you something to sleep in.”

“She did, but she’s taller than I am, and when I put it on, I felt like a child playing dress up.”

His gaze locked onto mine. “You’re definitely not a child.”

I looked away from his intense stare and ended up running my eyes down his bare chest.
Bare chest
. How could I have not noticed it before? I lifted my hands and skimmed my fingers over his smooth skin. He had dark hair on his chest, and I grabbed some and tugged teasingly. He gasped before caging my hands.

“I don’t want to take advantage of you,” he said. “You’re upset.”

“Fine, I’ll take advantage of you.”

“No, Kyle.”

I scowled. “Here we are, back in another historical romance novel. A very boring one, actually. In this scene, the amoral rake now has suddenly developed a conscience and will not sleep with the heroine.”

“You are the queen of deflection.”

“At least I’m the queen of something. Come on shifter king, the queen needs a little nooky.”

He smiled and leaned closer. His lips came close to mine, but instead of kissing me, he moved past my mouth to my ear and whispered. I couldn’t understand him. He could have been saying I had the face of a trout, but the lilting language he spoke caressed my ears.

“What was that?” I whispered.

“Gaelic.”

“What did it mean?”

“My treasure.”

“Now you’re definitely getting lucky.”

“I’m serious—I don’t think we should sleep together tonight. These circumstances are not what I pictured for our first time.”

I grinned. I couldn’t help it. “And what did you picture for our first time?”

“Something a bit more romantic than waking you up from a nightmare. You deserve more than this.”

“I’m not the flowers and chocolate kind of girl.”

“I smell a little lie.” He tapped his nose with his index finger. “I think you do want someone to take care of you, but you’re too afraid to let it happen.”

I blinked to stop any moisture which might have dared enter my eyes. How could he know? “Turn off that nose—right now, shifter.”

He smiled and stood. “You need to get some sleep.”

I grabbed his arm, nervous about being alone. “I’m not tired.”

“Fine, I’ll stay until you fall asleep.” He sat back down, swung his legs up, leaned back against the headboard, and pulled me against his chest.

Holy Hell.
He was trying to comfort me, but resting against his bare skin wasn’t relaxing. Quite the opposite. I took a couple of calming breaths, which didn’t make me calm, either, since I got a good whiff of Griffin. His scent was exotic. It was how I imagined a tropical rainforest would smell after it rained.

I placed my hand over his heart, and it beat faster while I ran my fingers again through his chest hair.

“Kyle,” he scolded, but there was no real heat to his words.

“What?” I asked, attempting to look up at him innocently.

His eyes narrowed. “I thought we talked about this.”

“No, you talked, and I disagreed.”

He opened his mouth to argue, and I grabbed his face and kissed him. His shock worked in my favor, and I slipped my tongue into his mouth. Since we were both good at verbally sparring, dueling with tongues seemed the next logical step.

His hands wrapped around my upper arms, and he yanked me up against him.
Thank God.
His tongue parried with mine, and when he captured it and sucked, electricity zapped through my nerve endings, shooting through my body down to my toes. But my toes weren’t done yet. When his hands moved down my back and grabbed my butt, pushing me against his erection, my toes actually curled.

I groaned when he rubbed against me, my fingernails rasping his chest. He responded by reaching up and unhooking my bra, and I anxiously whipped it off and rested on top of him, skin-to-skin.

He flipped us over, and I landed beneath him. He gazed down at me, his green eyes flaring, amber pulsing in his pupils until they began to glow, but he held himself above me slightly. “Are you sure about this, Kyle? I don’t want to hurt you.”