To Woo A Warrior (Southern Sanctuary) (12 page)

“Break it.  Break the
focus.”  Marcus’s voice instructed, slicing through the chaos. 
Suddenly a physical wave of magic crashed across the room, causing the house to
shake and sway for a moment beneath them as the Drexel let out a throaty
shriek. 

Everything seemed to speed up for
Vaughn as he raced over to help Hadleigh drag Xander over to the exit
point. 
The floor beneath them visibly beginning to
smoulder in new spots and sag in others.
  The fire from the
basement must be eating away at the ground floor and nipping at their
toes. 

“Out, everyone out.”  Vaughn
instructed.  Gesturing for Hadleigh to go out the window first. 
  “I’ll hand out Xander.”  He’d just managed to get an
unconscious Xander out through the hole safely into Hadleigh’s arms when the
floor gave way beneath his weight, sending him plummeting down to the ground
floor below. 

He landed badly, on his back, on top
of something sharp.  With the wind knocked out of him he was finding it
hard to breathe and see, as smoke and flame surrounded him, prickling his skin
and irritating his eyes.  It would have been nice to just lie there for a
minute or ten and get his breath back but there was no time.  The floor
beneath him was too hot and already making groaning noises in protest at his
added weight.  If he stayed there much longer he’d end up in the basement
inferno.  Mentally he knew he had to move.  Physically he was finding
it hard to get going, something was wrong with his back.  He was just
contemplating the painful idea of rolling onto his stomach and maybe using his
knees and hands to get up when the front door flew off its hinges and there
through the dense haze came Hadleigh. 

With five strides she was standing
over him, grime staining her face and neck, ashes in her hair.  Reaching
down she pulled him to his feet, dipped her knees slightly placing him over her
shoulder in a fireman’s lift. 

He tried to protest.  No way
could she haul him out of here, she should call for Drum.  But between the
smoke inhalation and the pain he could barely manage to take shallow breaths
let alone speak.  Then she straightened her legs, taking all of his
weight.  The pain was excruciating for a split second but praise Maat she
was actually hauling his ass quite literally out of the fire.  He really
did love this woman.  It was the last thought he had before blacking out.

Chapter Thirteen

Vaughn drifted in and out of
consciousness.  His first coherent thought being that he was back in his
room at the Washington DC base, lying face down on his bed.  One of those
lava monkeys was sitting on his shoulders, gnawing at his back, sending
white hot
pain through every nerve ending he had. 

He drifted for a while, maybe passed
out again.  The next thing he knew he was listening to female
voices.  That wasn’t right.  But one of the voices was familiar ...
 Hadleigh!  He managed to roll his head slightly to the side and
there she was.  Emerging from his bathroom, her hair wet, wearing nothing
but one of his t-
shirts which hit her about
mid-thigh.
 

He revised his whereabouts, maybe he
was dead and this was heaven.  He tried to turn his head to get a better
view but excruciating pain lanced through his back freezing him in place, his
gut churning, his breath coming in shallow gasps. 

Next time he opened his eyes
Hadleigh was kneeling before him, her face only inches from his.  He
hadn’t imagined the t-shirt but now her hair was practically dry.  How
long had he been out?  That thought fled from his head as she bought up a
hand cupping his cheek gently.  “You need to stay still.”

He tried to speak but his throat was
so dry he could only manage a tiny affirmative dip of his brow.

“How is he?”  Hadleigh
redirected those clear grey eyes, addressing someone standing behind him.

“As good as can be expected,
considering I’m looking at bone here in places.”

Expecting to hear Drum’s voice
Vaughn was startled at the soft feminine reply, it caused him to jerk.
 Hadleigh immediately placed firm but gentle hands on his bare shoulders
to keep him in place.  He fought to stay conscious as another wave of
intense pain gripped him.
Note to self
,
don’t bloody move
.

“Hey, what don’t you understand
about staying still?”  Hadleigh used her stern voice on him, despite the
pain it kind of turned him on. 

“No doctors.”  He managed to
croak.  Was she mad?  There was no way a norm doctor should be here
treating him.  How would they explain his recovery rate?

“Loving the gratitude here
Hadleigh.  Give him another couple of hours and he’ll no doubt be as surly
as you get when you’re injured.  Let me just get this poultice slathered
on to act as a painkiller.”

Vaughn gasped, only Hadleigh’s firm
touch keeping him still as the woman … doctor, who ever she was, did something
hellish to his back.  He prayed to Maat that she would stop torturing him
soon or he’d be embarrassing himself by shedding a few manly tears. 

Then like a miracle, the pain, the
fire that had been eating through to his bones was gone in an instant. 
His entire body relaxed and for the first time in what seemed like forever he
allowed himself to take a deep pain free breath.  In fact he felt so good
he struggled to get up.

“Easy there Viking.”  A firm
hand pushed him back down on to the sheets.  “You’re still cut open to the
bone back here, the herbs I’ve just packed into the wound are masking the
pain.  You need to lie quietly and let your body heal.”

Vaughn shot Hadleigh a wry
look.  “Viking?”

Hadleigh smiled.  “Nell’s not
just a doctor, she’s family, my cousin actually. I wouldn’t have needed to call
her in at all if your blessed Goddess Maat had just shown up to heal you. 
What’s up with that?”

“Maat’s all about the tough
love.”  Feeling so good Vaughn turned his head enough to look at Hadleigh’s
cousin. She was not what he was expecting at all.  Barely 5.10ft, slim,
honey brown hair she had pulled up in one of those elegant twist arrangements
professional women often wore, her eyes a deep clear blue.  The only thing
she and Hadleigh seemed to have in common was their perfect cream complexion.
“Hi I’m Vaughn.”

“Nell.”  She gave him an impish
smile.  A look distinctly at odds with her touch me not long sleeve
buttoned up blouse and fitted knee length tan skirt. “Well I’m off.  It
might be the middle of the night here but back home Great Uncle
Alfric
has a rash I need to look at … joy.”  She blew
a kiss Hadleigh’s way.  “Keep the poultice on until it dries.  Then
wash it off.”  She turned her head to look at Vaughn.  “You, stay
still, do what you’re told.  Drink plenty of liquids.  By the time
the sun comes up you should be good as new.”  Then she turned and
disappeared into his closet.

Vaughn frowned
,
maybe he was hallucinating
.  “Did she
just go into my closet?”

Hadleigh tapped him on the cheek to
get his attention, she was holding out a glass of water with a straw in
it.  “Drink.”  She instructed.

“But?” 

“Drink.”

 Again with the stern voice of
hers he found so hard to resist.  Okay he’d ask about the closet another
time.  He stared at Hadleigh as he sucked down the refreshing water until
he’d drained the glass.  “Are you okay?”

She laughed, sitting back on her
heels, placing the empty glass on the bedside table.  “Me?  I’m not
the one who fell through the floor slicing my back open.”

Vaughn frowned.  “That’s not an
answer.”

Hadleigh rolled her eyes, issuing
another small laugh.  “I’m fine.  Some splinters, my lungs ache from
all the coughing and my eyes still feel like they’re full of grit but the
shower helped immensely.”  She shifted slightly to pick up a bowl and a
cloth.  “Speaking of which, I thought you might appreciate a bit of a
clean-up.”  She dipped the cloth in the bowl and wrung it out.

“Now I really do think I might have
died and gone to heaven.  You’re going to give me sponge bath?”

Hadleigh blew out a breath. 
“Why do you make it sound so dirty?”  She slapped the cloth none too
gently over his face and
proceeded
to rub kind of
hard.  There came a muffled sound but not until she pulled the cloth away
and noted his reddened but cleaned skin did she have a chance to ask. 
“What did you say?”

“Get as rough as you want, this is
still a dream come true.”

Hadleigh ignored him and started
cleaning his right arm down to the hand. 

“What happened to the lava monkeys …
or Drexel or whatever you want to call them?”

“Lava monkeys, I like that. 
Drum and the guys have gone after them.”

Vaughn tensed for a moment.

“They’ll be fine. I gave them some
tips on how to deal with them.  Marcus is using
infra-red
satellite feeds to track them.  Once they locate them they can get them
down to a more manageable size using fire extinguishers and there was some talk
about stealing an ice-cream truck to transport them.” 

“You’ve come up against those things
before?”

“Twice.”  Hadleigh wrung out
the cloth before going to work on some stubborn soot in the crease of his
elbow.  “The first time a Volcano blew in New Zealand and the Drexel were
blasted into an inhabited area.  The second time someone performed a spell
on them; used them like tracking animals to bring down a rival.  You give
them blood or a piece of clothing of your enemy, set them to the task and they
don’t stop until the prey is obliterated to ashes.”

Vaughn frowned.  “So you’re
saying we have a problem.”

Hadleigh shuffled over and commenced
cleaning his other arm.  “You don’t find Drexel voluntarily outside of a
volcano unless they’ve been tagged by a spell and given a target.”  She
blew out a soft breath.  “They came straight for Xander.”

“Or maybe you.”  Vaughn
reminded.

Hadleigh shrugged.  “Who would
know I was here?  A week ago I’d never even heard of you guys or your
show.”  She swivelled, picked up the bowl and headed for the
bathroom.  “We need some fresh water … and stop staring at my legs!” 

“Hey I’m injured not dead.  They
are very
stare
worthy legs.”

Hadleigh returned to sit behind him
on the bed to work on cleaning up around his wound.  Vaughn deemed it a
real pity he was still wearing his trousers, things could have gotten very
interesting.  As she worked the cloth along the side of his rib cage he
turned his head to watch her, enjoying the look of concentration on her
face.  “What about Xander?  He seemed to be unconscious when I handed
him out, did he take a hit?”

“Yes from me.”  Hadleigh shook
her head.  “The guy’s a disaster in a crisis. First sign of trouble he
tries to make a run for it, right into the path of danger.  The last straw
was when he practically punched the mirror out of my hands, so I thumped him on
the head.”

“Where is he?”

“Back at his hotel.  Nate coaxed
Benny and
Pepsy
out of the cameras, they said they’d
stay at the hotel and look after him.  I believe the official story for
him and the local law is a leaking gas pipe and the Drexel
were
just stray fireballs.  Will he really believe that drivel?”

Vaughn arched into her touch as she
moved the damp
cloth
over the back of his neck. 
“He doesn’t have to believe it we’ll show him proof.  The grommets will
edit the footage we have, add some special effects and before you know it
Xander will be the hero of the peace, saving you from a fire loving
poltergeist.  The paranormal conspiracy theorists will eat it up with a
spoon.”

“Saving me?”  Hadleigh enquired
dryly.

“Well he is the star of the show.”

“Fine.”  Rolling her eyes she
strode off to dump the dirty water.

Standing in the doorway of the
bathroom empty handed she contemplated the sight before her.  Even
wounded, his hair stiff and dirty still with soot the man looked like a golden
god.  Now that she knew he was pain free, on the mend and as comfortable
as she could make him she wondered if she shouldn’t leave him to rest. 
Have some peace and quiet.  She knew she could certainly use some time
alone to get herself under control. 

The moment she’d watched the floor
crumble beneath Vaughn she’d been operating on nothing but adrenalin.  In
all her years as a family enforcer, facing some truly disgusting if not
monstrous creatures she’d never felt so afraid, not for herself but for
Vaughn.  Ever since she’d met him she’d been acting and reacting strangely,
so unlike herself.  Even when she’d found him lying on a heap of rubble,
broken and bloodied the feeling of anxiety, terror, refused to go away. 

Whilst Drum had been questioning her
about the Drexel, their habits, where they might go now that the focus keeping
them imprisoned had been broken and how they could be contained it had been all
she could do not to yell at the man.  Demand to know how he could be so
calm whilst Vaughn
lay
only a few feet away
unconscious and bleeding as Marcus applied a field dressing. 

And in her entire life she had never
volunteered to forego a battle but when Drum had asked who would take care of
Vaughn she had stepped forward without conscious thought.  She was a
warrior not a nursemaid yet that was exactly the role she was performing
here.  And she should resent it.  Resent Vaughn but all she felt
right down to her jellied knees was bone deep relief that he was going to be
all right. That she wasn’t going to lose him.  Lose him?  She didn’t
own him.  Have any rights over him.  She desperately needed some
distance from this man who made her so off kilter.

“Well I should leave.”

“We should date.”

Hadleigh’s head snapped up. 
“What did you just say?”  They’d spoken at the same moment and she wasn’t
sure she’d heard him correctly.

“I said we should date.” 
Vaughn’s golden eyes had her pinned to the spot.

Hadleigh scowled, moving once more
to kneel before him, brushing his soot encrusted hair out the way so she could
get a better look at his eyes.  “Are you sure you don’t have a concussion?” 
She looked at his pupils trying to gauge if they were the correct size.

Vaughn grinned, shaking his
head.  “I say we should date and you assume that means I have a head
injury?”

“Well…
” 
Hadleigh
had no answer. 

How could she explain her insecurities?
 Her extraordinarily bad luck with men in the past and the fact that she
couldn’t fathom why a man like Vaughn, who could have any woman he wanted,
would be asking her out on a date?  She wondered if he was making a joke
at her expense, but no despite his grin he looked sincere.

“Give me one good reason why we
shouldn’t date?”  Vaughn pressed.

“Well you’re my boss.”  Okay
even to
her
 
own
ears it sounded a weak argument but it was better than blurting out what she
was really thinking.

“I’m your ‘temporary’ boss, doesn’t
count.”

“Somehow I think under sexual
harassment guidelines even in a temporary capacity it would still be considered
wrong.”

“Hey I’m wounded, incapacitated,
haven’t even made one sexually explicit comment on how delicious you look wearing
just my t-shirt.  Okay to be truthful there may have been some leering
going on but hey that t-shirt is living la Vida
Loca
and I’m jealous as hell. So back to my original, non-harassing question, we
should date?”