Unforgettable (14 page)

His cousin, Josiah, lay before him in lion form, panting, pain present in each heaving breath that he took. With no regrets Galen made short work of ripping his throat out, tearing the life from him. Head rising, he sniffed the air, searching for his other cousin, knowing he was out there somewhere. They worked as a pair, always had, the question was why had they attacked his mate? If they’d wanted to take leadership of the pack they would have gone after him, going after Eden made no sense.

But he had no time to ponder their reasons, the smoke from the cottage was interfering with his sense of smell, making it harder for him to scent out the other werelion. Harder, but not impossible. As he prowled around the side of the cottage the scent of fear, of panic, of betrayal hit him.

Joshua had his mate.

Racing away from the house she never even heard him until he grabbed her, clasping her close. His hand quickly cut off her scream of fear, while his other arm tightened around her waist, trapping her arms as he held her tightly against his much larger body.

“Knew you wouldn’t last long in the house, Eden. Never did like fire, did you? Bit of advice for the afterlife, never let others know of your weaknesses, they’ll use them against you.”

“Bit of advice for you, cousin.” Both Eden and the man holding her looked up in surprise as a naked, bloody Galen came walking towards them. “Run!” His voice was a savage growl, and Eden could feel the man behind her tremble before the hand covering her mouth lowered to clasp her chin.

“Just stay back, Galen. All it would take is a bit of pressure and I could snap her neck like a twig.”

Eden watched as Galen snarled, his face seeming to morph into something more inhuman, more animal-like. The flickering light from the burning cottage only added to his menacing appearance.

“Release my mate so I can kill you.” Even his voice seemed more guttural.

“Look, cousin, we have no problem with you, but we both know I can kill her before you get to me, so let’s just work something out. Ahh, what the hell—”

Eden felt his arm drop from her chin at the same moment as Galen pounced, his body a blur, and then she was shoved aside so quickly and heavily that there was no time for her to react, to protect herself as the ground rushed towards her.

The last thing she heard was an enraged roar before everything went dark.

Chapter Ten:

Eden awoke feeling drowsy and disorientated. Pain hit her eyes, piercing through her head as though each ray of light was a finely sharpened knitting needle. As the pain faded to the point where she could think again she felt a soft brushing at her mind, a warmth that encompassed her whole being in its light. It was acceptance, love, protection. The mate bond was back.

She gasped, sitting up, crying out in pain as ice raced through her head and down her neck. But it didn’t matter, because she remembered.

“Lie down.” The voice was quiet, soothing, but there was steel underneath the honeyed tone. Deciding that obedience was in her best interests she slowly lay back down.

“Don’t open your eyes again until the pain stops.”

“I remember,” she said with wonder.

Suddenly the hand holding hers squeezed tightly, but not so tightly that he risked hurting her. Opening her eyes carefully, she found that the pain had dulled to more of a throb than a sharp piercing. Focusing her eyesight, she watched as Galen stared down at her, his strong face tense and cautious.

Fear. Fury. Concern. Fierce will.

It was sensation overload through their link, and she couldn’t stop the small whimper that escaped. Just like that the link was shut down, his emotions pulled back, leaving her bereft.

Lost and alone.

“No!” she cried out, unaware of the tears tracking slowly down her face until he brushed them away with his thumbs.

“It's too much for you. I could feel it hurting you.” And that was something he could not stand, she knew.

“It's not enough,” she cried back. “I was alone, so alone. Please don’t let me be alone.”

“Hey, shh, shh.” He sat beside her on the hospital bed, carefully gathering her in close against his heated strength, letting the strength of his body heal the wounds inside her.

“I promise you will never be alone again.”

Eden stifled a groan. If she’d thought him over-protective before it would be nothing compared to how he would be now.

But she’d fight that fight another day. It had been that way since they had met. Galen was a dominant personality, he ruled over all in his domain, expecting and usually receiving instant obedience. Eden had a feeling she’d be doing a lot of compromising in the months, possibly years to come.

“Where did it go? Why did it disappear?” She almost felt betrayed, had thought the bond unbreakable.

“It disappeared with your memories, kitten. It was still there, just temporarily buried while your brain recovered.”

“I remember what happened now. I got a message saying you wanted to meet me at the lake cabin.” She blushed as she looked at him; they often snuck away to the small cabin at the edge of his property for some privacy.

“When I arrived they must have knocked me out from behind. I woke up in the trunk of a car. They hadn’t tied me up; I guess they figured they didn’t need to. I pretended to still be unconscious when they stopped and pulled me out into the forest. I heard them boasting about what they were going to do to me when I awoke, before they killed me.” She shuddered remembering their sick plans.

“I waited until Josiah left to take care of nature and Joshua was half asleep. I tried to be quiet, to move how you taught me, but they soon found my trail. They tracked me through the woods.” She let out a sob at the memory. “They were so fast, right on my back, chasing me down like prey.” The nightmare echoed in the starkness of her voice, and he automatically drew her closer, purring softly in an attempt to soothe her.

“That was what my nightmares were about. They were chasing me, almost playing with me. I must have made it to the road, and that’s when the car hit me and I banged my head.”

“This is all my fault.”

“What?” She moved her head so she could stare up at him, ignoring the lightning sharp pain that attempted to shatter her mind. He scowled down at her, aware of the agony she was in, his hand immediately moving to support her head and neck.

“I left you alone and unprotected. They took you far enough away from me that all I could sense were some flashes of your fear, your terror, but I had no idea where you were. I knew someone was hurting you and I could do nothing!” The last word echoed through the room on a roar, rattling instruments and windows. A nurse ran through the door, her face a stark mask of fear.

“We’re fine, I think there was a small earthquake or something,” Eden quickly tried to reassure the woman as Galen turned his head to hide the glowing heat of his eyes. The woman grasped the excuse, turning to walk out without examining her patient, not that Eden blamed her at all. It was obvious, even to someone who didn’t know what Galen was, that he was dangerous, volatile. Tension rode his body like a glowing neon warning sign.

“I should never have let myself get in that situation.” Bitter regret. “A female werelion would have out-run them, would have fought, would probably have never been in danger in the first place.”

“Kitten.” A mild rebuke. “None of this was your fault.” She turned her head away, but he gently forced her back to face him. “You couldn’t have fought them, there were two of them and yes, you are more delicate, more fragile. So very, very precious. What another werelion would have done does not come into this. Because you are my mate, because you are mine.”

“Why did Joshua let me go? I felt his hold on me drop, just before, you know…” She didn’t ask what happened to his cousins, she could see their deaths in the shadowed depths of his eyes.

“Rick shot him in the shoulder with a tranq.” Galen’s lips twitched.

“Why kidnap me? What would killing me gain them?” she asked.

Betrayal. Raging fury. Clawing, grinding hurt.

“What is it?” His concern beat at her, drawing her back from the dark as she gasped through the pain of betrayal.

“Your mother. Oh God, Galen, it was your mother. I remember now, Josiah was saying how Alicia need never know that they’d had some fun before they killed me.”

He pulled away from her, climbing from the bed before grabbing his cell phone and leaving the room. Rejection was a tidal wave of pain, crashing, smashing its way through her. Suddenly he returned, coming straight back to her.

“Never,” his voice was fierce in its intensity. “Never would I leave you, and never again will you leave me.”

“You blame me.” Her voice was hoarse with fear. “If I were a werelion this never would have happened. Your mother wanted you to have a strong mate, someone who would make you stronger, not hold you back!”

“You are my strength.” His glare stole her ability to move, to breathe. “You are my heart, my soul, my reason to live. Without you there is nothing.”

“Your mother hates me so much that she tried to kill me!”

“I have no mother.”

“Galen, no!” she cried out in pain.

His hands clasped her face. “This is not your fault, kitten. You will cease to worry about his.”

“How the hell do you expect me to do that?” she asked with exasperation.

“By remembering that this was her choice, that this is all her fault,” he said firmly. “She came after my mate knowing the consequences.”

“Don’t kill her, please,” she begged him.

Reluctance clouded his face. “I contacted Ryder. She’s gone, probably realized her little plan had gone awry when my cousins failed to report in. Ryder will track her.”

Ryder was the pack’s tracker. He was in charge of tracking down any rogue wolves and terminating them if necessary. He had highly developed senses and ruthless determination. He’d find Alicia and make her pay.

“Please don’t leave me.” She didn’t want him killing his own mother, and the woman was definitely on death row, it was just a matter of time.

“It’s okay, baby, I’m not leaving you. I’m here.” He held her closer as she trembled in shock and fear.

“You need to sleep,” he murmured softly, his hands gently massaging the pain from her temples.

“I’m scared. Scared you won’t be here when I wake up.” Her eyes closed even as she spoke, exhaustion dragging her under.

“I’ll be here. I promise. Always.”

Epilogue:

 “I have a favor to ask.” Galen stepped into the room, ignoring Andrews’s snort of disbelief.

“A favor? Or an order?” Rick replied.

“I’m not your Alpha,” Galen said stiffly.

Rick looked at him thoughtfully. “You want me to come back with you.”

Galen raised his eyebrows. “Was I that transparent?”

“No,” Rick replied. “But it’s what I would do. You can’t trust your pack with her now, and you need someone on the inside to protect her. Kind of surprised you’d trust me with her, though. Considering I’m a leopard.”

“Well I do trust you. Will you do it?” It cost him to ask this of another, but he would do it. For her.

Andrews sighed. “I didn’t enjoy living with my own pack. I’ll be nearly as much of an outsider as Eden.”

Galen waited with a predator’s patience.

“But for her, yeah, I will.”

“You love her.” It was a statement not a question.

Rick looked over at him in surprise, a hint of pain in his eyes. “I know she’s yours and I would never betray that, even if she were to ever once look at me like she looks at you, which she never has.”

“Or will.” Galen’s voice was filled with the arrogance of knowing he held Eden’s love. “I would never have asked you had I thought you a threat to our relationship. I also know that because you love her you would lay down your life for her.”

“Lay down his life for whom?” Both men looked over as Eden entered the room. Galen thought her still too pale, too fragile.

“You should be in bed,” he growled softly even as he walked over to her quickly, pushing her gently into a chair. The doctor had released her yesterday, but had told her to get plenty of rest. Galen was determined that she would be one hundred percent before he moved her back to their home. In the meantime they were staying with Andrews since the cottage had burnt to the ground.

She sent him a soft smile even as she rolled her eyes. “Galen, I’m fine. Now, who is Rick laying his life down for?”

“No one, honey.” Walking over he leaned down and kissed Eden’s forehead. They both ignored the growl of her mate.

Eden saw him smile sadly as he walked from the room.

“I worry about him.”

“Andrews will be okay.” Galen pulled her up before depositing her on his lap as took her place on the chair.

“It was me who’d he lay his life down for, isn’t it?” she asked intuitively. “I know Rick thinks he’s in love with me. He’s not, you know.”

“It’s okay, kitten. I know he would never act on those feelings. If he did then I’d have to do something, and he knows it. I asked him to come back with us. He’ll be your bodyguard.”

“Galen,” she protested.

“Hush.” That one word, so soft in texture, so hard in tone.

“I cannot be with you all the time. It is either this or I leave the pack.” She knew he meant every word.

“I need my freedom,” she told him.

“I need you safe.”

She sighed, capitulating. “You’re lucky I love you, you know.”

“I know, and I promise to never you let forget it again.”

The End.