Jude turned, observing the panic in her eyes. He raised a small grin. “Don’t worry. You won’t hurt me.”
“Like I can take a knife to your skin? Absolutely not.”
“Let’s argue later. When I shift to my dragon, you’ll have to climb up to sit.”
“Jude, I can’t. I’ll fall off.”
“No, I won’t let you. But I may not be able to make it all the way back by flying. Come on.”
Leaving the crashed Mercedes, Jude took Natalie by the hand and led her a distance from it. Shifting forms, he ducked his healthy shoulder, groaning at the pain from the injured one. Natalie gazed at him for a long moment, indecisive, then awkwardly climbed up. When she felt secure, Jude spread his wings and leaped into the air.
Natalie half shrieked, sliding to his right as he beat his way over the top of the forest. With a slight tilt to his left, Jude got her back into position, and heard her say, “I never knew I was afraid of heights until now.”
Peterson had taken her at least twenty miles before Jude stopped him, and now he felt every single one of them slide painfully by. Forced to go slowly for Natalie’s sake, he flew on, calling on every bit of dragon strength he possessed.
What had taken him mere minutes to fly earlier took him nearly an hour to fly back. When the lights of the lodge came into sight, Jude breathed deeply and dropped to the ground while still on the logging road. The instant Natalie slid down, Jude changed forms and collapsed onto the packed dirt.
“Jude!”
His body aching with a savage pain, he panted hard, sweating, as Natalie lifted his head to her lap. “Need a—minute,” he gasped. “Must rest.”
“Please let me call an ambulance for you,” she begged, her fingers swiping his hair from his face.
“No. A minute. Please.”
Focusing on regaining some strength, he felt some trickle back as he lay on the road, resting. Breathing deeply, he knew he’d either fall asleep or lapse into unconsciousness if he lay there for much longer. Thinking he’d be able to walk again, he struggled to get up.
He needed Natalie’s help to do it. With his healthy arm over her shoulder, listening to her encouraging words, Jude walked slowly the rest of the way to the lodge. She helped him into her house, turning on lights as they passed the switches and straight to her bedroom.
“Easy, now,” she crooned as he slid down to the bed and fell onto it.
Her pillows captured his head, and he felt her pick up his legs and remove his boots before setting them on top of the covers. He listened to her feet on the floor, the rustle of her clothes as she walked away from the bed. Exhausted, Jude let the unconsciousness take him down into a whirling mass of color before they faded into darkness.
Chapter Fifteen
“Jude?”
Natalie covered him with a blanket, terrified he had died when she went to the closet to find something to cover him with. His slow, even breathing informed her he wasn’t dead and must have passed out. Not knowing what to do, she sat on the edge of the bed, stroking his face, his hair.
“At least I can take a look at his wound.”
Standing, she paced to the bureau and found a pair of scissors in a drawer. Pulling the blanket back, she cut his bloody shirt from him. He lay on his healthy right side, his injury clear as she examined him. Glad and grateful his bleeding had stopped, she found the entry wound dried and crusted with blood.
Her fingers gently rolled over the lump on his back, and she flinched when the bullet under his skin moved. Maybe I can remove it. Now, while he’s unconscious. Scared to death, Natalie made herself go to the master bathroom and collect together clean cloths, a razor blade, rubbing alcohol, and a metal basin that she filled with hot water.
“This is hardly a sterile environment,” she muttered as she set the things down where she could reach them easily. “Good thing he has a natural immunity to bugs.”
Gripping the razor blade, Natalie dropped rubbing alcohol on it, then, before she could talk herself out of it, sliced Jude’s skin over the bullet. Blood welled from the cut, but not nearly as much as she feared. Trying not to squeamishly wince, she pulled the squashed bullet from between the lips of the wound.
Pressing a clean cloth to it, Natalie hoped she could stop the bleeding. After a few minutes, she lifted the bloody cloth to discover the cut no longer oozed. “Good,” she breathed, feeling lighter, as though a weight had just been lifted from her. “Just clean it good now, then bandage it. No big deal.”
Returning to the bathroom for sterile dressings wrapped in paper, Natalie set them beside Jude on the bed, then poured the rubbing alcohol on the cut. Glad he was out of it, as no doubt that would burn like a son of a bitch, she opened the dressing and stuck it over the wound.
Easing him onto his back, Natalie stared at the crusted bullet wound in dismay. “You need a hospital, dude. Not a medically inept idiot like me.”
If he were a human, Natalie knew she could kill him with her lack of medical knowledge. Finding some comfort in his strength as a dragon, and his ability to heal remarkably fast, she used the water and cloths to clean the wound as best she could.
“This will hurt like hell,” she muttered to his unconscious face, pouring the alcohol onto the open wound. It bubbled alarmingly, but no doubt it also killed any infectious germs before she applied the sterile dressing over it. Jude never flinched, and she held her hand over his mouth and nose to make sure she hadn’t killed him.
He breathed on, slow and steady. His pulse under her fingers seemed strong, though Natalie had no idea what it should feel like. Still, the signs of life in him encouraged her. Covering him back up, Natalie tidied the mess she’d made, threw away the wrappers, and washed the basin before putting it away.
Returning to his side, she found little change. “I’ll be back in a few minutes,” she told him, even though he couldn’t hear her. “I need something to eat and to check on things. Just rest, okay?”
Hating to leave him, Natalie quickly peeled out of her clothes, crusted with Jude’s blood, and changed, then turned out the bedroom light. The lodge was quiet, the dining room darkened, and the staff gone. But the murmur of voices on the porch informed her many guests were still up and enjoying nightcaps outside.
Reassured by the lack of drama, Natalie went into the kitchen and switched on the lights. Making herself a sandwich, she grabbed wine from the big walk-in refrigerator and plastic cups from the cupboard, then took her stash back to the house.
Jude still lay where she had left him, breathing easily and quietly. Sitting in a chair beside the bed, Natalie hungrily ate her sandwich, then, with her stomach satisfied, drank her wine from the cup. Determined not to sleep, despite the last forty-eight hours without much of that, Natalie watched over Jude as the hours crawled by.
“Natalie.”
A hand touched her knee. Natalie woke with a snort, blinking, confused, stiff from sleeping upright in the chair. Jude, his face pale, but his blue eyes bright, grinned at her from the bed.
“Oh.” Natalie rubbed her face with her hands, yawning, trying to shake off her sleep. Daylight streamed in through the windows, making her squint a little as she straightened. “I guess I didn’t kill you with my lack of medical knowledge.”
Jude took her hand. “I’ll be fine in a few days. Thanks for not taking me to the hospital.”
Fighting against another yawn, Natalie nodded. “If they tested your blood, who knows what they’d find. Let me take a look under there, make sure I didn’t give you a raging infection.”
Lifting the bandage, she discovered no swelling, little redness, and a scab already forming. “Holy shit,” she exclaimed, meeting his amused eyes. “I was so scared I’d do something wrong and hurt you worse. But you’re healing.”
“Like I said, we dragons are tough.” He took her hand to his mouth and kissed it. “Did you get the bullet out?”
“Yeah.”
Standing, Natalie left him long enough to fetch more dressings
to cover his wounds. “It wasn’t as hard as I was afraid it’d be. And since you were unconscious already, I didn’t have to worry about causing you pain.”
“I’ll probably have to stay in bed for a while,” he told her as she replaced his bandages. “I’m hungry.”
Natalie agreed when her stomach rumbled. “I’ll explain that you caught the flu,” she told him. “I suppose we won’t report this to the police?”
Jude rolled his head on the pillow. “It might be best if we didn’t involve them. Too much to explain that shouldn’t be.”
“They’ll find Peterson’s car.”
“Crashed in the woods. No one except me knows you were taken by him.”
Natalie set her hands on her hips, gazing down at Jude. “All right. Maybe the sheriff won’t even think to ask me about it. Peterson was out driving drunk and crashed his Mercedes. I’ll go get us both breakfast.”
The only one that appeared to be worried about her was Jane. The waitress stopped her, saying, “Jude couldn’t find you last night. Neither could I.”
Natalie made herself smile. “He did find me. But, he also seems to have caught a bad case of the flu.”
Jane winced. “Yikes. Hope he stays away from the rest of us. I can’t afford to get sick.”
“I’ll have to look after him for a while,” Natalie said. “And hope I don’t catch it. But while I say good morning, will you fix us two plates and put them on a tray for me?”
“Sure thing.”
Making her way among the tables, smiling and making small talk, Natalie found most of the guests chatting about the forest fire the previous night. “I went into Landson earlier,” said a man, not minding that Natalie paused at his table to listen. “The firefighters are baffled from what I heard. It’s like there was a backfire built to contain it, but none of the firemen did it. They’re calling it a miracle.”
Natalie laughed to herself. That’s called a dragon whose name is Jude. There was more talk of the fire, rumors spreading about how it started. “They say it was arson,” said a lady, speaking to one of her tour group. “I heard the authorities found evidence that it was deliberately set.”
“People are so stupid sometimes,” said another woman. “That fire could have come this way and fried us all.”
Moving on, Natalie discovered more talk of the same, how close it could have to come to the lodge if not for the backfires, and how blessed they all were that it truly came to naught. Some talked of other forest fires they had experienced, but by then, Jane had arrived with breakfast.
“If you get sick,” Jane warned her, “don’t come to work.”
“I won’t.”
Natalie took the tray from her and awkwardly opened the doors to her house, carrying it to the bedroom. Dozing, Jude woke immediately when she entered, his expression brightening at the prospect of eating. He carefully, wincing, sat up and leaned pillows against the headboard.
“You’ll have to tell me how Peterson got his hands on you last night,” Jude commented as she set the tray on his legs.
She took her plate, glass of juice, and utensils to sit at the small desk to eat. As she ate, her mouth often full, she explained. “I got worried about the fire getting close,” she said, “and went out to use the hoses to spray down the yard and the walls. Peterson was waiting around the side, in the dark. I never even saw him until he had the gun to my head.”
“He made you go with him?”
“Said he’d shoot me if I didn’t, and then anyone who came around the corner at the sound of the shot. I couldn’t risk him killing guests.”
Jude nodded briefly. “He put you in the trunk?”
“Yeah. I thought I’d be able to pull the latch from inside when he stopped, but he was going so fast, I didn’t dare open it and jump out. I knew if I waited, you’d come to find me.”
Eyeing her with worry, Jude said, “If he had gotten to the main road, I’d have never found you, Natalie.”
“I was afraid of that, so I had a half-assed plan to pull the trunk latch and roll out the minute he slowed the car enough. Then run into the woods.”
“Except he might have shot you before you got far.”
“True. But he also wouldn’t be torturing me for the whereabouts of the money. And had I told him, he’d have simply killed me and dumped me where my body would never be found.” Natalie grinned at him. “You were my sole hope.”
Jude devoured his breakfast faster than Natalie did. “Maybe the sheriff is right,” he said at last. “You should leave here for a while. Go someplace where you can’t be found.”
“And my place?” Natalie waved her hand toward the ceiling. “And let all my work go down the toilet?”
“You have all the money from Bart,” he said softly.
“I don’t even know if I can keep it, or how to hide it if I try to. Anyway, Peterson would just start in again once I got back.”
Jude drew a deep breath and leaned his head back against the pillows, closing his eyes. “You’re right. We have to deal with that bastard, and make sure he can’t touch you ever again.”
“Obviously, he’s not afraid of you enough,” Natalie pointed out. “You could smoke his ass with a breath, and yet he keeps trying.”
“Is that insanity or stupidity?”
“Does it matter?”
Standing, Natalie went to pick up the tray from Jude’s lap and bent to plant a kiss to his lips. His eyes flickered open at the same time his mouth curved upward.
“I’ll be strong enough to make love to you again real soon.”
“Good. Now lay back down and get some sleep. I’m going to work in the office.”
Jude’s grin faded. “Maybe I should go with you, lie on the couch.”
“No, I’ll only do what’s necessary, then I’ll come back here.”
Relaxing at her words, Jude continued to regard her with worry. “If you don’t come back within two hours, I’m coming to look for you.”
“That’s fine.”
Taking the tray and the empty plates back to the kitchen, Natalie felt uneasy about being alone in the office without Jude to guard her. Peterson could have gotten himself another vehicle by now, and might easily stroll in with a gun as he had before. After leaving the tray in the kitchen, she paused long enough to watch the guests checking out, then locked herself in the office.
Hardly able to concentrate, she found herself staring out the window toward the parking lot. Tour buses and cars drove out; few came in. And those that did she watched with suspicion until she saw none were Peterson or his pal. “Dammit,” she muttered under her breath. “He’s taking my life from me one piece at a time.”
Unable to help herself, Natalie opened the closet door, and inspected the bags, making certain no one had touched them. Reassured that all was as she had left it, she locked the closet, then went out to check on Jude. Locking her office door, Natalie discovered Dave walking through the front doors.
“Hi,” she greeted him. “I hope you’re here to tell me you caught Peterson.”
“I’m afraid not,” he answered, then glanced around. “Where’s Jude?”
“Down with the flu.”
“Shit. That going around again? Seems like we can’t ever get rid of it.”
“So, what brings you here, Dave?”
“Mostly checking upon you.” His eyes studied her. “You know about the fire?”
“Yeah, we watched it from out there,” she answered. Natalie put her hands on her hips, gazing at him levelly. “Rumors say it was arson?”
“Yup. And our prime suspect is your boy, Peterson. A big silver car was seen in the area right before it started.”
“Why?” Natalie heard her voice rise in fear and anger, but couldn’t seem to halt it. “What does he have to gain by burning my place?”
“I wish I could tell you,” Dave replied. “He seems out of his mind, from all accounts. Look, Natalie, we got arrest warrants out for this guy, we have the staties on the lookout for him, a
nd every cop in this county. He’s staying below the radar, and we can’t find him.”
And now that his silver Merc is smashed, he’ll be driving something you don’t know about. Rather than say all that aloud, Natalie clasped her arms over her chest and tried not to shiver. “I know you’re doing your best, Dave.”
“With your boy out of action,” Dave said, “I’ll patrol by here as often as I can. But he’s your best hope for you right now.”
“I’m going to arm myself with Dad’s semi-automatic,” she told him.
Dave shook his head sadly. “While I will try to convince you otherwise, I can’t say that I blame you. Are you certain you can pull the trigger and take a life, Natalie? Can you live with yourself after?”
She lifted her chin. “If it means defending my life, or someone else’s, then yes. I won’t hesitate.”
Chapter Sixteen
After resting for the next twenty-four hours, Jude climbed stiffly out of Natalie’s bed. She watched him closely, but when she examined his bullet wound, she found little to complain about.
“That is just too freaky,” she said, seeing the red scar. “It’s not natural.”
“I am not completely healed,” Jude told her. “I need to take things slow. But right now, I really need a shower.”
After bathing under the hot spray, he felt rejuvenated, and later accompanied Natalie to the dining room. As usual, the place was packed, and other guests lined up at the reception desk with their bags to check out. Jane eyed him with suspicion and kept her distance as much as possible, making him grin.
“This flu is contagious?” he asked, his voice low.
“Very. Forgive Jane; she hates being sick.”
Jude knew he still appeared unwell with his pale skin, and the deep dark circles under his eyes, but he felt better than he looked. Natalie watched him closely.
“How’s the pain?”
“Hardly there,” he answered. “It’s just a prevailing weakness I haven’t been able to shake yet.”
“You lost a lot of blood.”
Dragon Fever: Limited Edition Holiday Romance Boxset Page 12