"Sleeping. Go away."
Well, I don't need a pillow to sleep on a mattress. I yanked off my boots one at a time and placed each one on the floorboards beneath the bed and stretched out on the soft surface.
My muscles relaxed as if they could sigh on their own.
"Go away," she groaned.
Like I'd leave. What kind of warrior does she think I am? "I'm not going anywhere, Josie. I'm either affected or not. Either way, I'm looking after you. You can crouch in the corner all you like. But when you can't take it any longer, come lie down with me." If that didn't prove I'm here for the long haul, nothing would.
Another pathetic sound of powerlessness pealed from the corner.
Like I'd give in. A standoff was the way things had always been between us. She would push, and I'd push back. Until we both snarled nose-to-nose. I should have kissed her the first time. Just grabbed her in my arms and squeezed, demanding surrender. Futilely. Besides, from the way my fevered little kitten chose to suffer in the corner, everyone would agree Josie never surrendered. I stared into the shadows pooling around the log beams in the ceiling.
Mine, Wolf snarled.
Fancy meeting him here.
But Wolf's mantra had slowly filled every pinprick inside my thick skull. Touched the darkest recesses of my mind. Insisted I accept his harrowing truth when I struggled to fight the very essence of my being. She's mine. Hell. I raked a handful of fingers across my forehead and the blunt barely-there stubble on my scalp only to stare at the ceiling's unyielding shadows.
Josie will need time. Lots of time. To come around. On her own terms. I'd just have to give her every second she requires to come to the conclusion she's here to stay. Irrefutably mine.
Patience is a virtue. And Augustus always said I'm one virtuous Shifter. Or so he claimed, just to get me to hang out and supervise a pack of youths at this Gods-forsaken outpost.
Oh, yeah. Augustus sent her here. With ammunition. Why does his name keep cropping up in my thoughts about Josie? The sneaky bastard.
The day waned with the bright sunlight outside the window, now fading to a deep orange. Not enough to drown out the sounds of the youths preparing the evening meal. Did they wonder where I am? What I'm up to? After all, Josie is missing too. And my door isn't truly shut.
I still rested on my back, wasting my time sending a mental command to my kitten who hadn't relinquished her hold on the corner. She'd been so quiet. Unnaturally silent for a woman tortured with her self-inflicted reverie where two log walls joined together. This ludicrous vigil would kill her. Or me. Although patience would win her over, the manner in which she attempted to protect me had to end. She had to lie flat. Rest. Recover. I threw my bare feet to the floor's cool slick wooden planks and studied her hunched form.
Just a dark mound beneath the blue cover. My mate. Gods, it's true. Probably dying. What kind of Guardian am I? Females. I rolled my eyes, just to feel better, and shoved up to move closer.
To catch the slight whistle of wheeze she made. Not good. The sound only noted she struggled to breathe. Gods, how hot is she buried inside her leper cocoon? I leaned, reaching for the dark cloth covering her head.
The thick blanket pulled away easily, revealing her dark hair.
She didn't budge, hunched over facing the wall instead of me.
The Josie I know would have fought me. Hell. I curled a palm around her forehead.
Damp forehead. Hotter than warm. And she hadn't noticed I touched her. The fever. Shit. Being buried in the blanket would help her fight off the germ. Won't it? But she was so hot. Unresponsive. Maybe I needed to cool her down. Yes. At least try to get her to talk. To make me feel better. The students were too close for me to carry her to the shower. Not for long. I hurried to the door and found them staring at me from where they each busied themselves in the main room. "Josie's feverish. I want you all to wait in the bunk room until I've carried her outside. Wait there for awhile. Let this room air out."
Each teen nodded without balking at the lunacy in my thinking they could be contaminated by a Normal germ and quickly strode for the door.
Following orders. That's why Augustus gave me this assignment. Now, time to go. I thrust a bar of soap, washcloth, and her comb into my side pocked and tossed a towel over my shoulder before picking her unresponsive limp body up and skirting the cabin to find the shower empty.
Dark. Shadowy. But if she woke and found me groping her nude body, she'd probably launch a record assault on me in her dazed state. At least try to. I knelt and propped her up against the hard wall of the back of the lodge that the bar holding the shower's curtain was welded to.
Josie never wiggled.
Nothing jarred her from her sleep. Not good.
My gut sank in a sickening nosedive.
Accursed organ out to drive a man to insanity as much as his heart. Yet, I had to try to keep her alive. For Wolf more than anything. That beast would seek revenge if I failed him. Who knows what kind of internal battle that would be. I grabbed the thick woolen shower curtain and yanked the drape across the opening to touch the lodge's solid log wall.
Well, it's now or never. I pulled off her shirt, cut-off camouflage pants, and the black bra and thong she'd conveniently chosen to wear for whatever reasons. Nice.
Mine, Wolf snarled.
Leave it to the animal to respond to lingerie. I tugged off my own clothes, extracted the round bar of soap from my pocket, and placed all the clothes and towel on the ground outside the curtain.
Water spritzed into a gentle rain from the showerhead hanging near my head in seconds, covering her muscular calves and knees with beading water that rolled off her legs.
Still no movement. Fine. With soap in hand, I heaved her almost-lifeless slim form into my arms and descended to sit directly under the cool spray.
Josie in my lap, leaning against my chest. The only thing nicer would be if she was cognizant.
Her body flinched as if sensing the change in environment.
Would those eyelids snap open?
They didn't.
So, I held her warmth in the cool water.
Water glided down the curves of her shoulders and breasts.
Down the length of her slim waistline. To the angle where her legs bent to form her lap. Both thighs together. The coils of her dark hair noting how close the entrance to her Well of Immortality was. Waiting. For me. For Wolf to lap at the pool of promise's legacy. To plant his seed inside her womb. Again.
Wolf shook his club.
Her head wriggled.
Good thing. I snapped my gaze from its dangerous wandering and found her tilting her chin back.
Back enough to allow the waning light from overhead to enhance the dark lashes of her closed eyelids.
Those lacy edges suddenly fluttered open.
Her pale gaze locked onto mine.
"Hello." She'd probably hate me for that facetious greeting. After all, I held her buck naked in my arms in the shower. Lots of interesting things could have happened while she was unconscious. If I was the one waking up like this, I'd be disgusted simply from missing the fun.
She planted a palm in the center of my chest and weakly shoved, pressing her body backward.
Futilely. The fever had zapped her strength. "You were too hot. I wanted to cool you off. Bring the fever down."
The rigid edge to her body weakened. "Please don't stay," she muttered but eased back into my lap, watching me with groggy eyes.
Eyes that told the story of her exhaustion. Of the struggle waging inside her body. My poor Kitten. She's even contradicting her demand for me to stay just last night. I needed to make her feel better. No sense wasting a shower. A little soap and doting attention should equate to a massage. One careful to avoid causing her to think I groped her curves. "You'll feel well enough to speak soon." I shot her a smile, rubbed th
e jewel of soap between my palms, produced a frothy white lather, and quickly covered the line of her curved neck, the line of her shoulders, and the length of both her slim-yet-muscled arms.
Her steady gaze watched me while each of my strokes gently covered her limp form.
What would she say if she tried to speak? I glided both palms down the ridges of her bumpy ribs to the flat belly surrounding her soft navel. A sweet place to play when she was of the right frame of mind.
She blinked and sucked in a deep breath.
Was that a sign of anger? Hopefully not. We'd already had sex. Certainly she isn't upset I bathed her. Carefully. Yes. Very carefully not to show too much attention with my touch. Avoiding her breasts for more than a brief covering with froth.
Froth. Just what a man needs on his Kitten's breasts.
All the blood raced to my groin.
Bad timing. I focused on her wrist, ignoring the angle at her hip where I quickly lathered soft flesh on my way down to one knobby knee.
"Why are you here?" she managed to ask. "I told you about the fever."
She can't be so naïve she didn't notice the hard-on beneath her ass or the way I'd taken my time making love to her. Could she? I met her half-shuttered gaze and tried not to chew a hole on the inside of my cheek.
Just to keep from feeding the spark of anger that could sputter into a bonfire inside Josie in a nanosecond. What if something really bad came out of my mouth when I opened it? What if I blurted I loved her? People had this way of saying that kind of thing when circumstances seemed irreversible.
Mine, Wolf whined and began clawing at the underside of my ribcage.
Well, if I didn't say something, Wolf would. "I told you I'd take care of you."
"But you'll get sick." Her unwavering stare wouldn't allow me to forget that aspect of this little power game she insisted we play.
"If I'm going to contract this microbe, I've already gotten it. Now, rest." I turned to her bent legs and washed both with a fresh round of suds. Even the tiny globes of her toes.
"Hostillian, you there?" Augustus called from beyond the curtain.
Already? He'd either used a motorcycle of shifted to run here this quickly. Most likely ran in Wolf form.
"Yes." I studied the draping sheet of gray plastic.
"How is Josie?"
She blinked at me thoughtfully.
Or something else danced in her eyes. "Her fever's down. Probably because of the shower."
"I'll be in the lodge waiting."
Good. Maybe he'd know what to do. "Alright."
I shifted Josie around until I could wash her amazingly perfect backside from a few angles, then propped her up against the wall, and lathered myself from head to toe.
She watched me with lazy eyes that warned of her battle with drowsiness.
Her gaze gliding to my ass. My cock. My hands washing my scalp. Everywhere my hands worked, her gaze drifted along. Set my cock throbbing. Jutting at full attention. Until I finished and turned off the water spray.
Water droplets dripped and splattered in the quiet evening air.
"I didn't mean to be a burden to you," she whispered.
What an odd point to make. I turned.
She sat, fighting heavy eyelids.
Tired. Maybe she could rest without the fever's heat for awhile. Would she rest thinking she'd wasted my time? Or killed me? Wherever her thoughts are, she wants to stay awake. For whatever reasons. I squatted beside her, careful to keep my damned cock out of view, and leaned until I could catch the pale blue slivers of her eyes peeking from the cracks in her eyelids. "You aren't a burden, Josie."
She blinked, her eyes shut much longer than the time they remained open with each previous movement, the her gaze locked on mine. "I always tried to prove to you that you wouldn't need to take care of me like the others." She forced a weak smile. "And here I am, incapable of pulling on my panties." Her eyes shut for good.
What did she just say? She'd always tried to show me she was self-sufficient? Or she's delirious? Hallucinating. Maybe she thinks I'm her sire or brother? Yes, she can't move enough to dress herself. But, hell, we'd had sex. And Augustus is waiting. Josie will be herself when she comes out of this fever's haze. She'd make sense again. Now, it's time to see what Augustus has to say. I grabbed a towel, dried us off, dressed us, and bullied my way back through the doorway with her in my arms to find the teens seated around the long table. Augustus' long length, covered in camo pants and leather vest, leaned an elbow against the mantle. His shoulder-length graying brown hair noted his status of pack leader aside from everyone's submissive behavior in waiting at his beck and call.
Didn't anybody giving a rat's ass about my warning? Founded or not! I have enough sense to know I might be anything but rational with my Wolf on the howl. "I thought I told you to be wary?" Unfortunately, I grumbled a bit too much to hide my irritation at having my orders shot down by Augustus.
"I told them that all was well," Augustus announced.
Well, if the clan leader isn't concerned, I won't be. Still, they could have respected my instructions. Or I'm losing control of my emotions. Just put Josie to bed, Wolf. I stepped toward my bedroom's doorway.
Augustus shoved off his arm hold on the fireplace and nodded in the same direction. "Let's take a look at my little cousin."
Anything to take Josie's mind off of the part of her problem that involved killing us all. I headed for the door, her long dark damp hair swinging where it hung, slapping against my hip, wetting my pants.
Augustus claimed a spot next to the head of the bed.
Mindful by his focus on her limp body's swinging arm. At least, he ignored the overwhelming scent cloaking the room of the fact I'd claimed his cousin's maidenhead. There's no hiding that from a Shifter's nose. And things would sour if he thought I'd raped her in her state of unconsciousness.
"It isn't what she fears it is," he mumbled, almost mindlessly. "She wasn't carrying anything." His gaze snapped to mine. "Lucius mated a psychic healer. She healed Josie of anything she carried. And blood work showed her blood was clean. Josie is wrong." He swung his sharp gaze to me. "This isn't the fever that kills Shifters, Hostillian."
Good to hear. But Augustus had busted tail to get here by sunset. What did that imply? I laid the dead weight of her limp curves out on the bed, pulling her back upward enough to swipe her hair up over the pillow, then gently lowered her shoulders.
She watched me.
Again. As if there was something else she wanted to say. Something she wants me to understand in her unwavering gaze.
"Good to see you awake," Augustus said.
Her gaze flicked toward where his large form towered. But she didn't say anything.
Augustus' knees bent to lower him to where he could look her eye-to-eye. "How do you feel?"
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
She somewhat wagged her head.
"It's not the fever that killed your sire or brothers," Augustus said.
The fever killed them? Is that what she's hiding? Must be by the way her eyelids pinched tight with so much pain.
She wagged her head until her nose pointed toward the wall.
That damned wall. She shut herself off again.
"It wasn't your fault, Josie," Augustus added. "You have to stop beating yourself up for it. A germ killed them. Not you."
She lifted an almost-limp wrist and waved him off, dismissively.
Trying to roll onto her back except the bed refused to yield to her attempted escape. Or she was just too damned exhausted.
Augustus rose.
Stepping his side into my arm, ignoring my presence, his shorter form displacing me simply by insisting I didn't stand where I did. Why? Picking a fight? Fighting the clan leader would only result in my loss of whatever he deemed suf
ficient punishment. So, I sidestepped and gave him the space he desired.
He descended into a seat on the bed.
His broad back to me.
His arms reached for what I couldn't see of Josie. "Does your throat hurt?"
Protect, Wolf snarled deep inside my chest, wiggling, trying to worm his way into my eyes and ears.
Making the skin on my arms and the back of my neck crawl with Wolf's attempt to leap from the woodwork.
It's just the examination. Calm down.
Wolf groaned and receded.
Like I didn't have enough problems already. But I'd just act like I waited patiently. Like that's possible with an edgy Wolf. I strode across the room to stand by the dancing flames inside the hearth.
"Did you have any symptoms before the fever, Josie?"
Augustus' little interrogation carried on for about fifteen minutes. He touched parts of Josie where we'd all learned lymph nodes were located in the extensive scientific education we all acquired under the tutelage of Augustus's academy that produced men and women with the knowledge to carry on running his bio-lab, feeding as many humans as possible with his outpost's knowledge of agriculture, and continuing to search for a way to defeat the aliens and drive them from Earth. Augustus even managed to insist she open her mouth so he could look down her throat. And Josie cooperated without debate. Like magic, the man could move mountains. Or this fever could defeat those impossible to conquer. Not good for Normals.
"Any rashes?" he asked.
"None I've seen," I blurted.
Augustus' steady blue gaze turned to me.
As if he couldn't believe I'd said that I'd seen Josie nude. Hell, I'd just given her a shower. He had to have seen the pile of clothes on the ground.
Augustus turned back to Josie. "Well, I think this will pass soon. I could take a blood sample. But I ran here in Wolf form. I didn't carry a lab kit with me. You'll just have to trust me. I know what I'm talking about." He dragged a palm across her forehead and cheek, gently like a doting sire with one of his rare beloved daughters. "Now, you close those eyes and sleep. Hostillian and I will look after you." He tugged the blanket over her smaller form and rose, turning to me.
Big Bad Beast (Werescape) Page 8