Her Wicked Hero

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  Sure, she was.

  Now that she was holding the compress, Dalton started to check the rest of her out. He was pretty sure nothing was broken after the way she had gotten onto her knees, but he wanted to be sure. “Tell me if anything hurts.”

  “I’m good,” she said as his hands competently checked her out. When he touched her right hip, she sucked in a deep breath.

  “How bad is it?” he asked her.

  “Nothing’s broken. But I’m going to have a hell of a bruise.”

  She seemed coherent, which was great. He grabbed his first aid kit out of pack and opened a cleansing wipe packet. He needed to see what he was dealing with. He wiped the gash on her forehead clean and she winced.

  “You’re going to need stitches.”

  “There goes my modeling career,” she quipped.

  He paused, then said, “I’m sure a plastic sur-”

  Her laughter cut him off. “I’m teasing. Trust me, one more scrape or scar isn’t going to bother me. Kind of adds a little bit of character.”

  Dalton eyed her with a little more interest as he started to tear open the butterfly bandage packaging, so he could apply them.

  “I’m glad you came prepared. Were you a Boy Scout?”

  “Eagle Scout,” he answered as he applied three of the bandages to the cut. “There, that should do it.” It was the damn bruise he was worried about. There was a lot of swelling.

  Dalton really wanted to go after the shooter, but there wasn’t a chance in hell he was leaving a wounded woman in the middle of the forest.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Aurora Chance? What’s yours?” Good, she was lucid.

  “What day is it?” he asked.

  “You haven’t answered my question yet,” she protested.

  “Dalton Sullivan. Now what day is it?”

  “Monday. I need to go get my horse, can you help me?”

  Good God, she was serious. She looked like a ghost, her two large brown eyes and purpling bruise were the only spots of color on her face. “No, we’re not going after your horse.”

  Aurora clutched at the arm of his sweater. “She’s hurt. I know one of those bullets hit her.”

  “You’re damn lucky one of them didn’t hit you,” he bit out.

  “That’s a lot of gear for hiking,” she said as she pointed to his backpack.

  “Do you have any idea who was shooting at you?”

  Her hand clenched tighter, biting through to his forearm. “It must have been one of the damned poachers. They’ve been running rampant around here for months.”

  “There is no way that one of your ‘damned poachers’ would have taken three shots at a horse and rider. Maybe one stray shot I’ll grant you. Not three. Someone was deliberately shooting at you.”

  Those brown eyes got wider, but he didn’t see any fear, instead he saw anger. “Somebody shot at my horse? At Siren?”

  “And you, let’s not forget you.”

  “But it’s Siren whose wounded. Seriously, we need to round her up.” Aurora pushed up from the ground on unsteady legs and looked around. Dalton stood with her so that he could catch her if she fell, and it looked like she might.

  “You’re in no shape to go after your horse, and right now I want to get us a little more cover. These two little trees don’t make me feel safe enough.”

  She turned around on wobbly legs, “Okay, where to?”

  “You’re coming with me,” Dalton bent and picked her up, then bent again and snagged up his backpack.

  “I can walk,” she protested.

  “Sure, you can, Sunshine.” He strode over to seven trees that grew close together. He gently lowered her behind four of the narrow tree trunks. “Stay put. I’m going to check things out.”

  “Siren?” she asked hopefully.

  “I’m going to look for the shooters. We’re not safe, until we make sure they’re long gone.”

  He watched as she bit her lip. She finally nodded her head in acceptance.

  “Besides being an Eagle Scout, who are you?” she asked when she saw the gun that he pulled out of one of the compartments of his backpack.

  “I’m one of the good guys. Will you promise me to stay put?”

  She worried her bottom lip again.

  Goddammit, she was going to go after the horse. He just knew she was.

  “Listen Aurora, Siren is in as much danger as you are from the shooter. You keep your ass planted.” He made it a command. He was good at commands.

  “But-”

  “We’ll argue when I come back, okay? I need to go now. Promise me you’ll stay, okay?”

  She nodded, then winced.

  “Don’t move your head, just rest against this tree. Can you do that?”

  “I don’t think I’ll have a choice,” she admitted ruefully. He pulled out a clean t-shirt from his pack and put it behind her head. “Hopefully that’s soft enough for you.” She hummed her appreciation as she leaned back.

  “I’ll be back as fast as I can,” he promised.

  “S’okay.”

  He took few moments to pull out some other things from his pack.

  “Here’s Gatorade, Trail Mix and a couple of protein bars. I want you to finish the Gatorade while I’m gone.” He gently pulled her away from the tree and helped her into a rain jacket that he had in his backpack. He zipped it up to her chin, then he rolled up the sleeves.

  “That should keep out the chill.”

  Then he took off on a silent run.

  From half-mast eyes, Aurora watched as her savior morphed into a predator and then disappeared. She shuddered. Was it pain? Shock? Or was she replaying the feel of his hands on her body? She was twenty-six years old, and in her entire life, she had never had such a strong reaction to a man. She took a deep breath, and instead of smelling the fresh mountain air and pine trees, she took in the lingering masculine scent of Dalton Sullivan. She had to stop herself from sighing in pleasure.

  Obviously, she’d hit her head too hard.

  “It’s the circumstances. Get over yourself.”

  She trembled again. Even though she was thinking of his dark Irish good looks, she knew that her shivering was due to cold. His rain jacket was keeping out the wind, but she needed more heat.

  With gloved fingers she plucked at the fastenings on the back of his backpack where she saw the rolled-up blanket. It didn’t work. She yanked off the gloves using her teeth, even then it took her three times as long as it should have to undo it because her fingers were so cold. Aurora shoved herself up against the tree trunk so that she was sitting up.

  “Halleluiah.” She shook out the silver survival blanket and tucked it around her lower legs, combining that with Dalton’s jacket, she basked in warmth. That answered that question, it had been the cold, not any kind of weird reaction to the man.

  Still, as she nestled into the blanket, and let her body relax against the tree, she kept thinking about her close call, and Dalton’s protectiveness. He hadn’t been put off by her independence. Not once had he backed down. She smiled as she thought about it. He was just like all the other bull-headed men in her family, not that wimp she’d dated.

  But Dalton Sullivan sure as hell didn’t feel like family. Nope, as a matter of fact, he seemed larger than life.

  “He’s a tourist.”

  Shit, now she was talking to herself, and she was supposed to stay quiet and hidden. Get it together girl. Just because you thought all your hormones had taken an Alaskan cruise five years ago, and now they decided to come back and unpack their bags in the middle of a shoot-out, doesn’t mean that you should go all psycho-girl.

  Now, rest your head back and relax. Be the logical and practical Aurora we all know and love.

  What had he been doing with a gun in the woods? And a wicked looking gun at that. He sure as hell wasn’t a hunter. She was pretty sure that was a Sig Sauer, based on what she’d seen in her granddad’s gun magazines. He’d said he was one of the good guys, and
he sure knew first aid. She really couldn’t imagine Eagle Scout boy, with his first aid kit and clean socks being some kind of criminal, but who goes around camping in the woods with a military pistol?

  She was a millimeter away from slapping her forehead before stopping herself. God, she was so stupid.

  “He’s a soldier! You’re dealing with a soldier!”

  Crap, she was talking loud again.

  Get it together girlfriend. Are you hearing me? No hormones. No hitting your injured head. No yelling out loud when there are shooters in the woods. You’re better than this.

  Sure, she was.

  Come on, what would Grandma Mae do?

  God, she missed her grandmother, but the thought of her made her smile. Little Miss Liberal Hippie.

  Time to meditate. That’s what her grandmother would tell her to do.

  She leaned back against the clean shirt. Did she smell Dalton?

  Stop it, that’s Febreze!

  She took another deep breath. Ponderosa Pine trees. Mountain air.

  Another deep breath.

  In.

  Out.

  In.

  Out.

  Better. She snuggled deeper against the t-shirt and smoothed the survival blanket over her legs. Now Aurora closed her eyes and thought of the magic of the forest that surrounded her. She let herself float upwards, she flew miles toward her family’s ranch. Valhalla. She pictured the beauty of the ranch with the horses running in the tall grass and remembered how her granddad used to ride with such strength atop his stallion.

  She whispered her mantra.

  “Beauty. Strength. Magic.”

  There had been two sets of hoofprints near the four brass shell casings. Dalton crouched down to get a better look. They were boat tail hollow points. Shit, they could have come from any jackass hunter. But he’d be damned, before he would believe that Aurora and her horse hadn’t been targeted. Sure, the first shot could have been a mistake, if you wanted to believe in the tooth fairy, but there wasn’t a chance in hell the second and third ones had been.

  He got up from his crouch, eying the casings one last time. He was careful not to touch the brass, or step on the imprints left by the horses. He stood up and really looked around the site. This was a crime scene, and even with a forensics team, Dalton didn’t think the sheriff’s department would have much to work with, but that couldn’t be his problem. Right now, Aurora was his first priority. He pulled out his cell phone but didn’t get a signal. Dammit, it was about damn time to invest in a satellite phone. He missed those when he wasn’t working on a mission. Disgusted he pocketed his phone, realizing he needed to get closer to the road, and started to head back to Aurora.

  It took half the time to get back to her, and when he did, he didn’t like what he saw. She was out like a light. He squatted in front of her and touched her shoulder, she didn’t move.

  “Aurora?” he whispered. She didn’t move.

  “Aurora?” he spoke louder.

  “Hmmm?” Her eyelids fluttered open. She looked up at him, her expression dazed. “You’re back. Did you find Siren?”

  Dalton smiled. “I haven’t searched for her yet. I was looking for the people who shot at you.”

  “Are you a super soldier, like Rambo?”

  Dalton laughed. “No. Why did you ask that?”

  “You just disappeared into the forest like smoke. I figured you were a super soldier or an Avenger. The soldier seemed more likely.”

  Her voice was beginning to fade and her eyes drifted closed again.

  “Sunshine, stick with me.”

  “Hmmm?” She opened her eyes again and shook her head then sat up straighter. She grabbed at the t-shirt as it slipped down her back. “Sorry about that. I’m here. I won’t go to sleep on you, again.”

  Dalton brushed the hair back from her face and looked at the butterfly bandages. There was some leakage, but not too much, but there was a hell of a bump forming on her forehead.

  “Aurora, can you look me in the eye?”

  “Checking for a concussion?” she asked with a smile.

  “You got it in one.” He nodded.

  “I think I’m good. This doesn’t feel like one.”

  Shit, if she’d had one before, she was more susceptible to having another one. “When was the last time you had a concussion?”

  “Four and a half years ago.”

  Dalton relaxed. Good, it wasn’t in the last year. Also, her eyes weren’t dilated. Both things were good news. Aurora pushed her back against the tree, bracing her feet against the ground.

  “What are you doing?”

  “What does it look like I’m doing?” she asked with a slight grin. “I’m getting up, Ironman.” She pushed off the silver blanket but kept the coat on. The sleeves fell past her hands and hung down almost to her knees. She must have unrolled them at some point to get more warmth over her hands. Dalton kept one hand under her elbow, the other around her back. He pulled out his cell phone again. Still no signal.

  “Can you check to see if your mobile is getting service?” he asked.

  “No can do, it was in my saddlebag.” She gripped his bicep and grimaced.

  “How are you feeling? Are you dizzy?”

  She looked around. “Nope, not dizzy, and the good news is, there’s only one of you. Last time when I flagged down a cop beside the side of the road after my car rolled, there were three of him.”

  Dalton sucked in a deep breath, bloody images flashed through his mind. “You were in a car accident?”

  “I lucked out. The other driver fell asleep at the wheel and drifted into my lane. I swerved and went down an embankment. It could have been a lot worse.”

  “Were they drunk?” he asked numbly.

  “No, they’d been behind the wheel too long. Poor judgement on his part.” Aurora took a deep breath.

  Dalton tried to decide if she was nauseated or she was remembering her close call.

  “Come on, we need to go find Siren,” she prompted him.

  “What we need to do is get you someplace safe and warm, then talk to the police. After that, I’ll go find your horse.”

  Her shoulders sagged. “I don’t know what I was thinking. You going and trying to find Siren is ridiculous,” she sighed. “What was I even thinking? Hopefully she’ll be cold and hungry and head for the barn, or she’s long gone, and I’ll have to gather up some ranchers to help search for her.”

  “What happens if neither of those things work?” Dalton asked.

  “Oh, as soon as I get home, I’ll put in a missing horse report with the sheriff. Brody will put the word out to the other law enforcement in and around Tahoe. Granddad will work the phones. He’s owned Valhalla for forty-five years, he knows everyone.”

  “Valhalla?” Dalton asked. He watched every step she took being sure to guide her along the flattest part of the forest floor.

  “That’s the name of our horse ranch.”

  “Is it safe to assume there is a little bit of Norway flowing through your veins?”

  “Oh yeah, you could definitely say that. My great grandfather had fishing boats that went up and down the coast from Oregon on up to Alaska. Granddad was supposed to take over, but he was a rebel, he came to Lake Tahoe and fell in love with the land.” Her tone was wistful.

  “Why do I think there’s more to that story?”

  He wanted to keep her talking, her voice was still a little slurred and she wasn’t walking well. The best thing to do was keep her mind focused and talking.

  “Huh?” she asked.

  “You were going to tell me about Valhalla,” he reminded her. “You said there was a story behind your granddad ending up here.”

  She looked up from beneath her lashes. “You’d be right, there was a love story.”

  Shit. Really? Did he really have to hear about a love story after being embroiled in three others so recently?

  “Okay, lay it on me.”

  “You don’t sound very excited t
o hear about it.”

  “You could say I’m kind of burned out on love at the moment.”

  “Oh,” she whispered softly. “She must have hurt you a lot.”

  Suddenly he was thinking of Lacey, and he didn’t mean to. He hated thinking of his dead wife. He slammed that door shut in his mind.

  “No, I meant that three of my teammates recently fell in love. I was really beginning to think that there was something in the MRE’s.”

  “Huh?”

  “The Meals Ready to Eat, that they give us on missions. Dex, Hunter and Zed all got engaged or married in the last year. It’s been crazy. I was around for each one of their downfalls.”

  Aurora giggled. “I guess that sums up your perspective.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You just called falling in love a downfall.”

  Dalton paused and replayed his words in his mind. “I didn’t mean it like that. For them it was the right thing,” he sighed. “For me, it wouldn’t be. That’s all.”

  Damn, he hadn’t meant for the words to come out so harsh.

  Aurora peered over at him, but she didn’t look offended or hurt.

  “To each his own I guess. For my grandparents, it was definitely the right thing, kind of like for your friends.”

  Dalton considered how much further they had to walk. It was at least another two miles to the road. He could do without hearing about another great love story, but if it would keep Aurora’s attention and keep her walking in a straight line, then he was for it.

  “Okay, let’s hear it,” he said.

  “Granddad had money that he’d earned long-lining. His father wanted to put him in charge of his fleet when he retired, but Granddad said to turn it over to his brothers Arvid and Einar instead.”

  “What’s your grandfather’s name?”

  “Gunnar.”

  “I can get behind that,” Dalton smiled.

  “I bet you can,” Aurora said cheekily. “A Sig Sauer is quite the weapon.”

  Dalton almost missed a step as he did a double take. “You recognized the gun I had?”

  “Sure. So, Granddad went hiking around Lake Tahoe and fell in love with this meadow,” Aurora said, continuing her story.

  “Let’s get back to how you recognized the gun I was holding,” Dalton slowed down their pace until they were stopped, and he was staring down at her.