To Shackle a Shrew (Southern Sanctuary Book 7)

by Jane Cousins

  “Good, I going to need some help here. You…” She gave the worried enforcer still lingering nearby a hard look. “That hand of yours will need stitches. Go wait over there, out of the way. Now.” Devon applied all her focus to her patient who was attempting to swat her hands away and get up. “Where’s the horse tranquiliser in this place?”

  Ten minutes later she moved on to a new patient and then another, and another. The crowd of patients, medical staff and concerned witnesses and arriving family members were making the trauma area ridiculously crowded. Until Nell cleared her throat and in a surprisingly moderate tone started ordering people about like she was three star general. More surprisingly was the fact that everyone jumped to do her bidding.

  Devon found herself assigned to an off shoot room with three beds. One patient was sedated with several heavily imbued healing sheets covering his chest and one thigh, courtesy of Nell. Another was lying calmly, his eyes bandaged, awaiting the eye specialist to have a spare moment to advise on the next step required in his treatment. Which just left Devon attending patient number three, a young man with blue black hair and lovely green eyes who had a large gash from his chin to his ear. He also had a shard of glass sticking out of his chest, for which he would need to be in the capable hands of a surgeon to remove. So as Devon stitched closed the facial gash she kept a sharp eye on his vitals.

  “Don’t worry about the chest wound, you’ll be heading off to surgery any moment now.”

  Her patient managed a one sided grin, his pupils enlarged and out of focus from the sedatives that were being pumped into his body. His eyes closed for a moment, then popped open. “Don’t make me too pretty Doc. Chicks dig scars.” His last words were slurred as his eyes shut once more and stayed closed.

  “Everything okay in here, Doctor Patel?”

  Devon kept her attention on her work, making the stitches as close and as small as she was able. “I’ll be finished here in another two minutes, vitals are stable, he’s good to move when the surgeon is ready.”

  “I’ll advise Doctor Montgomery.”

  Devon applied ten more quick stitches before tying the thread off. Done, now to head out to the main trauma area and see where she was needed next. She had just tensed her thighs to stand up when she felt someone move up behind, crowding her. More worrisome though was the sharp prick she felt in the region of her jugular.

  “Steady there Doctor, you don’t want to do anything stupid or we’ll be finding out just how sharp this scalpel is.”

  “Sienna?” Devon damned the fact she’d knotted her hair back out of the way earlier. But she still had her killing nails, if she could just stand up.

  “Na-huh Doctor, stay exactly where you are.” Sienna pressed the scalpel infinitesimally harder and Devon could feel a warm drop of her blood slide down the side of her throat.

  “What is it you want, Sienna?”

  “Don’t play dumb Doctor, it doesn’t become you. Now, which one of those is knock out juice?”

  Devon glanced down at the tray next to her, since the nurses were stretched thin, the syringes had pre-loaded and readied. Several were full of minute doses of local anaesthetic, one was full of adrenalin in case her patient coded and three were full of a sedative powerful enough to knock out any of the extra-large enforcers that had been bought in today.

  Devon picked up the adrenalin, if she could just plunge it into Sienna she’d potentially send the woman into cardiac shock.

  Sienna tensed for a moment. “That was too easy. Use it on him.”

  Devon frowned, if she used this on her patient, it might potentially kill him. Reluctantly, she placed the adrenalin back on the tray and picked up a sedative.

  “Much better.” Sienna breathed in her ear. “Inject yourself.”

  Devon hesitated.

  “I wonder what this guy would look like crispy extra-fried? By the time they put the fire out there will hardly be a pile of ashes left.”

  Bloody Hell. Devon uncapped the syringe and plunged it into her thigh. She could only pray to Yami, that Sienna didn’t intend to kill her here and now, if she didn’t, if she survived, then she could tear the woman apart at her leisure when there were no innocents around for her to threaten.

  Devon pressed down on the syringe, sending the warm liquid flowing into her bloodstream. If she lived, she vowed she would get some answers as to why Sienna wanted her dead and then she would rain down vengeance on the woman.

  A wall of blackness threatened to engulf her and she had just enough presence of mind to drop the used syringe to the floor.

  * * *

  Glass crunched under Liam’s feet as he moved around the perimeter of the fencing salon, watching as the local fireman, joined by his police escort of the day, Gideon McKenzie, studied the scene of the explosion. The tang of burnt metal and rubber tainted the air. He bounced impatiently on the balls of his feet. Come on, was the exploding water heater sabotaged or an accident?

  He and Gideon had been in a little café just off the town square drinking coffee when the news of the accident at the fitness centre had been broadcast over Gideon’s radio. They’d immediately jumped in the police car and headed over to help. By the time they arrived most of the injured had been transported to the hospital and the local fire crew had taken control of the scene.

  Liam didn’t like it, maybe it was just a coincidence but the explosion was just too timely considering what was going on with Devon at the moment. Anyone watching them would know that he spent his days here at the fitness centre, that Devon had attended a climbing class. Except… he wasn’t supposed to be the target, Devon was. So that raised an interesting question. Assuming this was no accident, what did this explosion at the fitness centre achieve?

  It sounded like a heap of people had been hurt from the flying glass but no one had been killed. Sure everyone at the hospital would be run off their feet dealing with the large number of wounded… shit, this was meant to be a distraction.

  Liam didn’t realised he’d yelled Gideon’s name until the other man jogged over, concern etched across his handsome face. “Problem?”

  “Can you check on Devon’s whereabouts? I’m thinking this is meant to be a distraction.” He watched intently as Gideon radioed his brother Zeke. The two chatting in police code for a minute or so.

  “She’s working in emergency, helping out with the trauma patients.”

  “Does he have eyes on her?” Liam pushed, something just felt wrong. His gut was churning and every instinct he had screamed that Devon was in trouble.

  “He’s double checking.” Gideon absently adjusted his belt and gun. “Shit, say again?”

  Liam was already running towards the car, Gideon close behind.

  “What did he say?” Liam asked, snapping on his seatbelt and gripping the dash as Gideon switched on the siren and peeled out of the carpark.

  “She’s not where she’s supposed to be. Zeke’s looking.”

  “Fuck, this whole thing is a set up. Sienna Groves has her.” Liam knew bone deep it was true.

  “We don’t know that.” Despite his words Gideon pressed his foot harder on the accelerator. “There’s a lot of people milling around. Maybe she’s following up with a patient in surgery or taking someone to x-ray.”

  “Drive faster.” Liam willed the car to speed up.

  The drive to the hospital felt as if it took hours but in reality only seven minutes passed by. Obviously that had been enough time for Zeke to establish that Devon wasn’t in the hospital as he stood outside, in the empty emergency bay, waiting for them. As Gideon pulled to a stop Zeke yanked open the rear door and dived in.

  “They’ve taken my car. Maureen’s activated the GPS, they’re headed for the beach.”

  Gideon gunned the engine, sending the police vehicle rocketing out of the hospital driveway.

  Zeke leaned forward. “I’ve put a call into Elijah, requesting enforcer support. Maureen’s coordinating with them.”

  Liam had a white knuckle
hold on the dashboard as Gideon took a sharp corner and then another. Zeke in the back seat scrambling quickly to pull on a seatbelt and snap it closed. If only they knew what sort of creature Sienna was, maybe they’d have a better idea of where she might be headed and maybe why she was out for Devon’s blood.

  It was a good sign though she hadn’t just killed Devon outright back at the hospital, hopefully this whole thing was about more than just Sienna wanting Devon dead. He could only pray to Poseidon that was the case.

  “How did Sienna get Devon to leave with her? Did someone see them?” He twisted to look back at Zeke.

  “There was a syringe… on the floor in the treatment room Devon was last seen in and Aunt Crystal thinks she saw someone fitting Sienna’s description wheeling a patient outside in a wheelchair, I’m guessing it was Devon with a blanket thrown over her.”

  Liam fisted both hands. That had to be a good sign, Sienna wanting Devon alive, kidnapping her. He had to believe that meant she was still alive, that there was a chance he… they, could save her. That thought was tested as Gideon bought the police car to a screeching halt a few feet from what was Zeke’s obviously abandoned police vehicle. Shit, he looked past the car towards the end of the small jetty, where a wheelchair was lying on its side, one wheel still spinning lazily around.

  Liam was out of the car and running before Gideon had a chance to turn off the engine. He ignored Zeke’s shout to wait. His feet hitting the old rough weathered boards of the jetty hard as he jogged up to the end, not pausing to stop but flowing into his water form as he leapt off, hitting the water below cleanly, diving deep as he sliced through the water. Vowing to himself that he would find Devon. He would rescue her from Sienna’s clutches.

  And if that crazy sick whack job had done anything to hurt Devon, hurt the woman he loved, then he’d find a way to erase her from this plane.

  Shit, he loved Devon Patel.

  Not just because she was gorgeous and made his stomach hurt and his cock hard when he looked at her. He loved her glares, her snarls, her haughty smiles, her snappish comments, her taunting smirks, her wild hair that could bind him and her killing nails that could slice and dice him. She was proud, strong, loyal to a fault, and she was his perfect match.

  Liam increased his speed, the water churning. He had to find them. Had to save Devon. Of course once he did that and confessed his loved, he’d be dead for sure. Oh well, they say the path of true love was a bumpy one, in his case though, he expected there would also be pain and blood.

  But, if he won Devon, it would be more than worth a few pints of his blood. First though, he had to find her…. come on, where could they be? Where would Sienna take her? And for that matter, why?

  Chapter Seventeen

  Someone was tugging annoyingly on Devon’s hair. She frowned, shaking her head slightly to dislodge their hold but the tug… tug, didn’t let up.

  She was so tired, her eyes felt like they weighed a hundred tons each, her jaw ached, and only the fact that her teeth were clenched together prevented them chattering. Why was she so cold and clammy? And why the hell wouldn’t that person stop tugging on her hair?

  Her eyes fluttered open, frowning, she stared down at a dirty wet stone floor caked with sand. Hmmm, had she forgotten to pay her house cleaner? She tried to move, momentarily confused when she couldn’t. If she could just get her hands… scowling, Devon looked down, the sight of her wrists tied together sent a raft of memories slamming into her. The hospital, Sienna behind her, threatening to set her patient on fire, being drugged… damn.

  Mentally she soothed her hair, one curl had escaped the knot she’d tied at the base of her skull and was working on freeing the rest. Thus the tugging. Her waking up was just a side benefit.

  With another thought Devon dried herself, instantly she felt warmer though unfortunately it didn’t make her any cleaner, frowning at the sand clinging to her formerly white coat and the tear along the seam of her coffee coloured skirt. Warily, she lifted her head, blinking slightly to bring the room… no, the cave into focus. Awkwardly, she managed to sit up.

  Glancing around Devon issued a disapproving sigh. “Honestly, what is it about evil villains and dank undersea lairs? I’m having a complete déjà vu moment here.” And she was, flashing back to the confrontation that had occurred between Nell and Drum and her sneaky former fiancée, Case, almost a year ago now.

  “I’m not evil.” Sienna’s tone managed to be both whiney and sullen at the same time.

  Devon turned her head to the left. Sienna was sitting a good twelve feet away on a blow up mattress, hunched over into an awkward ball shape. A camping lantern next to her emitted more than enough light for Devon to see the woman’s murky brown eyes were red rimmed and full of anger. And to be blunt, Sienna really did look like a fire hydrant with breasts. She was sturdy, tall and barrel shaped. Her mousey brown hair still damp from their swim was lank and even in this light her pale skin looked mottled and blotchy.

  Some races really didn’t fare well out of the water.

  “Bzzz, no sorry, the definition of evil is someone who tries to hurt or kill others and since you’ve tried to kill me once, Liam twice and have now kidnapped me, I believe I am perfectly entitled to call you evil.”

  “I would never hurt Liam.” Sienna reared back with what appeared to be honest surprise.

  “Really, because the burns on his face, chest and butt, not to mention all those broken bones tell a different story.” Devon replied dryly as she surreptitiously checked the seaweed Sienna had used to bind her wrists. Hmm, she could break it fairly easily, but the thought of Sienna sending a gout of green fire her way in this enclosed space had her hesitating. She needed some answers and if she wanted to overpower Sienna she needed the woman to come closer.

  Tears were leaking down Sienna’s plump pale cheeks.

  “Why are you crying?” Devon enquired with honest interest, after all, she was the one who had been drugged and kidnapped.

  “Why won’t you just die?” Sienna whined, hugging her knees to her chest tighter still, rocking her large body back and forth.

  “Haven’t you heard? The Makura don’t do favours. And just why the hell do you want me dead? What have I ever done to you?”

  “When you… you’re gone, we can finally be together.” Sienna hunched over further looking miserable and damp, her too tight jeans and pink shapeless too large sweater still dripping water.

  “Who can be together?” Devon wasn’t sure if she was still shaking off the effects of the sedative because she wasn’t tracking Sienna’s story.

  “Me and Liam!” Sienna’s defiant face reminded Devon of a petulant teenager rather than a woman in her late twenties. Silent tears continuing to ease their way down her cheeks. She’d forgotten the woman was a weeper, so pathetic.

  Liam? Any other man Devon might have hesitated, might have considered that they had been playing her false from day one. After all, Merrow did like their convoluted cons. But Liam and Sienna? Not only couldn’t she see it, she just didn’t believe that Liam would plot behind her back. It wasn’t just all the injuries he had sustained in trying to protect her from harm, it was the way he insisted they hold hands whilst watching old horror movies between bouts of love making. It was the way he laughed at her displays of temper with genuine amusement laced with affection.

  “Liam Chambers?” She queried out loud. “Blonde hair, blue eyes, about yay high?” She lifted her bound hands and pointed them at the low rock ceiling. Then she re-considered what she’d just said and realised her description could fit any of the Merrow Princes… ah, things were finally beginning to make sense. “He has a scar running between his fourth and sixth ribs on his right side?” She’d traced her finger over it several times and he’d finally admitted to receiving it when he was a toddler, too young to utilise his healing abilities without instruction and the aid of salt water.

  Sienna’s mouth gaped open for a moment, giving her a guppy like appearance as a wave of hot
colour suffused her face. “I… we… never…”

  “Never done the horizontal tango?” Devon provided.

  “We’re in love!” Sienna defended. “We’re waiting… until our wedding night.”

  “Sure, sure.” Devon nodded, pleased to feel another of her curls work its way free. She lifted her head higher so Sienna wouldn’t get suspicion of what was going on behind her. “Whose idea was that? Yours or his?”

  “It was a mutual decision.” Sienna rocked in place slightly faster. “A pure love transcends the physical plane.”

  “Totally, you must read a lot of Barbara Cartland novels. Anyway, moving along. Can you tell me why you tried to kill… the guy on the motorbike? How does he stop you and this Liam from being together?”

  Sienna squirmed, looking like a toddler caught with her hand in the cookie jar, the high colour once more beacon bright on her cheeks. “If I got rid of him, then Liam would finally be free to marry.”

  “Free to marry?”

  Sienna huffed out a put upon petulant sigh. “Surely you know all this?”

  “Let’s pretend I don’t and you tell me all about it.” Devon encouraged as she felt two more of her curls slide free.

  “There are fifteen Merrow Princes and only fourteen contracts, Liam’s the youngest and his brothers really hate him because of it. They’re always picking on him and being mean to him.” Sienna’s eyes filled with sympathetic tears as fresh rivulets once more began to track down her cheeks.

  Devon fought hard not to roll her eyes, sheesh, this girl had been played like a violin. She was big-boned, plain and desperate to be loved. And if she hadn’t hurt the real Liam and totalled her gorgeous car she might have been able to dredge up a smidgeon of sympathy for the woman. Unfortunately for Sienna, all she felt at the moment was impatient for answers. “Yes, yes, they were all mean and tried to kill him in various ways before he was ten.”

  “They tried to kill him?” There was shock and anger in Sienna’s voice. She sat up straight, green fire flashing in her eyes.