by Ariel Marie
Charlee sighed deeply, not knowing what to think. Malena must have picked up on her emotions.
“Are you okay?” Malena asked, coming to kneel in front Charlee.
“I can’t live the rest of my life this way,” she admitted, her voice full with emotions. With the current attack, she felt defeated. She’d had high hopes that the contract would be cancelled. Panic began to rise in her chest. How would she ever lead a normal life? She’d always have to look over her shoulder in fear that someone was trying to kill her.
“Don’t give up. West will succeed. He has to,” Malena encouraged, grabbing her hands in hers. The faint hint of smoke came through the air vents, causing her panic to slam harder against her chest. What if they couldn’t be rescued? What if the house burned to the ground with them in the panic room?
“But what if he can’t? Seriously, Malena. Think of what my life would be dwindled down to. I would never be able to teach again. I couldn’t be a biologist, something that I have dedicated my entire life to.”
A warm trail of tears flowed down her cheeks. She angrily brushed them away. It wasn’t her fault. All of this was because some thug wanted to kill her beloved tigers and wanted her out of the way so that they could make millions off of dead animals.
“Hey! Snap out of it,” Malena demanded. “You aren’t dead yet, but we will fight to the death. We’re not going to just roll over and let them take us out. I always wanted to be able to have people tell stories about my death. If they break through the walls, we can grab the guns we have and go out in a blaze of glory, just like in the movies.”
Charlee couldn’t help but chuckle at the imagery of them shooting their way out of the panic room.
“You’re crazy, you know that, right?” Charlee smiled. “First off, the steel doors can withstand ten thousand pounds of pressure. Don’t you remember Ivan’s lecture? I highly doubt that those men will be able to get in here,” Charlee pointed out. She had to give it to the man, he was very thorough at his job and took it very seriously.
“All the more reason for you to be able to have a happy ending. You’ll get West and you’ll hook me up with one of his sexy friends. Or a brother. Please tell me he has a brother.” Malena batted her eyes innocently.
“He does have a brother.” Charlee chuckled at Malena’s squeal of delight. Charlee reached out and grabbed Malena’s hands again. What would she do without her? She never wanted to find out. “You know I love you, right?”
“I love you too, Charlee,” Malena whispered. “We’re all allowed a weak moment. You just need a kick in the ass to bring you back to your normal self and that’s what I’m here for.”
Charlee nodded her head, unable to speak as emotions overcame her. She watched as Malena went back to the chair in front of the monitors. She wiped her face to erase any evidence of her tears. The smell of smoke grew stronger and she didn’t want to let on to Malena that it worried her. They were locked away in this steel framed room and the house could be burning down around them for all they knew.
“Here we are. I can see outside the house. It was just a click of the…” Malena paused, frozen in her chair.
Charlee slowly stood from her position and inched her way toward the monitors, but she already knew why her friend couldn’t speak. Her eyes were just as captivated by what was on the screen as Malena’s.
Tigers, wolves, and even a bear lined the property, surrounding men that were aiming guns at the home. Malena brought up different angles of the property and each showed animals behind the humans who were attacking. They couldn’t hear what was going on, but Charlee knew that those animals were not just any ordinary animals.
They were shifters.
“Oh my,” Charlee murmured as her eyes scanned the screen, desperate to see if any of the tigers were West. The smoke began to fill the small room through the air vents, throwing them both into a fit of coughing.
“What in the world—” Malena gasped. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. This is amazing. It’s as if the animals are banding together against the men.”
Charlee’s eyes began to water as they watched in stunned silence as a large man walked from the direction of the front of the house. Charlee peered closer to the screen, recognizing Drago. He was speaking fiercely to the humans, but it didn’t look like the men were going to budge.
Her lungs began to burn from the inhalation of smoke. She shot a glance at Malena and knew that she was worried now too. They both kneeled on the floor in front of the monitors, trying to stay near the fresh air. Tears slid down her face as she tried to take a deep breath. At this point, she prayed that if West was out there, he’d make it to her fast enough.
Charlee gasped as the men turned their guns on the animals. Human bullets could not kill shifters, she chanted over and over in her head. West had assured her that if he got shot, he would heal fine. But now that she was watching this horror unfold in front of her eyes, she didn’t know if she wanted to observe it.
Seconds ticked by after Drago’s announcement. West braced himself for the impact of bullets as the humans continued to hold their weapons steady. He didn’t dare take his eyes off the human who dared point an automatic weapon in his direction. The silence was broken by the sound of text messages arriving to the humans’ cell phones.
West knew immediately that the hit was officially cancelled. But some of the humans didn’t lower their weapons immediately. The standoff continued for a brief moment before all the humans reluctantly lowered their weapons.
“Safe passage?” one of the humans asked.
“Safe passage,” Drago repeated. “Go now and the animals will not attack.”
Each shifter stayed in their positions as the humans slowly made their way away from the house and disappeared into the woods. West released the breath he didn’t know he had been holding. His feline was upset that there would be no battle, but the human in him was relieved. His tiger would be satisfied once he laid eyes on Charlee and knew that she was safe.
His eyes turned to his cousin’s house and the bottom of his stomach dropped. The fire’s flames were moving through the house rapidly. Panic set in as he ran toward it, the thick smoke clouding the sky. He slowly transformed back to his human self, uncaring that he was naked.
“You can’t go in there,” Luka said, coming to stand next to him while hopping on one foot to throw on a pair of jogging pants.
“The hell I can’t,” he snapped, moving toward the building. Nothing and no one would stop him from entering the building. Shouting erupted behind them as the other shifters had transformed to their human forms and were rushing, trying to fight the fire.
West ran directly into the burning building. His eyes stung from the smoke. He knew that his cousin had a panic room and the girls would be stashed there. Coughs racked his body as he ran through the smoke filled home. His cousin had the room installed on the second floor a few years ago and had invited him to come see it. Thankfully, he remembered where the room was. The idea to shift crossed his mind. It would be quicker on all fours and he would be closer to the ground, but he wouldn’t be able to get the door open without opposable thumbs.
The tiger in him growled and lent his strength, giving West a burst of energy as he came upon the stairs. He took the stairs two at a time as Luka shouted from behind him. He ignored his longtime friend. He had to get to her. The air grew scarce, causing his lungs to burn. If it was this hard to breathe outside the room, he couldn’t even begin to imagine what it was like where Charlee and Malena were.
The hallway that greeted him was dark and thick with smoke. He blindly ran toward the direction of his cousin’s office. Once he reached the open door, flames greeted him. He released a curse as he looked into the room and jumped back out of the way of the scorching flames as they grew.
“West! Here!” Luka shouted, arriving at his side with two fire extinguishers in his arms. “Not sure if these will help.”
“Worth a try,” West said, snatching one
out of Luka’s arm. He pulled the pin and aimed the fire extinguisher at the base of the flames. The white foam substance pushed back the flames, enough to allow West to enter the room with Luka behind him, using the other fire extinguisher. He made his way to the wall that hid the panic room.
He slammed his fist into the panel that hid the secured keypad. He remembered his cousin telling him the secret code that was the same emergency code that was used amongst all Rogavac’s should they be in trouble. His fingers flew across the keypad and the light changed to green. His body grew tense as the steel door released a heavy groan and began to slide open.
It finally opened, revealing the small room. Malena and Charlee were huddled together on the floor in a corner.
“West!” Charlee gasped as he strode in toward her.
“Hey, baby,” he murmured, collecting her in his arms.
“I got Malena,” Luka announced, coming in the room behind him. “Go over to the balcony. The fire hasn’t made it over there yet, and Drago and his men are waiting down below.”
West’s tiger seemed to settle down now that they had Charlee in their arms.
“I knew you would make it.” Her voice was strained and ended on a squeak. His tiger didn’t like seeing her this weak. As soon as they got her safely away from the burning house, he would put her on the first plane to the States.
“Of course I would. Don’t talk,” he murmured, stepping out onto the balcony. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest. Now that the danger of her being hunted down was no longer there, West promised that he would take her home and lock them away for days so that he could have her to himself and fully assess her inch by inch to satisfy his tiger.
“Um, Luka?” Malena’s scratchy voice appeared from behind them as he stepped out onto the balcony behind West.
“Yes, Malena?” Luka replied.
“Next time I need rescuing, you may want to step up your game. West, I see, knows how to rescue a woman.” Her words were cut off by a string of coughs.
“Oh? And what’s wrong with my technique?” Luka asked, shock registering in his voice.
West turned to them as Luka came to stand next to him.
“He’s naked. Next time I need rescuing, you need to show up naked like your boy over there!”
29
Two Weeks Later…
Charlee felt great for her first day back at the university. The past two weeks had been a whirlwind. Immediately after they left West’s cousin’s home, he had escorted her to the local hospital. After they were treated for smoke inhalation overnight, West had put them on a jet and flew them directly to the States, where he had the local leading physicians give her a thorough assessment. She had been given a clean bill of health. The gunshot wound had practically healed completely.
She sat back in her plush leather chair and sighed as she looked around her. She was a lucky girl. She knew it. Weston Rogavac was everything that she could imagine. Strong, sexy, protective, and alpha. What more could a girl ask for in a man? And he was able to shift into her favorite feline on the planet! He never failed to amaze her and she could honestly admit that she had fallen head over heels in love with him.
“Charlee?” Ellen’s voice came over the speaker phone, causing her to jump slightly.
“Yes, Ellen?” she responded with her finger on the button.
“There’s a reporter from the Cleveland Gazette on line one. Do you want to take it?”
Charlee plopped her head down on the desk with a groan. Since returning to the States, she had become a local celebrity. Her disappearance from the sanctuary had made international news. Of course the news had spun the story out of control. If she didn’t know about it, she would have thought that she was the star of an action-packed suspense movie.
“No, I don’t have anything to say,” she answered, sitting back up. There was no way that she would talk to the press about her love life, or reliving the nightmare of getting shot and running from paid assassins. The press was like a pack of wild dogs, hunting for a story. Once word had gotten out that Weston Rogavac, one of the most eligible bachelors was in a committed relationship with her, the press had begun hounding her for the story.
Malena had told her that she heard talk of someone trying to make a movie based on the Siberia trip. An action-packed love story in the wilds of Siberia. It did sound good, but she shook her head at the thought. Who would want to play her in the story, a nerdy biologist who falls in love with a rich billionaire tiger shifter? She had to give it to them, the story did have a blockbuster ring to it.
“That’s fine. I shall read off the same press release that Mr. Rogavac gave us.” Ellen’s voice floated through the air.
“Thanks, Ellen,” Charlee said, punching a few keys on her keyboard. She still had a ton of work to do from the trip.
West had taken care of everything once they had returned. All of her belongings that were left back in Siberia had arrived at her home in perfect condition. All of their information that they had collected had been extremely valuable. The tagging of all the tigers had broken new ground in studying the animals. The real-time tracking was state-of-the-art, and had given them more information in the past few weeks than if spending six months in the wild.
Charlee’s fingers flew across her keyboard as she became engrossed in her work. Jim and Alton had both emailed her their correlating research. They would be returning back to the States in the next week or so, and they would be able to put the finishing touches on the research to present to the Russian government. After they turned their information in, her and Dr. Zhang would be working on a new paper where they would publish their findings.
“Dr. Black, I’m sorry to bother you again, but your mother is on line one.” Ellen’s voice buzzed through the intercom.
“That’s fine. I’ll take this one.” She smiled, grabbing the phone. “Hey, Mom.”
“Hey baby. Why is your cell phone going straight to voicemail? I’ve been trying to call you for the past hour.” Her mother’s concerned voice greeted her ears. Joyce Black was not a woman to bite her tongue when it came to her children. Charlee felt a little guilty for shutting her cell phone off. She always answered her mother’s calls. They were very close, and it was rare that they didn’t speak at least once a day.
“You wouldn’t believe the tenacity of the press. Somehow, they got a hold of my number and will not stop calling. I turned it off to try to get some work done today.”
“Oh, my, that is crazy!” Joyce exclaimed. “Well, I won’t keep you long. I was calling you because your father wanted you to bring your Weston to dinner again. I swear, that father of yours just loved Weston.”
Since returning home, she had introduced West to her family. Her father and brother hit it off immediately with him. After the first dinner, the men had bonded and acted as if they were longtime buddies. It just warmed her heart that her family had quickly accepted West. Life was just too perfect right now. She couldn’t be any happier with her and West’s relationship. It had moved fast, but she didn’t regret one part of their relationship.
“I’m sure he would love to come by the house,” Charlee laughed. She wouldn’t have to ask West. He had spoken nonstop about her father and knew the feeling was mutual.
“Good. Your father has went and purchased some new hunting thing and he wants to show it off.”
Charlee rolled her eyes. Her father loved his hunting gear and could talk about it for days.
“Excuse me, Dr. Black—” Ellen’s voice interrupted through the intercom.
“Hold on, Mom,” Charlee said before pressing the button on her intercom. What could it be now? “Yes, Ellen?”
“You’re needed in lecture hall twenty-four. Malena said that it’s urgent.”
“I have to go, Mom. I’ll call you on my way home.” She quickly ended the call. “I’m on my way,” she assured Ellen.
She was unsure of what could be so urgent. She slid her heels back on, grabbed her keys and
cell phone, and made her way out of her office. She didn’t have any lectures today since it was to be a full day of work on her research. Her first lecture since returning to the university would be tomorrow.
The sounds of her heels clicking filled the air as she made her way toward her usual lecture hall. Within minutes, she arrived to find the lights out. She paused at the door, peering through the glass windows, and couldn’t see anything. She opened the door, figuring that she just beat Malena and would wait for her to arrive.
She swiped the glass screen to her cell phone to call her and gasped as she turned on the light. The lecture hall was filled with thousands of long stemmed roses. She couldn’t even see the floor due to the sea of red. Her eyes took in the beautiful flowers and began to fill with tears. A clear defined path was designed in the field of roses that led to the person who had come to mean so much to her.
West.
There he stood, looking sexy as ever in a dark suit, waiting for her, with a small smile etched on his face as he gazed at her. Her body on autopilot, seemed to float in his direction.
“Hey,” she said as she arrived to stand in front of him.
“Hey,” he repeated, reaching up to brush a strand of hair from her face. She leaned into his warm hand before he removed it and reached for her hand. He threaded their fingers together as he continued to stare down at her.
Her heart slammed against her chest as she gazed up at him, again, just amazed by him. She looked around the room in shock. She wiped away the tears that continued to flow down her face.
“What are you doing here?” she whispered, squeezing his hand tight. Her eyes grew wide as he knelt down before her and reached into his pocket. She became choked up with emotions as he pulled a small jewelry box from his jacket pocket. “Oh my God,” she chanted over and over.
He chuckled as he opened the box, revealing an extremely large princess cut diamond. It was flawless, and Charlee was speechless.