by Jessica Lee
“No. I didn’t. All I saw were fangs glaring at me from a wolf that had to be twice the size of any I’ve ever seen.”
“God, he was such an impressive sighting.” The image of the moment the wolf had turned his gaze on her, his eyes bright, intelligent, peering into her own, shimmered in her mind. A shiver ran down her spine.
“You should probably call Eion and let him know what happened.”
Olivia tensed. As much as she hated, and at the same time, loved the idea of reaching out to Eion, Taylor was right, he definitely needed to know what had gone down. In fact, he’d probably already heard the shot and was freaked out searching for the source, thinking hunters were on their land without permission or that one of the hands was in trouble. “Yeah, I’ll call him after I get you back to your SUV.”
“I’m sure he’d like to be aware that there’s an injured predator out there that’s probably pretty pissed off right now. Plus, I don’t like the idea that an animal is suffering, and if Eion crosses paths with that big boy, maybe he can make sure it doesn’t.”
Her heart softened with Taylor’s compassionate words. “Yeah. I can’t stand the thought of him out there bleeding and in pain.”
A few minutes later, they made it back to his Cherokee. Taylor handed over the blanket, opened the driver side door, and turned back to Olivia. He reeled her in gently by her arm and held her close. “I know you’re still upset with me, but for what it’s worth, it was nice spending the evening with you.” Taylor kissed the top of her head. She breathed deep, the hot stew of anger, disappointment, and hurt in her gut cooling.
“I know you were trying to protect us.” Olivia wiggled free and did her best to pull off a bit of a smile. “I’m not angry.”
“Good.” He cupped both sides of her face and leaned in, but before he could steal a kiss, Olivia tugged free.
“We still need to finish our talk,” she stated. “But I have to call Eion, and let him know what just happened. Maybe tomorrow?” Regardless of whether or not she and Mandrake were ever going to be more, Olivia had to make sure Taylor understood where their relationship stood. She loved him. Just not the way he deserved. They were the best of friends, and she hoped that would never change, but in her heart, Olivia finally realized that was all they could ever be.
“Yeah, right.” He nodded. “See you tomorrow night.” Taylor smoothed a palm over her hair and climbed inside the cab of his vehicle.
Olivia waved and hustled inside to ditch the items from the picnic. After placing the picnic basket on the kitchen counter, she retrieved her cell from the bottom. The time on the display read nearly eleven-thirty. It was late, yet it was the weekend, and she knew Eion would be on watch for at least a few more hours. She dialed his number, waited, but the call went to voicemail.
“Eion, this is Olivia. I need you to call me as soon as possible. It’s very important.” On a long exhale, she lowered the phone beside the basket and launched into the task of cleanup. The house was quiet, and she decided against waking Kris to tell him about what had happened. There wasn’t anything he could do at this point anyway, and at least one of them should get some sleep tonight. If she kept busy, maybe it would help occupy her thoughts until Eion called her back.
A half hour later, Eion still hadn’t phoned, and the waiting was driving her crazy. He was supposed to be watching the property. Why didn’t he have his cell? Or what was going on that he couldn’t call back?
That was it.
She couldn’t stay there and wait any longer for her phone to ring.
Grabbing her keys from the hook by the door, Olivia left the house and jumped into the closest vehicle—Kris’s truck.
One of two things were going on: Eion was either in the middle of handling something so big that he couldn’t stop to pick up his cell, or he wasn’t doing the job he had promised them he’d handle. Either one, she needed to know about. And if it was the latter, she was going to kick his ass.
Olivia gunned the pickup out of the driveway in a cloud of dust. Several minutes later, she pulled up in front of Eion’s house. A few interior lights were on and his Silverado sat in the driveway. She parked beside it and cut the engine. Olivia stared at the dark blue and white two-story dwelling through the front windshield. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been to the Mandrake’s house. Probably that last summer before Eion and Kris had graduated.
If he was in there watching TV and ignoring his commitment to them… She stepped from the driver seat and slammed the door. Damn, she actually wanted to growl. He was the one who had asked them not to call the department, because he wanted to obtain solid confirmation on what had attacked her cattle. Well, she’d gotten their confirmation. An in your face, look at my fangs confirmation.
Olivia marched up the steps, gave the front door several raps with her knuckles and waited. No sound came from the other side. She eased over to one of the windows and peered through the sheer curtains into the den. No movement inside.
Where is he?
Back at the door, she tested the doorknob. It twisted in her palm, and the door opened. Olivia peeked inside. “Eion?”
Silence greeted her.
Curiosity getting the best of her, she pressed further inside. Glancing left, she found the den she’d seen through the front window. To her right, a small office with boxes of books lined the floor around what looked like a dark cherry wood desk. He’d apparently been packing, getting ready to sell. Directly in front of her stood the staircase that led to the second floor. Stepping lightly, Olivia moved further down the hallway that opened into a larger den and another hallway that veered off to her right. Based on her memory, the master bedroom plus a spare room had been down in that direction.
Standing at the entrance to the corridor, Olivia called out once more. “Eion? Are you home? The door was open.”
Nothing.
She pivoted around and headed through the den toward the kitchen. Passing through, her gaze settled on a pale blue cotton shirt thrown haphazardly over the back of the couch. Impulse had her picking it up. She stared down at the several smudges of dirt marring the front. Eion must have tossed it there after work. Olivia lifted it to her nose and breathed deep, filling her lungs with his scent. The fragrance of fresh cut grass mixed with a spicy musk that reminded her of sandalwood tantalized her senses. God, he smelled so damn good. Her pulse quickened. Yeah, she had officially crossed the line into Nutville.
A bang that resounded from somewhere in the kitchen jerked her back to the present. As if she were playing with a poisonous snake, Olivia threw his shirt back on the couch. She choked back a groan at the thought of being caught sniffing his clothes.
Tiptoeing forward, she rolled her eyes at herself, suddenly feeling like she’d just stepped into an episode of Ghost Hunters. All she needed was one of those cameras on her head, recording her every move.
At the archway, she snuck a quick look. On the small kitchen table, she spotted another small bundle of rumpled clothes. Odd. But whatever…he was a guy.
Another rustle, this time near the back entrance, grabbed her attention. Maybe an animal had found his garbage and was scavenging around inside?
She strode through the kitchen, over to the back door, and found it unlocked as well. Did he not lock his doors? Olivia pulled it open, and using the switch by the exit, clicked on the porch light. Illumination flooded the smaller deck through the screen door. She scanned the immediate area then glanced down. Her heart jerked, and she gasped.
A naked man lay next to an overturned trashcan, blood oozing from an open wound in his leg and dripping onto the wood beneath.
“Oh, my God!” Olivia cried out, and shoved the screen door open. The injured man swung his head up in her direction. “Eion?”
Chapter Fourteen
Damn, damn, damn!
Liv. Of all the people in Little Crow, why had she been the one to show up at his place now? A few more minutes and he would have made it inside. The bullet still lodged i
n his leg had kicked his ass, making his trek back home take three times longer than usual.
Stupid idiot!
“Eion? Oh, God, Eion!” Liv charged from the house. “What happened?” She crouched at his leg, inspecting the wound. “Were you shot?”
He curled inward as much as his injury would allow, hot pain slicing into the bone and up his spine. “Would you mind giving me a hand and grabbing me a few towels from the bathroom?” he managed to get out through clenched teeth.
Liv, focused more on his leg than his words, prodded at the injury. Eion hissed and jerked. “Sorry.” She glanced up at him, cringing.
“That’s okay.” He drew in a deep breath, motioning to the partially exposed parts of his body and the gaping hole in his leg. “Would you mind, you know, grabbing me a few towels?”
“Oh!” She diverted her gaze, and he could have sworn she blushed. “Sure, sure.”
Eion dropped his head back on the deck with a loud thud. The added dull ache to his brain a welcome diversion for his reckless behavior. Dammit. He was proving his brother and father right—hanging around here was only making things worse. But when he’d seen Taylor holding Liv in his arms under the stars, kissing her…something this time had snapped.
He’d wanted to rip the man in two. Tear his hands from her body.
“Here.” Liv rushed back onto the porch. “I grabbed as many as I could find from the linen closet.”
Eion took one and draped it over his lap while Liv pressed one over the wound. Another round of stabbing pain arrowed along his nerve endings. He hissed, slammed his palms onto the wood, his hips begging to lift and pull away from the contact.
“So sorry.” Liv looked up, her eyes glistening with compassion. “But we have to get the bleeding stopped.” She reached out. “Give me your hand.” Eion came forward a bit and complied. “I want you to keep pressure on it while I call nine-one-one.”
He gripped her arm with his free one when she started to rise. “No ambulance. No police,” he said, his focus directed on his leg.
“Eion, you need help. Don’t be foolish.” She wrenched her arm free. “Let me call for an ambulance. Then you can tell me why you’re—”
“Why I’m naked with a bullet in my leg?”
“Yeah. That.” She released a long breath, blowing a few strands of her hair out of her face.
Dear God. How was he supposed to get out of this? Liv turned toward the backdoor once more. “Liv,” he called out. She stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Don’t call anyone.” She stared, confusion written on her face.
“Eion…come on. I—”
“Please.” He met her gaze and held it.
She sighed and tossed her hands up as if in surrender. Liv closed the distance between them again and crouched at his side. “You can’t just sit out here and wait for that injury to heal. It’s not going to happen.” She placed her hand over his where he held pressure on his leg. The warmth and compassion seared an equally sized wound in his heart. “You’re going to get a serious infection.”
Damn. Eion’s eyelids shuttered. “I’m going to be fine.” He opened his eyes, and hit her with his best glare. “Go home. I can take care of this.”
“How?” She drew her hand back. “Unless you’re an MD, able to operate and self-medicate here on your back porch, I don’t see how you’re going to be fine at all.” Liv straightened. “I can’t leave you like this.” The tone of her voice climbed.
“Yes, you can.” He lifted a brow, challenging her.
“No, I can’t.” She shook her head, her dark mane loose and wild about her face. “You’re certifiable. You know that?” Her expression turned solemn. “I’m a doctor, but Eion, I treat large animals. I’m not qualified to operate on a bullet wound in a human. Nor do I have anything here to work with.” She groaned. “Let me call for help. I don’t want you to lose your leg.”
The sound of her frustration and panic sealed the fate on his course of action. Eion was cornered. “I’m not going to.” On a grunt, he pushed further into a sitting position. “Pull the end of that over to me.” Eion pointed to the wooden bench sitting against the porch rail. “I’ll use it to leverage back onto my feet. If you’ll help me get inside?” He glanced up.
“Of course.” Liv nodded. “I’ll do whatever I can.” She maneuvered around him and over to the bench. “But I still don’t see how we’re going to save your leg without a hospital.” Liv tugged on the end of the handmade seat until it was within his reach.
“First, I need to get indoors.” Eion twisted onto his side, placing his good leg in a position to bear the burden of hoisting himself upright. The severed nerve endings lit up in agony with the manipulation, the shredded muscle tissue on fire. He bore down onto his arm and pressed his weight onto his undamaged leg. Clamping his jaw on his molars, he rose. Tiny white spots danced in his line of sight. The porch swayed. Just when he felt he was heading south, Liv was there.
“Hang on. I’ve got you,” she crooned, encircling a towel around his waist and tucking it in place before draping his arm over her shoulder and balancing him. In more ways than one. His pulse leveled out into a steady rhythm. God, she felt so right next to him. He inhaled deep, bracing himself for the trek indoors.
“Let’s do this,” he chewed out from between his teeth.
Eion braced some of his weight on his bum leg to keep from hurting Liv. Every step was an exercise in endurance. After collapsing onto the deck from his hobble home on three legs, and Liv’s surprise appearance, he’d grown weaker from the trickling blood loss, and the pain had increased tenfold.
He’d waited to heal himself after taking the hit, preferring not to be caught in the open naked, switching between man and wolf. His immediate shift after making it onto his deck had helped to staunch some of the blood loss, yet the bullet was still lodged inside. He needed to shift back into his wolf to reconnect more of the muscle fibers followed by a final return to his human form to spit the bullet out and close the flesh. Running into Liv at home had been the last thing he’d expected.
Now he had no choice but to trust not only his secret, but an entire population’s to the woman he loved. She was dead set on not going anywhere, and he couldn’t go to a hospital. He didn’t exactly have a good explanation ready on how he’d been shot. Plus there was no way he could risk any of his blood being analyzed by a human lab. Talk about a clusterfuck beyond repair. There wasn’t a shovel large enough to help him dig out from under all that shit.
After what felt like a finish to an Iron Man Competition, Eion grasped the edge of the counter near the kitchen sink. “Right here. This will work.” His chest rose and fell with hard pants as he pulled his arm free from around Liv’s neck and lowered himself onto the blue and white squares of linoleum.
“Well,” Liv began, “at least you’re inside out of the elements, but this isn’t much better.” She reached down and moved a few damp strands of his hair away from his eyes, tucking them behind his ear. The gesture may have been generated by doctor-patient compassion or on some level, true affection. Whatever the reason, he had to admit, it felt nice.
Eion allowed his head to fall back against the door panel beneath the kitchen sink with a soft thud. Sharp talons of fear speared his chest wall, making each labored breath just a little more difficult. Too bad that what he was about to reveal, like a cyclone from hell, held the potential to shred whatever feelings she possessed for him into a million tiny unrecognizable pieces.
“I needed to be inside so I’m out of sight for what I have to do.”
Liv settled onto her knees next to him. “And what would that be?” She replaced one of the towels she’d carried back inside with her onto the gaping hole in his thigh. “What are you planning? You’re freaking me out, Eion,” she said, her voice shaky. “I can’t even imagine how in the hell you ended up outside like this, not to mention shot, for God’s sake.”
His head buzzed. The pain, post adrenaline rush, and anxiety had his mind on a ca
rnival ride. He blinked rapidly. He had to focus.
“What I’m about to say and show you…” His words came out strained and thick to his own ears. He swallowed hard. “It’s going to sound crazy, but you have to trust me, Liv.” Eion fumbled for her hand and enclosed it inside his own. She stared at where he’d laced their fingers and turned her gaze up to his. “Can you do that? Can you trust me, Liv?”
“Eion…sure.” She nodded. “But I don’t understand.” She chewed her lower lip before continuing. “What happened? You’re really worrying me.”
He gently squeezed her fingers, needing the contact at the moment probably more than she needed the reassurance. God, where did he begin? “You have to believe I’d never hurt you.” He shook his head, more serious than he’d ever been in his entire life. She had to believe that. “I would never hurt you, Liv.”
“God, yes. I know that.” She gasped, a grimace coalescing with the concern on her face. “You haven’t ever given me a reason to believe you’d physically hurt me. Not then and not now.” She lifted another towel from the floor, using the clean end to wipe a trail of sweat making its way down his temple. “Why are you saying these things?”
“Good.” He clenched his teeth against a heated arrow of pain radiating up his leg and into his groin. “I don’t ever want to see fear in your eyes again because of me.”
Liv studied him. “Fear?”
“I was there tonight. On your land, doing the job I promised you and your brother I would do, monitoring for any predator activity.”
“Okay.” She eased down onto her bottom. “I was out there too. But I didn’t see you.”
“I know you were there, and you weren’t alone,” he nearly growled the last half of the sentence, but stifled the sound in his throat.