“I know. I get that. I just wonder if what I did makes me any better than Laskin, or Tom. I don’t want to be that man. If she comes with me, I want it to be of her own free will.”
“Then why even go after her?”
“Because. If she’s going to stay with Tom, I want it to be of her own free will. If she looks me in the eye and tells me she wants to be with him, I’ll walk away.”
“Can you really do that?”
“I’ll have to.”
Sable was quiet on the other end. Egan was beginning to wonder if his phone had dropped the call when his brother spoke. “You’ve grown up a lot in these last few weeks, little brother. No matter what happens, I’m here for you.”
Egan thanked him, feeling for the first time like his brother saw him as a man and not the scrawny, awkward teen he’d once been. He hung up, focusing on the road and almost rejoicing aloud when he saw that the Wyoming border was now only twenty minutes away at most. The sun was getting closer to the horizon, and Egan pushed ever faster. When the sign welcoming him to Wyoming was visible in the distance, he breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t know how, but he knew that she was so close.
He got off on the first exit after he crossed the state line, leaving the four lane highway for a smaller two lane one. To his left there were houses, with the occasional break for a lingering cattle farm that hadn’t yet made way for progress. On his right, a large bank of brightly lit signs announcing various food establishments illuminated the twilight.
Tires squealed up ahead and Egan watched in disbelief as a brown sedan took a u turn too fast and nearly caused an accident. Drivers honked at him in anger, but the sedan was oblivious, continuing on as if nothing had happened. Ahead of the out of control car, a shadowy figure in all black ran for a large iron gate at the front of an apartment complex.
Cambria! Egan couldn’t be certain, but he’d bet his life that it was her, with Tom hot on her heels. Egan floored it, jumping a curb to get around the slow-moving traffic and barreling towards Tom and the brown sedan. Tom slammed the sedan into the brick wall beside the gate, leaving the car in gear, engine squealing in protest as he chased after Cambria. She was halfway up the fence when he grabbed her by the ankle, yanking her to the ground and screaming in rage.
Egan stopped his car and jumped out, heading straight for Tom. Cambria screamed as he slapped her over and over again, cussing loudly in her face. He straddled her, pinning her arms against her body. She had no way of fighting back.
Egan heard cars behind him, but he was unaware of his surroundings. Even in the near dark, he could see that Tom wasn’t going to stop until he put her in the hospital or worse. In a rage, Egan shifted in mere moments, his body screaming in pain with effort, his tattered clothes falling to the ground around him. He lunged at Tom, ripping him off of Cambria and throwing him against the concrete wall. Tom hit the wall with a thud. He stood up almost immediately, completely unaffected by the blow. Tom advanced on Egan, a sickening smile across his face.
“So we meet again, shifter. And this time, you think you’re going to take my woman?” Tom laughed, but there was no joy in the sound. Cambria still lay on the ground, moaning softly. Otherwise, she was motionless.
Tom ran at Egan, his hand down by his side. He had a gun, but it was still holstered. Egan lunged forward, meeting Tom in the middle and slamming him away with one mighty sweep of his massive paw. This time, Tom took longer to get up. He pulled his gun out as he stood, but he didn’t point it at Egan. Egan looked over his shoulder to see Cambria, trying to get up from the ground.
“I’ll kill her, shifter. I’ll put a bullet right between her eyes and then neither one of us can have her.”
Egan roared, leaping into the air and descending upon Tom. Tom fired a shot as Egan connected with the man, taking him down to the ground. The bullet when wild, lodging itself into the wall. Egan slapped the gun out of Tom’s hand, sending it flying across the gravel and onto the highway. Tom screamed, the anger in his eyes replaced by fear.
Egan reared back, slamming down onto Tom and sinking his teeth into Tom neck. He ripped the tender flesh and the scream died. Tom went limp beneath him, the light in his eyes dying in an instant as his heart pumped a final beat before giving up.
Egan held him down for a moment, making sure he was dead before walking away. He turned to Cambria, and that’s when he noticed the crowd that had gathered. Already, a man was kneeling beside Cambria, holding his shirt against a gash on her head to slow the bleeding. Egan looked around at the stunned faces. He laid down in the gravel, trying to let them know that he wouldn’t hurt them. They all stood there, motionless and in shocked. It took a moment to realize that not one person was moving to help Tom.
Egan went to his car, using it to shield himself as he shifted back to human form and hastily dressed in his only remaining change of clothes. He went to Cambria and the crowd parted, clearing a path for him. He knelt beside her, running his hands over her, trying to convince himself that she was truly there, and alive.
“Egan, I’m okay. Really. It’s just a few bumps and bruises.”
A paramedic pushed his way through the gathered crowd, sitting on the side opposite of Egan. He pulled out a compact flashlight, examining Cambria while his partner brought a stretcher. Egan was surprised they’d gotten there before the police, but the paramedic explained they’d been on their dinner break across the road when Tom had jumped the curb and attempted to kill Cambria with his car.
Grabbing her hand, Egan pulled it gently to his lips and kissed her tenderly before he spoke, ignoring everyone around him when he did. “I was so afraid. When I saw you’d left I thought I had lost you for good. I thought you’d run off with Tom and I was heartbroken and I’m just so glad-”
“Wait. You thought I left willingly with him?”
“Nothing was disturbed and all that was missing was the money you’d taken and I thought-”
“What? That it had all been an act? That I slept with you so that you would believe I was sticking around just so I could leave once Tom found me?”
“Cambria, I—"
“I shared my deepest secrets with you and you thought I’d played you?” She scoffed. “The only thing that got me through the last few hours is that I knew you were coming. I thought you believed in me. I guess I was a fool to think that I actually mattered to you.”
The second paramedic moved in with the stretcher, guiding it beside Cambria. She tried to sit up, but the movement was too much. One of the men pushed her back, placing her hand on the shirt that was now soaked with blood from the gash on her head and instructing her to hold it in place. The two men gently lifted her onto the stretcher, strapping her in before lifting it up and rolling it towards the waiting ambulance.
Egan followed, his eyes never leaving Cambria’s face. She was furious, and no matter what he did, he couldn’t seem to find the words to fix what he’d said.
“Cambria, I’m sorry. I figured out that you were in trouble. I’m here, aren’t I?”
“For yourself,” she spat back. “For that driving need to have me that keeps you up at night. That’s not concern for me, that all about you.”
The stretcher was loaded into the ambulance, with one man climbing in beside Cambria and the other going around to the driver’s side. Egan stopped the man from closing the door.
“I’m going with her.”
“Like hell you are. I’ve spent my life with men that only cared about me for their own selfish reasons. I don’t need any more of that in my life.”
“Cambria, that’s not what happened and you know it.”
The paramedic held up his hand, “Sir, we need to leave. She needs stitches and she’s been badly beaten. I’m sure this can wait.”
Egan shot Cambria another pleading look, but she wasn’t budging. “Fine. If you change your mind, I’ll be back in Florida.” He eyes bored into her when he said, “It’s no good having you unless you want to be with me anyway. I’ll wait fo
r you until the day I die if I have to. But I’ll never stop loving you.”
The paramedic closed the door and rapped on the wall, signaling the okay for the driver to head out to the hospital. Egan turned, stunned to see the crowd still lingering. Didn’t they know he was a dangerous shifter? That he was a barbarian incapable of fitting in with humans?
A man in the front of the crowd stepped forward and Egan braced himself. The man reached out, taking Egan’s hand and shaking it.
“You did good, Son. That man got what he had coming to him.”
Egan was shocked. After years of being treated like some vicious outcasts, this man was actually congratulating him on a job well done. One by one, each of the bystanders acknowledged his bravery, thanking him protecting one of their own from another human.
Egan waited for the police to arrive, giving his statement and leaving his contact information before getting into the car and heading down the road in the direction the ambulance went. Cambria might not want to see him now, but she couldn’t stop him from renting a hotel room for the night and trying again in the morning.
*
Egan sat at the breakfast table, trying to keep his gloomy mood at bay while he watched his nephew playing with his toy cars on the dining room table. In the short amount of time he’d been gone, Morgan had already grown.
Sable had welcomed him back with open arms, making room in their new home for him as he always had. After a week of going to the hospital daily, Cambria had still refused visitors in the hospital. He tried everything, even leaving her a note reiterating that he would wait for her, but he would no longer attempt to force her. He’d been wrong and he knew it.
Even though kidnapping her had ended up saving her life, he’d been a fool to believe that any relationship started in that way could last through the ups and downs. At the first sign of trouble, he’d been so ready to believe that she’d walked away. His accusations had hurt her, and he didn’t blame her for being angry. Not one bit.
The last day he’d gone to see her, he’d been told she’d been released the night before and had already left, leaving no forwarding address. Egan paid her bill in full, leaving the hospital with a broken heart that would never be whole again. A shifter without his fated mate was just a shell of a man after all.
Egan noticed that Morgan chattered ceaselessly, as he always had, but Egan wasn’t listening. His inattention didn’t deter the little boy at all, and he continued on, talking about the treehouse he and his father, Sable were building.
Egan had been home a month, and he’d heard nothing from Cambria. The private investigator he’d hired to try and locate her had come up empty. Cambria had gone off the grid and there was no way for Egan to track her down. But it was just as well. He’d promised he would never again force her to be with him, and he’d meant it. He just wanted to know that she was safe and happy wherever she was so he could have some type of closure.
Though he’d made that promise to himself and to Cambria, Egan still felt magnetism that pulled him towards her energy. But now, it was different and something was preventing him from using that to track her down on his own. Confused and feeling lost, he’d looked into it, poring g over every internet article about fated mates he could get his hands on.
The only explanation he had found suggested that they were no longer meant to be. There was no mention of how something like that could happen, and Egan could only guess that it would have to be something major. Like telling the woman you love that you didn’t trust her.
But Egan couldn’t accept that. He had to believe that they would be together one day, even if the waiting tore him up inside. So he pushed through his days, throwing his energy into helping his brother and his wife prepare to welcome another addition to their family. Try as he might, Egan just couldn’t get excited about Sable and Olivia’s happiness. Not while he was dead inside and missing Cambria.
A knock at the door yanked him out of his thoughts, but he didn’t move to get it. Sable and Olivia’s house was like a revolving door. Between old friends and new, there was almost always someone coming or going from the house. Egan got up from the table, heading away from the door and into the hallway. He was in no mood for visitors. The new nursery still needed to be painted, and Egan had volunteered for the job to give himself something to do.
“I’ll get it!” Morgan cried, racing for the door eagerly as Egan disappeared around the corner. He had his hand on the stair rail and his foot on the first step when his heart skipped a beat.
“Do you know a man named Egan?” a familiar voice asked.
“Yes. He’s my uncle. He’s here. You should come in.”
“No. I don’t think that’s a good idea, can you get him for me?”
Egan turned back to the dining room, his large frame filling up the doorway that led to the hall behind him. “Egan, there’s a lady here to see you.”
“Thanks, sport. Can you go play outside for a little bit?”
“Sure can!” He ran past them and down the hallway in a flash, letting the back door slam as he bounded down the steps.
Cambria stood on the porch steps. Egan longed to touch her, but he was afraid if he did, she would disappear and prove to be just a dream. She brushed her hair back, revealing the edge the gash that was almost healed. Egan didn’t say a word, just stood there, waiting for her to speak. The last time he’d said what was on his mind, he’d ruined everything.
“You’re a hard man to find, Egan James.” She smiled softly but didn’t move.
Egan wanted to say something clever, anything to make her stay. But his mind was mush and all he could think about was holding her in his arms and never letting go. He took a step towards her and Cambria held up her hand.
“I’ve thought about what you said, and what you wrote. Is it true? If I want to walk away that you won’t hunt me down, and I’m free to go on without fear of being kidnapped again?” Her words hurt, but he couldn’t fault her for feeling like she’d been kidnapped rather than saved. He kicked himself again for not thinking things through and just reacting.
“I’m sorry. I should have talked to you instead of just taking you like that. I’d intended to talk to you, but things just got crazy and…” He stopped, his shoulders sagging slightly. “No excuses. I should have given you a choice and let you have a say, no matter what the circumstances.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Yes. Yes it’s true. I want you as I’ve never wanted anyone or anything in my entire life but only if it’s your choice to stay with me. I’m not going to force you, and I’m not going to chase you.”
“Just like you’re not going to send a private investigator to try and hunt me down.” She said it deadpan, with no inflection in her voice, but there was a twinkle in her eye that said she was hardly mad about that.
“You knew about that?” Egan chuckled.
“Of course I did. How do you think I found you?”
Egan chuckled. So, the man who was touted as “the best” hadn’t failed to find her, he’d just kept the information to himself at her request. “I’ll have to dock his pay.” Egan was joking, but Cambria was suddenly serious.
“I’d give him a raise if I were you. He’s most of the reason I decided to give you, to give us a second chance.” She looked down at her hands, gathering herself for what she had to say next. “He told me about how you paid all my hospital bills and came back a broken man. We talked a lot when he found me last week, and at some point he opened my eyes.”
She crossed her arms, her face scrunching up in defiance before she said, “That doesn’t mean I’m not still upset about you not trusting me. And it doesn’t mean that I’m going to marry you tomorrow just because you think that we’re soul mates. But it does mean that I’m willing to give this a chance, and to see where we go from here.”
Cambria waited, watching the emotions play across his face. She could tell that he was struggling with so much and her heart ached a little for him.
Egan noticed the bag on the porch beside her for the first time. “What’s that?” he asked, pointing to the bag.
“It’s everything I own. I figured if I was going to give us a chance, I should probably move closer than Oklahoma.”
“Is that where you’ve been?”
“Yes. I’ve been at our campsite. You left everything there. All I had to do was bring the food.”
With everything that had happened, Egan totally forgot that he’d left everything the way it was in the woods. He hadn’t been able to think of anything with her gone.
“I’ll have to go back and take care of that. I wasn’t thinking.”
“I already did.”
Egan imagined her, roughing it in the wilderness for weeks alone, and still having the fortitude to hike out of there with what was left of their gear. He was constantly amazed by this women and her strength.
“You’re something else, Cambria. All my life, I’ve never met a woman like you.”
“So are you going to invite me in, or am I going to stand on this porch all day?”
Her question surprised him, but he was elated. It was a small step, but it was a step. He grabbed her bag and led her inside, offering her a seat in the large family room. The north wall had a large sliding glass door and they could see Morgan running around the yard in the sunshine. Cambria sighed heavily as she sat down on the plush sofa.
Taking a chance that she wouldn’t shy away from him, Egan sat beside Cambria. He longed to pull her into his arms, to hold her tight and tell her over and over how much he’d missed her, but he refrained. Now wasn’t the time. She needed time to adjust, and he wasn’t going to push her too fast. He’d already made that mistake once.
Cambria watched Morgan as he laughed at nothing in particular, just simply enjoying the day and being a kid. “What I wouldn’t give to have had the life this little boy has.”
Egan grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently and bringing her knuckles to his lips. He kissed her hand and lingered. “I would give you that childhood all over again if I could, but money can’t buy everything.”
Running With The Tiger Page 17