Jack had to be talking about someone else, and she merely wasn’t in on the joke.
While she tried to string together an intelligent response, Devon descended on them, scowl locked solidly on his face. “What happened?”
“I’m not quite sure. We were talking about you, then she looked like she’d seen a ghost. Face turned white, and it looked like she was going to faint.”
Carolline’s head cleared minutely, the initial wave of shock over, and she started to get up from her seat. “I think I’ll avoid the cafeteria from now on. I shouldn’t drink so much tea.” Large hands, Jack’s she presumed, pressed her back down.
Devon crouched in front of her, his hands resting on the sides of the chair. She noted he was careful to avoided touching her. “Are you okay?”
“Carolline,” she mumbled, still a little stunned.
“What?”
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. Calling on her breathing exercises to center herself. After a couple of breaths, she felt her brain reengage. “My name is Carolline,” she said, her voice steady. I knew it wasn’t anything. “Wasn’t sure you knew.”
Dark brown eyes fixed on her, mesmerizing her. Sending a blast of heat through her. “I know,” he said, his low sexy voice sending a shudder down her spine. He rubbed his hands over her arms. Clearly mistaking her physical reaction as being cold. She was far from it, though. With each glide of his hands along her bare skin, the heat searing her within became hotter and hotter. Her heart beat rapidly, breath came up short and erratic. Her core spasmed and her panties grew damp.
Devon’s nostrils flared, and she knew he was breathing in her arousal. She watched as the very outer edge of his irises began to glow. A thin ring of golden brown, shining like amber on fire and growing by the second.
Something quivered low in her belly, holy fuck, she needed to leave. Actually, run. Carolline jumped from her chair, knocking it back, and did exactly as her head told her to do, completely ignoring the panicked tigon inside.
Chapter 8
Making her way through the trees, Carolline stepped out into the open grassy meadow, still shifted into tigon form. For a Sunday, the place was unusually devoid of other shifters, and she didn’t mind one bit. It was the first fragment of peace she’d been able to experience since her last run in with Andersen.
Just thinking about him brought up all kinds of confusing thoughts and emotions. Things she shouldn’t think about.
Jack was wrong.
She wasn’t Devon’s mate. The reaction must have been a fluke. Maybe his concern as a doctor brought out his inner tiger.
Her own beast chuffed at the idea. You know you’re wrong. All the rumors say his eyes don’t glow. Never did glow.
Carolline blew out an irritated huff. She was not the one for Devon-everyone-loves-me-Andersen. She was a little bit too damaged inside, too different, to be with someone as perfect as him.
A sound to her right, near the playground, caught her attention; startling her from her thoughts. Two young children stood in front of another younger, smaller boy, like they were trying to protect him from something. Carolline’s gaze went to the tree line.
More accurately, they were trying to protect him from someone…two someone’s.
Two hulking men emerged from the cropping of trees near the playground. They surreptitiously looked around, raising the hackles on the back of her neck. They were up to no good. She could feel it in the marrow of her bones, even at this distance.
Carolline scanned the area looking for an adult. Someone…anyone who should have been watching out for the children. There wasn’t a soul around.
Her protective instincts kicked into high gear. Ducking back into the trees, she quickly and silently weaved through them along the perimeter, making her way to the group. Always keeping them in sight when possible.
The boy, who looked to be the oldest of the children, raised his two little fists in front of his face, after shoving the little girl behind him. “You leave us alone,” he screamed, never taking his eyes from the man approaching him. The boy didn’t look for help or a way to escape. He stood his ground, steely determination etched on his too-young features.
A little piece of Carolline’s heart broke in her chest. There was nothing the little boy could do to prevent those men from harming them.
Panic threatened to pierce her calm and force her into reacting too soon. She needed only a few more seconds and she would be able to ambush them. Hopefully, taking down both in one swoop.
The bad thing about being a tigon was she was smaller than a full-blooded tiger or lion would be. What she lacked in size though, she made up for in strength and sheer will. She hoped.
Crossing mental fingers, she came to the edge of the trees and crouched down low. No one noticed or caught her scent…yet. They were all too absorbed in what was in front of them.
“Shut up, you little brat,” the brutish man, and larger of the two, hissed out low and deadly.
The second man came to stand next to the first, whispering in his ear.
The first man nodded. “Come with us quietly and we promise we won’t hurt your dad.”
Of course, the children were siblings. Now that she was close, she could see all three had midnight black hair, brilliant green eyes, and warm brown skin. Rounded baby faces that looked so much alike, they vaguely reminded her of someone she knew. Someone whose face was just out of reach. She couldn’t focus on figuring it out just that second. The safety of those kids took precedence over silly nagging thoughts.
The little girl peeked around the boy. Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “You have my Papa?” she asked, her voice wavering with fear.
“That’s right little girl, and if you don’t come with us, then we’ll do bad, bad things to him.” Carolline heard the soft sneer in the second guy’s voice as he talked. There was an undercurrent of something else too. Pure, unadulterated hatred. It wafted off them like the foul stench of garbage, reminding her of unpleasant times.
The first guy made a move toward the oldest boy. It was now or never, she thought.
Shifting her weight to her hind legs, she sprung from her spot. Claws out and ready to strike, she managed to hit both men in the back, claws digging into each one. She splayed her body over the men to hold them down; although, she didn’t know how long that would last.
The little girl screamed, high and shrill. The oldest boy grabbed her hand and that of his little brother and took off running. Carolline waited until the children were a safe distance away before roaring. A loud deep call in hopes someone, maybe the person who should have been watching the children, would come or get help.
The men beneath her began to squirm. The stunning effect of her jumping on them wearing off.
It was the bigger of the two men, the first one to approach the children, who got free. She felt his flesh tear as he rolled, not the least bothered by the excruciating pain he had to be in. Using his beefy hands, he pushed up on her paw and shoved, knocking her off balance.
Carolline scrambled to keep the other man in place. If they both got free, then the authorities would never know who they were and why they were trying to kidnap those children.
When the brute got to his feet, he kicked her hard and swift in the side. She roared out as pain radiated through her body. Through force of will, she stayed her ground, locked onto the man still down as dizziness swamped her.
The sound of people yelling reached her ears seconds before the attacker lifted his booted foot and stomped on her where he’d kicked her before. There was the distinct sound of bone breaking on contact; air whooshed from her lungs, her eyes rolling into the back of her head for a split second. She barely had the presence of mind to stay pressed down on the man beneath her.
More noise echoed around her as a ringing started in her ears. Shit, she hoped they got there soon.
The brute that was standing looked away, his eyes flared wide, and before she could take another labored breath, h
e spun on his heel. “Keep your mouth shut,” he yelled as he took off into the trees.
She watched him shift into a giant brown grizzly bear, clothes ripping and splitting, falling to the ground as he disappeared. He crashed through the trees and the sounds of wreckage filled the air.
Another man, a very angry man, appeared next to her. He shoved her to the side, which was easy enough to do now that her energy was zapped, her ribs broken, and the wind knocked out of her. He grabbed the kidnapper off the ground and yelled nonsensical words, at least to her, in his face.
Heated waves of Blood Legacy, the innate primal power males of a Founding Family had, pounded down onto her, pressing her harder into the ground.
Carolline raised her head looking for escape. A large group of people bore down on them. The overwhelming instinct to get away drove her into action.
People would want to talk to her. Logically, she knew that. They would want to find out what happened. See if she knew anything about the men. Unfortunately, she wasn’t working on pure logic. Her tigon was still in the forefront, and all she could concentrate on was finding a place to curl up and recover. She shuddered with pain and panic. The world closed in on her, getting fuzzy around the edges.
Crawling as best she could, she made her way past the tree line. Curling up next to a tree in the shade, she tried to make herself as small as possible, even though she knew she didn’t need to.
Closing her eyes against the pain radiating throughout her body, she struggled to breathe. Struggled to maintain consciousness. Even the smallest movement felt like she was being kicked again and again. She wanted it to stop, and the only way it would was if she stayed in tigon form and let her beast do all the work.
Chapter 9
Devon let Sheriff Matthews take away the man who’d tried to take his children. Anger flickered along his nerve endings, pushing him to exact revenge, he knew, however, the sheriff would need the would-be kidnapper alive. If Mathews didn’t get the information they needed though, Devon had no qualms about giving it a try himself. There were a lot of ways a doctor could torture a man, if he wanted to. That would have to wait until later, unfortunately. He’d give Matthews his shot before stepping in.
Besides, he was still trying to wrap his head around how something like this could happen. Where the fuck was his useless nanny when all hell broke loose? Why wasn’t she the one protecting his kids from men out to do his family harm?
Looking around the meadow, he found his new nanny not even fifty feet away. Lacey was huddled under the arm of some guy who didn’t appear to be any older than her own twenty years. Tears streamed down her face, and she hiccuped during the retelling to the Deputy of what she knew.
Devon snarled at the sight. His kids could have been taken. Kidnapped by two worthless pieces of shit, and she was off flirting with some boy? It was beyond unacceptable. The girl would be lucky to find another job in town after he was done with her.
Forcing himself to calm down, Devon knew the kids were safe now. After the children came tearing around the corner of the building, crying and screaming, it didn’t take long to figure out something bad had happened. Jack had taken them home, armed escort in tow.
Running up on the scene, seeing the size of the man shifting and crashing back into the woods had his blood boiling. It was only after the man disappeared that he realized there was a tigon holding down another person.
Whoever the fuck that shifter was, he was buying him a beer. Speaking of which—he searched the area for his children’s rescuer. Devon wanted to know what happened and how he happened upon the scene.
The mystery Samaritan was nowhere to be found. On his second pass searching the area, Devon spotted a body next to a tree. The slow, labored rise of a feline’s chest caught his attention. Striding over, the beast didn’t move an inch when Devon crouched down next to it. The tiger within Devon went unexpectedly crazy. It pushed and pulled to grab his attention, trying to tell him something he was sure. Get him to notice the creature in front of him. His head was too scrambled though to think it through. His instincts as a doctor took over, realizing the tigon was severely injured.
As gently as possible, he placed his hand on the tigon’s head. Its eyes twitched and lifted a fraction of an inch. “It’s okay. I’m a doctor.” He ran his hand down the animal’s body. When he came into contact with its side, the beast jerked and chuffed softly. Devon’s tiger responded with a pained yowl. A reaction that had never happened before when dealing with a patient.
He did his best to push his animal back into the recesses of his being. Devon needed all his training, all his senses to deal with the crisis in front of him.
“Are you able to shift?” It wasn’t the best option, but neither was lifting a four-hundred-pound tigon. At least in human form, they would be able to get him on a stretcher and back to the hospital where he could rest in peace in either form.
The tigon shuddered beneath his hand, its fur rising on its back as the shift took over. He watched as the beast struggled and pained sounds rippled from its mouth.
Devon stood and spun away to give the guy a little privacy. He grabbed the cell phone out of his pocket. Calling the hospital, he told them he needed a bus and stretcher at the playground in the meadow. After he hung up with them, he texted Matthews and let him know what was happening. The Sheriff would want to talk to the guy later to hear the rest of the story.
When Devon turned back around, he was shocked to find a woman lying naked on the ground. Long brown hair was tangled around her pale face. Her injured side was an angry red, quickly turning various shades of purple. She sucked in shallow breaths, the anguish of each inhale written along the lines of her tense body.
Sound from behind had him turning around. An EMT crew hotfooted it across the meadow, making their way toward him. The stretcher rumbling along the ground, bouncing to and fro over the uneven surface.
They can’t see her like this. He didn’t know why that crossed his mind, but it was his overriding thought. They shouldn’t see her naked, battered and bruised. The woman who saved his children deserved to keep some of her dignity, regardless of their town being a shifter community. Nudity may be the norm, but this was not a normal situation.
Stripping off his blue button up shirt, he laid it on top of her, covering her from neck to the tops of her curled up thighs. Kneeling next to her, he gently brushed the hair out of her face. Surprised again when his tiger jolted within, as dawning recognition came over him. Honestly, he should have known from the get-go. Who else in town was a tigon?
“Carolline?” he murmured. No, it couldn’t be her. But the physical proof told him otherwise. He hadn’t seen her since the day in the cafeteria when she ran away like a bat out of hell. Jack tried to talk to him about it. Tried to convince him to go after her, but Devon was in no mood to listen. He wasn’t ready to admit there was a possibility that he had been wrong about Sasha being his mate. In truth, he still wasn’t ready.
She turned her head toward him, dark brown eyes filled with pain, locking with his. “Are they safe?” she whispered.
He nodded, stroking his finger down her porcelain cheek. It was cool to his touch. Too cool. He slid his finger down to check her pulse. His eyes fluttered shut as he concentrated. It was thready at best, her heartbeat faint and irregular.
Fear mounted in his chest. Icy fingers gripped his heart and squeezed until he thought it had stopped beating. She shouldn’t be this bad off, but then, he didn’t know what damage had been done. Didn’t know all the ins and outs of her hybrid body, or what happened between her finding his children and the bear running off.
He cursed his lack of knowledge. He was a doctor. He prided himself on being able to treat the various species who walked through his doors. He should know more. It was becoming startlingly clear he didn’t.
A small smile tugged at the corner of her pale lips. “I knew they looked familiar,” she breathed out before closing her eyes.
“Carolline, ho
ney, you need to wake up.” The fear gripping him exploded into terror when she didn’t answer. “Carolline,” he said louder, not bothering to stop his fear from bleeding through.
“Too…tired,” she murmured.
“Damn it.” He stood and turned, prepared to yell for the EMTs to move quicker, and was shocked to find them standing behind him, waiting on him.
“Dr. Andersen, if you could step to the side,” a tall, blond male paramedic said.
Something inside Devon refused to let him move. His long-dormant tiger bumped him inside, and insisted they be the one to move her. That only he should be allowed to touch her. The beast was in a full-blown rage now, wanting out to see her, to chase after the man who did this to her. Devon really didn’t need this shit now. Maybe his tiger felt protective of her since she’d protected his cubs. He didn’t know. Didn’t want to think about it further. Not now.
Devon looked at the paramedic’s name badge. “I’ll get her, Franklin. I know where her injuries are.” Not all her injuries, but it was better than letting them touch her. Letting them hurt her even more with procedures designed for a regular human and a regular shifter. Carolline was different.
And ours, the tiger chuffed.
Devon blocked the voice in his head and moved to her other side. Crouching, he carefully slid his hands beneath her, ignoring how her silky, smooth skin felt against his. He took his time standing, ensuring the shirt he’d laid over her didn’t shift.
Finding More (Tiger Nip Book 3) Page 5