by Eliza Gayle
Bhric stepped between them, blocking her view of Galen. A strong Scottish name for a hot Scottish man complete with the accent that could make women swoon.
"We are not protecting her. I am." The two men stared at each other as if they were going to break into fighting over her any minute. "There's been a recent development in the Blackwood pack. Shane's dead and now there's a power struggle and I think they were hoping to use Marcy against me."
Galen's eyes narrowed as they turned to her. "Why would they use her against--" His nose flared. "Ohhh."
"What?" she asked, throwing up her hands in complete exasperation. "What is ohhh?"
Galen slapped a big grin on his face. "I think you're going to have to ask him about that." He nodded his head in the direction of Bhric and headed over to the computer stationed at the far end of the kitchen counter. "In fact, I'm going to check my messages real quick and leave you two to that fun discussion."
True to his word, Galen Ferguson turned away from them both, slid behind his computer screen and proceeded to get so engrossed in what he was doing, she doubted he heard a word.
A few seconds later she broke the spell and turned back to Bhric. She placed her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face. "I'm waiting."
"I need to talk to Galen first. This is his house."
"Fine." Which actually meant not fine in girl code, but she wasn't going to get into it right now. She needed to regroup and think. Not to mention sleep. Her head pounded now more than ever. "If you don't mind I'm going to go take a shower and then we can talk."
Instead of waiting for him to launch into some excuse or other automatic denial she took that opportunity to walk away. She'd seen the bedroom and bathroom that Bhric had used earlier and part of her really wanted to experience the luxury of it.
She half thought of asking Galen if he minded, but he looked too deep into whatever he'd pulled up on his computer screen. And the whole situation had that surreal feel to it now.
She padded down the hall, slipped into the bedroom, removed her shoes and sighed when her feet sank deep into the plush carpeting. The strange events that led up to this moment were creeping up on her again.
The unknown men running through the halls of the hospital and then again on their motorcycles shooting guns at them to the luxurious mountain mansion conveniently hidden in the side of a mountain to the sudden appearance of Richie Rich himself.
Marcy strode to the bathroom, urged to ogle the oversized room and/or search the cabinets for clues about this place. But the lure of a steaming shower had more power and instead she hurriedly washed and got out.
Then she couldn't decide what to do next. Put her hospital scrubs back on and go out there and confront Bhric? Or leave the dirty clothes on the floor for now and crawl into the big plush bed practically calling her name.
It didn't take much of an internal debate when the fatigue won out and she crawled under the covers of decadent Egyptian cotton sheets that probably had a thread count in the multiples of thousands.
She wasn't a heavy sleeper, so she only needed a brief nap to recharge.
Tomorrow she had the day off to get to the bottom of this too weird situation she was wrapped up in.
She closed her eyes and an image of Bhric wrapped only in a towel popped into her mind. She sighed, tired of trying to fight it. At least if she dreamt about him, she wouldn't have to waste her time trying to decide if he told the truth or not. It would simply be a dream.
Fake. Not real. Maybe the only safe place to let go...
12
Movement on the bed jarred Marcy awake. The light in the room had faded, but she could tell she was no longer alone. She held her breath waiting. She didn't have to look to know who laid behind her.
Bhric.
His woodsy masculine smell made her think of nighttime in the forest. A favorite time of hers when she'd been a little girl looking for a place to escape.
"Breathe, Marcy. I'm not going to do anything."
She exhaled and took another quick breath to ease her now aching lungs.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Watching over you."
"In the bed?"
"I was tired too. When you didn't return for your food I came looking for you and found you curled up in here sleeping like a baby."
She doubted that. Her friends complained she snored. She blamed her most likely non-existent allergies because it seemed like the easiest thing to do rather than admit she sounded like a freight train half the time.
When he wrapped his hand around her hip and turned her to face him she wanted to sigh into him. There was something vaguely familiar about this situation and it had nothing to do with her previous friends with benefits.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked.
"There are so many reasons. Where should I start?" His hand slid up her waist and thumbed her nipple through the sheet keeping her covered.
She gasped, her nerve endings flaring to life. "The beginning?" she asked.
He leaned forward and licked her throat, one of her most sensitive spots. A fact he shouldn't have known.
"You intrigued me from the moment we met."
"Where was that exactly?" she asked as his lips continued to explore her erogenous zones.
"You were sitting at the bar in Dark Moon with Sienna the first time I saw you. In fact, you were eyeing me with suspicion the whole time."
"Why? Were you acting suspicious?" She had to whisper her question as she was having difficulty talking now.
He lifted that single dark eyebrow again. "I never act anything, babe. I just do my thing."
"That's not true," she said "You were acting suspicious as hell when you were following me around, stalking me."
He smirked. A kind of dark, sardonic look that made the wetness between her legs grow.
"I was responsible for your safety. That hardly amounts to stalking."
His hands were sliding down her rib cage now making it really hard to concentrate on their conversation.
"Why were you responsible for me, Bhric? That makes no sense." She gasped when his fingers tightened on her hip. The strength in his grasp made it obvious he was holding back. But it also made it clear to her that his touch seemed too familiar. As if this was not the first time they'd been in this position."
She pulled back and looked him in the eyes. "You lied to me."
"About?"
"This is not the first time we've been together like this, is it?"
He lifted his head, his eyes going from hot to alert in an instant. "Do you remember something?"
She shook her head. "Not a memory. Just a feeling. This." She waved her hand between them. "It's too familiar. Too easy. We had sex that night, didn't we?"
Bhric clenched his jaw and she saw the truth in his eyes as he warred with himself on whether to be honest.
"You didn't have to lie," she looked over his shoulder out the window at the mountain view beyond.
"I didn't want you to feel bad about not remembering."
"I wouldn't have felt bad. But damn, how much does it suck that I can't remember if it was good or not. That's the kind of thing a girl needs to know."
His hand slid around her waist and hovered just above her sex. "I'd be happy to demonstrate. In fact, I haven't been able to get it out of my head at all."
She didn't want to admit it, but she really liked that thought. Obviously her subconscious must have remembered him even if her regular memory didn't. She'd been curious and drawn to him since before she knew who he was.
Which reminded her that there were still a lot of missing blanks. "I still can't wrap my head around why I started drinking tequila. Then a thought struck her. "Oh my God, you don't think someone drugged me, do you? Ruffies have a reputation for screwing up your memory."
"I don't think so, but I wasn't with you the whole night. But I'd like to think my guys were keeping a better eye on the place than that. We've never had an incident like that at Dark M
oon."
"It really does make sense though. I wish I would have thought of it sooner. I could have had my blood tested."
Bhric leaned forward and swiped his lips across her chin. "Are you ever going to stop talking so I can show you what you can't remember?"
Bhric tugged at the sheet still keeping her covered with his teeth and she let go of the death grip she still had on it, allowing him to expose her upper half. His hands and mouth roamed her entire torso, even dipping his tongue into her belly button for a quick tease.
Marcy threw her head back and barely suppressed a moan. God he felt good.
As her body heated, so did Bhric's actions. One hand cupped her sex and the other stroked her neck. Part of her was going to go crazy if something more didn't happen quick.
With her brain completely immersed in the path of Bhric's tongue, Marcy didn't hear the ring of her cell phone until after several ring notifications.
Shit.
"I've got to get that."
He gripped her hips and pinned her to the bed. "No, you don't. Whatever and whoever it is can wait a little while longer."
She bit her lip and shook her head before wriggling against his hold. "That's the hospital calling. I have to take it. That's the ringtone I programmed specifically for the NICU. Something's wrong."
He took a deep breath and nodded before finally releasing her. Marcy grabbed the sheet and dragged it across the room with her suddenly feeling a bit shy. Or maybe just awkward. She wasn't about to stand there naked while talking to a coworker.
She dialed the number for the missed call. Her tension rose with each ring. Both from the worry about what might be wrong as well as the fact that she'd been about to have most likely the most mind-blowing sex of her life.
"It's Marcy, I just got a call. What's up?"
She listened to Colleen deliver the news she'd been expecting, sitting back on the bed under a wave of defeat. They'd done everything they could and despite the poor odds, she'd wanted that baby to make it.
"I understand. Tell her I'm on my way. I told her I'd see this through with her and that's what I will do." She disconnected the call and sat there unseeing as she stared across the room.
This was the part of the job she hated. And it happened far too often.
A hand touched her back and she flinched.
"What's wrong?"
She took a deep breath and let it out slow. "One of the babies I've been monitoring this week isn't going to make it." Pain seared through her at the words. Voicing it out loud seemed to make it even worse.
"I'm sorry," he said, his thumb moving slowly along her bare skin. She leaned into his touch and attempted to will away the pain.
"I've got to get back to the hospital as quickly as possible. How far away are we?"
"Less than an hour, but Marcy, it's too dangerous."
She stood up and faced him, the sheet clutched to her breasts. "I don't care. I promised that mother I'd be there with her and I meant it."
Bhric must have sensed her determination or maybe it was the hard steel in her voice that made him realize there would be no talking her out of this. Whatever it was, he too got up from the bed and reached for his clothes.
"Your hospital clothes are clean. Galen's housekeeper washed them this morning." He nodded his head at a pile of neatly folded clothing on a chair near the door.
They both finished dressing in silence, but once they were done Bhric pulled her into his arms and held onto her.
"I don't like this."
"Me either. But it's an important part of the job and if I'm going to take the promotion I was just offered I sure as hell can't slack off now. Besides, if we alert hospital security about the threats on me, they will keep a close eye out."
Bhric's eyes widened and she waited for the argument that was surely coming. Hospital security wouldn't stand much of a chance against those guys she'd seen the night before. They were dangerous.
Instead he shocked her, forgetting all about security for a minute.
"What promotion?" he asked.
13
Bhric paced the waiting room floor. It had been hours since Marcy had disappeared through those double doors and he'd heard nothing. Fortunately, there had been no sign of the Blackwood wolves since their arrival.
"Here. Drink this." Galen handed him a cup of what smelled kind of like coffee, although it didn't seem quite right.
"What is it?" he asked, wrinkling his nose and trying not to inhale.
"They call it coffee, but I can't imagine it came from anywhere but the sewer based on the smell."
"Did you drink some?"
"Oh hell no. Nothing that rank is getting past these lips."
Bhric shook his head. "Then why the hell would you give it to me?"
"Because your pacing is driving me crazy. And the offer of a beverage is considered culturally polite here in the Americas, right?"
Bhric dumped the cup in the closest trash can and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Not so much if you know it's disgusting."
Galen shrugged. "For all I know people here are used to bad coffee. I passed plenty of people drinking it on my way up."
"What are you doing here anyway?"
"Figured you might need back up. A shifter of your type could easily get in over his head."
Bhric's beast growled a distinct warning in Galen's direction.
"Are all dragons shitheads or is that just a Ferguson trait? Cause if so, you have no chance in hell of fitting in around here."
Galen sniffed. "I don't need to fit in. I'll just buy or take whatever I need."
Bhric rolled his eyes. The dragon's arrogance had certainly not changed in the decades since he'd last seen him. Not that it mattered.
"I didn't mean why are you here in the hospital. I remember quite well how nosy you can be butting into everyone else's business. No, what I want to know is why are you back here in Tennessee? No one has seen even a sign of you in a good twenty years or so."
"The world is changing and Scotland has grown far too small for our clan of dragons. We need more space."
"Shit. Does that mean there are more of you here?"
"Not yet. I decided to come back early. The others will soon follow though."
Bhric felt a headache coming on. What had he done to bring this on? The three clans already here were barely holding their shit together as it was. If the dragon clan was about to return and take up residence all hell would break loose for certain.
"Your timing is shit, Galen."
"We both knew it would happen eventually."
Bhric shook his head. "Speak for yourself. I had high hopes no dragons would ever settle in these parts again." He brushed his hand through his hair and exhaled a hard breath. "When are you planning to approach the councils?"
"A week or two. Maybe sooner. Depends on how quickly the rest of the family leaves Scotland."
Fuck me.
He had no idea how this would affect the neutral zone, but he was going to make damn sure none of his people got caught up in the coming political storm.
"So what's with you and the girl. She your mate? I've never seen you lose your cool before over a woman."
"Something like that. It's complicated."
"It always is. And it's always the die-hard bachelors who get hit the hardest. Remember Roane?"
He remembered Galen's oldest brother well. He was quite a bit older than all of his siblings and had been pretty set in his ways when one of the visiting females from a rival dragon clan had gone into heat during her supposedly diplomatic visit.
"How could I ever forget."
Fighting for a mate was a typical traditional way to do things in that situation, but Roane had taken it to the extreme, tearing through every would be suitor and then some.
The whole situation had been highly entertaining and cemented the dragon's reputation as barbaric with the rest of the shifter population. In fact, that had been the beginning of the end, allowing the feline and wolf
populations to seize equal control.
Galen looked at him, his eyes clear and in control. "Be careful, my friend. Mates are a tricky thing. Even more so when you're dealing with a human. This could bring you far more trouble than you can imagine."
Bhric bristled, the beast pushing at his skin. He definitely did not like Galen butting into his business.
"She's not your concern. She's mine."
Galen smiled. "Acknowledged. You can chill now. Tell me more about this situation with the Blackwoods. Why are they coming after your girl?"
Bhric had asked himself that question many times already with no really strong answer. "I don't know. Other than they see her as my weakness and think by taking her they can control me."
His friend grabbed his chin and tapped a finger across his lips. "Could be just a classic case of distraction."
That thought alarmed Bhric. "Distraction from what?"
"Hell, I don't know. I'm the one who hasn't been here in decades. Things have changed. You've changed. Why the hell are you running a neutral zone for the councils? Those slimy bastards are long overdue in a comeuppance."
"Please tell me you haven't come here to start a war. We've got enough problems keeping the peace around here without anymore interference."
"That's why I'm here ahead of everyone else. I'm supposed to begin diplomatic relations and pave the way for our clan's peaceful return."
Bhric snorted. "Your family is not known for its peaceful qualities."
Galen lifted his shoulders and rolled his eyes. "Like I said, we've all changed. What do you care anyway? The councils have never treated you kindly. They look down at anyone and everything they deem not good enough. And since your little area has grown, I can only assume that attitude has not changed."
No it had not. Council members were as stubborn as ever when it came to the hybrids. Even presenting them with the preliminary data on shifter/human matings that might solve some of their fertility issues wasn't enough to sway them in the slightest.
As much as he hated to see their clans devolve into a war, the time was coming for change. And if it took a revolution to do it, well, there were plenty of shifters willing to take it that far. Including the Blackwoods.