by Khloe Wren
Conner's voice rang out loud and clear.
"We need medics, Dad. Two, one." They'd created a code for radio chat. Conner's 'two, one' meant two human, one shifter. They had to be careful over the airwaves to not give themselves away.
"Who?" Jake heard the fury in his own voice as he growled into the radio.
"Dominic. Gun wound, right leg. He's out cold from blood loss. I'm tying it up now to try to stop the flow."
"And the girls?" He was almost afraid of the answer, but he had to ask. Something bad had gone down for Dominic to have shifted and lose focus enough to get shot.
"Adele is banged up pretty bad, Dad. She passed out from the pain soon after Kit cut her loose. Kelly seems to be physically okay, but her eyes are glazed over and she's not responding to anything. She didn't even flinch when the gun went off. Kit's unlocking her collar and cuffs and she's not even twitching." Conner's voice was filled with pain and anguish which cut Jake straight through the heart. Then his actual words registered.
"Kit's unlocking her what? Where is the bastard?" He all but growled into the radio. He'd collared her. Like she was a damn pet.
"Dead. D. T." More code. Good, Dominic had ripped his throat out. It was going to be a bitch to explain to the medical examiner about cause of death, but it was a fitting reward for the bastard.
"A fitting end, I think. Ambulances are still on their way. ETA five minutes." He looked around him, pegging Jordan and Joel with a hard stare. "The twins are coming down to get Dominic out of there. You and Kit bring the girls up. Over and out."
He put the radio back on his belt as the twins were jogging through the door to go get their Leap brother.
"Right. We need the stretchers and all our first aid gear. And blankets, we're going to need blankets."
He headed to the back of the work SUV he'd arrived in with Dominic, Conner and Kit to grab the first aid stuff and blankets. Just as he and the others laid down all their supplies, he heard movement from inside. He looked up in time to see the twins carry Dominic outside. His son's one hundred and twenty kilo leopard form hung loosely in their grip, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. What had him dropping to his knees was the sight of the blood soaked shirt tied firmly around his son's hind leg. Blood slowly dripped from the bottom of his paw as the twins lay him down on a blanket Nick had brought. Nick had the first aid kit open and was grabbing gauze and bandages to apply pressure to the wound as they heard the ambulances sirens get closer.
He felt a firm grip under his elbow and Xander spoke softly in his ear as he helped him to his feet.
"All hands on deck, Boss. You're needed. Push it aside to deal with later, just push it aside."
Jake turned to look at Xander.
"When this is over, I need you to bring a team back and burn this place down. We need to cover up the way that bastard died."
"Was already planning on it, Boss," was Xander's calm response.
A noise from the house brought his gaze back in that direction, and he froze anew as he watched Conner come into view with Adele cradled against his bare chest. Oh hell no. He took in her injuries as he looked her over from head to toe. No wonder the poor woman was out like a light. She had to be in agony.
Jake took a couple of deep breaths and did his best to push past all the pain and emotions that were currently bombarding him--both his own and the ones from everyone else. As Conner laid her out on another blanket, he opened his first aid kit to take out what he needed. He gently took one of Adele's arms and laid it out flat so he could begin cleaning and bandaging her wounds. All the while praying hard that his son's mate would survive this.
He glanced up as Kit walked through the door carrying Kelly. Damn, Conner was right. The poor girl wasn't with them any more. He concentrated briefly on her emotions but couldn't get a read at all--and didn't that just say it all? It was going to be a long road back for that young lady. As he turned his attention to Adele's injured wrist, he heard the first ambulance pull up and foot steps racing across the gravel toward them.
Chapter Fourteen
Adele resurfaced to reality in a rush. One minute she was floating peacefully in the pitch-black cocoon that held her safe and free from pain, the next she was blinded by the bright sunshine and her body felt like it was on fire. The level of pain rolling through her body overwhelmed her and held her paralyzed as she attempted to push past it; breathe through it. She decided unconsciousness had its benefits. She closed her eyes and inhaled deep breaths. Starting at her feet she began to take a mental catalogue of her injuries; as she did, her mind flashed back to how she earned each wound.
Her right ankle ached and a strip across the front stung: thank you trip wire.
Her legs felt okay, no pain just a bit achy.
She felt a low burn radiating from her left hip: thank you bullet. She hoped the burn was healing and not an infection taking root, that was all she needed.
Her abdomen and chest felt fine.
Her shoulders were stiff and achy, must be from all the thrashing about she did trying to get to Kelly.
She tried to move her fingers and clenched her jaw when she couldn't. Dizziness forced her to clench her eyes as pain shot from both wrists up her arms: thank you slamming into the stairs.
Her right hand throbbed in time with her heartbeat: punching him in the face. She smiled a little at that memory; damn it had felt good to get a shot in.
As she smiled, she felt pain over her cheek and it felt swollen: thank you back-hand number one.
Her split lip was also hurting: thank you back-hand number two.
Her head pounded and her brain felt a little foggy. It probably didn't really appreciate being rattled around so much.
She reopened her eyes and squinted through the bright sunlight at her body that simply refused to follow any command she tried to give it. Her eyes zoned in on her arms and stayed there. Her right was encased in a hot-pink fiber-glass cast from just below her finger tips to half way up her forearm; the left had a splint and bandages from her elbow all the way down. No bloody wonder she couldn't get them to move and they hurt so much. She idly wondered how many bones she'd actually broken...
A noise to her left shifted her attention in that direction. Kit was there, watching her carefully, almost clinically, as if she wasn't sure if she'd be welcomed or kicked out. Adele tried to talk but her mouth was so dry nothing came out. Kit was on it in a heartbeat, jumping up and bringing a cup with a straw in it then lifting it to her mouth.
"Small sips, doll, that's it." Her friend's soft voice was soothing and helped her focus.
"How long?" she whispered hoarsely. She wanted to say so much more but couldn't get her dry throat to cooperate; hopefully Kit would work out what she meant.
"Today's your fifth day in the hospital. Do you remember what happened? How you got here?"
Whoa, she'd been out for nearly five whole days? Damn, she must have been more injured than she'd thought. Such a silly question; did she remember? She didn't think she would ever forget anything about that day, however there were parts that were a bit hazy.
"I remember. Kelly? She okay?" Her voice still hoarse, she pleaded with her eyes, hoping Kit would continue to understand what she needed.
"Kelly's still here too. She's not good, Adele. She's gone deep into shock. It's like she's disconnected her mind. They have her on a drip to keep her fluids up and they've been using massage to keep her circulation going. I think Clint is hoping you can reach her. If you can't, it's not looking good for her. She'll have to be institutionalized. Poor baby. We're all hoping like hell she snaps out of it. Sophie's been spending as much time with her as she can. She does seem to relax a little when Sophie's there."
Adele flashed back to the basement, to the moment Cole had snapped shut the lock on Kelly's collar. It had been that moment her eyes had glazed over, her tears had stopped falling, her spirit broken and stomped into the ground. Her poor petit fille. As her mind ran over what happened next, she sudde
nly understood Kit's timid approach to her when she first awoke. She cocked an eyebrow as she stared hard into Kit's face. The water had helped her throat and now she could say all she wanted to, and she wanted some damn answers.
"You knew, didn't you? You weren't shocked when Dominic turned into a...a leopard." She finished in a rush, she was still having trouble processing what she'd seen in that basement.
"Umm, yeah, Adele, I knew. I know you have lots of questions, and I'll answer everything I can. Just please, don't write him off because he didn't tell you. You need to know he wanted to, he'd planned to tell you on your picnic then Kelly stumbled in, and he couldn't find the right time after that."
"How do you know?" Adele had a really good feeling she knew what the answer was going to be, but she needed to hear the words for it to be real.
"I'm pretty sure you've already worked that one out, Adele. I'm a shifter like Dominic."
"Just how many of you are there?" Adele felt like nothing in her life was quite as it seemed on the surface. She wondered what other legends were true. Maybe there were vampires working the mine and faeries running the school.
"There are hundreds, if not thousands of us around the world. Here in Rosebery, it's pretty much the entire fire crew plus a few others and their families of course."
Adele stayed silent as she digested what Kit had told her so far, until a scary thought had her pegging Kit with a hard stare. "How are you created? Dominic wasn't going to...to turn me somehow was he?" She could hear the edge of hysteria in her voice but didn't care. She needed to know this. She watched Kit's eyes as they briefly went wide in surprise before she spoke.
"Calm down. It's nothing like that, Adele. You have to be born with the right DNA to be able to shift. The ability is passed through genetics. I'll leave the story of our original creation for Dominic to tell you. Some other time."
Speaking of Dominic, why wasn't he here? How badly had he been hurt rescuing them?
"Where is Dominic, Kit? He wasn't badly hurt, was he? Why isn't he here?" She was getting worked up again, and her head was pounding. She took a deep breath or two, trying to calm down before her head exploded.
"Dominic's not far, and he was hurt but he's going to be just fine. It's going to take more than a bullet to stop him. He's getting his stitches out, and he should be back any minute now. You should know he hasn't left you since you came in. Clint had to drag his tail out of here so he could take the stitches out." Just as Kit finished speaking, Adele felt a tingle trip up her spine and she looked up at the empty doorway. Moments later, Dominic's large muscular frame filled the space. Just the sight of his beautiful face with his ink black hair all messy and the thick stubble growth over his jaw was enough to make her heart swell and ache. She might not understand how he could be a shifter, might be pissed he hadn't told her about it all earlier, but her heart, it simply didn't care. She loved him.
With a slight limp, Dominic slowly crept into the room. He probably should have a crutch until his wound healed. No doubt he was too macho to accept it. Just like Kit, the look on his face said he wasn't sure what his welcome would be from her. Her mouth opened and the words poured out before she could think to stop them.
"It’s been you all these years, hasn't it? You are my chaton." She held his gaze with hers as she waited for his response. He raised his hand to rub the back of his neck as he began to speak.
"Yeah, it's been me," he said with a wince as if he knew she was going to be pissed.
"How? Why? I dreamt of you for four years before I ever met you!" Her voice rose as her mind tried to wrap around everything that was being loaded on it--and making the pounding pick up intensity again.
Dominic started to creep closer to her bedside, testing how close she'd allow him. She watched him as he slowly, smoothly, grabbed a chair and sat down next to the bed near her head. She watched as he raised his hand to her face then hesitated a moment, hovering over her uninjured cheek. Not quite touching but close enough she could feel his heat. She couldn't help but turn her head into his palm and his comforting warmth. As she did, she heard him release his breath and sigh as he caressed her cheek. His touch soothed and anchored her. As her breathing evened out and the pounding in her head eased off, he began to talk to her in his deep smooth voice that she loved so much.
"I first dreamt of you on your twenty-first birthday. Then, when your mum got sick, your pain reached out to me. I tried to come to you as a man in your dreams, but you wouldn't see me, so I went as a leopard. Your pain was mine, love, I had to try and help you. I didn't know where you were, so I had to go into your dreams to ease your discomfort." He stopped, lowered his eyes and took a deep breath.
"But why? Why did you dream of me in the first place? And why couldn't I keep away from you after we did meet?" This whole thing was confusing her, none of it made sense.
"The simple answer is because we're mates. We were made for each other, destined to be together." His voice was quiet, as if he knew she'd struggle with the information. And she was most definitely struggling. He continued on before she had a chance to respond.
"When a male shifter's mate turns twenty one, he begins to dream of her. Seeing glimpses of her face and hair; as time goes on he will see more of her. Eventually, if he still hasn't met her, he will see places and things she holds dear which will enable him to go in search of her."
"Predestined mate, huh. So tell me, Dominic, do you really even like me? Or is it just this mating thing that is forcing your hand and making you seek me out?" Adele was starting to get angry. She did not like the idea he would be with her, just putting up with her, because he thought he had to. She wanted a man who loved her for her, who wanted to be with her.
"I mustn't have explained it right. Please don't be angry. Let me try again. Being destined mates means we are, quite literally, made for each other. Our personalities are designed to compliment each other, our bodies to fit together. We are perfect for each other in every way because we are mates."
Dominic shuffled his chair closer; he leaned in and kissed her lightly on the tip of her nose before laying his head down next to hers so their foreheads touched.
"Adele, I. Love. You. How could I not? You are beautiful both inside and out. You have a heart as big as a mountain. You show compassion and empathy to everyone you meet and you protect your own more fiercely and completely than anyone I've ever known. Just look at your current injuries. You could have just kept running away and saved yourself, or you could have just let him take Kelly. But you didn't. You went too. You stayed close when you got away. You fought hard, damn hard to get to her and save her. A child who was a stranger to you mere months ago. I admire and respect you so much, beautiful." He took a deep breath before he stroked her cheek, stared into her eyes and continued.
"Don't you understand? You complete me, Adele. When I'm with you I feel whole. When I found out that bastard had you and I might not make it to you in time, my heart stopped and my soul cried out in agony. You are as vital to me as air, my sweet Adele. Marry me and I promise I'll spend the rest of my life showing you just how much I love you."
It took a full minute for Adele to comprehend what Dominic was saying. No one had ever said things like that to her before and she was having trouble working out what to do...then his final sentence sunk in. He wanted to marry her?
"Did you just ask me...to marry you, Dominic?" she asked him firmly.
"Yes, Adele, I did. Will you? Will you say yes? Be my mate, my wife?"
She stared into Dominic's eyes as she thought about his proposal. There was a small part of her that was still unsure about the whole shifter aspect, but deep down she knew what her answer was. She loved him with all her heart, and he completed her just like she did him.
"I love you, Dominic. When I was being dragged down those stairs, when I thought I wasn't ever going to come back up, it was you who filled my thoughts. At the thought I would never see you or be held by you again, made my heart bleed for the loss. Then whe
n you came charging through that door to rescue us, I knew you would be the only man I would ever love. So, yes, I will marry you, Dominic."
He gave her the biggest smile she'd ever seen, and with tears in his eyes he leaned forward and kissed her gently so as to not hurt her split lip.
~ * ~
Dominic knew he was grinning like a fool as he and Kit walked into the jewelry shop, but he didn't care what anyone thought. Adele had said yes. He was going to marry his mate. Kit's laughter snapped him out of his trance.
"Sorry, what was that?" he said to the smiling sales assistant in front of him.
"Can I help you, Sir?" the young lady asked, apparently for the second time.
"Ah, yeah, you can. I need an engagement ring."
"Do you have any ideas what you're looking for?"
He just looked blankly at the assistant. This is why he'd brought Kit--he had no freaking idea! The assistant obviously picked up that he didn't have a clue and started with simpler questions.
"We can start with what color gold you would like. Do you like yellow or white?" Well, that one was easy.
"White, definitely white." He glanced at Kit and saw her nod in agreement.
"And the stone? Maybe a traditional solitaire diamond?" Okay, this is where it was going to get messy. He was sure.
"I'd definitely like a diamond to be the main stone, but I'm not so sure about the solitaire part." Diamonds were forever and so was this marriage, so there definitely had to be a diamond in the mix. He didn't need to see Kit's nod of approval to know he was right.
"One last thing, what price range are you looking at?" Oh man, he had no idea. He looked to Kit for help; she stepped up and saved the day
"He's looking for the perfect ring. The price is not the main priority." She gave him a quick wink.
"Okay, then. I'll get a selection for you to look over. I'll be back shortly." He watched her walk away and start gathering rings on a viewing tray.
