by Leela Ash
He wished with all his heart then that he had the ability to make people forget everything that had transpired just like Justin had. He would have applied that ability to make her forget what she had seen. All he could do, for now, was calm her and lull her into a sense of security.
Besides, he was the one who needed to get close to her to get her to spill her secrets, not him spilling his.
If she was in cahoots with Roy, he needed to know before things went too far between them.
But hadn’t things gone far enough between them, he wondered as he pulled his clothes back on and adjusted them.
He had made love to her with an intensity and mindlessness that he had never felt with any other woman. She was so flexible and tight and delicious. Even now, already dressed, he wanted her again; he was insatiable. Never before had he been so caught up in the throes that he couldn’t control his powers. His entire body had been shaking, as though it weren’t his own, as he pounded into her. He had felt everything to the very core of his soul.
Jessica Harris was trouble, and he wasn’t looking for any trouble. His ex had given birth to Carla, thrust the squalling infant at him, and strode off into the sunset, leaving him holding the baby. More than twenty years ago, he had watched the massacre of his parents and siblings because the rumors had started that they were shifters and not humans. It hadn’t been long before some crazy group had started to murder them in droves in the name of ‘cleansing the world of the abomination’, which was how their leader, Atlas Corning had referred to it. He had only escaped because, at the time, he had still been human; his shifter abilities hadn’t started to manifest.
Even now, he could almost see the horror of that endless day as they burned shifters to death or tortured them through other means. He could still hear the desperate cries of his parents as they were killed. A memory intruded, something he had buried for so many years. The bad guy had actually caught him for a bit there, and with a growl, he sank his teeth into that big fat hand until it let him go and he scampered for safety.
His hands tightened into fists and his vision blurred a little with the force of his anger. Jessica stared at him, concern appearing on her features. “Are you all right?”
He started to answer but he couldn’t get a word past the sudden constriction in his throat as he slumped to the floor in a dead faint.
Jessica’s scream was the last thing he heard as the blackness swamped him.
Chapter 16
A sob tore from Jessica’s throat as Theodore crumpled to the floor. She stared at him in disbelief and shock. Had she done this to him, she wondered worriedly as she cupped both hands to her mouth in dismay. She knelt beside him and gingerly cupped his head in her hand, “Theodore! Theodore!”
He didn’t respond.
“Oh please, please, please, let this be a joke,” she pleaded of no one in particular.
His large body was frighteningly still and motionless on the ground. Her hands shook as she began to compress his chest. “Please wake up. Wake up,” she pleaded.
His chest was rising and falling, she noted belatedly, so obviously, he was alive but he had passed out. With shaky hands, she called 911.
The moment she was put through to the dispatcher who wanted to know what had happened, she blurted, “I’m Jessica Harris. I had sex with Theodore Cooper, and I think he has fainted.”
Stunned silence fell over the line, and she thought she heard a choked chuckle, “What?”
“Theodore Cooper. He’s fainted in his mansion. Get over here quickly,” she called urgently. She sprang to her feet and dashed toward the door, her body shaking as she rushed outside to see if she could spot any of his friends.
Glory of glories, she spotted Connor with his usual brooding expression and unwelcoming scowl.
She ran up to him, so frantic she couldn’t even walk steadily. She had never thought she would be so glad to see the man until now.
“Connor. Come quickly,” she cried, grabbing his arm and pulling at him.
He glared at her, “Why? Where’s Theodore?”
“That’s the thing. He’s fainted,” she said.
He stared at her in surprise. Then anger tightened his face and he put his very angry face close to hers as he enunciated, “You crazy woman. What have you gone and done to Theodore?”
A few party guests were turning around in interest, and Jessica got enough presence of mind to grab his hand and drag him forward. “Let’s go. Hurry, please.”
He followed her, striding so fast that he overtook her shorter strides and burst into the library. A torrent of curses burst from his lips as he knelt beside Theodore and lifted one eyelid. He swore rapidly.
He grabbed his phone and made a call, “Get over here fast.”
He listened briefly then spat, “Library.”
Jessica was staring at him, pleased to see, at least, that she wasn’t the only person he ever spoke to in that horrible manner of his.
The doors were soon flung open and Justin and Michael rushed into the room, looking very panicked. As soon as they saw Theodore sprawled on the floor, they exchanged alarmed glances before rushing to join Connor at his side. They looked so concerned that Jessica’s heart turned over in her chest. These men genuinely liked each other.
“What the hell?” Justin demanded.
“I think it’s another traumatic episode,” Connor said. “I’m sure she did something to shock him or rile him,” he said, casting her a disgusted glance.
Her chin went up and she glared at him, “Go to hell.”
“But how can she be responsible? Theodore’s traumatic episodes are tied to—” Justin began.
Connor cut him off with an abrupt, “We know what the traumatic episodes are tied to.”
Michael chuckled, “You should know better than to try to bully her, Connor. If she were a pushover, she would never have interested Theodore in the first place.”
Michael rose to his feet and grabbed her shoulders, and held her gently, “Try to calm down. He’s alive, just unconscious, and we want to know what got him that way so we can help.”
She was trembling with anger at Connor, embarrassment at the situation and genuine fear for Theodore. Would he be all right? What was it about her that had put him in this state?
Michael shook her gently, drawing her attention back to him, “Hurry. There’s no time. Did you hit him over the head or something?”
Connor scoffed. “I would like to see her try that. Theodore can move faster than all five of us put together.”
Jessica stared into Michael’s kind face with pained eyes. “I would never hurt him. I would never try to hurt him.”
“Except, he is hurt. He wouldn’t be unconscious if he were fine,” Connor interrupted testily. “Now, tell me what the hell happened here.”
She swallowed and met Connor’s gaze head on. “We made love, okay? Once we were done, he fainted. Simple as that.”
The silence in the room would have deafened Silence itself. One minute, the room was silent as a tomb, and the next, male guffaws rang out all over the room. She stared at them in rising anger. They wouldn’t stop laughing and backslapping each other, though. They took no notice of her impotent fury.
“Shut up!” she yelled. “Theodore is fighting for his life, and you’re laughing? What sort of friends are you?”
“The sort who know that his reputation has been ruined beyond recall by this. He will never live this one down,” Michael gasped, tears running down his eyes.
“I can just picture Darryl’s face if he heard this one,” Justin laughed.
Connor was the first to collect himself, and he glared at Jessica, “You’ve done enough, Josephine. Please leave.”
“My name is Jessica, and I will do no such thing. If you honestly think I’ll leave, now, when he’s still unconscious, you’re mistaken. Besides, I’ve already called the cops,” she added.
The words were like a jolt of electricity. They stopped smiling at once and exchanged pani
cked glances before rushing into action as though they had been slapped. Connor grabbed Theodore easily without any effort and slung him over his shoulder before heading around a panel of books. She heard him slap something and a door whooshed open, but she couldn’t see where he was going. She started to follow them but Michael stepped in front of her with his kind eyes.
“I’m sorry but I won’t let you.”
She started to argue when, all of a sudden, a lax calmness fell over her. Michael’s golden eyes were burning like molten lava, now, and she heard his voice as though from a distance, “Go back to the party now.”
Like someone sleepwalking, Jessica turned around and did as she was told.
A few minutes later, the cops and medics burst through the door. Jessica stared at them in alarm as they began to ask for her. She came forward shakily.
“I’m Jessica Harris.”
“You made the 911 call to Dispatch, right? Where’s Cooper?”
“Right here,” his beloved voice announced, right behind her. Jessica spun around in shock. He was standing behind her, larger than life and healthy as you please.
The cops exchanged surprised glances, as did the medics. Then, one of them with Sheriff stenciled on his shirtfront ambled forward, one hand resting idly on his holster. “Well, looky here,” he drawled in a very Texan twang. “It would seem, reports of your … state of wellbeing were grossly misrepresented.”
He didn’t give Theodore a chance to respond, he spun on one heel to pin Jessica with an angry glance, “Did I mistake the matter, Harris, or did you play a prank on us?”
Theodore stepped between her and the Sheriff by simply stepping around him and planting his large body in between them. “She was right. I did fall unconscious for a bit there. But thanks to Connor’s military background and experience with reviving wounded soldiers, I was revived just fine.”
One of the medics, a young woman with cat eyes, smiled up at him, batting her eyelids. “Maybe you need to sit down for a bit there, Mr. Cooper, and let me listen to your heartrate.”
Jessica bit back a grin when she saw the deer in headlights look that immediately crept into Theodore’s eyes. He was a wealthy man and sinfully handsome so it was a given that women came onto him all the time. But, in that moment, he looked so panicked that it was adorable.
Solicitously, she came forward and smiled up at him, “Theodore doesn’t like anyone else to listen to his… heartbeat apart from me. I’m afraid we’ll have to pass. He’s just fine.”
She half-expected him to object, but to her shock, Theodore moved closer to her, his body heat almost singeing her as he echoed, “Yes. I am fine. Jessica is here.”
The cops and medics exchanged surprised glances and then, with shrugs, they left. Jessica turned to face Theodore with a sharp-eyed stare as soon as they were alone again.
“So, I have seen weird in the past, but I’m starting to think yours is a whole new level,” she began.
Something swift and indecipherable passed over his face and he leaned back and looked at her. Then, his expression became blank and mysterious.
“First of all,” she forged on, “I saw something weird when we were making love. As if your hands developed fur on them for a minute there. Then, you fainted after the whole thing, marring me for life and turning me off sex because what does it say about me that a man makes love to me and faints? And next, you almost had a panic attack when that paramedic offered to listen to your heartrate. Why? What’s going on?”
His eyes hardened, and even though he hadn’t moved so much as a muscle, she could suddenly feel as though a great chasm yawned between them.
Without blinking, he responded in the chilliest tone she had ever heard, “I am in no way responsible for whatever you think you saw, Jessica. This was just sex; it doesn’t give you the right to a confessional.”
Chapter 17
Those were the worst possible words he could have ever said to Jessica, Theodore decided for the umpteenth time, fighting the urge to kick, slap, or beat himself. It didn’t matter whatever else she was, she was still a woman, and he had made love to her. At the very least, she deserved some answers. He could have easily told her a bit about the PTSD that sometimes reared up years later, which was why he had fainted. At least that would have set her mind at ease that he wasn’t totally crazy or something.
Why had he said such mean words to Jessica? For a minute there, it had seemed as though she were fighting tears and then she had, without a word, sauntered off toward the children’s section. It wasn’t long until he had seen her leading Arizona and a petulant Kal out of the party and wrestling them into her car.
He had come to his senses, almost at once, but when he had run out to her car to apologize, she had spared him one last vacant look before she had punched the gas and driven off, spewing gravel.
He needed to see her, he thought. Ever since she had gone away in a huff, he had not been able to forgive himself. He didn’t know what it was but the fact that he had managed to make her angry, not long after she had made him a very happy man, chaffed. He had always been able to manage women. He wasn’t a player, but he liked women and they liked him right back.
But with Jessica… Nothing was ever simple with Jessica.
He had called her home at least a zillion times after she left the party, but there had been no response. He had even managed to dash out when Carla was down for the night and had knocked until his hands would have been sore if he had been human; still, no response. He would have been worried if he hadn’t seen her car in the driveway and he had been able to sense her turbulent emotions even through the space separating them. It had taken almost all he had to try to spread his abilities with enough force across the distance to calm her.
He hadn’t slept all night. He had stood watch over her home until morning, which was why he was bleary-eyed and ill-tempered the next morning.
Carla ran into the kitchen just as he was finishing a cup of coffee, and she accepted her glass of warm milk from his outstretched hand as though it were her due; which, when one thought about it, it was.
“So I’ve made my decision,” she announced.
He quirked an eyebrow, “Decision? I didn’t know there was something to decide. Do tell.”
She sank onto the seat with an air of importance and cupped her glass of milk contemplatively with both hands with a very adult attitude.
It was such a funny and cute sight that it was all Theodore could do to hold in his shout of laughter.
“What’s funny?” she demanded as though she had read his mind.
Belatedly, he realized that he had been grinning at her. He schooled his features into one of appropriate sobriety.
“Nothing. Carry on.”
“I’ve decided that I’m old enough to have a mother now, and I know who I want it to be.”
“Who?” he asked, his throat tight.
She beamed at him, “Ms. Harris. Ari and Kal don’t have a daddy. Kal said he just up and left, so he doesn’t count. And Ms. Harris likes you. And me…?” she added with heart-wrenching uncertainty.
Theodore promptly grabbed her into a bear hug, kissing her cheeks and announcing, “Of course, she likes you, naughty girl. She would be crazy not to,” he added.
Carla’s beam was fit for a queen.
“Fine. So, Daddy, now you know what to do.”
She jumped off her stool and raced off, having said her piece and leaving him staring after her.
He liked Jessica, and his kid seemed to like her, he thought. But was that really reason enough?
The office was a beehive of activities when Theodore arrived. He was buried in work practically from the door, but through it all, he couldn’t get Carla and her latest announcement out of his mind.
More interestingly, his mind hadn’t rejected the idea the moment he heard it.
What was wrong with him?
The door opened just then and Maria poked her head in. “Wards in five.”
He nodd
ed and stood to begin his rounds. One glance at his wristwatch showed Jessica had not shown up, and he sighed. She was never late, which meant, if she wasn’t here, then she didn’t want to be. He turned to Maria, “No Jessica?”
Maria shrugged, “Your girl is pissed and doesn’t want to see your face. She cited Freedom of Association when I tried to force her to work with you.”
“Of course, she did. Where is she assigned today?” he asked, affecting a lack of concern he was far from feeling.
“The caves,” Maria said nonchalantly before striding off.
Theodore felt the blood drain from his face. The caves? The caves was code for a secret pathway that led off to the secret location of the Tailan Mineral. True, only he and his brothers knew what lay behind the caves, but why had Jessica asked to work there, specifically, and away from him?
Besides knowing her, she was probably dressed in one of those impractical flowery sundresses she loved so much and those flat fancy sandals that wouldn’t survive the first sign of mud. The roads to the caves were torturous and could be dangerous for a woman alone. What if she slipped and fell and hit her head and had no one to help her?
With a muttered oath, he slammed shut his drawer and jerked his tie off. He flung it into a corner and yanked off his jacket. He changed his shoes into boots and dashed from the room, wearing just his shirt with the sleeves rolled up and his pants tucked into cowboy boots.
The sound of Tailan called to him as he walked up the rocky, windy path that led to the caves. He could already feel the power of the mineral in his blood. Tailan was so powerful that it could be felt by any shifter who came so much as a few miles within its orbit. That was the power of Tailan. It could heal a shifter so completely and quickly. Last night, when he had fainted, a tiny drop of the gold liquid in his ear had woken him up immediately.
