Connor (14 page)

Cam's neatly plucked eyebrows disappeared up under his lock of bleach-blonde hair. "That is accommodating of him. Are you sure this isn't a honey trap?"

"I asked about that. No, he says Meredith is more likely to kill me than break off the engagement, if she found out you'd strayed."

He nodded and bit at a plump bottom lip she knew so well. She'd sucked and nibbled on a lip just like that yesterday. The memory had her arousal spiking and Cam's eyes widening with interest.

"You really aren't the cold fish you like to portray are you?" she said with an embarrassed laugh.

"I am. But you and Alyssa are something special. I'm more attracted to you two than any other woman I can remember. I'm just glad it goes no further than attraction, or life could become very complicated."

"Which brings me to Connor."

"He won't like us play-acting, but he'll handle it."

"I know. But Hall is concerned he'll get in the way, so he plans to get rid of him somehow. It sounded ominous." She couldn't hide the shudder that ran through her body at the thought.

Cam reached across and stroked her cheek gently. It wasn't sexual; more the affectionate gesture of a brother.

"We'll need to alert Connor and Colt to this threat but I doubt there's anything to worry about. That is one capable man you have there."

She studiously ignored the mate reference. "Even a capable man can't dodge a bullet he doesn't see coming."

Her worries started to multiply as she considered just how much at risk Connor was from every direction. Her cat was fighting to gain control of her, fighting to take action to protect her mate. The imperative was overwhelming, but she fought it down. The cat didn’t control her, she controlled the cat.

Cam's palm cupped her cheek and forced her to look up to meet his light brown gaze. How had she ever seen this man as a pompous, unfeeling snob?

"I'll give Alyssa a call and suggest lunch at my place to discuss the cruise. We'll use that opportunity to warn them."

"At this late notice?"

"My staff is very efficient. They'll have something delivered from a restaurant nearby. I'll tell Alyssa to invite you along. To anyone listening in on the call it will sound like me making an opportunity to see you again."

Allie frowned and nodded. Her worry was growing. It seemed totally out of proportion with the situation. She'd only met Con yesterday. She shouldn't be so worried about a comparative stranger, even if she had slept with him. It had to be the cat’s influence.

But she could feel the cat not wanting to wait to warn Connor for a moment longer. That feeling was very distinct from her own worries, which were less pressing but no less powerful.

Which brought up another nagging concern. "Oh, and if Con suggests a threesome, ignore him. I made that a condition of me accepting his bond and, much to my surprise, he agreed. But I don't want him compromising himself like that. It was stupid of me to suggest it."

Cam grinned impishly. "If I didn't think he'd try to kill me, I'd be all for it. I can't say I haven't thought about playing voyeur, or more, with you two. But our mission is too important to jeopardise with territorial battles and emotional complications."

She gave a grunt of amusement. "Yeah, well, it kind of lost its appeal for me when I found out you wouldn't be biting me too."

Cam frowned in bemusement. "It might happen. I've only ever been with Meredith, and I have to rein in my cat for other reasons when I'm with her. Maybe with you…" He let the question hang in the air.

How could his only experience have been with Godzilla? It sure would taint your view of sex if the only time you ever gotten off was when you felt anger and loathing.

"You know that sex isn't like that… Like what you do with Meredith."

Cam shrugged and stood up, moving away from her. "It's irrelevant. It always has been. Pleasure is not high on my list of priorities. My life has always been dedicated to the cause. Everything else doesn't matter."

"Cam, sometimes you have to give yourself something to keep you going. Life can't be all about duty. You drive yourself too hard. One day you're going to crack under the pressure."

A tight smiled barely lifted his lips. "Hopefully, I will have done what needs to be done before that day comes. I'll call Alyssa."

Less than an hour and a half later Allie was following Cam's limo back to his place. She knew that the others would be arriving at the townhouse not long after them. Both calls, the first from Cam to Alyssa and the second from Alyssa to her, had been handled in a way that could arouse no suspicions in anyone listening in. She'd heard the curiosity and excitement in Alyssa's voice when she invited Allie to the luncheon, but she hadn't been able to satisfy it. Not then.

When the limo pulled up outside the townhouse, Allie veered off and parked her bike in the shed at the back of the B & B. One thing about bikes was that they were easy to park in crowded cities.

As she was walking across the reserve between Cam's place and her own, she saw another limo pull up and Alyssa's bodyguards get out. The two brothers, so similar and yet sufficiently different to be able to tell them apart even from a distance, checked out their surroundings before assisting Alyssa from the car.

Instead of easing her cat’s anxiety, seeing Connor seemed to ramp it up. But that was absurd. They were here now. Safe. She fought the cat down, determined to keep the upper hand.

Con's gaze met hers as she walked towards him and a pleased smile split his tense face, instantly softening it. She smiled in answer and felt her heart give a jig of pure joy.

No, this wasn't supposed to happen. She wasn't supposed to feel like this toward a man she barely knew. But this was more than mere lust, she was coming to realise. It felt too familiar, too comfortable for anything as simple as that.

As she increased her pace, Allie watched as Colt led Alyssa up to the door of the townhouse, which opened almost as soon as they knocked. Connor waited at the bottom step for her.

Suddenly his expression changed. Surprise replaced pleasurable anticipation. His body jerked backwards. Blood bloomed in the centre of his chest.

Allie's body realised what had happened before her mind had properly processed it, because she was running, desperate to get to his side before his body crashed to the stone steps behind him. But not even her new cat speed could achieve that goal. By the endless time she reached his side, he was already sprawled across the marble steps, his eyes glassy.

"No, no…NO" she keened as she threw herself down at his side, trying to stem the bleeding with her hands. It was like poking a finger in a hole in a dike. The blood just oozed out between her fingers, each drop telling her foggy brain what her instincts had already told her. He was dying. Her mate was dying.

Colt and Cam were there then, gently pulling her out of the way so they could lift him between them and carry him into the house. Vaguely, she registered servants dashing around like ants in a disturbed nest. Cam was yelling orders in a voice she'd never heard before. Was this his pissed-off voice that had so frightened his receptionist? Why was he pissed-off? It was Con who was shot, not him.

Con that was shot. Oh. My. God.
Con had been shot, just as she'd predicted. And she hadn't even heard the bullet.

They'd carried Con into the closest room and laid him on a large modern table. Colt was ripping the clothes off his brother's torso, trying to get at the wound.

"Someone call 911," she muttered, vaguely searching around for her own cell phone to do just that. But then she remembered. It wasn’t 911 here in England, it was something else. What was it? Triple something…Zero? One? Nine? She couldn't remember. Had she ever known?

Cam turned Con's now-naked torso over so he could look at his back. "Through and through. We have to stem the bleeding. He'll bleed out before the ambulance gets here."

So someone had called for help. An ambulance was coming. But it would be too late. She knew it would be too late. She had to do something. She had to DO something.

She wrestled her way between the male bodies desperately working to control the blood flow. A primal urge so powerful arose within her, overwhelming everything else. This was her mate. She had to save him. Only she could save him.

"Lyss, take Allie. She can't be –"

"I
can
be. I
have
to be," she interrupted urgently, tears pouring down her cheeks. When had she started crying? She didn't remember crying.

"You can't help. Leave it us," Colt demanded tersely. His eyes had become wild and his cat wasn't far away.

"I
can
help. I can close the wound. I…I did it yesterday."

"This isn't a bite, Allie. You can't lick a wound this size." He looked about ready to push her away; he was so furious and impatient with her.

"I can. I can. Let me try." She sounded hysterical, even to her own ears.

"Colt, I can heal your bites better than you can mine. Maybe she can do something." Alyssa was pulling at Colt's other arm, trying to get him to move out of the way. Colt shook his head like a dog shakes off water and then stared down at Allie.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed and stepped out of the way.

Relieved and terrified, Allie moved in close to the dying man.
Her
dying man. Because he was
dying
. There was too much blood. Too much.

Allie felt her cat rise and she let go, giving in to the insistent, primal urge. The cat had known what was about to happen on the steps out front. If Allie had trusted her, Connor could have been forewarned and avoided that bullet. So this time she wouldn’t get in her cat’s way. All the human part of her could do now was pray that the feral part knew how to save
their
mate’s life.

In the next moment, she lost all sense of herself. It was like a blank wall descended in front of her and she couldn’t see past it or find a way to get around it.

When the wall faded and Allie was aware of her surroundings once more, she wasn’t sure if it was minutes or hours that had passed. It came as a shock to find that she was pressing her head to Con's backbone, the taste of his blood in her mouth.

"They aren't just for breeding," she heard Cam say with humour. What was so funny? Con was dying and he was amused? She had thought better of him than that.

Alyssa was gently drawing her back so that Con could be laid flat on his back again. The urge to be at his side was less pressing now. In fact, her stomach was swirling and she felt queasy.

"Bowl!" Cam barked, all humour gone.

What did he need a bowl for?

And then she knew. Her stomach rebelled and she vomited blood into the fine porcelain bowl that had been hastily held in front of her.

Blood, she was spewing blood. Had she been shot too?

Cam was moving towards the door. Who had shut them into this room? He opened it and barked more orders. Strong arms were keeping Allie on her feet, but now they were directing her to the chaise lounge nearby. What if she got blood on the upholstery? That wouldn't come out. No…it was leather. That should be okay. Shouldn't it? She'd been able to wipe most things off her leather jacket. But it was black and this sofa thing was the colour of dried grass. Maybe it would stain.

"She's losing it," Alyssa said urgently.

She felt a stinging blow to her cheek. When had she started to gasp for air? Now she stopped and looked at the person who had struck her. It was Cam.

"It's all right, Alice. Con is all right. You saved him. Just calm down. You're hyperventilating."

She heard the words that demanded she obey, and bit by bit she did as she was told. Con was okay. Somehow she'd saved him. How had she done that? She didn't remember doing anything.

"Lay her down and wrap her in something warm. She looks worse than he does now," Cam said to Alyssa, who gently pushed her to recline on the lounge. "I just hope it was the right thing to do, cancelling the ambulance. Just because the skin healed up doesn't mean the internal injuries did too."

"Look at him," Colt said. "He's breathing normally again. His colour has improved. There's no bruising around the site of the wound to indicate internal bleeding. She healed him."

She healed him? How had she healed him? But at that moment her stomach rebelled again, and she reared up and sought the bowl once more. Yet more blood spewed from her mouth.

"I don't think the human part of her is coping with the amount of blood she must have consumed." Alyssa said, putting something soft and woolly over her, and then stroking Allie's hair back from her forehead. That warm touch soothed her.

"Yeah but her cat knew what to do. The potential in this is mind-blowing. What if there's a healing enzyme in our mates' saliva that can be replicated and used to heal any of our wounds. It would mean less time off duty. It could save lives." This was Cam again, his voice high with excitement.

"Before you get too carried away, let's try an experiment." Colt sounded gruff and less than happy with whatever he was about to suggest. "Lyss do you feel up to trying to heal a wound on Cameron?"

"Make it a small one. I don't think I can do what Allie just did. I felt sick just watching her lap those wounds."

"Yeah, just a little cut. Cameron?" He held out his hand for Cam's.

Cameron didn't even blink. He rolled back his sleeve a little and offered his arm. "May I suggest the wrist, but avoiding the arteries?"

"Better than a finger I suppose. Your hands could probably do with a wash."

Cam didn't even flinch when Colt used the knife, which had been strapped to his ankle only moments before, to cut a small wound at his wrist. Then Colt thrust the wrist in Alyssa's direction, as he fought down his cat. Clearly, the idea of having his mate press her mouth to another man's arm wasn't going down well.

Alyssa bent and licked the wound. From where she lay, Allie couldn't see what the wound looked like, but when Alyssa stood up again and looked down, her face told the story as much as her words.

"No healing at all. I guess we only get to be a miracle cure for our own mates."

"Damn. That would have been useful." Cam sounded disappointed as he licked at his own cut and pressed a tissue to it absently.

"I don't want to try moving Connor too far in his present condition. But we need to get him settled so I can try to track the shooter."

"No need. We may not know the identity of the shooter, but we know who paid him and why. It was the reason for this impromptu meal. Hall rang Allie. Amongst other things, he told her that her new boyfriend was redundant and would be removed to pave the way for me."

"And Rothmen," Allie added, amazed to hear how hoarse her voice sounded. It must have been all that retching.

"And Rothmen. He expects to keep Alice busy meeting our male needs. And what he couldn't get by paying her, he achieved by threatening her job prospects. Had I not already known Hall's tactics, I would be disgusted. But now I'm just glad he's so predictable. It makes our work easier."

"Con?" croaked Allie, annoyed by how completely they seemed to have discounted his wounds. Surely she hadn't been that effective in healing a bullet wound by licking it closed. At the very least he'd lost a lot of blood. There was a trail of it across the carpeted floor and dripping off the table, even now.

"We'll move him up to a spare bedroom upstairs. Maybe give him a transfusion. At least we know our blood is a match. I'll keep my staff away from him so they don't get too suspicious. Luckily, Allie was an experienced triage nurse and, though the injury bled a lot, it was only a flesh wound."

"That story won't hold up if Hall gets it. He knows my CV."

"My staff is loyal. As long as I don't give them anything to wonder about, they'll keep their mouths shut. Come on; let's get him up to a more comfortable bed."

"I'll…I'll look after him. He'll need washing and…I don't know…painkillers?"

"Are you sure you're up to it?" Alyssa asked, coming to sit at her side and placing a comforting hand on her knee. Her face felt sticky and stiff. When she wiped at it, her hand came away covered in blood. Good god, she must look like a vampire after a messy meal.

Studiously looking away from the bowl of blood she'd vomited up, she nodded resolutely. "I can do it. I don't think my cat will let me leave his side, anyway."

"I think there's no longer a doubt what Connor is to you," Colt said, challenging her with his eyes to deny her bond to his brother, who lay unconscious in a pool of his own blood nearby.

"No. No doubt. He's my mate." And Allie wished Con hadn't had to nearly die for her to be finally convinced of that fact. Or for her to trust her cat’s instincts at last.

"I'll have some bandages and clean clothes sent up. Even though there's no open wound, for appearances sake, bandaging him up might be a good idea." Cam headed for the door and gave orders to whoever was standing on the other side. He was less pissed-off now, which would please his staff.

She felt really tired. Was it from shock, adrenal exhaustion, or the healing she'd done? Whatever the cause, she felt so tired she could barely stand. But she was determined to do so, and take care of her mate. Nothing else was as important to her right then.

"I'm just glad this happened when Allie was here. I doubt he would have survived a trip to the hospital," Alyssa mumbled, looking over at the unconscious Son.