Hawk's Revenge: Lone Pine Pride, Book 3 (22 page)

Chapter Thirty-One

Waiting was never one of her favorite pass times, but waiting to hear if the love of her life was all right and the bitch-of-the-universe had been recaptured or would be leading the devil himself to her doorstep at any moment? That had to be a new kind of hell.

Rachel had tended the wounded. Later, Brandt and Moira had insisted that she stay at the infirmary with them rather than going back to Adrian’s cabin alone and she had taken absolutely no persuading to accept their offer. She’d tried to sleep on one of the open beds—and failed miserably. No matter how exhausted her body might be, her mind refused to allow even a second’s rest until she knew Adrian was all right and Madison was safely imprisoned again. Or dead. It might make her unchristian, but she wouldn’t mind dead—especially after hearing of Madison’s role in Adrian’s torture.

Around four in the morning, Rachel gave up on sleep entirely and began the meticulous task of synthesizing more of the lynx hormone for Kathy. It kept her busy until just past eight, when the door to the lab swung open.

Rachel’s head snapped up, but it wasn’t her hawk who walked through the door, rather the alpha’s mate and a tall, lovely blonde.

“Patch,” she said, hoping she didn’t sound as disappointed as she felt as she rose to greet the pair.

“Have you met Lila?” Patch asked.

The pretty blonde extended one perfectly manicured hand and Rachel realized this was the former Alpha’s daughter. The one pride gossip told her had been originally supposed to marry Roman before the love stick had hit her upside the head and made her choose a jaguar architect instead. Roman had apparently been relieved to be free to pursue Patch—which Rachel would have expected to make the women rivals, but they were still, by all accounts, the best of friends.

“You’re here awfully early.” Rachel took the offered hand.

“I didn’t want to wait.” Lila took a deep breath, visibly nervous. Then wrinkled her nose. “Are you all right? You smell of blood.”

“Lots of it,” Patch added, her own nose crinkling.

“There was a little problem last night with the prisoners.”

“That explains why Roman got up in the middle of the night.
No, baby, stay in bed, everything’s fine.
” Patch made a face.

“Another riot?” Lila asked.

“No. More of an internal dispute.”

Lila bit her lip. “We should go. This isn’t important and you’re busy.”

“No, I could use the distraction. Right now I’m just waiting for news. What can I do for you?”

Lila glanced at Patch, who gave her a little nod of encouragement. “We hear you can help cross-breed couples conceive. We want to know how it’s done. And if you can do it for us.”

Patch held up a hand like a stop sign. “Don’t include me in that. I’m not even sure I want kids. You’re the one who’s so desperate to breed.”

“Not right
now
,” Lila protested. “Santiago and I are still planning our mating ceremony. I just need to know that we can. So Santiago will stop freaking out that I’ll stop loving him if we can’t have children—which is ridiculous, but he’s determined to give me babies.”

“Because he’s seen the way you go all mushy every time you even see a freaking Pampers commercial,” Patch said dryly.

“Regardless of why.” Lila shot her friend a quelling glare. “I need to know that we can have kids.”

“We aren’t positive that you can,” Rachel admitted. “Not yet.” She had never given her patients false hope and she wasn’t going to start now. Especially with such a high-profile patient. Something uneasy worked through her. “Are you sure about this? Did you hear about Susan?”

Patch arched a brow. “Susan?”

“She didn’t want me treating her son. And Adrian is nervous about me treating Kathy. I don’t know how it would go over in the pride if I were treating you two.”

Lila just smiled. “That sounds like a PR problem, and PR happens to be my specialty. You leave your image to me. And I’ll leave the medicine to you. Deal?”

Still Rachel hesitated. “I can give you a better shot than you would have on your own—and the fact that you’re a lioness, surrounded by lions in this pride should help you, but we’re still learning about shifter biology. I can’t give you any guarantees.”

Lila nodded. “I understand, but can you give me a chance? Will you at least try?”

“That I can do.” Adrian was going to kill her. Provided he was all right. He had to be all right.

Marching through a snowy forest naked with a bitching woman who seemed to think it was her duty to periodically make a run for it was officially on Adrian’s top ten list of activities never to repeat. By the time he got back to the pride, his feet were half frozen and cut up to hell and back and his temper was worse. He turned Madison over to Hugo, who had temporarily taken over prisoner duty and seemed to enjoy growling at the woman until she nearly wet herself.

Adrian wanted nothing more than to find Rachel and fall into her arms, but he’d had the chance to do a lot of thinking on the walk back, and as much as he hated to admit it, Madison Clarke had a point. Rachel would never be safe here. So no matter how much he had grown to like it here, it was time to leave. His mate’s safety came first.

He showered quickly and grabbed a change of clothes in the barracks, then borrowed a computer to type up a quick letter before heading to Grace’s office. Anyone else might have been taking the morning off after their busy night, but he knew Grace didn’t know how to rest. He knocked on her door and at her call, marched inside and tendered his resignation from the Lone Pine security team.

Grace looked at him, nonplussed, when she was done reading his letter. “You’re an idiot.”

He wasn’t surprised by the declaration, but he raised his eyebrows anyway. “Excuse me?”

She waved the letter. “What is this?”

“My resignation.”

“I noticed. It’s all nice and official. Why are you resigning?”

He pointed to the letter. “I told you. Rachel and I need to leave the pride. She’ll never be safe here.”

“Stop being a dickhead, Adrian. Rachel will never be one hundred percent safe anywhere. But she’s part of this pride now. If anyone touches her, they answer to the Alpha. Not to mention half a dozen other badass lions most shifters would rather not tangle with. Hell, even Dominec seems to have decided not to kill her.” She flapped the letter. “But I don’t think that’s what this is about. You can drop the self-sacrificing bullshit.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Oh, that’s right, I forgot you were brain damaged from testosterone poisoning.” She looked him dead in the eye. “
You
are part of this pride too, Adrian Sokolov, hawk-man. It’s not going to kill you to let yourself be one of us. So man up and feel the love, dipshit.” She ripped the letter neatly in two. “Resignation rejected. Get back to work.”

Adrian didn’t move. He wasn’t sure what to make of this forcible acceptance. Community wasn’t a comfortable feeling for him. He was better at being alone. This sense of belonging somewhere, with someone, it was hard to take in.

Grace eyed his poleaxed expression and snorted. “God, the two of you are ridiculous. So much nobility and martyrdom in one couple. It’s positively revolting. I think you deserve each other.”

“Rachel—”

“Is staying right here. Unless
she
wants to go. You aren’t the boss of her. And if you try to take away our fertility specialist, you’re gonna have a fight on your hands, boy-o. Lila and Patch have plans to use her for their baby-making, so unless you want to tangle with the Alpha, I’d slow your roll.”

He scowled. “What are you talking about?”

“Didn’t you know? She promised to help Patch and Lila get knocked up.”

Adrian felt all the blood leave his brain in a panicked rush. “She did what?”

Grace rolled her eyes. “Do I really need to say it again?”

“Where is she?” he demanded, barely recognizing his own voice.

Grace’s eyebrows arched. “I don’t have a tracking device on her, but my best guess is the infirmary.”

Adrian didn’t say another word. He bolted out of Grace’s office, running through the pride compound toward the forest. His feet were too slow. Too fucking slow. He wanted to reach for his hawk, but he didn’t want to be naked when they had this argument. And it was going to be an argument.

It was one thing to treat Kathy, but Lila? And the freaking Alpha’s mate? When the pride found out, there was no telling what the reaction would be. And if something went wrong, if either of them were hurt in any way, there would be a lynch mob. No one would care whether it was Rachel’s fault or not. All they would see were the darlings of the pride hurt by the ex-Organization doctor. He wouldn’t be able to protect her then.

Fuck. When had he begun to care more about her safety than anything else in the world? She was more necessary to him than breathing.

He would forbid it. He couldn’t let her risk herself. She didn’t need to prove herself to the pride. Not like this. They’d just found one another again. He couldn’t lose her now. It would destroy him.

She was fidgeting with a machine of some kind when he burst into the room she’d taken over as her lab at the infirmary.

“Adrian,” she gasped, and then she was running toward him, flinging herself into his arms with such force that he could either swing her around in the air or let them both crash to the ground. He chose to make her fly.

“Did you get her?” she asked breathlessly, before her feet even touched the ground.

“Madison Clarke is back in shifter hands.” He set her on her feet, though she kept her arms around him as she tipped her head back to meet his eyes.

“I thought you might have killed her,” she murmured, and he thought he detected a note of hope in her voice.

“Maybe next time.” She clung to him—and the feel of her, heaven in his arms, only reinforced his ire. “I hear you were busy while I was gone.”

She shrugged. “I was scared, but it was all right. He didn’t hurt me.”

Confusion broke through his anger, shattering it. “What?”

“Dominec. He didn’t touch me. I’m fine.”

“What. Happened.”

As she explained, he felt his arms tightening around her and had to forcibly restrain himself from crushing her to him. She could have died. Tonight. On the pride lands. And he hadn’t been there to protect her.

“We need to leave the pride.”

She cocked her head to the side, withdrawing slightly, though still in the circle of his arms. “Adrian, don’t be ridiculous.”

“Non-negotiable. You’ll be safer somewhere else.”

“The Organization will kill me somewhere else. This pride is the best and only protection I have.”

“I’ll protect you.”

“Adrian, darlin’. Relax. I like it here. And so do you. I like who I am here. I can help. I can do good. We both can. You won’t convince me that doesn’t mean anything to you.”

“You mean more.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

This. This was what the poets meant when they said their hearts melted. Hers felt like chocolate oozing over a s’more. But no matter how her heart melted, she couldn’t yield now. Adrian would shatter the world to protect her, but she wanted the life they shared to be one worth living.

“I don’t want to run. This is home now.”

His gleaming yellow eyes were adamant. “You’re my home. You’re the only home I need.”

“And you’re mine, but—”

“I didn’t want to let myself love you, but I always did. If you’re hurt, I would lose my mind. I tried to keep my distance from you because to love you so much is to risk my very soul, but you are
everything
, Rachel. Do you understand?”

She pushed back in his arms, but he didn’t let her go. “Adrian… I can’t. I can never give you children. And even if by some miracle I could, they’d never be able to fly. You may truly be the last of your kind.”

“You can do anything. I’ve seen you work miracles. You gave me back my wings.”

“I didn’t do any—”

“You gave me back my heart. And I have faith in your ability to make science bow to your will. We’ll in vitro, or adopt or whatever you want. And whether we ever have children or not, you will always be the one I love the most. You are my soul, Rachel. A hawk mates for life and you are all I will ever want—even if you reject me now because I don’t deserve you.”

The words made something wonderful unfurl like a flower in her chest. “I think I must mate for life too, because it’s always been you. I’ve loved you from the first second I saw you. Though I’ve wanted to smack you a time or two since then. But it was only ever you for me.” She smiled up at him. “It’s about time you came back to me.”

Love shone in his eyes as he lowered his lips to hers.

It was, Rachel decided, quite possibly the most perfect kiss ever in the history of kisses. The walls were gone. Everything he was poured through his lips to hers. Her love. Her soul. Her mate. He was finally
hers
.

Every cell of her body felt like it was radiating joy like gleaming rainbow light. No moment could ever be as perfect as this one—except for the next, and the one after that, with the knowledge that there would be a million more moments to come with this man.

She didn’t know how long they stayed like that before he lifted his head, his eyes somber as they met hers. “I’m sorry.”

“For kissing me?”

“For being a fool for so long. For losing faith in you. For trying to stop myself from loving you. Can you forgive me?”

She smiled. “On two conditions.”

“Anything.”

“You can’t keep making these unilateral decisions for both of us. Leaving the pride? We have to be a team again.”

“We are. But I will still be overbearing and obnoxious in my attempts to keep you safe. And you will do the same for me.”

“I guess I can accept that. But this time, we stay. We’ll be careful. But this is where we belong, Adrian. It’s home.”

“For now. But we have to discuss this thing about impregnating Patch and Lila. Do you have idea how risky it is to experiment on them? If the pride turns against you—”

“Lila has a plan to deal with my image—whatever that means—and I promise I won’t try anything with them until I’ve had some success with Kathy.”

“You’ll talk about it with me first?”

“Of course I will. We’re a team.”

“And the other condition?”

“Never stop loving me.”

He smiled, that small, secretive hawk smile. “Never.”

The ceremony had been Lila’s idea. A special Thanksgiving Thank You. A public statement of trust and gratitude for all Rachel had done for shifters in general and Lone Pine Pride in particular. They’d dedicated the entire feast to her.

Roman, Patch, Grace, Dr. Brandt and Lila had all said a few words. Adrian had watched Rachel blushingly accept their praise, hoping it would be enough, that any shifters who were against her would be swayed by the show.

So far, it seemed to be working.

He wouldn’t stop guarding her and never again would he doubt her. It had been unnatural not to forgive her, so unnatural he’d cut out a piece of his own soul. He would never be whole without her and he would never do that to both of them again.

Madison was under lock and key, isolated from the other prisoners and being questioned on a daily basis, though she hadn’t revealed anything about the Organization. Yet.

Adrian had taken over the training of the new recruits for the security team, putting them through their paces since it wouldn’t be long before they would all be needed in the fight against the Organization. When Rachel wasn’t working with Kathy, she’d started giving classes on first aid and battlefield triage to as many of the shifters as were interested. Each class was larger than the next. Everyone sensed that something big was coming.

After the meal, the celebration devolved into a dance party—the cats would take any excuse to play, especially now when there was an air of last chance desperation to the frivolity. As if this might be their last night on earth. But if it was, Adrian knew there was only one person he wanted to spend it with.

He tucked Rachel against his side and the two of them slipped out into the snowy night. She hugged him against her side and lifted her face to the sky as the flakes drifted down and they crunched away from the Pride Hall.

“They should have celebrated you too,” she grumbled softly. “We did it all together.”

“Yeah, but I’m a cranky ass with a face like a lawnmower and you’re the hot, compassionate doctor. You’re easier to love.”

She turned to face him, twining both arms around his neck. “I beg to differ.”

For a moment, looking down at her, Adrian couldn’t speak. His brain had lost all the words he’d ever known. All he could do was cup her face in his hands—still and always the most beautiful face he’d ever seen in real life—and tip her lips up to meet his.

“Fly for me, Hawk?” she whispered when he finally lifted his head.

“Always.”