Chapter 11

Chapter

Eleven

W hen Kat was ready, she and Shasta left the women's locker room and headed up the stairs to the lounge, which overlooked the main dungeon floor. Kat would have recognized Hudson Rhodes anywhere. Even if she hadn't seen pictures of him, the way he looked at Shasta shouted fated mate to the world. She watched in fascination as the strong-willed beauty shivered in obvious response to his silent call.

Kat leaned over to whisper, "He should have disciplined you. Any she-wolf who doubts the allure she still holds for a mate who looks at her like that should spend a lot of time with her nose in the corner."

Shasta laughed. "You and Hudson should get along well. He told me practically the same thing."

Hudson lifted his mate's hand to his lips, kissing her fingers. "What did I tell you?"

"That you love me—every single day and in so many ways."

He chuckled. "Nice save." He turned to Kat. "You must be Katarina Marino."

"Kat. Hello."

He nodded. "Kat. Would you like to join Shasta and I for a drink?"

"I think one of the Doms is going to show me around."

"He's running a few minutes late. I told him I'd look after you in the meantime."

Kat followed them to where Hudson had been seated. There were two comfortable wingback chairs with a nice-size table between them and two large pillows on the floor. Hudson resumed his seat and pulled his mate into his lap, gesturing to Kat to sit in the other chair.

At first Kat thought the pounding pain in her temples was nothing more than a throbbing headache, but it wasn't the music that was creating the pulse in her head. As she sat in stillness, she realized it was the synchronization of the heartbeats of everyone in the lounge. She shook her head, trying to clear it.

Shasta reached over to her. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Kat kept her eyes closed. She was terrified that when she opened them, her gaze would immediately be drawn to the life-giving artery of the woman who had been so kind to her.

"Maybe I should go back to the hotel. I'm really feeling off and out of touch from everything."

In addition to the thumping beat that seemed to be thrumming through her, there was now a buzzing like a thousand honeybees in her head. Instead of feeling better, the intensity was becoming even worse. Inside her brain the refrain kept repeating… Feed me. Feed me. Feed me.

Hudson smiled. "I doubt what you're feeling is jet lag."

"Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm coming down with something. They said I should call the hotel when I'm ready to leave."

"I don't think that will be necessary," chuckled Hudson.

"What is wrong with you?" snarled Shasta. "Can't you see she isn't feeling well?"

"Yes, and it's the same affliction you had some twenty-seven years ago, my sweet mate."

"No," Shasta said in a hushed voice.

"And here he is," announced Hudson, sounding inordinately pleased with himself.

Kat managed to open her eyes and look away from the pulse in Shasta's throat. Standing in the doorway, rumbling to her in the same way that Hudson had called to his own mate, was none other than Josiah Steele. Kat stood, holding the back of the chair to steady herself. As her knees began to buckle, she had the vague impression of someone charging toward her, scooping her up before she hit the floor in a dead faint.

" W hat the hell?" snarled Nic as he came out from his office, rushing to Kat.

Having caught her and now holding her close, Jed growled at the Resident Dom of Torch Light. Hudson stood up, pushing Shasta into the wingback and stepping smoothly between the two antagonistic men.

"Nic, Kat started to faint, and Jed kept her from hitting the ground. Jed, Nic was merely trying to look after a guest. Let's everybody calm down and see if we can't help Kat."

"Right. Sorry, Jed," said Nic. "Let's take her up to one of the privacy rooms."

"Good idea, and same back at you. Maybe she just laced up the corset too tight."

Nic shook his head. "Could be trying to make a good impression. Why is it women think they have to be skinny to be attractive?"

"Evan," Jed called to his brother as he entered the lounge. "Get Hudson's keys. Nic, I'm going to take her back to the hotel. She has a room there. We can look after her and get a doctor if we need to."

"Maybe you should take her to the hospital?"

Kat shook her head, "No," she managed to whisper.

Evan trotted up to Jed. "Got ‘em. The SUV is in the back lot. You go out the front and I'll be there waiting." He ran down the steps and headed for the parking lot.

"Shh, Kat. I've got you," crooned Jed. "We can take you to the hospital if you like."

"No, I want to go back to the hotel."

"Okay but let me loosen these laces just a bit."

He set her on her feet and loosened the corset, although it hadn't felt all that tight. Sweeping her back up in his arms, he headed for Lobo Bahía, calling ahead to let them know they were coming. Once there, Jed took Kat in his arms again despite her protests and ran up the stairs to the hotel entrance.

Linc and Grace were waiting on them. They ushered Jed and Kat up to her hotel room and Grace shooed the men out of the bedroom so she could get Kat out of her corset. But as she searched through Kat's luggage, she found that she slept in a tank top and boxer shorts, which wouldn't do at all. She called to Linc, who entered with Jed on his heels.

"I don't like her color and she's clammy. Linc, go get me one of the nightgowns you never let me wear and Jed, call the doctor."

"No, I don't want to be any trouble," said Kat, trying to sit up.

"You're no trouble at all," said Grace, turning to sit on the edge of the bed with her.

Within minutes, Linc was back with a nightgown and the doctor was five minutes out. Grace managed to get Kat out of her fet wear and into a beautiful nightgown made of a gossamer silk. Grace smiled.

"Happy memory?" asked Jed.

"Yes. I bought this the last time we were in Paris. Leave it to an alpha wolf to bring something completely impractical, but at least it should be soothing to her skin."

"What do you think is wrong with her?"

"I don't know. But she's running a fever and her pulse is all wonky," answered Grace.

"Is that your official diagnosis?" asked the local doctor as he walked into the hotel room. He was familiar with wolf-shifters and their different physiology, as he was one himself. "Could we have the room? Grace, if you could stay to assist me."

Lincoln headed out, but Jed moved back to a discreet distance and firmly planted his feet. In that moment he knew some of what his father had gone through when his mother's life had teetered on the brink of being extinguished. And like his father, he would not be moved from his mate's side.

"Jed, come on, let them do what they need to," said his uncle.

"Were you able to move my father from my mother's side?"

"No. Doctor, we'll stay as we are. Please do what you can for her."

"I'm going to have to insist on a modicum of privacy," argued the doctor.

"She is my fated mate," said Jed quietly. "I will not leave her."

Grace jerked her head up and looked between her mate and her nephew. Lincoln nodded.

"No," said Kat, struggling.

"Kat, sweetheart," crooned Jed as he sat down on the other side of the bed.

He rumbled soothingly to her—something he'd been unaware he could do until he'd done it that first time in the vineyard in Italy. The sound seemed to permeate her fear and whatever was ailing her and began to alleviate it. He began to stroke her body and she started to quiet. The longer he hummed to her, the less agitated she became.

The doctor finished taking her vitals and sat back. "This makes no sense at all. When I came in, her flushed and clammy skin plus the elevated pulse pointed to a massive infection. She should have had a dangerously high temperature, but she has no fever even though her skin is a little warm. Her pulse is dropping back into the normal range. I've taken some blood work though, so we should get that looked at."

"Maybe some cold packs on her pulse points and cool washcloths might help?" suggested Grace.

"Well, they certainly wouldn't hurt. I'd like to go run this bloodwork, but I don't want her left alone." He looked over at Jed and smiled. "Right. That was never going to happen. I'll be as quick as I can. Call me if anything changes."

"Doc, would it help if I drove you?" asked Linc.

"Sure, that might speed things up."

The two men left, leaving Grace and Jed with Kat.

"I'll order us some food," said Grace.

Jed's eyes never left Kat. "I'm not hungry."

"No, but you might be later, and you need to stay strong for her. Would you like me to call her parents, or yours?"

Jed shook his head. "Not until we know more. Especially since the Marinos are too far away to be of help."

"Jed, I know you're worried, but I think you being close to her is helping. I remember your father wouldn't leave Kinzie's side when she was in peril. She actually rested easier when he was on the bed with her, holding her close."

Jed grinned at her. "Aunt Grace, you used to tell me when I refused to go to sleep that if I got into bed with my teddy bear, at least he'd be able to get some rest. It didn't work on me back then, and it won't work now."

"It did too work! You always fell asleep. And it was true about your mom. I remember the doctor at Luna de Lobo was convinced that somehow she drew strength from your father. Besides, it's not the worst thing to be lying in bed with your fated mate, now is it?"

He adored his Aunt Grace. He always had. He'd always thought his father and uncle the luckiest of men for having found and brought their fated mates to heel.

S he was back in New Orleans in the park where she'd gone for a run. She could see herself in wolf form, and yet could feel herself standing apart. She'd never in her life felt separated from her wolf before. Her earliest memories were of her wolf, always being close by. She wondered if wolf-shifter children didn't grow up more confident because they never felt they were truly alone. Now it was as if she'd been abandoned and felt the loss of her other self keenly. It was like she couldn't bear to be parted from it.

Memories and dreams became juxtaposed against each other.

She watched as her wolf chased after the rabbit, killing it just to drink its blood. Her wolf back home in Tuscany chasing down a fallow deer to do the same—running it down, tackling it, and then ripping its throat out only to drink the blood and leave the carcass.

Another chase. Running through hilly terrain, surrounded by the ocean. Hearing the waves crash against the rocks in the distance. She couldn't make out what she was chasing and like with the deer, couldn't seem to meld with her wolf to stop it. It was impossible to get a sense of what was going on.

There, ahead of her, her prey—two men running for their lives. Her altered self tackled the first one, grabbing him by the throat and shaking him until he was dead. She howled in the moonlight. Her wolf didn't stop to drink the man's blood, pausing only long enough to glory in the accomplishment of her kill before bounding off after the other man.

The man turned to confront her. It was a man she had seen once before—at home in Tuscany. The one she had killed before had been human; this one was a wolf. A tall, strong, alpha male wolf with the brawny physique common to their kind. Dark hair with streaks of chestnut and gold. A powerful presence, he approached her. Before she could make out his features, the world turned pitch black.

Somewhere through the fog someone was calling to her. "Kat, sweetheart. Kat. Come back to me."

Her wolf turned as if it too could hear the voice. It howled again. The sound was not the sweet song she was used to hearing but something sinister as if it wanted to resist being called back to the light. She felt torn—part of her wanting to respond to the call of her fated mate and the other part, the part that seemed to be growing in strength, wanting to reject him and run free, killing him in the process.

Kat clawed her way out of the murky mists of dreams and memories and could feel and hear her mate's sonorous serenade, enticing her to return to him. Cool washcloths scented with cucumber and mint bathed her face, arms, and neck. She called to him in the ancient way of their kind, beseeching him to reach down into the abyss, pull her free and rescue her from the sucking mire that threatened to drag her under.

And then there was nothing until the world exploded into light, sound, and pain. She tried to bring up her hands to protect her face and found that she couldn't move.

"Easy, Kat, I've got you. You're all right, sweetheart," purred a deep male voice that tried to soothe her fear and reassure her.

"The light," she croaked. "Too bright."

"I'll get it," came a calm, feminine voice. Then the room was dark.

"Better?" he crooned.

She nodded, her throat too raw to speak. Her mouth was impossibly dry and her lips cracked to the point of bleeding.

"Here, sweetheart, try a sip of this. Aunt Grace says it will do you good."

"No," she said, pushing it away.

"Yes," he commanded in a low and authoritative tone.

He held the glass to her lips and tipped it up. She took a small sip and felt the corners of her mouth tick up. Peach and mango. No booze, but still the taste was sweet and refreshing. Kat allowed herself the luxury of relaxing against him, taking comfort in his embrace.

"What time is it?" she managed to ask.

"It's a little before noon," said the male voice.

"I must have really been out of it."

The male voice spoke again. "You've been here since the night before last."

"Jed's been with you the whole time," said the female. "He wouldn't leave your side. As he's getting you to drink some fluids, see if you can't get him to eat something."

"What Grace said," she said softly.

The juice did make her throat feel better and was helping with her dry mouth.

He chuckled—a deep, melodious sound that she could not only hear but feel. "I am the one who does the commanding; you are the one who does the obeying."

It was nice to feel warm and safe within his embrace. Kat closed her eyes to luxuriate in the place that felt so right. She opened her eyes and focused on the pulse beating in his neck.

Feed me. Feed me. Feed me.