A Christmas Home (10 page)

Chapter Fifteen

When
the battle had begun Ophelia had expected it to be horrible. She had
anticipated the sabertooths to use their size and massive paws and teeth
against the shifter packs but she never thought that they really would come for
her and for the children in stealth. She hadn’t assumed that animals so large
could use stealth as those had but they did and it had shocked her.

The
first moment she realized that they were close was when she felt almost a
rumbling vibration on the air. It hadn’t been a sound so much as a feeling
which had her turning quickly. The sabertooth was standing over a small baby of
perhaps two weeks, his gaping maw open to devour the little wolf where she lay
sleeping. Without even a conscious thought she raised the gun and shot the
beast between the eyes. Thanks to the silver bullets the beast fell to the side
of the babe and shifted back into her human form when her death rattle
finished.

That
had shocked Phi, that a woman, even if she was a saber, was willing to kill a
baby. She moved closer to the still-sleeping babe and began to pick off the
sabertooths as they tried to come at both her, the children, and other women
that were all supposed to be behind safe lines. Obviously that was incorrect
and they had somehow been sliding into place to get after those that they saw
as the weakest links in the shifter families. She had no idea how they had
gotten into the bunkers that they were holed up in, but however they got in
they were soon out because Jagger had sent some of his bears and several wolves
to check on them when they realized that there weren’t enough of the beasts in
the action.

The
battle had been horrible. She had watched one of the wolves be torn apart by
two of the sabertooths and it had made her ill to the extreme. There had been
so many screams, so much blood, but in the end the Shifter Falls packs had won.
They had been able to fight back the sabertooths and had decimated that pack so
that no other packs would be harmed by them again.

Once
she was back with Jagger, she studied him carefully. He was still feeling the
aftereffects of the battle and she knew it. “Are you going to be okay?” she
asked softly.

Flexing
his left arm, the one that had taken one hell of a bite from a sabertooth, he
nodded. She could tell he was healing fast. Already the wounds looked like they
were days old. He’d told her that by morning there would barely be even a mark
left. “I’ll be fine,” he said. He still had more growl than not to his voice,
but his gaze was clearer and more focused than before. Jagger reached out to
brush his fingers to her cheek. “Did you allow the healers to look you over?”

“Yes
and I’m perfectly fine, Jagger.”

Wrapping
an arm around her, he pulled her in close to his body and held her tight. She
felt him rub his nose to her hair and knew he was breathing in her scent.
Slowly his body relaxed against her until his arms loosened slightly. “You
should get something to drink and to eat. I need to go see the healers and
check on those under their care.”

She
nodded, then smiled up at him. “Have them look at your arm again. And the back
of your thigh. I know you’re trying to hide it from me, darling, but I saw it.
Just make sure you have them look at it. I’m going to eat a bit and then you
can come back and find me in the tub.” Dropping his chin, he pressed a kiss to
her lips. “I love you, Ophelia. I will see you soon,” he promised. A gentle
squeeze, then he released her. Someone called his name and after one more look
down at her, Jagger headed off.

“I
love you, too, Jagger,” she told him as she watched him heading off. Once he
was gone she headed up to the bathroom so that she could get her bath ready and
start to relax.

****

Making
his way slowly to the healers, Jagger stopped along the way to check in with
those who had gone home to nurse bruises, aches and pains, and minor wounds
they hadn’t wanted to burden their healers with. Only when he was assured they
were all doing well did he make his way to the healers. He’d allowed them to
field dress the wounds on his arm and leg but hadn’t let them pull his shirt
off. For one thing his little mate would have flipped her lid had she seen his
back and what he was guessing would be a lot of black and blue bruises along
his rib cage, and for another he actually wasn’t sure he could have gotten it
off at the time.

Most
of the packs had decided to bunk down on his land until morning. Partly because
of the wounded, and partly because there were at least two stray sabertooths
still at large. The main reason Jagger had sentries walking the perimeter, not
only his own but those from the other packs who had volunteered. For tonight
they had a full truce amongst themselves. Whether it would carry on after the
light of the coming day he couldn’t begin to guess at. He wouldn’t be holding
his breath even if he could manage to pull a full lungful in.

Stepping
into the healers’ tent they’d set up, he moved to check on his bears. He’d lost
three good men that night, but the rest of the pack had survived. The only
saving grace, if there could be such a thing in a war, was they had been
single. While he and the pack would grieve for the men and miss them dearly,
there would not be any mates or children waiting up anxiously for them to
return.

He
allowed their head healer to bully him into sitting down to have his leg looked
at, and his back. He even let them cut the shirt off that had become stuck to
his back from the dried blood his mate had not noticed, thank the gods. But she
wouldn’t be able to miss the mess that was currently his back when he returned
to their cabin. Jagger was prepared to hear an earful and then some.

One
of the teens came over to offer him some water. Thanking the young boy, Jagger
ran a quick, assessing look over him to make sure he was steady, then watched
him move among the cots of the wounded to give them all fluids.

“He’s
showing great promise.”

Glancing
at the healer, Jagger nodded. “I think he’s found his calling finally. I only
wish it was under better circumstances than this that he’d discovered it.”

“Don’t
we all,” she said. “He will be all right, as will everyone here. There are a
couple that are touch and go but we’ll sit up with them all night and get them
through this.”

“Call
me if anything changes. I don’t want to find out in the morning you’ve kept
anything from me.”

She
smacked his arm and glared at him. “Like I would do anything less. Now sit
still while I clean out these gouges. You do know, Alpha, that you’re supposed
to avoid the pointy objects, right? This whole throwing yourself in front of
said pointy objects, whether they are claws or knives, is not good for your
health.”

Jagger
had to resist rolling his eyes. She was a little too close for comfort, and he
wasn’t in any shape to avoid more slaps from the older woman. “I do recall
something to that effect from my father’s instructions when he was teaching me
to fight. But it was either I got banged up or I lost another bear. It wasn’t
even an option for me.” Three was three too many for Jagger. Which brought up
another concern. “How many from the other packs did we lose?” he asked softly.

“Six
wolves, two cats, and a few are hanging on by sheer will. All the healers are
on deck for this, Jagger. If they can hang on through the night then they have
a damn good chance of survival.”

It
would have to do for the moment. Closing his eyes, he sat there and took the
additional abuse the healer doled out to clean his wounds. When she finished he
reiterated his need for her to call him with any changes, then went home to his
mate. He really wanted to have her in his arms but he was
not
looking forward to her discovering his extra boo-boo’s.

****

She
heard the door opening and smiled. But she frowned when she heard Jagger
calling up to her. His voice sounded
…
off.
She got out of the tub and dried off. Wrapping his robe around her body, she
entered the bedroom, then felt her eyebrow cock when she saw him sitting on the
edge of the bed. “Talk to me, J, what’s happening? You’re hurt more than just
your arm and leg, aren’t you?” She noticed that he didn’t have on the same
shirt and if she wasn’t mistaken there were bandages around his middle.

“I’m
fine,” he muttered. Reaching out, he caught her hand and pulled her between his
legs. With a deep breath he rested his forehead between her breasts, his hair
tickling her upper chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist loosely even
while he pulled her in a little closer.

“You
might be okay, but why didn’t you tell me that you were hurt this bad?” she
wanted to know. “If I had known you were hurt as much as you were then there is
no way in hell I would have allowed you to carry me home, you big lug.” He’d
scooped her up and carried her home once they were certain the fight was over.

“That’s
why I didn’t mention it. Plus I still had adrenaline running through me. Now
I’m tired and doubt I could lift even a sheet of paper.” Tipping his head back,
he gave her a crooked smile. “I’m fine, sweetheart. My back is a bit of a mess,
but I’ll survive. No permanent damage, and I’ll be mostly healed come morning.
What hasn’t healed by then will heal through the day.”

“Do
you have the energy to shower or did you do that when you were with the
healers?” She stroked her fingers over his cheek and leaned into him. She
smiled. “We did it, Jagger. We fought back the sabers and we’re safe. Our
family here in Shifter Falls is safe.”

Chuckling,
he pulled her down for a kiss with a light touch to her cheek. “I’ll shower in
the morning. They put some cream on the wounds to speed healing and I’d really
hate to tell them I washed it off. Tonight we should sleep.” He drew back
slightly and looked around. Right when she was going to ask he pointed over to
the dresser. “Top left-hand drawer, if you would.”

She
frowned and looked back at the dresser. “Okay. Do you need a shirt?” She
assumed it was for shirts or maybe shorts so that she would keep her hands to
herself. When she opened the drawer, however, she saw a small box with a huge
bow sitting there all alone. She pulled it out and turned to face Jagger. She
saw him there on his one knee before her. “Jagger?” she whispered in confusion,
and she had to admit, hope.

“Open
it,” he said when she stood there holding the tiny box. “And then come on over
here so I don’t have to figure out how to make it all the way over there.”

She
did just that, pulling the ring out and feeling her hands shake as she held it.
She was watching him as she approached and she grinned as well. “I will,” she
said simply. “Because I need you in my life for the rest of time. I love you,
Jagger Morris.”

“You
do realize it’s customary to wait for the question, right?” When her cheeks
warmed he gave a laugh and took the ring from her hands. Taking her left one,
he slipped it into place, then pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “Let’s do this
official for the record. Will you marry me, Ophelia Lambros?”

“Yes,
Jagger. Yes,” she repeated and hugged him close. “Tomorrow we will celebrate
with loving. Tonight we’ll sleep and heal.” She looked down at her hand. “God
you are amazing. How in the world could you possibly find this for me?”

Pushing
up to sit on the bed again, he pulled her down onto his knee, the uninjured
leg, she made sure. “A man has to have some secrets. A bit of a task when his
mate can see the future. But I made it work with the assistance of the pack,
some covert discussions, and a late-night shopping trip.”

“You
totally surprised me. I never dreamed you would do this and I love it. Even in
my vision I didn’t see this. Just us on the hill looking over the town and you
with a hand on my belly while your front was to my back.”

“Like
I said, a bit of a task.” He kissed her cheek and she could feel his huge
smile. “Help me get this shirt off if you would, love. Then we need to get some
sleep. Don’t want my mate, and soon-to-be wife, feeling tired. She’s going to
need reservoirs of energy stored up if we’re going to make that vision come
true.”

She
snickered and began to help him with his shirt. She felt badly, at least a
little. “I’ll sleep with my back to your front tonight so that we won’t hurt
your back any more than it already is.”

“Yes,
dear,” he said with amusement clear in his voice. Once she’d helped him get the
shirt off he stood to get rid of his jeans. Naked except for the variety of
bandages, he sat back down on the bed and wiggled his way under the sheets.
“Get your gorgeous ass in bed, Ophelia. It’s long past your bedtime.”

She
looked at his injuries but did as he had instructed and got onto the bed.
“Tomorrow we’ll have a proper engagement but for tonight, this is exactly what
is needed.” She lifted his hand and kissed it gently before putting it back
over her belly.

His
lips were warm against her neck where he nuzzled at her skin. “Tomorrow we are
going to stay at home and in our pajamas all day if at all possible. I’ll have
to run out to check on the wounded a couple times, but other than that I plan
to cuddle with my mate and relax. I think we both deserve it after tonight.” He
pressed a kiss behind her ear, then hugged her tight for a second. “Sleep well,
little mate.”