Forbidden Bond (18 page)

Where is he?

Back at the door, she tested the doorknob. It twisted in her palm, and the door opened. Olivia peeked inside. “Eion?”

Silence greeted her.

Curiosity getting the best of her, she pressed further inside. Glancing left, she found the den she’d seen through the front window. To her right, a small office with boxes of books lined the floor around what looked like a dark cherry wood desk. He’d apparently been packing, getting ready to sell. Directly in front of her stood the staircase that led to the second floor. Stepping lightly, Olivia moved further down the hallway that opened into a larger den and another hallway that veered off to her right. Based on her memory, the master bedroom plus a spare room had been down in that direction.

Standing at the entrance to the corridor, Olivia called out once more. “Eion? Are you home? The door was open.”

Nothing.

She pivoted around and headed through the den toward the kitchen. Passing through, her gaze settled on a pale blue cotton shirt thrown haphazardly over the back of the couch. Impulse had her picking it up. She stared down at the several smudges of dirt marring the front. Eion must have tossed it there after work. Olivia lifted it to her nose and breathed deep, filling her lungs with his scent. The fragrance of fresh cut grass mixed with a spicy musk that reminded her of sandalwood tantalized her senses.
God, he smelled so damn good.
Her pulse quickened.
Yeah, she had officially crossed the line into Nutville.

A
bang
that resounded from somewhere in the kitchen jerked her back to the present. As if she were playing with a poisonous snake, Olivia threw his shirt back on the couch. She choked back a groan at the thought of being caught sniffing his clothes.

Tiptoeing forward, she rolled her eyes at herself, suddenly feeling like she’d just stepped into an episode of
Ghost Hunters
. All she needed was one of those cameras on her head, recording her every move.

At the archway, she snuck a quick look. On the small kitchen table, she spotted another small bundle of rumpled clothes.
Odd.
But whatever…he was a guy.

Another rustle, this time near the back entrance, grabbed her attention. Maybe an animal had found his garbage and was scavenging around inside?

She strode through the kitchen, over to the back door, and found it unlocked as well. Did he not lock his doors? Olivia pulled it open, and using the switch by the exit, clicked on the porch light. Illumination flooded the smaller deck through the screen door. She scanned the immediate area then glanced down. Her heart jerked, and she gasped.

A naked man lay next to an overturned trashcan, blood oozing from an open wound in his leg and dripping onto the wood beneath.

“Oh, my God!” Olivia cried out, and shoved the screen door open. The injured man swung his head up in her direction. “Eion?”

Chapter Fourteen

Damn, damn, damn!

Liv
. Of all the people in Little Crow, why had she been the one to show up at his place
now
? A few more minutes and he would have made it inside. The bullet still lodged in his leg had kicked his ass, making his trek back home take three times longer than usual.

Stupid idiot!

“Eion? Oh, God, Eion!” Liv charged from the house. “What happened?” She crouched at his leg, inspecting the wound. “Were you shot?”

He curled inward as much as his injury would allow, hot pain slicing into the bone and up his spine. “Would you mind giving me a hand and grabbing me a few towels from the bathroom?” he managed to get out through clenched teeth.

Liv, focused more on his leg than his words, prodded at the injury. Eion hissed and jerked. “Sorry.” She glanced up at him, cringing.

“That’s okay.” He drew in a deep breath, motioning to the partially exposed parts of his body and the gaping hole in his leg. “Would you mind, you know, grabbing me a few towels?”

“Oh!” She diverted her gaze, and he could have sworn she blushed. “Sure, sure.”

Eion dropped his head back on the deck with a loud
thud
. The added dull ache to his brain a welcome diversion for his reckless behavior.
Dammit.
He was proving his brother and father right—hanging around here was only making things worse. But when he’d seen Taylor holding Liv in his arms under the stars, kissing her…something this time had snapped.

He’d wanted to rip the man in two. Tear his hands from her body.

“Here.” Liv rushed back onto the porch. “I grabbed as many as I could find from the linen closet.”

Eion took one and draped it over his lap while Liv pressed one over the wound. Another round of stabbing pain arrowed along his nerve endings. He hissed, slammed his palms onto the wood, his hips begging to lift and pull away from the contact.

“So sorry.” Liv looked up, her eyes glistening with compassion. “But we have to get the bleeding stopped.” She reached out. “Give me your hand.” Eion came forward a bit and complied. “I want you to keep pressure on it while I call nine-one-one.”

He gripped her arm with his free one when she started to rise. “No ambulance. No police,” he said, his focus directed on his leg.

“Eion, you need help. Don’t be foolish.” She wrenched her arm free. “Let me call for an ambulance. Then you can tell me why you’re—”

“Why I’m naked with a bullet in my leg?”

“Yeah. That.” She released a long breath, blowing a few strands of her hair out of her face.

Dear God. How was he supposed to get out of this?
Liv turned toward the backdoor once more. “Liv,” he called out. She stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Don’t call anyone.” She stared, confusion written on her face.

“Eion…come on. I—”

“Please.” He met her gaze and held it.

She sighed and tossed her hands up as if in surrender. Liv closed the distance between them again and crouched at his side. “You can’t just sit out here and wait for that injury to heal. It’s not going to happen.” She placed her hand over his where he held pressure on his leg. The warmth and compassion seared an equally sized wound in his heart. “You’re going to get a serious infection.”

Damn
. Eion’s eyelids shuttered. “I’m going to be fine.” He opened his eyes, and hit her with his best glare. “Go home. I can take care of this.”

“How?” She drew her hand back. “Unless you’re an MD, able to operate and self-medicate here on your back porch, I don’t see how you’re going to be fine at all.” Liv straightened. “I can’t leave you like this.” The tone of her voice climbed.

“Yes, you can.” He lifted a brow, challenging her.

“No, I can’t.” She shook her head, her dark mane loose and wild about her face. “You’re certifiable. You know that?” Her expression turned solemn. “I’m a doctor, but Eion, I treat large animals. I’m not qualified to operate on a bullet wound in a human. Nor do I have anything here to work with.” She groaned. “Let me call for help. I don’t want you to lose your leg.”

The sound of her frustration and panic sealed the fate on his course of action. Eion was cornered. “I’m not going to.” On a grunt, he pushed further into a sitting position. “Pull the end of that over to me.” Eion pointed to the wooden bench sitting against the porch rail. “I’ll use it to leverage back onto my feet. If you’ll help me get inside?” He glanced up.

“Of course.” Liv nodded. “I’ll do whatever I can.” She maneuvered around him and over to the bench. “But I still don’t see how we’re going to save your leg without a hospital.” Liv tugged on the end of the handmade seat until it was within his reach.

“First, I need to get indoors.” Eion twisted onto his side, placing his good leg in a position to bear the burden of hoisting himself upright. The severed nerve endings lit up in agony with the manipulation, the shredded muscle tissue on fire. He bore down onto his arm and pressed his weight onto his undamaged leg. Clamping his jaw on his molars, he rose. Tiny white spots danced in his line of sight. The porch swayed. Just when he felt he was heading south, Liv was there.

“Hang on. I’ve got you,” she crooned, encircling a towel around his waist and tucking it in place before draping his arm over her shoulder and balancing him. In more ways than one. His pulse leveled out into a steady rhythm. God, she felt so right next to him. He inhaled deep, bracing himself for the trek indoors.

“Let’s do this,” he chewed out from between his teeth.

Eion braced some of his weight on his bum leg to keep from hurting Liv. Every step was an exercise in endurance. After collapsing onto the deck from his hobble home on three legs, and Liv’s surprise appearance, he’d grown weaker from the trickling blood loss, and the pain had increased tenfold.

He’d waited to heal himself after taking the hit, preferring not to be caught in the open naked, switching between man and wolf. His immediate shift after making it onto his deck had helped to staunch some of the blood loss, yet the bullet was still lodged inside. He needed to shift back into his wolf to reconnect more of the muscle fibers followed by a final return to his human form to spit the bullet out and close the flesh. Running into Liv at home had been the last thing he’d expected.

Now he had no choice but to trust not only his secret, but an entire population’s to the woman he loved. She was dead set on not going anywhere, and he couldn’t go to a hospital. He didn’t exactly have a good explanation ready on how he’d been shot. Plus there was no way he could risk any of his blood being analyzed by a human lab. Talk about a clusterfuck beyond repair. There wasn’t a shovel large enough to help him dig out from under all that shit.

After what felt like a finish to an Iron Man Competition, Eion grasped the edge of the counter near the kitchen sink. “Right here. This will work.” His chest rose and fell with hard pants as he pulled his arm free from around Liv’s neck and lowered himself onto the blue and white squares of linoleum.

“Well,” Liv began, “at least you’re inside out of the elements, but this isn’t much better.” She reached down and moved a few damp strands of his hair away from his eyes, tucking them behind his ear. The gesture may have been generated by doctor-patient compassion or on some level, true affection. Whatever the reason, he had to admit, it felt nice.

Eion allowed his head to fall back against the door panel beneath the kitchen sink with a soft
thud
. Sharp talons of fear speared his chest wall, making each labored breath just a little more difficult. Too bad that what he was about to reveal, like a cyclone from hell, held the potential to shred whatever feelings she possessed for him into a million tiny unrecognizable pieces.

“I needed to be inside so I’m out of sight for what I have to do.”

Liv settled onto her knees next to him. “And what would that be?” She replaced one of the towels she’d carried back inside with her onto the gaping hole in his thigh. “What are you planning? You’re freaking me out, Eion,” she said, her voice shaky. “I can’t even imagine how in the hell you ended up outside like this, not to mention shot, for God’s sake.”

His head buzzed. The pain, post adrenaline rush, and anxiety had his mind on a carnival ride. He blinked rapidly. He had to focus.

“What I’m about to say and show you…” His words came out strained and thick to his own ears. He swallowed hard. “It’s going to sound crazy, but you have to trust me, Liv.” Eion fumbled for her hand and enclosed it inside his own. She stared at where he’d laced their fingers and turned her gaze up to his. “Can you do that? Can you trust me, Liv?”

“Eion…sure.” She nodded. “But I don’t understand.” She chewed her lower lip before continuing. “What happened? You’re really worrying me.”

He gently squeezed her fingers, needing the contact at the moment probably more than she needed the reassurance. God, where did he begin? “You have to believe I’d never hurt you.” He shook his head, more serious than he’d ever been in his entire life. She had to believe that. “I would never hurt you, Liv.”

“God, yes. I know that.” She gasped, a grimace coalescing with the concern on her face. “You haven’t ever given me a reason to believe you’d physically hurt me. Not then and not now.” She lifted another towel from the floor, using the clean end to wipe a trail of sweat making its way down his temple. “Why are you saying these things?”

“Good.” He clenched his teeth against a heated arrow of pain radiating up his leg and into his groin. “I don’t ever want to see fear in your eyes again because of me.”

Liv studied him. “Fear?”

“I was there tonight. On your land, doing the job I promised you and your brother I would do, monitoring for any predator activity.”

“Okay.” She eased down onto her bottom. “I was out there too. But I didn’t see you.”

“I know you were there, and you weren’t alone,” he nearly growled the last half of the sentence, but stifled the sound in his throat.

“You’re right. I was with Taylor.” Her eyelids lowered. “Why didn’t I see
you
? Were you hiding?”

He held her gaze, slowly inching her closer by a tug to her hand until they were face to face. “You saw me, Liv,” he whispered and tilted his head. “Think about it. Somewhere inside your mind…you knew it was me.” Her pupils dilated, lips parted on a soft gasp.

“No,” she breathed and jerked back. But Eion wasn’t about to let her run from the truth. They’d come too far.

“No, what?”

She cast her gaze to his bare chest. “The only thing there with us were the cattle and the—”

“The wolf?”

Liv swung her head up, mouth ajar. “How did you know that?” she snapped.

“I thought I could handle it,” Eion said, his voice hoarse. “But the sound of your voice after he kissed you…” A growl low in his throat bubbled up. Liv’s eyes widened. “For a moment there, I wanted to tear his throat out.”

“What are you saying?” her voice quivered. “Please tell me you’re not trying to make me believe that the wolf was…”

“It was me.” Eion reached over with his free hand and lifted her chin with his thumb and forefinger, holding her gaze. “I’m a shifter, Liv. My other form is a wolf.”