Her Guardian Angel (Fire and Snow) (21 page)

"Deep breath, Dom. We will get them out. Together." Conner released him just as Kit ran up behind them.

"I'll get the door boys, no need to kick it in and announce our arrival now is there?"

Within seconds, Kit had the lock picked and all three silently entered the house. Dominic felt his heart stop and his knees began to buckle as they entered the house and Adele's rage filled screams rung out from a doorway leading down some stairs. Conner silently caught him, stood him back up, nudged him with his shoulder and they headed toward the stairs together. Kit had moved off to search the house. She mouthed the word "clear" as they all reached the stairwell. Dominic led the way, with Conner and Kit behind him. Within seconds they were at the bottom of the stairs in a dark hallway. Dominic pressed up against the wall next to the door for a moment and listened to the movements inside the room to get a position on where everyone was. Using hand signals, he let Conner and Kit know where they were. He pointed at Kit and mouthed "Adele and Kelly". He looked to Conner and nodded. No words were needed; they would take out the bastard then help Kit get the girls out. Dominic held three fingers up counting down.

Three.

Two.

One.

He made a fist then spun and bolted into the room.

He roared as he changed into his leopard. The sight of Cole taking a knife to Kelly's shirt was more than he could stand. Add to that the sight of his blood covered barely conscious mate and there was no chance of him holding back. At the sound of his roar, Cole spun around with a "What the fuck?" He was quick to pull out his pistol but not quick enough. Dominic had leapt into the air, aiming his sharp teeth for the bastard's throat by the time he got his shot off. Dominic felt pain and fire rip through his hind leg, but it didn't distract him from his goal. He landed with his front paws on Cole's shoulders, knocking him to the ground. He didn't waste time, sinking his teeth into the soft flesh of his throat and ripping it out with a triumphant roar. Once he heard Cole's heart cease beating, he looked around the room. He just caught the horrified look on Adele's face before blackness took over his vision and he passed out.

~ * ~

A few moments after Adele had wondered where Dominic was, he appeared in the doorway. Her heart lurched at the sight of her beautiful guardian angel barreling into the room. As she watched Conner and Kit coming in behind Dominic, she sighed in relief and a little in awe at the three very fierce looking firefighters who had come to save them. The relief of imminent rescue evaporated as quickly as it had begun as she heard a deafening roar vibrate the entire room, rattling the tools on the table. Her body stiffened as she scanned around the room to see what had made the noise. Her eyes flew wide and her mouth fell open as she saw what appeared to be a bubble of blue electric energy surround Dominic. Moments later, Dominic was gone and a snow leopard appeared.

She carefully catalogued the large cat's spots and features against her memory. Bloody hell, it was her
chaton
standing where Dominic had been just moments ago. Her head spun and she saw spots as her mind attempted to process what was in front of her.

Dominic.

Snow leopard.

Her
snow leopard.

Her
chaton
that had been visiting her dreams for the last nearly five years.

Maybe she was unconscious and dreaming that her
chaton
was here, charging in to save the day. She could see herself having this dream. Suddenly feeling calmer that this must all be a figment of her imagination, she raised her eyes and jerked back in shock. Kit's face was right in front of hers, wearing a mask of seriousness, fury and purpose. Adele stared at her friend. The muscles of her neck and shoulders looked hard and strained as she was obviously clenching them. She saw the light gleam off the knife Kit took from the holster on her belt. With a sigh, Adele watched as Kit cut the ropes, freeing her from the ceiling hook. As soon as the rope came away, strong twinges wracked her hands and fingers. She gasped out in pain as Kit carefully lowered her arms. As soon as they were all the way down and her blood pumped back through her veins, the agony began to overwhelm her. It was more than she could stand, and she crumpled to the floor as her limbs refused to function. Kit was there the whole way, wrapping her in a warm embrace, anchoring her in the mist of the chaos that had taken over her body and mind.

"Shh, Adele. You're safe now. I've got you."

Adele started to think that maybe this wasn't a dream after all, surely she wouldn't imagine this amount of suffering.

A loud crack cleared her head of fog and brought her eyes up to look over Kit's shoulder. She watched as her
chaton
latched onto Cole's throat and tore it free with a roar. The animistic brutality was so far outside her realm of normal her mind couldn't register it.

Then all her eyes saw was red.

His hind leg. There was a rapidly spreading pool of blood beneath his rear paw.

So red.

Too much red.

He was loosing a serious amount of blood. Her eyes flicked up as she felt his gaze on her. They held contact briefly before he collapsed and lay in a heap of black and white fur, out cold on the concrete floor. Then as if they were linked, she felt her eyelids droop, the light dim and she joined him in the darkness that pulled at her.

~ * ~

Jake paced. He felt the pain, sorrow and fury flow from the open front door of the house, but he didn't know who was putting out what. The waves of emotion crashed against him, making it hard for him to breathe. This is why he got sick at jobs that involved injuries. He was strongly empathetic and the strong emotions of the gravely injured would make him physically ill. When he knew that not only were his two sons in the mix but two women and a child who he held very dear too, it was even harder to bare. Especially when he knew Adele had to be injured. His lips quirked a little as he thought about the fight they'd heard between Adele and Cole. She'd knocked him a few beauties by the sound of it. Good for her. He hoped they'd hurt like hell. It was the least he deserved. How could any man raise a hand against a female, adult or child? That bastard needed to be taken out. Jake might look human at the moment, but his heart was that of an animal and at the moment the animal inside him was begging to be the one to deliver the justice of taking the bastard out.

His radio squawked, forcing his attention back to current events. He seized it off his belt.

"Rosebery P1 here. Please repeat."

Conner's voice came over the line, sounding serious and strained.

"Rosebery P2. Come in Rosebery P1."

"I'm here, Conner. Was that a gun that went off earlier? What the hell is going on down there?" He didn't have the patience to worry about radio protocol, nor could he keep his emotions from his voice. He noticed that as he'd spoken, the others had gathered around him to listen in. All the cats that were on duty were here. The others were on their way. Including Clint and Sophie in the ambulance. If a shifter got injured, Clint was the only one who knew enough about them to be able to help them.

Conner's voice rang out loud and clear.

"We need medics, Dad. Two, one." They'd created a code for radio chat. Conner's 'two, one' meant two human, one shifter. They had to be careful over the airwaves to not give themselves away.

"Who?" Jake heard the fury in his own voice as he growled into the radio.

"Dominic. Gun wound, right leg. He's out cold from blood loss. I'm tying it up now to try to stop the flow."

"And the girls?" He was almost afraid of the answer, but he had to ask. Something bad had gone down for Dominic to have shifted and lose focus enough to get shot.

"Adele is banged up pretty bad, Dad. She passed out from the pain soon after Kit cut her loose. Kelly seems to be physically okay, but her eyes are glazed over and she's not responding to anything. She didn't even flinch when the gun went off. Kit's unlocking her collar and cuffs and she's not even twitching." Conner's voice was filled with pain and anguish which cut Jake straight through the heart. Then his actual words registered.

"Kit's unlocking her what? Where is the bastard?" He all but growled into the radio. He'd collared her. Like she was a damn pet.

"Dead. D. T." More code. Good, Dominic had ripped his throat out. It was going to be a bitch to explain to the medical examiner about cause of death, but it was a fitting reward for the bastard.

"A fitting end, I think. Ambulances are still on their way. ETA five minutes." He looked around him, pegging Jordan and Joel with a hard stare. "The twins are coming down to get Dominic out of there. You and Kit bring the girls up. Over and out."

He put the radio back on his belt as the twins were jogging through the door to go get their Leap brother.

"Right. We need the stretchers and all our first aid gear. And blankets, we're going to need blankets."

He headed to the back of the work SUV he'd arrived in with Dominic, Conner and Kit to grab the first aid stuff and blankets. Just as he and the others laid down all their supplies, he heard movement from inside. He looked up in time to see the twins carry Dominic outside. His son's one hundred and twenty kilo leopard form hung loosely in their grip, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. What had him dropping to his knees was the sight of the blood soaked shirt tied firmly around his son's hind leg. Blood slowly dripped from the bottom of his paw as the twins lay him down on a blanket Nick had brought. Nick had the first aid kit open and was grabbing gauze and bandages to apply pressure to the wound as they heard the ambulances sirens get closer.

He felt a firm grip under his elbow and Xander spoke softly in his ear as he helped him to his feet.

"All hands on deck, Boss. You're needed. Push it aside to deal with later, just push it aside."

Jake turned to look at Xander.

"When this is over, I need you to bring a team back and burn this place down. We need to cover up the way that bastard died."

"Was already planning on it, Boss," was Xander's calm response.

A noise from the house brought his gaze back in that direction, and he froze anew as he watched Conner come into view with Adele cradled against his bare chest. Oh hell no. He took in her injuries as he looked her over from head to toe. No wonder the poor woman was out like a light. She had to be in agony.

Jake took a couple of deep breaths and did his best to push past all the pain and emotions that were currently bombarding him--both his own and the ones from everyone else. As Conner laid her out on another blanket, he opened his first aid kit to take out what he needed. He gently took one of Adele's arms and laid it out flat so he could begin cleaning and bandaging her wounds. All the while praying hard that his son's mate would survive this.

He glanced up as Kit walked through the door carrying Kelly. Damn, Conner was right. The poor girl wasn't with them any more. He concentrated briefly on her emotions but couldn't get a read at all--and didn't that just say it all? It was going to be a long road back for that young lady. As he turned his attention to Adele's injured wrist, he heard the first ambulance pull up and foot steps racing across the gravel toward them.

Chapter Fourteen

Adele resurfaced to reality in a rush. One minute she was floating peacefully in the pitch-black cocoon that held her safe and free from pain, the next she was blinded by the bright sunshine and her body felt like it was on fire. The level of pain rolling through her body overwhelmed her and held her paralyzed as she attempted to push past it; breathe through it. She decided unconsciousness had its benefits. She closed her eyes and inhaled deep breaths. Starting at her feet she began to take a mental catalogue of her injuries; as she did, her mind flashed back to how she earned each wound.

Her right ankle ached and a strip across the front stung: thank you trip wire.

Her legs felt okay, no pain just a bit achy.

She felt a low burn radiating from her left hip: thank you bullet. She hoped the burn was healing and not an infection taking root, that was all she needed.

Her abdomen and chest felt fine.

Her shoulders were stiff and achy, must be from all the thrashing about she did trying to get to Kelly.

She tried to move her fingers and clenched her jaw when she couldn't. Dizziness forced her to clench her eyes as pain shot from both wrists up her arms: thank you slamming into the stairs.

Her right hand throbbed in time with her heartbeat: punching him in the face. She smiled a little at that memory; damn it had felt good to get a shot in.

As she smiled, she felt pain over her cheek and it felt swollen: thank you back-hand number one.

Her split lip was also hurting: thank you back-hand number two.

Her head pounded and her brain felt a little foggy. It probably didn't really appreciate being rattled around so much.

She reopened her eyes and squinted through the bright sunlight at her body that simply refused to follow any command she tried to give it. Her eyes zoned in on her arms and stayed there. Her right was encased in a hot-pink fiber-glass cast from just below her finger tips to half way up her forearm; the left had a splint and bandages from her elbow all the way down. No bloody wonder she couldn't get them to move and they hurt so much. She idly wondered how many bones she'd actually broken...