MemoriesofParadise (9 page)

She appreciated the fact that he was willing to sit up all night to make sure she didn’t slip into a coma, but she wasn’t used to sleeping in the same room with strange men. That was one habit she had never acquired.

Just the thought of having him in the same room while she slept should make her skin crawl. It used to. She had never liked attention from men. Even the slightest touch made her shudder with revulsion. Even when the town’s doctor patted her hand, she wanted to pull away from his touch. What was it about these two men that made her want to feel their arms around her keeping her safe? Why did she want them to take her into their arms and tell her everything would be okay?

The question that was uppermost in her mind was, why did she want both of them when she had never wanted any man for as long as she could remember?

For years, she’d gone to therapy, trying to figure out who she was and why she’d lost her memory. When the psychologist touched on the subject of Holly’s father, Riana began to have nightmares. Strange, dark nightmares where monsters followed her, tried to catch her and imprison her. When she woke up screaming one night to the shadows of someone outside her bedroom window dancing on her wall, she ran and never looked back.

She never wanted to know who Holly’s father was, because if just the thought of him gave her nightmares, she
never
wanted to meet the real man.

Pushing away from the door, she walked to the tub and turned the water on. Adjusting the temperature, she reached down, flicked the handle for the plug and began to undress. Turning, she looked at herself in the mirror and started to cry.

The doctor had told her he’d shaved her head, but she hadn’t been prepared to see the large bandage wrapped around her head with a lump almost the size of an apple sticking out from underneath it. How big was her wound and how large was the area where she was now bald?

Riana swiped away the tears with the back of her hand. She had no business crying over a few stitches and a bald spot when the others on the plane, with the exception of her daughter and one other, had perished in the crash. If she cried over anything, she should cry over them.

Removing her clothes, she hung the blouse over the hook on the back of the door, then took a few minutes to wash out her underwear in the sink. Clay’s t-shirt was long enough that it would cover her and she would need clean underwear in the morning. It was bad enough that she’d have to wear the borrowed clothes she’d already worn for a day to shop for new things.

After she removed the towel from the rack and hung her clean underwear in its place, Riana turned back to the tub. It was nearly half-full—just the depth she liked it.

Stepping into the tub, she turned off the water and sat down with a groan. She hadn’t realized just how much her muscles ached until the warm water soaked into them.

Looking down, she noticed a bruise where the seatbelt dug into her and wondered if Holly had a bruise from hers as well. She sighed. What had she gotten them into? How could she ever trust her instincts again? Her instincts had almost killed them this time.

Gingerly, Riana rested her head against the back of the tub. The warm water surrounded her, easing her sore muscles, and feeling silky on her skin. She wished she could wash her hair, but knew it wouldn’t be good for the stitches even though the doctor had obviously forgotten that part of her discharge instructions.

Instead of washing her hair, Riana concentrated on the rest of her body, gently massaging the citrus-scented bath gel into her bruised body. After she finished, Riana was exhausted. Closing her eyes, she relaxed with a sigh. For the first time in a long time, she felt safe. Riana wasn’t sure she wanted to examine the reasons why.

For a moment, she allowed herself to drift on a warm cloud of security and contentment, the likes of which she couldn’t remember ever feeling in her life.

Chapter Fifteen

After nearly an hour, Gunter knocked on the bathroom door. What if Riana had fallen asleep in the tub and drowned? He berated himself for waiting so long to check on her. When she didn’t answer, he knocked again. This time he was more insistent. Instead of a few light raps, he pounded on the door, hoping to wake her if she
had
fallen asleep. When she still didn’t answer, he kicked the door in—her modesty be damned.

His heart nearly stopped when he saw her hand dangling limply over the side of the tub. Rushing into the room, Gunter breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her head above the water and the gentle rise and fall of her chest. She was alive, but why wasn’t she awake and railing at him for bursting in on her bath?

“Riana.” He reached out and took her hand, hoping to rouse her. “Riana, wake up.” Gently, he shook her shoulder—still no response. Reaching down, he pulled the knob and started draining the cold water out of the tub.

Any other time, he would have taken special note of the size of her generous breasts with the berry-colored tips beckoning him. However, instead of admiring them, he bent down and lifted her from the tub, her body limp in his arms.
Clay, call the doctor and get your ass in here. Something’s wrong with our mate.

What’s wrong?

She’s unconscious and unresponsive. Make sure you tell the doc that when you talk with him.
Gunter stared down at her slack face and brushed the hair from her cheek. He wanted to remove the bandage from her wound, but remembered the doctor saying something about keeping the bandage on for a minimum of twenty-four hours.

Hell, it had barely been ten hours since they left the doctor’s home.

His chest ached as he looked at her. When he was younger, he wouldn’t have believed in love at first sight. However, standing here, looking at the woman he knew was compatible to Clay and himself in every way, he knew he loved her already. He would also die for her, but how could he find a way to express those feelings without scaring her away?

She was human. Humans didn’t believe in love at first sight—that had been
his
experience. He couldn’t blame them. He hadn’t believed in it himself until a few short hours ago. How could he criticize others for
their
lack of belief?

“What’s going on?” Clay stepped up next to him, peering down into Riana’s face. “I thought she was taking a bath.”

“She was, right up until I thought she’d been in there too long and went to check on her.” He glanced over his shoulder at the bathroom door. “We owe Gemma a new door. I broke it down to get to her.”

“I don’t give a damn about the door and I doubt the others will either. All I care about is what’s going on with our mate.”

Gunter had to hand it to the man. Clay had made the transformation from human to shifter smoothly. Right down to the need for a mate. He felt lucky that he wouldn’t have to fight the other man for the right to mate while Clay was still so young. He supposed thirty-seven wasn’t too young for a human. For a shifter, though, forty was just reaching puberty.

Clay looked at Gunter with surprise when someone knocked on the door. “That was fast.”

“Yes it was.” Gunter frowned. It was
too
fast. He looked at the door with suspicion. “Who knows she’s here?”

“Probably everyone in town by now,” Clay replied with a shrug as he moved to answer the door. Gunter stood in the center of the room, putting himself between their mate and any danger.

“Answer it.” Gunter tensed, ready to shift if needed. After what Riana told them about her feelings, he wasn’t taking any chances. Even humans had intuition, though it was somewhat muted.

“Good. You’re okay,” Merrick, the sheriff, said as he pushed past Clay when he opened the door. “Apparently, one of Camulus’s staff broke into Doc Parker’s home looking for your mate and the girl.” He looked around the room. “Where’s her daughter?”

Gunter jerked his thumb toward the adjoining door on the other side of the room. “She’s in the other room.”

“Are you sure?” Merrick strode toward the connecting door, his nose twitching as he no doubt took in the girl’s scent. “Apparently, the man was Camulus’s lieutenant. It appears as though he’s taken over what’s left of the counsel as the new alpha and is attempting to build his own town somewhere else, but he needs females.”

He strode through the opened door and stopped, looking at the girl curled up on the bed. The TV was on low, playing some sort of animated movie.

“Good. Keep them here and don’t let anyone else through the door.” Merrick lowered his voice and pointed to the dresser with the TV sitting on top of it. “Help me move this in front of the door. We don’t want to make things easy on them. If anyone tries to get in this way, you’ll hear them.”

Clay hurried to help him as Gunter stood staring at the young girl. What did Camulus’s people want with these two? They were human. He turned back to look at his mate lying unconscious on the bed. Perhaps there was something to his suspicion that Riana was more than she seemed. Perhaps she
was
one of the lost children. But…which one?

* * * *

Clay turned to Gunter and for the first time wondered if the other man had the right to tell him what to do. After all, Gunter didn’t look like the alpha male he’d always seen until today.

Perhaps it was just the heat. He’d been told that the
el calor
could bring down even the most fierce of warriors. How long could Gunter remain in their mate’s proximity without making love to her? Would he eventually lose the ability to control himself? If he did, Clay knew he must be ready to take him on. It didn’t matter that Gunter was bigger and stronger. He would have to defend their mate with his life.

It wasn’t anything he wasn’t used to. After all, he’d always defended the weak, even before he’d become an Army Ranger. He’d lived his life by the same code as his father before him. Live lean and protect those who cannot protect themselves—even if it was at the cost of his own life. His father had lived
and
died by that creed. Clay had refused to do anything less.

After they moved the dresser in front of the door, they went into Riana’s room and did the same to protect her. Soon, the only easy and quiet way in was the door in the room that he and Gunter would take turns occupying and the windows. Clay’s first instinct was to have all of them stay in one room, but knew it was impossible.

“We called Doc Parker. We have to let him in. Riana has lost consciousness and we can’t wake her.”

“Shit. That’s just what we need. She needs to be able to call for help if she needs it and we definitely don’t need them taking her if she’s in some sort of coma. We’ll never be able to protect her at the doctor’s house. There are too many people in and out of that place on a daily basis. We wouldn’t know who to trust.”

Clay could understand that. As much as they wanted to trust everyone living in Paradise, it was possible that the corrupt counsel still had their spies here.

“We’ll just let the doc treat her here and we’ll care for her as is our right.” Gunter stood tall as though daring Merrick to gainsay him.

“Yes.” Merrick nodded. “It
is
your right.” He glanced toward Gunter who placed himself between Riana and the sheriff. “However, it is
my
right as sheriff to suggest plans of action. I realize that you aren’t a jaguar shifter like the alpha, but I
will
bring him into this if I need to and he will be on my side. Don’t force my hand. You know defying the alpha is a one-way ticket out of town.”

Clay knew what Merrick said was right, but it went against the grain to allow another male to call the shots where their mate was concerned. If Clay felt that way, he could only assume that Gunter’s instincts were stronger. He was older and had awaited the arrival of their mate for decades longer than Clay had been alive.

“Whatever happens tonight, don’t let anyone in here but the alpha and his second, the doctor, Matt, Gemma or myself.” He sighed. “It’s a longer list than I really wanted, and I don’t want my mate in danger, but your mate’s daughter might need the comfort of another female if her mother doesn’t awaken soon.”

“What do you think?” Clay asked after he’d let the sheriff out of the room, locking the door behind him.

“I think we need the dresser in front of our door, too. That way it leaves only one easy way into the rooms and it will be loud. You can’t break safety glass quietly.”

“What do we do until the doctor gets here?” Clay watched as Gunter moved to the bed and pulled the blankets off their naked mate. He couldn’t help but admire her perfect body with her slightly rounded belly and her full breasts.

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Clay looked away. Good God he was the worst sort of man, lusting after a woman who couldn’t refuse his advances. What would his father have said?

“We put your shirt on her and hope to the gods that there’s something Doc Parker can do for her. If I lose her before I get the chance to court her in the way she deserves, I’ll surely go mad.”

Clay looked back, meeting Gunter’s gaze. He didn’t dare look at their mate again. The feelings she stirred within him were foreign and he had no idea how to control them. “That’s a good idea. If I see her like this for too much longer, I might lose my mind myself.”