The Jaguar's Arranged Mate: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (14 page)

“I’m right here.” Beric was suddenly standing beside her. “I’ve tried talking to them myself, both to your people and to the doctors and nurses. Neither side is bending. I was able to steal a few pills for you—”

“No.” She pursed her lips.

“What do you mean no?” He sounded, and looked, pissed.

She closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see his anger. “I’m sure there’s someone worse off than—”

“No, there isn’t. You’re barely hanging on—”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not.” There was rustling, and then he touched her non-injured shoulder. “Open your eyes.”

Reluctantly, she opened them. He was holding up a mirror, and she could see the devastation to her neck. It was even worse than she would have thought possible. “How…”

“How are you still alive? We don’t know. Blood loss alone should’ve killed you. You’ve been unconscious more than conscious from what I’ve been told, and delirious at times, as well. You might seem fine at this second, but you’re not. Your neck isn’t healing, Miera. You’re too weak. You haven’t even healed this.” He lifted her hand so she could see the tiny cut on the back of it. “Food and rest isn’t going to cut it. You’ll die without the medication.”

“But my people…” Hot tears prickled her eyes. She was the reason why some had died, and if she took medicine away from others, more could be lost. Could guilt affect her healing ability?

“One of yours left an hour ago for your home to bring back as many doctors and nurses and medication and anything else they will need.”

“Who?” she asked. Who was the hero of the Blood Roses?

He frowned. “Take the medicine first, and we’ll talk more.”

“Spoken like a true alpha.” She tried to snort but coughed instead.

“Miera, don’t be a martyr.”

“I care about my people,” she snapped.

“And I don’t?” he countered. Fire flashed in his eyes, dark and dangerous. He appeared to have healed most of the way from his wounds. He was strong and solid and ready for another battle.

She wasn’t, so far from being ready, and all of the Blood Roses here in the Teal Warriors’ compound were in the same boat.
We’re stuck here, within the fence that was supposed to protect us. We’re going to die here, far from home, surrounded by foes and allies we’re refusing to cooperate with.

But that refusal was on both sides.

And right now, her fighting with Beric was only going to make the matter worse.

Miera accepted the medicine, washed it down with water, and opened her mouth to continue their conversation, only a sudden wave of fatigue washed over her—maybe pill-induced, maybe not—and she gave in to sleep.

When she woke, she felt famished and was overjoyed to realize her restraints had been removed. Her neck didn’t quite feel right, and she was too scared to touch it.

Lisa immediately helped her sit up and then went to get her food. It was only when her friend returned that she realized her friend had been injured too—she was walking with a slight limp. “What happened to you?” Miera asked in between scarfing down a chicken Parmesan.

“The battle. When Kevin saw my injury, he forced me to leave out the back door. I was so pissed at him! Treating me like a child! But then, more and more were-jaguars were leaving, and I didn’t feel so worthless anymore. I tried to direct them back, to the hospital, but only the Teal Warriors listened, and I think that was more because they wanted to be with their people, their healers, than to be with us.” She shrugged.

“Kevin. How is he?”

“He’s…” Lisa glanced away. “I should go and check in on him.”

Her friend scampered out of the room without another word. So Kevin had gotten hurt too. Had anyone not been injured?

She had just finished up her chicken and was starting in on her soup when Beric walked in. “You’re awake,” he said.

Something in his tone made her stomach flip flop, and not in a pleasant way.

“What is it?” she asked.

“How are you feeling?” He gently turned her head to the side and examined her neck. “It’s healing. Slowly, but it is.”

“I’m fine.”

He glowered at her.

“I’ll be fine,” she amended. “Now tell me what’s going on. Please,” she added belatedly.

“That guy who went to your camp—”

“Who?” she burst out.

“Grave.” He frowned. “Grave-something.”

“Gravestone,” she corrected. “Jericho Gravestone. Oh, good, so at least he survived. He’s on the council,” she explained. “And a really strong and capable warrior. If anyone could make it through to our place, it’s him.”

“He should have reached there by now. I hope he waits until tomorrow to come back. Traveling at night would be dangerous.”

Jericho could be rash and reckless, so she wasn’t at all certain which way he would choose. She hoped with everything she had that he would return safely to them, regardless of when he and the others came back.

“What else is going on?” she demanded. The soup was almost too hot to eat, so she dug into her pasta instead.

“The fence. They didn’t destroy it, and they didn’t bring ladders. They just climbed up each other’s backs to be able to mount it.” Beric scowled. “That was how they were able to do it without making any kind of a loud noise. Sneaky bastards. They killed our guards outside, and somehow, they knew just where to climb over so that our guards inside wouldn’t see them until they were already slicing their throats.”

How had they known where to climb over to avoid being detection by their guards inside the compound? She frowned and rubbed her forehead. Her head was beginning to ache. “If they had brought more with them…”

“We would have all died.” His expression shifted, both kinder and… was that fright? “We need to unite our people. It’s the only chance we have.”

“First we have to heal,” she said stubbornly. “A battlefield filled with wounded soldiers is going to be soon covered with dead bodies.”

“Yes…” Beric sounded frustrated, and he ran a hand through his hair.

She wanted to reach out to touch him, to comfort him. Instead she placed her hand on her belly. She hadn’t felt the baby move since… since the battle. Had she felt the baby during the attack? What about during the wedding? And before that?

“While everyone tries to heal, we can still try to get them to come together,” Beric suggested.

“Yes, yes,” she said distractedly.

“Miera…” He did a double take when he noticed her hand on her belly. “What’s wrong?”

Bitter tears burned her eyes. She blinked them away and swallowed back the first retort that came to mind. Maybe it was the surge of her emotions, or the food, but just then, she felt a flutter, a kick, and now she did cry.

Beric tried to talk to her, but she couldn’t really hear him. After a few minutes, he left, and Helen walked in. Miera ate some more, drank plenty of green tea, and fell back to sleep.

When she woke, it was to find the world had descended into chaos. Again.

CHAPTER 12

His wife was a puzzle he didn’t have time to figure out, but at least his father had been located. The alpha had sustained only minor injuries from the battle. How he had escaped, and when, Beric didn’t know and he didn’t ask.

“Vicious, evil, cunning, vile…” his father was fuming when Beric sought him in his office after leaving Miera. He didn’t understand why she had started crying, but she hadn’t seemed to be in pain, and the tears weren’t from grief. He didn’t know her well enough for her to open up to him, that much was obvious when she had ignored him. It hurt, but he didn’t have time to be hurt right now, not physically or emotionally.

“The Brutal Claws are all of those,” Beric agreed.

His father stopped his pacing and whirled around to face Beric. “I wasn’t talking about them.”

Wonderful. He had a feeling he now knew who his father was referring to, but he played ignorant. “Oh?”

“The two-faced Blood Roses,” the alpha spat out. “Who else would have helped them to know just where to mount our fence?”

“You think… you think they have spies in our camp?” Beric was horrified. The thought of how the Brutal Claws had managed their feat hadn’t been one he had time to explore yet.

“Not in our camp. Theirs.” Spit flew from his father’s mouth. “The Blood Roses. One or more of them is helping the Brutal Claws.”

Oh, no. If even his father wasn’t ready for the two sides to join, they were going to be ruined and destroyed before another attack even happened.

He almost wanted to laugh at his father’s absurdity. The alpha was wrong on this point. Beric had to make him see reason. “You can’t be serious. They don’t have spies other than Brutal Claws. How do you think they’ve been able to infiltrate so many packs? They are masters at their craft, at domination. We were fools to think a fence would stop them. Plain and simple, we are out-manned, even with the Blood Roses. We need them, and if you think—”

“What I think is all that matters.” His father stood tall and straight and stiff. “I am alpha, and you’d better not forget that.”

“You would never let me,” Beric said coolly. “Remember, it’s because of my marriage that—”

“Your marriage is what drew them out. We were just fine until then. The Brutal Claws were not—”

“They were still killing our guards. It would have only been a matter of time—”

“Time.” His father snorted. “Now is the time of death, boy.”

A long moment of silence stretched between them, heavy and awkward and oppressive.

“What would you have us do?” Beric finally asked.

“We must heal and recover and regroup—”

A sudden shriek rang out. Then a dozen or more cries and screams joined the first.

Beric and his father raced to the window. Thirty were-jaguars were on all fours, tearing through the streets, heading straight for the…

Hospital.

Just as he had feared.

Beric reached the door first and fled out of the alpha’s quarters. As soon as the sun touched him, he shifted into his jaguar and bounded for the hospital. His father was all wrong. The despicable, vile ones were the Brutal Claws. What could be lower than targeting the weak and the injured?

Only two other friendly were-jaguars were also running toward the hospital. Were so few uninjured or healed enough to fight? What were they going to do? Three against thirty was suicide.

Still, Beric couldn’t think about doing anything but defending his land and his people. He was the first to reach the last Brutal Claw, and he bounced on top of him. They fought, mostly using claws, and Beric earned new ribbons of bloody streaks on his shoulder and upper foreleg before he managed to slice the Brutal Claw’s throat.

One down.

By now, the other two were-jaguars were also fighting Brutal Claws. His father had joined the battle as well. But four were-jaguars weren’t enough to stop all of the Brutal Claws, and at least ten, if not more, barreled their way inside the hospital.

No. Never. Not on his watch.

Beric darted around the battles, ignoring the Brutal Claws as best he could, trying to avoid being drawn into fights. That became much harder to do the closer he got to the hospital. Maybe the Brutal Claws realized what he was trying to do, because four of them rushed him, a wall in front of the doors.

He released a low rumble from the back of his throat. Before the first could swipe him, a paw came out of nowhere and swiped the would-be attacker instead.

Miera. She and a few other Blood Roses had joined the battle.

It almost pained him to see her fighting, especially when she wasn’t ready for it. Her neck was still healing yet, and one good slash could easily kill her. But as much as he hated himself for it, when he spied an opening that gave him clear access to the hospital, he had to take it. Miera would be all right, he tried to reassure himself. She was a more than capable fighter. Her people would never allow her to be killed.

As much as he wanted to also defend her, there were too many innocents and weakened were-jaguars within the hospital for him to turn a blind eye away from them. As soon as he entered the hospital, shrieks and gargles and wails filled his ears, some abruptly cut off as the Brutal Claws killed one after another.

The male nurse Beric had spoken with earlier was just struck down. Beric thundered down the hall and slammed the Brutal Claw into the wall head first. Dazed, his foe shook his head and turned around to face him. Blood dripped from his snout and mouth, his claws leaving streaks of red against the tiled floor. His fangs glistened with saliva as he darted toward Beric.

He held his ground then darted to the right at the last moment. The Brutal Claw anticipated that, however, and his claws dug into Beric’s shoulder. Beric answered by slashing upward, and he caught the Brutal Claw in the mouth. He tore lip and gum. A strangled cry came from the Brutal Claw, but Beric wasn’t done yet, He yanked out his foe’s claws from his shoulder, flung his paw down so hard the Brutal Claw fell, and slashed at his face again. Slash after slash after slash. Blood flew everywhere. Beric only stopped when the Brutal Claw ceased moving.

A quick peek behind him at the front door revealed he would have no backup for some time, if any were to come. The Brutal Claws still outside were more than holding their own against the few were-jaguars who were opposing them. Miera and his father…

A piercing scream had him rushing into a room down the hall and to the right. The sight inside halted him in his tracks. Kathy Clearwater—the were-jaguar who acted as his father’s secretary—was staring down at a dazed Brutal Claw. It appeared to Beric that she had smashed a monitor onto the Brutal Claw’s head, but he was trying to get to his feet.

Killing him was almost too easy. Beric changed his mouth to be able to talk to her. “Are you all right?”

She nodded once, twice, a hundred times, her eyes wide.

The female was clearly in shock.

“Get in bed. Stay there. I’ll lock the door behind me.”

Her unfocused eyes looked up above his eyes, and they widened. A trembling hand came up, and she pointed behind him.

That was all the warning Beric had. He felt the teeth a moment later, as he was trying to turn around. Two Brutal Claws were entering the room. Already Beric was feeling worn down. Battle after constant battle… his body wasn’t made to survive suffering through so much strain. Maybe this was how the Brutal Claws always dominated. They would send small groups in, day after day after day, until their enemies collapsed at their feet, dead. They certainly had the numbers to afford losing some of their warriors that way.

Well, Beric would ensure they would lose more right now.

He backed away from the two so they could enter the room entirely and jumped over them to shut the door. Two was more than enough for him to handle right now. He didn’t need any more to join in the fray.

The first darted toward Kathy, while the second circled around Beric. A long paw swiped toward him, and Beric jumped to avoid the blow. He raced across the room and then backpedaled toward the door. The wall beside it he jumped onto, his claws allowing him to walk up the wall. The Brutal Claw stalked toward him, and Beric dropped, landing hard on his back, his claws digging deep. He tore into his fur before pressing two paws against the back of his foe’s neck, suffocating him.

One down.

Beric glanced up to see that Kathy was holding up her IV stand, using it to ward off blows from the other Brutal Claw. The Brutal Claw stopped lashing at her, focused on the stand instead, and easily cut it in half.

Kathy, having obviously recovered from her shock, scrambled onto the bed. The Brutal Claw tore after her.

Beric was on the other side of the bed. He jumped on top of it, one of his claws scratching Kathy accidentally, and dropped onto the ground to prevent the Brutal Claw from following after her. He and the Brutal Claw clashed, meeting and blocking blow after blow. Beric backed him up step by step. He was bleeding and sore, and this foe was fighting him harder than some of the others had. He had to finish this, and finish it soon, or else he would be the one to fall.

To fall. He wouldn’t but maybe…

He nipped and swiped and continued to force the Brutal Claw back until he darted forward and lifted the Brutal Claw up and through the window. The Brutal Claw fell. Yes, it wasn’t far, but he landed on rocks, and he got up limping. He tried to jump but couldn’t get nearly enough height to be able to re-enter the room.

Kathy was gasping for breath. Beric turned around to face her and again took on his human mouth. “I’m sorry.”

She frowned at him as she ripped the sheet into strips. “For what?” she asked as she began to bind his wounds.

“For…” He winced as she tied one too tightly.

“Sorry.” She swallowed hard. “This isn’t going to ever end, is it?”

“Don’t say that.”

“But there’s so many of them, and they… they’re attacking our wounded!” She shook violently and grabbed her head.

“What’s wrong?” He couldn’t see why she was confined to bed yet.

“Brain bleed,” she murmured. “It sometimes affects my vision and…” She jerked around and reached for a bucket. Kathy held it up to her mouth in time to catch her vomit.

“Stay in here. Lock the door. I’ll come back for you.” He darted to the door.

“Yes. And, Beric?”

He glanced over his shoulder at her.

“Thank you.”

Beric nodded. He had to change a paw into a hand to be able to open and close the door. Several Brutal Claws were running in and out of rooms, but now there were more were-jaguars fighting them. Some were wounded, maybe from this battle or they were patients in the hospital well enough to fight. Regardless, they fought as if possessed, and Beric joined them. One by one, they cut down through the Brutal Claws, although there were casualties on their side, too.

Finally, when it seemed like everything was contained, Beric made his way back outside. Twenty were-jaguars were in a circle, all friends he believed. He pushed his way through the crowd to see what was going on.

His father was in the center.

Dead.