Therian Prize: 5 (Therian Heat) (3 page)

Refusing to allow his three sisters to be split up or placed in a group home, Jake had petitioned the court for custody. Even at such a young age Jake was responsible and ambitious, so the court had allowed him to try his hand at parenting. He’d put his life on hold and focused on increasing the profits of the family business and seeing to the care and safety of his three sisters.

Now Enya ran the bar and Jake managed the adjacent restaurant, and life had fallen into a comfortable routine.

“I thought you’d gone to bed.” He wended his way between the tables and joined her at the end of the bar. The doorway led to a large storeroom and the stairway by which Enya accessed the second-story apartment. The compact space had been crowded when all four of the Parlain siblings lived there. But Liz chose her mate, Tara moved to Boulder and Jake purchased a house, which left the apartment for Enya.

“I tried but someone was blasting the jukebox.” Her face had been scrubbed clean of her customary makeup, but a shower couldn’t dim the emerald streaks in her jet-black hair. Her skin looked pale, and purple smudges shadowed her deep-green eyes.

“I’d think you’d be used to that by now.”

She rubbed her temples and closed her eyes. “Not with this headache.”

“Well, they’re gone now, so get some sleep. You look miserable.”

Before she could react to the suggestion, someone screamed. Following the shrill sound, Jake flew through the storeroom and out the back door. Kelly stood near the dumpster, a bag of garbage in her hand.

“There’s a…b-body back there.”

Jake motioned her back into the bar before he went to investigate. Enya stood in the open doorway, too curious to leave yet smart enough to stay back.

He approached the dumpster slowly, drawing his tiger closer to the surface so he could analyze scent. Stale booze, rotting food and decomposing garbage masked the lighter smells. The alley was dark and damp from an earlier rain, which only added to the olfactory clutter.

Reaching the corner of the dumpster, he leaned around and spotted a small, filthy foot. Was it a child or a woman? Either way, he sensed no danger. The foot was attached to a long, well-toned leg, the shape appealing even under a liberal coating of dirt.

“Are they alive?” Enya called from the doorway.

“I’m not sure yet.”

The person was lodged behind the dumpster. It was almost as if he or she had tried to cram into the tiny space for protection. Bracing his back against the wall, he rolled the dumpster forward and knelt beside his uninvited guest. She was female, he quickly determined, young and
naked
. Had someone dumped her here? Sexual abuse was far too prevalent even in— Or was she Therian?

Dreading what he expected to find, he eased his hand beneath her tangled hair and searched for the pulse on the side of her neck. “She’s alive.” He leaned in and inhaled deeply. “She’s Therian.”

Enya rushed forward and handed him a blanket. “Is she wounded? Shot? What’s wrong with her?”

Conventional wisdom dictated that he leave her as is and call an ambulance. But she wasn’t human so conventional wisdom didn’t apply. He looked her over, trying to discover the source of her unconsciousness, but there were no obvious wounds or visible clues.

He brushed the hair back from her face and cursed under his breath. “This is Heather Fitzroy.” It didn’t matter how she’d ended up here, they were screwed.

In an instant Enya’s concern evaporated. She tensed and folded her arms. “What’s a wolf doing in cat territory?” He understood her sudden chill. She had good reason to mistrust wolf-shifters but he didn’t share her resentment of all things wolf.

“I’m not sure she knows where she is.” He draped the blanket over her naked body then lifted her into his arms. She felt tiny and chilled as he carried her toward the back door.

“Wait. What are you doing?”

“We can’t leave her out here.” Even knowing Enya’s history, he was shocked by her lack of compassion. Heather had nothing to do with what happened eight years ago.

“Wrap her in the blanket and call her pack. I don’t want
that
in my house.”

He tensed, annoyed by his sister’s stubbornness and concerned about the female in his arms. “She’s unconscious and desperate enough to try to hide behind a dumpster. Don’t you think we should find out why before we do anything else?”

“Yeah, including bringing her inside.”

He ignored her protestation and took his unmoving bundle inside the bar. Kelly stood at the far end of the storeroom, eyes wide and uncertain. “She’s alive, Kelly. You probably saved her life.” A faint smile curved her lips but she didn’t speak, so he turned toward the stairs.

Enya caught his sleeve. “This is your bar, but that’s my home.”

“I’ll take her to my house as soon as I get her stabilized. Now help me or get out of the way.” Heather was completely limp in his arms and the skin around her mouth was taking on a bluish cast. He’d thought the stench emanated from the dumpster but much of the unpleasantness lingered on her skin. “Where have you been?” he muttered as he started up the stairs.

“Put her in the bathtub. She smells like a sewer.”

He couldn’t argue with that. Besides, it was Enya’s furniture that would be soiled by Heather’s condition. He carried her into the hall bath and carefully placed her in the bathtub.

Enya moved past him, folded the blanket back then turned on the water.

What he suspected was cold water splashed across Heather’s feet and she moaned, shifting restlessly.

“Come on, Heather,” Enya muttered. “You’re safe now. It’s all right to wake up.”

He wasn’t sure if Enya had rediscovered her compassion or if she was simply anxious to be rid of her uninvited guest, but her tone was kind and her hands gentle as she took over Heather’s care.

Jake watched Heather’s face, waiting for her eyes to open. Her head rolled from side to side and she kicked out weakly. Unfortunately her features remained blank, her eyes closed.

“She needs energy and she
really
needs a bath. Go wait in the living room. I’ll see if I can wake her.”

“Not a chance. She could turn feral or shift on you. I’ll stay back, but I stay here.”

“Fine by me. I guess you’ve already seen her anyway.” She pulled the blanket off Heather and tossed it toward the hamper. “She’s going to require a prewash. Damn, this girl stinks.”

Jake tried to keep his eyes on Heather’s face as Enya stood and released the hand-held showerhead from its bracket. Even covered in dirt and who knew what else, Heather was beautiful. Her reddish-gold hair tangled about her face and shoulders, one perfect spiral trailing down between her breasts. He only allowed himself a glimpse at those gentle mounds before he dragged his gaze back to her face.

His interaction with Heather was minimal but she’d always fascinated him. Unlike most wolf females, she was spirited and independent. Landon, her middle brother, insisted that she was more like her father than any of Nate’s sons. Jake wasn’t sure that was a good thing—Nate Fitzroy was a ruthless prick—but it piqued Jake’s interest either way.

Enya rinsed away the worst of the grime then turned off the sprayer. “She’s exhausted and her energy levels are dangerously low.”

“Can you feed her?” Everyone in Jake’s bloodline could pass energy to others but Enya could deliver the most concentrated stream. Besides, to help feed Heather, Jake would have to touch her and he’d rather keep his distance while she was naked.

“I’ll try, but I doubt it will be enough. She became your responsibility as soon as you brought her inside. This isn’t going to fall on me.”

“Understood. Just see if you can bring her back to consciousness. We need to understand her situation before we make decisions about her.”

Enya laughed. “Little late for that. Besides, there is no ‘we’ in this. I’ll do my best to wake her up then you get her out of here.” Without waiting for his agreement, she turned back to the tub and placed her hands on Heather’s shoulders.

Heather stirred restlessly beneath the hot palms burning into her shoulders. Energy flowed into her body, saturating her cells and sizzling through her bloodstream. Water lapped at her legs and she rested back against something smooth and cool. Her mind was muddled and every muscle in her body felt limp and useless.

“Where am I?” she whispered without opening her eyes.

“Aspen. How did you get here? Is someone chasing you?”

The female voice was unfamiliar so she forced her eyes to open. Light stabbed into her brain, making her shudder and moan.

“Get the light. She’s trying to open her eyes.”

The light seeping in through Heather’s eyelids dimmed, so she slowly tried again. She was lying in a bathtub and a woman knelt on the floor beside her. The woman moved her hands to the edge of the tub, silently waiting for Heather to speak. With the light off, she could keep her eyes open, but now the woman’s face was shadowed.

“Are you injured or just exhausted?” The woman finally spoke again after a long, tense silence.

Terrified and desperate to avoid the hunters, Heather had run until her legs gave out and she’d had no choice but to rest. “I feel much better now. Thank you for the energy.”

The woman chuckled. “She’s all yours. I have no use for wolves.” She pushed to her feet and walked out of the bathroom, brushing past a man Heather hadn’t noticed before.

Light from the hall illuminated one side of his face and outlined his muscular body. Jake Parlain. Holy shit, she’d run to Jake for help? She must have been out of her mind. There was no way he would stick his neck out for a wolf. No cat would.

“Why don’t you finish cleaning up then put on this robe? Now that you’re feeling better, you can explain what brought you here.” He placed the bathrobe beside the tub and slipped from the room, leaving the door ajar so she wasn’t in complete darkness.

The details of her situation came crashing down on her. She was naked and in the bathtub of a tiger-shifter. Her father had encouraged the hunters to run her down and rape her. Several of the bastards had spent the past seven or eight hours trying to do exactly that. After utter desperation triggered her shift, she’d run and run until she was too exhausted to move then she’d hid until she recovered enough to run some more. When or why she’d decided to come to Aspen she honestly couldn’t say, but Jake was no stranger, so somewhere along the line this had become her destination.

Pulling open the drain, she maneuvered her legs beneath her and carefully stood. She pulled the shower curtain closed then looked at the faucet assembly. It took a moment of fiddling to figure out how to trigger the sprayer but she soon had warm water streaming out. She slipped the sprayer back into the wall bracket and soaped her body with renewed determination. Dirt, sweat and manure coated her skin. The hunters had effortlessly followed her scent. She’d managed to stay ahead of them but she hadn’t been able to lose them. Until she spotted the fertilizer truck.

She shampooed her hair twice then stood beneath the spray, enjoying the warm water as it flowed across her aching limbs. She couldn’t believe she was still alive. When she shifted the first time, the transformation had been spontaneous. Though she wasn’t sure how she’d done it this time, it hadn’t just happened. She’d searched within herself and found the strength to escape an impossible situation.

What in the world should she tell Jake? How could she explain something she didn’t understand herself? She’d been trying to survive, desperate to avoid capture and the degradation of being raped. Somehow her body had just cooperated with her frantic determination.

Someone tapped on the door.

“You okay in there?” Jake asked.

“Almost done.”

“No hurry. I just wanted to make sure you were still with us.”

She wasn’t fooled by his easy manner. Once he realized she’d brought danger to his door, he’d shove her back out into the night. And how could she convince him otherwise when the hunters were out there searching for her?

Finally feeling clean again, she turned off the water and slid the curtain open. After drying her body, she wrapped the towel around her hair and slipped on the bathrobe. She pushed the bathroom door open and squinted into the light. Jake stood in the narrow hallway, arms folded across his broad chest. His knee was cocked, one boot heel resting against the wall.

He was every bit as attractive as she remembered and just as dangerous. His jaw was shadowed with stubble, accenting his high cheekbones. Silky black lashes framed his eyes, making the color hard to determine. At times she’d thought his eyes were brown. Right now they looked dark-green. His hair was night-black, thick and shiny, ready for her fingers. And his mouth could only be termed sensual, with the distinctly arched upper and generously full lower lip.

Standing here gawking at him like a lovesick schoolgirl was not going to help her case. “Do you have a comb or brush? I’ll never get the tangles out unless I do it while my hair’s still wet.”

“Try the drawers.”

He hadn’t given her a specific location. Wasn’t this his house? And if this wasn’t his house, then who was the female? Heather had presumed she was Jake’s significant other.

She opened the drawers until she located a wide-toothed comb. Then she followed him into the living room and sat in the chair he indicated. He sat facing her on a matching sofa. The female was nowhere in sight. Though rather small, the apartment was nicely furnished, cozy, charming. Female touches were evident in the decorating. If this was the female’s home, then where did Jake live?