Accidentally Catty (41 page)

And then she began to take out every last ounce of fear she’d experienced in the past weeks, the terror for her child, and her anguish over Shaw by way of Nissa’s head.

Taking two fists full of her hair, Katie began to slam it against the wall, huffing harsh gasps, perspiration dripping between her breasts. “You killed him! I’ll kill you!”

“Katie! Katie stop!” Wanda yelled, but her haze of anger was so complete, she couldn’t stop.

“That’s my girl! Jesus, if I could shed a tear, I would. Look at her fucking go, Wanda!” Nina yelled in proud admiration.

Hands pulled at her, but her grip was so tight, her fingers were locked in place.

“Katie! You will let this woman go now! This instant! You’re a physician. You took an oath! Stop, honey! Please stop!” Wanda screamed.

And then Nina was helping Wanda, muttering curse words and dragging her off a lifeless Nissa.

Katie fell back against Wanda, who wiped her sweat-drenched hair from her eyes, pulling her close and whispering against the top of her head, “Stop, Katie. Stop. Shhh, now. You have to know your own strength. Breathe, honey. Please breathe and think of the baby.”

“Goddamn it, Wanda. You are, without a doubt, the biggest harsh to my need-for-death-and-destruction buzz. Why the fuck wouldn’t you let her kill the bitch? She whacked her man.” Yet Nina, for all her “kill the bitch” encouragement, ran soothing circles over Katie’s back.

“Shaw,” she whispered miserably, tears falling down her face in hot tracks.

Solid arms, warm and comforting, lifted her away from the scene of Nissa’s prone body. “I got this, Wanda. We need to get her home and let her rest. She got the baby and all. You two do what needs doin’ up in here, and I’ll take the Doc and Ingrid back to the house, make sho they safe.”

Darnell whispered soothing words into her ear, cradling her in his arms, and carrying her away from Wanda and Nina.

Away from Shaw.

Forever.

“You got her, Ingrid?” Darnell asked.

A hand smoothed her hair back from her tear-stained face. “Oh, Dr. Woods. I’m so sorry. I tried. I tried the hardest I ever have. I would never, ever let anyone hurt you.”

Katie lay in the back of a car she couldn’t identify while Ingrid’s tears fell on her hand. “Are you okay?”

“Jesus! I’m fine. Just rest, okay? We have to be careful with the baby.”

“What was that about back there?”

“When I grabbed you, I did it to get us to the end of the hallway where Nina was. She motioned for me to get you to her. Taking you hostage was a distraction to get you away from all those guns pointing at you. I’m sorry I said all those horrible things. I love you, Dr. Woods. If it weren’t for you, I never would have done anything with my life. But now, I want to be a veterinarian just like you. You made me care again. You took my love of animals and turned it into a reason for me to try and be a better person. You taught me. I would never let anyone hurt you, if I could help it.”

Katie heard her words, but the deep sorrow in her heart made her response slow and sticky. “You thought on your feet, honey. I’m so proud.”

Ingrid took her hand in hers and held it to her cheek, wet with tears. “I’ll help you. I promise. I’ll stay here in Piney Creek and help you raise the baby. We’ll all help. I swear everything will be okay.”

The baby . . . She raised a weak hand upward to caress Ingrid’s cheek. “Shhh, Ingrid. Everything’s going to be okay. Promise.” But it would never be okay.

Shaw was dead.

That wasn’t okay.

 

 

SHE
woke with a jolt, suspended in the painful dream that had jarred her awake.

Oh, God, Shaw. Darkness settled over her soul, damp and riddled with despair.

“Dr. Woods,” a husky voice with a British accent said.

Her eyes fought for focus, grainy and tired. It couldn’t be Shaw. Somehow, while she’d slept, they’d captured her again and they were taunting her with someone who sounded like Shaw. “Are you another goon who wants me to breed babies? Because if that’s the case, forget it. I’m old and a nag. Not good for breeding.”

A chuckle, raspy and warm, hit her ears. And familiar. Wonderfully, butterflies in your belly, familiar. “I did a little community theater as a child. Good show, eh?”

Her eyes popped open to find it was Shaw, standing in her doorway with Nina, Wanda, Darnell, Kaih, and Ingrid. But she couldn’t move. Though, if she could, she’d latch onto his ear and yank it. Hard. “You were a seven-letter word for jerk.”

“Asshole?” Nina cackled.

“Ding-ding-ding,” Katie confirmed dryly—so sluggish.

“But it did the trick, right, Doc? He distracted everybody so I could get to that room and catch ’em from behind,” Darnell added. “Why didn’t you think me up? I tole ya, all ya gotta do is think o’ me.”

She licked her dry lips, her tongue like sandpaper. “I was drugged. I couldn’t think.”

She heard Darnell’s chuckle, so hearty, so welcome. “S’aiight. Yo man got yer back.”

“See,” Shaw said. “I was just looking out for you.”

Katie lifted a weak hand to shoo him away while afraid to believe he was still alive. “Take your bromance elsewhere—he still called me old. I don’t care if he saved me from some crazy scientist and her band of merry goons.” But she did.

Shaw was alive!

Shaw chuckled. Slow and low. “I was trying to stay calm so I wouldn’t shift. Darnell said he told you what my grandfather said.”

God, he made her heart tremble. “So you had to stay calm at the expense of my big words and nagging qualities?”

Everyone laughed.

“Whatever gets the job done.”

“Job well done,” she remarked on a yawn, fighting the call of more sleep that even Shaw’s miraculous recovery couldn’t thwart. But wait. Before sweet oblivion called to her again, she needed to stay focused. “You died. After all those horrible things you said, you died and didn’t give me the chance to find just the right big word for your fuckwittery.”

“Hookay, everyone, this is where we vamoose,” she heard Wanda demand. Though it was a shaky demand.

“Chicken,” Shaw called on another laugh.

“I am no such thing,” Wanda retorted.

“Oh, you are so, Wanda,” Nina chided. “You know the kind of shit we could get into for doing what we did. Jesus Christ on a cracker. And you call me a troublemaker.”

Katie fought the close of her eyes. She wanted to cling to him, wrap her arms around his neck, but not a muscle in her body was willing to cooperate. “What did Wanda do?”

“She saved me.”

“Mouth-to-mouth? CPR?” Katie wondered aloud. Wait. No. He’d been dead. Nissa had euthanized him . . .

Nina snorted. No one snorted like Nina. “Yeah. CPR via werevamp bite. And again, I say, fuck you for always calling me a troublemaker. All of you.”

Wanda bristled. “No one has to know, okay? My goodness. You’d think I raped and plundered small villages. I saved a man for the woman he loves. Enough said. All of you get out of here right now and leave these two alone. Katie’s exhausted and Shaw . . . well, he—”

“He’s a cougar werevamp,” Nina provided generously to the tune of feet shuffling. “Uh, we think. Look, I tried to tell Wanda this shit don’t fly where we come from, but she’s always reading those stupid romance novels, and the writer in her just couldn’t let an opportunity like true love pass. So. Much. Bullshit. And the hell I’m getting a shunning for her googly-eyed love-rules crap. Got that, people? I was never there.”

Wanda latched onto Nina’s arm and dragged her out the door. “You just shut that mouth of yours and go back downstairs or you won’t know shunning. Teeny needs help packing for her cruise. Only you know where her denture cream is.”

Kaih planted a kiss on her forehead. “I’m so glad you’re okay, Boss. Rest up, okay?”

“Yeah,” Ingrid agreed, squeezing her hand. “Rest up. We’ve got everything covered.”

As everyone filed out, Shaw, in all his yummy smelling, hardbodied goodness sat next to her on the bed, taking her hand in his alive-and-well one. She so wanted to throw her arms around him—smile at him—kiss his lips, but sleep was a monkey on her back. “You’re a cougar werevamp?”

“I’m not sure yet. I just know I’m still alive. That’s all that matters.”

God. He’d risked his life for her and the baby. How could she have doubted that he was capable of that? How could she not have the strength to beat him senseless for it? “How could you do something so stupid?”

“You mean ride in on Darnell’s white SUV and rescue the heroine?”

“Yes,” she muttered, groggy and drifting, but still gripped by the memory of the horror of his lifeless body. “I was so—so scared you were dead. Don’t ever do that again. At least not until I have the chance to give you what for for calling me a nag—and old.”

Shaw chuckled once more. “When tangling with death, I promise not to die before you can appropriately scold me. Noted.”

“You risked your life for me . . . for the baby . . .”

“And it’s over now, Katie.”

Over. Yes. Finally. “Your grandfather?”

“He’s fine and on the mend. The animal park is his. Mr. Magoo is only the caretaker. My grandfather led everyone to believe Magoo owned it so he could do his research in peace. He’s been hiding from Nissa since my birth, hoping to find a cure to our breed’s extinction.”

“And the other animals? Shifters, too?”

“No. All of the animals were brought to him because they were rescues of some kind. Esmeralda and Mr. Magoo moved them when my grandfather was injured so someone qualified could take care of them while he mended.”

“Esmeralda? She was there that night . . .”

“The town’s accusations about her are right. She is a witch. A witch with one hell of an antidote for what ailed me and what ailed Nissa.”

“Nissa . . .” She shivered at the thought of her.

“How about we talk about all of this another time, after you’ve rested, honey? We need to talk, but not now.”

“Talk about what? How old I am?”

“Stop grudging,” he said on a laugh, massaging her arm, making her sleepier.

“Why am I so tired?”

“Trauma, I believe. A good dose of shock, too. Not to mention, you’re pregnant. The past couple of days’ events have taken their toll.You need to rest, and then we’ll talk about you and me and the baby, and Nissa, if we have to.”

“You and me . . . maybe you should wait to make decisions about that. Heat-of-the-moment stuff.” She forced herself to put those words out there. Because it was only right to offer him one last out. And if he didn’t take it—he was SOL.

Forever.

“Let’s wait on
everything
, Katie.You sleep.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead and he was gone.

What did wait on everything mean? Did it mean that he wanted to wait to decide she was what he wanted? Did he want to go back to wherever he came from and do the waiting while he was deciding? But her eyes drifted closed, her mind shut down before she could make a protest or ask for his definition of wait.

And then there was peace.

KATIE
sat alone in her kitchen a week later—miserable. A box of tissues sat on the kitchen table as the mob swarmed at her feet while Dozer and Yancey lounged in the living room. Ingrid and Kaih had left for the day, leaving her to simmer in her stupidity.

And she was really good at it.

She rubbed her swollen belly, wondering how long her gestation would last, and if it would indeed be half the time of a normal pregnancy like Marty had suggested.

If her belly was any indication, she couldn’t afford another three months of this or she’d explode. With a sigh, she talked to her stomach, something she’d been doing a lot of lately since everyone had gone home. “So where do you think Daddy is, squirt?”

Yeah. Where was Daddy? When she’d woken two days later after the nightmare showdown with Nissa, Shaw had gone missing, breaking what was left of her heart.

Nina, Wanda, and the others claimed they’d woken up the next day to take Teeny to the airport for her cruise, and he was gone. Nina had offered to hunt his smarmy ass down, but Katie refused. She wasn’t going to force herself and the baby on him.

She’d hoped all he needed was some time to assimilate. He was, after all, a whole new breed of paranormal. Add into the mix finding his grandfather, and the horrible showdown with Nissa, and Katie was left wondering if time to himself was what he sought.

And still, he was gone.

Why, her heart had screamed until she’d remembered her last words to him while she was shopping for maternity clothes from Omar the Tentmaker today.

It had hit her with sudden clarity—much the way bits and pieces of that conversation in her bedroom had. She’d told him to wait to make any important decisions.

Because she was just too bright for words. She’d pushed one time too many, and clearly, Shaw had had enough.