Bad Kitty (4 page)

The charge he'd felt when
they'd touched earlier still unnerved him. One word had whispered
through his brain, one he adamantly refused to acknowledge. No
freaking way was this happening to him now. As far as he
knew
,
this
strange woman was at death's door. The smell of it still cloaked
the room. Hell, the entire house.
If Doc
couldn't help her
...

The beast inside him
snarled. Those were thoughts he couldn't afford to entertain. He
was on the cusp of becoming the pack Alpha and he'd all but dared
Tanner to challenge him for it. Maybe he needed his head examined.
Yeah, when Doc got done fixing up the girl, he could check him out
too. Rafe laughed.
Yep, losing
it.

A car door slammed out
front
,
pulling
Rafe from his errant thoughts. One sniff of the air and he knew
help had arrived. He'd know his best friend and Omega's scent
anywhere. He'd have some explaining to do
,
but first he needed Simon to save
her. He had a very bad feeling that if he didn't there was more at
stake than a simple stranger's death.

Simon rushed through the door without
knocking. He entered the room a bit wild eyed and disheveled. Rafe
lifted one brow. "Rough day?"

"Smart ass. Don't give me that. You know
exactly what I was doing when you called with your urgent
drama."

"My drama?" Rafe narrowed his eyes.

Simon grinned despite the tension in the
air. "Never mind, where is she?"

"Spare bedroom."

He went inside the room and Rafe fell in
behind him. The low whistle from his friend didn't make him feel
any better.

He lifted the blanket and got a good look at
the damage. To Rafe's surprise, she didn't stir as Simon began to
touch her.

"She's out cold. How long has she been like
this?"

"She was awake ten minutes ago if that's
what you mean, but I don't know when she got hurt. I found her in
the woods like this maybe thirty minutes ago. Tanner and his
buddies had found her and were about to claim her."

Another low whistle. Doc was beginning to
get on his nerves.

"You took her from Tanner? He gave her up
willingly?"

"Yeah, and no." He bristled at the tone of
Simon's question. This wasn't about him and Tanner. His friend only
needed to be worried about the woman. "Can you help her?"

Doc leaned over and pressed gently at the
wound on her face. "I don't know. These are not simple cuts. See
that discoloration around the skin?" He pointed to the black,
rippled edges Rafe had noted earlier.

"Yeah."

"That's not natural. I hate to say this
because I think your life is about to get too complicated, but I
think she's been poisoned." Doc bent over and placed his nose close
to the wound on one of her arms and sniffed. "Not sure what it is
yet though. Smells a little like sulfur but there's something else
I don't recognize."

Rafe nodded. He'd expected as much. "What do
you need me to do?"

"Get the bigger bag out of the trunk of my
car. I'm going to need some strong stuff to counteract whatever
she's been hit with." He looked up. "With this much damage, why the
hell is she still in human form. Her body is raging with fever. She
needs the animal."

"I've already had the same thought. Aren't
all cougars and wolves the same in their shifting patterns? Isn't
it automatic for them too?"

Doc looked up at him. "Yeah. They shift the
same as us. At least they're supposed to."

Rafe didn't like the
implications in his friend's words. The more he
learned
,
the more
complicated the situation became. He walked away without
responding, but the heaviness settled into his chest. If the damned
felines had differences they didn't know about, then there was no
telling what else they were hiding. And that damned peace treaty
they'd signed was already on shaky ground. Lately there'd been a
lot of activity on both sides that made keeping the peace all the
more difficult, especially in the neutral zones. Violence had
escalated in the last several weeks between the wolves, felines and
the others.

More and more half-breeds were popping up
and they didn't like being segregated from their families. With the
female wolf population lower than ever, the pack had again begun
grumbling about the issues. Rafe rubbed his forehead, hoping he
could stave off the coming headache a bit longer. He and Doc had
some ideas and if they could make it through the next couple of
weeks without trouble, they might get a chance at implementing some
of them.

Rafe retrieved the medical supplies from
Doc's car and returned to his meager guest bedroom. The bedclothes
had been stripped from his guest and he heard the sound of running
water coming from the adjoining bath.

"Help me get her in the tub. First thing
we've got to do is get the fever down."

Rafe left the bag at the end of the bed and
nudged his friend aside. He gingerly picked up the woman and
cradled her to his chest. He took care to not touch the areas he
suspected were infected.

Surprisingly
,
she didn't stir.

"I've given her a sedative
that should keep her out for a while. I can't imagine the agony of
those open wounds at the moment. At least this way I can do what I
need to without her trying to scratch my eyes
out
,
or
worse."

Rafe smiled, breaking some of the tension in
the serious situation. "I thought you liked the worse?"

"Shut up and take my patient to the
tub."

Rafe barely suppressed his laughter. He
loved riling his friend up over his taste in women. Big, rough and
often. That was Doc's motto.

He carried the cougar into his bathroom and
eased her into the tub. "Jesus, Doc. The water is freezing."

He snorted. "It's not cold enough yet. You
got any ice we can add?"

"Colder?" When Doc ignored
him
,
Rafe took
that as his answer. "Yeah, I can probably scrounge up something
from the ice maker in the kitchen."

"Good. I need some supplies so I'll get it.
You stay here and watch her." Doc stood.

"What exactly do you want me to do? I don't
think she's going anywhere."

Doc sighed. "What in the world is up with
you today? Just make sure she doesn't drown, okay?"

Rafe looked down at the woman in his tub.
What was up with him? Ha! Loaded question. For one, seeing the
woman naked despite her injuries made him very uncomfortable. The
kind of uncomfortable that made him adjust his jeans discretely so
he didn't embarrass himself. What kind of jackass gets turned on by
a half dead woman turning blue in his tub? Fucking nut job, that's
who.

He crouched beside the porcelain enclosure
and touched her skin. Doc was right. She was literally burning up
from the inside out. He grabbed a sponge from the nearby dish and
began dripping cool water over her heated flesh. The ugly cuts on
her arm and leg looked deep and terrifyingly dangerous. If she
couldn't shift then they'd have to be stitched up to heal. If they
got the poison taken care of.

Rafe squeezed water across her exposed
stomach and could have sworn she twitched. His core tightened and
his chest began to constrict. Even with the cuts, bruises and blood
she was a beautiful woman. He couldn't imagine who wanted to do
this to her or why. The females in his pack were treated like
queens. If anyone ever laid a finger on one of them the
consequences would be swift and fatal. Who would defend this woman?
Did her pride not care?

You do
. Goddamn wolf needed to shut up. Still, he continued to move
the water across the feline's body. He didn't want her to die like
this.

"I don't know who you are
or why you've walked into my woods
,
but you're going to live. Do you hear me?
Whatever is going on inside there, if you can hear me, then fight
back. Do whatever it takes to just live. Let the animal do her
job."

The more he talked to
her
,
the angrier
he grew. Someone had wanted her dead and he needed to know why.
There were a lot of whys floating in and out of his head at the
moment. Why her? Why now?

He laid the sponge down and gripped her
hand. Long, strong fingers settled perfectly inside his. He stayed
beside her and listened intently for a sign she was listening. Her
heart beat steady, and her breathing had eased despite sounding
shallow. Her body temperature had reduced at least a few degrees
from what he could tell by touch.

He ached to pull her into his arms and hold
her close. Whatever darkness had brought her to his doorstep they
would fight together. That's what nature called for when she
delivered your mate.

Mate.

He still wasn't ready to
voice the word out loud. Although the way it slid through his mind
felt more natural than he'd expected. After all the years of
searching and wondering if someone out there was fated for him,
she'd stumbled into his life on her deathbed. Not the aggressive
she wolf he'd wished for though. Now, when tensions were higher
than ever between the felines and the wolves, fate had delivered
his mate. What a bitch fate could be. First
,
this one had to survive and he was
helpless to save her. No! Doc would help her and she would recover.
Of course
,
that
left the matter with Tanner and the rest of his pack.

God help them all if they went against his
mate.

~

Kitty struggled to wake up from the strange
dream sucking her in. Where was all the growling and cursing coming
from? She struggled to move and found her arms and legs too heavy
to cooperate. Whatever the hell dream she'd gotten stuck in was
quickly turning into a nightmare. The only exception was a man's
voice, deep and caring, calling out to her. She opened her eyes to
see him, at least she thought they were open but there was nothing
but a sea of black in front of her.

"C'mon
,
cat girl
,
you can do this."

The voice came to her from
what sounded like the far end of a tunnel. Normally someone calling
her cat girl would have annoyed her, but for some reason the voice
soothed her no matter what it said. If she could get out of this
bed or whatever she was stuck to she'd investigate. Frustration
clouded her thought processes. She just wanted to know what was
going on. Her eyes started to burn and she steeled her emotions
against them.
You will not fucking cry.
Those feline bitches did this to you. No matter what
happens
,
you will
not cry. They do not deserve the satisfaction.

Kitty pulled and thrashed in a desperate
attempt to get some traction. After struggling for several minutes,
she gave her body a break. Whatever mysterious shit she'd gotten
into wasn't about to let her move. It would take her mind and will
together to get her through this mess. She blew out a hard breath
at that thought. She was sick and tired of being kicked down. Never
in a million years would she have dreamed her life would come to
this. She had nothing to show for her twenty-six years except
shame, scandal and a wealth of hatred that festered inside her.

With everything she'd ever known stripped
away from her, she no longer had purpose. It had been easy to
follow her father's direction all her life while struggling to get
her own way at every turn. She didn't care that her efforts
backfired more often than they succeeded. That life had purpose,
warped as it was.

For the first time in her life she wished
for a new life, one that didn't include shifters and their
self-righteous beliefs. It didn't matter that she'd been well on
board with her ass backwards culture until recently. Something else
had always called to her, something different. She just had to
figure out what it was.

If she survived.

Dream or not, everything fucking hurt. As
far as she could tell, every inch of her body had been damaged,
inside and out. She had to escape the pain or go mad. Fortunately,
or maybe unfortunately, a memory of her father drifted into her
mind. As a cub she'd been no stranger to fights. The aggressive
hormones that would later guide her direction were a major hurdle
as a young girl. Every time someone annoyed her she simply wanted
to scratch their eyes out. One particular summer, some of the other
felines had begun stalking her. After weeks of being taunted, Kitty
had grown tired of their games and decided to fight back. It hadn't
been easy taking on the older girls, but it had been worth every
ache and pain. Until she'd arrived home.

At the sight of her
battered body, her father had gone into one of his many rages.
She'd never doubted where her temper came from. She thought he
would be proud she'd stood up for herself. Oh
boy
,
had she been
wrong. He'd dragged her by the hair through the entire clan until
he'd made her apologize to each and every girl in front of a
growing crowd.

"No daughter of mine will ever behave like
common trash. You ever embarrass me like this again and I'll make
you regret you were born." Those barbed words were hurled at her
heart moments before he threw her inside a small cage barely big
enough for her to turn around in.

"Since you feel the need to act like a
common animal then I'll treat you like one." The click of the lock
that had held her captive turned her stomach and caused a deep yowl
to burst from her throat. Her father turned his sharp gaze on her
and narrowed his eyes.