IcySeduction (17 page)

Christine.

“Really, Jake,” Dr. Navarro interrupted his spiraling
thoughts again. “She will come out of this.”

He slid his hand down his face. “I haven’t even contacted
her parents yet.”

Then Jake began thinking about the flip side of things. What
if Christine woke up screaming? What if the pain was unbearable? What if she
hated Dean or wanted to file assault charges? What if she hated Jake for
bringing her into this mess? What if she got well, returned to Florida, and
told him to never contact her again? She was a human woman and even if the
attack had been confined to her arm, it had to leave a psychological scar as
well.

* * * * *

She dreamed. She sensed that it had been some time that she
hadn’t dreamed, that she’d been in some sort of stasis, confined and without
voice, in between the real world and death. Now as she dreamed she had the
sense that her body was repairing itself. Memories of herself as a girl with
her parents in upstate New York surfaced, things she hadn’t thought about in
years, like going to North Pole, New York, to meet Santa, snowball fights,
jumping in piles of fall leaves, visiting Montreal.

If she considered her memories the ocean, then the
threatening bright red streaks came from the horizon. As if there was a
horrible red fireball that simply hadn’t risen yet. But just when it seemed
like that was going to happen, another dose of that cotton ball feeling hit
her, blocking any red from view.

She was vaguely aware of being watched and sometimes she
thought she heard someone talking to her.

Her memories jumped forward and skimmed over college years
and jobs and breakups. Then she was in that cab in the snowdrift. He touched
her and it felt so good. She felt so brave and adventurous.

“You like pain.” His voice, her denial.

But he’d taught her that pain could be a good thing, not
something to be feared.

“Where are you, Christine? Come to me!” The voice was very
far away, behind the tightly packed cotton balls.

Then she started to remember the scary things, flesh
ripping, screams, wolf faces, blood, panic. The angry red streaks were burning
away the cotton balls. A loud beeping was going off and she had the sense
people were yelling about her.

Ah, back to cotton candy land for a while.

You like pain.

Denial. Not this kind of pain.

It’ll fade, and you’ll be on lots of drugs.
She felt
the humor, the warmth.
It’s safe to wake up.

The wolves will get me.

Look closely, Christine. You know me.
She saw his
face, sexy, masculine, loving, but then the wolf’s face covered it.

It’s eating you!

Look again. It’s me.

The faces exchanged and twined and she could see how they
were different phases, different aspects of Jake.

But then the memory of the other wolf surfaced, the face not
completely formed but the teeth lacerating her skin. She couldn’t escape. Pain.
Blood everywhere.
Oh God, oh God…

The angry red ball shot lasers at her arm, breaking the
skin, letting all the pain through.

“Christine, it’s okay. Let the drugs do their job.”

She heard his actual voice now, not just an imaginary voice
in her head.

“You’re going to wake up soon, and you’re going to be okay.”

* * * * *

“Her parents are driving down this evening. I told them it
was a dog bite.” Jake sipped from the coffee Saron had handed him without
tasting it. Dean was asleep on the long couch in the waiting area, a much nicer
waiting area than most hospitals had. “I’m just worried if they ask questions about
the dog or where it happened. What if they want to sue the owner and I can’t
even show them a real dog?”

“We’ll tell them it was a stray in the park and that animal
control put it down immediately. Keep it simple.”

Jake nodded. He was physically drained, having stayed awake
the entire time Christine had not dreamed. Once he felt her presence after
thinking he’d never feel it again, then he could sleep. But it was
uncomfortable sleeping in the waiting room or in the chair in Christine’s room,
and his anxiety kept the sleep from being restorative. He’d been in a light
doze, conversing with her in dreams when the heart monitor had trilled.

“She’ll have differences in breathing and heart speed as she
gets closer to consciousness, especially if she’s remembering anything about
the attack,” Dr. Navarro explained to get Jake to settle down again.

“How long has it been?” Jake asked Saron.

“Less time than you think, but you’ve barely slept in
thirty-six hours.”

“Her parents will be here soon. What are they going to think
of her being here and not in a regular hospital?”

“This place specializes in dog bites, which we do actually.
Well, wolf bites, close enough.” His smile was wry.

“What if she wakes up and wants nothing to do with me and Dean?”

“You’ll just have to give her time. Eventually the pull will
be too much. She’ll have to come to you.”

“But I don’t want her to come to me because she has to.
There’s got to be some way to break the bond.”

“None that I have found, but I will certainly help you
search if it comes to that.” Saron paused. “Have you considered how brave and
selfless she was with Dean?”

“Of course.”

“She didn’t run. She made sure he was secure. She didn’t
call an ambulance for herself, which would have alerted the police. She gave
him food and water.”

“And she could’ve lost her arm.”

“Yes. Christine is one brave woman, but I also think she
cares for you both more than you may realize.”

Jake was warmed by what Saron said. Maybe the situation wasn’t
as desperate as it seemed. He mentioned these things to Dean when he awoke.

“I know, Dad. I keep replaying the scene and thinking what
if Mom had been there. She wouldn’t have known what to do. She would’ve called
9-1-1, and she might have been too freaked out to hold me during the pain.”

“Christine held you?”

“Yeah, Dad. She was there for me until it was almost too
late. She’d be great to have as a stepmother.”

Jake hugged his son. “Yeah, she would.”

Saron, as hospital administrator, spoke to Christine’s
parents first and admitted them in to see their daughter. Jake didn’t want to
thrust the boyfriend issue in their face since they probably didn’t even know
about the relationship. When they came out to the waiting room to regroup, Jake
came up to them. Christine’s dad immediately recognized him.

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you the cabby who drove
into the snow bank?”

Jake nodded with a faint smile. “I didn’t exactly drive into
the snow bank, more like slid.”

“We didn’t even know Christine was in New York.”

“It was a sudden trip, actually,” Jake said. “She came up to
watch my son for me.” He pointed out Dean, who was conversing with Saron at the
far side of the room.

“Why would she do that?” her dad asked.

But Christine’s mom didn’t look quite as surprised. “Christine
has mentioned you once or twice when we chat on Facebook in an open-ended kind
of way.”

“Oh okay then,” Mr. Vanliev said, brow furrowed as if he
wasn’t quite sure that was true. “I’m the last to know these things. Were you
with her when the dog attacked?”

“No, since I was out of town. Dean was nearby but he didn’t
see anything.” Jake hated the lies, but this was the way of life for the weres.

“We’re just so grateful the doctor thinks she’ll wake up
soon.”

“I know she will.” Jake took the opportunity to go in and
see her while her parents were getting food and reserving a hotel room with
Saron’s help.

* * * * *

Christine could feel Jake’s presence, like a comforting
shawl, something loose that didn’t smother her. She’d lost awareness of
everything for a time, but Jake was there as soon as the world came back, as
soon as she started to dream again. Dean had come in to see her once or twice.
His guilt was palpable in his voice. Christine had wanted to hug him and tell
him none of this was his fault. Jake’s sense of guilt was even stronger, and
Christine might’ve been angry if she’d regained consciousness right away, but
he’d been there in her dreams.

She opened her eyes, noting the oxygen tube touching her
nose and the IV in her arm, her good arm. “Jake?” God, her voice sounded awful.

Suddenly his face was above hers with a half-smile-half-worried
expression. “Here, you need water. Don’t talk yet.” He adjusted the bed
position so she could drink from a plastic mug with a straw. “So…you scared the
living shit out of me with that phone call the other night.”

“You think you were scared!”

His hand engulfed hers. “Dean and I both know you were brave
beyond all. This could’ve turned out so much worse.”

She tried not to think about her bandaged arm. “Sorry about
the blood all over your apartment. Stupid neighbor came to the door. I had the
TV up real loud so she complained.”

“She didn’t see the blood?”

“I didn’t open the door wide enough. Had the sound up so no
one would hear Dean. Is he okay?”

Jake had already made that clear to her in her dreams, but
it was good to hear him say it. “Hey, I probably need to tell your parents you’re
awake. I’ll come back in a little while, okay?”

“Jake?”

“Hmm?”

“Dean helped me realize something.”

“What?” She sensed his anxiety.

“I love you guys.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, and for you my love is not platonic.”

“But what makes you sure it’s not because of our bond?”

“Because I never felt so strong before.” Ironic, since she’d
probably never looked so weak in her life.

“What do you mean?”

“I thought being bound to you meant giving up my
independence.”

“Doesn’t it?”

They had so much to work out, least of which were their jobs
and where to live. “It means compromise, yeah, but that’s not the same thing.”
Her eyes drifted shut, then fluttered open. She sought the words to explain
herself, but her mind was too tired.

“We’ll talk more,” Jake said softly, squeezing her hand.
“You rest and I’ll get your parents, okay?”

She smiled as her eyes closed again.

In the end, the choice to live in New York had as much to do
with Christine’s arm and being near her parents as with Jake’s job and Dean’s
school. It was simply easier to be near the hospital for follow-ups and
surgeries for her arm, and Florida was already too hot for her bandages. Then
there was the compound where Jake and Dean now went together for those full
moons. Christine visited a couple of weeks after she got out of the hospital.
It was gorgeous with summer flowers and silver creeks wending over moss-covered
stones. She and Jake even discussed moving out of the city for good, but there
was no rush to decide since their lives had already seen so many changes. Dean
would have to adjust to missing school around the full moon, but for now he
enjoyed summer break, though he refused to visit his mom.

“You’re going to have to see her some time,” Jake said,
feeling like a record stuck in a groove. “There’s no chance you’ll hurt her
when it’s not around the time of the full moon. You know that, right?”

“I know, but she’s so selfish. How can she move so far away
if she loves me?”

Jake sighed. “Your mom is just who she is, but that doesn’t
mean she loves you less. Let’s just count our blessings that we haven’t had to
work around all the full-moon stuff with her.”

Dean kicked at the stack of logs by the fire pit. “She
hasn’t even met Christine yet.”

“Well, let’s count our blessings with that too.” They
grinned at each other as Christine mounted the porch carrying a basket of
blackberries.

“Eve’s going to teach me to make pie,” she explained,
referring to Saron’s mate, who actually knew how to cook.

“Does she know what she’s in for?” Dean asked.

Christine scowled. “Better not insult the one who makes your
Easy Mac, bud.”

“I make his Easy Mac,” Jake said, ducking as she swatted at
him. He took the blackberry basket from her and handed it to Dean, telling him
to take it to the kitchen. “How about you and I go for a walk?” He offered his
mate his arm and led her down the porch steps toward the mulched path by the
pond. Most of the land within the compound remained wild, but Saron had
invested in some landscaping near the house. “Remember in the hospital how you
said you’d never felt so strong?”

Christine nodded.

“You never really explained that to me.” He had to admit, at
least to himself, to wondering if he was being fair to Christine by not seeking
out a way to break the mate bond. That way might not exist, but shouldn’t he at
least look? But then, what if he found a way and he lost Christine?

“It’s like when I’m bound with ropes.” Christine blushed a
little. They hadn’t done that sort of bondage since her arm had been injured,
but that hadn’t stopped them from experimenting with blindfolds and
over-the-knee spanking. “My focus isn’t scattered like it is in real life. My
trust is with you, my pleasure is with you. It’s like I’m strong because I
chose to be bound by you.”

“But you didn’t choose this mate bond.”

“But I realize now it would have been my choice all along.
I’m a stronger woman with you and Dean. We’re stronger as a family, and I’m
stronger as your mate.” She turned in his arm and cradled his face in her
hands. “I love you.”

“That’s good, ’cause you’re stuck with me.” He kissed her
nose. “And I love you too.”

The End

At age ten, Shara Lanel thought research meant hopping
aboard the local steam engine and writing the equivalent of The Great Train
Robbery. Nowadays as a multi-published, award-winning author, she gets hands-on
research at her local Citizens’ Police and Fire Academies. She’s much better at
walking down the side of a building than she is at firing a gun, but she swears
her characters are great shots, hitting the bulls-eye with the villains and the
heart. Don’t put her in the kitchen unless you want to burn it down, and her
green thumb is hit-or-miss, but she excels as a bibliophile, hoping she never
has to pack up and move, since her hubby might see just how many volumes she
really has.

Shara welcomes comments from readers. You can find her
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Icy Seduction

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Icy Seduction Copyright © 2014 Shara Lanel

Edited by Victoria Reese

Cover design by Kelly A. Martin

Cover photography by alessandro guerriero, S-BELOV, Guryanov
Andrey, Picsfive, RaidenV, PRESNIAKOV OLEKSANDR, chsherbakova yuliya

Electronic book publication May 2014

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