Lynx Loving (4 page)

“When we get home, I’m not getting back in any vehicle for at least a month.” She stretched her legs.

“Except you have to return to school in two weeks,” Landon reminded her.

“Um...yeah.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’m not going back.” Gawd, it felt good to finally tell someone.

His brows knitted and he glanced at her. “Does Brady know this?”

“Nope. Not yet. I’m sure he will be pleased as pie about it. Ha ha. Can’t wait for that conversation,” she mumbled.

“Why aren’t you going back?”

“I’ve tried. College is not for me. I’ve been going for over two years, and I still can’t decide on a major. I have other plans for my life, and college doesn’t play into them. I gave it my best shot. I got great grades. I don’t know. I’m just...done,” she said. “I’m too restless there. I’m a lynx, something everyone seems to forget. I need space, too. College is not spacious.”

“What are these plans you say you have for your life, if you don’t mind my asking?” He smiled.

“I’ll tell you, but if you laugh at me, I swear, I will dick punch you, too. Maybe not now, maybe not even later, but it will happen when you least expect it.” She grinned when he shifted in his seat.

“I won’t laugh.” He held up two fingers. “I swear.”

“I want to open a big cat animal shelter.”

“A big cat shelter?”

“Yeah. You know for lions, tigers, lynx—whatever needs to be rescued. There are so many shelters for dogs and cats, but not many for big cats. They need help too. They’re harder to place. It’s not as though they can just be adopted out. I want to provide them a home and find them a suitable place to live out the rest of their lives. It’s not their fault that some humans are stupid and can’t understand that wild animals are not pets.” She stared out the window, imagining all of the animals she would be able to help.

“And are you going to be taking care of these animals personally?” His voice shook.

“I’ll need some experienced handlers. I’m aware of that, but I plan to learn. Yes. I want to be involved in all parts of the shelter. You already know we have an advantage. Having an animal side makes us acceptable to other animals quicker once they realize our predator isn’t out to kill them. Plus, I do know cats a little bit, being part one myself.” She took a deep breath. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s a solid idea, but have you thought out the financial side? The space it will take to handle these animals? The permits and responsibility?”

“Yes. I know I’ll have to start out small and build up. Brady is loaded, and he tells me it’s my money too. We’ll find out how much he really means that.” She laughed. “As far as the space? I bought the few hundred acres next to Brady’s property.”

“The property he’s been fuming over not getting?” Landon smirked.

“Yep.”

“How did you manage that?”

“With the money from this semester of college that I won’t be attending and a fund raiser I put up on the Internet over a year ago. People like animals. I’ve raised a lot of money. More than enough for permits and start-up.”

“I’m impressed.”

“Why? Because I’m a girl-child?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“No. I know you’re smart, and I know you are a full grown woman. I just didn’t see it coming, and I’m impressed how well thought out your whole plan is. I’m sure Brady will be impressed, too. I can’t imagine he won’t be proud of you.”

“I don’t know. He’s going to be pissed that I dropped out of college. He didn’t want me to go at first, but I insisted. Now, I’m not finishing. A lot of money is going to waste.” She felt guilty about that, but it couldn’t be helped.

“I’m not sure I agree that it was money gone to waste. Didn’t you take business classes?”

“Yes. I took a wide variety of classes because I couldn’t settle on a major.”

“Then won’t that knowledge help you with the shelter?”

She tipped her head to the side and looked at him. “Yeah. I guess it will. You think I’m crazy, don’t you?”

He chuckled. “No, I don’t. If having the shelter is what would truly make you happy, I don’t see how Brady can be upset.”

“If you believe that maybe you should take those words to heart.” She raised one brow at him.

Something slammed into the back of the truck before he could answer.

“Shit!” Landon bellowed while trying to right them from a sideways skid.

She gripped the door handle with one hand, while tugging at the seatbelt with the other to make sure it was tight. When she saw that Landon had not put his seatbelt on, something unusual for him, her already hammering heartbeat thumped even harder.

Before he could right the truck, they were hit again. She caught a glimpse of the semi that was ramming them in the side mirror. It was the two assholes that had harassed her earlier from the truck stop. When the semi clipped their truck again and sent them careening toward the shoulder of the highway, the scream she’d been trying to keep from escaping screeched out of her.

The impact of whatever they hit stole the breath from her lungs, and black dots danced in front of her eyes before she passed out.

K
rista gasped when she came to. Her shoulder hurt from hitting the door, and her body ached. Other than that, she was fine. Then she remembered Landon, and her stomach clenched. “Landon! Are you...”

He wasn’t in the driver’s seat. She looked around. He wasn’t in the truck at all. That’s when she noticed the driver’s side window was broken. Her heart sank at the thought of him being hurt.

She wrestled with the seatbelt, trying to get it unfastened, and when it finally gave, she flung the door open and slid out, landing in two feet of snow. The back end of the truck had struck a tree, and the tire looked slightly bent, but she didn’t care about any of that right now.

Struggling around to the front of the truck, the sight that greeted her sent a brand new rush of adrenaline through her veins.  Lying in the snow, face down, about thirty feet away, was Landon. She hurried to him and pushed him onto his back. His clothes were soaked, his skin was pale, and a small gash on his forehead was bleeding. While the wound didn’t appear to be life-threatening, that didn’t mean he didn’t have others that were.

“Landon! Please wake up.” She gently shook his shoulder, but he didn’t stir.

Taking a closer look, she ran her hands over his chest then over his abdomen. When her hand came back sticky with blood, she sucked in a sharp breath. She raised the hem of his shirt and found a piece of glass embedded in his side. A sickening wave of dread washed over her, and she fought the urge to puke.

Should she remove it or leave it? If it was a long piece, removing it could cause him to bleed out. If it didn’t go very deep, it could cause more damage if she moved him. Brady. He’d know what to do.

She ran to the truck and searched around for her phone. It was under the seat, and busted to shit. “Damn it!”

Landon had a cell phone too. She rushed to him and searched his pockets. Nothing. He either took it out earlier and she didn’t notice, or it had been lost in the wreck.
Maybe it’s in the truck
. She hurried back and searched the cab again, but found nothing.

What should she do? After teetering back and forth for several moments, she retrieved the First Aid kit from the backseat and went to him. While it was true Landon’s body temperature ran hot, it wouldn’t take long for the snow and cold to leach the warmth out of him if he continued lying on the soaking wet ground.

She knelt beside him, opened the kit, then reached for the piece of glass in his side. Her hand hovered for a second before she grasped it and eased it out of his body. After seeing the glass hadn’t gone very deep, the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding rushed from her lungs. Carefully, she disinfected the wound then bandaged it.

She flung the kit back into the truck then checked to make sure the engine would start. Almost crying in relief when the motor turned over on the second try, she began the task of getting Landon in the truck. Although she was stronger than most humans, she wasn’t as strong as a lycan, and the crap truth that the women of her species were not as physically strong as the men held true.

“Landon! Wake up. I can’t carry you to the truck, baby.” When he didn’t move, she patted his cheek. “Please! Open those gorgeous brown eyes.” Still nothing. Frustration began to set in, and she looped her arms under his armpits and around his shoulders, but when she tugged on him, it quickly became apparent her effort would be wasted. Dead weight made it impossible to move him more than a few inches.
I’d probably have a better chance of dragging a damn elephant around
.

Her shoulders sagged, and she began to sob. Brushing at the tears, she refused to give up. She was what stood between him and survival, and she refused to let him down. Mustering up her strength, she tugged at him again. If she could only slide him an inch or two at a time, so be it. Slow and steady would get the job done...eventually.
Yeah, but what happens when I make it to the truck? I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.

After what seemed like hours of tugging and pulling, she turned to check her progress, but her heart sank when she found she hadn’t managed to drag him more than ten feet. The tears came again, harder this time, and she sniffled and choked as she grunted with each pull.

“Krista?” Landon’s voice was barely louder than a whisper.

“Landon!” She knelt beside him, watching him squint then slam his lids shut against the sun.

“Wake up! You have to help me. I can’t get you to the truck by myself. You’re too heavy,” she cried.

“Don’t cry. I’m okay.”

“I’ll believe that when you get up and are in the truck.” She tugged at him again. “Come on.”

He struggled to push into a sitting position then winced and laid his palm over his side. “What the hell happened?”

“There’s plenty of time for explanations after we get you in the truck,” she said. “Come on, before you freeze to death.”

As if on cue, he shivered. “I can get up on my own,” he said through clenched teeth.

He managed to get to his feet after the third attempt then swayed. “Stubborn man.” She sighed and draped his arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go.”

Once they got to the truck, she guided him to lean against it while she pulled the emergency blankets from under the seat. She’d never make fun of her brother again for his seemingly overkill for disaster preparedness.

After spreading one of the blankets on the backseat, she returned to Landon. “We have to get you undressed.” She started yanking at his T-shirt, but he gently smacked her hands away.

“I can undress myself,” he murmured.

“Fine. But hurry up.” She stood there waiting.

“Do you have to watch?”

“Yeah, because if you decide to do another face-plant, I’d like to try to balance you before you make it all the way to the ground. I can’t pick you up.”

He growled and began peeling off his clothes. She helped him remove his boots before he stripped his pants down his legs. Standing in only his black boxers, he raised a brow at her then grimaced in pain.

“Yeah. You have a bump on the noggin, too,” she said. As much as she admired the view, she had to get him warm.

After he fell onto the backseat, she tucked the other blanket around him and closed the door. She climbed into the driver’s seat, and duct taped the window opening the best she could to keep out the cold air.

The truck drove out of the embankment with little trouble, but she noticed a wobble in the back end. “Brady’s going to be pissed,” she mumbled.

“No, he won’t. He won’t care about the truck as long as you are okay. By the way, what happened? I feel like I was run over by a fucking train.” He groaned again.

“Don’t you remember getting semi’d?”

“Um...I think we might be thinking of two different things here.”

She rolled her eyes. “Good gawd. Does everything have to be about sex where men are concerned? Not
that
type of semi. I mean the real thing. The truck. Those two assholes from the truck stop ran us off the road.”

“Those little bastards better hope I never see their faces again.”

“You and me both.” She drove slowly since she didn’t know what was wrong with the truck, but it didn’t appear to be overheating or losing oil pressure, which was a good thing. “Only about twenty more miles until we reach civilization. We can get a hotel room for the night so you can heal a bit. If you feel up to it, we can continue on tomorrow.”

“I’m okay. In an hour or two, I can finish the drive to Michigan.”

“Stop being so stubborn. I know we recover fast, but lynx aren’t miracle healers. Besides, something is wrong with the truck.”

He was quiet for a minute. “Son of a bitch. I feel it. I bet the axle is bent. Did we hit anything?”

“Yeah. A big tree. Which is a good thing since it stopped us from careening down a steep embankment.”

“Did you call Brady?”

“My phone was destroyed, and I can’t find yours. You probably lost it during your swan dive out the window. You know, you really need to wear your seatbelt at all times.”

“Yeah. Tell me about it. I was too wound up from the assholes at the truck stop. I forgot. Won’t happen again.”

“Damn right it won’t. Now relax. I’ll let you know as soon as we get to town.”

* * * *

T
wo hours later, the garage confirmed the axle was bent, and it would likely be tomorrow afternoon or evening before they got the parts to fix it and the window. The bearings and brakes needed to be replaced as well.

At least they were now holed up in a nearby quaint hotel.

Landon grumbled again, “This is ridiculous.”

“Stop complaining. We’re lucky they had any rooms at all. You heard the old lady say they were having some kind of convention the next town over. Everything is booked. Hell, it has a king size bed. We can lay on it together and have two feet between us.” She yawned.

“I’ll sleep on the floor,” he said.

“You will not. You’re hurt. You barely managed a shower and getting dressed on your own.” She rolled her eyes. “I swear I won’t molest you in your sleep.”