The Protector (18 page)

When
shifters who were strong enough to tamper memory were gentle, it felt intense,
like someone else was in your head, and it was disorienting. When Michael had showed
her what it felt like once, she had the worst case of vertigo. Michael had to
hold her
upright,
since she had trouble knowing which
way was up.

Blair
had witnessed Michael erasing a human’s memory before. A human man had broken
into a shifter’s home thinking they were in bed, asleep. They were in bed, but
not asleep. Tyler and Sharon Shelton were both mountain lion shifters, and
because they were the same breed, they could shift while mating. The burglar
walked in as they shifted from human to mountain lion.

Tyler
stopped as soon as he scented a human, and called Warren. They arrested the
intruder, but before he went to the human jail, Michael erased his memory. The
crook never screamed in pain, although he tried to get away, but Warren, who
was still the
Kelach
at the time, was stronger than
most, in his human form, because he was a bear shifter.

Warren
had held him down while Michael had spoken to them in a calm tone. Michael was
the one left exhausted because it took a lot of a shifter’s energy to keep the
process from being painful.

Blair
screamed as agony seared her head. Caleb was just ripping the memories out,
without caring how much it hurt her. It felt like someone was digging their
nails into her skull and piercing her brain with branding irons. She writhed in
pain, and yanked on the twine that kept her hands behind her back. Blair
screamed until her voice started to crack, but Caleb’s hands continued to hold
her head in a torturous grip.

Finally,
the hands let go and a voice said, “It’s done. Don’t let her see your face
again. She does and I will let those shifters kill you.” Blair could not make
out the voice over her own hiccupping cries.

“Can
I get my piece of ass now?”

The
other man must have just nodded since large hands gripped her shirt. She felt
tears gather in her eyes as he ripped her shirt off. She opened them, and
someone in a black ski mask watching her. She struggled to remember who he was.
Something important nagged at her. Her head hurt so damn bad, she could barely
remember her own name.

  
“Good, you’re coming around. I was worried
you wouldn’t be the same after what that fucker did to you. I want you awake
for every moment I fuck the life out of you. I am going to sell you after I am
done fucking your brains out.”

“Please,
just let me go, I won’t say anything. I promise.” Blair’s voice was hoarse, and
her words slurred as if she was heavily drugged. She wished she was, as then
her head wouldn’t hurt so much.

He
stood over her, a foot planted on each side of her body. He took his hunting
knife and bent over and sliced through the elastic of her bra, then sliced it
into her chest. “No, you see, you saw my face. Even though I had my friend do
his voodoo magic and tamper with your memory, I decided not to take the risk,
no matter what the crazy asshole says about his abilities.

"You
see, there is this biker gang in Colorado Springs that is always looking for
new girls. They will turn you into a cutie or a mamma. The gang likes finding
pretty things like you off the street, but if they really like one of my girls,
they buy her. They take her to their clubhouse for a gangbang. Most times they
let the girls go, but you, I will make sure they whore you out to another gang
when they are done with you. I do not believe you will survive long.”

He
crouched over her with one knee on the ground, and looked into her face. “So
you can change into an animal huh? Well, I don’t envy you. This guy paying me
to fuck you up is nuts. Total whack job, but whatever. Not my problem.”

****

  
Blair took the shock silently. This guy was
paid by someone.
But who?
She couldn’t remember and
wanted to scream in frustration. It felt like it was right there, but she
couldn’t remember.
 

The
man in the ski mask raised his knife over her and she knew this was it. He was
going to kill her now, and she could not make herself lie down and take it.

“Get
off of me!” she screamed, as she kicked her feet as hard as she could,
hoping
to connect with his balls. It hurt to move, but she
had to get away. She could not let her life end like this, just when things had
turned around for her and Cole. She would fight, for him. She loved him, and he
loved her.

She
kicked him as hard as she could,
making
him have to
defend himself instead of stabbing her. He hovered over her, grunting every
time her foot connected with his body.

He
bent over groaning, holding his balls.
“Stupid fucking
bitch.”
His breath wheezed out of him. Blair kicked her feet again. She
may be almost blind, but she would try her damnedest to get away.

He
fell over, and she thought she was getting a chance to get free when he slid
his leg off of her. Instead, she could see through the mask, hatred filling his
ice blue eyes as his grunts turned into a snarl.

“Fuck
you,” he said as he wrapped his hands around her throat and squeezed. No matter
how hard Blair tried, she could not take a breath. She struggled, but his
weight pinned her. She tried to force herself to be still and let him think she
was dead, but her body had taken over in a fight to live.

She
kicked, and tried to buck him off of her. She felt the tingle of a shift, but
her rib bones, which were the first to transform, could not move, so they
cracked. She would have screamed in agony as her bones refused to go back to
human bones and continued to crack under the pressure, but she had no air. Her
vision faded.

A
snarling wolf was suddenly over them, using his teeth and massive jaw to rip
her attacker away from her. Blair gasped for air and sobbed at the same time.
The pain she was in was nothing compared to how thankful she was to be alive.
She looked over as the man screamed while the wolf attacked. It was a light
colored wolf, unlike Cole, who had very dark fur, matching his hair.

The
strange wolf looked up at her as she let out another cry. She wasn’t sure if it
was pain or relief, but the wolf must have thought she was in a lot of pain as
he discontinued his attack on the man and loped over to her.

He
shimmered in the air, the magic swirling around him as he shifted. A wolf and a
man co-existed in the same place for a moment before Caleb finally stood where
the wolf once stood.

“Caleb,”
Blair breathed out, relieved. “I thought you were dead.” Relief filled her at
seeing him alive and whole, and saving her life.

“No,
I was knocked out when that truck hit us. Fuck, Blair, did he do anything
besides hit you?”

Blair
shook her head. “No, I really made him mad, so he was going straight to killing
me.”

Caleb
picked up the man’s knife and cut through the twine holding her arms together.
Her arms fell forward with no strength in them. She cried out at the terrible
pins and needles feeling in them. Caleb grabbed her arms in a firm hold and
started massaging them. It only intensified the feeling of being stuck with a
thousand needles.

Blair
jerked away from Caleb with a whine. “Sorry, your circulation was cut off.”

“Blair!”
Cole’s scream made her jump again, and her heart wrenched as she heard the fear
in his voice.

“Cole,”
Blair screamed back. She jumped up to run to him, but pain and dizziness hit
her and she fell over, almost blacking out again.

“Easy,”
Caleb said, putting his hands on her. “You have had several hard hits to your
head.”

“Blair.
Where the
fuck are
you?” Cole yelled, his voice, high
pitched with fear.

“Here,
I’m here,” Blair called, weaker, as her adrenaline was fading, and she began to
feel like she was crashing.

Cole
crested the landing she sat on, and his eyes were wild as he looked from Blair
to Caleb and back to her again. He ran to her, tripping in his haste over a
rise in the rock face and crawling the last bit of ground to get to her. Blair
reached for him with hiccupping sobs. Cole picked her up and pulled her into
his lap.

“Blair, my sweet mate.
Who did this to you?”

Blair
clung to Cole as much as her tingling fingers could, and she breathed in his
wonderful scent. His scent was safety and strength to her, and she soaked it in
as much as she could.

Cole
kissed the top of her head lightly, his breath ragged with emotion. “Blair,
baby, please talk to me. Tell me who hurt you.” Cole held her a little tighter,
making her wince.

Blair
saw Michael talking to Caleb, and several other
cholan
who had arrived. “Someone attacked Caleb and me when he was taking me home. He
drove a truck into Caleb’s car.”

“Yeah,
Mitch called it in when he heard the crash and screams. He got down there, and
Caleb was just crawling out of the car. Caleb told him to call for help and he
would start looking for you.”

Michael
walked over and crouched down next to Blair and Cole. “Blair, do you think you
can shift?”

Blair
shook her head. “No, when I started to pass out, I started to shift. I couldn’t
control it, but I was tied and pinned.”

Cole
let out a ragged cry. “My sweet Blair, are any bones broken? I will kill the
motherfucker, I swear it. Who did this?”

“I
feel like it.” She licked her lips. “Caleb attacked the man, and I saw him
running down the mountain.”

Caleb
looked around. “That ass ran away. I was too concerned with Blair to follow
him.”

 
Aaron ran over looking frustrated. “I can’t
get any scent but Blair’s. This guy knows how to hide his scent from us.”

“Do
you think it was a shifter?” Michael asked.

Cole
nodded. “He knew how to pin her so she couldn’t shift, and when she tried, it
fractured bones in her body,” he said in a tone full of anger.

Michael’s
eyes blazed with the cold fire of a guardian ready to kill those who threatened
shifters he swore to protect. “I will put down whoever is leaking information
about us. Someone is betraying us.”

“Looks
like it,” Caleb told him. “We need to call in an airlift.”

Blair
noticed Caleb was wearing an ill-fitting sheriff’s uniform. He studied the
ground where he had attacked the man who tried to kill her.

Michael
looked around scanning the area,
then
shook his head
no. “They won't be able to hover around here due to the cliffs, so we need to
get down on foot.” He put his hand gently on Cole’s shoulder. “Come on, Blair
needs medical attention, and the
cholan
can go over
this area far better with us gone.”

“Right,”
Cole agreed, standing up. He looked at Caleb. “I don’t know how to thank you.
You saved my mate, and she is more precious to me than my own life.”

Caleb
looked him in the eye. “You don’t owe me any thanks. I just did what anyone
would do. I could hear her screaming and knew she was in a lot of trouble.”

“Not
everyone would have helped. You did, I owe you my life. Thank you. You need
anything from me, you just ask.”

Caleb
shrugged as if he did not see it was a big deal. “It’s not necessary, but
thank
you for the offer.”

Blair
snuggled into Cole. The one good thing that came from this nightmare was that
Cole finally saw what a good guy Caleb really was.

Chapter
Eleven

Blair
bit down harder on her lower lip. She was determined not to cry as Cole and
Michael led her down to the road. Cole had tried to carry her, but she was
determined to walk. Now she was feeling a bit foolish for trying to once again
prove how strong she was, even when she knew she needed help.

Her
head was spinning and her body ached in places she didn’t know existed, and now
she was short of breath. At first it was a headache, but now with the dizziness
and nausea she felt truly awful.

Cole
leaned down slightly and picked her up in his arms. “How is this? Am I hurting
you?”

“No,
how’d you know?” Blair asked not even bothering to pretend she was not in pain
and wilting fast.

"I
am your Dom as well as your mate. I know when your stubborn streak has gone on
long enough and you are ready for me to take over without a fight.”

Blair
stared at him for a moment then cuddled into him. He was right. If he had
picked her up earlier, she would have argued she could walk. She was far too
stubborn for her own good sometimes. She could see how good Cole was to her
now. Why did she fight him for so long?
 
Because you’re stubborn and wanted to prove
to everyone that you didn’t need
Cole,
and that you
were strong enough to stand on your own, without anyone.

Blair
wanted to hit herself. Was she really being that foolish? No one could go on
forever without anyone to help them. She had helped many humans and shifters
countless times. She had never thought any less of them for it, and she had
been happy to help. Her crying picked up again.

Cole
looked at her with worry in his eyes. “Blair, are you in more pain? Do I need
to stop and call in for an airlift?”

Blair
gave him what she hoped was a brave smile. “No, I can make it.”

“Are
you sure? We can stop and wait here, Blair. No one will think less of you. You
have fractured and splintered bones.”

Blair
looked at him and felt tempted to agree and let him call in for a helicopter.
The town’s hospital was not that far away though. She was a strong, independent
woman, and she could make it. Although sometimes it takes more strength to say,
“I can’t do this.”

“I’m
calling it in,” Cole said suddenly.

“Wait
Cole, what if someone else is really hurt and needs it? I can make it.”

Cole
gave her a stern look, but his tone was gentle. “Stop it. You are hurt and in a
lot of pain. There is no need for you to be in more. We have another hour on
foot if we continue at this pace. This is a perfect spot for the forest service
to drop a stretcher down and get you.”

Blair
thought about it for a moment,
then
nodded in
agreement. “Ok, you win.”

Cole
talked on the radio and read off their coordinates. She had not realized it was
that much farther to go. She knew they had hiked a long time to get from where
that man attacked her, but she had not realized it was that far.

Cole
kissed her.

“Thank
you.”

Blair
felt herself drifting off to sleep despite her shivering and pain. She hoped
she could get some numbing sleep, and wake up full of Doctor Trask’s
painkillers.

****

Cole
held Blair while trying to contain his shaking rage. Someone had attacked
Blair, his mate. If Caleb had not found her when he did, then Cole knew he
would have been too late. He may have got to the man to tear him apart, but his
mate, his whole world, would be dead. Cole shivered at the thought of going on
without her. He couldn’t even imagine it. The only reason he made it before on
his own for so long, was he knew he still had a chance with her. Once he got
past Blair’s walls she would come back to him, and he had always known it.

Since
he got the call from Warren that Mitch found Caleb’s car smashed, and Blair’s
scent and blood were in the area, Cole had been in a panicked haze. He had
ordered Warren to call Michael, and he ran to his SUV, leaving the on-scene FBI
agents here where they’d found Stacy to deal with everything. Scenting Blair’s blood
and fear in the air when he arrived at the scene had driven him mad with worry.

He
had screamed her name all the way up the mountain. Every time his cries came
back unanswered had made him go a little bit more insane thinking she was
already gone. Only when he heard her call his name did the sick dread in his
soul turn to hope. When he saw her lying on the ground, crying and bruised, he
wanted to howl in both relief and rage. He couldn’t though. He was sheriff, and
that was a crime scene. He had to hold it together for his shifters. He could
run out into the night and howl once Blair was safely in a hospital bed.

First an innocent girl, then Mandy, now Blair.
What the fuck is going on around here all of
a sudden?

Cole
keyed up his radio again to check on the helicopter. Blair needed medical
treatment, and she couldn’t make it down on foot. She was brave and didn’t
complain, but he felt her tense with every misstep and heard the whimpers she
couldn’t hold back.

“Where’s
that helicopter?” He asked the dispatcher for the forest service.

“Sorry,
sheriff, I am checking on them right now. There is only one equipped with the
night vision to make a night rescue, and it is out on a car accident with
critical injuries.”

Cole
let the radio drop. “Fuck, they’re not coming. There is an accident with
criticals
, and they will take precedence over us.”

Michael
rubbed his hands together to warm them. Even though the days were still warm,
the nights were colder. “What do you want to do? Caleb and I can shift and keep
her warm and wait for daylight, or we can keep moving.”

Cole
was not sure what would work better. If he had regular human eyesight he would
have chosen to stay put and work on keeping Blair warm and stable, but he had
cholan
senses, and he was a
Kelach
,
so his senses were far superior to humans’ and other
cholans
’.

He
looked around, and he could see the trail just fine thanks to the moonlight.
“We need to keep moving. We can make it down before daylight.”

“Agreed,”
Michael said pushing himself off of the tree he was leaning against.

Caleb
started to strip his clothing. “I am going on ahead to make sure they know
where to meet you all.”

“Good
idea,” Michael agreed. “Let’s get moving. This is going to be a long night, so let’s
move quickly.”

****

Blair
heard the beeping of medical equipment and felt like she was floating. She
could almost feel the drugs coursing through veins her making her feel light and
pain free. When her eyes finally opened she saw Cole hovering over her with a
smile on his face.

“Hello,
beautiful.”

“What
happened?” Blair asked looking around and seeing she was in the hospital end of
the clinic.

“Do
you remember being attacked?” Cole asked her looking worried.

Blair
tried to remember what had happened. She barely remembered being in the car
with Caleb and getting hit. She had flashes of a man attacking her, but it was
so vague and disjointed she found herself shaking her head.

“Not
really.” Blair winced at the pain shaking her head had caused.

Cole
put his hand over hers. “It’s ok. It may come back to you later.”

Blair
looked at him, confused. “What happened? It is all confusing images.”

“You
and Caleb were attacked.”

Blair
nodded her head,
then
winced again. Even that slight
movement caused her head to throb. “I think I remember that part.”

Blair
had something nagging at her, like she knew something important, but she
couldn’t remember. She felt like she would be just on the edge of remembering,
but then it would be snatched away. She shook her head slowly. “I just can’t
remember.”

Doctor
Trask leaned over her and looked into her eyes. “You have a skull fracture, so
I am not surprised you have memory loss.”

Blair
gasped. She had always heard those were serious head injuries, even for a
shifter. “Will I be ok?”

“Yes,
with plenty of rest, I do believe you will make a full recovery. The fracture
is a minor one, and I did not see much swelling.”

Blair’s eyes widened in fear.
“My
brain is swelling? Goddess, isn’t that deadly?”

Doctor
Trask patted her hand gently. “If it was severe then yes, there would be cause
to worry, but your swelling is minimal. It explains the memory loss.” Doctor
Trask turned to Cole. "I want her to remain here for at least a few days.”

“I
can’t!
 
What about my baking? I can’t
just lie around while my customers want a pastry with their coffee. Mandy is
still on medical leave, and honestly I am not sure if she will ever want to
come back.”

Cole
took her face gently in his hands. “Everyone will be fine. I will leave a note
on the door explaining you are closed. Everyone will understand.”

Blair
could feel her eyes tearing up. She could not stand the thought of not working.
She looked over to Doctor Trask for some help, but he only shook his head at
her. “This is for the best. Trust
me,
you will not do
anyone any favors by injuring yourself further.”

Blair
gave in with a sigh. “Fine,” she muttered glaring at Cole. She was giving in,
but she didn’t have to like it.

Cole
looked up at the doctor. “Would it be OK if she went to watch Cassie and
Michael?”

Blair
gasped. “That’s today?
Goddess no.
I was supposed to
make the dinner.”

 
“
Shhh
.
It’s
ok, Blair. We managed,” Cole said kissing her
head lightly.

Doctor
Trask nodded. “Go ahead and take her, but I want her right back here in no more
than two hours. I do not want her wandering around with a head injury,
especially with her memory loss.”

Cole
picked her up. “Toss me her robe, doc.”

Blair
shook her head,
then
regretted it as the pain flared.

“Don’t
argue with me, baby. No one will care what you look like. Cassie will just be
thrilled you were able to come. She tried to cancel, but it would take too long
to reschedule everything at the last minute.”

“I
understand." Blair really did. It was not an easy thing to cancel a
wedding days before the date. She would have felt guilty if Cassie had canceled
just for her. It looked beautiful outside, a perfect day for a fall wedding. A
nurse brought a wheelchair. Cole placed her in it then covered her in a soft,
fleece blanket. Blair nearly cried at the care he took with her. Cole treasured
her as if she was the most important part of his life.

Why was I so stubborn for so
long?

Cole
pushed Blair in her wheelchair out of the small hospital, which was more like a
large clinic, and towards the park in town. Blair could see the balloons
swaying in the breeze. Some of them flew through the air as if children ran
with them. Cassie wanted children to have balloons to play with, insisting on
laughter and play instead of formality.

Cole
walked her into the seating area. Many turned and smiled happily at Blair. She
gave a small wave, not wanting to take the attention away from Cassie.

Michael
was standing at the front in a black tux with Warren and Travis standing with
him.

A
classical song that usually played around Christmas time started to play.
Cassie walked down the aisle made from chairs and a strip of white carpet. She
was so beautiful it brought tears to Blair’s eyes. Cassie’s eyes shone with happiness
while she looked at Michael. Her grandfather, Jake, had her by the hand, and
when they got to the front, he gave her hand over to Michael,
then
went to sit by Cassie’s grandmother, Norma.

Blair
didn’t bother to try to stop her tears. It was so beautiful the way Michael
tenderly took Cassie’s hand and looked into her eyes, and Blair barely heard
the judge who spoke, the whole scene was so perfect.

Cassie
and Michael recited some vows they had written for each other. Mating was far
more permanent than marriage, but Blair still loved a good wedding. It was not
uncommon for shifter couples to have some sort of ceremony, and Blair knew,
since helping Cassie, that she wanted a wedding, too.

The
judge smiled and pronounced, “I now present Mr. and Mrs. Michael Sinclair. You
may kiss.”

Blair
was crying, but still watched them kiss then turn to run down the aisle
together. Cole held her closer. “I think we need to get you back.”

Blair
wanted to argue, but she did feel weak and her head still hurt. “Yeah, I think
you’re right.” Blair would see Cassie soon
enough,
and
she could give her hugs and have a drink to celebrate when she was better.