His body began to seize up from sheer exhaustion once he landed in front of the forest cabin again, and he barely managed to shift into human form, before collapsing in front of the door. Luckily, people were paying attention on the other side and opened the door to pull him inside, murmuring, asking if he was okay, but his brain drifted in a fog, too exhausted to pluck out the individual meaning of the words.
The concern was obvious, at least. Once they poured some water down his throat, he found his thinking clearing a little, though his muscles burned like hellfire.
“Did you sort it out?” the bear shifter grunted, arms folded as he regarded the dragon leaning against the side of the sofa. “Or is the problem still out there?”
“It’s… sorted… I think,” Kieran managed. “He cooled down. He left. He shouldn’t be back. He didn’t kill anyone else… I think.” He felt a tiny surge of guilt for Macey, lying in the hospital, courtesy of the contract she’d drawn up with him. Another for Locke, who lost an agent, and for Tegan, who never would’ve been pulled into this mess if Kieran didn’t leave his family matters unresolved. He sat on them for too long. He knew his brother and father posed a problem, yet still persisted fiercely with his independence. He insisted on not being wise.
“Is Tegan okay? She wasn’t hurt too much?”
Katie walked into the room, holding a plate with a sandwich. “She’s okay. Sleeping now. Struggled for a little bit, but everything’s in order. There’ll be a few bruises. But… I’m still not sure just what exactly transpired.”
“I don’t know exactly what happened her end… but it’s a long story, if you’d care to listen.”
“I’m listening,” the bear shifter said in his deep voice. When Kieran inquired his name, he answered with Travis.
He handed them over what he hoped was a decent summary, of his family jealousy, of his drive to settle into a relationship far away from clan lands, and the childlessness and family misfortune placing pressure on him to return. All the way up to the kidnapping, and his hopes to keep the child Tegan now carried. When he finished, Travis let out a grunt.
“You could argue that basically the whole mess is your fault.”
“A little harsh,” Katie said. “You should know better than anyone that we don’t get a choice in the family we start with. And I have my wonderful sister, Rachel, as a constant reminder.”
Travis seemed to wince at that, and then nodded. “You’re right. Not that I’m thanking you for the reminder.”
Katie crossed her arms, glaring at Kieran. “I hope you take good care of that kid. I know Tegan. I know what she’s hoping to achieve with her business in the future. I don’t want you suddenly getting cold feet and running out on her at the last moment.”
“I won’t,” he promised. “I didn’t go through all this effort just to leave everyone on the side.” He didn’t tell them about the plot of land he’d bought for Tegan. Didn’t seem necessary.
Now that they knew the story, though, they relaxed more in his presence, and soon let him retire to the sofa to sleep. It was easy, collapsing into exhaustion, sinking into the pool of dreamless sleep.
Easy, with the satisfaction of knowing that everything would be alright.
Chapter Eleven – Tegan
Tegan hardly dared believe that the threat was gone. She hardly dared believe she was no longer in the clutches of that monster. The events seemed blurry—walking down the street, Macey disappearing, someone clamping something over her mouth. Then the next thing she knew, she was in the claws of a dragon, utterly convinced the dragon that held her was Broxar—then saw another dragon chasing from her limited viewpoint, and couldn’t make heads or tails of the situation.
Only when the dragon dropped her on the ground and shifted into Kieran did she actually understand what in hell was happening. She was being saved.
Then he shoved her into the cabin and flapped away into the darkness, leaving her wondering if things truly would be resolved or left in the dark.
Travis thought she’d been knocked out with chloroform, and Katie wanted to rush her to the hospital, but Travis persuaded her off that for now, because they were in the middle of nowhere.
Miraculously, Tegan didn’t seem to be injured in any strenuous way. A few bruises, but otherwise none the worse for wear. Her concerns for Macey cooled down once she found out Macey ended up in the hospital. Hurt, but alive. Not murdered by that bastard.
Kieran was all over her in the morning, asking if she was hurting anywhere, acting frantic until she finally edged out that everything was fine. He cradled her in front of everyone, which she allowed to happen, because honestly, it was a relief being safe, and a relief being cared for.
“I really didn’t know you were the one carrying me,” she admitted. “I thought you were him.”
“No time to explain,” he said, nuzzling at her forehead. “I had to pick you up fast, because I needed to get you away from there. He wanted to use you as a bargaining tool, and it was difficult explaining to him that I’d made the deal with my father. He wasn’t thinking clearly, but it’s over now. It’s safe now.”
“It better be,” Tegan growled, shivering from the memory. She clutched at her stomach, thinking of the threat towards her unborn child. So much trouble just for something so small. “Does your father know about… us?”
“No. I’m not planning to tell him. Neither is my brother. We… talked. I think he’s in a position where he’ll listen, and do the right thing.”
“He doesn’t seem like the kind of person who’d do that, in all honesty,” Tegan said, thinking about all the horror tales Kieran had shared with her previously.
“He’s stubborn. But I did have an offer he couldn’t afford to refuse. Put it that way. A chance for him to have children of his own. For someone like him, that’s a big, big deal.”
Tegan reflected on this, a little annoyed that someone like this Broxar could get away with so much evil, without any kind of human consequences raining down on him. She hated that concept—of dodging the laws so thoroughly, committing crimes with little backlash. A man was burned in his own home, and that investigation would end up a cold case, and closed, or ruled an accident.
It infuriated her, honestly. “I hope he doesn’t come back.”
“I’ll keep on top of things,” Kieran said, his voice low and fervent. “I’ll never let you be in danger again.”
How nice of him.
“I can get some of my contacts,” Travis growled in that deep bass voice of his. “Keep an eye on things until they settle down.”
They ate breakfast together, then headed back to Tegan’s home, and she called her boss to say she was sick today, which he accepted without so much as a squeak of protest. After all the stress and drama and kidnapping, she wanted time out, and a part of her still fretted over the possibility that Broxar might fly back and finish what he started.
Kieran tiptoed around her as if she were delicate and fragile, both flattering and irritating at the same time. They sat together on the sofa after taking showers, and she leaned into him, resting, basking in the warmth of his body and the minty aftershave he’d used.