The remaining hunter was apparently new to the hunt and unaware of his surroundings. As he crept away, his foot sank into a hole left by a park inhabitant. The hunter toppled ass over tea kettle and Rayne was on him in an instant, quickly ending the danger to his mate. He quickly gathered up the hunters’ bodies and placed them with the would-be rapist, hidden from human eyes, for his brethren to find. They would see the signs of struggle, smell the blood and know he needed them to clear the area but just to be sure, he used some of his waning strength to send another quick message to the men of his Force.
The nasty business handled, he took off in the direction he had last seen his fiery haired beauty. His vision grew dark and fuzzy around the edges from blood loss. The healing sleep of his kind was pulling at him but there was no time now, he would push himself until he collapsed in order to keep the woman he had just located safe. It was his duty, one he took very seriously, to protect her with his very life. He spotted her just over the hedge that lined the sidewalk. He could make it to her; he had to make it to her. His steps slowed, it felt like he was walking through quick sand. It took all his concentration to put one foot in front of the other. He was close enough that he could smell the scent that was all her, wonderful, feminine, fresh and beautiful. It comforted him as nothing else ever had. With his last thought of how blessed he truly was, his vision narrowed and his world went black.
When he awakened, she was planning to leave him lying on the sidewalk and there was no way that was going to happen as long as he drew breath. He was weak from blood loss but could not have been out for longer than a few seconds the last time. He remembered using his enhanced abilities to grab her around the waist, preventing her from marking her beautiful face. He also kept her from falling again when his strength had given out and they had both ended up on the sidewalk. That was all the energy he’d had before his world was once again black. With his hand around her ankle, he felt the fluttering of her pulse. He knew he was scaring her but there was nothing in this world or the next that would make him let her go.
CHAPTER TWO
“Please…”
She whipped her head around and stared at the stranger on the ground. It had been a whisper on the wind but she had heard his plea.
“I’m going to get help.”
“Not…safe…Don’t…go…” His words were soft and slurred. He was definitely hurt and probably had a concussion; maybe he didn’t even realize how badly he was hurt. She knew he needed medical attention and was positive there was nothing she could do by herself to help him. But he had said ‘not safe’. Did that mean he didn’t feel safe by himself or that it wasn’t safe for her to go alone, she wondered. Surely as big as he was there wasn’t much that scared him.
“I have to go get you some help. You’re bleeding from the back of your head. You need medical attention.”
“No. Just need…sleep…”
“Now I may not be a doctor and maybe you didn’t hear me the first time, but you are bleeding from your head and I’m almost positive sleep is not going to help.” She knew she sounded snappy but time was running out.
She had heard that a concussion could seriously mess with someone’s thought process but this dude was on a different plane. He thought a little nap was going to heal a bleeding head wound. And that was the only evident injury, what if there were internal injuries? She had to convince him to let go of her ankle so she could go get some real medical help. She slowly twisted and knelt down the best she could since he obviously was not letting her go. She hoped getting closer would help her plead her case. “Look, I know you’re probably scared and most definitely in pain so just let me go get some help. We can get you to the hospital and the doctors can fix you right up.”
He moved so fast Kyndel barely saw the action but she definitely felt the crushing grip he had switched from her ankle to her hand. She couldn’t help but wonder how the hell someone that had been unconscious two minutes ago had moved so fast? The upside was he had taken his hand off her ankle so she could move her hips all the way around and get a little more comfortable since the big guy had decided they had time for a chat. As she stared into his face, she realized how much that single movement had cost him. She could see the strain around his eyes and mouth. He was in a hell of a lot of pain and she really needed to convince him to let her go get some help.
“Ok big guy, you really have to let me get you some help. There’s a convenience store right up the street.” She nodded her head in the direction of the store. “I can run there in a flash, use the phone and have some help here lickety split. So just let go of my hand. ’Kay?” She was using her best “talk the kitten out of the tree” voice. At this point she would try just about anything to make him see reason.