King's Throne(9)

“You’ve got most of what you were awake for at least. That’s a good thing.”
“So what did I miss?” He liked the feel of her hands on his body. She had a gentle, healing touch.
“Let’s see. Two rounds of convulsions and three jabs with a needle packed with universal shifter blood.”
“Your blood,” he confirmed. “I remember that part.” He raised one hand to take hers and squeezed gently. “Thank you for that, milady. If I didn’t say it before, let me say it now.”
“You’re welcome.” Her gaze held his for a long moment and he was about to say to hell with protocol and tradition. He was angling in for a kiss when there was a pounding on the door of the cabin.
Mitch instantly released her, climbing to his feet, hoping to defend her from any possible threat no matter how bad a shape he was in. His legs trembled under his own weight but he refused to acknowledge the weakness.
Gina came out from behind him and he growled low in his throat in warning. She only sent him a somewhat worried smile.
“It’s my dad. I’d know his idea of a gentle knock anywhere.”
Mitch tried to move but couldn’t seem to walk. He growled again in frustration and watched helplessly as she went toward the door.
“Be certain it’s him before you open up.” It was the only thing he could do to keep her safe, and it wasn’t much. He was in bad physical shape and he plopped down on the side of the bed as his wobbly legs gave way. One hand propped him up as he leaned heavily on his uninjured side, glaring at the door and the woman heading toward it.
“Dad, is that you?”
“Who else?” came the roar of a full-grown tiger from the other side of the heavy wooden door.
A tiger in human form, of course. The Tig’Ra. That much Mitch remembered. Gina’s dad was the rarest of the rare, the magic-touched, born-to-rule, tigre of all tigres. The white tiger. The Sun King. The one blessed by the Goddess and meant to govern all of his kind.
Mitch tried hard to stand up straight but he couldn’t even manage that as Gina opened the door and launched herself into the arms of the older man at the threshold. He hugged his daughter, but his sharp blue eyes sought and measured Mitch even as he greeted his daughter.
“How’s my girl?” The king lifted Gina off her feet for a quick moment as he stepped into the cabin. He let her go and shut the door behind him, securing it before he turned his full attention to Mitch.
Mitch felt every inch of the once-over he received. It was hard not to feel intimidated, even though Mitch was secure in his own skin. Or at least he had been—before meeting the Goddess-touched tiger king.
“And you must be Mitch.”
He tried to drop to one knee, but it was more like a fall rather than the graceful gesture he’d intended. Gina and her father each reached out and took one of his arms, steadying him, much to his chagrin.
“Whoa there, son. No need for that,” Gina’s father’s voice came to Mitch as if from a distance and he knew he was in danger of passing out again. “Give us some room, Gina,” the older man ordered gently.
And then the room spun as the king himself reached out again, shooed his daughter away and lifted Mitch up, one strong hand under each arm. He placed Mitch in a sitting position on the edge of the bed. The older man offered support while the room steadied and then stilled. Thank goodness, the spinning had stopped, but Mitch didn’t make any sudden moves, just in case the room decided to start dancing around again.
“My apologies, sire,” he mumbled, embarrassed by his weakness and humbled before the greatest and most blessed of all tiger shifters. “I’m not as strong as I should be.”
“No, you’re not. And I’m here to find out why.” The king pulled up one of the sturdy wooden chairs and sat at Mitch’s side. Gina perched on his other side and together they told the story of how Mitch had come to be under her care.
“My partner and I have been guarding the pantera noir Nyx for several years,” Mitch answered, when the king asked how Mitch had come to be in the city. “She had to move and we had what we thought was a solid contact in a human named Harris who owns the Silent Tiger dojo. Unfortunately, Harris was betrayed and the dojo was attacked while the Nyx was inside. Another team of Royal Guards got her out. I’m ashamed to admit I walked into an ambush.”
“They were waiting for you with a needle?” Gina asked, her voice indicating her horror at the thought.
“Near as I can figure. All I remember is fighting a wolf in battle form. He scratched the hell out of me.” Mitch raised the hem of his T-shirt to expose a few of the red lines that had mostly healed. Gina’s magical blood and his own shifter constitution had done the work of healing his physical wounds, but whatever poison was still in his system, making him weak as a kitten, was something altogether different. “While I was distracted by the wolf, someone jabbed me with a needle from behind.”