"She's just the bounty, buddy. I don't know anything about it." Redmond drew her closer. "Now get out of the way. I have a car waiting on the road."
Where were his people? Bear eyed the plasma ball. If it hit him square on, it'd knock him out. He wasn't strong enough to fight Redmond while remaining in human form, but he wasn't sure he'd survive another shift. His illness was progressing way too quickly. "Who wants her?"
"Ah, man. You know I can't divulge that kind of information and then let you live." Redmond pulled Nessa to the right of the porch.
She kept her head up so the knife didn't cut her. "What's the price?" she hissed.
"One billion. Human dollars." Redmond lost the smile. "I'm not the only one after you."
She swallowed. "Wonderful."
Bear stepped over the corpse on the ground. "You're just gonna leave your dead friend?"
"Wasn't a friend. Local muscle who got me to your cabin." Redmond didn't even shrug. "You going to get out of the way?" He lifted the fire.
Nessa shot an elbow into his gut, jerked away from the knife, and then executed a perfect roundhouse kick to the rib cage.
Redmond stumbled back, righting himself on the cabin wall. "Bitch."
"That's not nice." She threw a hook punch to Redmond's jaw and then kneed him in the groin. He doubled over with a squeal of panicked pain.
"You can fight?" Bear said, moving closer in case she needed backup, his limbs barely following his brain's instruction. He stumbled. His vision went gray.
"I'm a hundred years old," she gasped, punching Redmond repeatedly in the lower abdomen, looking like a lady from the previous century in her pretty skirt and proper blouse. One who could kick some ass if necessary. "Of course I can fight."
Redmond reared up, screaming. He lifted his arm with the fire.
"Nessa," Bear yelled, moving toward her just as Redmond smashed the fire across Nessa's upper chest. Bear rushed for them and grabbed Redmond, throwing him face-first into the log siding. Blood sprayed. He smashed Redmond's head back and forth twice, as hard as he could, before shoving the asshole to the ground. Bear moved toward Nessa. Could he get her to the river fast enough?
She watched him, the blue fire playing across her upper chest and neck. Then she smiled, and the fire was snuffed out.
He stumbled. His head went numb. "What the hell?"
"Fire doesn't harm me. Part of the curse, I guess. Did I not mention that fact?" She moved closer, her face wavering before him. "Bear? Are you all right?"
Redmond shoved to his feet, his face a bloody mess. He fell off the porch and turned, running toward the forest.
Everything in Bear screamed to hunt and kill. He turned and bunched his muscles. His legs gave, and he dropped to one knee. Damn it. He swayed. The last thing he felt as darkness tried to take him was Nessa's soft hands catching his head before it smacked onto the rough boards of the porch.
* * *
Nessa stoked the fire she'd created hours ago and turned back to the silent male on the worn cabin floor. She'd been able to drag him inside, but there was no way she could lift him to the bed. So she'd covered him with a blanket and set a pillow beneath his head, trying very hard to ignore his nudity.
Her hands ached, and she shook them out, moving back to her perch next to him. The rain had lightened outside but the wind had increased in force, scattering pine needles against the cabin. A wolf howled in the far distance followed by a mournful train whistle echoing over the mountains.
It had taken an hour to heal most of the burns over Bear's chest and arms. Then she'd set to work on a deeper level, trying to repair the damage. For the first time in her life, she wasn't sure she could heal an immortal injury. It was too massive. Even injuries from a demon mind attack didn't cut so deeply or permanently. Could she save Bear?
She brushed his now dry hair away from his rugged face. The firelight flickered across his features, highlighting his prominent brow, straight nose, and stubborn chin. Her fingers traced along his scruffy jaw and down the strong cords of his neck to his collarbone. Even that was masculine.
The dragon talons on his bicep looked deadly sharp and somehow glowed in the firelight. She caressed each one, impressed with the play of muscle beneath the ink. Even injured to this degree, his body was all male. She swept her hands across his chest and down, counting the ridges of his abdomen. So many.
"Keep going," he whispered, his voice gruff and growly.
She started and looked up to see his gaze on her. Honey and chocolate. Bear's eyes. "How are you feeling?" she murmured.