As he’d rounded the line of palms near the lip of the clearing, Jameson took only a split second to take in the horror before him. He launched himself at the jaguar’s mid-section, knocking it off Audrey and landing on his feet. He grabbed the jug of water and raised his arms in an effort to appear larger. He used every ounce of strength he had and threw the jug at the cat, roaring loudly. The cat roared back, but bolted back under cover of the forest when Jameson lunged for it.

He’d been running ever since he’d found Audrey gone, forsaking the supplies back in the cave. He was sure he’d reach her if he doubled his time but that wasn’t something that could be done if he was weighed down.

“Damn you, Audrey, wake up!”

His voice was raw with fear, adrenaline pumping through him as if the animal was still attacking. During the entire trek to find her, he’d cursed at her, planning with detail the earful of profanity he was going to give her when he saw her.

Of course, he hadn’t expected to find her with a jaguar on top of her lifeless body, covered in blood. When he had come upon them, Jameson didn’t stop to consider safety or anything else – only that he had to stop the attack. It looked as if the big cat had just sunk its teeth into her neck.

He took in the blood loss as he gently picked her up, cradling her as her chances slipped further and further away from him. Even if he could get her to a hospital, there would be no saving Audrey from this, the depth of the claw marks and the deep bite wound in her throat had caused massive damage.

He placed his hand over her neck, squeezing as firmly as he dared, trying to staunch the fountain of blood. He knew it was futile, but he couldn’t stop himself – he couldn’t just let her bleed out!

The blood rushed through his fingers, and poured onto the dead foliage on the forest floor. Jameson’s heart clenched hard as he realized there wasn’t anything he could do.

Nothing.

“Jesus Christ! Why did you run off?” he yelled. “Why didn’t you just stay? None of this would have happened…”

His voice cracked and he bent his head till his forehead touched hers, his eyes burning from tears that wouldn’t fall.

“Don’t die, goddamn it!” he growled. “I just found you.”

He remained curled over her, frozen, not wanting to move. Ever. Never wanting to admit he had failed to protect her, to save her.

He willed time to stop, to turn back. He couldn’t bear to look into her face, to see it without a smile, or without the mischievous twinkle in her eye when she knew she was pushing his buttons – on purpose, of course.

He couldn’t bear for her to get cold. To die. He gripped her for what felt like hours, refusing to acknowledge her lack of breath, the stillness of her heart. Eventually the blood stopped pouring through his fingers, but that only made him squeeze his eyes together harder. Absolutely unwilling to let her go.

But after a long while, he realized that she was warming beneath his touch, not cooling.

“What the…?”

He lifted his head to look at her and stared at her face in confusion. Color was moving back into her cheek.

Shock and awe consumed him as he gazed at her body. He could feel her heartbeat. It was growing stronger and suddenly, he realized that her chest was rising softly – with breaths.

“Audrey! Audrey, can you hear me?” he choked, slapping her face gently. “Look at me!”

With great effort, her lids fluttered open and she peered at him with those stormy grey eyes.

“Oh my God. Look at me, Audrey!”

Just when he thought he was at the pinnacle of amazement, she sat up weakly, and smiled up at him.

“Wow,” she muttered, shaking her head. “What the hell did you do?”

He gaped at her.

“What did I do? What did you do? You were attacked by a jungle cat, for Christ’s sake! How did you—how are you—what the hell?”

She shook her head and gazed around blinking.

“Yeah,” she muttered, the smile fading from her face as she looked down at her body. “Yeah, I remember that.”

“You can heal yourself?” he gasped. “Why didn’t you mention that?”

“I-I can’t,” she told him. “I’ve never healed myself before.”

“Well, you have a whole new talent to put on your resume, Dr. McMahon.”

“I don’t think so, Jameson.”

His eyes narrowed as he stared at her.

“Half an hour ago, you were almost dead. I could have pronounced you.”

“But then you found me,” she murmured. “I think you saved me.”

“I couldn’t have saved you, even if I tried. That jaguar had already done it’s worst before I got here. You were gone. You lost too much blood! Look at the punctures—”

He faltered and blinked, his hands stroking them gently as her skin resealed before his eyes.

“Holy crap, Audrey. You are capable of some crazy shit.”

“It’s not just me,” she told him quietly. “It’s you. You’re the reason I healed.”

He laughed even though there was no mirth in his tone.

“Not likely.”

“Yes,” she said excitedly, the light coming fully back into her eyes, glowing like lit coals on an open fire. “You are. You are a healer. That’s what Oculus did to you.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, but he knew precisely what she was saying.

“It makes sense if you think about it,” she told him quietly. “Have you ever been sick since your blackouts? Have you ever been hurt?”

A weird feeling washed over him as he considered her questions, sifting through the whispy memories that had remained intact.

“No,” he admitted. “But that doesn’t mean—”

“You’re a doctor. You’re always preaching the benefits of fighting through pain because you don’t feel pain like other people. Those bites on your chest should have been excruciating and dangerous to your immune system. And yet – there’s not even any redness to them anymore.”

Excitement was coloring her words and she jumped to her feet, cringing slightly as she did, still tender from the attack.

“Cut yourself,” she ordered him.

“What?”

“Cut yourself.”

She whirled around and looked for something to use. Her eyes landed on a jagged rock and she picked it up, the intent clear in her eyes.

He held his arm out to her, just to prove her wrong.

She faltered as the stone touched the back of his bicep, looking at him with worry.

“See, now you understand how crazy it sounds, right?” he said with a smirk.

“No, I’m sure you can heal it…I just don’t…want – to hurt you,” she finally whispered.

He gently traced her jawline with his thumb, “Go ahead, sweetheart. It’ll be worth it to prove you wrong.”

She choked out a laugh, thankful that he knew her well enough to know how to set her at ease.

Without warning, she leaned forward and slashed his shoulder deeply with the sharp stone. He glared at her in shock, but she laughed, pointing.

“Look!”

The cut opened up to release a single drop of blood, much less than what a gash of that size should have produced. Within seconds, the skin had healed and it was impossible to see that anything had happened on his arm.

“How have you not noticed this before?” she demanded dubiously. “How could you not notice that you can’t be hurt? That you can’t get sick? That you can heal?”

“I speak at sessions, Audrey. I’m not always traipsing through the jungle, you know!”

She snickered and reached down to pull him up.

“I wonder if they’ve been watching you this whole time,” she murmured. “They must have known.”

She paused and pursed her lips together.

“You have a handler.”

“A handler? Like I’m some kind of circus animal?” He said dubiously.

“No,” she said quietly. “Like a lab rat. You’re an experiment, Jameson, one that they let out into the world for some reason and now you’re a danger to Oculus.”

“I don’t have a handler,” he insisted. All he wanted to do was sweep her up in his arms and smother her face with kisses, grateful that she was alive.

“Then do it,” she said suddenly, a smile lighting her face.

“Do what?”

“Smother me with kisses.”

“You have got to stay out of my mind,” he told her gruffly. But he didn’t wait for her to respond before grabbing her and covering her face with sweet, tender displays of affection.

“I should kill you now,” he breathed into her ear. “For what you just put me through.”

“You already know you can’t live without me,” she whispered back, their bodies pressed tightly together. “And I know for a fact that I can’t live without you.”

Their mouths met for a gentle kiss and he sighed, shaking his head.

“We’re still in trouble, Audrey,” he reminded her. “We need to keep moving.”

“I know,” she agreed. “But I had an epiphany when we were separated.”

“When you took off, you mean?”

“Semantics, Jameson.”

He rolled his eyes theatrically.

“What was your epiphany?”

“I don’t think they’re following us. There’s too much ground to cover and they wouldn’t waste manpower on this for three days. They are expecting you to call someone you know. They’re undoubtedly watching your family, your friends. You need to stay with me, come back to the compound and work with my family. You can’t reach out to any of your people.”

Any of my people…

His eyes widened suddenly.

“My family,” he choked. “What will they do?”

“Nothing,” she assured him firmly. “Not a thing. They’ll wait for you to mess up and call. It’s us they want, Jameson, not your family. Something has changed but I don’t understand what it is.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Have I been wrong so far?” she asked lightly.

“You were wrong to take off, weren’t you?”

She nodded, lowering her gaze.

“Yes,” she replied softly. “I was. It’s not a mistake I’m going to make again, I swear.”

He grinned at her evilly. “Don’t worry – I won’t let you forget.

“And what about staying out of my head?”

“I wasn’t wrong about that,” she said lightly. He couldn’t help but snicker.

“Jesus. I’ve got to remember to stop fantasizing about Megan Fox then.”

Audrey cocked her head to the side and studied him.

“There’s no way that you get off on Megan Fox, not with your psychological profile.”

He burst out laughing and drew her into him again, kissing the top of her head.

“We need to keep going, Audrey. I left all the supplies behind and we have days left to travel.”

“I know but I want to make sure we have an understanding, Jameson. Let Oculus think we’re rotting away out here, all right? You can’t go back to your practice or contact anyone. As far as the world is concerned, we’re working in Nicaragua. Let’s keep it that way.”

Jameson’s eyes widened as something occurred to him.

“Oh…Tonya will ask questions,” he murmured. “I need to find a way to tell her I’m okay.”

“Tonya?”

“My assistant. Shit, she’s probably already losing her shit now that I haven’t been in touch with her for three days.”

“I’ll have my family figure out a way to message her on your behalf. Let’s hope she didn’t raise any alerts. We don’t need the local authorities out looking for us because they just might catch us before we can get to safety.”

“We really better get moving,” he said urgently. There was no doubt in his mind that Tonya had already sent out an alarm.