Chapter Thirteen

 

Thankfully, things were less chaotic in the back hallways, and it was only a minute or two before Otto made it back to the competitors’ room. Kate was lying on a blanket on the ground, surrounded by several shifters who all appeared to be trying to clean up her wounds. Someone had brought over a first aid kit, and overall it seemed like Kate was in stable condition. When Otto stepped up, the other shifters stepped aside to make room for him. He saw that Kate’s eyes were open, and most of her open wounds had been cleaned and bandaged. Even though he could tell now that she was going to be just fine, his heart twisted up at the sight of her, lying there covered in blood-soaked bandages.

“How do you feel?” he asked, gently pushing a loose strand of hair back from her face.

She groaned. “Like hell. And I don’t remember exactly what happened. I blacked out near the Seversons’ vault, and then woke up here. The others said you pretty much saved the day and carried me back.”

Otto grinned. “Someone had to look out for your crazy ass. I told you that was a dangerous mission.”

She let out a long, raspy sigh. “I guess this is the part where I admit you were right.”

Otto shrugged. He wasn’t as concerned with being right as he was with whether or not Kate was okay. Besides, it appeared that in the end the shifters had managed to steal the meeting minutes they had been after. And he had to admit that that was pretty huge. The information they found in there could indeed make a big difference for the revolution. “Now isn’t the time to point fingers or gloat. We’re not completely safe yet. We still have to make sure that Loki doesn’t suspect where your injuries truly came from.”

Kate’s eyes widened, as though this thought hadn’t even occurred to her yet. Otto wasn’t surprised. She must have been borderline in shock when she first came back to consciousness. “How…how in the world are we going to do that?”

Otto smiled. “Easy. I set a lion loose in the Arena hallways. We’re going to tell everyone that you were injured trying to stop that lion.”

Kate’s eyes widened even more. “You set a lion loose?”

Otto laughed. “Desperate times call for desperate measures. The lion did exactly what we needed it to do. It caused a huge disturbance, and it will make it easy for us to explain away your wounds. As a bonus, I wouldn’t be surprised if the rest of today’s Games are cancelled. The lion freaked out quite a few of the Gilt Hollow citizens.”

Kate struggled to sit up. She winced slightly, but managed to get herself upright. Then she narrowed her eyes at Otto. “But won’t they realize that someone let the lion loose on purpose? Someone like a shifter?”

Otto shook his head. “I don’t think so. I did a pretty good job of making it look like the lion itself broke free from the cage. And none of the wild animal handlers were there, like they should have been, so there were no witnesses. Those guys are going to be in trouble. As they should be.”

Kate considered this for a moment. “And what about the mess back at the vault? Kellen told me we got the files we wanted, but I’m not sure it matters. The Seversons are going to turn the city upside down until they figure out which shifters broke into the vault.”

Otto smiled broadly. “I doubt it. I threatened the guards pretty severely.”

“It’s true,” Kellen piped in. “I was trying to tell you that when Otto came in. You should have seen the looks on their faces. I don’t think any of them are going to be saying a peep about the fact that the vault got broken into. Especially since when they look in the vault it’s not going to look like we actually stole anything. They’ll think we were after the gold and jewels, and when all of that is still accounted for they’re going to breathe a sigh of relief.”

Otto nodded. “They’ll count themselves lucky and not say a peep about it. They certainly aren’t going to want to admit that they let a group of shifters get by them. They’ll lose their jobs for that, and be the laughingstock of the city.”

Kate rubbed her forehead. “But the vault was a mess. Can they really clean it up that fast?”

“They will,” Otto said with a chuckle. “They’ll do what they have to do to keep from getting in trouble. And the kitchen servants will, too. They shouldn’t have been bringing wine up to guards who were on duty.”

“Wow. So we actually got away with this?”

“I’d say we did.” Otto’s smile widened. “Congratulations, Kate. Your crazy ass managed to pull off this mission.”

Kate hung her head. “Thanks to you. I would have been killed if not for you. Maybe all of the shifters with me would have been killed.”

Otto reached out and ran a finger down her cheek. He hated to see her looking so sad. “Look, I’m not here to place blame, okay? You did a brave thing. Maybe a little foolhardy, but still. Brave. And it looks like it’s all going to turn out for the best in the end. So don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Kate looked up and gave him a sheepish smile, and Otto felt his heart doing that strange flip-flop it often did when she was around. He would have leaned in and kissed her, if not for the fact that there were so many other people around. He was tempted to lean in and kiss her anyway. But before he could, the door to the competitor room swung open, and two very angry trainers stormed in.

“Everyone up! We’re clearing out the building. The Games are cancelled for the rest of the day.”

Otto grinned. Everything was working out just perfectly. He stood, lifting Kate up in his arms. “This one can’t stand,” he said loudly. “She was attacked by a lion.”

The trainers’ eyes widened, and one of them cursed loudly. “Carry her to the medical wing to have her looked at. Are her injuries serious?”

“I don’t think so. And we’ve bandaged her up pretty well with a first aid kit.”

“I still want her looked at by medical,” one of the trainers said. “Get her over there. And someone tell Loki. God, what a mess. Those stupid animal handlers, leaving a lion unattended.”

Otto did his best to hide his smile as he carried Kate out of the room and toward medical. “Looks like we’re home free,” he whispered in her ear. She smiled back at him, then sighed happily. The sound made Otto’s heart do another flip-flop, and he determined then and there that as soon as they were back at the Severson estate and alone, he was going to tell her that she was his lifemate. He should have told her from the beginning. He’d had good intentions of trying to help her keep her focus, but he realized now that she could have died without his ever having had a chance to tell her the truth. And he could not have lived with that.

Thankfully, he wasn’t going to have to live with that. And if he had his way, he was going to live the rest of his life with Kate by his side.

 

* * *

 

Kate blinked her eyes open to find herself staring up at a familiar ceiling. She was back in her bedroom at the Severson estate, tucked under her plush comforter. Her body didn’t ache nearly as much as it had the last time she’d been conscious. She raised an arm and saw that it was covered in fresh bandages—bandages that were no longer blood-soaked. Some of the scratches didn’t even have bandages on them anymore. Whoever had taken care of her in the medical wing must have decided that the wounds weren’t serious enough to warrant attention. It looked like she was going to make a full, quick recovery.

But how had everything else worked out? Had they really gotten away with breaking into the vaults? Had the guards really kept quiet? Kate sat up, wondering what time it was and how long she’d been sleeping. The curtains in her room were drawn, but some light was still coming in from outside, so it couldn’t have been too late.

When she sat up, she saw that she was not alone in the room. Otto sat slumped in the armchair in her room, but he sat up straight when he saw her moving.

“Hey! How are you feeling?”

“Um, pretty good actually.” Kate looked around the room to see that her dinner had already been brought. Or was it lunch? Either way, a spread of olives, cheeses, bread, and cold cuts of meat waited for her on the table in her room. A carafe of water and another carafe of wine had been provided as well. “What time is it? How long have I been asleep?”

Otto glanced at his wristwatch. “It’s almost five. You’ve been asleep a while, actually. The doctors insisted on giving you something to knock you out. They said you needed rest, and I just went along with it. I figured the more concerned they were about you, the better. Loki is beside himself with anger that his precious star female shifter was wounded by a rogue lion.”

Kate giggled. “I guess that means everything worked out the way you hoped it would?”

Otto nodded. “I would say we don’t have anything to worry about. In fact, I think letting the lion loose worked out even better than I thought. There have already been several protests in the streets today. Many of the Gilt Hollow citizens are saying that the Games are too dangerous and should be abolished.”

“Really? Wow.”

Otto shrugged. “Yeah. I don’t expect that to actually happen anytime soon. But the protests are a step in the right direction.”

“And all the other shifters are okay?”

“Yup. None of the shifters got in trouble as far as I know. We were all told to go to our rooms and stay there until the protests and general chaos died down, but other than that there haven’t been any consequences for us. I’d say that staying in our rooms is an improvement over having to fight in matches at a Games event.”

“I agree. But how did you end up in my room.”

“Loki asked me to stay with you, to make sure you were okay. He’s convinced that someone wanted to kill you because they were worried that he was going to become too famous for having the first female shifter competitor.”

Kate laughed. “That guy is so paranoid.”

“Yeah. But I guess this time it works in our favor. He’s too worried about his little conspiracy theories to suspect the real truth of what happened today.”

Kate leaned back against the pillows on her bed and let out a long sigh. “Well thank you, again. You really saved the day today. On top of saving the mission, you saved my life.”

Otto’s face grew serious. “I will always save your life, Kate.”

His tone implied that there was a deeper meaning to his words, and she felt her heart beginning to pound in her chest. She tried to think of something clever to say, but she was at a loss. So she looked down at her hands and mumbled, “That’s really kind of you to say. But you know you don’t have to do that.”

“Yes, Kate. I do.” He stood from the armchair and walked across the room to sit on the edge of her bed. He pushed back a stray strand of hair and reached out to gently grab her chin, turning her head toward him. “Look at me.”

She looked at him, and the heat in his eyes made her feel like she herself was beginning to burn up. What was going on here? He’d made it pretty clear before all of this that she meant nothing to him. Had he suddenly changed his mind? She bit her lip, wanting to believe that he wanted her, but trying to push the thought away. She couldn’t bear to get her hopes up and then have them dashed. She had let herself think that he was her lifemate, but she’d felt like a fool after he made it crystal clear that he wasn’t, and that he only cared about her for her physical beauty. But now…now there was something different about him. He had changed somehow. His attitude toward her had changed somehow.

“I owe you an apology,” he said, still not letting go of her chin, and still holding her gaze with those intense eyes of his. “I pushed you away when I should have pulled you close. I acted like making love to you was no big deal, when really it changed my life.”

“Otto…” Kate breathed out. Her heart was pounding so loudly that she was sure he must be able to hear it.

“I mean it. After I slept with you, I felt the lifemate bond forming.”

He let the words hang in the air, and Kate tried to process them. But she felt confused. If he had felt the lifemate bond, why in the world had he pushed her away? As if he had read her mind, he answered the question her heart had just asked.

“This vault raiding mission you insisted on doing was quite dangerous, but I could see from the beginning that I had no real chance of talking you out of it. You’d set your mind on getting those records, and you weren’t going to stop until you had your hands on them. I figured you had enough on your mind already without my bringing talk of love and lifemates into the game.”

Kate widened her eyes. “But…I would have been so happy to know that you felt that way about me. I was devastated when you acted like there had been nothing important between us.”

Otto’s face twisted into a guilty expression. “I realize that now. But before the mission, I thought that I would break your focus if I told you the truth. I’m sorry that I hurt you. I feel horrible about it. But I hope you can believe me when I say I never did it on purpose. I was only trying to protect you. And even though I didn’t tell you that you were my lifemate, I still kept an eye out for you. I still did everything I could to keep you safe during the mission.”

“You were following us the whole time, weren’t you?”

Otto dropped his hand from her chin and ran his fingers through his hair, looking sheepish. “Yeah. I didn’t want to take over your mission or get tangled up in it. But I knew there was a lot of potential for things to go wrong. I decided to watch from afar just in case. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to jump in and help, but I’m glad that I was there when you needed me.”

Kate felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment. “I acted like such an idiot. You were right all along. That mission was far too dangerous, and had no chance of success. But I insisted on doing it anyway.”

To her surprise, Otto shook his head. “It’s not true that the mission had no chance of success. You succeeded, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but only because of you.”

“Does it matter? All that shows is that I should have helped you more from the start. If I hadn’t so stubbornly refused to give your idea a chance, we could have worked together more. You’ve taught me a lot over the last few days, actually.”

“I have?”

“Yes, you have. I’ve realized that you were right. We need to take more risks. There’s potential for things to go wrong, of course. But there’s also potential for things to go right. I wrote you off too easily. In fact, I’ve written off so many people who told me that we needed to risk more, and I’m ashamed of that now. This revolution needs a kick start, and you gave it that today.”

Kate felt a rush of pride. It made her happy that Otto was praising her efforts. But she still wasn’t ready to admit that the mission had been the best idea. “I almost died. Other shifters almost died. I think maybe it was more of a kick start then we needed.”

Otto only laughed again. “Perhaps. But everything worked out in the end, and I think we’ve both learned something going forward. You’ve learned that it’s good to be a bit more cautious, and I’ve learned that it’s good to be a bit more reckless. We make a pretty good team together, actually.”

Kate’s heart warmed at his words. “A team? Are we a team?”

Otto grinned and nodded. “Definitely. As long as you’re willing. I’d like you to work with me to lead the resistance. I could use a right hand man who pushes me a bit. Or, I guess, in your case it would be a right hand woman.”

“Really? I would be honored. But I’m shocked that you would still want me after the way today went.”

“I told you. We’ve both learned something today. I would be the one honored to have you by my side. And not just as a co-leader of the resistance. I want you by my side as my lifemate, too.”

Kate felt her heart pounding in her chest as it had so many times over the last few days. Only this time, she had hope that her feelings might actually be reciprocated. “Your…your lifemate?”

He nodded. “I don’t know if you felt the lifemate bond, too. But when we made love, I felt it like a fire in my core. You’re my destiny, Kate. I’m convinced of it. I know it’s crazy to want to commit my life to you when I haven’t known you that long. Especially when much of the time we have spent together has been spent fighting over the best way to run the resistance. But I know deep in my bones that you and I are meant for each other. I cannot ignore the way my heart beats for you, and I hope you’ll give me a chance to show you how committed I am to protecting you.”

The hopeful look in his eyes was enough to break Kate’s heart. She smiled at him, and reached for his hand. “You’ve already shown me. You protected me today, even when you didn’t have to.”

He smiled back. “That’s where you’re wrong. I did have to. How many times do I have to say it, Kate? You’re my lifemate. My most important job from here on out is protecting you.”

Kate looked down at her hand, loving the way her fingers looked when intertwined with his. “I guess I didn’t make that job easy today.”

He threw back his head and let out a long, hearty laugh. “No, you didn’t. But what fun would having a lifemate be if rescuing her was easy?”

Kate gave him a sheepish grin and shrugged.

“So what do you say, Kate? Will you let me love you for a lifetime? Do you believe what I’m saying? That we’re destined for each other?”

Kate bit her lip and nodded. “I believe you. I felt the lifemate bond, too. But I didn’t say anything because you acted so casual about the fact that we had slept together. I thought if you didn’t feel a bond then I must have imagined it.”

“I’m so sorry, Kate. I acted like such a jerk. I had good intentions, I promise. But I still shouldn’t have acted like you meant nothing to me. The truth is, you mean everything to me. Everything. And if you’ll let me, I’ll spend a lifetime showing you that.”

Kate smiled, feeling shy and yet happy. Otto might have driven her crazy over the last few days, but it wasn’t all a bad kind of crazy. He drove her crazy in a good way, too. She felt her heart doing delightful little flip-flops in her chest, and she squeezed his hand. “I think I’d very much like to spend a lifetime together.”

His eyes burned as they gazed at her, and he leaned in to kiss her then. He put his free hand up to her cheek, while holding firmly to her hand with his other hand. His lips were strong, his kiss hungry. Kate trembled under his spell, and all too soon he pulled back. But he didn’t pull away completely. He merely wanted to look at her.

“I’m so lucky,” he whispered, his voice husky. “You’re beautiful and brave. What more could I ever have asked for?”

Kate didn’t answer with words. Instead, she leaned in to kiss him again. She’d had enough talk, and she could think of better ways than words to show him how she felt. But to her dismay, moments after she put her lips on his, a sharp knock sounded at the door.

She and Otto jumped apart as though they’d been electrocuted. It wasn’t that either of them were ashamed of each other, or were doing something wrong. The Gilt Hollow citizens had never forbidden relationships between two shifters—they only forbade relationships between a shifter and a Gilt Hollow citizen. Still, Kate didn’t feel comfortable with a Gilt Hollow citizen knowing that she had feelings for Otto. Knowing how the Gilt Hollow humans acted, they were liable to find a reason to impose rules or regulations on any shifter romances they discovered.

Otto must have felt the same way, because he retreated to the armchair he’d been sitting in earlier. Once he was a safe distance away, Kate called out, “Come in,” in a shaky voice. Part of her was still worried, despite Otto’s reassurances, that the Seversons were somehow going to discover that the vault had been raided. As the door creaked open, she held her breath, terrified to see who might be entering her room.