Kaylene’s head was pounding, and the pain that was radiating from her right arm felt as though someone had ripped it from its socket then tried to stitch it back on. Her entire body was aching and stiff. She felt her forehead scrunch together in concentration as she searched back through her thoughts about what could cause this kind of pain. The memory hit her like a car running head on into a brick wall. She had been shot out of the sky.

Fuck me running sideways. What the hell happened?

Opening her eyes, Kaylene could see she was safely ensconced back in her bed, pillows stuffed behind her head to push her into a somewhat inclined position. The sun was streaming in through the crack in the curtains in her room, and there was a glass of water and a bottle of Aspirin on the nightstand next to her bed. Looking down at herself to assess the damage under the covers, Kaylene hissed through her teeth as she went to move her arm. It was in a makeshift cast made from what appeared to be a flannel bedding material. Using her left hand to roll up the tank top she was dressed in, she could see the bruising along her torso that was currently working to fade from dark purple to a yellowish color.

“So much for swimsuit season,” Kaylene muttered under her breath as she took inventory of her working limbs by wiggling everything to make sure it was in working order.

There was a shadow outside of her door, and Kaylene jerked her eyes to the shape standing in her doorway to her bedroom. As it moved into the light, Kaylene could see Landon’s long hair tied back into a bun, still wearing the clothes he had worn that night.

“You look like shit,” Kaylene observed, noticing he had looked as though he hadn’t slept in days.

“I could say the same for you. How are you feeling?” Landon asked, moving across the room to sit on the edge of her bed, unscrew the top to the pain pills, and knock a few into his hand.

“I feel like I got hit by a truck going ninety down the interstate,” Kaylene remarked before accepting the pills from Landon and tossing them into her mouth to swallow down with the water on the nightstand. “What happened last night?”

“Last night? You don’t remember?” Landon asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

Kaylene gingerly shook her head to show her confusion before Landon spoke again, “Kaylene. You weren’t shot down last night. You’ve been out for four days.”

“FOUR DAYS?” Kaylene exclaimed coming up off of the pillows hastily before her body forced itself to lay back down due to the pain.

Landon nodded, “You were shot down by a hunter. We’ll come back to the details on that though, because I have questions about it. After I got you back to camp, I took you to Mama Ally. She used to work as a nurse when she was younger to help with the miners up in this area. We couldn’t get you to wake up and shift back, so she set your wing and put it in a splint. I brought you back here. Everyone has been in and out checking on you the past few days, but I’ve been here keeping an eye on you, making sure you were still breathing. You finally woke up long enough in the middle of the night last night for me to coax your owl into giving you your body back.”

“Holy hell… Four days? Stella and Brady are so going to fire me after all of this,” Kaylene sighed, bringing her left hand up to her forehead and burying her head in her hand.

“Your job is fine, but you’ve got some explaining to do, Feathers,” Landon said low, his blue eyes sparking bright before fading back down into their normal shade of blue.

A shiver ran down her spine at the sound of his nickname for her. She’d always giggled at the fact that he called her Feathers. It was cute.

“I don’t want to,” Kaylene said, looking away from him to stare at the window on the far wall of her room.

“Really? You’re going to keep being stubborn? Kaylene, if he hadn’t shot you, I’d allow for you to keep your secrets. But you almost died the other night from that fall. Whatever kind of shit ass deal you made with your parents, I need you to tell me now, because that hunter was a hired gun for your parents in an effort to bring you back to them,” Landon growled out, his eyes flashing bright again.

Kaylene considered what he was saying. Her parents had hired someone to shoot her? But why? She had kept their terms. There was no reason for her to get hurt… But Landon could’ve been the target. After a moment the realization slammed into her mind why her parents would have her shot down her instead of putting him down first. They were warning her that they knew where she was and who was here.

“Fuck, shit, damn,” Kaylene muttered to herself.

“Care to share?” Landon raised an eyebrow at her.

“I think I’m going to have to resign as Stella’s midwife,” Kaylene sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers.

“What? Why?” Landon asked, reaching forward to pull her hand away from her face so he could look her in the eyes.

“Landon… I’m not supposed to be anywhere near you. I made a deal with my parents to keep you safe and I’m not upholding my end,” Kaylene explained.

“What deal? The hunter mentioned a deal too. What the hell kind of deal keeps you away from me?” Landon demanded, his eyes blazing white hot now.

“When you got arrested for shifting in public, they arrested me too. My parents showed up to bail me out, and their lawyer was able to get the charges dismissed… But when I begged them to help you, they told me that the only way to save you was if I agreed to walk away from you forever. I’m not allowed to see you, be near you, contact you, none of it,” Kaylene said, her voice was now thick with emotion as she recalled the meeting with her parents. “This was a warning. They told me they would do what it takes to put you down if I came back to you.”

“But… We were mated. Why would they…? A mark is a mark. You were mine. I was yours. They aren’t supposed to do anything like that. It’s shifter custom,” Landon said as he stood to pace the room, trying to make sense of the new information.

Kaylene followed him with her eyes as she explained further, “Flight shifters don’t see it that way. They only see money, power, and keeping the bloodlines pure. They don’t cross breed. Me meeting you was a chance of fate, and they didn’t recognize that. I was supposed to marry another shifter that had old money too. I was only able to get out of that because my parents altered our contract to make sure I was locked inside for shifts so I couldn’t fly back to you. I did that three times in the first month after they pulled me from you. My owl would find you, and I would watch a while. She just needed to know her mate was okay. When they demanded I stay indoors, I told them I would only deprive my owl of the connection with the sky if they would rescind making me marry the guy they wanted me to marry. I would rather die alone than let someone else touch me.”

Landon looked at her, growing angrier by the second, and the growling that was previously very silent became louder and louder. “No one touches what is mine. You’re my mate. Mine. Mine. Mine.”

“Down there, kitty. I need Landon to come back to me please,” Kaylene murmured gently, noticing that Landon’s claws were growing longer and there were tufts of white fur that were starting to crop up on his arms. The last thing she needed was him shifting in here with her being hurt.

“You mean you left me not because you didn’t want me like the note said but because you were trying to save me?” Landon asked, trying to regain control of his panther.

“They were telling me that because your panther is so rare that you would get more time than normal. It was either the task force or the prison camp. I didn’t want you to lose yourself. The core of who you are is kind and generous and giving. I knew they would strip that from you and I couldn’t just stand by and watch it happen when I had the ability to prevent it from happening,” Kaylene said, a tear streaming down her face.

“That shit don’t fly with me, Feathers. What you did was beautiful, and I’m truly grateful, but you deprived me of the one thing I needed in this world to keep my panther and myself from going crazy,” Landon said, choking on the emotion in his voice.

“What was that?” Kaylene asked.

Landon stalked over to the side of the bed and laced his fingers into her blonde hair, lowering his face closer to hers before whispering, “You.”

Before Kaylene could fully comprehend what was happening, Landon pressed his lips to hers. After the initial shock subsided, the kiss deepened, quickly switching from one of longing and becoming one of fiery desire and need. His hands moved from her hair down to her breasts, cupping them in his hands and pressing them up towards his face.

Sucking in the air through her teeth from the pain of him jostling her currently aching body, Kaylene murmured against his lips, “Landon, I can’t. Especially with the shape my body is in right now. It hurts so bad.”

Landon leaned away from their embrace and looked down at her with an expression she couldn’t quite decipher. “Alright, but we’re definitely coming back to this later.”

Rolling her eyes at him, Kaylene said, “You’re such a guy. I tell you I need to leave to save your life, and you’re over here trying to get your dick wet.”

“Don’t sass me, woman. It’s been nearly three years since I saw your face, and I thought you didn’t want me anymore. I’m going to soak in the victory and enjoy the fact that secretly, deep down inside of you, you still love me,” Landon quipped, pushing up from the bed and moving to the empty side of the bed to lie down next to her.

“What are you doing?” Kaylene asked, completely bewildered by his current behavior.

“I’m going to hold my mate because she’s hurting and healing, and while she sleeps, I’m going to do some thinking,” Landon said, pulling her into his side as he tucked himself beneath the blankets.

“You, sir, are a stubborn asshole,” Kaylene yawned as she settled her head down on his chest.

“Well, Feathers, one of us has to fight for us. I’m going to get you back. That mark on your shoulder means something, and I’m willing to do what it takes to get things back to the way they should be,” Landon said. “Now get some rest; your body still has a long way to go.”

Kaylene didn’t argue with him. She knew fighting her parents would be futile but for now, she was safe, and tired, and sore because of them. So for now, she was going to revel in the rebellion and enjoy being back in Landon’s arms again, even if it was for just a moment.