Chapter Nine
Alicia unwrapped a clean gauze pad and took out a roll of medical tape. Changing the bandage would help keep the wound clean.
She laid her hand on his arm, soaking up the warmth that radiated from him. “Why are you in such a rush to get back to the lions? In a couple of days, I think you’d be able to travel. That isn’t long.”
“I need to go as soon as I can. My brother will be looking for me.” Marco stared at the ceiling. “He won’t stop until he finds me, and it won’t matter who’s in the way. He’ll kill bears until he gets to me.”
“I thought you were twins?” She pulled her hand away then dug in her pack until she found the small pair of scissors she’d tossed back in after surgery. “You don’t seem like the type to kill indiscriminately. Unless I’m wrong about you.” She avoided his gaze.
He tensed. “We are twins. We aren’t exactly alike. He’s more volatile than I am.”
“I see.”
He cleared his throat. “I’m the heir to the leadership because I was born first, but we’ll rule together. When my father passes, I mean.”
She nodded. Should she tell him? No. He needed to rest and relax, not get riled up. She’d find a time to tell him. They’d had time to have a few conversations about growing up in Deep Creek already, but they’d avoided the bear/lion politics. She hadn’t told him about Ria.
“He’ll sense I’m alive, of course, and come after me. Pray the gods help anyone who gets in his way.” Marco’s voice trailed off.
“He sounds ruthless.” Alicia shuddered. “Scary.” In truth, Max had been a scary figure to her since she was young. He and Elijah were more like giants of the forest. Larger than life.
“Wouldn’t you be, to save your family?” He turned to her, his eyebrows raised in question. “What’s more important than family?”
“I wouldn’t know.” She set the scissors down and opened the tape and set it beside the scissors on her bag. “I don’t have family other than an adopted grandmother.”
“Wouldn’t you fight to save her?” He grabbed her arm, his thumb trailing up to her elbow where he squeezed gently. “Wouldn’t you do anything to save her?” he whispered.
She slipped her arm out of his grip as tears threatened to spill down her cheeks. “I suppose so. Though I’m not a violent person.” She moved closer to him and dragged her supplies. Of course she would fight, though she wouldn’t want to. She’d fight for her friends too. Were the bears so different than the lions, then? Family came first for the bears, at least most of them. Yet the lions had attacked for land, not in defense of family.
“Family makes people do things they might not otherwise do.”
“Yes. That’s true. My grandmother is the one who taught me the healing ways. She means the world to me. I’d protect her.”
Alicia took a deep breath, inhaling the healing scent of the light incense that smoked on a narrow ledge in the far end of the rocky area, its red glow punctuating the dark of that corner with a pulsating beat as it burned. The glow of the lanterns cast long shadows in the yellow light, nearly obscuring the phosphorescence dotting the cave walls. She closed her eyes and yawned.
“You’re tired.”
“I am. It’s been a stressful few days. I need to check your wound again. I’m hoping you’re showing a good amount of healing.”
“It has been a long few days. I’ll be able to leave soon.”
“Yes.”
“Your grandmother taught you to stitch up wounds?”
Alicia shook her head. “No. She taught me some things, but I had formal training too, kind of off the books. My grandmother, Tawodi, taught me the use of herbal remedies and the old way of healing. Like using the incense I’m burning over there.”
Marco rose up on one elbow and sniffed the air. “It smells good but I’m not sure how it helps me heal. Unless it’s magical or hallucinogenic. Though I’m not seeing any visions.”
“Lay back down, please.”
“Okay, Dr. Bear.”
“Very funny. Hold still so I can check your shoulder.”
“I’m still. I could only be any more still if I were dead.”
“Now that isn’t funny.” She picked at the corner of the tape on the bandage. “You don’t have to understand my grandmother’s ways. But you do need to let me take a look at your wound.”
“I’m clearly not going anywhere for another day or two, according to you.” Marco pushed his hair from his face. “What’s the hurry?”
“You want to get out as soon as possible? Then you need to let me take care of you. The last thing you need is a worsening infection.”
“I’ll be a good patient and lie here and smell the incense. Is it about time for more pain medicine? My shoulder is on fire.”
“Yes, I’ll give you more when I give you the antibiotic.”
Alicia smiled at the thought of what Marco would think if she told him the whole story about the incense. He’d likely think, like the wolves did, that she was a witch. Tawodi had made the incense in the first fires of autumn, under a new moon, with chants that her ancestor’s ancestor had once muttered over her own fire, made of leaves from the some of the same trees that still towered in Deep Creek. Tradition was strong.
“The scent is growing on me.” Marco took an exaggerated breath.
The scent burned light and deep at the same time, and comforted as it helped the body heal and the spirit rejoin its place in the world of the living.
“I’m glad. Relax. This tape is going to stick a little when I peel it.”
“I was shot. It can’t hurt as much as that did.”
“True, and now all you need is a clean bandage. You can handle it, tough guy.”
Derek would be by soon with food and clean blankets. It’d been hours since she’d removed the bullet, and though Marco seemed to be doing well, she was vigilant for signs of anything going awry.
“So, I’m a tough guy?” He grinned. “I think you bring it out in me.”
“Not likely. That gauze is soaked through. It will dry and stick then it really will be painful to remove.”
She’d convinced him that he wasn’t going to go back to the lions until he’d healed a bit, and gotten him to keep his shirt off so she could monitor the wound better, but how long would that be? The sooner he was gone, the better it was for both of them, though she had to admit, she enjoyed his company. She’d never known a lion and he seemed, well, like a normal person. A lot more interesting though.
She peeled a strip of tape from the bandaged area in a quick yank.
“Ouch.” He winced. “That hurt!”
“Sorry. I tried to do it fast.”
“It’s okay.” He spoke through clenched teeth. “I’m a tough guy, remember? I’m not going to be taken down by a piece of tape.”
“Three more pieces to go. Hang on.”
Alicia ripped off the second piece and Marco didn’t make a sound. He stared at the ceiling and didn’t even blink.
“Two more.” She tried to remove the rest as gently as she could, but the tape caught in the sparse hair on his chest, and he closed his eyes as she pressed on his skin to avoid ripping the hairs out.
His pained face told her everything he didn’t voice. The wound hurt even when she touched near it. It wasn’t the tape removal, it was his bruised shoulder.
“Is that it?” He glanced her way.
“That’s all the tape. Let me get a look at you.”
“I hope you like what you see. I suffered for you to look.”
“I’m sorry. I know this isn’t fun. It’s necessary, though.” She peeled back the gauze.
Still oozing, the skin reddened with her touch as she cleaned the area. Puffy from manipulation, the incision was inflamed but didn’t look too bad.
“How’s it look?” Marco asked. “Will I live?”
“It looks like you’ve been shot. But yes, I think you’ll live.”
“Good to know.” He placed his hand on hers. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” She slathered antibiotic cream on the wound.
He tugged at her hand and she looked up. His eyes had changed to the most beautiful emerald green with flecks of brown.
“I mean it, Alicia, thank you. You could’ve left me in the woods to die. But you didn’t.”
“Doing my job.”
“It means a lot to me.” He squeezed her hand then let it go. “I won’t forget what you’ve done.” His voice trailed off to a whisper, and he winced and closed his eyes.
She bandaged him in silence. How had it come to this, a bear nursing a lion back to health in the middle of a territorial war? She realized she wasn’t really even thinking of Marco as a lion anymore. He was a person in need.
And he was in pain. He was alone, without his family, behind the enemy lines. Was he scared or was he really the tough guy? Maybe a little of both.
His dark hair fell over his eyes and she reached to brush it away. As she did, he opened his eyes and met her gaze. She stared, unable to look away for several moments, her mouth going dry. She licked her lips as her palms dampened. Marco’s eyes, deep green...now brown...now bright green...locked her in and her heart fluttered. What was going on? Why did he turn her insides to mush when he stared deep into her—nearly reaching her very essence. She couldn’t resist.
Wanted more.
He was a patient. She couldn’t read more into things than that. He was grateful she’d saved him, that’s all. Patients sometimes mistook gratitude for something more.
Get control.
Marco’s pupils dilated, then angled into cat-eyes. She couldn’t look away, nor did she want to.
“Come here,” he whispered, his breath catching. “Closer.”
Her heart sped as she leaned forward, brushing her lips against his, lingering a moment to enjoy the feathery softness of touching. As she was about to move away, he grasped her head with his uninjured arm, then slid his hand at the base of her neck, and pulled her to him, deepening the kiss, a low moan escaping him and moving through her in a vibration of pleasure.
She fell into the kiss, hungry for his affection. Need shot through her with such force, she would’ve fallen to her knees if she were standing. Her moan echoed his as she savored the contact.
Kissing him back was right and good, and she let him in, meeting his tongue with her own. His kiss was soft but persistent, and he took a breath and crushed her lips to his again, sliding his tongue over the seam of her lips and then delving deep.
Possessing her. Filling her.
She’d been kissed before. But the sparks that his tongue ignited sent electric heat down her spine and throughout her sex. She relaxed in his grip and let him lead, the ravenous energy between them keeping her in a stranglehold of pleasure and need. He moved back to look into her eyes again and she drew back, suddenly aware.
He was a patient.
On medication.
A lion, even.
Not able to look at Marco, she looked down, sure the expression on her face mirrored the confusion that consumed her. She wanted him with every bit of her being. It had to be an illusion, driven by her exhaustion and his condition.
He hadn’t meant to kiss her and never would if he weren’t on medication. Lions and bears...that wasn’t normal. Maybe eons ago, as Tawodi had spoken of, but not now.
She’d taken advantage of a drugged patient. Grandmother Tawodi would be really upset.
She glanced at Marco, afraid of what she might see on his face. Would he be angry? Would he laugh? Would he act like it hadn’t happened?
Marco smiled the biggest smile she’d seen from him yet, and she could have sworn his eyes twinkled, the irises green and the pupils narrowed into slits like a cat locked on prey.
“Why’d you stop?” He lay back. “That was exactly the kind of medicine I need to recuperate.”
“I... I’m sorry. I have to go see what’s keeping Derek. He was supposed to bring more blankets and some food.” She stood. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“You’re running away from me.”
“No, we have to have more blankets and I’m hungry.” Her voice quaked with the need that still burned inside her.
“I’m hungry too.”
She could’ve sworn he winked. “You have to take your medicine. Then I need to go find Derek.” She grabbed her bag and pulled out the pill bottles containing the pain medicine and antibiotics she’d taken from the bears’ supplies.
“I need more than medicine.”
He enjoyed teasing her, that much was obvious. She shook out the pills and helped him lean up to take them, sharing her water with him again.
“Will you be okay for a little while? Hopefully, I can find him quickly.”
“I’ll be here. Not like I can go anywhere.” He grinned. “I’ve never had a doctor with such a great bedside manner, by the way. I hope you’ll treat me again when you get back.” His eyes shifted color again, brown to green, the pupils dilating.
“You need to get some rest.” She backed away. Marco both excited and scared her. Her own actions did the same. She turned and half ran out of the alcove.
* * *
Everything melted at Marco’s touch, slipping from his fingers in long strings of molten glassy globs. He breathed molten air that tumbled, liquefied, from his mouth. He strolled barefoot across crispy grass that should be aflame, but instead glowed with an unnatural orange radiation. Heat consumed him.
The sky, painted in strips of yellows and reds and oranges, appeared ready to burst into a swirling lake of fire above him. Sweat waterfalled off his back and he removed his clothes, dropping his T-shirt, then pants, then underwear on the sizzling ground, each piece turning to ash as it hit. It didn’t help cool him. Even the wind was a ferocious blast of heat, withering his energy as he struggled to go...somewhere? He needed to get to someplace but the memory glazed in the inferno of his mind.
Where am I?
He scanned the open plains of undulating brown grasses that crackled like wildfire as the stems rubbed together. He wasn’t in Deep Creek. He checked his shoulder touching the spot where he’d been injured. No sign of a bullet wound or even a scar. Sticky melting skin puttied against his fingers, and he left fingerprint impressions in his own skin.
What the hell is going on?
Movement caught his attention. Dark spots on the horizon, growing larger.
A group approached on horseback. Should he run? Not a tree in sight, not a place to hide. Just burning ground and sky. He had to keep moving or he’d scorch his feet, so he ran toward the horses, his body moving in slow motion across the fiery landscape that wilted under the hot wind.
The intensity of the heat grew to almost unbearable levels but he had to know. Something inside insisted that talking to them was critical. Who were the people on horseback, and could they help him escape the nightmare?
Flaming balls of fire streaked from the sky, raining down onto the ground and igniting the grasses around him into pillars of blue-hot flame. Not much time left before everything would be engulfed.
The horses galloped closer, and their hooves didn’t touch the ground as they ran. They pranced on currents of swirling hot air, billowing dust and smoke around them. Black and white, mouths foaming clouds of pure heat and eyes red-wild and roaming like unchecked electricity, they bucked and reared when their riders halted in front of Marco.
The riders, wrapped in dark cloth from head to foot, with only their eyes showing parted their horses to allow one rider to come forward.
Before he’d even unwrapped his head Marco yelped in recognition.
Father!
Max gave him a nod. Marco couldn’t hear him speak aloud, but his father’s voice rang clearly in his head. The fireballs continued to pelt the landscape, thumping to the ground as Max spoke.
Son, we have little time so listen well. You and Mason are the only hope to save Deep Creek from what’s coming. Do not fear the bears or the wolves. The threat that lies ahead will be even greater than the two of these. Prepare to fight with your mind more than your army. Yet you must win. You must save Deep Creek.
“What do you mean?” Marco yelled over the cacophony. “I don’t understand. Where are we? Am I dreaming again?”
I’m sorry I won’t be there to help you.
“What do you mean, you won’t be there to help?” The weight of realization dropped like a stone in Marco’s stomach.
His father was dead. He’d died in the battle.
Why hadn’t he sensed it before?
Maybe the pain of injury had shielded the loss from him, but now he felt his heart had ripped apart. It hurt more than a hundred bullets would. He screamed as hot tears fell. Not his father, not Max. How would he live without him?
Son?
“I can’t bear this loss!” He moved toward his father. The horses reared, blowing smoke from their nostrils and bolts of electricity from their hooves.
Don’t come any closer, Marco. It is not permitted.
“Father!”
Max looked to the horseback rider beside him. The rider shook his head, his drapings moving like a dark curtain, and motioned Max to hurry.
You know I walk among the stars now. I can say no more about the coming war. But there is one other matter I will speak of.
“What is it? Give me guidance, Father. I am lost without you.”
The prairie grass was mostly aflame now, and the horses shifted and whinnied, sensing the danger at hand.
Your brother will help you. You know this in your heart. And never forget I’m proud of you and your brother.
“But I need you, Father. You lead the lions better than Mason and I ever could. We’ll do our best, but it won’t be the same.”
Max’s horse whinnied, then kicked up its front legs.
Son, listen to me. Alicia is your mate.
Marco shook his head. “No! She’s a bear!” Yet as he said it, he knew what Max said was true. Alicia was his mate. His injury had maybe kept it hidden from him but now that his father had spoken it, he knew it in his heart.
Bears and lions are equal, and you will have to work together to defeat the enemy that’s coming. Max shrugged and wrapped his head again. Learn from my mistakes, son. Don’t believe what you hear from those who would keep you apart.
Marco extended his arms. “I don’t know what to do.”
Hold fast to your mate, and you and your brother work together to save Deep Creek. It is your destiny.
Marco’s feet were on fire, up to his knees. The burn consumed him but it wasn’t pain. Heat and a crackling of nerves. Now it reached his hips, waist. Soon, he’d be ashes on the ground too.
A strong grip grabbed his arm and yanked, and Marco fought to pull away, darkness filling his vision, his father and the other horsemen fading as the heated landscape fell away and was replaced by darkness.
“Father!”
“What’s he doing here?” The voice, faint, sounded underwater. “Who’s his father?”
Everything was black, dark, yet still hot, like the ashen embers of a great forest fire. Where had Max gone?
Another voice, male, spoke in the darkness but the sound garbled in Marco’s mind. He fought for consciousness with the pain medicine making his thoughts swim and the fire inside him tearing him apart. Heat radiated from every cell of his being, and he struggled to find his father in the vast darkness again.
Nothingness lay before him, and an overwhelming sense of nausea overcame him. The hand on his arm gripped him tighter. Marco struggled on the edge of reality and dream, trying to surface from the nightmare.
“Here’s Alicia’s medicine bag. What’s she got to do with this feverish lion? Looks like she treated an injury.” The voice was firm and gruff, from someone used to giving orders maybe.
Marco strained to open his eyes and two large blurry figures materialized.
“I don’t know, but Elijah is going to be pissed when he finds out there’s a lion in the cave.”
The cave?
Marco’s vision wavered, tunneling at the periphery into a black hole. The clarity of realization struck him hard. He was still in the Cave of Whispers, and Alicia had gone to get supplies.
Bears had somehow found him.
He’d been dreaming about his father. Marco knew he was dead and the dream had been a spirit vision. No time to analyze it—with the bears having discovered him in the cave, he was in peril.
Now he had multiple, major problems.
Not the least of which was that Alicia was his mate.