Mackenzie was exhausted. She’d been called in twice last night to help the emergency room, and before she’d been able to go home early this morning, a car accident had brought her to the operating room. No rest for the weary, as her mom used to say. Opening the door to her office, she was surprised to see someone sitting at her desk…her now cleared off desk in an empty room.
“May I help you?” She knew that he was a McCullough, but not which one. He stood up and walked to her. “If you plan on adding to my already shitty day, then I’m afraid you’re shit out of luck. I can’t handle any more.”
“No. I’ve come to help you move your things.” She looked around and then stared at him. “All right, help you move isn’t quite right since I’ve already done it. But I am helping you. I’m Boyd. Another McCullough, and a doctor. I’m to understand that you put in your resignation last night. Well, I’ve come to tell you that I have the perfect spot for you to work now.”
“I don’t want to be a doctor any longer. I’m sorry you wasted your time.” He grinned. “You’re not all that charming, Dr. McCullough. And if you know that I’m leaving here, you also know that I have two weeks to go yet.”
“Yes, I know that. And my mom thinks I’m very charming. Especially when I’m in trouble. Which, being a McCullough, isn’t as often as you might think.” Mac moved to her desk and leaned back in her seat. He took the room’s only other chair and smiled at her. “My family are jaguars. I can smell you. The exhaustion, as well as the fact that you’re bleeding, is making you weaker than normal. I would say that you’ve covered it well, but it’s not healing the way that you had hoped and now you’re not well from it. By the way, I saw you the other day. When you had your encounter with Hawkins. I’m guessing some of your stitching has pulled apart. Fine job too. I don’t smell any infection, so it might be all right.”
“I have been taking antibiotics. And it’s really none of your business anyway.” She wondered if he really could smell that she was hurt or just guessing. “I don’t want to work with you.”
“May I?” She nodded before she could think that showing this man, any man, that she was injured could get her into deeper shit than she was in now. “I have privileges here, but I’ve never had a patient come here yet. Mostly they go to the clinic that takes care of our kind. Yes, just as I thought, it’s slightly infected and the stitches are pulled.”
“I fell.” He said nothing. His fingers touching the tender part of her back were gentle, but she was hurting by the time he asked her to stand up for him. He examined the rest of her back, surely finding that she’d missed a few places that needed seen to. “I can take care of myself.”
“I can see that. And you’ve done a bang-up job of it so far.” He picked up her phone, and after telling someone on the other end who he was, ordered a stitch kit and some dressing. After hanging up, he looked at her. “I won’t tell them who it’s for, but I’ll say that I need it for someone at my house. My family donates a great deal of money to the hospital here, and I can get what I need when I need it.”
“I don’t think it’s anyone business, not even yours, what happens to me.” He sat down and so did she. “You said that you wanted me to work for you. Why? And where are my things?”
“You made it very easy to move you, come to think of it. You were still packed up from your move in here. I didn’t unpack all the things we took out of here, just a few items that you might want to hang. And as for me caring about what happens to you, you already know that Dustin is your mate, and that as of the moment you touched, you became my sister-in-law. So, as family, I want you to feel better. I would want you to feel better even if you weren’t family, but I don’t want you suffering when I can help.” She told him that didn’t answer her question. “That answer is simpler than you might think. There are a great many people, both human and shifters, that could use a good surgeon. Most people don’t know—or care, I would imagine—that shifting while hurt badly can kill us. And if there is an obstruction, such as a knife or bullet, the cat in my case, would have the same wounds. Thus making us weaker still. I’d like to have you come and work with me so that we can prevent more deaths. As for your things, they are at your new office. Like I said, not set up, but you can do that whenever you wish.”
She wasn’t sure what to say or think. When the kit arrived, he thanked the person and told them that he would settle up when he went to the financial offices. Of course, he was told not to worry about it, his family did a lot for the place. When the door closed, he asked her to have a seat on his chair with her chest to the back of the seat.
Mac complied. If she was honest with herself, she was hurting a great deal more than she had let on. And she really was worried that it was infected. As she waited for him to begin, Dustin came in the room and sat on the chair that was at her desk. Ignoring him seemed to be the best way to combat her embarrassment of being half naked in from of the two men.
“The Rogers house is coming along. I did what you suggested and put in those glass front cabinets in the kitchen. It did brighten up the place.” Dustin was talking like it was every day that he sat in on someone being stitched up. “The stone floor isn’t what I had hoped for, but Dad likes it. He claims that it’s the best-looking floor that we’ve ever done.”
“You only put the glass on the ones nearest the window?” Dustin answered his brother that he had. “I want to see that. Maybe if I ever get around to moving into a house instead of living in an apartment, I’ll have you do the same for me.”
“You work on houses?” She had no idea why she asked, but it was better, she supposed, than sitting there doing nothing. Dustin told her that he did, and when she turned to look at him, she pulled her back. “Ouch.”
The low growl startled her, and she turned around and looked at Dustin as he stood up and moved behind her. Boyd hadn’t moved, not even to touch her again. She looked at him then at Dustin once more. This was ridiculous. Mac hated macho men. Turning around, she wanted to get up and kick Dustin in the balls. But suddenly, her back felt...well, it felt wonderfully free of pain. Even her wounds, which she knew were extensive, didn’t seem to pull as badly.
“I’m not going to hurt him. Boyd hurt you inadvertently and my cat is pissy about it. But he’s fine now because we know that he’s only helping you.” Dustin moved from behind her to face her. Then he sat on the floor in front of her. “This could go a lot easier on both of us if you’d just hold my hand while he works on you.”
“I don’t know why it would bother you. It’s not like you could do anything about it. And it was my fault anyway.” Mac did put her hand into his larger one. “Like you said, he’s just making it better, not hurting me.”
“Yes, we can both understand that, but you are still in pain, and while I know that Boyd didn’t do it, the cat in me, who is very possessive, says differently.” Mac didn’t really understand, but she didn’t say anything else. “Yes, we work on houses. My dad and I have been doing it for some time now. We buy cheap and sell higher. Sometimes we take on homes that people just need to have spruced up, but mostly, we’re in this for a profit.”
“Not much of a profit sometimes, but that’s all right. You’re going to feel a little pinch, Mac.” She waited for it, but when she didn’t feel anything until the numbness started spreading across her back, she told him he’d done well. “Yes, well, there was some added help.” She looked at Dustin when Boyd nodded toward him.
“While you weren’t looking, I licked your skin, the wounds back there.” Mac started to ask Dustin why he’d do such a thing, but he continued before she could. “Your wounds are infected. I can heal them a great deal faster than simply stitching them up. Boyd is going to do that too, just in case I missed something, but you’ll not be getting any sicker from it.”
“I’m confused.” Dustin said he understood that. “Do you? How can you when I don’t even understand this myself? All this.... You have come into my life and turned it upside down. I’ve been moved to an office that I had no idea was even around. I’m to be a partner to a person that I don’t really know. You claim that I’m your mate, and I already have a very terrible relationship with two of your family members. I have.... Well, that isn’t any of your business, but my life isn’t what I want it to be. It hasn’t been for a very long time.”
“Did you know that your ex-husband is alive?” She stared at him, her heart racing as she looked at the door then back, wondering how quickly she could leave before he came to her. “You didn’t know, but suspected it, I’m guessing.”
“He...he’s still around?” Her heart hurt. Fear of him, of what he would do to her, made her feel like she needed to run. Or just let him finish the job he’d started so long ago. Dustin asked her how she’d figured it out. “The accident was too pat. Too out in the open. I didn’t say anything to anyone at the time. I just...I guess that I didn’t want to feel stupid or paranoid if I was wrong. Are you sure?”
“Yes, we think so. And that’s what Lauren said about it too. She’s investigating it.” Mac asked him why. “Because of what you called her. So you know, she isn’t pissed at you any longer. Neither is my brother Hawkins. He’d like to speak to you about what he did to you.”
“He didn’t make my life any better. Neither did Lauren.” Dustin said he knew that, and so did they. “We were at war. There were wounded and dying everywhere. I’d worked for seventy-two hours straight, and still they kept coming in. Then he brings me this man who was.... He wanted me to fix him.”
“Hawkins told me. He said that he was cruel to you. That he should have never let his anger and grief do that to you. Either time.” She nodded, not sure where this was going. “I’m sorry too. That this is overwhelming you, but if Walton is out there, and you didn’t know it, who is hurting you?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him. Just let someone else know what the hell was really going on in her life, but she asked Boyd if he was finished and he said that he was. Standing up, she pulled her shirt back on, then her lab coat. There wasn’t anything to tell them, she assured herself, and changed the subject.
“I have rounds to make, if you gentlemen are finished here.” Boyd laughed as he packed up the kit he’d used. “And I’d like for you to bring me my things back before I call security in for theft.”
“It won’t work. I mean, you can call them, but it won’t do you a bit of good.” When Boyd was finished, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “Welcome to the family, Mac. I’m glad that you’re going to be joining us.”
Then he left. Dustin was still on the floor, but she had a feeling that he could be up and in her face in seconds. Instead of running, which she wanted to do in the worst sort of way, she sat down and tried her best to look bored and calm.
“Your brother, Erwin, he’s not doing well in his program, is he?” She wanted to sob, just wanted to curl into a ball and cry until there was nothing left in her. “I have some friends that can help you out with him. I know of a clinic that isn’t state funded, and they can give him better care than he can where he is now.”
“He’s not capable of learning anything. I mean, just to get him to remember to dress himself and to use the bathroom is a struggle for him.” Dustin stretched out his long legs, and she closed her eyes at what the simple movement did for her body. “When he was home, living with my parents and me, he had a temper. Then when they both passed away, he lived with Walton and me when we were home and in-between tours. It wasn’t until then that I found out that it wasn’t a temper, but he was having a reaction to the meds that they had him on. They were hurting his head.”
“And no one tried to figure that out?” She said it was more that no one cared enough to figure it out. “Who is doing this to you? I think we’ve ruled out your ex and brother, the only two people that I know of that might have done it.”
“And if I said to you ‘it’s none of your business,’ you’re going to look anyway, aren’t you?” He said he would. Or Lauren would. “It’s none of either of your business. And I’d appreciate it if you just stayed out of my life.”
“Your life is mine now.” She said nothing and stood up. Leaving him on the floor, she made her way to the door. But him saying her name, softly, had her turning again and looking at him. “Because I took some of your blood in me, I can tell your emotions as well as talk to you through a link. If you need me, you only have to think of me and I’ll answer. Or come to you.”
Saying nothing, she left. Whatever was going on in his head, he would have to deal with it on his own. Mac was going to finish out her two weeks, get her things back, and move on. It was all she could do at this point.
~~~
Dustin held the cabinet while his dad anchored it to the wall. He wanted to sit down and have a nice cold glass of beer, but they were behind. But thankfully, having Randy fired and not needing someone to watch him all the time, they were beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. Dustin hadn’t realized how much Randy had screwed up until he was gone.
“You and I, we’re going to have to talk about this girl of yours.” He told Dad that she wasn’t his yet. “Well, you gonna work on that?”
“Yes. When she trusts me. I don’t know that I’d be so trusting either if I was her, but I’m working on that too.” Dad asked him what he meant. “Someone is hurting her. While we all thought it was her ex, she didn’t react like she knew he was alive, so I think we can rule him out. And her brother didn’t make her terrified. More like she was hurting for him. Sadness, not fear, was in her mind when she talked about him.”
“So who is it?” Dustin said he didn’t know but he was working on that too. “You sure do have a lot of irons in the fire, son. You know that we’re here if you need us. Nobody needs this, and especially someone that is going to be a part of this family.”
“I know that too, Dad.” They hung the next three cabinets and he got down off the ladder. “I have to finish up my house now, I guess. I’ve just been putting things off until we had the time to go do it. And I’m happy that there was enough work to keep me from it, but it’s been a project house long enough.”
“No kidding.” He laughed with his dad. “I do like what you’ve done to the decking. Nice touch adding that old stone we took from the other house. But now, while you’re in the mood to get it done, we should bring Mac around and let her look at some of the other finished projects to get an idea what she might want.”
“You’re right. Great idea. And the stone…well, it seemed a waste to just throw it out. And this way, I can see how long it’ll last out in our winter months before we use the rest of it like that.” Dad said he hoped it worked because Mom wanted some of it. “She’s more than welcome to whatever we have.”
“Yes, she knows that too. By the way, there is a shipment of old furniture coming in tomorrow to be stored in that old barn we have. I guess your mom made a deal with those sellers in town. I tried to tell them that this town isn’t strong enough to support a shop that has expensive old stuff in it. But they didn’t listen, and now we got us an empty store again.”
“What about that idea that you had? About putting in a parts store for restorers? Most of that stuff can be shipped. A door or two wouldn’t be that hard to wrap up. And we’re forever finding old doorknobs and stuff when we work on the houses. What do you think?” Dad nodded, but didn’t say anything. “You’ve already started on it, haven’t you?”
“Your mom, she thought it would be a good thing for her to do all day. Since she’s got her nose in what we do anyway, I figured she’d be there and not on every project we do.” Dustin asked him if he believed that would keep her away. “No, I don’t, but it would be a nice change for her.”
Dustin thought his dad was nuts but kept that to himself. He loved mom coming around, and she had some excellent ideas. As they started finishing up the kitchen, all he could think about was Mac. He knew she was having a hard day. Every emotion that she had seemed to roll over him too. And the grief that she felt made him want to find her and hold her. When he felt a nudging in his mind, he paused in painting the trim over the cabinets.
Can you really hear me? Dustin told Mac that he could. I have an issue here. A big…. Can you come here? At the hospital. And bring one or two of those large brothers of yours.
I’ll be there in five minutes. We’re just down the street. She thanked him, but he could feel her fear. Profound fear. Are you safe?
Yes. For now. Hurry.
He told his dad where he was going and why. Calling to his other brothers, he told them to meet him at the hospital. Not only was Lauren in town, but so was Josh; correcting himself, he thought of his new name, Jon. Things were about to get hairy, he thought.
Jon and Lauren were there before him. Dustin didn’t want to get in the way of whatever was going on, but he did go to stand as close as he could to Mac. The man standing with a gun to her head made him want to kill. But he also didn’t want to make the man pissy and hurt her.
“Dustin, this is James Winder. He doesn’t know what he’s doing.” The man snarled at Mac that he did too fucking know what he was doing. “Drugs. He’s here to get me to give him drugs. Like every other fucking bastard I know.”
It was a strange thing to say, and her anger was palpable. Dustin looked at the man and knew that he was as high as he’d ever seen a man. Dangerous too. Dustin asked him what he wanted.
“She won’t tell me where she’s got them.” It was then that Dustin noticed that James was bleeding, profusely. “I got me a terrible pain, and she said that I can’t have none until I tell her what I got in me. I want them now.”
“Understandable, but I’m sure you know, being on drugs, that there are certain kinds that don’t mix well together. Perhaps she’s trying to save your miserable life.” James growled again. “I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but you’re growling at the wrong person. I’m not in the mood to explain to you why, either.”
“She has them here. It’s a hospital, ain’t it?” Dustin said it was, but only to help people. “Well, she ain’t helping me. I’m bleeding really bad, and she’s holding out on me.”
“Again, I think she’s only trying to save you. Fat lot of good that’s going to do you. I’m going to kill you, you know that, right?” The man stared at him. “Yes, and you know why too. She’s my mate, and you’re going to die because you caused her fear. If you so much as cut her finger, I’m going to tear you apart so that your own mother won’t know it was you.”
“I just wanted something to make me feel better.” Dustin moved closer to the two of them. “You can’t be coming up on me like this. I have a gun. And I ain’t afraid to use it on whoever I need to so that I can feel better.”
“You might have a gun, but that’s nothing compared to what I am. I am a cat…guns might hurt me, but you have to know that I’m here as well as my entire family. You’re so fucked right now.” Colin moved behind the man and Mac just as he took another step forward. “Put the gun down right now and I’ll only muss you up a bit.”
“I need it.” Dustin told him that being dead wasn’t going to help anyone. “Just tell her to give them to me. Then I’ll go away.”
“No. I’m not going to make her do a damned thing. She’s already told you no, I’m assuming.” Mac said that she had. “See? You should have taken her at her word and you’d be able to walk out of here unharmed. Now, as it is right this moment, you’re going to be dead. Is that what you want?”
“Yes.” Dustin had already figured that out when the man continued on his path against the odds. “I hurt all the time. If this is what it takes, then so be it. I can’t be hurting like this again.”
Before he could ask the man if he’d tried to get help, Boyd walked up to him from behind, stuck him in the neck with a needle, and James dropped like a log. Colin took his gun and Dustin took Mac into his arms. His cat wanted to kill, but he calmed the moment that he touched Mac.
“He was going to kill me. Just so that someone would kill him.” Dustin told Mac he knew that. “He wanted to die? He wanted you to come here and kill him? How fucking stupid is that?”
“Very. Now let me hold you a little tighter, please. Otherwise my cat is going to come out and kill the man anyway.” Dustin was so glad when she wrapped her arms around him. Picking her up, he carried her to the hallway and to the elevator. Kissing her throat, mouth, and shoulders, he nearly came in his pants when she wrapped her fingers into his hair and held him to her. The ride up had literally nearly become that, her riding his cock while he took her hard against the elevator wall.
Her office was unlocked, thankfully. As soon as he was inside the room and the door closed behind them, he pressed her to the wall. Tearing at her clothing was only making him needier. His cat was snarling at him to take her.
“I need you.” He laughed and told her that was not even close to what he wanted. “I know this is a mistake, but Christ, I’m on fire with need. Please, fill me.”
He couldn’t. Not until his cat had his fill. Stripping down to nothing, he let him take him and pawed the rest of her clothing off. As soon as her pussy was bare for them, his cat moved in and licked her cream.
“Oh my God.”
She came quickly and his cat purred his approval. The second, then third time that she came, his cat nudged her legs wider apart and fucked her with his tongue. Dustin felt his need to mark her, his overwhelming love for this woman. And when he let him go, Dustin took her hips in his hands and pulled her to him to finish what his cat had started. She tasted like heaven.
“Please. I need you to fuck me.” Standing up after giving her another quick climax, he lifted her up, her legs on either side of his hips. Watching her face, he slid into her slowly, feeling each muscle along her sheath grip and hold him. “Please, Dustin. Please.”
There wasn’t any way for him to hold back. He felt his own climax slide over his skin, his body ready to empty. When she nuzzled his neck then bit down on his throat, Dustin came so hard that he saw stars. His body powered through two extraordinary releases before he tilted her neck to the side and sunk his teeth in hard enough to draw blood.
Christ. Dustin came again as she cried out her own release, and he held her to him. Mine, was all his mind kept saying. His cat too. She was theirs, and he knew that from now on, she was his to protect too.