Dustin wasn’t good at waiting, and thought he was spending way too much time at hospitals. Today…today was the worst yet. His mom was in surgery. She’d been shot by a madman.
“She’ll be just fine.” Dustin nodded at his dad. “I love her to pieces. She can’t be leaving me all alone in this world. I just don’t know what I’m going to do if something happens to her. She’s my world, next to you boys.”
“I know that she’s in good hands. Mac wouldn’t let anything happen to her.” He knew that she’d not let it happen, but that didn’t mean that it wouldn’t. His mom was literally in his mate’s hands. He looked at Hawkins when he came into the room with them. Hugging him tightly, they all moved together to surround him, to give him support as they’d been doing for each other.
“What happened?” Colin told him they’d been at the house and someone had fired upon them. “Do we know who?”
“Yes. He’s in a jail cell for now. Jon is watching over him. It’s Mac’s brother, but she doesn’t know that yet. We don’t think he did this on his own.” Colin looked at Dustin as he continued. “He was told to shoot into the house. Not who to shoot or why. He doesn’t seem to understand why he’s in trouble, either.”
“He’s handicapped.” Dustin nodded at Hawkins. “I’m assuming that since she doesn’t know then she hasn’t spoken to him either.”
“Mom was hurt and she started working on her before the ambulance arrived. They said had she not been there that Mom would never have made it as far as she has. Mac was in a zone and didn’t seem to notice anything but Mom.” Hawkins nodded at him. “I haven’t asked her anything either. I don’t want to mess with her concentration. The bullet, we were told, is very close to her heart.”
Hawkins sat down. Dustin just noticed that he was in fatigues. Not only that, but he was sure that he was wearing a vest under his shirt…a flak jacket, he supposed it was called. Being armed the way that he appeared, Dustin had a feeling that his brother had come straight out of the field and to here. When he noticed that he was looking at him, he smiled.
“When you told me what happened, I jumped on the first travel going out. It just happened to be a nice vampire that just happened to be in the area. Victoria said I had to come as I was or not at all. For some reason, I got the feeling that she liked the fact that I was sweaty and armed.” Victoria appeared in the room with them and asked to talk to Lauren. “She’s going to help Mom, if Mac will let her.”
“I can talk to her if you want.” Hawkins said it would have to be Dustin, because she didn’t trust him or Lauren. “All right. I’ll tell her who and what she is. Hopefully she can see her way past being pissed at you and let her help.”
Victoria followed him down the hall. No one asked them where they were going, and he figured that was because of her. As soon as they were outside the operating room, he could hear the music. It was loud and very bass. He looked at Victoria and reached out to Mac.
I don’t have time. I’m.... I don’t think she’s going to make it, Dustin. He started to tell her that there was someone there to help when Victoria simply entered the big room. He followed, not sure what was going to happen, but he needed to make sure that Mac allowed the extra help that Victoria could give them. “I know you.”
“Yes, I’m here to help Bea. She and her family are very good friends of mine. Have you removed the bullet?” She said that she had, but Bea was bleeding too much. “I can help. The rest of the staff, they’ll not interfere.”
The room was quiet now, the stereo muted but still playing. The bars on the system wrapped in plastic were still moving. Someone—more than likely the old vampire—had stilled all movements of the staff. But before she could step forward, the machines all around his mom went off. The heartrate was flatlined. In seconds, less than that, he knew that his mom had died.
“Hurry.” Victoria nodded at Mac and opened her wrist. Instead of putting it over his mom’s mouth, as he had assumed that she’d do, she let her blood drip right into her open chest cavity. The room tilted a little, and he had to grab onto something or fall. But Dustin watched them both as they worked against the clock. “You’ll have to assist.”
They worked together, Victoria and Mac. Almost before she was asking for a piece of equipment, it was in her hands. Then after a few more minutes of that, they didn’t speak, neither of them wasting time on words when there was work to be done.
On some level, he knew that he shouldn’t be in here. That he wasn’t dressed for this sort of thing. Mac and her still crew were dressed in scrubs; gloves covered their hands all the way to the elbows. And blood was everywhere.
He stepped back when one of the staff moved. They were helping now, no one mentioning that he was there, nor that Victoria was assisting. Dustin wasn’t sure that they even noticed the other woman…they were as focused on Mom as Mac was. When the machine that had screamed at them started to beep again, he thought it was over, that she was going to live. But they both worked harder…stayed the course, as his dad was fond of saying.
It was an hour later, maybe more, when they both stepped back. He didn’t move from his place, just continued to watch the monitors and the people there. The beeping was steady now, the room a bit more relaxed. Mac thanked Victoria as the mask was moved off Mom’s face and once again, she was given vampire blood. The spike in the beeping startled him, but no one else moved so he assumed it was all right.
“You’re very good at this.” Mac thanked Victoria and told her she was as well. “Yes, well, I’ve done my fair share of helping with the wounded when necessary. But you’re better than good, my dear, I would say that you’re the best there is.”
“I had help.” Victoria looked at him and winked. “We’ll move Bea to recovery in a little while and see about getting her to lie still for a few more days. She’s lost a great deal of blood and has had some major trauma too.”
Dustin moved into the hallway with Victoria. He wasn’t sure where they needed to go now, but when they were a few short feet from the waiting room, he stopped her. He needed to know, not that he would necessarily share it all.
“She was as good as dead when she was brought in here, you know that.” He nodded. “I helped, but Mac saved her. Yes, my blood helped. But without the proper procedures, such as closing off the tiniest of openings in her chest, she would have bled out anyway. No amount of blood that I could give her would have done any good had it just leaked out into her body.” Dustin felt lightheaded again. “Stand tall, young Dustin. You have a mate that is going to need you more than you could ever imagine when she is done with this. It’s going to hit her hard that she just had to do open heart surgery on your mother, and that someone dear to you all nearly died.”
“She’s thinking of quitting this line of work.” Victoria told him not to let her. “I can’t stop her any more than I think you could. Even with your magic.”
“No. If she’s ready to quit, I won’t be able to stop her. But today…I think that today restored her faith in herself. Do you know who shot Bea?” He told her. “I’m going to visit him. I won’t harm him, but I will find out what I can.”
“Jon said that his head is a jumble. He’s handicapped.” Victoria said that she’d get who had sent him. “He might think that his brother-in-law is dead. We know now that he is not.”
When Victoria left him, he moved into the waiting room. His family stood up and he told him everything he had witnessed, holding nothing back from them. When he was finished, he sat; it was that or fall flat on his face. His dad sat by him and asked if Mom was really going to be all right.
“Yes. She can’t shift for a few days. I know that she’s going to be stubborn about that, so you’ll have to make her.” Dad said that he’d do that if he had to sit on her. “And she’ll need to rest. A great deal. What I saw in there, Dad, I think that Victoria was right, Mackenzie is the best there is at this. She was.... It was like I was watching a miracle happen right before my eyes.”
“It was one. I tell you, when your mom told me she was bleeding but all right, I just knew she had no idea that she was bleeding on her chest. It was pooling around her like she’d had a bath in it.” Dustin held his dad when he sobbed. “I owe Mackenzie so much. She gave us back your mom, my mate, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to repay her for that.”
“I don’t think she’ll see it that way, Dad.” Dad nodded. “We’ll be able to go see her in a little while. They’re moving her to recovery soon. But I’m going to take Mackenzie home. Victoria said she was going to need to rest and unwind.”
“You do that. Take care of my girl for me. And you tell her, in case I don’t get to right away, that I will be beholden to her forever. You tell her just that way for me.” He said that he would, and stood up when one of the nurses that had been in the operating room came to talk to them.
“Dr. Gibson will be out shortly. She said to tell you that everything went well and that she expects a full recovery.” They all shouted and smiled. “I’m sure she heard you. If you all would wait just a little longer, as I said, she’ll be out to speak to you and to answer any questions.”
Dustin sat down and decided he was going to ask her to marry him, just as soon as he got her home. After another half an hour, she came out to talk to them, but instead of talking, she was hugged and told how much they loved her. Dustin waited his turn. He’d show her how much he loved her too, when he got her home.
~~~
Mac liked the oversized tub, but she thought that the waterfall that poured fresh water into a koi tank beside it was spectacular. As she laid in the tub, trying to relax, she watched the fish moving around the tank and felt better than she had in the last few hours.
“How are you doing?” Smiling at Dustin, she told him she was doing much better. “Yes, well, so am I, now that you’re here. Can I join you?”
“Yes, I’d like that very much.” He took off his shirt and put it in the hamper. She laughed at that. “Do all your brothers do that? Put things away when you could easily just leave it on the floor?”
“You’ve met my mother, haven’t you? Does she strike you as the type of mom that would be all right with us being lazy about a clothing hamper?” She grinned bigger. “Not to mention, when we leave a table, we clear our things plus one more item, and we always clean up the kitchen, as a group, when dinner is done. Mom might not cook, but she runs a tight kitchen. It’s what made us so romantic.”
“Romantic? By clearing a table?” He said it was a very important lesson. “I suppose. I’m still seeing her there, her chest covered in blood, her face smeared with it. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.”
“Me either. And for now, let’s not talk about it, shall we?” She moved so that he could join her in the tub. His cock was already straining from his groin, and when he moved in behind her, wrapping his legs over hers, she felt it at her back. “Now. We’re going to sit here and talk about us. Nothing bad or scary, just get to know each other.”
“I’m not sure I can do that with you naked in here with me.” He told her to behave. “I’m trying, but you’re so manly.”
“I love you.” She nodded. “I know that it’s much too soon for you to feel that way about me, but I wanted you to know that for as long as I’m alive, you will be my first and only true love.”
“I don’t know if I love you yet. I feel a great deal for you. I love things about you and how you make me feel, but I don’t know if that’s love.” He took her left hand into his and kissed it. “You make me feel like I’m worthy. I’m not entirely sure of what, but I feel that way.”
When her hand was placed over her chest, she noticed the ring. Sitting up, she turned to look at him and he kissed her. Not a quick kiss, but a powerfully consuming one. She asked him about the ring.
“It was my grandmother’s. She wasn’t a nice person…not really, I guess. But for some reason she liked me a great deal. I think it was because I was the baby, and she knew that I would be her last grandchild. I don’t know. Anyway, right before she died, she gave this to me. I was about ten or so, and thought that a girly ring was not all that good of a gift.” Mac told him she thought it was beautiful. “It is. And it looks fantastic on your hand. I’ve not done this right, but I wanted to tell you what she said to me. She said, ‘Dustin, there will be times when pretty girls will come into your life and you’ll think, this is the one. But don’t be thinking with your twig and berries, use your heart.’ Yes, we had that sort of relationship. ‘When she comes along, you give her this ring because I’m giving it to you with all the love I have to offer you. You tell her that. You make her the best and most important thing in your life. Because you will only get the one chance to make a good first impression on your mate.’”
“What a lovely story.” He kissed her again, leaving her thinking that his grandma had had it right. You only got one chance and this was hers. “I think perhaps you’ve changed my mind. I do love you, with all I have to offer you.”
“Will you marry me, Mackenzie? Be my wife, my partner, and the mother of my children? You do want some, don’t you?” She nodded and turned around in his lap. “Good. And someday, when you’re ready, I’d like to convert you to a cat. You’d be my beautiful jaguar.”
“We have so much going on right now.” She leaned her forehead onto his. “I feel, right now, that I can do this…whatever it is with Walton. But to be honest with you, I’d like for you to make love to me.”
“With you. I want to make love with you.” He kissed her then, the taste of his need and his love right there for her. And when he pulled back, she looked at him and could see not only his sincerity, but his passion and love too. “I love you, Mackenzie. And will forever.”
The tub was big, but not big enough to make love in. She thought about a hot tub, something for just the two of them, and decided to ask him about it. As he lifted her out of the still warm water, she went to him willingly. This was a man that she knew instinctively would never hurt her.
The bed had arrived only today. It was huge, specially made to hold his longer frame. And when he laid her upon it, she felt the expensive sheets against her back, the full pillows under her head. Money could buy these things, but love was what had made him purchase them for her.
“You’re so beautiful. My cat needs to mark you.”
Before she could ask what he meant by that, he shifted, the big jaguar standing near the bed and looking at her with big dark eyes. Spreading her legs for him, she cried out when he licked her, and nearly fainted when he slid his tongue deep inside her.
He loves your taste. The cream that you’re sharing with him is making him very happy. She told Dustin he was making her happy as well. Just wait until I have my turn. You’re going to scream so much you’ll be speechless in the morning.
A challenge she was willing to take on. But even as that thought occurred to her, she did scream. The releases, several in quick succession of the last, nearly brought her to the darkness. True to his word, when Dustin took his body back, she did scream more than she had in...well, forever.
His hands touched her everywhere. Each time his mouth ran over her flesh, his tongue felt as if he were scorching her. His teeth nipped painfully at her skin, but his mouth would make the tiny hurt feel better. Then when he slid into her, she held her breath. It wasn’t like before, but so much more.
“I love you.” She nodded, unable to speak. “You’re mine, Mackenzie. I want you to know that. You are mine forever.”
“I love you too, so much.”
Her breath felt like it was being taken from her when he moved. Her body was on a ledge, and she wasn’t sure that she wanted to fall over it. And just as she was about to tell him no more, that her body couldn’t take it, he bit down on her throat and she came hard enough that stars sparkled behind her eyelids, and her heart stopped beating for several seconds.
“Come for me.” She shook her head, even though her body was screaming yes, she could. And when she did, it was stronger than before, like her entire being was being twisted up. The pressure was let out, her body dropped to the bed only to be lifted up again and again. Each time he tossed her a little higher, her body wrung out more. Until he came.
Mac felt his climax as it touched off parts of her that she’d not had any idea were attached to her body. Her ears rang, her hair crackled under the extremeness of it. And when Dustin dropped atop her, she couldn’t have moved even if the house were on fire. She was sure that if they did find her that they’d be amazed at the smile on her face. One that she could feel all over her body.
Dustin rolled off her just as she was drifting to sleep. His soft snore made her sigh. These were sounds she could get used to. And a warmth that she could hold to her heart until her dying day. Relaxing into slumber, she heard him tell her that he loved her, and she didn’t have it in her to answer. Mac let the welcoming darkness take her.
The room was dark when she woke. She was alone in the bed, but knew that Dustin wasn’t far. Getting up, she pulled on a robe and made her way down the stairs. His dad and brother were in the kitchen with Dustin when she entered. After the night that she’d had, she didn’t want to spoil it with bad news, but asked if everything was all right.
“Yes. I was just at the hospital. They said they tried to call you but your phone is off or something.” She glanced at Dustin when he said he had turned it off. “Thought so. Anyway, Bea is doing well. I talked to her a good long time. She’s gonna do as you tell her. I promise.”
Mac nodded and started filling the empty glasses with more tea. She was nervous, if she was truthful with herself, and she was sure that Dustin knew it. He pulled the pitcher from her and asked her to have a seat.
“I don’t know if I want to.” He said things were fine. “If you say so. But it’s four in the morning and you three have been down here for a while. What is it you don’t want to tell me?”
“Nothing bad, I promise. Your student loans are paid off. The credit cards that you used for it are also paid off. And your brother is going to go to a place that can help him once this is over. We’re not pressing charges, by the way.” She asked him what he’d done. “I’m sorry. I thought you knew. He was the one that shot up the house.”
“No.” She sat down hard and then found herself with her head between her knees. “He wouldn’t have done something like that. I wasn’t even aware that he’d been released. Where is he?”
“He’s at the hospital for now, under observation and to visit…he wanted to see my mom and we took him there. He didn’t do anything wrong when we were able to talk to him, not when we found out what had happened.” Sitting up, she asked Rich what had happened. “Your ex-husband, he went to see him and had him released. We’re working on how that happened, so you know. But he told him that the house was an old and abandoned, so he could have fun with it. He thought it was a special time with Walton, after everyone told him that he’d been dead. I’m not sure, after talking to him, that he ever cared for Walton, but he wanted them to be friends so he did it. He regrets it now, let me tell you.”
“So, he lured him to that house with the promise that he could fire a gun. A gun that, I might add, nearly killed someone.” She started to cry then, it was simply too much. “I’d like to see him, please? He...I need to talk to him.”
“All right, honey. I’ll take you there tomorrow. Today he’s still being taken care of. All right?” She stood up and Dustin smiled. “Right after you dress, we’ll head into town and get the other stuff taken care of, like your name on a couple of accounts. And there are a few other things that we need to get finished up too. You up for that?”
Nodding, she kissed him and felt better about everything. As she left the kitchen, her face hot with embarrassment, she thought of her ex and brother. Walton wasn’t going to get away with this, not this time. Erwin wasn’t going to be taken advantage of again. Not so long as she had breath in her body.