Devon let Sheriff Matthews take away the man who’d tried to take his children. Anger flickered along his nerve endings, pushing him to exact revenge, he knew, however, the sheriff would need the would-be kidnapper alive. If Mathews didn’t get the information they needed though, Devon had no qualms about giving it a try himself. There were a lot of ways a doctor could torture a man, if he wanted to. That would have to wait until later, unfortunately. He’d give Matthews his shot before stepping in.

Besides, he was still trying to wrap his head around how something like this could happen. Where the fuck was his useless nanny when all hell broke loose? Why wasn’t she the one protecting his kids from men out to do his family harm?

Looking around the meadow, he found his new nanny not even fifty feet away. Lacey was huddled under the arm of some guy who didn’t appear to be any older than her own twenty years. Tears streamed down her face, and she hiccuped during the retelling to the Deputy of what she knew.

Devon snarled at the sight. His kids could have been taken. Kidnapped by two worthless pieces of shit, and she was off flirting with some boy? It was beyond unacceptable. The girl would be lucky to find another job in town after he was done with her.

Forcing himself to calm down, Devon knew the kids were safe now. After the children came tearing around the corner of the building, crying and screaming, it didn’t take long to figure out something bad had happened. Jack had taken them home, armed escort in tow.

Running up on the scene, seeing the size of the man shifting and crashing back into the woods had his blood boiling. It was only after the man disappeared that he realized there was a tigon holding down another person.

Whoever the fuck that shifter was, he was buying him a beer. Speaking of which—he searched the area for his children’s rescuer. Devon wanted to know what happened and how he happened upon the scene.

The mystery Samaritan was nowhere to be found. On his second pass searching the area, Devon spotted a body next to a tree. The slow, labored rise of a feline’s chest caught his attention. Striding over, the beast didn’t move an inch when Devon crouched down next to it. The tiger within Devon went unexpectedly crazy. It pushed and pulled to grab his attention, trying to tell him something he was sure. Get him to notice the creature in front of him. His head was too scrambled though to think it through. His instincts as a doctor took over, realizing the tigon was severely injured.

As gently as possible, he placed his hand on the tigon’s head. Its eyes twitched and lifted a fraction of an inch. “It’s okay. I’m a doctor.” He ran his hand down the animal’s body. When he came into contact with its side, the beast jerked and chuffed softly. Devon’s tiger responded with a pained yowl. A reaction that had never happened before when dealing with a patient.

He did his best to push his animal back into the recesses of his being. Devon needed all his training, all his senses to deal with the crisis in front of him.

“Are you able to shift?” It wasn’t the best option, but neither was lifting a four-hundred-pound tigon. At least in human form, they would be able to get him on a stretcher and back to the hospital where he could rest in peace in either form.

The tigon shuddered beneath his hand, its fur rising on its back as the shift took over. He watched as the beast struggled and pained sounds rippled from its mouth.

Devon stood and spun away to give the guy a little privacy. He grabbed the cell phone out of his pocket. Calling the hospital, he told them he needed a bus and stretcher at the playground in the meadow. After he hung up with them, he texted Matthews and let him know what was happening. The Sheriff would want to talk to the guy later to hear the rest of the story.

When Devon turned back around, he was shocked to find a woman lying naked on the ground. Long brown hair was tangled around her pale face. Her injured side was an angry red, quickly turning various shades of purple. She sucked in shallow breaths, the anguish of each inhale written along the lines of her tense body.

Sound from behind had him turning around. An EMT crew hotfooted it across the meadow, making their way toward him. The stretcher rumbling along the ground, bouncing to and fro over the uneven surface.

They can’t see her like this. He didn’t know why that crossed his mind, but it was his overriding thought. They shouldn’t see her naked, battered and bruised. The woman who saved his children deserved to keep some of her dignity, regardless of their town being a shifter community. Nudity may be the norm, but this was not a normal situation.

Stripping off his blue button up shirt, he laid it on top of her, covering her from neck to the tops of her curled up thighs. Kneeling next to her, he gently brushed the hair out of her face. Surprised again when his tiger jolted within, as dawning recognition came over him. Honestly, he should have known from the get-go. Who else in town was a tigon?

“Carolline?” he murmured. No, it couldn’t be her. But the physical proof told him otherwise. He hadn’t seen her since the day in the cafeteria when she ran away like a bat out of hell. Jack tried to talk to him about it. Tried to convince him to go after her, but Devon was in no mood to listen. He wasn’t ready to admit there was a possibility that he had been wrong about Sasha being his mate. In truth, he still wasn’t ready.

She turned her head toward him, dark brown eyes filled with pain, locking with his. “Are they safe?” she whispered.

He nodded, stroking his finger down her porcelain cheek. It was cool to his touch. Too cool. He slid his finger down to check her pulse. His eyes fluttered shut as he concentrated. It was thready at best, her heartbeat faint and irregular.

Fear mounted in his chest. Icy fingers gripped his heart and squeezed until he thought it had stopped beating. She shouldn’t be this bad off, but then, he didn’t know what damage had been done. Didn’t know all the ins and outs of her hybrid body, or what happened between her finding his children and the bear running off.

He cursed his lack of knowledge. He was a doctor. He prided himself on being able to treat the various species who walked through his doors. He should know more. It was becoming startlingly clear he didn’t.

A small smile tugged at the corner of her pale lips. “I knew they looked familiar,” she breathed out before closing her eyes.

“Carolline, honey, you need to wake up.” The fear gripping him exploded into terror when she didn’t answer. “Carolline,” he said louder, not bothering to stop his fear from bleeding through.

“Too…tired,” she murmured.

“Damn it.” He stood and turned, prepared to yell for the EMTs to move quicker, and was shocked to find them standing behind him, waiting on him.

“Dr. Andersen, if you could step to the side,” a tall, blond male paramedic said.

Something inside Devon refused to let him move. His long-dormant tiger bumped him inside, and insisted they be the one to move her. That only he should be allowed to touch her. The beast was in a full-blown rage now, wanting out to see her, to chase after the man who did this to her. Devon really didn’t need this shit now. Maybe his tiger felt protective of her since she’d protected his cubs. He didn’t know. Didn’t want to think about it further. Not now.

Devon looked at the paramedic’s name badge. “I’ll get her, Franklin. I know where her injuries are.” Not all her injuries, but it was better than letting them touch her. Letting them hurt her even more with procedures designed for a regular human and a regular shifter. Carolline was different.

And ours, the tiger chuffed.

Devon blocked the voice in his head and moved to her other side. Crouching, he carefully slid his hands beneath her, ignoring how her silky, smooth skin felt against his. He took his time standing, ensuring the shirt he’d laid over her didn’t shift.

Now that the initial panic was over and he was coming back to his senses, it seemed something else in him was still alive. His tiger. The beast hadn’t reared its head in years. Content to sit back and let the human side of Devon make all the decisions in their life, all the choices.

It appeared he was no longer taking the backseat. The tiger calmed at the feel of Carolline’s skin, but not completely. He insisted on things Devon still couldn’t bear to acknowledge.

Devon forced his human side to take control. He was needed as a doctor, a healer for Carolline’s body and bones.

This inexplicable need he felt for her had to be because of what she had done for him, what she had done for the kids. There was no other reason for him or his tiger to feel this protective pull towards her. He’d had a mate. One he’d loved dearly, if not obsessively.

But, was Sasha really your mate? You pushed until you had what you wanted. You damned everyone who stood in your way or tried to make you see reason.

Carolline let out a pained moan as he stood. He couldn’t step forward, couldn’t move closer to the stretcher. The idea of him causing her more pain left him rooted to the spot. “Pull that thing over here. She’s in enough pain already.”

“Sir, we can’t get it closer,” a short, redheaded female paramedic named Harrison said, nibbling on her bottom lip. She looked nervous and ready to bolt.

The snarl coming out of his mouth was out of his control. So was the Blood Legacy leaking from his pores. The redhead stepped back, eyes wide, Franklin pushed in front of her, but had trouble standing his ground. The two paramedics wilted under the pressure of the heatwave of energy, and only when Harrison buckled, her knees hitting the ground, was Devon able to rein it in. He was out of control and that wouldn’t do anyone any good.

“I’ll be as careful as I can, Carolline.” Without thought, he dropped a kiss on her head before walking the four steps needed to reach the stretcher. Once he laid her down, he reluctantly took a small step back.

Franklin stepped toward Carolline, covering her with a blanket. “What about pain meds, sir?”

“I don’t know the extent of her injuries. It will have to wait until I can get x-rays. She’ll need to be carried. There’s no way you can roll the stretcher over the grass.”

Harrison, who had risen and taken up a position at the end of the stretcher, stared at him. “But sir, I can’t carry her that long of a distance.”

“I’ll do it,” Devon grunted. He moved into her place and lifted his end. Franklin lifted his, and they walked back over the grass to where the EMT bus was parked. After Carolline was loaded in, Devon climbed up behind her.

“Sir, you can’t ride back here.”

“I can do whatever the hell I want. I’m her doctor.” It was a lie and they all knew it. Devon couldn’t walk away and leave her care in someone else’s hands.

The more he thought about it, the more he came to realize he might never be able to walk away. It was a complication he didn’t need.