“What? Steal him?” Quinn was beginning to question his patient’s mental stability. “Your husband—”

“He’s not my husband!” she let out a snarly hiss that reminded him of her animal nature and began pulling at the heart monitors attached to her skin. “He’s not my anything. In fact, if I never see him for the rest of my life, it will be too soon.”

“Whoa! You’re still recovering from a concussion and possibly a dislocated hip. While I realize your body is healing quickly, you should still take it slow.” Quinn helped her sit up. When his palm touched her bare skin, he felt an electrical pulse from the tips of his fingers to the nails on his toes. What the hell?

“Please, you have to help me. I have to get out of here before he tracks me down. Hell, he’ll probably track me here, anyway. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I have to go.” Aubrey stood and immediately her knees buckled. Thank God for his quick reflexes, or she’d have hit the ground.

Her curvy frame filled his arms nicely, and he cursed himself for even looking at her that way. She was nine months pregnant with someone else’s child, for God’s sake. It shouldn’t matter that she smelled like the warm sun on a spring day or that his bear was suddenly chomping at the bit to get out of him and meet her.

Several inches taller than she was, he noted the way her ash-blonde hair dangled in unkempt waves down past her hips. Her frame was significantly smaller than any other tiger shifter he’d met, and he had a gut feeling she was undernourished. While his first instinct as a doctor was to question her care of herself, the shifter inside him was having none of those doubts. All he could see was a fragile woman who was scared to death. He had no idea what the baby’s father had done to scare her so much, but he didn’t care. His bear had already made the decision to protect her if only to keep her close.

“I will help you, but I have to know what’s going on. How did you end up at a human hospital? Where’s your pack? And why is the baby’s father such a threat?”

Before Aubrey could answer, Nurse Kasey returned. “Excuse me Dr. Jameson, but Aubrey seems to have a visitor in the waiting room.”

“Oh, my God, Alex!” Aubrey’s body stiffened, and her golden hazel eyes widened, fear filling their depths. “I have to leave, right now!”

Quinn moved with the lethal grace of an animal, calling on his natural instincts to help him find a way out of this predicament. “Shit. Okay, lay down. I’m going to cover you with the sheet and get you out of here before someone comes looking for you. Kasey, can you distract the desk nurses, so that we can get to the back elevators?”

Aubrey hesitated for barely a breath before she nodded and dropped back down on the gurney. Once she was covered, Quinn unlocked the brake and pulled the bed through the oversized doorway past the curtain. A quick glance to his left assured him that there was no one in the hallway on this side of the ER doors, but he had a gut feeling that this Alex character wasn’t going to follow protocol.

The nurse’s desk was miraculously empty, and Quinn made a mental note to thank Kasey Summers for her efficiency. It wasn’t the first time they’d had to sneak a shifter out, but this was the first time their patient had been nine months pregnant.

Pushing the gurney around another corner, he made a beeline for the staff elevators. The only way he could possibly get Aubrey out of the hospital without anyone noticing was if he took her out through the basement parking garage. For the life of him, he didn’t know why he was risking so much for a woman he didn’t know, but his bear wouldn’t let him leave her.

Once they were secured behind the elevator doors, Aubrey pushed the sheet off her face and glanced around nervously.

“Where are we going?”

“There’s a parking garage under the hospital for staff. My Suburban has tinted windows, so if you lie down in the back, no one will be able to see you.

“I don’t know how to thank you,” she finally whispered. “I can’t let Alex get his hands on me or my baby.”

Her words solidified Quinn’s need to protect her and her unborn child. There was no way in hell he was going to let either of them down.

* * *

It seemed to take forever to cross the dimly lit parking garage, but Aubrey managed to remain quiet with the knowledge only her silence and the generosity of Quinn Jameson were keeping her and her child safe right now. If Alex managed to find her, he’d have her locked back up before she could yell for help. That was not an option. She couldn’t take one more minute inside her gilded prison.

The vehicle Dr. Jameson took her to was enormous and clearly expensive. When she sat up on the gurney with the plan to get up, he barked a sharp No at her.

“You barely have enough on to keep you decent. Let me help,” he instructed, wrapping the thin hospital blanket around her waist, then lifting her as if she didn’t weigh an ounce. She’d forgotten she was only wearing a hospital gown and panties, but she was grateful he’d remembered.

His arms felt like thick bands of iron as they held her confidently, muscles flexing with ease. Instinctively, she looped her own arms loosely around his neck to keep from falling, and he snorted.

“I won’t drop you if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Oh, no,” she felt her cheeks heat, “it’s just… I’ve never been carried before.”

The handsome doctor gave her a thoughtful look before settling her on the plush leather seat. “That’s a damn shame,” he murmured, helping her adjust the blankets around her for warmth and modesty.

Aubrey wasn’t sure what the proper response to his statement would be, so she just stayed quiet. He secured the door and climbed into the driver’s seat, pulling his cell phone free from his scrubs.

“I need to check in with Kasey… er… Nurse Summers and make sure everything inside is managed. I was technically supposed to be off the clock forty-five minutes ago, so no one should be concerned I’m gone, but that man of yours is probably freaking the fuck out.”

“He’s not my man,” she hissed, her tiger rushing to the forefront. The only thing stopping her from shifting was her current state of pregnancy. While woman and tiger were generally one and the same being, during the late months of pregnancy, the human side of a shifter took over to protect the infant. Her tiger ached to be free, but would never risk harming its offspring. “He’s a heinous beast who seduced me and got me pregnant.”

Dr. Jameson narrowed his eyes at her in the rear-view mirror for a moment before he began speaking into his phone. His responses were short and sharp, and within seconds, he’d hung up and tossed the device into the passenger seat.

“All set. Your friend is currently searching the neighborhood for his runaway fiancée; he believes you went AWOL, against medical advice,” he explained as he started the ignition. “Stay down a little longer if you don’t want to be spotted.”

Aubrey did as she was told, hunching down on the buttery-soft bench seat with only the car’s luxurious interior and one delicious-smelling man to look at. Trapped in this enclosed space with Dr. Jameson, she became keenly aware of her body’s attraction to him. Damn hormones.

“It’s normal,” he murmured.

“I’m sorry?”

“The arousal. It’s normal during pregnancy. Your hormones are a bit chaotic.” He glanced over at her, and Aubrey felt her face heat up. “I just didn’t want you to be embarrassed about it.”

“Well, you majorly failed at that, Doc,” she grumbled.

“My name is Quinn. Considering I just helped you escape a dastardly villain, I think we should be on first name terms.” Several more minutes passed before he spoke again.

“We just crossed the river, so you should be okay to sit up now,” he instructed, turning the car off the main road.

“Where are we going?” Aubrey struggled to get her bearings in an unfamiliar part of the city.

“My house.” He looked her way again and shifted the gears flawlessly. “Unless you have another destination in mind?”

“I didn’t have any destination in mind. I just had to get out. Honestly, I didn’t even pause to consider the risk of leaving when I saw my opening. I just ran,” her voice cracked, and she swallowed the lump in her throat. She had no idea where the out of character streak of fearlessness had come from. Alex had been threatening her the entire time he’d held her captive, and until the moment she’d noticed the lock wasn’t secured, she’d never even seriously considered making an escape attempt.

“I know who you’re running from, but what I don’t understand is why? What did this guy, Alex, do to you?”

“He kidnapped me.”

“What?” Quinn roared. The car swerved on the road, and Aubrey let out a little scream.

“Please, can we just get somewhere safe before I explain? I’m so tired of being scared. I just need to sit here for a minute and process everything.” Aubrey reached out to touch his arm, and he shuddered, causing her to pull back. “Sorry, I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore.”

“It’s okay. I’m just not much of a people person. We have about thirty minutes to drive. Why don’t you lay down and close your eyes? This stress isn’t good for the baby.”

Taking his advice, Aubrey snuggled down, feeling safe for the first time in months. Her instincts told her anyone trying to do her or her child harm would have to go through the good doctor first. The fact that her tiger was finally calm was enough to let her drift into a restless sleep on their journey, should have been a red flag, but she was too tired to care.