Chapter Five
Scarlett clutched a blanket around her shoulders, shivering. She hadn't stayed unconscious long, just long enough for Max to make a sweep of the house. She woke to him carrying her to the sofa in the den. If it wasn't for the blood dribbling from his side, she would have been tempted to think it was just a dream.
She swallowed dryly, remembering the pounding hands, the sound of bones cracking. How could somebody as gentle as she knew Max to be also have that level of violence in him? Beating a man to death with his bare hands…
He was protecting me, she reminded herself, for what seemed like the millionth time. That was the only reason she wasn't running, screaming, to the police about what she had seen. The thought of what could have happened if Max hadn't been there made her feel sick, and she had to close her eyes and breathe in deep to avoid passing out again.
This is ridiculous. I'm not some swooning woman from the Victorian age who succumbs to the vapors.
But at the moment, she half-wanted to be able to collapse back into oblivion. There were things that she just didn't want to think about that had happened that day…
Max turning into a gorilla was at the top of her list.
Maybe I was hallucinating because I was so afraid. Maybe I'm not remembering clearly now because I'm in shock.
She pulled the blanket tighter around herself when Vanessa came into the room, shaking her head. Without a word, the elderly housekeeper checked Scarlett's pulse and temperature, then clucked her tongue. Scarlett suddenly wondered if she could also turn into a gorilla and beat people to death and shied away from her, stomach starting to churn.
"Don't be afraid," Vanessa crooned, patting her hair in an oddly comforting gesture. "You're safe with Max, dear."
Scarlett swallowed hard. "He can turn into a gorilla."
"Yes."
"How long have you known?"
"Since he was three. He is in full control of his abilities, Scarlett, and I can promise he would never harm you. He's a gentleman. He wants to see you, if you'll go to him."
Scarlett shivered. What was a gentlewoman supposed to do in this situation? Well, go and see her lover, of course. Perhaps it was time to stop being a gentlewoman. She closed her eyes, trying to quell the queasiness in her stomach. If she didn't go to Max now, would she ever be able to look at him again? Could she go to him, though, now that she knew what he was capable of?
"I know this is frightening," Vanessa said, patting her hand. "And you're in shock. It's a lot to witness all at once, especially after we were attacked and had guns pointed at us. But Max is a good man. You have seen that for yourself. He could have had you arrested that day you tried to rob him, but he thought you deserved a chance to explain yourself."
"He wanted a fake fiancée," Scarlett muttered. "And then he seduced me."
Vanessa shook her head. "I've seen the way you look at him. He didn't have much seducing to do."
Well, that was the truth. There was no use denying it. Scarlett sighed, unfolding her limbs. She wanted answers, if nothing else. Like when Max had been planning on tell her that he could turn into a gorilla. If there were others like him. If it was contagious, if she was going to start sprouting fur now.
She wasn't going to get those answers if she refused to see him.
Scarlett pulled the blanket tighter around herself as Vanessa led her back to the kitchen. Max was lying on the table. He was too tall for it, and so it had been pulled over to the counter so his feet could rest on there. He was shirtless, a pack of bloody bandages pressed to his abdomen. Scarlet glanced around. The attackers were nowhere to be seen.
"So what are we going to tell the police when they come?" she asked, trying to bolster her quailing courage.
"They're not going to come," Max replied. His skin was awfully pale. Despite herself Scarlett stepped forwards, wanting to help him. "I have… friends who will take care of… what happened."
"Friends."
Vanessa bustled over to him, carrying a bottle of rubbing alcohol and fresh gauze. "Stay still, Max, unless you want us to tie you down. This is going to hurt and I don't want to cause more damage."
"I can stay still." Max's gaze didn't leave Scarlett. "You asked me why I need all the money I have. Well, situations like this are on the top of my list. I need the resources to be able to cover up… what I am."
The hesitant look in his eyes had Scarlett straightening. She realized she had been huddled into herself, and took a deep breath to calm herself before swinging around a chair to sit next to him. Vanessa was peeling back the soiled bandages, but Scarlett refused to look at that. Blood made her queasy. How Vanessa could be so calm about it, she didn't know.
"What exactly are you?" Scarlett asked, her voice no-nonsense and far more confident than she had thought it would be.
Max smiled wanly. "You know how there is a trend in paranormal romances to have the love interest be able to transform into an animal of one kind or another? Werewolves, werebears, etc.?"
"I don't really read romances. I prefer biographies and the classics, like Shakespeare."
"Of course you do." Max barked out a laugh that sounded more like a cry of pain. Sweat beaded his forehead. "Well, I'm a weregorilla. It's all completely voluntary, so you don't have to worry about me turning into a bloodthirsty monster."
"Gorillas aren't monsters," Scarlett said automatically. "They're gentle and shy."
"I'm not a gorilla, though," Max replied, his voice and gaze both soft. "And I'm not human. I'm… I'm not sure what I am. My mother was a shifter like me, but my father wasn't. He never wanted to hear anything about where she came from, and so I never… she promised that she'd tell me when I turned eighteen, but…"
"But she died."
"Yes. And I don't know her side of the family that well, so answers are hard to come by."
"And I am going to turn into one now, too?"
He shook his head. "It's genetic, not a virus."
Scarlett hesitated, then took his hand. He was the same man as before, wasn't he? "Shouldn't we get you to a hospital?"
"He'll be fine, dear. I was a doctor in my younger days, and my hands are still steady enough to remove a bullet." Vanessa held up something. There was blood all over her latex gloves and Scarlett closed her eyes. She felt the color drain from her face.
"I'll be fine," Max assured her, squeezing her hand. "I'm not human. I heal at an incredibly accelerated pace."
"You were shot."
"Not the first time," Max grunted, as Vanessa poured rubbing alcohol directly into his wound.
Scarlett thought she was going to faint again, and it took all of her strength not to vomit. She kept telling herself over and over that a gentlewoman did not release bodily fluids in the presence of others. She didn't care if she didn't feel much like a gentlewoman at the moment. It was all that was keeping her stomach contents in place.
"You've been shot before?" she blurted.
"I told you was in the marines for a while." Max panted, sweat coating his pale face. "Once I got separated from the rest of my squad. Took a bullet to the back. It was healed before I made it back to the others. Had to come up with one hell of an excuse as to why I had a bullet hole and was soaked in blood but didn't have a scratch on me. The bullet was later removed from where it was lodged in my heart. Right in it. I should have died, but weregorillas are damned hard to kill."
"Please don't curse," Scarlett said automatically. Her mind was racing at this new information. This all ought to be impossible, yet treating it as reasonable fact was the only way she could think of to process it. "So this wound will be healed in a few hours?"
"Less, since Vanessa removed the bullet and stitched me up."
"I see."
Vanessa slapped some gauze onto Max's abdomen and began cleaning up the mess. Max lay still, panting with pain, though the pallor on his cheeks was already retreating. Her hand was still in his, and Scarlett stood, using her free hand to stroke his hair back from his face.
"So is this why you needed a fake fiancée?"
Max's massive shoulders tensed. His eyes flickered open. "Is what?"
She hesitated, then gestured vaguely around the kitchen. "What happened here today? Were those men after you? Or were they just robbing you? Did they know you were…"?
Max shook his head. "I don't think so. But how they got in is of concern. I have security measures… I'll have to look into that. Maybe I'll fire my whole security team, in case it was an inside job. This is one of the drawbacks of not being able to call in the police, you have to do all your own investigations—"
"Is it because you can turn into a gorilla?"
No answer.
Scarlett took her hand from Max's, her head starting to spin again. "The reason who don't have a real fiancée. A real girlfriend, even. Is it because you can turn into a gorilla?"
"Yes." Max stared up at her. "Vanessa is the only one who knows, aside from my mother's family. I couldn't tell anybody else because I know that once they find out what I am, they'll be afraid. They'll leave. And when somebody is so afraid of me that they leave, then maybe they'll tell somebody else, and my secret will be out. Now, maybe I'm rich enough that I can protect myself from public knowledge. But what if somebody in the government decides that I'm a threat simply for existing? What if… so that's why I can't tell anybody."
He had never been planning to tell her. Somehow that disappointed her. He hadn't trusted her with this secret, this terrifying secret. But why should he? In seven months they were going to go their separate ways.
"I'm tired," Scarlett whispered bleakly. "I need to go lie down… get better, Max."
She turned on her heel and left the room before either of them could continue the conversation.