Frost bitten, p.1
Frost Bitten, page 1
Frost-Bitten
Lori King
Frost-Bitten
By: Lori King
Copyright Lori King Books June 2017
Text Copyright © October 2016 Lori King
Art and Logo © Copyright Lori King Books
All rights reserved.
Edited by: Personal Touch Editing
Artwork by: Sinfully Sweet
Published by: Lori King Books
EBooks are not transferrable.
This book is intended for the purchaser’s sole use. Sharing, or downloading to other individuals or devices is illegal.
This work is fictional. Any resemblance to real persons, places, or events is purely coincidental. All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Also By Lori King
About the Author
1
“Single car versus embankment. Caucasian female approximately twenty-six years old, BP 138 over 84, pulse ox 98, unconscious, but showing signs of pain on the right flank. Appears to be pregnant. ETA three minutes.”
Quinn inhaled deeply as a rush of adrenaline filled his veins. This was what he’d missed about working in the ER. The vitality and constant motion of people in, people out. The daily—or in this case nightly—life or death decisions and curious cases. He thrived on the pressure.
He didn’t miss the sleepless nights and days, the aching muscles in his back and neck when he finished a long shift, or the crowds of people vying for his attention. Nurses, patients, family members—everyone wanted one-hundred percent of him, and because of his own social anxiety, he could barely give them seventy-five percent. That was the reason he’d left the ER behind in favor of the hospital research department. His dual specialties in obstetrics and oncology made him uniquely capable of working to find answers to scary diseases, and he’d made a name for himself doing it.
He’d also made a shitload of money. Not that it mattered much. The only thing he’d spent money on was his land and home in an effort to escape the chaos of city life and give him space to be free in any form.
I should visit the clan.
The thought flitted through his mind for barely a moment before he pushed it aside. Visiting his family was permanently at the bottom of his ‘to do’ list. He’d grown tired of hearing his mother talk about his sister’s cub like he was the second coming of the messiah. Nope, until he had a mate, he preferred to keep his distance. Not that it looked like that was going to be happening anytime soon. He spent so little time interacting with people in person, it would take a miracle for his mate to find him. Hell, at this point, she’d likely given up the search for her one true mate and settled.
“Dr. Jameson, bus in the bank.” Nurse Kasey Summers was a long-time coworker, and yet, the only thing he knew about her was she was extremely efficient at her job, and her clothes were too big for her slender frame. How sad was it that they’d known each other for almost two decades and barely knew each other? If it weren’t for the fact that they were both shifters, he probably wouldn’t even know her name.
As the doors to the ambulance bay opened to reveal a pair of EMT’s pushing a patient on a gurney, Quinn let all thoughts of his lonely existence flee his mind and got down to business. He had lives to save.
Pulling a gown over his scrubs, he stepped through the automatic doors into the icy cold Colorado air. One deep breath told him he was facing a much bigger problem than just a woman in a car accident. This woman was a shifter, and she was very pregnant.
A million tiny gremlins had invaded Aubrey’s head and were drilling for oil like it was going out of style. She barely heard her own moan of pain as she fought to open her eyes. The world spun, and she felt her stomach flip-flop. Oh, God, the last thing she needed was to throw up. She’d just managed to get a handle on the pregnancy nausea in the last few weeks.
“Ma’am? Can you hear me?”
The woman’s voice made her eyes burn with unshed tears, and it wasn’t even that loud. Somehow, she forced her head to move in an up-and-down fashion, reigniting the tilt-a-whirl feeling in her belly.
“Ma’am, you were in an accident. You’re at the hospital now. Do you remember what happened?”
Accident? She didn’t remember an accident. She remembered a traumatic escape from Alex’s padlocked basement and the scariest sixty seconds of her life when she tried to find an unlocked car to steal while battling the fucking Colorado cold. The rest was a blur. She could vaguely remember driving north out of town, but she’d had no destination in mind. All she knew was that she had to get away, fast.
A tugging on her belly reminded her of the reason for everything, and she cried out, “My baby!”
“The baby seems to be okay. Heart rate is a little fast, but that’s to be expected after this kind of trauma. Can you tell us how far along you are?”
Squinting through the pain, Aubrey focused on the woman’s face. She had worry lines etched into her forehead, but the laugh lines around her mouth were deeper, and somehow, that reassured Aubrey.
“Thirty-four weeks,” she murmured, reaching to cup her distended abdomen only to find she couldn’t move her arms as far as she wanted.
“Easy, we have an IV in one arm and a blood pressure cuff on the other. Just relax and let us check you out. What’s your name, honey?”
“Aubrey, Aubrey Celine.”
“What a pretty name,” the woman said, giving her a smile and patting her arm. “I’m Kasey, and we’re working on getting you something for the pain. Where do you hurt?”
“No pain meds! They might affect the baby,” Aubrey groaned when someone pressed on her right side.
“Hush now, Dr. Jameson is the best of the best. You’re very lucky to have him here tonight. I promise you, he won’t take any risks with your little one.” The nurse seemed pleasant enough, and after a moment, Aubrey felt a coldness spread up her arm and into her head. The pain medication slowed her thought process, and she fought to regain all of her senses.
Around her, Aubrey could feel movement in the rush of a cold breeze over her, but the air was so thick with the scents of the hospital, she was struggling to get her bearings. She knew her body would heal perfectly, she just needed to give her shifter blood time to do so.
“Aubrey, Dr. Jameson is going to do an ultrasound on you to check on the baby, do you understand?”
She nodded again, letting her eyes drift closed as someone squirted warm jelly on her skin.
“Clear the room for the patient’s privacy, please. Everyone but Nurse Summers.”
This voice was deep and rumbly. It reminded Aubrey of her grandfather’s when he was telling her bedtime stories late at night during her childhood. Who was it again? Dr. Jameson the nurse had called him. The best of the best.
Turning her head, she registered a flash of white blonde hair and then the overwhelming scent of shifters filled her nose.
“You!” she gasped, “You’re—”
Ice-blue eyes turned on her with a hard look, and the man frowned. “Dr. Quinn Jameson, and I’m going to make sure you and your baby are just fine, Ms. Celine. Now, just relax, this will be over before you know it.”
The sound of a curtain being pulled was followed by the lights dimming and the hum of a machine. She could feel the ultrasound roll across her baby belly, and she moaned when it drew close to her bruised side.
“Did that hurt?” Kasey was back at Aubrey’s side, brushing her hair away from her forehead. “I’m surprised you’re feeling anything with those pain meds in you.”
“The joys of shifter metabolism,” Aubrey groaned, tossing her head side to side. “Look, I just need to know my baby is okay, and then I need to leave. I’m fine. You’re both aware I’ll heal on my own—”
Dr. Jameson cut her off, “Your baby looks perfect.”
“Oh, thank God.”
“How far along did you say you were?” he asked, his eyes meeting hers again.
Aubrey’s heart skipped a beat, “Thirty-four weeks, I think.”
“You think?” The look he gave her was almost accusatory, and she felt her face heat up.
“I’m… uh… not exactly like normal women.”
“I would think not,” Dr. Jameson snorted, and the corner of his mouth lifted, “with tiger blood in your veins.”
“Besides that,” Aubrey rolled her eyes, “I don’t exactly run true to my nature, and could you speak more quietly? Someone might hear you and have questions.”
“More likely someone will have questions when they realize you’ve already metabolized the pain medication and your injuries heal on their own in a couple of hours. Nurse Summers, will you please start the cleansing process?”
“What’s the cleansing process?” Aubrey demanded. The nurse just smiled and disappeared through the swinging curtains. Turning her attention back to the blonde doctor, Aubrey narrowed her eyes and a small growl slipped from her throat. “Where is she going?”
Dr. Jameson reached for her chin, tipping her face up and flashing a light in her eyes. “She went to cleanse our computer system of your name. It will save us a lot of questions when you disappear from the hospital. When was yo ur last heat?”
“It started in February and ended in May.”
His eyes widened, “So long?”
“I told you I wasn’t normal. I’m not even normal for a… tiger.” Aubrey responded, feeling the familiar shame fill her chest. She hated being different in any way.
“Is it possible you conceived earlier than you thought?” he asked. “The fetus appears to be around thirty-eight weeks.”
“But…” How was that possible? She hadn’t started experiencing any symptoms until the early fall. You could just be a late bloomer.” He paused, “Would you like to know the sex?”
Nodding anxiously, Aubrey held her breath.
“You’re having a boy.”
Instantly her heart broke. This was worst case scenario. Alex had been trying to reproduce a son for decades and wasn’t it just her bad luck that he’d managed to do it with her?
“I’m sorry, but you don’t seem very excited about your son.” Dr. Jameson put the equipment away and began wiping the jelly from her stomach. She watched as he set about removing her IV. The needle pinched when it pulled free of her already healing skin.
“I can’t be excited. His father will steal him from me the moment he finds out he’s a boy. I’ve got to leave, now. I have to get as far away from here as possible.”
2
“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.”
