King's Throne Read online

  “Just the bags in the back seat. Can you take those with you?”

  “Sure thing.” Mr. Miller got the bags that contained a few changes of clothing and some other supplies, and hopped on to his own snowmobile. With a roar of engines, they prowled away over the snow into the darkening night.

  They arrived at the cabin as the sun was setting. Mr. Miller helped her get Mitch inside and onto the bed and then hightailed it back so he could get home before full dark. She knew the Miller family would be on high alert and would be the first line of defense if anyone with bad intentions had followed Gina’s circuitous route from the city. After Mr. Miller left, silence descended. She was alone with Mitch.

  She looked around the cabin, locating a few things she’d need and then turned to contemplate the unconscious tiger shifter. Another infusion of her blood might be just the thing to bring him around.

  Universal shifter blood was a rare and magical thing. Gina could donate blood to any other shifter or were species with no fear of incompatibility. Just a few drops of her blood could purify any poison or contagion in another person’s system—shifter or human. In fact, her mother had covertly used Gina’s blood to save a number of students in her grammar school when they’d all been exposed to viral meningitis.

  It only took a minute or two to take a few milliliters of blood from her own arm and inject it into Mitch. She’d done the same when he’d gone into convulsions back in Ellie’s apartment and it had saved his life. So far. But then she’d given him the nectar. She was kicking herself over that misstep.

  She might’ve killed him with the nectar. She felt horrible about giving it to him, but Cade had been so adamant about rousing Mitch so he could answer questions. She never should have done it. The nectar had to have caused this relapse. Her blood had been working to heal him. She knew it had.

  Five milliliters of her blood was more than enough to restore good health to anyone. The human kids in her grade-school class had only needed a few drops each to rid themselves of the deadly disease.

  Even this huge Alpha should have been fine with the small amount he’d been given back at the apartment, but he’d relapsed. He had rallied for a little while and then collapsed again while they were in the car. With any luck, this second treatment would do the trick and put him back on the road to recovery.

  “Come on, big guy.” She did her best to settle him more comfortably on the bed.

  He wore a giant sweatshirt she’d bought for him on the way out of town. She’d had to make a quick stop at a large chain store to get Mitch some clothing. The shirt and pants he’d been wearing when he was attacked were ruined and it wasn’t worth the risk to get his own clothing. So now the tough Alpha sported a shirt that loudly proclaimed he really loved New York.

  It was the only thing she could find that was big enough for his extra-large frame and warm enough for where they were headed. Winter had already hit up in the mountains. His pants were likewise sweats with a drawstring waist. There was another set in her bag along with some of her own clothes. It wasn’t much, but it would have to be enough for now.

  They had to lay low until things settled down.

  Mitch’s golden eyes opened.

  “Where am I?” The words rasped out of a throat raw from what he’d been through, yet his tone was still compelling. If Gina had been made of more timid stuff, she might have cowed before the Alpha. As it was, she met his unvoiced challenge on even footing. Actually, she held all the power in this situation, but she was a little too nice to point it out to the injured warrior.

  “Safe. In the mountains, at a remote cabin well-guarded by others of our kind.”

  “Your kind or my kind, milady?” One golden eyebrow rose in an almost teasing question.

  “So you remember that?” She sat back on her haunches next to him on the wide bed. She’d climbed up beside him to administer the blood and hadn’t left his side as she’d willed him to wake. She’d been that worried about him.

  He still wasn’t out of the woods. She would have to keep close watch over him until he showed marked signs of improvement and could stay awake without yet another infusion of her blood. He was perilously close to succumbing to the poison and would have been dead already if not for the magical properties of her blood.

  “That and more. I may have looked unconscious, but this particular poison seems to leave me aware but unable to respond, not even to open my eyes.

  “You’ve been awake this whole time?”

  “No. Not completely. But I was aware for some time after that first dose. I heard what Cade said and your plans to take me out of the city. I faded as he put me in the car.”

  “Good. So I don’t have to go over too much old ground. Your partner is with my friend Ellie in the city. You’re out of the action for now, I’m afraid. In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t responded better to my treatment. One dose should have been enough.”

  “Whatever they got me with is more potent than anything I’ve ever experienced.” He grimaced as he tried to move. “The tingling is starting again. If I go out, remember I can hear you.” His voice began to slur a tiny bit. “Talk to me, milady. Keep me company.” His hand gripped hers as a frisson of fear entered his eyes. “Stay with me.”

  She covered his big hand with hers, pressing gently. “I will. I promise. We’re safe for now. My father will come tomorrow and the Millers have guard duty tonight. This cabin is on the edge of their land where it meets my parents’ retreat. They’re a good and loyal tigre d’or family. Mr. Miller and his wife were Royal Guard, like you. When my father went into exile, they went with him, as did a handful of others. Your recovery will be guarded by those like you, Mitch. Trust their skill to keep you safe as they have kept my family safe all these years. I bet they’ve forgotten more things about stealth and secrecy than you’ve even heard of.”

  His grip relaxed as his muscles went slack and only a small grunt followed. The poison must be doing its work on him again. Dammit.

  She was really worried. She leaned over him, peering into his golden eyes.

  “Are you still with me, Mitch?”

  One hand rose to cup her waist loosely, surprising her. He wasn’t completely under, though his motions were sluggish and his eyes half-lidded. The heat of his hand on her body sent little shivers of awareness through her that were totally unacceptable. He was her patient. She shouldn’t feel anything but doctorly compassion for the big brute, no matter that he was the most attractive tiger shifter she’d ever seen.

  Not that she’d seen a whole slew of her own kind up close. No, she’d been raised away from the Clan, but her father had a few loyal families living up here in the middle of nowhere with them. She’d had tigre playmates and friends all her life. And humans too, though they lived down the mountain in the nearby town. She’d gone to the human school in the valley with both human and tigre kids. That’s how she’d met Ellie and they’d been best friends ever since—even though there was one really big secret between them. Until just recently, Ellie hadn’t had a clue about shifters.

  But the shifter Guards and their children were always watching out for Gina. Even when she’d ventured out on her own. Her father wouldn’t have let her go off to the city without some protection, especially at first.

  By the time she’d graduated, at least one part of her protection detail had already mated and had cubs of their own. They lived nearby and she saw them often, but they weren’t really guarding her anymore. After years living among humans with no problem, even her father had been willing to allow her to roam alone. After all, cats needed their space. He understood that better than most.

  “I’m here, blue eyes.” His words were slurred even more and his gaze spoke of the same attraction she was feeling—and fighting. Only he didn’t seem to be fighting it right now. “You’re lovely, Gina.”

  Now that was a little more intimate than she was comfortable with. Especially coupled with the way he drew her closer, tugging at her hip as he slid his han
d over her waist to urge her forward.

  Her balance was precarious as she leaned over him on the soft bed and she found herself unable to resist the pull. Before she knew it, she was within range of those firm lips and he was kissing her.

  It wasn’t a light buss, but it also wasn’t the tempestuous claiming she’d feared. It was a sweet kiss, full of promise and wonder. Something she wouldn’t have expected from the tough Alpha, even in his weakened condition, and it completely seduced her.

  She gave back all that he asked and more. Her hands went to his wide shoulders for balance, though the simple act of touching him turned easily into a caress. He was bigger and more muscular than any man she’d ever kissed before and she liked the sensation of his muscles moving under her fingertips. Such a feeling could easily become addictive.

  When he ended the kiss, it was a gentle parting, like something out of a fairytale. Gina was stunned momentarily while his eyes searched hers.

  “Tell me true, milady. What are my chances?”

  His words hit her like a bucket of cold water and her heart wrenched to think this man—this gentle man who had kissed her with such beauty—might still die. Her hands tightened on his shoulders and though she tried, he refused to let her move away. The hands that secured her waist made certain of it.

  “I don’t know,” she whispered.

  “My arms and legs tingle like they don’t want to work. I can also feel myself slipping back into that nightmare of being aware but unable to move.” A little of the horror he must’ve felt came through in his voice, though she knew he tried to put on a brave face.

  “No matter what happens, I’ll be with you, Mitch. Now that I know you’re aware at least some of the time, I’ll keep you company. Nobody can get to us without considerable trouble here, and my father will be by in the morning. He may not have the title any longer, but he certainly still knows how to organize and protect things. This area is part of his fortress of solitude. It’s well hidden and protected by more than you can imagine. He’ll keep us safe while you heal, and my mother is a registered nurse. She’ll help too, if we need her. You’ll have the best care any shifter could hope for.”

  “You have my thanks, milady. And if the worst should happen, I have no family to return my bones to. Just tell Cade. He’ll know what to do with my few possessions.”

  “Don’t talk like that, Mitch. So far, my blood is keeping you alive and awake for longer periods of time. It might just take more of it than usual. That’s okay. I’m willing donate whatever you need.”

  “You’re not only a princess, but an angel as well.” He still had strength enough to tease her and his face brightened in a weak but devastating smile.

  She wasn’t unaffected. Mitch had more than his share of charm.

  “Not a princess or an angel. Just a doctor. With a family and loyal friends that will keep you safe while you heal.” She knew the predator in him paced at the idea of being unable to protect himself from others who would prey on any weakness.

  She kept reinforcing the idea that he would be safe, knowing it would reassure the beast side of his nature. Even Alphas needed to take time to heal once in a while. As long as she could placate the beast inside him, his rest would be peaceful and healing.

  “I’m not used to trusting anyone but my partner or other Royal Guards,” he admitted. Some of his natural protections had dissolved along with his grasp on reality. He seemed to be floating in a half-awake sort of state, though she knew it was the poison affecting him. He was aware, even if the poison took him under again and he appeared to be unresponsive.

  “What about the Nyx? Would you trust the pantera queen to see to your safety?”

  “Ria? I protect her. Not the other way around.”

  His dedication to his duty was impressive, but not unexpected. Each of the big-cat shifter monarchs had a group of loyal Royal Guards to see to their safety. That was the way their society had been designed back during the European Renaissance. The Renaissance had influenced the names they called their monarchs as well. There had been a decided classical and Egyptian influence.

  The queen of the pantera noir was called the Nyx as a nod to Greek antiquity. Black panthers saw the humor in naming their ruler after the goddess of the night. Just like the golden tigers, or tigre d’or, named their leader after the Egyptian sun god, Ra. The Tig’Ra was the king of all tigers and he was always a rare white tiger. The tiger queen was known as the Tig’Ren. The last royal couple to reign in the ancestral stronghold had been Gina’s parents, but they’d had to leave it all behind due to murder and treachery.

  “Okay then.” She refocused on their conversation. “What about the Tig’Ra?” Whatever it cost, she had to get him to feel safe so that he could heal. “My father may not rule the Clan anymore, but he does rule over these lands. You’re in his realm now. Nobody gets through the perimeter unless he lets them through. He has a small Pride of loyal tigers. They’re stationed all around. I bet even Dad is prowling around out there tonight. He loves padding through the snow fog. It’s his best camouflage.”

  “I’ve never seen the white tiger,” Mitch mused sleepily. “I would like to see him before I die.”

  She squeezed his shoulder, regaining his attention. “You will not die, Mitch. I won’t allow it. And you will meet my father tomorrow. He’s demanded it. You can’t let him down. Very few golden tigers are granted an audience with him these days. In fact, none in the past decade that I can recall. You need to honor that meeting.”

  “I will,” he said sleepily as the poison overtook him again. “Just don’t leave me, Gina. I’ll stay as long as you do.”

  “You have my word.”

  He was gone again. Under the spell of the poison.

  Gina was physically exhausted by all the excitement, the drive and the trek to the cabin, but she stayed by his side, talking long into the night. Even though he looked unconscious, he’d told her the poison left him unable to respond but aware. She took that to heart, talking to him, telling him about her childhood escapades here at the cabin, where her family sometimes camped when teaching her survival skills. Many romps in the wilderness had ended with a toasty fire in this cabin and burnt marshmallows on sticks.

  Her parents had doted on her but had not skimped when it came to her education—both in her tiger form and in her human shape. They taught her how to live as a tiger, how to hunt and how to survive. They taught her the same things in human form too, along with other skills like self-defense and evasion. All this, before she’d even become a teenager. It had been fun to learn those things at first—when she hadn’t realized the deadly game had very real consequences.

  But after an attempt on her father’s life while they were on one of their rare trips abroad, where friends had died in the course of saving her family’s lives, she’d learned the truth. She’d learned the true nature of the world and how her family was hunted simply because of what they were. Hunted by humans. Hunted by their own kind who wanted her father’s power.

  After that, she’d become more serious about learning how to defend and even attack should it become necessary, in both her forms. Her father had been her teacher. He was a skilled fighter who kept in shape, training with his friends, the loyal Royal Guards who had come with him into exile.

  There hadn’t been an attempt on his life in many years. Of course, that was probably because they were so well hidden, none of their enemies could find them way up here.

  After a couple of hours keeping up her one-sided dialog, Gina found it impossible to stay awake. The cabin was warm and Mitch was in the only real bed. It was big enough that she could lie down next to him and not touch. She doubted he’d wake easily from his unconscious state, but she wanted to be nearby just in case. It wasn’t entirely professional, of course. She’d never even entertained the idea of sleeping in the same bed with any of her other patients. Still, the extreme situation called for extreme measures.

  She lay down beside Mitch and closed her eyes.
She was asleep before she took another breath, so great was her exhaustion.

  Sometime later, in the middle of the night, she woke to a great shaking. Fighting through her sleep fog, she realized quickly that Mitch was in distress. His whole body was shaking as he fought through another round of convulsions.

  “Dammit,” she cursed, sitting up on the bed, reaching over Mitch’s straining body to the night stand where she’d put the medical supplies. She had to get more of her blood into him to counteract the tenacious residual poison.

  She swung her leg over him and sat on his thighs, trying to hold him in place so he wouldn’t hurt himself. Gina checked to make sure his airway was clear and placed a small stack of wooden tongue depressors between his pearly white teeth to give him something to bite down on.

  “Hold on, Mitch,” she spoke to him while she prepared to take the blood from her arm. “I’m going to give you a bigger dose this time,” she thought aloud as she stuck herself. “I’ve never given even half this much to anyone before, but you’re big enough to handle it, I think. I’ve never had to dose anyone more than once before either, but with you I’m hoping the third time will be the charm.”

  She filled the syringe with as much blood as it would hold while his body shook under her. It was an all-or-nothing strategy and it had to work this time. It just had to.

  She lay across him to keep his arm still while she administered the injection. His convulsions were a little less violent than the last time, when they’d still been in the city, in the apartment. That gave her hope. Perhaps his body was fighting back a bit more now, though whatever he’d been poisoned with had to be something fierce. She’d never had to give anyone this much of her blood. Never.

  She shot the dose home, into his arm, using all her weight to keep him still enough for the procedure. His muscles clenched, making her job a bit more difficult, but she found a way to get the life-saving substance into him. It was either that or watch him die—and she absolutely refused to do that under any circumstances.