Cinderella's Guardian (16 page)

"The perfect plan."

Half an hour later she stood behind some trees near the delivery entrance of the hospital. The walk had worn her out. The pain from her burns combined with her lack of sleep, left her feeling considerably unwell.

"I can't give up now. I've come too far and am too close."

She easily slipped through the door and into a storage room. Glancing around, a box of syringes caught her gaze. She smiled as her mind formed a plan. But before she acted on it, she found the burn kits. She covered her raw flesh with silica cream before she carefully wrapped gauze around her hands. Thankfully, her fingertips had escaped being too badly burned. She gingerly took a wrapped syringe and slipped it up her sleeve for later use. Then taking another, she opened it and pulled the plunger up. A nice shot of air into someone's bloodstream would cause havoc—even if she missed a vein, she was pretty sure her victim would still not want her to push the plunger down.

Satisfied she was now armed appropriately, Robyn made her way toward the consulting rooms where the shrink saw most of her patients. Her heart rate did triple time as she heard footsteps coming down the hallway but she managed to quietly slide into an empty patient room. She held her breath as she heard a squeak of a wheel pass the door along with the heavy footsteps. Oh, how convenient. Conner and Tina had left Dale all by his lonesome. She might not need her syringes after all.

Holding her weapon so it was hidden behind her wrist, she crept from the room and quickly headed down the hallway toward her man.

~ * ~

Dale stood in shocked silence looking at Jennifer as Conner left with Tina. Dr. Reid was Jennifer. The same Jennifer he'd crushed on in school, before he'd met Gloria. In fact, if Jennifer hadn't turned him down, he doubted he would have even given Gloria the time of day. But she'd been Jennifer Wilson back then, which meant she was married. Reid, he knew that name. Dale forced himself to think back to his school days. Ryan Reid, he was a big bloke. Gentle giant that he was, had refused to join the football team. Dale couldn't blame him for chasing after Jennifer. She had been beautiful and very smart. Still was on both counts.

"So, Dale. How are you coping with everything?"

"Well, I realized I put my daughter in the care of a crazy woman and got a phone call after she attempted suicide. Raced home in time to see my house burned down and to discover my daughter has gotten engaged. It's been a rather busy week."

Jennifer softly chuckled. "And you can throw jetlag in on top of all that too. How about you give yourself a couple of days to reset your body clock to Aussie time? Get rested up, then come back and see me. We'll have a chat about how you're coping with everything then. After you've had some time to process it all."

Yeah, however he doubted a couple days would be long enough for him to process all of it. Especially the fact his old flame was standing before him.

"I can't believe it's you."

She frowned over at him. "What do you mean?"

"When we spoke on the phone, I didn't realize it was you. Jennifer Wilson."

"Well, it's Jennifer Reid now, but yeah, it's me."

"How's Ryan doing these days?"

He frowned as he watched her entire body stiffen. "He died. Accident at the mines several years back now."

"Oh shit, I'm sorry, Jen. Didn't mean to drag up painful memories."

"That's okay, Dale. It happened a long time ago, I've had plenty of time to adjust to being a widow. I'm surprised you remembered either of us to be honest."

"Seriously? How could I forget my first crush? You shattered my poor pre-teen heart when you turned down my advances."

She laughed with a smile that reached her eyes. Dale was so glad to see the sad edge to her expression disappear.

"Now that day I remember. You were so sweet. I wanted to give in to your charms, but I knew you weren't meant for me."

He stood from where he'd been leaning against the wall and moved toward her. "So, you found me charming. But how could you have known I wasn't meant for you?"

He was now standing quite close to her, breathing in her feminine scent. She shocked him when she raised a hand and rubbed her thumb over his bearded cheek. "We're a breed apart, Dale. Not that it matters anymore-"

Caught off guard, Dale was slammed into the wall as a high pitch screech rent the air.
What the hell?

"Get your filthy paws off my man, Jennifer. I lost him once to Gloria. I will not lose him again to you."

Dale pushed himself from the wall. "Damn it, Robyn, what the hell are you going on about?"

"You are mine. We were always meant to be together."

Dale's mind still spun a little from the fast meeting with the wall, but he focused on Robyn's twitching, dilated eyes. Her whole body vibrated with rage.

When had her crush turned so psychotic?

He caught Jennifer's movement out the corner of his eye. It looked like she'd hit something on the underside of her desktop. A small amount of relief washed through him. She had a panic button. Help was on the way. He just hoped it would be in time.

"Robyn, can you take a couple of deep breaths for me? You need to calm down so we can get a doctor to check you over. You have burns that need care. We can talk about Dale after you get fixed up if you like."

He watched with his heart in his throat as Robyn turned her full focus from him to Jennifer. "There is no need to
talk
about Dale. He is mine. No one else's. You hear me?"

The door slammed open and a male nurse ran in, straight in front of Robyn.
Stupid idiot.

The next minute rolled past like he was watching a movie stuck on slow motion. Robyn grabbed the nurse and brought up a needle she'd been hiding, aimed at the side of his neck. A roar from his right caught his attention and a large snow leopard pounced forward knocking both Robyn and the nurse to the ground. With a loud thump, both were left unconscious, their heads bouncing once on the hard floor. Conner sprinted into the room with Tina wheeling in behind him.

Time sped by as Tina approached him. "You okay, Dad? You're not hurt?"

He looked back to the large cat now pacing back and forth in the room.

"I'm fine. But there's a leopard… Where's Jennifer?"

His gaze searched the room, finding no sign of her. His heart rate sped up again, had the leopard injured Jen? Where was she?

"It's okay, Dad. I'll explain it all but you need to calm down first. Here, sit down."

As he sat, Conner's deep voice caught his attention. "Clint, we've got a situation down in Jennifer's office. I need a change of clothes for Jennifer, then we're going to need a couple of stretchers and the police need to be called. Robyn attacked a nurse in the office. Yeah, everyone's okay. The nurse is out cold, as is Robyn. She's also got some nasty looking burns by the look of it. Yep, okay see you in a few. Oh, can you bring a bottle of water. Dale's looking like he's seen better days."

Dale's brain refused to process what he'd seen. It couldn't be possible, could it?

"It's crazy, Dad. I know it is. But it's real. Shape shifters are very real."

Shape shifters? He glared at his daughter, thinking maybe she had lost her mind...but there was a large cat pacing the room with them and no sign of the good doctor.

Clint raced into the room with a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. "Sorry, Jen, I know it's not your usual attire but it's all I've got for now." Clint went over to the desk and set the clothing on the corner before he moved to check first the nurse then Robyn.

The leopard padded behind the desk where a blue bubble engulfed it and the cat shimmered into a female human form. With her back to him, Jennifer dressed quickly before turning around to face him.

"Like I said, Dale. We're just a breed apart."

Dale managed a jerky nod before his brain called it quits. Sorting out the whole damn mess seemed near impossible. Black spots swam before his eyes as he heard Tina call out for someone to grab him.

~ * ~

Tina focused on her father's pale face. Conner had thankfully caught him before he fell from the chair and now he was lying in a hospital bed. He'd had one hell of a day she supposed. She knew how freaked out a person could get when they first discovered shape shifters were not only real, but all around them. The nurse had told her he should wake up soon. He was simply in shock. His small groan had her gripping his hand.

"What happened?"

"Well Dad, that rather depends on what you remember last?"

Her father rolled over and gazed into her eyes. "A snow leopard saved that nurse from Robyn."

"Well, after that you went into shock and passed out. Conner caught you before you fell off the chair, and now here you are."

His eyes narrowed. "What happened to the leopard?"

"Ah, you don't remember that bit. Jennifer is a shifter. She can be either human or snow leopard," she swallowed her rising nerves, "just like Conner can."

Her dad's eyes opened wide before narrowing again. "Your fiancé is part animal?"

"It's not like that Dad. Get Jake to explain it. I'll forget bits if I do it."

"Wait, Jake's one too? How many are there?"

"I don't know exactly. There's a whole Leap here in Rosebery. That's what a group of leopards is called; a Leap. I thought it was a Pride, but that's lions. Anyway, most of the firefighters are shifters. Obviously Jennifer is one. Not sure who else. But you don't have to worry, Dad. They're protectors, guardians. They won't ever hurt anyone without good cause. Look at Robyn, Jennifer could have killed her, but she just knocked her out."

Her father sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed so he was looking down into her face.

"And you're sure you want to marry one of them?"

"Yes, Dad. Conner and I are meant to be together."

"Meant to be together? You're sounding like a movie, Tina. Not like a woman who has thought this all through."

"Trust me, Dad. I've looked at this from every angle. And I will admit, initially I said yes mainly because I wanted to get away from Robyn. But it didn't take long at all to see that there was a lot more to my feelings for Conner. Male shifters start dreaming of their mate when she turns twenty-one. But he'd first met me weeks before my birthday. Without knowing I was his mate, he attempted to help me. So, it's not just that we were predestined to be together. He truly cares for me, protects me above all else. You know he got injured getting me out of the fire? A burning roof beam fell into him, knocked him into a wall. He'd wrapped his turnout coat around me so his shoulder copped the full force and heat of it. But even then, he didn't stop. He knew I couldn't get myself out. He pushed the beam off, grabbed me up and lunged out the door. Dad, if he weren't supernatural, we'd both be dead."

"What about you? Are you one of them now too?"

"No, Dad. Conner told me it's a DNA thing. I'll always be fully human."

She searched her father's gaze and saw he was worried and confused.

"It's okay, Dad. Conner makes me really happy. Even Dr. Reid said I'm looking better."

"I just worry about you, sweet pea. I didn't see Robyn for who she was, I didn't protect you from her. I won't allow a man to get a hold of you and hurt you more."

"Oh, Dad. Stop blaming yourself for Robyn's behavior. And I know in my soul that Conner would never hurt me."

A knock on the doorframe brought a halt to their conversation. Tina hoped her dad could forgive himself for Robyn. She didn't blame him, no one did. Robyn was crazy all on her own. Unfortunately, Robyn had become obsessed with her dad and her craziness snowballed from there.

"Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Anderson, but I need to talk to you."

Tina watched the police officer enter the room and approach the bed.

"I'm Constable Alex Ross, I've been investigating Ms. Robyn Taylor and need your side of things."

Tina smiled up at the officer. "I'll leave you two to discuss it. I need to go check on Conner."

"Thank you, Ms. Anderson. I believe Conner is down the hall making sure Robyn doesn't escape."

Tina felt the blood drain from her face. "She's not under arrest yet?"

He chuckled with a slight shake of his head, "Oh, she's under arrest all right. We're still compiling a full list of charges against her, but she'll be getting locked up soon enough. Her medical issues need seeing to first. She is cuffed to the bed and has two officers at her bedside. She's not going anywhere. Conner is simply being over protective. All his kind are that way, especially when it comes to their women."

He gave them both a wink and Tina was relieved he knew about the shifters. She wasn't sure her Dad was up to making up something viable to cover the facts.

"Well, I'll go do my best to drag him away from hassling your men then."

He gave her a nod and smile. "I'm sure they'd appreciate that, Tina. They get nervous with a cat pacing around them."

"Perfectly understandable."

She rolled out into the hall and began looking for her man. Thankfully, the hospital was small and it only took a matter of minutes to find him pacing the hallway outside a shut door. He looked so tense, clenching and unclenching his fists. Adele was standing in front of the closed door, talking softly to Conner and he was shaking his head.