"Boo!" Leigh, suddenly face-to-face with Jorie, said.
Jorie's blood pressure skyrocketed. She jerked back. Her feet slipped on damp leaves, and she scrambled to get away. On her hands and knees, she struggled up a hill and picked up speed as she finally made it to her feet. Too late did she remember that Griffin had warned her never to run from a predator.
She heard the leaves crackle under Leigh's feet as she quickly caught up.
No!
Jorie tried to run faster, but after twenty-four hours with almost no sleep, she was exhausted.
Rough fingers closed around the back of her shirt and pulled her back.
Jorie screamed. Blindly, she threw back her elbow and felt it connect with her attacker.
Hot breath brushed over her neck when Leigh growled.
Then something heavy hit Jorie from behind. Everything went black.
* * *
Exhaustion settled on her shoulders as Griffin parked the van in front of Rhonda's house. When she reached the porch, the front door opened and a panicked-looking Rhonda rushed out. "Griff! Ms. Price is gone!"
"What?" Griffin stopped in her tracks. "What do you mean... gone? I told you to keep an eye on her!"
"I-I... she climbed out through the bathroom window while I was making tea," Rhonda said, hanging her head.
"Shit!" Leaving Jorie out of her sight for even a moment could be dangerous. Griffin whirled around — and then stopped when she saw Leigh striding up to the house.
It wasn't so much the fact that Leigh was naked that stopped Griffin in her tracks. It was the sight of a motionless Jorie hanging limply in Leigh's grasp, her arms and legs dangling with every step Leigh took.
Panic rushed Griffin. With one single leap, she was at Leigh's side.
"I think this is your stray," Leigh said, shoving the limp human at Griffin.
Griffin wrapped protective arms around Jorie, relieved to sense her strong heartbeat and feel her breath against her neck. A growl rose from Griffin's chest when she stared at Leigh. "What did you do to her?"
"I did what you should have done in the first place," Leigh said.
"Try to kill her?" Griffin snarled.
"I stopped her from escaping," Leigh said, her voice getting louder too.
"You didn't need to hurt her in the process. I want to gain her trust again, not make her even more afraid of us." Nothing was going as planned. Instead of finding a solution, things were getting more complicated.
"She almost gauged my eye out!" Leigh rubbed her right eye, which was already beginning to swell closed.
"Good for her," Griffin grumbled.
Rhonda moved between them, looking down at Jorie with a worried gaze. "Let's get her inside," she urged. "You two can butt heads later."
She's right.
With one last heated glance, Griffin forced herself to swallow her anger and carried Jorie inside. Rhonda moved ahead of her, opening doors and showing her the way to the guest room. As gently as she could, Griffin laid the still unconscious Jorie down on the bed.
One quick glance over her shoulder showed her that Leigh was standing in the doorway but hadn't followed them into the room. "Get dressed," Griffin said, irritated.
"Since when are you bothered by a little skin?" Leigh asked. "You're spending too much time among humans."
Like all Wrasa, Griffin wasn't overly shy or modest about her own body or that of others, but this was neither the place nor the time to argue about it with Leigh. "Get dressed," she said again, acting as if Leigh hadn't spoken. "Get the dads. Tell them they need to take a look at Jorie."
Leigh disappeared without another word.
Griffin turned back toward Jorie. There was no sign of obvious injuries. A few scratches marred Jorie's arms, but that was all. Griffin trailed a gentle hand through the smooth black hair, searching for bumps or something else that explained why Jorie was unconscious.
"Can I help?" Rhonda asked. "I have no idea how to treat an injured human, but if there's anything I can do..."
Grateful for Rhonda's willingness to help, Griffin looked up at her from her position on the edge of the bed.
Hazel eyes looked back at her with sincere concern.
She knows Leigh hates humans and won't like it, but still she wants to help.
Griffin had been wrong when she thought being part of the pride stopped the Kasari from thinking for themselves and making their own decisions.
"A cool cloth for her head would be good," Griffin said.
Rhonda hurried away and returned only a minute later with the cloth. She handed it to Griffin, who gently placed it on Jorie's forehead.
"I'm sorry for letting her get away," Rhonda said, joining Griffin in her silent vigil over Jorie. "She was so nice and seemed so calm that I forgot that she's probably scared to death and desperate to get away."
"It's my own fault." The weight of her responsibility rested heavily on her shoulders. She was now Jorie's protector, responsible for her safety and her very life. Never before had she been responsible for anyone's well-being. "I shouldn't have left her with you, knowing that you aren't trained for this. I'm the expert on human behavior; I should have known she wouldn't sit back and drink tea with you until I returned."
It was too late for regrets, but Griffin vowed to do better in the future — if Jorie only woke up.
"Don't dismiss me so easily, Griffin. I know a thing or two about humans too, but Ms. Price... she managed to fool me anyway." Rhonda gave a rueful smile. "I should have kept in mind that her author's bio says she was once a semiprofessional poker player. She's a masterful bluffer even when she's not sitting at the poker table."
The door swung open.
Brian was the first one to enter, followed closely by Gus and then Leigh. "You didn't want to bring the human to the house to talk to me, but now Leigh drags us over —" One glance at the still motionless Jorie stopped Brian. "This is why you wanted us to come over? You know we're surgeons — surgeons who operate on Wrasa, not general practitioners for humans."
Every Wrasa within a two-hundred-mile radius knew it. Centuries ago, the Wrasa had had their own medical schools with secret textbooks that taught Wrasa physiology. Now that the maharsi and their protection were gone, the council had decided that printing books about shape-shifter anatomy was too dangerous. If just one book fell into the wrong hands, it could mean the end of their secret existence. They couldn't take the chance.
Since then, only a few Wrasa had received specialized medical training. Gus and Brian were two of very few physicians who had a thorough training in Wrasa medicine. It had saved them from becoming social outcasts after Brian's disastrous affair with Griffin's mother.
"And now you want us to make a house call because of a human?" Brian asked incredulously.
Come on!
Griffin silently urged.
Save the feline power games for later.
She knew that as doctors, they would help Jorie, but not before grumbling about it and asserting their authority as nataks.
"Yes," she answered. "The fewer people who know Jorie is here, the better. It's in your best interest too." The argument would make it easy for them to help Jorie without losing face and making anyone think they were letting Griffin order them around. "So please..." She looked from Brian to Gus and gestured down at Jorie. The length of Jorie's unconsciousness was starting to worry her. She didn't want to waste time with endless discussions.
Gus stepped closer to the bed before Brian could make a decision. "What happened?" he asked.
"Leigh lost control," Griffin said with an accusing glare at her sister.
Far from backing down from the challenge, Leigh growled and held her gaze. "The human tried to get away. I simply stopped her."
Gus bent down to feel Jorie's pulse. Two of his large fingers trailed down Jorie's neck; then he immediately stepped back as if just taking her pulse was all he needed for an accurate diagnosis.
"And?" Griffin asked, annoyed with herself at sounding so breathless.
A grave expression settled onto Gus's face. He exchanged a quick glance with his brother before he turned back toward Griffin. "She's beyond help," Gus said. "Just kill her."
"What?" Griffin shouted. He didn't really mean that, did he? She hadn't expected such a heartless answer from the usually kinder Gus.
Even Leigh looked shocked. "You mean I... I really killed her?"
"Not yet," Gus said. "But you should do the merciful thing and finish the job."
The formerly limp body on the bed tensed and jerked.
"Oh, what do you know," Brian murmured. "Either you gave the wrong diagnosis, brother, or it's a miracle healing."
Griffin took in Brian's smirk and the amused smile on Gus's face before she looked back at Jorie, who was now lying still again. "You mean she's faking?" She reached for Jorie's hand and squeezed gently. The hand was damp and trembling. "Jorie? Open your eyes."
Jorie's lids lifted, and dark eyes looked at Griffin.
Oh, great! She really has been faking.
Relief warred with anger; then admiration won the battle.
That should teach me some humility. Here I was, talking to Rhonda about the way Jorie could fool her because she's not a trained saru...
"You were just faking to eavesdrop on us? Leigh didn't hurt you?" Griffin gnawed on her lip as she realized she owed Leigh an apology.
"She did hurt me." Jorie sat up, then gripped her head with a grimace and lay back down. "She hunted me down like a rabbit and pounced on me. I only woke up when she carried me up the driveway."
"Lie still," Gus ordered. He examined her quickly and effectively, ignoring when she flinched back from his touch. The light of the lamp on the bedside table reflected off obsidian irises as Gus shone it into Jorie's eyes.
Jorie lay transfixed, staring up at him. For the first time, Griffin saw the fear and the helplessness in her eyes.
Griffin's stomach clenched, and she fought the instinct to pull her father back and wrap a protective arm around Jorie.
As if that would calm her. She thinks you're a monster out to kill her.
"I don't think she has a concussion," Gus finally said.
"Could one of you take a look at Leigh's eye while you're here?" Rhonda asked and threw a worried glance at Leigh, who was still hovering in the doorway.
Leigh held up a hand to stop Brian's approach. "Not necessary. I'll just go for that run I wanted to take. That should take care of it."
"Come over to the house if it still gives you trouble after your run," Brian said and turned toward Griffin. "Come with us. We'll give you something for the human's headache."
Griffin didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay and make sure Jorie was okay and didn't try to get away a second time, but if her father gave an order, she had to follow it. It was one of the unspoken conditions for staying in his territory. She followed Gus and Brian to the door, then turned back around and pointed a finger at Jorie. "You..."
"I know," Jorie said. Her eyes closed for just a second, then snapped open again. "I learned my lesson. I won't run again if a predator is in the vicinity."
It wasn't a promise that she wouldn't try to get away at all, but for now, Griffin knew it was the best she was going to get.
"I'll keep better watch this time," Rhonda promised. "I won't let her get away a second time."
Griffin had always been hesitant to grant second chances. She was used to working alone, and if another saru with whom she was temporarily partnered messed up, she refused to ever work with him or her again. But Rhonda deserved a second chance, and she couldn't dismiss her as easily as she could a fellow saru. She had dismissed Rhonda and the whole pride before, but now she was beginning to understand that they would always be family one way or another — she couldn't avoid those bonds. "All right." With a nod to Rhonda, she followed her fathers out the door.
No one spoke on the trip to Brian and Gus's house. "That human is... interesting," Brian finally said when they entered the house.
"Interesting?" Gus shook his head. "She's impressive. After being chased and pounced on by a 300-pound Kasari, she probably has one heck of a headache, and she still managed to fool a room full of Wrasa into thinking she's still unconscious... and she almost managed to fool me too."
"What made you realize she was awake?" Griffin asked.
"She held her breath when I touched her neck. Unconscious people don't normally do that," Gus said with a grin.
His brother nodded. "She's a sly one." Grudging respect vibrated in his voice. He handed Griffin a bottle of pills. "Give her two of these, and call one of us should the headache get worse or if she feels dizzy or nauseated."
The offer brought a grin to Griffin's face. "So you are making house calls for humans now?" she asked, teasing her father for the first time she could remember.
Brian's eyes widened. His jaw moved as if he would rebuke Griffin any second, but then he smiled. "I think I'll make an exception for the woman who managed to outsmart two of the best hunters I know."
"Rhonda isn't really a hunter," Griffin said. For some odd reason, Rhonda insisted on participating in border patrols, but she was still a scholar, not a hunter.
"No, she isn't," Brian confirmed, sharing a smile with his brother.
Only when Griffin walked out with the bottle of painkillers in her hand did she finally realize that her father had been talking about her.
* * *
Rhonda let Griffin in. "Ms. Price is sleeping," she said in a low voice. "Or at least pretending to be asleep. I guess I need to be more careful about my assumptions when it comes to Ms. Price."
We all do,
Griffin thought. She headed for the guest room, opened the door, and peeked in.
Someone had closed the blinds, and Jorie was bundled up under the covers. It was probably pitch-dark to the human eye, but Griffin could still see well enough to realize how pale Jorie was. Dark shadows lurked under her eyes. She was twitching, and her eyes were moving rapidly under closed lids.