Romance: Menage Romance: The French Quarter Hostages (Paranormal Action Shapeshifter MFM Bear Shifter Romance) (Fantasy BBW Taboo Interracial Love Triangle Werebear Mates Short Stories) (67 page)

The emergency room doors burst open and three soldiers were wheeled in. One had a medic straddling him with the medic’s hands clamped firmly over his chest. He was wheeled over to Dell and me.

I almost fainted when I saw that it was Michael. His eyes were open and bloodshot as his gaze moved all over the place. He was in shock.

“Lina…Lina…” his voice was forced and he kept gurgling on each breath. I shushed him while listening to the medic tell Dell and me what had happened.

“We were ambushed and bullets were traded. Then they came at us in close combat; stabbed Michael right in the chest. I don’t know how he’s still alive right now.” Dell replaced the medic’s hands with his own to stop the blood seeping from Michael’s chest. My mind focused on what we needed to do to save Michael’s life.

“We have to open up his chest, he most likely has a punctured lung, though I’d say whoever stabbed him just missed his heart.” The knife had been removed from Michael’s chest and it wasn’t bleeding as much as it would have if his heart had been punctured.

Everything seemed to happen in fast forward once we were in a trauma room. We had to move quickly as blood was flooding Michael’s lung each time Dell removed his hands from Michael’s chest. We were able to patch his right pulmonary artery. Michael
was
lucky; half an inch to the left and he wouldn’t have made it.

It was a long operation, but Michael pulled through and I was confident he would make a fast recovery. After he was settled in the intensive care unit I changed into some clean scrubs and sat by his bed. I was waiting for him to wake up out of anesthesia and studying his pale face.

“You scared me half to death you know,” I said to him softly. “I thought I was going to lose you and I don’t know what I would have done if I had.” I tried to hold in my tears. I wasn’t sad; I was relieved, because I knew first hand that he’d be okay.

“I’ve got…nine lives…remember?” he gasped. The sound of his voice was like a breath of fresh air.

“You only have eight left so use them wisely okay?!” I ended up yelling at him out of the emotions I kept in check so I could operate on him with a clear head. “Don’t worry about me, it’s just routine. You were stabbed in the chest! I would’ve been a…like a widow or something,” I finished lamely. Michael smiled and I gave him a warning look so he didn’t laugh and hurt himself.

“I almost…die…and—
you
yell…at
me
?” he said. He had a hard time speaking, but his eyes were full of humor. I wiped my eyes and kissed him hard on the mouth.

“Yeah. You can’t leave me you dope,” I said.

Michael grinned at me and I sighed, smiling at him reluctantly in return.

“Never,” he said before he took my hand in his and squeezed it reassuringly. “There’s an upside…to being a lion shifter you know.” I looked at him oddly. Just a second ago he couldn’t get a word out between breaths.

“What’s that?” I asked cautiously. Michael grinned at me and then squeezed my hand again.

“We heal really fast.” I breathed a tremendous sigh of relief and Michael’s grin grew even wider.

“Thank
God
, I don’t think I could see you like this for days on end,” I said in relief. Michael’s expression fell and he almost seemed to pout.

“You wouldn’t nursemaid over me?” I rolled my eyes at him and his smile returned.

“So tell me what the hell happened, how did a simple intelligence mission turn into such a disaster?” Michael attempted to sit up but I made him stay put and raised the head of the bed for him.

“Well we were supposed to go into this suspected terrorist bunker near the capitol to gain information on what their plans were, that sort of thing. We went in without a hitch; it was completely quiet in the woods surrounding the bunker. We assumed they didn’t know we were there or coming. So we went in routinely. The bunker was completely devoid of movement. Of course we got suspicious so we hurried our movements…”

“We secured the necessary computer files and then set a fire in the bunker on our way out; that was just for extra measure.” Michael took a breath and I wondered if they carried out the mission in their human forms.

“Did you guys shift on your way into the bunker?” I asked curiously. Michael nodded. “Seriously? Don’t they have eyes on you the entire time you guys are in action?”

“Yeah, our commanders know about us. We usually shift when moving to and from a location. It’s the best cover you could have. No one would suspect a pride of lions to be SEAL officers…it’s just that on our way out the enemy returned to their base.” I held my breath for the next part of his story.

“Yeah, there were like twenty of them that came in on flatbed trucks just as we were moving out in our lion forms. That’s how two of my brothers got shot. We were able to shift back before any more damage could be done. We returned fire and shot a few of them. But they were
skilled
, they had body armor on and they were running at us for a fight, not even afraid that we had just shifted from lions into men.” Michael was lost in his memory of the fight and I felt like I had been transported there with him.

“They wanted a knife fight and we gave it to them, but I was double-teamed and distracted. One got his knife into my chest just before I could kill him…everything was in tunnel vision after that. The medic was shouting orders and those of us injured were being cared for on the spot…” Michael paused and he looked directly into my eyes, his expression somber.

“All I kept thinking about was how much I wanted to see you again. That I
had
to see you again. I wouldn’t let myself pass out because I was afraid I wouldn’t wake up again. I wanted your face to be the last one I saw…then you were there, shushing me and fixing me up.” Michael smiled and I had to wipe at my eyes again. Give a guy a near death experience and he becomes the biggest romantic in the world. If Michael kept talking like that he’d probably slip up and ask me to marry him before he was really ready. Hell I might even say yes, it wouldn’t be so bad. I loved this man, even though I’d only known him for such a short time.

“You scared me half to death you know. All day I just had a bad feeling about your mission. I just knew something would go wrong. And when you came in on that stretcher…the medic on top of you holding your chest to stop the bleeding…I thought the worst. But I wouldn’t give up on you, I couldn’t. I needed to save you because…you’re my one.” I said the same words he’d said to me and then the brightest smile spread across his face. It was breathtaking how gorgeous he was.

*****

“You’ve just made me the happiest guy in the world right now Lina,” Michael said before he pulled me in for a searing kiss. “Now we have to make up a good cover so I can get the hell out of here. I’m pretty sure I’ve fully healed by now.” I shook my head and stood up with my hands on both of his so he didn’t get any bright ideas.

“No, you need to take it easy Michael, we can’t just skip out of the hospital. Especially as you’re in the ICU. You could have died you know. Half an inch to the left and you would not have made it. Fancy lion shifter healing skills or no, you’re staying in that bed unless I say otherwise,” I spoke to him firmly. Michael was looking at me with a bored expression and he sighed.

“Hear that? Me sighing. My lungs are better. I can laugh for you too if you want. Matter of fact give me one of those lung exercise machines and I’ll blow in it for you.” I giggled at his rush to get out of the hospital.

“Michael can you please humor me? I had my hands in your chest today—” But Michael cut me off by lifting up his hospital gown. I gasped. There was no scar; there wasn’t even the faintest line from his stitching.

“See? All better, now can we make a break for it
please
?” Michael pleaded with me while holding my hands in his once more.

“At least breathe into this for me.” I went to grab a spirometer from one of the cabinets in the room and instructed Michael on how to breathe into it. I watched as he took in a full breath and held for five seconds before releasing. His lungs were truly back to normal. I glanced at his vital monitor and saw that his pulse, blood pressure, and respirations, not to mention oxygen level were all fine. I could not argue with the evidence.

“Okay so how are we going to sneak you out of here?” I asked. Michael smiled at me and got out of bed.

“You might want to silence those, I’m going to take all these leads off now.” I followed his request and silenced the machines so he could remove the leads and sensors from his body.

“Let me get you some scrubs, stay put,” I instructed him before slipping out of the room and going to search for scrubs large enough to fit him. I found some deep in the spare supplies closet and almost ran back to Michael’s room.

“Here I found these—why are you so naked?” my eyes traveled all over Michael’s body as he stood in the center of the room, waiting for me to get back.

“I was waiting for you to get back with new clothes. Thank you baby.” Michael kissed me softly on the lips while he took the clothes from me. I wondered briefly if it would be okay for us to have sex so soon after his surgery.

Well he
was
completely healed… I smirked and Michael lifted an eyebrow at me in reply.

“If you keep looking at me like that Lina, I might have to pause our getaway to celebrate life, if you know what I mean,” he said with a wink. I bit my lip, seriously considering it.

“No, no, you get dressed and then we’ll head to my place.” Michael smiled eagerly and pulled on the scrubs faster than I thought any person could.

“Let’s go!” he was way too excited about ‘celebrating life.’

“I still say you need to take it easy, Michael. I swear if you drop dead I’m going to kill myself and then haunt
you
,” I told him sternly. Michael laughed so hard he had to support himself on the wall nearest us.

“I promise you won’t have to kill yourself so you can haunt me in the afterlife,” he said, still chuckling. We managed to escape the hospital, mission impossible style. We were slinking around corners and dashing through hallways. By the time we made it to my car I was breathless from laughing so hard.

“Hey Lina,” Michael tugged on my hand before I unlocked my car door. I looked up at him expectantly and he slowly got down on one knee. All I could think about in that moment was that I
knew
he’d do this. “I love you, and like I said last night, I know you’re it for me. This whole experience has opened my eyes and I don’t want to waste another moment when I know who I want to be with for the rest of my life.”

My eyes were wide as I stared down at him. Michael was completely sincere and I marveled at the love shining in his eyes. He really did love me! I knew then exactly what I was going to say, because there really was no one else I’d rather be with.

“Lina Ross…will you marry me? Will you be my mate, and alpha?” He was formally asking me to be his alpha female. I stared into his earnest gaze and knew that I really didn’t have a choice to make.

“Yes Michael, I’ll marry you…and be your alpha female too,” I said with the sound of hushed tears in my voice. Michael smiled that dazzling smile once more before he picked me up and twirled me around in a tight hug.

“I love you baby,” he whispered in my ear and I let the happy tears flow.

“I love you too Mufasa.” We both laughed at my corny joke and then hurried home to start our lives together.

The End

Bonus Story 17 of 20

I can’t breathe. I’m standing here dumb as a brick in the doorway of my office watching all of my hopes and dreams slip slowly out of sight.

I know that sounds ridiculously dramatic, but it’s true all the same.

My stepbrother, my boss, my best friend since high school is walking down the hall towards me with a tall, dark haired, olive skinned model-like woman hanging off of his arm.

As she gets closer, I see the large diamond ring dangling from her left hand. I realize that there could only be three explanations for this, none of which serve to settle the falling sensation currently taking place in my stomach.

She could be a particularly friendly new business partner. Gus has been in Canada for the past few months trying to grow the business, after all.

But, the way she’s clinging to him and laughing at his jokes that I know are ridiculous even though I can’t hear them, makes me think that she is acting a little too friendly to be just a business partner.

That means they’re together. But, it doesn’t necessarily explain the diamond ring.

My stepbrother could be having an affair with a woman who is engaged to a rich old geezer who she’s only marrying for money.

But, that explanation doesn’t sit well either. First of all, I know Gus. I’ve known him since the first day of freshman year at Grant High School when he sat in front of me in English class. He’s not the type of guy to have affairs or cheat or do anything at all unscrupulous.

Second, Benning Tech is one of the largest corporations of its kind in the country. Gus is worth over 2 billion dollars. He makes Forbes list of Richest men in the world every single year.

The beautiful model wouldn’t have to marry an old geezer for money and have an affair with Gus. It’s more likely that she would marry Gus for money. Though, along with the money she’d also get a young, handsome, virile man. It’s the best of both worlds.

This leads me to the horrifying ultimate conclusion. The beautiful model is wearing Gus’s ring.

My step brother, my best friend, got engaged while he was in Canada and didn’t tell me.

Gus catches my eye, smiles, and waves at me as he and his little girlfriend (I refuse to say the word fiancée, even in my head) move towards me.

I try to smile back but, I don’t think I’ve quite managed it. Gus doesn’t seem to notice. His smile is brighter than I’ve ever seen it and there’s a new spring in his step as he comes closer.

“Emma!” he says. “It’s so good to see you! I hope you’ve been taking good care of my company.”

“Didn’t need much taking care of,” I answer. “It’s a well-oiled machine.”

“Most of that’s due to you and you know it,” he says playfully elbowing me in the ribs the way he’s always done. As though we’re fourteen again and I’m the little sister substitute.

None the less, I smile at him and take a step back both hoping and dreading being introduced to the beautiful woman behind him. Apparently she’s got the same feeling about this meeting because she’s looking at Gus with an impatient frown while tapping her foot.

Gus catches the look out of the corner of his eye and quickly, almost nervously, moves to appease her.

“Oh, Emma,” he says ushering the woman forward, “I’ve got a...well a sort of surprise for you...this is Ramona. My fiancée.”

And there’s the word. The dreaded title that made what I already knew in my head to be true an indisputable fact.

I swallow, and paste an entirely fake smile on my face.

“Nice to meet you,” I say holding my hand out to Ramona. “I’m Emma.”

She smiles back at me. Her expression looks every bit as fake as mine feels.

“It’s great to meet you too,” she says in that sexy low voice that actresses in movies always seem to have. She takes my hand with a feminine limp wrist.

“Gus has told me all about his little stepsister. I know you two are close.”

I try to keep the smile on my face even as the words she’s just spoken ring in my head: ‘little stepsister’.  I don’t know if she means to be condescending or not but, it certainly feels that way.

With another fake smile at me, Ramona turns back to Gus.

“Honey, I really should get going,” she says. “If we really want this wedding to happen next month, I’ve got a lot of planning to do.”

“Next month?” I ask before I can stop myself. Getting engaged in a matter of months is one thing. But, a wedding so soon…

“It’s a stupid thing with Ramona’s Green Card,” Gus tells me. “We’ve got to get married within two months of her moving here or they can send her back to Canada.”

“Not that that’s the reason we’re getting married,” Ramona assures me, correctly interpreting the hopeful expression on my face. (A Green Card marriage after all, wouldn’t be quite the same as a real marriage).

She continues, her voice suddenly pouty and cutesy. “I just wanted to be with Gus and this was the only way we could make it happen.” She leans into Gus and gives him a peck on the lips and I think I’m going to be sick. She makes as if to depart.

“Okay, you can go if you have to,” Gus tells her. “I’ve got to talk to Emma about some business stuff anyway. See you tonight?”

“Of course,” she says sweetly. And, with another kiss (and another urge to gag from me), Ramona saunters out of the hall.

As soon as she leaves, the smile fades from my face and I fix Gus with a glare.

“So,” I say rather firmly to him, “when were you planning on telling me you were engaged?”

“Emma, can we not do this here?” he asks looking at the other employees rushing about. A few have glanced over their cubicles to watch us.

“Fine,” I say, “should we go into your office and have it out there?”

My arms are crossed and I’m still glaring at him. To my right I hear the tech guy, Ed, snicker behind his computer screen.

I ignore him. I’ve learned to do that over the years. But, when Gus looks at him and his face colors, Ed’s laughter stops immediately.

“Sounds good,” Gus says. “I’m sure you’ve got some things to go over with me anyway.”

Satisfied, I nod and let him lead the way past the row of cubicles and towards the large brown door to his office.

“The boss man’s in trouble,” I hear Ed whisper to Cindy, one of the data entry girls, as we pass them by. Though I send him a glare that shuts him up again, I can’t help but silently agree with Ed.

Gus is in very, very big trouble.

*****

“You want me to what?!” I all but yell in Gus’s direction. I didn’t think this day could get any worse. First, my stepbrother/best friend/man I’ve had a crush on since high school gets engaged and doesn’t tell me. And now he wants me to plan his wedding.

“Please, Emma,” he says in that pathetic voice he always uses when he’s trying to get me to do something. “We can’t get a planner on a month’s notice! There’s no one else to ask and besides, you’re really good at this stuff. You know you are.”

That is true. I planned my Mom’s wedding to Gus’s Dad when we were only sixteen, and loved every minute of it. The truth is, I love planning events. I love organizing. I love making things just so. But this...this is…

“I’ve got too much work to do!” I say, instead of what I
really
want to say (which is, ‘I can’t plan your wedding because I’ve been in love with you since we were fourteen years old so you should be marrying
me
.’)

I continue. “The creative team’s coming in tomorrow to pitch the marketing plan for the new software. I can’t miss that meeting if we’re going to get a campaign out by the end of the quarter.”

“I’ve already talked to Sam, he’s going to take the first meeting for you. He’s got all your notes, he knows what we’re looking for,” Gus says. “And I’ll get most of your other duties delegated out too.”

“It’s still a big job,” I say. “I mean, Mom and Frank’s wedding took six months to plan and it still didn’t go as perfectly as I’d like it to have gone.”

Gus rolls his eyes at me. The expression is so familiar, I’m tempted to smile at him before I remember that I’m still furious.

“Nothing ever goes as perfectly as you’d like it too,” he says. “Even when it comes off without a hitch. Because you’re a crazy perfectionist like that.”

“All the more reason you don’t want me doing this,” I answer, now desperate to get out of this, somehow. “You know me, Gus. I’ll stress out and make everyone miserable!”

“You’ll have help,” he assures me. “Ramona has an assistant, Jake. He’s flying in from Canada tomorrow. He’s coming in just to help you.”

“Then why doesn’t he plan the wedding?” I ask, frustrated at the idea of having to meet yet another person from Canada who would, no doubt, also ruin my life.

“The short answer is because he’s a straight male and knows nothing about weddings,” Gus says. “The longer answer is...I trust you. There’s no one else I would trust with the most important day of my life besides you.”

My heart skips a beat and I look into those blue eyes that are so incredibly familiar to me. Gus is staring at me with his sad, pleading look and, despite myself, I’m almost ready to give in.

“Please, Emma. Just do this one thing. For me,” he says. That’s it. That’s all it takes to push me over the edge to acquiescence.

I heave a huge sigh before saying, “Okay. I’ll do it.”

Gus’s face breaks out into the biggest grin I’ve seen from him in years. The last time he grinned like that was when we made our first sale ten years ago.

“But, you’re going to owe me big time,” I tell him trying to sound stern but feeling a smile come to my own face. “And I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me about Ramona. We talked every day when you were in Canada.”

“Like I said,” Gus says, “I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“You know I hate surprises,” I answer.

“And I’ve spent years trying to get you to love them,” Gus quips back. “I thought this one might help with that.”

I roll my eyes at him. As I do, I hear him chuckle. As I leave the office to return to my desk, I can’t help feeling a bit lighter. I’m still upset about the wedding. I’m still angry at Gus for keeping the whole thing so secret. But, the idea that he trusts me, and that I’m the only person he trusts enough to take care of his wedding, has given me an extra bounce in my step.

Truth be told, talking to Gus always manages to do that.

*****

There is an underwear model sitting at my desk. I walked into work today fully expecting things to go back to normal. Or as normal as they could be with Gus’s wedding less than a month away and me planning it.

I thought I would get my work for the company done in the morning and, maybe, have lunch with Ramona’s assistant so that we could talk about flower arrangements and so on.

Now, I find myself standing in the hallway, almost completely immobile, looking at the most gorgeous man I have ever seen.

His longish dark hair falls elegantly into his dark brown eyes. His skin is tanned, and his jaw has a light stubble.

He’s wearing a dark suit, jacket unbuttoned, with a bright red tie and white shirt. I can make out his torso through his shirt I can tell that his abs are well-defined and seem to end in that perfect ‘V’ shape.

I feel heat rush to my cheeks as a pool of desire floods embarrassingly to my nether regions. I walk towards my desk, half hoping that this is not Jake, Ramona’s assistant, and more than half hoping that it is.

“Hi,” I say when I reach him, “I’m Emma. You’re...um...sitting at my desk.”

“Oh, sorry!” the underwear model says, quickly scrambling up from my chair. “I’m Jake.”

Giving me a charming smile, he holds out his hand to mine and, trying not to blush, I take it.

“Nice to meet you,” I say, trying as hard as I can not to focus on how warm and softly masculine his hand feels in mine. He smiles at me again and I realize that we’ve been holding the handshake just a bit longer than was probably necessary.

With a nod, I pull away.

“Sorry,” Jake says again, “I just...Ramona didn’t tell me what you looked like so...I was just a little surprised that you’re so…”

“So,
what
?” I ask expecting to hear ‘short’, ‘frizzy haired’ or ‘young’. All things that people have said to me in the past.

“Beautiful,” Jake answers. Now I’m powerless to hide the blush that comes into my cheeks.

“You’re pretty good looking yourself,” I say, cursing myself for not coming up with something more intelligent or witty.

“I can’t take credit for that,” he says. “Good genes. It’s from my Mom’s side. She was a Spanish model.”

“That makes sense,” I answer, moving to the chair behind my desk. Jake pulls up a chair beside me.

“I’m sorry again about sitting at your desk,” he said, “Ramona should’ve texted you to tell you I was coming.”

“I didn’t get anything from her,” I say. “I mean, I knew you were coming today, but Gus said to expect you at lunch time.”

“Ramona changed her mind,” he tells me in a flat voice. Clearly he’s not exactly pleased with the change in plans. “She does that a lot. If you’re going to be planning this wedding, you’ll get used to it.”