Mated To The Mountain Lion Page 5

  It was where I found my solace whenever I felt stressed during my high school and college days. I had volunteered my time whenever I could in the summer to help out when I was a kid, shoveling stalls, brushing horses, and even helping birth a few foals too.

  My smile hurt my face as I pulled up to the stables and the shaggy-haired boy I’d known throughout high school turned around with the face of a man plastered onto his neck.

  “Well, I’ll be damned! Autumn is that you?” he said.

  I threw the car into park and barreled up the parking lot, jumping into his arms. He swung me around, holding me for a while before setting me back on my feet.

  “You ain’t been ‘round here in a while! How ya been?” he asked. Bradley had always been such a good kid, even after losing his mom so young. His dad stepped up the best he could, and the two of them decided to open this place when he was in middle school, dedicating it to her and everything. They always said this place had her soul. She loved apples in the fall and there was nothing she loved more than a horse in white. Every horse they ever purchased on their own volition either had white coats or white manes and tails, and it made me teary-eyed every time I thought about it.

  “Thinkin’ ‘bout Mom, aren’t ya?” Bradley asked.

  “Sorry,” I sniffled.

  “Don’t be. So, what brings you here? Wanting to take a ride?”

  “Well, yes, and there’s something else,” I said.

  “You wanna know where to find Dallas,” he smirked. My face flush before he held out his phone. “Give it here,” he said, gesturing to mine.

  I watched him open it up and type something in, and when he turned it around, I realized he had added Dallas’s number into my contacts list. I looked up at him with tears in my eyes before taking the phone from him and slipping it back into my pocket before throwing my arms around his neck.

  “I don’t know what happened with y’all, but call him. He’ll be happy to see you,” Bradley said.

  “Any chance I can cash in that ride?” I asked.

  He led me out to the barn and showed me this beautiful horse. His coat was white, while his mane and tail were black. As I admired him, I could have sworn there was a mischievous smirk on the horse’s face.

  “This here’s Oreo. Let’s get you saddled up, and you can take him out. He hasn’t been out yet today, so he’ll love you just for gettin’ him out of his stall.”

  “You think I don’t remember how to put one of these on?” I asked. Bradley laughed while he saddled up Oreo, and when I swung my leg over, he whistled before walking away.

  “Dallas sure is a lucky guy!” he called back over his shoulder.

  I wish I could’ve believed him, but the truth was that Dallas deserved far better than me. I’d fallen in love with him and I knew that he loved me; yet, when I was offered my dream job, I left his side without so much as consulting him in the matter before booking a flight for Paris. On the one hand, that’s my career. They handed me my dream on a platter and I sure as hell wasn’t gonna turn it down. But on the other hand, Dallas was my soulmate, the man I clung to all throughout college. I supported his bull-riding endeavors even when his parents were too worried about his safety to see how happy it made him. And he had supported me in my fashion passion even though he repeatedly admitted not understanding a lick of it. We feasted on each other’s presence during the day and dined on each other’s bodies at night, and we had dated so long that our parents had already begun planning our wedding before Dallas had even proposed; it was just one of those things everyone knew would eventually happen. We knew it, our families knew it, and the entire town knew it.

  The least I could do was give Dallas an explanation as to what happened. Even if my assumptions were incorrect and he would’ve followed me to Paris or, at the very least, supported me as I went, I needed to let him know that it was all in my head.

  I needed him to know that I still cared for him and that there had been no one after him.

  God, there was so much I wanted to say over dinner that just thinking about it made my hands tremble as I held Oreo’s reigns.

  “Steady now,” I whispered to myself.

  I ducked us out of the barn and got us going in the field. I untied my ponytail, letting the wind comb through my hair. I then held my arms out while my hips synced to the rhythm of Oreo’s thunderous hooves. My god, I had forgotten how powerful I felt on the back of a horse. I always used to tell Dallas that being on the back of a horse was more liberating than being on the back of a bull, but he would just smirk and tell me I hadn’t been on a bucking bull before.

  And then I’d prove to him wrong every single night whenever I straddled his hips.

  Everything was going so well. I had Dallas’s number, I had reservations, I finally had the guts to tell him what happened all those years ago, and I had actually gotten to sink my hands into the thick of his muscles again.

  And now I was on top of the most beautiful horse in town, galloping through the greenest fields this state had to offer.

  In short, I felt absolutely unstoppable.

  Until Oreo unexpectedly reared back onto his haunches and started shrieking up a storm.

  “Whoa, Oreo! Calm down, boy. Whoooooooa!”

  I held tight onto the reigns and flexed my thighs, but my foot slid from the stirrup to my right. My body slowly sliding off to the side, I figured that if I tucked and rolled, I could at least run back to the barn while Oreo shook off whatever it was that had spooked him.

  But when I looked down, there was a massive snake.

  “Shit,” I swore, my heart skipping a frightened beat.

  I tried desperately to rein Oreo in, but when he brought his feet back down, he bucked back with his hind legs, whinnying in pain. Having never dealt with this situation before, I was in unfamiliar territory.

  I suddenly heard Bradley screaming behind me as the hooves of another horse quickly approached. And then I felt my body being thrown from Oreo as Bradley continued roaring my name in the background. When my back hit the ground, the last thing I remembered was Oreo’s hooves above my face and a sharp pain ricocheting down my neck right before everything went blank.

  Chapter 9: Dallas

  I’d finally gotten done cleaning up the damn mess my fucking dog left in my house when I heard my phone vibrating on the counter. It rang and rang, and I rushed over to catch it just before it fell and hit the tiled kitchen floor. I didn’t recognize the number on the screen, and part of me was tempted to simply let it go to voicemail. It was easy around here for people to get numbers and then start soliciting things, and while I loved buying cookies from the scouts around the area, I didn’t like politicians and churches calling me up and asking stupid questions and wanting me to donate money to some campaign I’d never heard of.

  But something told me I needed to take this call. Something in the pit of my gut told me that the local area code flashing across the screen meant something terrible had gone wrong. I thought of all the things that could’ve happened. Maybe someone broke into my parents’ old home that I’d renovated, or maybe something had happened to Bradley at the stables. I told him he was taking on too much work with his dad climbing up in age, and I’d offered my services on a part-time basis time and time again to help out.

  However, the voice I received on the other end of the line was one I never thought I’d ever hear again.

  “Dallas?”

  I recognized Autumn’s mom immediately. There were so many nights I’d spent at Autumn’s parents’ house after dinner, shooting the shit with them around a fire. Her father would always put a beer in my hand, and her mother would always tell me stories and inquire about my parents. And I would regularly feel the longing need to tell her everything, from how my mom was unable to have more kids, to how she always took in the more unfortunate ones around the neighborhood. I talked to her about how much I loved her daughter and how I wanted to marry her one day.

  I’ll never forget the bright smile on
her father’s face when he clapped me on the back and asked me if he could be part of the ring shopping I did for his daughter.

  How the hell could I say no to him for that?

  “Mrs. August? Everything all right?” I asked.

  “Oh God, Dallas. It is you. I didn’t realize you and Autumn were still in touch like this!”

  “I’m not sure what you mean…?”

  “I’m calling from Autumn’s phone, Dallas.”

  She said it like a fact. Like I should’ve known who was calling. I had no idea what she thought, but my gut reaction was that Autumn was up to her old antics again, creating lies and spinning webs so no one would backlash on her when they found out she was bed-hopping with her college sweetheart on a whim because she was bored. I needed to give her more credit, though. When she had started crying on the couch in my trailer about how sorry she was, she had seemed so sincere.

  Before I could think any further on it though, Mrs. August uttered five distinct words that ripped me from the rush of questions running through my head and shivering me to my core.

  “Dallas, there’s been an accident.”

  “Where’s Autumn?” I asked instantly.

  “She uh… she's... we’re-... at the hospital. She’s-”

  Autumn’s mom started sobbing on the phone, and I heard rustling on the other end. A gruff voice, one I’d never forget so long as I lived, picked up the talking while I rushed around and grabbed everything I needed to get to the hospital in town.

  Something had happened to Autumn, and I felt an instinctual and protective need to get to her immediately.

  “Dallas? It’s Barber.”

  “Hello, Mr. August. What the hell’s happened? Where’s Autumn?”

  “She’s in a medically-induced coma. She, uh… came to the stables in town and Bradley set her up on a ride.”

  “Why is she in a coma?” I asked, panicked. My body began to tremble and I had to take a deep breath, willing myself to not let emotion make me shed my human skin entirely. All the while, I unlocked my truck and ripped my door open, seeing from the corner of my eye that my neighbor was running toward me. News traveled fast in this small town. I looked at her, seeing that she was mouthing something about going inside and taking care of the dog while I was away. I nodded quickly and unwound the key to my house from my key ring and sent her on her merry way while Barber continued talking into my ear.

  “The horse got spooked by a snake and started buckin’ her every which way. Bradley heard the commotion and got on his horse and went runnin’ towards her, but by the time he got there, she’d already been thrown. The snake that spooked the horse bit her neck and leached venom into her bloodstream, and then the horse came down onto her shoulder.”

  “Holy shit,” I whispered to myself. I sped down the road and ignored the stop sign at the intersection before I got on the main road into town. Of all the times I had to be fifteen minutes outside of town, it had to be now. Had I been at my parents’ home, it would’ve been a hell of a lot closer.

  “When did this happen?” I asked as I took a hard right turn.

  “‘Bout three hours ago. They set her shoulder, but the venom from the snake is taking a while to work through her system. No one saw the snake, so a basic anti-venom is all they got until they pinpoint exactly what’s in her system. They’re doing tests on it now.”

  “And it’s been three hours since the doctors did that?” I exclaimed.

  What the fuck were these doctors doing? Standing around with their thumbs up their asses?

  “Autumn’s mom told me she’d seen you at the rodeo, and when we found your number in her phone, we figured y’all had reconnected.”

  I’m still not sure how she got my phone number or why she would’ve needed it, but if she was at the stables Bradley was still running, then there was a good chance she had asked him for it. I’m not sure why, and right now I didn’t care. All I knew was that I was still eight minutes away from the hospital and Autumn was unconscious.

  “Thank you for callin’ me, Barber. I’m eight minutes away. Get a doctor. I wanna talk to one when I get up there.”

  “See ya soon, son.”

  It was always so comforting when Barber called me son. Even though I hadn’t seen or spoken to them since Autumn up and left, I still considered her parents family. They were just the type of people who imprinted on your life and just didn’t leave. Throughout the whole conversation, I could hear Mrs. August sobbing in the background, and something told me I was walking into a very bleak scenario that would shock Autumn quite a bit whenever she came to.

  If she was ever gonna come to…

  Another powerful wave of emotion hit me, and I felt my bones quivering again. If I could enter my alternate form, my emotions would be numbed somewhat. And that was a compelling idea, because Lord knew if Autumn never woke up, I wouldn’t be able to take it. I wouldn’t be able to go on. I would probably give up my life as a human entirely.

  I sped into the hospital parking lot and whizzed by a police officer. He whipped on his lights and followed me to the spot I picked, and when I got out of my truck, he paused when he realized who I was.

  “I’m sorry, Dallas,” he offered.

  That’s how I knew it was bad; when a police officer won’t arrest you for buzzin’ around in a hospital parking lot, things are never as good as you want them to be.

  I busted through the hospital doors and made my way over to the nurse’s desk. I rattled off Autumn’s name, and their faces instantly grew dark, making my stomach churn with anxiety. The bile I was trying so hard to fight off rose to the top of my throat. Not wasting another second, I sprinted to the stairs and took them two-by-two. When I shoved the door to the fifth-floor open, I looked around frantically for the room numbers.

  Suddenly, a familiar voice caught my ear. I whirled around to find Miss August runnin’ towards me from down the hallway.

  “Oh, Dallas,” she breathed. I cloaked my arms around her trembling body and slowly walked her back to the waiting room. That’s when I saw Barber. His pale face was in his hands and I could tell by the way his shoulders shook that something bad had happened. Between the time I cut that phone call ten minutes ago and now, the doctor had delivered some news I wasn’t been privy to yet.

  “Where the hell is the doctor?” I said.

  “Right here, Bullhead.”

  I held Mrs. August close to me while I turned towards the familiar sound. I easily recognized the woman walking towards us. It was Ashley Lawson, a girl I’d attended high school with. She wore a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

  “Hey, Ash,” I said.

  She nodded hello and then spoke in a low voice. “We got her venom tests back, and it’s not good. A rattlesnake got hold of her and bit her right in a main artery. She’s got a great deal of brain swelling, so we just finished inserting a tube underneath her skull to help drain off some of the fluid while the anti-venom takes hold in her system.”

  “Her… her brain is…”

  I couldn’t think straight. Just last night I’d been thrusting into those beautiful hips and dreaming of her juices on my tongue. Just this morning, I’d cursed her for leaving her scent behind without her body, and all day I couldn’t get the thought out of my mind that maybe-- just maybe-- if I tracked her down I could have her thighs squeeze around my hips one last time before she left.

  Because we all knew she’d eventually leave and go back to wherever she had come from.

  “We have her in a medically-induced coma to try and reduce the amount of stress her body is under, and she’ll be like that for the next few days. She’s had that venom in her system for a while, so leeching it from her muscle tissue is gonna take some time, and her body needs to rest so that she has the energy for it.”

  I heard Barber’s sobs from behind me, and it was all I could do to keep my composure. My Autumn, the woman I had dedicated my life to, the muse for my riding--the woman I realized I never wanted to let go of e
ver again--was lying in a hospital bed for no other reason than happenstance. She was an expert horse rider, everyone knew that.

  But nothing can prepare you for an animal randomly turning into a rodeo bronco.

  “Can I stay with her?” I asked. I felt Mrs. August look up at me while my eyes connected heavily with Ash’s. I knew her parents would want to stick around the hospital, and I knew there was a good chance she would have many different visitors for the next couple of days. I could already feel Mrs. August tensing underneath my grasp, and I could tell that everything within Ash was about to tell me ‘no’. But I saw something flash for a split second behind her eyes before she looked around at the people who loved Autumn August just as much as I did, and she took a step closer to me and lowered her voice.

  “Don’t let anyone catch you,” she said.

  I nodded and pulled Mrs. August away from me before I wiped her tears away.

  “Your husband needs ya to be strong for a little bit. Why don’t you go sit with him, and I’m gonna go get some clothes from my car.”

  “You came with a bag?” she asked.

  “I always carry clothes with me. Got into the habit in college when-”

  I paused, catching myself. I was about to say, ‘In college when Autumn traveled the road with me,’ but all it did was bring tears to my eyes before I harshly blinked them away.

  “I’ll be right back,” I choked out, and bolted for the door.