Mated To The Mountain Lion Read online

  Out of the hospital, I ran and ran, not stopping until I was a safe distance away. The wind, which suddenly felt too cold, whipped across my face, drying the tears as they fell down my cheeks.

  Even though Autumn had never left my mind in all the years we’d been apart, I had been forced to get used to the absence of her presence; she had given me no choice but to get used to it. But the difference was, even when Autumn was gone from my life, I knew she wasn’t gone from this world…I’d always know she was out there somewhere.

  But now, with her future so uncertain, I was forced to face the possibility that if she didn’t survive this terrible stroke of fate, she would be gone permanently. There would be no more surprise encounters. No more unexpected visits. No more spontaneous sessions of all-night love-making. No more nothing.

  The woman of my dreams, the woman who would always own my heart and mind, would be gone forever.

  My heart felt like it was shattering in a million pieces and I officially couldn’t take it anymore.

  Through tearful eyes, I glanced around at my surroundings, wanting to ensure that no one was in sight; I couldn’t risk anyone seeing me.

  I knew it was stupid and that I shouldn’t be so reckless as to do what I was about to do and risk being overseen, but in that moment, I didn’t care. The pain I was in was far too great. Waking up to a cold and empty bed from Autumn’s abrupt departure was nothing in comparison to this.

  I pulled my shirt from over my head and stepped out of my shoes pants, and drawers. I then turned my head upward to the sky and allowed my bones to shift, concentrating entirely on the physical feeling of my bones altering, letting it overshadow the emotional anguish I was in.

  My alternate form, a powerful muscular mountain lion, took over, freeing me from the emotional pain tormenting my human brain.

  I stood there, pawing the ground and focusing on my more primal instincts, momentarily letting negative thoughts of Autumn’s fate fall to the back of my mind. I breathed in the air around me, distracting myself with the various scents of the earth.

  And then I decided to go on a run, albeit a quick one. Just long enough for me to take a much-needed break so that I could eventually return to the hospital, where I knew Autumn’s parents needed me.

  Chapter 10: Autumn

  My head hurt and my mouth was dry. The smell of disinfectant hung strongly in the air, honestly making me feel like I was going to puke. There were beeping noises beside me, and people talking from somewhere in the distance, but when I panned my head over, all those things faded into the background.

  “Oh my god, Autumn!”

  His voice, rugged and slightly winded, hit my ears like waves crashing against the rocks. My soul was desperately dry, and he was wetting my existence. My eyes felt heavy, but his hand descending over mine felt warm and comforting, and I didn’t want to fall back asleep and risk missing this moment with him.

  “Dal-... -las?”

  My vision was pounding with my headache and my shoulder burned and itched, but still, I was overly aware of his presence. What the hell was Dallas doing here? I felt something dance along my lips as my eyes fluttered closed, and then I heard that same low voice in my ear.

  “Drink. You’ve gotta be thirsty.”

  I leaned my head into those pillowy lips of his, and when Dallas pressed a light kiss to my temple, I knew everything was going to be all right. I wasn’t sure where I was, or how I’d gotten there, but Dallas being there let me know that me everything would somehow turn out fine.

  A stampede of people suddenly began flooding into the room, reminding me of those times at the rodeo when the horses came out and competed in the racing tournaments. People started poking and prodding me, and a doctor peeled my eyes open. Someone else stuck my feet with something sharp, and the beeping in the background sped up. Vomit started rising in my throat.

  “Back off,” a voice in the distance said.

  “Autumn…?”

  “Oh my god! My little girl!”

  All the voices melded together, and my ears started to burn. Someone was massaging my aching shoulder, and another was toggling with something at the back of my head. When I felt a pinch at the base of my neck, I reared up and heaved all over the side of whatever it was I was laying in.

  “I said back off!”

  I’d know that roar anywhere. Over all the chaos of a place I didn’t recognize and above all the motions that were frightening and foreign, there rose one particular voice I would always latched onto. I always heard him when he shouted from the rodeo pin, and he always heard me when I would shout back.

  Someone slicked my hair back as I continued to vomit all over the side of my bed, and when I was finally done, all I could do was sob.

  “What's... ha-... happening, Dallas?”

  I felt panic wash over my system and slowly but surely, things began to fall back into place. I remembered a horse in a beautiful pasture and watching that horse get spooked. I had tried to run over to the horse, but then suddenly found myself lying on the ground under it.

  “Oreo,” I whispered.

  “Autumn, latch onto the sound of my voice.”

  I felt a light kiss at my temple again and a set of fingers interlacing with mine. Then someone took my other hand.

  The poking and prodding had stopped, and the beeping in the distance had slowed to a rhythmic dot in the barrage of slowly fading sounds.

  “You remember Oreo?” Dallas asked.

  I nodded against his lips.

  “Do you remember the pasture?”

  Again, I nodded.

  “Good girl. Do you remember th-” But he halted, unable to say it. For as strong and stubborn as Dallas had always been, there were times when words alluded him.

  He played up a strong and unwavering facade, but deep down, he cared with a burning passion about anyone who wriggled their way into his heart and soul. He’d open his doors for anyone who needed a place to stay, and he’d give his own shirt off his back if it meant someone else would be better off.

  Hearing the catch in his voice scared me while bits and pieces of the accident slowly came flooding back to the forefront of my mind. I felt small circles being drawn on my other hand by someone while a hand descended onto my leg, and when my searing headache ricocheted across my vision, that’s when I remembered.

  The snake.

  “Snake…” I whispered.

  “Yes,” Dallas managed to choke out. “There was a snake. You, uh… fell off Oreo when he began to buck because-”

  “He was spooked by the snake,” I finished.

  “The snake bit you while you were lying on the ground and the shock of the bite paralyzed you long enough for Oreo’s hoof to come down onto your shoulder.”

  Holy God, I could’ve been killed! By all accounts, I knew I should have been dead.

  “Oh God. Bradley,” I groaned.

  “He got to you just as Oreo came down onto your shoulder. I guess the pain caused you to black out, so he threw you across his lap and was the one that got you to the hospital.”

  Everything continued rushing back, like the reservations for dinner, how I’d gotten Dallas’s phone number, the confessions I was going to make…

  “Oh, God. Dallas. I-I-I… I need you to do something for me.”

  “Anything,” he said.

  “I need you to call that steak restaurant in town and cancel our reservations.”

  When he didn’t say anything, I slowly lobbed my head over and opened my aching eyes. He was staring at me darkly, but I knew him well enough to detect the hint of confusion behind his eyes. I could see so many unsaid things that he wanted to blurt out, but he was calculating what to say, which made me nervous.

  “Autumn, you-”

  My heart began to race, timing itself with the erratic beeping in the background. Someone clamped down on my foot, massaging it while the person drawing circles on top of my hand slowly brought it to their lips to kiss.

  “Dallas?” I urg
ed.

  “You’ve been out for three days, Autumn. Whatever reservations you had…”

  Three days? I’d been unconscious for three days?! My heart fluttered and my hands begin to shake. There were so many things I had to do: I had to call the restaurant and apologize, not to mention explain to Dallas why I had made the reservations in the first place. Plus, I needed to call work and tell them why I hadn’t come back yet.

  Jesus Christ, I had been due back to work yesterday!

  “Calm down. Calm down. I’ll call the restaurant and explain to them what happened. No one’ll be mad at you there,” Dallas soothed, brushing his lips to my ear. “You’ve been in a medically-induced coma so that your body could use the anti-venom. The doctors had to filter out the venom from your brain. The snake, it bit a main artery in your neck and seeped pretty quickly into that intelligent brain of yours.”

  A light smile bloomed across my cheeks. Even in the most desolate moments, Dallas could always seem to make me smile.

  God, how I had missed that about him.

  “But your brain still has some swelling, and you’ll have to stay in the hospital a couple more days until it’s completely gone.”

  “I-... I-I-I can’t, though. I, uh, was due at-... at work tomorrow, Dallas.” The last few words came out like a whispered plea, like I was ready for someone to wake me up from this nightmare. I was ready to wake up and be in my own bed in Paris after kissing my parents goodbye.

  I wanted to be out of this hospital.

  “I’ve taken care of it.”

  I turned my head towards the voice holding my other hand, and my eyes landed on the most comforting face I could have conjured in that very moment.

  “Mom,” I whispered. Dallas let go of my hand, and for a split second, I reached out and grasped his forearm. I didn’t want to let him go and I didn’t want him to leave, but my mother nodded him out of the room and I didn’t have the energy to protest. Dallas gave me one more glance from the doorway and then he slunk out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

  “I already called your job,” Mom said.

  “Are you the reason Dallas is here?” I asked.

  “Autumn, when I…” she paused and swallowed hard, unable to continue.

  “Hey there, honey bunny,” my father said, picking up the conversation on my mother’s behalf.

  “Who called Dallas?” I asked in a whisper.

  “Well, when it all happened, Bradley called us after an ambulance had shown up. We met you here at the hospital, and when they started taking your belongings off you, they handed your phone to us. Your mother went to work scrolling through to find your boss’s number, but along the way, she found that you had Dallas’s number in your phone.”

  “Bradley gave it to me,” I croaked.

  “It’s good you remember that, sweetie,” my mother cooed with tears making her voice tremble.

  “We figured if you had his number, maybe the two of you were at least kosher, so we called him,” my dad finished.

  “And yes, I called your job and told them what was happening,” my mother took over again. “They’ve given you the month off to recuperate and heal. Apparently, someone doesn’t like taking vacation time very often.”

  “I enjoy what I do,” I said, grinning slightly. I guess my colleagues call me a workaholic for a reason, but the truth was I adored my job. It’s never been work for me, just life.

  “Well, they said you have four weeks, and if you need more, all you have to do is call.”

  “Thanks, Mom.” I smiled, meaning it.

  “Knock, knock,” came a voice from the door.

  “Dallas,” I said, a small smile returning to my face.

  “That’s what brings me to my other point.” Mom sighed, her voice sad and exasperated.

  “What’s wrong, Mom?” I said, although I suddenly thought I knew what was potentially bothering her. With me being in my current condition, I wondered how in the world she was going to take care of me in addition to having to take care of the farm, especially since my father wasn’t much help these days? And it seemed like I had a long road to recovery ahead of me. I could barely even lift own hands.

  “Settle that mind down, Autumn. It’s all right,” Dallas said, obviously seeing all the worry in my eyes.

  God, his voice could calm the raging sea inside of me with just the fewest syllables.

  “Dallas and I talked, and he’s offered to take care of you. The doctor says you’ll be here for two or three more days, and then you can either go to a halfway house to recuperate, or you can be released into someone’s care.”

  “Dallas?” I shifted my gaze toward him standing at the door, watching him unfurl his arms before he coming to sit on the edge of my hospital bed. His large strong hand descended lightly onto my leg, and when he began to rub it in an attempt to quell my fears, I felt myself melt into the warmth of his touch.

  “I’ll come by as often as I can, but I won’t be able to upkeep the farm and make sure you have everything you need,” my mom said. Tears were streaming down her face, and I knew exactly what she was thinking.

  I reached for her hand, urging her to look at me. “You are not an incompetent mother, Mom. You have responsibilities, and you trust Dallas. I think we all do, even after all these years.”

  Dallas’s hand squeezed my leg, and it took every ounce of energy I had not to groan in comfort.

  “I’ll come by every day,” my mother promised.

  “It’s all right,” I said soothingly. I pulled her close to me and she wrapped her tired arms around me. Whoever suggested that Dallas take care of me was right. Even without the responsibility of the farm, my mother’s energy went towards taking care of my father. She would’ve never had the energy and strength to juggle taking care of both of us.

  “You’ll be just fine with me, Autumn,” Dallas said.

  A smile graced my chapped lips just as my mother began to pull away from the crook of my neck.

  “I know,” I said. “I know.”

  Chapter 11: Dallas

  I knew Autumn’s mother would’ve never been able to take care of her in the condition she was in. From what the doctor had told us, Autumn would have issues getting up to walk and cleaning herself for a while, which meant she wouldn’t be able to do things like cook, shower, and clean. Her mom was inundated with responsibilities around her ranch and was still the prime caretaker of Barber, and it killed me to think about Autumn not being taken care of in the way she needed to be.

  When we all received this information, it had been just before Autumn woke up, and right after I had returned from my run to momentarily clear my head. I had desperately needed that run in my alternate form. When I had reverted back to my human shape, everything seemed to be in better perspective. It was then that I had grown convinced that Autumn would be all right, because I would make sure that she was. I had been prepared to go into that hospital and fight every doctor that crossed my path, if necessary, to make sure they did everything within their power to make sure that Autumn came out of her coma, alive and well. It had also occurred to me that in the aftermath, I wouldn’t have it any other way than for Autumn to be in my care.

  When I suggested this much to Mrs. August though, she had thrown a fit, accusing me of calling her a terrible mother. I’d had to hold her close and tell her that I meant absolutely nothing of that nature, and never would. I then proceeded to explain to her the sheer amount of time it would take to care for Autumn in her current state, even if she was just sleeping a great deal because of the pain medication. She would have doctor’s appointments to get back and forth to and would need help bathing as well as getting dressed on a daily basis for quite some time. Mrs. August was tough, but she was also older and preoccupied lugging Barber around whenever he needed help, which was already more exertion than she could take some days; that was no secret to anyone in the community.

  I told her I’d be there to help her and that I’d give her a key to my home, let
ting her know that she could come by anytime she wanted to visit and check up on Autumn. I promised I would keep my phone on me at all times so that she could call whenever she wanted. It had been quite the fight with her, but when Barber eventually intervened, he was ultimately able to talk some sense into her. So finally, she relented and agreed to let me take Autumn home to care for her.

  I stayed by Autumn’s bedside and lived in the few clothes I kept slung in the back of my truck. When she was sleeping, I went up to the local laundromat to wash my clothes, and when I needed a shower, I used the little one attached to Autumn’s hospital room. She was still groggy from the antivenom and the pain medication most of the time, so she slept more than she was awake. But that didn’t bother me because it gave me a lot of time to think on some things.

  I made some phone calls and moved back riding lessons for the next two weeks. I figured if I could get Autumn up and going on her own halfway through the month, then I could at least resume giving lessons to the boys who had aspirations of riding in the rodeo one day.

  I also made a call to Bradley and told him I’d pay him money if he would come over and take care of my animals so that I could focus on Autumn, and he agreed to switch off with his dad. When I tried to get him to agree on a price, he refused to be paid. That didn’t surprise me though, selfless man like him. So instead, I told him I’d offer him free work in return. If he was gonna come take care of my animals free of charge, then I’d offer him the same courtesy. I told him he could take me up on that offer anytime he like and it could be a way for him and his father to take a vacation. Far as I knew, they’d never taken one. Not since his mama died anyway, proclaiming that it wasn’t a family vacation without the entire family.

  But sometimes you just needed a break from work.

  I told him how Autumn was doing and he promised to later stop by for a visit. I urged him to seriously consider my offer, even if he and his dad just sat around the house and did absolutely nothing.

  “That’s not a vacation. That just being lazy,” he had said, laughing before hanging up the phone.