Chapter 8 A Rescue and a Big Freakin’ Disaster
Scarlett sprinted to safety, barely flinching when a blaster went off to her right.
“Hurry.” Ransom was naked, and he wore his pack on his back. He scooped up hers from where she’d dropped it. “Follow that trail. Don’t worry about your pack. I’ve got it.”
She followed his order without hesitation, adrenaline propelling her up the rise. Ransom ran up the path behind her, his exhalations emerging in bellowslike pants. Once the level flattened out, she slowed to catch her breath.
“They’re not following,” Ransom confirmed even as she scanned the area for pursuers. “I doubt they have the energy for the climb. It’s not far to the top. We’ll stop there for a breather, and I’ll dress. Is the youngling well?”
Scarlett studied the clinging child and smoothed her hand over its head. Its eyes opened, and they stared at each other. “He or she seems to be fine. It’s a youngster rather than a baby. The mother wanted us to take the child.”
“Yes.” That was all Ransom said.
Her brothers would’ve lectured her for hours and threatened to lock her up if she’d risked her life like that again. Although her brothers, cousins, and male friends would’ve done the same, endangering their safety to save someone who needed help.
Now that she’d stopped, the discomfort in her arm distracted her. The creature had broken her skin and drawn blood. She swallowed hard and ignored the throbbing injury. Once they reached the summit, she’d need to deal with this. Reveal a secret she’d hidden from Ransom.
The child patted her on the face but remained silent. How did the Trolleris communicate? She guessed she’d learn—if this wound didn’t kill her.
Scarlett forced herself to tackle the sloping climb to the flat ridge at the top.
Below in the valley, howls and screams continued to ripple and resound through the mountains.
She wasn’t certain whether bringing the child with them was an ideal solution.
This quest became more problematic by the day.
Her arm smarted, and each tortuous step reverberated through her body to her arm, where it kicked with a stinging twang.
The child turned into a heavy lump, a burden she could no longer bear. Numbness seeped through her shoulder, and all she could think was it was lucky Ransom had volunteered to carry her pack.
Somehow, she compelled her legs to function, taking one step after another. On reaching the hilltop, she dropped to her knees.
“Scarlett!” Ransom’s shout held alarm.
“Look after the kid,” Scarlett muttered. She set down the child.
“I smell blood,” Ransom said, dumping the two packs next to the kid. “Grata! Scarlett, he bit you. Why didn’t you say?”
“No time. Help me.” Weakly, she loosened buckles, and the shrinkton leather her sister-in-law made them with gave, allowing her feet to slip with ease from her black boots. She wrestled with her tunic.
“Let me.” Ransom whisked the tunic over her head.
Scarlett unfastened her bra and groaned as she wriggled free of her trews.
“Stop moving,” Ransom said. “Let me see the bite.”
“Help me.” Scarlett panted. Tears burned her eyes as she struggled to push back her distress and center her mind to call her feline.
“Scarlett, let me check your wound.”
Despite her lightheadedness from the pain, she managed a strangled laugh. “Immune. Your alpha crap doesn’t work on me.”
“You can’t die.” The anguish in his tone cut through her bluster.
“Need to shift,” she muttered.
“What?”
Scarlett ignored the shock in Ransom to push off her panties. Then, she stood, her body wavering, and a shiver worked through her as the fresh mountain air frisked her skin.
She closed her eyes and pictured her feline—a sleek black leopard—holding the image tight as her parents had taught her.
Her shift took longer than usual, but finally, her limbs acquired the contours of her other form, her bones cracking and reshaping at a lazy pace that worried her.
Determinedly, she forged onward until her animal burst free.
The pain eased but didn’t cease. Frying fungus, she hoped this worked.
No way in hell did she want to suffer like the Trolleris.
She sat, breathing hard, and waited. Ideally, it was best for her to stay in this form, but that wasn’t practical now that they had the child to carry along with their packs.
Ransom sat back, eyeing her with concern, his eyes more dragon-like than usual while he was in his humanoid form. “Is the shift helping?”
He wasn’t going to shout and rail at her for keeping secrets? Interesting.
At least her shift was dulling the pain. As for healing, she wasn’t sure and couldn’t communicate that to him.
The child cooed and pushed to his or her feet. Oh! He ambled toward her, and on reaching her side, he cuddled against her fur.
“It’s a boy,” Ransom announced the obvious.
A girlish giggle burst through her mind, and a purr erupted from her feline.
That was interesting too. While she didn’t want any man—and indeed not a bossy alpha—it seemed she’d found one.
The sex had been a mistake. She’d known that, yet she’d forged ahead, anyway.
Yes, he was dominant, but he also had a soft side.
He’d understood her need to rescue the child.
But still, should’ve made a list first. Ransom had become a bad influence, and she was reverting to her impulsive ways.
She must halt this. Must fight or bad things might follow.
“Can you move?” Ransom asked and plucked the little Trolleris from her side.
The kid groaned in protest until Ransom hoisted him onto his shoulder. He pressed the child against his hair, and the Trolleris cooed and cuddled closer.
Scarlett teetered on unsteady legs, lurching from side to side as she tried to rise.
“Phrull,” Ransom muttered. “You should move. We can’t camp here, but we’ll find a spot and stop early for this cycle. Can you carry the kid?” He lifted the child off his shoulder and approached Scarlett. “Let’s see if he can cling to your back.”
To Scarlett’s surprise, the Trolleris child clung fast and didn’t wriggle or slide off. Now, if only she could walk straight and keep herself upright.
Ransom dressed and picked up the two packs, his gaze on Scarlett and the child.
Her gait wobbled at first, but she seemed to regain her strength.
Not that his worry ceased. He could love this woman with her sassy tongue and energetic viewpoints.
Grata, he was halfway in love with her already, although they had no future.
A feline shifter.
That answered a few of his questions.
Prince Kalim had sensed Scarlett’s presence yet had failed to forge a mental connection.
All of his feline shifter friends appeared immune to the resonance, which made sense since the prince’s experts had designed their systems to enable them to feed on the planet’s residents.
The known ones. He wasn’t sure how long the prince had slumbered, but the resonance had been present since before Ransom’s birth.
Ransom watched Scarlett. She didn’t look great. Somehow, he had to hide this from the prince and focus on the route ahead of them. And, given Scarlett’s unsteadiness, they might require an extra cycle for her to recuperate.
“Keep going along this track,” he said. “I’ll consult the map and catch up to you.
” His heart ached at the slow, careful way she stepped, and guilt slid through him.
He hadn’t reacted fast enough. By the time he’d realized her intentions, she’d been too close to the Trolleris creatures for him to use his flames.
Ransom pulled the map from a side pocket of his pack.
He spread it out and studied the surrounding terrain.
They were closer to the volcano, although none of the landmarks matched the prince’s descriptions.
Ransom sighed and shoved the map away. He shrugged into his pack, then picked up Scarlett’s and draped a strap over one shoulder.
He soon caught up with Scarlett. At least the next part of their journey was down then around the base of the volcano. From where they walked, Ransom caught glimpses of the valley below. There were a few gnarled trees and more greenery than in the valley where the Trolleris had built their village.
“Scarlett, can you make it under your own steam?”
She growled and kept trudging onward, so Ransom took that as a yes.
Typically, by this time of the whitelight, he’d struggle and drag his feet.
The Elevenoss potion and the prince backing off on feeding, plus his shift today, had left him stronger and more himself.
This wouldn’t last. The prince would feed on him again and drain his energy reserves.
Ransom passed Scarlett with his longer strides. “Keep coming down the trail. I’ll find a campsite and return for you. You have to get better, Scarlett,” he added. “We’ll discuss lying and tricks played on innocent dragons. There might be spanking involved.”
She released a testy growl, and his grin grew wider once she couldn’t see his amusement.
The valley was green and peaceful, and even better, there was a hot pool, the water heated by the nearby volcano.
He’d tested the temperature and found it safe for soaking tired, aching limbs.
Ransom dropped the two packs in a sheltered clearing, set amongst trees.
This blacklight, they’d have a fire since there was plentiful dried wood lying around.
Scarlett appeared just as he was about to go searching for her.
That was one benefit of creatures who could shift.
Their sense of smell was excellent, although his had failed him.
He should’ve smelled Scarlett’s feline—her otherness—yet he hadn’t.
A by-product of the prince’s feeding? He wasn’t certain, but it was an explanation.