Blackstone Ranger Guardian - Alicia Montgomery Page 0,25
end up. “I’m sorry for hurting her, but I’ve been working on myself.” Didn’t she know, change didn’t happen overnight? “I was … I was trying to be better, for her.”
Rosie was practically vibrating with anger. “Better for her? Staying with her, completing the mating bond, that would have been better for her!”
He was at a loss for words, and the only thing he could do was apologize. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”
“Your sorry doesn’t make her better,” Rosie spat. “It won’t make her the same again.”
“It’s not his fault she was run over by a car,” Damon reminded her.
Rosie turned a razor-sharp gaze on Krieger. “But it is your fault she’s not healing.”
“Me?” he asked, puzzled.
“It makes sense now. It’s the only explanation.” Rosie’s nostrils flared. “The doctor … he said some shifters, when they go through a traumatic experience, they can feel disconnected from their animals. Some lose control while other shifters lose their abilities. That’s why she’s not healing. Because of what you did to her. You broke her!”
Krieger and Damon’s eyes met. Based on the chief’s face, he knew what he was thinking. They had gone through similar paths after all, and they knew what it was like to lose control of your animal. A hot ball curled up in his chest, making it hard to speak.
“Rosie, please,” Damon began as he gingerly put a hand on her arm. “Is there anything I can do? Just say the word.”
The fox shifter sighed. “I don’t know, Damon. I—” A ringing sound interrupted her and she fished her phone from her purse. “Hello—Angela! Thank goodness. You should come … all right. Give me a moment.” Glancing at the two men, she covered the mouthpiece of her phone. “I need to speak to Angela privately. I’m going to find a quiet corner. Excuse me.”
Krieger stared after Rosie as she walked away. “I need to see her, Damon.”
Damon’s dark brows slashed downwards. “Rosie won’t like it.”
“Just five minutes. Please … if she comes back—”
“All right. I’ll take care of it,” he promised. “Go. You might not have enough time.”
Rolling his shoulders back, he reached for the doorknob and turned it slowly. Dutchy was looking outside the window, so she didn’t notice him sneak in. He crept quietly, not making a sound. But she must have sensed him approaching because her head turned. Pale blue eyes widened as a myriad of emotions crossed her face, none of them comforting to see.
“Don’t—”
He halted and put his hands up. “I won’t come any closer. Not if you don’t want me to.”
She let out a long breath. “I don’t want you to. I don’t want you here at all.”
Each word was like a cut of a razor on his skin. “Please, Dutchy. Talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong.”
She flinched, like she had been hurt. “I told you to leave.”
“I can’t. You know that, Dutchy,” he said. Please, he prayed silently. Please be all right.
“You did fine enough these past months,” she spat bitterly.
His heart sank, but he deserved that. “Let me explain.” He took a tentative step forward. “I had to—”
“No! Stay away!”
“I can’t, Dutchy. Not anymore. I’m here now.”
“But you have to,” she cried. “Please.”
“Just tell me what’s the matter? Why aren’t you healing properly, Dutchy? And why are you scared of me?”
Her lower lip trembled. “Can’t you feel it?” she said through gritted teeth. “My animal?”
Wait. Why didn’t I think of that? Their animals had known instinctively they were meant to be together. Mine, he recalled his bear saying the moment he looked into her pale blue eyes. And hers had called to him too. He remembered the pretty little creature, how it had preened for him and flirted as they walked down the mountain. Surely, Dutchy would listen to her animal. So, he reached out to her vixen. “I—”
The reaction he got wasn’t what he expected.
Loathing.
Distaste.
Rage.
“Dutchy?” he rasped.
She sobbed. “Can you feel it now? My fox … it hates you.”
His bear roared in furious denial.
Chapter Eight
Despite what had happened, Dutchy didn’t hate Krieger. Sure, she felt used and discarded after being unceremoniously dumped at that ranger station, but sadly, dating in New York had prepared her for that kind of disappointment. No, she understood that despite sexual chemistry and attraction, sometimes a relationship just didn’t work out.
But her fox didn’t quite agree.
The first few days when she got back home after being trapped in the mountains with him, she had this pathetic fantasy that he’d changed his mind.