“Kay, it’s Dr. Stanfield. We met here at the house a couple of times. I’m going to look you over and see if I need to take you to the hospital. Okay?”
Kay nodded slowly, her head now throbbing. She could feel his hands touching it, softly pressing here and there, parting hair for a better look.
“It looks like you just had a hard fall. There is no tear and only slight swelling. You’re going to have a headache for a while, maybe some blurred vision, but you’ll be fine. I’m going to give you some medication for later, but right now, I don’t want you sedated. You may have a slight concussion.”
Kay nodded, her head roaring.
“Keep her awake for the next few hours and then give her this to help her sleep,” she heard him saying, she presumed to one of the other women.
She dipped in and out of consciousness, losing track of time. Each time she began to drift off, a woman’s voice would wake her until, finally, they stopped. She gagged a little as one of them gave her some sort of bitter liquid and a bit of water to flush it down. Soon, she dozed off and slept for what felt like an eternity.
The sound of Bradley’s voice cut through the fog, sending her heart jumping for joy. Opening her eyes, she found that her vision had cleared and her head, though it still felt a little heavy, didn’t ache as much as it had. She focused on Bradley and gasped.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” he told her.
“Your face,” she said, reaching up for him.
He cupped her hand into his, kissing her palm and smiling down at her. He had a black eye, swollen almost shut and a set of claw marks down one cheek. Lord knew what else might be going on with him that she couldn’t see.
“I’m so sorry, Kay. I don’t know how those men got in our house. We’ve been too lax in protection here, gotten too comfortable. They just walked right in.”
“Where are they?” she asked, afraid of what would happen next. They would return, and Cullen would tell everyone the truth about her marriage to Bradley. What would happen then? She had brought this on them.
“We put them down,” he said.
“Put them down?” she echoed.
“Yes. They won’t be waltzing in anyone else’s house to attack a woman. I don’t even know where they came from, but I will find out. No clan will abide having shifters in their midst that would go after a woman.”
“They are from my clan, Bradley. It was Cullen,” she said quietly.
“What?” he said, seeming confused.
“He tracked me down somehow. I don’t know how. He tracked me down and came after me.”
“Oh God. I had no idea. You were trying to get away and he had lunged toward you, grabbing your ankle and causing you to fall. I didn’t think about who he was or why he was here. I just shifted and went after him. His guys shifted, my guys shifted. It got ugly really fast, but we put them all down.”
Kay said nothing. She could hardly mourn men who had attacked her with such viciousness, clan or not. Still, she couldn’t be happy about their deaths either. Cullen was the alpha of her clan, others would come for revenge. Another clan killing their leader would not set well with them.
“I will find out how this happened, and I will take care of it, both with your clan and with the agency that sent you to me. He shouldn’t have been able to track you here, so they’ve got a problem they need to deal with.”
“He even knew about our fake marriage,” she commented.
“I’ll take care of it. Don’t give it another thought.”
“How can I not? I don’t want you involved in all of this. I should have never come here.”
“And what would have happened if he had found you in some ill lit parking lot after a long shift of serving tables with no other shifters around to come to your aid? What would you have done then? You are right where you are supposed to be, Kay. I would fight to my death to keep you safe.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she replied.
Bradley leaned forward and kissed her. She saw him wince as he did so and knew he was hurt. Within a day or two, his accelerated healing would kick in and he’d be as good as new. It would take a little longer for her as her healing process was weaker. Still, they would both be fine...at least physically.CHAPTER EIGHTEENSeveral days passed without incident as Bradley attempted to make peace with Kay’s clan and ward off any further threats to the ranch. Since the attack, the house has not been empty, with at least a dozen members of the clan present at all times. They took shifts just spending time in the community room and sleeping in rotation back in the guest rooms located down the hallway on the lower level.