Kiss of Crimson (3 page)

Tess did as instructed, helping him unload the wheeled container from the van down onto the pavement. When they reached the clinic door, Nora was there waiting. She gasped and cooed at the big cat, then gazed adoringly at Ben.

―Omigod. That‘s Shiva, isn‘t it? For years, I‘ve been hoping he‘d break out and run away from that place. You totally stole Shiva!‖

Ben grinned. ―I don‘t know what you‘re talking about,
liebchen.
This cat is just a stray who showed up on my doorstep tonight. I thought Wonder Doc could patch him up a bit before I find him a good home.‖

―Oh, you are bad, Ben Sullivan! And so totally my hero right now.‖

Tess gestured to her enamored assistant. ―Nora, could you take this end with me, please? We need to lift it up over the stoop.‖

Nora came around to Tess‘s side, and the three of them hefted the cage up and into the clinic‘s back room. They wheeled the tiger into the prepped exam room, which had recently been outfitted with an oversize hydraulic lift table, courtesy of Ben. It was a luxury Tess couldn‘t have afforded on her own. Although she had a small, devoted clientele, she wasn‘t exactly operating in the wealthy end of town. She‘d priced her services well below their value, even for the area, feeling it was more important to make a difference than make a profit. Unfortunately, her landlord and suppliers didn‘t agree. Her desk was weighted down with a pile of past-due notices that she wasn‘t going to be able to put off for much longer. She‘d have to hit her meager personal savings to cover them, and after that was gone... ?

―Tranquilizer‘s on the counter,‖ Nora said, breaking into her thoughts.

―Thanks.‖ Tess slipped the capped syringe into her lab-coat pocket, guessing that she probably wasn‘t going to need it after all, based on the docility and general lethargy of her patient. Besides, she wasn‘t going to do anything but a visual exam tonight, take a few notes on the animal‘s overall condition, and get a feel for what needed to be done in order to facilitate safe transportation to its new home.

―Think we can get Shiva—or whatever this stray‘s name is—to hop up on the table on his own, or should we use the lift?‖ Tess asked, watching as Ben worked the locks on the cage.

―Worth a shot. Come on, big guy.‖

The tiger hesitated for a moment, head low as it glanced around the brightly lit exam room. Then, with Ben‘s encouragement, it stepped out of the cage and leaped fluidly onto the metal table. While Tess spoke softly to it and stroked its large head, the animal sat down, sphinxlike, more patient than the most well-behaved house cat.

―So,‖ Nora said, ―do you need anything else right now, or can I take off?‖

Tess shook her head. ―Sure, you can go. Thank you for staying so late tonight. I really appreciate it.‖

―No prob. The party I‘m going to won‘t even get started until after midnight, anyway.‖ She flipped her long blond braids over her shoulders. ―Okay, so, I‘m off, then. I‘ll lock up on my way out.

‘Night, you guys.‖

―Good night,‖ they answered in unison.

―She‘s a great kid,‖ Ben said after Nora had left.

―Nora‘s the best,‖ Tess agreed, petting Shiva and feeling for skin lesions, lumps, or other problems beneath its thick fur. ―And she‘s not a kid, Ben. She‘s twenty-one, about to start her degree in veterinary medicine after she finishes up her last semester at the university. She‘s going to make a great doctor.‖

―No one‘s as good as you. Got a magic touch, Doc.‖

Tess shrugged off the compliment, but there was a bit of truth in it. Just how much, she doubted Ben really knew. Tess hardly understood it herself, and what she did understand, she wished she could blot out completely. Self-consciously, she crossed her arms, concealing her hands from view.

―You don‘t have to stay either, Ben. I‘d like to keep Shi—‖ She cleared her throat, arching a brow at him. ―My patient, that is, for observation tonight. I won‘t start any procedures until tomorrow, and I‘ll call you with my findings before I do any work.‖

―Dismissing me already? Here I thought I might be able to talk you into dinner.‖

―I ate dinner hours ago.‖

―Breakfast, then. My place or yours, you can call it.‖

―Ben,‖ she said, hedging as he came over and stroked her cheek. His touch was warm and tender, comfortably familiar. ―We‘ve been through this already, more than once. I just don‘t think it‘s a good idea... ‖

He groaned, and it was an entirely too sexual sound, low and throaty. There was a time when that sound turned her self-control into butter, but not tonight. Not ever again, if she had any hope of maintaining her personal integrity. It just seemed wrong to go to bed with Ben, knowing he wanted something from her that she couldn‘t give him.

―I could stay until you wrap up,‖ he suggested, backing off now. ―I don‘t like the idea of you being here all by yourself. This area of town isn‘t exactly the safest.‖

―I‘ll be fine. I‘m just going to finish my examination here, then do a bit of paperwork and close up shop. No big deal.‖

Ben scowled, on the verge of arguing until Tess blew out a sigh and gave him
the look.
She knew he read it clearly, since he‘d seen it more than once during their two years of couplehood. ―All right,‖

he agreed finally. ―But don‘t stay too much longer. And you call me first thing in the morning, promise?‖

―I promise.‖

―You sure you‘re comfortable handling Shiva by yourself?‖

Tess glanced down at the haggard beast, which immediately began licking her hand again as soon as she put it near him. ―I think I‘ll be safe with him.‖

―What‘d I tell ya, Doc? Magic touch. Looks like he‘s already in love with you too.‖ Ben ran his fingers through his golden-blond hair, giving her a defeated look. ―I guess if I want to win your heart, I‘ll need to grow some fur and fangs, is that it?‖

Tess smiled and rolled her eyes. ―Go home, Ben. I‘ll call you tomorrow.‖

CHAPTER Three

T
ess came awake with a start.

Shit. How long had she been dozing? She was in her office, Shiva‘s case file open beneath her cheek on the desk. Last she recalled, she‘d fed the malnourished tiger and put it back in its containment so she could begin writing up her findings. That was—she glanced at her watch—two and a half hours ago? It was now a few minutes before three A.M. She was due back in the clinic at seven o‘clock.

Tess groaned around a big yawn and a stretch of her cramped arms.

Good thing she woke up before Nora reported back to work, or she‘d never hear the end of—

A loud bump sounded from somewhere in the back of the clinic.

What the hell?

Had she been jolted out of her sleep by a similar noise a minute ago?

Oh, jeez. Of course. Ben must have driven past and seen the lights on in the clinic. It wouldn‘t be the first time he‘d come around on a late-night drive-by to check in on her. She really didn‘t feel like getting a lecture on her crazy hours or her stubborn streak of independence.

The noise came again, another clumsy bump, followed by an abrupt clatter of metal as something got knocked off a shelf.

Which meant someone was in the back storage room.

Tess rose from her desk and took a few tentative steps toward her office door, ears tuned to any disturbance at all. In the kennels off the reception area, the handful of post-op cats and dogs were restless. Some of them were whining; others were issuing low warning growls.

―Hello?‖ Tess called into the empty space. ―Is someone here? Ben, is that you? Nora?‖

Nobody answered. And now the noises she‘d heard before had gone still as well.

Great.
She‘d just announced her presence to an intruder.
Brilliant, Culver. Absolutely frigging
brilliant.

She tried to console herself with some fast logic. Maybe it was just a homeless person looking for shelter who‘d found his or her way into the clinic from the back alley. Not an intruder. Nothing dangerous at all.

Yeah? So why were the hairs on the back of her neck tingling with dread?

Tess shoved her hands into the pockets of her lab coat, feeling suddenly very vulnerable. She felt her ballpoint pen knock against her fingers. Something else was in there as well.

Oh, that’s right.
The tranq syringe, full of enough anesthetic to knock a four-hundred-pound animal out cold.

―Is someone back there?‖ she asked, trying to keep her voice firm and steady. She paused at the reception station and reached for the phone. The damn thing wasn‘t cordless—she‘d gotten it cheap on closeout—and the receiver barely reached to her ear from over the counter. Tess went around the big U-shaped desk, glancing nervously over her shoulder as she started punching 911 on the keypad. ―You‘d better get out of here right now, because I‘m calling the cops.‖

“No... please... don’t be afraid... ”

The deep voice was so quiet, it shouldn‘t have reached her ears, but it did. She heard it as surely as if the words had been whispered right up next to her head.
Inside her head,
strange as that seemed. There was a dry croak and a violent, racking cough, definitely coming from the storage room. And whomever the voice belonged to sounded like he was in a world of hurt. Life and death kind of hurt.

―Damn it.‖

Tess held her breath and hung up the phone before her call connected. She walked slowly toward the back of the clinic, uncertain what she was going to find and really wishing she didn‘t have to look at all.

―Hello? What are you doing in here? Are you hurt?‖

She spoke to the intruder as she pushed open the door and stepped inside. She heard labored breathing, smelled smoke and the briny stench of the river. She smelled blood too. Lots of it. Tess flicked the light on.

Harsh fluorescent tubes buzzed to life overhead, illuminating the incredible bulk of a drenched, badly injured man slumped on the floor near one of the supply shelves. He was dressed all in black, like some kind of goth nightmare—black leather jacket, tee-shirt, fatigues, and lace-up combat boots. Even his hair was black, the wet strands plastered to his head, shielding his downturned face from view. An ugly smudge of blood and river water traveled from the back door, partially opened onto the alley, to where the man lay in Tess‘s storeroom. He had evidently dragged himself inside, maybe unable to walk.

If she hadn‘t been so accustomed to seeing the grisly aftermath of car accidents, beatings, and other bodily trauma in her animal patients, the sight of this man‘s injuries might have turned Tess‘s stomach inside out.

Instead, her mind switched from alarm and the instinctual fight-or-flight mode she‘d been feeling out in the reception area to that of the physician she was trained to be. Clinical, calm, and concerned.

―What happened to you?‖

The man grunted, gave a vague shake of his dark head like he wasn‘t going to tell her anything about it. Perhaps he couldn‘t.

―You‘re covered in burns and wounds. My God, there must be hundreds of them. Were you in some kind of accident?‖ She glanced down to where one of his hands was resting on his abdomen. Blood was seeping through his fingers from a fresh, deep puncture. ―Your gut is bleeding—and your leg too. Jesus, have you been shot?‖

―Need... blood.‖

He was probably right about that. The floor beneath him was slick, and dark from what he‘d lost just since his arrival at the clinic. He‘d likely lost a good deal more before he got there. Nearly every patch of his exposed skin bore multiple lacerations—his face and neck, his hands, everywhere Tess looked, she saw bleeding cuts and contusions. His cheeks and mouth were pale white, ghostly.

―You need an ambulance,‖ she told him, not wanting to upset him, but, damn, the guy was in bad shape. ―Just relax now. I‘m going to go call 911 for you.‖

―No!‖ He lurched from his slump on the floor, thrusting his hand out to her in alarm. ―No hospitals! Can‘t... can‘t go there... They won‘t... can‘t help me.‖

Despite his protest, Tess started to run for the phone in the other room. But then she remembered the stolen tiger hanging out in one of her exam rooms. Hard to explain that to the EMTs or, God forbid, the police. The gun shop had probably already called in the theft of the animal, or would by the time the store opened that morning, just a few short hours away.

―Please,‖ gasped the huge man bleeding all over her clinic. ―No doctors.‖

Tess paused, regarding him in silence. He needed help in a big way, and he needed it now. Unfortunately, she looked like his best chance at the moment. She wasn‘t sure what she could do for him here, but maybe she could patch him up temporarily, get him on his feet, and get him the hell out of there.

―Okay,‖ she said. ―No ambulances for now. Listen, I‘m, uh—I‘m actually a doctor. Well, more or less. This is my veterinary clinic. Would it be all right if I come a little closer and have a look at you?‖

She took the quirk of his mouth and ragged exhaled sigh as a yes.

Tess inched down beside him on the floor. He had seemed big from across the room, but crouched next to him, she realized that he was immense, easily six and a half feet and two hundred fifty-plus pounds of heavy bone and solid muscle. Was he some kind of bodybuilder? One of those macho meatheads who spent his life in the gym?