“No!” I screamed, grabbing Cooper and pulling him back, before the snake could bite him again. Max tried to get to the snake, but I pushed him away and grabbed a rock. I didn’t want to hurt him, but the snake was pissed. I was riding on adrenaline, knew I wouldn’t be able to recall what happened next. It was sheer fight or flight, worry for the dogs had me attacking. I lunged, lifted the rock, and brought it down on the snake’s head. I dropped the rock and turned for Cooper. How I lifted him, I could only attribute to the adrenaline and that rush of strength people were known to get in times when loved ones were in danger. Somehow, I managed to carry him most of the way to the house before I lost my strength. Max ran ahead, barking. I was never so happy to see someone when Graham appeared following Max.
“He was bit by a rattlesnake.”
Graham lifted Cooper. “My truck,” he said, already hauling ass. I followed him, Max with us. My hands were shaking when I called Killian.
“Hey, Baby. Can I—”
“Cooper was bit by a rattlesnake. We’re taking him to the Vet.”
“I’ll meet you there.” The call disconnected.
My phone slipped out of my hand.
“It’s going to be okay,” Graham said.
“He jumped out in front of the snake.”
Graham put his hand on my arm. “He’s going to be okay.”
I hoped so. I couldn’t imagine being responsible for Killian losing Cooper.
Killian was waiting for us when we arrived. He lifted Cooper from the bed himself and in long, hurried strides brought him inside. The vet was waiting with the anti-venom and antibiotics. He asked me how long ago he’d been bitten. It hadn’t been more than fifteen minutes. They disappeared into a room. I didn’t join them, stayed in the waiting room, too terrified to move. I couldn’t stop the tears for Cooper and Max, but more, for Killian.
Killian stepped out of the room, looking up the hall then down, until he saw me. He closed the distance, pulling me close. “Thank you. Doc said if you hadn’t acted so quickly...”
“But, he jumped out in front of the snake. It’s because of me.”
He took my face in his hands. “It’s not your fault.”
“The thought of you losing him…”
He wiped at my cheeks. “Cedar, he’s going to be fine. You saved him.”
“Killian…” the doc called.
“I’ll be right back,” he said, then pressed a kiss on my forehead.
It was only after learning that Cooper was going to be okay, when the adrenaline wasn’t pumping through me, that I felt the pain in my thigh and looked down at the bloody puncture marks on my jeans.
“Killian,” I said, he glanced back and everything went black.
Chapter Twenty-Two
killian
Killian paced the hospital corridor, dragged a hand through his hair and then dropped down into a chair; his head went into his hands. She’d been so worried about Cooper, she hadn’t realized she’d been bitten, too. Fuck. If treatment wasn’t given within the first two hours…they’d barely made that.
She was young and strong; her vitals were looking good; she was responding to the treatment, but fucking hell. When she dropped at the vet. Goddamn, he couldn’t get the sight out of his head. Her eyes rolled up; he almost didn’t reach her before she hit the floor. When he saw the puncture marks, he’d never known fear like that. One minute they were talking about babies, and the next, but in that second, when she could have been lost to him, he couldn’t fucking breathe. It was then that he understood just a little of what she had to have felt the day she lost her parents and her boyfriend.
His parents were in with her. He needed a minute to pull his shit together. His dad joined him, put his hand on his shoulder. “She’s going to be okay, son.”
“I know.”
“Cooper too.”
“Yeah.” She fucking carried him. He weighed almost as much as she did, but she’d carried his boy. Graham had seen her coming, before Max caused a scene. Said he’d never seen anything like it.
“She’s a lot tougher than she looks,” his dad said.
That was absolutely fucking true. Stronger than she even knew.
“Strange that the rattler struck though and twice. Almost like it was already riled up,” his dad said.
“If he was feeding,” Killian said.
“Yeah, I guess.” Jared stood. “So, you want us to go to her place and pack up some things.”
Killian stood and pulled her key from his pocket. “Please.”
“We’ll check on Cooper too.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Nothing to thank us for, Son. We’ll see you soon.”
“She’s going to be okay, honey,” Maureen said, when she stepped out of Cedar’s room. “We’ll get her stuff. You go look after your girl.” She touched his chin like she used to do when he was a kid. “And she is your girl.”
Yeah, she fucking was.
Stepping into her room, she looked so small in the bed and still. He approached, and her eyes opened. He settled on the chair, laid his palm on her forehead, and gently brushed her hair from her face, curling his fingers, needing the connection. “Cooper?” she asked.
“He’s fine. Mom and Dad are going to check on him. You’re going to be fine.”
“I know,” she whispered.
“How do you know?”
“Because you wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Yeah, she was his. And she fucking knew it, too.
“If I don’t get up and move, my ass is going to be permanently melded into the leather,” Cedar called after him. He was learning she had a flare for the dramatic. She slept in his bed at night, but he waited until she was asleep before he joined her, because having her soft body up against him was torture enough,
