Page 42 of Blazing Joysticks

He rushed back into the room to find Cat struggling to sit up, her face pale with pain and fear. “Easy, love,” he soothed, gently easing her back against the pillows. “What is it?”

Cat’s eyes were wide, her breathing rapid. “That nurse... she’s the one who attacked me at the conference. The one who took my laptop.”

For a moment, Keir couldn’t process what she was saying. Then white-hot rage flooded through him. He whirled toward the door, ready to tear the building apart to find the woman, but Cat’s hand on his arm stopped him.

“Don’t leave me,” she pleaded, her grip surprisingly strong. “Please.”

The conflict tore at Keir. Every instinct screamed at him to hunt down the threat, to eliminate anyone who dared harm his mate. But the fear in Cat’s eyes... he couldn’t bear to be the cause of it.

“Security,” he barked into his phone. “Intruder on the fourth floor, posing as a nurse. Find her. Now.”

He barely registered the affirmative response before he was back at Cat’s side, gathering her carefully into his arms. She trembled against him, and he stroked her back, murmuring soothing words in Gaelic.

“It’s all right, love,” he whispered. “I’ve got you. You’re safe.”

Cat’s fingers curled into his shirt. “I thought... when I saw her... God, Keir, what if she’d tried to hurt me again?”

The thought made Keir’s blood run cold. He tightened his hold on her, mindful of her injuries. “I won’t let anyone harm you,” he vowed fiercely. “Never again.”

A commotion in the hallway drew their attention. Keir tensed, ready to defend Cat if necessary, but relaxed when he recognized Beck’s voice.

“Got her, boss!” Beck called, sounding slightly out of breath. “Ran right into me trying to get to the stairs.”

Keir pressed a kiss to Cat’s temple. “I need to deal with this. Will you be all right for a moment?”

Cat nodded, though she looked reluctant to let go of him. “Be careful,” she said softly.

“Always am, love.”

Keir strode into the hallway to find Beck restraining a struggling woman – the fake nurse. Her scrubs were rumpled, and a wild look of panic shone in her eyes.

“Let me go!” she shrieked. “I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Keir’s eyes flashed dangerously as he approached. “Is that so?” His voice was deceptively calm, but there was steel beneath it. “Then perhaps you’d like to explain why you were impersonating a nurse and attempting to gain access to my mate’s room?”

The woman’s struggles subsided, replaced by a look of defeated resignation. “I... I had no choice,” she whimpered. “He said he’d hurt my family if I didn’t cooperate.”

“Who?” Keir demanded, though he already knew the answer.

“Jason Grimes,” she whispered, confirming his suspicions. “He paid me to get information from Ms. Reeves’s laptop at first. When that failed, he... he told me to make sure she got hurt. To send you a message.”

Keir’s vision blurred red at the edges. It took every ounce of his considerable self-control not to shift right there in the hospital corridor and tear this woman limb from limb.

“Beck,” he growled, his voice barely human. “Get her out of my sight before I do something I’ll regret. Make sure the police get every detail of her statement.”

Beck nodded grimly, already steering the woman away. “You got it, boss. What about you?”

Keir took a deep breath, forcing the dragon back under control. “I’m staying with Cat. And then... then we’re going to end this. Once and for all.”

As Beck led the woman away, Keir returned to Cat’s room. She was sitting up, looking anxious. “What happened?” she asked as soon as he entered.

Keir sat on the edge of the bed, taking her hand in his. “We caught her,” he said simply. “She confessed to working for Grimes.”

Cat’s eyes widened. “Jason Grimes? It’s been him all along? The guy that hates you for being a good boss?”

“Yeah,” Keir said grimly. “But this... targeting you to get to me... he’s gone too far.”

“What are we going to do?” Cat asked, her voice small.

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