Page 22 of My Pucking Mate

Roman’s eyes are wild with panic, and I think that scares me even more.

Just as I’m about to try to reach for him, the fire is replaced by trembling, and it feels like—that doesn’t make any sense—I’ve finally lost my mind.

I swear, my body just growled. Not my stomach. My body.What the hell?

“Help me. There’s something inside of me. My body it . . .” I trail off, unable to finish the sentence. I’ll be committed. This isn’t happening. I knew his showing up was too good to be true. I was dreaming, and now I’m having a nightmare. Whateverthisis, it can't be real.

Both of Roman’s knees crash to the ground, getting as close to me as he can without touching me completely, like he's worried he'll hurt me. He tenderly wraps my trembling hands in his. “Leera, no matter how crazy it sounds, talk to me. What’s going on?”

The concern in his eyes seems to rip away any sense of self-preservation I had left.

“I swear something in my body just . . . growled. I know it’s crazy. I don’t know what’s happening. What’s wrong with me? I’m pretty sure I’m having a nightmare, but this feels so real.”

The men share a worried and confused look, but it almost looks like Roman is trying not to smile, like he's had some kind of “ah-ha” moment.

“Why would you smile like that? Oh my god, did you do this?! Did you drug me?!”

“No. Of course not. I would never do anything to harm you in any way. Ever,” he says frantically. “Hey, look at me. I promise we’ll find out what’s going on, and you’ll be okay.”

I try to nod, but the fire returns with vengeance. Before I can stop it, a wail escapes me, and Roman has me scooped up into his arms, and he's jogging away from the school.

He wouldn’t drug me, right? But is he kidnapping me now? “Please make it stop.” I cry through the pain.

He nuzzles the top of my head with his nose, yes, nuzzles, as he whispers kind words that everything will be okay. I look over to Benny and he looks torn between worry and excitement. These men are so weird. I feel like my body is on fire, I might have been drugged, but for some totally crazy reason, I trust them to take care of me.

“We’re going to take you home with us and have our hea-doctor come check on you, Leera. Is that okay? You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, but I want to take care of you.”

All I can do is nod when he looks at me like that as we approach a giant black SUV. Benny runs ahead of us and opens the door. I expect Roman to set me down in the seat, but instead, he ducks my head and scoots into the seat, still cradling my little body in his so that I’m sitting in his lap and resting my head on his chest.

I wish I wasn’t in so much pain so I could enjoy this moment.

Benny slams the door, runs all the way around, and jumps into the driver's seat. He throws the car in gear, and before I have time to think, we’re flying down the road.

My body continues to alternate between feeling like I was thrown into a burning building, being electrocuted, and dropped in the arctic tundra. Whatever's happening can’t be good. I sound like an idiot whimpering and wailing in this god of a man’s arms, but my body is out of my control at this point.

We pull up to what has to be the largest townhouse in the area, built on top of a personal parking garage. Roman doesn’t wait for Benny to open the door for us. Instead, he flies out of the SUV before it’s even been put in park. He enters a number on the pin pad of the elevator, and we’re quickly ascending.

We’re met by the rest of the starting Predators’ line-up. I wasn't exactly expecting an audience for the weirdest, most painful moment of my life.

“Doc is ten minutes away,” one of the twins says with an ornery look on his face.

The scary-looking one that’s the goalie shoves him out of the way and says, “I got a room ready for her.”

Roman rushes down the hallway, never taking his eyes off mine.

He enters one of the rooms and tries to gently lay me on the bed, but I find myself latching onto him. “Please don’t leave me,” I whimper, knotting my hands in his shirt.

“I wasn’t going to leave you, Little Miracle; I was going to sit right next to you, but if this is what you want, then this is what you get,” he says with a small smile.

He’s called me that twice now. Why am I a miracle?

I’m not able to think any more about it when a sweet little old lady comes in. “Hi dearie, I’m Matilda, you can call me Tilly if you like. The healer is coming in now, but you just holler if you need anything,” she says as she scurries away.

“Healer?” I question. I would say more if I could, but my body isn’t exactly listening to my instructions at the moment. Roman just grunts in response as another older woman comes in; this one isn’t as cute as Miss Tilly, though.

“Well, hello there . . .” the woman says with a raised eyebrow as she looks at Roman. “Jeanine, this is Leera,” he says as they just stare at each other for a moment.

“Well, let’s see what we can do about the strange feelings you're having,” the woman, Jeanine, says. “Roman, can you set her down so I can take a look at her?”

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