Free ToLoveaCougar by Marisa Chenery Page A

out as she’d planned. Harley had quickly promised she would, then gave him the address to the drugstore not too far from the lab, not wanting to use the one right next door.
    Harley left work and headed for the drugstore. There she was able to pick up the prescription, along with a small package of syringes, without having to wait. Her doctor friend had made sure the pharmacy filled it as a rush prescription.
    During the drive to Blaise’s place, Harley found herself flicking her gaze to the blood test result printouts, which sat on the passenger seat with the white pharmacy bag. She now couldn’t get the thought of cougar hemoglobin being mixed with Blaise’s father’s blood out of her head. There was no way it could have been added later. She’d taken the sample herself, and no one had touched the vials but her. It didn’t make sense.
    She turned onto the long lane that led to Blaise’s house. Once she arrived, Harley parked in front of the four-car garage. She gathered up the things from the passenger seat and got out. She knocked on the front door once she reached it.
    Blaise answered. He smiled before he pulled her inside and into his arms. He kissed her hungrily, showing how much he’d missed her, before he released her. It took a second for Harley to gather her wits about her once again.
    “You have the results?” Blaise asked as he glanced down at what she carried.
    “Yes. I think you should get everyone up to your parents’ room so I can tell you all at the same time.”
    He met her gaze with a short nod. “All right. Wait right here. I’ll get them.”
    Blaise walked to the living room. Once he disappeared from sight, Harley heard him tell his family she’d arrived and that she wanted to talk to them all upstairs with his father. They were a silent group as they stepped out into the foyer.
    Taylor took the lead up the stairs with Aspen as his mother, then Harley and Blaise, followed. Inside the master bedroom, they stood around the bed. Blaise’s dad pushed himself up higher on his pillows once his gaze landed on Harley.
    “I take it you have the results,” he said to her.
    Harley nodded. She held up the printouts. “It’s not good.”
    “You found out what illness he has?” Blaise’s mother quickly asked.
    “It’s not that. And it’s not an illness.” Harley looked at Blaise. “You were right. Caleb is doing your father harm. He has to have known it.” She turned her gaze on her boyfriend’s dad. “I found two strong poisons in your blood. I don’t know how you’re still alive. The amounts would have killed anyone else.”
    “Poison,” he replied. “It wasn’t medicine Caleb was injecting me with.”
    “No. He was administering the poison that way. That’s the only thing I could come up with. I understand you’ve been sick for over half a year. He probably managed to somehow get the first doses of poison into you through your food or something you drink. Then once you became sick enough that you needed more care, that’s when he started with the shots.”
    Blaise’s father glanced at his wife with a grim expression. “It wasn’t through my food. It was through something I drank. Caleb gave me a bottle of ten-year-old scotch to show his appreciation for all I’d done to help him become a doctor. He hadn’t given me anything before. He knows I’m the only person in the house who likes scotch. It has to be that. Now that I think about it, I started to become ill shortly after I had a few drinks of it.”
    Harley nodded. “The poison is the type that doesn’t leave a person’s system. It just built up with each drink you had until you thought you were really sick.”
    “Is there something we can do to counteract the poison?” Blaise’s mom asked.
    Harley held up the white pharmacy bag she carried. “I have it right here. I know a doctor who was able to write me a prescription for it. He’s a good friend of mine and didn’t ask any questions. He knows I wouldn’t