Free Guardian Cougar (Finding Fatherhood Book 2) by Kit Tunstall, Kit Fawkes Page B

turned on her heel and ran from the apartment, feeling the need to escape everything. Jackson followed, calling her name with his own edge of desperation, but she was too immersed in panic to really hear him or respond. She felt the urge to flee, and she capitulated, letting instinct take over as she fled, though she couldn’t outrun the demons plaguing her.
    She was jerky and uncoordinated, even more so than her state of pregnancy would have made her in general, and she stumbled down the steps. Her feet seemed to catch and drag together, and though she reached for the banister to arrest her fall, her fingers slipped right over it as she plunged down the remaining stairs, landing heavily on her stomach.
    Jackson was there in an instant, or perhaps she had greyed out. Blood was in her eye, and her head throbbed, telling her she’d hit her head too. As he put his arms around her, one hand fumbling desperately for his cell phone, she needed him to know. “Not on purpose.”
    He frowned, bending his head closer even as he dialed the phone. “What?”
    “I didn’t do it on purpose. I wasn’t trying to get rid of it this way.”
    He ran his hand gently across her brow. “I know that, Hannah.” Then his voice changed, and he’d clearly gotten someone on the phone. She tried to listen to the conversation, but consciousness proved elusive and slipped away easily.
    ***
    The EMT had directed Jackson to a tight corner of the ambulance, and he was wedged there now as he watched them work on Hannah while the driver whisked them to the hospital. She was pale from blood loss, the wound on her forehead bleeding copiously, but the real concern was evident in her abdomen.
    Blood soaked the front of her pants, and he was certain Killian wouldn’t make it. His heart skipped a beat when he heard one paramedic tell the other he had a heartbeat, though it wasn’t as strong and steady as he’d like. He leaned forward, catching that man’s eyes. “Is the baby going to make it?”
    The EMT was busy, but he didn’t ignore the question. “It’s possible. How far along is she?”
    “Thirty-two weeks.”
    “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll tell you thirty-two-weekers have a much better chance than babies born at twenty-four weeks. At least he’s not a micro-preemie.”
    It was hardly a ringing reassurance, but Jackson clung to it. He needed the baby to be all right. He needed Hannah to be all right too. Dread filled him as he contemplated the prospect that Hannah wouldn’t be all right with Killian.
    He wasn’t sure how he would handle that, if the choice became taking care of a helpless infant or turning his back on the woman he wanted to claim as his mate. He could hardly blame her for how she felt, but he hoped it was simply an emotional reaction to the way her memory had returned, and that when she was calm again, she could evaluate how she felt and see Killian as his own person rather than an extension of Theo Cromwell.
    Just thinking the man’s name sent a spiral of rage through him, and his cat hissed furiously. He wanted to do the same, but it would have attracted too much attention from the paramedics. If he lost control, he might shift and go hunting for Cromwell. That was a good idea, but now wasn’t the time. Instead, he’d let his friends find the fucker, and then he would deal with him. Cromwell was done harassing Hannah. Jackson would keep her safe.
    They arrived at the hospital quickly, and it was a blur of activity after that. When one of the nurses asked if he was the father, he answered yes resoundingly. Jackson was certain if he told them no, they wouldn’t have allowed him to go back with Hannah to an exam room and certainly wouldn’t have kept him apprised of her condition when they decided an emergency C-section was warranted due to tearing of the placenta.
    He paced frantically in the lobby waiting room, joined by Brandon and his friend Lucas a while later. He told them what he knew and was confident