Khan (12 page)

“What couldn’t be done over the phone,
Dylan? It’s four in the morning. And I don’t know if you’ve heard or not, but
someone is trying to kill my mate.”

Dylan had heard, but that wasn’t why he
was here. “Reed called me last night. I wanted to talk to you about a couple of
things.” He reached into his bag and pulled out a scroll. “It’s very old, so be
careful with it. Mom doesn’t know I have it.”

“Good thing too. She’d kill you. What
the hell are you doing with the family tree? And the original one at that.” Khan
touched it gently. Dylan didn’t blame him. It was as old as their race was.

“I needed to show you something. Mostly
Monica, but I wanted you to see this.” He pointed to the name of a person that
had been born and had died long before their grandmother had. “Her name is
Elizza Manchester Bowen. She was our great-great-grandmother.”

Each of them looked at the name, but
Monica noticed what he was trying to get them to see. She leaned into the
parchment and squinted before she was able to read it aloud. When she did, she
looked at him. “It says ‘no boundaries.’ What does that mean?”

He felt her touch his mind and he let
her. This was the only way she’d learn.

“It means she could hear all the other
species like you can.” She leaned back in the chair so quickly she nearly
tipped it over. “You’re not the only panther to have this ability.”

“How do you know this? She’s been dead
so long, for all you know it could mean she wouldn’t stay on her own land and
didn’t know any boundaries.” Khan stood up to pace, and Dylan watched Monica. “This
is the most… Is that why you came up here in the middle of the night? To give
us your opinion on old folk tales?”

“He’s telling the truth. They’re not
tales. She really could do what I can.” She looked him in the eye. “What you
can as well.”

Dylan nodded and didn’t look at his
brother. “Since childhood. I was terrified when I figured out that none of the
rest of them could do it, but when I saw this…I asked my grandda and he told me
what it meant and what happened to her.”

Khan sat down hard. “You’re like Monica?
You can hear other species as well? How is that possible?”

Dylan laughed. “It’s as much a part of
you as it is me. Had it not been, then she wouldn’t be like us either. And she
is. We can hear things, know things that others can’t.”

“Why didn’t I know about this? Why didn’t…why
did Reed know about this?”

Dylan heard the hurt in Khan’s voice. “He
didn’t. He was relaying the events of the day as he’s done since you got here.
He doesn’t…” Dylan got up, got a bottle of water from the refrigerator, and sat
back down. He knew that neither of them wanted any.

“None of you know.” Monica looked at
Khan. “He didn’t want any of you to know because he was ashamed at first then
later he felt it was too late.”

“You two want me to leave the room?” Khan
got up to pace again. “I don’t want you talking to her like that. You know that
we’re newly mated and—”

“She was reading my mind. I didn’t say a
word to her that you’ve not heard. She’s a lot better at this than I was when I
figured it out.” Dylan grinned at her. “Tell him, sweetheart, before he tries
to rip my throat out.”

“I wasn’t trying to cause trouble. I
was…it seemed the thing to do. I didn’t even know I could do that.” She put her
hands on her lap. “You could have told me to stop.”

“Yeah, but what fun would that be?” Dylan
got up and pulled things from the refrigerator. “I want to stay today, but then
I have to go back tonight. I have exams to grade and a few guys I have to beat
at poker tomorrow night. I need to win back some of the gas money it took me to
get here.” He didn’t need the money any more than the rest of them did. Caitlynne
had seen to that. She’d paid off all their outstanding loans and had given each
of them a nice tidy nest egg as well. He hadn’t touched his and probably never
would, but it was nice to have there just in case. As he fried up bacon, he
spoke to them both. “I can teach you as much as I can today, if you don’t mind.
I figure with this guy whose trying to kill you, it would be nice to have a
little extra on your side.” He turned to her as she pulled out the plates.

“That won’t help us much, I’m afraid.
The man who is after me is human. I guess he’s like me.”

Dylan stopped putting more bacon in the
pan and looked at her.

“You knew that, didn’t you? I’m sorry
you wasted your gas money, but—”

“Monica, he’s a species just like us.
Human is a species, and you’re nothing close to being human any longer. You
might not be able to shift, but you aren’t human any longer.” Dylan looked at
his brother. “Tell her. Tell her she’s not human.”

“What is she then if not that? I don’t
understand what you mean.” Khan sounded pissy again, and he looked between
them. Dylan nearly burst out laughing, but Khan was holding a large skillet.

“She’s as much a panther as you. You
didn’t convert her yet, but she has enough panther blood in her system that if
she were to carry, the baby would be full-blooded.” Monica looked at Khan. “I’m
not lying to you, bro. She’s as near panther as you can get without the entire
shift fun.”

Monica changed the subject, but not
before she whispered in his mind.
“Do behave, will you? This is hard enough
on both of us.”
“What do you mean Tony is a species? I understand the
concept of him being a species, but I thought that I could only hear
paranormals.”

“No. You know no boundaries.” He asked
them to wait a moment, and he left the room to get the pretty maid. He made
sure he touched her skin. When they entered the kitchen, Dylan introduced them
to her. “This is Molly. Molly works here not because she likes the work, but
she steals food from the pantry each night to take home to her family. What she
doesn’t know is that everyone in the house that works here knows and replaces
it for her. They don’t want her to lose her job.” He got that bit of
information from the man who had let him in this morning, but he hadn’t known
who Molly was.

Molly sat down and looked around the
room. “Don’t tell Miss Caitlynne. She’ll fire me for sure.”

“We won’t, but you have to help us with
something.” He looked at Monica. “Read her mind.” He could tell she was trying,
but from the look on her face, she got nothing. Dylan told her to touch her
skin. “But not her hands. I don’t know why, but for some reason, that doesn’t
work.”

Monica touched her arm and then stepped
back. “Her husband left her about nine months ago for another woman. Molly is
not just struggling to make ends meet, but she’s also trying her best to get
her little sister into med school so she doesn’t have to wait tables for the
rest of her life.”

Molly nodded, but didn’t move. “He took
everything when he left us for her. Everything including the microwave. Jane
and I have been trying to make it stick for us, but school is expensive, and
her books cost more than a car. I don’t…you won’t tell Miss Caitlynne, will
you? You promised if I helped you, I wouldn’t get fired.”

“And you won’t either.” Both Dylan and
Khan reached for their wallets at the same time and were just about to pull
them out when Monica continued. “Caitlynne has a fund set up for people who
want to better themselves. I bet if you had a talk with her, you and your
sister, she can help you in ways you wouldn’t believe. Of course you’ll have to
come clean about the food, but I bet you she won’t mind a wit and will tell you
to take more.”

Dylan looked over at Khan, who looked
like he’d just won the lottery. “My mate. She’s going to be amazing at family
dinners.”

Dylan thought he might be right. After
sending Molly to find the mistress of the house, Dylan worked with Monica a
little more. She was going to be fine once he had more time and she wasn’t so
stressed about Tony. And Dylan knew that if they didn’t find him, he would, and
kill him slowly.

When Monica left to get dressed, Dylan
looked at Khan. “He hurt her. He hurt her more than she’s shared with any of
you. He shouldn’t be allowed to breathe.”

Khan looked at him with both surprise
and wonderment. Before he could ask him what he meant, Dylan raised his hand. He
wouldn’t share that information unless she let him or it was to save her life.

“I’ll take care of him. With what she
has shared, it’s enough to bring all of us on his ass. If I find him before the
police do ,and I plan on that happening…he’s going to suffer in ways you can’t
believe.”

~~~

Monica’s mind hurt along with her head. Dylan
had left just under an hour ago and she was still reeling from all he’d told
her. Most of which had to do with reading others’ minds.

It wasn’t really hard. She only had to concentrate
a little and so much information came to her. Dylan had told her it was because
most people didn’t know there were people like them and didn’t try to hide what
they thought. But the two of them knew and they had to be careful, very
careful.

“And you must at all costs learn to
block people. Because if you can get in, they can as well. Don’t trust anyone
to your mind. There is way too much in there for others to know.”

“You mean about you being panthers.”

He nodded at her and smiled.

“Do you think there are others like you?”

“You mean panthers or like you and me? And
for the record, you’re a panther too. Like I said, as close as you can get.” He
had leaned back and smiled at her. “You know that there are. And if one comes
in the room with you, at least within a twenty to twenty-five foot radius, you’ll
know they’re there too.”

She worked on blocking her mind all day
and now needed a nap. And she decided that she didn’t want to take it alone. Almost
getting up off the couch, she closed her eyes and tried to find Khan in the
house. He was in the office with his brother, Walker. She decided to try
something.

She didn’t know what sort of images she
could use in the event that someone else could see them. Dylan had told her
that they couldn’t, but she wasn’t quite that sure yet. She decided to try them
out, but to go kind of slow at it.

At first she sent him the thought of
just her naked and in the shower. She wanted to bring him running, not bore him,
and she made her hands slide down her body. She lifted her breasts up and
licked the tip of each one. Moaning a little, she moved her hands down her body
and slid her fingers into her pussy and moaned aloud when she brushed against
her clit. Over and over she slid past her silken folds until she was panting. She
lifted her breast again and nipped gently at the tip and then suckled it in her
mouth. She didn’t know if it was possible to do that, but she decided to try
next time she was in the shower. When the door slammed back against the wall,
she looked at Khan. She’d forgotten that she was teasing him.

“Strip.”

Her body reacted to his command.

“Now. I want you to do to what you
showed me. Now, Monica, I want to see it now.”

His cock was hard against the fabric of
his jeans, and she licked her lips. She wanted him to touch her, to do the
things she’d been doing, but he shook his head and told her again to show him.

She stood up, thinking to go to the
bedroom and show him when he unsnapped his jeans and freed his cock. She looked
at him while he fisted himself, using his precum to slide up and down his
shaft.

“You want this?”

She nodded.

“Then you’ll do as I ask. Do you have
any idea what you did to me in there? Do you have a clue what happened to me
when I saw you take your nipple into your mouth and fuck your pussy?”

“I wanted to make you come to me.”

He laughed, but it was strained.

“I guess I did that, didn’t I?”

“Yes. Show me, Monica. Show me for real
what you want to do to yourself.”

She wanted to please him, and she wanted
him to want her. Stripping down wasn’t as hard as she thought it would be. They’d
had sex in every part of this house, and some places in the yard, enough that
he had made her feel good about herself and her body. When she was naked, she
stopped.

“Your turn. I want to have you there so
I can think about you touching me, you sliding in and out of me as I touch
myself. You have to help me.”

His clothes came off quicker than hers
had. When he stood there in all his beauty, she looked him up and down,
lingering over the parts of him that she so desperately wanted.

Cupping her breast, she held it to her
mouth. Licking her lips as he watched her, she flicked her tongue over the hard
nubbin. She moaned; it was much better than she thought it would feel. Doing it
again, she watched as he wrapped his fist around his cock and moved up and down
it slowly, his balls tight against his body.

When she pulled her nipple into her
mouth, she felt her pussy clench. Her juices were flowing down her legs, and
she parted them so that he could see. She slid her hand down over her belly, twirled
her finger into her belly button, and bit down on her nipple.

“Christ. You’re going to make me come
this way. I’m going to shoot my cum all over your body then I’m going to take
you to the floor and fuck you hard.”