Alistair (Golden Streak Series) (2 page)

They nodded. Twice as a matter of fact. Then
they asked him to be available if they had any more questions. He left the room
they’d set up for questioning and went down the hall to the bathroom and tore
off his jacket, then pulled his t-shirt over his head.

“You going somewhere, big brother?”
He felt Brock
speak to him and tried to ignore him.
“I’m standing right outside the door,
so when you come out, you’d better be dressed and ready to come home or there
will be hell to pay. Not to mention there are about fifty cops running around
this building looking for something to shoot. I’m pretty sure a tiger will make
their day.”

Alistair leaned his head against the
stall door.
“She’s out there fucking hurt and not one of those idiots is
going to look for her.”

“True, but that doesn’t mean we won’t. Just
that we can’t right now. I’m working on getting me and someone else in the building
after they all leave. You think Keith might want to join me?”
Alistair
snarled at his brother.
“Yeah, I thought so. Just hang tight and let me fix this.
We’ll find her if she’s in here.”

“You think she is, too?”
Brock told him
he was sure of it. She hadn’t been found, so it meant that she’d either left
already or was still inside.

“We’ll find her.”
Alistair felt
better already and came out of the men’s room and walked with his brother down
the hall and out of the building. Neither of them was stopped, as they moved
with confidence.

Brock told him what he’d planned out all
ready. It was a good, solid plan, but when Alistair had asked how they got her
out, if she was in here, he heard Brock laughed. Alistair didn’t find any of
this the least bit funny right now.

“I’m still working on it. I have a plan
to get us in to look. One step at a time.” They were outside again when Brock
asked him why he needed to find her so badly.

“I don’t know. She saved me. Isn’t that
enough?” Brock nodded at his lie, both of them knowing what it was. “Besides,
this is the second time I’ve nearly been shot by someone and a woman has saved
me. Maybe next time she’ll be my mate and I can retire a happy man because I’ll
have my own protector.”

Brock snorted and told him he should be
so lucky. By the time everyone left, they had a plan not only to get in, but to
get her out if they found her. Alistair watched from the diner across the
street as the last light went out and the police started making their rounds
around the outside perimeter. When Brock stood, so did Alistair.

“My way, right?” Alistair nodded. “And
the first sign that she’s armed or doesn’t want to come with us we leave her. I’m
serious about this, Alistair. I’m not going to drag a woman out that doesn’t
want to be found.”

“Agreed. But if she’s not conscious,
then we bring her out anyway and take her to the hospital.” Brock nodded this
time. “Brock, what if she’s dead already?”

“Then we go to plan b.” He walked away
before he could ask him what that plan was, and Alistair was pretty sure he didn’t
want to know. If she was dead, then…. Then he had no clue. But she wouldn’t be.
He didn’t know why he was so sure of that, but he was certain she was still
alive. His very future depended on it.

~~~

Ally let the water boil for ten minutes
before she took it off the hotplate. She dropped the needle and thread into it
and looked at the wound again. Christ, what the fuck had she been thinking? Leaning
back she closed her eyes. When she could take out the needle, she would try and
stitch herself up, but in the mean time she thought about what she’d done. Murder
was something she hadn’t planned on.

The man had already shot five people
before she’d come up the stairs. And before she could think to get out, he’d
killed four more as she watched in horror as he simply aimed and pulled the
trigger. She’d only stepped out of her hidey hole to save the cop, but he’d
been shot before she could help him. Then the man had seen her and she knew
that she was going to die, too.

The gun in his hand had terrified her.
But she was more afraid for the man he held in his arms. When she’d started
forward to try and talk him out of killing him she’d known the moment he’d
pointed the gun at her that she was going to have to kill or be killed. Might
as well become less of a statistic and more of a hero, she’d thought when she told
him she’d help.

Closing her eyes, she knew that if she
had to do it all over again she would have.

Someone clearing their throat had her
jerking up.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” She looked
at the man standing there in the shadows and thought for sure it was the man’s
partner coming back for revenge. “We’ve been looking for you to see how badly
you’re hurt. I swear we aren’t here to hurt you at all.”

“I’m fine,” she said. Then she realized
what he’d said. “We? Did you come with Lance? Did he….”

She started gathering her things
quickly, stuffing them into her duffle, uncaring now what they looked like. If
Lance was here, she needed to get out of here right fucking now. The man called
for someone named Alistair, but she knew that Lance couldn’t be far behind. When
she had all she thought she could reasonably carry, she moved back against the
wall again, but another man stood there.

“I’m not going with you. I don’t care
how much he’s paid you. I won’t go.” The second man nodded as he moved toward
her. “Stay back. I have a…I’ve got a gun.”

“No, you don’t and we’re not taking you
to anyone named Lance. I’m the man from today, the one you saved.” He moved
into the light from her lantern. “My name is Alistair Golden, and this is my
brother, Brock.”

“I don’t care who you are. I said to
stay back.” She started moving toward the back of the room where she knew
another door was. She’d made sure she had two ways out if something like this
ever happened. And she was glad now that she’d taken the time to scope the
place out so she knew just how many steps it was to the door.

“I’m sorry, miss, but I can’t let you
stay here. Not now. You’ll have to come with us and we’ll make sure you have
proper care and are safe from Lance.” She laughed, knowing it sounded manic. “You
don’t believe me?”

“No.” She glanced to her right and knew
that she’d have to run if she wanted to make it before he got to her. When she
turned back, he was nearly on top of her. She cringed when he raised his hand.

“I won’t hurt you,” he said.

She whimpered unable to stop it.

“I swear to you I won’t hurt you. Let me
help you.”

“Please, just leave me alone. I saved
you.” She slid down the wall and curled into a tight ball, finding comfort in
the old habit. “I saved you. Leave me alone.”

“Alistair, we have to go. I’ve got her
things, just pick her up and let’s get out of here before someone comes along.”
She felt his hands on her shoulders and she kicked out at him. She wasn’t going
back, and there wasn’t anyone going to make her.

When he lifted her up, she fought to get
away. She wasn’t any good at fighting back, but she was going to try her best. He
cussed when she slammed her fist into his mouth, but she was certain it’d hurt
her more. As she nursed her hand, he threw her over his shoulder. And the slap
to her ass made her still.

“You want us all to go to jail? If not,
I suggest you please be quiet. This isn’t exactly legal, you know.” They turned
and she whimpered again. He was digging his shoulder into her wound. “Is this
all you have?”

She didn’t answer, but the other man
picked up her duffel. Then they were plunged into darkness. “Please. I’ll do
anything you want. Anything. Just don’t take me back to him. I’m begging you. I
swear to you if you take me back he’ll hurt me. Maybe kill me. Is that what you’d
do to someone who saved your life?”

“The only place you’re going is my
house.” She heard the anger in his voice, but the man behind them laughed. “This
isn’t fucking funny. I’m trying to be the good guy here and I feel like a shit.”

The man laughed harder. “How’s that
working out for you? From where I’m standing, you have a woman on your shoulder
that’s going to knock the shit out of you or both of us as soon as you put her
down. And it’s doubtful that she’s going to keep quiet enough for us to get out
of here without alerting the entire police department. And did you think to
check her wound before you threw her on your shoulder, caveman? I smell blood
and it’s fresh.”

The man started cussing again. She
struggled, but when he adjusted her, she blacked out. Her last thought was that
Lance was going to be thrilled to death to have her back. And she was
reasonably sure he wasn’t going to throw her a party.

Chapter 2

Alistair watched Sindy stitch the woman’s
wound up. It wasn’t as bad as he’d thought it had been. Just an in and out, she’d
called it. The bullet had entered in the fleshy part of her waist and exited
the same way, leaving a long, open wound. When she was putting the last of the
tape on the gauze, she turned to him.

“You do know that she’s not going to be
happy when she wakes, don’t you? And from what Brock told me, she’s going to
try and get out of here the first chance she gets. Are you aware that she’s
running from someone? I’m betting it’s a husband.” Alistair nodded. “What’s the
plan?”

“I don’t know.” He sat down and looked
at the woman on the bed, then at his friend. “She’s my mate.”

He’d thought she was yesterday when she’d
saved him. Then when he’d stood over her last night, he’d known for sure. Alistair
looked at Sindy when she laughed. He wasn’t amused.

“You Golden men sure do know how to pick
them, don’t you?” She pulled the sheet up over the woman and started picking up
the things she’d brought with her to help him. “I would say from what you said
about her that she’s been abused. Badly too if the scars are any indication,
and there are some that are very deep, but nothing fresh. I’d say… three to six
months are the newest ones. It looks like he might have taken a belt to her and
used the buckle end on her a few times. Dana used to do the same to me when the
mood struck him.”

Sindy had been given to a man who nearly
killed her on a weekly, if not daily basis. And when he wasn’t trying to kill
her, he’d rape her repeatedly. She had only survived because her best friend
and Ryland, his brother’s mate, had killed him.

“Have you told your brothers yet?” He
shook his head. “I’d make it quick if I were you. Whoever is chasing her is
going to find her, and you know how pissy Ryland gets when things don’t go his
way.”

“I heard that.” They both looked at the
doorway when Ryland walked through it. “Brock said you found her. I’m glad for
you. She looks like she might make it. Why did you bring her here and not the
hospital? I’m assuming you have a good reason for bringing a human here.”

He nodded, more depressed than he’d ever
been for some reason. “She’s my mate. And she’s married. She mentioned a man
named Lance when we went to get her, and that she didn’t want to go back to
him. She said she’d do anything not to. I think I might know who he is.”

Ryland sat down but didn’t say anything.
Alistair was trying to work out how to protect someone that didn’t really
belong to him but to another…and the irony of it all. He wasn’t coming up with
any answers when Bronwyn walked in. She took one look at him, then walked to
the bed and touched the girl’s forehead.

“Her name is Ally…no, Allyson Isaac. Her
husband is….” She looked at him and he nodded. “You know him.”

“Sort of. I know of him, not him. He’s a
big time lawyer in DC that has been in the papers a great deal lately. Mostly,
he’s been talking about his case and had mentioned that his wife is away resting
at some resort. He claims that the miscarriage she’d had a few months back had
depressed her to the point where he thought she’d be better off getting
professional help. He mostly talks about himself and his progress in the case
he was working on.”

“I didn’t have a miscarriage. I wasn’t
ever pregnant by him. Thank God. He’s a monster to me. I can’t think what he’d
do to a little baby,” the woman said. Alistair jumped when Allyson spoke. “I’d
like my things so I can leave now before he finds out where I am. Unless, of
course, you’ve already told him. Have you?”

“No. I told you that I wouldn’t harm you,
and if that means keeping you from him, then that’s what I’ll do. He won’t know
you’re here.” Alistair moved to the bed and wanted to reach for her, but didn’t.
“How long have you been running?”

She sat up slowly, and Bronwyn helped
her. She didn’t answer him, and he really wasn’t surprised by that. When she
asked again for her things, Alistair asked for Ryland and Bronwyn to give him a
few minutes. They walked out the door, but Ryland turned to her before leaving
them.

“This man that’s chasing you, did he
hurt you? Is that why you left him?” She nodded, not having any choice but to
answer him because of the amount of compulsion he’d put into his voice. “Then
he’s as good as dead if he comes here to get you.”

She watched him leave, and when the door
closed behind him, she looked at him. “He really thinks that he can just kill
him? Just like that? Who are you people?”

Alistair didn’t answer her but moved toward
her slowly. “I’m Alistair Golden. You and I met last night. I’m sorry I hurt
you, but getting you out was important to me. Are you in any pain right now?”

“I know who you are. Another lawyer just
like him. And more than likely rich, too.” She started opening drawers and then
the closet before she turned to him again. “Where are my things? I know they
have to be here somewhere.”

He felt his body respond to the way she
was dressed. He’d given Sindy one of his shirts to put her on when she’d had to
cut away the one she’d had on. Alistair just hadn’t realized that she’d taken
off her pants, too. And the way she was standing with the light behind her now
made him realize that she had no bra on either.

“I put them in the laundry. The
housekeeper said she’d wash them and bring them up when they’re clean. I think
she said it would take an hour.” He sat down before he took her into his arms. “You’ll
be safer here than in the basement of the courthouse, and as I said before, Lance
won’t find you here.”

“He’ll know because you bastards always
talk. And having me will be like icing on a cake for you, I’m sure. I’m not
going back to him. If he owes you money or you’ve got a big case coming up against
him and plan to use me as leverage, I got news for you. I won’t go easily.”

“No, I doubt you would. If that were my
plan. But as I’ve told you several times already, I’m not going to give you to
him. I’ll keep you safe.” She snorted. “Are you always this trusting of people
who try to help you?”

“I didn’t ask for your
help
.” She
said
help
like it was something nasty. “And yes, I’m an equal
opportunity distruster, so don’t think you’re all that special.” He felt his
temper rise.

“Look, I said I’d help you, and I will. Now
get back in that bed and stop dancing around this room dressed like that.” He
flushed when she glared at him. “I’m seriously trying my best not to bend you
over my knee and beat that lovely ass of yours.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” It was a challenge,
and he knew it. As he stepped toward her to do just as he’d threatened, he
heard the door open behind him. He turned, shoving her behind him, and growled
low.

His mom froze. He couldn’t move for
several seconds until his cat calmed. His anger and the need to protect his
mate nearly made him shift. His mom smiled and brought the tray she had in her
hands to the table he used as a desk when he needed it.

“Hello. You must be starved. My name is
Sandra Golden, I’m his mom. Come on, have some lunch.” When neither of them
moved, his mom came over and touched his arm gently and then moved him out of
the way to get to Allyson. “Come along, dear, and have something to eat. It’ll
help you deal with overbearing men.”

“I don’t want anything.” His mom nodded
but pushed her into the chair anyway. “Seriously, I’m not hungry. I have to get
dressed before someone beats my ass and then find another place to hide.”

Allyson’s belly rumbled, and she
flushed. His mom handed her the fork and told her to eat and not to be silly. She
sat across from her, and Alistair sat on the bed. It already smelled like her.

“I think you should know that this house,
like all the houses that my sons own, is very well secured. Of course, Jules
lives in an apartment building, but it seems secure enough. Ryland mentioned
that you were running from an abusive man. Good for you.” Allyson looked up at
his mom as she continued. “Men who hurt others should be shot in the dick if
you asked me.”

Alistair burst out laughing, and Allyson
started coughing. He went to her to see if he could help, sure that she’d choked
on a piece of lettuce. She waved him away and stared at his mom.

“Do you normally say what you think like
that?” His mom shrugged at Allyson’s question. “I can’t. I try, but it normally
comes out as incoherent babble. Or I have a really good comeback when they are
gone.”

“My daughter, Bronwyn, I think you’ve
met her. She says you should have two comebacks ready at all times. Then, you
can say them without thinking about it. One of hers is….” She looked at Alistair,
bringing him into the conversation. “What is it she says?”

“I’m going to shoot you in the foot. She
claims that she doesn’t really think she’ll do it, but she is ready to if need
be.” He sat at the table with them having moved off the bed. “My mother is
trying to come up with one that will involve both a male and female situation. As
you’ve heard, she has the male one down pat.”

Allyson nodded. They talked to her while
she ate. She was eating the last bite of pie when she looked at the empty
plates. She looked embarrassed.

“I guess I was hungrier than I thought. I
don’t usually get a meal like this one where I live now.” His mom gathered up
the plates. “If you could show me where I can find my clothes, I can be on my
way.”

His mom patted her hand and left, closing
the door behind her. Allyson turned to him and glared. He raised his brow at
her.

“If you think because your mom is nice
that I’m going to suddenly trust you, you’re as loony as they come.” He
laughed. “I don’t think this is the least bit funny. You’re to bring me my
clothes right now.”

“No. But it’s bullshit what you said
about not being able to say what you think. You’ve had no problems whatsoever
telling me exactly what you think.” He stood up again and reached for today’s
paper and handed it to her. “They’re running your prints off the knife. Will
they find yours in the system?”

She took the paper from him and stared
at it. There was a large picture of the courthouse after all the police and
ambulances had shown up. She looked up at him, and he could see tears in her
eyes. She nodded slowly.

“A few months after we married, Lance
had me register for a gun permit. I never got a gun, but I did take all the
classes because he said it would be good for his image. I would imagine that
they keep those on record.” He nodded. “I wished so many times that I had
gotten a gun.”

He didn’t say anything about her teary
confession, but sat down across from her again. He waited while she cried for a
few minutes before he spoke to her. She was going to have to trust him now. And
he was sure that once she heard what he had to tell her, she wasn’t going to.

“They’ll figure out who you are, but not
where you are. Brock and I took all your belongings from the basement, but we
didn’t think to check for prints or any DNA. If someone wants to, they’ll be
able to figure out where you’ve been staying. I don’t know why they would, but
someone could. How long had you been staying there?”

“Twenty-seven days. I never stay in a
place more than thirty, sometimes less, but never more. I was in an abandoned
warehouse before that, and over a garage of a house that had been foreclosed on
before that.” She got up to pace, and he watched her. “I’ll need my things more
now that they’ll find my prints. I have to get out of here. He’ll find out
where I am quicker now. And my money. If you took my bags, you had to know I
had some money stashed away.”

He stood up and went to the bedside
table and opened the drawer and nodded to the things there. She didn’t take it
out but stared at it. She had to know it wouldn’t get her far enough this time.

“He’ll know you’re here as soon as it
hits the paper that your prints were on the knife that killed that man. And the
two hundred dollars you have there won’t get you that far. He’ll be on you
before you could get to another state. They’ll put your picture in the paper,
and I would imagine he would offer a reward. He’ll get you if you leave here.” He
wanted to pull her into his arms, but didn’t. She still didn’t trust him.

“I have to do something. I can’t just
sit here and wait for him to come and drag me back home.” She laughed bitterly.
“I think I’d prefer jail time over staying with him. Especially after this time.
He’s not going to be terribly happy with me if he gets me back. I just might
not survive if I do go back.”

“You’ve left him before.” She nodded at
his statement. “How long were you gone before he brought you back?”

“Which time?” She sat on the bed. “I
have no idea why you want to know this. I just…I’m so tired of running. I’ve
left him and been brought back so many times I can’t think beyond just the last
few times. I can’t…you have no idea what sort of asshole he is.”

She sat there with her eyes closed, and
he watched her. Tears began to fall, and he felt his heart constrict. She was
his mate and she was hurting. It didn’t seem to matter that they hadn’t bonded
yet, but when she hurt, he wanted to fix it.