Devoured: Brides of the Kindred 11 (10 page)

“Not a bit. That asshole.” Di looked
really upset. “Don’t worry if you can’t get out—we can come in to get you. Big
boy here looks like he could do some serious damage to the front door.” She
nodded at the warrior.

“No!” Tess exclaimed. “Pierce has it booby
trapped somehow—the back door too. If you try to get in you could get seriously
hurt.”

“Traps don’t concern me,” the Kindred
growled. His voice was deep and angry. “Getting you out of there does.”

“Look, the traps involve loaded shotguns.
Seriously, don’t try,” Tess warned. “And why are you even here anyway?”

He frowned. “Time for questions later. If the
doors are impassible, we have to find another way.”

“There
is
no other way,” Tess said dryly. “I’m too
pleasingly
plump
to wiggle up the chimney and Pierce has had these ‘anti-theft’
screens installed at every window. Unless you can pull one out of the concrete,
I’m stuck in here.”

She’d been joking because honestly, there
was nothing else she could do. It was ironic really, the way Pierce had cut her
off. She was trapped in his house in more than one way and even now, when Di
had come to the rescue, there was no way she could help Tess escape. He’d made
certain of that.

But though she had meant the words as a
joke, the big Kindred—
Garron, his name is
Garron,
she reminded herself—took a step back and looked at the metal mesh
covering the window appraisingly.

“Hey,” she said after he’d been studying
it for a full minute, as though looking for weak points. “I was joking, you
know. You’re a big strong guy but you’d pull your arms out of your sockets
before you could get one of these screens lose. They’re made to be completely
impassible—there’s no way.”

“There
is
a way.” He stepped forward again and looked her in the eyes with that
unnervingly intense gaze of his. “But it’s dangerous.”

“More dangerous than leaving Tess there
for Pierce to beat up some more?” Di demanded.

“Possibly.” He looked at Tess seriously.
“I am half Rai’ku which means I have something within me which is…other.”

“Other?” Tess felt a chill run through
her. “What do you mean
other?”

Garron shook his head. “You wouldn’t
understand. The point is, I can call on it for strength but if it comes too
close to the surface…if I wake it completely…”

“Then…what?” Tess remembered the strange
warning Becca had given her about him. That he was a good guy but dangerous.
Was this what she had meant?

He shook his head again. “I’m not sure but
nothing good would come of it. The other inside me is dormant at the moment but
if it awakes it will be very,
very
hungry.”

“So…what? You have a split personality?
Bipolar Disorder? What?” Di shook her head. “I’m not even sure what you’re
telling us.”

“He’s saying he can get me out but it’ll
be a big risk,” Tess said.

“Yes,” Garron said simply, nodding.

“So you’re asking if I want to take a
chance?”

“Yes,” he said again.

Tess thought of the murderous look in
Pierce’s green eyes when he’d beaten her—of the way he’d promised to come home
and do worse—much worse. Was she willing to take a risk to get out of here?

“He’ll kill me if I stay,” she said
softly, speaking more to herself than to Di and the big Kindred. “I know he will—he’s
already working his way up to it. He’ll kill me and nobody will do a damn thing
because he knows exactly how to work a crime scene. He’ll make it look like
someone broke in or I had an accident or he might just hide my body, or—” She
broke off abruptly.

“Tess…honey?” Di said softly. “What are
you saying?”

“I’m saying get me out.” Tess looked up at
the big Kindred. “I don’t care about the risks. Get me the
hell
out of here.”

“All right.” He nodded gravely and looked
at Di. “Then I would ask that you go back to your vehicle and wait.”

“What? Like hell I will!” Di protested.

“Please. It’s for your own safety.”

He looked so deadly serious that Tess
nodded at her friend.

“Di, please—just do it.”

“What is he even planning to do?”

“I don’t know but if he says it’s
dangerous, I believe him.”

“All right, fine.” Di nodded curtly. “But
if I don’t hear anything for five minutes I’m coming back.”

She turned and walked stiffly across the
back lawn, her irritation clear in the set of her narrow shoulders.

Garron waited patiently until she was gone
and then looked at Tess.

“Thank you.”

“No problem. So what should I do?”

“Just step back.” He was already fitting
his long fingers through the holes in the metal mesh to get a good grip. “And
if you see me start to change forms in any way, run and lock yourself in your
bathing chamber. If I don’t see you, the…other inside me should be content to
seek another target.”

“Wow…okay.” Tess gave a shaky little
laugh. “You’re really not kidding about this, are you?”

“No.” He shook his head. “Step back
please, I’m going to try and free you.”

Tess took a step back and watched him
carefully. He had both hands hooked into the mesh now and she could see the big
muscles in his arms flexing as he got ready to pull. He lowered his head,
looking down for a long moment, and she could see him breathing deeply as
though preparing himself for the task ahead of him. He looked like a man in the
middle of meditation or prayer.

Then he looked up again and she gasped.
His eyes—those amazing pure turquoise eyes that looked like the tropical waters
off a coral reef—were actually
glowing.
They
blazed like lit torches in the night and for a moment she felt like a wild
animal had somehow found her bedroom window and was staring in at her hungrily.

Then Garron began to pull.

His long arms tensed, his muscles bulged
and Tess could hear the low growl coming from deep in his broad chest. Tendons
stood out on the sides of his throat and a vein throbbed at his temple. His
sharp features were turned into a trembling sneer of effort and still he
pulled, clearly giving it everything he had.

My
God, he’s going to kill himself! He’ll burst his heart or rip his arms out of
their sockets!

“Stop!” she exclaimed. “You’ll
kill
yourself.”

“Not…stopping.” His voice was a low,
animalistic growl. “Not until…you are…free. Or I am…
dead.”

Oh my
God, he really means that!
Tess stared at him in
awe. Why was he doing this? Why did he care so much about freeing her? And for
that matter, why was he even here in the first place?

As she watched, Garron began to look
different…larger somehow, as though he had grown in the few seconds since he’d
started his effort. The sound coming from his mouth was more animal than human
and his eyes were glowing so brightly they were like searchlights in the night.

What’s
happening to him?
Tess remembered his
warning to run if he should change forms. Change into
what
form, though? What was this
other
he had inside him? And what might it do if it was released?

Tess opened her mouth to beg him to stop
again when she heard a low, crumbling sound coming from the right upper corner
of the window. A little shower of broken concrete pattered down and then the
same thing happened with the left upper corner.

Garron concentrated his efforts on the
bottom corners now, pulling and giving short, hard jerks, trying to yank the
mesh cage free. His face was red with effort, his sharp black brows drawn down
into an intense scowl. Tess thought she had never seen such single minded
determination. He was literally ready to hurt or kill himself to get her out of
her prison and she didn’t even know him. She wondered again why he was doing
this.

At last the bottom corners began to come
loose. The growl coming from the big warrior’s throat rose to a crescendo,
becoming a full throated roar as, with one final sharp jerk, he ripped the
metal cage away from the window frame and threw it to the ground. It landed
with a dull
clang
that reverberated
through the night air, making Tess wince
.
Then, his job finished, Garron stood there with his head bowed, just outside
the window, panting.

“Oh my God,” Tess whispered, completely
awed. “Oh my God, you
did
it.” Then
she noticed that his hands were bleeding. Crimson drops that looked almost
black in the moonlight dripped from his closed fists as his broad chest heaved
with effort and emotion.

“You’re hurt!” Unable to think of anything
but his pain, she rushed to the window and reached for him.

“No…” Garron’s voice was low and strangely
distorted and when he looked up, his eyes still glowed like blue-green coals.
He took a step back. “No, don’t touch me. It’s not…not safe. My blood, it
boils. The
dr’gin
is too close. He
wants
—
”

“But you’re
hurt.”
Tess ignored his warning. Leaning out the window, she reached
for him, even though it made her wounded back sting fiercely. “You—oh!”

She felt herself falling and the towel
slipping at the same time. The window was about waist-height on her but the
house, like some many in Florida,
was raised. It was a good four or five foot fall to the ground and it was going
to hurt like hell…

Except that two large, strong arms caught
her before she could hit.

“Oh!” She looked up and realized that
Garron was cradling her in his arms like a baby. The second thing she realized
was that her towel was now around her waist, leaving her breasts completely
bare in the moonlight. “Oh my God—I’m so sorry!” She fumbled for the towel,
trying to cover herself but with little success. It was all twisted up around
her lower half and didn’t want to come loose. “I didn’t mean to…I mean…that
is…”

She broke off because he was staring at
her. Not at her breasts—at her eyes. His own eyes were still glowing, although
perhaps not quite as brightly as before.

“Put your arms around my neck.” His voice
was low and hoarse.

“But…” Tess hesitated, uncertain of what
to do. “I thought you said it was dangerous. I thought—”

“Do it.
Please.”
The words seemed to cost him some effort and she sensed
that he was having some kind of internal struggle. A fierce battle of wills.
Maybe he was fighting with the thing he had called “other?” Whatever it was, he
seemed to think that her touching him might help, although
how
Tess had no idea.

“All right.” Hesitantly, carefully, she
reached up and put her arms around his neck. He was wearing a deep blue shirt
but it was unbuttoned, showing his bare chest and abdomen. So when she reached
up to hug him, they were skin-to-skin.

The motion pulled the wounds on her back
but Tess barely felt it. What she
did
feel
were her bare nipples, made hard by the chilly night air, rubbing against the
broad, flat planes of his chest. He was so warm—almost hot, as though he had a
sunburn or a fever. And his scent…it invaded her senses with its dark spice,
carrying away her reason completely. Though she had meant to simply hug him a
little and then pull back, Tess found herself pressing closer to him, wanting
more of the delicious skin-to-skin contact wanting to breathe him in and never
let go.

Garron seemed to feel the same way. He
held her to him tightly and buried his face in the damp hair at the side of her
neck, inhaling deeply.

“Gods,” Tess heard him murmur, his deep
voice shaking. “How do you do that? How do you calm my blood, simply with your
touch?”

“How do I
what?”
She pulled back at last and looked at his face.

He looked calmer now and his eyes were
back to normal. Which was to say that while they were still the most impossibly
gorgeous shade of pure, clear turquoise she’d ever seen, they were no longer
glowing.

“How do you calm my blood? I was burning…I
felt my
dr’gin—
the other I told you
about—clawing its way up and out. I could
feel
myself changing. And then…then you touched me.”

He looked at her in awe, as though she had
done some kind of miracle when all she’d done was hug him with her towel half
off.

Oh God, her towel! She was still
practically naked in his arms. It was horribly embarrassing and also, though he
was holding her gently, her back
really
hurt.

Tess shifted, tugging at the towel and
wincing as it pulled past her wounded flesh.

“Look, I’m really sorry but my back…”

“Oh, of course. Forgive me.” He set her
down carefully and Tess was at last able to adjust her towel, much to her
relief. Looking down, she saw a bloody handprint on the white terrycloth which
reminded her why she’d been reaching for him and had fallen out of the window
in the first place.