Gerard (9 page)

“Mark me. Mark us both.” Gerard felt his teeth shift, move so that his sharper teeth were there. He bit into her, tore into her tender flesh, as his body emptied once again inside of her.

Stars danced behind his eyelids. His body, bowed back in release, felt stronger. When he felt his cat move along his skin, he worried that he was going to take him. But he only moved there, showing him that he approved of her, his mate too. When Gerard fell forward, no longer able to stay upright, he landed on the bed to the side of Susie. Pulling her up so that she lay beside him, Gerard held her while she slept, marveling that she was his now and forever.

When he woke, the room was bathed in darkness. He loved that not even the moon could reach them here, and moved his hand over the bed to touch Susie. Finding the bed not just empty but cold, he sat up, reaching for her as he did.

I’m fine. I needed a minute.
Gerard reached for his pants to pull on when she asked him to stay where he was.
I just want to sit here, enjoy the quiet for a time. I’m not used to having so many people around all the time.

Gerard lay back on the bed but kept his pants near. She didn’t say where she was, but he had a feeling she was in the barn again. It seemed to be where she was when she wasn’t working the ranch or in the house.

I wondered if you think I could go to college.
He asked her why she didn’t think she could.
Well, for one thing, it’s really expensive. And another, I’ve never been the best student in the world. I barely made it through high school. It might be a bigger failure than high school was. I mean, I passed all my grades, but there was a great deal going on in my life then.

Yeah, I didn’t do so well either. I did well enough, but when I think back on it, I could have been a better student. The real scholar in our family was Logan. He might have been able to go to college if it hadn’t been for the ranch.
Gerard thought of Susie going to school and her being a vet.
You should do it. You’d be a wonderful vet with your little extra.

He felt her laughter and smiled larger.
I never said I wanted to be a vet. I love animals, all of them, but I don’t want to have to be around when they’re sick or dying. I want to be with them when they’re full of life. Playing in the sunshine and doing what they do best, just being free. I want to be an accountant.
He sat up in bed, very confused.
Don’t get me wrong. If I have to be, I’ll be there with one of our animals until they take their last breath. But I don’t think I could handle being with the sick day after day like that. No. I want to be someone who can work with the books so that the doctor can afford to work on the animals for me. I really enjoy the neatness of the numbers. How they add up and make sense. Not like people do.

Okay. But again, why can’t you? I mean, we could get grants. And if we needed to, I’m sure that one of my sisters-in-law would give as a little loan to help you through. We’d pay them back, but…yeah, you’d be great at it.

I’m going to look into it. And why don’t you come out here now? I’m not in the barn, but near the river that runs behind the house. Did you know that if you sit very quietly, the deer will practically come up to you and sit on your lap?

He went to the back door and opened it to the cold night. Letting his cat take him, he thought of all the things he might do to her cat once he found her.

It took him a few minutes to find her. It wasn’t that she was hiding, but he kept getting distracted by the simple beauty of the night. The pale moon would highlight something as lovely as a frostbitten branch. A small mouse getting in the last of the food before it was all covered in snow. He even paused to watch her, his Susie, as she sat on the side of the river.

She was, simply put, the most beautiful creature in all of the woods. In all of the world, he thought. Her hair was short, yet still feminine. He supposed it was to keep it out of her face, but it suited her. He had no idea what she was wearing, but it was light in color and made the darkness around her seem that much darker in comparison. As she leaned back on her hands, he could see the outline of her body, her breasts and legs, and knew that if he went to her now, she’d turn to him and smile. Gerard was thinking just how lucky he was that she’d found him when she turned and looked at him.

“You startled me.” He moved toward her, taking his time, memorizing every part of her. “I was just thinking of how much I love the quiet here. The way the water running in front of me makes me think that is what an opera must sound like.”

We should go sometime. I mean, there are two opera houses not far from here, and I know that Emma has seats to them. Maybe she’d let us use them once. It would be a lot of fun for us, and we could even go to a hotel afterwards and have some more fun.
He sat beside her, and his cat purred when she rubbed her hands down his back. Touching was something that he loved, his cat as well, but to be touched by her was something special. For them both.
My cat is in love with you. As much as I am.

“I love you both as well. More than I ever thought I could a man and his beast.” He lay down, resting his head on her lap and closing his eyes as she continued talking to him. “When I was in prison, the other inmates left me to myself. I guess most of them knew what I was, but it never came up in conversation. Anyway, I would spend hours and hours just being alone. Most of the time I would go to the library if I had a pass to use. Then if not, I found this broken music player with headphones. I would put them in my ears and make my own sounds. Music, I guess you could say, but with the sounds of the night. The ones you might hear if you were deep in the deepest forest with not another soul around for hundreds of miles. It started out as a way to keep people from trying to have a conversation with me. I didn’t…I guess I’ve said this before, but I don’t care for people very much. Anyway, they left me alone, and I did them as well.”

You like music then? I mean, bands and things? And so you know, I consider an opera a band.
He tried not to think of what she might have had to endure while locked away. Her cat not able to come out and run. He wondered if that was why she seemed to have such control over her. The ability to hold her when she clearly needed her.
I don’t get to listen to it often. I had a player too, but a cow stepped on it when I dropped it and I never had the funds to replace it.

“You should get you one. I guess if we start selling off the horses, we might have a little extra.” They’d not talked about the money that they might have. He supposed it was easier to not think about how much it was than to get his hopes up to find out that it was all a dream. “The guy from Kentucky is coming in the morning. I guess in a couple of hours. He’s coming with a lawyer too. Do you suppose he’ll be fair?”

Ed will be here, as well as the new guy that has joined the leap. He’s going to be helping the family and businesses with Ed. So they’ll watch out for our best interests. I just hope we can sell enough to get some money in the bank for a change. And Mason. Mason said he just wants to be here to pick my ass up when he offers me the money to buy the farm.
Gerard smiled.
He has it in his head that the guy is going to pay top dollar and hire us to breed him some winners. Sometimes I think he enjoys making fun of me. I guess because I’m the baby.

“He loves you. As do all your brothers. And I would love to train a few of the ponies. Horses are amazing creatures, don’t you think? Not the winner part, but just to breed them. Your brothers have the cattle department all sewn up. And I’ve never seen anyone that can make a dollar into ten like Mr. Snow can. I guess Mr. McBride, Mason’s father-in-law, is like that too.” He knew that about both men and was envious of them both. “Emma said that she wants to take me shopping for some clothes. I told her it would have to wait for a little while.”

I almost forgot to tell you. We have a bank account. I had no idea that we were getting paid to watch the house. I mean, Ed told me that we’re being paid a rent, kind of, to stay in the house. The RA set it up for us. And Mason said that he was going to pay you too, for helping him with the animals.
She told him that she didn’t need money for that.
Yeah, I told him you’d probably say that, but he said it was going to be put in the bank too. I have no idea how much, but he said that we’d have to go there in the morning…I guess today…to sign the cards to finish opening the account. Then I thought after they all leave us, we’d go and finish up getting those other clothes for you, and me some boots.

They sat there until the sun came up and the moon moved down behind the trees. As the woods around them began to wake too, they stood up and made their way to the house. He remained his cat, not even disappointed that he’d not gotten to run her down and play, but relishing in the fact that it had been comfortable with her. Like they had known each other for decades rather than the short time they had. As they entered the house the way he’d come out, Gerard took back his body and dressed, then went to make breakfast while she cleaned up their room. Life, he decided, was about perfect.

The man sitting at his table startled him. But before he could reach out to his brother to tell him what was going on, someone put something to the back of his head. He could smell the silver even as he moved to do as he was told.

“Call out to anyone and I will have him end your life.” Gerard thought of Susie just down the hall and told her to go and get Mason. She said she would go now, and he told her not to come to the kitchen. The man seemed to know what he was thinking as he continued with his threat. “If anyone comes through that door, he will blow your fucking head off before you can say anything.”

“Who are you?” The gun now struck his head. “Whatever you want, you can have. But leave my wife alone.”

“Why, that’s what I want. And she’s not your fucking wife. She’s my kid, and she can have a mate only when I say she can. But she ain’t gonna, not so long as I’m alive.” Gerard would gladly have ended it for him, but he wasn’t sure he could take both men. “Call her in here and I swear to all that is fucking holy if she comes in here as her cat, I’m going to kill you both. Tell her that you want her to get her fucking ass in here now or you’re a dead man. Might be anyway, the way I’m feeling.”

“She’s not here. She’s meeting my sisters to go shopping.” The gun hit him again, and this time the pain made him sick to his stomach. He reached up to hold onto his head and felt the blood, warm and sticky, run down the back of his neck. The next time he was hit, Gerard felt the darkness simply swallow him up.

Chapter 8

Susie went out the bedroom door and let her cat take her. As she reached for Mason and the others, she told them what she knew, which really wasn’t all that much. Gerard was in the kitchen, and she was sure that her father had him.

Where are you now?
Mason sounded calm, but she’d bet anything that he wasn’t.
Susie, don’t go back in the house. If you get hurt, Gerard will never forgive me. We’re going to come to you, but don’t you dare make me have to explain to him how I let you get hurt.

That gave her pause.
Why would he blame you if I went into the house? And if I got hurt, whose fault do you think that would be? Mine, not yours. It’s not like you’re here. How the hell would it be your fault?

Because.
She waited for more of an answer, but apparently that was all she was getting.
Just do as I said and stay back and wait for us.

Oh, so you think that because you’re a man that I’m just not able to take care of my mate?
He started to speak, but she was already pissed off and he hadn’t helped the matter
. Is that it, or is it because you’re Mason Douglas? The god of all gods when it comes to cougars? Is that what you’re telling me?

No, I’m not saying that. But you don’t know if it’s your father, or if he’s alone. For all you know, there could be ten—
When he stopped talking, she waited. The pain in her body, the lack of connection to Gerard, made her cat whimper.
He’s been hurt.

No shit, moron.
Susie could see into the house, but not the kitchen. Just as she was reaching for the door with her mouth—because she didn’t know any other way to open it as her cat—she saw her father and a man she’d never seen before.
It’s the fucking bastard, and he is with someone I don’t know. They’re carrying Gerard into the living room and are dumping him on the couch. He’s out, but I can hear his heart…it’s going strong. I swear to you, I’m going to tear his fucking ass up. Ernie’s, not Gerard’s. And I wanted some French toast, too.
She was babbling and she tried to stop. Never in her life had she done that, and she had no idea why she was doing it now. Nerves, she supposed, or the thought that they had her mate.

Can you get into the house?
She wanted to ask him if it was all right now, but she was terrified beyond being even sort of nice to him, so kept her mouth shut
. You have the best bet of saving him now. I’m sorry about before. My brothers and I are about a mile from the house. We’ll surround the house as soon as we get there. There is pack there too. I don’t know how many, but they’re rounding up now.

I can get in, but he’ll see me. The back door is open to our bedroom. There is a double door that opens onto the deck back there. You can get in that way.
He said he could see it now.
Just don’t…I’m not sure if there is anyone else in the kitchen, and I can’t get in that way. I’m going to go in through the front door.
Letting her body shift just enough to open the door, Susie let it move open on its own, then went back to her cat. She felt rather than heard the wolf that seemed to appear beside her.
Paddy is here. And it looks like about a dozen of his pack. I’m going to have to make a connection to him soon, I think.

That would be a good idea, if I don’t kill him first. He’s been watching the ranch. I don’t know how they got by him, but we’ll talk when I see him.
Susie would not want to be Paddy when that conversation went down. When the big wolf nodded at her, she moved into the house and to the big man with the gun.

The gun went off twice, and she knew that she’d been hit as she leapt at the man. He was a bear, the one that she’d smelled on her father a few days ago. As he let his animal take him, then her, she knew that he was going to hurt her. Not only was he bigger, but he had some pretty strong drugs in his body that she could almost taste. Taking him to the floor, she heard furniture break and felt some of the splinters of wood cut into her cat. It was either keep at him or let him tear her throat out. She fought like her very life depended on it.

He tore into her skin. The scent of blood, his and hers, made her dizzy and her cat wanting more. The bear raked his great claws across her belly. She knew that she was finished when her strength felt as if it had been sucked out of her. Not willing to give up now, she started to leap at the bear again. But then she was knocked back, and five big cougars jumped on the bear, taking him down. He was dead in seconds, his body torn to pieces by the big cats. Mason went to her and stood over her as she got her breath back.

She looked at her father, and wasn’t surprised to see him as his cat cornered by the wolf pack. Her body hurt. It hurt in more places than she was sure there were names for. But her cat was pleased with the outcome. Even though she’d not killed the shifter, she’d been able to hold her own until reinforcements got there to help.

Mason was standing next to her as she lay there. She would heal once she was able to shift, but she was afraid to leave, fearful of what her father might do. But Mason told her he had it and for her to go and change. Then he looked at her. She could see the look of pleading in his eyes, as if to say “For once will you do as I say?”

Christ, he was huge. So was Gerard, but Mason’s cat was at least fifty pounds heavier and it was all muscle. She knew it was because he was the leap leader, but she also thought it was more than that.

His fur was covered in blood. It dripped from his muzzle and the fur around his face. She wanted to ask him if he’d been hurt, but he told her again to go and shift. That they would wait on her.

Her body ached now that she’d had time for the pain to settle in. But limping back to the bedroom to shift and pull on some clothing, she knew that she was undoubtedly the luckiest woman alive. Had they not shown up when they had, the bear would have killed her, then Gerard.

Susie looked up at him when he entered the room. He had blood on his face as well his shirt, but he looked good enough to eat up right now.

“Mason said you’d been hurt.” She let her cat go and stood in front of Gerard. He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. “You’re all right then? He didn’t hurt you too much? All I could think about was getting you to safety. Then I realized that you could save both of us by getting out. I have never been so afraid in all of my life.”

“No. Yes. I know what you mean. Christ, if your brothers hadn’t come when they had, I’d be dead. I think we both would have been. And Mason? He’s fucking huge, isn’t he?” Gerard held her as she cried. She wrapped her arms around him and just felt his love pour over her. “I was stupid for thinking I could take them. But to be honest, I had no idea he was the bear.”

“I love you so much, Susie. You saved us by keeping a calm head. But Mason said for us to hurry. He wants this finished before things get out of hand and someone else comes to see us.” The buyers. Susie nodded and started to pull away. “Not yet. I need to hold you just a couple of more minutes. He’ll just have to wait.”

She let him. Being held by him felt better than anything she’d ever felt. And then he finally let her go, kissing her hungrily on the mouth, and she stood there as he sat down on the bed.

“Hurry, please, or we’re not leaving here.” She nodded and pulled on her pants and a sweatshirt of his. When she was as dressed as she could be under the circumstances, he took her hand and they went to the living room. Her dad was still his cat, and the wolves were surrounding him. Mason, as his cat, was staring at him, with his brothers nearby. Susie thought that if she had to be on a side during a fight, she would want to be on Mason’s. The man just exuded power.

“Father, just what did you hope to gain by coming here and hurting my family?”

He screamed at her that he was her family, and Gerard touched her arm as she looked at him.

Tell him to shift. Tell him to shift…be specific or you’ll pull them all. We can’t understand him, and if he’s human, or at least looks human, we can hear him spew his bullshit
. She told him that she couldn’t, she wasn’t a leader.
Trust me, love, you can do it. And when you do, he’s going to know real power when he sees it. He has no idea that you’re more powerful than him, and when he figures it out, I’m glad to be here to see his face. The man is going to know who the real boss is of his little world before he dies.

Not at all sure what he meant, she turned back to her father. His cat was old, graying around the muzzle, and he’d gained weight. She wondered briefly if he could even get up and run much, and then thought about what Gerard had told her. She looked at Mason. After giving her a short nod, he lay down on the floor as if he had nothing in the world to be worried about. Susie looked at her father.

“Ernest Benjamin, shift.”

Had she not been there, or even heard that it could be done, she wasn’t sure she would have believed it possible. But he did shift, and not only that, from the sound of it, it hurt him badly. She wanted to dance and clap her hands, but instead she just stared at him like this was something she did every day. He stared at her as if he wanted her dead, which, under the circumstances, he more than likely did.

“You fucking cunt. Why the hell did you have them do that to me? Christ, that fucking hurt. You don’t know what you’ve done now, do you? You’ve pissed me off is what you did. And now I’m gonna teach you a lesson you won’t ever forget.” He started to stand and realized he was naked. “Give me something to put on, for fuck sake. I’m not gonna address this leap with my bare ass showing. And when I’m done, you and I are gonna talk.”

He laughed. The same laugh she’d heard all her life when he was standing over her, beating her with his belt or anything else that he could reach. Raising her chin, she addressed him in a way that made her cat purr along her skin in approval.

“Then you should have thought of that before you came barging into my life. And they didn’t do this to you. I did it. I’m stronger than you are.” When he lunged at her, she laughed when he fell on the floor. As he got back up and started to come at her, Mason stood up and growled low. “I’d heed him if I were you. You’re in enough trouble as it is. Did you know that you’re to report to him when you’re in his area? And when you’re here, you’re to abide by his laws? You never told me that. Never let on like there were laws that had to be followed by our kind. Not to mention, some of the shit you told me wasn’t even right. You lied to me my whole life. And you know what, Ernie? I sort of like the way Mason follows the laws. It’s com—”

“Fuck his laws. I came here to get you, and by God, I’m getting you. Now get me some fucking clothes. I’m not gonna tell you again. I’m your father, goddammit.” She thought about what he’d said, and it occurred to her that he was nothing to her. Nothing but the donor to her mother’s egg. “Susan Benjamin, you are trying me right now. And you know what happens when I get myself in a state. You ain’t gonna have no one to blame for your pain but your own mouth. Get me something to put on.”

“No.” He just stared at her. “No, I’m not going to do a thing for you. I’m not going to help you, and I’m certainly not going to save you should this man want you dead. And it’s not Benjamin, you flabby piece of shit. It’s Douglas now. I’m Susan Douglas.”

Oh, he’s dead all right. I’m just wanting you to have your final words to him.
Susie looked at Mason when he spoke to her.
He killed one of my men to get here. He also killed three wolves that were guarding this land. He and the bear broke the law. Not just pack or my law, but the human law too. He has to die.

“Mason said that you might as well tell me everything on your mind. I’m thinking that won’t take too terribly long, as small minded as you are. Because when you’re taken from my house, they’re going to show you what it means to fuck with someone bigger than you.” Her father started cursing again, and she only smiled. “I really do hate you. I never realized I did until this very moment. I haven’t ever had any respect for you or Mother, but you did bring me into this world, so I thought that I could at least try. But it was a waste of my energy and my time. You made sure of that the moment you took off your belt that first time we met and beat me with it. Then stood over me and laughed when I begged you to please love me.”

“You think we wanted you? Hell no. And the fact that she didn’t tell me until it was too late to knock you out of her is the only reason you’re here. ‘Course, being in prison like I was helped you to be born, but had I been out, you wouldn’t even have been nothing but a stain on the floor when I was done with her. But you served some purpose. And you will again. These here men? They got no reason to murder me. And that’s what it would be, murder. I was just doing what I needed to do to bring you to heel.” He stood up then, and she could see that the years hadn’t been good to him. “I’m going to kill this pack of babies. Then I’m going to come in here and beat you to shit. Then when you’re dying, I’m going to take that man you call your mate, and I’m going to cut his throat and let you watch him bleed all over the floor. You think you can just end my life like I was nothing? You’re fucked up if you think that’s gonna happen. I am your father, no matter how much you might hate that fact.”

“Kill him.” The wolves moved as one, but it was the leap that took her father to the floor. They were playing with him, she thought, until she realized they were running him out of the house. Because the moment he was out in the yard, they all pounced on him as one, and his screams were cut off almost as soon as they started.