Lee: Emerson Wolves—Paranormal Erotic Wolf Shifter Romance (9 page)

That had hurt Kimber the most. Knowing that her aunt had made it so that she would fail. Her wages were cut, insurance was never within her reach, and she’d had to live in such squander, when her aunt had been living it up on her money. Not that Kimber wanted a great deal, but enough to have been able to make Hannah’s life better would have been wonderful. While Luke went over the list of things that she owned, Kimber got up and made her way to the front hall. Men were there, agents from so many different groups that she had no idea where they were each from. They were there to arrest her aunt and take her away.

“Mrs. Emerson, are you all right?” She nodded, then shook her head. Lee came up from behind her and wrapped his arms around her. The man who had spoken to her seemed to understand that she was in need of somewhere quiet. “We have taken care of the sitting room should you like to go in there and rest. This won’t be much longer.”

Taken care of the sitting room. He’d made it sound like they’d scrubbed the carpets or something, when what they were really doing was inventorying everything. Not just the paintings on the wall, but the furniture as well. There were rugs on the floor that were worth more than she’d made in a year as a chef, she’d been told, and even the heavy drapes were worth thousands, but no less ugly for their worth. Lee led her into the room.

Tags were stuck on everything, even the lamps that she’d loved. A built-in cabinet housed hundreds of little tea cups and saucers, things that she knew her mother had loved. Going to that now, she opened the cabinet and pulled out the first one she saw.

It was small, fitting in the palm of her hand with plenty of room left over. The roses painted on it were so perfect they looked as if you could simply pick them off the cup and smell their dark heady scent. Putting it back before she gave in to her urge to toss it against the wall, she looked at Lee.

“I’m a mess.” He didn’t say anything, for which she was grateful. “This is…it’s like a nightmare that I don’t think I’ll ever wake from. How could she do this things to me, to all of those people that she hurt? And I don’t think she cared that she did them. Nor do I only believe part of what Luke has told me. She’s simply the nastiest, meanest person ever to live.”

“I’ll agree with you there. But she’s done this because she has always thought herself above everyone else.” He leaned against the back of the couch that was covered in a thick material that made her think of paintings in a museum. Like something that Picasso would have painted. “Did Sloan ever tell you about the time the two of them butted heads?”

“I’m sure that Sloan butts heads with a lot of people. She’s very strong and usually right.” She smiled at him. “What did my aunt do to piss her off?”

“You know that Sloan owned all this land before we moved here, right? I mean, everything. She still does, as a matter of fact, but that’s not where I’m going. And when we moved here, we were blown away by how much she did for the pack that she never had anything to do with. That sort of pissed off Hunter, but that’s a different story all together. Anyway, about a year or so before we got here, Sloan was having some issues with the mayor before Conklin. He was the mayor before Luke, so I guess three of them back now. Okay, so she was having issues and Burdock, that was his name, he goes to your aunt and tells her that she is to make Sloan leave him alone. I kid you not, he said that she had to leave him alone. Well, in a fit of what can only be described as stupid, Kimberly has this team come in to cut through Sloan’s fortress and get her. I’m not sure if there was a plan for what they were going to do with her once they got her, but they showed up with full intentions of cutting into her gates.”

“Aren’t her gates electrified?” Lee nodded, laughing. “And wolves. I’ve seen them around the property. Did they really think they were going to get past those too?”

“It never got that far. They showed up in these two huge fucking semis and park ed right outside her gates. Sloan apparently knew they were there and hyped up the juice a little. But she did warn them via the PA that they were trespassing.” She nodded, loving that he was having so much fun with this story. “This big fucking guy just starts up his cutter and heads toward the gates. Now…from here the story gets a little wonky. The rumor is that the man hit the cutting machine in his hand to the gate and it fried him instantly. But Sloan swears that he was there. He did put the cutter to the fence, but he couldn’t get loose from it fast enough. And in the end, four other men, trying to pull him off the fence, were burned too. I guess it took them a month in the hospital before they could be released. Then the company just disappeared in the middle of the night. Sloan said she didn’t buy it, but I think she did.”

“Oh my. I don’t think she’d be one to piss off.” He shook his head and came toward her. “I’m not sure what we’re doing.”

“Doing?” Lee pulled her into his arms and started to nibble on her neck. “I can think of all kinds of things we could be doing. Like going back to our place and trying out our new bed. Then we could shower together after I make love to you. Hannah won’t be home for a little while. We can test my theory that our room is just far enough away from hers so that you can scream if you wish.”

“I can’t make love to you in the middle of the day. I have…you have to stop now. I can’t think when you do that.” He laughed a little but didn’t stop. His mouth was doing wondrous things to her, and then he turned her in his arms and pressed her against the wall. “You’re driving me nuts.”

The door opened with a loud crash and Lee nearly tossed her to the floor. Hunter looked like the hounds of hell were after him, and Lee looked like he was going to take them on. But when Hunter started talking, it was all she could do to keep up with him.

“I have to go. We have to…right now. There’s the water, she said. And I have to hurry. She said…what are you doing? We have to leave here now and you have to drive me.” Lee nodded, as confused as she was. “She’s in labor. Sloan is in labor right fucking now.”

They were in the truck in no time and pulling out of the driveway. Luke had opted to drive himself after he collected what he could from her aunt. Kimber hugged him to her, thanking him for doing this for her. He said it was his pleasure and told her that he’d see her at the hospital. Kimber looked at Lee when Hunter started talking again.

“The baby isn’t due for another two weeks. What if something is wrong? Do you think she’ll be all right? Both of them?” Kimber started to tell him everything was going to be fine, but he started talking again. “We have the bed ready and stuff. It’s mine and my brother’s…I didn’t get the toy chest put together. She’ll hate me. And Sloan will too.”

“You do know this could be a false alarm, don’t you? I mean, I had three dry runs when I had Hannah. Of course, my water never broke.” She nearly screamed when he took her hand in his and squeezed. “Hunter, you’re hurting me.”

He let her go, but she wasn’t sure he was listening to anyone. “I think that we should adopt from now on. She’s been so exhausted all the time, and cranky. I’ve not pointed that out to her again after the first time. Who knew that women could be so violent when they’re breeding? I’m not allowed to…can’t you make this thing go any faster?” Lee looked at Hunter, then back at the road before he snapped at him.

“I’m not getting us killed so you can be in the waiting room four seconds earlier. Just sit there and keep talking like a man who is possessed.” Kimber was glad she was there with these two right now. It was like watching a tennis match of terrified men. “Christ, what is that woman doing? Turn already, I’m trying to get to the hospital.” The horn was laid on as he rounded the woman and her car.

“I’m pretty sure that you should just calm down.” Lee glared at her. “Or pull over and let me drive. I know how, and I’m not all nutty like you two are.”

“We’re not either.” Kimber laughed at the two of them. Then as Lee started to pass the next car in front of him, she grabbed onto the seatbelt like it was going to save her. Lee glanced over at her when she told him to slow the fuck down. “I’m trying to get him to his wife.”

“Dead? Because that’s what I’m thinking is going to happen if you don’t take a fucking breath and drive like you have sense.” He slowed down, and she was all ready to thank him when he passed the next car in front of them like he was racing across the finish line. “Lee, damn it, I’d like to be able to say yes if you ever get around to marrying me like all the paperwork already says.”

“You’ll marry me?” The car swerved when he looked at her and she growled. “You do that well, almost like you’re a wolf already. I hope that you’ll let me change you too. It’ll be hard, but…hang on.”

The turn in the front of the hospital was made on two wheels, she just knew it. And when he slid into one of the few parking spaces, she had to sit still in order to get her body under control. Hunter was out and running to the front of the hospital when she turned to Lee.

“You idiot. You could have gotten us all killed with that driving. Are you insane? What would Sloan have done to you if you would have gotten—?”

Lee got out of the truck and she wanted to find a gun and shoot him. But when he pulled her to him, her feet hanging out the door, she nearly kicked him when he dropped to one knee. He held out a ring to her as he smiled up at her.

“I love you. And so you know, I love Hannah as well. I have her a ring too. I wanted to ask you both to marry me, but since I nearly killed you to get you to agree, I thought I’d do this before you changed your mind. I love you with all my heart.” He took her hand in his and slipped the ring on her finger. “I’ve done some things in my life that I’m not terribly proud of. Other things not as bad, but things that I wish I could do over and fix some of them. But having you in my life, you and Hannah, will be the best thing—no, the greatest thing—that has ever or will ever happen to me. And I’d very much like for you to be my wife, really my wife, so that I can show you every day how much I have come to love and admire you.”

“Oh, Lee.” She looked at the ring, then at him. “You do know that this changes nothing about the way you drove here and how pissed I am about it.” He nodded. “Then yes, I’ll marry you.”

He jerked her from the seat and pressed her to the car, just as Hunter yelled from the doors for them to get their asses in there. Lee kissed her on the mouth quickly, then put her down. As they were moving to the door, he told her he was going to murder Hunter in his sleep the next time he stayed over. Kimber thought she might help him.

Chapter 9

Kimberly sat in the chair. She’d been taken out of her home in cuffs like she’d been a common criminal. And the worst part was, no one had bothered to tell her what she’d done that was so heinous. There were some things that she’d been told, but none of them, as far as she could see, were enough to have her taken to the police station as she’d been. But she would find out or heads were going to roll. When the man that had told her to have a seat sat across from her, she asked him if she could have her cane back. The one that she’d carried for the last ten years had been broken, of course, but she had a supply of them to use. He was shaking his head before she could explain to him that she needed it. Not to walk, but to use should the need arise.

“No. We’re running some tests on it. There was blood splatter on it, and we’re seeing who it might belong to. I don’t suppose you’d tell me, would you? And I’m going to make you aware that the ones that we found in your possession in the house are being tested as well.” She asked him why. “You mean aside from the blood? We have been notified that you’ve used them as weapons. We’re looking for DNA. There are two unexplained deaths, and we think you might have had something to do with them.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He asked her again if she wanted an attorney. “I have done nothing wrong that I would need one. I have very little use for them generally, and as soon as I’m freed from this…this place, I’m going to look into suing you and this department. You have no cause whatsoever to treat me this way. I’m Lady Kimberly Leta Schroeder, and I demand again that you allow me to leave here.”

“You’re not going anywhere until I say you can go. And for that matter, I want you to know that you have nowhere to go anyway. The house that you were occupying has been…. Are you sure you don’t want a lawyer? If you can’t afford one then we can—”

Kimberly slammed her hands down on the table before speaking. The man looked shocked, which was just what she’d been hoping for.

“I can afford it all, young man. And I have said to you twice now, I do not need an attorney. I have done nothing wrong but protect my interests. If that’s a crime then I don’t want to live in a country that would think so. In fact, I’m thinking of selling everything and moving to my home in France. I’ll be taking my grandniece with me as soon as she rids herself of that brat. I will not have that thing in my home.” Kimberly thought of all the things she was going to do to Kimber when she had her alone. First and foremost, she was going to beat her for putting her through this. “Kimber? Where is she? I want her here with me now. She has it in her head that she can treat me like something that has stuck to the bottom of her shoe. Well, I won’t allow it. What I say is law.”

“You think you’re above such things as rules and regulations that other people have to follow, don’t you? You really believe that everyone should do as you say just because of who, or in this case what, you think you are. I mean, you think that everyone—and I’m assuming me too—that we should just do as you say and damn the consequences.” She said nothing, sensing a trap. It was just what she thought and knew to be fact, but he acted like he knew more than her, which was not even close to being possible. “What can you tell me about James Walden?”

“What about him? He was the father of the brat my grandniece thinks to have brought into my home. Not that she will, but she can think that all she wants. Having her there for those three days was bad enough. I will not have my life disrupted for a thing like that.” She wondered what all this had to do with her being taken from her home. Kimberly rattled the chains at her wrists and glared at him. “I want you to release me from these shackles right now. I’m not an animal, and I do not appreciate you treating me like one.”

“You’re fine the way you are. I’m not finished with you as yet, and you being chained up makes it so I don’t have to fight with you as well.” When she started to tell him it wasn’t a request, he leaned back in his chair. “You’re going to go down for the murder of Walden and a few other people. Did you know that? I really wish there was more, but that’s all we have on you for now.”

“Go down? Whatever do you mean? I told you, release me before I have to find someone that will.” When he didn’t move, she started to stand. But the chains held her so that she had to stoop over. Sitting down, she glared at him. “What is your name? When I’m let out of here, and that will be soon, I’m going to have you fired. You’re making me very mad right now. I’m not a very nice person when I’m upset. You should ask my grandniece what it is to upset me.”

Kimberly had been the one to deal out punishment since she was a child. No one around her would do as she said until she showed them what it was to upset her. When it was clear to her that someone was going against her wishes, Kimberly would show them not only the error of their ways, but also give them a constant reminder of what it was to turn against her. Kimberly demanded again to be released or else.

“You’ll get over it. You never answered me about Walden. What do you know about his death?” He looked as if he had all day to wait for her to answer him. “We have notes on conversations that you had with your grandniece, as well as a conversation that you had with her in person. She paints a very disturbing picture of you and your ways of dealing with someone.”

Kimberly had had enough of this. “He’s dead, that’s what I know. What knowledge should I have concerning him or the fact that he is no longer a problem? Had he done what he was told, then none of this would be necessary. You have put thoughts into Kimber’s head, and now she thinks to have me brought here under the guise of telling people our business. I don’t care what has happened to that man. Good riddance to him is all I have to say about that.” The man was getting on her last nerve. Slamming her hands down on the table got her no reaction at all. “You are to release me this moment or I shall have to call in some help. And when I do, there will be trouble as you have never seen before.”

“Like the trouble you gave Kimber?” She asked him what he meant. “You didn’t have her life made harder when she was trying to raise her daughter? Have her fired from her job? Take half her wages when she could have used them for a better life for them both? Or the fact that you had a man dating her that had no reason whatsoever to do so until you paid him?”

“Of course I did those things to her. She is my ward. And regardless of what you say about her age, she is mine to do with as I see fit. As for Walden? It’s what she needed done to bring her back to where I demanded her to be in the beginning. This was her mother’s fault. I forbade her to let her go, and not only did she let her go when I said not to, but she told her not to come home even if she was to die. That ruined all my plans. Once she was home for the funeral, she would never have left. I would have made sure of that.” He asked her what sort of plans. “Her place is with me. Catering to my needs and what I want. Not out doing things that would…well, get her with a brat. That thing will have to go too. I do not have the time, nor do I have the need, to have something like that in my home. Children have no good use other than to make them do as you please. That one is too mouthy already, and I will take care that she’s not in my life once you have let me go. As I have asked you to do several times now. I demand that you set me free of these chains. I’ve done nothing to warrant you treating me like I’m a criminal.”

“You don’t think you’ve done anything wrong? I mean, you don’t think it was wrong in having your grandniece think that she’s a failure? Or to—?”

“She is a failure. What do you think I’ve been trying to tell you?” Kimberly held her temper as best she could, because to lose it now would only hurt herself. Each time she pulled against the shackles at her wrist, it was painful. “She’s done things…terrible things. Lying with that man. I told him he was only to make her think that he was in love with her, bring her here, and I would take care of the rest. And then I find out months later, too late to have anything done about it, that he has filled her belly with a brat. You have no idea how that ruined my plans for her. Nor do you understand the work I had to do to change things around to fix even the smallest of things.”

“So you had him killed.” She said nothing. Of course she had. It wasn’t as if he’d not brought it on himself. “Miss Schroeder, why don’t you tell me your plans for Kimber? What kind of things has she ruined for you?”

“Everything. How am I to control her when she will not listen to a single thing I’ve told her to do? I brought her here, did I not? And that child. She was to do as I told her.” The man said that she’d said that, but what was she to have done? “The will and money, of course. How am I to control it if she isn’t here to turn it over to me? Why my brother left it to her mother is beyond me. She would have just flittered it away. And she did too. Giving it to Kimber to waste her time on that schooling. What for, I ask you? She wasn’t going to be a domestic. And she certainly isn’t going to be a wife to some man. I’m going to make sure of that too.”

“You’re a bit too late for that, I’m afraid. She is married. To Lee Emerson. They seem like a really happy couple, and Cash thinks the world of her and that little girl. But I’m guessing you don’t approve of Lee.” Kimberly only huffed at him. “He’s a good man. Holds a good job. From what I understand, he loves Kimber very much, and little Hannah. It wouldn’t surprise me if he adopts the little tyke. And soon.”

“He can have the child for all I care. As for him wedding Kimber, that isn’t legal. She’s my ward until I say differently. And I have certainly not given her permission to do anything of the kind. She will have to realize, and soon, that I’m law. When I speak, there will be consequences if she does not listen. She should have known that by now.” Kimberly glared at the man again. “And you will as well. Take these things off of me this minute. I am well past telling you to do it and you sitting there like you have no intentions of letting me go.”

“I don’t. In fact, as stimulating as I find talking to you, I think it’s all for nothing. You’re too stubborn to realize that you’re finished.” She asked him what he was talking about. “I’m not letting you go. In a few hours some men are going to come in and ask you questions again. And when you give them the answers that you have me, they’re going to cart your ass off to some funny farm, where you’re going to spend the rest of your life. Because lady, you are one fucked up piece of work.”

“You cannot talk to me this way. I’m Lady Kimberly Leta Schroeder, and I am the…where is Ben Conklin? Bring him to me this minute. He was the only man besides that sheriff that knew how to treat me. I had only to ask and give them a little money and they’d do everything I wanted. Bring him here now.” When he didn’t move to do her bidding, she slammed her hands down on the table again. “You are going to pay for this, young man. I am not a woman to be trifled with. Where is Ben? Answer me this instant.”

“Prison, where you should be. And more than likely will be once this goes to court. Luke Emerson, Kimber’s brother-in-law, is the one you’re going up against, so I’m thinking you should really choose your lawyer well. As for bringing Conklin to you? That’s going to be a big fat no.”

When he left her sitting there, Kimberly tried to think what she was supposed to do now. Things were not going to just do themselves, and she had projects in the works that she had to oversee. This was just not the way she had planned her day.

A few minutes later a woman came into the room with her and told her to stand up. When the chains were taken from the small ring in the table, Kimberly thought she was free, but the cuffs were put back on her almost immediately.

“Where are you taking me?” Nothing. The woman actually had the nerve to tell her to shut up. Kimberly was so shocked by it that she nearly missed what she said about the cell. “I’m not going to any holding cell. I’ve made it perfectly clear to everyone that I want to be freed. What are you doing? Take these things off me right this minute.”

Two men were in the hall when she was brought out of the room. As she was shoved down the hallway toward the door, Kimberly thought of her grandniece. This was all her fault. She’d ruined her plans and now she was going to have to pay for it. The child, the brat, was going to be the thing that would bring her in line, so that was where she’d start. And the sooner the better.

When Kimberly was standing outside a cell with bars all around it, she turned to the woman who was holding her chains.

“You cannot think to make me sit in there.” The woman, an officer of all things, just told her to go in and to shut up. “I think this farce has gone on long enough. Take these ridiculous things off me and I will not take measures into my own hands and have you fired. Do you have any idea who you are talking to? What kind of power I have because I have money?”

“You’ll go in there on your own two feet or I get to toss your butt in there.” Kimberly started to tell her that she would not when she saw the man behind her. The officer turned and looked at the man, then looked at Kimberly. The smile on her face did not look like things were going to go well for her. “He’s here to talk to you. And I’m pretty sure that you’re not going to like a thing he says to you. And so you know, he’s not going to put up with your crap either.”

“I don’t want him to come near me. Take him away.” Kimberly found herself in the cell and the door locking behind her. She hadn’t even realized that the cuffs had been removed, she’d been so terrified of the man. When he walked to the door, she backed as far from him as she could, touching the wall to her back.

“You’ve been warned, have you not?” Nodding, she wondered how Steward had found her, here of all places. “I’m not in the best of moods, Kimberly. And to have to come here, during the day, to make sure that you are aware of what is going to happen to you does not make my mood or my ability to deal with you any easier. You are a pain in the ass.”