Owned (18 page)

“No, women don’t get a vote in sex. Plus you’re whoring yourself out to two men, what should another one matter?”

My god! When did he go bat-shit crazy? Gramp would have known if he’d been like this all these years.
“Well, since I have a shoulder injury as you can see, I’m not having any sex actually.”

“Yeah, I heard about that. Knew it would be easier to get at you when you were injured. I saw your two guys walking out of the house, they’re breeding a horse, and they won’t be back for a while.”

“What do you have in your hand there?” I asked, because he was gripping what seemed to be a handkerchief.

“Something to make you sleep,” he answered as we were still circling each other around the island.

“So you didn’t take a shot at me?”

“No,” he answered, pausing. “I don’t want you dead, I want the ranch. Does me no good if you’re dead. Can’t marry a dead woman.”

“Well if you don’t want me dead, I’d be careful. I’m on a shit load of pain medicine. Will it react to what you have there to make me sleep?”

“I’m sure it will be fine, I just came to get you knocked up so you’d have to marry me.”

“So you’re going to fuck me while I’m unconscious? What, Sean, don’t like your women awake to fight back? Or is the sex so bad you don’t want them laughing at you?”

“Why you fucking bitch,” he said, making a lunge for me. Okay, pissing off the crazy man was a bad idea, but he was just so damn stupid. I dodged his first attempt, but didn’t get away in time for the second one. He held the cloth over my nose and I didn’t struggle, because I knew help was on the way. Plus if I struggled, I could reinjure myself.

“Thank god,” I breathed when he pulled the cloth away.

“God won’t help you now, girlie,” he chuckled, sticking his tongue in my ear. Eww. I wondered if there was a way to disinfect my ear with bleach or something.

“No, but they will,” I said, nodding to Jared and Dean who had entered the kitchen. And then I passed out… Again. I had to stop doing that.

* * * *

“Kate, Kate, can you hear me?” I heard Jared saying as I regained consciousness.

“At least he didn’t backhand me this time,” I mumbled.

“Open your eyes, baby. Let me see those pretty green eyes,” Jared said, still in a panic. Maybe he didn’t hear me. It took effort but I got them open.

“Hi.”

“Hi yourself,” he whispered tenderly before turning his head. “She’s awake.”

“I didn’t fight him.”

“I know, sweetheart. Why didn’t you?”

“Because I knew you were coming, and I didn’t want to rip any of my stitches,” I replied.

“That’s my smart woman,” Dean said, walking up to the couch.

“How much did you hear?”

“We heard the whole thing, and I recorded it on my phone.” Jared was smiling proudly. It was fast acting on his part.

“You’re one sharp cookie,” Sheriff Swick said, coming into my line of sight.

“Hey, Sheriff, we have to stop meeting like this,” I chuckled.

“Yes, we do,” he replied softly. “How you feeling?”

“Still sleepy.”

“Well you can go to sleep in a few. We wanted to make sure whatever he tried to give you didn’t react to your medicine. Jared played me the recording of what happened, you did well.”

“Until you started making the crazy man angry,” Dean interjected.

“Yeah, I thought about that after I said it. I never said I was perfect, but I think I still get an ‘A.’”

“Of course you do,” Jared cooed. “Dean’s going to take you to bed and stay with you, okay?”

“Where are you going?”

“Well, I gotta talk to the Sheriff a little more and explain why Sean was hurt so badly when he got here.”

“You kicked his ass, didn’t you?” I asked, laughing. “Thank you.” I gave him another quick kiss before I was passed off into Dean’s arms. “I’m going to get fat and lazy if you guys keep carrying me all the damn time.”

“Hush up, woman. I’ve seen you work out, remember? You aren’t going to get either one, especially with all the exercise we have planned for you when you get better.”

“What exercise—Ohhh, you mean sex!” I exclaimed. “Dirty, dirty boy.”

“Yes I am,” he replied, laying me down in the bed before climbing in next to me. “You scared us today, Kate. We were scared shitless we wouldn’t be able to get to you in time before he raped you.”

“I knew you would,” I said, going to pat his cheek, but I was falling asleep so fast I was pretty sure I hit his nose. “I love you, Dean.”

* * * *

Once again, I woke up a few hours later to some commotion downstairs. It was getting to the point where a girl couldn’t go to sleep in her own house without being woken up by chaos. I carefully and slowly dragged myself out of bed and headed for the hallway. Dean was in the living room staring at me with an evil grin on his face.

“What did you do?” I asked hesitantly, not sure how to read that.

“We have a surprise for you, but you have to close your eyes.”

“I’m not a fan of surprises.”

“You will be of this one,” he said, smiling even bigger. So I played along, I closed my eyes and felt his big hand covering them as well. “No peeking.” He led me outside on the porch where I heard a bunch of strange noises.

“What is that?”

“Your surprise,” Jared answered. “Okay, open up.” Dean removed his hand and I saw Jared kneeling next to a cardboard box. I leaned over and saw four puppies in it.

“Why do you guys have puppies?” I asked, confused. They exchanged a glance before answering me.

“We got them for you, you silly woman,” Dean said, laughing.

“Me?” I asked quietly, kneeling by the box. “You got me puppies?”

“Yeah,” Jared answered tenderly. “We went to get you one, but we didn’t know what kind you would want. So we decided to get one from each litter for you.”

“You got me puppies,” I said again, slowly reaching out my hand to them. They were all laying on their backs which I thought was weird. The closest one, which was a black Lab, rolled over before coming closer, sniffed my hand, and then licked it. “I’ve never had a pet.”

“We know.” Dean knelt next to me and rubbed my uninjured shoulder gently. “Jared asked you when you were all drugged up. We’ve been looking where to get one around here.”

“Can I name them?” I asked, looking at Jared with tears in my eyes.

“Of course you can, baby,” he said softly.

“This is the best present I’ve ever gotten,” I whispered, starting to cry. Damn drugs kept making me gush. “They’re so tiny. Can I pick them up?”

“Yeah, they’re all about six weeks old. You won’t hurt them,” Dean said before kissing my shoulder.

“Can you hand one to me? I don’t want to pick them up one-handed.” I sat down carefully. Jared smiled, picked up the German Shepherd, and put it in my lap, giving me a kiss at the same time. He was so tiny, snuggling down against me and yawning. I just sat there in awe watching him, crying.

“Are you okay, baby?” Dean asked, pulling me towards him. I just nodded, not able to speak.

“Did we do okay?” Jared asked, scooting closer to me.

“It’s perfect,” I said, sniffing. “I’m sorry, not crying for eleven years makes you weepy once you start.”

“Oh, baby, as long as they’re happy tears, it’s okay,” Dean chuckled, kissing the top of my head.

“Do you guys know how to take care of them? I don’t have the first clue what to do,” I said, looking at them.

“We do. We’ve had dogs before,” Dean assured me, hugging me tighter. “We’ll teach you.”

“Thank you so much,” I whispered.

“Does this mean you still love me?” Dean asked.

“Still love you?” I asked, confused.

“Oh, never mind, forget I asked.” I saw his face fall as he loosened his grip on me.

“No, tell me what you meant,” I said, turning towards him.

“Before you fell asleep, after you talked to the Sheriff, you told me you loved me. You were drugged, it’s okay,” he mumbled, looking down.

“Dean, I do love you, I just don’t remember saying it,” I said, waiting for him to look up. “I’m sorry I don’t remember. But I do love you. I love Jared too.”

“I love you, Kate,” Jared said.

“Me too, baby,” Dean leaned and whispered in my ear. They both loved me and got me puppies. What did I say to that? Nothing. Words just weren’t enough.

I was surprised that even after the drama that went down with Sean I was able to get the stiches in my shoulder out on schedule. Yay me for listening to the doctor for once and trying to be good! I was all healed in my nether regions as well and was cleared for light duty with regards to my shoulder.

That was normally the time I got in trouble for not listening. Sure, after being shot, I’d pay attention to the doctor to make sure I didn’t undo all his hard work and end up dead. But now? I was free and ready to get back into the swing of things because I couldn’t do more than slow down my recovery. And if I pushed myself, what did that matter?

It was military-idiotic logic.

At first I’d wanted to ignore the painkillers and tried to leave without the prescription. Yeah, Jared and Dean weren’t having any of that. We worked out a compromise. I’d take one in the afternoon if I was hurting and a couple-hour nap and one at night so I could sleep if I was in pain.

That didn’t mean I didn’t bitch about it all the way home. But then I completely forgot about it when Jared whisked me away to my room, carried me into shower, and after shaving me as he promised before… And spent the next couple of days with his head buried between my legs.

He
really
gave a whole new meaning to
kiss it and make it better
. And I wasn’t stupid enough to complain. It was the most interesting way anyone had ever tried to keep me relaxed and off my feet while healing. When he wasn’t eating me out, I practically floated around with a big dopey grin on my face.

I woke alone one morning after the doctor’s, shocked that one of them wasn’t in my bed watching over me. They were always around just in case I needed something. I thought it was a residual side effect of Sean attacking me. As if someone else was going to get me if they left me alone for one second.

I took care of morning business and headed for coffee. When I got to the stairs I froze, realizing they were arguing in the kitchen.

“I know you want to please her, Jared. I do too. It’s natural for us when we find our Alpha Bitch,” Dean said gently. “But you have to back off. She’s going to pull away soon if you keep constantly rolling over and showing her your belly. Kate’s strong and independent. She won’t want someone needy.”

Like the puppies show them their bellies
. It was just one more tidbit of proof I needed that the Acker brothers weren’t like other men.

“I know, I know,” Jared grumbled. “I just want to make up for failing here. She’s been shot and attacked on our watch. We love her and we should have done better by her. But I’m not
needy
.”

“Okay, that was harsh,” he conceded. “But Nate is a viable option for her. If we push her away he’ll come in and see what’s going on. He’ll take her away from us if he can. It’s ingrained in him until we seal the deal.”

“How did he know her all these years and not realize she was an Alpha Bitch?”

“We weren’t sure until we were intimate with her. You know it’s not like they wear a sign. I think he figured it out after she got shot and saw how we were acting towards her. I mean, we always knew he liked her and was drawn to her. Maybe that’s why he tried kissing her and offered himself if she didn’t want us. Do you want to give him the chance to weasel his way in?”

“No,” Jared sighed. I quietly walked down the stairs and saw he was gripping the counter tightly in frustration. “I want her to be our Alpha Bitch. You know that.”

“I’ve been called a
bitch
many a time,” I drawled, leaning against the doorframe. “Never Alpha Bitch though so maybe you guys should start explaining.”

“Shit,” Dean hissed and rubbed his hands over his face. “We were going to tell you but just not yet. You’ve had
so
much going on and the last thing you need is for someone else to dump anything on you. We just wanted to make sure you were okay before we added to your plate.”

“And that you sealed the deal so Nate wouldn’t get me because I’m rare,” I added, letting him know that his reasons weren’t the only one I heard.

“That too,” Jared admitted. “But we love you, Kate. It’s not like we were tricking you into anything. We were up-front about wanting you and this was real for us.”

“You just weren’t honest about being werewolves,” I said with a raised brow as I walked over to the coffee.

“What?” they both gasped. I couldn’t help but smile.

“You didn’t think I’d figure it out? I’m not dense.”

“Nate told us you didn’t have a clue what he was,” Jared hedged as he pulled out my chair at the table as if it was instinct.