Reed: Bowen Boys (7 page)

She screamed again. This time he knew that he’d hurt her, but he couldn’t stop. He needed her to be his. When he lifted his head after a few more long hard strokes inside of her, he noticed that she had blood on her mouth. His blood. And that she was unconscious.

Instead of dropping over her in exhaustion, he leaned down over her and gathered her into his arms. He’d hurt her, he knew, and he hoped that she’d only fallen into this state from her climax instead of from the pain he’d caused her. When her eyes fluttered open, he watched her for any signs of pain or anger, but all she did was look at him with the most sated look on her face.

“I don’t think it worked.” He frowned at her. “Doing this to get you out of my system. I think I only made it worse.”

“Worse how?” He moved her hair from her face and kissed her gently on the mouth. “How is this worse?”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to walk away from you as easily as I had hoped.” She yawned as his heart skipped several beats. “You’re not going to be so easy to forget.”

As she closed her eyes, Reed knew without a doubt that she would try to leave him. Not because of anything that had happened here, but because she would feel she had to. And that he just didn’t understand. He watched her sleep a long while before he got up and dressed. He had to do something to convince her that she had to stay with him. That he needed her to be with him for all time. He reached for the only person in the world he thought he could trust to help him. His mom.

I have a mate, but she’s going to leave me.
He sat down on the only other flat surface in the entire apartment.
I can’t let her go.

I figured her for a runner. I’m surprised she hasn’t tried her best to be away from them all before now. Poor little thing.
Reed frowned. His mom had known?

Why? How did you know
? He looked around the tiny apartment and realized that this was where the pictures had been taken. He was going to fucking kill that wolf.

Have you read about her family? Her father and sister?
He told her he had but that he would protect her from them.
They aren’t going to leave her alone. Not ever. They’re taking from her all the time. What do you think they’ll do once they find out who you are and what you are to her?

I don’t care. They can have it all so long as I have her.
He could feel his mom’s fear, and then he realized what else they could take from them.
They’ll tell what I am. They’ll sell me out and her too if she’s converted.

I would imagine they would sell out each other if they thought there was a profit.
He’d never met them but knew that his mom was right.
Does she know yet? What you are? Have you told her yet?

No. I came here last night to talk to her, but…when I got here all I could think about was my head pounding. I never meant to fall asleep.
He remembered her telling him that she’d called Walker.
She called Walker for me to see what to do. She was asleep near me when I woke too hot for the room.

He watched Kerry while he thought about the pictures he’d seen of her. Whoever had taken them had to have been inside the apartment. He looked around and realized that it was much too small for anyone to hide in, and tried to remember the angle that the photos had come from. Reed went to the bathroom and looked at the shower, and tried to think where the man had to have been standing, and realized it was over the door. He nearly went to get a chair when he heard something. He reached for his mom when he heard it again.

There’s someone in this apartment with us.
He looked around the apartment but no longer up at the ceiling. He was sure that there must have been some sort of false area that allowed someone to get the angle of some of those shots.

Do you want me to send the police or your brothers? Most of them are here. As is your father. But I doubt he’d be much use, the old fool.
Reed smiled at his mom. She’d been calling his dad that for his entire life.

Neither for now, but…I have to get her out of here before whoever it is.... Christ. I need Ama. Can you send her to me?

Twenty minutes later Ama was at the door, and he let her in. She smiled at him, and he looked up at Sebastian. He knew that he’d come too, so wasn’t really surprised to see him. He went to the bed to wake Kerry. She looked up at him, and he watched her face to see if she was pissed or not. She smiled.

He leaned down and nipped at her shoulder as he spoke to her through their connection.
The man that took the photos of you is here now. Can you…my sister-in-law is going to make it so he can’t see us. Can you get dressed quickly and pack whatever you’re going to want to keep?

He’s here now?
He nodded, marveling slightly that she’d taken him talking to her this way so easily.
Is it Death?
He didn’t know who this Death person was and nearly asked her if he was a wolf, but didn’t think she’d understand just yet
.
He kissed her shoulder as she sat up on the bed.

I’m not sure who it is. I can’t even tell if it’s the same…person from the lot. Ama said she can hold him for a little while, maybe ten minutes, before he would realize that something was wrong. Can you do it?
She nodded, and he turned to Ama and Sebastian. The two of them closed their eyes and he helped Kerry from the bed. She hurried to the bathroom with the sheet around her, and he went to the dresser to get whatever he could.

There were no photos. None. Not of her or her family. There was a small dish on the top of the dresser with about forty-five cents in it and nothing else. There was very little in the drawers too. He gathered everything up in them and was putting them on the blanket that had ended up on the floor when she came out of the bathroom. She had on a bra and panties, and he growled low at her.

“Why do you do that? I’ve noticed that your brothers do as well.” They both heard Sebastian laugh in the kitchen, and she flushed. “I didn’t know they were here. I thought she was coming, not that she was already here. You should have told me that right away, damn it.” She started pulling on the things he’d laid out for her, still glaring at him the entire time.

“They’re here.” He kissed her nose. “What else do you want to take? I’ve emptied all the drawers and I’ve looked, but there doesn’t seem to be any photo albums or even pictures. Did I miss them?”

“No you didn’t. I couldn’t afford anything like that even if I did want to keep pictures of them. There’s nothing. I don’t have much because I can’t afford it.” She glared at him, and he knew that whatever he said was going to be a trap, so he simply picked up the blanket and tossed it over his shoulder. Taking her hand, he led her to the door and out into the hall. He was at his truck when he realized that she was headed to her car.

“He’ll know that it’s yours, and I wouldn’t doubt that he has a tracker on it. It’s what I would do.” She looked at the car, then at his truck. “Come on. Let’s get going.”

“I need for you to take me to a hotel. I’ll be fine there.” He didn’t answer as he helped her into the cab of his truck. “It can’t be an expensive one, but it can be nice, just not too nice.”

He nodded, knowing that it didn’t matter the cost because she was going to his house. Smiling as he rounded the truck, he wondered what she was going to do when he told her what he was.

Chapter 7

Dora tried to call her sister again. Damn it all to hell, where was she? She picked up the useless cell phone again and tried to decide whether she’d feel better if she threw it at the wall. The stupid house phone wasn’t her nice cell phone, and she hated that she had to stand in one room to use it. But Kerry had told her that she’d not buy her another cell phone if she broke another one, so she was stuck with this one.

“What happened to the money for the phone bill anyway?” Dora looked at her dad when he spoke. “I thought she gave you money for it a few months back. Did you pay it or not?”

“No. She should know better than to give me money for something as important as this. This is her fault, and now I can’t get in touch with her to fix it.” She tossed the phone on the table without harming it. “This is so like her to try and teach me a lesson. I need for her to pay the bill so I can talk to Death.”

Her dad walked away. He was useless too. She thought of all the things that Kerry had been slacking on lately and wondered what was up her ass. First it was moving away without telling her where, and she’d had her number changed too and not given it to any of them. Then there was the job. What the hell had she been thinking when she’d given up her commission job? That money was something that Dora depended on monthly, and now it too was gone.

“Stupid girl. Why doesn’t she just do what I want her to do without all these lessons? I didn’t care for school when I had to go, and I don’t want to learn now.” Dora flopped down on the couch. “We need new furniture, and I’m betting she tells me no on that too.”

Kerry had never been a very good sister. She’d always wanted to do things on her own, where Dora wanted things done for her. The first time she’d noticed that she and Kerry were so different was in grade school.

Dora had wanted a pair of tap shoes. Not that she’d take the classes for them, but because they had sounded pretty when she walked. And the boys noticed her too. As did the girls. They would be so jealous of her that she begged Kerry to lend her the money. “Lend” to her meant that she’d get what she wanted, and if you were stupid enough to give in to her, that was your loss. But Kerry had figured it out and hadn’t budged on giving the money to her. Dora had stolen the shoes and had gotten caught. Kerry, the only one with any money, had paid her fine and had gotten her out. Her dad had blamed Kerry for the incident and made her promise that she’d never turn her sister down again.

“It could be really bad for you if I tossed you out on the street as young as you are.” He’d been so drunk that Dora had been able to make him say that to her, and Kerry had been paying ever since. Until lately.

Now she was slacking off as if the promise, held over her head for all these years, no longer meant anything to her. Dora looked up when someone knocked on the door. She waited for her dad to come and answer it, and finally, when the person knocked again and again, she got up off the couch and went the few feet to the door to open it.

There was a beautiful man standing there. He took a step back when she reached out to touch him.

“I’m here on behalf of Kerry Stephens. Would you be Dora Stephens?” She nodded at him, thinking her sister had finally come through. “Is Norman Stephens here as well?”

“Sure, I guess he is. Do you have my money?” The man smiled at her, and Dora had a moment of panic. There was something very frightening about him. She took a step back when he asked if he could come in. She shook her head.

“Oh come now. I need for you to invite me in. You really want to.” She took another step back when she touched the couch. “Come on, Dora. I’ll give you all the money I have from your sister.”

Dora looked at the man’s hands as money suddenly appeared there. She wanted it, but…she looked at him again and saw something…shift, she supposed, around him. She shook her head.

“I don’t want it.” She started for the door to slam it into his face when she heard her dad coming. “I want you to go away now.”

Her dad was drunk, and she could smell it on him. When the man tried to get him to invite him in, her dad shuffled by him without a word and flopped down on the couch. He was snoring in a matter of seconds.

“I’ll be back, Dora Stephens, and when I do, you’ll let me in or I’ll simply wait for you to leave. Once I have you, you’ll beg me to come inside. And I plan on coming inside of you plenty before I kill you. Death said that as his partner you and I would have a grand time together. My name is Dean, by the way. You’ll want to practice saying that so when you come you’ll know it.” She watched the air around him become smoky, and she cried out when she felt his touch across her skin. “You’ll be begging for me to take you before this is finished. Mark my words.”

Then he was gone. Not walked away like she kept trying to tell her mind had happened, but simply gone. She sat down on the couch and watched the door for a long time. When she finally got up and shut it, she knew that whatever that had been was going to do just what he said. She had to figure out a way to make sure she got what she wanted before he came back. A deal for a deal sort of, one that would benefit her more than him.

~~~

Kerry tried pacing the huge room, but she ended up sitting down only after three trips. There was only the one chair in this room and less furniture in the other rooms. The only room that she’d come across that had anything in it, besides the kitchen, was the bedroom. And she’d been avoiding it like it was her job.

And that was another thing. She had to find herself one. She had things to make payments on. Like her car. It was old and needed some work done on it, but it was hers. And now it wasn’t even where she could get to it. She glared at the doorway again. She wanted Reed to come back so she could yell at him and make him take her home. When someone walked through the doorway, she nearly cried out when she realized it wasn’t Reed but his brother, Khan. She wasn’t happy with him either.

“If I ask you to come into the kitchen with me and meet the new cook, will you behave?” She glared at him. “He will make you a nice lunch if you don’t yell at him like you did me earlier.”

“I don’t know him. You I don’t like, so he might be safe.” She walked behind him. “Where is Reed? I need him to get here and take me to my home. I have things I have to do today.”

“He’s at the police station. They had to have someone come in and file a report of the break-in at your apartment.” She shivered when Marc had shown her pictures of the ceiling above her apartment. Someone had been living up there for weeks, he’d told her. And he’d made himself at home too.

“They don’t know who it is, do they?” Instead of answering her, she was introduced to Mr. Camps. He said he was pleased to meet her.

“Mistress, what would you and the master of the house want for dinner tonight?” Kerry looked at Khan, then at the cook. “I can have whatever you want ready when you’re ready.”

“I don’t have a clue what Reed will want to eat. But I plan to be gone before then.” She looked at Khan when he cleared his throat. “You have some information that you’d like to share with me and the nice cook here? If so, spill it.”

“Your apartment is now a crime scene. You won’t be able to go there again until they are finished with it. I’m sorry. I should have told you sooner. But I thought you knew.” She nodded, not wanting to have a fit in front of Reed’s cook. When they both looked at her, she felt anger surge in her, and she turned on her heel and walked to the living room again. She was brushing away the tears that kept falling when Reed touched her mind.

What’s the matter? Are you all right?
She’d wanted to scream at him that she certainly wasn’t all right, but didn’t. What would be the point?

I want to know how you can talk to me this way. I’ve gone my entire life without being able to speak to anyone this way, and all of the sudden you come along and now I can. What’s different?
She didn’t expect him to answer her, or at the very least tell her the truth. She was used to that from people.

I was going to explain it to you tonight after dinner. But….
She sat down, not sure she really wanted to know.
I’m your mate, and you’re mine. Do you know what that means?

No. You’ve said that to me before. I take it has something to do with sex and that you bit me.

It does. A great deal more than that, but for now it will be enough. We’re a mated couple. And because we bit each other and drew blood, it’s opened up a path, a link I guess you could call it, that makes it so we can speak.
She tried to digest this when he continued.
I can also feel your every emotion. As you can mine.

Why? Not why did we have sex…actually, why did we have sex? I mean, why did it seem like I was going to die if we didn’t, and why do we have it all the fucking time?

She wanted to ask him if he enjoyed it as much as she did, but was pretty sure he did. The way he roared out her name, the way he…. She decided that thinking about sex right now wasn’t a good idea.

I can feel your arousal, Kerry. Just like it’s my own. I know when you’re afraid, when you’re sad and hurt. I can even tell when you’re pissed. I can’t, however, always tell what it’s about
.

She didn’t want anyone to know her every emotion. What would be the point?
This is not explaining anything to me. This is making me more confused and pissed off. It’s bad enough that I can’t go home until the police are finished with my apartment, but I’m living this…this wild, overwhelming life with a man I don’t know a thing about.
She looked around his living room.
You have more space in this one room than I do in my entire apartment. What am I supposed to do all day? I can’t work. I don’t know anyone to call. What the fuck am I doing here?

I’m a panther. A werepanther, as a matter of fact. And since I’ve claimed you, you’re my mate, my other half.
She didn’t like the sound of that, but before she could say anything, he continued.
I’m sorry, love, but we were fated to be together, and now it’s my job to protect you and keep you safe.

And what do I do all day long while you’re out storming castles and slaying dragons for me? Be at your beck and call? Be naked when you come home and let you simply fuck me?
She stood up to pace
. That’s simply not going to work for me. I had a life before you came along, and I’m pretty sure I can manage one after you’re gone.
She felt his anger
. And you can take your being pissed off at me and shove it up your ass. I’m not your…your whatever.

You’ll do as I command you, or so help me, Kerry Bowen, I’ll beat your ass and tie you to the bed.

She felt her anger boil over and her body tingle with it. She knew that he felt it too, and heard him saying her name.

Her vision blurred for several seconds. Then she felt her body tighten and ache. Throwing back her head in pain, she screamed. Every muscle in her body felt as if it were tearing apart. Then she felt hands on her body. Someone was screaming her name again, but she couldn’t focus on whom. When she felt sick to her stomach, she leaned over and spilled up her belly, and then everything went black.

~~~

Kerry opened her eyes slowly. She hurt, and in so many places right now that she was sure that she’d been run over by several cars and even a few large trucks. When she tried to lift her hands up, she felt weighed down, and looked down her body. She saw then that she was in a hospital.

“You’re tied to the rails. Let me untie you.” She looked up at the elder Mr. Bowen. “I think you’re safe from hurting yourself now, aren’t you, sweetheart?”

“Where…?” Her throat hurt. When a straw was put in her mouth, she drew hard on it and felt it soothe her raw throat. She looked up at him.

“You’re in the clinic. Reed is just down the hall getting us something to drink. He’ll be right back. How do you feel?” He squeezed her hand as he undid the other tie. “You gave us quite the scare there for a few days. I’m just glad that Khan was there to help you through it.”

She heard the door open, and Mr. Bowen stepped back as Reed approached the bed. Kerry could see the worry on his face, and when she reached up to touch his cheek, he grabbed her hand and held it to his face. She could see tears in his eyes.

“You scared me.” She nodded, not sure what had happened. “When I lost the connection with you, I thought…I have no idea what I thought. Then I heard from Khan. He said you were shifting and you were in a great deal of pain. I came to you immediately, and then when you didn’t wake up, we brought you here.”

“Shifting?” He nodded. “I don’t…I don’t know what you mean. I was angry with you for something. And then…then I hurt.”

“Yes. You shifted. Into a panther. I’m not sure how that happened, if you were carrying a latent gene or if I changed you. I really don’t know, but thankfully you’re all right.” He touched his mouth to hers gently. “Are you hungry?”

Others came into the room. She saw Khan and Walker talking and could hear what they were saying, even though she was pretty sure they were whispering. When Mrs. Bowen touched her arm, she turned to look at her and wondered if she’d help her. She was feeling extremely overwhelmed right now.

“Take deep breaths, my dear. Let it out slowly.” She did as she instructed and felt calmer. Then something moved along her skin, and she looked down. There was no one there.