Ryland (6 page)

“You have a power that I’ve never seen
before. I wanted to talk to you about that as well. I want to know what else
you can do besides toss around a grown man like he’s nothing to you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.
And just so you know, you don’t mean anything to me.” She picked up her bag and
winced when she moved funny. “I’ve seen your kind before. You want, you take. You
need, you take. You want to fuck it, you rape it.”

“Who?”

She looked at him.

“Who did this to you? Or was it Sindy? Is
that what happened to her mate? You helped her become a widow?”

She didn’t answer, but continued
gathering her things. When she went into the kitchen again, she pulled down the
box of tampons and dumped it on the counter. Opening each packet, she took out
the money there and dumped the rest.

“Impressive way to hide money. How much
do you have?”

She handed it to him, all but thirty
dollars. He started to hand it back after counting it.

“Give it to you brother. Tell him I’ll
get him the rest when I have it.” He said he wasn’t going to take her money.
“Good, because it doesn’t belong to you. I said your brother.”

She walked to the door and opened it.
She waited for him to precede her and, when he didn’t, she left first. She was
halfway down the stairs when she heard him cussing and coming after her. Bronwyn
wasn’t going to run; she’d really hurt herself if she tired. But when she got
outside the building, four black SUV’s pulled up and she had to make a choice.

“Stop where you are,”
she told the
male.
“If you come out, they’ll kill you and leave your body here as a
reminder to anyone that sees us to not say anything. And for Christ’s sake,
don’t shift.”

“Who is out there?”

She didn’t answer him as the first man
got out of the front car. She dropped her bag and lifted her hands. He stopped
moving toward her.

“Now Bronwyn, you know that if you run
I’m going to hunt you down again. You really should have stayed at the lab and
let me finish what I started. You’re going to have to work extra hard to pay
for all the damage you did.”

“Fuck off.” She glanced to her right
when the man from another vehicle moved toward her. She moved her hand and he
fell against the black vehicle with his head denting the metal.

She felt them before she saw them. And
she tried to warn them away. But she was too busy trying to keep herself from
getting killed when a streak of tigers were coming into danger. When the one
behind her snarled, she closed her eyes. They were so fucked.

Chapter 5

Ryland had seen what she’d done to the
man at the SUV and he’d nearly cheered her on, but he watched as three more
men, all of them armed, came in from behind her. She’d be captured or dead,
whichever they were there for, in seconds. Ryland reached for his brothers and
told them to come to him. Their response was immediate and without question.

“What the fuck is that?” The man who had
been threatening his mate started for his car when his door slammed shut. He
worked frantically at the handle while he screamed at the other men to save
him. Ryland made a run for him just as his brothers went after the other men.

He knew she was keeping them from being
shot. He also knew it was draining her. When he was grazed by a bullet, just
singeing his fur, he turned to see if she’d let it happen on purpose, but she
was saving his brother Jules from being shot. The man holding the gun had been
lifted nearly ten feet when she dropped him. Then she was looking at the man he
was chasing.

“He’ll leave a bad taste in your mouth
if you kill him. I’m reasonably sure he’s got poison for blood.”

He tripped up and nearly stopped to turn
to her when she made the joke. He nearly had the man when he finally got into
another vehicle. He leapt up on the hood and could smell the bite of urine.

“He wet himself.”

She laughed and he did turn to her then.
He’d never heard her laugh before. Christ, it was like wind chimes. When she
looked at him, Ryland saw her waver. She was getting too weak to save them much
more. Calling his brothers, he had them step up their game and run the men who
were still alive off. The dead were on their own. He moved toward her.

She staggered again, but managed to save
Brock this time. He would have been shot in the head had she not knocked the
shooter into the building and killed him. She was playing for keeps. Ryland had
a feeling these men were as well.

The last car pulled away and he stood
near her. He still hadn’t shifted back, and he wouldn’t until he was sure she
was safe. He nodded to his brothers and thanked them. Jules walked up to her
and bowed. “She saved me. I saw the gun aimed at me and was sure I was dead.” He
looked at Bronwyn before bowing to him. “Christ, she’s fucking beautiful.”

When she collapsed, he moved to catch
her. He was too late to do that, but he did manage to keep her from falling too
hard. She landed on his big body and he waited to see if she would try and roll
off him. When she didn’t, he slid from under her gently and moved to shift back
into his body and clothes. Alistair and Neal stayed with her, guarding her
until he returned.

When everyone had shifted and dressed he
asked someone to bring him his car. He asked Keith to go in the building and
find her a blanket or something to wrap her in. He knew she was going to be
weak. What he didn’t know was how to help her.

“Do you know where that woman is? The
one that was in the hospital with her?” Alistair said he did. “Can you contact
her? Tell her that…I’m not sure what to tell her, but tell her that Bronwyn was
attacked and she fainted again. Ask her if she’ll come to my house and show me
how to care for her.”

Alistair stood staring at him for
several minutes before he spoke. “Who are you, and what have you done with my
brother? Ryland would never have said the words, ‘can you,’ and ‘ask her.’ He
would have said get her and tell her. So again, I ask, who are you?”

Ryland wasn’t amused and told him so. “I
was scared shitless just now and maybe I hit my head. I can demand if you want.
Those men were going to take her to a lab.”

Alistair didn’t say anything as he
looked around then spoke when he looked back at her in his arms. “They’ll come
back. Maybe not today, but they’ll come back here. She knew it too. I heard her
telling us to back the fuck off, but you were telling us to protect her. That’s
the only reason we didn’t stop when she commanded. She’s your female no matter
what she thinks.”

Ryland had heard her telling them to
leave. She’d even told them that he’d said so. And he was pretty sure that had
he not been talking to them as well, they would have. The car pulled up, he
carried her to it, and put her in the back. When Alistair got in the front to
drive, he stayed in the back with her.

“She’s not going to be happy to be with
you again.”

Ryland agreed.

“Can I make a suggestion?”

“Yes. But I’m pretty sure I know what it
is. You think I should try not to be a bastard.”

Alistair looked at him in the rear view
mirror and nodded.

“I thought of that too. But she’s going
to be spitting mad and I’m pretty sure I’m going to lose my temper again.”

“Then I hope to Christ your will is all
in order. She doesn’t strike me as the ask questions first and kill you later
sort of person.”

Ryland silently agreed with his brother.
He looked down at her. Jules was right, she was beautiful. Her hair was a light
curly red. She kept it up in a ponytail, he noticed, and wondered how long it
was. Would she spread it out over his pillow when he made love to her? Frowning,
he tried to think of anything but her and bed in the same sentence.

Her skin looked soft, and he touched it
just below her eye. There was a bruise there and he wondered when she’d gotten
it. Today or when she’d saved Alistair? He looked at her hands and wondered
what made her so powerful. He knew now that she had a great deal of control or
she would have killed more than she’d hurt. And she had hurt them. He looked at
Alistair when they got on the highway.

“Do we have anything on those men? Plate
numbers or anything we can search?” Alistair said he’d had Brock pull VIN
numbers off all the vehicles that had been left behind, as well as plate
numbers.

“I’m going to have someone from the
offices run them when I get back tomorrow. I want to find them as badly as you
do.”

Ryland started to agree and thought of
something. “Don’t do it from the offices. They might be looking for someone to
do that. We’ll run them, but not from any of our computers.” Alistair nodded. “Do
you still know that computer guy? The one that helped us a few years ago
putting up the firewalls?”

“Yes. I’ll give him a call and have him
see.” They pulled off the highway and onto a street he was as familiar with as
his own hotel room. “I didn’t think taking her to your hotel was a good idea.
You have maids and other people in and out of there all the time and someone
might say something. Here is better.”

It might be safer for her, but not for him.
His mom knew who she was to him and would more than likely go to great lengths
to throw them together. When they pulled up in front of the house, a gurney was
brought out and he looked at Alistair.

“I wanted her to prepare a room for her.
And one for you. She also called in Uncle Joey so that he could come over and
look at her. He said he’d be honored to see to your mate.”

“She’s not my mate.”

Alistair laughed and nodded.

“She’s not. And she might not be either.
She’s stubborn and pigheaded.”

“Yes,” Alistair said as he helped bring
her things in. “You and she are a perfect match. Though I don’t think I’d say
that to her. She would probably hurt you.”

He was afraid of that too.

~~~

She woke and knew that she was no longer
at her home. Nor was she in the hospital. Opening her eyes, she looked at the
man in the chair who appeared to be sleeping. The second she moved in the bed,
he stood up.

“I have to pee.” She didn’t have the
energy to be polite. And with him, she didn’t feel she wanted to be, not really.
When he came to the side of the bed, she glared up at him.

“I want to help you. I’m going to pick
you up and carry—”

“No. Christ, don’t do that. When you
pick me up, it…you bend me. And that puts pressure on my sores. Just back off
and let me do this myself. I’ve been doing it for a long time.” She tried to
sit up.

“The bed is softer than you’re used to.”
She glared at him again. “I can help you. Stop being so damned stubborn and let
me.”

Bronwyn knew that she had no choice. It
was either he helped her or someone else did and she had a feeling he wouldn’t
go and get anyone else for her, so she would wet the bed. Not really an option,
but she was contemplating it seriously.

 “You wet the bed and I’ll make you tell
my mom you ruined her mattress.” Ryland laughed. “And no, I can’t read your
mind, though you seem to be able to communicate with me and my streak.”

She was getting desperate. “I’m going to
sit up and you just stand there and keep me from falling over when I do. And if
you try anything, they’ll be picking parts of you up for decades.”

She couldn’t do it. When he leaned over
her she stiffened, not sure what he was going to do to her. When he put his
arms under her shoulders and at her legs, she lifted her hand to shove him
away.

“Just move your legs to the side of the
bed as I pull you up. I can do it slow or fast. Tell me which you prefer.” He
was so close she could see the dark lashes at his eyes and the colors of his
eyes. “Bronwyn?”

“Fast.” Before she could take a breath,
he had her sitting there, her legs over the side and her feet touching the
floor. Taking several deep breaths, she knew that if he did anything to her now,
she’d not be able to stop him.

“I’m going to put my hands on your hips.
Can you put your good arm on me?” She nodded. “I’m going to lift you straight
up.”

She looked at him. Sweat beaded on his
forehead and he looked to be in a great deal of pain. She wondered why he was
hurting and asked him if he’d been shot.

“No. Touching you like this…it’s not
easy.” She looked down, hurt. “Bronwyn, it’s not that I don’t want to touch
you. Christ, you have no idea how much I want to, but I know that you hurt.”

So, she thought, if she wasn’t bleeding
and weak, he’d take her. She nodded to him and put her hand on his shoulder. She
felt his hands slide up her thighs and he cupped her ass. She wanted to tell
him to back the fuck off, but she was suddenly standing.

She screamed. There was no help for it. Every
part of her body hurt and she dug her fingers deep into his shoulder. Her
breathing hard was making her dizzy and when he took a step back, she took one
forward. Not soon enough, they were at a door.