Thomas (14 page)

“
Do about her? Why,
nothing. She will do what she pleases, when she pleases, because
she is not your child. The sooner you stop treating her like one,
the sooner you’ll be able to work things out. Oh, and I’d stop
trying to contact her. The pain will only get worse.” Thomas
started to object. “You have treated her as a child, Thomas. And
have been since you met her. You would punish her for…I believe she
said you called her style a pig sty.”

He flushed but nodded. “You’ve seen
her messes. You’ve even commented on how messy she is, but were
proud that she could find anything at a moment’s
notice.”

“
So I have.” Nildale
opened the door but didn’t go out it. “She is not happy, young man.
I believe you call it depressed. I’ve never seen her as such,
moping about because she is saddened by your lack of faith in her,
making her keep herself to meet your expectations. Did you ask what
she wanted from you?”

He hadn’t. Frankly, he’d never thought
of it. “She cleaned up my room. Then she left me. She’s been hurt
and I can’t contact her without causing me a great deal of
pain.”

Nildale smiled. “You sound
like a spoiled child. She cleaned
my
room. I can’t contact her without
pain to
me
. What
of her pain? What of her things she’s given up to live in your
home? Do you think she might be wanting something of herself in
your place? Perhaps something that she loves or needs? I think you
have been thinking of only how this has changed your life and not
what this has done to hers.”

“
I didn’t mean it like
that.” But he had now that he’d thought of it. Never had he thought
of it as their home. As their bedroom. He’d never once taken into
consideration that she might want to have a different bedroom,
something she might like to eat. Instead he’d been harping on
things that he wanted. When he looked up to ask Nildale what he
could do now, the man was gone. And Thomas was no closer to
figuring out how to contact his mate then he’d been before. But
now…Christ now he had a whole set of new problems. He’d really
fucked up.

“
We have an assignment.”
He nodded to Misha as he walked by his office. “We leave in
ten.”

Ten minutes. He had ten minutes to
contact Linyah and see how she was and if he could…well, he had no
idea what he could do but he had to do something. Thomas decided
that he’d been whining long enough. It was time to focus on this
relationship. He was pretty sure there was more to it than just
sex, incredible as it had been. If they were going to make this
work, then it was time to change himself too.

He reached for Nic just as he was
climbing into the car to leave for the airport.

I can’t talk to you right
now. I have something going on
.

Call me when you
can
. When Nic said he would, Thomas tried
for information that would keep him from worrying.
Is Linyah all right
?

No
. And with that, the connection was closed. And as tightly as
Linyah had closed it earlier.

~~~

Kendra sat very still. She wanted to
get up and hug her sister to her, but wasn’t even sure that Linyah
would allow it. It was difficult to talk to her at times and
touching her, loving her, was even harder than that. Instead she
watched as she suffered through another round of
stitches.

“
How do you not heal when
you have a mate? It is the way of our kind.” Linyah growled at her,
and Kendra, for whatever reason, thought it was funny. “You sound
like the dog we have at the castle. Growling because someone has
taken your bone.”

“
I fucking hurt.” Kendra
nodded and watched as the doctor who was caring for her sister
wiped at his brow again. The man was beside himself in fear. Linyah
had tossed the other doctor, an idiot for sure, across the room
when he’d told her that she was going to have to suffer a bit
longer.

“
He’s trying his best, but
I think you have frightened him.” Linyah growled again. “If you
think that is helping, you are gravely mistaken. You are making him
slower for fear you will harm him again.”

Linyah had grabbed this doctor around
the throat when she’d asked for something to drink. He’d said
politely that he’d rather she waited until…and that was all he’d
been able to get before she grabbed him. Kendra had begged her to
let him go, and the man stood beside the bed and told her it was
because she might need something more for pain, and he feared she’d
be sick if she took anything.

Linyah had sat as still as she could,
but she’d really been torn apart by the mad man she’d brought in
several hours ago. Kendra tried to think of something to get her
mind off the pain, and smiled when she thought of her
male.

“
You and your male, you
are getting along nicely now?” Linyah didn’t answer, so Kendra
continued. “He’s very nice. I have not spoken to him as yet other
than to be introduced to him, but Mother likes him. So does Father,
as a matter of fact.”

“
Mother likes everyone.”
Linyah hissed in pain but didn’t touch the doctor this time. “He’s
too controlling. I have to keep my things put away. Do you have any
idea how long it takes to make sure things are as neat as he wants
them? Half my day is spent moving things that I don’t care about
enough to give a second thought to in a place that will please him.
I don’t have time for that shit. I have a job.”

Her scream had Kendra standing up.
That’s when she got a good look at what her back looked like.
Dizziness had her grabbing for the table that had been rolled next
to the bed when the doctor came in.

“
He tore you open.” Linyah
didn’t answer, and Kendra moved closer to the bed. She’d been told
that Linyah had been hurt and that she needed to be stitched
together, but not how extensive the wounds were. She looked at the
doctor.

“
I’m…she has passed out
again, my lady.” Kendra nodded and asked him if this was the worst
of her wounds. “No, my lady. Her belly was opened to her intestine.
Her left arm was nearly torn from her body, as well as her left leg
sustained major damage when the man took a whip to her. The major
wounds have healed themselves to where she will not lose any more
blood, but she is in terrible shape. I fear for her.”

“
I do as well. But why is
she not healing?” He said he didn’t know. “I thought that with a
male in her life, she’d heal faster and would not be harmed as
badly.”

“
He has not accepted her.”
Kendra turned to her advisor Libby. “He has mated with her, bonded
too in the way of their kind, but he thinks of her more as a
problem than someone he will spend his life loving. Her wounds will
never heal so long as she is not a part of his life, a part of his
heart.”

“
Why has he…? I don’t
understand. He has taken her but not into his heart?” Libby nodded
and handed her a thick file. She looked at the first few pages
before looking up. “What is this?”

“
Notes he has left her. I
have…I have taken it upon myself to collect them when he writes
them. I do not believe Lady Linyah has seen all of them. But the
few that she has, she was most hurt by them.”

Clean up the toothpaste.
Put lid on said tube of paste. Screw the lid on the shampoo bottle
so that it’s tight. Hang towel on drying rack, not the shower rod.
If you are the last out of the bed, make it.
The lists were long and sounding more and more sarcastic as
they went. When Kendra looked at the last two, her blood boiled
over and she handed the file to Libby.

“
I would be pissed too if
he left me a note not only explaining where the dirty socks go, but
including pictures of each item as well.” Kendra looked down at her
sister as the doctor continued to work, but at a faster pace now.
“She’s not happy, is she?”

“
Nay, my lady, she is not.
I have seen her upset before, even angry to the point of murder,
but I have never seen her so unhappy.” Libby nodded toward Linyah.
“Shall I send for her male?”

“
I don’t think so. He is
not to see her unless I approve. If he’s allowed to come here by
anyone other than me, I will have the head of the person who
disobeyed me.” Libby looked shocked, then smiled. “She will not be
bothered with a male that treats her this way.”

“
Yes, my lady. I will
ensure that your orders are carried out.” As she left her, the
doctor said he had done all he could.

“
She will not fall ill
again, will she?” He paled and took a step back. “You do know what
I’ve done to the other who would dare to harm what is
mine?”

“
I do, my lady, I do.” He
swallowed hard before continuing. “I have made sure that all of her
wounds are cleaned and that each stitch is carefully put in place.
She will heal nicely, though I’m thinking very slowly.”

Kendra left the man there with orders
to call her as soon as Linyah woke. A talk between them was well
overdue, and she was tired of walking around on egg shells. As she
made her way to her rooms, Kendra was thinking of all the times her
sister had cut her out of her life. She knew that she’d done the
same, and even being queen was no reason for them to have drifted
this far apart. As children they’d been inseparable. Now…now they
were like strangers. When a man stepped in front of her, she nearly
screamed but then saw who it was. With her hand over her pounding
heart, she smiled at him.

“
Timmer, you scared me. I
have had people looking for you. Didn’t you get my messages?” He
nodded and smiled. But Kendra had a feeling he wasn’t all that
happy. “You should go now. I don’t have time at the moment to talk
to you but soon. Someone should contact you…. How did you even get
into the castle walls?”

“
I came for you to give me
what I was promised. I don’t like to be lied to, my lady, and you
have done that. You told me that she’d be mine and now she’s with
another.” Kendra started to tell him what she’d done for him. She’d
paid all his debts off, which was the real reason he wanted to
marry Linyah. She’d given him money for his sisters’ educations.
Kendra also had made sure that his family had all the health
benefits that she and her family had. But before she could tell
him, he pulled out a long blade. “I will cut your head from your
shoulders if I do not get her for me. I want her now. You made a
promise, and I will be given my due.”

The blade sliced out and she felt her
body ripple with the pain. He’d cut her arms, belly, and hip. The
blood poured from her almost as quickly as she healed. But she was
weak, and he must have known it. Before she could summon the guard
to help her, he hit her in the head. Blackness swallowed her
up.

Chapter 8

Linyah opened her eyes to see not just
her mother but her father, Misha, and Nic. She knew that something
had happened. Sitting up, she cried out in pain but didn’t let it
slow her. Misha was helping her lay back down before she could
think he shouldn’t be touching her.

“
What’s happened?” Her
father turned to her, and she could see the tears on his face. Her
dad was a strong and powerful man. And if something brought this
much sadness to him, then she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what
had happened. “Dad?”

“
Kendra is missing.
We…there was a note, but we’ve not been able to figure out where
he’s taken her.” She asked who. “Timmer. He talks about how she’d
made a promise and now she was going to take it back. He is most
angry. He hurt her too. The man is going to pay for this. If it’s
the last thing I do, I’m going to make him pay.”

Linyah started to rise again, but
Misha pushed her back to the bed. “You do that again and I’ll make
you regret it every time you have to take a piss. My sister is
missing and I mean to find her.”

He grinned at her but said nothing as
she stood up. If there was a place on her body that didn’t hurt,
she didn’t think it was doing a wonderful job of hiding from her.
As she moved slowly to the smallish room that served as a bathroom,
she started talking. It was that or sob.

“
When did this happen?” No
one answered her, so she looked at Nic. “When did she get taken?
Get me details I can work with. I’m assuming that a lot of time has
passed while you let me sleep?”

“
Yes. She was taken three
days ago.” Linyah nodded, waiting. There was more; she’d bet her
life on it. “She was cut badly, I would say, from the amount of
blood that was left behind. And when he left with her, he killed
two of her royal guard as well as injuring Libby. She’s the one
that called us. Otherwise we might not have gotten a start when we
did. And we have everyone out looking for her.”

“
And just what sort of
start do you have?” She wanted to ask where Thomas was, but she
guessed he was thrilled to not have her at his house. Instead she
continued to ask questions of Nic as the rest stood around. When
she moved into the bathroom to change into her uniform, Linyah
looked at herself in the mirror.

She was a mess. Not just that, but she
looked like she’d been run over several times by a large stone and
then flipped over to be run over again. The stitches were clean and
neatly put in, but there were too many of them for her to count.
The murderer had done a number on her before she’d been able to
kill him. Turning her back to the mirror over the sink, she
finished dressing and then moved out of the room to see that
everyone but Misha had left.