Unstoppable Force (Force of Nature Series) (7 page)

Connor looked over at the foreman he’d
hired the day before yesterday. Walter Nolan had worked miracles in a short
amount of time. He nodded. “I know it’s just an inspection to see if we can get
it out this way, but I want him to see what I need done. If you leave me a list
of things for tonight, I’ll work on it.”

Connor had been sleeping at the empty
shell for two nights. Not so much sleeping really, but napping only to get up
and work some more on the house. He was exhausted, but he needed to have the
house finished sooner rather than later. Then he’d spend time getting to know
his mate.

He’d seen how his brothers were with
their mates. Besotted came to mind. They couldn’t make a move without checking
in with them or making sure they were all right. He wanted that too, but now he
had things to get finished. The house for one thing, and he was expanding his
business. He couldn’t do those things and be all lovey dovey with his mate. Besides,
he was pretty sure she was too sore to get to know him anyway.

He looked up when someone cleared his
throat. He thought maybe he’d fallen asleep standing up. He looked at Austin.

“You been busy.” They both looked at the
shell as Austin continued. “How much longer do you think it’ll be?”

“Nolan says about two months. Less if
the weather holds. If we can get the walls up, he said working inside will be a
breeze.” He walked alongside Austin when they entered what would be the main
doorway. “I’ve made some adjustments to the original plans. When I started
this, I didn’t have a mate and figured that I could add on later.”

Austin nodded. Connor thought there was
something odd about his brother being here, but he was too tired to try and
work it out. Besides, Austin would eventually get around to whatever brought
him out here this late in the day. Yawning again, they walked toward where the
kitchen would be.

“Do you think she can cook? Lou, do you
think she knows how to cook?”

Connor shrugged.

“I’m betting she can if given the right
motivation. She probably hasn’t had a great deal of stove time being on the run
like she has been.”

Connor nodded. He was simply too tired
to do this. “Spill it. I’m exhausted, pissed off, and need to eat. I’d like
nothing more than to go on a run and not stop until I’m so far away no one can
bother me.”

“She’s gone.” It took Connor’s mind a
couple of seconds to figure out what he was saying. Then he clarified. “Lou. She
wasn’t working so I had her taken back to the jail. She left a few hours ago.”

“You did what?” He turned to his older
brother and felt his beast snarl at him. “You sent my mate back to jail? What
the fuck for?”

Austin stretched. He was bigger than
Connor and his wolf was master over his. He started to back down, but he had
taken his mate. No one touched what was his.

“Does she know what you’re doing? Does
she know where you are?”

Connor heard him, but wasn’t capable of
answering. All he could think of was that she was gone.

“Connor, answer me.”

“No. I was going to tell her. You had no
right.” He moved closer only to hear the low growl from him. “You get her now. Bring
her back to the house. If you don’t want to help me with her then I’ll do—”

“Do what? What is it you’ll do with her?
Bring her here so she can sleep in the cold with you? How will you keep her
wound clean? Spit on her?”

Connor lunged. He didn’t like what was
spewing from Austin’s mouth. Not that Austin wasn’t right in what he was
saying, he just didn’t like it. He shifted in mid air and it still wasn’t as
fast as Austin.

It was over almost as soon as it
started. Austin had his wolf down and his powerful jaws clamped tightly around
his throat in no time. And every time he moved or tired to throw him off, he
would simply bite a little more. His wolf snarled, but Connor knew he had lost.
His brother spoke to him through their connection.

“I’ll let you up if you behave.”
Austin sounded
like he was reprimanding one of his children.
“I mean it, Connor. I can hold
you here all night if you want.”

“She’s mine. You had no right.”
He hated the way
he sounded
. “What the fuck were you thinking letting her go?”

“That you didn’t want her.”
That brought
him up short. He told Austin he would behave and he backed off. They both lay
there panting for several minutes.
“Do you want her? As far as I can tell,
you’ve never mated with her. She doesn’t even have your scent on her. So far as
I can tell, the only thing that you’ve done is carry her to the bed. There is
no reason for us to keep her around when she didn’t want to be here in the
first place if you have decided to abandon her.”

Abandoned her. He supposed that, in a
way, he had. He’d known that his mom would make sure she was fed. After this
morning, he knew that she’d been making sure of that. He had felt like shit
when she’d told him that the girl couldn’t eat anything. But he had thought he
didn’t have time to deal with it right now.

“She’s going to have to come back here. I
can’t…I fucked up.”

Austin’s wolf nodded then snorted.

“Can you have her brought back here?”

“No. You want her, then you go and get
her. But know this. If you don’t do something toward making her welcome or at
least knowledgeable about us, then I’ll send her back and forbid you to have
contact with her.”

Connor wasn’t sure he could do that, but
nodded anyway. He looked over the house again and decided that he’d have to
have someone else finish it. And quickly. He turned to his brother.
“I have
the funds to do this now, but not…do you have some of the names of the
companies that finished up the houses this summer? I need to get this completed
now instead of fucking around like I’ve been doing.”

“I think I can help you out there.”
Austin stretched
and so did Connor.
“I was hoping you’d put up more of a fight. I was all
prepared to kick your ass a few times. Disappointed in you, little brother.”

Connor was sure he meant in the fight
they’d not had, but he was also disappointed in himself. He’d done his mate a
great disservice. He’d left her. Connor knew that his intentions were good,
just not sound. When he and Austin took off toward the woods, Connor decided
that starting tonight, he’d make sure his mate was taken care of. And taken
care of by him.

~~~

Lou walked around the cell again. She
wasn’t hanging onto the walls as much as she had been and felt pretty proud of
herself. Of course she hurt like hell and she did trip up over the pain on
occasion, but she was getting stronger. It had taken her longer to heal this
time, but she knew that lying around waiting wasn’t going to get her to the
point where she could run again.

Lying down on the small cot, she covered
up with the thin blanket. The one at the Force house had been nicer, warmer,
but she hadn’t wanted to get used to the luxury. She knew that it was simply a
matter of time before she’d be released and then out on her own again. She did
feel bad about the woman, Mrs. Force. The woman had cried when she’d left.

Lou remembered her own mother. She had
been beautiful. But when she’d looked at her, she never looked anything but
disappointed. And embarrassed. Her parents had been ashamed of what she could
do. She remembered the last night she’d been their daughter…

“You aren’t to let a single person know
what a monstrosity you are. You keep your hands in your pockets and your mouth
shut. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Lou had been all of four,
but had known then that what she could do was something no one else could do. “I
won’t touch anyone.”

“See that you don’t.” Her mother had
jerked her arm hard and glared right in her face. “If I hear one single word
about what you know about someone I will put you up for adoption so fast you
won’t be able to take any of those pretty things in your room with you.”

Lou had nodded. As the first guest
arrived, Lou found herself a corner and sat on her hands. She didn’t even move
when she was told dinner was ready and waiting until everyone was in the large
dining room.

She knew that her parents only let her
eat with them because they wanted to show people how wonderful they were. She’d
had the best clothes, the best books, and furniture. They had even made sure
when the time was right she was going to the best schools. But even the best of
everything couldn’t have stopped what had happened.

She had reached for the glass of water
when so had the man sitting next to her. He’d wrapped his larger hand around
hers and she felt the connection snap into place. It only took seconds for what
he’d done, what he’d been doing for a long time, to run though her mind and
before she knew it, she was screaming. Then everything blacked out.

When she opened her eyes her mother was
slapping her cheeks. Her face was angry red and tears stained her face. Lou had
thought in that moment that her mother was worried so she’d reached out to
touch her cheek. To assure her that she was fine. But her mother had slapped
her hand away and recoiled from her.

“You monster.”

Lou lay there, stunned.

“What the hell were you doing? I told
you, I explained to you that you were not to touch anyone. Didn’t I?” Before
Lou could nod, her mother slapped her again. “You are nothing to me. Had I
known before you were born what you were, I’d have aborted you instantly.”

Lou had looked at her father, hoping for
some help from him and she saw him talking to the police. She knew then that
she’d said what the man had been up to. She knew then that there was no help
coming from him either.

By the next morning she was in a large
house with other children. None of them were like her, but they knew what she
could do. Her mother had announced it to the room when Lou had been shown to
her cot.

“Stay away from this girl,” she’d said
in a loud voice. “She’ll steal your soul and make you do things that will get
you into trouble. She’s a monster, one that lays in wait for you to be close to
her then she will attack you.”

The children hadn’t ever come near her. And
the others, newer ones that had been brought in, were told the same thing. After
that Lou had tried daily to get away until finally she was sent out into the
world to live with foster parents. And they were no better than the children.

Then there had been the Hermans. The
last people she’d been shipped off to. Mrs. Herman had only wanted her to
babysit the other five children in the home, but the mister had wanted her to
give him information. The kind that made him money…

Lou looked up when someone opened her
cell door.

“I’ve come to take you home.”

She looked away from Connor and the man
standing next to him. She wasn’t overly thrilled with the judge standing there
either.

“Come on. I’ve paid your fine and you
can—”

“I’m fine right here.” She was too. “You
can get your money back from him if you want, but I’m staying here.”

The judge laughed. Both she and Connor
glared at him, but he didn’t seem to mind. Connor moved out of the older man’s
way as he moved into her cell.

“Can’t let you stay here, girl. You have
to go with this man until things are settled. And you’ll be better off there
than here in this little cold cell.” He was speaking low, but she knew that the
man behind him could hear. “Nancy pulled some strings with me and I shouldn’t
have done it, but…well, she can talk a good game when she needs something.”

“That other man, Austin, he said that he
would break my contract with him and I was free to sit out my sentence here. I’m
not leaving.” She looked at Connor when he growled. “You have something to say
then say it. I’m not leaving.”

The judge stood up and walked out. She
sat up on the cot when Connor moved into the cell with her. She watched the
older man move down the hall and out of sight. She glared at Connor when he
towered over her.

“You will mind me. I said that you’re
coming home with me and you damned well will.” She stood up. “Good girl.”

Lou was just getting ready to give him a
piece of her mind when she suddenly had the urge to lean into his neck. He
smelled good, delicious even. When he gripped her arms she thought he was going
to push her away from him and was surprised and pleased when he pulled her
closer.

“Lick my throat.” His voice was low,
sexy, and warm. “Lick along the vein and taste me.”

She did as he’d commanded and moaned.
Christ, he tasted like sex. Before she could pull away, he tangled his fingers
into her hair and held her there. She thought he said “bite,” but didn’t know
for sure until he said it again.

Biting him seemed like a wonderful idea.
The thought of sinking her teeth into his flesh sounded good, very good as a
matter of fact. Licking him again, she nipped at his flesh and was rewarded by
a deep rumbling from his mouth, a groan that made her wet to hear it again.