Bam turned back to Delilah, “Hi, Delilah. I’m Bam. I’m a Bear. This is our clan, and our Alpha is Kaid. You don’t have to be afraid no more. We are all gonna take care of you and make sure you’re safe.”
Delilah simply looked at Bam for a few moments, seemingly sizing him up. But she wasn’t exactly sizing him up, well, not exactly. She was trying to determine if he was lying to her or not. Trying to figure out why these people would be kind to her without reason. Surely they wanted something from her. No one did anything just to be kind. At least she’d never known anyone who did.
Able to determine that he told her the truth, she didn’t smell a lie, but unable to determine why they’d take care of her, she asked again, “Why?”
Bam just smiled at her, “Because you’re Kaid’s Mate. That makes you family. We take care of family. That’s how it works.”
At mention of Kaid, her attention turned back to the beautiful man standing next to her. “You are a strong Alpha. You have a Dragon under your Bear.”
Kaid wasn’t sure if he should explain the situation or continue to allow her to believe that he was strong enough to force a Dragon under his Alpha status. Yes, he was a strong Alpha, but a Dragon never bowed to any, unless he particularly chose to.
Daniel took that choice from him, “Yes, he is. And he is fair. When I found Avaleigh, he allowed me to join his clan in order to claim my Mate.”
Delilah took a moment to absorb this new piece of information, then she turned on Kaid, “You are a stupid Alpha. You allowed the Dragon to claim a human. Dragons kill human females. Humans are weak; they cannot stand up against a Dragon. She had no choice, and you helped him.”
“Weak my ass!” Avaleigh shouted as she stomped her way over to Delilah. “Let me tell you one thing, Missy; I am not weak! I have complete control over that Dragon.” Daniel started to interrupt her. “Do not open your mouth, Daniel!” she told him, moving one hand from her hip where they were sitting as she lectured Delilah, to point it directly at Daniel.
“Yes, my love,” he answered her grinning.
Delilah watched his reaction, with one eyebrow raised. A new respect for this little human beginning to grow.
“As I was saying, I control my Dragon. He does not tell me what to do. He does not order me about. He is Mine. I love him. And he loves me, and therein lies my control of that huge-ass beast.” Dragon chuffed lovingly, rumbling at Avaleigh. “Yes, Dragon, I love you too,” she said without even turning around to look at him.
“And I may be human,” she continued, “but I certainly had a choice. I chose Daniel. And as far as Kaid…, he is a good and fair Alpha. A little stubborn sometimes, but he is a good Male. You would see that if you’d give him half a chance. And one more thing, don’t call my family stupid. They are all mine, and I wouldn't trade one of them for anything! Not even Mav!”
“Yeah!” Mav piped in, “Hey, wait…” he added when he realized that Avaleigh’s statement could be taken as an insult.
Delilah stood there listening to Avaleigh, a smile spreading across her face with each word she spoke to her, “Yes, this is good. I like you much better now, female. You have grown strong.”
Avaleigh froze. “You know me?”
“Yes, a little. I have seen you.”
Daniel stepped up to Avaleigh and placed his hands on her shoulders to offer his support, and to better hear where this female knew his Avaleigh from.
“From where? Where have you seen me?”
“In Lurin’s basement. I was locked in the cell across from yours.”
Kaid’s heart dropped into his boots. His Mate had been at Lurin’s all along, and he’d left her there? Surely not. “How long were you at Lurin’s?” Kaid barely choked out.
She looked at Kaid standing uncomfortably near her side. She shrugged one shoulder, “Always.”
Kaid just gaped at her, “Always? What do you mean, Always?”
“Just that, Alpha. Always.”
“About that, Kaid. I didn’t get to finish telling you, Son. After I gathered everything up and packed it into the back of my truck up on the mountain, I was about ready to leave, and I started to hear this banging noise. Real faint and off in the distance like. Waited a few seconds longer and there it was again. I decided I’d come this far, I may as well figure out what the noise was, too. I followed it to a door hidden in the slab of the garage. I pulled it open, went down and found this Girlie.” He indicated Delilah. “She was sitting on the floor, dazed, leaning against the bars of her cell, banging on them with a metal dish. At first I didn't know what to make of her; then, I saw the automatic feeder on the wall and the waterer. Had her set up like an animal. I knew then that she was also being held like ya’ll was. I was afraid at first that maybe she was dangerous, but then I realized that she was a prisoner, like ya’ll had been. I explained to her that I was going to set her free. I was going to see some friends of mine, and they were just like her. I didn’t know what she was yet, but I knew if Lurin held her that she had to be like you or Avaleigh.” He stopped to look at Delilah again, “All she said was, ‘Do you have food?’” I broke her out of that damn cell and loaded her in the truck. We stopped at my house long enough for her to eat and get cleaned up and headed out.”
Kaid was barely managing to control his emotions. He could not fathom that his Mate had endured such treatment, nor that he had been there, where she was, and left her there when he escaped. “How long were you without food, Sweetheart?”
“Don’t know. Three or four times sunlight came through the window at the top of my cell.”
“What did they feed you?” Kaid asked.
“Squares, brown ones. White ones. Sometimes circles.”
“Cereal?!” Bane shouted the question from the porch, trying to figure out if that was what she described “He fed you fucking cereal? In an automatic feeder? Is that all he ever gave you?”
Again, Delilah shrugged, “One of them was usually there to feed me. But when I was difficult, they would turn on the feeder instead of bringing me food. I didn’t mind it so much. The dry food was not bad. When they brought cooked food, it was bad. And the water, the water was always bad.”
Sadie had moved closer to Delilah, “Honey, what do you mean ‘bad’?”
Delilah looked at the lady now speaking to her; she looked like a nice lady, so she decided to talk to her, “Bad. It made me sleep. And then bad things would happen. So I liked the dry squares and circles. They didn’t make me sleep.”
Avaleigh had gone white, knowing exactly what Delilah spoke of, remembering her own private hell, “He drugged your food and water. That’s what you mean by bad.”
Delilah looked at Avaleigh, but said nothing. She didn’t have to; her silence was confirmation enough.
“Baby, let’s get you inside and get you something to eat,” Kaid told her.
She looked at him and truly smiled for the first time since she’d gotten out of the truck, “You have food?! Yes, I will let you feed me! Let us go inside,” she started toward the house, pausing to grab Kaid’s hand and place it on her arm just above her elbow as he had tried to do before. “You may escort me.”
He smiled at her and started up the stairs with her practically leading the way, when suddenly she stopped. She turned to Avaleigh, “It is not bad, is it?”
Avaleigh closed her eyes briefly, trying to gather her strength, “No, Delilah. It’s not bad. There is no bad here. Not ever.”
Delilah smiled a brilliant smile at Avaleigh, turned and resumed her march into the house as she allowed Kaid to “escort” her, though she was practically dragging him behind her.
Goldy spoke up, “Why don’t we all go on in and have a bite to eat? Amos, come on in. You’re family here, just make yourself at home.”
Everybody started moving toward the house, smiling shakily and talking, trying to recover from the shock of Delilah and how she had come to be among them. All except Maverik who stalked off in the direction of Bane and Janie’s halfway
completed home.
“Mav, where are you headed, Brother?” Daniel called after him.
“Going to look for what’s left of Lurin’s ashes.”
“Why in the hell would you try to find any of Lurin’s ashes? Surely they’re all gone by now.”
“Want to kill that fucker all over again. Can’t. Going to see if I can find an ash or two to piss on.”
Daniel barked out a laugh, “Can’t say I blame you any, not at all. If you find some, save a few for Delilah to piss on, just in case she’d like to.”
They both smiled when they heard her melodic, silken voice call from inside the house, “I will like to do this, too!”
Chapter 4
As the clan filed into the kitchen and took their seats, Sadie went to the refrigerator and started pulling out things to throw together for a quick meal. Avaleigh started to help her, still clearly shaken. “No, Sweetie. I’ve got this; you sit with your man. Let me take care of you for a change.” Avaleigh tried to smile at Sadie, but it was a poor attempt, “You sure, Sadie?”
“Absolutely, you go sit, Hon.”
Sadie sliced up some cheese and some salami and set it on the table with some crackers and a bunch of fruit she’d cut up earlier that day. “Here, ya’ll snack on that while I warm up the gumbo.”
Delilah reached out at the same time that Bane did, to put a little on a plate for Janie, and Delilah snatched her hand back, tucking it into her lap, looking at Bane, her eyes huge.
“Sorry, Delilah, I didn’t mean to startle you. Go ahead, take whatever you want.”
Delilah looked at Avaleigh, who was now sitting in Daniel’s lap, but she didn't say anything.
“It’s okay. You can take as much or as little as you like. There is no punishment. There are no rules. If you are hungry, eat. If not, you don’t have to,” Avaleigh told her.
Still Delilah didn’t reach for any food. “Lilah, take some. Here’s a plate; load it up with whatever you want,” Kaid held the plate out for her to take. She didn’t.
“Kaid, Son, I told you she was gonna need some guidance. From what I can tell, she’s been there since she was a little one, ain't never been exposed to anybody but Lurin and Slatterly,” Amos told him.
Bam was watching all this, trying to figure out why she wouldn't take the food when she was so obviously hungry. He’d tried to talk to her Beast, but the poor thing was so confused by all the new people and places that she wasn't sure how to behave, so she just watched Bam when his Bear tried to speak to her, no response at all.
Avaleigh shifted on Daniel’s lap, reaching out a hand to Delilah, “Why aren’t you eating, Delilah? Talk to me.”
Delilah hesitated for a moment; she briefly touched her fingertips to Avaleigh’s, “I have nothing to trade. And what I do have, I don’t wish to trade anymore.” She looked up at Avaleigh, “Do I have to trade favors for food here, too?” She looked down at her folded hands in her lap,“Because if I do, I don’t want to be here either.”
Kaid had been quiet until now. His Bear at odds with all the emotions he was trying to sift through. They’d found their Mate. He should be rejoicing. But he’d left his Mate behind in Hell when he and Avaleigh had escaped Lurin’s hold. The fact that they hadn’t been aware of Delilah meant nothing; he believed that he should have felt her there. He and his Bear went back and forth from elation, to guilt, to fear. Yep, fear. They were afraid that once Delilah realized that he’d left her behind, she’d refuse them. And if she did that, he could never blame her. So they’d been quiet, struggling with their thoughts, but at her inference that she’d had to trade favors, and he knew what kind of favors she spoke of, to Lurin and even Slatterly in exchange for food, Kaid’s Bear lost it. He snarled so loudly that everybody jumped. His face was just short of shifting, his teeth were protruding, his nose and jaw somewhat elongated. His muscles straining against his clothing. He reached over Delilah, snatched the platter of cheese and salami from the middle of the table, and placed it directly in front of her. His voice was barely recognizable as he took her hand and placed it on the edge of the platter, still holding her fingers in his, “You will never trade anything for any reason. This food is yours. This table is yours. This whole fucking house is yours. You make your own decisions here, about everything. No more trading, no more bargains. Everything on your terms. Do you understand me, Delilah?”
She didn’t answer, just continued to look at him, unsure.
“Any fucking body tries to make you do anything that is not your own idea, I’ll kill them. Do you understand me? You are safe. You are protected. You will never hurt again. I will kill anything that threatens you.” Then a little bit softer, trying to soothe her, “Do you understand?”
Delilah looked at him for a moment longer, then brightened suddenly, “Because we are family, and that’s what family does, right?” she looked at Bam then back at Kaid as she said it, remembering what Bam had explained earlier.
It wasn’t quite what he was trying to get across, but if it made her relax for the time being, he was okay with it, “Yes, something like that.”
“I knew bringing her here to you and yours was the right thing,” Amos said as he reached out and patted Kaid on the back.
“Okay, I understand,” She gently pulled her fingers from Kaid's and started stuffing the food into her mouth.
She ate as though she was afraid someone would take it from her before she was finished, and when she took the first spoonful of gumbo from the bowl that Sadie placed in front of her a short while later, the moan of pleasure she let out was enough to make Kaid cry. He sat beside her, loving that she was now smiling, eating, relaxed, though concentratedly watching the interactions between all of his clan as they teased and kidded each other.
“Bam,” she said around a bite of french bread dipped into her second bowl of gumbo.
Bam looked up at her, his eyebrows raised in question.
“This,” she indicated the group of people sitting around the table with her, “this is family?”
Bam took a minute to answer her, letting his Bear feel her Beast, sensing their need to understand, “Yeah. It’s family.”
“They like each other,” she said, still observing.
“Yep, we all like each other. We love each other. We help each other be happy, and we share our lives with each other, and work together, and laugh together. Even when we argue, we still love each other.” He looked at the food on the table, “and we share our food together. If someone doesn’t have enough of anything, the rest of us make sure they have what they need. We are stronger because we are family.”
Delilah looked down at her bowl where she had just dipped her bread again; she looked to her right where Kaid was sitting beside her; then, she held the bread in her hand out to Kaid, holding it just in front of his mouth, so he could take a bite. He held his breath, his heart fluttering; his Mate was offering him her own food. Realizing the importance of her offering anyone her food, he locked his eyes on hers and very slowly leaned forward to take a bite of the offered bread. When he sat back to chew, she smiled at him with a smile that would make the sun jealous, proud that she had shared her food with the family. “I shared my food, so, now I am family?” Though Kaid’s heart was rejoicing that his Mate had fed him, it also broke at all she had been denied. She didn’t even have a concept of family. “Yes, Lilah, you are family, Sweetheart.” She grinned at him and then at Bam as she turned to dip her bread into her gumbo again.
“Delilah, when we were outside, you said they; they used to feed you. Who is they?” Bane asked her. She didn’t answer him, but it was evident from her mannerisms that she’d heard his question. She’d gotten quiet, stopped looking around so much and was focused on her food.
“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to upset you, but we need to know who hurt you, so we can be prepared if need be,” he explained.
Suddenly she looked up, a huge smile on her face, “And kill them?” she asked a little too cheerfully.
�
��Yes!” Kaid snarled, “so we can kill them.”
She nodded enthusiastically, “Slatterly, he was there, and he would feed me when Lurin was away,” she said as she put a bite of pecan pie into her mouth. She chewed a bit, and a look of pure ecstasy passed across her face.
Bane asked her when was the last time she had seen Slatterly, but she had no clue anyone had even spoken to her. She was intently placing another bite of pecan pie in her mouth and slowly savoring it.
“Delilah?” still no answer. “Delilah?!” Bane reached his hand out toward her to get her attention. She snarled at him this time.
When she looked up at Bane, a low snarl still in her throat, her eyes were icy, almost translucent with a hint of blue. The sparse silver streaks in her hair seemed to have thickened and spread, and she appeared to have gone absolutely primal. He snatched his hand back quickly, “I was just trying to get your attention. You okay?”
Delilah glared at him, still snarling, as she placed another bite on her tongue.
“I was not taking your pie, Delilah,” Bane told her gently.
Didn’t matter, though, she still had a low, constant rumble emanating from her chest.
Bam reached his hand out behind himself toward Sadie who was washing the dishes in the sink, “Ms. Sadie, could you hand me that other pecan pie?”
“Course Sweetie, here you go,” Sadie handed the pie to Bam, eyes getting huge and gasping a huge intake of breath as she turned to hand it to him and got a good look at Delilah.
Bam very slowly slid the pie over in front of Delilah, and when he had it right in front of her, he nudged it just a little closer.
Delilah had been watching Bam handling the other pie. It was a whole pie, not a little piece like the one she had already finished. When he nudged it toward her, she reached out and wrapped a hand around it, pulling it closer to her until it touched her body and starting digging into it with her fork, grinning to herself.
Nobody said a word; nobody moved. The quiet was apparent and very obvious. Delilah stopped with her fork loaded and halfway to her mouth, still chewing the previous bite, looking around at everyone now watching her. When no one said a word, she turned to Kaid. Watching him intently, swallowing her pie, she lifted her fork in his direction, “Mine?”
Kaid's Queen Page 3
