“It is. Why would you assume otherwise? Just curious. I mean, you have met my mom. Does she strike you as someone that would allow her child to be a criminal?” Allen laughed with the other man. “It’s not so much that I’m hush hush about it, but I’m just working hard at not making a name for myself. I go into businesses that are failing and work there for a few weeks. Sometimes it takes less time, but I find out where they’re lacking in the way things are working. Mostly it’s human error that is causing the deficiency, but not always. They pay well, but I also get a percentage of what they make in viable profit the first year after I’ve been there, and they’ve done what I suggested. If it was out there who I was, I doubt very much I could blend in the way I do.”
“You wouldn’t blend into a tree if you were dressed all in bark.” They both looked at Allie when she spoke. “Why do I have a feeling I’m not in Kansas anymore?”
“You’re in Beckett’s home. This was the best place to bring you to recuperate after you decided not to tell anyone you were sick. How are you feeling, sis?” Allie sat up, then laid back down with her eyes closed. “You look a great deal better than you did four days ago.”
“Four days? No wonder I feel weird. Can I have a glass of water? I feel like I have cotton in my mouth.” Beckett got her a glass of the water that had been brought up here every couple of hours. He helped her drink from the glass he’d poured her, as she still looked slightly out of it. When she seemed to have enough, Beckett sat down again. “I know this is your house and all, but I’d like to talk to my brother for a minute. Without you.”
“Your meanness is showing again.” Allie stuck her tongue out at Beckett as he made his way to the door. “If you feel like something to eat in a little while, I’ll bring it up. Thatcher said soup to start with, then more if you keep that down. I’ll see you later, Allen.”
As soon as he was out the door, Allie sat up in the bed. She did look better today. Her hair was, of course, a mess, but she wasn’t as pale as death anymore. Getting up, Allen handed her a brush that had been in the bathroom, as well as a small mirror. Allie worked on the tangles while he told her about some of the things going on.
“The kitchen staff has been arrested. There was more going on there than just a few missing pans and food. Apparently, they were also taking the money at the end of the day and splitting it between them. I had a feeling from what Rogen told me that you wouldn’t have been a part of it even if you wanted. They were a group that shared the same secret as to how it was being done.”
“Why am I here instead of a hospital? I can remember bits and pieces of when I passed out, but not too much of it makes any sense.” He told her what he knew, skipping over the part where she’d been changed. “I didn’t tell you I was sick because I knew you had enough on your mind. I really didn’t know I was that sick. But it was almost as soon as he touched me, I felt like the world was coming down on my head, and he was the only one that could keep me from getting badly hurt. That’s weird, isn’t it?”
“Not if you think about the fact that he’s your mate. I mean, that’s what is supposed to happen, right?” She said she didn’t want him as a mate. “I have something to tell you, Allie. Well, two things. You’re not going to like either one of them. I had them change you into a tiger in order to save your life.”
“I’m sorry, what did you do?” He repeated what he’d said to her. “No, you did not take it upon yourself to have some overgrown cat change me into something that I can’t change back. Allen, why would you do that?”
“To save your life. He was all there was between you and death. I told him to do it. No matter what he tells you, it was all on me.” She asked him if Beckett had argued much at the idea. “Yes. Quite a bit, as a matter of fact. It wasn’t until you coded that he decided I was correct. And I need you in my life as much as you need me, Allie. The thought of going on without you was too much to care about how mad you’d be when you woke up.”
She looked out the window that showed the pool off to its best advantage. Not only was there a pool in Beckett’s back yard, but there was a hot tub, as well as a screened-in area that Allen had been spending a lot of time in.
“You said there were two things.” He asked her what she meant. “You told me you have two things to tell me. I’m assuming you didn’t mean the arrests as one of them.”
“No. That’s not the other thing. You weren’t human. Even before he changed you into a tiger, you were never human before that. Not wholly anyway. Thatcher helped with your change, and he told me later that you’d not been born as a vampire, but he thinks that since the guy who took you was one, he might well have bitten you a few times when you were out. Holland wasn’t a pure vampire either, or you would have been able to heal on your own from what you got from him.” She looked at him then. There was shock there, but he had a feeling she was thinking too. “You did tell me that Holland disappeared after you cut him. He didn’t escape like we thought, but simply ceased to be.”
“The police still believe I made all that up. That I’d never been taken and that there was no one in that place with me. They’ll not believe me anymore now that we know what he was, will they?” Allen didn’t have an answer for her, so he said nothing. “What happens to me now, Allen? I mean, surely Beckett isn’t going to want a half breed around now that he knows. A vampire is something that very few people even believe in.”
“He does. His family does as well. Rogen, she’s Thatcher’s wife, has a way of getting in and out of all kinds of programs and locked files. She said she was going to fix it so it would be like it never occurred. According to your records anyway.” She asked him what good that would do. “It wouldn’t come up when someone did a background check, for one thing. Also, someone’s put money in our accounts. Several checks were going to bounce. I asked and was told that there wasn’t any reason for that to happen. Not while you were laid low.”
“I don’t know how I feel about that either.” Allen told her to just be calm about it. That they were trying their best to make things less stressful for the two of them. “What about you? I mean, someone had to notice that you’re limping around too.”
“They have. I’ve been given some information about my injury that makes me believe it was more than just an accident. That the reason the service hasn’t acknowledged what happened to me is because they’re working hard on sweeping it under the rug, so no one finds out. I was shot by friendly fire, Allie. I didn’t know that before.” Allie asked him what happened now. “I get to get my leg fixed. They’ll also be responsible for me getting my checks that had been held back. I had no idea that I should have still been getting a check when I was discharged. Did you?”
“No. But if you remember, I did mention that.” He said that he told Rogen that too. “And I bet she ignored it like your commanding officer did.”
“Actually, she told me that if I would listen to you more rather than thinking of you like my little sister, I might well have been further along in my recovery. They’re all excited to meet you. Beckett said I could tell you some things about his family if you want to know.” Allie asked if they were all huge like the two that she’d met. “Yes. There are six of them. Boys, their parents call them, of the Robinson family. Three of them are married now, not including you and Beckett. They’re really nice people. I’ve gotten to have a meal with them every night since we’ve been brought here.”
“You make it sound like it’s a done deal between Beckett and I. It’s not, Allen. Even you can see that our lives aren’t quite like those of the people who live here. We’re poor.” He nodded and smiled at her. “You know how much I hate when you look at me like that. What is it you have up your sleeve that you think I need to know about?”
“Two days ago, your name was added to everything Beckett has. I have a car to use should I need to get around. Not a used one, but a brand new one. Like the one you have.” She told him she didn’t h
ave a car. “You do now. And while I know you’re smart enough to realize when a good thing is right in your lap, I don’t want to have to remind you that before you met Beckett, we were not only not going to be able to live in the house we were in, but the town either. Allie, we were so close to the edge of losing everything, and some things that we didn’t have, that it’s a small wonder there was any food in the house.”
“I don’t like this.” He said he didn’t blame her one bit. She looked out the window again, and he didn’t say anything, waiting until she turned back to him. But she didn’t. Speaking to him without looking at him, she asked him to leave her alone for a little while. “I just need to think. It’s too much. All at once, this is too much for me. I need to be able to sort things out on my own for a little while.”
“All right. But I’ll be back later, all right?” She nodded, and he saw the tear roll down her cheek. Before he could tell her not to cry, she told him she was all right and that she needed some time to herself. “I love you, Allie. Very much so. I only did what I thought was best to keep you alive. You understand that, don’t you?”
“I do.” The smile she gave him when she turned didn’t reach her tear-filled eyes. “I’m going to be all right like you said. When you come back, I’ll be able to talk to you about what has happened. Right now, I just need to think.”
He left her then, using the cane that he’d been given in physical therapy. Allen had forgotten to tell her about that. But they had time. They had lots of time to talk now that she was better.
Allen found Beckett in his office on the telephone. Before he could walk out of the office again, Beckett waved him in. After he was seated, he looked around the big place. The man must have every book ever printed in this room alone. Beckett grinned at him when he was able to get off the phone.
“I have pissed off the last place I worked for. They thought I was going to tell them there was nothing to do but close the building down. I don’t know why they’d be eager to do that, but I’ve told them I won’t sign off on that sort of thing. How is she? As mad as we thought she’d be about being here?” Allen told him that he’d told her about being a tiger and how he’d put money in their accounts. “Is she gunning for me?”
“No. She told me she just wanted to think things over. That it was just a lot of things at once. I don’t know, but I think she’s really upset.” Beckett told him she was—he could feel it. “Should I go back up there and sit with her?”
“I’d not. If she asked for the time to think, she more than likely needs it. I know she’s been thrown a curveball in all this.” Allen told him that they all had. “Yes, I guess we have. By the way, Rogen said she might have a job for you. Something you can do while you’re healing. I don’t know what it might be, but if she says you can do it, then you can believe you’ll be able to. She also wants to talk to you about your injury.”
“I’ll tell her whatever she wants to know.” Beckett nodded and said she’d be over to get him soon. “I wish they’d let me drive wherever they want me. It seems like a lot of wasted time in everyone carting me around.”
“Rogen likes to pick people up so that she can grill them while she takes them places. Don’t tell her I said that. She’s been really cranky since she’s been in her last few weeks of pregnancy. My brother, Thatcher, has been hanging out here a little more to make sure he doesn’t stress her out too much. Rogen and my other sisters, they’re what you might not ever think of as gentle women.”
“No, I don’t think I would.” Allen laughed. “I’ve met them all now, and they scare the crap out of me. One on one, they’re not too bad—I can handle that. But with all three of them together, it’s scary as fuck.”
“Wait until your sister joins them.” Allen thought about that for about two seconds before he shivered. “Yes, exactly what I was thinking too.”
Rogen showed up about five minutes later. Before she wanted to leave, however, she wanted to go up and introduce herself to Allie. Both he and Beckett told her she should wait, but she climbed the stairs anyway. He was almost afraid to see the room after this meeting. The two of them together were going to be as volatile as a match to gasoline.
~*~
Allie knew who the woman was the second she came into the room. She’d been there briefly when Allie had fallen ill, but she knew a ball-buster when she saw one. Asking her what she wanted didn’t help with her mood any more than it did Allie’s. But when Rogen sat down in the chair next to her, she decided that she could explain herself instead of Allie asking her questions.
“I’m glad to see you up and around. Did they tell you that you’ve been changed into a tiger yet?” She glared at the woman. “I see they did. Oh well, I’m sure there are a couple of things that they didn’t mention. I was wondering what you wanted to do with the rest of your life.”
“Live. What do you want to do with the rest of your life? Or is it all sewn together nicely for you now?” Rogen didn’t seem to know what to say about that. “I have a home that I’ve not been in other than this room. Money in my account so I’d not bounce checks. I’m out of a job, no longer human, and at one point, I was part vampire. Now I’m fully tiger. Did I miss anything?”
“You’re snarky.” Allie told her that she was as well. “True, but I’ve always been that way. Usually, you’re thought of as too nice and gullible for anyone to want to be around. Not what I would categorize you as right now.”
“Goody for you. What do you want, Rogen? I have things that I have to work out, and you here being the bitch that you are isn’t helping me get a grip on shit.” Rogen laughed. “Of course, you’d find that funny. Why are you here? Did I miss one of the perks that the great Robinsons gave to me when they changed me into this without permission?”
“Would you rather be dead?” Allie told her that she would, actually. “You don’t mean that. You’re just saying that so that you can shock me.”
Allie got up and went to the bed she’d been in. Pulling out the gun she’d found in this room when she’d been looking for something to wear, she put it to her head. The two of them watched each other for several minutes until Rogen stood up.
“There is a man downstairs that is in love with you. Too much for you right now? Too fucking bad. If you kill yourself over what was done to save your life, then he will die right along with you. Not because he’ll end his life too, but he’ll have to be put down because you’re dead. Also, you might really want to think this over before you pull that trigger. What do you think this will do to Allen? He seems to like you for some reason. Right now, all I see is a lazy bitch trying to end her life because someone loved her enough to want her to be around.” Rogen went to the door and opened it. “The safety is on that gun. I didn’t want you to miss the opportunity to end your life because the gun didn’t work, and you got to have second thoughts.”
The door closed quietly behind her, and Allie burst into tears. Sitting on the floor with the gun still in her hands, she wondered if her life would ever be her own. It didn’t seem like it from where she was sitting. Getting up, she decided that she might as well figure shit out. Killing herself now would make it so that Rogen won. Won what, she didn’t know, but Allie knew the other woman would feel like she’d taken gold if she were to go through with killing herself.
She decided it was time to tell them something. Reaching out to Beckett, she thought of the others too. But for now, Beckett needed to understand what she had gone through. Not enough, she supposed, to kill herself over. But she’d been—
When I was dropped off at the home, I didn’t have any kind of identification on me—nothing to tell them why I’d been left there. No name. I was a newborn. They knew that. Whoever had me had taken me directly to the home without even the benefit of cleaning me up, I was told. She leaned back against the bed to continue. I didn’t have anything that belonged to me. Not even my name. Fifty-two other children before me had the sa
me name. I was called fifty-three for the entire time I was at the home. After a little bit, I started referring to myself as Grace. I have no idea why that was the name I wanted. But no one would play along with me. Then I was adopted.
She thought about the day she’d found out that Allen was going to leave her. He’d been her protector when the other kids needed someone to beat on or to blame something they’d done on. Crashing into the meeting, she’d climbed up in his arms and begged him not to leave her. The Langleys thought she was adorable and had taken her too.
I’d been given the chance, the Langleys told me, to choose the color of my room. I didn’t have any idea what that might involve, but I told them they could call me Grace. After the laughter died down, they said I’d be Allie. Allen and Allie, their children. I think it should be pointed out that their names were Paul and Paula. Allen had his name already. So I was now Allie Langley. Beckett asked her if she had a middle name. No. I don’t know why, but I was only adopted as Allie. Which I have to admit, was difficult to be called. Everyone I had to deal with thought it was short for something. I got into a lot of fights at school over it. Do you know when Allen will be back from the job you guys have him on? He came up long enough to say goodbye.
Not for some time yet. What else do you remember from being with the Langleys? Anything I should know about? She told him she didn’t think so but did think of the fights she’d get into at school about her stupid name.
She laughed when she thought of some of the scraps she’d gotten into at school. It wasn’t until she was ten that she realized fighting got her nowhere but in trouble. Not just at home, but at school as well.
I dreamt of being something important. When you’re ten, you think that anything you do is important, I suppose. But I didn’t want to be a teacher. I know that everyone thinks that was my dream job—it wasn’t. I was settling, in a way. Even if all I could do was teach, I was going to be the best teacher in the world. Again, I was ten at the time. She thought of the conversations that had prompted her to settle. The Langleys were good to me. They loved me, showed me right from wrong. They were huggers too, so I came to depend on that, I guess you could say. But the one thing that they lacked and I needed was the ability to be encouraging. Not to pave the way for me, but just to tell me to go for it. Nothing that I wanted to do, not even to be a gardener, which is something that I had dreamed of, was anything they thought I would succeed at. Not only that, but they told me that with my looks, I’d be better off just settling down with a husband and having children for him. And to hope that none of them would be born as a redhead.
Beckett: Robinson Destruction – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance Page 4
