by Becca Van
She shook her head. “I don’t like taking medicine.”
Jayson shoved his chair back as he stood. “That’s too damn bad, honey. We can all see and smell how much pain you’re in.” He hurried over to the kitchen counter, grabbed the box of pills and walked up behind her. “Hold your hand out, mate.”
She sucked in a breath when she turned to gaze at him over her shoulder, her cracked ribs protesting the movement. “I’ve just told you I don’t like taking pain medication.” She turned away from him and stared at her empty plate. Heat suffused her cheeks when she felt all three of them staring at her, but she was determined to ignore them and the thick tension in the air.
She squeaked out a startled noise when Jayson lifted her and her chair away from the table, her knuckles aching as she clutched the side of the seat hard. When he lowered the seat again, she huffed out a relieved breath to have all four legs back on the floor and her no longer in danger from toppling off of it.
When Jayson squatted down in front of her and clasped her hand in his, she blinked at him owlishly. She didn’t want to be this close to him because the blood racing through her veins was heating up her whole body. He and his brothers smelled so good, she wanted to keep breathing them in for as long as possible.
“Kenzie, what aren’t you telling us? Why do you have such an aversion to taking the medicine Broden prescribed to you?”
She wasn’t sure telling him the truth was a good idea right now. He looked so concerned for her, she didn’t want to add to his worries. She could feel Jordan and Jenson virtually boring holes into her skull as they waited for her answer expectantly, but she stubbornly kept her gaze locked with Jayson’s. “I’ve already told you twice.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m going to sound like a broken record if I repeat myself again.”
Jayson rose with a sigh, combed his fingers through his hair, and turned away from her.
Silly tears stung the back of her eyes and she blinked rapidly to dispel them. Kenzie had no reason to be feeling so emotional or to be crying, but she felt as if she was about to fall apart at any moment.
She’d hadn’t cried since the day her mother had been buried in the ground, not really. Crying out and having tears leaking from her eyes while experiencing excruciating pain didn’t count in her book. Kenzie was worried if the dam burst, she’d never be able to plug the hole up again, so she sucked in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. The urge to cry passed and she sighed with relief.
Another startled sound emitted from her parted lips when Jayson spun back toward her and scooped her up into his arms. She gazed at him with shock as she looped an arm around his neck.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m carrying you to your room. You’re so fucking tired your eyes are half closed. Your lips are pulled into a tight line from pain, and you’re so fucking white, besides the bruises, you look as if you’re about to pass out.” He glanced over toward Jordan and Jenson. “Bring a glass of water.”
Kenzie bit her tongue to stop herself from demanding to be put her down. If she was honest with herself—and she was right at this moment—she wasn’t sure she could have walked on her own. And while she normally hated taking any medication, each second that went by she was hurting more and more. Maybe taking something wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
If she hadn’t been concentrating so hard on not moaning with pain—if she hadn’t been in any pain at all—she would have taken in her surroundings, but she just didn’t have the energy. When she was feeling more up to par, she hoped she’d get the chance to explore, but right now, she just wanted the oblivion sleep could give her. Even if she was scared of making an ass out of herself if she ended up crying out in her sleep.
She needed a reprieve, or she would end up blubbering like a baby.
Jayson gently lowered her onto the bed and it wasn’t until he was pulling the covers up over her that she noticed Jordan and Jenson were in the room, too, and that one of them had tugged the quilt down. She sighed as her head and body sank into the softest, most comfortable pillow and mattress she’d ever had the privilege of resting on. She could already feel her eyelids and her body growing heavier.
“Open your mouth, baby,” Jordan ordered in a soft, yet firm voice.
Kenzie opened her mouth and when he placed two pills on her tongue, she didn’t protest. A large, gentle hand cupped the back of her neck, lifted her head, and the rim of a glass was pressed to her lip. She sipped at the water, swallowed the pills, and sighed when her head was lowered to the pillow again. When she felt movement on either side of her as the mattress dipped, and then at the foot of the bed, she wanted to open her eyes to see what they were doing, but it was just too much effort. She rolled onto her uninjured side, drew her knees up closer to her body and drifted off to sleep.
* * * *
“I hate seeing her like this.” Jenson sighed as he stared down into her peaceful face. He was lying on the bed next to her with his head propped up on his hand. He gazed over her bruised, swollen face and wondered how long it would take for all her injuries to fade and heal.
“We do, too, Jenson,” Jay said. “Thank fuck Broden, his brothers, and Dusty offered to take over cooking at the hotel. My panther’s been going crazy ever since I found her. I’m having a hell of a time concentrating on anything. If I had to cook, I’d likely fuck something up or end up poisoning someone.”
“Are you ever going to let that go?” Jordan asked. “It wasn’t our fault Dusty got sick. How we were to know that she had a life-threatening reaction to nutmeg?”
“You’ve apologized, Jay, even though you had nothing to apologize for, and Dusty accepted how sorry you were,” Jenson stated.
“She even told you it wasn’t your fault,” Jordan reminded.
“I know.”
“So, what’s really bothering you?” Jenson asked.
“What if she doesn’t want us?”
“She does, Jay. We all scented her desire.” Jordan shifted closer up behind Kenzie. He was about to wrap his arm around her waist and pull her tighter against him, but Jenson gripped his wrist while it was still in midair.
“Don’t.”
“What the fuck, Jenson? Let me go. I’m only going to hold her.”
“Keep your voice down,” Jay growled.
“You can’t be manhandling her until her ribs have healed. You’ll end up hurting her.”
“Shit.” Jordan rolled from the bed onto his feet and scrubbed a hand over his face as he stared at their mate. “I’m going out for a while.”
“If you’re going for a run, make sure no one sees you.” Jay glared and pointed a finger at him.
“I wasn’t born fucking yesterday.” Jordan gave Jay the finger and stormed away.
“We’re going to have to try and tamp down our aggressive tendencies, Jay. If we scare Kenzie, she’s going to want to leave,” Jenson said. He couldn’t believe he was being the voice of reason for a change. Usually he was the one going off half-cocked and doing something idiotic without thinking it through. Although to be fair to himself, that had been before they’d joined up to serve in the Marines. He’d been so young, carefree, and impetuous, but all his innocence had slowly been shoved out by the cold hard reality of war and violence.
He and his brothers had hardly spoken over the last five years. If they’d needed to respond to anyone they’d usually grunted or made some other noise. Since Emmy had arrived on the scene and then Pixie and Dusty, they’d become downright chatty, and he was glad about that. If they hadn’t had practice talking with the other women, they probably would have had trouble communicating with their own mate. Not that he and his brothers were experts or had become chatterboxes. They still didn’t speak as much as the other guys in town, but they were slowly getting better.
Now that Kenzie was here in their home, he had so many questions he wanted to ask her, but she needed to recover before he started grilling her. It wasn’t that he was going to give her the third degree or anyt
hing. He just wanted to know everything and anything he could about her. He was already in love with her, but he wanted to know her on a soul-deep level as well as an intimate one.
And while he and his brothers had scented her desire, that didn’t mean she was going to agree to be their mate.
Pain shot into his heart making him gasp. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to contain his panther if she turned away from him. If his beast got away from him, other people’s lives would be in danger.
Jenson wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he hurt the other women or men in Ambrose.
If Kenzie decided she didn’t want to be their woman, the best thing to do would be to put a bullet through his brain.
Chapter Six
Jenson and Jordan had both left the house to go for a run. Jayson had wanted to go as well to relieve some of the aggressive possessiveness coursing through his blood, heart, and soul, but he wasn’t about to leave Kenzie home alone while she was sleeping, while she was so vulnerable. So, he’d stayed. He couldn’t even bring himself to leave the room. After Jenson had followed Jordan out, he’d moved from the bottom of the bed to lie beside his mate. He could have spent hours, days on end just watching her sleep peacefully.
Although over the last half an hour, she’d begun to get restless, tossing, turning, and moaning in her sleep. A few times she’d actually flinched and cried out, her eyes moving rapidly beneath her lowered lids as she dreamed. He’d tried caressing over her hair and head, hoping his touch would ease her back into a deep sleep. A few times she’d sighed and quietened down again, but all too soon, she was shifting again.
“No!” she cried out. Jay tensed, ready to try and wake her and pull her out of her tortured nightmare, but he didn’t want to scare her. “Please don’t hit me! What did I do? Why are you hurting me?”
Jay sucked in a ragged breath as two tears leaked out from under her lowered lids. “I’m sorry, Dad, for whatever I did to make you mad. I’m sorry. Please don’t hurt me anymore.”
Tears burned the back of his own eyes when he heard the bewilderment in her slurred words. His panther snarled with anger and concern as it crouched down, readying to leap and protect his mate from the unseen threat. Jay shifted closer to Kenzie, pushed his arm in under her neck, and carefully pulled her body closer to his.
Her breath hitched in her throat as if she were crying and when he glanced at her face, and he saw more tears, his animal hissed and charged forward.
He tried to keep his animal from escaping, but he was fighting a losing battle. Fur erupted from his paws, his claws lengthened and sharpened, and his body began to reshape. His clothes ripped at the seams as his inner cat pushed the man aside. He scrambled back away from Kenzie, not wanting to inadvertently hurt her with his claws, or by knocking against her smaller, sore body with his big muscular one.
The remnants of his clothes were in tatters wrapped around his body, and his shoes had fallen to the floor with a dull thud. He swatted the rags aside and hissed with annoyance when he felt the restrictive socks over his back paws and legs. He shook each leg, one after the other until the socks flew across the room. His panther licked his lips as he stared at the exposed creamy skin where Kenzie’s neck and shoulder met, and he started to purr as he imagined sinking his needle-sharp canines into that flesh and claiming his mate for all time.
When he noticed he was crawling toward her on his belly and paws, he shook his head and backed away again. The last thing he needed was his mate angry with him for taking her choices away from her.
He loved her so damn much. She was already entrenched in his heart and soul so deeply, he didn’t even want to think about her not accepting to be theirs.
He turned his gaze back toward her when she gasped and bolted upright. She was panting, and perspiration was covering her forehead and upper lip. Her eyes widened with shock when she gazed at him, and he waited for her to scream and run, but she remained as still as a statue. Jay scented the air and began to purr when he didn’t scent any fear from her.
“What are you doing?” She glanced toward the bedroom door and then met his eyes again. She squinted as she locked gazes with him and he wondered if she was trying to figure out who he was. “Jay?”
He blinked and smiled. She knew who he was. He mentally rolled his eyes when he realized that it wasn’t hard to figure out since he still had his eye patch on. His eye was still intact, but even he didn’t like seeing his own face in the mirror without his patch. The spiderweb of scars on and around his eye wasn’t something he wanted people staring at, and since he was totally blind, he’d covered it.
Jay watched her intently as she shoved the covers aside, then carefully rolled to her hands and knees and slowly, tentatively crawled toward him. His cat’s rumbling purr grew louder the closer she came, and his tail started swishing back and forth.
“Are you all right, Jay?”
His heart melted. His mate was hurt and had just had a nightmare. He’d expected her to be crying her heart out, but she’d pushed her terrifying dreams aside with her concern for him. His answer of “yes” ended sounding more like a hiss, and Kenzie paused on her hands and knees as she watched him warily. Jay lowered his head down onto his paws and closed his eyes.
“You’re so damn big,” Kenzie whispered. “Your cat and your human form. You could kill me with one swipe of your paw or one punch. You don’t scare me, Jay.” His swishing tail stilled when she stroked a hand over his head and down his back.
His cat arched its back into her touch and began to purr louder than ever. He opened his eyes when she shifted closer and scratched behind his ears. He had the weirdest urge to roll over onto his belly and expose his throat. That had never happened to him before. Not with a human. He’d humbled himself to Tatum once when he’d pissed the lion shifter off, but never had he wanted to be vulnerable to a human. Until now.
It wasn’t that his panther wanted to be dominated by Kenzie, but his inner animal wanted to show her that she didn’t have anything to fear from his wild side.
His ears twitched when he heard Jordan and Jenson running toward the house and while he knew they were going to give him shit over finding his clothes in rags and him in his panther form, he couldn’t care less. He’d do anything to make Kenzie happy. Even give his own life if that was what she asked of him.
She was the most important person in his life. Even before his brothers and his friends.
His mate had melted the ice around his heart and brought the dormant organ back to life. She’d made him feel again, and he didn’t want to lose that, lose her, now that she was here.
Kenzie pressed her forehead against the top of his head and sighed. He gently rubbed his face against her chin. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his fur. Jay wanted to move so he could wrap one of his legs around her and hold her close, but he remained still. He was worried that if he moved he’d end up sinking his teeth into her. Saliva was already pooling in his mouth as her scent wrapped around him. All it would take was to open his mouth and bite down. His chin was resting on her shoulder, her skin pressed against his black coat.
The front door opened and closed, but he didn’t think Kenzie was aware that Jordan and Jenson were home. He loved his brothers, but he hoped they stayed away for a while so he could cherish this moment with his woman. There was nothing sexual in their hug. They were just two living beings savoring a moment of comfort with each other.
He should have known that his siblings would want to see their mate as soon as they got home. He could hear them walking toward the bedroom. Jay hoped that they’d bought her some clothes from the store like he’d asked them to. He’d used the telepathic link and told them to get help from Emmy, Pixie, and Dusty, if they had the time. Dusty and Kenzie were relatively the same size. Kenzie was a couple of inches taller than Dusty. Pixie was so tiny, Jay was scared to breathe on the other woman. Emmy was inches taller than all of them. The women were all so different, and yet they seemed to get
along just fine. Maybe that was because they’d all endured adversity at the hands of evil, dangerous men.
What worried the shit out of him was that the men after Kenzie’s were still at large, but they weren’t going to get anywhere near her if he could help it.
* * * *
Kenzie had been scared out of her mind when she’d come out of her horrible dream, but that fear making her heart pound had quickly waned when she’d seen Jay on the bed in his panther form. When she’d seen the tattered remnants of his clothes scattered about, she’d had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. She had a feeling if she’d laughed at the big, sexy man he would have been offended and hurt.
The urge to pet the big cat had been too strong to ignore and now that she was hugging him, she couldn’t seem to make herself let go. There was so much comfort, so much rightness in her heart and soul when she was touching or hugging one of the Cannon men.
Even though she hardly knew them, she’d already made her decision about staying with them. Her heart and soul were so drawn to them, she couldn’t imagine turning away from them, couldn’t imagine not accepting being their mate. The soul-deep yearning to be with them intimately was a gut-wrenching need and if she hadn’t been hurting, she might already have been in their bed.
She wanted to tell them that she’d made up her mind, but since there was no way she could be intimate with them until her ribs had healed more, she kept her mouth shut.
“What the hell?” Jordan asked as soon as he entered the room.
Kenzie startled since she hadn’t known he was even there. He and his brothers moved around like great big jungle cats. Silent and predatory just like their inner animals. She lifted her face from Jay’s cat’s neck and gazed at Jordan and Jenson.
They were both standing in the doorway with their mouths gaping open, staring at Jayson as if he’d lost his mind.
“Kenzie, you need to back away from Jay, sweetie,” Jenson said after he got himself together and slowly moved toward the bed.
