Bane's Heart

by Sandra R Neeley

  “I’m so sorry, Janie. Can you forgive me?”

  She heard her mom’s question and tried to respond through her hands still covering her face. What her mom heard was a muffled, “Mom, you didn’t do anything. There’s nothing to forgive.” Her mother reached out and gently removed her hands from her face. “Yes, I did. I was too afraid to leave your father. I exposed you to his rage and, in the end, his psychotic behavior. I’m so sorry. If I’d just had the courage to leave him long ago, you’d never have had to experience…”

  “It’s fine, Mom. You did the best you could. I’m an adult; I could have left, too. I didn't.”

  Laughing and soft conversation from the other room caught her attention again, and she looked to the door. Her mother said, “They are all waiting for you to wake up. I heard Avaleigh and her husband come in a few minutes ago. Now everybody is here, I think.”

  “Is that where we are? Bane’s house?”

  “We are with his family; they all kind of live in the same area.”

  “Is Bane here? When I woke, I could smell him, and I thought he was with me,” she said quietly, running her hand across the pillow that smelled like him.

  “I’m not sure, Janie. He left last night. He may be here, but he didn’t come back into this room after that. Kaid and Avaleigh and Bam have checked on us through the night. Goldy, too, stuck his head in every once in a while.” Her mother said this last part with a slight smile on her face. Janie noticed, but wasn’t really sure what to make of it, so she kept it to herself for the time being.

  “What happened? Did they find the guys that kidnapped me? Did the police take them into custody? How are you here? Have you left Dad for good? Is he going to come looking for us? For you?”

  “Not exactly, Sweetheart. Why don’t we get up and get dressed? Then we’ll go out and talk to everyone about it.”

  “I don’t want to go out there. I wasn’t very nice to them when they came for me. I’m embarrassed. And I’m a little afraid, too.”

  “Why would you be afraid? They risked their lives to bring you home, Janie.”

  Janie hung her head, her confusion obvious to anybody who could see her. Thankfully, it was just her mom. “They aren’t human, Mom. They can change. Into animals,” Janie whispered. “I’m not sure how to feel about that. And then on top of that, I’m so embarrassed. I called them monsters and really acted poorly.”

  Her mother said nothing for a few moments, not sure what to believe anymore. “I can only base my thoughts on what I know, Janie. I did not see them change, though they tried to tell me that they could, so I don’t know about that. But they did not hesitate to help me when I went to them for help. They brought you back to me in one piece, for the most part unharmed. Each of them has been more than respectful and kind. And the heartbreak I saw on that man as he placed you in his bed and asked me to watch over you is the most heart-wrenching thing I have ever seen. He loves you, Janie, with an intensity that most women only dream of finding. Whatever else they may be, they are good, strong, honorable people. And I will give them no less than that in return. I will never be able to repay their selflessness. But I will try, always.”

  “I just can’t face them right now. I mean, how do I face them? They probably just want me to leave them in peace.”

  Everybody sat around the breakfast table, talking and waiting for Avaleigh to serve up her famous French Toast. Everybody but Bane that is. They had known the minute that Janie and Sadie had woken up and started moving around. Goldy had been standing sentry at the door for most of the night, and Kaid had ordered him to go shower and get cleaned up. Kaid’s telling him he didn't want to stink when he was near Sadie was what finally had him scampering to get in the shower. They could hear the conversation between mother and daughter. They knew that Janie was confused and embarrassed. They knew Bane was off nursing his broken heart somewhere. They had all stopped talking and were listening to Sadie and Janie. Bam was emitting a high-pitched whine from time to time. He had one hand in his pocket, and whatever he was fiddling with kept making crinkling noises. Avaleigh reached over to pat him on the other hand as she placed his food in front of him. He looked up at her and said, “She’s scared. I don’t know what to do. Bane said to leave him alone. So I can’t go get him. She’s his Ever. What do I do?”

  Kaid was just about ready to go knock on the bedroom door and ask if he could go in and talk to them, to try to smooth things over, but Mav beat him to it. “Fuck this!” Mav blurted out as he jumped up from the table heading toward the bedroom, “I’ll fix it!”

  “Damn it, Mav! Do not go in there,” Kaid yelled, moving to follow him, but Maverik was too fast and was already bursting through the door.

  Kaid listened for a minute before going back to the table to wait for everybody to come eat, amazed at how soothing Mav could be when he wanted to be, how quickly he could defuse a situation with his humor.

  The door burst open and in marched a tall blonde with a Mohawk and a vicious scar. Janie remembered him from the night before. He was the Wolf that had kept her in the corner. “Good Morning, Lady Bane,” he gave her a deep bow. “The awesomeness that you see before you,” he swept a hand up and down his torso, “is Maverik. You can call me Mav,” he finished as he winked at her. He turned his attention to Sadie, “Good Morning, Ma’am. Let’s rise and shine, ladies. We got French Toast dripping melted butter, powdered sugar and syrup on the table.” He reached down, yanked the blankets off of them, throwing them to the floor at the end of the bed. Clapping his hands together like you would to get an unruly child moving, “Let’s go! Let’s go! Now, people! If you don’t hurry, you don’t get any!” Sadie grinned at the big man, having been told by Goldy last night that he was harmless, she felt pretty good about her safety, and the huge smile on his face was infectious. “We’re coming, Mr. Maverik, just give us a minute to get ourselves together.”

  “Mr. Maverik, I like that.” His grin increased about 10-fold as he yelled back into the rest of the house, “Goldy, I like your woman, she called me ‘Mr.’ She knows a respectable man when she sees one.”

  “Damn it, Mav, get out of there!” Goldy immediately yelled back, and his boots could be heard hurrying in their direction.

  “Thank you, Mav, but I think I’m going to pass,” Janie told him as she stayed sitting on the bed, not meeting his eyes or making any move to get up. He reached for her hand and stood there silently holding it until she looked up at him. “You think you’re the only one ever to flip out when they found out about us? Naw, Darlin’. Not even close. Been called a lot worse than monster. It’s kind of a compliment, being so bad ass and all.”

  Janie looked at the crazy wolf-man holding her hand, then at her mother who was now standing in the doorway with a big red-headed man’s arm around her waist, and decided that she must have woken up in the twilight zone. She looked back to the man still holding her hand, “I’m sorry for calling you a monster.”

  “Hell, Darlin’, that ain't nothing. You should have heard the things came out of my mouth when I found out there was such a thing as humans in the world. They’re scary damn creatures, humans are terrible! You ever meet one of them?”

  She looked at him, confusion on her brow once again, until she realized he was teasing her. And she couldn't help it; she dissolved into laugher.

  He softened his voice, sobered his expression, “It’s okay. Come to breakfast,” he whispered.

  She nodded as he kissed her hand and helped her stand up.

  Mav escorted Janie down the hallway and into the kitchen where Goldy was already seating Sadie. She could have sworn her mother blushed as Goldy whispered something meant only for her ears as he scooted her chair in after she sat. Mav sat Janie in a chair between him and the biggest man she had ever seen, and if she remembered right, was a huge black Bear when he transformed. He just watched her quietly as Mav helped her get situated. A man with chestnut-colored, golden-brown hair was seated across from her. He welcomed her to the table, �
�Hi Janie. I’m Kaid. Welcome. We are very happy that you are here. Is there anything that you need? Can we do anything for you?”

  “Hello, Kaid. No, Thank you. I'm okay, you’ve done so much already,” she answered.

  Mav reached for her plate and started filling it as he told her, “Hang on, Sweet Thang, I got you. You don’t have to do a thing. I will take care of you. We got honey if you prefer. I prefer honey to the syrup. You have to suck harder to get it off if you get it on your skin, though,” he turned and gave her the wickedest look she had ever seen. She decided that he surely didn’t mean that the way it sounded, so she chose to ignore it and just waited for him to pass her plate back to her. Suddenly she felt her chair being scooted a little closer to her right. She turned around to find the huge man looking straight ahead as though it wasn't him moving the chair. Hmm, maybe it was her imagination. Mav placed her food in front of her, “I’ll give you whatever you need.” He winked at her then went to the other end of the table to get the pitcher of milk for her. When he did, her chair slid across the floor so fast that she almost fell out of it. Before she knew it, she was still in her chair, but now she was sitting in the place that the huge man was previously sitting. And he was now sitting in his chair, but in the spot she previously occupied. He had effectively placed himself between her and Maverik. She reached her hands out and gripped the table to steady herself as she looked to him to see what was going on. He was rumbling low in his chest and glaring at Mav, who was standing at the head of the table with the pitcher of milk in his hand as he smiled back at the rumbling giant. “Got a problem, Bam?” Mav drawled at him.

  “You stay away.”

  “Whatever are you talking about, Bam? I’m just serving her breakfast.”

  “She’s my sister. You stay away, Mav,” the giant rumbled at him.

  “Oh. Come. On.” Mav answered with an exaggerated sigh, dropping his head back to look at the ceiling. “I’m just trying to feed the girl. I did not offer her my awesomeness. We all know if I did that, she could never resist.”

  “Mav, don’t make me hurt you. You stay away from my sister.”

  Mav just smiled at Bam and went around the other side of the table to pour her a glass of milk. Janie watched this whole thing with a stunned expression on her face. She was not the big man’s sister, and Mav was just serving her plate to be polite. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but Kaid was trying not to smile, and the Dragon guy was watching Mav with a smirk on his face. The pretty lady sitting next to him rolled her eyes at Mav and reached her hand across the table, “Hi, Janie. I’ve heard a lot about you, I’m Avaleigh.”

  “Oh! You’re Avaleigh! Bane told me about you. It is so nice to meet you! Thank you for having us here,” she said as she reached her hand across to shake Avaleigh's hand. She paused halfway to Avaleigh's hand when she heard the big guy snarl again. She looked at him to see if he was snarling at her, but he was facing Mav and snarling, as Mav happily filled his own plate. The man seemed to sense that she had paused in shaking Avaleigh's hand, and he said without looking at her, “It’s okay, Janie, you can shake Avaleigh’s hand. Just not Mav’s.” Mav snorted and kept piling food on his plate. Throughout the meal, he continuously leaned over Bam, offering Janie extra butter, more syrup. Anything he could think of to get a rise out of Bam. Finally after the snarling was so loud that almost no one could talk over it, Kaid addressed it. “Mav, what the hell are you doing?!”

  Mav turned and looked at Kaid, chomping his food, with a big smile on his face. “Fixing things.”

  Chapter 13

  Bam couldn’t believe it. Mav was flirting with Bane’s Ever. Since Bane wasn't here to claim her, it was up to him to make sure that Mav didn’t flirt with her, or disrespect her, or try to catch her eye and turn her attention to him. Cause she was Bane’s. He had heard Mav when he first went into their bedroom and started with that voice like he did with those ladies he spent time with in town. It made him mad. And now, right here at this table, he was doing the same thing and nobody was doing anything to make him stop! So he decided that he would just have to handle it. When he snarled and warned Mav, Mav laughed at him, like he thought it was funny. It was not funny. So he moved his chair and Janie's, so that Mav would have to reach around him anytime he wanted to talk to Janie. As soon as she finished eating, Bam was going to invite her to go for a walk with him. Hopefully they would find Bane, and he could claim her, then Mav would stop. He reached into his pocket again and fiddled with the “memory” he had there. He’d only had it for a couple of days, but it had faded and got soggy kind of quickly. He had it wrapped in tissue paper to try to keep it together. Hopefully, after today, she would have it for her own, and he wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.

  Mav reached over Bam again to offer Janie a bite of the bacon he held. It was dripping honey from one end, “Here, Sweet Thang, want a taste? It’s dripping honey, so you’d better catch it quick.”

  Bam slapped the bacon out of Mav’s hand and snarled directly in his face, speaking to Janie while still facing Mav down, “Janie, after you eat, will you go walk around with me a little?” Bam hoped she’d say yes.

  “Um, I’m not sure that I’m feeling up to that. I’m kind of tired,” Janie didn’t even know this guy other than he was a big-ass Bear when he changed. And he was very snarly. She wasn’t sure what the heck was going on between these two men, but she knew she didn’t want to be a part of any of it.

  Bam turned around to face his breakfast again and didn't say anything, but Avaleigh could see that he was disappointed. “Janie, I don’t think you’ve been introduced properly. This is Bam, Bane’s big brother. Bam, this is Janie.” Avaleigh introduced them hoping that it would make a difference in the way that Janie saw Bam.

  Janie put her fork down and turned in her chair to really look at Bam. Bam was trying to meet her eyes, but he was too shy to do so straight away.

  Mav started to speak to her again, and Bam reached out without even looking in his direction and shoved his chair so hard that it slid all the way across the kitchen and banged into the cabinets against the wall. Mav screeching the whole way, but with a smile on his face, “Damn, Dude! At least give a brother a warning. I could have had honey all over my pants. Oooooo, Janie, you know if I had honey in my lap…”

  Bam yelled at him, interrupting him. “You shut up! Do. Not. Say. It! This is Bane’s Ever. Don’t disrespect her like that, Mav!”

  Mav’s completely unaffected expression wavered momentarily, and she realized that there was some kind of power play going on here. Whatever an Ever was meant something to them. And it caused Mav to pause in his flirtation. Still looking at Bam, she put a smile on her face, “I would love to take a walk with you. I’m sorry that I was afraid before. You were a little snarly, and I didn’t realize that you were Bane’s big brother. He told me about you. He’s very proud of you. He loves you very much,” Janie told him.

  Bam looked up at her and gave her one of his very best smiles, “I have something for you.”

  “You do? For me?”

  “Yes, I went back for it. It took me a little while, but I finally found the one that smelled like Bane, so I knew I had the right one. Avaleigh loves special little memories, so I thought that maybe you would like this one. I saved it for you.” He reached into his pocket, took out a folded piece of tissue paper, and handed it to her.

  Janie took the tissue paper and put it on the table, gently unfolding it. When she got it opened and realized what was inside, she immediately started crying. Sobbing. Everybody was looking around at each other, not sure what had set her off or what to do for her.

  Janie lifted the single red rose, now wilted and sagging, from the paper, pressed it to her nose to inhale its sweet scent, and then threw her arms around Bam, still crying. He patted her back, shushing her gently with a smile on his face.

  After a few moments of this, she regained enough control to be able to lean back to look him in the eye, “How did you know? Did he t
ell you?”

  “Naw, I just know things sometimes. Those are happy tears like Avaleigh gets, right?”

  “Yes, Bam, they are. Thank you.” She placed her hand on his cheek and kissed him on the forehead.

  “What is it?” Avaleigh finally asked.

  “It’s the rose that Bane tried to give me the day I told him that I couldn’t see him anymore. I had to make him run screaming from me in order to keep my mother safe. I knew the only way to do it was to hurt him. I threw it on the ground and told him to get out of my life. After he left, I tried to find it, but it was gone. I thought that someone must have thrown it away,” she told them through broken whispers.

  “They did throw it away. But I found it, I got a good sniffer,” he tapped his nose, smiling at her.

  “Thank you, Bam. I will keep it forever,” she lovingly held it to her chest with both hands, quiet tears still staining her face.

  It was quiet, everybody just sat there looking at her. She had to clarify things for them, so they wouldn't think she was a mean, cold-hearted witch. She looked around at each of them, “I love Bane. I’ve never wanted anyone, but Bane. But my father would have hurt my mother if I didn’t stop seeing him. I didn’t know what else to do. I looked up that day while Bane was talking to me, and my father was standing there a few feet away. He mouthed one word to me, “Mom,” and I had no choice. I knew he was threatening my mother. I had to do something drastic to make Bane walk away. I yelled at him; I threw the rose on the floor and sent him away. I said I didn't want him anymore.” She paused a moment and her voice was barely audible as she finished, “I died inside when I did that. But I had to save my mom.”