Jeff was losing the battle, but he still wasn’t to his full wolf self. He needed to be if he was going to fight the shifter in front of him. Smacked down and dazed, Jeff saw the short-haired lion standing over him. He knew then that he had to shift, but the blood was pouring out of him, and he was losing strength. Jeff saw a blur of reddish brown from behind, and then Dennis attacking the beast.
He was relived, but it was short-lived because blackness came over him quickly. The last thing he saw was Dennis pouncing and Carmella looking on in horror.
“He’s going to be fine.”
“No, he’s not; look at him!”
Jeff groaned as he was moved. He was in and out of it, but Carmella’s voice was clear.
“Did you take care of him?”
“Oh! You’re okay! God answered our prayers. You’re bleeding everywhere…”
“Did you take care of him?”
Jeff wasn’t talking to Carmella. He was talking to Dennis.
“Yes, I damn near killed him. Lions are pretty damn tough.”
“Damn near? He needs to die.”
“No, he doesn’t, Jeff. No one else needs to die. You just stop talking. We’re going to get you some help and somewhere safe.”
He told her that he wanted a kiss, took one, and then blackness again.
When he came to, it was the next day, and he was almost healed up. It hurt a little bit when he moved, but Jeff still sat up to look for Carmella. When he didn’t see her, he started to panic, calling out her name loudly. Jeff didn’t recognize where he was, but he was in some kind of hospital.
“I’m right here, Jeff. I swear you had to wake up when I was going to the bathroom.”
She leaned down and kissed him.
“Where are we?”
“Dennis brought you here. Said it was a place that would take care of you, no questions asked.”
He started to relax. Carmella was by his side and safe. Nothing else mattered.
“You had me worried, Jeff.”
He waved her off. “Never worry about me, Carmella. I will always come back to you.
Jamie jumped at the loud knock on her door. It was early in the morning, and she hadn’t even gotten dressed for work yet.
She went to answer and then gasped at what she saw on the other side of it.
“William! What happened? Why are you here?”
Before the man could answer, he fell to the ground in front of her. Jamie looked around outside and saw no one else. How did he get there?
She struggled to pull him inside before the neighbors saw him. Jamie sighed to herself. It felt like she was never going to get rid of him.
Alpha Panther’s Kidnapped Bride
(Alpha Shifter Bride Service)
Book Three
Chapter One
Jamie looked back into her office, unsure what to think of what was lying on the floor. William had come in, and he was battered more than she’d ever seen somebody beaten before. It was hard for her not to think that he had done something to deserve it. He was ruthless, cruel by all accounts, and dealt with the dark side of life. There was no telling who had done that to him, and she certainly didn’t want to get involved with anyone like that. Jamie worried that him being there was putting her in danger.
She went to the bathroom sink and started to wash the blood off of her hands. She didn’t have much to ask him because she didn’t need to. The wounds were consistent with a shifter, a wolf by the looks of it. Maybe he had tried to buy the wrong woman and had paid the price.
Jamie smiled for a brief moment when she thought that. It would serve him right.
She had stitched him up while he was unconscious, and now she was going to have to wait and see what it was all about. He would heal quicker than humans did, but it was still going to take time. William looked like he was on the brink of real death.
Her hands were shaking as she rubbed them raw with another dollop of soap. The water was hot and steamy, but she didn’t feel it on her skin. When she turned the water off and pulled her hands back, they were still red. Though now, the red was from the friction applied to her skin and the heat of the water. It had nothing to do with the blood that had been coating them not too long ago. Jamie didn’t think she was ever going to get the visceral scene out of her head.
Jamie sighed to herself, looking into the mirror and meeting her brown eyes there. Her face was tired, and her expression was clearly frazzled. Jamie was in over her head. She knew it, and it showed.
“What the hell are you doing? You should have gotten him out of your life months ago. Once you found out…”
There was fear in her eyes, and it disgusted her to see it. She feared William and what he was capable of. It wasn’t just her own life that she worried about, but the girls that he’d picked up on the way as well. There seemed to be a consensus that she was going to be in trouble, no matter what she decided.
His showing up in that state, thinking that her place was the best place for him, showed Jamie that the time to get rid of William was upon her, before something like that happened to her…
She shivered at the idea and wandered out onto the porch. The moon was high in the sky, and she tried her best to ignore it all. She didn’t need the draw that she was feeling. All she wanted was to run off into the woods, leaving all of the stresses behind her. She honestly thought of quitting the business and leaving town for good. It wasn’t like she hadn’t made enough money for her lifetime. At that point, it was all accumulating, but for no real purpose.
Jamie almost talked herself out of it altogether. She was on the verge of just taking off, leaving that evil man on her carpet to wake up alone. Jamie was so close to doing it, but then again, she was worried about what that would entail. Would she be able to go peacefully, or would she be hunted? Would she wake up one day to find William at her doorstep again, the next time for a different reason entirely?
It was almost like she was having someone read her mind. As soon as she thought about leaving William there on the floor, she heard him call for her. She wished she had called somebody else and had them deal with it.
When she got back inside, William was already halfway healed. A part of her was sad about it. She didn't want him to die, but if it meant she would get a bit of space, it wouldn't have been that bad either.
Now he was smiling at her in the most vicious way, and she tried her best to ignore it. Jamie tried not to look into his eyes and to see what was there. Nobody in their right mind would have wanted to see what William held in his eyes. There was just something wicked about him, something dead and blank in the depths. It wasn’t something that could be hidden.
“I bet that was a bit of a surprise, me popping up like that.”
For a moment, she waited for him to say more. Nothing came.
“Yeah, I guess you could say that. I did the best I could to stitch you up. It usually helps the healing if the skin is actually back together. The scars shouldn’t be too visible.”
He touched several spots that had needed her stitches. She waited for him to say thank you or something of that nature, but he didn’t. He could have thanked her for saving his life, or just for taking care of him and not calling the cops, but nothing.
He had taken advantage of her good nature from the get-go, and this was just an extension of that. Jamie could see now how stupid she’d really been.
William looked down at the thread that was still hanging out of his skin and yanked on it. A few fresh drops of blood started to fall down his arm. The healing was so rapid that in moments, the bleeding was stopped as well. He did the same thing to the rest of his wounds that were taken care of, like he was rejecting her help.
“Looks like you're doing well. Maybe it's time for you to leave, then. I wouldn’t want you to have to stay longer than you have to.”
She said it offhandedly, trying to act like it wasn't a big deal one way or another. The more he knew that it bothered her, the more William would use it to his advantag
e. When she was uncomfortable, he smiled even brighter.
“Are you trying to get rid of me? You hurt my feelings, Jamie. I thought we were friends?”
Jamie knew that she was, but she couldn't say that. It would offend William, and she had already offended him once before. It had not ended well for her.
“I am not trying to get rid of you, William. I just have to get to work, as I have a client coming in a little while. I am already late, and they can only be pushed off so long. You know how the wealthy are.”
“I do. We don’t like to be put off. This is important too.”
Jamie sighed.
“Of course it is, William, but if I don't talk to the clients and take their money, then none of this works. I won't need your girls, and I won't have a business to go to.”
Jamie was almost wistful when she said it because now, she was starting to believe that having a business was the worst thing going for her at the moment. It certainly was not making things any easier, and getting rid of it, would get rid of a lot of drama.
Now, she knew what she had to do. Again, she had to play the game until something could be done. Or she could just walk away. That idea was starting to sound better and better every second.
“You're right. I should let you get to work and make me some more money. Speaking of, why don't you give me a little bit of an advance on the next girl? The bills are really piling up on her, and I want to keep her pristine for your clients.”
“I don’t do advances.”
He had never asked her in advance before. It was something that would be done in trust, but Jamie didn’t trust William.
“Yes, I have to change where I live and do business. It will take a little money to switch to another location and to get started back up. I need to get back in business as well.”
Jamie wanted to laugh in his face. There was no way in hell that she was going to help him. She didn't even want to give him the money as it was now, so she certainly wasn’t going to give William an advance. That would just be inviting him into her life further. By the looks of it, he was growing roots.
After a moment, though, she knew that she didn't have any other recourse. She was going to do what he asked until she could figure out how to get as far away from him as humanly possible. Jamie knew that the time was coming; she just had to be careful until then. William was healed enough to hurt her.
“Okay, William. I guess I can give you a little to get started, in advance. I don’t want you to think that I am going to do it again, though. This is a one-time thing.”
He chuckled. “You don’t tell me no, and you don’t tell me how this is going to go. Remember your place, Jamie.
Chapter Two
There was a part of William that really liked Jamie. She was straightforward and beautiful. If they had met under different circumstances, or if she had a more flexible moral code, William could have seen the two of them getting together. But as it stood, there was no way that she would ever consider him, so he shouldn’t waste time thinking about it.
He got a little bit of money from her and left not too long after he woke up. He could've stayed longer, could have forced his will on her even more than he already had, but William didn't want to. Jamie was a good woman, and he almost felt guilty about taking advantage.
Almost.
At the end of the day, he had gone to her because he knew that she had some moral obligation that made her have to help him. He, of course was going to use that to his advantage as well as he could. It wasn’t like he wanted to, though. It’s just how William was. It was how he survived.
Once he got back to his property, there was a prickle on the back of his neck that someone had been there. Once he got closer to the door, he realized they were still there. His nerves started to fray.
Then he heard his name being spoken behind him, and he whipped around quickly, seeing Dominic standing there.
“Have you been there the whole time?”
There was actually no telling because William knew that the man was old and had many powers that most shifters did not possess. He was a shifter that had the power of witches behind him. It made Dominic far more dangerous than the rest.
“Dominic. I didn't see you there.”
“That is because you were not looking. You looked distracted, like something is on your mind. Is there anything I need to know about?”
William said no and opened the door to his house, leaving it open, knowing that Dominic wanted in.
William had done business with people like Dominic and he regretted it. William was always the one on the front lines. He was the one getting attacked, the one that was hated, but William was not the brains behind it all. He was just a puppet.
“What happened last night? You were supposed to return with the girl.”
When it came to Dominic, there were no pleasantries, no small talk.
“As you can plainly see, I was attacked. Most of it’s already healed, but it was even worse than the time before. These men do not take too kindly to where their women come from.”
Dominic shrugged nonchalantly. It didn’t matter to him. He was not the one that had to come in contact with the angry husbands that their girls were sold to.
“I would suggest you treat them a little better, and then they will not turn against you after they get married. You should probably work on your people skills.”
William pressed his lips together because he wanted to say something rude and it would likely be the last thing he ever said. He knew the syndicate was capable of many things, and Dominic liked to cause chaos. He wanted William to pop off so he could end him. William was sure of that much.
“I do not treat them one way or another. I send them away to boarding school until they come of age. It's been the easiest way to deal with it, because I don't have to worry about them getting too close to other men and spoiling their value.”
“And what about the others?”
He waited for more, but he knew exactly what Dominic was talking about. He wanted to know what happened to the girls that hadn’t worked out to sell to Jamie. He wanted to know about the other business, selling women to the highest bidder. Magical women were even more sought after. That was why they got into it to begin with: the money created. William was the front man to ensure that other people like Dominic didn't have to get their hands dirty, but the other business made even him pause.
“It is going well. I am selling almost all of them exclusively to the matchmaker place. We get a better return on each girl. Much better return.”
Dominic agreed with his words but still wasn’t happy.
“While that is true, I think we really need to shift into something else. Not only that, you may get more money per girl, but you sell fewer girls. If we take a little less money because of the environment they're being sold into, we can sell one hundred of them and make more money than selling one or two girls to the matchmaker.”
William was a little blown away with the numbers. Sell a hundred of them? Where were all of these women supposed to come from? He did have a few that were in the wings for later, but how was he supposed to come up with a hundred all at one time?
“I can see that you're starting to shift your mindset. That is good. I want you to start on the new project now. It looks like you need to take some time away from the bridal business. It doesn't seem to be doing too good for you. This will make us more money.”
William agreed that selling girls to Jamie wasn’t working, but what Dominic was asking of him was more than he was comfortable with.
William knew that it didn't matter if he wanted to do it or not, though. He knew that the day would come, so William was going to have to push aside his feelings and get it done. If not, what happened to him next would not be something he could heal from.
“I do have two girls already sold to Jamie. I would suggest very strongly that we at least fulfill that order. Then, if we need to go back and piecemeal some girls later, some diamonds in the rough
that I built for better things; we will have the connection still open.”
Dominic thought about it for a moment and then nodded his head. “That seems reasonable. I knew that we needed you for more than just the muscle side of it. But don't think too much, William; it's unnecessary. We will do most of the thinking for you.”
Chapter Three
Jamie was left shaken up from William’s unannounced visit. She was nervous every time she was around him. She knew that he took advantage of women, and she was helping him. It made her feel dirty inside, but she knew that there was nothing she could do about it. How many people had tried to take down William since she had found out the truth about him? How ever many it was, none of them had succeeded.
She was back in the bathroom, looking in the mirror, trying to figure out what she was going to do. It was hard for her to imagine how it could all be real. Jamie just wanted to go back to the business that she had gotten into to begin with: matching magical men with women. Some of them just found it hard to find a bride, while others were short on time and needed one because they were about to become an Alpha. Either way, it was all innocent and pure. She had felt like she was doing some good in the world, and William had just mucked it up.
Her eyes were no longer afraid. She was becoming determined, and Jamie knew that it was the only way she was going to get through it. She had been through hard times before. She just had to find a way to get William out of the situation. Jamie knew there was an answer, she just had to find it.
Cleaning up her face from her tears and getting ready to get to work, she tried to feel the resolve she knew that she needed. She needed to get her mind off of everything for a while, and diving into work was the healthiest answer that she had.
Focusing on more than what she’d experienced that night and morning, her mind shifted to her next client. He was a reputable man, and Jamie needed to pull it together. She focused on his files and tried to push William out of her head completely. She had spent enough time worrying about him for a while.
Alpha Shifter Bride Service: (A Paranormal Romance Series) Page 22
