They rode for hours, Kane stopping twice to check some fencing that had fallen or been pushed down by animals scratching themselves on the barbed wire. Damesha tried not to let her thoughts wander too much, tried to stay focused on the ride and the scenery but things wanted to intrude.
When she thought she heard a lion’s roar she blocked it out. When she could have sworn she’d seen a chimpanzee hanging from a tree, she turned her head away. When her hands tightened around Kane’s waist when one of the quad bike’s tires found a hole and he didn’t even gasp, she put it off to good genes. Nothing was wrong.
But when she got off the bike to answer the call of nature and found that, suddenly, her stomach was in the way of her resting right up against Kane’s back she knew she couldn’t pretend that everything was normal, All-American-Apple-Pie-and-Fireworks-normal anymore. Something strange was happening. Something very odd was going on and this wasn’t how things were supposed to be going. How had her stomach come out that far in a few minutes? And how was she going to tell Kane?
Damesha grew quieter as the day progressed, her breasts suddenly more sore, her back aching, and she felt something…odd. She wasn’t sure what but she almost felt as though there was, well, someone listening to her. She looked around but couldn’t see anyone. She knew the sensation was coming from inside of her. This wasn’t a movie though, this was her life, and she knew babies couldn’t communicate with their mothers before birth. It was impossible. The thought was also kind of creepy, what if the baby had been listening earlier?
Telling herself to chill out, Damesha went into the house and began to prepare dinner while Kane showered. She ran into the small bathroom downstairs for a shower of her own and came out even more puzzled. The stomach that had been only slightly rounded this morning was most definitely protruding and her breasts wouldn’t fit into her bra. Her panties had stretched over her hips far more than the last time she wore the fresh pair. Her dress, loose fitting and comfortable was now tight on the arms and did little to hide her stomach.
Damesha left the bra in the bathroom, along with the panties, and pulled the dress on. Kane came down to join her and his hands slid over the bulge of her stomach but he didn’t say a word. She’d frozen as his hands moved but somehow he hadn’t noticed. Men could be so very unobservant sometimes! Damesha was almost miffed that Kane hadn’t noticed her tummy but pulled the chicken casserole she’d prepared out of the oven along with some rolls.
Kane didn’t seem to notice anything odd about her and carried on the conversation as though it was a normal day. Damesha just picked at her food at first but started to eat quickly after the first couple of bites. She became ravenously hungry as the food touched her tongue. She forgot Kane was there, or Annie at her feet under the table hoping for a dropped morsel. All she could do was eat until half of the casserole was gone. The dish should have fed six people!
She looked up guiltily as she realized what she’d just done. Kane gave her a smile and went to the fridge for a beer. Damesha excused herself, shocked at how much she’d just eaten. Right, she was going back to New York, back to sanity. She’d call Erika and get her to arrange a doctor appointment, there had to be a way to fix this. She’d come home after that and life would go on. Nothing to see, nothing to report. She hoped.
“There’s something wrong with me. I think I’m losing my mind. You see what I just did right?” She’d consumed the food like a starving person offered a buffet!
“Damesha, baby, you’re fine, I promise. Sometimes people get these kind of growth spurts where their bodies crave more food, that’s all.” He sounded as though he was trying to convince them both.
Damesha started to protest, to start to list off all of the things that had happened so far, but he got a phone call from his brother. Damesha could only sigh as he kissed her goodbye before going to answer his brother’s summons. Duty called, but not his duty to her.
She cleaned up the dishes and was about to watch television when the doorbell rang. She went into the front of the house to answer the door but there was no one there. The sun was just going down and she could still see out of the window, there wasn’t anyone there.
Damesha shrugged it off as a malfunction in the doorbell when she heard a knock on the back door. Now that definitely came from a human hand! She went back into the kitchen but once more, there wasn’t anyone there. Damesha felt all of the hairs on her skin as they all stood on end. Something weird was happening again.
She locked the doors and made sure all of the windows were locked. She went upstairs and locked herself in the bedroom. She could hear howls in the woods and strange noises. It sounded like an entire zoo was trampling through the yard. The sun had retreated now and it was full dark out, the moon barely a sliver in the sky. The flood lights weren’t on either, she’d forgotten to turn them on!
A multitude of hands slapping against glass, doors, the very walls, left her screaming as terror filled her, gripping her throat as the hand drummed a rhythmic beat against the house. It sounded as though a hundred hands were beating against the house, a slapping sound that reminded her of batons striking plastic shields. Damesha ran into the bathroom, trying to call Kane with her mobile phone. Her shaking fingers swiped the wrong name several times before she found Kane’s.
“Hello…Kane!” she started, but stopped as she realized the call had gone to voicemail. Why wasn’t he answering the phone?
She hunkered down in the shower, wondering if she should call the police when she remembered the attitude of the cop she’d met already. Sheriff, deputy, whatever he was. She’d dismissed him from her mind until now. He was probably the one they’d send out and with her luck, he’d call ahead and ask the people outside if he could bring some gasoline to the party. No, she couldn’t call him. Terrified, Damesha huddled in the tub, her hands over her ears to block out the racket.
Annie, she thought suddenly. Where is Annie? Damesha felt her panic ease as she remembered Annie had followed along Kane when he left earlier. That minute adjustment of panic was soon increased as howls, screams, and other noises joined into the cacophony taking place outside. Damesha huddled in the tub, whimpering, helpless as the noises continued outside. With her eyes closed to the world and her hands over her ears, Damesha retreated into a dream world, a world that existed only in her head.
Kane was there, as was their child, a girl, small and tiny, her chubby fists waving as her parents pulled her into the water, allowing her to float on her back, her mother’s secure hand beneath her bottom. Damesha held the girl so her back was in the water and she watched as her daughter’s little arms and legs kicked in glee. Then her daughter suddenly morphed into a seal and swam away. Damesha screamed in horror at her child transforming into an animal and swum away. She stood screaming for her child to come back as she sank into the water, reaching for her little girl.
Chapter 12
Kane strode into his brother’s office and flung the door open without worrying about whether the door knob would scuff the wall or not. He’d had about enough of this being summoned bullshit. He was a grown man and his brother wasn’t his master. Well, he kind of was, but that wasn’t the point. The point was everybody else in their clan had free choice, why couldn’t he?
Just because his chosen mate was a human didn’t mean he should be treated any differently, or that she should be treated any differently. Kane’s anger had grown as he’d drove to his brother’s house. Cade was always interrupting him, barging into his life lately, and this was the last time.
Damesha wasn’t doing well, he wasn’t exactly sure why but he knew his clan was responsible for the how. She was in for a shock anyway, Kane and his clan weren’t normal human beings, they were shifters, able to shift into any creature they desired. There was always one creature that was easier to shift into than others, one that the shifter felt the most at home in, but they could usually shift into whatever they chose.
Unfortunately, Damesha had already witnessed what happens when
a shifter is injured and starts to lose control of their shifting. That little Chihuahua she’d had a run-in with was him. After his injury, he’d healed quickly, far too quickly to escape her notice, and had been unable to control the shifting. This uncontrolled shifting had been the reason he’d started going out so much, so she wouldn’t see him shift or what he’d turn into.
That had been one of the most humiliating moments of his life. Not only had she seen him as a tiny defenseless animal, even if she hadn’t known it was him, she’d had to take him outside to use the bathroom. If humiliated anger had been enough to make him shift he’d have been a human in less than a millisecond but nothing would make him shift when he was that weakened except his body’s will. For whatever reason it had wanted to be a cute little puppy at that point; probably an effort to comfort Damesha.
Often, Kane had wanted to tell Damesha the truth, to bring her into his world, but he was forbidden. Revealing your true nature to a non-shifter was punishable by death, for a multitude of reasons, mainly that it put the whole shifter-verse into danger if it was revealed. That was if anyone believed them in the first place.
Kane strode into Cade’s office with this thought in mind. He had to reveal the truth to Damesha, she thought she was losing her mind and it was starting to show. The poor woman was a far cry from the brave, independent soul he’d fallen in love with. Now she was frightened of her own shadow and though she tried to put a brave face on it, she looked haunted.
“Kane, glad you could grace me with your presence.” Cade’s sarcastic tone wasn’t lost on Kane.
“Well, to be honest, I’d rather tell you to go fuck yourself, but all of these little chats we’re having lately, I guess you must really love me brother dear.” Kane fluttered his eyelids at his brother before taking a seat. Annie had followed him inside and sat daintily at his side, her warm brown eyes looking in Cade’s direction with disdain. Kane almost laughed when he saw the expression on the dog’s face; Annie was funny like that.
“I guess it’s getting tedious but so is your fascination with this woman. It’s time you dealt with it and got rid of her!” Cade’s fist came down on his desk.
Kane watched his brother, noting the tight jaw, the narrowed eyes, and grim line of his mouth. Cade was at the end of his patience but so was Kane. Cade thought Kane could just turn his emotions off, and send Damesha on her way.
“My spirit has chosen her Cade. How many times do I have to tell you? We both know what happens when a shifter is denied their mate. I’ll die without her.” Kane shot his brother a glance of consternation. It was common lore amongst their kind. The only way a shifter could be separated from their chosen mate without facing death themselves was through the death of the mate. That death released the spirit to find another mate or to live out their lives.
“Fuck off, Kane, that’s just an old wives’ tale! There’s no such thing as mating for life. Don’t be so ridiculous.” Cade’s dismissive tone came with a wave of his hand, a gesture that pissed Kane off.
“Really? Then what happened to our parents then? They just died of…what?” Kane looked at his brother with disgust. “Kept in perfectly good environments, fed, and cared for by the Mungon clan, they just died of nothing? You really believe that?”
Cade’s face tensed even more at the mention of the Mungon and his words came out as hard little points. “The Mungon tortured our parents, kept them in damp cells, denied them food and water…”
“Come off it, Cade, you aren’t still buying Jadrian’s theory on how they died, are you? The Mungon kept our parents to try to force their hands, to force the hands of all of the shifter world, into revealing our true natures. They kept them separate because, unlike you, they believed the mating would do its magic and our parents would give in to their demands before death took them. They died rather than telling the secret but you just want to believe the Mungon’s tortured them!”
“You’re the baby of the family, you weren’t even old enough to remember them. How can you know what truly happened? No, we aren’t going into this decade’s long war with the Mungon. We’re going to deal with that troublesome group and their “motorcycle club” before it’s over with. We’re talking about you and that woman. I know she stood by you at the hospital and I know she took care of you when you were released, but she’s not one of us, Kane!” Cade stood up, pacing his office. “You have to let her go. We can’t let our secret get out!”
Kane glared at his brother, not sure how to make the other man see this was his life, not Cade’s, and sure as fuck not the clan’s. “I guess that means you won’t be giving me your permission to marry her then? You know she’s carrying my child, yet you’ll still deny me even that?”
“Certainly not, little brother! Child or no, you won’t be marrying that woman. And you know what the penalty for defying me is.” Cade glared at his brother, his nostrils flared.
“I know, I know, the same as it is for everything in our world. I’ll die if I defy you, I’ll die if I don’t stay near her, I’ll die if I marry without your permission, I’ll die if I tell her the truth, I’ll die, I’ll die, I’ll die.” Kane slumped in his chair, defeated for the moment.
“That’s right. Don’t force me to make that decision, Kane. I wouldn’t want to have to call for your death, to put the clan through that, but I will if you force me to. I have to. It’s my duty.”
“And duty is all that matters to you, I know. Fuck your brothers, your blood, fuck your own life even, because your precious duty comes first. I know Cade.” Kane stood, preparing to leave his brother’s office. The office of the chief of their clan.
“One more thing, Kane. If she’s not gone in the next few days, we’ll take matters into our own hands.” Cade spoke softly, without looking into Kane’s eyes.
“Into your own…what the hell are you talking about?” Kane turned back to Cade, his own gaze approaching fury.
“Don’t force us to show you.” Cade finally looked into Kane’s eyes, so similar to his own. Normally Kane’s were softer, but now Cade saw a fierceness in his youngest brother’s eyes that he’d never seen before and it shook him. It was trouble for the whole clan, what he saw in Kane’s eyes. “Don’t Kane.”
“Go fuck yourself, Cade.” Kane shot over his shoulder, his hand going over his shoulder to flash his middle finger at his brother. “I don’t take kindly to threats.”
Kane left his brother’s house, the clan’s house, and drove back to his own. His brother had threatened his life, but more importantly, they’d threatened Damesha. That was unacceptable. Fuck him and his clan. Kane knew that meant Cade’s chosen cadre of clan soldiers. It was time for a plan.
He pulled into the driveway at the house and ran through the eerily silent house.
“Damesha? Damesha where are you, baby?” Kane strode through the downstairs, Annie passing him up to run to the bedroom.
Kane didn’t pay attention to Annie and kept searching through the house. He had left her office and was heading into the living room, looking for at least a note of some kind, when he heard Annie barking. Annie never barked, never, and to hear her barking now meant something.
Kane followed the sound of her barking, a frantic, terrified sound that went right through him, raising goose bumps on his entire body. Kane found Annie in the bedroom, at the bathroom door, her nails clawing long scratches in the wood as she tried to get through the door. Kane knew something was wrong then, Annie didn’t act like this.
His hand shook as he reached for the knob, he was terrified of what he was going to find. A lot of bad things happened in bathrooms, things with razors and blood that he didn’t want to think about. Surely it hadn’t gotten to that point yet?
Kane threw the door open and Annie raced in, heading straight for the tub hidden behind a shower curtain. He heard a startled sound as she jumped right into the tub, clearing the edge easily, but ignored the curtain. Whoever Annie was on, licking at frantically, was now covered in the shower curtain pulled from
its clips.
“Damesha?” Kane knelt in front of the tub, pulling the curtain away to reveal the woman he loved. She was there, huddled in the tub, her hands over her ears, her eyes squeezed shut, strange mewling noises coming from her throat as Annie continued to frantically lick at her mistress.
“Annie, get down darling, let’s get her out of here.” Kane eased Annie away but the dog went back to Damesha, her nose digging at the space between Damesha’s head and the tub, trying to encourage her mistress to get up.
Kane pulled Annie away and grabbed at Damesha, pulling her out of the tub. He didn’t know what had happened but he knew enough was enough. Somehow his family had caused this, he knew it after that warning from Cade. This was his brother’s doing.
Kane carried Damesha into the bedroom and put her down on the bed. He pulled away her clothes and put a fresh nightgown on her trembling frame. He tried to cover her but Annie jumped on top of the cover.
“No, Annie, you can get under the cover with her but not sit on top of it like that, you’ll make her uncomfortable.” Kane held up the comforter and Annie bounced beneath the cover, straight beside Damesha’s body. Kane could see Annie was pressing herself into the still trembling woman’s back. She would keep Damesha warm and safe.
Kane ran downstairs to make some chamomile tea and rushed back up with it. Neither Damesha nor the dog had moved. Annie was pressed into Damesha’s back, Damesha on her side with her legs pulled up to her abdomen. Damesha still wouldn’t speak, her eyes staring into the darkness, and Kane felt helpless. How did he fix this?
He put the cup of tea down and moved to sit in front of Damesha, pulling her into his arms. Annie protested with a fussing noise, but settled back against Damesha’s hips without further protest. Kane started talking to Damesha, hoping he could sooth the obvious terror that had caused this. He didn’t know what that terror had been but he knew she hadn’t deserved it.
Kane (Alexander Shifter Brothers Book 1) Page 10
