by Khloe Wren
As Adele looked up she caught Dominic give the doctor a strange look. He seemed to sense she was looking at him. His expression smoothed over to a smile so quickly she couldn’t work out what he was trying to tell the doctor.
"Well Adele, we haven't officially been introduced; I'm Dr. Clint Maynard, the one you were going to meet with on Wednesday. I think I can safely say the job is all yours if you want it. You more than proved yourself out in the field and at the hospital today, I'm certainly convinced you know what you're doing, and you've struck up friendships with most of the town's emergency response teams already. We've been down to one paramedic for quite some time now, so we really do need you. How would you like to blow off those other interviews and hang around Rosebery with us?"
Adele nearly choked on her drink in shock. Clint was the Dr. Maynard she was booked in to meet on Wednesday? She planned on attending all the interviews before making a decision about which position to take. She took a sideways peek at Dominic while taking a sip from her drink. He really was handsome, not that she wanted a man, but if she did...hmmm. Dominic aside, there was something about this town that pulled at her to stay. Before she changed her mind, she put her drink down, swallowed her mouthful, looked up into Clint's face and made one of the biggest decisions of her life.
"Dr. Maynard, I think I may just do that. I'd like nothing better than to hang around here and be your paramedic. Merci beaucoup."
"The pleasure is all ours, Adele. I, too, am sick of cleaning up after Jake and his reactions." He said while flashing her a wink.
"Now, since we're going to be working together, please, call me Clint. I'm only Dr. Maynard in front of patients. Merci beaucoup is French right? Are you French? You don't speak with an accent, never would have guessed."
"My mother immigrated over when she was pregnant with me. We always spoke French to each other. It helped with her homesickness I think. But I'm as Aussie as Mick Dundee." She finished with a thick Aussie accent she hoped would cover the grief currently ripping at her from thinking of her mother. It worked. The twins took her words and ran with it. Joel and Jordan grabbed their butter knives and with his own exaggerated thick Aussie accent Joel started off "That's not a knife, this is a knife." The men all spent the next twenty minutes doing impersonations of Mick Dundee until they were all laughing so hard, tears ran down their cheeks. Adele couldn't remember a time when she'd ever laughed so vigorously.
~ * ~
Adele thought she would end up staying at Top Pub but Kit had insisted her spare room was more comfortable. Until her first pay came in she couldn't really afford to be staying at a hotel at any rate, so she had accepted Kit's offer. As Adele lay in bed drifting off to sleep, she thought back over her day. She couldn't believe all she'd accomplished in just one day.
This morning she'd been alone and homeless. Tonight, she'd sat surrounded by people she already liked. People so generous that she was starting her new job in the morning and knew where she'd be living for the foreseeable future. She couldn't wait to tell her chaton about all of it ...and about the man she was going to have to be very, very careful around, Dominic White.
As soon as Adele arrived in their field, she looked around for her chaton--she had so much to tell him. She saw him behind her. He was all low to the ground, stalking toward her slowly. He was purring loudly so she wasn't worried about his intent. She smiled slyly. Her playful chaton was back. She giggled as she sprinted away from him across the field toward the trees. She only managed half a dozen steps before he caught her. He took her down gently and she lay on her back with him framing her body between his four legs. The soft fur of his front paws caressed her shoulders, while he swished the tip of his tail back and forth over her ankles, tickling them. He gave her a lick across the side of her neck before he bounded off her to sit waiting for her to arrange herself in front of him. Once she managed to contain her giggling, she looked up at him and noticed he was watching her with his head cocked to the side.
"You want to know why I'm so happy, my chaton?"
He gave her one of his little nods. She proceeded to tell him about her life-altering day.
"So, I've found my new start." She sighed. "But I'm worried. There's a man, Dominic White. He is so handsome and the way he looks at me, the way his deep, smooth voice slides up my spine--it makes me shiver ..." She sighed again, then shook her head.
"I can't give in." She watched as he cocked his head to the other side.
"You want to know why?" He nodded his massive head slightly.
"Because of what happened to my mother. She fell pregnant with me when she was quite young. When she told her boyfriend, he ran for the hills. According to my mother 'he ran fast enough to leave a vapor trail in his wake'. He broke her heart; she never recovered. To make it worse, her parents' reaction was to send her away. They shipped her off, from the only home she had ever known in Lyon, France to live with an elderly relative she had never even met before in Melbourne without a backward glance."
She took a deep breath before continuing.
"I am twenty five years old and have never met either my father or my grand parents. My mother died having not seen her parents for over twenty years. So you understand? I can't let a man get close. I can't stand to be hurt like my Maman was. My heart isn't strong enough. It's still healing from loosing Maman. I'll be fine on my own. I don't need a man."
She finished more to herself than to him.
He nuzzled her cheek, alerting Adele to the fact she was crying. She wrapped her arms around his neck sinking her fingers into his thick coat, laid her head against his, and allowed the vibrations of his purring to soothe her.
Chapter Three
Damn it! Cole had lost himself. He'd become so caught up in the moment he'd pushed her too far. So intent on releasing his anger, he hadn't been paying attention like he should have. He began pacing back and forth across the cold concrete floor, running his hands through his hair and pulling at it. His slave was dead. His lousy day just kept getting better and better. After a massive fuck up with paperwork he'd unloaded and reloaded a ship of logs, while putting up with the Captain and officials fighting over whose fault it was and who was going to pay for it all every step of the way. He really needed to work off his anger and frustration tonight. He hadn't even played his usual mind games with her; he'd simply grabbed her and dragged her down here as soon as he'd arrived home. He'd tied her up, whipped her raw, then fucked her hard. It was a thing of beauty, she had screamed so nicely, and the way that woman bled...got him hard every time.
He stopped pacing and rubbed his hands over his face, examining her hanging from the hook: her head sagging forward, her long black hair hanging over her tits soaking up the blood from the welts he'd put there. Her arms where stretched straight as the full dead weight of her body pulled on them. Her knees had bent a little and her blood was slowly dripping from them to the floor. Damn, she looked sexy. If only she were breathing. He cursed and screamed out loud to vent some of the frustration he had building up inside. How was he going to bring himself down now? To top it off, now he had to deal with the body. The last few he'd dumped over a cliff into the ocean--that seemed to work. The water soaked away any evidence that would tie him to them and the current took them far enough away the cops didn't know where to start looking.
Before he got stuck into the messy job he needed a stiff drink. He headed up the stairs to the kitchen. As he poured himself some Jim Beam in a glass tumbler he heard a noise; a door quietly closing. He grinned as he threw back the cheap alcohol, enjoying the burn it left in its wake on the way down. The Brat. He still had her to ease his needs. He planned out what he needed to do on the way down the stairs.
He would wrap the body up in a tarp then tie it up good and tight. He'd place her in the tray of his pride and joy, his jet black 2009 Holden VE SV6 Commodore Ute with the hard cover closed. She would keep in his garage until he finished with the brat, then he would take her up to the cliffs and dump her over into th
e ocean. He'd hose out the tray with the high-pressure hose at work early tomorrow, when no one was around. No one would ever know, just like the last time, and the time before that. Oh tonight was starting to look up after all.
~ * ~
Kelly let her body sag against the door as she heard him go back down the stairs. Something was wrong, different than normal. He'd been in a worse mood than usual when he'd come home for starters. As soon as he'd stalked through the front door he'd been on her mother, dragged her down the stairs by her hair. Kelly's body shuddered with revulsion. She'd run to her room and stayed there--leaving the door open just a crack so she would know when they returned. But her mother hadn't returned. Her screams stopped suddenly short minutes before he stormed up the stairs wearing just an old pair of jeans--that were splattered with fresh blood. His bare chest was also splattered. Ice ran through her veins as he prowled over to the kitchen and poured himself a drink...something he normally made her mother do for him, if it was anything other than beer. Kelly had closed the door at that point.
She stopped breathing as she realized her mother must be dead. The bastard must have finally pushed too far and killed her. She sobbed as grief for her mother overwhelmed her. As her body shook from the force of her grief, a more frightening thought entered her mind. Her mother was gone, no longer useful to him, but she was still here; she had no delusions about the fact he would happily begin to use her. She cried harder, for her and for her mother, as she curled up on her bed. She knew, deep in her soul, her already crappy life was about to take a drastic turn straight over a cliff.
Kelly jumped in fright, quickly curling herself into a tighter ball, pushing her back up against the wall as she heard him crash through her bedroom door so hard it must have come off it's hinges. She peeked through her fingers at him: he was stalking toward her, grinning a horrible sinister looking smile she new meant evil bad things would be happening to her soon. If the grin didn't give his intent away, the glint in his cold hazel eyes certainly did. She cringed as he ran his hand gently through her black curls. He roughly grabbed a handful, yanking her off the bed to her feet. As she gasped in shock and pain he grabbed the front of her thin shirt in his fist and ripped it from her body. He repeated the performance with her thin cotton shorts and undies.
"You won't need them where you're going." His voice was hard, dripping with venom.
Through her tears Kelly watched him look over her body, making her feel dirty and violated.
As he dragged her out of her room, her heart pounded hard. He opened the door to the stairs and dragged her down; she couldn't hear anything other than the loud rapid beating of her heart. At the bottom he thrust her into one of the rooms. She stopped short, frozen in horror.
Blood. So much blood. It was splattered all over the wall and had pooled on the floor. There were older dark brown stains and fresh bright red ones. Her mother must be dead, surely no one could lose that much and survive. While she stood there frozen, he let go of her and moved away from her for a minute. When he returned he was standing in front of her with the collar he'd kept on her mother. She saw all the stains, both old and new, left by her mother's blood.
"You are mine now little slave. I am going to train you to be the perfect slave and you will be perfect and strong and you Will. Never. Leave. Me."
Kelly felt all her blood drain from her head and her mind spun out of control. She fell to her knees and let the darkness consume her as the horror of his words took over her mind.
Chapter Four
Dominic showered and dressed as fast as he could. He needed to get to Adele before she left work for the day. He'd gone around on Wednesday night. He'd asked her out to celebrate her first day of work but she'd politely turned him down with a quiet smile. It was her quiet smile that gave him hope. She could feel their bond. She was just fighting it. So, now it was Friday night, the end of her shift. He knew she had the weekend off--Kit had been feeding him information. She would say yes. He wouldn't accept anything else. She was his mate; he knew she could feel the connection between them and if only she would stop fighting it they could get somewhere. He'd been waiting four long years for her and he really didn't want to wait any more. Tonight she would be tired, worn out and hopefully not in the mood to cook tea--or fight the attraction between them. He was sure of it. He bolted out of the locker room in a rush to the soundtrack of the rest of the crew laughing and cat calling. He figured his face must look like he felt: like a cat that ate the canary. Not that he cared. He was off to catch his mate.
~ * ~
Dominic stood silently by the door, watching his mate. She was so graceful; she glided around the office as she readied things to leave. He watched as she flopped exhausted into her chair with a sigh. She scrubbed her hands over her face. Damn, she looked totally worn out. He smiled. His plan would definitely work; no way did she feel like cooking dinner tonight. From the looks of things, she didn't look up to driving home, let alone function well enough to cook. She leaned back in the chair with her eyes closed. Dominic's instincts came roaring to life. The need to care for his mate had him knocking on the doorframe before he was aware he had moved.
Without her head moving, Adele's eyes opened slowly. As her eyes focused on his face her mouth twitched then grew into a full-blown smile that reached her eyes. He felt his heart swell; her beautiful brown eyes sparkled with happiness to see him. He felt like he was a mile high at the fact that his presence alone could make her instantly so happy.
"To what do I owe this pleasure Dominic?" she asked sweetly, her voice only giving away a hint of how tired she must be.
"Well, I thought I could take you out to dinner to celebrate your surviving your first week here. I know how by the end of the week, cooking just isn't high on anyone's list of priorities. What do you say? Want to join me for a bite to eat?" Dominic was surprised at how confident and strong his voice sounded as he did not feel either of those things. The way Adele's gaze softened made him think she'd read his fear that she would again reject him.
"I see that look in your eyes, Dominic. I'm not going to get out of it no matter what I say, am I?" Adele spoke softly with a little humor in her voice. He loved that even tired, she let her sense of humor shine through.
"Well, I wasn't planning on hog-tying you and dragging you along if you didn't want to come...but yeah, I really want to have dinner with you, get to know you better."
He followed that comment up with his lop sided grin, the one he knew melted her will to fight him.
"C'mon Dominic, I was just about to leave anyway, so lets go have some dinner."
He waited by the door for her to finish packing up, grab her bag and head toward him. He couldn't resist the temptation of placing his hand on her lower back to guide her out the building to the car park. He loved how his touch made her shiver slightly as she felt the connection between them. He could feel the sparks all the way up his arm.
~ * ~
Adele glanced over at Dominic as he guided her over to a small table in a quiet back corner. She suspected he'd planned this out, arranged this table to be left vacant. How sweet was that? On a Friday night most places would get too rowdy to be able to carry on a conversation. This out of the way table would stay fairly quiet she imagined. She sat in the chair that Dominic held out for her before tucking her bag under the table. She watched Dominic as he smoothly lowered his large frame into the seat opposite her. He caught her watching and gave her a cheeky grin and a wink. She quickly lowered her eyes to her hands resting on the table as she blushed at getting busted checking him out. Silently she repeated her mantra 'I do not need a man' over and over in her head. Maybe if she said it often enough she might believe it because it hadn't even been a full week and she was struggling to stay away from him. For some reason she just melted whenever he was near her. The effect his voice had on her was lethal. How strange she'd never felt like this around any other man before in her whole life.
Dominic rapped his knuckles quickly on the
table, as if he'd known he'd lost her.
"Sorry, Dominic, I was a million miles away. Did you say something?"
"No, beautiful, I was just pulling you back to me and away from where ever your mind just went."
"Oh, yeah, when I'm tired I tend to vague out a bit, sorry. How about we grab some drinks?"
"I think since it's the end of the week and all, we should splash out. Would you like some wine, Adele?"
Adele looked up into his face as her mind finished the climb out of the hole it'd fallen in.
"The end of this week definitely deserves a splash out. But I have a confession; I've never really drunk wine before. Could you pick something for me? Only if you don't mind."
"I don't mind one bit Adele, be my pleasure to introduce you to one of the finer things in life."
Adele contemplated the look on Dominic's face. He looked like he was proud to be able to select her drink. He seemed so possessive around her; she would have thought she'd hate it. But she loved it, adored how she felt claimed when she was with him. She mentally shook her head at herself...she did not need a man and most certainly didn't need to be claimed by one.
While Dominic headed to the bar, Adele took her jacket off, slung it over the back of her chair and settled in. She closed her eyes for a moment to rest them...she was definitely going to sleep well tonight. She rubbed her eyes with her thumb and forefinger. She couldn't believe how much more draining full time work was compared to University had been.
"Are you okay, beautiful?" Dominic asked as he set her drink down in front of her. He ran his hand up her arm, over her shoulder and left it in a possessive grip on the back of her neck for a few moments before he dropped it away and moved over to his seat.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just worn out is all. I only finished Uni last year, so this is my first full time job--I think it's going to take me a bit to get used to the hours."
