by Jodi Vaugn
She managed to quietly dress in the dark, her only light coming from the tiny sliver of moon slinking through her window. She glanced over her shoulder. Braxton was still asleep with his arm thrown over his head. She wanted nothing more than to wake him and tell him what Bigsby said. But she knew Braxton would insist on coming with her, and the moment Bigsby saw Braxton, he’d call the cops.
She wouldn’t risk Braxton’s safety. Not even to save her home.
She closed the bedroom door and snuck down the hall into the kitchen. She pulled open the junk drawer.
“What are you doing?” Felicity stumbled into the kitchen.
“Shit.” Kate pressed her hand over her fast beating heart and sucked in a breath. “Felicity, you scared the hell out of me.”
“Sorry. I need water. I’ve got cotton mouth. Plus, I think I’m still a little drunk.” Felicity took a long pull on the bottle and then frowned at the keys in Kate’s hand. “Where are you going?”
Kate shook her head. “I’m going out.” She threw her purse over her shoulder, but Felicity grabbed her arm.
“It’s still dark. Where could you be going at this hour?”
Kate’s mind raced. “I’m going to Thorncrown Chapel. I thought I’d get some pictures at night.”
“Cool. I’ll go with you.”
“No.” Kate shook her head. “I’m not sure if I’ll get back in time to make breakfast. So I’ll need you to do it.”
Felicity gave her an incredulous look. “Do you always ask your paying guests to cook their own breakfast?”
Kate sighed and looked at her watch. She was running out of time. If she was late, Bigsby might think she wasn’t going to show and call the cops anyway.
“I’ve got to go handle some business, okay? You can’t go.”
Felicity’s expression softened and she shrugged. “Fine. Just thought you wanted the company. No biggie.”
“I’ll be back soon.”
***
The second Kate shut the door, Felicity ran into the living room where Jayden was sleeping on the couch. She grabbed his phone and copied his number into her cell phone. She grabbed her purse off the chair and dug out her keys. She waited until Kate started down the driveway before opening the front door and heading out into the yard.
She slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine, hoping that Kate hadn’t gotten too far ahead of her. When she got to the bottom of the driveway, she saw headlights disappear around a curve.
“Please let that be Kate and not the paper man.” Felicity rounded the curve and saw Kate’s familiar maroon SUV. She slowed but kept Kate’s taillights in view, hoping that Kate wouldn’t realize she was being followed.
“What are you up to, Kate?” Felicity bit her lip and fought the urge to speed up when Kate accelerated. She didn’t know the roads well enough, but didn’t want to lose her.
Felicity relaxed when she caught the illumination of Kate’s taillights again. She followed in silence for another few minutes before Kate made a turn. Felicity immediately recognized it as the entrance to the Thorncrown Chapel. They’d been here during the day getting pictures for Kate’s website. “Well, looks like she was telling the truth, but something’s not right.”
Felicity turned in and pulled off the road instead of following Kate farther. She grabbed her cell phone and called Jayden’s number. When he didn’t answer, Felicity groaned. She should have made sure his phone was not on silent. She pulled up his number again from her contact list and sent him a text. Grabbing her keys, she hurried up the driveway.
***
Kate pulled up to the glass church and cut the engine. The moonlight reflected off the glass church like diamonds. Her hands tightened on the steering wheel as her heart lurched. She frowned at the illuminated church. They didn’t keep the lights on in the chapel until after Easter services. It was still the dead of winter in January.
The door swung open. Oliver Bigsby stood in the doorway, sporting an obnoxiously big grin. He probably got the church’s pastor to give him a key as well as light the chapel in exchange for a large donation. What a douche.
Bigsby crooked his finger, motioning her inside.
She wanted to give him a finger of her own. Instead, she gritted her teeth and grabbed her purse.
“Kate. Glad you could make it.” Bigsby opened the door wider, letting her enter.
She glanced around at the glass structure. It never ceased to amaze her that the entire church was composed of glass with steel beams for support. Tiny tea lights were lit on every surface, from the altar to the small tables in front of every window. Candles were lit on the stairs leading up to the altar, and on the stone wall behind the pulpit, candle sconces flickered. The atmosphere hinted at romance, but with the company in there with her, hatred was the only emotion she was experiencing.
“Glad to see you came alone.” Bigsby didn’t hide the smirk on his face, nor the sarcasm in his voice. His façade had cracked, and she knew she’d been right about him all along. He was not a good person.
“I’m here like you asked. What do you want?” Kate pulled her purse in front of her like a shield.
Bigsby chuckled. “Impatient little thing, aren’t you.” He reached out, taking a strand of her hair between his fingertips.
Kate slapped his hand away and narrowed her gaze. “Touching me is not part of this deal.”
Bigsby snorted, his face grim. “I can’t seem to figure you out. You let that tattooed thug in your bed, but won’t give me the time of day,” he snarled, his eyes full of bitterness.
“How the hell do you know he’s in my bed?” Kate fisted her hands.
“It’s obvious. I saw the way he looked at you. Not to mention he was half-dressed. I would have figured you’d have better taste than that loser.”
“He’s not a loser.” Kate narrowed her gaze.
“He’s a murderer.”
“Actually, he’s not. He was wrongfully accused, if you must know.” Her heart pounded in her chest, not from fear but from rage. If it were possible to make a human spontaneously combust from a mere look, Bigsby would be a pile of gray ash right now.
“Yeah, right.” He gave her a look of sympathy that made her want to punch his face in.
“You’ll probably end up like one of those pathetic women on those TV dramas about how they married a jailbird.” Bigsby gave her a look of pity. “Don’t waste yourself on someone like that. You could do so much better.” He gave her a slow smile.
Her mouth dropped open as she stared at the idiot in front of her. He actually thought he had a chance with her. He actually thought that after all he’d done to destroy her business and take away her home, she’d give herself to him. What floored her the most was he actually thought he was better than Braxton.
Kate closed her mouth and crossed her arms. “If I live a thousand years, I will never find a man as honorable as Braxton.”
***
Braxton bolted up right in bed as a sense of foreboding filled his chest. He glanced over, expecting to see Kate still asleep. Instead, the bed was empty.
Uneasiness snaked in his gut as he fisted the sheets in his sweaty palms.
After flinging off the bed covers, he tugged on his jeans and headed for the kitchen. Maybe Kate couldn’t sleep and decided to start prepping for breakfast. Turning the corner, he entered the empty room.
“Damn it.” Braxton looked at the clock on the microwave. It was a little after four-thirty. Where in the hell would Kate go at four-thirty in the morning?
“Why are you yelling?” Jayden frowned as he stumbled into the kitchen. He scratched his bare chest and then opened the refrigerator.
“Have you seen Kate?” Braxton growled.
“No.” Jayden pulled out a water bottle and headed back to the couch. Braxton followed him into the living room. “Why?”
“She’s not here.” Braxton shoved his hand through his hair. “If she were going to leave she would have told someone. This isn’t right.”
Ja
yden sat up straight. “Are you sure she just didn’t have to run into town for something?”
“At four-thirty in the morning?”
Jayden frowned. “Maybe she had to go to a friend’s house. You said yourself that vet friend calls at all hours. Maybe he called. Did you hear the phone ring?”
“No.” He’d been exhausted after the fight at the bar. “But that doesn’t mean I didn’t sleep through it. I’ve got to go find her.”
Jayden nodded and reached for his shirt. “I’ll go with you.” His phone vibrated on the glass coffee table. Jayden reached for it.
Then he looked up. “I know where she is.”
“Where?” Braxton’s hand stilled on the doorknob.
“Felicity just texted me and said she followed Kate to the Thorncrown Chapel.”
“Is Felicity with her?” Braxton spun around.
“No. She said she followed Kate when she left.” Jayden met his gaze. “Felicity thinks Kate is in some kind of trouble.”
“Fuck.” Braxton grabbed Jayden’s bike keys. “I need these.”
“Of course.” Jayden threw his shirt on and headed out with him, but Braxton shook his head.
“Go wake Damon. He knows where the chapel is. Ride with him.”
***
Braxton raced down the winding roads through Eureka Springs, the cold winter air hitting him in his face, but he felt nothing. His mind was focused solely on Kate and making sure she was okay. If she had put herself in harm’s way for him, he would never forgive himself.
The sign for the Thorncrown Chapel up ahead had Braxton breathing out a prayer of thanks that he was almost there. He made the turn and his lights bounced along Felicity’s darkened taillights. He parked in front of her car. Maybe Felicity hadn’t felt it was safe to pull in front of the church.
Braxton raced up the driveway, making sure to keep to the shadows and out of the moonlit path. Kate’s SUV was parked in front of the illuminated glass church. He crouched behind her SUV and peered into the church. Two figures stood at the front of the church near the altar. One was Kate and the other that dickhead, Bigsby.
Rage poured through Braxton’s veins. He was going to handle Bigsby once and for all.
***
“What do you want, Bigsby?” Kate ground out the words between her clenched teeth. She was done with any sort of polite conversation with this overgrown jackass.
Bigsby looked a little surprised by her tone. “Well, I see you want to get right down to it.” He opened his briefcase on the front pew and pulled out several sheets of paper and a pen.
“I think you know what I want.” He shoved the paper toward her.
Kate glanced at the papers and then back at Bigsby. “You expect me to sign over the deed to my home.”
“I expect you to save your lover’s life.” He continued to hold out the papers with a smirk on his cruel lips.
Kate cocked her head. “And if I don’t?”
His smirk faltered. “Then I will call the cops and that loser will be spending a life sentence in Louisiana.”
Kate’s heart lurched. She clung to the purse with both hands. The thought of Braxton being locked up forever chilled her to the marrow. She couldn’t imagine Braxton going submissively with the police. He’d fight to the death.
She snatched the papers and pen out of Bigsby’s hand.
“That’s a good girl. I knew with that soft heart of yours, you’d let a man take away everything you had.”
Kate froze. “What do you mean?”
“I’m talking about Tom, your ex-boyfriend. You let him get away with stealing all your savings without even pressing charges.” Bigsby snorted. “And now you’re giving your home away for a man. You’ll never learn.”
Kate gripped the pen in her hand and eyed the pulsing vein at the base of Bigsby’s neck. All she wanted to do was stab that asshole and watch him bleed to death.
She sucked in a deep breath and focused her gaze on the unsigned papers in her hand. She walked to the altar and set them down, her pen poised.
“Kate, stop!”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Kate jerked upright. Standing at the door of the chapel was Braxton, looking very angry and incredibly dangerous.
“Kate, I’m warning you, you’d better sign those papers.” Bigsby’s eyes bulged as he reached in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.
“Don’t do it, Kate.” Braxton stalked down the aisle, his gray eyes glinting lethally.
Bigsby fumbled with his phone as he punched in numbers.
She held up her hands to stop him. “No, Braxton, you don’t understand…”
“Back off, freak. One more step and I’ll hit dial. The cops will be all over this place in a matter of minutes.” Bigsby held his phone in the air.
Kate put her hand on Braxton’s massive chest. “Braxton, you need to leave. I can handle this.”
Braxton dragged his gaze from Bigsby to Kate. His expression softened. “You think I’d let you sign over your house to this douchebag? Just to keep him from turning me in?”
“Do you know who I am? No one speaks to me like that!” Bigsby pressed his lips into a thin line until they disappeared, his face turning scarlet.
Braxton glared at him. “I know exactly who you are. You are nothing more than a spineless little prick that can’t get laid unless you pay for it.”
Bigsby sputtered, his face growing redder by the second. Either no one had ever spoken to him that way or Braxton had hit a nerve. Kate bit her cheek. Maybe both.
“What do you know? You’re a murderer,” Bigsby snarled.
Braxton turned to face Bigsby. A slow, lethal grin crossed his lips. “Then one more dead body won’t matter.”
Bigsby yelped and ran for the door. He only made it two steps before Braxton grabbed his collar and lifted him off his feet by his shirt.
Bigsby screamed and flailed in the air like a fish on a hook. He glanced down, realizing his phone was still in his hand. Before he could dial, Braxton snatched the phone away
“You won’t be needing this.” Braxton squeezed the phone, crushing it into a million plastic shards.
Bigsby’s terrified gaze landed on Kate.
“Braxton, let him go.” Kate tugged on his muscled arm.
“But…”
“Now!” Kate crossed her arms and tapped her foot.
“Are you tapping your foot at me?” Braxton’s gaze drifted to her tennis shoe.
“Braxton.” She glared back at him.
An amused grin crossed his lips and he loosened his grip. Bigsby fell on his ass.
“She’s not signing her home over to you.” Braxton narrowed his eyes at Bigsby as the man scrambled to his feet and began backing to the door. “She is making enough money to catch up on her mortgage payment. She will survive this. And she’ll be safe from you.”
Kate nodded at Bigsby as Braxton reached for her hand and squeezed. “He’s right. In fact, I’m going to the bank today as soon as it opens.”
Bigsby froze, his hand on the doorknob. He turned. A strange look came across his expression. And he laughed.
Kate stepped closer to Braxton.
“You have no idea, do you?” Bigsby grinned maniacally.
“What are you talking about, Bigsby?”
“It doesn’t matter if you go to the bank with a million dollars, the house will go into foreclosure anyway. The bank president seems to have a secret addiction. Gambling. And he owes me a great deal of money. I promised him I’d forgive the debt if he’d get me your house. I need that land so I can build my next hotel.”
Kate’s insides petrified. “But...but, that’s not legal.”
Bigsby laughed. “You are so naïve. There is no legal or illegal. What matters is who has the control. I’m the one with the money and therefore I have all the control.” Bigsby barked out a laugh.
Braxton started down the aisle. Bigsby sobered, realizing he wasn’t entirely out of danger, and reached for the door.
The door swung open with enormous force, sending Bigsby flying backward into a pew.
Lorcan walked through the door with two other enormous men all decked out in leather and wearing guns holstered to their chests. She forgot to breathe. It was the Assassins.
She reached for Braxton’s arm, digging her fingers into his flesh.
“Braxton.” The one with the buzz cut appeared to be the leader since the other two men flanked him. He glanced around the room and then back at Braxton, grinning. “I didn’t picture you for the praying type. Guess you picked the perfect time to start.”
“What the fuck?” Bigsby scrambled to his feet and stood and stared at the three Weres. “You assholes could have broken my nose, you clumsy elephants.”
Braxton didn’t let his gaze leave the Weres. He’d never met them, but he’d grown up hearing about the three deadly Assassins and what they looked like. The one with the blond hair and blue eyes who looked like a California surfer was Lorcan. The one who had short spiked black hair with gray eyes and looked like he belonged in a metal band was Killian. Standing between the two was the leader, Brutus. He had sharp green eyes and dark brown, buzzed-cut hair.
They were the self-proclaimed apocalyptic horsemen of the werewolf race, bringing death in the shape of a silver bullet. And they were here for him.
Braxton shoved Kate behind him.
“Hey, I’m talking to you!” Bigsby proceed to poke his perfectly manicured finger in Brutus’s chest.
Without his lethal gaze leaving Braxton, Brutus’s arm shot out and punched Bigsby in the face, sending him flying through the air and landing on the floor. Bigsby didn’t move. The asshole was out cold.
“Your human friend is very annoying.” Brutus glared.
“He’s not my friend,” Braxton growled.
“But I am.” Kate stepped in front of him. Braxton pulled her away, but she struggled against him.
With Kate still fighting him, Braxton focused on the Assassins. “Let her leave. Then we can finish this.”
“She is free to leave. We have no quarrel with the human.” Brutus moved away from the door entrance and motioned her through.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Kate yelled.
