***
Jared is fucking raging. He wanted her alive and wanted answers from her. We have seven men injured in total, but alive. But we don’t yet know how Harrison’s doing. We need to get these fuckers secure and get to the hospital. We leave the kitsune’s place in a blaze of fire. The girl from the table is secure and was also sent to the hospital. Obviously, we need to question her too. Jared’s mood is getting worse by the second, and I know that what he needs is his female. But this is a shit storm, and he doesn’t have time to go and fuck his mood back to mellow. So, he’s like a bear with a sore head. Not knowing Harrison’s progress is bad enough, without the fact that we didn’t get to capture Devon’s mother. I wanted a piece of her, I admit. Fucking bitch deserved a worse death than the one she got. That pissed me off massively. We pull in at the compound and Jared starts barking orders at everyone.
‘You get back in the fucking car. You’re going straight to the hospital,’ he yells at me. ‘Should have fucking gone when I said.’
What I really want to do is go up and check on Maiya. I look up at the window, but she isn’t there. Fuck. I follow orders though and get driven to the hospital.
I PACE BACK and forth in front of the door, tempted to go through and down to the kitchen. I know they are all back, I heard them and saw all the cars when I looked out of the window. I can’t go out of the room though. I’ll just wait—he’ll be here soon. I don’t know how long I pace but it’s too long, and I’m still waiting. I’m shaking so hard, and I can’t take anymore. I open the door and peep out, up and down the corridor. I don’t see anyone, so I creep down the hall and take my first step down the stairs.
‘Baby, I don’t fucking know. I don’t know anything yet,’ I hear Jared say like he’s exasperated.
‘But is he going to be okay? He’s going to live right?’ Oh my god, it’s Brad. I knew it. He’s going to die.
‘Baby, please, we need to get to the hospital now.’
I hurtle down the stairs so fast I don’t think I even touch a step till the bottom. I fly through the door, but it’s empty. They’ve left without me. Brad is dying, and they left me here. I run outside in the hope I’ll catch the car before they leave the compound. But all I see is tail lights as the car pulls through the gate. And then it’s just me. I don’t know what the fuck to do. Just then a guy comes from around the back of the house. He asks if I’m okay, and I don’t answer. He comes over,
‘Hey, come on, darlin’. You don’t want to be sittin’ in the dirt.’ I look around. I am in the dirt, and I hadn’t realised it. He helps me up, and I flinch away from his touch, but he doesn’t pay any attention and keeps hold of my elbow. I look down and want to wipe away the dirt on my knees, but he tells me to come on inside and keeps me walking. I follow without much choice. He’s taking me back to the house I’m staying in, so I’m happy with that. I will just go to my room. I don’t really know what else to do. He closes the door behind us and sits me in a chair. He’s an older guy, so for some reason, I don’t feel threatened by him. He seems nice enough. He goes into a cupboard and pulls out a couple of glasses, pops them on the table and then fills them with some liquor. It’s amber, but it’s in a crystal bottle so I can’t see a name. I haven’t had a drink in such a long time. One won’t hurt. I take the glass, and he clinks his against it.
‘Haven’t seen you around?’ he says questioningly. I shake my head and knock the drink back. Brad isn’t coming back. If he isn’t here, then I don’t want to be. I get my glass refilled without asking, and it’s that full it spills over my fingers as I lift it to my mouth and knock it back.
‘Darlin’, that’s the good shit. Don’t you waste it now.’ He winks, and I put my fingers into my mouth, making sure to get the amber liquid. It leaves a hot sensation in my throat and mouth. And I want more. He tilts his head, in appreciation, I think, that I can drink the stuff. And I like it. He’s nice. After several more drinks, I tell him I’m going to go on up to bed. He insists that he walk me up the stairs, and I have definitely had too much to drink, so I don’t argue. I don’t argue again when he opens the door and walks me inside because he’s being so nice and caring. He’s stopped me from breaking down and crying my eyes out, so I’m grateful. I head into the bathroom, and as I go, I say thanks for being so nice. I close the door and sit on the closed lid of the toilet. He has told me his name, but I’ve forgotten already. I hold my head in my hands, and all I can think about is Brad. He’s gone.
I JUMP OUT of the cab, eager to make sure Maiya is okay. I’ve been treated and now have a fucking sling on my left arm. Good thing I’m a righty. Harrison is still in surgery, and I want to stay, but I’m torn. I want to make sure she is doing okay.
I know she won’t speak to anyone else, so she’ll be holed up in that fucking room the whole time. Jared is going to call the minute he hears about Harrison, so I’m good with that. I take the stairs two at a time. I catch Max, the alpha’s, scent before I get a chance to realise Maiya’s is mingled with it. I stop for a beat of a second, then haul arse up the stairs. I throw the bedroom door open to find the fucker sitting on the bed. With his arm around Maiya. I’ve heard the expression ‘steam coming out of your ears’ when you’re so fucking mad you could murder. But until now I’ve never experienced it.
‘What the FUCK is going on here?’ I yell as the door slams shut behind me. I walk straight over to him and pull the bastard up by his shirt so we’re eye to eye.
‘Well, you must have balls of steel, my friend, putting your hands on the alpha. Who the fuck do you think you are?’ he says calmly. I’m anything but calm. I have a raging storm about to explode inside, and this fucker is what it’s aiming to blow through.
‘What are you doing in my fucking room?’ I manage to growl out the words through gritted teeth.
‘You forget, my friend. This is my house, my territory, and therefore my room.’
I take another step closer. My nose touches his, and I’m sure he can feel the flames inside licking at the surface. Maiya is flopped on the bed, passed the fuck out.
‘You have till the count of fucking three to tell me what you were doing with her—’
‘Or else what?’ He cocks his brow in question. The motherfucker is asking to be beaten down.
‘ONE…TWO…You’re pushing it, motherfucker… THREE.’ I pull my arm back and clock him in the jaw. He takes a knee. I rip the sling over my head and grab him again. The pain shoots in my shoulder, but I don’t give a shit. I grab him with my left and pull back my right. He spits out blood and puts his hands up.
‘Okay… okay, that’s enough.’
I curl my lip, itching to hit him again, but I don’t. ‘I was merely warming her up, nothing happened. Yet.’ My fist lands with a crunch, and he lands face down, groaning. I don’t give him time to recover before I’m pulling the cunt up again. He lands a punch right on my fucking stitches. I feel something tear, and the pain resonates right up to my jaw. Motherfucker. This time I’m the one taking a knee. But it doesn’t last. Just as he’s coming in for a kick to my gut, I grab his leg and with everything I’ve got, flip the bastard. Face down, I place my knee into the middle of his back and twist his arms up. He can’t move, and his mouth is mashed into the carpet. A fleeting thought of ‘what the fuck are you doing’ passes through my mind, but I shake it off. I get all up in his face.
‘Stay the fuck away from what’s mine, yeah? And the rest of your pack don’t need to hear that I kicked your fucking ass.’ I let him up. Seems that fleeting thought had penetrated somewhere deep because I realised that what I was doing wasn’t going to go down well with Jared. ‘This might be your house, but while my girl is in it, you stay the fuck out.’
‘You need to learn respect,’ he says through the pile in the carpet.
‘This, motherfucker, is respect. You’re still breathing. Why? Because you’re the American alpha. But you ain’t mine. You’re alive because I let you live. Remember that the next time you think about respect. Now, get
the fuck up and get out of my room.’ He gets up and glances over to Maiya.
‘Fucker, don’t even…’
He looks at me as he opens the door. ‘You say she’s your woman, but I don’t see any claim on her? Maybe you should remedy that so I don’t make the same mistake again.’
‘That a threat?’ I ask. taking the few steps I need to go toe-to-toe again.
‘Merely an observation.’
‘Well, observe this.’ I stick my finger in his face. ‘You come near her again, and you won’t live long.’ He turns with a smirk on his face, and it takes all I have in me to not go after him and beat him to a pulp. I turn and lean against the closed door, close my eyes and exhale. What the fuck had I just done? Stupid arse I am. I leave her for one night and she fucking shacks up with the nearest fucking guy she can find. Pissed at her is an understatement. I walk over to her.
‘Maiya!’ She’s so drunk the stench of it fills the air around her. ‘MAIYA!’ I yell. She moans in her sleep, and I would find that cute, but I feel like flipping her the fuck off the mattress right now so she can give me some fucking answers. I pace a while and end up in the bathroom cleaning up my shoulder. The bullet did some damage, and the stitches I got at the hospital are gone. So, I’m bleeding. Again. Fantastic. I wad up my t-shirt—it’s ruined anyway—and staunch the bleeding. I’ll need new stitches. I call Zoe. It’s a while before she answers. I assume she’s asleep or still at the hospital. When she finally answers she sounds upset.
‘Brad?’ She’s crying. This can’t be good. Shit.
‘What’s wrong? Is Harrison okay?’ I hear her take in a calming breath.
‘He’s still in surgery. We don’t know any more yet.’
‘So what’s wrong?’
‘Nothing. I’m just tired and emotional with it all.’
‘Okay… well, I busted my stitches, and I’m bleeding pretty bad. Fucker doesn’t seem to be healing very fast.’
‘For God’s sake, Brad. You haven’t had them in a couple of hours!’
‘I know, but do you think you can re-do them?’
‘Well, no one else will.’
‘Okay, so is that a yes, then?’
‘Yes, Brad, it’s a fucking yes. But I’m not rushing. You’ll just have to bleed.’
‘Thanks,’ I say but it’s too late, she’s hung up already. Fuck me—women are a pain in my arse.
It’s not long before Zoe is knocking on the door though. She looks at Maiya and then at me in question.
‘Don’t fucking ask,’ I tell her before she does. With a frown, she moves the soaked through t-shirt and rolls her eyes at me.
‘Go on then. How’d you bust up your stitches so quickly? Wait, wasn’t sexual right? Because if it is, I don’t wanna know!’
‘No, it wasn’t,’ I tell her in a clipped tone, which makes her look at me like shit and a big fuck you may as well be tatted across her forehead.
‘What?’ I ask, pissed that I even have to talk about it.
‘Spill or I might just decide not to stitch you up. I’m ever so tired.’ She stretches her arms and fake yawns.
‘You’re a real bitch sometimes, you know that?’ I say with a smirk.
‘Yeah, I know, but you love me just the way I am.’ She grins. ‘Now spill.’
‘For fuck’s sake, don’t tell anyone okay?’ She smiles and crosses over her heart with her index finger. Then fakes zipping up her lips and throwing away the key. Women.
‘I got back and that fucker, Max was in here, with her, passed out.’ I point at Maiya.
‘What do you mean he was in here? Like what was he doing exactly?’
‘He had her in his arms. Fucking bastard. I should have killed him.’
‘He didn’t do anything to her though, right?’ she says worried looking over to Maiya.
‘He says not, but I don’t trust the fucker one bit.’
‘Who is it anyway? I don’t think I’ve met a Max?’
Oh shit. Will she flip when I tell her? I take a deep breath in. ‘Umm… He’s the Alpha.’
‘What? What the fuck, Brad! Oh my God. I hope you are fucking joking me right now? Tell me you didn’t beat his ass?’ I look away like a naughty kid, being reprimanded by its mother.
‘You totally did, didn’t you? Shit, Brad!’
‘It’s okay. He’s not gonna go telling anyone he got his arse whooped by lil ole me.’
‘No, he’ll probably just have you killed instead!! Oh my God, Brad!! You need to go home, really fast!’
‘Calm your tits, Zoe, it’s fine. He won’t come near her or me again. He’d have to admit he was bested. I can’t see that happening.’
‘Brad, are you listening to yourself? You have challenged the alpha. THE. ALPHA! He’s not gonna let you get away with that!’
‘Well, he’s a fucking pussy.’
‘Oh right, that’s okay then,’ she says, throwing her hands in the air like I’m a moron.
‘Will you just stitch me up please?’ I ask, and she glares at me like I shit in her cornflakes. But she gets to it and starts. It hurts more this time than the last, and I’m sure she’s doing it on purpose.
‘If it makes you feel better, Jared doesn’t fucking like him anyway.’
She shakes her head but smiles. ‘Brad, you could cause trouble in an empty room.’
I mock offence. ‘I’m wounded, Zoe. I can’t believe you think that about me.’ I grin now, knowing she’s right.
‘Any sign of trouble, Brad, anything at all, you make sure you call for back up.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’ I salute her, and she smacks my arm. ‘Seriously, if he’s the alpha and no one has dared challenge him, then I could probably take the full lot of them… healthy.’
‘Oh my God. You men think you’re something else. Seriously! Talk about blowing your own trumpet, Brad!’
Now I am actually wounded. ‘What, you don’t believe I would?’
‘No, Brad. I’m sure you would take them all on. I’m disputing if you could actually win.’
‘Fuck yeah—you obviously underestimate me. I’m like a fucking ninja. Just call me the black assassin.’
Now she bends at the waist, laughing. And even though she’s yanking on the thread attached to my shoulder, I laugh along with her.
***
I lie awake all fucking night, after Zoe leaves, just getting more and more mad about the whole situation.
Harrison is out of surgery and the next few days are going to be touch and go. That and the whole Max situation makes my gut twist up so fucking hard I wanted to hit something. We have the kitsunes down in the lock up, but I have no access to them until Jared gets back and I’m not about to go asking Max, the fucking pussy alpha, if I can pay them a visit. So I just lie there, angry. Maiya sleeps the whole time—like a baby. No nightmares, no screaming. Fuck all. Max has obviously done something I couldn’t. Bastard. I clench my fist thinking about him, when she starts to stir, I get up and go to the bathroom. I don’t want to speak to her. As I close the door, I hear her gasp. Probably expecting to see fucking Max, not me. I turn and curl my lip.
‘Disappointed, princess? He left last night,’ I tell her, slamming the door. It’s a minute or two before she starts knocking. I ignore it and get in the shower. I’m still covered in fucking dry blood, and I should have done it sooner. The water drowns out the noise of her knocking, and I can only just hear her calling my name. I stay in there longer than I need, but fuck her, she can wait. With a towel slung around my waist, I go out and pick up my bag. I make the decision to move myself into Harrison’s room, down the hall. If she wants someone else, she can have at it. I get two doors down and put my hand on the door handle when she comes out into the hall after me.
‘What are you doing?’ she asks like it’s not obvious.
‘Figured if you want friends over, you can fucking do it without me sleeping in the same fucking room.’
‘What are you talking about?’ she asks, and it makes my fucking blood bo
il.
‘You’re something else, princess,’ I tell her, walking into the room. I don’t close the door quick enough though, and she stands in the doorway.
‘I thought you were dead last night, Brad.’
‘Oh well, that makes it all the fucking better, thanks for clearing that up. Surprise. Not fucking dead,’ I say, slamming the door in her face.
I throw my bag on the floor and kick the waste bin across the room. Fucking cunt. I should have just killed him. I get myself dressed, and then I head for Zoe’s.
‘Is Harrison awake?’ I ask her—no hello. Just ask what I want to know. I’ve called Jared but no answer. ‘I’m going to head over there now, you coming? I should probably take the hungover fucking princess too, so she isn’t on her own.’
‘You mean, so Max doesn’t help himself?’ she asks raising her brows.
‘No, she wants him, she can fucking have him, not my problem.’
‘Sure,’ she says, dragging the word out mocking me.
‘Drop it, Zoe.’
‘Drop what? Thought it wasn’t your problem? Maybe leave her in bed and drop by and tell Max she’s all alone over there. I’m sure he’ll keep her safe.’
‘Fuck off, Zoe, she’s coming with us,’ I growl, and she smiles like she’s won the lottery.
‘Yeah, thought so,’ she says smirking. Fucking women.
***
We get to the hospital, and I take my anger out on Jared and everyone else there because no one picked up their fucking phones. So I tell them all what I think—with Zoe and Maiya gaping like fucking goldfish.
Complicated Love Page 10
