“Koti,” was all she had to say. Her mother went into hunting mode and shifted, followed by the others. No questions were asked as they split into pairs. She is going with her mom for the first time in her life.
Entering the house, her mother growled before her body disappeared from the room. It looked like she was on her own again, but Dee was used to doing this alone. Even though the other women were around, Dee drew the gun and knife she carried and searched the bottom floor.
The twins met her in the kitchen where what looked like the cook had been gutted. Her spine was gone and blood coated everything in sight. “Shit, what the hell is he doing?” Abby hissed, shifting as she bent next to the woman.
“Whatever he wants, as usual. Call Franko, he has a team that works with the humans to clean this mess up.” She reached into her coat pocket and threw her the phone. “It’s number three on speed dial. I’m going upstairs. Something’s still not right.
Agatha looked at her, then at her sister. “Stay with your sister. I’ve done this before.”
Dee didn’t wait and slipped out of the kitchen with her weapons ready. She quietly climbed the back staircase, seeing traces of blood on them as if someone had run up the stairs wounded.
Turning the corner, Dee saw that someone was face down in front of a door. She knew the woman had suffered the same fate as the one downstairs. The gaping hole in her back had her swallowing trying to keep her cool as she stepped over the body.
Pushing open the door in question, Dee stood in the child’s room. Her breath left her as she scanned the room, looking for any signs of the child, but there was none. In her gut, Dee knew Koti, her father, had taken the children, two from what she could tell.
Her father would use them for his sick experiments until they died. He didn’t care about anything or anyone. The nursery was trashed. The nanny was dead on the floor and from what she could see, her spinal cord was also missing.
Turning, Dee followed the blood patterns until she noticed that one name, “Hope.”
The pain was too much, her legs crumbled and she fell to her knees. The sobs broke free and racked her body. She dropped the weapons in her hands and grabbed onto her stomach as she lost everything she’d eaten earlier.
How could she have forgotten? Tears rolled down her face and the dry heaves were upon her. The one precious thing in her life that had been pure innocent was gone. The anniversary of her death, and Koti was bound to make sure she relived that day over and over again.
“My baby.” It was as if it was a joke to her father. He knew every time he killed a child it brought up the painful memories of her beautiful daughter, Hope.
“No grandchild of mine will live, ever! Remember that daughter,” he’d written in Hope’s blood all over the walls of her playroom long ago.
Warm, strong arms wrapped around her and picked her up. “We’re here.” Talhrn held her tight and rocked her. “Spread out and see what you can find. Akaos and the others will be here in a few minutes. I want a full report in five, and Marquis use whatever you have to. I want this man dead. He’s hurt her too many times.” She’d never heard Talhrn so angry, but it all seemed like she was surrounded by a fog.
Leaning down, Marquis kissed her cheek. “He’ll make a mistake soon,” he promised, and then moved away.
Todd knelt next to them, a wet towel appeared in his hand and he wiped her face gently. “If I could take your pain into my hearts, I would, but I can’t. I can give you my love and promise that we will find him one day, ending his reign of terror.” He rose, but not before she reached out and squeezed her hand.
“Tell me about her,” Talhrn asked, holding her tight as he guided her out of the nursery and into the living room where there were no bodies. He sat on the couch, rubbing her back, not judging, just waiting for her to get the courage to explain.
Dee curled up close to him and rested her head against his hairy chest. “She’s was my Hope. I was always alone and I wanted someone to love.” She traced a pattern on his chest. “Maybe it was selfish to bring someone so innocent into this world I live in, but I had no one. I don’t know who the father was. I went to a clinic and picked a donor. No one knew but me and her nanny I thought I kept her safe, but I was wrong.”
Fresh tears rolled down her face. Talhrn rubbed her back at the same time hugging her to him. “He found her while I was hunting him. Koti made sure I knew what he’d done. I miss her arms around me, calling me mommy. I want her back in my arms, Talhrn.” A knot formed in her throat and she tried to take a deep breath.
“On her nursery wall, with her blood he wrote. “No grandchild of mine will live, ever! Remember that daughter.” “In there...” She pointed to the nursery. “He reminded me of what he will do to any child of mine. Her name, on the wall... Every child he takes, he reminds me of Hope. My own personal hell... Now you know why you shouldn’t have taken me into you. How can I give you children when he’ll always be there threatening us.”
“We’re not going to let that happen, Little Kitten, we’ll stop this.” He held her tight against his massive chest. A small drop of blood dripped down on her arm. Dee looked up to see several more roll down Talhrn’s cheeks. He was crying for her.
“Talhrn,” she whispered and placed a small kiss on his skin before she laid her head onto his chest. In a matter of minutes, all three of her men were now cemented into her heart for good.
“She was part of you. How can we not mourn the loss of that little bundle?” He kissed the top of her head just as her mother ran into the room with her men right behind her.
Staring at her, Maya nodded to Talhrn. “It’s not Koti, but a few of his men. They’ve got two of them alive, the others were killed.” Her mother held out her hand, but Dee ignored it.
“He was here. I know my father, plus he left a message for me. I don’t care if you believe me or not.” Dee jumped off Talhrn’s lap, wiping the tears away. She walked past her mom and her men. All of the past hurt of being left behind, not being included on any of her mother’s ventures, or just being a family was now threatening to come out. Dee needed to leave before she said something she wouldn’t be able to take back.
Grasping her hand, Talhrn looked down at her and stopped her movement. “You’re angry? Why?”
“Now is not the time or place to discuss this. We need to question these men, even though I doubt we’ll get anything from them. Most of his men would rather die than speak.” She squeezed his hand trying to thank him for his support.
Her mother moved around Talhrn and snarled. “Our men can question those that they caught. We need to talk now.”
She yanked her hand away from Talhrn and spun to face her mom. “All of a sudden you want to talk? Let’s see, where should we begin?” She held up one finger. “First, how about when I was six and was in the school play. I asked you to come home for it, but no, you were too busy.” She flipped up another finger. “Two, the time when I broke my arm. No, too busy, but wait I have a better one.” She held up three fingers and snarled. Dee would have stepped up into her mother’s face if Talhrn hadn’t wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her back.
“How about the time Father found me when I was six and told me I’d be just like him, that he was proud of me. Did you know I cried my eyes out that night wanting you, not understanding? Did you know he killed three of the humans that I dated as a teenager, not to mention my own child?!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. Everyone around them stared at her. Dee was so upset her body shook and she couldn’t catch her breath. Her mother flinched and stepped back as if she’d be struck.
Turning, she buried her head into, Talhrn’s chest. “Take me to my room, please,” she
begged and held onto his shirt, not wanting to see her mother’s hurt face.
Chapter Six
Talhrn never gave her request a second thought. He held her tight against his body. Dee didn’t even realize that her claws had come out and were now buried in his side because she was hold
ing on so tightly to him, burying her face against his chest.
Talhrn transported them back to her quarters and then sat on her bed with her in his lap. He rubbed her back and laid his head against the wall. He held her for over six hours, just listening to her breath as she fell asleep in his arms.
Over the years, Talhrn had gotten possessive about his werus. But nothing had prepared him for what he felt now. When she had screamed and fell to her knees, he could have sworn his hearts stopped beating for minutes. Being as old as he was, Talhrn had experienced many physical wounds, but never had he felt such agony as he did watching her heart break knowing there was nothing he could do for her.
Every hour, Marquis or Todd would come and cuddle next to her, even if it was just a minute each one had to touch her. Talhrn still remembered what Marquis’ sora had told him one day. She’d pulled him aside and stared up into his face, knowing he’d never had a mother or father to explain things to him.
“Do you know why you have three hearts?” she asked him, and he smiled down at her.
“I was told it helped with the circulation of our blood since we are a very strong and large race.”
Boy had he been wrong on that one. With her long black hair and purple eyes, she’d laughed at him and patted his chest as she shook his head.
“Three hearts are harmonious with one woman; the heart closest to the surface is for her aura; the one in the middle her heart; and the one buried deep inside you is for her soul. When the bonding starts, each heart will beat for her and only her. You love your weru’s, but nothing will compare to this. The three of you will revolve your life around hers.”
Their mother had been right, she was their life. “Marquis, make sure you get the answers we seek from those men. I want this threat gone. Todd, inform Akaos we will meet him this morning. She needs to finish the bonding and eat.”
Breaking the connection, Talhrn looked down at Dee’s upturned face. Dried up tears stained her cheeks, but she was slowly trying to gather herself. “I’m sorry I fell asleep on you. I must be such a disappointment to you three.” She tried to retreat into herself, pulling away from him, but he held on tight.
He placed two fingers under her chin and put a little pressure on her chin until her gaze met his. “Do not apologize. You are hurt and we are here for you. We’re not going anywhere, Dee. I meant what I said. You are our meru- we would do anything to protect you.”
She sighed, “I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on my Mom, but I knew it was coming. I just wish it had come at a different time. What I did was wrong. I thought she’d be gone by now. Maya’s never stayed here longer than a month, but now she decides to live here...”
Looking up at him. “I don’t know how to talk to her. She’s just a person who stopped by every so often. I mean, inside I love her, but not like the way you should love a mom.”
She looked around her room. “It’s morning, isn’t it?” She waved her hand to her surroundings. “This isn’t me, this room. It’s what Maya wanted me to be. I have my own home and it’s time I go back to my life. It was perfect, small, a log cabin type structure. I even have a garden, a barn.” Dee scooted to the end of the bed, trying to push her fingers through her hair. She cocked her head to the side, smiling at him, but jumped when Todd appeared in the room.
“I’m sorry, cor meum, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Todd murmured as he fell to his knees in front of her and enfolded her in his arms. “I thought you would like to know that I’ve set up a private breakfast for us.” He kissed the top of her head, and Talhrn’s gaze caught his.
“Akaos has agreed. It’s time you and your Mother talk without everyone else around, since it looks like we’ll be living close to each other till our enemy can be caught,” Marquis stepped into the room and walked next to them on the bed. He bent down kissing her cheek before turning to Talhrn.
“Why are you here?” Talhrn swung his feet off the bed and lifted Dee onto his lap as soon as Todd released her.
“Akaos read the man personally. It seems Koti is smarter than everyone believed. No one knows where his personal residence is, not even his men. Koti has little cells all over the United States and calls on them when he needs them.” Marquis leaned against the wall as Todd snarled and jumped to his feet.
He began to pace. “None of us were expecting the amount of men he has working for him. We need to find him. He can’t keep hurting our meru,” Todd snapped, and threw his fist through the wall, punching a whole right through to the hallway.
Narrowing his gaze on Todd, Talhrn watched as his weru yanked his hand out and turned towards them. “You need to bond.”
He shook his head, looking down at his hands. “I’m sorry, Kitten. I feel so useless.”
She got up slowly and walked to Todd, looking up into his face. “You don’t need to apologize. We’ve been hunting him for years, but he’s always one step ahead of us.” She looked back at him. “I think he can see through me. Who knows, maybe that’s why my mom stayed away, not telling me anything.”
Turning back to Todd, Dee ran her hands up his chest and hooked her arms around his neck. “Take me into you, Todd. Make me yours.”
He cupped her ass and lifted her so he could kiss her. “You have already wrapped yourself around my hearts, Little Kitten.” He nuzzled her neck, taking her back to the bed, before he buried his teeth into her neck.
“When he opens the doors...” Dee’s words stopped and she moaned, holding Todd to her.
Her gaze met his. “He’s inside here. There is nothing I can do to stop him. I can’t block him. He’s too strong and I don’t know if I’d want him to stop. If I can save one person, then all the pain is worth it.” Sealing the holes, Todd kissed her neck and she knew he’d left a mark.
She rolled her eyes. “Todd...”
“What? I want everyone to know you’re ours. It’s not your fault. Of course, he’s going to be stronger than you, but what he does not realize is that no one is stronger than our orak. Please forgive me for my anger earlier,” His arms circled her and he kissed the tip of her nose, before lifting her up. “Feed, Dee. Take me into you, be my meru and take my hearts into your care.” He looked up at Talhrn as she feed.
“Can we block him from her?” Todd asked.
Talhrn nodded. “I’ll know the instant he opens the bond. Let’s see where this leads. Maybe we’ll get lucky and I’ll be able to read him.” Talhrn stood and stretched.
She was tiny in Todd’s arms, even smaller than her mother. Her breasts were the size of small melons and filled his hands perfectly. Their mate was built with an hour-glass shape, one he couldn’t wait to explore more soon.
“What time do we meet Akaos?” He adjusted his cock and watched Todd open her shirt, cupping her breasts.
“Eight.” Marquis looked down to his cock with a question in his eyes.
He waved his hand. “I’ll be fine. Todd, we’ll meet you two downstairs.” He had a few things he needed to discuss with Akaos before mother and daughter spoke.
Stepping out into the hallway, Talhrn shut the door behind Marquis. “Now, you want to tell me what you’re holding back?” They walked down the hall towards the master staircase.
“I believe Akaos is going to ask that we hold off on the bonding. He wants to explore this connection she has with Koti,” Marquis snarled.
He stopped and looked at Marquis. “Did he say this directly to you? We will not hold off on the bonding.” The thought of him even asking set his blood to boil. Talhrn believed the bonding would help keep Dee’s father from seeing into her life any more.
“No, he didn’t come right out and ask me, but I got the distinct impression he was waiting to speak with you about it. I had an exchange with Warden, I’m afraid.” Marquis looked at him at the same time he glanced up.
“What happened? You know that will add more pressure on the females,” Talhrn snapped, going down the stairs. Warden and Akaos stood at the bottom of stairs.
“I was going
to ask the same question. Warden just mentioned it to me as well,” Akaos stated, glaring at Warden. “You know how much our meru is hurting. They both are, and you two get into a fight?”
Both Marquis and Warden glared at each other, but said nothing.
“Marquis, what happened?” Talhrn wrapped his hand around the back of his neck, and squeezed. “I won’t ask again.” It had been years since he’d had to discipline Marquis. Usually it was Todd that would strike out.
“Warden seems to think Dee needs to be punished for what she said to her mother. I disagreed with him. I believe we should let them be. They’ll work it out.” He held Marquis’ gaze for a minute and looked to Warden who was now on his ass stroking his jaw.
“Akaos, what the hell?” Warden snapped and jumped up.
“You’re just lucky Maya didn’t hear you. What do you think she would have done if she believed you were going to harm her daughter?” Akaos held up his hand, before he could say a word.
“That has earned you 25 tonight, and not another word about this. Marquis is right. Mother and daughter need to work this out between themselves.” He turned slowly to see Dee coming down the stairs with Todd.
She held onto Todd, nodding to Akaos. “It is time we talked, but Akaos...” Akaos met her at the bottom step.
“Talk to your mother. How is she supposed to help if she doesn’t know what is going on? We won’t butt in unless asked.” He glanced to Talhrn. “Is that agreed on?”
He smiled and nodded. “Of course.” Talhrn held out his hand. Dee placed her small one into his, smiling.
“Just because I’ve agreed to start the bonding, don’t think you’re going to dictate what I do. I’ve already informed Todd we need to take this slow. I have a life and if you’re going to be part of it...well it’s going to take time.” She looked at Akaos as he moved to Warden’s side.
“The four of you are going to have to back off too. Just because you’re here now I’m not going to stop my life for you. I have friends and I work.” She lifted her chin up, waiting.
Dee's Hard Limits Page 4
