by Honor James
“I don’t dislike you, Bethany. What would ever give you that impression?” He’d never said anything one way or another to her. They weren’t—nope not thinking that because there was no chance anymore, so she couldn’t read him. “If I was ever rude I’m sorry. I tend to work alone and my socializing abilities are likely lacking.”
“You aren’t rude. You’ve only been nice to me,” Bethany told him simply. “And your socializing skills aren’t lacking,” she assured him. “I just understand.” She shrugged. “I was given a crash course on Gaia’s children and what bond-mates are. I get it. Really I do.” After all, with as messed up as she and her family were, she couldn’t blame him for not wanting to even spend another moment in her presence. “If you have no more questions for me, I really would like to go upstairs, have a shower, and I guess I’m packing to go into Witness Protection until they are able to find Brian.”
He didn’t have to ask who’d told her. He knew—Talon had told her about their world. “If there is any blame you wish to place, place it squarely where it belongs, on my shoulders,” he told her without emotion. Stepping back he moved to the door and paused. Tipping his head he growled softly. “You’re not going to be making it to Witness Protection it seems,” he said, backing toward her slowly as he surveyed the room. Fuck! One way in, one way out.
Moving her to the side of the door he held up a finger. “Stay very quiet,” he told her and shut off the lights before easing the door open slightly. Looking out he saw nothing but a smear on the floor. Inhaling deeply he couldn’t scent anyone. Might be a lucky break. Shutting the door silently he turned to her. “We have to get out of this room. We’re boxed in here and I don’t like that,” he murmured. “When we go you stay behind me. I can take a beating and keep on moving but you can’t. No matter what, you get to the street and head left. My bike is on the street four blocks up by a coffee shop. If we’re separated, that’s where you’re heading. The place is Carlo’s on Tenth, all right?” he asked, watching her carefully.
Bethany nodded and swallowed, hard. “But you will be with me, right?” she demanded softly as she placed her hand on his back. “I mean it, Zaidu.” She bunched his jacket in her hands as she spoke, fear crawling through her as she whispered those words. He had said for her to be quiet so she moved as silently as she could, slipping out of her heels and walking in bare feet instead.
Bending, he picked up her shoes and shot her a look, pressing a finger to his lips. Leading her slowly out of the room he let the Wolf up to the surface and inhaled. Blood, not a lot, but enough obviously to have put the cops down. Staying next to the wall he was thankful someone had shut the lights out. It gave them shadows to move with. Stilling, he put a hand on her hip to stop her dead in her tracks and then backed into her so she was pressed to the wall, her white blouse hidden from sight with his large body in front of her.
Bethany pressed her forehead to the center of Zaidu’s back and breathed slowly, forcing calm upon herself when she felt anything but calm. She knew that scent, the scent of blood and urine. She knew that someone had been hurt, or worse, and it was all her fault. She battled the tears, fought against them and just prayed that this man wouldn’t be hurt as well because of her.
Looking at the top of her head over his shoulder, he squeezed her hip. “It’s not your fault,” he said in a low subvocal tone he modulated so her human hearing would just catch the words. Turning his head sharply at a small sound, he watched and waited, narrowing his eyes so there would be no glow off them. When nothing else came he patted her hip and moved slowly, guiding her around broken glass toward the doors, every sense he had stretched to the max. It was too quiet and he had an itch between his shoulder blades that was getting worse by the minute, never a good sign.
Bethany moved along with him, her back to the wall for most of the walk toward the doors and then she clenched her fist tighter on his jacket. “Stop,” she whispered quietly. Swallowing hard, she lifted up on her tiptoes and pulled him down toward her lips. Lips to his ear she whispered, “Death. There is death around that corner, Zaidu. Please don’t turn it.”
Backing her toward the wall he turned into her and lowered his head. “I know,” he breathed against her ear. Stroking his hands down her arms he lifted his head. “Stay right here and when I tell you, run,” he said under his breath. “Don’t argue, Beth. I’m going to distract him. You’re going to run and I will be on your tail so keep moving. Please,” he whispered, touching her cheek with gentle fingers.
Bethany nodded and licked her lips. “Only as long as you are with me,” she whispered. “Don’t want to see anymore death, please,” she whispered. “Especially not you.” Even though he had turned her away, she hadn’t him. She honestly felt something for him, something deep and incredible.
“I will be right behind you,” he assured her, feeling a small amount of relief. Now all he had to do was get her out of there. “Stay here.” He pointed to the floor and backed up a little only to be corralled by her hold on his shirt. Stepping back in, he looked at her hands and then into her eyes. “You have to let go,” he said softly, gently.
She forced herself to let him go and nodded. “All right,” she whispered and looked up at him. “Don’t you dare get yourself hurt, Zaidu, or I’m going to be very, very cross with you,” she stated bluntly. “Make sure that you follow me or I will come back for you.” She was just that stubborn.
Tipping his head he studied her for a time and then nodded. “Don’t move until I say to,” he said quietly. Going on instinct he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips, quick and hard. “Out the door, to the left, and keep moving until I say otherwise or you reach my bike.” His new bike that he’d be very pissed if it, too, got destroyed. Stepping back, he pulled her shoes from his pockets and handed them to her. “Put them on before you get too far.”
Bethany nodded and accepted the shoes. She licked her lips and looked up to him. “Be sure you are following close behind me,” she muttered. “Because what’s been started, well I don’t think that I’m going to let you end it,” she admitted to him and when he nodded to her she raced out the door and to the left, keeping low and hugging the walls as she ran.
Smacking a piece of a chair up the hall he made noise and knew whoever was there was trying to decide who to go after. Picking up another chunk he tossed it so it skidded and banged against more debris. The shadow moved fast and, as much as Z wanted to go and end it all right then and there, he headed silently for the door. Jogging, he caught sight of Bethany once and sped up, occasionally throwing a look over his shoulder.
Catching up with her was easy. She ran like such a girl. Wrapping his arm around her waist he scooped her up. “Hey, it’s me,” he said when she shrieked. “Calm, Beth, slow your breathing and take a deep one,” he advised, setting her on her feet once more, but didn’t let her go. She really didn’t look overly steady right then.
Her hands were braced on his chest and she nodded, focusing on his eyes so that she could try to calm herself. His chocolate-brown eyes seemed to be deeper than the ocean and caught her in their trap quickly. “Okay. I’m calm,” she whispered and leaned into him. When his arms closed around her, she wrapped her arms around his middle and hugged him. “Thank you,” she breathed. “We should call the officers to go up there. I hope that he didn’t kill Detective Crumbs. He seemed like a good man.” One who liked to touch, but a good man all the same.
Nodding, Z dug out his phone and called Quincy. “Q, I need you to get extra cops over to Bethany’s residence. Someone was there, hunting,” he told him. “Ensure there’s a couple of ambulances, too. Let them know the guy is armed and very dangerous, no description unfortunately,” he said with a sigh. “I was a little more focused on getting her out alive and not so much on stopping him.” Though he should have been. Why he hadn’t been he’d puzzle later. “What?” He frowned. “Yeah, she’s fine, shaken, stressed, but fine. She’s right here,” he said and listened for a moment. “Maybe, but the
y didn’t do so good the first time. It’ll be her choice.” Growling softly, he pushed the Wolf down. “Just get the cops and EMTs there. I’ll be in contact later.” Hanging up, he pocketed the phone and looked down at her. “We should keep moving, no need to attract more attention than we are.”
Bethany nodded and walked along at his side for several long minutes. Finally, however, she stopped and looked at him. “What will be my choice?” she stated bluntly. “Talk to me, Zaidu. What do you mean?” she asked quietly. “I’m more than a little confused here. I know what’s happening in my life.” Boy howdy, did she! “But what has to be my choice?”
“Whether you request our assistance in protecting you or if you choose to return to police protection and the WITSEC program,” he told her. “If you choose to have the police protect you we won’t be responding to any further calls that could be in relation to you. You will need to rely fully on them and not on us in any way. If you choose to request we protect you, you will be living by our rules, minimal questions asked and we will ensure your safety at all hours for as long as it takes to ensure your brother is permanently detained.”
“Oh.” Well that wasn’t what she had been expecting, to be perfectly honest. Wrapping her arms around herself, she nodded and looked up to the skies. The clouds began to gather. The chill lacing the air seemed to kick up even more as the wind began to howl and whip around them. “Which would you prefer?” If she asked for his people to protect her there was a chance that they would run into each other and he had made it perfectly clear he wanted absolutely nothing to do with her. “Would you rather I go back into WITSEC or do you think I should ask your people to protect me? Keep in mind that we will more than likely run into each other if I choose option B.”
Shrugging out of his leather jacket, he wrapped it around her shoulders. “You misunderstand me,” he said. “When you request our protection you’ll actually be requesting it directly from me. I’m not under the same mandates as the Teams are that Talon runs. While I often work in concert with them and run joint operations on occasion, I’m a Hunter and only report to the Council. While I can pull in other resources should it be necessary, you and I would, for lack of a better term, be joined at the hip until I find, corner, and incarcerate your brother.” Or put him six feet under. Either option worked for him really, but he did prefer the second, much more permanent solution.
“Oh.” Bethany’s eyes went wide at that admission from him. She shrugged in closer to his jacket and inhaled the scent of leather and something she had never smelled before, a scent that was all Zaidu. “So I guess the question is still out there. Which would you prefer? Especially since you know how close you will have to stick with me. Which one would you prefer?” He could barely stand her, so she wouldn’t be surprised when he told her to go back to WITSEC.
Staring at her he suddenly put a hand at her back and urged her forward. “Since you’re not protesting the concept you are hereby under our protection,” he told her. “And the cops can suck it,” he muttered under his breath.
She nodded and walked along at his side once more. Chewing her lower lip, she knew she should just keep her mouth shut. Really it would only be the best thing, but she found herself looking up at him while they walked and asked, “Why, Zaidu? You made it pretty clear when you walked away from me that you truly didn’t like me at all, couldn’t stand to be in the same room with me, so why? Why would you offer to put yourself between me and a batshit-crazy sadist who lives off of others’ misery?”
Sighing, he stopped and looked at her. “Why does everyone insist on knowing the why?” Z looked at her and thought a moment. “I don’t have any issue with you. I have an issue with others interfering in my life and thinking they know better than I do about what I need or want. I’m not offering to put myself between anything, I’m telling you that I’m putting myself there and I intend to stop him, one way or another. That is something you need to accept. I don’t play nice with anyone, let alone someone that gets their jollies from terrorizing others and from killing people.”
Holding up her hands, she shook her head. “Trust me, you are preaching to the choir. I didn’t think he deserved the metal institution. He’s far too smart to be crazy,” she grumbled. “I truly believed that he needed the death penalty, not the bullshit that he got.” And it was sad when she, his twin, was saying that. “I will let you do what you need to do and when it’s over”—she shrugged—“then you are free of me.” She hated those words but she refused to be one of those women to beg a man to be with her. Fuck that. She would rather grow old and die a virgin than be with a man who was guilted into being with her.
“If that’s how you wish it,” he said and started moving again. They really needed to get off the street. Hearing the sirens, he looked back and sighed. “Come on, we need to get going. I really don’t want us being found out by the cops. Because I’m pretty sure they’d scoop you up as a witness to quote-unquote protect you in their own inept way.”
“All right.” She looked around and frowned. “Where do we go? You said you had a bike, right? And you should take your jacket back. You will get cold on the bike.”
“The cold doesn’t affect my body as it does yours. Besides, you need to wear it in case we’re in an accident,” he told her. “Not that I plan on having a second bike destroyed, but with humans one never knows.” Guiding her along, he got them to the coffee shop and his bike. Climbing on, he held out a hand to her. “On,” he said as he started it and paid attention to the many, many cops arriving at the scene only a couple of blocks away.
Getting on, she didn’t think to argue, just did as he instructed. Grabbing the metal bars under the seat behind him, she clenched them tightly, refusing to grab him unless he asked for her touch. Another word wasn’t spoken by her. She simply watched the police filling the area and wondered again for the hundredth time how the hell Brian got out of the sanitarium.
Watching the cops for a moment, he slid on sunglasses and shot her a look over his shoulder. “I’d hold onto me, those bars aren’t good for much except keeping the seat where it should be,” he told her, pushing the kickstand up. Revving the motor a little he waited to see if she’d touch him or if she’d ignore his words.
Wrapping her arms around him, she settled on the seat and then leaned into him. “All right, let’s get out of here before one of them recognizes me and then causes us all kinds of issues. Will your boss be able to smooth things over with the DA here and the police chief and all that fun and happy stuff?” She hoped.
“One never really knows but we’ll see,” he told her before he pulled away from the curb and turned a corner at a nice leisurely pace, keeping the speed limit since he really didn’t feel like drawing attention to himself or her.
Chapter Eight
Pulling up to his house sometime later, Zaidu parked the bike near the garage doors under the overhang and turned off the engine. Turning slightly he looked to her. She was still holding onto him though her grip had loosened slightly if not fully. He didn’t want to disturb her into moving since she looked so tired. The weather was turning for the worse. They were going to get hit with another storm that night.
Slowly, she kicked her leg up and over the bike seat and stood. The shadows that seemed to lengthen only added to her chill. “Is this your home, Zaidu?” Her breath came out with a puff of the chilled air. She moved in a little closer to him when the howl of wolves cut the silence of the darker skies. “Please tell me that you don’t have wolves?” she asked hopefully.
“Of course I don’t have wolves,” he said, putting a hand on her back as he stood. “They seem to think they own me,” he told her, leading her to the front door. Pulling out his keys, he got them inside and turned on some lights. “Do you want a drink?” he asked her softly as he locked up and reset the alarm for them to be inside.
“A drink would be wonderful. Do you have anything really strong?” She was ready for a couple shots and then perhaps crawling into bed and
forgetting absolutely everything that had happened the last couple days. If only.
“We’ve got plenty of things here,” he told her, taking his jacket from her and hanging it up. Kicking off his boots, he tipped his head. “We’ll get you something to eat as well,” he said. “Should have the fixings of a sandwich readily available, maybe even some leftover soup,” Z said as he led her toward the kitchen through all the wide-open spaces of the main floor.
“A sandwich would be good,” she assured him. “That’s really and truly all that I need. I’m not real big on soups. It’s just a thing of mine.” She hesitated. “Grilled cheese. I don’t eat meat,” she added. “I should let you know that now. I do not eat meat at all. I can’t even walk in the meat department at the grocery stores.”
Shooting her a look, he shook his head. “Then we’re going to need to go shopping tomorrow,” he told her. “Because you’re in a Wolf’s house. We eat meat here, large quantities of it and usually more rare than not, fair warning.” Moving to the cupboard, he pulled out a glass, got some ice and the hooch his brother had sent him the year before at Christmas. Pouring her two fingers he held it out. “Word of warning, this will likely strip your gullet clean and then roil in your gut.”
She felt the need to gag but nodded. “Thank you.” Accepting the glass, she added, “And I think that I will have to eat away from you. I can’t stand meat or blood at all.” Not with what she had endured, what she had seen. Never again.
“Understandable,” he said, setting the bottle on the counter. Grabbing a frying pan he got it warming before he collected butter, bread, and the only cheese he had in the fridge. He had no idea how it would work but in theory it should be fine. Putting the sandwich together, he set it into the pan and threw one in for himself. Since he wouldn’t be eating a steak any time soon, he needed calories of some kind.
