Keeping Her kh-1

by Kelly Lucille

  Eli didn’t say anything for a few seconds then his voice lost the playful edge. “O.K. she’s out of the room. What’s up?”

  He huffed out in annoyance reminded Eli was a damn loyal friend. He wouldn’t poach. He released the clamp on his jaw. “Clancy and some of the high wolves were missing at the ceremony.”

  “You think they were expecting you and set a trap?”

  “Which they haven’t sprung yet.”

  Eli thought that through. “You think they know about Clytie? This fast? They’d have to be watching awful close and I have a hard time believing they could do that without any of you spotting them.”

  “Probably not but if they are planning an ambush I don’t want Clytie caught in it, even by accident.”

  “Not on my watch. I’ll let Logan know to be especially vigilant. He did want me to ask you a question when you called.” Eli’s voice changed to a smirking playfulness that Demon didn’t trust.

  “What?”

  “How the Hell did you, of all people, manage to land an angel like Clytie? My theory is psycedelic drugs but Logan thinks a blind fold was involved.”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Demon hung up while Eli was still laughing.

  Chapter 9

  No matter how many times Clytie told herself worrying would serve no purpose, she still felt like a symphony of moths performed in her belly. She had picked out her outfit a week ago, and she still managed to agonize over the choice. She went with an evening dress in siren red that fluttered directly above her knees. The rounded neck showed a small amount of cleavage Eli and Logan both approved of in heated glances and exaggerated compliments. Her heels were also red and high with straps crisscrossing over her feet. They made her wonder what Demon would do when he saw them. With her wrap around her shoulders to keep her warm she wished fervently for Demons distracting presence, then felt selfish. His mother had recently died. That trumped the girlfriends’ art show any day of the week.

  “Och Darlin’” Eli said in an exaggerated Scotch accent as he helped her into the limo. “You make the moon jealous.”

  It made Clytie smile despite her nerves. Logan took the drivers seat and winked at her through the rearview mirror.

  “A limo? I don’t think I’ve ever been in one before.” She said as they left the compound behind and headed for the front gates.

  “Only the best for you, darlin’.” Eli said his accent heading south. “You being a big ar-teest and all.”

  One minute Clytie was laughing and the next a loud explosion rocked the car. The sound of crunching metal and splintered glass was overwhelming as the car veered off the road. The metal roof ripped as if the car was a giant can someone was peeling open around them. By the time the limo came to a screeching halt folded against a tree Clytie knew she was going to suffer bruises where her seatbelt dug in.

  Eli was suddenly there snapping off the seatbelt as if it consisted of paper and kicking the door into origami until he made enough space to drag her out with him.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “I… don’t think so.” Clytie searched for Logan, happy to see that despite a gash across his forehead, he was unharmed.

  Looking at the twisted carcass of what had been a stretch limo, she was amazed they all walked away from it. Especially Logan, since the front took the most damage.

  “What do you think?” Eli asked it in a hard voice Clytie had never heard before. He pulled out a gun to match the one that appeared in Logan’s hand.

  “Half a dozen Wolves, probably armed if the rocket that took out the car is any hint.”

  “Wolves?” She asked, “How can wolves be armed?”

  Eli and Logan moved so fast they were pushing her down against the rear wheel before she could glimpse what came charging out of the dark. The guns were loud in the night, dropping two shapes mid leap. Then it all jumbled into a nightmare as a half dozen wolves attacked. Clytie screamed, sure she would witness the men shredded by wild animals. Instead, one minute Eli was ripping off his clothes and the next he was a great jungle cat. Logan changed into a black wolf. Clytie blinked, doubting her eyesight, but the animals still fought two feet away. If she had anywhere to go she’d run screaming, instead she tried to make herself as small possible against the rear tire.

  Eli and Logan were werewolves or shape shifters or whatever they called themselves and they were fighting other shifters to protect her. Once she made that jump, it wasn’t so far to the realization that she had just moved in with three more of them. That she had fallen in love with one. It was hard to wrap her brain around, but many things about Demon now made sense. The growling, the sniffing, she placed her hand over the mark on her shoulder, the biting. So intent on her brain numbing thoughts Clytie missed the shifter coming over the car until he landed on her.

  When Logan in wolf form finally looked around, he was bloody and bruised but still standing. He saw Eli’s jaguar form in the same abused shape, and all the attacking wolves that could still walk had long since run off. He shifted back to two legs and watched Eli do the same. They turned to get Clytie, wondering what the hell they were going to say. But Clytie was gone and from the marks on the ground, she had not walked away on her own two feet. He shifted back to his wolf needing the superior senses. He caught Clyties scent and with a bark at Eli headed into the forest surrounding the compound.

  Eli cursed his missing cell phone. He hated wasting the valuable time to search but they were going to need backup. He finally found it in the scraps of his jacket. He didn’t breathe easier until he got a dial out.

  “Demon. They attacked outside the gates with a goddamn rocket launcher. They took Clytie.” The roar was unmistakable.

  “Report.” Mac must have picked up the phone.

  Eli pulled open the trunk as he made his report. Inside they kept a wide range of weapons, none of which were useful right here and now. Instead, he pulled out the blanket and used it to collect wolf parts off the street. As soon as he passed on his report and cleared out the road he dropped the phone into the battered trunk with the grisly remains and slammed it closed. He changed back to jaguar grateful his quick healing had already closed the worst of his wounds. He sprang after Logan on four feet.

  They followed the scent until it was lost among the city smells of the busy highway then they headed back to the compound to wait for Demon and the rest.

  Clytie woke up in the pitch dark. Her head pounding and her arm stung. She touched angry claw marks but no gushing blood when she examined it by feel. Her dress was ripped to hell and back, she had lost her pretty shoes and she smelled bad. So much for agonizing over what to wear for the show, she should have just gone with the jeans. She rooted around for her purse, but all she found was the mattress she was sitting on and concrete. She remembered the crash and the fighting. She took a second to pray Eli and Logan had made it, then concentrated all her good wishes on herself. She remembered something falling from above and pain. She had no way of knowing how long she had been knocked out so she might very well be in Siberia for all she knew.

  She was trying really hard not to panic when a door opened and an overhead light flipped on. She covered her eyes against the sudden glare. The pounding in her head got worse, even as the pounding of her heart surpassed it. When she could see more than spots, she saw a small room with concrete floors. Besides the naked twin mattress, the only other thing in the room was a high window too small for her to fit through.

  “Do you like it?” The man spoke from the open door drawing her eyes. She had never seen him before. “We weren’t expecting guests but when I saw you I had to get to know you.” He was shorter than Demon, but then who wasn’t. He had a hard body crammed into tight black jeans and t-shirt. Black hair cut close around the face of a fallen angel. He had movie star good looks with perfectly symmetrical bone structure and ice blue eyes. No matter the rest of the package, it was the eyes that told the story. After one look, Clytie was wishing she was back in the woods with the werewolve
s.

  “Very minimalistic.” She did her best to fake bravado, but was sure her shaking knees would give her away.

  He laughed, a harsh sound, more a bark than anything else. He moved into the room and squatted down at the edge of the mattress. Clytie didn’t realize she’d backed up until she hit the wall.

  “Who marked you?” He asked, reaching for her neck. Clytie stood up nearly flying to get away from his hand. She ran for the open door hoping to get out before he could reach her, instead another man filled the opening, and she had to stop her flight mid run. The man now behind her laughed again as he stood up and sauntered toward her. “What’s your hurry darlin’? We were just getting to know each other.” Clytie moved until she had her back against the wall again, closer to the door with both men in her sights.

  “Why did you bring me here?”

  “You keep bad company girlie.” The new man at the door growled out. He was an older man, grizzled and tough. He reminded her of beef jerky.

  “Well… I appreciate you looking out for me. If you call me a cab I will be more careful in the future.” Worth a try.

  The old guy growled, the young one laughed, she really hated his laugh, but neither sound was encouraging.

  “What’s your name darlin’?”

  “If I tell you my name will you tell me who you are and why I’m here?”

  “Aah, where are my manners? I’m Clancy. The old man is Red and you’re here because we rescued you.”

  Clancy. Oh, Crap. This was the family who wanted Demon dead? “Rescued me?”

  “You are what we call an innocent bystander. We weren’t expecting to find such a sweet thing in with such bad company. We figure you couldn’t know what kind of riff raff you were associating with so we brought you here.”

  “Bunch of mongrels and outlaws.” The old man growled out spitting to the side. Like even saying it was dirty.

  “Who exactly are you referring to?”

  “Listen to that, would ya? Talks like a real lady. We are ‘exactly referring’ to the gun toting bastards in the limo with you.”

  “Eli and Logan?”

  The old man spit again. O.Kay…

  “You saved me from Eli and Logan?”

  The young one laughed again. “Exactly.”

  Whatever game they were playing she was willing to go along to a point. As long as they were talking, they weren’t acting. If they wanted to convince themselves she had not been on the same team as the men they’d attacked she would play along. Anything that got her out of this room and away from mister tight pants was worth a shot. “Well then if I can use your phone I’ll call a cab and take myself home. I certainly appreciate the warning. I’ll be more careful in the future about who I hire as bodyguards.”

  “Bodyguards? That would explain it except for one thing.” He moved so fast she felt his breath on her neck before she realized he had moved. He grabbed her arm to hold her when she would have pulled away. He pushed her hair away from her neck trailed his hand over the bite Demon had placed there. “You’re marked darlin’. Now what we need to know is who you belong to.”

  He pressed her close against the walls and she felt his excitement bearing down on her belly. His smell surrounded her and though he possessed a primal scent that reminded her of Demon in a small way, she just found it pungent and unpleasant. She wanted away from this man in the worst way. “I don’t belong to anyone.”

  He sniffed her neck directly over the bite. “But you do. A wolf at that. Who you been lettin’ nibble on your sweet parts darlin’?”

  She tried again to move away from him but he pushed her tighter against the wall, his fingers leaving painful marks on her skin. “You’re hurting me.”

  “Not yet.” He tightened his grip until she worried he would crush the bones in her arm. She couldn’t hold back a yelp of pain and he laughed against her shoulder digging his hips into her stomach. It hurt and in case she had any illusions left about what he planned, his free hand went to the hem of her skirt and started to lift it.

  Her eyes filling with tears of pain and fear Clytie head butted him in the nose. It hurt her, but not as much as it hurt him if the way he jumped back and grabbed his nose was any indication. He cursed pushing her towards the old man so hard she hit him with a snap of her neck and bounced into the doorjamb. Before either man got another hold, she took the chance to push her way out into the hall. The old man grabbed at her and part of the dress shoulder ripped off into his hands along with four deep furrows of skin. She ran, curses following her as the men tangled in their efforts to give chase. It gave her the extra time she needed to reach another room.

  She took the door at a run, slamming it behind her and locking it just before bodies crashed against it causing pictures to fall off the wall. There was a dresser beside the door and she pushed it into place right as the door cracked along the frame. Only when she was hit in the face with a strap did she look up and see the shotgun sitting on top of the dresser. She grabbed for it, and backed up checking to make sure the safety was off and cocking it. There was another crack along the doorframe as she moved to the side of the door.

  A hand that looked a lot like a claw pounded through directly above the dresser and Clytie put the barrel of the shotgun right up against the wrist and pulled the trigger. The blast sent her falling back from the recoil and for a minute, she couldn’t hear the howling. From the sounds, there were more than the two wolves congregating in the hall. The sliding glass doors looked like a sign from on high and with a frantic sob, she headed for sunlight. Before she could get it open with the hand not clutched around the shotgun, the dresser, which she had needed every ounce of strength and adrenalin to move, went flying against the far wall.

  She ducked down covering her head with her arms as it crashed inches away. Clancy grabbed her by the hair, pulling her out of the room with a vicious snarl. The shotgun went flying. This time the hand sported claws that dug in while he dragged her down the hall. His other hand was barely attached to his arm by a shredded wrist. When she could see past her streaming hair and tears, she saw the hall full of werewolves, some man shaped, and some on four feet. She would have screamed if she’d the air for it. Clancy shoved her none too gently back into her original prison so she scraped skin on her slide to the mattress. When she looked back at him, his face had lost much of its beauty to rage. He staggered back into the hall clutching his damaged arm and slamming the door of her little prison.

  The night she found her sister dead in that smelly hotel room had been the worst day of her life. So far, this was a close second. She wiped her eyes and held her knees to her chest. She shook so badly she wondered she didn’t break apart.

  She had managed to stave off rape, but for how long? Clancy may not be in any shape with his wrist mangled but what about the others? Eventually one of those creatures was going to try again. Clytie prayed as hard as she had ever prayed that Eli and Logan survived the attack and Demon would find her in time.

  When Clytie was calm enough to think again she sat cross-legged on the mattress and pulled her hair out of falling clips. She held one of the steel clips in shaky palms and wondered how she could possibly make it a work for her. It had to be the most pathetic weapon on the planet but she ground it against the concrete in the vein hope she might be able to rub it into a lethal point. Right. She was in so much trouble. Demon. Where are you?

  Chapter 10

  “We have him. Stupid Bastard is using his cell phone.” Eli pulled the laptop around to show the blip on the map. He had jumped on the internet the minute he got to the house looking for information on Clancy. He got lucky with the cell phone. “He’s on the move, but as soon as he stops we’ll have him.”

  Demon kept up his incessant pacing, Wolf gold eyes staring out into the world promised death. “Where?”

  “He’s close. No more than ten minutes.”

  Demon took in all the grim warriors that came to their feet. The only ones who had stayed with the plane were
Cleo and Ian, and that had been against protest. The rest had been waiting alongside him for word since Clytie had been taken. This was what a pack was, people who would lay down their lives to keep each other safe, not the twisted slavery that Gregory and his ilk would make it. He only hoped he had the chance to show Clytie that Clancy and his breed were not what he was offering her. That he could keep her safe. Please God let him be in time to keep her safe.

  Demon’s voice was a savage growl as he looked over his pack mates. “Nobody kills Clancy but me.”

  “That’s it.” Eli said a few minutes later. “We have him.”

  When the door opened, Clytie knew her reprieve was over. Clancy, without any of his former attempts at charm, radiated menace in nothing but a pair of unbuttoned jeans. He might have modeled for a living with his angel face and trim body but all Clytie wanted was for him to go away again.

  He held up his hand, the one she had tried to shoot off, and smiled. “All better love. Now I can show you what we do to little girls who don’t mind.”

  Clytie swallowed hard, palming her pathetic hair clip and standing up. If he healed a shotgun blast in only a few hours, she had no chance of hurting him with a little sharpened metal.

  He came in and closed the door. “I’m trying to decide if I want to cut your hand off before or after I have you. What do you think?”

  She sucked in a shaky breath, determined not to give him the satisfaction of her fear. “Will what I think make a difference?”

  “Maybe. Why don’t you try asking nice?” He pulled down his pants until his cock was revealed. His voice lost its false cheer. “On your knees. You do me real nice and I might forget you tried to shoot my fucking hand off.”

  No! He was going to kill her anyway; she saw that in his eyes. There were some things you didn’t come back from. She’d rather fight and die than give him what he wanted. If she got him mad enough he might even kill her quick. You knew you were in real trouble when a quick death didn’t sound so bad. At least she had the satisfaction of knowing Demon would kill him for this. Cold comfort though it was.