Untamed Beast

by Jaden Sinclair

  “I killed her,” she whispered. Twisting out of his hold she turned and ran away, looking for a bathroom. Finding one, not caring if she might knock someone over, she ran into it and went to the first stall she could find. Down to her knees, she went and got sick, throwing up. Only when she couldn’t get anything else out did she slump back against the stall on her rear.

  “Katrina?” Dannie’s voice seemed to echo in the bathroom. She pushed open the stall and knelt down, touching Katrina’s forehead. “You okay?”

  Katrina shook her head no, and the tears started to fall. “I shot her, Dannie,” she said low. “Killed her. She was torturing him.”

  “Logan called Damond. They’re going to head to the house and check it out. Clean it up, I guess.”

  More tears fell. “What have I done? She was our mother.”

  “Shhh…” Dannie pulled her into her arms again, and Katrina went willingly, crying on her little sister’s shoulder again. “You did what you had to in order for us all to be safe.”

  Katrina stayed there, crying until she couldn’t cry anymore. Her head started to pound and she felt so drained she didn’t even think she could move.

  “Come on,” Dannie said, standing up and pulling her to her feet. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

  Dannie walked her over to a sink, turned the water on, and started to wash the blood from Katrina’s hands. When she had them all cleaned up, she grabbed some towels and started to clean her face. Dannie then took her shirt off, since it had blood on it and told her to stay put. She left and when she came back, she had a medical top that she put over Katrina’s head. Clean, but numb, they left the bathroom and joined the others. Logan was gone and Katrina couldn’t look Kane in the face. So she just sat down and waited like the rest of them. It wasn’t long before Kane got up and went over to her, sitting back down. Saying nothing his arm went around her shoulders and he pulled her into his arms. She went, laying her head down on his chest. Dannie grabbed her hand and held it.

  An hour went by before anyone came out to tell them anything. A nurse came to give them all an update.

  “He’s still in surgery. The knife did hit a major artery, and he’s very lucky he didn’t bleed to death. He’s lost a lot of blood and is in critical condition. They’re finishing up now and he’ll spend at least a good hour or two in ICU before you can see him. From there they may give him a room, but that will depend on him.” She looked Katrina in the eye. “You did good getting him here as fast as you did. He would have died if you hadn’t.”

  She wanted to cry again, but didn’t. Instead, she nodded at the nurse and took a deep breath to push the fresh tears away.

  “Does his mother know?” Katrina asked Kane.

  “I called her. She’s on her way,” Kane answered. “So not looking forward to that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Jada is going to explode. We almost lost Thorn once, when he was born. She’s very protective of him. This is going to piss her off to no end.”

  “I’m sorry.” The tears came again. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

  “I know and don’t worry about her. Her bark is worse than her bite.”

  Forty-five minutes after the nurse had come to talk to them, a petite woman busted into the emergency room demanding to see Thorn. Kane let Katrina go and went to her. She watched as the two of them spoke. Saw how the woman pointed a finger at Kane, then pushed at his shoulders before jumping up in his arms, hugging him.

  “That has to be his mother,” Dannie said. “Logan told me that she is the only one to push at Kane who is still standing straight.” If Katrina hadn’t been upset and worried, she might’ve smiled at that.

  Kane put the woman down and her eyes found Katrina’s. Katrina wanted to turn away but she didn’t. She met the stare and braced herself for the worst when the woman came into the waiting room and walked right up to her.

  “You’re Katrina?” she asked. Katrina nodded and then the woman grabbed her arms, yanked her up to her feet and hugged her. “Thank you.”

  “For what?” Katrina asked.

  “For saving his life.”

  “Katrina,” Kane said. “This is Jada, his mother.”

  Jada pulled back and smiled at Katrina, tears streaking her face. She opened her mouth to speak again, but stopped. The nurse came once more, and the look on her face told Katrina that they were about to get some bad news.

  “What’s wrong?” Jada demanded.

  “I just told your mate that Thorn has lost a lot of blood,” the nurse said.

  “Lady, don’t tell me my son is dead,” Jada warned.

  “He isn’t dead, but he has slipped into a coma,” the nurse said. Katrina gasped, covering her mouth with both hands and dropping back down in the chair. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this. It seems that as we were cleaning the wound a small chip broke off and did a bit of extra damage. It was made of copper and some did get into the blood stream. With that and the amount of blood loss, it has put him into this coma. He has brain activity but isn’t responding to anything else right now. The doctor thinks his body has just shut down to heal and she could be right. The extent of damage that knife did was bad. I’m afraid we don’t know how long this might last. It could be days, weeks, maybe even a month or two. I’m sorry.”

  “I want to see him,” Jada demanded.

  The nurse opened her mouth in what Katrina was sure would be a refusal, but Jada stopped her from talking. “Lady, don’t push me. That is my only son and I’m not going to lose him. You take me to see him right now.”

  The nurse looked around at each of them before nodding at Jada. “Just give me a moment to see if he’s set up in a space yet.”

  “You need to calm down,” Kane told Jada.

  “Don’t tell me to calm down,” Jada snapped back at him.

  “Well pissing the staff off isn’t going to help shit around him.”

  The nurse returned and escorted Jada to see her son. Kane got onto the phone, and Katrina just sat in the waiting room numb to the world. Dannie went and got her something hot to drink, but she didn’t touch it. What she must’ve done was fall asleep, because when she opened her eyes she was being carried by Logan out of the hospital.

  “What’re you doing?” she asked him, yawning.

  “We got a room right across the street and you’re going to get some rest,” Logan said.

  “I’m not leaving him.” Her eyes felt like lead and she couldn’t hold them open.

  “He’s not going anywhere, and you’re exhausted. You need some rest.”

  “Dannie!” she called out with a dry, raspy voice.

  “Right with you,” Dannie said.

  Unable to really fight, Katrina closed her eyes and rested her head on Logan’s shoulder. He walked with her in his arms and it almost felt as if someone might be rocking her to sleep.

  When she woke, Katrina saw that Dannie was also sleeping in the bed next to her. Careful, slowly and very quietly she got out of bed, put her shoes back on and left the room. It was still dark outside but being right across the street from the hospital one wouldn’t be able to tell that it was late at all. People still came and went, restaurants were still open and cars went by.

  Jogging across the street towards the hospital, once there Katrina went inside and keeping her eyes straight, she went back towards the ICU. Lucky for her, no one stopped her from going through the doors.

  Everything was quiet. It gave her an eerie feeling. As she walked slowly past each small room, glancing in to see if Thorn might be in there, she had this dead feeling in her stomach. With the sound of the machines running, the sterile smells in the air, it clearly was a place for people to come and die she thought.

  Luck seemed to finally be on her side some. She found Thorn at the far end and he was alone. She half figured to see Jada or Kane sitting with him but they weren’t there. Looking around again, waiting for someone to come along and tell her she had to go, Katrina walked i
nto the small room and closed the curtains.

  Thorn was a sight, one that broke her heart. Laying in the bed, almost lifeless with a large breathing tube coming out of his mouth, heart monitor on his chest and IV’s all over with many different pumps going. The only sound that came was from the breathing machine. The heart monitor was turned to silent, but she still stared at the steady beating of his heart. His flesh color was pale also. The way he looked right now had her so scared that he might die any moment. And if he did then it would be all her fault.

  She didn’t even notice that she had started crying silently until she felt the wetness on her lips. Wiping them away, she grabbed the only chair, pulled it up to the side of the bed and sat down. Reaching out, her hand shook as she touched his bare chest, a chest that she had touched many times. A small sigh slipped out of her lips to feel the warmth of his flesh. Flattening her hand over his heart, she felt the beating, when she moved her hand down some something caught her eye. A mark on his chest that wasn’t there before.

  “Think you marked him.”

  Katrina jumped and almost came out of the chair. Kane stood in the opening, alone. He looked like he might’ve taken a shower and he did have fresh clothes on.

  “I’m sorry,” she rushed out. “I, um I didn’t mean to come in here.” She started to stand up only to have him raise his hand.

  “Stay. It’s all right.”

  She settled back in the seat and removed her hand from his chest. “I had to, you know, just see that he’s still breathing.”

  “Yeah, he’s stronger than what you think. He’ll wake up soon and be mean as ever.” She could tell he was trying to lighten things up, but it didn’t work. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

  “It’s my fault,” she blurted out. “Everything that has happened has been because of me.” She slumped back in the seat, scratched her head and frowned up at him. “What did you mean I marked him?”

  Kane smiled and moved into the room, stood at the other side of the bed. He nodded towards Thorn’s chest. “See that mark. It’s what females tend to do when they mark the males. Think it’s during their cycle.” He shrugged his large shoulders. “My mate is human, so I don’t have that mark, but my sister left one on her mate.”

  “No,” she shook her head. “That’s not possible. I’d remember if I bit him.”

  “In the heat of the moment you never remember what you do or don’t do.”

  She looked at the dark mark on his chest again and sure enough, it did look slightly like a bite mark. Maybe she did bite his chest but she sure as hell didn’t remember it.

  “Where’s Jada?” she asked, deciding it might be better to change the subject.

  “We got a room, so she’s back in it making some calls, letting the family know. Logan, I think, has gone back to the house to take care of the bodies. Damond is with him.”

  “Thought Damond was looking for Thorn’s cousin.” She frowned again and looked up at him. “How is she his cousin?”

  “She isn’t. He just tells everyone she is.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he’s got a protective nature about him.” Kane crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at Thorn. “Her parents were killed when she was very little. We all sort of think it’s because of her birth.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I’m still learning things here, so to me I think it’s all a bunch of bullshit. But that’s beside the point. Both of her parents are full-blooded shifters, Kirsty isn’t. That doesn’t really happen much in this world, unless one of the parents is a human. I’ve also learned that in the past, or the old ways, males who had a child different like that tended to kill them at birth.”

  “What?” she gasped.

  “Yeah, it’s what I said. Kirsty’s parents didn’t, they just moved away to protect her. Later on, when I think she was about two, a mob came and found them. They managed to kill the parents and were about to kill her when Thorn just happened to be there. He saved her life and brought her to us. We protected her, raised her, and when she was old enough he took her to another spot for protection. Since she is more human than shifter, he just told everyone that she was his cousin and that if they fuck with her, he’ll kill them. Plain and simple.”

  “Does sound like him.”

  “Yeah, and has worked for years. We still see her once in a while, but she likes being alone. Guess this Damond guy fucked that up.”

  “Yeah, kind of pissed Thorn off big time when he found out they had slept together.” They got quiet. The only sound heard came from the breathing machine. She stared at him and didn’t look back at Kane when she spoke again. “I can’t stay.”

  “Sort of figured that.”

  “It’s not safe with me around.”

  “Says who?” She turned her head and looked at him then. “If he cares for you, which I do think he does, and wakes up with you gone, it’s going to tear him apart.”

  “He doesn’t care for me like that Kane. We both know that.”

  “No, we don’t.”

  Slowly, Katrina stood up, still looking at Kane. “I do. He has a protective nature about him, I’ll give you that. But he hates my guts. It’s better if I just get the hell out of here and let him have his life back.”

  “I’ve been there, Katrina.” Kane’s voice lowered and his eyes seemed to get darker. “Don’t walk out on him when he needs you the most. It’ll kill him.”

  “He doesn’t need me. He doesn’t need anyone.” Looking back down at Thorn, she lowered and kissed him first on the lips then on his cheek. “I miss you already,” she whispered in his ear. Straightening back up, wiping fresh tears away, she turned and started to walk away, only to have Kane grab hold of her arm, stopping her.

  “I don’t beg for shit, but I’ll beg for him,” Kane said in a low, slightly deadly voice. “Don’t do this. He does need you, even if you think he doesn’t.”

  Katrina jerked free of his hold. “I’m sorry.”

  Not looking back, she walked away. Walked out of the ICU, past the waiting room and out the doors, back into the night. Across the street, she headed, back to the room she had been sharing with Dannie. Inside she walked quietly, glad to see Dannie still sleeping. She wrote a short note to her, dug around and found some cash and back into the night she disappeared.

  Getting a ride back to the house took a couple of hours. When she got there, the sun was starting to rise and no one was around. She was very glad about that, thinking she might run into Logan or Damond and have to do some explaining.

  Paying the cab, she waited until he left before going back into the house. All the bodies that were left were now gone. There wasn’t much of a trace that there had been a fight.

  Katrina walked into each and every room. She found a couple backpacks and filled them up with things from her childhood and things that Dannie might like to have back. In her old bedroom, she changed clothes, surprised that some of them still fit. Discovering a suitcase in the back of her old closet she packed up more clothes that fit, then left her room and went into her mother’s. She found pictures of when they were little girls, before her mother started to lose her mind. She also packed up any jewelry that might be worth anything. With her arms full, she dragged everything back down and left it in the front room as she went into her mother’s office.

  Standing in the middle of the room her mind could almost hear her mother screaming about something that went wrong or not making enough money on one of her pets. Looking around the room her eye caught the painting on the wall, and her brain reminded her there was the spot she was looking for. Walking up to it, Katrina pulled the painting away from the wall to reveal a safe. She knew the combination just by pure luck really. One night in her mother’s office, she remembered how her mother started talking to herself about how she needed protection from him and had a way to stop him if she had to. At the time, Katrina didn’t know what she was talking about but did watch her get into the safe. So, tu
rning the knob she put in the combination and opened it. Inside there were stacks of cash, some jewels and a flash drive. She took everything, stuffing it in her backpack.

  Looking around the place once more, she took everything she wanted outside, then went back in and started to pour gas all over. She started in the attic first, then worked her way down. When she had it all soaked she went back outside. Standing far enough away, she lit a match, dropped it and watched the fire as it spread to the path and up to the house.

  Katrina stood there just watching it all slowly start to catch. When every room in the house was lit up, she grabbed the stuff and just walked away for the last time.

  Chapter Ten

  He was dragged into the house, then up stairs that banged into his knees and legs. He couldn’t see a damn thing. Everything was blurry as hell, thanks to the drugs they gave him.

  A musty smell hit his nose then he was dropped face first onto a damp wooden floor. Thorn tried like hell to move his arms, to be able to raise himself up, but he just couldn’t. Once more, that bitch drugged him and left him weak.

  Rough hands came up at his neck and the jacket he wore yanked off. His shoes and socks were also removed. Something hooked on the chain between his wrists, and Thorn was once more jerked up to his feet, only this time he was hoisted up and kept up. Rough hands picked up his legs and moved him, then his legs were lowered and cold water touched his flesh.

  “Cut the shirt off,” a woman ordered.

  Shaking his head and turning it towards the sound of the woman, Thorn growled. Something flashed before his eyes and he felt the tug and pull and as well as heard the ripping of his shirt as it was cut away. Flinching he felt the tip of that blade touch his chest and soon felt warm blood dripping from him.

  “I know how strong you are,” the woman said again. “I’ve seen what you can do. So there isn’t really a point in giving you the whip.” Clicking sounded and he soon realized she was walking around him. “However, I doubt very much that you can withstand the volts I’m about to give you.”