Healed (Legacy #5)

Chapter 1

“Open the damn door!” Brandt yelled. Clenching his jaws in irritation a small grumble left him as he started around the house, looking for a way in.

“Hey,” Abby said, from her front porch as he stepped off Remi’s porch and into the grass.

Brandt glanced her way. “Hey, Abby.”

“Can I help you with something?” Abby asked.

“Only if you can get Remi to get his ass up and to go to work,” Brandt snidely answered.

Abby smiled. “Afraid that’s not quite something I have any control over.”

“Yeah, me either. And I’m supposed to be all about the control.”

“If it’s any help, he was up just a few hours ago.”

“It’s 10:00 A. M.! He should still be up.”

Abby kind of shrugged a shoulder and looked away as she pressed her lips together.

Brandt stopped splitting his attention between Remi’s house and Abby and concentrated on her. Everything about her indicated she knew something he didn’t. “What aren’t you telling me?”

She seemed hesitant to tell him whatever it was she knew, but sure enough to not go back inside.

“There’s obviously something on your mind, Abby,” Brandt said, walking slowly toward her.

“I really don’t know anything exactly,” she said, her gaze bouncing back to Remi’s house before landing once again on Brandt.

“Okay. What is it exactly that you don’t know?”

“It’s not my place to speak about something I don’t know for sure,” Abby said.

“But you know enough to feel bothered about it.”

Abby sighed. “He lives right here, Brandt.”

“Doesn’t matter. Nothing’s going to fall back on you.”

“I don’t know for sure. It’s just a feeling.”

“People have been saved on just a feeling,” Brandt said.

She looked at Remi’s house again, then lowered her gaze to the ground. “I worry about him. He’s not himself.”

“No, he’s not. I can’t even make him get up and come to work before noon anymore. I thought maybe he was working on the accounting side of things before coming in, but when Angelle checked for me, she said it looks like he hasn’t signed in in weeks.”

Abby nodded. “I think maybe he’s been keeping late nights. He had a few different friends over all night, but the last couple of weeks, it’s the same friend. Lots of loud music, lots of drinking, all kinds of things happening right up until dawn.”

“If he’s keeping the kids up, tell him to turn it down!” Brandt said.

“I have, and he does. I don’t think his new friend likes it very much, because it’s not very long before the music is up loud again.”

“Maybe he just forgets.”

Abby shook her head. “No, from the looks I get from her when I knock on the door. And then later when I see her out and about while me and the kids are walking or playing outside, I’m pretty sure it’s her, not him.”

“So, you’re getting shit in your own home, in your own yard, from somebody that has no right to be here, and he’s doing nothing about it.”

“To be fair, I don’t think he’s even aware. He’s not exactly clear minded. And he’s not really with her when she’s stumbling out of the house to go wherever she goes.”

“Have you tried to talk to him without her around?”

“No. I’m not going to cause any trouble. We’ve got it better here than we’ve ever had it. A little loud music can be ignored while it lasts.”

“No, it can’t. Not all night long. And certainly not outsiders making my people uncomfortable in their own homes.

” He turned back to Remi’s house and strode across the yard to the front door again.

He pounded on the door almost hard enough to splinter it.

“Remi! Get the fuck up now or I’ll take this damn door down! ”

Brandt waited barely a full minute before he attacked the door, punching and kicking at it.

Suddenly the door was opened and a disheveled female stood there, scowling at Brandt. “What is your problem?” she demanded. “We’re sleeping in here!”

“Get out,” Brandt demanded, pointing at what he assumed was her car in the driveway.

Immediate outrage colored her face. “This is not your house! You can’t tell me what to do.” She slammed the door and started back toward the bedroom.

The door splintered, and pieces of it just barely held on by its hinges, as Brandt stepped into Remi’s house. “Get in your fucking car and get the fuck off my property, before I bury you on it and make you a permanent part of the fucking scenery!”

“This is Remi’s house!” she shrieked at Brandt.

“Which is on my property. Get the fuck out of here now,” he snarled, advancing on her, just barely holding onto his human form.

“What the hell is going on?” Remi asked groggily as he stumbled into the living room. “What happened to my door?” he asked, as he squinted from the sunshine coming through the place the door used to be.

“Get off my fucking property,” Brandt ordered, his voice deep, growly, and deadly as he stood so close to the female that she surely felt the threat rolling off him.

“Hey! What’s the problem, Brandt?” Remi asked, as he moved to stand between Brandt and the focus of his anger. “She’s a friend of mine. Don’t treat her like that.”

“She’s disrespecting me. She’s disrespecting your neighbors, and she’s a fucking bitch. She’s goes. Now, or I’ll remove her myself.”

“Livi, maybe it’s best if you go for now. I’ll call you later after I straighten all this out,” Remi said, his gaze locked angrily on Brandt the whole time he was talking to Olivia.

“I’m not leaving so he can badmouth me while I’m not here to defend myself!” she snapped, glaring at Brandt. “You think you can come in here and break down a door and make me run? I don’t think so! I have 911 on speed dial and I’ll file charges on your ass so fast your head will spin.”

Brandt smiled coldly as he shoved Remi out of the way and started for Olivia.

“No! No, Brandt! You’re not hurting her!” Remi yelled, forcing his way between them again.

“You get her out of here, or I’m going to handle it,” Brandt said. “And, please. Please ignore me so I get to handle it.”

“Olivia!” Remi yelled.

She jumped in response to Remi shouting her name, and turned her angry gaze on him. “Do not yell at me! You will respect me! I won’t take disrespect from anybody!”

“You need to go home. I’ll call you later.”

“You said I should consider your house home! Now he’s saying this is his property. You need to get things straight because I don’t play games like this! Either I belong here or I don’t!”

“Go home. Leave! I’ll explain everything later.”

“Leave? Okay, I’ll leave. But don’t expect me to come back here later!”

“Oh, we don’t. Because if you come back here, he’s out, too. Neither of you will be allowed back!”

“Oh, really? Well, we’ll just sue you for all you’ve got!” Olivia threatened, yelling at Brandt over Remi’s shoulder.

Remi managed to force her out of the house and get her in her car.

He shoved his hand in his pocket and withdrew a handful of cash, handing it to her through the open window before he spoke to her and nodded at whatever she was telling him.

He stood in the driveway and watched her as she rounded the corner at the end of the street and waved at her as she finally drove out of sight, then he walked back toward Brandt, locking eyes with him angrily as he approached what used to be his front door.

He slapped at the broken, splintered traces of wood hanging onto the hinges.

“Really, Brandt? What the hell were you thinking? You destroyed my door!”

“Then answer the fucking door! What the hell is wrong with you?” Brandt demanded.

“Nothing! There’s not a damn thing wrong with me.”

“It’s 10:30 in the fucking morning, Remi! You haven’t been to work before noon in the last three weeks, on the days you happen to show up at all!”

“I already told you I’ve been doing accounting from home!” Remi said, angrily as he snatched up pieces of his door and tossed them through the opening it used to seal.

“No, Remi. You haven’t. You haven’t logged into the fucking program in at least that long.”

“Bullshit!” Remi yelled.

“I already had Angelle pull up the log in history. The only person working in the books is her.”

“You know what? Leave my sister out of this. This is nobody’s business but mine. As a matter of fact, you stay out of my fucking business, too!”

Brandt’s chest rumbled as he stalked over to Remi.

They were very close in height, with Remi being slightly taller, but there was no question who the Alpha was.

Brandt pressed his body against Remi’s bumping into him, daring him to stand his ground as he let go of the hold he kept on his Alpha powers.

Remi winced as a high pitched noise began to ring in his ears. He squeezed his eyes closed and tried to resist the urge to curl in on himself.

“You will abide by my rules, or you will get the fuck off this property. The rules are anyone you bring onto this land will respect all of your clan members. They insult or treat anyone with disrespect, they don’t get to fucking come back, if I don’t decide to feed them to our resident alligator. You get me?” Brandt demanded.

“You can’t…”

“I can do whatever the fuck I want to do. You might have paid to have your house built here, but I own this fucking land. Not only that but it is my place as Alpha to keep them all safe, keep them all happy, and keep them all thriving. You having fucking drug parties over here all goddamn night, keeping up the families next door who not only have little kids, they have to get up the next morning and go to work — where you’re supposed to fucking be. ”

“I turned the music down!” Remi yelled defensively.

“Yes, while your little fuck toy is shooting dirty looks at whoever dared to ask you to turn it down. That shit ain't right, Remi!”

“She didn’t do that! She’s a nice girl.”

“To who? She’s a selfish, confrontational bitch, who will drop your ass the moment you stop feeding her whatever it is she’s in need of.”

“You will not talk about her like that! She’s good for me! So good for me! She loves me when…”