Chapter 19 #2
Jessa is on her knees on the boards with her back to the man, both arms locked around my daughter.
Her head is down, her shoulders braced for what’s coming.
Blood runs off her cheekbone into her hair.
Bella is face down across the room with a woman’s knee planted in her back.
The man standing over Jessa has four furrows torn open through his sleeve.
His fist is raised, his eyes wild, and I can smell his blood, the four grooves on his arm visible.
My wolf snarls, enraged, and I’m across the room before I know it, my hand grabbing his wrist.
His eyes widen as he sees me. “Who the fuck are—” Recognition dawns on his face. “You’re Steele.”
He pulls his wrist away from my grasp and drags the back of his torn arm across his mouth, blood smearing across his face. “This is family business. Stay out of it.”
“You put your hands on my family,” I snarl. “Don’t tell me to stay the fuck out of it. Now take your hands off that girl before I tear them off at the wrist.” The words are directed toward his sister.
Her head snaps around toward Jared, who shoves himself up to his full height, chest heaving, adrenaline riding him so hard he can’t hold still.
“Your girlfriend’s got my wife hidden somewhere.
She’s got my kids.” The spit flies with it.
“So you tell her to open her mouth, Steele, or I’ll beat it out of her while you watch. ”
My wolf sees red. He’s forcing his way out, and I can’t stop, the anger so vicious that I can feel the veins bulging in my forehead. It’s my wolf who grabs Jared by the throat and tosses the burly fireman across the room and into the glass cabinets, which shatter on impact.
“You’re going to beat her?” The words come out as a rough inhumane sound. “You dare to touch what’s mine? I said get off her!” My head whips to the side, the wolf in my eyes as the roar leaves my mouth. The woman scrambles back, terrified.
Bella, who is crying now, crawls over to Jessa, who pulls her into her arms protectively.
My wolf wants to shift. He wants to rip this man to pieces. I stand in front of my family, glowering at the two siblings. The woman hurries over to her brother, who drags himself up the wall with one hand, his body covered with cuts from the shattered glass.
“What did you do to him?!” The woman half sobs, half glares at me. When I turn my gaze toward her, she flinches.
“You bastard!” Jared takes a swing at me, and I drive my boot into his stomach. He doubles over and drops, retching.
“Marcus, the girls!” Jessa cries out in alarm.
I don’t turn around. “Take them out of here right now.”
She moves. I hear her whisper, and then the three of them are hobbling for the door.
The sister lunges after them. There’s a block of knives on Rachel’s counter, and I pull one free.
I throw without turning my head an inch.
The blade goes past the woman’s ear near enough to shear three hairs off her, then buries itself in the plaster.
She drops where she stands and sits down hard on the floor, putting both arms over her head.
“Next time I won’t bother with a knife.” I still haven’t looked at her. “I’ll take your head off with my hands. Man or woman, I’ve got no preference. You touch my mate, and I’ll kill you.”
Jared forces himself to his feet. “You can’t do this.” His voice is hoarse with a hint of fear. However, anger and ego override common sense. “Denise, call the police.”
“Call them,” I say coldly. “I’m sure they’d be interested in seeing how you assaulted my family. You think you’re the only one with reach in this town?” His face goes pale at my words. “You think just because you can push your own wife around, I’d let you put your hands on mine?”
“I want to know where my wife is!” Jared spits out. “I’m getting answers one way or the other.”
He rushes toward me, and I grab him by the neck, slamming him into the floor.
My hand tightens around his neck, and I let him see the wolf in my eyes.
“If I were to kill you right now, nobody would know it was me. I have enough people to cover my tracks. You’ve spent your whole life in a town that fucking worships you, so let me tell you how tomorrow goes.
” My face is an inch off his. “Your job is gone by morning, and your name goes into the dirt with it. Every man who ever bought you a drink will cross the street when he sees you coming.”
He swings at me. It’s a decent punch. He’s thrown plenty of them. I catch it in my palm, then squeeze. A bone in his hand gives with a wet crunch, and the scream he lets out fills the whole apartment. Denise covers her mouth and sobs. I let my claws dig into his neck.
“You freak. You’re not human,” Jared gasps.
“No, I’m not.” I lean closer. “And that’s why you shouldn’t cross me.”
He swings with the other arm because he’s stupid as well as brave, so I let it come, break his rhythm with an elbow, then put him through Rachel’s television.
Glass sprays across the floor. The stand buckles under him, and Jared comes to rest in the wreckage with one leg twisted beneath him. He doesn’t get up.
At the door I stop. “Rachel will come home tomorrow, and her children will come with her. If I hear you’ve been on this street, if I hear you’ve been within a mile of that woman, I’ll pay you another visit.”
He’s barely conscious, but I see the fear in his eyes.
I walk out of the apartment, my blood still boiling.
Jessa’s door is locked when I knock on it.
“It’s me,” I call out, and I hear her unlock the door before pulling it open. Her face is pale, and although her eyes are dry, I can see that the tears are very close to the surface. I gather her in my arms, the wolf desperate to comfort her. “It’s fine. You’re okay.”
At first, she says nothing, and then her hands lift, and I feel her fingers dig into the back of my shirt. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know he would be here. I didn’t know. I would never have brought the girls—”
“It’s okay.” I lean back to kiss her forehead. “The important thing is I got here in time. Where are the girls?”
She swallows, and I see her quickly wipe her eyes when she doesn’t think I’m looking. “In Mia’s room.”
I close the door behind me, and with one hand, I turn her cheek toward the lamp, thumb hovering clear of the swelling under her eye. The bone’s intact. Skin has split along the cheekbone, and the whole side of her face has gone dark red, purpling already at the edges.
“How bad does it hurt?” My voice comes out rough.
“It’s bearable.” Her chin drops. “I shouldn’t have brought them here. It never once occurred to me that this could be dangerous, Marcus, I swear it didn’t. They were told to stay inside our apartment. I don’t know why they came out.”
I know why. Bella’s hearing is sharp, and so is Mia’s. Both girls heard Jessa in danger, and they probably wanted to help.
“Mom?” Mia’s voice is cautious. “Is Marcus back?”
I look toward the hallway that leads to the bedrooms, and Mia and Bella are there, standing hand in hand. Mia’s eyes flicker gold, then brown, then gold again. I put my arms out. “Come here, both of you.”
They come. Bella hits me first, Mia a half-second behind her, and I gather the pair of them against my chest.
“It’s over.” I drop the alpha into my voice, the pitch that drives past a shifter’s ears into the blood. “You’re safe. Nothing’s coming through that door.”
Bella eases first, her shoulders coming down, her fists unclenching in my shirt. Mia takes longer. Her wolf keeps climbing into her eyes, looking for the man I’ve already put down, so I press my mouth to the top of her head and hold her until the gold drains away for good.
“Let me look at you.” I hold Bella out at arm’s length and go over her, then Mia.
There are grazed palms, a scraped elbow, a red weal across Bella’s back where a knee pinned her down.
Nothing is broken, and their shifter blood will mend this much before bedtime.
“Both of you go into the other room, and Mia, you pack your things. I’m here now. Nobody can hurt you or your mom.”
My daughter nods, relieved, and the two of them hurry back.
“They aren’t hurt.” I catch Jessa’s wrist. “They’ve got scrapes, Jessa. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
The bruise says otherwise. It’s spreading under her skin while I watch, purple crowding out the red.
I called her my mate in front of that man. He might not know what that means, but I do. My wolf had been on the surface, and the fact that it already considers Jessa as ours might be a problem if I can’t convince her to actually be mine.
“Where’s your first aid kit?” I try to keep my voice even, knowing how shaken she is.
“I can do it myself.” She wraps her arms around her stomach.
“Where is it, Jessa?” I ask firmly.
She breathes out through her nose. “It’s in the cupboard over the sink, second shelf.”
I bring it over, and when I apply the antiseptic, she makes a pained sound.
“I’m not angry with you,” I tell her mildly. “But I’m going to be a little harsh, okay?”
I see the way her expression falls. If she was a wolf, her ears would be flat against her head and her tail between her legs.
“What possessed you?” I clean the cut on her jaw with the corner of a gauze square. “You squared up to a man built to haul grown adults out of burning houses, and his sister with him.”
“I didn’t square up to anybody.” Her eyes come up, sparking. “I really didn’t know he would be there, and I tried to make an excuse to get away, Marcus, but his sister recognized me, and it went sideways in about four seconds.”