Chapter 26 Aiden #2
A cloud of dust kicked up around me, little chunks of gravel hitting my face while I stood my ground. I coughed and tried to cover my eyes without losing sight of the truck. Grim howled, Dorian’s voice following quickly behind. This had to be Katarina.
No sooner had I let the thought seep into my psyche did the passenger door of the truck squeak open and light footsteps came running toward me.
“Aiden!”
Her voice twisted inside my heart, the ache so deep I hadn’t really understood how much she meant to me. Tears clouded my eyes when I saw her wild red curls bouncing as she hobbled closer. She was smiling and crying, and she couldn’t have looked any more beautiful to me.
I held my arms out and ran toward her. Like one of those sappy slow-motion scenes in a love story, time seemed to slow.
It wasn’t until I had her firmly in my arms that I finally took a breath.
Her body felt lighter. She’d lost weight.
And when I hugged her tight and lifted her off the ground, she sucked in a quick breath like I’d hurt her.
“Kitty Cat,” I breathed into her ear, afraid to hold her too tight yet not willing to break our connection. “We found you.”
She sobbed. Her cheek was against my cheek and I enjoyed the feeling of skin on skin.
Crying in my arms, I spun in a slow circle taking in every scent and every emotion swirling through me.
We’d almost lost her, and I hadn’t realized until now how much I loved her and needed her.
My body tingled with excitement, parts of it growing without my control.
Katarina giggled and I set her on her feet.
She looked up at me, no doubt in preparation to say something about my growing erection when I stopped breathing.
Her face…half of her beautiful face was covered in purple bruises.
There was a shiner on her right eye, a growing bruise on her left cheek, and a red bump on her forehead that would no doubt be purple in another day or two.
She wore a dark green tank top and black leggings which were covered in dust and dirt.
There was a growing bruise on her collarbone, and I quickly noticed she wasn’t putting a lot of weight on her left foot.
I bent forward and gently kissed her lips. “Kitty Cat, what did they do to you?” I asked through my anger and my tears.
But she didn’t get a chance to answer. Grim slid to a stop right at her feet and she immediately bent forward and wrapped her arms around the hound’s deep chest. Whispering to him as she cried, he whimpered and whined and rubbed all over her like a cat.
When Dorian bounded over, he knocked them both to the ground and started licking Katarina’s face.
“Asshole! She’s injured!” I shouted at the idiot, but Katarina just laughed.
“It’s okay, Aiden. I’m just so happy to see you all.”
Grim and Dorian exchanged a few snarls before Dorian jumped to the side to avoid being bit.
He lowered his head and growled at Grim, but then closed his eyes and shifted back into his human form.
It was one of the quickest shifts I’d ever seen him do.
On all fours, he took a minute to get his bearings, and in that time, Blaise slowed the car and parked in the middle of the road.
“Dorian,” Katarina whispered, reaching out to him. He laid his cheek in her outstretched hand, and I could immediately tell that her touch was helping his pain. Werewolves couldn’t usually shift as quickly as some of the other weres, and Dorian was definitely paying the price.
“What is going on here?” a man’s voice said, breaking up the reunion.
Still holding on to Grim and Dorian, Katarina leaned back and turned her head to look at the man.
He was human, probably close to eighty years old with a long, gray beard, a straw hat, and wearing a white tee shirt under overalls.
He was tiny but had defined muscles that let me know he still did manual labor on his farm.
“It’s all right, George,” Katarina said with a smile. “This is my family.”
George stared wide-eyed at Dorian’s naked body. Then his gaze passed over Grim, me, and Blaise. When he saw the broody half-breed staring at him with a menacing glare, George physically shivered.
“Blaise,” Katarina warned. “This man helped me.”
Blaise’s eyes found Katarina’s and something passed over his face. He must have noticed the bruises because I smelled the blood coming out of his hands where he’d dug his nails into his skin. But instead of speaking, his lips trembled…almost like he was going to cry.
Dorian, now sitting behind Katarina and holding her against his body, looked up at me. Yeah, I thought in agreement, he loves her too. Son of a bitch. Who would have thought Blaise’s cold, black heart could beat for anyone?
With a small chuckle, I shook my head and reached forward to help Katarina off the ground. “Come on, Kitty Cat. Let’s get you home.”
Grim and Dorian helped hold some of her body weight as she slowly stood. She was in a lot of pain and was trying to hide it. All four of us could see that and all four of us were having a hard time holding it together and watching her suffer.
Blaise cleared his throat to catch my attention. “Aiden, take care of him,” he said, referring to George.
Katarina gasped and looked at me with tears in her eyes. “No, Aiden. Please don’t hurt him.”
In the background, George bristled at the words, but I simply helped her to her feet and kissed her forehead. “I won’t,” I promised.
Dorian and Blaise helped get Katarina into the back seat, both Dorian and Grim flanking her. As Blaise started the Suburban, I walked closer to George and extended my hand. He hesitated a moment before shaking it. “Thank you for bringing her back to us, George.”
“Was that naked man a dog?” he asked in a daze.
“No, a wolf.”
“Huh.”
“George,” I said softly. “I need to touch your face for a moment.”
“What?” he asked slowly as I made my move and grasped his head between my hands.
“This won’t hurt, I promise.” Reaching deep into my soul, I pulled up an old spell a village elder taught me back in my realm.
It was one of the few that I could still perform in the human world, and it worked just as well as vampire glamor.
With three lines of the old language, I had cleared George’s memories for the last several hours, told him he was a good man, and sent him on his way.
I didn’t get in our SUV until I couldn’t see the dust from George’s truck anymore.
Sucking in a deep breath, my body shuddered with emotion.
We had her back. She was hurt but she wasn’t dead.
Sure, we had issues to deal with in our city, but Katarina made us stronger, and we could get through this as a team.
I had no doubt Roman was freaking out right now, and when I heard Blaise take a call on the car’s Bluetooth, I smiled.
Maybe I had a little psychic energy in me myself.
Blaise disconnected the call as I stepped into the vehicle and reached back to grab Katarina’s hand. She smiled at me and wrapped her fingers in mine. “Does he know?” I asked Blaise while he turned the car around.
“Yes.”
With a squeeze, I twisted in my seat to see Katarina. Dorian had his arms wrapped around her upper body and Grim was lying in her lap. “We’re so happy to see you,” I whispered.
Her eyes filled with tears and she made a point of looking at each of us. “Me too. Now, let’s go home.”