by Laura Wylde
“You really have lost it, Dad. You know, that right? I will never help you. I went along with your plan before; I didn’t have a choice. I do now. You will not make me do anything that I don’t want to do ever again.”
“Are you talking about that baby again? Let it go already. You’re losing sight of the main goal that was to keep you from having a monster’s baby. Do you really want me to apologize for that? After knowing what he is now, aren’t you glad you killed the man’s child that was growing inside of you.”
“No, I wish he’d killed you that night at the abandoned house. That’s what I wish for every day, Dad. How is that for loyalty? I’ll never go with this plan of yours. I choose Baron.”
He tightened the grip on my neck. “You don’t mean that, Kayla. You’re my daughter. You would really pick this monster over your own flesh and blood?”
“Every single time.”
Chapter 18
Baron
“Fine, then you can go down with him. The story will change from me saving you to you already being dead when I got here, and I had to kill him in self-defense. Either way, I’m going to get what I want out of this. Say good-bye to your little whore, Baron.”
The sheriff’s grip tightened on her neck as he pointed the gun towards her head. She was hurting, and this wasn’t going to go on anymore. I couldn’t hold back what was going to happen next. There was always something about Mike that made it hard not to turn. Hurting the woman that I loved was another surefire way to get me to snap. I was already on video changing and murdering. How could it get any worse?
It wasn’t long at all before I could feel the change happening and for once since I’d been here, I welcomed it like an old friend that I hadn’t seen in a while. It was time that the beast got to come out. After hearing what he’d done to my child, all I saw was red. Nothing else mattered anymore except destroying the man in front of me.
I didn’t even flinch as the bullet ripped through my chest. It wasn’t the first one, but it hurt the most. He was far more worried about pointing that gun at me than his daughter when I started to charge him.
All I could think about was ending Mike so that he could never hurt his daughter again. I was going to make sure of it this time, and I now had more of a reason to hate him. He’d taken everything from me, and unlike Kayla, some of it couldn’t be taken back.
I lunged at the man, and in his fear and the way that he was trying to get me away from him, I knew that he was mine. Kayla was pushed down to the ground, and she hit her head. The red was gone, and all I saw was black. I didn’t stop when I knew that Mike was stopped. He was on the ground, arm and leg broken, the gun skittered to the floor on the other side of the room, and I knew that he was done. But it wasn’t enough. In that moment I made the decision to take his life. The world would be a better place without him in it.
Biting at his neck, the blood was hot as it came out, covering me and the walls, and floor underneath him. I couldn’t see past it all, and only when the last bit of his blood pumped out of him was I even close to ready to come down. I heard a noise behind me and saw a man standing there in a uniform. I didn’t recognize him as one of the men that had tortured me, but he had a gun pointed at me, and I snarled at him.
My body tensed up as my muscles bunched underneath the fur. I was going to attack him too, not sure who he was, but sure that he worked with my enemy. I still wasn’t thinking clearly, my heart rate deafening to my ears. I was seconds from leaping when I heard her.
“Don’t, Baron. Freddy isn’t part of this.”
Her voice was like my kryptonite, and I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to carry on. She told me that he was safe, so I did as she asked. It was only a few moments before I was back to man and I turned to her, my back to the man with the gun. If she trusted him, so did I.
Another gunshot ran through me and I heard her scream. “What are you doing Freddy? Stop!”
That shot didn’t hurt at all and that made me nervous. “I love you, Kayla.”
I fell onto the ground in a big heap. My eyes were closing for good and the last image was of Kayla. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I thought that was the end for me.
“Wake up, sleepyhead. It’s about time.”
Kayla was standing over me, and she had a smile on her face. I was in some sort of medical facility, but it wasn’t like anywhere I’d been before. This wasn’t a regular hospital by the looks of it.
“Where am I?”
“You’re at a clinic. I have a friend that is a veterinarian. No pun intended but I couldn’t take you to a hospital with all these bullets in you. There would be questions and at the minute, there is really no one here to even answer them. Then more questions. So, you can see why you’re here? Anyone else would have died.”
I smiled at her. I didn’t think I was going to see her again. I’d come to terms with that, but now I was thankful that it wasn’t the case. I needed Kayla more than my next breath. Trying to sit up, I reeled with pain and laid back just as quickly as I’d tried to get up. It was obvious that something had happened to me. I remembered the shots, but I didn’t remember the pain.
“You need to rest, Baron. It’s been a long week on you, and it’s time to rest.”
“You’re okay?”
She smiled and agreed that she was fine.
“And what about…?” I didn’t even know how to say it out loud. I didn’t know if there was anyone listening. Mike had wanted to out me, and I knew that I could never let this happen. If it did come out what I was, I was going to have to leave before they came after me. I knew they would. There was a reason I’d left before, but this time I wasn’t going to go without Kayla.
“Come with me, Kayla. We need to get out of here. Where are my clothes?”
“They are covered in blood, and you’re not going anywhere.”
“I heal fast.”
“Not that fast. What is going on? You don’t have to leave, Baron. You’re safe here.”
“I’m not safe anywhere in Shady Way.”
“You are now. They are all gone. All of my dad’s goons.”
“What about the one that shot me, Freddy?”
“I had to shoot him. He wanted to kill you, and you know that I couldn’t let that happen.”
“What about...”
Kayla cut me off. “We will talk about it when you’re less drugged and feeling a little better. That horse tranquilizer is going to take you to neverland.”
I tried to stop her, but she did something to the IV bag and line going to my arm. “I love you, Baron. Everything is finally going to be okay.”
I went back out and remember thinking that I really hoped she was right. I wanted to think that it was all going to be okay. As long as Kayla was safe, it was going to be okay.
I came to again a while later, though I had no sense of time. The place where I was had less lights on, and it felt like night. I don’t know how long I’d been here, and I wanted to talk to whoever it was that patched me up. I needed to know what to expect because I was ready to get out of here.
When I tried to sit up, it was already easier than before. I had learned long ago that healing didn’t take as long for me as it did for others. Mike had made a comment about the scratches almost being gone. He was surprised, and I was surprised that he hadn’t done his research. It was well documented in a lot of the books that I’d read about shifters. I wanted to know what I was, and he should have learned his enemy a little better.
“There you are.”
“Are you going to drug me again?”
“Possibly. You need to stay relaxed.”
“I’m already feeling better. It’s time for you to tell me what happened.”
Kayla didn’t want to, I could see it in her eyes, but she finally let out a huge sigh and sat down on the bed. She smiled at me and pushed some hair back from my face, tucking it behind my ears.
“What do you really want to know? You were awake for most of it.”
“Well, what happened after I got shot again and blacked out?”
“I had to kill Freddy because he wanted to kill you, and I couldn’t let that happen. He’d seen too much, and he was going to go to the authorities. Since so many are dead from the precinct, I don’t know where he thought he was going to go.”
“I’m sorry.”
She waved me off like it was no big deal, but I knew that it had to be. For a woman like Kayla, she would have taken the act of snuffing out a life seriously.
“What about the rest of them?”
“What about them? You know what happened. That was pretty much most of the police force.”
She was saying it all like it had been so long ago.
“How long have I been out for?”
“Almost a week.”
That got me sitting up, and I wasn’t sure what to say. I would have wanted to have been out of here by now. There was something going on, and I was sure that I was about to get hit with news that I didn’t much understand.
“So, what happened?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, seven police officers and a sheriff don’t end up dead in the middle of the woods in an abandoned house with no one saying anything. When are they going to ask me questions? I need to know what’s going on so that we will have the same story. What am I supposed to tell people?”
“You tell them nothing and there is no they. I’m the police force right now. Me and a couple of other people that weren’t in his loop. That’s all you need to worry about. I was hoping that maybe you would be able to help me out, maybe become a deputy.”
I was shocked and confused, and she just smiled at me.
“What are you grinning like that for?”
“You don’t know how much I missed you, Baron. You had me worried for a while there, but I should have known that you’d pull through this. You’re so strong.”
“I’m so confused right now. How are we both not in jail right now?”
“No one knows what happened to them, though my dad did take off in the middle of the night, leaving a note that he was quitting his job. It turns out that he wanted to do some traveling.”
“And the others?”
“Well some of his victims were identified as people that were going to be testifying against him. So, it looks like he took out the witnesses that were going to be in court next month with some help from his deputy buddies and then took off with some of the money he’d embezzled from the station, as well as many of the people he arrested. All of his sins were laid bare when we went to go check on him the next day. He was really bad about leaving it all out. It was like he wanted it to be found or something.”
My head was reeling, and I laid back, giving up on the idea that I was going to be able to get up yet. I didn’t know what to say, and if I had to be honest, Kayla was far scarier than I’d thought she was. She was downright diabolical, though I knew she came by it honestly.
“So, no one knows?”
“Nope. Your secret is safe and so are you. You don’t have to run anymore, Baron. You can stay here, and we can really start a life now.”
She frowned. “I thought you’d be happier.”
“I am, really, I just, I don’t know. I’m not sure what to say. I thought I was a goner, but now… I can’t believe you saved me. I was here to save you.”
Kayla learned down on the bed and kissed me. “You did save me, Baron, in so many ways. I would have never been able to do this without you. I let Dad run things here for too long.”
“And our baby?”
Her face clouded over so quickly I wish I hadn’t said anything.
“It happened a long time ago, and I don’t like to think about it.”
“I don’t blame you. I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you.”
“Just promise me you won’t leave me again. Life is so much better when you’re with me.”
I couldn’t have agreed more, and I pulled her down on me. It was something else that I almost immediately regretted, even though her body on mine felt amazing. The feel of her sinking into my stomach where I’d been shot was not quite as magical.
I winced, and she started to get up, but there was no way that I was going to let her. I held her down, and she made a sound that drove me absolutely crazy.
“You’re not well enough.”
“The hell I’m not. I’m feeling better already.”
Chapter 19
Kayla
“Are you about ready to go?”
“Yeah, just give me a minute. I don’t know how you get dressed and ready so fast.”
“I don’t know why it takes you so long. Are you wanting breakfast?”
He shook his head, and I smiled at him, taking a bite of toast.
“What?”
“I still can’t get over you in that uniform. It’s hot.”
He looked down and shrugged. “I never thought I would be wearing one of these, unless I stole it from a cop.”
“You look good, Baron. You were made to do this, and it shows.”
Baron didn’t look so sure and I think that sometimes he wishes that things were different. That bad boy side still came out, but it was more now in the bedroom. He’d told me once that real wild animals are never really tamed. I hoped that was true, because the way he made me feel was more than I could handle most of the time, and I never wanted that to go away. I liked the raw passion inside of him.
“You know that I can read your mind, right?”
I gasped as his hand went under my shirt, cupping my breasts.
“That’s really rude, you know.”
“Even if I couldn’t, I can smell your arousal. That happened fast.”
“It never does take long, and I’m telling you, it’s the uniform.”
He frowned and then broke it with a grin. “Is that so?”
My heart was racing faster as he held me to him. “Yeah, that’s so.”
“Nothing to do with me?”
I shook my head. “Nah, not that I can see.”
He growled at me under his breath and sat me up on the counter. I almost knocked my coffee cup over, but neither one of us seemed to mind all that much, certainly not enough to stop anything.
“We’re going to be late, Baron. I can’t be late for the anniversary.”
“You’re the sheriff now, Kayla, remember? They can wait.”
Baron might have thought that making all of those people wait wasn’t the worst thing ever and I would have agreed with him, but it was clear that he himself didn’t want to wait. I tried to get him to slow down, but his hands were already on my pants, then puling them down and off, whipping them across the floor. He was easier to get out, and he wrapped my legs around him as I wrapped my arms around his neck. Baron was pressing inside of me quickly, and each time he did, I cried out in pleasure. He always felt so damn good, and I loved the suddenness of his desires sometimes. They would come out of the blue, and his ability to read my mind really came in handy. Baron always seemed to know what I needed before I myself did.
His tempo changed, and he was drilling in deep and slow. He knew that I liked it best; he knew everything. The wind-up was the best part and this way it took longer, and the release was so much more powerful. Each push in stretched my inner walls and made my heart skip a beat. He would enter slowly and then push in quickly about halfway. Each time I thought it would be my ending, and I craved more. I was clinging to him, desperate for the final wave of need. Every time I thought I was close, Baron would slow down and rub the head around my center.
“Come on, Baron. Don’t do this to me.”
He chuckled. “You’re always so impatient.”
Baron was too, but just until he got inside of me. Once he was there, it was like he wasn’t worried about time at all. It stood still for him, but not for me. All I could think about was that final release and the more he made me wait for it, the harder it was to stop myself. I needed him, badly, the way that I knew he
could be.
I scratched him hard with my nails, and he hissed from the front of me. “Harder, Baron. Now!”
He never could keep his cool when I did that and thankfully, he hadn’t learned how yet. Baron started to pump into me quick and proper, and I was lost with what to do. Baron felt so damn good, and it was hard for me to do much more than hold on for the ride. The pleasure washed over me repeatedly as he lost control. It was all too much, and before long I was coming again.
The counter was a mess and I was putting my pants back on. We were going to be really late, and I told Baron we were going to have to wait on the shower. He didn’t like the idea of it, but I was the sheriff now, and we had to go to the ‘surprise’ party for me being named that title. It was still a strange day because of what else it signified, but I was ready to go.
“Are you ready?”
He nodded and then pulled me in for a kiss. It started to get heated, and I had to push him back.
“We’re going to be late,”
“We already are. Why do we have to go?”
Baron didn’t think when he was horny, and it was obviously one of those times. He was the one that told me about it, and he was the one that was tasked to take me there.
I pushed him back again as he advanced. “I’ll meet you out in the car. Maybe you do need that cold shower after all. It wasn’t enough to tide you over a little while at least?”
I turned away, knowing that if I had to look into his lust-filled eyes any longer, I was going to say the hell with all of it, and ditch the whole thing. Eventually they would figure it out, right?
The party was great, and it felt like it was the first time in a while that I didn’t have to hide my head. The town had turned around and all of my dad’s shady dealings were finally done. Seemed that he was getting payment from many places for protection and everyone seemed shocked when I didn’t follow in his footsteps. I didn’t want to make money off the community; I really just wanted to help.