by Celia Kyle
Yes, she did. How many times had she patched up Anna? She knew exactly what Bryson Davies could do.
“I was walking to the pharmacy.” Mention of her destination reminded her of the pain wracking her body. Today was worse. She hadn’t expected the added ache but should have. She’d warned Anna over and over that the second day always hurt more. Funny how she didn’t remember that when it came to herself. “He just pulled over and started yelling.”
Calling her a bitch and a two dollar whore. Ordering her to turn over his wife. Telling her she wasn’t any better than her penniless parents and Anna shouldn’t be around her kind of trash.
The first bit pissed her off and the last bit had her reminding him she and Anna grew up in the same trailer park. If she had to decide between trash and his high class prison, she’d stake her claim on a dumpster while she put down a deposit on a double-wide.
“And you didn’t encourage him?”
She took a page from Keen’s book. “Nope.”
“Or poke him?” Van raised an eyebrow, drawing her attention to his eyes. They changed color with his mood. Brown when he was calm or amused. Midnight black when he was angry.
“He had something on his shirt.”
Keen laughed and Van just sighed. “What am I gonna do with you?”
“Take me to the pharmacy and then the impound lot?” She smiled wide, hoping he didn’t sense the pain she concealed or how much she wanted him to say yes.
Van shook his head. “The pharmacy and home. Why do you need to go to the lot?”
“Bryson not only had my truck towed, but impounded.”
“Asshole,” Keen growled. His growl, his anger, frightened her. She found herself easing toward Van, sidling up to his much larger body.
Van glared at the other man, and Keen’s growl shut off as quickly as it started.
“I’ll give you a ride. Keen will grab your pickup.”
“I will?” Keen scrunched his forehead.
“You will. Take someone from home if you need to.”
“Van…” Lauren tried to put in a word.
He didn’t let her finish, kept talking to Keen. “Actually, bring Walker. Stop by his shop and get him to check under the hood and make sure it’s in good shape. Tell him I’m asking in an official capacity.”
Lauren huffed. “I hardly need—”
Keen’s demeanor changed, transformed from one of supposed relaxation to alert and tense with the flip of a switch. “Yes, sir.”
“Van…”
“Where are you staying?” Again the man spoke over her.
“At Martin’s with Anna. It seemed…” She gulped, trying not to let the additional worry overtake her mind. “It seemed safer to stay with him.”
Van didn’t say anything at first, simply stared at her for a moment, capturing her gaze with his. “We’ll talk about it in the car.”
*
Except… fuck Van sideways, they couldn’t talk about it in the car. Mainly because they didn’t make it two feet before he got a call from Ty, probably about the shit in Boyne Falls.
He stared at the screen and then looked back to Keen. “Take her to the pharmacy and then home. Then you can take care of her truck with Walker.”
“Van…” Her voice was thin, tentative. Minutes ago, she’d been ripping into the mayor and now she was out of strength. He noticed the paleness of her face, the pinched quality to her lips, and the heavy scent of pain in the air. It scorched his nose and enraged the bear. They’d sat around arguing with the mayor while she hurt.
“For me, Lauren. Let him take care of you, for me.” Her shoulders slumped and she swayed ever so slightly. “Shit.”
The phone in his hand kept ringing, his brother’s name flashing across the screen. He was faced with a choice, Lauren or Ty. Heart or duty. Fuck. Lauren had nothing to do with his heart.
Right, he’d keep telling himself that.
“Keen, catch her.”
His brother’s wide eyes met his and then he was on the move, sweeping her gently into his embrace. Van’s bear went crazy, roaring that their brother bear touched her. The animal was possessive as hell when it came to little Lauren Evans.
Lauren squawked, but didn’t fight Keen, instead she clung to his shoulders.
Didn’t that piss off the animal even more?
The ringing of his phone paused, only to pick up once again. Shit, Ty wasn’t giving up. He stared at the screen, thumb hovering over the flashing green button. “Take care of her, Keen.” Screw it. He strode forward until her scent surrounded him. He bent and brushed a gentle kiss across her forehead. It was odd behavior for him, this need to touch her and be close to her surprised him, but he couldn’t suppress the bear’s desire for Lauren. “Take care of yourself for me.”
Before he could say or do something else gloriously stupid, he turned his back on them, intent on getting to his cruiser in the diner parking lot. He jogged across the road, cars slowing to allow him to pass and he waved in thanks, earning him a smile and a wave in return.
Weird. Most… didn’t do that to him. Ty, Keen, even Isaac, but not… him.
Huh.
Nearing his car, he didn’t notice the few humans gathered nearby until he was almost on top of them.
Still, his cell phone rang. Fucking Ty.
“Um, can I help y’all?” Two men and two women stood near the front end, Nellie among them.
“We just wanted to thank you for that out there.” Nellie gestured across the street.
“Doing my job, Ma’am.”
She shook her head. “No, you did more for our little Lauren.” She looked at the other three and then back at him. “We wanted to thank you for looking after her.”
“Ma’am…” He wasn’t going to tell her it was his pleasure. That the idea of someone like Bryson Davies touching her made his blood boil. That the fact his brother even now walked away with her cradled in his arms enraged him.
Instead of heeding his tone or recognizing his frustration, she simply stepped forward, her path taking her past him. She paused long enough to pat his chest, her weathered hand sliding to stroke his bicep before gently squeezing. “Hush. You look big and mean, don’t you? But you’re like my husband’s dog, Bear. All bark and no bite.” She focused on him, her eyes seeming to bore into him. “Or is it roar?”
With a small smile, she moved on, the rest of her little group trailing in her wake. The other woman rubbed his arm much like Nellie while the men shook his hand and pounded his back.
He watched them go, watched the merry band of old folks make their way back to the diner and inside its packed interior. A chill raced down his spine. She knew. Somehow she knew that non-humans lived in the small town.
Van’s phone rang once again, the noise cutting into his worried thoughts. He’d talk things over with Keen and then Ty. Later.
For now, he pressed the flashing icon and placed the phone against his ear. “Abrams.”
He winced at the roar that filled his ear. It was still going as he unlocked his car and continued when he settled behind the wheel and started the cruiser.
Damn, his brother had some lung capacity.
Finally, Ty quieted, but his brother’s heavy breathing was audible. “Is this because of the mayor or the wolves?”
“Both.” Ty huffed and the audible squeak of his brother’s office chair reached him.
Well, at least he was a little calmer.
“I haven’t spoken with the wolves since last night and I stopped the mayor from physically assaulting Lauren Evans.”
“He tells a different story,” Ty countered.
Van shrugged. “Probably one that paints him as the victim. However, there’s not a single witness, myself included. I saw nothing besides the mayor raising his hand to her.”
A low, frustrated growl came across the line. “Fine. Consider yourself duly chastised.” He snorted, but Ty ignored him and moved on. “Now, what the hell is wrong with the wolves?”
Tha
t had him sighing. He hated all this political bullshit, this posturing and growling that came with cooperating with other species.
Fuck it, maybe he was a speciest pig like his brother told him weeks ago.
Then again… Van stared at the diner, at the human customers who waved at him with wide smiles when they caught him looking.
An image, a flash of a memory, flickered and suddenly he was staring at a familiar human male. One with evil in his eyes and a blade in his hand.
“Van!” Ty’s shout grabbed his attention once again, tearing him from the past. “What the hell is going on in Boyne?”
“Well,” he dug into his pocket and tugged his keys free. The moment the door swung closed, securing him within the relative privacy of his cruiser, he finished his thought. “The wolf Beta is a dick.”
Chapter Four
Lauren couldn’t tear her attention from Martin’s front windows. No, it wasn’t the windows that held her focus, it was what lay beyond. The porch, the driveway, the road. All of them empty when she wanted them filled with a certain annoying, commanding male.
And that kiss. No, she couldn’t call it a kiss, could she? It was a brush of his lips, gone before she registered he’d leaned into her. And yet…
“Whatcha doin’?” A deep voice, similar to Van’s, but not quite right, startled the hell out of her.
Lauren jumped with a squeak and then spun on Keen, glaring at the large man. “Damn it, Keen.”
That earned her one of those “who me” looks. Yeah, him.
He managed that innocent expression for all of a second before breaking out his grin. She shook her head, smiling along with him.
“Don’t sneak up on me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Uh-huh.” She picked up one of the napkins she was about to fold and threw it at him.
It was coming up on dinner time and she, Keen, and Anna were eating at Martin’s. It’d been a long time since she’d done something so normal. For years she’d settled for the living room coffee table or even the kitchen counter. To gather with friends? She shook her head. Weird.
The dark green napkin nailed Keen in the chest and he staggered back. “Oh, I’m hit. Save me.” He gasped and coughed. “Tell my girlfriend I love her…”
Lauren snorted. “Which one?”
That had him pausing and straightening. “Good point.”
Another little boy grin and she saw the potential man hidden beneath Keen’s boyish good looks. Then again, there wasn’t much “boyish” about Keen Abrams even if he was only a hint over twenty. He’d taken his job seriously, ushering her to the pharmacy and calling them from the parking lot. He then ordered—ordered—the tech to come out to the car to get her prescription. Then he demanded the man deliver it to the vehicle when it was ready.
She tried explaining that their little pharmacy didn’t have backward drive-thru service. To which, he replied: “For you they do.”
Weird, but appreciated since she hadn’t wanted to get out of the car. Hell, she hadn’t wanted to go from the car to Martin’s house, either.
Again he refused to let her do anything other than what Van ordered.
She was this close to telling Keen where he could shove his orders. Then she remembered Bryson’s face, his threats, his fist aimed for her face and the way Van caught it before it struck her. There was also the fact the men had stood shoulder to shoulder to protect her from the bastard.
So she slowly made her way from the car to the house and when he asked her to sit on the couch, she sat. When he held out a glass of water and a pill, she popped that sucker in her mouth and swallowed. Now the prescription strength Tylenol had worked its way through her system, and she was able to move without wincing every other step.
The clang of pots and pans from the kitchen filled the house. Martin was working his magic with food while Anna rested in one of the chairs at the kitchen table. There was something between those two. Friendship with the obvious desire for more. At least, on Martin’s part. She wasn’t sure about Anna’s.
A flare of light shone through the window and Lauren whipped her head around, staring into the darkness beyond the glass. She waited for one beat, and then two, before realizing it was nothing more than a passing car.
Not Van.
A napkin struck her in the face and just as quickly as she’d stared out the window, she turned a glare on Keen.
“What? If you’re doing what I think you’re doing, I can tell you he’ll call me when he’s on his way.” The boy-man shrugged.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She sniffed. She wasn’t about to admit the truth.
“Uh-huh.” He didn’t sound convinced, but she didn’t care.
“He didn’t say he was stopping by anyway.” She folded the napkin in her hand and placed it on the tabletop, settling a set of silverware on top before moving to the next place setting.
“Oh, he didn’t order me to take care of you just to leave you to my tender mercies. He’ll be here.”
Lauren kept her gaze focused on her task, refusing to let Keen see her hope. Something about Van drew her in, called to her in a way no man ever had. “He asked you to deliver me and organize getting my truck. That’s it.”
Keen chuckled. “Nah, he was in full-on protective bea—” He coughed. “I mean, protective papa bear mode.”
Oh. Right.
When she thought about it that way, she saw his actions in a different light. He’d protected her like he would any other woman. He was a cop, right? And that kiss… Well, she’d needed comfort, hadn’t she?
Shaking her head, she snapped the last napkin into shape and slammed the silverware on top, jostling the entire table.
“Everything okay in there?” Martin called to them.
“Yes,” she raised her voice. “Sorry, Martin. Just…” Throwing a temper tantrum. “Slipped.”
She sensed Keen approaching, but ignored him. “Lauren, that’s not what I meant.”
She shook her head. “No, you’re right. He was being a big, bad protective papa bear, just doing his job.” She stepped away, putting distance between them. He reminded her too much of Van, and now that she realized Van’s motivation, it was the last thing she wanted. “Call him. Tell him I’m fine. You can eat dinner with us and then go visit one of your girlfriends in the neighborhood.” She forced a teasing grin to her lips as part of her heart cracked. “You’ve got to have one nearby, don’t you?”
There was no reason for her to be so attached to Van Abrams. He was a cop doing what he’d do for anybody. He’d obviously recognized the evil in Bryson Davies and was protecting her. Well, she didn’t need him or his brother. She had herself.
She’d keep telling herself that lie and hoped she believed it someday.
“Lauren…”
Lauren shook her head and eased past him. She patted him on the chest, trying to assure him of her uncaring attitude. “Call him, tell him not to waste his time. We’re fine and we’ve got Martin to act as our papa bear.”
“You don’t understand.” Keen’s cell rang and the man growled—growled—at the phone. “Damn it.” He pressed a button and held it to his ear to answer. “This is Keen.”
“If that’s him, tell him not to waste his time.” Lauren didn’t wait for a response, didn’t pause to listen in on the man’s conversation. She needed to get a hold of herself. In the last forty-eight hours, she’d built a tiny, happy fantasy in her head and now she realized it was just that—a fantasy.
She hadn’t had time for dreams while growing up. What made her think she should have them now?
*
“…waste his time.” Van recognized Lauren’s voice, the tones reaching through the phone and caressing him. It soothed his beast with the tinkling syllables while it also enraged the animal with the words.
Waste his time? Never. She’d never be a waste.
“I’m on my way. I’m leaving Boyne Falls. Gimme fifteen minut
es,” he barked into the phone, not letting his brother talk.
“She said…”
“I heard her and I’ll talk with her when I get there.” The bear urged him to go faster. He was a cop after all. Couldn’t he bend the speed limit law a little? Van was tempted, but he turned the beast down.
“What’s going on, Van? With you and Lauren?” His brother’s voice was a low whisper. Audible to him, but not to the humans in Martin’s home.
“Fucked if I know.” Van shook his head. “Fucked if I know.”
The only certainty was he needed to be near her. He’d tolerated Ty’s roars and the half-assed negotiations with the wolves because of her. Challenging the asshole Beta, Morgan, would have delayed his reunion with Lauren, so he’d kept his mouth shut. The dick could complain all he wanted, but if engaging in a pissing contest meant it’d take him longer to get to her, he’d refrain from entering.
He had more important things to do than dealing with an angry mayor and an angrier pack of wolves.
Not waiting for his brother’s reply—because what could he say?—Van wrapped up the call. “Fifteen minutes.”
He navigated the streets with ease, the familiar route to Grayslake engrained in him after years of living in the area. The travel was almost instinctual which gave him a chance to think over the day’s events.
The mayor was a pissed off asshole, but Ty had managed to smooth things over with the promise Van would engage in an anger management course. Not that he would, but the mayor didn’t have to know that. Supposedly, Van “attacked” the mayor and his “delinquent” brother assisted in the assault.
But Ty knew the truth and Van’s Itan respected him and had his back, so nothing more would come of the incident. Though, Ty did mention he’d keep an eye and ears on the situation.
The thing with the wolves… Damn, that was fucked. Ty and Reid, the wolf Alpha, were trying. It was the rest of them who were resisting. Van was man enough to admit his part in the tension between their groups. Not that he’d say that to anyone other than Ty.