by Susan Bliler
King loosed a low menacing growl. “You sure you wanna play this game with me?”
Lilly turned her eyes to glare at him in the mirror before she sighed and relaxed back in her seat, letting her hand fall to her side.
King exited the car and rounded to open her door. Lilly leaned forward and scanned the area. “Is the wheel chair in the trunk?”
“We don’t need it.” King bent and scooped her out of the car then strode toward the cabin. He had to clench his teeth at just how right her slight frame felt in his arms.
Lilly kept her face down to hide the flush of embarrassment she knew was singeing her cheeks. “You don’t have to carry me, I can walk.”
King ignored her as he carried her up the staircase the led to the front door of the cabin. He took the stairs two at a time, and didn’t even break a sweat.
At the door, he held a key card up to the electronic sensor. The panel beeped once before the door clicked open. Lilly was carried into a large elegantly decorated cabin.
Just to her right was a small dining area with a round oak table and four matching chairs. Next to that was a kitchenette with a small stainless steel refrigerator, dishwasher, and microwave that was separated from a spacious sitting area by a bar lined with four stools.
King carried her through the dining area to the sitting room. The floor was covered in a plush white carpet that was perfectly matched by the sheer panels that hung over French doors that led out to a patio. A white leather sofa and oversized love seat sat facing a large flat screen TV. Next to the loveseat was a hallway that King followed. It led to a master bedroom with an en suite bathroom. The bedroom too had white carpet and white window dressings. A sheer white canopy was draped over the cherry wood rail of the pinnacled, four-poster, bed. A cream-colored, satin, comforter and half dozen fluffy pillows covered the bed.
King slid the key card onto a cherry wood dresser that was just next to the door before he carried Lilly to the bed. He hiked one knee up and knelt on the bed to deposit Lilly, as gently as he could, onto the mattress. The movement tugged at her wound, but she sucked back the pain, keeping any sign of discomfort from her features.
Without a word King left the room and Lilly wondered if he’d gone. But he returned quickly with a glass of water. He handed it to Lilly as he pulled open the top drawer of the nightstand and retrieved a bottle of medication. He twisted off the cap and palmed two pills before holding them out.
She looked from the pills then up to him. “Whose are those?”
“Yours.”
Lilly turned to eye the night stand. “Who put them there?”
“I did.” He extended his hand closer, indicating his impatience.
She held up a palm and let him drop the pills into her hand where she eyed them instead of swallowing them. “What are they?”
“Take them. They’re for the pain.”
“But I’m not…”
“Take them!”
Lilly pulled a frown and cupped the pills into her mouth before taking a swallow of the water and glaring up at King who’d watched to make sure she took her medicine.
“Restroom’s through there.” He pointed at the half opened door next to her dresser. “Your pants are in here.” He pointed to the bottom dresser drawer. “Shirts are here.” He lifted his finger to the next dresser up before turning to stare at Lilly. “Your panties are in here.”
Her cheeks flamed. “Where did the clothes come from?”
King tried to hide a smile, “Crow ordered them for you.”
“He doesn’t know my size.”
“I took the measurements from the clothes you were wearing the day of the attack.”
Lilly’s cheeks were still hot, “I thought you said Monroe ordered them.”
“He did.” King smiled, “He ordered them. I selected them.” King eased the top drawer open and slid a hand into the drawer before holding up a mere whisper of satin. It took Lilly a moment to realize it was a thong.
Holding the garment up in front of his face, King kept his eyes pinned on Lilly. “I’m tired of seeing you in business suits. I bought things I thought you’d look good in.”
Lilly eyed the thong and felt heat wash over her body as her eyes slid back to King before she barked, “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”
He chuckled and brushed the panties against his cheek before he put them back in the drawer and eased it closed. “I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
Lilly eyed her surroundings. “Now what? I just lay here and heal? I could have done this at home.”
“Not like this you couldn’t.” King approached the bed and pulled the side drawer open. He pulled out a white remote and handed it to Lilly. “This controls the TV, blinds, radio, and it adjusts the bed. The red button there in the center will call your nurse.”
“Nurse?”
“Yes, a private nurse has been assigned to the cabin next door.” King straightened and turned to leave. “Breakfast will be brought in at eight, lunch at noon, and dinner at five.” He stopped at the door and turned back to face her, “If you need anything from me, the nurse can contact me.”
Lilly eyed the ridiculously complex remote before tossing it on the bed next to her. “Thank you.”
King felt it before he scented it. Lilly wanted him out of her room. She wanted to be alone, to grieve for the children she wouldn’t have. Doubt and fear were pouring out of her even as she pasted on a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“Is that all?”
His eyes brightened as he relaxed his partial shift. He didn’t want to smell her heartache and fear. Without a word, he turned and left her room.
Outside the cabin, King paced. His beasts howled and raged at him to turn back around, storm down the hall, and comfort his mate whether she wanted it or not. His! He snarled and fought back the need to throw back his head and howl at the sky, defying the damn stars that had thrown a mate in his path while at the same time taking away any chance of children. Typical! He couldn’t decide if his life had been more give or more take with the taking being done to him and not by him. It seemed he’d always sacrificed for others and it was never rewarded. He epitomized, ‘Let no good deed go unpunished’, and he hadn’t cared then. Well, he cared now. He didn’t want his unbalanced karma fucking with Lilly. She deserved better and the realization stung. After all these years of seeking camaraderie through the brotherhood of military bonds, he knew why it’d never filled the empty hole that existed in his soul. It hadn’t been what he’d been missing after all. Now, finally faced with Lilly, he knew what that hole was. It was the bitter hope and agonizing loneliness of wanting a mate. Not needing, not hoping, but wanting. And he’d never wanted anything as badly as he did the petite blonde woman who was lying broken physically and spiritually inside the cabin.
He wanted to kill someone, but he’d already taken out the man that had caused Lilly’s suffering. He regretted now that it had been done so cleanly and so swiftly. She’d suffer for years to come; as such, he wished now that he’d drawn out R.J.’s suffering, but alone in a room with him, King had been uncontrollable. All the way to the cell’s he’d thought of what he’d say, the terror he’d instill before he did Lilly’s bidding. In the end, he couldn’t control the need to extinguish the man’s life so swiftly that one more of his exhaled breathes wouldn’t pollute the world that his Lilly lived in.
King was still pacing when it hit him. The scent of Lilly’s gut wrenching agony and tears exploded around him. He stopped in his tracks and doubled over, planting his hands on his knees as he drew in deep breaths through his mouth hoping to stop any more of her grief from affecting him. When his damnable Walker sense of hearing picked up on an agonized moan, King’s head jerked toward the cabin, the sound burning his own weakness out of his brain even as he realized in that moment that he was a coward. He wanted to run fast and hard to put distance between himself and Lilly just to spare himself and his beasts the misery of suffering her anguish.
; Suddenly, ferocious need pounded through him. The need to protect, the need to comfort, the need to claim! He straightened and cursed himself for acting like a fucking child as he stalked with a renewed sense of determination back toward the cabin door.
Chapter 17
Sucking back her tears, Lilly cursed herself for acting like a child. After all, Jenny had told her there might be a way.
Hearing the front door to the cabin open, Lilly swiped her palms across her cheeks and sucked in a breath, hoping to hide the fact that she’d just been having a breakdown. King entered the room and her shoulders slumped. There was no way the Chief of Security hadn’t already scented her agony and tears. She wasn’t fooling anyone. Dipping her eyes, she shifted uncomfortably without looking up. “Forget something?”
***
Despair was etched in the delicate contours of Lilly’s face. It was obvious she was trying to hide it, to compose herself, but the set of her body, so small looking on the large bed, screamed misery. King’s hackles rose. He needed to defend her from whoever or whatever was the source of her agony, but it had already been done. His anger gave way to a gnawing ache that he knew he’d just have to endure. For Lilly, he would. For her, he’d endure his dismal sorrow at witnessing her own, and if he could, he’d gladly carry the weight of her agony as well.
Jerking off his jacket, he dropped it carelessly to the floor and stalked to the bed. He hiked up a leg to sit beside Lilly as she watched him with suspicious eyes. Not knowing what to say, he said nothing as he reached for her and pulled her onto his lap and into the safety of his embrace. If all he could do was hold her and shield her from the world, then that’s exactly what he’d do.
Her body was rigid at first and she opened her mouth—he knew to protest—but before she said anything, her teeth clicked closed and she leaned into him. That’s all it was at first. A lean. The subtle gesture of testing her weight against his body to see if he would support her. His arms tightened around her in response. The room was silent, when he’d expected hysterics and accusations, and angry words. The hand on her hip gently massaged and he brushed his cheek against her hair, that’s when he felt the damp heat on his shirt. Tears. He had to grit his teeth at the angry growl that was forming in the center of his chest. He didn’t want Lilly to cry. He didn’t know how to make her stop.
“Lilly…please!” The words were ripped from him on an agonized growl. She was killing him. Her pain was undoing all the hardened steel he’d erected around his heart and he couldn’t stop it, he wouldn’t stop it if it meant comforting his Lilly.
Slender shoulders shook against his chest and a feminine whimper brought a stinging pain to the back of his eyes. If she were his mate, she’d be mourning the loss of their children. The thought had King trying to swallow around the emotion that suddenly clogged his throat. King Mulholland didn’t cry. He NEVER cried, but in that moment, he wanted to. He wanted to mourn with Lilly. Instead, he held her. He rocked her. He soothed his hands over her body and was strong despite the fact that his own anguish matched hers.
What felt like hours later, he placed a sleeping Lilly gently on the bed before covering her small frame. Part of him wanted to crawl into the bed with her to keep on holding her through the night. It wasn’t a good idea. He was attracted to her and in her emotionally weakened state, it’d be easy for her to ask him for something that he wouldn’t be able to deny giving her.
Bending, her brushed lips across her temple and watched her sleep for several moments before forcing himself to leave the cabin.
***
Four weeks later, Lilly was so restless that she was actually looking forward to her appointment with Jenny. She’d showered and dressed herself and was hobbling out to the sitting room of her cabin when King’s angry growl stopped her.
“What are you doing out of bed? Where’s your Nurse?” King closed the space between them and lifted her effortlessly into his arms.
“Put me down!” Lilly struggled in his arms, but only feebly as her abdomen was still tender. “Did you think I’d just stay in bed for the next year?”
King frowned down at her, but didn’t say anything. Instead he carried her out the front door and down to the waiting car. All the while, the scent of Lilly’s anger got stronger and stronger until finally as he set her in the back seat of the car and reached over her waist to buckle her in, she slapped at his hands in frustration.
“Enough! Stop it!”
He pulled back, trying to hide the smile that tugged at his lips.
“What in the hell is wrong with you? Do you think I’m some kind of baby?”
My baby. He didn’t say it aloud.
Lilly jerked the seat belt angrily across her chest before clicking it in place. Then she stared straight ahead, ignoring him as he stared down at her. “Are you driving me or not?”
King closed the door, a smile cracking his features as he crossed to the driver’s side door and eased into the seat.
The short ride to the infirmary was quiet and it didn’t go unnoticed that Lilly was avoiding his eyes in the rearview mirror.
Before the car pulled to a halt in front of the manor Lilly ground out, “And I’ll be walking into my appointment.” A self-satisfied smile touched her lips, but faded just as quickly when she thought she heard King growl in the front seat.
When the car came to a halt Lilly unfastened her seat belt just in time to hear the doors lock. She raised her eyes slowly to meet King’s in the mirror.
“Ms. Worthington, who is the Chief of Security here at StoneCrow?”
She didn’t answer, just glared at him.
“And your capacity here at StoneCrow is…aide to the CEO I believe.”
Lilly was fuming. “You know damn well what my capacity here is. And just because you’re the Chief of Security doesn’t make you the Chief of me.”
King drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, keeping his eyes pinned on her. “I can do this all day, Ms. Worthington, but I doubt Dr. Houlton will hold your appointment.
Lilly yanked on the door handle, even knowing it wouldn’t open before she ground through clenched teeth, “Fine. We’ll do it your way.” She dropped her hand from the door and fell back against the seat, scowling at him as he exited the vehicle and crossed to open her door for her.
He extended his hand, which Lilly ignored as she bit back the pain she caused by climbing too quickly from the car.
“See!” King growled before scooping her up.
“Damn Walkers! Isn’t there anything you can’t scent?” Lilly muttered rubbing a small hand gingerly over her midsection. Jenny had been teaching her more and more about Skin Walkers and their abilities with each of her visits.
King carried her effortlessly into the building and down the narrow corridor that led to the wing that made up the infirmary.
“There you are,” Jenny smiled as King and Lilly approached. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine.” Lilly winced at the too airy tone she used. She wanted Jenny to begin the treatments as soon as possible but knew the Doctor only intended to do so once Lilly was fully healed.
“Dr. Houlton,” King cut in, “she strained herself getting out of the vehicle. You may want to take a look.”
Lilly’s face flushed in anger and embarrassment. She could call King a liar, but knew better. Doctor Jenny Houlton was also a Walker and it was obvious now that she used her Walker abilities and senses to aid in her treatment of her patients.
“I’m just stiff from lying around the last four weeks.” It wasn’t a full lie, so Lilly hoped neither of the Walker’s would detect deceit.
“Well, I still need to take a look.” A frown now marred Jenny’s features. She extended her arm, “King?”
He followed her direction and carried Lilly to the nearest exam room and placed her gently on the exam table. With King’s help, Lilly reclined back and watched as Jenny snapped on latex gloves before she grabbed the hem of Lilly’s shirt.
Lilly’s hand shot out
and grabbed the Doctor’s wrist. When Jenny looked to Lilly, Lilly’s eyes shot to King who stood near the door watching. “You can go.”
Jenny, who seemed to not have noticed King was still in the room, turned angry eyes on him. “You heard the woman.”
He scowled at Lilly for several seconds, his eyes shifting with a crystalline reflection to a dull black. She watched him inhale sharply before he turned and left.
Once King was gone Jenny turned her eyes back to her patient and rolled up her shirt before carefully removing the bandage that covered her healing wound.
“Jenny?”
“Hmm?” The Doctor didn’t look up.
“Can you ask Mr. StoneCrow to assign someone else to…babysit me?”
Jenny looked up, a hint of a smile on her lips. “Having a rough go with King I take it.”
“He’s a damn neanderthal. He won’t let me walk anywhere. I haven’t been allowed to leave my cabin; he’s treating me like I’m a prisoner.”
Jenny shook her head, the grin not leaving her lips. “Well, in his defense, he is the Chief of Security. He’s used to guarding prisoners, not taking care of injured women.”
“So why is he?”
“What?”
“Why has he been assigned to me? Surely, there’s gotta be someone better suited for the task. Legion? Bronco? Bishop? Hell, I bet even RedKnife’s got a better bed-side manner.”
Jenny laughed, “Come on, Lill. He can’t be that bad.”
“Don’t ignore my question, Jenny. I want to talk to Monroe. I want to know why King’s been assigned to me.”
Jenny sighed, “I’ll have one of the nurses try to get him down here before our appointments over. In the meantime,” Jenny rolled Lilly’s shirt down, “you’re healing nicely. No infection, wound looks good. How’s your appetite?”
“Fine.”
“Are you sleeping well?”
“Fine.” Lilly’s eyes darted to Jenny as she watched the Surgeon trace notes onto her e-tablet. Then Jenny’s nostrils flared and her finger stilled.
“You’re having trouble sleeping?”