by Celia Kyle
“Wh’ h’ppned? Wh’re we?”
“Kira?” George’s low, rumbling voice bounced off the tiled walls. Even after she’d exhausted all three boxes of baking soda, he’d stuck around. His words were quiet, almost a whisper, but she heard. As did Isaac.
The man before her snarled and the sound transformed into a rolling growl, overriding all others. “Mine.”
“Easy,” she was quick to soothe him. “Be easy. It’s your father. You worried us and he is helping me.”
Isaac grumbled and snatched one of her hands, fingers wrapping around her wrist. He tugged her, forcing her to fall against him. He didn’t even wince, not when her weight landed on him nor when her fingers dug into still-pink flesh. “Mine.”
“For the love of…” she mumbled. “Isaac, you’re injured. Do you remember?”
She’d experienced this often enough that she knew what recovery was like. Reinforce recent events, remind the person, reinforce them again, touch them, anchor them to reality. Repeat until their eyes were no longer filled with the blackness of their pupils and they met your gaze.
“Huh?” He shook his head and she knew he focused on her.
“Vanessa came to my house. She attacked me and you saved me. You fought her. Her claws were tipped with poison. Your father and I healed you.”
“Wha—?” He shook his head, but the anger was gone, memories slowly resurfacing.
“You fought Vanessa, she poisoned you, we healed you.”
“We?”
Kira reached for the wound on his bicep, testing the temperature of his skin. It was the worst and one that’d needed several washings. Now only a ridge of swollen skin remained. He was nearly back to her.
“Your father and me. Do you remember?”
“Dad?” He was hoarse from the constant growls and yells as she’d treated him, but after that first slap, he’d stayed human.
The shower door slowly swung open, George’s familiar form coming into view. The more time she spent with the male, the more she’d be able to recognize him with or without his scent.
“Isaac?” Hope filled the single word.
“Vanessa?”
“I’ve been up here with you and Kira. Your brothers are dealing with her. At least until your mother gets her hands on her.” George’s voice was grim, but she didn’t hear a hint of remorse.
“So, she’s dead then. Mom won’t stand for anything less,” Isaac rumbled, and his skin darkened with his bear’s fur.
Hell no. Not after all she’d done. She gripped his cheeks once again and forced him to turn to her. “You need to calm down. I did not put you back together just so you can ruin it. The more you’re exposed to this, the worse it gets, every single time.” Didn’t she know the truth of that statement? She reached up and traced the scar that ran the length of his face. “And I think you know that already.”
Isaac’s gaze was already on her, but it became heavy and charged, weighing her down. “I do. But the question is: how do you?”
Dammit.
*
Dammit, Isaac hurt all over. His bear gradually healed his wounds, but it couldn’t return his strength. He needed time and food.
And Kira. He definitely needed her. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find her even in her own home.
The moment she decreed he couldn’t be moved from her care, his family descended. His father, Keen, and Ty were already present, but then everyone else came over.
His father helped him onto Kira’s bed and that’s where he’d remained. On one hand, he wanted to stay with her. On the other, he wanted all the fucking males out of her fucking bedroom.
Instead, what he got was his father and brothers surrounding him in bed and she was nowhere in sight.
Dammit. Again.
He still hadn’t gotten an explanation as to how she knew of the poison, what it did, and how to treat it.
But he would.
Just as soon as he got rid of everyone.
The four men of the family stood before him, encircling him in their massive presence. Well, they could fuck off. He didn’t have the energy to deal with the bullshit with Vanessa. He had more important things on his mind.
Kira-shaped things.
“You need to explain what happened.” Ty’s voice was harsh, but Isaac ignored him.
“Where’s Kira?” He looked to his father. Ty may be his Itan, but his father was his father. When Dad showed up, they were all back on an even playing field. “Is she okay?”
Dad grunted and rolled his eyes.
Raised voices of a handful of women reached him, his mother’s, Mia’s, Lauren’s, and Trista’s overlapping. Right. The women had descended.
“Isaac,” Ty snapped.
He glared at his brother. “What?”
“I need you to tell me why I have a half-dead she-bear on her way to the hospital and how you got poisoned and beat to hell.”
Isaac’s bear snarled. He wasn’t beat to hell. Yes, he’d been poisoned, but adrenaline would have carried him through ending the threat to Kira. Just a few more moments…
“It was necessary.” He looked past the men, staring at the doorway. “I want Kira.”
He needed her beside him, needed to know she was healing after her confrontation with Vanessa and that coming in contact with the toxins hadn’t harmed her. It ate through flesh and bone, but it could be just as dangerous to skin. And then… one nick, one cut, and it’d burn through her blood.
Ty shifted his position, blocking Isaac’s view. “I want to know what the fuck happened to one of my bears.”
Dad grunted and shot Ty a glare. Good. Let the man get slapped down by their father.
Isaac snarled at his Itan. “You mean me? Or your precious Vanessa? Good to know you’re worried about me.”
“Dammit, Isaac. That’s not what I meant.”
He sighed. “Yeah, you did. One of your bears, Ty. Not me, just ‘one of’ them.”
Another reason he needed to get the fuck out.
Isaac was breathing. Isaac was healing. Isaac was doing this or that for the good of the clan, so let’s forget that Isaac could feel pain like any other man. Let’s forget that he’s not a robot.
He mentally shook his head and took a deep breath. He wasn’t going to turn into a wailing baby. He didn’t have the right to whine like a bitch. Not when Ty’s attitude wasn’t anywhere near what they’d all done to Keen long ago. The pain and agony his youngest brother endured over the years, his struggle for control… It was nothing compared to a little thoughtlessness.
“Dammit, Isaac.”
“Fuck you, Ty,” he volleyed back.
His anger brought forward a rush of adrenaline, heart-pumping blood through his veins, and the transition shoved more of his pain forward. A wound or two split open beneath the new onslaught. He hadn’t had a real chance to heal and it showed. The sting on his side was the worst, but the other on his thigh pulsed with an ache as well.
Their father grunted. One that told them to shut the fuck up already. “What happened?”
Isaac sighed. He could fight with his brothers, but he couldn’t ignore Dad. So, he repeated the events. Skipping over Kira’s visit, and rushing forward to him hearing her screeches and her animal’s calls for help. Even now, after all this time had passed, the sounds haunted him. Her pleas and wails bouncing through his head and enraging the bear once again.
His skin rippled, fur sliding through his pores and then retracting when he urged the animal to calm. Kira was safe. She was downstairs with his mother and his brothers’ mates. Just because the mates couldn’t shift didn’t mean she was unprotected. Mom clearly claimed her, which meant she was now a deadly Momma Bear who’d defend her family to the bitter end.
“I remember making it to the house. It gets a little hazy for a bit and then my memories pick up in the shower with Kira dumping a baking soda mix over me.” He shrugged, the action pulling at his skin.
“How’d she know? Is the poison so common that she kn
ew how to treat it?” Keen, the analytical one, the one who used his mind to do battle rather than his fangs and claws. Mainly because if his youngest brother actually brought out the bear… everyone better run.
“No, it’s not. Obviously the hyenas knew of it.” That was how Isaac received his scars during the battle with the bastards. Of course, he’d have a few extras to decorate his body now. “But other than that, it’s not common. The Southeast Healer knows, of course. Your average clan or other shifters…” He shook his head. “No, it’s not something they’d be familiar with. Hell, the only way to get it is home brewing or through a chemist willing to risk his life for it. Manufacturing the good stuff is a very delicate process.”
“I doubt Vanessa is smart enough to do it on her own,” Ty mumbled and none of them disputed his words. The woman wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box. “And Grayslake isn’t exactly a hotbed of illegal activity or brilliant chemists.”
True again.
“So where’d she get it?” Van voiced the question in everyone’s minds.
“I have no idea. Why don’t you guys go investigate? Send Kira up on your way out.” That earned him four equally threatening glares.
“Seriously, Ty. Vanessa went after Kira. She’s my ma—” He wasn’t going there. Not with his brothers and father hanging around and definitely not before he spent more time with her. He loved—liked—everything he knew about her, but it was still so little. A man couldn’t claim a mate on next to no time spent together. Then again… Ty had. And Van. And Keen.
Maybe…
“Vanessa had poison on her claws. I admit, I might have gone a little overboard.” Though his bear didn’t agree with his statement. If they’d had their way, Vanessa never would have gotten off the ground. “But that doesn’t change the fact she tried to kill someone. Not in a challenge. Not because she was threatened. She was pissed at Kira and decided a mole didn’t need to live in a bear town. Period.”
Two of the four glares disappeared, Keen and Van no longer as angry and his father was slowly easing toward annoyed. Ty though, he still appeared ready to do battle.
Well, the male could wait until Isaac healed. It was a rule in the family. No hitting a cub when he’s down. They were far from cubs, but he figured his father would make them stick to the spirit of the words.
“That’s not the story Vanessa told.”
Isaac snorted. “Of course not. She probably said I attacked for no reason. That I’d gone crazy.” Ty’s slow nod confirmed his statement. “Yeah, well, did anyone get a good look at Kira before she saved me? Because that’s what she did, by the way. She saved my life. Each time a person is exposed to this shit, it gets worse. After last year,” he huffed. “Without her, you’d have one less brother right now. Did you see the blood and scratches on her? The raw, broken fingernails? The way one…” Her condition came back to him in a rush, reminding him that more than one finger looked and felt crooked as she’d touched and stroked him. “She broke at least two fingers trying to get away, Ty. And even with that damage, she made sure I lived.”
He leveled a steady glower at his eldest brother, at his Itan. “So before you discount my story—before you brush aside the words that come from the woman I saved—you should think about how we got this way.” He tore his gaze from Ty and focused on his dad. “Can you send her up?”
A nod and grunt came from Dad, the sound followed by a tip of his head. The universal sign for “get the fuck out” and his brothers listened. No one gainsaid Dad.
Ty, Van, and Keen filed out and his father was the last. The old man paused by the door, turning back to him. “You did this before. People tell me you cared for them before yourself after that fight.”
That fight. Nice way to put the battle that existed in Isaac’s hazy, agony-laden memories. He didn’t want to go back to that time. Didn’t want to think about every seeping wound…
“Yeah,” he pushed the word past the emotions clouding his throat.
Dad held up a hand, the palm red and rough indicating a recent wound. “Cut m’self getting you in the shower. Got some of that acid on me.” He shook his head. “Don’t know how you survived that. All them bears and wolves, and you not treating yourself for hours.” His dad looked away and a small shudder wracked the old man’s body.
Isaac pretended not to see the slight sheen to his dad’s eyes and waited for him to speak. “I saw her, Isaac. I couldn’t help but see her legs and her back through my shirt.” Another shaking breath. “I don’t know how either of you survived that. The pain…” Dad cleared his throat. “I’m just glad you’re good. Don’t stay in bed too long. Can’t be lazy.”
With that, his father was gone, striding through the doorway. The heavy thump of his retreat slowly lessened until he really was alone on the second floor of Kira’s home.
Alone and hurting, he wondered who the hell exposed her to the shit that damned near killed him. Then, he could kill them for hurting her.
Chapter Eight
The glares of the Grayslake inner circle were no less fierce when they tromped down her stairs. The women had been welcoming enough. They’d thanked her for saving Isaac and patched up the raw spots on her arms, hands, feet, and shins with baking soda solution. She hadn’t even realized the toxin assaulted her, not with adrenaline filling her veins, allowing her to feel no pain.
When she’d instructed Mia on how to prepare the neutralizing treatment she’d used on Isaac, the Itana tugged open the appropriate cabinet and stared at row after row of Kira’s baking soda boxes. She’d turned to Kira, the woman’s emotional pain and pity swarming her like a blanket, and whispered, “Do I want to know why you have so much of this?”
“No.” A simple word that brooked no further discussion. She didn’t want to talk about it and she sure as hell wasn’t going to take a trip down memory lane while Isaac lay in her bed and faced off against his brothers.
The sound of the men thumping down her stairs had all conversation halting, and the men’s flaring rage whipped her before they entered the kitchen. At her? At Isaac? It sure as hell better have been because of Vanessa.
“Mia, I have to interview Vanessa. I want you to ride back to the house with Van and Lauren.” Ty’s voice was flat and unbending leaving no room for denial. The anger flowing off him smacked her. Had it been a physical part of him, solid and firm, she would have crumbled beneath the strength.
“Excuse me?” Mia’s voice was soft but just as firm as Ty’s.
Lauren snorted. “Who said I was leaving?”
“Lauren,” Van warned.
“Keen, you better not try to send me home, too.” Trista gave her mate a warning.
Kira was able to discern the family’s scents now, so she knew it was Keen who approached and tugged Trista to him. “I wouldn’t dream of it. If Kira’s okay with it and you wanna stay, you stay.”
“How can you—”
“One second, sweetheart.” The familiar meeting of lips preceded the rest of Keen’s statement, the words directed at Ty. “How can I be okay with Trista staying here? I can because unlike you assholes—”
“Language.” After that first day Mia assisted Kira in unpacking, she’d learned that cursing did not happen in her presence.
Keen tried again. “Unlike you jerks, I know Isaac took Vanessa down for Kira, which means she’s part of the family.”
Ty sighed. “I have to look out for the clan, Keen.”
“And Kira is as good as part of this clan, Ty. Remember when you decided to mate Mia? And everyone told you not to mate a half-shifter because you may not have fully shifting cubs? You put family above clan.
“Do that now and quit being an idiot. Heck, how many times do you two have to screw up before you realize family is more important than anything? You almost lost me. You’re about to lose Isaac. It’s about time you think of something other than yourselves and the clan.” Another kiss from Keen to Trista. “Give me a call when you’re ready to come home and I’ll come get you.
”
The weight of Keen’s words told Kira something deeper hovered between the family members.
“We… We didn’t…” Ty sputtered.
“Ask everyone in the room if they knew of my struggles, Ty. Ask them and see who raises their hand… and who doesn’t.” The shift of Keen’s shoulders projected his shrug. “Then you’ll know exactly who is oblivious and who isn’t.” A murmured love you came before the youngest Abrams left.
With that, the eldest family member entered, the massive form of George Abrams seeming to take up every available space in the small kitchen. “What’re you all fighting about?”
“Dad—”
“He—”
“They’re idiots.” Meg’s voice rolled over Ty’s and Van’s. “Which is nothing new.” She tsk’ed. “You’d think after all that mess with your brother, you’d learn to pay attention.” She sighed. “Are we ready, George? Does Isaac need anything?”
“Nope, we’re good.” The massive male’s attention shifted to Kira. “You let us know if you need anything. Isaac will, but I’m talking about you, too. We’ll be at the clan house, but it won’t take much time to get here.”
“Is no one listening to me?” Ty raised his voice to be heard over his father’s.
“No.” Everyone in the kitchen voiced the word. Including Van.
Whatever Ty’s problem with her, he’d been overruled.
With a good bit of grumbling and growling, everyone left. Including the women.
Well, they mostly left. They’d really gone over to Isaac’s to see about his packing and visit with each other though they assured Kira they were available if she needed them. They just didn’t want to be “under foot” while they chit-chatted since she’d need to check on Isaac soon.
That was followed by a pat on the arm and wink from Meg.
Kira was not going there and she sure as hell wasn’t asking Isaac’s mother what she meant by that.
Alone, she padded through the house, noting the waning light, but unworried about her path to the stairs. She should flick on a light but bright or dark, she still wouldn’t see well. Besides, she knew how to get where she was go—