by Celia Kyle
Oh, it mattered.
He relaxed against the pillow, rolling to his side so he could continue staring at her, memorizing her profile. “Kira?”
“Hmm?”
“You’re gonna tell me when you wake up.”
She reached over and patted him, the fabric of the comforter not allowing her heat to sink into him. “You keep thinking that.”
Oh, he would. And he wouldn’t allow her to duck his question.
Her hand remained atop him, her warmth eventually reaching him and he refused to move. He didn’t want to lose that hint of a touch.
“Isaac?” Kira’s breathing remained normal and had she not spoken, he would have sworn she slept.
“Yeah?”
“Your scars don’t bother me.”
He halted, whole body locking into place. His heart stopped, lungs no longer drew air, and the blood in his veins froze. He couldn’t have said a word had he tried. Not a single one.
He made a sound, a half-aborted “I” that came out as a wheeze.
I don’t know what you’re talking about.
“I know they make you uncomfortable. I figure that’s why you wouldn’t let me touch your face at your house.” She shrugged, the sheet rustling with the movement. “But I have now and they don’t bother me.” She turned her head, opening her lids to reveal the glacial blue eyes that peered into his soul. The bear pushed through him, aching for a look himself. “We all have scars. Some on the outside and some on the inside.” Another shrug. “But we have them.”
“Where are yours?”
Kira gave him a rueful smile. “Both.”
That was not the answer he wanted. Though it was one he should have expected.
His father told him about her scars, ones like his, and her own words told him about being afraid to even sleep.
His Kira had a past that had beaten her to hell. Fuck, even her present was painful. She’d already been attacked by a werebear, burned by poison, broken a finger, and ended up with a large gash in her shin. He refused to accept that all of it was due to him. Re. Fused.
No amount of refusal erased the truth.
No amount of truth could make him walk away.
Isaac cupped her cheek, enjoying the feel of her silken skin beneath his palm. This, through it all, remained unblemished. Her hands were raw and the flesh on her legs was blistered from the toxins, but the pale pink of thriving life still filled her face.
Kira stroked his skin, fingertips gliding along his forearm and tracing the lines of scarring. Some new, some old, all of them disgusting to see. He figured they were just as disgusting to touch.
Except she didn’t seem to mind.
That tender stroke continued as she crept higher, petting his biceps and lingering over the curve of his shoulder. His neck was next, the one part that didn’t have a single scar marring his flesh. No, the hyenas—and Vanessa—managed to miss slicing his head off.
Not that they hadn’t tried.
She traced his jaw and he gritted his teeth, forcing himself to remain still. She inched even closer to the skin that no one had touched, not even another Healer, since that day.
His bear snarled and roared, urging him to fling her away. They’d rather have a pissed off mate than none at all. And it was sure she’d walk away the moment she traced the wicked line bisecting his face.
But she said she had already. So what did that mean?
“Do you know that I can tell more about a person by touching them than I can by scenting or hearing them speak? I obviously can’t see you.” Another rueful grin and he wanted to tell her to get rid of the self-deprecating talk. “A scent doesn’t lie, does it? And you could lie, but your scent wouldn’t. Expressions mean nothing. But feeling your skin, tracing the lines of your face, it tells me so much more.”
His cock throbbed with the feel of her hand on him, desire burning hot and fast through his blood, and he cursed himself for being an insensitive asshole.
Didn’t mean his cock softened. Nope, his dick remained hard while he focused on Kira, on the magic of her fingers.
“What does it tell you?”
Would it tell her that he refused to let her go? That he didn’t give a flying fuck what anyone in the goddamned clan said? That even the Southeast Itan himself could throw a bitch-fit the size of Texas and Isaac would tell the man to go fuck himself?
Kira traced his jaw, from a spot beneath his ear on to his chin. Her finger scraped over his rough skin and he knew he needed a shave. When she shivered, and the light delicate scent of her arousal reached him, he figured he’d hold off on the shave for a little bit.
“Your jaw is square. Strong.” She retraced her path. “You’re stubborn as hell.”
Isaac chuckled. She wasn’t lying.
Her touch continued, outlining his lips from corner to corner. “You smile a lot. You’re happy.”
He wanted to tell her that used to be the truth but didn’t. Not when she seemed to glow brighter and brighter each moment he let her continue feeling him.
Isaac barely felt the next stroke and the smile bled from his face. The skin was damaged and rough, the nerves severed and destroyed over the hours on that day.
“You still smile. Maybe not as much because of this, but you do.” Her finger glided along the harsh line. It was about the width of his pinky, her first finger. “You should smile more, you know.”
It was Isaac’s turn to grimace. “Sometimes, after all the pain, there’s not much to smile about.”
God, she looked at him with those eyes, those bright blue eyes he wanted to stare into for the rest of his life, and said a few words that gutted him. They tore him apart for what they meant to him today and what they must have meant to her over the years.
“Sometimes the pain is the only thing that reminds you you’re alive, and so you smile.”
Chapter Nine
Isaac quietly crept down Kira’s stairs, one of her towels snug around his waist. The third stair from the top creaked and he froze, listening for any sounds that told him she’d woken. He sighed when she didn’t even mumble or shift in her sleep. She needed the time to heal, and he needed time to clean the floor and put things away. Particularly the stool she’d tripped over.
Then he’d hunt for the inconspicuous bits of tape she’d said decorated the floor. They were dark brown to blend with the wood, but they outlined exactly where her furniture was meant to be. He didn’t want a repeat of earlier, so he’d be damned if an errant chair sent her sprawling again.
He also wanted clothes.
He reached the bottom of the steps and began his hunt, moving through room after room, nudging her coffee table back into place and then came her couch. Hell, even the TV table was askew. What the hell had his family done? Decide it was okay to destroy a person’s home? Even an inch could mean Kira would tumble and hurt herself and—
His bear scraped its nails along his spine, adding to Isaac’s frustration. Damned protective animal.
Well, that settled it. No one would ever come inside again. He couldn’t risk her that way.
Ebenezer’s click-clacking approach had him turning toward the entryway. The pup sat near the front door, whining when Isaac gave him his attention. He walked two steps toward the back of the house and then looked at him again with another whine.
“Got to go out, boy?”
Another whine.
“All right, let’s go.” He followed the dog, Ebie—God, Ebie—to the back door. One twist of the knob had it open and the dog raced into the yard, sniffing damn near everything before finally finding a place to do his business.
Of course, standing outside in nothing but a towel was the perfect time for Mia to come strolling out as well. The Itana spied the dog first, her face lighting up with happiness when she caught sight of him.
Then came the high-pitched squeal he knew belonged to little Sophia. Great. He figured Parker wasn’t far away and when a small bundle of fur raced through the massive hole in the fence,
his suspicions were confirmed.
“Kira? Is that you?” Damn Mia was loud and Kira was sleeping and he didn’t give a flying fuck about his scars and the fact he was half-dressed.
Ignoring the mess of Kira’s yard, he stomped to the hole. He couldn’t even call it a hole, could he? A good fifteen feet of fence was completely missing, the large hunk of nailed together wood now lying on the ground.
“Kira?”
Isaac hissed, and Mia jolted, freezing in place. “She’s sleeping.”
“And you’re…” The words began, but ended with a quick intake of breath. “Oh, Isaac.”
Shit. He hadn’t put on a… shit. If he’d had clothes, he should have put them on. But he hadn’t and letting Ebenezer out was a necessity and he forgot about the women at his house and… Fuck.
She padded closer and he took a step back, unwilling to let anyone touch him but Kira. Yes, he had scars. He had wounds that were still healing and he had pain thrumming through him like a goddamned drum, but the only one who could touch him slept in the house at his back.
“You… Are they all from… then?”
Sophia kept him from answering, her giggles and yells drawing their attention. She held out her chubby little arms with her chubby little hands, and called to him. “A-a-a…”
Isaac reached toward the toddler, holding her for a moment, smiling where her small palms patted his face. She was adorable and would be a gorgeous woman when she grew up. Which annoyed the bear because her being pretty meant boys would sniff after her.
Another gasp from Mia, but he didn’t spare her a glance. Yeah, he was smiling. Smiling because the pain told him he was alive, right?
The thud of a vehicle door slamming shut reached them, the heavy cadence of his brothers and father easily heard in his backyard.
Isaac brushed a kiss across Sophia’s forehead and handed her back to Mia. “Uncle Isaac has a few things to take care of, little Ia.” He finally looked to the Itana and pretended not to see her pity and tears. “Can you send one of them over with some clothes?”
“You could come over and—”
He shook his head. He wasn’t about to leave Kira. “If they won’t bring them, then I need Dad to stay with her while I’m gone.”
“I’m sure they’ll want to talk to you.”
“Which they can do at Kira’s,” he countered. She looked as if she’d argue again, but he cut her off. “If it were you and Ty, no one would ask him to leave your side. Well, it’s me and Kira, do you understand? Someone didn’t put a stool back where they found it and she tripped over it after you guys left. She re-broke one of her fingers and I found her silently bleeding in the hallway. So no, I’m not leaving her alone.”
“A stool…” Mia’s face was white. “I didn’t even realize she’d…”
“There’s a lot of things no one knows. I don’t even know. But she’s mine now and I’m going to take care of her. So that means someone brings me clothes or Dad stays in the house while I get what I need. No matter what, she won’t be alone again.” He refused to budge on this and his bear was in full agreement. Him or Dad. Period. Ty was strong, Van was wicked fast, and Keen was deadly when the bear took over, but Dad was fiercer than them all. The man was old, getting up there in years, but he knew more than he could teach any of them.
“I’ll send one of them over.” She paused. “Is she all right? Does she need anything? I— She told me once that things had to be organized a specific way. When I helped her unpack, she said where things had to go and just how and… I thought she was just a little OCD. I knew she couldn’t see well, but she could see. I didn’t think it mattered.”
His animal swiftly rose to its back legs, snarling and roaring to be released. Of course it mattered. How could someone think— He took a deep breath and fought to calm his beast. Mia didn’t know. She wasn’t trying to be vicious. She just didn’t understand.
“It was you?” Isaac remembered the scattered pans and finding a shaking Kira standing in the middle of them all.
“Well, I—”
He couldn’t stand there, not when he’d already witnessed what happened when people were thoughtless and how it affected the woman he’d claimed. “Send someone over. I need to get back inside with Ebenezer.”
Isaac spun on his heel, leaving Mia standing at the property line. A quick snap of his fingers had the dog racing toward him while a call from Mia had Parker trotting back into Isaac’s yard.
He hated being short with Mia, hated being so gruff with the woman, but his emotions roiled. They alternated between happiness that he’d found Kira, anger that thoughtless actions harmed her, and enraged that Vanessa dared go near her.
He should calm and listen to what his brothers and father discovered after speaking with the she-bear, but that could wait. Clothes from his father and then he’d return to Kira’s side. There. He had a plan.
A plan that was shot to shit shortly after he and the dog entered the house. He’d just refilled Ebenezer’s water bowl when someone pounded on the front door. They didn’t knock gently. No, they pounded.
If it was his brothers, he’d kill them all. Slowly.
He didn’t even look through the peephole. No, he simply wrenched the door open and snarled at the men standing there. His brothers took a step back while his father merely tilted his head back and stared at the roof.
“What did I tell you boys when we walked over here?” Dad leveled a glare on Ty, Van, and Keen. “I told you to be quiet. Hell, I told you to stay at Isaac’s while I took care of this. But what’d you do? I should let him kick your asses and send you limping home.”
Damn Dad had to be really pissed. The man hardly ever did anything more than grunt. He even threw in a snarl or two to switch things up.
Ty snorted. “He could try.”
Dad snorted back. “Your brother was half through his shift when he opened this door. Only thing that kept him back was me.” His father looked at him. “Am I right?”
Isaac shrugged. It was true. Though he knew killing his brothers would upset his mom. Maybe even more than Dad.
“Ha, right.” Ty kept on going. At least Van and Keen had the good sense to step back.
Isaac took a deep breath and slowly released it. “I’m gonna say this once and I want you to think about it. Take a minute and really think about it.” He let his gaze travel from Ty to Van and back again. This was a lesson Keen already knew and it was one Isaac learned.
A year and a half of pain wasn’t much compared to the years Keen struggled, but it was a fuck-ton more than his eldest brothers. “Sometimes the world doesn’t revolve around you. Sometimes you don’t know shit from sunshine. Sometimes you don’t realize that you need to think about who the hell you’re talking to and that your damned title doesn’t mean shit when you’re standing in front of a male who’ll do anything—anything—to ensure his mate’s happiness. That means if you pound on this door again, I’m gonna take your fucking hand.”
With that, he took the clothes his father held and stepped back.
Unfortunately, his dad had to speak. “We need to talk to you.”
Isaac huffed. How did he know his father would say that? Dammit. “Fine. Walk through to the kitchen. Don’t move furniture, don’t dick with things on a shelf, and” —he thought about what else could disrupt Kira’s comfort in her own home— “don’t move things around in the fridge.” He turned toward the nearby stairs and threw his last words over his shoulder. “I’m gonna get dressed and I’ll be back.”
“What is he, a woman?” Van mumbled and the words were quickly followed by the sound of an all-too-familiar smack. “Dad, what was that for?”
“’Cause apparently I raised an idiot with a death wish. Get your ass to the kitchen.”
The shuffling steps of their group reached him and he continued climbing the steps. Of course, that didn’t mean he couldn’t hear the whisper that followed him.
“What the fuck is up with those scars?”
; Another slap. At least his dad was on his side.
Isaac ducked into the first room he found and tugged on the worn jeans and equally worn shirt his dad nabbed. A few holes decorated both pieces, but his father knew comfort when he saw it and brought Isaac exactly what he needed.
Outside the guest room, he tilted his head and listened for Kira, tried to discern if she was awake, and was glad to hear she was still sleeping. He wanted her with him, there was no doubt about that, but she needed a nice, healing rest.
It took him no time to get downstairs and to Kira’s kitchen. Thankfully his brothers sat in the kitchen chairs and it didn’t look like they’d messed with anything in the room. Though, the glare his father leveled at each of them told Isaac they’d tried.
“So.” With his brothers and dad sitting around the table, Isaac pushed himself up and sat on the counter, feet dangling above the tiled floor—above tile that’d seen better days but was probably original. He’d see about fixing that for Kira after… He tore his thoughts from that direction. Telling her she belonged to him wasn’t like her accepting him. And he needed to not go there right this second.
He cleared his throat. “What’s going on?”
“We talked to Vanessa and she said…” Ty began and everyone stared at the man. Isaac tried to keep his face blank. It wasn’t his brother’s fault he was a bit of an ass.
Although it didn’t look like anyone else had a problem revealing their emotions because three glares settle on Ty.
“What? I didn’t do anything that time!” Ty raised his voice, now Isaac glared and Ebenezer released a low growl.
It seemed everyone had a problem with Ty, and his eldest brother sighed and slumped in his chair. “Fine,” he grumbled. “You’re gonna make me apologize for being an ass, aren’t you?”
“Pretty much.” Dad shrugged. “An ass. Oblivious. Uncaring.”
“I care!” Ty shot up straight and then flinched when Ebie released another growl. “Can you shut that dog up?”
Isaac looked down at the pup, the animal had gone after Vanessa to protect Kira at the barbeque, stood by her bed when she was hurt, and played with Parker which made the boy happy. He figured Ebenezer earned his bit of retribution.