Packing Up
Hannah Beckham
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2007 Hannah Beckham
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ISBN: 978-1-59596-717-6
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Publisher:
Changeling Press LLC
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www.ChangelingPress.com
Editor: Connie Alberts
Cover Artist: Reneé George
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Packing Up
Hannah Beckham
Maya Eddings is being stalked. Which, normally, wouldn’t be a problem. She’s six feet tall, a black belt in tae kwon do, proficient with handguns, and has two uniquely paranormal boyfriends. Unfortunately, her stalker is of the hard-to-kill variety. It moves like a ghost, can possess the people she loves, and bullets whiz right through it.
Now, her incubic lover, Stephen Daniels, won’t let her out of his sight, not even to pee, while her Lycan lover, Matt Brewer, has a simpler, albeit less appealing solution -- he wants to change Maya into a werewolf, giving her a fighting chance against this new foe in her life, and tying Maya to Matt until death do they part. The upside, as long as Matt and Stephen are fighting with Maya, and for her, they’re not fighting each other.
To uncover the truth about the dark entity after her, Maya discovers an even darker truth about herself. And while she would rather shoot herself than lose her independence or turn wolfy, as the stalker closes in, she may be out of options.
Chapter 1
The tension in the grocery store oozed like a palpable fog. Maya Eddings’ empathic abilities were amped and ramped. Problem was, it seemed like half the crowd wanted to hurt her client. Which made it really difficult to hone in on immediate threats.
“Attention shoppers, don’t miss Conrad Gentry at the front of the store. He’ll be signing bats all afternoon. All money goes to the MDA,” came an older woman’s voice over the intercom. “And we have a blue light special on hamburger in the meat department. Thank you.”
The “all afternoon” comment reminded Maya she was up way earlier than she liked. She spoke into her headset. “Eyes open, boys.” Jack Simon, her partner, answered affirmative. Neely Davidson, their newest employee and an ex-Kansas City police officer, grunted. He was their third employee since Tyler Jackson had quit after they’d come up against a sorceress.
Some people didn’t deal well with supernatural happenings. If Maya had to guesstimate, she’d say that was about ninety-five percent of society. Neely seemed competent enough, if not a bit anti-social. Maya hoped he worked out.
Conrad Gentry, a major league pitcher and her client, stood behind a table signing baseball bats for fans, adults and children. The man was tall, taller than Maya, something she could appreciate since she stood six feet barefoot. He’d insisted Maya not use a gun because of the kids. Noble, but stupid.
She itched her thigh where the 9mm usually rested. Even with a black belt in tae kwon do, she felt naked and vulnerable without her piece. Hell, she didn’t even like to go to the bathroom without it.
“Price check on double maxi thin pads at checkout nine,” another voice over the intercom resounded. There were a few sniggering laughs from children and a couple of men. The women around the signing area were appalled. How embarrassing.
Gentry ignored the chatter altogether. He’d been the baseball wonder of Kansas City for the past three years. Leading the league in hits, and had a better than normal pitching average, but he’d tanked in his last game. Rumors abounded he’d thrown the game as a gambling debt payoff. He’d been getting a series of death threats ever since. That was why he’d hired Maya and Jack to watch his back during his promotional appearance.
The baseball player tapped her hand. Maya turned to him.
“It’s going okay, don’t you think?” His eyes were a beautiful, deep blue. He blinked, and she could feel how much he wanted to be reassured. And Maya also sensed his serious crush on her.
Cute, but no. Before she could open her mouth, Jack shouted, “Maya, look out!”
A large man with a really bad mullet (was there any other kind?) had grabbed a bat from the table. Her hand went for her gun, which, unfortunately, she didn’t have.
“Jeezus!” Too late to stop the downward swing of the Louisville Slugger, Maya threw herself over Conrad Gentry as his assailant brought the bat down onto her back.
“Asshole!” the thug yelled. “I lost my life savings because of you!”
Maya managed to turn around just as he swung the bat back down toward her. She threw her arm up and felt the bone in her forearm crack when the hard wood impacted.
“That does it.” She kicked out with her spiked boot, nailing the culprit in the shin. He dropped to his knees and she kicked again, this time hitting his groin with the mother of all nut busters. He doubled over, hands holding his package, before his eyes rolled back and he passed out.
Rolling off Gentry, Maya cradled her arm. “Stupid son of a bitch.”
Jack ran up to her and helped her from the floor. “You okay?”
Neely rolled the unconscious perpetrator onto his stomach and put him in cuffs.
“No.” She winced, feeling the bone creak. The arm looked deformed, already starting to swell. “Where the hell were you?” The pain became increasingly intense as the adrenaline waned.
“I’m sorry. The guy came out of nowhere. Besides, you’re the one who usually knows when something bad is about to go down, even when no one else is clued in.”
Jack was referring to Maya’s empathic ability to read emotions. For some reason, her mind hadn’t focused in on the guy with the bat. The guy who definitely looked a whole lot less threatening in a heap on the floor. “It doesn’t matter. You call the cops?”
“I’m sure someone did.” Jack helped Conrad from the floor.
Not that it had any bearing on her taking the job, but Conrad was innocent. The rumors were just that -- rumors. When he’d first come to her about the job, she’d read it in his emotions. No guilt, no remorse, he was just anxious. And stressed.
The tall, muscularly built pitcher dusted his clothes, staring in awe at Maya. “You saved my life, Ms. Eddings.”
“That’s my job. Though, if you want my services again, I wear a gun.” She tried to laugh, but a sharp pain on her right side stopped her. “Damn, I think he cracked some ribs.”
Gentry reached out to steady Maya, but she moved away from him.
He smoothed back his slick, short-cropped brown hair. “You need to go to the hospital and get checked out.”
“Yeah, Maya. I’ll take you,” Jack said as cops and paramedics filed into the grocery store.
Maya nodded to them. “I’ll catch a ride with the medics. You and Neely stay, finish up the signing, then get Gentry home. He’s had a rough afternoon.”
The baseball player smiled. “You’re one tough chick. I’ll give you that. I’ll write Jack the check for your services. You just take care of yourself. Thanks again.”
“It’s what I do.” As the paramedics put her on the gurney, she gave one last d
irective to Jack. “Call Stephen, will you? He worries.”
“Should I call Matt too?”
“Yeah, might as well.”
When they rolled her out, Maya heard Conrad Gentry ask Jack, “Who are Stephen and Matt?”
“Her boyfriends,” Jack answered.
“Whew, man.” Conrad whistled. “What a woman.” Strangely enough, she not only felt his wonderment, she could have sworn she heard his voice in her head saying, “No wonder she’s not interested in me.”
You’ve no idea, my friend, Maya thought as they pushed her out the sliding front door and into the ambulance.
Good drugs. They’d given her some really good drugs on the way to the hospital. She felt like she was floating, lighter than air. The paramedics, two husky men, were in the back of the ambulance with her. Monitoring her vitals, checking her oxygen saturation, and thinking what nice boobs she had. Maya giggled. Definitely good drugs.
Lately, she’d been picking up random thoughts, along with emotions. It disturbed her to some extent. She wasn’t sure how she liked being able to read minds. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, it seemed attached to feelings of lust. The new ability could have had something to do with Stephen Daniels, her part-incubus lover. Or maybe a combination of Stephen and Matt Brewer, her lycanthrope lover.
Since the three of them began sleeping together on a regular basis, Maya felt changed. Different. Faster, stronger, able to heal more quickly -- not the bionic woman, but there were definite perks outside of having two gorgeous men wanting her undivided attention.
A warm sensation crept through her body. Stephen and Matt, Matt and Stephen. Good drugs. Everything felt dreamlike. Maya. Her name. Sexy, sensuous, dark. Maya Eddings, the voice in her head spoke again.
“Yes,” she whispered, the word coming out in a sigh.
“Did she say something?” one of the paramedics asked.
“It sounded like it,” the other one added. “She’s really out of it, so no telling.”
Invisible hands slid over her flesh, starting at her ankles, slipping up her shins, calves, lingering for a moment over her hips as she raised them to meet the touch.
“That’s nice,” she mumbled. The hands were heated, hot tub temperature, as they continued up her abdomen, her breasts… “So nice.”
“Hey, Sal. Is she…” She could hear alarm in the first medic’s voice.
Sal chuckled. “She’s not feeling any pain, that’s for sure.”
No pain. No pain.
“Her heart rate is increasing, along with her blood pressure.” That was Sal.
The invisible hands caressed her shoulders, massaging the tiny aches gently.
“Yes,” she murmured again. She should have been alarmed. It would have been smart to be alarmed, but between the pain medicine and the warm hands, she just felt really, really relaxed… and horny.
“Her respirations are dropping. Oh, man, I think she’s crashing.”
She didn’t know who was crashing, and frankly, she didn’t care. She just wished they’d be quiet and let her enjoy --
“Ms. Eddings? Can you hear me?” Someone rubbed their knuckles hard over the middle of her chest. “Blood pressure fifty over thirty. We’re losing her.”
Join me. She couldn’t respond verbally any more, but inside she was nodding in agreement. She felt really good, peaceful, and warm.
“Her pulse is thready. She’s stopped breathing.”
Poor woman, whoever she was.
Join me, Maya. The voice soothed her. Forever.
Hard plastic formed around her nose and mouth. She barely felt the whoosh of air being pumped into her lungs as a hungry mouth took hers in a kiss. She wished the extra hands pushing on her chest would just stop, and WHAM, electricity zinged into her body. No, the voice said. We must join.
WHAM, again. The pulse, much more powerful than the last, made it really hard to concentrate. Bursts of light and color enveloped her as she floated upward toward a dark shadow waiting, its arms held out.
Come to me.
Maya turned back once. A woman lay on a gurney, a mask and bag over her mouth, her shirt torn open with leads trailing to a machine. The two paramedics frantically worked on her. The scene was wrong. Really wrong.
Why won’t you join? the voice asked.
Looking back to the dark shadow, she wanted to listen to him, to comply. But the figure on the gurney drew her back. There was just something so familiar. The right arm of the woman rested in a splint. The medics were shouting, but Maya couldn’t hear them any more.
WHAM.
She tried to cry out, to make the jolting shocks stop, but she couldn’t make a sound. Stephen and Matt, Matt and Stephen. She wanted them, needed them. Nothing made sense. She needed them to help her make sense.
You need me.
I need them. I need to go back. Maya turned from the shadow, swimming through the mist, floating above the body.
No! the voice cried out.
Confusion surrounded her. The shadow reached for her, but Maya escaped its grasp.
WHAM. Pain exploded through her.
“I’ve got a pulse!” Sal said excitedly.
Air poured into Maya’s lungs and she sat up, coughing, sputtering, rubbing her sore chest. “Fuck, Christ. Fuck.” With her right hand, she grabbed the nearest paramedic and yanked him down to her face. “What did you give me?”
“I… I’m not sure what you mean?”
“Pain medicine.” Her throat felt raw and dry.
“You want more pain medicine?”
“No, idiot. I want to know what the fuck you gave me.”
“Just Percocet.” He tried to pull away, but she kept her grip tight.
“Never again. Here me?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She patted his face, the five o’clock shadow brushing against her palm. “Good boy.”
Chapter 2
“I swear to God, if you try to come anywhere near me with that shot, I’m going to shove it up your ass.”
The nurse looked appropriately frightened as she backed out of the curtain surrounding Maya’s bed. She’d already told the doctor she wasn’t about to take any more pain medicine. She’d cope. He’d insisted she take the shot so he could set her arm. She’d insisted he’d have trouble seeing patients with a broken jaw. Still, the doctor had made a last-ditch attempt with Nurse Good-n-Ready. “Asshole.”
“Maya?” The curtain rolled back and Stephen appeared. “Oh, God, Maya.” Relief flooded his face. “You scared the shit out of me.”
Maya felt the blood rush from her and she did something very rare for her. She started to cry. Once the tears started, it became near impossible to stop. Stephen quickly wrapped his arms around her and held her close to his chest.
“I’m not crying.”
“I know.”
“I hate crying.”
“I know.” He kissed Maya’s forehead, worry furrowing his brow. “I don’t know what I would’ve done…”
“I’m fine.” She could tell he wasn’t convinced. “Honestly. If the damn doctor would just get in here to do his job.”
“The doc said he wouldn’t set your arm without some kind of local.”
“The doc can kiss my lily white ass.”
“It is.”
“It’s what?”
“Lily white.” He helped Maya get back on the hospital bed. “Now, be a good girl. Get the local, and your arm set, so we can get the hell out of here.”
“Matt wouldn’t make me do it.” She was pouting. No doubt about it, but she didn’t care.
“Yeah, he’d probably just call Isy. She’d love to torture you.” He blinked, slowly, his thick lashes closing over his gorgeous green eyes.
“So not funny.” Isy, also known as Isadora Brewer, also known as Matt’s mother, had been an emergency room nurse before she married Matt’s father and became a lycanthrope. She didn’t like Maya, but the two had finally come to an understanding. Don’t hurt Matt and they w
ould get along fine.
“Besides, if you let the doctor take care of you, I know of a 9mm handgun just dying to be in your hands.”
She brightened. “You brought it.”
“Out in the car.” He must’ve seen the severe disappointment on her face, because he added, “I couldn’t exactly have brought it into the hospital, babe. They have metal detectors and all.”
“I get it.” Even with the pain still throbbing in her right arm, she inadvertently tried to move it to where her gun normally rested. The pain intensified. “Shit.”
“I don’t give a flying fuck if you only allow one visitor at a time! I’m going in to see her!” a voice roared out in the lobby.
Matt. Maya’s heart jumped a beat. She pulled at Stephen’s sleeve. “Tell them to let him in.”
The curtain parted and a nurse came in. “There’s a guy out here --”
“Let him in, for Christ’s sake.”
“I’m afraid it’s against hospital policy to have two visitors in the emergency area. It’s the rules.”
“Rules schmools.” Maya felt desperate. “Let him come in.”
“It’s okay.” Stephen squeezed her shoulder. “I’ll go.”
“No!” She grabbed his hand with her left. “Please,” she said to the nurse. “Let them both stay with me. I’ll even… I’ll even let the doctor give me whatever he wants. Please.”
The nurse cocked her eyebrow. Thinking. Maya could feel the internal struggle inside the blonde bimbette. On one hand, she could make Maya’s life harder by not allowing both men to come in. Jealous bitch. Or she could make her own life easier by letting the guys in and getting Maya out of the hospital more quickly. Decisions. Decisions.
“Well?”
Rolling her eyes, the nurse put her fist on her hip. “I’ll have to clear it with the doctor. But… I think it’ll be fine.”
A flood of relief swept through Maya. She couldn’t count how many times her life had been in danger, how many times she’d brushed against death, but this had been the first time death brushed back. It scared her. So instead of being snotty, she merely lowered her gaze. “Thank you.”
Beckham, Hannah Page 1