by Celeste Hall
Chapter Twelve
Leo was holding her hand as they entered the visitation room, offering her silent support. The sign-in process had unnerved her. So many angry eyes and suspicious guards.
"Do you see him?" Leo asked, forcing her to focus on the sea of faces before her.
A confusing rush of fear and relief warred within her.
"He's not here."
What if Craig had been told that she was not alone so he refused to see them?
She wasn't sure if she should be happy about that or disappointed. Leo was so sure that this plan would work, which would save her so much trouble in the long run, in exchange for a little terror now.
Before she could come to grips with her feelings, searching black eyes met hers from across the room.
"There," she murmured. "He just walked in."
She wasn't sure what she'd expected, but it certainly wasn't the broad smile and wave that Craig flashed her.
Leo gave her hand a gentle squeeze, but she was suddenly calm and no longer afraid.
Craig was pale and sickly looking from lack of sun and proper exercise. She knew the jail must offer these options, but he'd always been weak and lazy.
He'd also lost quite a bit of weight, making the baggy jumpsuit hang in unflattering folds around his body.
This was hardly the man she remembered.
It was as if all those past months she'd been turning Craig into a monster in her head. Her fear and pain had mutated her memories, making him seem larger, stronger, and scarier.
Now that she was face to face with him again, she could mentally reduce him back to a man. Only a man, with no more power than she chose to give him.
Leo turned to kiss her, as they'd planned, but Morgan placed a firm hand to his chest.
Looking up, she gave a slow shake of her head.
"It's okay," she murmured, really searching her feelings and finding that she did have the courage after all. "I want to talk to him."
Leo looked surprised, but he didn't try to stop her as she headed across the room towards the man that had left her with so many nightmares and a life in tatters.
He looked so much smaller here, in this large sterile room. Why had she let him continue to terrify her even after he was taken away?
Yes, he'd hurt her and Heidi, but he couldn't hurt her anymore.
She only needed to ask him one question.
"Hey beautiful, I'm so glad you came to see me. I missed you."
"I'm not here for you, Craig. I have a new man in my life and I'm happy to have you out of it. But there's something that I need to know."
His smile faltered as he looked from her to Leo.
The green-eyed cat shifter had an intimidating glower on his face.
"Is this him?"
Rather than answer his question, she asked her own.
"Did you send Jerry Ceopal to scare me?"
"Jerry? My old cell mate? What are you taking about? How do you know Jerry?"
After living together for almost a year, Craig had started teasing her for being so easy to read. But Morgan realized now that was a two way street.
Looking into his confused black eyes, she could see that he really knew nothing about the morbid packages the hulking creep had left for her, or his attack on her at the house.
"Thank you, Craig. That's all I needed to know."
She turned and started walking away, but her ex made the foolish mistake of reaching out to stop her.
"Morgan, wait! Talk to me baby. You at least owe me that..." Which was as far as he got before Leo knocked his hand off from her arm and stepped threateningly between them.
"Leo, stop." She murmured, gently pushing him aside. She could actually fight this battle herself.
"I'm sorry, Craig. But after what you did to me and Heidi, I don't owe you anything." Taking Leo by the hand, she led him out of the room and walked back out of the building and into a bright sense of newfound freedom.
That was really how she felt, as if she'd been the one in jail all this time. But now she'd faced her demon and she'd won.
She was smiling as Leo opened the car door for her.
"He could have been lying," the shifter pointed out.
"He wasn't," she replied confidently. "Which means I will still have to protect myself from any further attacks from Ceopal.”
She looked over her shoulder at the gloomy brick building with its tall chain link fences and angry faced guards, and she smiled.
“But that’s okay. I'm not afraid anymore. I think my fear was making me weak, turning me into a victim, making me vulnerable. Thank you, Leo, for bringing me here. You'll never understand how much you've helped."
Instead of getting into the car, she took advantage of his open arms and wrapped herself up inside them. Pulling his head down, she kissed him hard and thoroughly, feeling a delicious thrill of excitement when he quickly responded.
Yet she could sense a part of him holding back.
At last breaking the connection she gave him a studious look, tilting her head to search those emerald eyes for clues.
"I'll be okay," she assured him. "I'm having the alarm system installed Monday. Rachel and Matt are going to help me fill out a restraining order against Ceopal. And I'll have you there to protect me if the other two fail."
Pleasure sparked in those green depths.
"So you won't be sending me on my way now that the danger appears to be at bay?"
She drew a heart over his lips with one fingertip.
"Not if you promise to spend more time with me as a man. I'm beginning to prefer your human form. Besides," she grinned wickedly, "we never got to finish what I started this morning."
Leo made a sound partway between a growl and a purr.
"Well, hell, get in the car quick!"
She raised an eyebrow, but he was already scooping her up to plop her down in the passenger seat.
"What's wrong?"
"I have to hurry and get you back home before you change your mind."
Morgan snickered, but she didn't mind the rush one bit.