Ashton Grove Werewolves (Boxed Set, Vol. 2)

by Jessica Coulter Smith

  He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes as she moaned and slumped in the seat. The vent caught her scent, weaving it under his nose, taunting him. Even under the dirt and blood, he could smell the scent that was uniquely hers.

  Mine, he thought as he focused on the road again. She’s mine.

  * * *

  A half hour later, he pulled into the parking lot of a Motel 8 just off the highway. Quickly paying for a room in an empty section of the motel, he got back in the car and drove around to his room. After making sure the coast was clear, he gently extracted his precious cargo and took her inside.

  Lying her down on the large bed, he picked up the phone and asked for someone to stop by his room. While he waited, he looked at his mate. By all rights, he should be terrified that his days of being free were over, but he wasn’t. He just felt a calm acceptance that his mate was lying on the bed, injured. He refused to let his anger take over until he knew what had happened to her. Not having seen any cars within the past three miles, he assumed she had been dropped off by someone. But why? Surely, they had known she would die in the desert. Judging by her wounds, perhaps that had been their intent.

  A knock sounded at the door and Colin went to open it. A teenage boy stood on the other side.

  “You needed something, sir?”

  Colin smiled at him reassuringly. “I have an errand I’d like for you to run. My girlfriend was hurt earlier and I don’t want to leave her. If I give you a list, do you think you could pick up some clean clothes for her and a first aid kit?”

  The kid eyed him skeptically. “Clothes?”

  Colin nodded. “I thought she’d packed her things with mine and only grabbed the one bag, but apparently she didn’t. She’s asleep right now and I’m hoping that if I have something new for her to wear when she wakes up, she might not be so angry about it.”

  The kid grinned at him. “If she’s anything like my sister, she’ll be mad regardless, but she’ll sure appreciate the new clothes.”

  Colin smiled at him. “Just give me a minute to write down her sizes and what I’d like you to grab. If you’re uncomfortable with it, see if your sister will help you. I’ll pay you both.”

  The kid’s eyes lit up and he nodded. “I bet she’d like that. I’ll call her while you get the list.”

  Colin closed the door and grabbed the pen and pad by the phone. He quickly checked the tags of her bra and panties for a size. He frowned, not knowing what size she would wear, but took a guess and wrote something down.

  Hurrying back to the door, he handed the list to the kid along with enough money to cover the purchases and then some. “Keep whatever is left over.”

  The kid grinned and nodded before taking off.

  Colin closed the door and locked it. Leaning against it, he watched his mate sleep. He approached the bed and gently took her hand in his. Her fingernails were ragged, as if she’d been in a fight, and dirt was smudged on the backs of her hands.

  She’ll be pissed at me for sure and rightly so, but she needs a bath, he thought. There was no sense in giving her new clothes if she was still filthy. Besides, he reasoned, how can I make sure her wounds are properly taken care of if she’s so dirty?

  He stepped into the small adjoining bathroom and started the water in the tub. Filling it as much as he dared, he tiptoed back into the bedroom. He couldn’t very well cover his eyes, walk across the room with her, and not fall. Being practical, or so he told himself, he undressed her and lifted her into his arms. He tried his best not to think about the fact that her naked body was pressed against him as he walked into the bathroom with her.

  Gently laying her in the tub, he grabbed a washcloth and began washing the dirt from her body. Once her skin was free from the grime of the road and heaven only knew what else, he braced his hand under her neck so he could wash her hair.

  He was so intent on his task he didn’t realize a pair of blue eyes were watching him, filled with fear. Rinsing the soap from her hair, he carefully leaned her against the back of the tub – and froze.

  Colin cleared his throat. “I found you in the middle of the road, unconscious. I’ve sent for clean clothes and bandages, but wanted to get you cleaned up so I could assess the damage better.”

  She scooted away from him, trying to hide her body from his gaze. With terrified eyes, she looked around the room. Her eyes sought the door, but he was standing between her and escape. He knew he should move, but he wasn’t ready to. He needed to make her understand that she could trust him. She was his and there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her, except let her leave. Now that he’d found her, he couldn’t very well let her walk out the door.

  “Do you know what happened to you?” he asked.

  She tensed and nodded.

  “I found you in the middle of the road.” He gestured toward the tub. “I was just trying to clean the blood and dirt from you before changing you into something clean. You have some cuts and bruises. I sent for a first aid kit.”

  He knew he was repeating himself, but he wasn’t sure she understood. She seemed terrified of him, and he couldn’t blame her. She watched him, but didn’t move.

  “My name’s Colin. Colin Tierney. I was driving home from California when I found you. Do you know where you are?”

  “Arizona,” she said in a soft voice.

  “That’s right. I drove to the nearest motel after I found you. Can you tell me what happened? How you came to be in the middle of the road?”

  She shook her head.

  He sighed. “Right, because you don’t trust me. I guess I wouldn’t trust me either if our roles were reversed. Do you have someone I can call? Someone who can come and pick you up?”

  She hesitated. “A friend, but the drive is too far.”

  “So you aren’t from here?”

  She shook her head.

  “I promise, I’m only trying to help you. If you want, we can call the police and you can report what happened to you.”

  Her eyes widened in surprise. “You would do that?”

  Colin nodded.

  She looked at him with those guileless blue eyes, looked at him until he was certain she could see into his very soul. Just when he thought she wouldn’t speak, she said, “My name is Kendall. Kendall Wright.”

  “I, uh, guess I’ll step out, Kendall. Now that you’re awake I’m sure you can finish washing.”

  Kendall just looked at him silently. “Actually, if you wouldn’t mind draining the water, I’d like some fresh water to soak in. It’s a little late for modesty after all.”

  Colin reached under the water and pulled the plug on the tub. As the water slowly drained from the tub, he tried valiantly to keep his eyes anywhere but on Kendall.

  With the dirty water drained from the tub, he began refilling it with fresh warm water. “Do you need me to stay and turn it off? Or can you manage?” he asked.

  “Stay,” Kendall said softly.

  Colin nodded and watched the water level slowly rise. He could feel her eyes on him, but he wasn’t sure what to say. He wanted to ask again what had happened to her, but he doubted she was up to talking just yet. He didn’t feel that she trusted him completely. Obviously enough to help her a little, but not enough to tell him what happened.

  Reaching over to turn off the water, he said, “I’ll leave you to your bath. Just call me if you need anything.”

  “Thank you, Colin.”

  His breath caught in his throat as he gazed at her. To him, she was beautiful. As his gaze roved over her face, he supposed that some would call her passable. She had a girl next-door quality that appealed to him.

  “I’ll be in the other room if you need anything,” he said as he stepped out of the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

  Colin stepped into the other room and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He stared at it, uncertain if he wanted to call home or not. He knew his brother would be worried about him if he were late returning from California, but he wanted to keep Kend
all to himself a little longer. He wasn’t ready to answer a hundred questions about her, questions he wasn’t sure he could answer.

  After hesitating another moment, he sighed and dialed Connor’s number. Regardless of what questions his brother asked, he knew he needed to make the call. On the fourth ring, his brother answered.

  “Hello.”

  “Connor, its Colin.”

  “The cousins called and said you left California early this morning. How’s the trip going?”

  “I’m staying in a motel tonight in Arizona. It will probably take me another two or three days to get back home.”

  “You? You hardly ever stop over night. Something going on?”

  Colin grinned. His brother was always astute. “Yeah, you could say that.”

  “So are you going to tell me or do I have to drag it out of you?” Connor asked.

  “I was driving down the highway when I found someone lying in the middle of the road. A woman.”

  “Is she okay?” Connor asked, sounding instantly alert.

  “She’s been hurt, but she seems okay. She’s getting cleaned up right now.”

  “Why didn’t you take her to a hospital?”

  “Because... she’s mine.”

  “Yours? As in she’s your mate?”

  “Yeah,” Colin said with a grin. “Anyway, I just wanted to call and let you know I’d had a slight delay in my trip. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

  “Colin wait, what was she doing in the middle of the road?”

  “I don’t know yet. She only woke up a few minutes ago. I’ll keep you posted.”

  Before his brother could ask another question, Colin flipped the phone closed and sat it down on the table. He knew his brother would spread the word to their cousins that he’d found his mate. Hopefully, they wouldn’t decide to call him anytime soon. He wanted some time alone with Kendall to figure out what was going on. He needed to make sure she was safe and that she trusted him before he could take her home to his family.

  A knock on the door drew him from his thoughts. Answering it, he found the boy from earlier and a girl he assumed was the boy’s sister.

  Colin opened the door with a smile. “I see you found a few things.”

  The girl smiled at him shyly. “It was fun getting to shop for someone else. I hope your girlfriend likes the stuff we picked out.”

  “I’m sure she’ll love it,” he answered with a smile of his own.

  The girl handed over a sack of clothes. The boy handed him another bag.

  “This is best first aid kit we could find. I hope she feels better.”

  “Thanks,” Colin said. “Did you have any money left over for your payment?”

  The girl held out sixty dollars. “This is what we had left.”

  “Keep it and split it between the two of you.”

  Their eyes grew round in shock, but Colin only smiled at them.

  “It’s the least I can do since you were so kind to help me out. Go treat yourselves to a movie or go buy something.”

  “Thank you!” the girl gushed.

  Tugging her brother away, she smiled at Colin one last time.

  He closed the door and put the sacks on the table. Pulling out the first aid kit, he opened it. It seemed to have all of the supplies he could ask for without having a professional kit. Opening the sack of clothes, he pulled out one of the white bras and a white pair of panties. The girl had chosen two knit dresses, one a solid and the other a print. Pulling out the solid pink dress, he carried the clothes to the bathroom door and gently knocked.

  “Kendall, I have some clean clothes for you.”

  “You can come in,” she called through the door.

  Bracing himself for the sight of her naked body, he opened the door and stepped into the bathroom. His eyes were automatically drawn to her. She was still reclining against the back of the tub where he’d left her.

  “I had some of the local teens run out and buy a few things for you,” he said. “Your other clothes were bloodstained.”

  “Thank you,” she murmured, her eyes meeting his directly.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I think I’m ready to get it, but I’m too shaky to stand.”

  Setting her clothes down on the closed toilet lid, he grabbed a towel from the rack and helped her out of the tub. When she was standing before him in all of her naked glory, he wrapped the towel around her.

  “I don’t exactly have experience drying off women.”

  “I think I can manage if you’ll just stand there and make sure I don’t fall. I’m a little unsteady on my feet.”

  He nodded and studied her face. She didn’t look very old, at least not compared to him. He’d guess she was at least ten years younger than he was which would put her in her early twenties.

  “Could you help me with the clothes?”Kendall asked softly.

  Colin swallowed hard. He had experience undressing women, but he’d never helped one put their clothes on. It was intimate and for some reason it made him feel vulnerable to her. As he helped her dress, he tried to keep his mind on anything other than her delectable body. Once more noticing the bruises and cuts, he wished he had a syringe so he could give her some of his blood. It was the only way to heal her quickly, but that was out of the question at the moment.

  Sitting on the bed seemed too intimate, so they sat in the chairs across the room with a table separating them. He waited patiently for her to begin talking, wanting to hear her explanation for her easy acceptance of the situation. When she didn’t start talking, he decided to ask a few questions.

  “Why were you in the middle of the road tonight?”

  “That’s a rather lengthy story. Perhaps I should start at the very beginning.”

  “I have all night.”

  She nodded. “I woke yesterday morning with the desire to take pictures of the desert. I get whims sometimes, and on occasion, I follow them. So I left my home in San Francisco and drove to Arizona, where my car broke down. You might have seen it if you’ve been on I-75 for a while.”

  “A black Nissan?” he asked, remembering a car on the shoulder of the road about fifteen miles back.

  “Yes. Anyway, I got out to attempt to figure out what was wrong with it. My cell phone didn’t have reception so calling a tow truck was out of the question. Finally, someone came along. A truck full of guys. I thought that surely one of them would know something about cars. It wasn’t until they got out that I realized my mistake, and it was too late to lock myself in my car.

  “The moment they stepped out of the truck, I felt cold. They seemed... inhuman. You know that fight or flight instinct we all have? Mine was telling me to run. But I was outnumbered and wouldn’t have made it very far.”

  Colin was shocked to say the least. “So what happened? What happened after they stopped?”

  “I’d never felt so terrified in my life! I could only imagine the horrors that faced me, even death. Actually, I figured death would be the best thing they could do for me. I noticed the skull and crossbones on the front of their black leather jackets and knew they were the Skulls of Hell. I guessed they were some sort of gang.

  “They bound my hands and feet and threw me into the bed of the truck and drove me out into the middle of the desert. They’d set up a small campsite there, where instruments of torture awaited me. The demons were out looking for a victim. Lucky me, right?

  “Anyway, at first, they settled for whipping me. Then they moved on to cutting me. When I still refused to utter a sound to give them the satisfaction of screaming, the leader heated a branding iron. When it touched my hip, I thought I would die from the searing pain. I broke and screamed long and hard before blacking out.”

  Colin’s gut clenched. “How do you know they didn’t do worse while you were out?”

  “I’d know. I think they wanted me awake while they tortured me.”

  “What happened when you woke up?”

  “You were washing me. I have no idea why
they let me go. Maybe they left me in the middle of the road hoping someone would come along and run me over, killing me for them. Or injuring me enough to make me suffer more. Who knows what they were thinking. I’m just glad you found me when you did.”

  “That makes two of us.” He sighed and rubbed his jaw. He’d heard of the Skulls of Hell and he wondered if they were the demons who would be involved in Aislinn’s war. If they were, maybe they would stay in Arizona for a while longer. At least they were nowhere near Ashton Grove. He could be thankful for that much.

  “I know you must be hungry. I’ll go get us something to eat while you rest,” he said.

  She reached across the table and placed a hand on his arm. “You can’t leave me here. They may have left me, but they could come back.”

  “Are you sure you feel up to going out? We could always order a pizza?”

  “I’m weak, but I think I can manage.”

  Colin nodded. “First, let me bandage your cuts. They aren’t bleeding at the moment, but I don’t want to take any chances.”

  She rose unsteadily and hesitantly lifted her dress over her head.

  He sucked in a breath as he stared at her perfect body. Even though she was injured, he wanted to claim her.

  Colin grabbed the first aid kit and began doctoring her wounds, trying to be as gentle as possible. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her. When he was finished, he helped her put her dress back on. It took everything in him to fight the urge to kiss her. Her scent was driving him crazy and he wanted desperately to know how she tasted.

  “Thank you,” she said softly.

  He grinned. “You’re welcome. Now, about food... what do you like?”

  “Pretty much anything. Except sushi.”

  “Then let’s pull out the phonebook and see what’s around here.”

  Getting the yellow pages out of the side table drawer, he flipped to the restaurant section. He put the book between the two of them so they could both read through the selection. When Kendall pointed to a steak place, he grinned.

  “Will this work?” she asked.

  “Looks perfect. Let me get my keys and we can go.”