Save Me

by Grady, D. R.

  “No. I’m not certain where to go. They might offer classes through work.” Julia bit her lip.

  “I could teach you.” Annie’s offer wafted through the scented air.

  Julia studied her sister-in-law for a few moments. As offers went, Annie’s was a no-brainer. “Yes, okay.” She accepted the inevitable. Learning how to protect herself had become a top priority.

  “Good. Let’s start the self-defense lessons soon.”

  She nodded.

  A few minutes later Annie dropped Julia off at her apartment complex, but Julia insisted she not accompany her up the stairs.

  “Thank you for helping me. I need to learn to do this on my own now.”

  “Okay, if you think so.” Annie didn’t sound convinced.

  “I do. I’ll call you tomorrow after work about those lessons.”

  “Sounds good.” Annie nodded and smiled, but her concern still leaked through.

  “I’ll probably finish up around four.” Julia shoved a hand through her hair. “I plan to go in very early in the morning.”

  They said goodbye and Julia plodded up the stairs to her apartment; each step reminded her of the bruises on her body and soul. As she climbed, Julia wondered if she would ever be able to live without fear again.

  George might be in prison, but the minute he was free, he’d come after her. She had no doubts about his intentions whatsoever. He would come, determined to finish what he started. Her brothers and friends could only protect her so far.

  She stopped in front of her door and offered up a brief prayer for a miracle. Then thrust her key into the lock and twisted. At first, Julia didn’t notice the huge shadow in her living room, and by the time she did, it was already too late.

  The shadow materialized into the largest man she had ever seen and his too wide shoulder hit her already battered midsection at the same time she tried to scream.

  The sound came out a strangled, pain-filled gasp. Julia twisted, trying to escape, but her efforts were equal to draining the sea.

  The hand across her legs was gentle, she noticed with inane surprise. Her captor held his shoulder quite still, as though he didn’t want to cause her any undue discomfort or pain. Julia would have laughed, but the fear unfurling inside prevented the frivolous sentiment.

  Her world now consisted of a very large masculine back encased in a mellow green shirt in a soft cotton. Julia blinked. Even the pleasant male scent emanating from the man holding her failed to dissipate the sick pangs.

  Julia’s mind whirled. Who was trying to kidnap her? Why? Yet panic hadn’t taken hold either. Was she being kidnapped, or could this just be a bad dream?

  “Have you everything she’ll need?” The mountain holding her asked someone she couldn’t see from her current vantage point. His voice was a rumbling deep baritone, and very pleasant, if one could find anything pleasant while hanging upside down on a huge man’s shoulder. His question answered hers. It would appear she was being kidnapped. Did kidnappers take some of the kidnapped’s belongings with them?

  A woman’s accented voice answered. “Yes, I believe so.”

  “Good, let us leave then.” The man turned and reached for the door. He grunted. Before she could grasp what he intended, Julia was tugged from his shoulder and dropped into his arms. She fit perfectly. Blinking, Julia stared up into the face of the man who now held her captive.

  He placed a cloth over her mouth and nose, which smelled alarming after her nostrils had been filled with his wonderful masculine scent. Warning signals finally blared in Julia’s brain.

  “I regret this, mon ami, but it is best for now.” She heard him say before all thoughts in her brain ceased.

  She remembered thinking just before she lost consciousness that he had the warmest eyes she’d ever seen.

  Chapter 4

  When she awoke, Julia found herself lying on a large couch with a cozy blanket tucked securely around her. She noticed her purse on an end table nearby. When she inspected the rest of the room, her eyes first passed over the alert animal sitting only a few feet away.

  Once recognition hit, her eyes darted back to the very large feline who watched her from calm yellow eyes. His ears scanned as only cat ears can, while his eyes held a gleam of anticipation. The magnificent animal’s pelt was jet black. Her beleaguered brain summoned the description and paired it with a name – a black panther.

  Julia sat up quickly and the cat growled. The hair on the back of her neck stood to attention while goosebumps popped out along her arms. Julia swallowed, but lacked the energy to whimper. Was she going to be this animal’s supper?

  Her eyes jerked back to her purse lying innocuously on the end table. With careful movements, she stretched her arm out across the distance between the sofa and her leather bag. The cat tilted his head at her actions, but remained silent. Julia seized the purse and began rifling through it in search of her phone.

  She located the device and breathed in relief. Frantically, she found Jared and Annie’s number and put the call through.

  “Hello?” Annie’s voice filtered over the line.

  “A-Annie?”

  “Julia, is that you? Where are you?”

  “I don’t k-know.”

  “What?” Annie’s exclamation set her ear to ringing.

  “I’m on a couch, wrapped in a blanket, w...with a large b...black panther watching m...me.” Julia managed to squeeze her status through numbed lips.

  Annie didn’t sound in the least bit alarmed. “Are you on a plane?”

  “I don’t know.” She stopped talking and finally felt the rumble beneath her. “Yes, I think so.”

  Her sister-in-law did an amazing thing. Annie laughed.

  “A...Annie, I’m scared out of my mind, and y...you’re laughing at me.”

  “If I’m not mistaken, the panther’s name is Sebastian.”

  “Sebastian?” Julia repeated. The cat tilted his head and made a sound in the back of his throat. An encouraging sound. She repeated the name. The big feline rose to his feet and padded to her.

  “Annie,” she hissed, “he’s coming over to me.”

  “So pet him. He’s a big sweetie, exactly like his owner.” Annie sounded way too happy about Julia’s apparent kidnapping.

  With a shaking hand Julia reached out and ran her fingers over the shining pelt. Sebastian purred. A gasp-laugh escaped her and emboldened by the cat’s positive response to her, renewed her efforts.

  “I think he likes me.”

  “I’m sure he does.”

  “Annie, why am I here? Where am I?”

  She heard Annie’s sigh clearly. “Remember the night George...” Annie stopped for a moment and Julia filled in the gap.

  “Beat me?”

  “Yes,” Annie replied. “After I got off the phone with you, it rang again. I thought it was you, so I asked point blank if George had hit you. Only the person wasn’t you, but instead Mallen Saltaire. Do you remember us telling you about him and his sisters?”

  Julia thought for a moment. “Yes.” The memory was vague.

  “Well, Mallen is the biggest sweetie, except when a man abuses a woman. Then, he can turn very lethal. He’s extremely protective. Especially for women he cares about. He doesn’t know you, he’s only seen family pictures, but you still qualify.” Annie sucked in an audible breath before continuing.

  “He told me to get off the phone with him and go to you, but to call him as soon as you were safe. He’s been checking in with me regularly since. Jared and I just spoke with him this morning and I’m sure Mallen picked up how scared we both were for you. We can’t keep George in prison for long. Mallen’s got enough experience with this type of man to know you won’t be safe either. I suspect he took matters into his own hands.”

  “You mean your friend Mallen Saltaire came and kidnapped me?” Julia’s voice betrayed her disbelief, even to her own ears.

  “Sounds that way,” Annie gurgled. “Your safety would come absolutely first to Mallen. And
this is the perfect solution. Now Jared and Jonathan can concentrate on George and not worry about you. George can’t touch you with Mallen anywhere in the vicinity.”

  “How do we know this Mallen has me?”

  “Sebastian’s a very good indication. But, was the man who took you quite large?”

  “Yes. Of mountain proportions.”

  “Right. With warm, amber-green eyes?”

  Tears welled in Julia’s eyes. “Yes.”

  “It’s Mallen who has you. Thank goodness.” Annie’s conviction bounced through the phone connection. “Jared will be relieved.”

  “Am I truly in that much danger?”

  “You are, mon ami.” A voice very different from Annie’s answered her question. The unexpected sound, so close to her, spooked Julia. She nearly threw her phone.

  “Julia?” Annie’s voice called through the device.

  Too nerved up to answer her sister-in-law, Julia thrust it at the big man seated beside her. A big man she hadn’t felt sit down. How was that possible?

  The man took her phone and held the device to his own ear. “I believe I startled your sister,” he admitted to Annie, his baritone voice chagrined. He watched Julia, though, and she could read his remorse.

  She liked him all the more for it. Her fingers curled into Sebastian’s fur. He bumped his head against her arm, in an obvious effort to entice her to continue petting him.

  Even Julia heard Annie’s response. “Mallen?”

  Mallen pulled the phone away from his ear, rubbed his abused member and held the device to the other ear. “It is I, Annie love, but perhaps you could decrease the volume?” Amusement lit up his warm eyes and flitted around his masculine lips.

  She couldn’t hear Annie’s apology, but knew it was forthcoming. Mallen grinned as he listened. “I know,” he said softly, and his greeny-amber eyes blazed with resolve as they settled on her again. Julia swallowed.

  “We’ve given her quite a scare, but felt it expedient to remove her from the States. This Chalmers is dangerous.” Mallen spoke to Annie, but Julia understood the message he sent.

  Mallen grinned again. “Yes, you do owe me for this, Annie.” He chuckled. “Of course. She will enjoy a stay in our home until it is safe to return to the States. Yes. Give Jared my love, too.”

  Mallen smiled at whatever Annie said, and then before hanging up, a wicked grin slashed across his face. “I would not say no to some of those cookies he makes.” Mallen tilted his head, not unlike she’d seen Sebastian do, and then, “Really? She can make cookies too? Perhaps we shall have to see about this.”

  Julia heard a beep and Mallen looked at the phone. “The battery is dead.” He handed her the device. She absently checked the screen, and saw he spoke the truth.

  Her forehead wrinkled, but he reassured her. “My sister packed the charging cable. Although, I doubt you’ll have much need for your phone in Sandovia.” He sent her a sweet smile and something odd happened to Julia’s insides.

  Before she could evaluate exactly what, he offered her his hand. Which she took. Hers disappeared. Julia’s insides performed a funny little flip.

  “I regret that we had to meet under such circumstances, but I am Mallen Saltaire. You appear to have met Sebastian.”

  He indicated his pet with a nod of his head. Julia smiled at the big cat who had now parked his head on her lap, enjoying the spoiling she offered.

  “I have. I’m Julia McNeal, but then you already know that,” she added as her lips curved in the first genuine smile she’d worn in months.

  He laughed. The sound made something shrunken and shriveled swell to life again deep inside. Just a little spurt of life, but life nonetheless.

  “You are correct, mon cheri, we did know. We regret our rather dubious introduction, but felt the circumstances necessary.”

  “We being you and Sebastian?”

  “No,” he frowned. “We being myself, Sebastian, and my sister.” A beatific smile crossed his face. He held up a finger and before she could cover her ears, bellowed, “Giselle! Come!” A smug smile flirted with his lips as he crossed his arms, which bulged impressively, and slouched back onto the sofa.

  A door slammed open and Julia’s eyebrows shot skyward again. Sebastian’s head lifted off her lap and he made a welcoming sound. The woman who stood in the doorway was indeed as magnificent as her brother. There could be no mistaking this pair.

  She stood six feet tall, with impressive, beautifully toned muscles. Yet those muscles didn’t detract from her femininity. In some perverse way, they added to the rounded curves of her figure. Her face was one of the most beautiful Julia had ever seen. She could have graced magazine covers. Maybe she did.

  Her coloring nearly matched her brother’s. His hair was chestnut brown while hers was a light to medium auburn. Giselle’s molten amber-green eyes, not quite topaz, not quite peridot but a gorgeous combination of the two combined together into a feminine version of her brother.

  “You bellowed, Your Majesty?” the woman spoke sarcastically in the same accented English Julia remembered from her apartment.

  Before Mallen could reply with more than a growl at his sister, the magnificent woman’s attention switched to Julia. Her eyes widened and she crossed the floor in rapid strides to kneel in front of Julia.

  “You are awake,” she commented as she grasped one of Julia’s hands in welcome. The sister’s eyes swept her features, for what, Julia didn’t know but she nodded anyway.

  “I no see ill response to surprise we give you.” Her voice was apologetic and her sentence structure was a little odd but understandable.

  “I already checked her. She is fine, if a little tired.” Mallen’s eyes didn’t miss anything, she noticed. “Julia, this is my sister, Giselle.”

  “That is evident,” Julia answered as she glanced between the two, with a faint smile.

  “Please not to believe my manners are as this lugs,” Giselle pleaded, with a smile reminiscent of his.

  “Lug?” Mallen exclaimed.

  “If shoe fits...” Giselle taunted him as siblings do. English was obviously not her first language.

  Mallen reached over and tumbled his sister into his lap, where he proceeded to tickle her. “And you called me Your Majesty.”

  His sister gave Mallen no quarter. “You are,” she protested as she squiggled and squirmed all over his lap, the shouts of laughter bringing her to a more human level. Sebastian’s head left Julia’s lap again as he watched the two play, but he returned soon enough with a sigh as Julia continued petting him.

  Giselle managed to squirm free and rolled away from her tormentor. She spun to her feet in an impressive display of coordination Julia envied. Giselle took a seat on the other side of Julia where she stuck her tongue out at her brother.

  Mallen grinned. Julia didn’t miss the love and affection for the other in either set of eyes. Their love told her more about these people who had kidnapped her than anything else could have. No wonder her brother and Annie trusted them.

  Plus, Sebastian was a sweetie. Her eyes returned to his owner. Mallen Saltaire, for all his size and power, seemed every bit from the same mold as his pet. Julia, with some surprising insight in her befuddled state, realized he could turn as deadly as the big cat, should the need arise. She didn’t doubt Giselle could be dangerous, either.

  That lady turned to Julia. “We wish to welcome you to our home. We regret our...” she looked to Mallen for help. He finished her statement, “Forcible invitation.”

  “Mallen and Annie already explained some of your reasons to me.” Julia sought to reassure the siblings that she didn’t take offense now she understood their reasoning.

  “You speak to Annie?” Accusation lined Giselle’s words as she swung to glower at Mallen.

  His lips twitched again. “Julia’s phone went dead, twit.”

  She turned to Julia for confirmation. In response, Julia tugged her phone from her bag and handed the mobile device to the irritated woman. “I
cannot believe you talk to Annie and not inform me.” Giselle’s lips tugged down as she perused the phone.

  “We’ll have to call her when we arrive home,” Mallen gracefully inserted.

  Giselle brightened. “Of course.” She glared at her brother again.

  His eyebrow rose. “Would I renege?” His voice was innocent, in that sly way of all brothers.

  She scowled at him before turning back to Julia. “Be careful of this one.”

  Julia’s lips curved into the second genuine smile of the moment. “Gotcha.”

  Mallen had the audacity to look wounded. Both women laughed at his pitiful expression. Julia’s fear and anger and humiliation slowly uncoiled as that little stirring of life swelled another minute degree. The Saltaires worked their magic by tugging her into their tight little family circle and out of the hole of despair she’d plummeted into headfirst.

  Julia finally remembered something important. “I can’t leave, I have a job.”

  Mallen shook his head. “Your safety is more important, mon ami, but we have taken care of that.”

  His sister turned to Julia. “Your boss, she find you in restroom?” She cocked a brow at Julia. Julia nodded, her eyes downcast until the other woman nudged her.

  Giselle’s eyes darkened but she smiled with understanding. “Your boss thought best for you to leave on holiday. She sound happy to know you be safe and have healing.”

  Julia sighed. “Thank you for speaking to her. I’d hate to disappoint her.”

  Mallen smiled. “She thought your safety more important than your work.”

  “Was I seriously in that much danger?”

  Both Mallen and Giselle stared at her in disbelief. “You not know?”

  “Know what?” Julia was uncomfortably aware she was the only confused one in the group.

  “Chalmers is to be released from prison today. The guard expressly called Jared, because Chalmers has been making threats against you and your family since they picked him up,” Mallen said softly. His tone indicated he would like just a few moments alone with George.

  Julia frowned. “Won’t the restraining order help?” Even as she asked, she knew it wouldn’t stop him from confronting her.