by I. T. Lucas
“Kevin, bring the kid a glass of water,” Jerome told his buddy.
A couple of moments later the other security guard held a plastic cup to Roni’s lips. “Try to drink some, kid.”
The water felt heavenly and he emptied the entire cup. “Thanks. Can you get me another?”
“Sure thing, kiddo.” Kevin walked over to the kitchen to refill the cup.
“Put me down, Jerome, I’m fine.”
Jerome shook his head. “I put you down, you crumble like a rag doll.”
Kevin held the cup to Roni’s lips. He emptied it as well.
“Okay, princess. Let’s get you to the hospital,” Jerome said.
“Screw you.”
“See?” Jerome turned to Kevin. “I told you he is not as sick as he looks. Roni is still the jerk we all know and love.” He hoisted Roni higher. “You always act like such a prima donna, at least now you have a good excuse.”
“Just don’t mistake me for a football, and toss me to Kevin.” Jerome used to play football in college.
“I just might. Doesn’t his big head look like a football?” Jerome asked Kevin as he carried Roni out.
“It does. But how do we separate it from that scrawny string attached to it? What is it? Is it a neck?”
They might have had more fun at his expense, but Roni decided that it was okay to check out for at least a few minutes. Everything was working according to plan, and he was on his way to the hospital. His head resting on Jerome’s padded chest, he closed his eyes and let sleep claim him.
Chapter 35: Brundar
“Are you okay here on your own?” Brundar asked Lora, peering at her through the open passenger-side window.
“Perfectly. Better here than there.” She pointed at Calypso’s house.
“Expect my call in a few minutes.”
“Yes, boss.” She lifted her phone showing him she was ready.
“Good.”
Once again he was striding up to that house, readying for a confrontation with Calypso’s soon to be ex-husband. Hopefully, for the last time and not because he killed the bastard.
Since Brundar had set the divorce papers as the trigger, the thrall he’d implanted in the guy’s head was not in effect yet. Once Shawn was served, he would be compelled to agree to all the terms and sign, but until that moment a lot could happen.
Itching for the guy to give him a good reason to beat the hell out of him, Brundar knocked on the door. He couldn’t kill the asshole, but beating him within an inch of his life would do.
No answer.
He pressed the bell button.
A moment later the door flew open. “What do you want? I’m not buying anything.”
The small additional thrall to forget Brundar seemed to have worked exceptionally well. There wasn’t even a shard of recognition in Shawn’s booze-shot eyes. By the smell of alcohol wafting off of him, the guy had been drinking for a while.
Brundar rolled his eyes as Shawn tried to slam the door in his face again.
So predictable.
His hand bracing against the door, Brundar was ready this time. “Get inside.” He shoved it open.
Shawn swayed on his feet, his balance further impaired by his inebriation. “What the hell? I’m calling the cops,” he slurred.
“No, you’re not. Sit down.” Brundar pointed at the couch. “And turn off the dumb box.” He imbued his tone with influence, compelling Shawn to obey.
“What do you want, man? I have no money or jewelry because my fucking whore of a wife left me and took everything with her.” The guy’s face twisted into an ugly grimace.
Brundar didn’t need to delve deep to get hit with the jerk’s ugly thoughts. He was practically projecting them like a damn telepath.
I’m going to find her, and when I do, I’m going to beat the shit out of the fucking, cheating bitch until her pretty face is pretty no more. And after I kill the fucker she’s fucking, I’m going to rearrange her face, so no one will ever want her. She’ll come crawling back to me. I’ll take the whore back, but I’ll make her pay for the rest of her fucking life.
In two long strides, Brundar closed the distance between him and the piece of shit, hauled him up by his ratty T-shirt, closed his hands around the guy’s thick neck, and squeezed.
Shawn tried to pry Brundar’s fingers off, but even though he was strong for a human, he stood no chance against a pissed immortal.
When the guy’s face started turning purple, Brundar forced himself to let go, dropping the scum on the couch.
If he killed every psychotic piece of shit for what they were thinking, there would be a trail of dead bodies in his wake. Ugly thoughts and nefarious intentions were not considered criminal until perpetrated.
As the guy wheezed and spattered, Brundar picked the yellow envelope from where he’d dropped it on the floor, and pulled the divorce papers out.
“Read, motherfucker.” He shoved them at Shawn’s trembling hands, then stood over the guy until he’d read every last paragraph.
“I don’t have a pen,” the jerk wheezed, tears running down his purple cheeks as he frantically looked around for one.
Brundar pulled out his phone and dialed Lora’s number. Hopefully, the woman wasn’t squeamish and wouldn’t faint when she saw the black fingermarks on Shawn’s neck and the purple hue of his face.
“You can come in now.”
A few moments later, Lora knocked on the door. Brundar opened the way. “I had to use a little persuasion. I hope you’re not the fainting type.”
“Don’t worry about me. Whatever you show me, I’ve seen worse. I volunteer at a battered women’s shelter.”
Brundar dipped his head in respect. “Then you’ll appreciate my work here. I promise you that he earned it.”
She regarded him with a serious expression in her eyes. “I believe you. Lead the way.”
Five minutes later they walked out with the signed papers, everything properly notarized.
“Is he going to report you to the police?” Lora asked as he opened the passenger door for her.
“No.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Do I want to know why you’re so sure?”
“No.”
“Okay.”
Brundar walked around and got behind the steering wheel.
Lora buckled herself in and smiled at him. “You didn’t work him up as bad as I thought you would.”
He lifted a brow. “What were you expecting?”
“By your grim expression, I was expecting at least a broken nose and plenty of blood.”
Was it his imagination, or was this soft-looking grandma of eleven bloodthirsty and vengeful?
“Did you want me to?”
She shrugged. “It depends on what he’d done to deserve it.”
Brundar didn’t answer because he couldn’t. How could he explain that Shawn hadn’t committed any crimes aside from bullying his wife, and that he’d earned Brundar’s wrath by plotting to do her harm?
Instead, he changed the subject. “Is there a personal reason you volunteer at the shelter?”
“Yes, there is. My sister was abused by her husband for years. She was hiding it, coming up with all kind of excuses for her bruises and her broken limbs. I should’ve guessed what was going on, but it was such a foreign concept to me that the thought never even crossed my mind. I believed her. The last beating before he was finally arrested has left her with permanent brain damage.”
“I hope that monster is either dead or behind bars.”
Her lips pressed into a tight line, Lora shook her head. “He did some time, but not enough for what he did. No length of time can pay for that. Not even execution.”
“An execution would have at least saved his next victim.”
Lora nodded. “You’ll hear no argument from me. If we lived in different times, my sister’s family could’ve avenged her and rid the world of that monster.”
Brundar nodded. He�
��d lived in those olden times when family avenged family. Was it a better system than what humanity had devised in modern times? Or was it worse?
The monster behind Brundar, the one he used to call a friend, started thrusting in and out of him to the loud cheers of his buddies.
No!!! A roar sounded from not too far away.
A moment later the body above Brundar disappeared, and a sickening breaking noise followed. After that, there were a few more screams, sounds of pursuit, and then nothing.
Throughout it all Brundar lay with his tear-stricken face to the ground, the pain and humiliation he’d been subjected to making him wish for death. There was no coming back from that. It would haunt him for the rest of his life. Mayhap he could end it before his transition. Before he was doomed to carry on endlessly.
Gentle hands pulled his pants up, and strong arms lifted him up, cradling him against a familiar muscular chest.
As Brundar turned his head to look at the carnage, bile rose in his throat and he tilted his head away from his brother’s chest to vomit.
Anandur wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “Dinnae look,” he said. “It’s over.”
A drop of water landed on Brundar’s cheek, but it wasn’t his. He was all out of tears. Lifting his eyes to his brother’s face, he saw that the big man was crying.
“I’m so sorry, laddie. I should’ve come sooner. I didnae know.”
“Are they dead?”
Anandur nodded. “To the last one. They will never hurt anyone again.”
Chapter 36: Tessa
“Can you at least give me a hint?” Tessa asked.
Jackson cast her a mysterious smile, then put the blinker on and eased his car into the quiet Venice street. “Nope.”
Pouting, Tessa crossed her arms over her chest and tried to guess. Maybe he was taking her to a Sunday brunch?
It was too early for the movies, and it wasn’t the beach because he hadn’t said anything about a bathing suit or towels.
“I don’t like surprises.”
“You’ll like this one.”
Ugh, she was discovering that her sweet, accommodating Jackson had a stubborn streak a mile long.
Over two weeks had passed since he’d kissed her and licked her into her most powerful climax yet, then refused to take the final step and go all the way.
She was more than ready, but he insisted on waiting. Not that she’d been deprived in the meantime. Jackson had been treating her to more of those mind-blowing orgasms nightly.
Tessa had to admit, though, that his caution wasn’t baseless. Even though she pleasured him with her hands and her tongue, she still couldn’t take him into her mouth. And if she couldn’t do that, Jackson wasn’t off base assuming that she wasn’t ready for intercourse either.
Distracted by her thoughts, she hadn’t noticed that they’d exited the freeway at downtown. Was he taking her to the keep? Was someone throwing her a surprise party? But it wasn’t her birthday, and no parties started at nine in the morning on a Sunday.
“Are you taking me to the keep?”
“Just a stopover. We need to change cars.”
“Why?”
“If I tell you, it will ruin the surprise.”
Ugh, she hated not knowing what was coming. Even if it was a good thing.
Jackson parked his car next to a fancy black limousine and got out.
“Hi, Okidu. Thanks for taking us,” he greeted the driver, who rushed to open her door for her.
“Madam.” He offered his hand.
She recognized him as the same guy who’d served refreshments on her first visit to the keep. Kian’s butler. Was he his driver as well?
“Thank you.” She let him help her up.
The butler opened the limousine’s passenger door, and as she got in, Jackson followed her inside and sat next to her, grinning from ear to ear.
“Why are the windows opaque?” Limousine windows were darkened, so the interior wasn’t visible from the outside, but she’d never heard of one with windows that made the exterior invisible from the inside.
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “To keep where we’re going a surprise.”
The partition between them and the driver was raised, and it was opaque too. Given the impressive soundproofing of the cabin and the lack of visuals, the interior felt like a luxurious sealed container. Tessa’s stress level began climbing, and all the self-talk trying to convince herself that she was safe with Jackson and that Kian’s driver wasn’t aiding in her kidnapping, wasn’t helping.
Tessa felt the limousine climbing up the ramp from the underground garage level and then turn into the street. Sensing the movement helped to reduce her anxiety, as did Jackson’s warm body pressed against hers.
“I don’t like not seeing where I’m going.”
He leaned closer and nuzzled her neck. “I can distract you.”
As much as she liked him touching her, Tessa was too stressed to enjoy it.
As always, Jackson was attuned to the slightest of her responses. “Or we can watch a movie.” He pressed a button, and a screen rose from the panel separating the passengers from the driver. “You can pretend we are in a movie theater.”
Tessa let out a breath. “What movies do you have?”
“Anything your heart desires. This thing has all the streaming channels.”
“Do they have Guardians of the Galaxy number two?”
“Let’s see.” Jackson got busy on the tablet that apparently served as the remote for the screen. “Found it.” He selected the movie. “It’s not long enough of a drive to see the whole thing.”
“We can watch some on the way to your surprise, whatever it is, and then on the way back. If it’s still not over, we can ask Okidu to let us stay in the limo until it ends.”
A few minutes into the movie, Tessa got so immersed in it that it felt like no time at all had passed before the limousine stopped and Okidu opened the door for her.
Jackson paused the film and followed her out.
“Where are we?”
They were in a parking garage similar to the keep’s, just much larger. The question was where.
Jackson ushered her into the elevator. “Count to twenty, and you’ll see.”
The doors opened before she reached fifteen, and she stepped out. Outside, beyond the glass sliding doors of the building they were in, she saw lush landscaping and several buildings that looked as if they were in the last stages of construction, with the scuffling still attached.
Jackson waved a hand toward the glass doors. “Welcome to the village, Tessa.”
“I feel so stupid. The car switch and the limousine with its opaque windows should’ve clued me in.” Jackson had promised to arrange a visit to the village weeks ago.
A wide grin on his handsome face, Jackson circled her waist with his arm and led her toward the exit doors. “I’m glad I was able to surprise you.”
“Have you been here before?”
He shook his head. “I asked Kian if we could see the place, and he said he’d let me know when he had time to show us around. I kept reminding him, but he was too busy and finally told me we can go by ourselves. He gave me a schematic of the layout so we could find our way around. I could’ve asked Okidu, but I thought it be would more fun to explore by ourselves.”
Pulling out a folded printout from his back pocket, Jackson straightened the page and showed it to her. “The houses that are already taken are marked with a red X, and Kian even wrote next to each one the initials of the couple it’s assigned to. All the rest are up for grabs.” He smirked. “We can choose the one we want.”
For a moment, Tessa was speechless. He wanted them to choose a house? Together? Wasn’t it a little premature?
Apparently, Jackson wasn’t kidding about the fated mates thing. He truly believed that they were it for each other. Forever.
The thought was wonderful and scary at the same time.
“Didn’t you say that young bachelors would be t
he last ones to pick?”
“Yes. But couples get first dibs.”
“We are not married.”
“We don’t have to be. Amanda and Dalhu aren’t married either, and they got to choose a house already.”
Tessa rolled her eyes. “You can’t compare us to them. First of all, Amanda is Kian’s sister and a member of the council, and second of all they have been living together for a while.”
His face fell, but then he lifted his head with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “That’s true. But to be considered an official couple all we have to do is pledge our love and devotion to each other in front of two witnesses. According to clan law, that’s a lawful marriage.”
That didn’t sound right. Marriage required someone to preside over the ceremony to make it official, legal documents to be filled and signed, a blood test, and maybe more. She never had reason to look into it, and wasn’t sure about what exactly was involved in the process, but it was certainly more than pledging love in front of witnesses.
Tessa arched a brow. “Really?”
Jackson dipped his head and kissed the top of her nose. “Really. That was what Bhathian and Eva did.”
A stab of hurt pierced her heart. Eva hadn’t told her anything. “Are you sure? Eva said they were planning a big wedding.”
“They are because they want to celebrate their union, but it’s not required.”
What was going on?
Was he seriously talking about them getting married? So they could get a house?
No, no, no. First of all, they were way too young to be even talking about marriage, and second of all it was the least romantic proposal she’d heard of.
Tessa stopped and turned to face him. “Is that your roundabout way of asking me to marry you?”
Jackson shrugged. “What if it is?”
Tessa lifted her eyes to the sky, praying for patience. “Don’t you think this is too early to be talking about it?”
“Why?”
Casting a glance at the Chinese construction workers, who for some reason were eyeing her with open hostility, Tessa lowered her voice. “There are a few things that need to happen first. Like sex and me transitioning before we can seriously talk about getting married. But even if, or rather when both those conditions are met, you’re still eighteen, Jackson.” She waved her hands in the air. “This is crazy talk. I’m not willing to take such a huge step just because you want dibs on a house.”