by Maya Banks
“I stuck around his apartment. He arranged for the bills to be paid and left just enough money that I could eat, and not enough that I could get into trouble.
“We spent his leave together when he could get back. He didn’t pressure me or make demands. Just gave me a place to live and a way to survive. When I was twenty, I met Paulo de la Cruz and fell madly in love as only someone that young and stupid does.”
Braden made a sound that resembled a cross between a snort and a guffaw.
“You’re not very hard on yourself, are you?” Ian said.
“I’m aware of my faults.”
She rolled one shoulder as she prepared for the rest of the sorry tale.
“I was high on love and lust. Paulo was wealthy and came from a good family. He was everything I’d spent my life dreaming about. Roots. A big family. Security.
“When he took me to meet his family, Ricardo immediately put the moves on me. He made it clear he thought I was a whore for the taking. When I turned him down, it pissed him off. From then on out, he took every opportunity to convince Paulo that I was unfaithful.
“Paulo grew increasingly unstable. He got angry and started knocking me around. No matter what I said or did to prove my innocence, it only pissed him off more.
“And one night I fought back,” she said quietly.
“So you killed him in self-defense,” Braden said.
“I meant to kill him. I had a chance to escape after fending him off. I chose not to,” she said with steel in her voice.
“If you’re looking for reproach, you’re not going to find it here,” Ian said. “Bastard deserved what he got.”
Katie didn’t respond, but she expelled a sigh of relief. Somehow it felt good not to be judged. Ricardo had judged her a whore and then a murderer.
“I panicked and called Gabe. He got there a day later and helped me clean up the mess.”
Braden lifted an eyebrow. “Mess? You make it sound so domestic.”
“The body,” she said dully. “Gabe helped me get rid of the body.”
Ian whistled. “Why on earth didn’t you go to the police?”
Katie trembled and twisted her hands in front of her. “I know how stupid it sounds, but I’m not an idiot. I knew damn well that Ricardo had half the police department in his back pocket. I knew that just from things Paulo had said. I couldn’t risk going to them and having a fifty-fifty chance of picking the wrong cop to confide in. When I told Gabe everything, he agreed the best thing to do was get rid of the evidence and for me to haul ass out of there and start over somewhere else.”
“So how did Ricardo figure out you killed his brother?” Braden asked.
Katie sighed. “He doesn’t know for sure. What I mean by that is he didn’t see a body or anything, but he’s not stupid. He knew Paulo was knocking me around, and he also knows Gabe showed up, and I disappeared right after. He caught up to me in Vegas a year ago, and I didn’t deny it. Paulo would never disappear off the face of the earth. He was too tied to Ricardo’s will and completely under his thumb.”
“So back up to the part where Gabe helped you dispose of the body,” Ian said grimly. “He just took off afterward and left you to fend for yourself?”
Katie furrowed her brow. “He made sure I was safe, and he taught me how to take care of myself and how to always look over my shoulder. What else was he supposed to do? He couldn’t go AWOL, he damn sure couldn’t quit because his sister murdered someone, and he couldn’t just start hanging out with me either. Together we attracted a hell of a lot more attention than me by myself.”
“She has a point,” Braden conceded.
Ian scowled. “I fail to see how Gabe is the good guy here. He left her by herself with a deranged asshole who wanted her blood. He had other options, and he damn sure didn’t use them.” He looked hard at Braden. “If she was your sister would you have left her behind like that?”
Braden pursed his lips, then glanced at Katie. Finally he shook his head. “No, I wouldn’t.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Katie said firmly. She wasn’t about to let them rag on Gabe’s decision. He’d kept her alive, and that’s all she cared about.
“You’re right, it doesn’t,” Ian said with a nod. “What does matter is that we get the hell out of the country before crazy-ass de la Cruz catches up with us.”
She cocked her head and stared up at Ian. “Why out of the country, and where are we going?”
“Can you think of a better place?” he asked calmly. “Or maybe you want to hang around and let Ricardo play target practice with our asses?”
She shook her head. “But I don’t have a passport. Right now I don’t have much beyond a driver’s license.”
“We can handle that,” Braden said. “We’ll worry about it when we’ve put an ocean between us and Ricardo.”
She nodded shortly then stared between the two brothers. “Now it’s your turn. Who are these people supposedly after me? You said Gabe sold you out but in the next breath, you say he took a bullet for you. So which is it? Is he a hero or a traitor?”
Chapter Fourteen
Braden grimaced. “He’s both.”
Katie stared up at him, pain and confusion brimming in her eyes. After hearing what she’d endured at the hands of the de la Cruz brothers, he had no desire to cause her more distress.
“He betrayed you for me? I’m to blame for his death?”
Ian cursed and backed away from the bed, his fists clenched tight at his sides. “You’re not to blame for the choices Gabe made, Katie. Gabe was a big boy. He didn’t have to do things the way he did. He could have come to us or to Eli. We’ve been out of the service for a while now. There was no reason to keep you a secret any longer.”
She blinked in shock. “What? He wasn’t enlisted anymore?”
Braden blew out his breath. Gabe was causing way more trouble dead than he’d ever caused alive. It was too bad he wasn’t around because Braden would be tempted to kick his ass for the way he’d taken care of Katie.
Hell, she’d been little more than a kid. Completely alone save a few visits when Gabe was on leave. The rest of the time she was left to fend for herself. Instead of doing the right thing when she was forced to kill a man in self-defense, Gabe only ensured that she’d spend the rest of her life running after he covered up the deed. Damn fool. He could have asked his team for help. They would have gladly given it.
And here she was, grateful for whatever morsels Gabe had doled out. Yeah, maybe he’d taught her to survive in a tough world, but he damn well should have been protecting her from predators like de la Cruz.
“No, he wasn’t enlisted any longer. None of us are, Katie. It’s why he damn sure should have come clean about you. We could have helped. We certainly could have gotten you the hell out of the country where you’d be safe.”
She twisted her hands in her lap and stared down at her fingers. “He talked about taking me to Argentina. But that was a while ago. Right after that he got weird. More distant and…paranoid. It went beyond the stuff with Ricardo.”
Braden exchanged glances with Ian. It was obvious that Gabe hadn’t told her shit about what had gone on during their mission to Adharji or the consequences. Which meant she didn’t know of her brother’s ability to become invisible or of Braden’s and Ian’s unstable shifts to big cats.
Ian cleared his throat and shook his head in warning at Braden.
A peculiar expression crossed Katie’s face followed by the slow downturn of her mouth. “If he wasn’t enlisted, why didn’t he come home? What have you been doing all this time? Or was this recent? Why did he keep so much from me?”
If she only knew just how much he’d kept from her.
Braden threw Ian another desperate look. Ian ran a hand over his head then settled on Katie’s other side.
“Look, Katie. I don’t know why Gabe did half the shit he did,” Ian said. “I can only tell you what I do know. He sold us out because there were threats against you. But
in the end, he stepped in front of a bullet meant for us.”
“And he asked you to find me?”
“He wanted us to make sure you were safe,” Braden said gently.
She leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. She rubbed tiredly then dragged her fingers through her still-damp hair. “Okay, so you swoop in and save me from the bad guys. What then? You say we’re leaving the country. That’s all well and good but I’ve got to come back sometime. What about these people you say are after me?”
Braden slid a hand over her shoulder comfortingly. An alarming prickle skirted up his spine and squeezed his nape. He snatched his hand away and cupped the back of his neck.
Ian shot him a sharp look, and Braden looked away, closing his eyes wearily.
“One thing at a time, Katie,” Ian said as he stepped closer. Was it an attempt to get between Braden and Katie? The man appreciated the idea that Ian was ready to step in. The beast growled deep within.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit.
He sucked in deep breaths through his nose, his nostrils flaring with the effort.
“We’ll eliminate the threats as they present themselves,” Ian said calmly. “You won’t be alone anymore.”
Braden lost Ian’s voice as a dull roar began in his ears. He jerked up from the bed like a puppet and staggered toward the door, his only purpose to escape. Instead, from the void, he heard Ian’s harsh command for Katie to get out and stay out. Before he could protest, Ian tackled him.
They went down in a tangle on the floor, Ian’s heavy body sprawled over his. He struggled weakly, and then a cool blast of aerosol hit him in the face. Seconds later, the jab of a needle made him flinch. His body went lax and fatigue swarmed over him with the speed of a bullet.
He was dimly aware of the battle between the man and the cat. For a few moments, he felt what the cat felt, saw what it saw, smelled what it smelled. And then the beast retreated with a low snarl.
For the moment he’d won.
Ian’s low curses registered in the distance.
“Braden, talk to me, man.”
Braden groaned and tried to open his eyes but the sedative Ian had injected was too powerful. His body jerked as Ian hauled him to his feet, and he stumbled. He went down like falling timber, hitting the bed with a thump.
Ian looked down at his brother and swore. Then he swiveled and saw Katie staring from across the room. She was backed against the wall in a defensive posture, and her gaze was locked warily on Braden.
“What’s wrong with him?” she demanded. “What’s wrong with both of you? Do you have some sort of seizure disorder?”
Ian latched gratefully onto the opening she unwittingly offered, because he sure as hell had no intention of telling her just how close she’d come to being cat food.
“Something like that,” he muttered. “Look, we need to get on the road. We’re sitting ducks. Let’s get everything into the truck and then you need to help me get Braden out of here.”
She froze, her body stiff against the wall.
His eyes narrowed as he stared impatiently at her. “You’re not still holding on to the stupid idea of going it alone are you?”
A hysterical-sounding laugh escaped her lips. “You’re asking me to trust two ex-military guys with some funky seizure disorder who’ve done nothing but fuck things up for me ever since they walked into my life. Yeah, real hard choice here.”
“Sarcasm doesn’t become you,” Ian said. “Get your things and head out to the truck or I’ll stuff you in the back myself.”
Rage flared in her eyes, and to his surprise, she stalked over and got into his face. Oh hell, did she have to get that close? He was already having a devil of a time keeping the cat from rearing its head. One whiff of her, and he’d be shit out of luck. Braden wouldn’t be able to help him this time.
“What you can do is back the fuck off,” she snarled as she rose up on tiptoe to get a better angle into his eyes. “I am tired of men with more brawn than brains. I’m tired of being manhandled and pushed around. You touch me, and so help me God, I’ll castrate you.”
“I don’t have time for your tantrum,” Ian said in a bored tone. “If you want to stick around and let Ricardo’s men grab you so you can be his plaything then knock yourself out. Braden and I are out of here.”
It was chancy, calling her bluff, because he had a feeling she’d tell him to fuck off and head out on her own. That wasn’t something he could let her do, not when she represented their best chance at drawing Esteban out.
Indecision flickered in Katie’s eyes as she glanced between him and Braden. For a moment he caught a glimpse of her bone-deep fatigue and the worry she tried so hard to conceal. Against his will, he softened.
With a brief shake of her head, she squared her shoulders and went over to grab one of the bags. She didn’t say a word as she left the room. Ian smiled slightly and turned back to Braden.
He was hoisting Braden up from the bed when Katie returned. All vestiges of vulnerability were gone, replaced by a hard shell. Her don’t-fuck-with-me look was back in spades.
“I’m not going to be a whole hell of a lot of help,” she muttered as she surveyed Braden’s sagging body.
“Just get underneath his other arm and make sure he doesn’t fall,” Ian said. “I’ll bear most of his weight.”
She shrugged and then wiggled under Braden’s other shoulder. She wrapped one arm around his waist and gripped his wrist with her other.
Ian headed for the door, dragging Braden’s considerable weight with him. Katie struggled but bore up well. They stumbled into the sunshine, and Ian squinted as he scanned the area. Things were quiet, and only the sounds of distant traffic permeated the air.
“Let’s go,” he muttered.
They managed to shove Braden into the backseat and shut the door.
“Want me to drive?” Katie offered. “I have the most rest of any of us.”
Ian shook his head sharply. “Get in. Let’s go.”
She said something unintelligible under her breath but walked around to the passenger side. As she settled in, Ian remembered that they still hadn’t gotten food, and Katie had to be hungry. It wasn’t like she could afford to miss many more meals.
As soon as he had the thought, he shrugged it off. She wouldn’t starve, and right now, safety was more important than food.
He gunned the engine and drove back onto the highway. They still had several hours to go until they hit their rendezvous point, and the sooner they were in the air, the less antsy he’d feel.
“How uncontrolled is yours and Braden’s condition?” Katie asked.
He glanced over in surprise until he remembered the whole bit about the seizures. She sure didn’t pull any punches.
“We manage,” he said shortly.
“Look, I have a right to know what I’m dealing with,” she said. “You’re offering me protection. Well, you can’t very well protect me if you’re constantly freaking out and having to be medicated to the point of passing out. What the hell am I supposed to do if both of you freak out on me at the same time?”
“You shoot whoever’s after you,” Ian said calmly.
She snorted. “With what? You haven’t exactly been generous with contributing to my own self-preservation.”
“That’s because I can’t be sure you won’t shoot me or Braden,” Ian muttered.
“At least tell me what the hell I’m supposed to give you if you wig out,” she said.
Ian sighed. “There are syringes already filled in the back. Give us one of those and get the fuck away from us. The guns are back there too,” he said after a brief hesitation.
It was true she deserved to know what she was dealing with, particularly since she needed to stay away from them if they shifted. They could kill her in shifted form. But if he told her that now, she’d not only think he lost his mind, but she’d never agree to leave the country with them. Better to fill her in on the kitty details in the air.
E
very once in a while he caught Katie glancing over her seat to check on Braden. It amused him only because she went to such pains to make sure it didn’t look like she was concerned.
“He’ll be fine,” Ian said. “He’ll sleep it off and wake up a little muzzy-headed.”
She scowled and focused her attention out her window.
For an hour, they drove in silence. A few of the roads they took were barely ribbons snaking through the rough terrain. Ian flexed his hands around the steering wheel and worked his head back and forth to stretch his neck.
“You sure you don’t want me to drive?” she asked as she stared balefully at him from across the seat.
“Nah, I’m—”
The world went crazy around him. A sickening crunch. A jolt so severe that his hands left the steering wheel as his body backlashed. He vaguely registered that they’d been hit. Broadside. Before he could react, regain control of the steering wheel as they careened sideways, they were hit again.
Glass shattered and sparkled in his vision like rain. They rolled and then rolled again. The SUV came to a shuddering stop and bounced hard as it righted itself. They had spun completely around and were angled in the ditch with the driver’s side mashed against the ground.
Katie moved slowly, reaching groggily for her seatbelt.
“No,” Ian said harshly. “Stay where you are.”
Before she could respond, her door was wrenched violently open. A large man loomed over her. He glanced briefly down at Ian, but apparently discounted him as a threat. He slashed at Katie’s seatbelt with a knife and then grabbed a handful of her hair. She cried out in pain when he yanked her from the truck.
A pulse of adrenaline rocketed through Ian’s system, making him forget about his possible injuries or the pain that ricocheted through his head just moment ago.
He had to get to Katie.
He tried to move his legs and swore when he realized the dash was caved in around him. He wiggled his toes and was relieved that he didn’t seem to suffer any pain or loss of motion, but he couldn’t get free.
Goddamn it.
He twisted and tried to maneuver his upper body along the seat to get a different angle with his legs, but they didn’t budge.