The next time she glanced in the mirror, Vince was shoving his legs into his bloodied pants and snatching up his shirt and shoes. He got into the car with her dead husband and pulled out into the lane, driving past her at a normal rate of speed. Brandi shifted his truck into drive, with the handcuffs still dangling from her wrist, and pulled carefully onto the interstate to follow him.
They drove for almost an hour before he finally pulled off the interstate at an exit for a town called Many. He turned south and drove through the little town, following the little two lane road until he reached the other side of town. He pulled to the side of road and waited to be sure there was nothing but trees and grass around them. He walked back to the truck where Brandi stopped to see what he’d do next.
“I need you to stay here. Do not follow me. I’ll be back in a little while.” He stripped out of his clothes and left them in the back of his truck.
“You’re naked.”
“I know. I’m going to need to shift, and I don’t want to have to carry them back in my mouth. Did you leave anything, phone, purse, clothes — anything at all in the car?”
“No, he didn’t give me a chance to take anything with me.”
“Okay. I’ll be back, just wait here, alright?”
“Yeah. I’ll wait.”
He got back in the car and drove until he found himself in the middle of nowhere. There were bayous and land-based oil derricks and not much else as far as he could see. The dawn was just beginning to break in the distance. Then his eyes picked up something out in a field. He parked on the side of the road and walked out into one of the fields that had stacks and stacks of unused telephone poles in it with the grasses growing up between the poles. He could tell they were old. They’d been treated with creosote and left in the weather for quite a while now. He walked back another couple of acres until he found what he wanted. There was a slurry pond in the back.
Most creosote operations had one, and this one did indeed. It was large, overgrown and deep from the looks of it. He’d been hoping for an old fishing pond or a farmer’s pond, but this was even better. He looked around and allowed Lion to listen and scent for anyone. All scents were faint and old. No one had been here in a while. This would have to do.
Vince couldn’t set the car on fire — the smoke and flames would call attention. But he could drive the damned thing into a lake or pond. Water destroyed evidence just as well as fire did. He went back to the car and drove it slowly out into the field. Vince stopped a few hundred feet from the pond and got out. He dragged what was left of Brandi’s husband into the driver’s seat, then he went around and got in the passenger side. He put the car in drive and pressed his left foot on the accelerator. He closed his eyes and held his breath just as the car went over the edge and into the pond. Vince shoved the body down below the steering wheel and swam out of the open driver’s side window.
Minutes later he stood on the edge of the pond while the car disappeared from view as it sank to the bottom. Satisfied that it would at least be a little while until someone stumbled across it, he allowed Lion to take over and start the run back to where Brandi waited for them.
Brandi had turned off the truck and killed the lights so that she wouldn’t be easily seen if anyone happened to pass her where she sat waiting for Vince on the side of the road. Only about half an hour later, she thought she could see something coming toward her through the early gray of dawn. Brandi squinted her eyes to try to see further ahead. Sure enough, coming toward her trotting down the road was a Lion. Full grown and magnificent. Perfect except for the water dripping from his mane and the blood streaming down his shoulder.
Brandi hopped out and ran to him. Vince shifted back and allowed her to help him into the truck.
“You shouldn’t run at a full grown Lion, Brandi. It might not have been me,” he tried to joke with her.
“Really? Because Lions are naturally wild here in wherever-the-hell-we-are Louisiana,” she answered.
He offered her a weak smile. “I’m tired. I need to rest. Can you drive?” Vince asked.
“Yes. Just get in and we’re on our way to the hospital.”
“No. We can’t go to a hospital near here. If they ever find him, they’ll remember us, and the gun is in the car with him, so if they take the bullet out of me, they could match it to him, and us to the car in the pond. We have to make it home, then we’ll decide what to do.”
“Are you sure? You don’t look so good, and you’ve lost a lot of blood, you’re pale,” Brandi said.
“Yeah. Just help me get on a pair of the jeans in that bag, then we’ll head out.”
Brandi grabbed a pair of jeans and ripped the tags off of them, throwing them onto the floorboard of the truck. Then she helped Vince get them on and steadied him while he got into the passenger seat. “You good now?”
“I’m cold,” he said shivering. “Can you hand me one of those shirts?”
Brandi dug in the bag and found a sweatshirt. She helped him get it over his head, then got his right arm through the right sleeve. She pulled it down over his other arm as though it was in a sling. Then she took the button down out of the bag and draped it over him. “Do you have any blankets or anything in the truck?”
“No, this is good though. Let’s head back.”
Brandi ran around to the driver’s side and climbed back in the truck. She turned the ignition and put it in gear, carefully turning it around and heading back toward the interstate.
“Can you find your way back?” Vince asked, his eyes beginning to close.
“Oh hell no! Don’t you dare go to sleep on me! You stay awake! Talk to me, Vince. Tell me something, anything.”
“I don’t know what to talk about,” he said, shifting in the seat to try to wake himself up a little.
“Natalie! That’s what you talk about. Tell me about Natalie. Oh! I know, you should call Natalie!”
“Phone’s dead. Didn’t bring my charger,” he answered.
“Great. Well, you say whatever you want to, just don’t go to sleep, I need you to stay awake.”
Chapter 22
It was midday when Vince, holding a hand to his shoulder and his head listing weakly to the side, finally indicated a familiar turn off of Hwy 10 for Brandi to turn onto. She followed the bumpy drive until she could just make out a house up ahead through the trees. Kaid’s house. They’d finally made it.
Vince closed his eyes and slumped against the door. His breathing was labored, and his color was non-existent.
“Vince?!” Brandi shouted inside the truck as she hurried toward the house. “Vince, wake up!”
A muffled groan was all she got in response. Brandi started leaning on the horn as soon as she cleared the trees and drove into the yard. She pulled all the way up, as close to the porch as she could and continued to lean on the horn. Then she threw the truck into park and jumped out, screaming for help. As she cleared the front of the truck and darted toward the passenger side door, Kaid came out on the porch, followed by Delilah with Barron in her arms, and Goldy and Jobe.
Daniel had been playing with Remi in the front yard of his and Avaleigh’s home, and on seeing Brandi driving Vince’s truck and leaning on the horn, he sent Remi inside the house. He watched to be sure Remi went inside to Avaleigh, then hurried over to Vince’s truck.
“What the hell is going on?” Kaid grouched.
Then Brandi opened the passenger door, and Vince fell out of the truck and into her arms as she tried to catch him. They went down to the ground with him on top of her.
Everyone sprang into action. Kaid and Daniel rushing to grab Vince.
Delilah turning around looking for someone to hand Barron to. Jobe got the job. “Hold my son. Do NOT put him down!”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jobe said obediently.
“He’s been shot. He came after us. He saved me, but he’s shot, and he won’t allow me to take him to the hospital. He made me drive him all the way back here. He’s lost a lot of blood,” B
randi rambled out.
Kaid looked at Brandi, the bruising on her face, her eye swollen shut.
Delilah rushed down the stairs and laid her hands on Vince. She closed her eyes, but got no information at all. “I can’t see anything. My powers have returned to normal since I’ve had Barron.”
Daniel pressed his hands to Vince’s throat. “I feel a pulse.”
“We need Bramley,” Delilah said firmly.
“On it!” Goldy answered, rushing inside the house to get a cell phone to call him with as he simultaneously sent messages telepathically to Bam.
Kaid and Daniel had started to send messages through their clan connection as well.
Bam was in his workshop, built on the ground floor of the home he and Everly shared. He started picking up a tingling sensation, then the hair on his arms raised. He lifted his head and closed his eyes. He felt for Everly — she was good. Then he opened his mind and searched for whatever was calling to him. He took a step back, almost knocked over with the intensity of the messages bombarding him.
Bam hurried outside, leaving the door opened behind himself. “Everly!” he bellowed as he jogged up a few stairs toward their front door. He could hear her footsteps as she rushed toward the door.
“Bramley?” she called as she tore the door open.
“The clan’s calling. Something’s wrong, I gotta go. Stay here, stay inside!”
“Okay, go!” she answered.
She stood watching as he took off at a run down the road toward Kaid’s, then shifted mid-step as he ran out of sight, his Bear the last thing she saw before she went back inside and locked the door behind herself.
Bane sat up, picking up on the unrest passing through the clan’s telepathic link. He sent a message to Bam asking if he was okay. All he got back was, ‘Watch over Everly.’ Bane reached for his phone lying on the table and called Everly. The minute she answered he spoke. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know. Bam said the clan had trouble and that he had to go. He told me to stay here and inside,” Everly answered.
“Alright. I’m going to call Kaid. If you need anything, even think something feels off, I’m right here.”
“Thank you, Bane.”
Bane ended the call and reached out to Kaid.
Right away he got an answer. Vince is gravely injured.
Need me? Bane sent back.
No threat here, just stay put. We’ll call if we need you, Kaid answered.
Bam ran as quickly as his Bear could, cutting through the woods rather than follow the small road they’d put in that lead from the main house and the others close to it, to his and Bane’s homes, which were quite a distance away.
He burst through the trees and into the big, open area that Kaid's home, Avaleigh's, and Maverik’s shared. Right away he recognized Vince’s truck and realized there was no threat present, just Vince. He slowed his run and loped around the front of the truck to where Vince lay in the cold wet grass, his head cradled in Brandi’s lap. Bam shifted back. “What happened?” he asked.
“He’s been shot. We need to see if you can stabilize him,” Kaid said.
Bam nodded. He moved to kneel beside Vince. Brandi looked up at him with tears in her eyes. It was then that he noticed that she’d been beaten.
“It’s my fault,” she said quietly.
“No, it’s not,” Bam answered. He reached out, putting his hands on either side of Vince’s chest. Bam smiled. “He’s in there,” he reported.
Kaid breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank fuck,” Daniel muttered.
“I tried, Bramley. I cannot feel his beast any longer. My Dragon is not as keen as she was when I carried Barron. Now I’m only a Dragon.”
“You have never been only a Dragon, Delilah,” Daniel said.
Delilah offered Daniel a strained smile.
“I have it, Delilah,” Bam said, leaning closer to Vince so that he could put his hands on him and speak to his Lion.
Bam sat there, nude, in the cold, wet grass with an unconscious Vince resting against his knees and thighs while he did what he could to heal him.
The screen door slapped the wall, and Ms. Sadie hurried out into the yard with a blanket in her arms. She spread it around Bam’s shoulders and tucked it in around him. Bam didn’t even notice — he was trying to force some of his own energy into Vince.
Ms. Sadie went back up onto the porch and stood beside Jobe. Jobe looked at Ms. Sadie wide-eyed, clutching the baby Delilah had entrusted to him against his chest. “He was a Bear,” Jobe said in a hushed voice.
Ms. Sadie realized Jobe had seen Bam shift. The cat was officially out of the bag. There was no more skirting the issue of when was the right time to tell Jobe about their family. “He was. He is,” she said calmly.
Jobe turned his attention back to the scene before him. He didn’t look at Sadie again, but he spoke. “Ms. Delilah said she was only a Dragon now.”
Sadie put her arm around his shoulders. “They are all just people, Jobe. Like us. But with a little something extra inside. They love like we do, they hurt like we do, and they protect those they love like we do. They are the same loving family that welcomed you into their midst with no questions at all. They were just a little luckier than we are in the DNA lottery.”
Jobe watched them all standing and kneeling around Vince trying to bring him ‘round. He turned back to Ms. Sadie. “Just a Dragon?” he said again.
“Oh no, Daniel’s right. She’s never been just a Dragon. She’s an Ice Dragon, and the Ice Dragons are the queens of their kind.”
Jobe’s eyebrows threatened to rise into his hairline. He looked down at the baby in his arms. “Is he a Dragon?” Jobe asked.
“We aren’t sure. He may be a Bear like his Daddy. We’ll just have to wait to see,” Ms. Sadie answered.
Jobe looked down at the baby again, who grinned at him. Jobe adjusted his arms to hold the baby a little more comfortably. He bounced Barron a little bit to calm him, patted his back. “Mama’s right over there. She’ll be back,” he said.
Vince’s leg moved, then he bent his knee, raising it above the grass and placing his foot where his knee had been. He opened his eyes and blinked several times trying to focus. First, he saw the grey sky and the treetops. Then he heard Kaid’s voice.
“He’s opening his eyes. You did good, Bam.”
Vince closed his eyes again, then slowly opened them and focused on the huge, dark-haired man leaning over him. His eyes took in the blanket draped around his shoulders and the warmth of human flesh below his head. He licked his lips and swallowed. “Please tell me you have pants on,” he got out in a ragged voice.
Bam’s eyes were still closed, forcing whatever energy he could into the stubborn Lion. He’d taken some, but refused to take more than was absolutely necessary. Bam opened his eyes and grinned down at Vince. “Nope. And you’re welcome.”
“Figures,” Vince mumbled. He closed his eyes again and just lay where he was.
“We’re gonna move you into the house, okay?” Bam said.
“I can’t,” Vince answered honestly.
“We’re gonna do it,” Kaid answered.
Kaid, Daniel, Goldy and Bam all managed to get Vince up and into the bedroom that had become Barron’s. They settled him in the daybed that Delilah had placed there for when Barron had fussy nights, or she just couldn’t stand to be away from him. Brandi followed at a close distance the entire time. Soon as they got Vince settled, she took up a position beside the bed.
“What happened, Brandi?” Kaid asked.
“It was my fault,” she repeated her statement from earlier.
Bam shrugged the blanket from his shoulders and wrapped it around his waist, wearing it like a big towel. “Who did that to your face?” Bam asked her.
“The same man that shot Vince,” she answered. “My husband.”
“Tell me,” Kaid demanded.
Brandi told him everything. How her husband had shown up unexpectedly.
How they’d fought and he’d forced her into the car. How she’d taken a chance and grabbed his cell phone when he’d left her handcuffed in the car when he’d stopped for gas, and phoned Vince. She told of realizing that if she didn’t slow her husband down, Vince would never find her — so she’d turned sideways in her seat and begun kicking her husband, fighting with him any way she could with one hand cuffed to the door. She tried to snatch his keys from the ignition, throw the car out of gear, anything she could do. They’d been stopped on the side of the road, her husband having managed to pull the car over to fight with her and try to restrain her, when Vince had found them.
She told of Vince being shot, then shifting to his Lion. She didn’t tell of Vince killing her husband or of what had been done with his body or his car. She didn’t know how much Vince wanted them to know.
“It’s not your fault,” Delilah said insistently. “Vince vowed to protect you, and that’s exactly what he did. Any one of our males would have.”
Brandi just nodded and looked down at Vince, who’d fallen back asleep.
“What about your kids?” Daniel asked.
“He said they were home with his mother, and he was taking me back to where I belonged and I could like it or not, but I was going to give him what was due him, or I’d not live long enough to regret it.”
“What does that mean?” Ms. Sadie asked.
“I have no idea. But I’m sure he was taking me back home. And the kids live there with him and his mother. She loves them obsessively — I’m sure they’re fine. I want to call them and check on them just to be sure, but I can’t. If I call on the same day or the day after her son was supposed to bring me back, and he never shows up, it’s going to look fishy. I haven’t called the whole time I’ve been here. There was no point — they didn’t want to speak to me. If I do now, it’ll be suspicious.”
“You sure they’re with his mother?” Kaid asked.
“Yes. She won’t allow them out of her sight. Not even to be with me,” Brandi answered.
Brandi watched as Bam laid a hand on Vince’s leg and closed his eyes. After a moment Bam opened his eyes. “He’s okay. He’s just weak. We need to get him medical care.”
Vince's Place Page 21