Yes. And that man told his brother, who was the chief of police at the same time. You’re right, morons, all of them. And my dad—what did you find out about him that you think I might not know?” No answer. “I don’t know why you need to go over this with me. I can’t imagine that it would be useful to anyone other than me. Why do you even care?”
“Because, Anna Hayes, you’re the mate to my brother-in-law, Morgan. And he’s the one that saved your life by killing Long.”
~*~
Morgan had never killed anyone before. But he didn’t feel bad for doing it the other day either. As he sat in his home, wondering what he should be doing now, he thought about the events that had given him an insight on people that he’d never seen before. Especially Paul Long, a man that he never liked but worked with for a long time. Ten years, he thought.
He thought about the first time he’d heard of what the monster was doing right down the hall from him. When his dad asked him where the room was that Anna was being hurt in, he was two doors down from there in a meeting of his own. Going to the room at breakneck speed, all he saw was a grown man beating a woman with a large statue that he had. At that time, Morgan had no idea who the man was—his back was to him, but he was covered in blood. When he saw her gun lying not a foot from her shoeless body. Morgan just knew that she was dead. That Paul, he’d realized, had murdered her.
“Long, what the hell are you doing? Get off her right now.” Paul turned and looked at him. And for as long as he lived, he’d never forget the satanic look on his face. The way the blood from her dripped from his cheek and was all over his face and hands. “I’m going to kill you if you don’t get off her. You’re going to kill her, man.”
“She’s mine. I saw her first.” Paul’s voice was even all wrong, he’d just realized. It sounded gravelly and full of hatred. “Go away, Morgan, and when I’m done with her, you can have a piece too. But wear a condom. They get testy with you if the police find semen inside of her. I’m going to have me a grand old time with this piece of ass.”
When he lifted the statue, one that Morgan only just recognized, he was bringing the bust of Beethoven down on the woman’s head again when Morgan fired the gun. That too was something that he’d never forget. The sound wasn’t that loud at all, but it did make his ears ring. He’d just shot a man in the back. Then Morgan shot him again when Paul got up and came staggering toward him. This time Morgan shot him in the head and he finally dropped. So did Morgan.
His dad had shown up seconds later. It could have been days for all Morgan knew for sure; his mind was still centered on Paul wanting to share a dead woman with him. Dad finally slapped him hard on the face.
“You all right?” He nodded, then shook his head. “Yes, I can see that. Just don’t shoot me, son. I’m going to check on them to see if either of them is alive. Don’t move. The police is on their way.”
The police had asked him a million questions, and Morgan tried his best to answer them all. But his vison kept drifting to the dead man. The woman was being worked on by the medical team that had arrived first, and he wasn’t in any position to see her. He wasn’t even sure that he wanted to, for as much blood as had been on Paul. Andrew, his friend and a police officer, had spoken to him like he was asking him to go fishing with him. Or have an ice cream. Everything about that day had been surreal now that he could think back on it.
“Morgan, I’m going to have to put you under arrest for this. I know you were saving the girl and all, but we have to go by the books on this one, okay?” Morgan had stood up and staggered a little. “Steady there. I have you. Just let me cuff you, and I’ll take you on to the hospital to get you checked out.”
“I’m all right. I promise. Andrew, he told me that he’d let me have sex with her when he was finished with her. What sort of sick bastard does that?” Andrew told him to hush up and wait for his attorney. Morgan told him how sorry he was again and again that day.
“I know, Morgan. You’re a good man.” He was escorted to the cruiser that was just outside the building and sat in the back seat. His dad came to the car and Andrew let him speak to him. “But nothing about the case. I don’t want this to come back and bite any of us in the ass.”
“All right, Andy, I understand that. Son, I talked to your mom and she’s a tad upset. Not with you, but about that poor girl. Don’t you fret none. We got your back. Rogen is getting someone to come to the station to talk to you soon.” He nodded, suddenly feeling sick. “Just hold on, Morgan. You’re going to be just fine.”
He was fine after being checked out at the hospital, and then taken to jail, he remembered. They weren’t charging him with anything, but Andrew wanted him close so that he could ask him questions if he had any. Morgan laid down on the too small cot and closed his eyes. When he got home, he decided, he was going to shift and then go for a run that lasted the rest of his life.
“Morgan?” Morgan, his mind in a fog even then, had looked up at the man standing there. It had been Dean Sheppard. “I just found out what happened. Do you need anything? I want you to know that this isn’t going to hurt your dean-ship. You killed a horrific person, and I for one commend you for it.”
“Thank you. I don’t think I need anything. I just want to go home and take a shower.” Sheppard said that he could well understand that. “Yes, and thank you for coming down here. To be honest with you, sir. I didn’t even think of how this might affect my job. I was just more concerned with the young woman.”
“As you should have been. To think, he’d been doing this all along.”
That struck Morgan as odd. Even now, two days later, he was still concerned about Dean Sheppard’s comments, when he was sure that everyone, including him, had known about Long’s horrific behaviors. There had certainly been enough reports filed against him. Not that he’d been trying to kill women, but just that he’d tried to get into the pants of a lot of them. But Sheppard spoke before he could question him about it.
“You go on home, and we’ll take care of the press at the school. The school might have a few questions for you, like why did you have a gun in class, but we’ll talk about that later.”
A few hours later, not only was Morgan showered and cleaned up, but his mom was pampering him a little. But the need to see the woman, he didn’t know why, was driving him crazy since he’d been home. He didn’t mention it to his parents, but when he could, he told Mom that he needed to take a drive. Blow the smell of death off him.
After driving around for a little while, he’d gone to the hospital to see the woman. Morgan hadn’t realized that she was close to his age, only a year between them. But he snuck in the room with her while Dawson was checking her IV’s. It was then that he realized not only was she pretty, but she was his mate as well. Morgan went home after that and hadn’t left since. Now here he was in his house, still not sure what to do.
Getting in his car, he drove to get himself milk and eggs, neither of which he knew if he needed or not. Then as he was standing in line, ready to pay for it, he felt her fear, or something akin to it. Leaving his little blue basket on the floor, he made his way to her. Morgan didn’t know what to say to her if there was nothing wrong, but he needed to make sure she was okay.
“Hello.” Morgan had no idea how long he’d been standing there, just staring at her. But when she spoke, he moved into the room. “That wasn’t an invite, moron. I just thought you were lost. What do—? Holy crispy noodles, you’re him. My mate.”
It wasn’t a question, but he answered her anyway. “Yes. I’m Morgan Robinson. You’re Anna Hayes. I’m so sorry that you were hurt. I did the best I could in getting to you as quickly as I could.” She asked him if he’d saved her. “Yes. My dad, you reached him first and he had no idea where you were. I figured out I was right down the hall. May I sit down?”
“No, you’re not staying.” Morgan smiled and sat anyway. “That sister-in-law of yours, Rogen, have you talked to her yet? She’s got some intel on me that might make you wan
t to run in the other direction.”
“I doubt it. I’m a dean of studies at the college.” She twirled her finger in the air like it was no big deal to her. “And no, I’ve not spoken to Rogen. And if she had something on you, I really don’t care. Whatever it is, we can work it out.”
“Look, mister. I don’t want you in my life where I have to be your slave to everything you want. I’m here to go to college and try to make something of myself.” He nodded. “Are you addled?”
“Not that I’m aware of. I am rattled, however. Ever since I saw you there on the floor, all I can think about was I’m glad that I could save you.” She snorted at him. “Such a pessimist. I was glad that I was able to save you for yourself. And me. But that was later, of course.”
“You’re a dumbass.” Morgan was delighted with her. She was sour and bossy. Anna was not afraid to say what the thought, and she was Morgan’s. Forever. “Look. I’m not even a full-blooded tiger. I can tell that you more than likely have had tigers in your family for generations upon generations. I’m not—”
“What are you studying in school?” He knew that he’d thrown her off. Good, he thought, her scent was driving him crazy as well. “I was teaching finance, but I’ve been promoted recently and given a nice corner office.”
She shivered and he told her he was sorry. “It’s fine. Good for you on the promotion. I don’t have a pedigree. I don’t have much of an education. Not now, anyway. My father is in prison, as are two of my brothers. The third one is on his way back there if what I’ve read about him is true. Not that I give two cents about where he is so long as he leaves me alone. My mother is dead. Dear Dad killed her one night when I was running around in the yard as a cat to entertain the little handicapped boy next door.”
“They’re not cats, either of them.” She shook her head. “Just so you know, the woman doesn’t carry the gene for cats. The father does. So if he thought you mom had stepped out on him, she didn’t. I’m sorry about your loss.”
She only shrugged at him. “I was never what you might think of as part of their family anyway. So, what do you want now? To be given my permission to run? Go. I don’t care.” Morgan stood up and she turned her face away from him. “Everyone does sooner or later, I guess.”
Pulling her face around to him, he looked her in the eyes. They were a deep green, almost black with the color. Leaning to her slowly, he nibbled first at her lower lip, careful of her wounds, then the upper. She was moaning when he deepened it. Before it got too much more out of hand, Morgan pulled away and sat down.
“I’m not going anywhere, Anna. I have your scent now, and I’m going to protect you with my life from now on.” She didn’t say anything, but he could tell she was upset.
Morgan hadn’t told anyone that she was his mate but Rogen. And she had promised not to tell even Thatcher. So, while he sat there, her face soft from the meds she’d been brought, Morgan told her everything about his family and some things that he probably shouldn’t have about himself. But he was happy, and to him, that was all he needed. For now.
The letter
My darling daughter, Rogen. I feel I can call you that because you aren’t here to tell me I can’t. I’ve been thinking about you a great deal lately, ever since your mom and I started this hairbrained idea to come and see you and Jamie.
I won’t make it. I know that now. I’m sicker every day, and it’s getting harder and harder to hide it from your mom. She’s become quite the nurse for me too. And she can drive well enough to do so on her own. So long as someone sets up the GPS for her.
We were terrible parents. The worst kind, I think. I’m not going to ask you for your forgiveness because frankly, I don’t feel as if I deserve it. I was, as I said, a terrible person. But I would like to ask that you take care of your mom for me. She will be a friend to you—perhaps not a best one, but someone that you can talk to. And I’d like for you and Jamie to do so. For me.
Again, I know that I have no right to ask anything of you, of either of you, but I would hope, in this, you would do this for me. She will be the only woman I ever loved, and the only one that I ever wanted.
I’ve been thinking about you as a child. My goodness, you were brilliant. It never occurred to me that you were as smart as you have become until you were gone. As I have heard before, you never appreciate anything until it’s gone from you.
I do wish there were words I could say that would make you believe how much I’m sorry for the way that we treated you and Jamie. A way that I could make it up to you for all the years that we spent apart. There are none. And if I could think of them, just for you, I’d tell them to you every day of your life. but as you will soon know, my life is at its end.
I write this to you today knowing that in the morning your mom will find me, dead in my bed. And hopefully she’ll find me with you at her side. I know that today is the last day of my life. I’m sorry for that as well.
Not that I don’t think I deserve to die, Rogen. I do more than most. But I cannot see your face again, not see any grandchild that you might carry and bring into this world. I won’t get to touch your cheeks, kiss you when you leave the house, and will never meet the man that you’ve fallen in love with. I will miss so much more than I ever thought possible now that it’s too late for me to make up for all the cruelty and meanness that I bestowed upon you.
Someday, I’d like for you to think of me fondly. And if it’s not in your heart to do so, then you thank me for fathering you so that you can hold your own child. Give a son or daughter as wonderful as you and Jamie turned out to be—no thanks to us—to your husband.
You, of all people in the world, would be the best parent in the universe. Because you will take the things we did to you, said to you, and kept from you as a lesson on how not to raise your own children. You will have a legacy to pass on to them, something profoundly your own that I never had anything to do with.
I’m sorry, Rogen, for everything. There are so many things that I could talk about, but my time here on this earth is growing to a close. I will shed my last tear with my love for you, and my last breath will have your name upon my lips.
With all the love that I should have given you, your father, Dad.
Before You Go…
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Kathi Barton, winner of the Pinnacle Book Achievement award as well as a best-selling author on Amazon and All Romance books, lives in Nashport, Ohio with her husband Paul. When not creating new worlds and romance, Kathi and her husband enjoy camping and going to auctions. She can also be seen at county fairs with her husband who is an artist and potter.
Her muse, a cross between Jimmy Stewart and Hugh Jackman, brings her stories to life for her readers in a way that has them coming back time and again for more. Her favorite genre is paranormal romance with a great deal of spice. You can visit Kathi online and drop her an email if you’d like. She loves hearing from her fans. [email protected].
Follow Kathi on her blog: http://kathisbartonauthor.blogspot.com/
Thatcher: Robinson Destruction – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance Page 17