Brock (13 page)

“One more chan
ce, Wilfred. Do you die by their hand or by my master’s?” Peter crossed his arms over his chest. “I hope you decide on the cats. I would love to see what they can do to you in a short period of time. And for your sister this will be a training tool. She’s not had much opportunity to hunt yet.”

That sent a shiver down his spine
, and he looked at his sister. Christ, she was going to kill him. Fear compounded into more fear until he could feel the sweat run down his spine and the need to flee pounding at him. He looked at his car and decided that if he could get to it, he’d be safe. Almost as soon as he thought it, two of the big cats sliced the tires open with their large claws, and then his car flipped over onto its top. He didn’t have to look at Peter to know that he’d read his mind and had destroyed his only means of escape. When pain ripped through his leg, he looked down at the male cat. He’d torn his flesh open and was licking the blood from his paw. Wilfred couldn’t help it; he took off for the woods.

~~~

The woods were dense, but Brock knew them as well as he did his own home. As he moved deeper into the woods, following—but not too closely—the animal they were chasing, he thought of what he’d been told about the man whose scent he was chasing.

“He tied me to the table in the kitchen and left me there all day. I was so exhausted from running the day before that I
slept off and on. I’d escaped and had tried to get as much distance between me and them as I could, but they caught me easily enough. Dad said it was because my scent called to him.”
Em had snuggled closer to him, but he had a feeling she was more there than with him.
“At first I thought they were just going to hold me there until I agreed to be their sort of watcher. They needed me to watch the house and stuff.”

Brock knew what a day watcher was
, and it was more than just watching the house that the vampires resided in. She would bring them back humans to feed from, and be there for them herself if none was available for them. And when the mood struck them, be their sexual partner, whether she wanted it or not.

“But then Jimmy showed up just before they rose. He
was looking at me as if I was a fine meal that they’d laid out for him and he was going to feast. He’d just sat down when my dad came into the room, and he watched Jimmy as he tore off my clothes. I didn’t know what was going to happen so I just watched, screaming at them to leave me alone in my head.”
He held her tighter.

“When he stood over me and…he fondled me
, I tried to get away. Wilfred came in with the others, and I could see that they were fine with whatever was going to happen. When Wilfred held my head in his hands, I just knew that he was going to bite me, but Jimmy leaned down and….”

To have that happen to her was bad enough
, but to not know, to not be able to hear or even to scream must have been terrifying for her. He watched her as tears rolled down her face, and he listened to what she’d done.

“I was trying to grab for anything to use as a weapon
, but there was nothing. His teeth were so sharp, and I screamed over and over, begging him to stop, when suddenly my hand found a fork that had been on the table. I pulled it up and stabbed Jimmy in the face as many times as I could before I was let go. I left the house and never looked back.”
She looked at him.
“I thought I’d killed him, but I guess I didn’t.”

“No.
Peter and his maker did that for crimes against his kind. I guess Jimmy was the one who had set up the labs that had changed both Rayne and Bronwyn. He was funding them, and Peter found out. I don’t know what they did to him, but I’m pretty sure he’s gone now.”
In fact Brock was sure of it, because when he’d heard that the scar on her neck had come from Jimmy, he asked Peter if he could have ten minutes alone with the prick. And now he was chasing the other bastard who’d hurt his love.

His scent was getting stronger
, and he moved toward it. He’d opened his leg up, but figured by now the vampire had had time to heal. He had hoped that he’d bleed so badly that he’d die, but Brock knew that he wanted to play with him a bit more. When he saw his brother, he had blood on his muzzle.

“He’s over near the pond.
I think he’s hiding in one of the hollowed-out logs there.”
Ryland snorted.
“The man is beyond stupid. Doesn’t he know that we’re going to catch him anyway?”

“I think he believes that he is still more powerful than us
, even if he hasn’t fed and has lost a great deal of blood.”
Brock watched Wilfred run by them, making enough noise to wake the dead.
“And I agree with you about his stupidity. You’d think he’d be better equipped to handle something like this.”

When Em moved next to him, Ryland faded
into the forest. She rubbed her head over his shoulder. He asked her if she was doing all right.

“I thought it would be easy to kill him. To make him pay for all the things he’s done to me and thought about doing
, but I can’t do it. It’s like I see him still as my older brother and not this monster he’s become.”
He nodded. His brothers were his life, as were their mates. And now he had his own and would put her safety ahead of theirs no matter what. He lifted his nose to the air when he scented Wilfred on the move again.

“You stay here and I’ll find him and take care of this.
I wouldn’t be able to kill one of my brothers either, I don’t think, no matter what kind of crime they committed. All right, love?”
She nodded, and he rubbed over her again. “
You’re my life, and when this is over, we’ll go on a nice long vacation and forget all about what happens here today.”

He moved toward the vampire and found him easily enough. Before he could
flush him out of the bushes he was hiding in, his beast surged forward and took him. Brock lay there for several seconds while he tried to regain control, but he wasn’t having it. He reached for his family.

“I’m not myself.”
Jules said no shit and laughed.
“I don’t know what he’s going to do, and I haven’t any control. You have to leave the forest now and take Em with you.”

He saw two of his brothers leap out from behind trees not ten feet from him
. Then he saw Jules and Ally move from the opposite direction. He was ready to move again when he felt something hit him hard in the back. He rolled over, head over ass, twice before he saw Wilfred over him with a large log. As he was coming at him again, Brock started to stand, but was knocked back by Em. Her beast had come out to play as well. And she looked ready to tear Wilfred apart.

Chapter 1
3

Em snarled at Wilfred. She wanted him to drop the log and back the fuck up, but he swung it at her again. When she lifted her paw at him, she was able to tear at his leg again before he tried to hit her. Brock roared at her to stand down, and she roared back.

“Mine.”
Brock stood up and towered over her for several seconds before he dropped back down and roared again. She screamed at him this time.
“Mine. He’s mine or I kick your ass.”

She could almost see his face.
His brow would be lifted and he’d have that snotty grin on his face. She turned her back on him and looked at her brother. He had hurt what was hers and now he had to pay.

“Are you Emma?” She stopped advancing on
Wilfred when he asked her. “The reason I’m asking is because you should know that I don’t want to die.”

She sat down and watched him. He hadn’t let go of the log yet
, but he wasn’t holding it up like he was going to hurt anyone either. She didn’t believe for one minute that he was going to drop it and leave without hurting her. And even if he did, she wasn’t going to let him. She cocked her head at him when he began to speak, just realizing that she could understand him.

“You’re not human right now, not even a shifter.”
Viktor’s voice poured over her and felt like she was in the warm sunshine and a bed of flowers at the same time.
“You should also know that so long as your beast is taking you that you’ll be immune to all sorts of pains that your brother will try to inflict on you.”

“You mean he can’t hit me
?” That sounded almost too good to be true, and when he spoke again, she knew it was. But Viktor didn’t make her feel childish or stupid because she’d not understood him.

“Nay, child
, he can hit you, but as your beast you’ll not feel them quite so badly.”
She felt something more from him and started to ask him about it when her brother spoke.

“Are you
listening to me, or are you faking not being able to hear me?” He leaned on the log. “I didn’t hurt you all that badly, you know. All I wanted to do was to make you stop crying. All you ever did was cry.”

“And that was a reason to kill me?”
He looked at her oddly, and she realized he could hear her too.
“You’re standing there trying to bargain your life with me when as a child you tried to drown me. Even today you were going to take me back to your home and convert me to something that I have no desire to be, and make me be your slave for the rest of my days. You seriously think that I should simply let you walk away?”

“
Of course you should. It’s not like I succeeded in drowning you. Shit, Emma, you’re still alive, aren’t you? What the fuck do you want to hurt me over that for?” She could only stare at him and wonder how they had the same parents. “You should have stayed put when Jimmy was going to change you. None of those other people would have been hurt had you just minded me.”

“You mean about quitting school when I was sixteen
, or when you brought that man to the house to change me to a vampire? Or is it when you said I should get my ass in the car and go back with you today?”
As he’d never answered those questions, she repeated because she really wanted to know.

“I needed you to quit school for a very good reason. You were needed at the
house to keep the house clean. It was a mess, and you know it’s only gotten worst since you ran off. The only room in the house that was clean was yours when you lived there, and how fair was that?” She shook her head at him. “And Jimmy agreed with me on keeping you as a watcher. You would still have had to keep the house clean, but since we’d be sleeping all day, you had plenty of time. You’re still coming back with me, Emma. And think how much easier the house will be to keep up with just me to look after.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you,
Wilfred. I’m in love with my mate and he and I are going to stay here forever.”
He didn’t look happy, but she didn’t care. Maybe if she made him realize she was serious, he’d simply go away or something.

“Why are you so selfish?”
That shocked her. She’d never been selfish a day in her life as far as she knew, and never to him. He was always taking and taking. “You always have to have things just perfect or you won’t budge. Well, I have needs and you’re going to help me with them.”

“Or what?”
She looked over at Brock when he spoke to them both
. “She’ll either do what you say, or what will you do to her? Kill her? Over my dead body, and I’m not going to be an easy man to go down.”

“You think?
I’m pretty powerful. Jimmy said he’d never met a vampire as strong as me. He said…I can’t remember, but he said I was going to go far with him.”

“And where is he now?
He’s ash. Nothing more than a small pile of trash that was more than likely kicked away as soon as he was gone.”
Em noticed that two tigers were behind her brother, and she wondered what they were trying to do.

“
They’re here to protect you and nothing more. If you want him, he’s yours to do with as you want. They know that.”
She looked over at Brock.
“They’ll let you take care of him if you want, or we will. Either way, we’re not leaving you here alone with this monster.”

She loved these people.
All of them. When Bronwyn stood just to her other side, she turned to look at the beautiful tiger. Em knew that at that moment that she, too, would die for these people who had given her what she’d wanted all her life. She looked at Wilfred and realized he’d never been anything to her, not even before he’d been changed.

“You’re going to die.
And when you do, I’m not going to think of you ever again. And if I do, it will not be with fond memories, but with hatred and disdain. If you had given me one thimble full of the love I have for my new family, I would have helped you. But now….”
She shook her head.
“Now you’re nothing.”

When he lifted the log again
, she stood up. The hair on her back seemed to dance along her skin, and she felt her beast race toward the surface. She let her take her, and in turn her brother. As soon as she leapt forward, Em knew that he was dead.

Blood
filled her mouth as she tore at him. Muscles seemed to snap in two as she clawed at him. And the entire time, she was a bystander in her own body. She never felt the way her teeth sank into his throat, but saw the destruction. She didn’t feel the moment his leg shattered under another bite, but did see it fly through the air and land several feet from them. His screams seemed so distant, so low that she barely heard them as he begged her. When his head rolled away, landing not a foot from her mate, she looked up at him and knew that he was proud of her. When the head rolled away from him, Brock stopped it with his paw, and they both watched as it incinerated, turned to ash, as his body did moments later.

When he was gone, not even a stain on the forest floor
, she threw back her head and roared. And as the others joined her, she heard them, heard them tell anything within a few miles that something had happened, something huge had gone down.

Moving away from the
place where she’d killed the monster, she went to Brock and noticed that the others had faded away. She didn’t care right now, not when she was where she needed to be. Brock moved to stand over her when she lay down. Laying down her head, she closed her eyes, knowing that no matter what happened he would protect her. Sleep didn’t just roll over her but took her hard and fast to where nothing mattered, and dreams were nothing she had to be afraid of any longer.

~~~

Brock watched her sleep. She’d not moved overly much since he’d put her to bed over three hours ago, but he wasn’t worried. She’d killed her demon today, and now she needed to rest. And as long as she needed, he’d watch over her. He looked up when his mom came in the room after a quick knock.

“
Bronwyn said that she wasn’t dreaming. She was worried, but I guess she talked to Viktor and now she’s fine with it.” She leaned back in the chair. “Do you suppose she’s been fighting them for so long she can now finally rest?”

He told her that he thought so.
“When she is strong enough, we’re going to take a long trip. Viktor has said we can use his villa in Paris and stay as long as we want. I want her to see some of the world before we have a family.”

He looked at her again
, knowing that she was going to be his for a very long time. Viktor had blessed them with the gift of life for their help in taking care of the Coles. He also said not to be surprised when she woke to find that her beast had made some changes in her body.

“I’m going to take her shopping.” Brock looked at his mom.
“Have you seen what she’s been wearing? It’s all well and good to wear your clothes around the house, but, Brock, you cannot expect her to wear your boxers and tee-shirts when she goes into town or to work. The poor girl doesn’t even have a decent pair of boots.”

“
I’ll take her.” His mom huffed at him. “You don’t think I can buy her clothes? I’ll have you know that I’ve been disrobing women now for a long time, and I know what I like.”

“Yes
, I’m sure you do, but she won’t be wearing negligees to work or to the grocery store. She’ll need to wear things that will make her look beautiful, and not the kind you’re thinking of buying that look good on the floor near your bed.” He flushed. “You didn’t think I’d ever forget finding your music teacher’s panties in your room, did you?”

“She was just admiring my instrument.”
He laughed when his mom hit him. “I’m serious. You bought me that really nice trumpet and she wanted to see it. What did you think I meant?”

“
First of all, you played the clarinet, not the trumpet, and secondly, what did that have to do with her leaving her panties behind?”

“She was…polishing it for me.”
Another slap and he laughed harder. “Ah Mom, you know just what was going on. We were having sex, and she was teaching me things that I couldn’t get in sex education.”

“Just wait until you have a daughter of your own. I swear to you when she starts pulling the same crap on you that you did to me
, I’m going to sit back and laugh until I keel over.” She handed him a sheath of papers he’d not noticed before. “Viktor pulled some strings, and had her family declared dead. Her mom is still in an institution and her bills are being paid by some vampire council because they’re taking part of the blame for what happened to her. You think she’ll want to see her mom after all this time?”

He looked over the papers briefly and then at his mom.
“It’ll be up to her. I’ll do what she wants about her. If she wants to or not, she’s all the family she has left.”

After his mom left
, he looked over the papers more thoroughly. The house that her family had gotten from Jimmy was now hers, as was the money that had been in their account. All the taxes were being paid by a third party, and Brock had a feeling the party was Peter. The man had apologized to him several times in the last several hours. Then as if he had summoned him, the man walked in.

“She’s resting well
, so I would like to speak to you for a moment or two if you wouldn’t mind.” Bronwyn walked in with Gabby and sat down. “She has agreed to sit with her for me so that we may talk.” They moved to his office so they wouldn’t disturb Em.

“If you tell me how sorry you are again
, I swear to you that I will knock you on your ass. I get it, you’re sorry about what Jimmy did. Well, so am I, but I certainly don’t blame you. I blame those idiots that came here after her.” Peter nodded and sat in the chair across from him. He looked over his desk and noticed that someone had been using his computer.

“I
t was me. We needed to get the ball rolling for Em to inherit, and the computer was the quickest way. Your brother Keith was very helpful.”

Brock nodded and waited.
When Viktor walked in, he stood up. There was something about the older vampire that inspired one to be very formal. Brock sat when he did.

“I would like for you to work for me.”
That took him by surprise, but before he could comment, Viktor continued, “Our vampire council has a great many rogues like Wilfred and his family that need to be taken care of. You and your lovely mate would be perfect for the job.”

“You gave us the ability to live forever and now you want your payback?”
Brock didn’t know what to think when Viktor shook his head. “Then what is it? You don’t have enough vampires that you need to hire a few tigers to do it for you?”

“Oh
, we have enough vampires. Too many we think at times, but no, that’s not it. We want to hire you because of your third tigers.” Brock looked at Peter. “He didn’t tell me about him and her, but I felt them. Do you know how long it has been since I’ve felt that sort of strength? Longer than your earth has been around.”

“I don’t understand.
What do you mean
my
earth? You’re not from here?” Both Peter and Viktor shook their heads. “You’re from another planet?”