Cursed: Brides of the Kindred 13 (3 page)

“…kids?”

“Excuse me, what?” She realized that she’d missed what Purvis was saying.

“I said, do you have kids?”

“No,” she said, wondering why he was asking. “I don’t.”

“Or anyone else who might be put at risk?” he went on. “In your house, I mean?”

Charlie began to see where this was headed. But surely not even Purvis would suggest what she thought he was suggesting.

“No, Sir, I live alone. But—”

“Excellent. Take the prisoner to your place.”

“
What?”
Charlie demanded. “Sir, you can’t be serious! It’s against protocol—all
kinds
of protocols—for me to take him back to my personal living space and guard him
by myself.”

“Well you apprehended him
by yourself,
Sayers,” Purvis reminded her nastily. “And you seemed to have managed that just fine.”

“This male could be dangerous,” Charlie reminded him icily. “He is six foot eight and built like a professional wrestler. I’m five foot seven and he outweighs me by at least a hundred pounds if not considerably more—I’m no match for him physically.”

“You don’t have to be. You’ve got your cuffs and your gun. Taze him a couple of times if you have to in order to show him who’s boss.”

“Sir, this is really unbelievably irregular. The fact that you would even suggest that I take a suspect back to my private residence—”

“Do you want to keep your job?” Purvis snapped.

“Not badly enough to put my life in danger,” Charlie shot back. “What you’re asking me to do is dangerous and illegal,
Sir.”

“It’s also the only way you’ll keep both your job and your freedom,” Purvis practically shouted. “The world is at war here, Sayers. We’re under martial law and I
will
have you court-martialed in a heartbeat if you don’t obey my orders. Now I am
through
discussing this with you! You
will
take the prisoner back to your house and keep him there until I can figure out what kind of spin to put on this to the press.
Do you understand?”

Charlie was so pissed off she felt like she could spit nails. What Purvis was demanding of her was completely unreasonable but he wasn’t leaving her a choice.
God damned idiot! What the hell is wrong with him? Why did I ever quit the PD? What was I thinking?

“I said, do you understand, Sayers?” he demanded again when she didn’t answer.

Charlie took a deep breath, trying to master her rage.

“Yes, Sir,” she said icily. “I do.”

“Good. Keep the big bastard secure until you hear from me. You’re excused from active duty until further notice. Just stay with him and keep him under your thumb.”

“Yes, Sir,” Charlie snapped again.

“Good.” Purvis yawned. With the problem at least temporarily solved, he was apparently done for the night. “I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said and hung up.

The phone went dead in her hand. This time she pictured her supervisor rolling over and going back to sleep. Probably getting a good night’s rest while he had just condemned
her
to a completely sleepless night standing guard over an angry alien as big as a horse. He might as well have ordered her to bring home a mountain lion or a timber wolf and keep
it
in her spare room until he could think what to tell the press.

God damned idiot!
Charlie thought again, fuming. But standing around out here all night wasn’t getting her anywhere. She was going to have to take the big Kindred home and find a way to make him secure somehow, at least for the night.

Remembering that she had been going to call in a unit to deal with the girl who had been attacked by her date, Charlie pulled out her cell again. But during her phone call, the girl had wandered back to the front of the bar and apparently called some friends. Craning her neck, Charlie could see her standing with a group of girls, talking. She looked fine but she was still going to have to answer some questions eventually.

Walking around, she got the girl’s information and asked if she wanted to go to a hospital and get examined.

“No, I’m okay. I was just upset.” The girl rubbed her arms as though she was chilly. “Billy really was going to hurt me—I know he was. He would’ve if that big Kindred hadn’t pulled him off. Is he…”

“I have him in custody,” Charlie said. “He’s going to an undisclosed location.” Which was a laugh, considering.

“Oh, good.” The girl rubbed her bare arms again and shivered. “They didn’t used to bother me but now we’re at war with them and they’re so
big.”

“They are that,” Charlie agreed, thinking how huge the big bastard was going to look in her small bed room. “I need to go now. We’ll be in touch. If not me, then another officer or agent,” she promised.

“All right. Thanks for everything. And, uh…” The girl hesitated. “Thank the Kindred for me too. I know they’re our enemies but if he hadn’t stopped Billy…” She shook her head and sniffed.

“Come on.” One of her girl friends put an arm around her shoulders comfortingly. “Let’s get you home.”

Charlie left them to their bonding, trying not to think of Missy. Her older sister had always been there for her like that when things got tough. The two of them had been close—so close Charlie hadn’t felt the need for any other girl friends. After Missy was gone…

Stop. Just stop it,
she lectured herself angrily.
You need to stay in the here and now if you’re going to be safe. Letting yourself get distracted is about the most dangerous thing you can do in the situation you’re about to be in.

She stalked back to her car, trying to stay in the present instead of replaying the past. Thoughts of her older sister, lost several years ago, always made her blue. But it wasn't just melancholy over her sister that was making her feel sad. She winced as she felt a dull, grinding ache beginning in her pelvis. It stopped after a moment but she knew that much worse was to come. Just great—on top of everything else, her period was coming on. It never lasted long but the cramps could be severe. What a night Purvis had picked to saddle her with a dangerous prisoner!

Nothing to do but get through it. Bitching and moaning won't help. Just deal with it.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the front door of her sedan and slid inside. It was a converted squad car so there was reinforced wire mesh between her and the back seat. She could see her prisoner sitting with his arms bound behind his back and his knees practically up to his chin in her rearview.

She couldn’t tell what color his eyes were but they gleamed like an animal’s in the dark, making her heart jump up in her throat for an instant. He held her gaze in the mirror, steady and unblinking, until Charlie had to look away. Great and she had to take
that
home with her. What the hell was Purvis thinking?

Thinking about covering his own ass, that’s what he’s thinking.

She threw the car into drive and bumped over the rocky dirt road until she got to Curlew, which was at least paved, even if it was full of potholes.

They drove in silence for five minutes before the Kindred finally spoke.

“I may be your prisoner but I have the right to know where you are taking me. Is our destination the local penitentiary or incarceration facility?”

“Nope.” Charlie cast another glance in the mirror and looked away before he could catch her eyes with his again. “Not going to jail or prison.”
Not now, anyway.

“Where then?” he growled. “Unless you are planning to execute me—”

“No, I’m not going to shoot you,” Charlie snapped. “That is, unless you misbehave. You’re going to be on a very tight leash where we’re going.”

“But where
are
we going? Where are you taking me?” he demanded again, stirring restlessly in the back seat.

Charlie sighed. “The last place I want to—
my
place.”

Chapter Three

Stavros fumed silently in the back seat. How had he allowed the little female to get the jump on him? She was tiny—her waist no bigger around than his thigh. Though from observing her as she folded him firmly into her car, he
had
been able to ascertain that she had pleasingly rounded hips and a plump posterior…

No!
He frowned to himself. Why should that occur to him now? The female’s physical appearance was irrelevant. The point was, she had him in her custody and he was currently getting farther and farther away from his destination—the HKR building. Where was she taking him? He’d though she said it was to “her place” but surely she didn’t mean her personal residence? From what he knew of Earth penal customs, that seemed highly irregular.

Still, maybe she wanted to conceal him for some reason? She’d spent a great deal of time on her cell phone arguing with someone. From inside the car the conversation had been somewhat muffled Stav had caught a few angry words and she hadn’t looked very happy when she’d finished. So he supposed it was possible that she really was taking him to her domicile or as the humans called it, a house.

Stav studied her in the rearview mirror, trying to gage her motivations and intentions. She had hair the color of ripe wheat but it was difficult to say how long it was as she had it scraped into a no-nonsense bun at the back of her head. Her features were finely sculpted and would have been lovely if she wasn’t wearing a perpetual scowl, as though she was intent on doing a job she didn’t like. Presumably preparing to guard him all night.

Stavros had no sympathy for her—if she hadn’t wanted to keep him secure, she shouldn’t have taken him in the first place. And he was going to make her work too—despite her gun he fully intended to escape the moment his cuffs came off. He wasn’t going to hurt her—he could never bring himself to hurt a female, even one who was his captor. But he was certain he could restrain her and then get back to the HKR building before she got loose.

As if she knew what he was planning, her eyes met his in the mirror again. They were large and deep brown with no other color at all. Their color reminded Stavros of the sweet confection Earthlings called “chocolate” and despite the situation he found himself in, he had to admit they were lovely, fringed as they were with thick lashes several shades darker than her hair.

“What are you staring at?” she demanded when he caught her gaze and held it.

“You,” Stav said quietly.

“Well, stop it!” she snapped, glaring at him.

Stav continued to meet her eyes.

“Why? Does it make you nervous to hold my gaze?” He wasn’t trying to intimidate her—he had the feeling not much
could
intimidate this female. She had a brisk, no-nonsense way about her that had already earned his grudging respect. But he was honestly interested in the answer.

“Don’t flatter yourself buddy,” she said flatly, looking back at the road as the car took a sharp curve. The lights of town were fading outside his window and Stav had the idea they were going out into the country surrounding Asheville.

“I was simply asking a question,” he pointed out. “In response to the one you asked. I thought you were initiating a conversation.”

“Well, I’m not. So don’t talk to me.” Her eyes flicked to his once more in the mirror and just as quickly flickered away. Stavros noticed that her cheeks were dark pink. Had he discomforted her somehow? The thought was oddly intriguing—as was the sweet scent that rose from her small body. It reminded Stavros of the Earth plant called honeysuckle. It must be her perfume—an artificial scent many Earth females wore for some reason. It was very pleasant but even better was the warm, feminine musk underneath it.

Stavros shifted his feet and legs in the cramped back seat and another scent, not nearly as pleasant, rose to greet him. He grimaced. Apparently he hadn’t been as fast as he’d thought when the male he had threatened had voided his bladder. The male had been wearing the truncated trousers Earthlings called “shorts” and his urine had obviously splattered the lower front of Stavros’s leathers and his boots.

Seven Hells,
Stav swore to himself. At least the leather of his trousers had kept the urine from soaking in and touching his skin but it was still unpleasant to be wearing the waste fluids of the other male.

They were getting farther and farther from the lights of town, the car taking a steep turn as it entered a twisting trail leading up and up and up. From the windows Stavros caught glimpses of trees and bushes and very occasionally, a lone dwelling. He estimated they had gone quite a way—possibly farther than he could walk on foot if he wanted to get back to the HKR building before dawn. It was a good thing he knew how to drive an Earth car—he might have to “borrow” this one once he escaped.

In the meantime, however, the itching, tickling sensation in his brain had grown fainter and less insistent. Stavros wasn’t sure if whoever was trying to contact him was giving up or if the signal was somehow being blocked out by the bulk of the mountain they were climbing. It didn’t matter though—no matter how faint the signal became he still had to answer it.