Devoured: Brides of the Kindred 11 (12 page)

She pulled out the bottom drawer of her
night stand and felt for the envelope taped underneath. She was relieved to see
it was intact with the contents—about seven hundred dollars—still untouched. It
was her entire savings—not much but enough to keep her going a little while if
she was careful. She kept it hidden in her apartment because she didn’t trust
banks—the transactions were too easy to trace. Especially for a man like Pierce
who could just flash his badge and get any information he wanted.

When she’d finished her purge and repacked
the bag with the money hidden in an inside pocket, the duffel was only a little
bit lighter. Still, it was slightly more manageable and Tess thought she could
deal with it. But it still hurt to carry the strap over her cut and bruised
shoulder.

In fact, she was beginning to fear that
her back might be more of a problem than she’d thought. Pierce had beaten her
before so she was used to bruises and welts. But the cuts… well, they weren’t
going to heal well unless she could tend to them and she couldn’t reach her own
back.

She went to the bathroom and took off the
dirty towel which was now much worse for the wear. She should probably pack it
too—it had both her blood and Garron’s on it. For a moment she stared at the
large, bloody handprint which had dried on the white terrycloth. She held her
own up to compare. The Kindred’s hand was more than twice the size of hers—he
really was a big guy. But she still didn’t know why he was here and so eager to
protect her.

Sighing, she draped the towel over the
closed toilet seat and reached under the bathroom counter for a bottle of
hydrogen peroxide. It was unopened and she had to spend a moment fighting with
the protective packaging around the lid. Back when she was still living with
Pierce, she’d kept an entire first aid kit complete with bandages, gauze,
peroxide, and antibiotic ointment. When she’d moved into her own place, she had
left that all behind. Buying the bottle had been a reflex—a habit. When she had
seen it, unpacking her groceries, she’d actually smiled grimly and thought,
Well, I won’t need that anymore.
Then
she’d shoved it under the bathroom cabinet and forgotten about it.

“Looks like it’s a good thing I bought
this after all” she muttered dryly as the protective film finally peeled away. “Pierce
strikes again.
Literally
.”

She was trying to make light of it but the
memory was still as fresh and painful as the bruises and cuts that covered her
back. Cowering in a corner with her arms wrapped around her head while the
metal buckle tore at her flesh over and over…Listening to Pierce shout and
rave…
“Is this what you need to make you
mind you little slut? You little whore? Is this what you need to remind you not
to spread your legs for other men?”

Don’t
think of it now,
Tess ordered herself.
Turning so that she was at an angle to the mirror over the sink, she craned her
head around, trying to get a good view of her bare back. What greeted her eyes
was even worse than she’d feared.
Wow, he
really did a number on me. That’s going to be sore for awhile.

Well, sore was all right—what she couldn’t
deal with was infected, especially if she was going to be on the run with no
access to antibiotics.

Grimly, Tess reached over her shoulder and
dumped the peroxide across her wounded flesh, biting her lip against the pain
as it bubbled and stung its way down. God, that really
hurt.
But at least now she knew she didn’t have to worry about
infection for a while.

She repeated the process and then blotted
her back gently with a clean towel. There was still half a bottle of peroxide
left and she packed it in her duffel for later.

Now the question was what to wear?

A bra was out. She’d packed several but
there was no way she could wear one now, not when her back was a mass of
bruises and fresh cuts. Tess didn’t like that—her boobs were too big to go
au natural
. She felt wobbly and obscene
without support. But just the thought of cinching the tight elastic straps over
her wounded shoulders and across her mid back made her wince. Reluctantly, she
decided to go braless—for now.

She found a pink t-shirt she usually used
for sleeping and pulled it on gingerly, trying to keep the soft cotton from
sticking to her cuts. Probably it would be better if she could bandage them but
she didn’t have any bandages or antibiotic ointment.
Have to get some later,
she told herself as she put on a pair of
panties and some black yoga pants. They were form fitting but comfy and they
didn’t hurt her hips and lower back where the belt had struck.

Last she found an old pair of ballet
flats. They were comfortable and versatile—good for travel. And it looked like
she was going to be doing a lot of traveling in the near future.

By
yourself?
asked a little voice
in her head.
Or are you going somewhere
with Garron?

Tess didn’t know. She still didn’t understand
the big Kindred’s motivations. She only knew when he looked at her with those
pure, clear turquoise eyes she found it hard to think straight. Mainly because
she kept remembering the “forbidden” things he’d wanted to do to her when he
thought she was a Pairing Puppet. Also…she frowned…now that she really thought
about it, he
reminded
her of someone
somehow. Which was ridiculous of course. She didn’t know anyone who looked like
him—how could she? It wasn’t like she was friends with any male models. But he
somehow seemed…familiar. Why was that? It was right on the tip of her brain if
she could just…

“Tess? Do you need any assistance? We
should go soon.” Garron’s deep voice calling from the kitchen broke her
concentration.

“Oh, uh, coming.” He was right, they
needed to go. Tess grabbed her duffel bag and winced when she unthinkingly
tried to sling it across her shoulder. She let out a little hiss of pain and
decided to just drag the damn thing. Accordingly, she came out of the bedroom
pulling the bag behind her. She had her head down and nearly ran into Garron,
who was standing in the short hallway outside her bedroom.

“Oh!” She took a step back from him, an
instinctive fear coming into play. He was so
big
looming over her like that, his broad shoulders filling the
small space between the walls of the hallway with barely an inch to spare. The
light was behind him, casting his face into shadows, making him
dark…dangerous…threatening.

“What’s
wrong, you little whore? Are you afraid to take your punishment?”
Pierce’s voice hissed in her ears. Tess’s heart was
suddenly drumming madly in her chest, her breath coming in harsh, panting
gasps.

“Please…Please, no…” She took another step
back and then another, nearly tripping over the bag.

“Are you all right?” Garron reached out
lightning-fast to catch her, his big hand supporting her upper arm to keep her
from falling.

Strangely, his touch soothed her fear.
Maybe because Pierce never would have caught her that way. Oh, he would have
grabbed her arm to stop her from falling, all right, but then he would have
pinched her or squeezed too tight or found some other little, mean way to cause
her pain. He never missed a chance to hurt her, though in the early days of
their relationship he had passed it off as a joke.

“Oh, come on, don’t be such a
girl,”
he would say if she complained.
“I’m just playing with you, Princess.”

Except that playing with Pierce always
involved pain.

Not so with Garron. His touch was firm but
gently supportive and his eyes, when he ducked his head to look at her, were
filled with concern.

“Are you all right?” he asked again.

“Fine.” Tess gave a shaky laugh. “You
just…startled me, that’s all. You’re so big I thought you were some kind of
monster or something when I first came out here. Stupid, huh?” She tried to
laugh again but her throat was too tight.

To her surprise, he seemed to understand
the real reason for her fear.

“It wasn’t a monster you feared—it was
that bastard who hit you, wasn’t it?”

“I…” Tess’s mouth felt too dry to speak.

“I shouldn’t have crowded you in a dark
hallway,” Garron said gravely. “Not after what you’ve been through. Forgive
me.”

“It’s…all right.” Tess cleared her throat.

“No, it’s not. I shouldn’t have frightened
you.”

“You
didn’t—your size did. You just looked so
big
standing there in the dark. It
reminded me of—” She stopped, biting her lip.

“Of him,” Garron finished for her softly.
“As I said.”

“Well…a
little,”
she admitted hesitantly. “Not that you’re anything like
Pierce. You’re just…a really big guy. That’s all.”

The big Kindred sighed. “I can’t help my
size or strength, Tess—they’re part of me. But I
can
promise they will never be used against you. I don’t hit
females.
Ever.”

Tess nodded. “I believe you. I’m just…a
little jumpy right now. I’ll be all right soon.”

Not
unless soon means weeks and weeks,
whispered
a little voice in her head.
As in weeks
and weeks of nightmares. Because guess what, Tess? I have a feeling that your
little run in with the ex is going to start that whole miserable cycle again.
Hope you’re up for a little sleep deprivation. Or a lot of it.

Tess sighed inwardly—the little voice was
probably right. She’d had nightmares about Pierce finding and “punishing” her
for weeks after she finally moved out. In fact, they had only really subsided
when she started having the other dream…the one she couldn’t remember. For a
moment the thought of her recurring forgotten dream bothered her, but then
Garron was asking if he could carry her bag.

“Sure, I guess.” She handed him the strap
and watched as he lifted the heavy bag as though it was light as a feather.
Like you should be surprised?
whispered
the little voice.
You just saw him pull a
freaking metal mesh cage out of a concrete wall. And after you fell out the
window, he was holding you like you didn’t weigh any more than a doll which we
know is
not
the case. Lifting your
big-ass duffel is nothing.

Thinking of that made her remember that
he’d hurt his hands helping her get away from Pierce’s house.

“Hey…” She touched him on the elbow. “Wait
a minute. Let’s go in the bathroom for a minute so I can see your hands.”

“No time. We should leave here.”

“We will—in a minute as soon as I look at
your hands. Come on.” Tess tugged him by the elbow into the guest bathroom
which was tiny, consisting of a sink, a mirror and a toilet. “Hold out your
hands,” she said. “And let me get into that bag a minute—I’ve got a bottle of
hydrogen peroxide in there.”

She dug out the bottle and waited until
the big warrior reluctantly extended his hands, palm up.

What she saw made Tess hiss in sympathetic
pain. The palms and fingers of his large hands were raw and bleeding in several
places.

“This looks painful! You should have said
something,” she scolded, unscrewing the cap of the peroxide bottle.

“Not nearly as painful as your back,”
Garron said softly.

“Oh, well…” For some reason Tess felt her
cheeks getting hot. “I’ll be fine. I’ll just pop a couple of ibuprofen. Now,
here—this is probably going to sting.”

She had him hold his hands over the sink
and poured the hydrogen peroxide over his cuts. He didn’t even wince as they
bubbled and foamed but only watched patiently as she blotted his hands with
some clean paper towels as well as she could.

“There—that’ll have to do until we can get
some antibiotic ointment and some bandages,” she said. “Just try not to get
them dirty for now. I can do more in-depth first aid later.”

“Thank you.” Garron nodded gravely and
they left the bathroom and moved on down the hall.

As they went through the kitchen, Tess had
to stop and stare. The blood, the broken vase and the crumpled divorce papers
were all gone. The little round kitchen table was completely bare…and
spotlessly clean. So was the floor.

“You…” She looked up at Garron in
disbelieve. “You did this? You
cleaned?”

“Yes.” He looked worried. “Did you not
want me to? The…mess in your food prep area seemed to bother you greatly. I
wanted to help.”

Tess shook her head in wonder. She knew
there were guys in the world who cooked and cleaned and generally helped out
around the house. But knowing there
was
such a man and actually
meeting
one
were two different things. Pierce had done absolutely
nothing
to help—considering anything to do with keeping up the
house women’s work. And now Garron, without even being asked, had cleaned up a
really nasty mess, just because he could tell it bothered her.

“Wow,” she said at last, looking at him.
“Thank you. Just…thank you.”

“I know we’re leaving here and not coming
back,” he said. “But I thought…your last memory of where you lived shouldn’t be
a bad one.”