Excessive Force (Force of Nature Series) (2 page)

“
She’s going with us.” Austin didn’t bother looking at the other brother again but at the woman as he tried to bully CJ. Jodie didn’t look like she should be up and around, much less looking like she was going to take on both of her brothers. Even Austin could see that she’d kill them both before they were able to move.

“I’m going back to my hotel.
I don’t care for people, and I’d much rather be alone.” Austin smiled when she glared at him. “You might be alpha, but I’m not a wolf right now and have no intentions of being one while I’m here, so you have no jurisdiction over me.”

He was pretty sure she was right an
d nodded. He’d ask his mom when he got home. She’d know better than anyone what rules applied or not. He looked at CJ when she shook her head at him.

“All right
, but can we give you a lift to your hotel? I’d feel a great deal better if you’d let me make sure that you got there in one piece.” She looked at her brothers, then at him. “I won’t let them hurt you again.”

“Neither will
I. But I would appreciate a lift to my father’s house. My bike is there, and I want it back.” She looked at the older man and glared. “If you touched it, so help me, I’ll use your dick as a divining rod to find it.”

“We couldn’t get it started
, and the fucker is too heavy to move without it starting.” She nodded and grabbed her head. “Your head hurt, sister dear?”

Jodie
moved faster than he could see. When the older man was lifted off the floor and she held the other by the throat, no one moved. She shook them both before she tossed them away.

“You come near me again
, you’d better have all your paperwork in order, because when I’m finished with you, you’ll never see the light of day again. And I’m not making a threat but a promise to you both.” She glanced at Austin and flushed. “I’m going to say goodbye to my father and I’m leaving. I’m sorry for what’s happened here today.”

Austin nodded but didn’t say anything. He followed her out of the clinic and to his truck.
CJ was just behind him. She touched his hand, and he knew what she was thinking too. This woman wasn’t going anywhere if they could help it.

“She’s going to be hurt by them again before this is done.”
Austin nodded.
“Can we make her stay here? Is there some rule that states she has to stay here before the idiots behind us try and kill her again?”

“Not really. But I can hol
d her for a few hours. She’s hurt, and as an alpha we can’t let her drive off knowing that she’s hurt. My ass will be in trouble with the council when they find out.”
CJ snorted.
“Okay, I’m on the council, but they can still be pissy.”

“I’m calling your mom. She can do wonders with making
others see her way. And just so you know, Phil and Holly are at the house too. I think Phil has a few questions for her.”
She helped Jodie into the truck and got in the front part with him.
“Do you know her father?”

“I do. He’s a nice old man
, but I have a feeling now that it’s because he wanted me to think so. If there is this much hatred between his kids, I can only imagine how much the father contributed to this mess.”
Austin started the truck and turned to Jodie. She was out again, and Austin turned back to CJ. “I guess we get to take her home anyway.”

Chapter 2

Reid Atkins moved on his seat as he answered the last of the questions. He was nearly finished with state boards
, and if he got a passing score, he could start his practice. Well, working for the clinic anyway. He put the mark on the last one and flipped it over to the front. He wasn’t going to read over his answers again.

The last time he’d tried to do that
, he’d gotten every one of them wrong. Second guessing himself was not an option. He knew that he did well, and now all he had to do was wait on the score. Of course, he had to first turn in his test to get a score. He stood up and took the answer sheet as well as the test to the front and turned it in. The proctor handed him his cell phone and his driver’s license.

“Good luck,” she mouthed at him
, and he nodded. As he moved out the door, a slip of paper fell out and onto the floor. He picked it up and stared at the phone number along with the proctor’s name written over it. Shelly, it seemed, thought they should get together tonight to celebrate. He started to toss it away and decided that he’d take care of this before she got him into trouble. He headed to the dean’s office to let him know.

“You didn’t encourage her…never mind. I know you
didn’t. I’ve never seen a young man so focused on his studies before. Let me take care of this.” Reid nodded. “I want you to know that we’re going to miss you around here. I know you’ll make a fine doctor and maybe take care of me someday.”

“I hope not
, but if you need me, you know where I’ll be.” The dean nodded, and Reid left the office. He was going home.

CJ and
Austin had taken him and his brother in when they were nearly starved and down on their luck. His brother Randy had another year to go before he was finished with college. Then he’d be taking his boards to be a lawyer. He’d already set up some internships to work at before taking his final year. They had decided that making CJ and Austin proud to have taken them in was the least they could do for them.

The drive was going to be a long one
, but he’d already packed up his things from his temporary home last week and had sent it home with his family. Now all he had to do was get in, gas up, and be gone. He was still smiling when his phone rang.

“You’re not going to believe this shit.”
He laughed at his brother. “I’m home for all of a day, and there are already problems. Some chick is here, and man, does she have a chip on her shoulder about us.”

“Does CJ know that you’re calling another female a ‘chick’?
She’ll have your hide if she hears you.” Reid attached his phone to the headset and started his car. “And what does this woman have a chip on her shoulder about? You by any chance?”

“No, she has these
brothers that are going to be on Austin’s shit list for a long time if they don’t straighten up soon. They beat her to shit because she belongs to them, they said. Not where I come from. She’s staying here for a few days until she can get her father taken care of. He’s not a nice guy either from what I’ve heard.” Randy paused for a second, and Reid took the opportunity to ask him about other things.

“When do you think our house will be ready?
The deal’s been closed for nearly six months now…any progress in getting the people out?”

They’d bought a house that had been foreclosed on
by the bank, but the problem remained that the previous owners weren’t moving out. Nor, it seemed to Reid, did they have any intentions of doing so. At least not from where he stood. He was going to have to call in Phil, and he really hated to bother the man. But enough was enough.

“No, and before you ask
, I did contact Phil. I can’t do it on my own, but he let me help with filing the paperwork yesterday morning. The courts are going to have to give them twenty-four hours, and then we can have them evicted legally. I hate to do that because of the kids, but they’ve been living there all this time on our dime.” He heard his brother talk to someone and heard the woman cursing. “I gotta go. Miss Turner is going into town, and Austin asked me to take her.”

When his brother hung up
, Reid thought about what he planned to do first when he got home. He wanted to go on a long hard run. Then he wanted to go for a swim in the lake near their new home. He thought he was looking forward to that more than he was a home-cooked meal made by Nancy, Austin’s mom.

The house was too big for the two of them.
Way too big, but it was just far enough away from the pack house that he and Randy could come and go as they pleased without everyone knowing about it, as well as close enough that they could run with the pack if they wanted. But the house itself was beautiful.

There were s
ix bedrooms and six baths on the upper floor that also had servant’s quarters. There were two more bedrooms with baths on the second floor, as well as the den, and on the main floor, there was a large living room, entertainment room, first level to the library, which extended up to the second level, and dining room, as well as a solarium. The kitchen took up one quarter of the house on that level that the previous owners had outfitted to be able to handle as many as five hundred guests. Yeah, the house was too big for the two of them, but it was all theirs.

Phil had told them that in five years they could sell down and have more than enough money to pay cash for both of them a house
, and he and Randy could have a really nice nest egg. Reid hoped it would sell, but Phil told him it would be easy once they made the improvements that were needed. The new roof and landscaping were on the top of the list.

Reid pulled over about three hours from home and got out to take a much needed walk.
He’d been so happy to cross into Ohio that he’d only just then realized that he’d not had any dinner. As he filled the car up, he wondered about the woman and her brothers.

He had no idea why he thought of her then
, but what Randy had said about her being the property of her brothers had bothered him. He’d read all the bylaws of his kind, a required reading as far as Austin was concerned, and he’d learned a great deal. Mostly he’d learned that when one became an alpha, they had to rule with an open mind as well as a heavy hand. He wasn’t sure if Austin followed that rule so much, but he was well respected. And his pack loved him. Reid knew that he did, and Randy did as well.

He was back on the road again when his phone rang.
He answered it with a smile, knowing that whatever CJ wanted was hers. He loved her more than anyone he knew.

“Did you know that
it’s against the law to kill someone because they’ve pissed you off entirely too much for one day? I just heard that over and over from Austin for the past hour.” She laughed when he did. “Please tell me you’re nearly here. I’ve been waiting all day to see you pull into the drive.”

“I’m about there.
Should be pulling into the drive by the time you’re going to bed. I was thinking of simply going to the pack house for the night. Randy said our squatters are still in our house.”

CJ snorted.
“They seem to think possession is nine tenths of the law. Phil is ready to go in and drain them all in their sleep. The woman who lives there said that she’d move out when the house burned down around her. It was hers.”

Randy had told him the same thing.
“I guess they’re going to have them evicted in a few days. Do you think they’ll do anything stupid?” He could see these people burning down the house just for spite. “I really have fallen in love with the house like it is. If they harm it, I’m not going to be a happy camper.”

“Neither will anyone else.
And they have to know that something is going to have to break soon. The bank has told them over and over to get the hell out. Shit, Reid, it’s like they think they’re free do as they fucking well please and not face any consequences.” He agreed with her. “Anyway, that’s not why I called. Did your brother tell you about the woman who’s staying with us? Her name is Jodie Turner.”

“Yes. I guess she’s staying there with you guys
because of her family. You must have a full house.” Reid hoped she was gone before he got there. He just wanted to rest and relax for a few days. “When will this all be over for her and her family do you think?”

“Soon. Her dad is dying
, and he’s got his family around him as he kicks the bucket. Lou was talking to Jodie this morning, and she got the impression that the girl wasn’t really all that close to him either. And those brothers are peaches. One of them, Curt, is part wolf and thinks he’s the shit, and the other brother, Mike, he’s just a plain bastard. I’d kill him if he was related to me.”

“And the woman? What is she?
Randy seemed to think she wasn’t human either.” He pulled off the highway to take the back roads to the house. He was still a little way away, but he could feel the pull of family.

“She’s a shape shifter. I’m
not sure what the difference is between a shape shifter and a regular shifter, but Phil seems to think there is one. And you know he’s been around forever. But she’s nice if a little on the stubborn side.” Reid nearly asked if she was more stubborn than her, but didn’t. “She is hurt too, but won’t let anyone have a look at her. I think she has a couple of ribs broken too.”

“And her father, what does he have to say about all this?”
Reid tried not to think about her walking around hurt. For whatever reason, and he was sure she had plenty, she hadn’t healed herself. He waited for CJ to answer him.

“He just lies in the bed and looks around. When she comes to his bedside
, he perks up a bit, but he won’t talk to Austin. He goes with her when she insists on going over to the house. Not often, mind you, but she does go more than I would if he was my dad. Reminds me too much of my own father.”

Reid had forgotten that CJ’s father was a bastard too. He’d knocked CJ out at her mom’s funeral and had told her that he never wanted to see her again.
She’d lived with her grandmother when she wasn’t driving a truck, and even then didn’t even come home when he’d died. Phil had handled all the arrangements with another firm, including taking care of the house that Charles Webber, her dad, had lived in.

They hung up a few minutes later when he was only an hour from home.
He told her he’d call when he got there. When he pulled into the driveway, he nearly ran someone down and had to break hard to avoid hitting the beautiful hawk that sat in the middle of the road.

~~~

Jodie sat very still as the man got out of his car. She didn’t have time for this shit. She’d come out here to have a nice, long fly when Curt had come out of nowhere and threatened her again. She could have taken off, she supposed, and left him there, but now the man was standing between her and her idiot brother. While she didn’t care if he killed Curt or not, she didn’t want anyone else to get hurt by him.

“She’s coming home with me.”
The newcomer looked back at her and then at Curt. “She’s not going to stay here and sponge off these nice people any longer. Tell her to shift and get her ass home.”

“I think she can hear you.”
She hopped closer to the man and watched Curt. He could be a real prick when he wanted to and would hurt anyone he thought was weaker than him. Actually, she thought he assumed everyone was weaker than him. The man looked down at her again when she turned toward him. But there didn’t seem to be anything weak about this man at all.

“She’s not listening to me.”
When Curt took a step toward the man, she flew up and hit him with her outstretched talon. He backed up and the man behind her laughed. She landed near him but not quite in front of him this time.

“I don’t think she wants anything to do with you
, and I’m pretty sure she’s right. Why don’t you get off this land before I call the alpha? He doesn’t take kindly to uninvited guests.” She moved when Curt kicked out at her but not fast enough. She might have been able to dodge his foot altogether but for the fact she was staring at the man. She felt her ribs punch into her lung and knew that she’d never fly away from him now if he attacked again. And she couldn’t shift now either. She was entirely too weak and would get hurt by Curt and more than likely the other guy before she could limp away.

The gun was out before she could take her next breath. The man held it like he knew just how to use it
, and she was sure he would if Curt gave him the slightest reason. Another man coming out of the woods startled her, but the first man seemed to know him as well.

“
Myles, this man has refused to leave the grounds, and he’s kicked this woman. Do you know if Austin or Dallas is around?” The good looking man looked down at her then. “Can you fly at all?”

She shook her head
, and even that caused her pain. When she walked away from the men, she felt rather than saw the alpha come out behind Myles. He told him what was going on.

“I think we’ve about had enough of you.”
Austin took two steps forward, and Jodie had a moment of panic when Curt looked like he was going to shift. “You do it and it will be the last stupid move you’ve ever made.”

“I’ve asked you nicely for my sister to come ho—
” Austin grabbed Curt around the throat and held him up.