Feral Craving (12 page)

"Bug off, asshole."

His shirt was next as he turned and moved
around the room. He got down on the floor searching for his boots, which he
found under the bed.

"You don't even know her name, do
you?" Tyler asked.

Bari scowled, searching his brain, trying
to remember a lick about last night, but the last thing he recalled was doing
Patron shots off of a sweet tasting stomach and wishing it had been someone
else. He came up blank and glanced to Tyler. The male’s answering laugh turned
his mood sour.

"Yeah, yeah. Fuck it. Let's
go."

As Tyler stood, his laughter still
continuing, Bari shook his head and reached for his jacket, intending to get
the fuck outta dodge before what's-her-name returned.

****

The morning went from bad to worse. This
was the part of her job Bethany hated. Losing any patient hurt, but when she
lost a child, it almost killed her.

The six-year-old little girl had been
struck by a car, which drove off, failing to stop. The hospital staff worked
every trick in the book, but still, nothing had been good enough. All of this
on the heels of a conversation last night left her without sleep.

Mackenzie had called her in a near state
of hysteria. It took almost two bottles of Merlot and a few tears to finally
get the entire story.

Mackenzie had received a call a few weeks
ago, a call she hadn’t decided to let anyone know about until last night. She
hadn’t even told her twin. Then last night, after some creep talked to Byron
and practically scared the shit out of Mackenzie did the truth finally come
out.
He
had escaped from the mental
institution where he had been serving his prison sentence. The asshole who
almost killed Mackenzie took it upon himself to grant early parole.

The agent who called her was the same
agent who worked the case in Los Angeles. They both agreed that since Mackenzie
had last been in Los Angeles, Chad would mostly likely go there. Chad the
Stalker. Chad the Attempted Murderer. Chad the fucktard.

So while Mackenzie knew Chad had escaped,
she hadn’t decided to tell anyone until last night. She promised Bethany she
would tell Alex today, and Bethany didn’t give two shits about secrets on this
one; she would call Alex herself, to make sure he was aware.

Bethany turned from her computer. Her
head spun with information and emotions, her mind a jumbled mass that couldn’t
write a simple sentence. Glancing over to her office door, she froze. Speaking
of jumbled, there he stood, watching her, waiting, silent as a predator about
to strike.

Tyler, Tyler, Tyler. Just thinking his
name made her thighs clench and her heart sigh. An angel’s devil was the
description she gave him. Tall and lean, he stood imposing and commanding. He
watched her now with a hint of amusement sparking out of his green eyes. The
color was so different from any green she had ever seen, a mixture of dark
leaves and the swirling ocean. His hair was tied back at his nape, and she
wanted nothing more than to pull it out of its tie and mess it all up. She
wanted to push her nose in it and take in his scent. She wanted to undress him.

With her teeth.

She made a mental image in her head of
teeth snapping and as if he read her mind, he smirked. Tyler pushed away from
her door and chuckled.

Why did she have a sudden thought he
could
hear everything she was thinking?

Oh please
shoot me now…

“Bethany…” The way he said her name,
sweet baby Jesus, she wanted him to say it again. “I hope this is a good time?”
Posed like a question, he gave her the sweet arch of a brow.

She couldn’t find her voice.

“Bethany…” Tyler grinned and reached her
desk.

He heard me.
He said my name twice. Oh hell…

“It’s fine.”

No, it wasn’t.
Yes, it is.
No, wait. Shit, why did she always lose complete
control of her brain when he was around?
It’s
called hormones.
She mentally rolled her eyes and cleared her throat.

“Actually, it’s not, Tyler. I mean, I
have to sex this up. I mean type this up!”

Very classy,
Beth!
She
took a deep breath and let it out at a snail’s pace, lifting her gaze back to
his. “I actually need to type this up then get over to Mac’s.”

Tyler’s bright eyes were laughing at her
and his smile—could the man be any sexier?

“What’s wrong with Mac?”

“Let me guess, she didn’t tell Bari?” She
knew it! Mackenzie said she would bring it up, and Bethany thought it would be
a good idea. If anyone understood security, Bari and his “Band of Brothers”
did.

“No … should she have?”

Again with the deep breath, she let it
out before leaning across her desk and folding her hands. Tyler’s gaze dropped
to her breasts before rising back up to her eyes. Huh, interesting.
He’s a man, Beth. They can’t help
themselves.

“Maybe I have time for this…”

Chapter
Fourteen

His damn head pounded,
and he wanted to lie down; however, it seemed
 
Tyler, Tony,
 
and
 Mike 
had other plans. Bari did his
best to avoid Mackenzie, but apparently Tyler had a run in with Bethany and the
only option left was to go confront what he had been trying to avoid.

Like Days of Our fucking
Lives
.

 
It was either that or wonder if Bethany would
follow through with cutting his nuts off using a serrated blade.

Without disinfectant.

He shuddered; she was a
doctor and had never really liked him, so she’d probably do it. For kicks.

Bari stepped out from
his car and glanced around the neighborhood. Shop after shop lined the
walkways, the shopping district packed with tourists. Mackenzie’s shop sat at
the end, one wall of windows facing the ocean’s front. It was prime real
estate, and he couldn’t help but feel pride.

Crossing the street, he
stepped into the shop. He squinted, his gaze tracking the darkened interior of
the room before adjusting and landing on two of the sexiest females his eyes
ever laid on.

"Christ…"

Bari stood back and watched Bethany and
Mackenzie interact, two women he wouldn't mind being scrunched between. He
heard Tyler chuckle behind before bumping his shoulder and walking by. Dry
washing his face, Bari scrubbed his hands down and glanced at Mike, who seemed
to be standing there just as shell shocked as he was. He stepped across the
shop, his long strides eating up the length of it, and sat down on a stool at a
table next to the bar, turning the seat to straddle it.

"You two done playing kissy face?
Not that I can’t say it isn’t nice to see you, Ladies. But I’ve got things to
do. What exactly did you need me here for?"

“Oh please, Bari. Don’t try to act all
tough in front of your boys. I seem to remember someone being the instigator
for a kiss between Mac and I back in the day and even then, someone begged for
more. Shall I go on?” Bethany’s brows rose as she finished, but before he could
respond, Tyler chirped in.

“Hell yeah, I’d like to know.”

“No, he doesn’t. Cut the shit. Why was it
so urgent that you threatened castration to get me down here?” Bari glanced at
Mac and frowned, watching as she met his gaze with a frown of her own. Hell, he
wasn’t frowning
at
her; he frowned at
the dark circles under her eyes, the exhaustion marring her features. He opened
his mouth to explain when Bethany’s smart-ass mouth opened yet again.

“If you could stop staring at Mac’s tits
for one second then maybe I would tell you.”

Bari scowled and wrenched his eyes from
Mackenzie’s, but not before he saw the flare of pink on her cheeks. She had
always been a blusher, and it was something he found endearing as hell. Picking
up a bottle of water, he twirled it around and ignored Beth’s statement,
because well, yeah, he did stare. They were perfect, a size that looked good
and would fit in his hands like they had been made for him. He wondered if her
nipples were still the same color as her lips.

Mind out of
the gutter, Bari!

"Out with it, Beth. What is going
on?"

Beth deliberated with a frown for a few
moments.

“Someone has been following Mac.”

Mackenzie started to argue, but Bethany
lifted a hand, cutting her off.

“She had a stalker in Los Angeles, Bari.
One who turned out to be a huge threat, one who attacked her in her own home.
Last month she was notified he escaped from the mental institution he had been
sentenced to and no one knows where he is. You’re home now, and I figured you
might want to help her out.”

Bari scowled at each word. Anger and a
protective urge filled his veins as he listened, his gaze snapping over to
Mackenzie. Why had she never told him? Why didn’t he know? What happened in Los
Angeles? Bari crossed his arms and looked between the two of them.

"So I get why you would ask me,
seeing as I have protected people, but I don't think I'm the only one here who
doesn't think you two could handle things yourself or even that your brother
Alex wouldn’t want to be involved in this. Have you told him?"

“You can be such an asshole, Bari,” Beth
quipped.

“So you have reminded me on more than one
occasion, Beth.”

“You don’t have to be such a dick while
you’re at it.”

“Yes, I do.”

“You know…” Beth leaned across the table,
anger hot in her eyes. The wicked gleam said she wanted nothing more than to
beat him senseless. The entire table seemed to be holding its breath. “Some
would think you would take more of a responsibility in protecting your child.”

His head reared back as he looked at Bethany
as if she had lost her mind.

“Child?”

He snapped his eyes to Mackenzie, and she
closed hers, horror raking across her features. Bari’s breathing picked up, his
chest rising and falling with shallow breaths. He silently urged Mackenzie to
deny it, to start laughing and tell him it was a joke, for someone to take away
his worst nightmare, his biggest fear tossed in his lap.

“Mac, look at me.” A command, a
statement, offering no yield to it being a question. Mackenzie opened her eyes,
and her mouth parted on a sigh, the sound of pain mixed with worry. The truth
of it sent the breath out of his lungs. A muscle ticked in his jaw as anger
rose. He had never been told. Confused, amazed that he—when his world was so
dark—created life. Fearful for the child and this woman as his past came back
to haunt him.

“I’m not asking you to do anything for
him, Bari. Hell, I didn’t even want to tell you about this person who has been
following me, sending me flowers, letters … but…” Mackenzie glared at Bethany.

Bari processed, or tried to process, the
excess of information tossed at him. In all of his twenty-nine-years of being
alive, he never felt like he belonged anywhere. For some reason this was the
first time in his life that this was where he was meant to be. His eyes flicked
over to Mackenzie’s, and he snapped his jaw shut, his teeth grinding together
under the annoyance boiling in his veins.

"You know damn well that neither
secret is yours to keep anymore, Angel."

In his eyes it wasn’t. She had his child,
for Christ’s sake! He was shocked, pissed, and determined all at once to find
out all of her secrets or better yet … why his childhood best friend decided he
wasn’t worthy enough to be told. He was determined to change things, to fix
things, and to protect them both. It was a new feeling, one very unfamiliar.
Just when he thought his mind finally started to process all the information.

You are a
real fucking winner, Bari. Who are you going to blame in this? Her? Who was the
one who packed his bags and didn’t look back for nine years? What an asshole.

From the hard look in Mackenzie’s eyes,
she didn’t think he was entitled to any information. The slight flush to her
cheeks had him curious. His eyes bore down on Mac’s, his mind seeking contact.
Her eyes widened, and then narrowed. A mental equivalent of a slap pushed him
out of her mind, her secrets. She was strong but not quick enough as he caught
an image of what she thought about. His own eyes flared, his body wanting
nothing more than to act out exactly what she had been thinking. His eyes
stayed on Mackenzie as he spoke. "What exactly has been going on, Beth?
Who is this guy, and why do we think he may be here?"

He formed the images in his mind, kept
the link open to Mackenzie. In his head, his hands worked to reveal sweet
inches of her smooth skin, and as he, in his mind, dipped his head to capture
that perfect nipple in his mouth, she gasped.

“Stop it, Bari,” Tyler whispered in his
ear. He turned toward him and glanced at Mike, who looked amused as shit. Mackenzie
stood, her breath panting as her chest rose and fell rapidly.