GraceinMoonlight (9 page)

They’d made it their job to wipe out the
lucani
. The
lucani
had fought back and won. But it’d been a long battle and he’d let the den rear
his daughter more than he had. He’d felt helpless in the face of her cries and
the overwhelming responsibility of caring for a tiny baby utterly dependent on
him.

He’d loved his daughter at first sight but at the age of
nineteen, Kaisie hadn’t known how to juggle his duties as a tracker and his
responsibility as a father.

Luckily for him and Kaine, the
lucani
hadn’t let him
fail her. They’d taken care of her when he’d had to leave and they’d taught him
everything he’d needed to know to take care of her himself when he was home.
His parents had helped as much as they could but they’d been close to seventy
when Kaine had arrived. And gone by the time she was ten.

He looked at his daughter across the aisle, still in her
wolf pelt and spread out across two seats. They’d wrapped her paw and given her
a shot for the pain from the med-kit and now she slept.

Grace had carried his daughter out of the house with that
gash on her arm while John had kept Marrucini busy so they could all get away.

Kaisie met John’s solemn gaze. “She’ll make it. She’s too
stubborn not to.”

* * * * *

Dr. Dane Dimitriou met them at the private hangar at the
airport.

He glanced at Kaine before he said she could wait to be seen
back at the den by their resident veterinarian, Ryan Maguire.

Kaisie watched Dane’s face tighten as he examined Grace
before he started hooking her up to tubes and packets.

“We need to get her back to the den. I need to close that
wound. She’s lost a lot of blood.”

Kaisie wished everyone would just stop saying that. He knew
she’d lost a lot of blood. It coated her clothes and his. And John’s.

“Then let’s get moving.”

Dane nodded, though his lips flattened almost to the point
of disappearing. “Alex is weak and the pregnant girl was having contractions
when they showed up. And the other girl, Grace’s daughter…” He shook his head.
“You let her keep a loaded gun.”

Kaisie shrugged his shoulders as he gathered Grace into his
arms to get her off the plane. He kept her as still as he could and almost
didn’t want to put her down on the stretcher Dane had waiting at the bottom of
the steps.

“The gun made her feel safe.”

“Yeah, well, next time, take the damn bullets away first.
She put one in the floor when I tried to take Alex into the exam room without
her. We ended up putting Alex and the girl in the same room so Amy could be
with both of them.” The edges of Dane’s mouth curled up. “She’s strong. A lot
like her mother.”

The drive passed excruciatingly slowly. Grace never regained
consciousness and, by the time they got to the den, his jaw felt close to
shattering.

They carried her and Kaine into the den’s medical facility
and Dane immediately went to work. Kyle’s mate, Tam, rushed in from somewhere
and they started to talk in their own language, which sounded like English but
didn’t make a damn bit of sense to Kaisie.

He could only watch as they started to work.

“Kaisie, why don’t you go check on Kaine?”

Kaisie lifted his gaze to Dane’s and started to shake his
head before Kyle put his hand on Kaisie’s shoulder.

“Come on, man,” Kyle said. “Someone will come get you if
something happens. Kaine’s awake. She needs you. And you should check on the
kids. The girl’s asking for you. And you need to tell her to put the gun away.
She’s scaring the natives.”

“Amy. Her name’s Amy.”

“Great. Tell Amy she needs to give you the gun. No one’s
going to hurt her here.”

But they wouldn’t hesitate to separate and confine her if
she did attempt to hurt someone and that might push her over the edge right
now.

With a nod, Kaisie turned and headed down the hall to the
exam rooms, using his senses to guide the way. They weren’t difficult to find.
The bitter scent of fear drew him to the right room.

He knew Amy had sensed someone coming because when he looked
through the window in the door, he saw her sitting at the edge of the bed
closest to the door, gun pointed straight ahead.

He couldn’t help but smile. He liked this girl. He liked her
style.

“Oh, thank the goddess.” Nica Donato stopped at his side,
just out of range of the window. “I want to check the pregnant girl but the
little one with the gun won’t let me near her. Said she’d only talk to you.”

Kaine glanced at the
strega
, seeing the relief in the
pretty brunette’s eyes. An Etruscan witch who had the power to heal with her
hands, Nica had a quiet disposition and soft smile that made her one of the
least threatening-looking people in the world. But he didn’t blame Amy for
being overly cautious. Growing up in a pit of
Mal
would make anyone
paranoid.

“Give me a few minutes,” he told Nica.

“The girl’s been having contractions and I need to examine
her to determine how far along she is and if this is false labor or we need to
prevent her from going into labor. Time’s not on our side, Kaisie.”

“I just need a couple of minutes.”

He hoped. Deliberately taking his time opening the door, he
walked into the room with both hands at his sides, loose and open. Amy kept the
gun trained on him as he closed the door behind him, deliberately turning his
back to her for several seconds.

When she didn’t shoot him in it, he figured that was a good
sign. He walked over to stand in front of her as she scrambled to her feet,
never taking the gun off him.

“I’m gonna need you to put that away now, Amy. Your friend
needs to be checked out.” He turned to Alex on the other bed. “Hey, bud. How
you feeling?”

The kid smiled, relief in every relaxed line of his body.
“Better now that we’re ho—here.”

Kaisie nodded, returning the smile. “Good. Did you tell Amy
we’re not going to hurt you guys?”

He nodded, his smile fading. “Yeah. But she’s worried.”

Kaisie looked back at Amy, noticing the fine tremor in her
arms now. The weight of the gun was getting heavier. “I get that. I do. But I
promise you, no one will hurt you here. But you’ve got to be willing to put
down the gun. Your friend needs to be checked out. Can she speak?”

Amy worried her bottom lip between her teeth for several
seconds before she lowered the gun to her side. “No. She can’t hear either. And
she’s our cousin. Her name’s Mara. She’s seven months pregnant.”

Kaisie nodded. “Okay, Amy. Now, will you give me the gun
so—”

“No.” She had it pointed at him in a flash. “No. I know what
you think of people like me. I know the first chance you get you’ll throw me in
a dark hole somewhere. But I promised Mara that everything will be okay and—”

Kaisie moved so fast, Amy didn’t have time to get off a shot
before he took the gun out of her hand. He saw fear leap onto her face and
heard twin gasps of shock from behind him.

Tears leaped into Amy’s eyes before she blinked them away
then stood even straighter as if waiting for him to hit her.

With a few movements, he unloaded the half-full clip, made
sure there was none in the chamber and shoved the bullets in his pocket. Then
he flipped the gun in his hand and held it back out to Amy.

Confusion bled through the fear now as she took the gun.

“It won’t shoot but it’ll hurt like hell if you use it to
hit someone. But you won’t need to. Not here. We do not hurt kids.”

Was he getting through to her? He couldn’t tell but it
didn’t matter. The other girl, Mara, had sucked in a deep breath and was
starting to pant.

“Now, your cousin needs help. Are you gonna let the
strega
in without a fight?”

Amy’s mouth firmed and she nodded then folded herself into
the corner closest to Mara. The wary fear he’d seen at the house had returned.

He wanted that gone from her face but he realized it would
take time. Time they might never get if Cole decided the girl was a threat.

Without taking his gaze from Amy’s, he motioned for Nica to
enter. She headed straight for the bed and started asking questions.

Which, of course, Mara couldn’t hear.

“You’re gonna need to translate, kid. No one but you knows
sign language.”

Her sneer returned. “You trust me enough for that?”

Kaisie smiled at her bravado. “For that, yeah. Come on, do
your thing and help out your cousin.”

With a nod, Amy went to shove the gun at her back before
realizing she still wore her nightgown.

She looked down at herself, disgust all over her face before
she took a deep breath and set the gun on the floor between her feet and looked
at Nica.

Nica immediately began asking questions. What was her due
date? Had she had any complications? How close together were the contractions?

Kaisie stepped over to Alex. “Come on, bud. I don’t think
you wanna be in here for this.”

Picking up the boy, he moved to the door and looked back at
Amy. “You have my word nothing will happen to him and you’ll see him later.” He
made sure the girl looked him in the eyes before he headed out the door. “And
I’ll find you some clothes. Everything’s gonna be okay.”

He left before she could contradict him.

* * * * *

Grace woke with one hell of a headache.

She opened her eyes but snapped them closed at the blast of
bright light.

Groaning, she tried to lift her arm to put her hand over her
eyes but found she couldn’t lift it.

Was she tied to a bed? Her eyes flew open, the light not as
bright this time but still enough to bring tears to her eyes.

A huge dark shadow moved across her, blocking the light.

“Hey, Grace. It’s okay. You’re fine. Your arm’s immobilized.
That’s all. You’re safe.”

She knew that voice. “Kaisie.”

“Yeah. Alex is fine. So is Amy.”

“Amy?”

“Your daughter. Alex is in the next room. He finally fell
asleep about an hour ago but he fought it for a while. I didn’t think you’d
want him to see you until you woke up.”

“Thank you.” It was exactly what she would have wanted. As
her eyes finally adjusted to the light, she realized the room was dark, the
only light coming from what she assumed was the bathroom to the left of the
bed.

She blinked, bringing Kaisie’s face into focus. He
looked…tired. As if he hadn’t slept in days. She wanted to ask why he looked so
awful but caught the words before they escaped. “Are they okay? Alex and…and
Amy?”

“They’re fine. I left Amy with Mara to translate.”

“Mara? Translate?” Her brain must still be partially asleep
because she had no idea what he was talking about.

“Amy said Mara is her cousin. She looks a lot like Alex, so
I’m guessing she’s right about that. How are you feeling?”

The question threw her for a moment. She wanted more
information, more answers to all the questions rolling around in her head.
Blinking up at him, she realized her arm hurt but the pain felt dull. As if
it’d been masked.

“What happened…” She looked down at her arm. “Ettore cut
me.”

“He cut you pretty bad.”

Her gaze flew back to Kaisie’s. That sounded almost like a
growl. “I guess it couldn’t have been that bad. I’m still here.”

“You nearly died.”

She frowned at the tone of his voice. He sounded angry. “Why
are you mad?”

“I’m not— Okay, yeah, I’m mad. How the hell did he get that
close to you?”

Her eyes widened at the menace in his tone, though it didn’t
feel directed at her. He was pissed but not at her. “Kaine was injured. I
needed to give John time to get to her.”

She watched Kaisie’s eyes close for a few seconds as the
muscles in his jaw clenched in a way that looked quite painful. She wanted to
cup his cheek and kiss that muscle.

And even though they’d had sex, she couldn’t believe he’d
want her to touch him.

She swallowed and let her gaze drop. “How’s Kaine? Is she
okay?”

“Kaine’s fine. You nearly died.”

“But I didn’t.”

He looked ready to say something else then must have decided
against it because his jaw did that muscle-jumping thing again. “Would you have
cared if you had?”

“How would I have known?”

She had no idea what he was getting at and it was
frustrating the hell out of her trying to figure out his mood. Was he angry
because his daughter had been hurt? Because Grace had caused trouble with her
injury? Had they lost someone in the raid?

“Did everyone… Is everyone okay? Did everyone make it back?”

“Yes. And you were the only one who was hurt.”

Okay, now she was starting to get angry, which made her head
hurt. Whatever they’d done to her arm to make it numb, it didn’t extend to her
head.

She lifted her good hand to her temple and rubbed the ache
there. “Kaisie—”

“No.
Shit.
” He released a hard sigh and shook his
head. “Forget it. I’ll go get Alex. I promised him I’d wake him as soon as you
opened your eyes.”

She tried to reach for him but she forgot her arm was tied
down and she wrenched it hard against the restraint. Now that hurt and she
couldn’t stop her groan of pain.

“Gods damn it, woman. Dane said you had to keep it
immobile.”

“Then don’t walk away from me when I’m trying to talk to
you, you stubborn
scassacazzo
.”

His gaze flashed back to hers as she called him a pain in
the ass, which wasn’t exactly where she hurt right now but it was close enough.

“Release my arm.”

His arms crossed over his chest. “Dane said you can’t move it.”

“I won’t move it. Just, please let my arm go. I don’t like
being restrained.”

The break in her voice at the end of that sentence probably
revealed more than she’d wanted. His gaze began to burn with an unholy fire and
she dropped hers to watch as he removed the cuffs holding her arm in place. His
fingers shook but he released her without touching her at all.