Kadenburg Revealed (The Kadenburg Shifters Series, Book 4) (17 page)

The radio was blaring one of her favorite songs and she wasn’t afraid to press her foot down against the gas pedal as she sped down Jessen Bend Road.  She just needed to find someone to talk to and if she couldn’t talk to Nadine Kress then she’d find someone else.  Why couldn’t Charlotte be home when she needed her most?

Why aren’t I being a normal person and doing Christmas shopping like everyone else? 

She’d managed a few small gifts here and there, but Natalie just couldn’t seem to get into the Christmas spirit.  Who could when they were only getting accustomed to being home again?

The chirping of her cellphone distracted her from belting out the chorus and she slowed down slightly.  Keeping one hand on the wheel and fumbling for her cellphone with the other, Natalie cursed softly.

“Hello?” She said as she managed to flip it open and press it to her ear. 

“Oh, Natalie! Thank goodness you answered.”

“Hey, Charlotte.  I was just thinking about you.....”

“Were you?  Well heavens that must mean you felt it too.”

“Felt what?” Natalie frowned as the speedometer continued to drop.  She glanced towards the line of trees on her left before speaking again.  “What’s going on?”

“Something is happening.  Presley just called me and we both felt it.  She’s certain that Louisa is in trouble but it could be any number of things.  We’re going to meet up at Nana Hettie’s and go from there.  Do you want to join us?”

Ouch. Nana Hettie’s.  She’d called in all week.  That woman was going to kill her.

“Uh.....”

“Natty, we need you,” Charlotte nearly pouted.  “I’m sorry I missed your call earlier, by the way.  I was...busy.”

Busy, huh?  The way she worded it made Natalie lift an eyebrow.  Was there a hint of a blush in Charlotte’s tone?

“It’s fine,” Natalie shrugged her shoulders and rolled her car to a stop before putting it into reverse.  “I was on my way to see you but I can just meet you at Hettie’s.”

“Oh, great!” Charlotte seemed more excited about it than a person ought to be over investigating danger; it was sort of an ursithrope thing.  “I’ll see you soon, Natty.  Drive safely.”

“Yeah, sure.  I’m driving safely.”  She hung up the phone and tossed it back into the passenger’s side seat as she placed both hands on the wheel.  So this was what the weekend before Christmas would consist of, huh?  Staying the hell out of Arnold Goult’s way and saving little panda-shifters from trouble.  Just another day in the life she supposed.

She’d barely turned her car back towards town when it hit her.  It was hard and fast and damn near painful as the scent of blood and a frightened heartbeat paralyzed her system. 

Something was definitely wrong.

I
t was the relentless banging against the front door that made Dimitri cuss like a sailor as he got out of bed and trudged down the hallway.  He watched as Rutley stuck his head out of his bedroom door and they exchanged glances.

“What’s going on?” Rutley asked as he tried to rub the sleep from his eyes.  Naptime had sounded appealing for the two werewolves given their night had been pretty rough.  Whoever was disturbing them was going to get a piece of his mind.

“Somebody better be dead.” Was all Dimitri said as he raked his fingers through his messy auburn hair and unlocked the front door.  He jerked it open with hostility, but his facial features immediately softened when he saw a wide eyed Mrs. Bamey standing there.

“Oh, Dimitri,” she whispered as she stepped inside.  “I am so very sorry to disturb you so late this evening, but we have a problem.”

“What’s wrong, Mrs. Bamey?” He asked.  His tone lightened immensely as he reached out to touch her arm.  She was trembling.  He could smell the fear and anxiety she was trying to hide from him.  He wasn’t sure he liked the thought of Mrs. Bamey being frightened.  “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, sweetheart.” Her face paled as she glanced towards the door.  Dimitri could smell the injured human before she even entered his house.  Greg was carrying a crumpled form in his arms and Louisa followed closely behind him.  It looked like they’d just come from battle.  Louisa’s hair was a mess with twigs and leaves; Greg’s face was covered in mud and dried blood; and holy shit, Natalie Carroll was trailing behind them both with her sweater torn to shreds and...was she missing a shoe?

“What the...”  Dimitri blinked in confusion as Greg placed the human on his couch and wiped the sweat from his brow.  Their eyes met and Dimitri knew something terrible had just taken place.  “Somebody want to tell me what’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you what’s going on,” Lorcan Bamey said as he entered the apartment hand in hand with Presley.  Dimitri wasn’t sure why but his eyes immediately did a thorough examination of the blonde to ensure she wasn’t hurt.  She seemed to be in one piece.  “That fu—” he glanced at his mother and cleared his throat.  “Breslin Connor hired two punks to do his dirty business.  This girl was their next victim.  We intervened.”

“What the fuck?!” Rutley muttered as he appeared in the hallway.  He seemed to be just as surprised as Dimitri as his eyes wandered from one person to the next.  “Did I miss something?”

“We don’t have time to explain it right now,” Louisa whispered as her bottom lip quivered.  “She’s dying and we cannot save her.  Beau isn’t here,” her big tearful eyes met Dimitri’s and he felt the tug at his heart. “Can you please help her?”

All eyes landed on him and Dimitri felt the pressure being placed on his shoulders.  He knew what Louisa was asking for when she requested his ‘help’, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to do it.  His jawline tightened as he glanced at Lorcan.

“Do I look like a build-a-werewolf workshop to you?”

“No,” Lorcan frowned. “But this girl’s dying and it’s our fault she was placed in danger.  We can’t just let her die, Dimitri.  We don’t have any other options.”

‘You don’t have to do it,’
Rutley’s voice sounded in his head. 
‘You’re allowed to say no.’

‘I can’t say no,’
Dimitri replied as his eyes swept over the girl’s colorless face once more.  She was fading fast and he knew it would only be a matter of moments until she took her final breath. 
‘Breslin caused this, Rut.  I can’t let her die.’

“Please,” Mrs. Bamey echoed as a tear slid down her cheek.  “I know it’s an awful lot of responsibility to be an alpha, Dimitri, but you’re her only hope.”

Dimitri’s chest tightened and fluttered as he weighed out his options.  They were depending on him for something.  Had anyone ever depended on him before?  Rutley depended on him.  He was a good alpha, wasn’t he?  Somehow he’d earned the right to give people second chances.  He
could
save her.  It was the right thing to do.

“Close the door.” Dimitri instructed as he moved to the couch and knelt down beside the unconscious female.  She was so young-practically a child.  Who tried to harm someone so helpless?

Lorcan moved to shut the front door but stopped when Mr. Bamey placed a palm against the wood.  He stepped inside and kicked it shut with his foot before clearing his throat.

“Sorry I’m late,” he mumbled with a frown.  “Tried to park the car among the excitement.  Is he going to do it?”

“Shh!” Mrs. Bamey quieted her husband as they watched Dimitri get to work.  It didn’t take much, really.  All he had to do was give her the bite and even that made him feel bad.  She was already in so much pain from internal bleeding.  Did they beat her?  Those bastards.  He could only hope Lorcan and Greg gave them the punishment they deserved.  He would find out later.

Once all was said and done, Dimitri stood to his full height and sighed.  “Just give her about an hour,” he said quietly.  “She’ll start healing and will be good as new before morning.”

“Thank you so much, Dimitri,” Mrs. Bamey whispered as she wrapped her arms around him.  “You are such a good boy.  You’ve saved her from a most terrible fate.”

He couldn’t help but to smile as Mrs. Bamey touched his cheek in a loving manner.  He leaned into her touch and then patted her hand lightly with his own.  He really did try to be a good person and to feel her gratitude made it
so
much better. 

“She won’t be able to go home for a while.  You guys realize that, don’t you?” Rutley asked from his spot near the doorway that led into the hallway.  His arms were crossed over his chest and his blue eyes were dim.  Uh oh.  Something was wrong with him.

“I do,” Louisa said as she pulled a few leaves from her hair and wrinkled her nose.  “But surely you will be able to teach her the ways of wolf life, won’t you?”

“That won’t be a problem,” Dimitri shrugged.  “If I can teach Rutley then I’m pretty sure I can teach anyone.”

Mr. Bamey snorted.

———————————

T
he evening had quieted significantly after the Bameys, Presley, Greg, Louisa, and Natalie left.  Dimitri was waiting for the girl, Amber, to wake up and Rutley decided he needed to go outside so he could clear his head.

He didn’t mind the bitter cold or the staggering temperatures as he planted himself on the top step of the stairs that led to the second floor of the apartment complex.  In fact, the cold weather didn’t seem to bother him anymore.  Had he grown numb?  Had he adjusted?  Did his wolf abilities allow him to tolerate any type of weather?

He still had a lot of questions that needed to be answered, but now Dimitri had a brand new beta to take care of.  Rutley didn’t want to be a bother.

Just be cool about it.
  He told himself as he traced his thumb over the faded bite marks on his wrist. 
She’s a girl and Dimitri has made it clear he’s not into girls like that.

Why did he even care?  They’d been playing this game for months now; friends.  They were JUST friends.  Rutley didn’t have any right to get upset over what Dimitri chose to do with his life.  As Liam’s best friend Rutley knew he had to keep the line drawn and never crossed it.

Yet I’ve crossed it a million times by now.
  It was a really depressing thought.  He couldn’t stay away from Dimitri and it was going to get him into a lot of trouble.  Why did he have to have feelings for his dead best friend’s mate?  Why did life seem to hate him so much?

‘You think too much,’
Dimitri’s voice said gently in his mind. 
‘Why don’t you come back inside and I’ll put on a pot of coffee?’

‘Don’t you have a beta to take care of?’
Rutley replied sullenly.

‘She’s still sleeping.  And just a little FYI-she’s not a beta.  She’s just a member of my pack now.  You are my beta, Rut.  You’re my second-in-command.’

Like
that
was supposed to make him feel better?  Rutley rolled his eyes and shook his head as he contemplated going inside.  Did he really want to?

‘I’m making PB&J.’

Well shit.  Rutley pushed himself up from the top step and turned to go back into the house.  He took one step and froze as he heard the sound of distant sobbing.  Someone was crying.  Why?

He didn’t even breathe as he strained to recognize the voice of whoever was so upset...and then it hit him.

“Kia.” He whispered as his eyebrows slowly met in the center of his forehead.  He turned his head slowly to gaze towards her apartment and felt his stomach twist into knots.  Why was she so sad?  Why did
he
feel sad?  There was a part of him that wanted to knock on her door, but she wouldn’t let him in.  He’d already tried countless times before.  Kia wasn’t interested in seeing him again and he totally understood.  It was for the better, right?  Dimitri had already voiced his feelings over the situation and Kia was making it pretty damn clear she didn’t want anything to do with either one of them.  He could hardly blame her.

He shoved open the front door and closed it as quickly as possible.  His eyes immediately landed on the sleeping female sprawled out on their couch.  She was pretty-he’d give her that, but he couldn’t really say much more until she was awake.  What if she was a total bitch?  What if he hated her?  They definitely hadn’t thought this through.....

“Get your ass in here.” Dimitri said quietly from the kitchen.

Rutley complied and made his way into the dimly lit room to find Dimitri sitting at the table with a paper plate in front of him.  There were two PB&J sandwiches waiting to be consumed and damn it, Rutley wanted one of them.

“Have a seat, Rut.  We need to talk.”

Aw, hell.  What did I do this time?
Rutley wondered as he carefully sat down across from his alpha and stared at him.

“You didn’t do anything,” Dimitri gave him a lopsided grin as he glanced up at him.  “I just think we need to talk about everything that’s happened tonight.”

“Which part exactly?” Rutley asked as he propped his chin against his fist and tilted his head a little.  “The part where Breslin Douche-Dog sent humans to dice up teenage girls as a warning or the part where he practically mind fucked our dreams?”

“Both,” Dimitri blinked.  “But we need to talk about a lot of other things too.”

“Well I’m all ears.” Rutley mumbled as he reached across the table to grab one of the sandwiches.  His blue eyes stayed on Dimitri’s face as he bit into it and then he lifted an eyebrow.  Damn that was a good sandwich.

“You know it’s pretty hard to ignore your thoughts,” Dimitri started carefully before he paused.  It was almost as if he was trying to figure out where he wanted to start, or maybe there was a lot of ground he wanted to cover and he didn’t have much time to do so.  He cleared his throat and gave a small roll of his shoulders.  “It’s not like I’d ignore your thoughts anyway, Rutley.  I know you’re worried about this....girl being a part of our pack.”

“I’m not worried,” Rutley lied.  That was only partially true.  There were many things he didn’t worry about: being burdened with the need for stitches should he ever decide to dive head-first into pavement again; getting sick and dying; getting beat up for his sexual preferences.  Dimitri’s bite was one of the best things that had ever happened to him.  “I’m seriously not.” He said reassuringly after swallowing another bite of his sandwich.