Misha: Lanning's Leap (3 page)

“Come here.” She’d tried to back
away from his outstretched hand, but he was quicker than her and held her in his arms until she calmed down. “They won’t hurt you today.”

Han had nodded
and took the tomato that he’d had in his hand. When he took her to the small shed behind his house, he’d shut her in and told her to not come out until the police came. She heard him calling them on his cell phone as the other men still searched for her. Then her mother showed up in the yard with two of her men.

“You seen my daughter?” The man had said nothing
, but leaned on the hoe again. “She’s ‘bout this tall and kind of fat. I had her run to the store, but she’s gotten lost.”

“You were
going to kill her and we both know it. I heard of you and your child. A woman like you should be ashamed of herself for treating something as precious as a child like you do.” Her mother laughed. “You aren’t going to get her. I’ve called the police, too.”

Her mother had taken off
, but the two men had stayed. One of them, a giant of a man, had pulled his shirt off, then the other one did as well. That was when the man had dropped the hoe. Han had wanted to tell him he needed it, but before she could do anything, he dropped to his hands and turned into a giant wolf. He tore into one of the men and killed him immediately. The second man, a wolf, too, had shifted, and they’d fought hard before her rescuer had dropped to the ground with a broken neck. By then the police were nearly atop them, and the surviving wolf took off. Han stayed where she was until the police took her out of the shed.

Her mother had denied it all
, of course. And when Han had told them about the two wolves, they’d believed her mother over her. The harder Han tried to get them to believe her, the more her mother’s story seemed true. Han was sent to the ward for psychiatric help for nearly a year before she’d been released. She’d never told another soul about the wolves after that.

The beatings had stopped. Han laid there for several minutes trying to take inventory of her body. But there was too much for her to know just what they’d done to her.
When she saw her mother coming toward her again, Han closed her eyes and heard her laugh.

“If you die from this, think of how much I’ll dance over your grave. If you have one.
Big Dan is thinking of burying you in the back.” She was flipped over, and Han screamed. Then everything went black. She had no idea what she’d hit her with, but it took everything away this time.

Han
hoped that she’d never wake. Life was simply too hard to live.

Chapter 3

“I know you were around her.” Carter nodded
, remembering the girl from that morning when they had landed after the search. He also remembered her face when he’d tried to check her wound. Before he could tell Billy that she’d been okay when he left, Billy spoke again. “He went and fired her. I don’t know the why of it, but I don’t think things are going to go well when she gets home.”

“He fired her?”
Carter had seen the entire thing between Han and the pissed-off woman who had attacked her. Carter had taken an instant dislike to the boss as well. “What do you mean, about her home life? Her husband is the one that hurts her?”

Carter had also seen the look on her face
…the one that told him she was abused, and a great deal. He’d wanted to pull her into his arms and simply hold her. He wished now that he had. A woman was meant to be held, not used as a punching bag.

“Where is she?”
Billy told him, and Carter stood up. “Will you come with me? You she knows and trusts; me not so much.”

“You gonna go there now?”
Carter nodded. “You know that she’s human, right? I mean, I want you to go and check on her and all, but…well….”

“But what?”
Carter didn’t care what Billy’s concerns were. He’d gotten the girl fired and he felt badly about that. He reached for his jacket just as Billy spoke again.

“She’s got this mom.”
Carter paused in mid-step and waited for his friend to continue. “She’s been known to hurt the girl. Rumor has it she killed Han’s daddy, but I don’t know that for sure. Miss Bella, as she likes everyone to call her, is Belladonna Oliver. Ever heard of her?”

“No.
Should I have?” Carter was torn now. He wanted to help the girl but not get anyone into trouble. He liked the older man and knew that if his employer found out he had someone going to visit one of his riders, he’d more than likely be unemployed, too.

Since Misha had been shot and left for dead last month they’d all been a little on the tense side.
Carter knew that his moods had been shorter, too, and he hated the way he felt all the time. But this girl, this woman might be in trouble because of him. Phillip, Rider, and Misha walked into the room just as he was thinking he’d ask one of his brothers to go as well.

Carter told them what had happened
both that morning and now. He told them that he wanted to go to see if she was all right and nothing more. Billy told them what sort of person he’d heard the mother was.

“Leave it alone.”
Rider sat down looking like what he’d just said was law. Carter had to bite his tongue or snap at him, and that would get him nowhere fast. It was getting harder and harder to stay in a good mood around there. Carter looked at Misha.

“
She was hurt?” Billy nodded at Misha’s question. Then Misha looked at Carter. “You going alone or did you want some company?”

“I don’t know.” Which was true.
While he wanted to help the woman, he didn’t want anyone else hurt, especially his family. And he’d been in enough situations to know that even the simplest things could go deadly in a heartbeat.

“I’ll go with you.”
Phillip smiled as he continued. “Maybe she’ll be so grateful that she’ll want to do all manner of sexual things to my body when I help her.”

His head slammed forward with a loud pop.
Carter nearly laughed when he saw their mom. She did not look amused. Each of them stood a little straighter and kept their mouths closed so as not to draw attention to themselves. They weren’t afraid of her as much as they were worried about upsetting her. She was their mom and she meant everything to them.

“This girl is hurt?”
He said he didn’t know for sure. “Yet here you all stand with this idiot making crude jokes. What if she’s your mate? Would you want someone saying those things about her?”

“No
, ma’am. And she’s not my mate, but I did have something to do with her losing her job today.” Carter saw the briefest moment of disappointment on her face. He wasn’t sure if it was because she wasn’t his mate or because he’d helped her lose her job. Either way, he was going to make it up to the woman and his mom. She looked over at Misha.

“You’re going as well, if you please.
Make sure she’s okay and safe. You say she lost her job?” Carter told her she had. “Then we have to find her something. Maybe she could work for your bunch answering the phones and all. I can’t do it forever, and she might work out.”

“She’s human
, Mom.” She nodded, and Misha did as well. Their mom had been human as well when she’d met their father all those years ago. “We’ll see to her.”

The drive to the house was made
mostly in silence between him and Misha. Billy, not one to ever pass up a captive listener, even one that didn’t want to prattle on and on, never shut his mouth the entire way to the house. When the truck slowed in front of a house, Carter felt his gut twist.

The police were parked in the yard and street.
An ambulance was still sitting with the doors opened to an empty back end when they walked by it. Two of the cops, friends of the family, were standing near the yellow tape keeping the neighbors out. Carter nodded to one of them.

He was afraid.
If he’d gotten her hurt or even killed by what he’d done today, he’d never forgive himself. The closer they got to the house, the heavier his heart got, and the slower his steps seemed to be.

“How bad?”
Carter was relieved when Misha asked. He could feel his cat move along his skin in a powerful need to fix and protect.

“Beaten pretty badly.
The neighbors called it in. Heard her screaming, I guess, and knew it was bad. One of them told me that when the girl is beaten, she rarely makes a sound. We’re looking for her mother now.” Carter asked if he could go inside. “Yeah, but don’t go in the kitchen. They’re working on her still.”

Carter moved up the two
rickety steps slowly. He could smell the blood and urine almost before he stepped onto the porch. He moved into the house only after Misha gave him a gentle but firm push from behind.

The living room looked like something that only a blind person could enjoy.
The pink in the room ranged from neon to something that was even gaudier than that…pink furry pillows, pink shag rug, and hurt-your-retinas-pink walls. The decorations, big pink flowers with equally bright green stems, graced the walls. There was even pink in the giant squares of yarn that hung from the back of the couch. The coffee table had been spray painted to match, but whoever had done it hadn’t bothered to remove the glass tops and they, too, were sprayed with the ungodly color. Carter felt his stomach lurch. They were directed down the hall when they asked about where the girl had stayed.

The bathroom they passed was done in purples
, much in the same manner as the living room as it was too much. It looked like someone had even tried to spray paint the color on the toilet and the seat, and had hit the wall behind it as well as the floor. Christ, he was nauseous and would never have been able to take a piss in that room.

At the end of the
hall they stood in front of a closed door. Carter was almost afraid to open the door, but Misha did before he could touch it. Carter took a step back from the room in shock.

The starkness in the room, the sterile whiteness of it
, was actually comforting after the excess of color in the other rooms. He walked in just as Misha cleared the doorway.

A white spread fit neatly over a small single bed. The single pillow was also white
, but there was a small stain on the center of it. Blood from long ago was all Carter could think.

There were no pictures on the wall
s, nor a single poster. The dresser was devoid of anything at all…not even a hair brush or a bottle of perfume. The end table had a lamp, a white one with a shade that was so pale a blue that he had to look hard to see it. It was the only color that marred the perfectly pristine room. There was also a book, but it had fallen to the floor or had been put there to hide it. Carter walked over to read the title.

“It’s William Wordsworth. In French.” Misha picked it up from the floor before taking it to his nose.
As he set it back where he’d found it, something occurred to Carter. “Aren’t you reading this, too?”

Misha didn’t answer him but walked around the room
, stopping only to pick up a white sock that had missed the equally white laundry basket. He held it for a long while before dropping it on the small pile of uniform pants and shirts. When he turned to look at him, Carter could see anger and something…something soft on his face.

“How did you me
et her?” Carter told him again about the lunch counter. “Did she ask you for help at any time?”

“No. She seemed
…I don’t know, surprised that I did help. Why?”

Misha moved out of the room and toward the kitchen. They were just loading up the gurney with Han when they entered.
Carter’s breath caught when he saw her.

“Good Christ.”
Misha had moved to her side while Carter just stared. It looked like someone had taken a sander to her face, it was so bloodied.

“Is she stable?”
The medic told Misha she was and that they were taking her to County General. “I’d like you to take her to Mercy.”

The medic was shaking his head even as Misha stopped him
from taking Han out of the room. “They won’t take her. She’s got no insurance and they don’t take the uninsured. Plus, they know in a couple of days her mother will be in there to demand that she come home. It won’t matter what shape she’s in either. They’ll let her go with her. But if you want to know the truth, I don’t think she’s ever beaten her this badly before.”

“Regardless, take her to Mercy.
I’ll go with you to make sure they know she’s where she belongs.” Misha looked at Carter as he continued speaking. “Follow us in the truck please. I’ll call Mom and have her bring me some dinner in case I have to hang around for a while.”

“Misha, what the hell is going on?”
He moved with the gurney as they started moving out of the house. Carter put his hand out to stop him from not answering him again. Carter could see the anger on his face and was surprised by it.

“She’s my mate.”

~~~

Misha didn’t have to do much more than demand to speak to the hospital administrator to have Han
nah admitted. He’d been willing to put down whatever deposit that they wanted in order for her to stay, but it was unnecessary. The administrator, another leopard, was coming toward him even as Misha was asking to see him. Apparently his mom had called him first. Now Misha was sitting in the waiting room waiting for the surgery to be finished, then for her to be sent to a private room.

“
What do you know about the poor girl?” Misha looked at his mom. He’d forgotten she’d decided to stay with him to wait. “Rider said he’d look into the mother as well. Do you think she did this?”

“That’s what the medic said.
He told me that she was beaten on a regular basis but never like this. And I don’t know any more about her than you do. She’s twenty-five, years of instability, in and out of mental hospitals, and years of abuse. And according to some records he’s already found, she gives as good as she gets.” His mother huffed. “You heard what Rider said. That’s one of the reasons her mom has her put away. Her violent temper.”

“Then I cannot wait to see what this mother looks like now.”
Neither could he. Misha had seen the girl when she’d been in the ambulance. Someone had used a belt on her back. There was so much damage done there it would be hours before she would be completely stitched up.

Misha leaned back in his chair. He wasn’t very good at waiting. And he would admit to only himself he’d rather just leave her
there and have someone call him when she was out. But she was his responsibility now, and he took it very seriously.

“You seem awfully calm about finding your mate.
Aren’t you excited that she’s finally going to come into your life?”

He looked at his mom and thought about lying to her
, but didn’t think she’d appreciate that any more than she would the truth.

“No.
What would be the point? We’re fated. We met. End of story. Fighting it or being excited isn’t going to make it any less so. Ignoring it won’t make it go away, so I might as well deal with it and her.” She started to speak, but he stopped her by putting up his hand. “I won’t hurt her unless it’s to calm her. I’ll give her whatever she needs in the form of support and help, but she won’t have my heart, Mom. I’ve seen firsthand what that can to do a person.”

“Not all mates are like your father and I were.
Some live for years and years happily and in love. Don’t let what happened to me and him sour you.”

Misha didn’t say anything. What would be the point?

“Misha, please don’t go into this with a shield around your heart.
She may fall in love with you.”

“Then that would be her loss.”
Misha closed his eyes, hoping that his mom would leave it alone. He didn’t want to talk about his mate and what she may or may not do.