Moon Sworn (The Bound Series Book 1) (7 page)

"She's in there and there's one in the room with her, I have to get in."

"My friend is at this very moment moving around towards the front of the house.  He's going to knock on the door and start making some noise.  We're hoping to spook and flush him out."

"How did you know what was going on?" Jaden asked him, still suspicious of his motives.

"We had cameras fitted to help us keep an eye on the property, we came running when we got an alarm to say the back window had been forced.  Whether Maya puts the alarm on or not, we know when the property has been breached as we put sensors on the doors and windows."  He watched Jaden's brow lift and grinned.

"Shit, don't tell her.  She'll skin us alive if she finds out, she's not as sweet as she looks.  She has a bit of a mean streak, and I'm kind of fond of my balls.  The how was easy, Sam is a computer whizz.  He sneaked in here when she was working after we realised she was being watched.  We didn't think it was her mate as his actions weren't those of a mate just checking out his territory."  Jaden raised a brow. 

"Yeah, we knew as soon as you showed up in the area.  I'm Binks by the way," and he held out a hand.  Jaden took the offering and gave it a quick shake before he turned back to the house, getting ready to go in.

"No, Sam is about to knock on the door."

"That's all well and good but there's another shifter around here somewhere." Jaden said, his head swinging back towards the back fence and the surrounding trees.

"
Hey kitten, you know someone called Bink? He says he's been keeping an eye on you
," he covered his mouth and bit back a cough as she sent him a picture of a noose and then a pair of balls being kicked.  He cupped himself and looked towards Bink who blinked as he watched him.

"Yeah unfortunately she already knows as she just plucks information straight out of my head.  Apparently you're in for a lynching and your nuts kicking into next week," Jaden informed him and watched Bink run his hand around the back of his neck.

"Sheesh man, way to cover my back.  How the hell does she manage to just pluck information out of your head? That normally takes years of being with a mate to learn." Jaden just shrugged his shoulders.

"Not a clue, I don't know much about our kind, I stick to myself so it's all new to me."  They both went quiet and looked towards the house as they knocking coming from the front of the house, then a deep male voice shouting Maya's name.

"That's Sam, he's also a black Jaguar like us, so remember to check scent, do not go after him." He warned Jaden and looked back towards the house.  Just then a shifter came flying out of the back door and barrelled into them both, knocking them over before leaping the back fence and disappearing.  Jaden looked towards the fence and then the house.

"I'll chase, you open the door and let Sam know what's happening and get to Maya."  Then he changed and took off after the other shifter.  Jaden quickly went through the back door and opened the front door to find a tall well-built man with green eyes and mahogany skin.

"Out the back, Bink's just given chase. I'm going to check on Maya, Sam?"  The other man nodded and rushed past him, shifting once he got to the back door and taking off over the fence after his friend.  It always surprised him how their clothes just vanished in a shift.  It would be nice if they re-appeared afterwards because then he wouldn’t' be stood in Maya's kitchen bollock naked.  He watched him disappear over the fence and spotted his t-shirt outside the back door, bending he picked it up and pulled it over his head.  He looked down, yep his junk was still on show because it wasn't long enough to cover shit.  Sighing he went back inside and shut the door behind him, trying to figure out how to lock the bloody thing and keep it that way.  Then realised that the door wasn't broken he'd just used the key that she'd left in the bloody door.  He shook his head and turned the key, then slid the bolts in place, top and bottom and took the key out, placing it in the drawer in the sink.

"Maya, you can come out now you're safe, he's gone.  Binks and Sam have taken off after him so can you bring me something down to cover my arse," Jaden shouted up the stairs.  He began to do a walk through the downstairs, checking the windows, trying to figure out exactly how he'd gotten in without making excessive noise.

In the back room; the one she used as a study, the side opening window had a broken lock.  He'd obviously jimmied it open with a tool of some kind, then on closer inspection he realised the lock wasn't broken.  He must have prised it open with a claw as it had left a big gouge out of the plastic frame.  How the hell was he going to make it secure for the night?  He ran a hand over the back of his neck, trying to figure out what to do with it, even if he closed and locked the window it wouldn’t stay that way due the missing chunk of plastic under the locking mechanism.  It would have to be replaced, and he didn't know if anyone would come out and do that at this time of an evening.

Maya lay huddled in the back of the wardrobe, she knew the shifter had gone as she'd stopped itching and had heard the exact moment he had given up and left in a hurry.  She'd sat there barely breathing as the wardrobe door had opened and she could swear she'd felt the breath of the large cat on her face.  The sweat had begun to drip between her breasts and she'd bitten her lip to stop herself making a sound, she'd had no weapon and felt like her 4-year-old self all over again.  Her mother was out there with the monster that was her father and she was seeing the scene again play through her head.

He stalked her mummy across the floor until she was backed up against the far wall.  Grabbing her by the throat he pinned her against the wall, the one opposite the cupboard she'd hidden her in.  He was laughing as he lifted her off her feet by her neck.  A horrible maniacal sound as she'd tried to claw at his hands to make him let her go.  His hand so tight around her throat, her eyes had begun to bulge and her feet slammed against the wall and his shins as she struggled.  Then just before she'd lost consciousness, her eyes beginning to close he'd relented and released his hold.  She'd dropped to the floor gasping, holding onto her abused throat, her eyes watering.  Maya had thought it was over, his temper dying down and any minute now he'd go and leave them alone again.  He'd not been around for months this time and she really thought it was over but the next minute he'd crouched down in front of her mother again.

"So where's the little witch, what have you done with her?"  Her mother shook her head, and Maya wanted to get out of the cupboard and run to her mummy.  She wanted to fling her arms around her and tell him to leave her alone, but mummy had made her promise not to come out.  She'd made her pinkie promise too so she wouldn’t break it.  It was bad to break a promise, and she covered her mouth and pleaded in her head for her to release her from it. Maya wanted her mummy, she wanted the bad man who mummy said was her father to go away, she didn't like him as he hurt her mummy, a lot.

"I'll ask you one more time Helena, where is the brat?" again she shook her head and Maya heard him sigh thinking he was going to leave but he didn't.  Suddenly one of his arms was covered in fur, his hand now a large paw with huge claw like daggers where his fingers had been.  He swung it towards her mother and Maya watched her close her eyes as he caught her face, screaming as her cheek opened under his slap.  The tears ran down Maya's face as she shook her head as he just laughed at her agony.  Then he swung that horrible arm again and did the same to her side just before the rest of him grew fur turning into a huge lack cat with a wide mouth.  He opened that mouth, which had horrible sharp teeth and put it around her mummies head.  It made a terrible sound as he bit down on her skull, the crunch loud in the now silent as mummy went quiet as he opened his jaws again and released her from its grip.  Her limp body dropped to the floor and stayed there. 

Maya prayed for her to get up but she just lay there lifeless on the floor, like her raggedy rabbit teddy.  She was no longer recognisable as mummy, as bright red coated and dripped from what was left of her face, her blonde hair dark and wet with her own… blood.  One eye was staring sightlessly through the gore towards Maya as she sat huddled in the cupboard.  Her own eyes staring back at her in shock but she didn't make a sound, not a one as she had made her promise, she always did as her mummy asked her.  She swallowed a sob and held in the sniffle as she watched her father walk out of the front door.  Then he came back in and began to throw something around the room, something that smelt bad and made Maya's watering eyes sting.  He spat on her mummy as she lay there and then threw a match at the wet stuff as he slammed the door shut behind him.  As the whoosh set off in the room, lighting it and her mummy up she could hear him laughing as he walked away. 

Still she lay huddled in the cupboard like a good girl, but now she was rocking.  Her little arms around her knees as she watched the room and her mummy burn.  Then she turned her head away and faced the wall before she finally uncurled to do what she'd been taught to if anything happened.  She pulled at the floorboards near her feet with the string that was attached and they opened, she climbed down and pulled it shut behind her before crawling along the tunnel mummy had made.  As she got to the end, there was a vent on the outside wall and she pushed it out.  She climbed out of the vent but stayed behind the bush that mummy had planted there so she wouldn’t be seen.  She put the vent back in place and then lay flat on the floor behind the bush and waited.  She knew he was still around watching and waiting, her mummy had taught her how to hide and how to get away and had made her practice this weekly just in case anything happened.  She'd also remembered to spray herself with the magic stuff mummy had made and she'd not cried as mummy had used that machine to draw the words onto her side.  Mummy had said that one day she may have to make it on her own so she'd made her learn how to make the spray on her own.  The words etched into her side were her protection, to keep her hidden in plain sight.  It was written into her skin for all time with special ink that mummy had had made for her.

She tucked bunny under her arm.  Bunny was her raggedy teddy that she'd had from being a baby, he went everywhere with her.  She traced her finger over the letters on her side and repeated the words, it made her feel like her mummy was with her.  She sniffed up and ran the back of her hand over her eyes and nose and waited a little longer, eventually she knew he'd gone as her skin no longer itched.  It always itched when he was close but she didn't know why.  Mummy had said it was her warning system, her own body telling her that danger was close and that she always had to listen to it.  So now the itching had stopped she came out from behind the bush with bunny tucked under her arm began to make her way towards her great aunts house.  Mummy said she had to go there if anything ever happened to her, and had shown her how to find her way there by herself.  She'd told her that great aunt Sophia would know what to do and that she wasn't to talk to anyone else, no one.  She'd said it was the only way any of them would be safe.  It had taken her hours to get there, every time she heard a car approach she had to hide.  She eventually got to her great aunts and knocked on the door.  Aunt Sophia answered on her third knock and when she opened the door, Maya threw herself crying into her arms.  Aunt Sophie picked her up and carried her inside and sat rocking her on her knee in her front room.

Maya nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard someone enter the bedroom and come towards the wardrobe.  She didn't know how long she'd been sat there, but obviously it had been a while as it was even darker in here now.  Her legs were cramped and her neck was stiff from where it had been bent forward as she'd had her forehead pressed to her knees. 

"God damn it Maya, where the hell are you?" she blinked as the panel was suddenly moved and she came face to face with Jaden's… dick.  She blinked again, rubbing at her eyes and looked again, nope it was still there, directly in her line of sight, she hissed.

"Oh for fuck sake, cover up your junk. I've had a shit evening all things considered and I really don't need to be looking at your dick right now." She heard him sigh and the tired sound drew her eyes away from his rapidly growing appendage.  Shaking her head to dislodge the image as she slowly trailed her eyes up his body, frowning as she saw he was wearing a t-shirt but no pants as he leaned on the rail.  He'd pushed her clothes to one side as he looked down at her.  She watched his brow pucker, before he began to crouch in front of her, concern now marring his handsome features.  He had beautiful amber eyes, thick dark brows and a slightly crooked nose over a sensual mouth, which was presently pinched. She rolled her eyes because as he spread his knees to crouch down there it was again, right in her face.  Honestly, it was waving around like a spare arm, begging for attention.  Like the geeky kid at the back of the class that always knew the answer.  Sheesh, she so didn't need this right now, she really didn't.

"Hey, you okay?" that soft query really got her attention, she looked away from his spare part - that currently had her attention, to his face, and found he was still frowning.  Then he leaned forward and put one hand under her knees and the other under her shoulders and pulled her out of the confined space and into his arms.  He then lifted her as if she weighed nothing as he scooted backwards, sitting on the end of her bed and placing her on his lap.  So not comfortable, not with the extra head poking her in the arse, but she was too tired to worry at the moment.  Sighing she tried to ignore the needy little - okay well not so little, bastard as she dropped her head on his chest.  Snuggling in, she took comfort from his steady heartbeat thumping away under her ear.  Her eyes closed, as exhaustion tried to drag her under, but then the image of her mother's lifeless, bloodstained and torn body lit up behind her eyelids, and they popped open again.  Her breath hitched and her heart rate increased in her agitation.