Taken (10 page)

Kaiden lay under Caleb’s massive weight, and he looked down at his brother. The glow in his eyes faded. Kaiden was going to shift back. The two of them were a bloody, torn up mess, and as he scanned the bedroom, he knew his father wasn’t going to be happy. He released his grip as he moved off Kaiden, and shifted as well before offering a hand to help him up.

He turned back toward his mate and saw curiosity mixing with her fear. He wondered how well she’d take the news.

“Kitty, we need to talk.” His jaw ached as he said it.

“What’s wrong with me?” Her gaze darted from him to Kaiden and then back.

“I bit you. Now you’re like us,” he told her, and she looked as if she was about to faint.

Caleb took a step closer to her and she stepped back. The terrace door, which led to the shoreline was open. They were on the third floor of his father’s villa, and the place was patrolled by gunmen. The people there all knew what he and his brother were, but he didn’t want to chance Kitty being mistaken as an intruder.

“Kitty, you need to stay inside until we finish talking,” he told her nervously. Kaiden seemed to sense the issue.

“You two should talk in private. Maybe I should go to a different room and get cleaned up,” his brother offered.

A soft knock at the door brought their attention to it.

“We aren’t decent.” Kaiden snarled.

“Your father wishes to see you in the dining room,” a soft older-sounding voice echoed into the room. He recognized it. It was the head maid, Maria.

“Why?”

“He said there was something important he needed to discuss with the three of you.”

“Fine. Tell him we’ll be down shortly.”

“Very well,” she said. Soft footsteps drifted away from the door.

Caleb looked toward Kitty and carefully extended his hand to her. She nervously eyed it.

“It’s okay, we’re a family now,” he said very softly as he took a tentative step toward her.

“What do you mean?” she whispered. She remained still as he neared her.

“You’re my mate.” he said. Those words sounded so good to his ears.

“I don’t understand, Caleb. Why did you do this to me?” Her eyes rimmed with tears, and he felt a pang in his chest at her words.

He traced his fingers gently over her silky hair. She looked at him. Her eyes were a near incandescent silvery-blue. They melted him, and he tilted her small delicate face up to look at him.

“Because I need you,” Caleb told her. He kissed her tenderly before guiding her to the washroom.

“We need to get ready to go see our father. There are clothes for you in here.”

As she got ready, he closed the terrace door and locked it. Even if she did escape, there was no place to run. They were on his father’s island, and everyone there kowtowed to him. As the leader of the Costa Rican cartel, no one in their right mind ever crossed him and lived.

“Kaiden, we need to tell her everything,” he said as the shower started in the next room. From experience he knew the sound would muffle their words from her newly acquired sensitive hearing.

“You really do want to piss her off, don’t you,” he said as he examined the large bite mark on his arm. “And I demand a rematch,” Kaiden added with a snarl.

Caleb glared at him. Kaiden was right. If she learned what they planned on doing next she may never want to speak to them again. However, in order to ensure she was safe they would have to use her as bait to lure out their enemy. They needed to go back to the States soon. That meant they would have to deal with Trites and Henderson as well as their goon squad. How well she’d handle the news would most likely be better than how she took the news that not only was she to be his mate but Kaiden’s as well.

His brother left to go to his room to get presentable, and Caleb waited for Kitty. He got cleaned up as she sat on the edge of the bed, staring at him as he washed in the bathroom sink.

“Why can’t I remember what happened after we…we…you know.” She turned bright red. He knew she tried to say after they’d made love.

“It’s from the change I think.” He told her his best guess. “Let’s go. Dad isn’t a patient man.”

* * * *

She sat at the large teak table in the dining room and felt uneasy. This place was even grander than her home. With the Italian marble floors, ornate ceilings and lovely arches it was decorated in old-world grandeur.

The dining room sat in a large area with an entire wall of windows, which overlooked the bay. As she stared out at the water, she smelt the food even before Maria brought it in. It was so strange, nothing smelt quite the way she’d remembered. An egg didn’t smell exactly like an egg, and the cup of coffee smelled very strongly of smoky wood scents. The most alluring smells came from both Caleb and Kaiden, and although her gaze darted between the two, she seemed to stare longer at Caleb.

Their father sat at the head of the table and seemed to be waiting for everyone to finish eating before the big talk he needed to have. Kitty ate so fast Caleb’s eyebrows raised as she looked over at the platter of fried ham.

“Your metabolism is running faster now so you’ll find you eat much more than you did before, and you also won’t have to sleep quite as much either,” he explained.

“It should take a few weeks to get used to,” Kaiden added as she looked at him. His battle wounds were already healing rapidly.

A clearing of Caesar’s throat made all three of them look at the older man. He looked tired, but his eyes were clear, and something in them told her this wasn’t a good time to ask for more ham.

“We have another guest today. He flew in from New York last night. I want you to meet him, but first let me remind you he is
my
guest.” He looked at both Kaiden and Caleb when he said it. He turned his attention to her and his eyes seemed to soften. With a quick weak smile, he pushed the plate of ham toward where she sat. “Go ahead, Kitty, eat. You’re going to need your strength,” he told her as she slowly took more ham.

The urge to pounce on the entire platter and devour it overwhelmed her. Yet she managed to remain composed as the three men watched her for a moment. It made her feel self-conscious.

“So why do you need to tell us you have company?” Kaiden blurted out.

“Because it’s a Night Watcher,” he said. The twins stiffened and Caleb let out a low growl.

“Why would you deal with them?” Kaiden’s voice sounded raw and she saw fangs in his mouth. A flutter ran over her, and Caleb growled again. This time at her.

Caesar glared at his sons. Both twins, although still tense, didn’t say any more.

“I’ve business with him, and he’ll be escorting you home,” he stated flatly as he wiped the edges of his mouth with a crisp white cloth napkin.

“Now if you don’t mind, there’s something you need to see on the television. I recorded this little news story this morning.” He nodded to Maria, who’d been standing by the doorway the entire time.

Kitty watched as she turned the TV on and hit a play button on the remote. Again, an image of her Uncle Gregory came on and this time there were only two Feds with him. The news story had her nearly in tears as a special update was made concerning her. The Feds told the reporters Kitty had been declared mentally incompetent about six months ago, and therefore, unable to distinguish right from wrong. So they believed she could unwittingly be helping her kidnapper. She reached the breaking point as tears slipped down her cheeks.

Her Uncle Gregory stood again in front of reporters, making a seemingly heartfelt appeal to the man who took her, asking only for her safe return. The reporters bombarded him with questions. He answered them with the skill of a snake oil salesman, and if Kitty didn’t know the truth, she’d have believed every lie he’d uttered.

“So it seems, Miss Callaghan, you have some serious explaining to do,” Caesar said with a look of concern in his eyes. Kitty looked at him and felt suddenly sick. This was all way too much for her to deal with.

“Excuse me please,” she managed to get out as she pushed herself from the table and then raced out of the room.

“Kitty!” she heard both Caleb and Kaiden say as she rushed down the hall toward what she thought maybe a bathroom.

She grabbed the door and jerked it open. She ran into a large thick-bodied man, and she stopped dead in her tracks as his strong arms wrapped around her to steady her.

“Well, hello,” he said. His voice was deep and sexy. He was tall with black silky hair, which made his pale skin even paler, and heavenly icy-blue eyes, which captured her gaze. His voice filled her with a sense of calm. He looked to be all of thirty years old.

“You must be the new addition to Caesar’s family?” he asked, his gaze holding hers, silently demanding her to answer him.

“Yes…” she said in a near whisper as he smiled, and heat rolled over her. She took a deep breath and it confused her. Nothing she’d smelled before was anything like it, and it wasn’t very pleasant. Rot and the foul smell of death sat in the air around this man. It was only faint, but still it was nauseating.

Chapter Eleven

The smell of death hung heavy in the air, and as he growled low, Caleb eyed the vampire. Sure they were strong, fast and capable of ripping out a lycan’s throat just as fast as another werewolf could. Caleb didn’t care. It had its hands on Kitty. He began to shift, and as he did, he sensed Kaiden do the same.

“Enough!” his father yelled.

“That Night Watcher had its hands on my mate.” Caleb growled passed his fangs.

“He’s my guest.”

“I apologize. We merely ran into one another,” the vampire stated.

“No, I apologize for my sons’ rash behavior. Caleb, Kaiden, this is a very old friend of mine, Ashton Hellstrum. He’ll be returning with you to New York, and has the network there needed to get all three of you back into the city,” Caesar explained. “Now if you don’t mind, we have different business to discuss, and my sons need to explain to Kitty how to be a wolf.”

“Oh…you weren’t born a lycan?” The man looked more interested in her. Caleb growled a warning.

“Come on, Kitty, before Caleb loses it,” Kaiden said, and the three of them turned to go for a walk on the beach where they could talk privately.

The trio moved toward the cabanas on the white sandy beach, and as they had a seat, Kitty looked between the two of them.

“So are you guys going to tell me what the heck you did to me?” she asked, her voice calm but demanding.

“I told you, you’re like us,” Caleb said.

“Yes, but what exactly is ‘us’?”

“Werewolves.” Kaiden interrupted, and Caleb shot him a hard look.

“I prefer lycan,” Caleb told her. “It’s what we Night Denizens call werewolves.”

“Night Denizens?”

“Yes, the collective name for all things supernatural…like werewolves and vampires and such. Mind you, they don’t usually use those terms. Most of them find being called a werewolf or vampire or shifter derogative,” Kaiden explained.

“But why bite me?” she asked. This time her voice rose in timber.

“It was necessary, Kitty.” He touched her hand.

“Why? Why would it be necessary? What was wrong with the way I was?” Her voice rose even more and cracked as tears lined her eyes.

All in all, it wasn’t going too badly, Caleb thought. She hadn’t shifted and tried to kill him…yet.

“Because if I hadn’t, you wouldn’t be able to bear pups.” He told her flat out. He waited for the backlash to hit him. Instead of slapping him or screaming at him, she just stared between them both. He felt uneasy in the silence.

“Kitty, your body as a human would have rejected a pregnancy with a lycan. It would kill both you and the babies.” Kaiden tried. She stared at him for a few long moments.

“Babies!”

“Yes, I want you to be my mate. That means to have my kids too,” Caleb told her. The thought of a dozen kids running around filled his mind and he smiled.

“I think I need to be alone right now,” she said and got up.

“Kitty.” Caleb started to get up, but Kaiden put his hand on his arm.

“Let her get her own mind wrapped around it. We’re on an island. It’s not as if she can go anywhere.”

They watched her as she walked down the beach toward the water’s edge and then followed the shoreline. The warm tropical breeze caused her hair to dance all around her as she tilted up her head. So beautiful, he thought.

“I think she’ll be okay once she gets used to it,” Caleb said. Even to himself, his voice sounded unsure.

“What are we going to do about Trites and Henderson?”

“We need to make sure they get the message loud and clear.” Caleb snarled.

“Yeah, but where does that leave our girlfriend?”

“Our?”

“Yeah, our. You know we’re twins, which means she’s mine too. It’s the way it works.”

“Well…I really don’t know how she’s going to take that news.”

“You planning on telling her I’m her mate too or do I have to tell her?” he asked. Caleb wasn’t sure if he could handle Kitty with him. They’d shared women before, but this was different. It was Kitty.

Kaiden looked at him with a near glare as he waited for him to answer. Caleb won the right to be her primary mate, but Kaiden still had a right to her as well.

“You really think she can deal with anything more on her plate right now?” he asked.

“She needs to know everything before we go back, including my right to be with her too.” Kaiden growled.

“I’ll tell her, but let me get her settled into being a lycan first,” he stated.

“Look…I want to protect and love her too,” Kaiden said.

 Caleb got up to head back into the house to figure out how he was supposed to dump all this information on Kitty at once without her hating both him and his brother in the process.

* * * *

Kitty was lost in her thoughts as she sat on the smooth warm boulder. It was nestled in the sand beside a small river, which fed into the bay. It was so beautiful and tranquil she hadn’t heard the man. The distinctive smell gave him away.

“Why hello again,” the voice said. The timber was in such a seductive manner her knees trembled. He smiled as he stepped out from the path she’d followed. She looked at Ashton more appraisingly. He was no longer wearing a suit, nor shoes or shirt, just black jeans.