Taken (15 page)

It hadn’t been how he’d planned it. He’d been going to throw him over himself. Either way it was done and that only left one more to take care of.

Chapter Sixteen

Kitty opened her eyes. Her body hurt everywhere, and as she tried to stand, the warm sand beneath her shifted. She’d slid a little down the dune just before the large boulder by the river that snaked out into the bay. Bodies lay close to her. She saw some had been shot, but the majority of them had been torn apart. The smell of blood and death was heavy in the air. She looked down at her naked body and saw sand stuck to the blood she was covered in and it was ground into some of her wounds.

Foggy memories filled her mind. She’d been cornered in the safe room, had been threatened, and the monster Caleb had turned her into took over. Images of men screaming and dying at her hands came flooding back. As well as the images of the thing that had looked human for only a brief time. Zanagan hadn’t died as the others had. The thing had sprouted four twisted black spiraled horns on his head and his flesh turned a mottled gray and red. He stood taller and wider than her mates when they shifted. His fingers also were adorned with claws long enough to gut a man in a single swipe, and it’d had a tail, which looked very much like a scorpion’s. It fought back, and she’d been hurt badly by him.

Somehow she’d been able to get away from the thing before it had killed her. Then she remembered Caesar. A wave of nausea filled her at the memory.

“Oh, god,” she said out loud to herself. Caesar had held something in his hand as he’d walked into the room and told her to run. His finger was looped through a ring on the fist-sized black object. It’d been a grenade, and as she’d fled through the door, Caesar had pulled the pin.

She couldn’t for the life of her remember why she’d fled to this area of the island. Or why she’d unearthed the sand surrounding the boulder. Kitty knew it had been her. She could easily make out her claw marks in the damp sand around the large gray stone. As she staggered back toward the villa, Kitty saw more dead. Almost all of them were Caesar’s people. No one else was left alive.

* * * *

They’d known something was wrong as they couldn’t get a hold of their father on the phone. Caleb and Kaiden ran for the house as soon as their Jeep made the driveway. Caleb saw several dead men lying within the front courtyard. Some were their father’s foot soldiers and others, who were most likely the ones who’d attacked. From the air he’d seen many of the small houses on the island were on fire.

 They ran into the house. Both of them paused at the utter destruction of the place. He and Kaiden headed for the basement where their mate had been. As they passed through the small doorway, which led into the room just before hers, they saw the devastation.

It looked as if the place had been bombed. Part of the doorway was gone as well as the reinforced wall. Bits and pieces of debris littered the entire area as did body parts. Caleb forced himself not to cry when he saw his father’s watch embedded in the frame beside his head. He pulled the charred and bloody Rolex out of the wall.

“Oh, god,” he whispered.

“Kitty,” Kaiden yelled. His brother’s voice was full of panic as he rushed into the area that had been her room.

“Oh please, no,” Caleb said in a small voice. He didn’t believe even a werewolf would survive an explosion.

He made his way in after his brother. The remains of a couple bodies were strewn within the debris. None of the mangled remains looked female, and he felt a sense of hope. But his father had been one of them, and as he gripped the watch tightly, he vowed to kill whoever had done this.

“Dad didn’t make it.” His voice quivered as he told Kaiden, showing him the watch.

“God damn it.” His brother growled low.

“We’ll get whoever did this,” Caleb told him, and just by the glare in his older brother’s eyes he knew he’d be all for that.

They made their way back upstairs. They found Maria’s remains in the dining room. The older woman looked as if she’d been trying to run away and had been shot in the back. The smell of gunpowder, blood and death filled the house. As they walked from room to room, both of them looked the place over. It’d been turned inside out. The drawers, cupboards, desks and closets had been ransacked as had everything else.

The low sound of someone moving around on the next level had them both moving cautiously up the stairs. The noises seemed to be coming from Maria’s room down at the end of the hall. As they came to it, the sounds stopped abruptly. Because of the overwhelming smells of death within the house, he couldn’t get a scent of who was in the room. He gave his brother a nod and they both took a step back and then rammed the door. It splintered off its hinges and crashed to the floor in the room. The loud
bang
of a handgun went off and a bullet whizzed by his head.

A terrified, scruffy and bloody-looking Kitty stood within the room dressed in one of Maria’s maid outfits. She held a gun at them and her hands shook badly.

“Whoa. Easy now, it’s us,” Kaiden said as Caleb made to get closer.

“Oh, my god,” she sobbed. He could tell she was in a state of shock as he reached her. She crumbled into his arms.

* * * *

 They had left only an hour ago. None of them talked much after she told them what she’d seen and the spotty bits she remembered. The aircraft they were on was a small cargo plane, which had belonged to Caesar. As she sat between the brothers, she finally felt safe.

“We’ll be landing at JFK airport tonight. You should try to get some sleep,” Caleb told her. He pulled a blanket over her lap.

“I’m not tired.”

“You need to rest to heal,” Kaiden said.

She still had nasty cuts and several of them hadn’t even begun to heal. It seemed to worry the brothers. The bullet she’d taken to the leg had already started the process and it drove her nuts because it was so itchy.

“We’ll get Ashton to take a look at those claw marks,” Caleb said.

“Why?” Kaiden growled.

“Because he may be able to tell us why they’re not healing. You know anyone else as old as he is?” Caleb asked. To Kitty he sounded cranky.

“He’s meeting us at the airport, isn’t he?” Kitty asked.

“Yeah.” Kaiden huffed. She could tell he didn’t like the vampire at all, nor did he seem to trust him.

“Ashton is going to make it so you can get passed security without any questions,” Caleb explained.

Kitty pulled the blanket up higher. She hadn’t intended to fall asleep. But soon Caleb nudged her and her eyelids flew open.

“What?” she asked with a start. He’d scared her a little when he’d woken her.

“We’ll be landing soon. You need to get your seatbelt on.” She did so with his help as one of her hands was bandaged to cover the puncture wound in it.

Kitty noticed they were alone. Kaiden wasn’t to be seen. “Where’s Kaiden?”

“He went back to the cargo hold to make sure everything was secure.”

The brothers had taken as much from the house that they could salvage. All of it were items that had meant something to either themselves or their father. Keepsakes to remember him by, she’d guessed. Tears stung her eyes again at the spotty memory of his death. He’d sacrificed his life for her. He’d barely known her, and she just couldn’t fathom why he’d do such a thing.

* * * *

Kaiden knew they were about to land, but he needed to take a moment to be by himself. The half-demon had attacked the villa, had attacked his mate and his father had died saving her. His father’s death upset him. However, there was no way in hell he’d risk his own life for someone else’s, and it left him baffled. Not unless Ashton had messed with his mind. It made more sense to him, but why would he give his father the compulsion to protect Kitty.

Whatever it was Zanagan had wanted, it wasn’t in the shipment they’d escorted into the States. The vampire had played them, and now he wondered if the half-demon had gotten what it was he was after. Kitty couldn’t recall too much and it made things harder to learn more about this Zanagan individual. Kaiden thought perhaps Ashton could bear some light on the situation, but had his doubts the vampire would be very cooperative with him.

 He stepped back into the small area where the seats were and saw Kitty was awake. Soon they would have her safe at home in the Barrens, but first she needed to meet with the Feds and get that all sorted out.

“Kitty, you remember the plan, right?” he asked as he took a seat beside her and put his belt on.

“Yes. I was held by a masked man whose face I never saw at the farmhouse and got away, but how am I supposed to explain all these injuries away?” she asked.

“Tell them it happened when you were running away,” he said. She looked at him with doubt in her eyes.

“They’ll think I’m crazy for sure if I tell them I got clawed up trying to get out of a basement.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Maybe we should wait until you’re healed before you make your miraculous escape.”

“Then I have to explain the scars.”

“Damn it, why can’t anything go the way it’s supposed to.” He growled and instantly regretted his tone as Kitty looked hurt by his words. Caleb gave him a hard glare.

“Kitty, I’m sorry. None of this is your fault. I just wish things would go right for once is all.”

They might have to rethink their whole plan as to how Kitty had gotten away. He was sure no matter what the Feds would have a ton of questions for her. Kaiden was worried she may break and tell them the truth. That would get her locked up in a loony bin for sure, and he didn’t think even Ashton had the contacts to fix that.

“Don’t worry…all I really want is to get the transfer over into the charities. Then Katarina Callaghan can fade into history for all I care,” Kitty told them.

“Well…how is your will set up?” Kaiden asked.

“If I die, then everything goes to the charities. Except a trust fund for my employees and Gregory.”

Although his brother knew Trites had died from an accidental fall, and Henderson had simply vanished, he’d never asked what Kaiden had done. Neither one had told Kitty her uncle had died yet. He figured it was Caleb’s place as the new alpha to inform her. Caleb looked at him with a raised eyebrow. His brother thought along the same lines as he.

“Kitty, we can make it so you’re dead,” he stated proudly and then laughed as she looked at him with horror.

“Oh great, you want to kill me now,” she retorted in a huff. He saw the smile on Caleb’s face.

“No, we just make it look as if you’re dead. We do it all the time with members of the pack once they reach a certain age. Both of us were declared dead nearly ten years ago. It’s the only way to go unnoticed. We pick up new IDs and every twenty or so years that ID dies and we get another one. It’s something we have to do, like almost all Night Denizens,” he explained.

A strange look came over his mate’s face, and she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

“There’s a lot I need to learn about being a lycan, and you two are going to have to bear with me as I get used to this,” she told him.

“Well, you’re going to have to lay low for the first few months after we do this. That way people will begin to forget your image. After all, you were national news,” Caleb explained.

“Well, now maybe things will work out,” Kaiden said as the plane hit a little turbulence. Kitty looked nervous and he put his arm protectively around her shoulders as they started their descent to the runway.

Chapter Seventeen

After arriving at her new home, Kitty took a shower and redressed her wounds while the two brothers met with someone to work out her death. The thought of no longer being an heiress didn’t bother her at all. She smiled as she came from the bathroom. The smell in the bedroom hit her like a sledgehammer—deep, musky and full of need. Both her mates stood near the bed and they looked her over. Their eyes seemed full of hunger and desire. It sent a shiver over her, and her own need welled up.

Kaiden took one step, closing the narrow distance between them and then his lips crushed her own. His tongue pushed passed her lips to find hers and he groaned. He kissed her harder as his fingers gripped her hair. He pulled away as a deep throaty growl reverberated from him, and she returned it. Kitty was a bit startled by the rush of excitement flowing over her. Kaiden claimed her mouth again. His touch made her knees weak.

Caleb’s hands were suddenly around her waist from behind her and he gently pulled her to him. She felt the burning heat of his body as her back met his chest. The hard bulge in his jeans pushed up against her. His moist breath was on the nape of her neck, sending a shiver over her.

“Kitty,” he whispered as he licked her skin at the base of her neck and then bit her. It sent a primal message to her. Somehow this was the way this was supposed to be. As his hand slipped her bathrobe open, Kaiden stepped back to eye her, and she moaned at Caleb’s touch. Kaiden smiled and moved in to kiss her again. The embrace turned feverish and Kitty was swept away on a torrent of feelings.

As Caleb’s hands cupped her breasts, he pulled and turned her nipples in his fingers. Kitty gasped into Kaiden’s mouth as he trailed a large hand down her tummy and in between her legs. A moan escaped her lips as he slipped two fingers a little into her now wet core as he rubbed her clit with his thumb. Her mind tried to make sense of what was happening, but she was lost in the pleasure of their hands on her body. Kaiden continued to tease her as Caleb removed his clothing. Once he was naked he carefully peeled her robe off and let it fall to the floor around her feet.

Again she felt Caleb’s strong arm around her waist. Kitty watched Kaiden remove his clothes in a leisurely striptease as Caleb slid his fingers over her nipples, making them harder. Kaiden was beautiful as he slowly peeled his shirt off to reveal a naturally tanned muscled chest. Like Caleb, he too was riddled with battle scars. When he undid his jeans, he revealed a very large erection, which seemed more than ready to have her.