Thomas (18 page)

He could live with that
and told her so.
I do love you. I never
thought…I simply love you, and if you like me, then we can work
with that. I want this to work. More than anything, I want this to
work for us.

I do as well.
She laughed.
Now pay
attention to what you’re doing. I’m not going to have time to save
your ass and get these people out too.

Misha went through the door first and
then him. Nic and Linyah were standing against the far wall, but
when he moved toward her, she put up her hand and pointed to the
camera. Nodding once, they started toward the right and Linyah and
Nic seemingly blended in with them. At the next doorway, they all
moved inside, appearing to check the rooms. As they entered, Nic
told Thomas to take the hand of Carter and Phillip, and Nic held
onto Misha and Andrew. In seconds, they were near the blocked door.
Rider was staying behind so that it would look like they had split
in half to check rooms. It was a great plan, and Misha said as much
as they moved to the door.

The door was just as they’d seen it.
Kicking the chair out of the way, Misha put his hand on the door to
check for heat. The door was cool apparently as Misha kicked it in,
having tried the lock and found it jammed. In seconds they were all
in the room with the people they’d been asked to save.

Getting them out of the building was
harder than coming in. The staircase was now burning and the other
exit, the one closest to the front of the building, had been sealed
shut with steel bars. Thomas handed the first woman a mask so she
could breathe into his as he reached for Linyah. He explained what
had happened.

We’re having the same
issues here. But you’ll be happy to know that the men who are
responsible for this are with us too. Rider and I found them and
their nice little set up with the cameras. Nic is making sure that
you find them as you’re leaving.
He
laughed
. You should see these idiots. And
their reason for doing this? Fucking stupid.

He laughed again, relief that this was
nearly over making him feel fantastic. The seriousness of the
situation notwithstanding, he was happy she was there. But they
still had to get out of there. Turning to the people they had
found, a woman told him that she snuck out of the building several
times a day to smoke and had found a quicker way out. As they moved
toward the middle of the building, Thomas told Linyah what they
were doing.

We’ll meet you there. I
don’t have a problem with these idiots figuring out we popped them
there. No one will believe them anyway after they tell them what
they were doing here. Some people should be stood in front of a
firing squad and shot. Several times.
He
told her he agreed with her and that they’d meet there. And within
five minutes, they were on their way out of the collapsing
building.

Misha stood in front of the fire
marshal as well as three officers an hour later. Arson was the
cause, of course, and when he pulled Rider forward to tell them
what he’d found, he explained to them about the three
men.

“
Their plan, for lack of a
better term, was to protect their cameras against heat and water
damage. As the manager of this facility had told them repeatedly
they did not work in that industry, that they’d have to seek other
employment, they decided to kill them off to prove a point. They
wanted people to know that if they had better working cameras,
finding victims would be much easier. Lucky for us, we turned the
opposite way when we got turned around up there.” The fire marshal
looked at the men, then back at Rider as if he too was having a
hard time believing anyone could be that stupid. “They confessed. I
have it on one of their cameras. When we walked in, they were
putting their results on a website that had a few hundred thousand
people watching. It’s all there.”

Handing over the DVD, Rider walked
away. As he headed toward Thomas, Linyah walked up to stand next to
him. His smile, the one that said to Thomas “I’m going to beat the
living shit out of you” had him standing in front of Linyah. She
laughed but didn’t move. He was going to protect her even at the
cost of bloodying his brother’s nose.

“
Boy oh boy, are you going
to love me. I’ve talked to Misha. A lot. We’d like to offer you a
job to work with us. Not behind the scenes, as you did this time,
but right up front.” Linyah looked at him, and he nodded. “You’ll
be a great asset to the team. And if you’re with us, Thomas can get
laid more often. He’s much more relaxed with you around. I like to
think of that as a perk for us all. Him being less tense, I
mean.”

A low growl slipped from Thomas’s
mouth, and Rider laughed. As he walked away after telling Linyah to
think about it, Thomas pulled Linyah into his arms. She wrapped her
arms around him, and he felt at peace once again.

“
I can tell him no.”
Thomas laughed and told her good luck with that. “I would love to
help you. It will keep me from messing up your house so
much.”

“
It’s our house, and I
suddenly don’t care what you do to mess it up. We’ll just hire
someone to follow you around to pick up after you.” He kissed the
top of her head. “Let’s go home and make a bigger mess of our
bed.”

She grinned up at him and they were
instantly standing in their room. Kissing her deeply, Thomas held
her to him. He was in love, in love with the one person in the
world that he’d never have picked for himself. Thomas was very glad
that the fates, or whatever they were, had stepped in and showed
him what a mate could do for you.

Chapter 10

Maribel was so excited. She’d been
spending time with Sina and Kendra off and on over the last several
days, but now she was going to have a girl’s day out. Linyah was
going to pick her and Hannah up in a few minutes, and she’d be
having pizza and pop with a queen, a former queen, and a princess.
She looked at her dress again, wondering if it was too formal for a
lunch date.

Hannah was running late. Morning
sickness had the poor little thing running back and forth between
the bathroom and kitchen. The tea had helped a great deal, but when
she was upset, nothing helped. Nerves would do that to you when you
already had a baby there. Being a grandmother was the most exciting
thing she could think of right now.

When someone knocked at the door, she
moved to get it before she thought that she shouldn’t. She was
pissed more than she was angry to find her ex-husband standing
there.

“
What do you want?” Andy
stood there with his hands in his jacket pocket and glared at her.
“You’re not coming in, and if you try that crap on me again, I’m
going to blow you full of holes. I’m in too good a mood to let you
mess it up.”

“
Where do you think you
get off talking to me like that?” He lunged for her, but she pulled
the gun that she’d been practicing with from her pocket. Linyah and
Hannah had made sure she was ready for her ex-husband when he
returned, and she was glad now that she’d taken the time to conceal
it on her person. “You thinking of shooting me? What the hell is
wrong with you? Go and get one of them boys and tell them to get
you straightened out.”

“
I’m just fine and dandy,
thanks. And I don’t need straightening out. You might when I’m
finished with you.” She held the gun steady, something that Hannah
had told her a million times. “You were told to get away from here
or we’d call the police.”

When he looked over her shoulder, she
knew that she was no longer alone. Maribel was somewhat
disappointed, as she’d wanted to deal with Andy on her own. When
she turned slightly to look, she was surprised to see not only
Hannah but Linyah as well.

“
Watch him.” She turned
around when Linyah spoke and watched Andy. “We’re just here for
backup. Or a witness in the event you need one when you kill him.
I’m hoping for the latter myself, but then I’ve dealt with his
prick ass before. He’s on my shit list. And heading to the top of
it too.”

“
She ain’t got it in her
to kill me. And she can’t either. I’m her mate.” Andy looked at
her. Then he smiled. She knew that smile. It was the one he’d used
right before he slapped her around. Well, not this time. She
watched him carefully now and tried not to get scared when he moved
a step toward her.

“
I’m gonna come in the
house now.” He reached for the handle and pulled the screen door
open. “You just back on up and we’ll talk. Just talk. Tell them
girls to—”

She had no idea that she’d pulled the
trigger until the wood on the floor right in front of Andy jumped
up and cut into his face. He fell backwards, but he wasn’t staying
down. When the door tore from the hinges, he was stopped by Misha,
and his cat did not look happy to see him any more than she’d been.
But he only growled at his father and didn’t lunge at his throat
like she would have done as a cat.

“
I’ve got this.” Misha
turned and looked at her. “I got this. You go on back with them
girls. He’s not going to touch me again. I swear to you, this is
not going to end the way he thinks it’s going to.”

“
You’re going to pay for
this.” Misha moved to sit beside her and yawned hugely as Andy
stood there screaming obscenities at her. “Motherfucking cunt. You
put that fucking gun down and come on out here. I got me a thing or
two to show you about respect for your mate. And I plan on showing
that son of mine a thing or two when I’m finished too.”

Linyah laughed. And then Hannah did.
Misha never moved from his position on the floor, but Maribel did
wonder if he was finding it funny as well. Respect? How the hell
did you respect someone like her ex-husband when he’d never given
any to them? Or for that matter, even to himself over the
years.

“
I’m not telling you again
to get away from here. The next time I fire this thing, I’m going
to hit you in the brain. And I’m talking about the only one you
ever thought with.” She lowered the gun until it was pointed at his
dick. “The only good that thing did me was these boys. And now I’ve
got me a grandbaby on the way and more daughters coming in all the
time.”

“
Daughters? You had
daughters too? Christ almighty woman, what the hell did you go and
make daughters for?” He looked over her shoulder again, and she
wondered which one of the girls he was looking at. Maribel
considered both of them her children already and would protect them
with her life. “That big one there, the tall drink of water, she
mine? She don’t look too much like me. The other one is sort of
scrawny if you ask me.”

“
No fucking way would I be
one of your daughters. Christ.” Linyah shuddered. “If I were a
child of yours, you’d have been castrated, skinned, and hung out to
dry before you got that tiny thing out to make another child. I can
understand having respect for your parents, but you’re not worth a
pile of shit. As for the scrawny one, as you called her, she’s more
a leader than you ever dreamed of being.”

He started forward again, but looked
at her this time. Maribel wasn’t sure she could really kill him,
but she knew, she absolutely knew, that she could hurt him a great
deal so that he’d wish he was dead. There was no way in hell that
he was going to harm her again or one of her children.

“
All right then, if you
want to play this way. I’ll just come out and tell you why I’m
here. I want me a cut of the money them boys have been making. I’m
their sire, and I think I deserve a cut. I’m thinking half. Without
me, they’d not have shit.” He looked at Misha, then back at her.
“You tell’ em. You tell’ em that they’re gonna pay me for siring
them or so help me, I’ll come back here when I know you’re alone
and tear you apart.”

“
You greedy bastard.”
Before she could tell Hannah not to get too close, she slapped Andy
in the face. Maribel was so stunned by the action she could only
stare. Misha stood up, but he never moved to attack. When his dad
moved, it was all Maribel could do not to shoot. But she was
terrified of hitting Hannah. She shouldn’t have worried. Hannah had
it well under control.

As soon as Andy reached for her,
Hannah dodged. As he fell forward from the momentum, she turned and
kicked him in the ass. Andy fell onto the floor, and Hannah leapt
onto his back and slammed his head forward. No one moved, no one
said a word as she hit him twice more before lifting his head up
and turning him to see her.

“
You are worthless. How
you ever sired six of the most wonderful sons is beyond me.
Hopefully our children won’t be a thing like you. Why, to think
that…you have no idea what sort of children you have, only seeing
what they can give you. Isn’t that right?” She hit his head again,
and blood poured from his nose as she continued. “I’m going to let
you up. Why I don’t let Maribel…Mom shoot you right now, I have no
clue, but you’re going to get up, get out of our home, and never
return. Because if you do, I’m going to hurt you worse than
this.”

Her cat took her. She was sitting atop
him as a pretty little thing, then shifted to a wonderfully
beautiful leopard in seconds. Her claw, sharp and huge, raked
across his face to the bone. Blood not only poured from the fresh
wounds but spilled on the floor into a large puddle. When she got
off him, she flipped him over and dug her nails deep into his
chest, almost like she was going to tear his heart out. It was
Linyah who walked up to her and stopped her by putting her hand
over her paw.