Unstoppable Force (Force of Nature Series)

This
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of
the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed
as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or person,
living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

WCP

World Castle Publishing

Pensacola, Florida

Copyright
© Kathi S. Barton 2013

ISBN:
9781939865212

First
Edition World Castle Publishing April 5, 2013

http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com

Licensing Notes

All
rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in articles and reviews.

Cover:
Karen Fuller

Photos:
Shutterstock

Editor:
Brieanna Robertson

Chapter 1

Austin knew that if he laughed she’d
come across the desk at him. He was bigger and much stronger than the fiery
redhead practically vibrating with anger, but at the moment he was reasonably
sure that she wouldn’t care. But damn, he was thoroughly enjoying this. Maybe
just a little too much. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure what had pissed her
off to begin with. He opened his mouth to bait her again when she spoke first.

“Look, buddy. I’m here because some
asshole judge told me to be. I didn’t realize that you had to have my pedigree
to work here. I either work or go to jail. Right now, jail is sounding much
better.”

Austin looked down. It was either that
or grin. He looked up at her and wiped his hand over his mouth, trying to stem
the look on his face. “It says here your name is ‘Lou’ Cavanaugh. You don’t
look like a ‘Lou’ to me. What’s it short for? I need it for tax purposes.” She
danced on her feet. “Why don’t you sit down? This could be awhile since you’re
being so cooperative.”

She looked at the chair behind her and
then back at him. She didn’t comment, neither did she sit. She’d been standing
since she came in the room not five minutes ago. That’s when he looked into her
eyes. There was anger there, yes. A great deal of it. But he could see the pain
now, etched along not only her eyes, but her mouth as well. He was just
starting to stand when someone knocked on the door and entered.

“Austin, what is it?”

He glanced at CJ then at the girl.

“How’s the interview going? Do we have
another person to help out around the compound?”

Lou snorted. “Like I have a choice.” It
was low and probably wouldn’t have been heard by any human, but he heard her. As
did CJ. And CJ was in a better position to handle the girl than he was. He knew
she was hurting and his first instinct was to help her.

“You’ll learn respect here, Miss
Cavanaugh. Or else you will go back to where you came from. I don’t know your
history, but we take care of those who work for—” CJ had been moving toward Lou
and stopped suddenly. “You’re bleeding.”

That was the first time he’d seen fear
in the girl’s eyes. She took one step back then a second before she bumped into
the chair. Her body language changed in that instant. She went from pissed off
female to warrior female in a heartbeat.

“You mind your own fucking business. I
came here because I was made to. Not to become friendly and certainly not to
have you looking into my life.” Lou turned to him. “Do I work here or go to
jail?”

Austin glanced at his mate. She nodded
slightly. Austin looked at Lou again. And he was surprised that he wasn’t mad,
upset yes, but not mad at her. He was more impressed than anything. He sat down,
took out the sheets of paper, and handed one to her. “You work. Here’s a map to
the housing unit that you’ll be staying in. Here is a list of times meals are
served as well as a schedule. You’ll be to work on time and ready. You’ll do
what you’re told when you’re told and how you’re told to do it.” He could see
that she wanted to make a comment, but all she did was stretch her neck and
nod. “This is the only chance you’ll get at making any kind of comment on how
badly you’re hurt. If you can’t do your job, now would be the time to tell us.”

“I’ll do it. Ninety days worth.” He
handed her the sheet of paper that was a contract that stated that she agreed
with the rules and regulations of working for him. Without even reading it, she
signed where he told her. She signed the paper “Lou.” He handed her a copy. “Anything
else?”

He wanted to ask her again what had
happened, but only shook his head. Without a backward glance to CJ she left the
room, closing the door softly behind her.

CJ sat in the chair Lou had never
touched. “She’s certainly something else. I’ve never seen anyone that mad
before over coming here. Usually they are happy not to be in a cell for the
duration. Why is she serving her community service here instead of the jail she
seems to prefer?”

Austin leaned back in his chair and
looked at his lovely mate and grinned. “George said he was worried she’d hurt
one of the other inmates if they spoke to her. He said she seems to be…” He
pulled out the fax from George Taylor, the county judge. “He seems to think
she’s ended up in his court room only because she had nowhere else to go. He
also said he knows that she’s basically a good kid, but has some trust issues. George
thinks being around some of the pack will give her some of it back.”

“Trust issues? I’d say yes, that’s a
fair estimate. But she is hurt. I’m not sure how badly, but she is hurt.” Austin
nodded. “Do you really think she’ll hurt any of the ones in the house with
her?”

“No. Not unless they try something
first. She doesn’t strike me as the social butterfly type.” He handed her the
thick file that had come to him yesterday. “This is what George sent me. He
said it was thicker than this, but he took out the stuff that was petty.”

Petty? He was amazed by what had
happened to the girl and that she’d lived this long. First, there had been
foster homes, then crimes that seemed to be more for her survival than anything
else. He hadn’t been surprised, however, to see that when she’d been arrested
this time, she’d had no address or any sort of job.

“Austin, do you think she’s going to
show up to work or skip on us? We don’t really need any more help on the
projects. We’re about finished with all but one house and Connor said he’s
doing that work on his own.”

Austin nodded. They didn’t need anything
right now, but George had begged. He said that if Lou didn’t get help now he
was afraid the girl would get hurt or she’d hurt herself. He was afraid that
she’d end up on the wrong side of a gun and he didn’t want to see that happen. Not
to this one.

“You ever see an animal that was caught
in one of those traps? The kind where they chew off their own leg rather than
wait for someone to come along and kill them?” Austin had nodded at George when
he’d been in his office two days ago. “That girl is going to chew off her own
leg.”

Austin tried to think what he’d meant
and looked up sharply when he thought he had it. “You think she’ll kill
herself?”

“Yes. Yes, I do. Poor girl has been on
the run, mostly from herself I think, for nearly all her life. Her parents
didn’t want her, or so the records show. She’d been in nineteen foster homes by
the time she’d been fifteen and had run off after the last one.”

He started to ask why when the file had
landed in his lap. “You read that. If you don’t want to take her on then I’ll
understand. She’ll be a handful.”

And if the first interview with her was
any indication, then he was sure she would be. He looked over at CJ when she
cleared her throat.

“It says here that she was dumpster
diving when an officer found her. She’d been caught before and warned off. This
time she came before George. She should have been spending the next thirty days
in jail for being a vagrant, but he sent her to us for ninety.” She closed the
file and sat up. “Why doesn’t she have a regular job? She seems intelligent
enough.”

Austin didn’t know. And for as much as
he wanted to find out, he was reasonably sure that nothing from the girl would
be forthcoming. He leaned back in his office chair and looked out the window to
the woods beyond. He didn’t look at his mate as he said what he had been
thinking since her file had come to him. “No one wanted her from birth, I
think. Her family, a married couple, had given her up just after she’d turned
three. From all accounts her parents were the perfect couple. Money, education,
as well as a nice little house in the ‘burbs. I’m thinking that because they
had enough money to grease a few palms she was put into foster care until she
ran away. I guess she remembered her real name. Because she was dropped off as
Louise Smith. By all accounts they didn’t have time for a child.” He looked at
CJ. “Especially, I’m thinking, one like her.”

“Like her? What do you mean? Is she not
human?” CJ picked up the file again and began thumbing through it. He knew the
moment that she found what he’d seen. “She’s an empath.”

Austin nodded. “She terrified her
parents. I’m betting they paid for all kinds of doctors to ‘fix’ her and when
that failed, they tossed her away. And according to George, someone is chasing
her.”

“For her abilities.”

Austin nodded.

“And when they find her…oh Austin, when
they find her, they’ll hurt her.”

He thought it would be worse than that,
but didn’t say so. He stood up and stretched. It was time to go find the
foreman and tell him that he had a new hire coming on board and to tell him to
be careful of her. Smiling, he wondered what Karl would say when he saw the
girl. Karl Fitzpatrick was a large, loud Irishman who didn’t know a stranger. If
anyone could bring the girl around, he could.

~~~

Lou set her bag on the bed and sat
carefully down on it too. She hadn’t known what to expect, but this room was
nowhere near what she had been used to. There were two beds in the room, both
nice-sized doubles, two dressers, as well as two small walk-in closets. There
was a bathroom that housed a shower, toilet, and a double sink.

Whoever had the messy bed next to her
had already claimed the right half of the room as well as the right sink. Lou
didn’t care. She was here for three months and didn’t plan on being buddies
with anyone from here. Getting up, she took her bag and went to the bathroom.

Peeling off her pants, she looked at her
leg. It was bleeding again. Taking the wrap off the wound, she hissed though
the pain until the jagged yet stitched up cut was uncovered. Leaning down, she
took a whiff and didn’t smell any infection.

She’d hurt herself four days ago. Of
course, had she not been running for her life she might not have hurt herself,
but there was no help for it. When Dean Herman, a man from her past, had come
up behind her, she’d hit him with the log she’d been carrying and took off. He’d
nearly had her when she fell into the stream and got away. Dean screamed that
he’d get her soon.

Taking out her small first aid kit that
she’d put together over the years, she cut along the tiny stitches she’d put in
the day before to take out the ones that hadn’t broken. Using some of the
liquid soap and a clean rag that she’d found somewhere, she washed the wound
and patted it dry. Some of the stitches had been pulled loose and she needed to
replace them. She had enough scars, she didn’t need any more.

The thread was the normal kind that
you’d find in any sewing store, but hers had been in someone’s trash. She’d
boiled it and then the spool. It was as clean as any one she’d find in a
doctor’s office, she figured. She threaded her only needle and took it and the
thread to the sink to wash again.

It took her nearly ten minutes to
replace the nineteen stitches and another five to clean her leg up again. Sweat
poured off her forehead and along her back. Taking off her shirt, she rinsed it
out and then put on the only other one she had. Taking the wet shirt to the
bedroom area again, she was surprised to see that her roommate was on the bed.