Unstoppable Force (Force of Nature Series) (11 page)

Dean looked up and down the street and
then back at the corner. There was no one around him, yet someone had been
here. Been here and did all this for him. Dean sat next to the cans and picked
up the opener. As he tore off the plastic, he smiled.

“Somebody wants me to get the girl and
take her home.” Twisting the handle over the first can, he started eating the
meat inside almost as soon as the lid was all the way off. “Wants me to win
this round with her all right, and I can’t help but to do just that.”

Dean ate two cans of the meat before he
leaned back against the car. Full, he tried to think what about the man had
made him terrified. He shuddered when he thought of his mouth. Dean would have
sworn on his last breath that there had been fangs there. He got up to piss and
then get inside the back seat. Things like that just didn’t happen except on
television.

He had to get Ginger and get her away
from here. Something about this area wasn’t what he was used to. Tomorrow, he
was going to go to the address he’d found for a Force and see if they had her. ‘Course
he wasn’t sure what the fuck he was going to do with her once he got her. He
didn’t have any rope to tie her up with and he figured that was the only way he
was going to get her somewhere without getting his dick taken off by her.

He was closing his eyes when he thought
of the man again. There was something…well, scary about him. Dean rolled to his
back and looked out the back window. The lighting was off, that’s all. There
was no way he had fangs.

~~~

Myles walked away, leaving Connor to sit
alone at the table. He’d left him with as much information as he had found,
which to Connor’s way of thinking, was a great deal more than they had had. Dean
Herman was not only nearby, but he’d been to the Force building as well. And
someone was helping him.

“I didn’t see anyone there with him. And
I’m pretty sure if there had been, Herman wasn’t aware of him either. But
someone is following him.” Myles handed him a picture of Herman. “He was
walking around the building, I believe, looking for a way in when he saw me.”

Connor looked down at the photo again
and wondered if the guy had any idea how close to death he was for simply being
the one who had hurt his mate. He doubted the guy had a clue. Connor glanced up
when his brother walked in with CJ.

“You talked to Myles, I take it?” Connor
nodded at Austin’s question. “You should know that I’ve doubled up the patrols
around the grounds, as well as beefed up security around the buildings in town.
He won’t get in if that’s what he was intending.”

“I think he was looking for something on
Lou. At least that’s what Myles and I think. Myles said he’s living in a car. He’s
got it parked in the mall lot that we just bought.”

Austin sat down and CJ sat on his lap as
Connor continued.

“Could be he is as stupid as we think or
he’s being cagey.”

“He’s stupid.” He smiled when Lou walked
in. She’d been asleep when he left her this morning. “At least he’s consistent
about it. Are you going to turn me over to him now?”

“No,” he said loudly then took a deep
breath. “No, I’m not, nor will anyone here do it. You’re pack now and we take
care of what is our own.”

She nodded and sat in the chair as far
away from him and the others as she could. He had spoken to her last night
about her desires to die and they had worked some of them out. The rest she
said she had to think about. He still wasn’t sure what that might be, but he
had a feeling she didn’t either.

“I wanted to tell you both how sorry I
am for the way…” Lou looked at Austin and CJ before she lowered her head again.
“I’ve had a really hard time of it and I didn’t have much in the way of choices
when it came to my life. I’ve never had the opportunity to… I don’t trust
easily.”

Austin snorted and CJ hit him. She
glared at him before she spoke to Lou. “I know about not trusting. The way you
were living, it’s small wonder you didn’t hurt yourself sooner. I know that I
thought about it a great deal after my mom passed away.”

“I was too cowardly to do anything on my
own.” The words seemed to spill out before she knew it, Connor thought. “I mean,
I was willing, but the mind kept me from actually doing anything. I didn’t want
to be sold to the labs again.”

Connor nodded when Austin looked at him.
“Dean sold her once before. He didn’t only sell her, but had drugged her up to
get her there. It wasn’t a nice place.”

“He won’t get me again. Not as long as I
can still breathe. Those people wanted…they thought that they could…” Lou got
up and moved to the sink and took a clean glass from the drainer. “They thought
they could use me as a breeder. Someone thought they could take my eggs and
make more just like me.”

“Holy Christ.” CJ got up too and started
to pull Lou into her arms. But when Lou stiffened, she only rubbed her arms. “No
one here will harm you or try to sell you to that place again. I’m sure that
Connor told you that, but I’m telling you again. No one, not a single person
here, will cause you harm or they have to answer to me.”

“And me.” Austin pulled CJ back to him. “I
swear to you, Lou, that no one will do anything to hurt you. I’m alpha here and
they know better than to piss me or my mate off.”

Lou snorted and Connor found himself
smiling. She was going to be a handful. He looked at his brother when he
cleared his throat. Connor was sure he was going to say something to piss Lou
off and he decided he was on his own.

“You don’t believe me? I got news for
you, young lady, when I say something—” She cut him off with a raise of her
hand. “What is it?”

It was her stance that made him think
she was feeling something. When she looked at the door from the dining room,
they all stood up. Connor was nearly standing in front of her when Karl walked
in. His face was a bloody mess and he was limping.

“Christ.” He started for him when Lou
stopped him. “I have to help him, love. Just stand still—” She knocked him back
when he reached for Karl again. As he started to rise, he saw it then.

The knife sticking out of his shoulder
was embedded deeply. In addition to the knife, there seemed to be a note. Connor
watched as Lou moved forward. She spoke softly to them as she reached out to
the note with trembling hands.

“If you touch it, I won’t be able to
tell you anything about it.” She looked up when Phil came into the room. “You
have to make them stay back.”

Phil nodded and stepped in front of him.
“You know as well as I do that I can put you to sleep. Don’t make me have to do
that.”

“She’s going to get hurt if she tries to
take that out of him.” Connor nodded to the big Irish wolf. “He’s in pain, even
I can see that.”

“Yes, he is. But if you touch the note
first, she won’t get the best reading on it. Let her do this.” His next words
were spoken in his mind.
“You have to let her do this because you trust her.
She might get hurt, but you have to trust her to do the right thing.”

Trust. Connor was beginning to hate the
word. He nodded once at Phil and asked him something that just occurred to him.
“How did you know she was going to need you?”

“My blood. She called for me the second
that Karl came in the room. She said you would try to stop her and she needed
to help this family. As I’m part of this family, I thought I’d come to her
aide.”

Connor nodded again. He watched her
reach again for the paper and when she touched it, he knew that whatever had
put it there wasn’t Herman. The stiffness of her body made him also think it
was meant for her.

“He’s decided to help him. The man who
wrote this has decided that it’s worth his time to help my foster father out. He
feels that Dean will fuck it up, but that he’ll be there to pick up the pieces
when he’s done. Namely me. He thinks that once he gets me away from this family,
he’ll…” She turned to him. “He is going to stop at nothing to get me from here
and thinks that he’ll be rich beyond his wildest dreams.”

“Over my dead body.”

She nodded and stepped back.

“Do you know who it is? Anything about
him?”

“He doesn’t know you’re wolf. He thinks
you’re simply an occult that takes people’s money in exchange for letting them
live in squander. He plans to call the FTA to have them come out and raid the
place if what Dean has in mind doesn’t work.”

“Think maybe someone can take this blade
out of me? I’m also needing a nice stiff drink.” She smiled at Karl then knelt
in front of him. “You’re a pretty lass, aren’t you? I bet once you start to
feed well, you’re gonna be as pretty as a pup under a little red wagon.”

Lou reached up, put her hand around the
pommel of the knife, and pulled it free of Karl’s shoulder. Connor started to reach
for her, but she pressed her hand over the wound and closed her eyes. Within
seconds, her hand started to glow and Connor could see the blood begin to stop
flowing.

Mother fuck, she was healing him.

Karl didn’t move and neither did she. Once
she sat back on her heels again, she looked back at him. He could see the pain
in her eyes, as well as exhaustion. Whatever she’d done for the man, it had
taken a great deal out of her.

“I’ve never shown this to anyone
before.” She took the rest of the tumble to the floor so that her ass was now
sitting on it. “You may change your mind about selling me off now, but you
should know I won’t live through it if they take me again. I won’t. If you give
me to them, it will be my death sentence. I won’t go back.”

“No one will take you. No one will get
to you unless through me.” Connor reached down and pulled her into his arms. “I
will kill for you. You’re mine.”

“And mine now.” They looked at Karl who
handed her the note. “The man who did this to me, you should know that he’s got
a bit of the black in him. Seen it afore. Black magic is staining his skin like
it’s his birthright. Never known anyone to come out on the better side of that
poison.”

“You know who he is?”

Karl shook his head at the question from
Austin.

“Then how do we find him?”

Lou closed her eyes and Connor thought
she was asleep. He should have known better. She handed him the folded paper
and then stood up. She began pacing as he read over the note.

“It says that he wants to meet with us. With
all of us, and we’re to bring his protégé with us.” He looked up at Lou. “He
means you, doesn’t he?”

“I think so. He doesn’t hate me like the
others I’ve seen. He wants to show me what I can do with what he thinks I am.” She
turned to look at them all before she continued. “He will come for me and won’t
stop with hurting an old man. He’ll kill to get to me. I would suggest that
you—”

“You finish with that with anything
other than you suggest that we join forces and take him out and I will bend you
over my knee and bust that lovely ass of yours.” Connor stood and stretched. “You
belong to me. Now and forever. There will be no one, not anything, that will
take you from me. Understand me?” She nodded, but he could see the doubt in her
face. There was no real reason she should trust him and he knew it. It didn’t
hurt any less, but he did know it. He turned to his brothers. “What do we do
now? There has to be something we can do to keep her safe.”

Austin nodded and looked at the door. There
stood the entire family, including Phil’s family. The vampires were smiling.

“We’ve come to play too. I heard there
was going to be some sort of showdown and we want to help.” Hope Campbell sat
down in one of the big chairs and smiled. “You’re very Irish, aren’t you, dear?
I would bet that you’re as fully Irish as they come.”

“My parents came to this country before
I was born. My father is in thermodynamics physics, and my mother is a chemical
engineer. They met on the way here and fell, I suppose, in love. I wasn’t
anything that they planned.” She turned away from Hope, but she pulled her back
around to look at her.

“They are the ones that have lost, my
dear, not you. Had they not created you, then my new family would not have
found you. And now Connor and you will be very happy. You will be too once we
take care of this rabble.” Hope smiled at him then winked. “Connor, my dear,
your house is in need of completion. How much longer to do think to take on it
now?”

“I’ve taken steps to have it completed
quickly. And I would like to thank you for helping me out with that.” He’d
heard she’d sent some of the vampires to work on the house in the middle of the
night to help out. “You’re an amazing woman.”

“That I am. Now, what do we know of this
new person who has come into this thing?” Hope patted the empty seat beside
her. “Come here, Lou. Let us look the note over and see what the idiot wants.”

It was well into the next morning before
they went to bed. Connor picked up Lou when she staggered for the third time
and was happy when she didn’t protest too much. He was putting her into the big
bed when she pulled him to her mouth and kissed him. Connor could no more turn
her down than he could have stopped breathing. Joining her in the bed, he took
her mouth again as he slid beneath the blankets with her.