Brody Read online

  She was hurting; trying to find the little boy’s dad was pulling on stitches and bruises that she had all over her body. The airport wasn’t that long, but there were a lot of people walking into them. Pay attention to your surroundings, she wanted to scream at people. But she—

  “You sure do walk fast.” Emmi slowed down. She had very long legs, and she’d forgotten for a few minutes that she was with a kid. “Thanks. Look over there. See those big signs?”

  “I do.”

  She was nearly to them when she was thrown to the floor and someone had her arms too far up her back. Airport security was screaming at her to get away from the boy.

  Emmi hadn’t a clue how that was to happen, as she had an elephant of a guard on her aching back. It was all she could do not to pass out. Not to puke where she lay. Then man on her, because there was no doubt to her that it was a brute of a man, was telling her to not move, not to say a word.

  She was sick with the pain, and Jordan was screaming at them to let her go, that she was helping him. Before she could beg anyone for help, any kind of help, she was let go and yanked up to her feet. Emmi had to lean over until she not only caught her breath, but the pain was gone—which by her estimations, would be never. No longer able to hold onto the bile in her empty belly, she turned her head and dry heaved for a few minutes. The shoes in her view were expensive and polished. There was only one person that she knew who had shoes that shiny.

  “Hello, Aaron. Don’t touch me yet.” Laughter had her peeking up at her brother. “I was only trying to help the kid. Now I have to go home. You’re on your own to get there. In fact, you should maybe go back to where you were for about ten years.”

  “I heard the kid. Christ, I think the entire place heard him telling them that you hadn’t done anything wrong. However, I did not know that you were in so much pain that you should have told your big brother.” She wanted to wipe at her nose and tears, but she hurt too much. “I’m going to find out what happened—you know that, don’t you? In the meantime, do you need something for the pain, Emmi?”

  “I’ll be all right. Just give me a minute. Could you help Jordan find his dad? He said he was getting a car.” Emmi couldn’t move, but she had to sit down. Trying to lower herself to a better position was making her sicker. “Aaron, I’m not going to be able to move without help. Can you sit me on the ground? There is a better place for me to die, I think.”

  “No dying, Emmi. I mean it. And so you know.... Well, that’s for later. Where can I touch you?” Aaron’s voice was so strong that she wanted to lean into it, much like she had as a child when she’d be taken to task about something made up by her parents that she’d done. But Aaron’s shoes didn’t move when she felt someone at her waist. “Don’t touch her until she tells us where we can.”

  “She’s bleeding.” She heard Aaron cursing and the man behind her breathing hard. “Emmi, is it? I’m going to help you down to the floor. But you have to tell me where I can touch you. I think your brother is pissed.”

  “He’s always pissed.” Sobbing now, the pain was getting the better of her. “Find a gun. Shoot me between the eyes and I’ll feel much better.” She heard Jordan tell them no. “I was kidding, Jordan. I just hurt too much right now to think of anything other than not being in pain. Just leave me here. I’ll move when I’m able.”

  There was a pinch at her arm. Before she could turn, if she could have, to see what had happened, the man behind her came into focus. He was rubbing a place where she was sure that he’d drugged her. Then, amazingly, she started to float away.

  Emmi was never one to be able to just take a pain pill or shot and be able to be pain free. She was a redhead and all that came with it—freckles, pale and sensitive skin. If she was out on a beach for ten minutes, she’d be burnt to a crisp. Like she’d ever been to a beach, she thought with a smile. Then she heard Aaron tell whoever had shot her up that she was indeed a redhead, and she felt another pinch to her skin, then absolutely nothing.

  There were glitches in the things that she saw when she woke. A giant cat—a tiger, she realized. Then there was a man, telling her she was all right. Over and over Emmi thought that she’d died only to wake a little to more pain. When she was finally able to focus on her surroundings, there was a man in the room with her doing a crossword puzzle. As she watched him, he cursed at the clues.

  “What the hell is a steam engine scoop? You’d think a man my age would have heard it all. Stupid puzzle.” Clearing her throat twice, she told him the answer. “Bucket, huh? Let me look. Yes, that’s it. Thank you. I would have given up had I not been assigned to watch over you. Though I must tell you, it’s not a bit of hardship on my part.”

  “You’re babbling, and I hurt. Where am I?” The man stood and stretched. Her mouth went dry as the shirt he had on pulled up from his pants. Looking away, Emmi saw that she had an IV, as well as that her body was layered in gauze. She was in the hospital someplace. “Where is Aaron? I’d like to go home now.”

  “If you mean your brother—who is very scary by the way, even for me—he and a couple of other guys went to the cafeteria for something to eat. Do you need for me to get you something for pain?” Shaking her head, she closed her eyes. “Yes, well, you might want to talk to the doctor before you start moving around too much. Brody said you were a bitch to put back together. Who did this to you?”

  His voice had gone hard, and she turned to look at him again. There was something about him, something that made her think she knew him, but her head hurt too much to be able to remember.

  “You never said where I was. And who the hell is Brody?” He sat down, picking up the puzzle that he’d been working on. “Okay. Be a shit. I’m getting out of here.”

  When she sat up, costing her everything that she had in her, he growled low. It took her a moment to realize that he was growling at her. But for some reason, she wasn’t afraid of him—more like pissed off. So Emmi did what she wished she’d done to her dad every time he’d drawn back to hit her. She doubled up her fist and socked him right in the nose.

  Chapter 2

  Brody laughed every time he saw Quincey. Emmi Wright had blackened both his eyes and broken his nose. And because she was his mate, he couldn’t heal until she forgave him, which didn’t look as if it was going to happen anytime too soon. They were alike, the two of them, he’d come to surmise—stubborn, loud, and didn’t care who was around when they voiced their anger. Brody was having a good time.

  “I don’t think this is funny. You do know that I could kill you in a way that would make you suffer endlessly?” Brody laughed again, just a short burst of it, and nodded. “Have you found out anything about the man that is going to be dead soon? Whoever injured her, he is going to pay for this. Firstly because she’s my mate, and secondly, no one should hurt anyone like he did her, especially a woman. It looked to me as if he beat her with a cat-o-nine tails. Do you know the strength it would take to live through what she suffered?”

  “No. I don’t know anything more about her than you do. She was hurt, and helped my son regardless of the pain she was in. Also, Quincey, I don’t want you upsetting her anymore. Did you know that I had to put in seven more stitches because of you pissing her off?” Quincey said that he was sorry. “I know she’s your mate, but if you upset her anymore, she’ll disappear. Her brother said that she’s very good at hiding from those she doesn’t want to see.”

  Brody wondered about the man who had hurt her. Why was he doing this to Emmi? And by the looks of other wounds on her body, he’d been doing it repeatedly for some time now. He’d not told Quincey about it, but he had a feeling that the man already knew it.

  “I can find her, no matter what, because I have her scent and a taste of her skin. Had you allowed me to, I would have healed her completely. But I do understand about the police needing to see what had been done to her. Also, I do thank you for allowing Forrest to seal up t
he worst of the wounds, but she is still in pain and my beast is aching to heal her.”

  Brody had gotten a crash course in mates when he arrived. He’d known about shifters and mates, just not the totality of it all. Like, wounds given by a mate, and how they would heal or not. Brody had supposed, because of what he’d been told, that mates didn’t or even couldn’t hurt their other half. But now he knew that when they did, it would be a wound that would stay forever until forgiven for the misdeed. Such as, Quincey scaring Emmi to the point of her hitting out.

  He laughed again on his way back to the meeting he’d been in when Quincey told him that Emmi was awake. Jordan was staying with Forrest for the afternoon, while Brody would get the lowdown on his divorce proceedings as well as care for his very first patient here. So far, he was happy with both.

  “Is she all right?” He nodded and told them about Quincey. “Yes, well, who knew after all this time that he’d find himself a second mate? And a hellion to boot. I’ve only been around her when she’s out, but from what Aaron told me, she’s nothing short of a marvel on feet.”

  Brody had yet to meet the young man. He’d been at the airport when he and Jordan had been, but with his sister being in so much pain at the time, they’d not been introduced nor did they talk, other than for Aaron shouting at Brody for not helping her enough. Then here at the hospital, it had been nonstop busy with getting registered, taking care of Emmi, and setting up a place for him to have an office, as well as a room for Emmi. He supposed that easing into things wasn’t in the books right now.

  Brody looked over the paperwork that Jake handed him.

  “All the locks have been changed, as you know. And the things from the house that your mom wanted are all on a couple of trucks. It’ll be here in a couple of days.” He thanked him. “No need for that. Forrest did the same for me when I was getting ready to get away from my wife. Anyway, since you’re only moving from a couple of towns over, you can keep the same banks. And they’re aware that she can’t get into your accounts. I know you had that set up before, but now they know that they’ll be responsible for it if she does. Not that she hasn’t been in there trying. I guess it’s her thing to make a ruckus wherever she goes. But she didn’t get anything from them. And of course, if she had any credit cards, they won’t work either.”

  “My mom, when she was packing up Rachel’s bedroom, found stashes of money all over the place. Also jewelry and other items that were bagged up to be taken. She thinks that she was hoarding things to make a fresh start when she left me.” Jake said that sounded about right. “And the article that you put in the paper—the one about her being responsible for her own debt. It’s working out too?”

  “Yes. Her boyfriend—I think his name is Ralph Comings—he’s been going around town since you left trying to raise the bail for Rachel. He’s not doing such a good job of it, it appears. Apparently, and this might not be a shocker for you, your soon to be ex-wife isn’t well liked.” Jake laughed. It wasn’t the first time since he’d been sitting with this man that he had, and Brody relaxed. “It matters little anyway. She’ll be getting out of the jail tomorrow morning. And she’s going to be none too happy that her father is able to stay in the hotel that you have his wife in, and she can’t. I have to tell you, that was brilliant.”

  “As much as I can’t wait to be divorced from Rachel, my main concern is Jordan. Am I going to be his sole parent after this is all said and done?” Jake handed him another file. There were so many of them now, he’d need luggage to take them back to the hotel. “Who took these pictures of Jordan?”

  “We got them off of surveillance cameras at the school. And you’ll note the bottom of each picture that they’re on the days that Rachel was to pick Jordan up from school. Also the times. And I checked, the times are accurate. Tuesdays and Thursdays were her days, correct? Your mom, you told me, picked him up the other three days.” Brody nodded as he looked at his son waiting for his mother in the clear pictures. He looked so sad, Brody thought. “Most of the time your mom came to get him when the school called. It was usually about two hours later than he should have been picked up. Rachel was about an hour late coming to get him all the other times. In fact, we couldn’t find a single time when she was on time to get him. The school takes notes about that sort of thing. Also, they have notes on who showed up when he was ill or there was a parent teacher conference. You never missed one. Rachel, however, never attended anything but plays. And usually she was dressed in something highly inappropriate for a class function.”

  “I remember those. Once she wore a red sequined dress to one of his Christmas plays, and yelled and whooped it up during the entire play. I believe she was drunk.” Jake only nodded. “I’m sorry about all this. I truly am. I never should have married her. But I have to say, I honestly loved her—until we’d been married about a month and things started to become clear to me. Then it was about six years after I stopped sleeping with her that she told me she was going to have a baby.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Brody. My wife killed her mother because she wouldn’t hand over any cash to her, and said to the police that she was doing her father a favor. Her mother was just too out of date when she went out, and it didn’t reflect well on her when she did that.” Brody said nothing. He’d heard a little about Carol Winslow. But he was getting firsthand information now. “We’ll get this taken care of, and then we can talk about the job here. The one, I might say, that you’re doing very well for not having one.”

  “Jordan loves the school that you got him into. At first, I have to say, I was a little nervous about him being around wolves. But he comes home every day less tense and more happy. When my mom gets here, she’s going to be very thrilled that we took precautions to keep him away from Rachel.” Jake told him that he was afraid she’d try to take him for money. “I have no doubt about that now. She’s a sick bitch.”

  They were going over some of the things Brody had yet to get done when his cell phone rang. It was his mom. She and Howie were nearly there but were stopping for some lunch, then heading the rest of the way home. He looked at the time and realized how late it was getting, and he’d had plans to go with Jordan to check out a house.

  “Emmi wants me to release her. But to be honest with you, I’m afraid that whoever is hurting her will find her. Have you been able to find out anything?” He said that Cattie, Cam’s sister, was looking into it. “I heard that she and Cam were both good. And he’s now in charge of the FBI unit in this area.”

  “Yes, that’s why you’ve not met him yet. And if anyone can find out what Cattie can’t, it’ll be him. I have a feeling that it’s a husband or boyfriend that is stalking her. And no matter what she does to hide from him, there he is.” The next time he found her, Brody thought, she’d be dead. He told that to Jake. “Not if Quincey has anything to do about it. The guy is on pins and needles trying to figure out how to talk to her. It’s killing him to see her in pain, and more so that she kicks him out of her room when he tries to come in.”

  Quincey was a very old and very powerful vampire. For a while, Brody heard, he and another vampire had been living with Cam’s mom. But now that he’d found Emmi, Quincey had been staying someplace else. The only vampire that Quincey knew that was older than him, Jake told him, was his maker, Howard. They didn’t have last names, the two of them, so took on those that suited them when they were required to have one. Quincey, he told him, was going to be called Quincey Wright, like his mate, Emmi.

  Driving home, he talked to Jordan. He was very excited to have his grandma nearly there. Brody was happy that they had such a tight relationship, and wished every day that he’d had the same with his own grandparents. But they had died before he’d been born.

  Pulling up in front of the big house that was Jake and Forrest’s, he was envious of how nice the place was. His house at home hadn’t been that large, but it had been big enough for him to have guests over to stay,
as well as room to keep away from Rachel. Squashing that thought in favor of his son, who joined him on the porch, Brody thought that this was the highlight of his life—having a son that loved him as much as Jordan did.

  Of course the two of them were invited to dinner, and when his mom showed up with Howie, they were invited for dessert, as they were too tired for a whole dinner. Howie looked exhausted, but Mom looked like she could have talked all night. Brody asked Howie if he was all right.

  “Yes, sir. Just fine. Ready for my own bed—and a meal that doesn’t have a wrapper around it. Not all the food we ate was like that, but it sort of spoils the good stuff for you.” Brody asked him if he’d feel like going to see the houses tomorrow. “I’d see them now, I’m so ready to put down some roots. Oh, by the way, your mother and I, we bought us new phones. Rachel has been calling the other phone numbers and leaving nasty messages. I’ll give you the new numbers.”

  Jake overheard the conversation and asked if he could have the old phones. After Mom dug them out of her purse, she handed them over to him. They also made plans to go and see the two houses that had been purchased by Jake and Forrest in anticipation of Brody’s family coming here to live. Loading up in the car, Mom talked a mile a minute to Jordan about their trip, and Howie—he wondered if he’d get used to that name—was telling him about how the furniture was coming in two days. They were about set, as far as he could see.

  The first house Jordan didn’t like. He didn’t have a reason for it, but he didn’t care for it. He said vibes, whatever that meant to a five-year-old. And Mom said that there wasn’t a picture window to show off the tree in. Jake was still laughing as they loaded up again to see the next house.

  Brody watched Jordan with Christy. She was so pretty and childlike, but he knew that she was in her thirties. She had the most adorable laugh that he’d ever heard. It just made his heart sing when she giggled. And Jordan was becoming a pro at making her laugh.