Breanna (9 page)

Brea stood by the brunt out husk that used to be her shop and let the emotions go. Anger, sadness and more than a little fury. She hitched her pack on both shoulders and sunk to a high step in the alley behind her shop.

Her chin rested on her palms and she just stared.

This was where she’d escape to when the chaos became overwhelming in the shop. She’d sit out here and just look out onto the sand dunes that stretched to the ocean. High and unable to see over them from the alley, she still stared into the crème colored mass that shifted with the winds. Now and then a brave plant could be found as you wandered the dunes, scruffy pines and sea oats grass were favorites of hers.

She thought about Nick and Jase with a long sigh before pushing away from the curb and walking along the alley toward the center of town. She didn’t know how they were connected to her dream, but inside, she knew they were. She was already easily feeling them connected to her, and it was disconcerting because she barely knew how to form a relationship with one male, let alone two.

She also knew anyone around her was in danger if she allowed it. And she couldn’t allow it.

Brea let her mind wander as she walked, thinking about how not uncomfortable she had felt when…..after….well, you know, she didn’t want to think about it. It made her warm and tingly thinking about the possibilities. She’d talked to a friend in a 109

relationship with two men who lived in Arizona. They’d been friends for several years and she had never seemed happier. But it hadn’t been something Brea could wrap her brain around. Until now.

She didn’t want to be attached to them. Did she? Only she knew inside it was already too late.

She’d never be able to choose, and that’s what she’d have to do, isn’t it? The world would make you chose.

Worse, if something happened to one of them because of her….she felt the breath catch in her chest. It hurt.

“Well would you look what’s wandering around the alley, Billy.” The voice was deep, low and made her shiver when she looked up from the stones beneath her feet.

She didn’t recognize the two men. Men.

She wasn’t really sure they were much over twenty and frowned at them both.

They both had dark brown hair and dark eyes that looked her up and down with a gaze she decided she really didn’t like. She stopped moving, eyes skirting around for the ways out into the main part of town.

She’d walked these alleys all her life. They’d never scared her and no one ever bothered her.

What was up with the world these days, she growled to herself. Following that with a little groan. Three days with Nick and Jase and she was growling. What next?

“I don’t know you and I don’t want to. Go play at the park with the other kids,” 110

Brea shook her head and kept walking. Only a little concerned when they paced several feet behind her. “I am not in a good mood and you really don’t want to piss me off.” Jase had her scent the instant he parked the bike behind the jag on the street.

He locked his helmet in place and followed, catching up with her at the same time the two men made themselves known to her.

“There’s a reward out for you,” the other one told her.

“We won’t bruise you if you come with us nice and quiet.”

“Someone’s lying to you,” she said without looking over her shoulder. “No one wants me and certainly, no one wants me enough to pay for me. I’m an unemployed orphan child leaving town. See?” She shook her head with a tired sigh. “This is me….leaving town. Now go away and I won’t tell your mother’s you harass girls in alley ways.”

“Listen, bitch…”

“I said shoo,” she snarled, turning in time to see the greasier looking one take several fast steps toward her. Without thinking, her hands came up, thumbs touching and aimed at them.

All she knew for certain was that she was sad because she wasn’t with Jase and Nick and angry that everything in her life was upside down. The heat and anger left her hands in a fiery burst of power.

Jase stared, immobile as the two guys weighing at least two hundred pounds each easy, flew back and bounced off the brick façade of a building in the alley. They groaned but didn’t make an attempt to get to their feet right away.

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His gaze flew to Brea, the slender form swaying slightly as she gaped at what she’d done, her hand up and covering the stifled gulp. He watched her knees wobble before she turned and took off running without looking back at the groaning men she’d tossed like paper.

A dream, her mind screamed as she ran, her head suddenly filled with everything from the night before.

She was freezing. Abruptly cold beyond what she should be feeling at noon on a Saturday in April.

Her head hurt. It felt like the inside of her brain was suddenly wrapped in something thick and fuzzy and all the sounds of the world were muffled and hidden from her.

She heard shouting. Heard her name, vaguely but kept running.

She found the path she wanted that led down to the main highway and swerved onto it, refusing to turn at the sounds behind her. Refusing to think what she’d done or even if those idiots were hurt.

She stumbled, going to her knees only to find herself looking up at another idiot.

This one a little older than the last but not by much. She tried to shove back, falling to her behind and screaming out when his hand shot forward and gripped the thick braid down her back. He pulled her to her feet, his free hand taking one of her palms and twisting it behind her.

“Just the girl I was looking for.”

“You’ve made a mistake,” she tried shaking her head, wincing and crying out.

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She turned her face from the mouth whispering too darkly beside her cheek.

“Breanna Cooper. My boss is looking for you….and he’s offering a lot of money if I bring you to him….” He glanced down at the front of her tee shirt and then at the sweet curve of her behind. “And he doesn’t even care if I have a little fun before I turn you over to him. That makes him a very fine man to work for, wouldn’t you say?”

“Why can’t this person just send me an email? A letter? A phone call?” She cried out again in pain when he pulled her to her toes using the braid. He kept himself to the side so she couldn’t even use the knee to the groin move, tears streaming down her face. “Oww….alright….stop….you’re hurting me….”

“Little girl, you don’t even know what pain can be like,” he promised, his face moving next to hers. “I promise not to damage you too much for the boss.”

“No, but you’re about to find out, asshole,” the low, hard tone filled the quiet of the woods around them.

Jase stepped into a stream of light filtering through the thick trees, his fist crashing into the guys face while the other arm went around Brea’s waist, lifting her from the ground and putting her safely behind him. His eyes went over her, fury rising and building upon what was already there because of the tear streaks down her cheeks.

“Don’t move, Brea.”

Jase let her go once he was sure she could stand without falling. His hands curled into tight fists and he fought to keep the claws from bursting forth. He wanted nothing more than to rip the fool to shreds, slow and with all the promise of pain he’d offered Brea.

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He could smell him. He wasn’t shifter. He was a demon. Low level. But arrogant enough to think he could actually take her from him.

Jase watched the man push against the ground and throw himself at him but this time Jase grabbed his shirt and threw him into the underbrush fifteen feet away.

“You thought you could take what belonged to me?” Jase demanded coldly, striding toward him, his chest heaving. He felt his canines extend and didn’t fight it.

“You stupid shifter,” he swiped the back of his palm across the blood at the corner of his mouth. “You can’t keep her from Sullivan and you’re a fool to try,” the man backed away but only until Jase’s hand whipped out and grabbed a handful of his shirt, his other palm out and twisting one of the man’s arms behind his back.

“How’s it feel, asshole? Big man beating on a woman,” Jase had his face pressed next to the man’s throat, scraping it with his canines.

“Take the fucking reward, bastard! She’s not worth….”

“She’s worth more to me than you can ever imagine,” Jase lifted him in the air with one arm. “Come near her again and you won’t get up to walk,” he pulled his arm back and flung the man far into the shrubs and trees, the obvious sounds of crashing and screaming ignored.

Jase hung his head, closed his eyes and willed the fury to simmer before he turned to face Brea.

She’d dropped to her knees, leaning against one of the large pine trees.

“Brea….” Jase moved carefully toward her, his hands out to lift her against him.

“Let’s get you home.”

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“That man…..there were others, Jase….” Her head fell against his shoulder, his arm around her waist and supporting her as they walked.

“I know. I saw them, Brea. The two in town ran once they were able to move,” Jase said cautiously, his hand reaching for her palm. He swore softly. Ice. As if she’d used almost every cell of heat she had in her body to defend herself against the two in the alley. Odds were she needed some training on how to gauge it and limit how much she used. “Had you ever done that before, Brea?”

“In the dream….it was just like the dream, Jase….so cold,” she whispered, stumbling and taking a grip on his belt. “I’m sorry. I wanted to….I don’t want them hurting you…hurting Nick….I couldn’t handle losing someone else right now. I just know I couldn’t….”

“Baby, I promise you, that won’t happen,” he knew the soft laughter was pure stress but it was enough to make her smile. “You know I need you to keep that idiot off my coffee.”

“I’m so cold, Jase,” her words stammered, her feet stumbling as they made it to the pavement.

His gaze swept the area and found what he wanted. He took her to the small shop and pushed her into a chair. He dropped to his knees in front of her, his hands wrapping around both her palms and he rubbed briskly.

“Do you drink tea or coffee?”

“Tea….p..plain…please,” she watched him slide his jacket down his arms, pulling his phone from a pocket before wrapping her in the thick leather.

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“I’ll be right here and right back,” he promised, his lips brushing her forehead as she leaned against the window and buried her face against the warmth of his jacket, her hands holding the sides together with a small shiver. He opened the phone and placed his order with the young girl behind the counter, buying Brea a tall cup of steaming fruit tea. He’d smelled the tea the last few days so knew it would work. Even if she just held the cup in her hands.

Her eyes were closed when he set the cup on the table and he stepped outside, letting the door close but his eyes remained on her.

“Nick….I got her,” Jase knew he sounded tense. Knew he was barely containing the raging emotions inside him.

“She alright?”

Jase pushed a thick sigh between his lips. “Demons. Two tried to grab her in the alley that leads behind the shops,” he shook his head, trying to put what he’d seen into words. “Kids….barely twenty. I….her reaction seemed…instinctive. I’ve never seen the kind of power that poured from her, Nick. She held her hands in front of her and…..shit…the idiots flew against the building almost twenty feet from her. They didn’t get up right away. Before I could grab her, she ran.”

“She was freezing last night after that dream.” Nick recalled, the quiet in his voice not hiding his anger. “Did she say why she was in town?”

“She’s cold now….I have her in that other coffee place in town with a big cup of tea, but she seems……drained. As if the heat is just gone from her,” he said after searching for the right word. “She tried hitting the path through the park out of town, 116

said she couldn’t handle it if we were hurt because of her.” He listened to a low, hard laugh and nodded to himself. “I got a name, Nick. She ran into another bastard who said someone named Sullivan was paying a reward for her…..and he didn’t care if she was damaged when he brought her in.”

“Is he still alive?” Came the dry inquiry.

“Enough to carry the message to his boss that Brea isn’t on her own.” He looked into the large plate glass window, relieved to see her hands wrapped around the large cup and it was up by her lips. “I’m heading back. I think she’s okay now….she’s drinking the tea.”

“I’ll get the motion sensors online,” Nick answered, breaking off the call and tossing his headset to the desk. Demons. Fae. Sullivan. He went to work on the computer security system.

Brea watched him come back inside the shop. And most of the females were watching him, too.

That made her frown. And then frown again.

What’s wrong with you, she shouted in her head. He doesn’t belong to you! No matter what some talking winged bee thing told you.

Oh, god, she was going insane.

“Babe….you alright?” Jase dropped to his heels in front of her, the fierce look on her face shifting to slight shock and then to dismay. All within a few seconds. “That must have been some train of thought you just went through, Brea.” 117