Into Death's Arms (29 page)

    “Good
,
Deanna and I found an Ao she is helping us out we’ve taken down about six of the twenty three
Shifters
here.
So, it’s progressing pretty good.
I’ll be home as soon as we can just avoid Tameron until then, okay baby.”

    “Yeah,” I said swearing to myself I would do just that avoid Dayton Tameron, check. Only I was still aching where his mouth had touched me and if I closed my
eyes,
I could still smell him,
“Night dad.”

    “Night baby,
” He answered and the phone went dead.

    “Hot date,
” Laith asked. I glared at him. “So you don’t even like Tameron but you’re hot for his bod right?”

   
I so didn’t want to have this conversation.
“I really don’t want to discuss this.”

    “I have a point I swear.
” He held up his hands like I held a gun on him. I nodded my head just a bit.
“
When a
Shifter
enters
adulthood,
they go through a change not unlike the one you are going through. We also become sexually active for the first time. Our hormones completely rule us for a time. Maybe that’s what you have going on I mean it could be perfectly normal. Pops just forgot to mention it
because
you guys are so close to being human and human men don’t like to think of their little girls as sexual beings. Next time your old man calls ask him if you can talk to his lady friend ask her if it’s normal. It’ll make you feel better if it is.”
He shrugged and
I stuffed a sandwich into
my mouth
and thought about what he’d said. Damn
,
now I was getting
sage wisdom from the furry what next?

    “Are you like
living here now,
” I asked
not sure
of what else to say.

       He gave me that lopsided grin.
“Until you don’t need me anymore sure, I don’t have anywhere else to go although your hot friend offered me her spare bedroom. I’m afraid Donovan would kill me in my sleep he could do it too
,
he’s a hard ass.” He picked up the dishes and started filling the sink.

    I frowned, “I beat him up once.” I said needing an extra little ego boost.

    He smiled, “Really? I’d a liked to see that he’s a big
Vamp
ire and I’ve seen him fight he’s like a wrecking ball.”

    I sighed, “He wasn’t expecting it. It was before my ascension I think he just expected me to sit tight and wait for help
,
not kick his knees in, bust his nose, and run like hell.” There the truth was out there.

   “Still,” he laughed, “he must have been pissed.” I shrugged I guess he was.

   
I was worried about Laurna but didn’t know what to do about it other than hunt down Donovan and he hadn’t really done anything wrong. Well he’d boinked my best friend but that really wasn’t a kill worthy offense especially since she had been totally willing.
“
I took out Orson’s pack tonight,
” I told him. He stopped dead.
Not that swaying stop humans do but a dead stop like he’d been frozen there.

     “By yourself,
” h
e asked.

    
  I growled these men were really starting to piss me off.
“Why does everybody say that like it’s a huge surprise I am the AoD am I not?” I slammed my phone down and grabbed another sandwich.

      “Yeah, yeah, you are I just wow, girl your tough.” Respect filled his tone this time.

    “I let one of them get away,
” I admitted. “The young one he just looked so scared and I couldn’t kill him while he cringed in fear like that. My father
will probably think
I’m a big fat failure,
” I sighed.
I felt like a failure but when I close my
eyes,
I could see that kid cringing waiting for the final blow and I didn’t see any other option.

    He turned towards me smiling from ear to ear. “I think you rock.
” He said loudly
and scooped me into his big arms for a tight hug
,
“
You know AoD isn’t exactly synonymous with mercy and you were merciful tonight. That kid you s
pared this was his first outing
he hasn’t even had time to live yet. You did a good thing.” He assured me while he
squeezed
his arms around me. “Mom would have been proud even if your dad isn’t
. S
he was the most merciful person to ever exist.”

    “Yeah,” I pulled away from him. “I’ll remember that when that kid knifes me in the dark someday.” I climbed the stair feeling a world of c
onfusion.

   I carefully peeled back the bandages and was shocked to see the myriad of blue, yellow, and green that is a healing wound. He really had healed me well. I didn’t have a single mark to show they had broken the skin. I looked like I’d been beaten with something blunt about two weeks ago instead of cut to ribbons earlier tonight.

  
I hadn’t even thanked him. Great
,
now I felt guilty about that. I was screwed.  I showered and climbed into bed. I still felt achy and I don’t me
an
just the bruises. I closed my eyes and saw those amber eyes as he crawled up the bed toward me. I opened my eyes quickly. I swear I could smell cedar. Great I wonder
ed if insanity ran
in my family? I spent hours trying to sleep but every time I closed my
eyes,
I saw Dayton Tameron. His perfect features, the soft expanse of his flesh across his belly, his hard muscled chest.
I gave up an hour before dawn and went down to the gym. I worked the elliptical for about an hour my
iPod
turned up to top volume.

   
Laith scared the crap out of me when he tapped my shoulder. I leapt from the machine and crouched in a defensive position while he laughe
d his ass off.  “It’s not funny,
” I said resentfully.

      “No, I never saw anything so small get
such good airtime before
unless it was thrown by a bear
,
” He continued to laugh
his head thrown back his black eyes sparkling with merriment. Too bad it was at my expense
.

     I made a face at him and turned off the
iPod
. “Is there a reason you’re sneaking up
on me or you just miss stalking things,
” I wiped down with one of the little towels we kept for that purpose.

     He grinned
, “w
ell I thought if you weren’t gonna sleep and I wasn’t gonna sleep we could kinda umm, spar, I wanna see how well that AoD you call daddy trained you to fight my kind
anyway.” I looked like he was worried I would
reject him.

     I wasn’t going to. He actually had a good point
,
fighting an
actual,
Shifter
would show me where I needed work
,
and
obviously,
I needed work because those bears had torn me up
,
liter
ally. “Yeah, that’s a good idea,” I
took position
not waiting for him to get over the shock. And he was shocked I could see it in his face
.

    Two hours later Laith and I stood in the kitchen. He held an ice pack to his left eye and I was sporting a limp, blood was leaking from several places in my leg. My belly was so bruised I wasn’t sure I was g
oing to be able to bend to sit and he hadn’t even used his claws. He had curled his hand in and given
me,
what he’d called a love pat. I called it a bruising punch.
“Sorry about the stomach,
” He said for the fifteenth time.
I wasn’t
,
my dad had been taking it too easy on me. He hadn’t done me any favors. But my brother didn’t seem to have the same affliction and while he wasn’t going at me all out claws draw I was bruised enough to know he could kill me. He could kill me and make it look easy.

    I took the carton eggs out of the refrigerator
,
“Make it up to
me;
I like em
sunny side
up,” I
winked
then winced what the hell had I done to my eye?

    He took the carton from me.
“I can’t believe they left you here alone and you can’t even c
ook for yourself,
”
his expression one of utter disgust as h
e turned on
the stove and cracked the eggs.

    “I go to a lot of restaurants. I don’t need to know how to cook.”
It wasn’t like this was the dark ages and their wasn’t a McDonalds on
every
corner.
I crouched down near a chair trying to sit without actually using the muscles in my s
tomach. It didn’t work so good f
inally I took a deep breath and plopped myself down. Yipe, I was breathing hard but I was sitting and for the first time in
hours,
I wasn’t thinking about
Vamp
ires
who had no business looking quiet so edible.

    He shook his head clearly disgusted with me but
hey,
big brothers are supposed to disapprove right.
“I think we’re gonna have to go shopping so I can keep up with your diet I don’t think even new
Shifters
eat this much.”

    I pointed toward the garage,
“We have a walk-in freezer in the garage it’s fully stocked.” I traced salt circles around the little breakfast table
with my forefinger
.

    He looked to
ward the garage. “Fully stocked, w
hat does that mean for an AoD? I bet it means we could feed the neighborhood with what’s in that thing as long as we don’t have to feed you.” 
He turned his head back over his shoulder so he could wink at me.

     I laughed at him. I was really starting to like this brother thing. “Yeah, well I’m a growing girl.”   

  We had breakfast and went to bed. I needed some sleep and was finally in a place where I could sleep without thinking inappropriate thoughts about evil sexy
Vamp
ires
.

    Laurna woke us both at about three
pm
. I would have been cranky except she brought more food and Starbucks mmmm; you can’t stay mad at a girl who brings you the best coffee, can you?
She also brought three bags of men’s clothing from the mall, all in Laith’s size.  “I noticed you didn’t have anything with you and figured it was all part and partial of the whole exiled thing so I went shopping for you. Oh and Ashley says it’s the last time I’m allowed to ever shop for another
man so it better be good enough,
” She winked at him
,
her expression one of amused adoration
. 

    He stood in the hallway staring at her like she’d grown an extra head
. “Why would you do this for me,
” he asked gripping the bags in a death grip.
His knuckles were actually turning white.
Pain showed through his black eyes.

   She didn’t seem to notice. “It’s not a big
deal;
I have a gift for figuring out where to invest my money. 
So
I have a lot of it and I like to shop.
” She gushed at him, “Ohhh, try the blue shirt it’s going to look so awesome with your eyes.”  She moved toward him and started to dig through one of the bags only to stop dead. She took three
large steps back. “Sorry! Ash
didn’t care for that at all.” She wrinkled her nose at us, “
it’s
part of his charm. So I don’t mind.”

    Laith
dragged in a deep breath through his nose his eyes turned that freaky gold for just a second then he seemed to gather in on himself. Finally, when he seemed to find whatever inner peace he’d been looking for he smiled down at her and
winked, “It’s alright if you were my woman I wouldn’t want you near any other male either.” His grin was infectious. I reached into the bag and pulled out a b
lue silk shirt. “This one,
”
The fact Ashley and
Bouncer
-
Vamp
were the same guy was still freaking me out a little but I couldn’t deny I was attracted to T
ameron so what was a girl to do? Not a damn thing that’s what.

 
  Who names their son Ashley anyway?

   
Vamp
ires
I guess.