Ryland (4 page)

“I have no insurance and I’d like for
you to bring me a set of walking papers, please. The Against Medical Advice
ones. I think they’re on your desktop.” He was a little disconcerted that she
knew where they were, but before he could tell the nurse that she wasn’t going
to need them, the nurse left. “What do you want?”

“You’re not leaving here until you’re
released by a certified physician.” She laughed and he bristled. “I’m serious.
If I have to tie you to that bed then that’s what I’ll do.”

She tossed the covers off and sat up. He
could see sweat as it beaded on her upper lip, but he didn’t move to help her. Maybe
if she hurt badly enough, she’d lay back down. The nurse came in with a handful
of papers and a pen. He took them from her and told her he’d take care of them.
Bronwyn didn’t say anything, but nodded at the nurse when she looked at her. Ryland
had a feeling that a great deal was said with that nod. He just didn’t know
what.

“What do you want?” Her voice was low,
but he heard her. “I don’t have anything of value and I certainly don’t want
anything to do with you. I want to know what you want.”

“I’m… You saved Alistair. I owe you.”
She nodded and he thought she understood. “You’re going to have to stay here
until you’re well, then we’ll talk about compensation for you helping him.”

“No.” He waited for her to explain just
what she thought she was telling him no for, but she said nothing more and
slipped off the bed. He didn’t want to be impressed by her, but it was hard. When
she started walking toward the bathroom, he stood up.

The door behind him opened and a small
woman came in. She walked past him and he smelled her. He sat down when she
told him to. Christ, she was another tiger.

~~~

Sindy wrapped her arm around Bronwyn and
helped her to the bathroom. She didn’t have to tell her she was hurting, it was
on every line of her body. When Bronwyn grabbed onto the sink, she nodded at
her and Sindy stepped back and closed the door. She took several deep breaths
before she turned to face the man. When she turned, she bowed before him and
stood up.

“You’re her friend.”

Sindy nodded.

“Then she’s aware of us. Of what we are.
How long have you known her?”

“Ten years. She and I sort of grew up
together. And yes, she knows what I am and more than likely what you are as
well.” She looked at the door to the hallway. “Is that your streak out there?” A
streak was what his family was called when they were all together. Sometimes,
they were also referred to as an ambush. He and his family apparently liked
streak much better as he didn’t correct her.

“Yes. I’m the dominate male and I lead.”
He stood up, but she didn’t back away like he’d thought she would. She could
see it in his face.

“She won’t come to you. I don’t mean to
say she won’t come to you easy, but not at all if she’s what I think she is to
you.” He sat down and looked to the door. “She knows what will happen if she
becomes your mate. She saw it with mine.”

“And your mate, where is he? Shouldn’t
you have come here with him?” She laughed and told him no. “Then you should
have him come to me. I would like to have a word to him about living here
without my knowledge.”

“He’s dead, thankfully. And I know the
rules as well. I don’t have to subject to you either because of my status as a
widow.” Sindy turned when the door opened and she went to her friend. She was
weak, but moving. They headed toward the door when the man stood in front of them.

“You don’t want to piss her off.” Sindy
looked at Bronwyn then back at the male in front of her. “She may look weak and
helpless, but she is far from it. And whatever she doesn’t do to you, I will.”

He laughed, which was what most men did
when Bronwyn defended her. Sindy asked him again to back the fuck up. When he
didn’t Bronwyn pushed her away from her. Sindy knew what was going to happen
and was glad that he was in a hospital. He might need it.

“You were asked to stand down. Now I’m
telling you to do so. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will, fucktard.”

“You know what I am, what we are. You
should know that you’re my mate and that I take that role very seriously. I
would like it very much if you would let me take care of you while you’re hurt.
We can talk later about how you will affect my life.”

Sindy laughed. She couldn’t help it and
laughed harder when he turned to her.

“You, I will deal with at a later time. This
is between her and me.”

Sindy bowed again. He was a leader and
she had no choice in the matter. It was in her DNA. But she knew her friend and
what she was capable of. She’d seen her hurt before, kill too. She tried again
to reason with the male.

“She’ll hurt you if you don’t stand
down. I wish you would get your head out of your ass and step back before she
does what comes natural to her.” He gave a condescending grin that made her
want to sock him. “It’s your funeral then.”

The room tightened. She was sure that
the male felt it because he looked around, then at her. Sindy shrugged. She
took another step back when the energy level reached higher; the room seemed
smaller. When Bronwyn reached out and touched him, at first he simply looked at
her, for all of a second. Then he went flying across the room and hit the door
behind him hard enough to crack it in the middle. Then Bronwyn’s hand swept
across the air and he was airborne again, this time landing in a heap by the
bed. Sindy grabbed her before she collapsed.

“He’s going to be pissed when he wakes
up.” Sindy nodded and opened the door to see the rest of his streak coming
toward them. “Shit. I won’t be able to walk if I have to deal with them too.”

“I’ve got this one.” Sindy pulled out a
gun and pointed it at them. “It’s loaded with silver and a cyanide chaser. You
come near me and I won’t hit you in a vital place, but one that will shatter
the capsule in the center. Even in this nice hospital, they won’t be able to
save your asses.”

Bronwyn leaned on her heavily and she
knew that she was nearing the last of her energy. She kept the gun pointed at
them as she backed them to the elevator. She could smell the hot smell of blood
and knew that she had opened her wounds again. As the doors closed Sindy let
her slide to the floor while she tried to think.

“They aren’t coming for us. They’re taking
care of the ass in the room.” She could tell Sindy was still scared. “Cyanide
chaser? Where the hell did you think that one up?”

Sindy laughed. “I saw it on one of those
shows I watch. I’m sure it’s not possible, but it worked. That big one, the
blond that looked at you like he was afraid for you, is that the guy you
saved?”

“Yeah.” Bronwyn tried to climb back up
the wall to stand. “I’m not going to make it out of here. Put me in a room and
I’ll take care of the rest.”

Sindy nodded. When the door opened she
looked for a lone nurse and asked her to come see what she’d found on the
floor. As soon as she was close to Bronwyn, she touched her.

“I’m in need of medical help. No one
must know where I am. You’ll give me the care that I need, being careful not to
get caught. Your patients must come first after you get me into a safe bed and
stitched up.” She let go of her arm and looked at Sindy. “If I die, you know
what to do.”

Sindy nodded and helped the nurse pick
up her friend. She was in a room ten minutes later when the streak came down
the hall. Sindy simply closed the door and locked it. No one would get to her,
not if she had to kill the lot of them to keep her safe.

Sindy watched Bronwyn breathing. She
knew that she’d need at least eight hours of rest after doing what she’d done
to the male. But with her loss of blood and injuries she knew it would be a
great deal longer. Sindy owed Bronwyn her life and wouldn’t cause her any harm
or allow her to be harmed.

Sindy’s husband had been an abusive
bastard. She’d been mated to him because he’d wanted her and her own streak had
been invaded. She never loved him and realized years later that he’d never been
anything but an abusive prick. Not that he hadn’t abused her from the beginning
of their time together, but since her dad had been nearly the same kind of male
she assumed all were. But her husband didn’t need a reason. He was a sadistic,
abusive prick. He would beat her nearly every day for some minor thing and Bronwyn
never knew until one night when he’d attacked Sindy in front of her.

Begging her not to hurt him had Bronwyn
backing off to let Sindy handle things. But when he grabbed Bronwyn and threw
her against the wall all bets were off. She’d come back at him with a hammer at
first, hitting him twice the amount of times he’d hit her. Finally, he’d hit
her in the throat. Bronwyn had gone down, but came back up with her power. She’d
killed him then. Her anger getting the better of her, she’d thrown him against
the stone fireplace several times before Sindy had to slap her to bring her
back. Her mate was nothing but shattered bones and blood. She had told her to
leave and then she called the male of her group.

“You didn’t do this, Sindy. You’re
neither smart enough nor strong enough. Who killed him? You have to tell me.” The
male had been put into place when the streak had been taken over. But there was
a dead man in Sindy’s house and she had nothing to tell him.

“I told you, Dana hit me so many times
that I passed out. When I came around, he was like that.” She turned to look at
his body and shivered. “What kind of monster could do that?”

He’d ignored her during the funeral and
had the members of the streak help clean up the mess. A week later, he told her
to leave. She had expected it sooner and had already packed her things.

“The streak is talking and they don’t
know what you called up to do this to him. Everyone here knew he hurt you, but
he was your mate and it was his right.”

She nodded and glanced at Bronwyn who
had come to help her pack.

“It’s the law that you belong to him and
there was nothing I could do about it, nothing I would have done about it. If
you won’t go to another male then they want you gone as soon as possible.”

She was gone by nightfall and had never
looked back. She’d moved into an apartment and had asked Bronwyn to live with
her. She would stay with her sometimes, but never moved in. Sindy knew that Bronwyn
was protecting her from whoever chased her.

“I’ll be all right.” She got up to go to
Bronwyn when she spoke. “Go home and rest. I’m going to feel bad if you stay
here when all I’m going to do is sleep this off.”

“You might need something. There is only
one nurse to care for you and not one on each shift. I can just rest in the
other bed.” She was already shaking her head. “Bronwyn if they find you here,
they aren’t going to take it nicely that you hurt their male. It’s against the
laws of our kind not to harm your mate.”

“He’s not my mate and I’m not a tiger.
I’m a sort of regular person. Now go home and, in the morning, you can come
help me out of here.” She moved on the bed slowly. “Sindy, thank you for
coming.”

She brushed at the tears and nodded. “You
would have and have done the same for me. I can’t let my secret weapon get away
from me.”

Bronwyn closed her eyes and smiled before
speaking. “He’s not dead, but he is pissed off. His brother…Brock is telling
him that he should just leave it alone. I don’t think he will.”

Sindy doubted he would either. The man
was just like her husband had been. King of shit and everyone beneath him was
just that, beneath him. She felt the hair on her arm rise when she felt another
cat near. She watched the door and, when no one tried the handle, she looked at
Bronwyn. She was asleep again. Gathering up her things, she left the hospital
and went back to her apartment. There were three messages on her phone, but she
ignored them in favor of some sleep. Climbing into the bed, she wondered if Bronwyn
would be able to get away from her mate or if she would she be trapped like she
had been.

Chapter 4

“She’s not here. And if she is, she’s
not anywhere we can find her.”

Ryland looked at his brother Alistair
and thought he was happy they couldn’t find her.

“And since you
fell
on something
wet on the floor and broke five ribs and your leg is bruised up, you can’t help
us look either.”

He didn’t know what had happened. Well,
he knew, but his mind wasn’t believing it. She had tossed him around like he
was nothing but a flea. He looked at the room, similar to the one she’d been in,
and knew that no one had been in there with them other than the cat and he knew
that it hadn’t, whatever it had been, hadn’t come from her. Christ, she had a
power that frightened him a little.

“Are you listening to me?” Ryland shook
his head at Alistair. “I asked you if she said anything before you
fell
?
When they came out of that room Bronwyn looked like she’d been about to fall
over, and that other cat? Who the fuck was she?”

“A widow. She said that she knew the
rules and that she didn’t have to come to me for permission to live in this
area. Is that right?” Alistair nodded and smiled. “You know this is not the
least bit funny. She’s my mate, damn it. She needs to be brought to heel.”