The Heir (4 page)

With no time to cry or wallow in her misery
she proceeded to snap her once again broken bone back into place.
Carefully she realigned her bones as best she could. With one hand
she held her injured ankle and with the other she wrapped it
tightly with the band.

When she was done she took the T-shirt out of
her mouth and reached for the aspirin bottle. Again she upended the
bottle into her mouth and took as many as she could in one
bite.

Completely worn out she leaned her head
against the door once more and wiped the sweat from her forehead
with the back of her hand. Even though she hated the taste of the
pills she chewed them slowly, giving herself something else to
think about other than the throbbing pain shooting up her leg.

When she was finished chewing she took
another mouth full of aspirins and then another until the bottle
lay at her side, empty. Instead of fearing over dose, she feared
that the pills had lost their effect so soon.

"I hate this" She cried silently.

She banged her head against the door once
more and brought her good knee up to rest her arms and head on
it.

"I just want to go home" she whispered and
allowed the tears she'd been trying to keep in check to fall.

Then the thought of home reminded her of one
more thing she needed to do. She grabbed her back pack and
carefully pulled herself up, making sure not to jar her fragile
foot.

Slowly she made her way out of the bathroom,
into the room and to the bed. Being extra careful she raised her
injured foot up on to the bed and lay down. She was exhausted. If
you asked her she would tell you that it had taken her the same
amount of time to get to bed as it had taken to 'fix' her
ankle.

It still hurt and she still wanted to cry,
but she had more important things to do. She pulled her phone out
and dialed the first number on her speed dial.

"What’s going on, and where have you
been?"

The sound of her mom’s voice made her cry all
over again. She hated being such a baby but all she wanted was to
be held by her mom and be promised that everything would be all
right.

"It’s a long story" Jessica replied
trying-and failing to keep the pain from her voice.

"What’s wrong?" Layla asked, alarmed by the
sound of Jessica's wobbly reply.

"Nothing that can't be fixed." she sniffed
and whipped her tears with the back of her hand. "I just want to go
home"

The words were said quietly but Layla still
heard and it broke her heart.

"You can't go home."

"But you told me that once I met them I could
go back. I met them, now can I come home?"

Jessica's pleas were breaking Layla’s heart.
It was obvious to Layla that she was hurting but there was nothing
she could do about it. "No, you are home. With your real
family"

"YOU are my family" Jessica insisted.

“No I am not.” Layla argued, “Get to know
them. Your abilities didn't appear out of thin air and until you
know for sure where they came from you will be missing a big piece
of the puzzle."

"I don't care"

"You need to care." Frustrated, Layla sighed
this wasn't the first time they had this type of conversation. "You
can't protect yourself properly if you don't know why you need to
in the first place.”

"If I get them to tell me everything, then
could I come home?"

"No, look Jess, There is no going back. You
are where you need to be so watch your mouth and remember that I
love you."

"Love you too"

"I have to let you go, talk to you soon."

"Bye" she murmured to the dead phone
line.

Jessica dropped the phone next to her and
looked up at the ceiling for a long time, her mind running over the
day’s events. The pain from her ankle made it hard, but she finally
managed to drift off into sleep.

Chapter 3

That same evening Nick was busy in his garage
working on his project car. He was under the hood when the scent of
someone who was supposed to be busy elsewhere reached him.
Straightening up he banged his head on the hood, cursing and
rubbing the back of his head Nick growled.

“You’re supposed to be somewhere else.”

“I left Christian on duty. “

Nick walked to the counter that ran along one
of the garages wall; he grabbed a towel and wiped off the grease on
his hands. When he was finished he threw the towel back on the
counter and leaned against it, crossing his arms over his
chest.

Quietly, he regarded his best friend.

In a real challenge between them; Nick didn't
know who would come out the winner. Matt was his second in command,
his Enforcer, therefor almost, if not as strong as him.

If ever he had a chance of losing an attack
from a member of his pack it would be against him. Thankfully, it
would never come to that; Matt was like his brother and he hated
all the responsibilities inherited with leadership.

“What’s up?”

“Is it her?”

Nick shook his head "I don't know, I honestly
don't know."

"Man, I have to tell you, my heart dropped
when I saw you guys racing towards each other!"

Reliving the moment in his mind, Nick felt
his heart stop all over again but couldn't keep his admiration for
her maneuvering skills from sounding in his voice. "She is insane,
but she definitely has skills on that bike.”

"Yeah but are they our kind of skills?"

Frustrated Nick ran a hand through his hair.
"When I pulled her up I looked into her eyes and they were just
blue; nothing special there.”

"What about her scent?"

Nick could only shake his head.

Confused Matt looked at him and asked
"No?"

"No scent."

"Everyone has a scent." Matt argued.

"She doesn’t." Not giving his friend a chance
to interrupt, Nick clarified, “all I could smell on this girl was
hotel shampoo, grass and motorcycle, the daily stuff."

Nick got up and started to pace
restlessly.

"She had no unique scent,” He continued “not
even with all that sweat." He wouldn’t admit it but it was very
disconcerting to him. He'd never realized how much he relied on his
sense of smell until today. "It was like walking into a wall. I
would take a deep breath…and nothing."

"That’s weird."

"You have no idea. Apart from her obvious
ire, I couldn't tell if she was hurt, nervous or lying-not that she
spoke enough for me to want to know if she was lying but
still-"

"Bet it bothered you even more not being able
to sense whether she thought you were hot or not." Matt
interjected.

Nick laughed humorlessly "She looked at me as
if I was lower than dirt, it wouldn't take a genius to figure that
one out"

“So what are you going to do if it’s her?"
Matts question stopped Nicks pacing.

He looked down at the ground and sighed.
"Like I said it doesn't matter. Not until we know it’s her for sure
and then-" Nick stayed silent for a second. "Then I continue with
the plan.” He finished flatly.

"Ok. So what do you want to do now?" Matt
asked.

"I want to keep an eye on her.”

Nick walked to the garage opening, lifted his
head towards the sky and took a deep breath. He stepped out and
stood under the moonlight. For a minute, he stood there, not moving
just feeling the moon’s power course through his body.

Then he spoke with a voice laced with power.
Power he was afforded as Alpha; a voice that everyone under his
leadership heard and no one could ignore. Leaving no doubt that he
meant what he said.

"I will consider it a personal challenge if
the girl comes to harm due to our carelessness. A fight that will
be to the death," he added menacingly.

As a friend Nick could be compassionate and
caring but as a leader, he was ruthless. A trait considered
necessary to hold a position such as his.

Nick breath out and as the air left his lungs
so did the surge of power running through his veins.

“Axel can stay with me.” He told Matt in his
normal tone. “You go with Christian, keep an eye on her through the
night. We’ll change shifts tomorrow.“

Nick turned back around, walked back to his
car and bent over the hood, effectively dismissing him. Matt
reached into his jacket for his phon. He scrolled down and found
the number he was looking for and pressed 'talk'.

"Are you still on her?" He asked
Christian.

"Yeah,"

"Good, where are you at? Wait for me
there.”

The next morning, as Nick was getting out of
bed there was a knock on his door. Without waiting for a response
Matt entered.

"You’re supposed to be on duty. Why are you
here?" Nick asked him .

“I got a call from your sister." Matt knew
that what he was about to say next wouldn't be well received so he
stayed by the door. "She's on her way here" He stepped out into the
hallway and then added "with your future mate."

Matt shut the door behind him and used his
super speed to hurry and make his way out of the house. He had just
taken a couple of steps out the main door when Nick reached
him.

"Where do you think you’re going?"

It took everything in Matt not to turn around
and snarl at his Pack Alpha. For an Alpha male, playing the good
submissive could be hard at times and his voice was a little gruff
when he said, "for a run."

Matt's tone of voice, his stance- the fisted
hands at his sides and the scent of anger didn't go unnoticed by
Nick. Instead of making him feel territorial, it helped him to calm
down.

"Come back inside. I figure that making you
put up with those two is enough punishment -for the two of us."
Nick added wryly to lighten the mood.

"It’s punishment alright" Matt answered wryly
under his breath. Unfortunately his best friend would never know
how much of a pain it all really was for him. "But what am I
getting punished for?"

“Leaving your charge.”

Matt sighed, he couldn’t argue there, “fine"
he grumbled and followed Nick back into the house.

They were in the kitchen preparing something
to eat when Matt's phone went off.

Matt answered and after listening to the
quick message he hung up and directed his gaze towards Nick. "Your
sister and-" Nick growled in warning which had him smirking "Kate
are almost here"

"I’m going to get dressed." Nick left his
breakfast on the counter and ran upstairs. He wanted as many
barriers as possible against Kate.

The doorbell rang as Nick, now dressed in
jeans and a t-shirt, made his way down the stairs. Seeing him Matt
released a quiet sigh of relief; no longer dreading the thought of
being alone with the two females. By the way Nick was muttering
under his breath it was evident that he wasn't looking forward to
the unexpected visit either.

Reluctantly, Matt made his way to the front
door. Nick followed a couple of steps behind him still muttering
under his breath unintelligibly. Near the end, his mutterings
turned into growls and Matt was only able to catch the last two
words he said.

"Hate her"

As much as Matt disliked seeing their
visitors, Nick hated them-her more. Hand on the door knob Matt
looked over his shoulder at Nick and had to bite his lips to keep
them from breaking into a smile. He could choose to ignore the
smell of burnt peppers wafting through the air, but he couldn't
ignore the scowl.

"You shouldn't talk like that about your
sister" he mockingly chastised barely managing to keep a straight
face.

"Open the fucking door already" Nick growled
"the sooner I find out why they're here, the sooner they leave"

Matt shook his head, now enjoying himself.
"It’s a sad day when a brother doesn't want to spend quality time
with his little sister. I can just imagine her face as she hears
the way you're speaking about her"

"You know I'm not talking about Sarah"

"Still no way to talk about your-"

Nick growled once more. This time a warning,
laced with the power of an Alpha. Matt got the hint. At the blink
of an eye he was back to all seriousness, no longer the best friend
but the enforcer-the second in command.

Nick knew Matt hated the whole 'Alpha' deal
but the upcoming visit had him on edge. That was no excuse and Nick
knew it. Nick apologized and ran a hand through his hair. "Today is
not my day"

Once more Matt glanced at him over his
shoulder. He was still in 'Enforcer' mode but the flatness in his
eyes was again replaced with laughter. He nodded once in acceptance
of his apology and opened the door.

As soon as he did; Sarah rushed past Matt,
ignoring him like she’d taken to doing lately. She threw herself at
her big brother and Nick caught her in a bear hug.

Kate followed at more sedate pace, also
ignoring Matt. When she reached the embraced pair, she coughed to
get their attention. Nick released Sarah and they both turned to
face her.

"Hi Nicky" She greeted him.

He hated when she called him that

Without his prompting she gave him a hug, one
he didn't return. Instead he let his hands hang loose at his sides.
Kate also gave him a kiss on the cheek, it had been intended for
his lips but Nick managed to turn away just in time.

"I've missed you" she murmured as she stepped
away.

With barely contained disgust, Nick rubbed
his cheek with the back of his hand. Trying to remove the smear of
makeup she'd left behind. Nick hated the stuff, while he admitted
that it probably had its uses he just couldn't get past the
smell.

"I'm sorry I can't say the same" he told
her.

Without waiting for a response he turned away
and headed for the living room. The two women immediately followed,
immaculately dressed as always in their designer jeans, shoes and
blouses.

The Alphas house was decorated to fit his
bachelor status, nowhere more than the living room. He had big,
black leather sofas, obviously chosen for comfort not looks. The
coffee and side tables were made of glass. On each side table sat a
lamp that had never been used because no one ever bother to put
light bulbs in them.