The Keeper (5 page)

             
Sam tapped her shoulder with the bat.  Lex swung around with a questioning look as he pointed with the bat to the door.  Shit.  Shit.  Shit.  Jed was looking at her and elbowing Donovan.  She didn’t have much time, but at least they couldn’t rush through the throng of people.  She looked toward the back door, but she would have to jump over moving bodies to make it through there.  She looked back to Sam.  “Kitchen?”

             
Sam nodded and she swung around on her bottom dropping her feet on the other side of the bar and took off through the kitchen.  She slipped a little on the wet floor, but righted herself quickly.  She had the handle to the kitchen door in her hand and yanked. 
Woo hoo
.
  She was so out of here.  Just as she got the door open a huge
tanned hand slammed it closed. 
Damn.

             
“Going somewhere, honey?”  Jed sounded pissed. 

             
Lex pressed her forehead to the cool metal door and counted to ten, hoping she could come up with a way out.  She didn’t know what was wrong with her.  She had two of the hottest men on the planet-two men that she wanted beyond belief-and she was running. 

             
A pale hand ran down her upper arm to her wrist
, pulling her hand from the door
.  “Who did this?”
  Donovan’s voice was just above a whisper
spoken between clenched teeth
, but she could hear the barely suppressed rage in his voice. 

             
She looked at her wrist
, not surprised to find the bruises that had come
up in a band around it.  She shrugged.  “I fell.” 
 

             
Jed spun her around
and
trapped her against the door with one hand on either side of her head.  “Try again, sweetheart.  Who tried to drag you out of here?” 
If she didn’t know both of them as well as she did, she would have been terrified. 

             
She looked from Jed to Donovan. 
Donovan’s
sharp, white teeth were pressing into his bottom lip and his
normally blue eyes were ringed in red
. 
Jed’s were glowing almost yellow.  Considering they were normally so brown it was hard to distinguish where his iris ended and his pupil began, it wasn’t hard to figure out what they wanted to do. 
Never mind the fact that his voice had changed into a gravely-growl. 
They would kill him.  She could see it in both sets of eyes.  Seth was a human.  It was probably best to let the cops handle this.  “He wasn’t an Immortal.  I’ll tell the cops who and where to find him.  I promise.  I don’t want his blood on your hands.”  She was shaking as she said it.  She didn’t know when the shaking started, but it was enough to rattle her teeth now.   Both sets of eyes instantly softened
-the red fading away from Donovan’s and the yellow glow of Jed’s dimming a little.  Huh, his eyes had been the same color yellow in the elevator the night before he left.  She had known his wolf was fighting for dominance, but until now she didn’t know why.  It wanted to claim its mate
. 

             
Jed’s eyes never left hers.  “I’ll take her bike back.  You take her in the car.”  He stepped away from her and held his hand out for her keys.
 
 

             
Normally, she would pitch a fit over his high-handedness, but she was in no shape to ride.  She would probably wind up killing herself, or worse, damaging her bike.  With quivering fingers,
Lex fumbled the
keys
out of her pocket and handed them over just before being swept up into Donovan’s arms. 
Jed opened the door for them, looked around the alley and nodded his head, leading the way to the front lot. She let her head rest on Donovan’s chest, thankful they hadn’t pushed for the identity of the man who had tried to take her.  Yet. 

             
Donovan was struggling to keep himself in check.  This was the first time he’d had Lex cuddled up to his chest.  He had sat beside her during a movie, he had hugged her on occasion, but this was the first time she had ever curled up to him and let him take care of her.  He loved it.  He loved her. 
He had for a long time, but
always had to stay at arm’s length.  Until now.  Now she was his.  Or would be as soon as he and Jed could convince her that it was necessary.  Hell, even if it wasn’t, he didn’t know how much longer he could hold out.  He opened the
passenger’s
door as he rested her hip against the car.  He slid her into the passenger’s seat and buckled her in.  As he was backing out she put
a hand on his arm to stop him.  Donovan couldn’t help himself.  He knew he needed to get her home, but damn he had wanted to kiss her for a long time and until now, she had kept her distance.  Her gaze was locked on his lips and his eyes were drifting closed even as he lowered his head.  He brushed his lips over hers.  Once.  Twice.  Until she moaned and wrapped her slim little fingers around his neck and bit his bottom lip. 
Da
mn.  Donovan pulled back abruptly
, bumping
his head
in his hurry to get away from the temptation before him, and shut her in the car.  He walked around for a few minutes, deciding that the weakness from sun exposure was less of a threat than
Lex exposure
. 

             
Lex watched with a smile on her face
that she hid behind her still shaking hand as Donovan ran his hand over the back of his neck.  It was something that he did when he was frustrated or uncomfortable.  She had seen him do it on very few occasions.  There was very little that ever got to the
man.  She quickly pulled her lips into a pout as he turned to look at her.  She watched him stalk around the car, yank open the driver’s side door and slide into the leather seat. 
His hand turned the key and the car roared to life. 
He caught up to Jed and finally glanced sideways at her.  She had been watching him the whole time.  She wanted to know how long it would take him to cave. 

             
He looked back at the road so that he wouldn’t accidentally run over Jed.  “I can understand why you didn’t pull a gun on the guy, bu
t why didn’t you use that knife?”
  He nodded toward her boot and the blade he knew was always there. 

             
She shrugged her shoulders
realizing the shaking had nearly stopped
.  “Last time I drew it, Dad took away my bike.”

             
Donovan wanted to laugh, but kept
quiet
.  “Sweetheart, the last time you drew it, you stabbed a cop in the leg.” 

             
She crossed her arms over her chest.  “He shouldn’t have snuck up on me like that.  I mean I heard him coming, but when he touched me…  I just wasn’t expecting that.” 
She shifted in the seat to look out the window.
  She had already had her hand on the knife.  As soon as Lieutenant Murphy put his hand on her shoulder she had pulled it and buried it in his thigh before fully turning around.  He had cussed a blue streak and called her father.  Needless to say, the lieutenant was not her greatest fan. 
 

             
Donovan-knowing it might be the death of him-shifted up a gear and moved his hand over to touch her leather-clad knee.  “This guy was actually trying to take you, Lex.”  He didn’t know how much he
should tell her without Jed
, but the next time someone hurt her, he damn well wanted her to kill them.  He would buy her anot
her bike if her dad took this one
away.  “Here’s the deal.  We have reason to believe that you are in danger.  Until you gain the powers of the Keeper, you are not allowed out of
your apartment
without Jed or me
.”  He knew the second he said it and heard her sharp intake of breath that he hadn’t said it right. 

             
“You can’t ground me!”  She yelled with such venom in her voice that he jerked his hand away from her just in case she decided to break his fingers.  He knew she was perfectly capable of it, and as fast as he healed, it
didn’t mean it
wouldn’t
still
hurt like hell.

             
“That’s not what I meant, Lex.”  He gripped the steering wheel with both hand
s
and wished like hell it was darker, so he could pull over and let Jed drive the royally pissed off redhead home.  “I just want to make sure nothing happens to you.” 

             
He cast another quick glance her way, thankful that her arms were still crossed over her chest.  The fact th
at she was visibly shaking
again
made him just a little nervous.
  At least a few minutes ago, the tremors that had shaken her were probably just from her previous adrenaline rush.  He
was pretty sure now it was
all out anger.  He swung into the garage behind Jed and decided it was best to wait until they had her locked in her apartment before he tried to talk to her again. 

             
Before the car even came to a complete stop she was out and headed for the elevator.  Damn controlling men.  What the hell was wrong with them anyway?  Between her father, Jed, Donovan and Grady, she knew everything there was to know about self-defense and the amulet would keep her safe against magic.  Just because she decided not the kill a human that posed very little real threat to her, didn’t mean that she was going to be locked up twenty-four seven.  No freaking way. 
She tensed a little as both men flanked her waiting on the elevator.  When the door opened she stepped inside and swung around before they could step in.  She hit the button without looking, cocked her arm back and hit Donovan square in the jaw.  She smiled as both men stood in shock as the doors closed. 

             
Jed turned his head to look at Donovan after the doors closed.  Donovan didn’t really look hurt, but was rubbing his jaw anyway.  “What the fuck did you say to her?”
  Jed was fighting very hard to keep his laughter inside. 

             
Donovan blushed a little.  “I think I said something along the lines of not being allowed out of her apartment.”  He dropped his hand to his side and shrugged his shoulders.  “She thought I was trying to ground her.  She’s not going to let either of us in now I’m afraid.” 

             
The elevator opened in front of them again.  Once they were both situated inside, Jed hit the button to the top floor, while Donovan leaned casually back against the wall with his ankles crossed.  When the elevator finally made it to the top floor, Jed pulled out his phone and pressed a button
as his strides ate up the ground to Lex’s door.
  “Grady, can you send someone up to fix Miss Martin’s door?  It seems to be broken.”  Jed hung up, reared back and kicked the door in.

Chapter Five

             
Donovan was surprised and impressed.  He wasn’t sure that
was a method he would have employed, but it was
definitely
effective.  Jed was already walking through the door as Silas’ office d
oor opened.  As soon as his gaze
landed on Donovan a smile lit his eyes.  “I see she’s back.  I suppose you two will do a better job of keeping an eye on her this time.”  Donovan nodded once and the smile that Silas had been holding back reached his mouth.  “Very well then.  I think I’m going to bed.  Call if you need anything.”
  Silas disappeared into the waiting elevator.

             
Lex was in the kitchen when her door splintered, and a very angry looking man came walking through it.  “It was unlocked.”  She took a sip of the espresso
in her hand.  “I was afraid if it wasn’t you might do something stupid.  I don’t know…like kick my door in.”  Jed didn’t even slow down.  By the time he made it halfway across the living room his eyes were glowing that yellow color again.  She knew now that he was either really pissed or really turned on.  She cast a quick glance at the front of his jeans and decided to hold her ground
not that there was anywhere to go
.  The possibility of him being really pissed still existed, but she knew that he was
definitely
turned on
.
 

             
Jed didn’t stop until he had her back against the counter. 
He pried the mug from her hand and sat it on the counter out of her reach and turned his gaze back to her. 
“You will not run off by yourself again.  If you do, I will strip you bare and spank that pretty little ass.  Is that understood?”  He watched as her eyes changed from wide with surprise to hoode
d with arousal in less time than
it took him to breathe. 

             
Lex heard the groan leave his mouth just before his mouth consumed hers.  This wasn’t a gentle kiss like the one Donovan had started in the car.  No, this was a
bruising,
take-no-prisoners kind of kiss.  She was bent back over the counter as he pressed his lower body into hers.  She couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped her throat.