This was a very wild and unstable male, and she sensed as much in the bar, but there was no denying there was something different about him, something that drew her in. She stared into his eyes that were no longer blue but a deep brown. Dizziness overcame her, and she couldn’t hold the rock any longer, and the dull thud of it hitting the ground beside her pierced her foggy mind.
“I’m going to be sick.” She said the words right before she bent at the waist and emptied everything in her stomach. Darkness swarmed at the edges of her vision, and she wobbled on her feet. Right before she toppled over and let the shadows of the world consume her, she felt strong arms wrap around her.
The last thing she saw was Bram’s face right in front of her, and his now sea-blue eyes promised all kinds of things that would never happen.
7
A jarring motion had Kenzie slowly coming back to consciousness. The past events were at the forefront of her mind, but she couldn’t find it in herself to feel any kind of remorse. Her eyes felt heavy and gritty, but she couldn’t open them.
Inhaling deeply, she took in the scent of evergreen and something darker, more arousing, and wild. Even after everything that happened, her body had its own mind, had its own desires. She was lying on a leather seat, and when she inhaled again, she could smell the material right below her nose.
“Shhh, relax, little deer.”
The voice was deep, soothing, but slightly distorted. Her pulse beat frantically in her ears, and she knew that was the cause for the funny way he sounded. A heavy, warm hand landed on her bare arm, and she flinched away. It was gone a second later.
“I won’t hurt you. I would never hurt you.”
She knew that voice, and even as he said the last sentence, she knew he had been speaking to himself. Kenzie sank farther into the seat as burning pain lanced through her side. Biting her lip to control herself from crying out, there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that Rook had done a number on her. He had always harmed her in human form, but the fact that he had unsheathed his claws and brought his animal into his “punishment” had her thankful the events had turned in her favor.
She may be bruised and battered, but she wasn’t broken. Emotionally and mentally ruined was a whole other thing. The only thing that kept replaying through her head was Rook’s last words. They still had her flesh tightening, because she knew he always got what he wanted, and what he wanted was to see her suffer. He wouldn’t let her go. He couldn’t, because he wanted her too badly.
Bram’s voice was low as he spoke to himself, but she knew he had to be aware she was awake, even if she didn’t say anything and was motionless. He was a bear with senses far keener than a human’s.
“I should have fucking killed him, ripped off his balls and shoved them down his throat.” He spoke to himself again. The air in the vehicle grew thick with his rage, and despite her initial feelings that she should stay away from him, it was clear he was nothing like Rook. Her thoughts drifted away as she felt the heaviness of darkness crash into her again.
The rhythmic motion of the truck, the deep timbre of Bram’s self-musing, and the fact that she just wanted to escape reality had Kenzie succumbing to the shadows that surrounded her once again.
She welcomed oblivion, because it was sure as hell better than the situation she was in right now.
8
Bram looked over at Kenzie, who was now sleeping. He had sensed when she awoke, yet he also sensed her pain and exhaustion. She was in shock, and he knew he had to keep control or would lose the fight for supremacy with his bear.
As it was, he was hanging on by a thread, trying to not go back and finish the fight at Slater’s that would have three males lying dead at his feet. The little deer was his mate, and he had fought to protect her and had felt his bear calm for the first time. But when he realized she left and the two cougars attacked him in unison, he let his animal fully out.
The shifters that fought with him in the underground fight club had gotten in on the violence, but soon they were going after each other, their animals attacking anyone who got in their way.
He had been in the mind frame to go after the panther and finish him, finish what his brave little female had done, but she was hurt and his first priority. He had seen her wounds, and red had covered his vision.
The scent of her blood filled the air, and when he turned and saw her standing over Rook’s still form, something inside him had grown proud of his mate. But that pride over his female had vanished. Then she had passed out, and he felt something grow inside him that he had never felt before—fear. He was scared he would lose her before he even got the chance to know who she was.
He took the last turn that would take him to his cabin deep in the heart of the Sweet Water Mountains. Another ten minutes and he was pulling his truck in front of the two-story home he and his brothers built with their own hands years before. Having her here felt right, but he couldn’t let his primal side take over.
He and his bear were in agreement that they needed to tend to her wounds and get her well. After she was better, he could discuss with her what he wanted… her as his mate.
