Ella and the Beast (More Than Human Book 1) (17 page)

Later that evening, Ella sat on the small window seat in their bedroom and stared outside at the swirling snow. She had taken off her shoes and was sitting with her knees drawn up, waiting for Ty to get home.

He had called her between meetings twice during the day on the phone he had given her. She glanced at it for the hundredth time. A small smile curved her lips when she saw the text message on it.

Love you. Be home soon. Ty.

A wave of warmth swept through her. She sat forward when she saw a set of twin headlights piercing the darkness. She followed the lights, waiting. An excited smile lit her face when she saw that it was Ty’s truck. Swiveling around, she stood up and headed for the bedroom door.

She was almost to the bottom of the staircase when the front door opened and Ty stepped inside. Her footsteps faltered when she saw that he wasn’t alone. The smile on her lips died. She saw an attractive brunette slowly unbuttoning her thick coat.

“I think the meeting went very well. Badger doesn’t have majority support from the board members. The Observatory has shown remarkable…,” the woman’s voice faded when she saw Ella staring back at them. “Ty?”

Ella heard the slightly confused question in the husky voice. She stared back at the woman, fighting a feeling of jealousy when the woman placed her hand on Ty’s arm. The action appeared all too familiar, as did the way the woman moved even closer to Ty. Art’s laughing voice when he had told her about Ty’s college days flashed through her mind.

“Rhyanna, could you give us a moment? You know where my office is. I’ll meet you there in fifteen minutes,” Ty murmured, his gaze locked on Ella’s mutinous expression. “Maybe twenty.”

“Of course,” Rhyanna replied, pulling her hand away before she glanced curiously at Ella. “That will give me a chance to check my email.”

Ella relaxed when the woman gave her a friendly smile before she turned and walked through the foyer and down the hallway. It wasn’t until the woman had disappeared from sight that Ella returned her attention to Ty. She blinked when she saw that he had moved and was now standing near the foot of the staircase.

“How was your day?” Ty asked in a husky, smooth voice that sent a wave of longing through her.

“I bent the vacuum cleaner wand when I struck Lorne Timberwolf in the balls, but it still worked so I was able to finish catching all the dust bunnies. Who is the woman?” Ella stated, folding her arms and waiting.

“You bent the…,” Ty cursed softly and stepped closer to cup her face. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier when I called? I would have come home. What did he do? I swear I’ll gut the bastard if he tried anything!”

Ella’s lips twitched and her eyes danced with amusement. “I could tell you were very busy and I had already taken care of the situation. He had trouble walking after I hit him. I don’t think it will be necessary for you to gut him. He startled me. I didn’t recognize him and he wanted to know what type of shifter I was. I don’t think he will come near me again,” Ella replied. “Who is the woman? Is she one of your old flames?”

“One of my…? I’m going to strangle Tracy,” Ty groaned, leaning forward until his forehead rested against hers and closed his eyes. “She’s been exaggerating about my college days again, hasn’t she?”

Ella giggled and ran her hands up his chest. “It wasn’t Tracy, it was your father. Were you really that bad?” She asked, stroking his cheeks with her thumbs.

Ty opened his eyes and gave her a boyish grin. “Maybe just a little,” he replied before he looked at her with a solemn expression. “Rhyanna is my executive assistant and second in command at the Observatory. Badger called a meeting today with the Board of Directors, concerned about some artifacts that have recently gone missing. Rhyanna and I are researching the disappearance of the items, as well as a few other things that happened while I was gone. I keep a duplicate copy of the inventory here. She came by to get it. I won’t be long.”

Ella could see the lines of strain and fatigue on Ty’s face. He hadn’t had much sleep since he had brought her home. They often stayed up late, making love and talking. And he was getting up early before he left for work to go walking with her. Guilt pulled at her. She was used to not sleeping much, but nowadays even she found herself taking short naps during the day.

“Do what you need to do. Are you hungry?” She asked. “I could warm up some soup for you and make you a sandwich. Martha showed me how to work the box that cooks things.”

Ty shook his head. “No, Rhyanna had sandwiches delivered late this afternoon. The only thing I’m hungry for is you in my arms,” he admitted with a sigh. “I won’t be long, I promise,” he added, leaning forward to press a kiss against her lips.

“I’ll wait for you,” she replied, sliding her hand tenderly down his left cheek before she took a step back.

Realizing neither of them wanted to be apart again, Ella forced herself to turn around and takemoved up several steps before she stopped to glance over her shoulder. Ty was still at the bottom of the staircase. He smiled up at her before he blew her a kiss and finally turned away. She watched as he disappeared down the corridor. Releasing a sigh, she slowly continued walking up the stairs, and headed back to their living area.

She couldn’t help but think it was an impossible task; trying to keep her existence a secret. So far just today, at least two additional people knew about her existence. It was only a matter of time before more of the Others found out about her. She just hoped that she was ready for it.

*.*.*

Ty drew in a deep breath. A worried, but amused smile curved his lips. He was worried about the fact that Van had brought Lorne into the house. Van’s younger brother had gone through a few, very rough times during his teenage years when he was a teenager. In fact, Van and his family had lost touch with Lorne for almost two years. When the young wolf had reappeared, he had been different – edgier.

At eighteen, Lorne had left again, only this time it was to serve in the military. Six years later, it would appear that the wolf had once again come home. Ty knew and respected the Timberwolf family, he was just very, very protective of Ella. The fact that Lorne Timberwolf had withdrawn from his family meant that no one really knew him anymore.

Ty ran a hand over the back of his neck and shook his head, Ella’s words ringing in his mind. He could just imagine Ella taking Lorne down with a vacuum cleaner wand. If she hit the wolf in the balls hard enough to bend it, he bet Lorne wouldn’t be walking, or doing anything else, very well for a while.

“What has you so amused?” Rhyanna asked with a raised eyebrow, noticing his expression when he opened the door and stepped in.

Ty gave a brief shake of his head. “Nothing important. Let me get you a copy of the inventory. If the snow keeps up like this, you may be stuck here,” he warned.

Rhyanna shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the first time. It isn’t like it would be a hardship to stay here, especially if Martha makes her awesome pancakes and eggs,” she retorted in a dry tone.

“True. You can take the blue guest room, if you don’t want to take a chance driving. You know what the roads were like coming in. They should have them cleared by morning,” Ty remarked in a distracted voice as he sat down at his desk and booted up his computer. “Do you need a change of clothes?”

“No, I have a bag in the car,” Rhyanna replied, walking over to look out the window. “I learned after last winter’s storm to keep a spare set in case of emergencies.” They both became quiet while he pulled up the files he was looking for and saved them to a flash drive. “Ty, who was the woman? I… This is going to sound really strange, but I swear she looked like she was a… human. I know that is impossible, but her face! I mean… it’s crazy I know, but I swear she looked just like one of the women from the paintings.”

Ty slowly ejected the flash drive and pulled up the weather satellite information. His lips tightened when he saw the dark red line cutting straight through Ella’s mountains. The forecast was predicting record breaking temperatures and snow levels.

His head jerked up when Rhyanna suddenly turned and stared at him. It took a moment for her words to sink in. Shutting down his computer, he rose to his feet and held out the flash drive.

“Rhyanna,” he started to say before he tiredly ran his hand down over his face. He stared back at her calm but curious expression. He finally released a long breath. “This is confidential.”

“I understand,” Rhyanna replied in a quiet voice. “I’ve always respected anything you shared with me as being between us, Ty.”

Ty nodded and slowly walked around his desk and over to the window where she was standing. He stood staring out at the falling snow. It was definitely heavier than it had been earlier.

“Ella is my mate,” Ty calmly informed her. He shoved his hands into the front pockets of his dress slacks. He ignored Rhyanna’s surprised hiss. “I know, pretty incredible, huh? I never thought I would find a mate, but I did. The reason Ella looks like a human is because she is one. I should have known you would immediately pick up on the differences. You’ve studied enough human remains, artifacts, and paintings to know what they look like.”

“A human!” Rhyanna repeated, stunned. “Where did you find her? How is it possible?”

“It doesn’t matter where or how. What matters is keeping her safe,” Ty replied, turning to look down at Rhyanna.

“The media will go nuts when they find out, Ty, you know they will,” Rhyanna said with a shake of her head. “Are there more of them? I can’t even imagine keeping this hidden. There hasn’t been any word of a sighting in centuries! The last known human in captivity died nearly four hundred years ago.”

Ty could feel the muscle in his jaw twitch at Rhyanna’s description. Captivity – that was a nice way of putting what life had been like for the last human. The records were sketchy at best, but there was enough to know that death had been a blessing for the human female.

“You’ve read the account of what happened to the woman. This is why it is imperative that Ella be protected at all times. I don’t want to take a chance of some delusional shifter trying to harm her,” he stated in a hard tone. “I
will
kill anyone who tries.”

He forced himself to relax when he saw Rhyanna’s eyes widen in shock. She squeezed his arm in support. That was one of the things he liked about Rhyanna, he had never felt uncomfortable or awkward around her. It was mostly due to the fact that she was one of the rare women he had met that showed absolutely no interest in him except on an intellectual level. It was the main reason why they worked so well together and he trusted her. She cared about the Observatory and the preservation of the forests, animals, and artifacts that they were determined to protect for future generations.

“I’ll do everything I can to help you,” Rhyanna promised. “You are going to need help. Who else knows about her?”

Ty pulled his hand out of his pocket and rubbed the back of his neck. “You, Van, Peterson, my family, and Lorne, Van’s younger brother,” he admitted. “Dad has a call in to talk to Michaela, but she hasn’t responded yet. She’s in a huge trade meeting at the moment.”

“Was she the reason you took off for those couple of weeks?” Rhyanna asked.

Ty nodded. “I was searching for her,” he said with a wry grin. “She found me instead.”

“Listen, it’s getting late and the storm is obviously getting worse. I’ll grab my things out of the car, then compare the information you have and see what is missing. I’ll also try to brainstorm some ways to help protect Ella,” Rhyanna said, covering her mouth when she yawned. “Well, maybe I’ll take a look in the morning. I didn’t realize how late it was!”

Ty glanced at his watch and grimaced. It was just past midnight. He hadn’t realized what time it was either.

“I’ll walk with you. The guys installed an upgraded security system today and I don’t want you to accidentally trip it,” Ty murmured, turning and walking to the door.

Rhyanna laughed. “You mean like the last time I was here?” She teased.

Ty smiled, but didn’t say anything. He held the door open for her. He escorted her out to her car, rubbing his hands and wishing he had stopped to put his jacket back on when the wind cut through his thick sweater. He reset the alarm system once they were back inside. They walked in silence up the stairs.

“Good night, Rhyanna. Thank you for everything,” Ty murmured when they reached the top.

Rhyanna paused and looked up at Ty. “You gave me a chance when no one else would, Ty. I will always be grateful for that,” she said, looking away from him to stare down the hallway.

“No thanks are needed, Rhyanna. You’ve more than earned everything you’ve achieved. I’ll see you in the morning,” Ty replied, turning away.

He quickly walked down the hallway to Ella’s and his living quarters. He opened the door and slipped inside. At the far end of the couch, a lamp was lit. Walking over to turn it off, he paused when he saw Ella curled up under a throw sound asleep. A tender smile curved his lips as he studied her relaxed features. She was so young and innocent, yet so strong and brave.

He reached over and turned out the light. Pulling back the thin blanket, he tenderly picked Ella up off the couch and cradled her in his arms. She mumbled in her sleep even as she snuggled closer to him. A familiar wave of protectiveness swept through him. The slight figure in his arms would never know the horrors of how cruel a shifter could be.