Keeping Her (10 page)

She
ducked down covering her head with her arms as it crashed inches away. 
Clancy grabbed her by the hair, pulling her out of the room with a vicious
snarl.  The shotgun went flying.  This time the hand sported claws that
dug in while he dragged her down the hall.  His other hand was barely
attached to his arm by a shredded wrist.  When she could see past her
streaming hair and tears, she saw the hall full of werewolves, some man shaped,
and some on four feet.  She would have screamed if she’d the air for
it.  Clancy shoved her none too gently back into her original prison so
she scraped skin on her slide to the mattress.  When she looked back at him,
his face had lost much of its beauty to rage.  He staggered back into the
hall clutching his damaged arm and slamming the door of her little prison.

The
night she found her sister dead in that smelly hotel room had been the worst
day of her life.  So far, this was a close second.  She wiped her
eyes and held her knees to her chest.  She shook so badly she wondered she
didn’t break apart.

She
had managed to stave off rape, but for how long?  Clancy may not be in any
shape with his wrist mangled but what about the others?  Eventually one of
those creatures was going to try again.  Clytie prayed as hard as she had
ever prayed that Eli and Logan survived the attack and Demon would find her in
time.

When
Clytie was calm enough to think again she sat cross-legged on the mattress and
pulled her hair out of falling clips.  She held one of the steel clips in
shaky palms and wondered how she could possibly make it a work for her. 
It had to be the most pathetic weapon on the planet but she ground it against
the concrete in the vein hope she might be able to rub it into a lethal
point.  Right.  She was in so much trouble. 
Demon. 
Where are you?

Chapter
10

“We have him.  Stupid Bastard is
using his cell phone.”  Eli pulled the laptop around to show the blip on
the map.  He had jumped on the internet the minute he got to the house
looking for information on Clancy.  He got lucky with the cell
phone.  “He’s on the move, but as soon as he stops we’ll have him.”

Demon
kept up his incessant pacing, Wolf gold eyes staring out into the world
promised death.  “Where?” 

“He’s
close.  No more than ten minutes.”

Demon
took in all the grim warriors that came to their feet.  The only ones who
had stayed with the plane were Cleo and Ian, and that had been against
protest.  The rest had been waiting alongside him for word since Clytie
had been taken.  This was what a pack was, people who would lay down their
lives to keep each other safe, not the twisted slavery that Gregory and his ilk
would make it.  He only hoped he had the chance to show Clytie that Clancy
and his breed were not what he was offering her.  That he could keep her
safe.  Please God let him be in time to keep her safe. 

Demon’s
voice was a savage growl as he looked over his pack mates.  “Nobody kills
Clancy but me.” 

“That’s
it.”  Eli said a few minutes later.  “We have him.”

When
the door opened, Clytie knew her reprieve was over.  Clancy, without any
of his former attempts at charm, radiated menace in nothing but a pair of
unbuttoned jeans.  He might have modeled for a living with his angel face
and trim body but all Clytie wanted was for him to go away again.

He
held up his hand, the one she had tried to shoot off, and smiled.  “All
better love.  Now I can show you what we do to little girls who don’t
mind.”

Clytie
swallowed hard, palming her pathetic hair clip and standing up.  If he
healed a shotgun blast in only a few hours, she had no chance of hurting him
with a little sharpened metal.

He
came in and closed the door.  “I’m trying to decide if I want to cut your
hand off before or after I have you.  What do you think?”

She
sucked in a shaky breath, determined not to give him the satisfaction of her
fear.  “Will what I think make a difference?”

“Maybe. 
Why don’t you try asking nice?”  He pulled down his pants until his cock was
revealed.  His voice lost its false cheer.  “On your knees.  You
do me real nice and I might forget you tried to shoot my fucking hand off.”

No
! 
He was going to kill her anyway; she saw that in his eyes.  There were
some things you didn’t come back from.  She’d rather fight and die than
give him what he wanted.  If she got him mad enough he might even kill her
quick.  You knew you were in real trouble when a quick death didn’t sound
so bad.  At least she had the satisfaction of knowing Demon would kill him
for this.  Cold comfort though it was.

“I
doubt you would have missed that hand.  From the little I can see, and I
do mean little, one is more than sufficient for the job.”

The
silence was booming, then in a less than human growl he spoke.  “I’m going
to eat your heart while I fuck you.”

“Can
you do two things at once?  That’s not what Demon said.”

He
started forward but the name halted him half lunge. 

“Demon?”

“You
did ask me who I belonged to.”  She glanced pointedly at his exposed dick,
now deflated.  “You know he’s going to kill you right?”

“He
won’t find us here, but I’ll be sure to send you back to him in pieces. 
All except the heart.”  He took a flying leap forward and ripped what was
left of her tattered dress completely off.  He pulled her against
him.  She wanted to gag at the touch of him on her bare stomach.  He
yanked off her bra bruising her in the process. 

She
shoved the sharpened hair clip into his neck right above his Adams apple. 
He roared, throwing her away so that she slammed into the concrete floor and
almost blacked out.  She was aware enough to see him yank the clip out
spraying blood in a hot ark.

“You
fucking bitch.”  He roared, his words garbled, either because of the
damage or because he was changing into a wolf.

Clytie
struggled up to her knees, the blood seeping from the cut on her head covering
half her face before she made it even that far.  He grabbed her by the
hair and yanked her up off the floor.  She yelped, grabbing his wrists
while her head throbbed.  He was going to break her neck, all it would
take was a twist of his hands, and she would be dead.  She saw the knowledge
in his eyes, even as she weakly tried to knee him in the balls.  

“Maybe
I’ll just send him your head.”  He spat out blood with each word, but
already his wound had closed.  He shifted his grip so her neck was in his
grip, his face close.  He licked the blood off her cheek with a long swipe
and popped his lips in appreciation.  “I bet he’ll miss you when you’re
gone.” 

Clytie
closed her eyes and waited for the killing blow.  Instead, the sound of
the door exploding had her eyes snapping open.  Demon.  The relief
was instantaneous. 

She
wasn’t allowed to enjoy it long before Clancy jettisoned her body and she hit
the wall.  The last thing she heard before she blacked out was Demons roar
of rage.

As
soon as Demon saw Clytie crumble to the ground he knew the fight he’d been
having for control of his wolf was lost.  Bones cracked and changed, hair
sprouted and he grew a foot across the shoulders shredding his clothes. 
The rage of an animal whose mate had been hurt coursed through his veins and he
welcomed it with a bloody vengeance.  Halfway between man and beast, he
charged Clancy with claws out and teeth bared.  His jaw was still
expanding when he drew first blood latching onto Clancy’s collarbone and
crushing it.

Clancy
fought back, teeth flashing, razor claws raking.  He swiped at Demons face
trying to blind him and missed, tearing strips out of his neck and shoulder
instead.  He lunged and bit at anything vulnerable but Demon was too
fast.  He had open wounds bleeding out faster than his body could
heal.  The fight began to take its toll.  He was slowing down. 
A hardened and vicious fighter he was still no match for an enraged Demon. 
When Clancy realized he was going to die, he tried to make a run for it.  Demon
ripped out his spine.  Then he started on the rest.

Demon
dropped down beside Clytie shaking and covered with gore, but back in his right
mind.  He was afraid to touch her.  She was the only spot in the
whole room not splattered with Clancy.  He wiped his hands off on the
concrete as best he could then reached for her pulse, praying as he did so that
her heart still beat.  She shifted and groaned and it was the sweetest
sound he’d ever heard.

“Oh
God, Baby.”  His voice was as shaky as his knees, but he carefully checked
her over for broken bones, pulling her hair back from her face to study the cut
there.  There was already a knot forming that worried him.  She still wore
her panties, but nothing else.  He had almost been too late. 

Ben
came through the door as Demon pulled Clytie into his arms.  “I need
something to cover her, and make sure the medic Lucas is sending is at the
house by the time we get there.”

Ben
pulled off his black top and placed it over Clytie like a blanket.  She
was so small and bloody in Demons arms.  “What do you want us to do with
the rest?”

Walking
into the other room Demon found his team surrounding the four knocked out
wolves.  It had taken maybe two minutes for his men to shoot them full of
drugs and take the house.  He wanted to burn the place to the ground with
them in it, but pack law was clear.  

“Leave
them, they can return Clancy to his father, if they can find enough
pieces.  They’ll be lucky if Gregory doesn’t kill them all.”  He
looked down at Clytie, the rage in his eyes simmering.  “Any other messages
I’ll deliver after Clytie is taken care of.” 

Clytie
woke screaming.

“Baby,
it’s me.  You’re safe.  Clytie you’re home.”  His words
eventually registered and she stopped thrashing and fell back against the
bed.  She didn’t realize she was crying until he wiped tears off her
cheek.  “You’re safe baby.”  She turned her head.  Demon was
kneeling beside her bed.  One of his hands brushed her hair back from her
face, the other held her cheek, his thumb brushing tears away as they
fell.  She swallowed, her eyes closed with the effort.  Her head, a
dull ache, throbbed when she tried to shift.  “Clancy?”

His
eyes glowed a wolf gold, his jaw grinding tight before he answered.  “He
won’t bother anyone again.”

She
grabbed the hand he caressed over her face.  “He heals.”  She
warned.  “I shot him and stabbed my hair clip through his neck, he
heals.  Fast.”

“Not
from this.”

“Demon,
his hand was almost all the way off and he healed in a few hours.”  She
knew she sounded paranoid but she couldn’t help it.  Clancy had become a
nightmare she would relive every time she closed her eyes.

“Baby,
there wasn’t enough left of him to fill a shoe box.  He’s gone.  He
can’t hurt you any more.”

Clytie
was not ready to deal with how Demon had accomplished that.  She needed to
think of something else, and getting clean became a necessity.  Someone
had wiped her down, the blood was gone, but she needed a thorough scrub before
she would feel close to human again.  “I want a shower.” 

Demon
stood, pulling her covers back, he helped her to her feet.  She paused
holding the mattress until her dizziness passed and the pounding in her head
was bearable.  Someone, she assumed Demon, had dressed her in one of her
few long nightgowns.  It seemed strange to be wearing a picture of a
cartoon dog when she felt so used up.  Demon tried to lead her into the
bathroom but she shook his hand off.  “I can do it myself.”

“Baby,
you can barely stand.  The Doctor said you have a mild concussion. 
You could fall in the shower.”

She
stepped away from the bed.  When he reached out again she pushed him away
once more.  “I said I want to do it myself.” 

“Damn
it Clytie let me help you!”

She
moved toward the bathroom steadily, her voice shaky.  “If I need help I’ll
ask for it.  Right now I need a few minutes to myself to think.”

“And
I need to make sure you’re all right!”

She
turned at the bathroom door, Demon crowding close behind her.  “I’m not
all right.  I was kidnapped, beat, almost raped, and very nearly killed by
an insane werewolf, oh yeah and my lover and all his friends probably turn into
the same kind of monster and never told me. 

I
need a shower and time to process.  Tomorrow can be about what you
need.  Right now I'm taking me time!”  She slammed the door in his
face and locked it.

“Fuck!”
Demon roared, feeling as helpless now as when she was in danger and he couldn’t
find her.

Clytie
heard the roar and cringed but she didn’t relent.  She didn’t have it in
her right now.  Instead she turned on the shower as hot as it would go and
used a full bar of soap to clean off the invisible filth that covered
her. 

By
the time she left the shower, the water was cold and she'd shampooed her hair
three times, scrubbed her body raw, and cried the whole time.  When she
left the bathroom sometime later, her hair was blow-dried and her head felt
like someone was using it for an anvil. 

Demon
was still in the bedroom but he kept his distance.  He sat in the chair in
the farthest corner from the bed.  He had closed the curtains and there
was a pile of sheets beside him so he must have freshened the bed. 

When
she looked, she found her favorite pair of pajamas across the foot with soft
cotton panties in navy blue.  Tylenol and a glass of water sat on the nightstand. 
His eyes followed her painful process until she had dressed, taken the painkillers,
and climbed back in the bed.  He stood as soon as she was settled, turning
off the lamp and heading for the door.

“Demon.” 
He paused out in the hall with the door almost closed.

“Yeah
Baby?”  The tenderness in his voice made Clyties raw eyes tear up again.

“Thank
you for rescuing me.”  She hugged a pillow to her chest.  “He would
have killed me if you hadn’t shown up when you did.”

He
came back into the room and knelt down on the floor until they were back where
they started before her shower.  “I know I fucked up Baby.  I fucked
up and you were hurt, nearly killed.  You were kidnapped by the bottom
feeders of the shifter world, nearly raped by that piece of shit Clancy and now
you probably want to get away from me and mine as fast as you can sprint out of
here.”  He swallowed hard, pain graphic on his face.  “I won’t keep
you Clytie, not if you want to go.  Just get well first, that’s all I
ask.  Give me a little time to make you safe.  Then we’ll move you
back into your place and you won’t ever have to see me again.”