Ryland (7 page)

“I’m going to sit you down on the
commode. Can you do…can you fix your under things?” She reached down to tear
them from her when she realized she had none on. She told him that.

His entire body seemed to expand. She
felt his hands tighten on her ass and she knew he was going to rape her, damn
how hurt she was. When he sat her down and backed away she swayed, but caught
herself before he could touch her. Looking up at him she could see that he was
hard, his cock thick against his jeans.

“I’ll be right out here.” He walked out
and closed the door behind him. She stared at the door for a full minute,
trying to think what she’d done wrong then realized that she needed to take
care of business.

Standing was easier in here. She was
close enough to the hard counter that she could brace her body against it as
she shuffled to it. Washing her hands and face took a lot of energy she didn’t
have, but she felt better. He told her through the door that the new toothbrush
was hers and there was paste on the counter.

Brushing her teeth felt wonderful, but
took the last of her strength. Moving to the door, she reached for the handle
the same time it opened and she looked up at him. Not saying a word, he pressed
his body to her and lifted her to him, cupping her ass again.

“Let me go.” She tried to struggle, but
he held her tighter. She looked up at him when he stopped suddenly.

“I’m getting you to bed. I’m not joining
you in it. Once I get you there I’m going to cover you up and leave you.” He
looked over her shoulder. “I don’t know who hurt you like this, but it wasn’t
me.”

“Not yet anyway.”

His jaw clenched. He took her to the bed
and reversed the process he’d used to get her up. As soon as she was stretched
out he tossed the covers over her and went to the door. He stopped before going
out. “I’m a prick most of the time. And I can be a real bastard. But I don’t
rape innocents. Nor do I have to force myself on women.” He turned to her. “I
want you, I won’t deny that, but I’m not going to take you without you asking
me to.”

“Never.” He nodded and left the room. The
door closed softly behind him. She waited for several seconds for him to come
back and demand his rights as his mate, but he didn’t.

Bronwyn tried to relax so that she could
rest. Her body hurt. She’d taken a great deal more energy than she’d had to
spare to keep the streak of tigers from getting killed. That and to keep
herself from being taken. Cunningham was getting quicker at finding her.

She knew it was because of Sindy. Had
known for several months that he was watching her every move. Sindy had no idea,
of course, because Bronwyn knew that if she even suspected it, she’d have her
erase all memories of her and have her never contact her again.

Bronwyn thought of the male. He was
going to get her. She knew it as much as he did. Males took what they wanted
and no one could stop them. She knew this firsthand from living with Sindy’s
parents when they’d been her foster parents.

Mr. Daniels had been a male at one time
as well. Not the sort that determined his sex, but the head of his household. He
was still demanding and brutal. The only reason that Bronwyn had stayed was so
that she could protect Mrs. Daniels. She had been the only kind person she’d
ever met. But she was also a lesser female to her husband.

He would expect her to have his dinner
on the table at five o’clock no matter if she was sick or not. Bronwyn had
often told her to let him fend for himself; he didn’t work, but sat in the
living room all day and had her bring him his meals if he didn’t feel like
getting up.

But she wouldn’t make him get his own
meals. Nor would she leave him. When Bronwyn had suggested it, as she had to
Sindy several times over the years, they would both simply tell her it wasn’t
done. Males were there to protect them and they, as lesser females, were there
to serve. But Mr. Daniels had not done anything when the larger group of tigers
had come through. He’d given up his wife and daughter to the first male that
had said he wanted them. That was how Sindy had, at seventeen, been with her
abusive male. And Sindy was the only one to have survived the takeover.

Now Bronwyn was in the same thing. A
male had come and had decided that she belonged to him. She wouldn’t go easily
and if she had to mate with him she’d kill him after so that she had the same
status as Sindy. A widowed female had no rights, but no one would want her
anymore.

Closing her eyes, she thought of Cunningham
and the lab he’d taken her to years ago. He’d tricked her into coming with him
and then, when her parents had been killed, had taken custody of her. It had
taken her nearly four years to get free of them and him. Four years that she’d
never forget.

Chapter 6

Ryland went to the kitchen. He was on
fire for her. Need didn’t just coil in his belly, but his entire body. He
looked at his brother Keith when he walked in the door and hit him with his
fist back out the door and into the yard. Thankfully, he fought back.

When Keith came up off the ground he hit
Ryland in the face. Blood poured from his mouth as he dropped his shoulder and
rammed him. It was a free-for-all after that. Each of them knocking the other
down and then getting up and serving up the same treatment back.

Ryland felt the first spray of water hit
him in the back and turned in time to have it hit him full in the face. Keith
took advantage of his distraction and took him down from behind. Within seconds
they were both being hosed down and the water was fucking cold. He started to
tackle the person with the hose when he realized who it was.

“Are you finished beating the snot out
of each other?”

Keith started for their mother, still in
the heat of the moment, when Ryland caught him by the shirt collar. He looked
ready to do battle when Ryland nodded to Mom.

“He hit me first.” Ryland looked at
Keith when he spoke. “What the fuck? I walked in the door and you nearly took
my head off. I didn’t do shit to you.”

“Keith, go in the house and get cleaned
up.”

He looked like he was going to argue
with her, but finally nodded and walked by him. He nearly knocked him over with
his shoulder as he moved past him. Ryland watched his mother. “He’s right. I
did start it.” She nodded. “I needed to…I needed an outlet and he was the first
person I saw.”

“So I suppose it was a good thing I
wasn’t in the kitchen when you came down.”

He flushed.

“How is she?”

“Asleep again. I had to help her to the
bathroom. She’s hurting pretty badly.” He looked at the woods behind his mom’s
house. “She thinks I’m going to rape her. She’s expecting me to.”

“I don’t doubt that she is.” He looked
back at her. “Do you know the streak that the other girl is from?”

“No. I tried to look up her name, but
it’s either been taken from the roster or she was never marked as a part of
it.” He went to the deck and sat down with her when she asked him to. “What do
you know about it?”

“Long ago, there was a law. Actually, I
think it might still be on the books. Anyway, it was a law that said basically
any male could take what he wanted. Females were considered lesser. They were
referred to as that, lesser females. And if a larger streak, or ambush as they
were referred to in the books, came to a small establishment, they could and
would expect to be given whatever they wanted. It’s referred to as a razing.”

He looked at her as she finished. “You
don’t mean that even if the females were already attached they had to go to the
male, do you?” She nodded. “That’s barbaric. That means…” A thought occurred to
him.

“Yes. I can see by the look on your face
you realized that even if there was a young female, she too would be given to
the males. I’m sure it happens today even, but we never, your father and I,
never practiced those older laws.” She looked at him. “That young woman from
the hospital, is her name Sindy Wilson?”

“Yes. I tried to find her in the books,
but as I said, she wasn’t here.” She took something from her sweater pocket and
handed it to him. He read the headline and looked at her.

“Her mate was murdered. His body had
been crushed, the article says, by an unknown force. It says that this young
girl was beaten as well and was not a suspect in the murder, but she was asked
to leave the streak. They were afraid she was able to bring up a demon and they
didn’t want her there any longer.” She pointed to the name of the paper. “We
used to get these publications that the Tiger Corporation put out for years
until this one came out. Your father called them up and told them that he
wanted to be taken off the list. We never got another one.”

“Bronwyn killed him.”

She shrugged.

“She must have been saving her friend.
So she knew what he’d been doing to her. She also must think that all of us are
like him.”

“All men, I would say. Think about the
man who tried to take her this morning. You saw the scars on her back. You and
I both know she’s stubborn and he probably had her beaten, thinking he would
break her.” She rocked in the swing a few times. “I wonder why she hasn’t
killed him.”

Long after his mom went into the house
he sat out there. He looked up when Keith came out, and stood up when he
offered him his hand. Ryland apologized to him. Keith nodded.

“Mom said that she wants me to help
you.” Keith laughed. “She said you might need help charming your mate. She said
that you’re a little rusty at being around the fairer sex.”

He looked at the door then back at his
brother. “I might be, but taking advice from my baby brother isn’t going to
happen. I thought I’d go to a better source than someone who can barely keep it
in his pants even at a public place.”

“That only happened one time.” Keith
grinned. “Okay, three times, but I didn’t want to leave anyone disappointed. The
ladies love me.”

Ryland snorted. “I just bet they do.” He
joked around with Keith until lunch and decided to find the other woman. He’d
been hesitant in looking for her, afraid that she was being watched by the men
in the cars. He went into the house to call Alistair when he heard a crash from
upstairs. Running full tilt, he took the stairs three at a time and kicked the
door open.

“What the fuck is the matter with you? Can’t
you just come into a room like a normal person?” Bronwyn was sitting on the
edge of the bed with a trash can in her lap. Before he could answer or figure
out what was going on, she leaned her head into the can and gagged. Christ, she
was sick.

When she lifted her head and glared at
him, he moved toward her. His mom came in behind him. He looked at her and
asked her for some crackers and tea. He looked at Bronwyn when she told her no.

“What did you give me? Before, when I
was asleep? Did you have a doctor give me something?” She leaned into the can
again and he could hear her retching. This time, when she lifted her head, his
mom handed her a wet cloth. “What was it?”

“Oxycodone. He said it would help with
the pain and healing.” He took the can from her when she lay back down. “Are
you allergic?”

“I can’t have drugs. Not of any kind,
and especially not any narcotics. If I do then…well, you can see what happens. Christ,
I fucking hurt.” He looked at his mom when she came out of the bathroom loaded
down with linens.

“You’ll have to stand up, love. You’ve
sickened in the bed. Your shirt will need to be changed as well.” His mom
removed the blankets as she spoke. “Help her up, Ryland. She needs to be
cleaned up.”

“Mom, I don’t think—” She raised a brow
at him again and he nodded and looked at Bronwyn. “Come on. I’ll take you to
the bathroom and help you.”

She was weak again and he could see it. Lifting
her up as gently as he could he knew there was no way she could have stood up
like before. Besides, he wasn’t sure he could do it again. When she moaned he
knew he was hurting her, but there was little to nothing he could do now.

He sat her on the counter and held her
as he reached into the shower to turn on the water for her. She was covered in
vomit. It was in her hair even. When she moaned as he tried to take her shirt
off, he tore it off her. His breath caught at what he’d revealed.

She wasn’t beautiful. He could see now
that the word did not do her justice. She was magnificent. Her breasts were
large and full and her waist tiny and tight. He moaned when her nipples
hardened. He wanted to cup her into his hands and taste her. Then he saw the
bandage and hated himself for his thoughts. She was fucking hurt and he was an
animal wanting to rut her.

Leaning her back against the mirror, he
took off his shirt and emptied his pockets. Toeing off his shoes, he reached
down and took off his socks. He tried to will his cock to behave, but it wasn’t
happening. Picking her up, he stepped into the shower.

She clung to him as soon as the water
touched her. He adjusted it to a warmer setting and set her onto her feet. She
was wobbly and he was afraid of dropping her, so he held her as best he could.
Holding her with one hand, he reached up and opened the shampoo with his teeth
and poured it over her head. Setting it back, he washed out her hair. Then he
did it again just because she didn’t fight him and he loved the feeling of its
silky mass running over his hands.