Scar (7 page)

Fre stopped in her tracks and stared down into ice-blue irises. “I don’t know, sweetie. That’s a question you need to ask your dad, I believe.” Keen shrugged. “I did once. He said we’d talk about it when I was older. I’m six, practically a man.”

“I see.” She resumed walking.

“In school, everybody has a mommy and daddy but me.”

“Well, let’s see, sometimes mommies have to go away. I bet your 41

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mom loved you very much and maybe she didn’t have a choice but to leave.”

Keen made various faces as he thought about her statement. “Want to know something else?”

“Sure.”

“They call my daddy ‘Scar.’”

“That’s not nice.” Fre thought of the man that had almost brought her to orgasm earlier and shook her head to clear her thoughts.

Keen hung back and studied the area. “This way.” He took a left onto an even fainter trail and pulled her arm to follow him.

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?”

“Yes.” He stepped between two bushes and yanked her hand through them.

Her sigh of relief was audible as she crossed through the foliage and into civilization. The small town stretched down the two-lane road in front of her. Businesses and homes mixed together, creating a close-knit sense of community. A few folks looked up when they erupted through the vegetation. Keen paid no attention to the people that watched them, instead turning on his heel to head west down the sidewalk.

“Can we still get ice cream?” he asked as he walked faster.

“After we have dinner, I don’t see why not.” Keen increased his pace, and Fre had to jog to keep up with him. She tugged at his hand to slow him down when he suddenly went still and she bumped into him before she could slow her momentum. Fre looked down at him and noted his wide eyes and downturned mouth. She followed his line of sight and looked up into the dark eyes of the scowling man staring at them. He turned his gaze on her, and one side of his mouth kicked up.

She tilted her head and jerked the boy behind her.

“This is an interesting turn of events.” The man filled the doorway of the building.

Behind her a dog growled low but it was faint, sounding almost like her Cannonball. But that wasn’t possible. She refused to look away from 42

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the stranger. She knew him. The idea of who he was niggled at the back of her mind.

“Shut up, pup,” the guy rumbled. He eyes looked at a point beyond her elbow.

“Dude, what’s your problem?” Fre spoke lowly.

“You are. I’ve been looking for you.” His gaze returned to her.

“Me? Mister, I think you got the wrong woman.” She lifted her chin.

The man stepped onto the sidewalk and inhaled deeply. “No, I found the right lady.” His smile exposed a sharp canine.

Fre gasped and hurriedly covered her mouth with her hand. It was the man from the club. She shuffled back, keeping ahold of Keen’s arm as she moved backward.

“Where are you going, beautiful? I took a big risk to come looking for you here.” He reached out to slide his knuckles down her cheek.

Keen pulled out of her grasp and jumped in front of her, baring his teeth. A few of the town’s people surrounded them in a loose circle. The mystery man raised his hand and Fre grabbed the child by the collar to jerk him out of the way of the man.

“Listen, asshole.” Anger replaced her fear. She moved into his personal space and looked up at him. “You will not touch him. You want to fight dammit,” she pressed her index finger into his chest, “pick on someone your own fucking size.”

“You’re a fierce woman my,
Fre
. I like that.” He wrapped his hand around her finger and pulled her hand down.

“Whoa, hold up. I don’t have your name written on my ass or anywhere else for that matter.” She snatched her hand from his, positioning herself to give the arrogant bastard a knee to the balls when saw movement from the corner of her eye.

Cannonball flew between their legs and latched onto the guy’s ankle.

He grunted and shoved her away while kicking out his calf. Fre stumbled, landing on her butt. Gravel bit into her palms. More people now stopped to watch them. The puppy was hanging on to the stranger’s pants leg as 43

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the jerk tried to shake him off. Some men pushed through the growing crowd. She scrambled to her feet, wiping the dust from her hands and peering into the throng for Keen. Fre pushed between people, frantically shouting his name.

A low shriek caught her attention, and she swung around in time to see the pup get kicked down the sidewalk. She ran in the direction of the puppy when someone grabbed her by the biceps. Fre turned on the ball of her foot, formed a fist, and raised it. As she was yanked back she swung her arm and missed. She was flipped around, big arms locked her in place, and hot, fetid breath washed past her cheek.

“You will make a wonderful mate.” The club-man rubbed his lips on her cheek and she tasted the vomit rising up her throat.

“Wallis!” Fre angled her head away to look at whoever was calling out the name.

She looked into the hazel eyes of Rhys’s father, and he gave her a short nod. Behind her, she heard the deep growl of a dog. She glanced into the crowd and saw the people take a collective step back.
Ah Hell
.

“Wallis, you know who’s behind you. It wasn’t smart to come to Volkshire uninvited. You need to leave now. This is your only warning,” Colin spoke, drawing the attention back to him.

The deep rumble grew closer and she saw the large paw of a big black dog from the corner of her eye. Before long, she saw the rest of the animal, and it wasn’t just big—it was monstrous. She swallowed. It was getting hard to breath with the constriction to her chest. She struggled to move and her captor hugged her tighter, pinning her arms to her side. She lifted her chin and her gaze returned to Colin.

“Um, not that I have a problem with your ah, beast, but do you mind calling it off until this idiot lets me go?” she called out.

“Shut up,” he whispered in her ear. Then he yelled. “I’ll leave. I’ve gotten what I came for.” He walked forward, dragging Fre with him, and the dog bared a row of sharp teeth.

A hard rumble erupted from his maw. The animal planted its feet, and 44

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she took a good look at it. The beast’s thick black fur had a touch of white in one spot over the eyes. Tight muscles shifted under its coat when it lowered its head between huge paws. She met the mossy green gaze of the dog and saw intelligence.

“Let the woman go and you can return home unscathed,” Colin countered.

“No. She goes with me.”

“Fre is under the protection of the Volkshire pack. You have no right to one of our citizens.”

Fre looked from the dog to Colin. Rubbing her hair on the big man behind her, she twisted her head to try and get a glimpse of his expression.

She inhaled a limited breath.

“My rights trump yours. I evoke the right to first mating.” A few people gasped. Fre pursed her lips and sighed.
Oh shit
.

Whatever that meant couldn’t be good. “Ah, fellas, no offense to your caveman tactics but don’t I get to choose who the hell I fuck?” Her captor loosed his grip, swung her around, and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. “Mate, you will learn to speak only when spoken to.” He hefted her up and threw her over his shoulder.

She heard a commotion and looked over her shoulder. Fre caught sight of a black blur; then she was thrown forward. She hit the concrete sidewalk and rolled. Pain exploded in her head. She cracked her eyes open to see two dogs fighting. The crowd closed in around them. Small bare feet appeared in her line of vision. Scraped knees fell on the cement next to her head.

“Don’t worry. Daddy won’t let the bad man take you.” Little fingers brushed her hair from her face.

Everything went dark.

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Chapter Seven

Rhys sat in the club chair, staring at his bed. Darkness surrounded him, held at bay by the single lamp on the nightstand offering a weak yellow light. Fre would moan when she moved and the painful sounds tore through him every time she uttered them. After the fight he’d insisted Fre be placed in his room where he could keep an eye on her personally.

He’d been so close to ripping out Wallis’s throat when Myka called for him. Right to first mating, his ass; Fre was his. The moment Wallis tossed her over his shoulder, all he saw was red. Anger coursed through him at a speed he hadn’t thought possible. The need to protect and possess her rode him with an urgency he’d never felt for his wife. Regardless, he sent Roman’s lieutenant back to him with his tail between his legs.

Fre shifted in the bed and the sheet that covered her slid to her waist, exposing creamy, bronzed skin. The scent of oranges with a touch of vanilla wafted through the room. He inhaled, holding the smell in his lungs. Expelling the breath, he watched as Keen eased the door open a crack and slid through the narrow opening.

His son made a beeline for him, pushing his hands out of the way to crawl up in his lap. Keen wrapped his thin arms around his neck and laid his head on his father’s chest. Rhys understood his son’s need for comfort and rubbed a big palm up and down his son’s back.

“I’m sorry, Daddy.” Keen hiccupped.

“You did nothing wrong, son.”

“I led her to town. To the bad man.”

“Wallis would have found Fre anyway. He was on her scent, Keen.

There was nothing you could do.” Rhys lifted his son’s head. White tracks were forming where his tears had rolled down his cheek. “I’m proud of you for doing what you did. You saved the day by keeping him busy until I could get there.”

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Keen’s face blossomed with a gap-tooth smile, which slowly died. He met his father’s gaze. “Will he comeback for us now?”

“What do you mean?”

“I heard Grandpa and Uncle Myka talking. They said the bad man has a way to her now. He wants to make Fre his wife so they can have babies.

That you may not be able to stop him.”

“I can stop him.”

“Will you stop him from taking me?”

“No one will take you, Keen. You are my son, a Blaidd. They only way anyone will ever get their hands on you again is over my dead body.”

“But daddy, that’s the man that took me the first time.” Rhys let the information his son was sharing with him sink in. He’d had an idea Roman was behind the abduction. He clenched his jaw to hold back the anger he didn’t want Keen to see. Now he knew for sure. He wiped a hand down his face. If only he understood Roman’s motivation.

He lifted Keen off his lap. “Go find Myka or Grandpa and stay with them until I come for you.” His son nodded and just as quietly exited the room.

Rhys turned his head to stare at the mound in the center of his bed.

“You can’t hide forever,” he stated.

“I can hide until I wake up from this nightmare.” Fre’s reply was muffled.

“This is not a dream.”

“I didn’t say it was.” She flipped the sheet from her face. Strands of her hair floated around her head before falling back into the heap of hair that surrounded her shoulders,

He rose and sauntered to the bed. The sheet slid to the tops of her breasts as she came up on her elbows and watched him. She wouldn’t hold his stare, averting her eyes to the side. Rhys stopped at the side of the bed.

“You’ve put my people in a precarious position,” he stated.

Fre glanced at him before focusing on a point beyond his shoulder.

“And how did I do that?”

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“Wallis, your aggressor, is claiming that you’re his mate.”

“Mate? I don’t belong to anyone. Who the hell still uses words like that anyway?” She rubbed her head and winced. “Then again, I’m a stripper. Men fantasize about me all the time. I guess this Wallis guy has taken it too far.”

Rhys snorted. “He tracked you here. Apparently he thinks you belong to him.”

The covers billowed as Fre swept them off her, exposing her body to him. The scent of oranges hit him like a Mack truck. He rubbed a hand over the center of his chest, his dick hardening in his jeans.

She met his look with one of her own, arching a brow and sucking in her cheeks. “If you move, I can get dressed and get the hell out of here.”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

“Who’s going to stop me?”

“Me.” Rhys placed a knee on the mattress between her thighs.

***

Fre cleared her throat. “Listen, I appreciate the save and I owe your doggie some big bones, but I had no intention of bringing trouble to anyone’s door. I’ll go.”

Rhys chuckled.

“What’s so funny?”

“You said bone.” He grazed his hand over the crotch of his jean. “And I have one that I’d love to share with you.” Rhys leaned forward, caging her with his arms as she eased back.

“I thought you were mad at me.” Fre licked her lips.