To the Edge and Back [The Royal Wolves] (Siren Publishing Allure) (27 page)

Sitting down on one of the pillows, he looked once more to the girl. “She is a true beauty,” he whispered. Feeling choked up for no reason he could discern, he smiled faintly. “You’ll make truly amazingly beautiful babies, Mina.”

Mina smiled sweetly. “I hope so.” She watched as the woman stood, placed the book back on the shelf, and turned to leave the bookstore. “Wait, Janos, you have to stop her. She is this child’s mother.” However, Mina wasn’t certain of that now. The woman acted as if she were oblivious to everyone, simply walking away from an innocent child.

Looking to the woman, Janos shook his head. “No she’s not, love,” he said, turning his eyes back to Mina. “If she was, the child would have her scent and vice versa. The woman has a child, but it’s a boy and, I’m betting, she’s heading home to greet him for his lunch break. This little girl’s mother isn’t in here, baby,” he told his now stricken mate. Gently, he cupped her cheek. “Surely you saw the girl’s mother, Mina. She’s probably just in another section is all.”

“No, the little girl simply came up to me and asked me to read to her. How can someone let their child simply roam free?” Mina bit her lip and asked, “You don’t think that the parents abandoned her here, do you?” Which pulled at Mina, as she was an orphan herself. It made her want to hug the little girl up and claim her as her own.

“I don’t know, love. Why don’t you wake her up and we can ask her where she lives. Maybe her mother is in here and we just don’t know it,” he suggested, though he knew that there were two males besides himself and Ben, as well as two women, one a teen and one older, who was most definitely not this child’s mother.

“I don’t have no mommy,” the little girl said without cracking her eyes open. “It’s warm in here, so I come in here sometimes.” She looked up finally. “I can weave now fo.” She scooted off Mina’s lap. “Fank you for reading to me, lady.” She moved close to the chair so that she didn’t touch Janos, eyeing him far too warily for a child.

Seeing the way the little girl eyed him, Janos remained absolutely still as he watched her with interest and concern. She had a look that no little girl or boy should ever have, and it made him wonder if he shouldn’t find someone to kill.

“No, wait, sweetie,” Mina said and chewed her lip. She hoped Janos didn’t hate her. “I am Mina. This is Janos. He and I are one day going to be married.” She hoped, somewhat. “His brother is a police officer. I’m sure that your mommy and daddy are looking for you, sweetheart. We can ask him to try to find them, and in the meantime we can bring you home with us.”

A sadness swamped the little girl as she shook her head. “My mommy and daddy are gone. They left wif the big doggies who ated them.”

Feeling Mina’s look, Janos shifted his eyes for a moment to her. “Wolves,” he murmured softly before looking back to the little girl. “Where are you living, little one?” he asked the girl gently, keeping his voice soft and his body language unthreatening to her.

“I gots a hole I can go into there at the big white building. It’s warm and no one else can fit in, so it’s okay, safe,” the little girl said as she twisted the precious gloves in her hands.

“Oh, honey.” Mina’s heart sank and she chewed her lip. “Will you come home with Janos and I? Let us take care of you? Let us be your family?” She really, really hoped that she wasn’t ruining her life with Janos, but she couldn’t see allowing a child as small as this one to live on the streets alone.

The little girl eyed Janos and then stuck her thumb in her mouth as she thought it over before she whispered, “You not taking me home to eat me up to are you?” She was human, but she knew on a base level that Janos was a Wolf.

Normally Janos would have either snapped at her or cracked a joke, but the fear that was coming off of her because of what happened to her family had him shaking his head. “No, baby girl, I won’t eat you. You are too precious to be eaten.” He wanted desperately to give her a hug. She looked so terrified, her large eyes even bigger as she looked at him.

“I wike her,” she whispered conspiratorially as she looked up at Mina. “I fink I ken come home wif you.” She slipped her hand into Mina’s and then another reached out and she very lightly touched Janos’s cheek and nodded. “But you gots to make sure that the big doggies that keep coming by here don’t eat us up, okay?”

Mina’s eyes turned to the large windows, and sure enough, two pairs of men in blue and black kept walking past, looking in and eyeing them carefully. “Janos?”

“I know, love,” he said, not looking. He’d caught their scent when one of the men had left the store. “They’re looking for her,” he commented with a smile to the little girl. “Who wouldn’t. She’s adorable,” he teased. “Do you have a name, little one, or am I going to have to call you ‘shrimp’ from now on?” he asked with a wink, trying to put the girl at ease even as the hair went up on the back of his neck.

“I am Kafrine and I don’t ’emember my last name,” Katherine said with a smile. She moved closer to Mina and nodded. “They don’t like me a ’cause they fink I’m a gonna tell on the bad men a ’cause they a gonna make a King come outta hiding and they a gonna hurt him.”

Her words, so innocent, sent a chill down Janos’s spine and he stilled even more, his gaze locked on her face. “They think the King is going to come out of hiding?” he asked softly, keeping his voice light.

At her little nod, he nodded in return before looking to Mina. “Well, I don’t know about you two, but I’m hungry. Anyone else interested in some lunch before I have to get back to work?” he asked, looking to the girl once more.

Mina nodded and stood with him, knowing the significance of what he was saying. “I’m hungry, too. I will tell Ben. So, Katherine, would you like to come with me to tell Uncle Ben that we are going to lunch or would you like to stay here with Janos?”

“I wanna stay wif you, okay?” Her eyes turned up to Mina were large and brown, fearful that she would lose Mina if she let go.

“Go on, love,” he told Mina and waited until they walked away before he stood slowly. Looking toward the windows, he walked over and looked outside.

He could see four Wolves, all in black and blue, that were standing at each end of the street. “Son of a bitch,” he muttered with a frown. Rubbing his neck, he turned to look around the store, noting where everyone was before heading for Ben and his mate.

Mina smiled at Ben and nodded. “Thank you, Ben.” He was sweet, and his eyes were eating up Katherine, as if he ached for a child of his own. “We will come back after lunch, and then tomorrow I will look into schools for her.” And she would have to ask Janos if they could somehow work out for Katherine to have protection while in school, too.

Stopping a few steps from Mina so he didn’t startle the little one, he looked to his brother. “Lend me the keys to your truck, bro.” He didn’t say why, but he saw a flicker of understanding from Ben. He’d have caught the scent of the enemy pack as well as Janos had.

Digging into his pocket, Ben tossed the keys to his youngest brother. “Put a dent in it again and I’m denting your head,” he said amiably.

“That was not my fault and you know it,” Janos pointed out with a glare at him. “That woman was crazed with her cart, trying to take me out.”

Katherine covered her mouth and giggled loudly. Mina smiled and looked down. “I know, they are a lot of fun to listen to, aren’t they?” Mina looked up at Ben and then back at Janos, her heart melting for him as she did so. Gods, she loved him.

“She did,” Janos said in a plaintive tone, shaking his head. Sighing, he headed for the back door. “Come on, ladies, we need to find some food. I’m dying of hunger here.” Looking over his shoulder he gave Mina a hot look before he continued through the back of the store to the employee parking lot and his brother’s SUV.

She shivered and licked her lips. She felt that look all the way to the very center of her body. She knew that she had promised Janos a lovemaking session on her lunch at The Edge, but it was going to simply have to wait. “Katherine, my dear, where would you like to eat?” Later she would talk to Janos, trying to figure out how they would ensure that there was no family out there and waiting for or searching for Katherine.

“Oh, can we have sompwace wif vege-tables? I not had some of dose but once, so can we?”

Mina understood what the child was saying. When you had nothing, you did without. It was that simple. “Of course we can, love. Janos, is there a place close where we can get our little angel veggies?”

“We’ll go to the buffet place,” he said as he opened the doors, holding the back one for Mina to help Katherine in. “They have a wide assortment of cooked and raw vegetables as well as other foods and lots of desserts. Ready?” he asked Mina, lifting a brow.

Mina reached out and pulled him toward her. “I need a kiss first, Janos,” she said as she went up on tiptoes and kissed him with all the desperation that she had inside of her.

Wrapping his arms around her, Janos lifted her up closer to him and kissed her hungrily. He knew there were little eyes on them, but he didn’t care. He needed her touch just as much as she needed his. Letting her slide down, he breathed her in, his lips sliding over her cheek. “I love you, Mina.”

When she pulled back, she smiled. “I love you, Janos.” They would have to make many changes, car seats for one, but when she looked at Katherine, it was more than worth it. 

“All right, ladies, into the truck. Food’s waiting and my belly’s starting to grumble.” He snapped his fingers lightly, trying for the hard-pressed male look. “I’m starving, women, absolutely starving.” He tried a pleading pitiful tone when they just looked at him.

Katherine laughed, a giggle really, and she patted her belly. “I don’t hear mine growl no more. I got used to it after two or free months.” She nodded, not realizing how her innocent words affected Mina.

Tears in her eyes, she looked up at Janos. “That could have been me.” And it could have. Hell, it had been her as an adult. She went without food more often than not. “We have to give her a good life,” she whispered even as the little girl buckled her seat belt up. “Promise me we will see if someone is searching for her and, if they aren’t, that you and I will take her as ours? Please?”

Pulling Mina close with an arm, Janos buried his nose in her hair and breathed her in. “We will give her everything and anything she could ever hope for, need, or dream of. We’ll see if anyone’s looking for her, and if not, she’ll be ours. She already is in a way, love,” he murmured, softly brushing his lips over her ear. “She’s chosen you, honey. That makes her ours.” Lifting his free hand, he brushed a light finger under her eye. “Don’t cry, baby. It cuts me deep when you do,” he said, squeezing her closer.

Mina nodded and smiled. “I’m trying, Janos.” She smiled up at him and nodded. “Yeah, she is ours, isn’t she?”

She wondered what Ben would say if she asked for time off to get her new daughter settled and taken care of. Getting into the truck, she waited until Janos was in and took his hand once more. “Think that Ben will be upset when I ask for a small personal leave of absence?”

Snorting, he shrugged. “I doubt it,” he said as he pulled out of the lot. “He’s pretty good about it all, love. He won’t give you a hard time. And if he does, I’ll bite him.” He grinned at her and winked in the mirror to Katherine. 

Katherine giggled and placed her thumb in her mouth once more, kicking her little legs as she soaked everything up that was going on around her. “I feel bad because today was my first day, but it’s the only thing to do. We need to ensure that our family is safe and secure before I begin working.” And if she hadn’t gone into work when she did, they would never have met Katherine, and somehow that just simply didn’t feel right.

“Don’t, love,” he said softly, squeezing her hand gently as he grinned at Katherine. “You have no reason to feel bad, and Ben wouldn’t expect you to either. He’ll be fine with it all, trust me,” he smiled, looking to her with love in his eyes.

“I do trust you, Janos. You are the one person in the entire world I trust without hesitation.” And that was truth. “All right, we will talk to him when we get back from lunch. Katherine, how would you like for me to finish up my day at work today and then be home with you for a while? Get you used to your new home and maybe put you into school?”

“Oh I would wike that a wot,” Katherine said around the thumb she had been sucking.

Glancing at her briefly, Janos smiled slightly as he pulled into the parking lot for the buffet. “All right, ladies, food time,” he told them as he put the truck into park and slid out, squeezing Mina’s fingers lightly before he let go. Going around, he opened Mina’s door and helped her out before going to let Katherine out. “Come on, munchkin, lots of food to see, lots of food to eat.”

“Can I wide on your back, J-J-J.” She frowned, unable to say his name. “I can’t do it.” The little girl’s lower lip trembled as she said that.

Mina touched Katherine’s cheek. “It’s all right, sweetheart. Janos and I will come up with something you can call him, but if you can think of anything you would like to call him, just ask, all right, little one?”

“Oh-kay” she said and then looked at Janos again. “Can I wide on your back?”

Watching her, he nodded before turning so his back was to her and bending so she could hop up. He barely knew she was there, except for her little hands gripping his shirt. Looking to Mina, he frowned as he stood. “I think we need to fatten you up, darling. You barely weigh more than a feather.” His eyes told his mate that he wasn’t kidding about that part.

Mina nodded, and rubbed Katherine’s back. “He said the same thing to me, Katherine, and he’s done wonders in mere days of getting meat back on my bones, so we will get you all nice and healthy, too,” she said with a smile and held the door open for Janos and Katherine, since he had Katherine on his back.

“Thank you, love,” he said with a smile to her as he slipped through the door and headed for the hostess station. When she came up, he requested a booth in the corner and headed over to it, bouncing up and down with Katherine, listening to her giggles.