Kinsey Holley - KISS AND KIN

Taran didn't watch them go. His gaze remained fixed on her, one of her hands firmly in his; with his other he began stroking her brow again.

Faded blue jeans and a long sleeved, fitted beige sweater had replaced last night's suit. He looked stale and disheveled and yummy. Maybe she didn't care what had happened to her, she thought, as long as he just touched her like this a little longer.

«Why were you such a jerk to TJ?»

«Never mind that,» he replied impatiently. «Do you remember last night?»

She closed her eyes to think. «Yeah. Yeah, I do,» she said slowly. «El picked me up, and we met some wolves she knew. I saw you. Didn't I?»

He nodded. «Yes. We talked.»

«You spilled my drink on me.»

He grinned at her. She wondered why the heart monitor didn't explode. «I startled you. You spilled your drink on yourself. I bought you another one.»

«Okay. What happened after that?»

«I'm not sure. At some point, someone slipped some GHB in your drink. It's used as a date rape drug, like roofies.»

«I know.»

«I lost track of you until you screamed for me. I ran to where you were, and a werewolf had his arm around you, and…» He paused for a minute, frowning, and stared at the wall above her head.

For a moment, his hand gripped hers so tightly it hurt.

«You looked like you were trying to get away from him,» Taran continued. «When I showed up, he let you go. He and the other werewolves ran.»

«I remember feeling sick,» she said slowly. «And I tried to-I tried to tell one of the guys at the table, but-they just watched me. They wouldn't help, and no one…» She paused. She hadn't cried in front of him in years. «I screamed and screamed, but it felt like nothing came out.»

«I heard you,» he said quietly. «You called for me, I got to you, that's what matters. You may have actually helped us.»

He told her about three women who'd disappeared, all of them last seen at Le Monde.

She sat up suddenly. They nearly bonked heads. «Eloise!» she gasped. «What happened to Eloise?»

Taran shook his head. «She wasn't there when I got to you. I looked her up on your cell phone. I started calling her last night, right after we got here, but she's never answered or returned the call.»

«Last night? What day is it?» Daylight shone through the drawn blinds.

«Sunday.» He glanced at his watch. «About ten.»

«You think she's gone, don't you?»

He nodded. «You know anything about the werewolves she met there?»

«Just that they were European; one of them was Czech.»

«Yeah, that's what I thought. We've been hearing about Eastern Europeans werewolves in town, running drugs and guns and women, and…»

He stopped as a nurse came in to check on her. After a brief, brisk exam, the nurse said the doctor would be by shortly and left.

«You want me to go get you something to eat?»

«No, I want you to finish telling me about the European werewolves. Drugs and guns and women and what, Taran?

«Just…some very bad things.»

She thought of the stories she'd heard, of women kidnapped and sold into brothels catering to werewolves, including werewolves who liked to change during sex. She'd always assumed such tales were urban myth, especially as they started in Europe, which never accepted werewolves and shifters as readily as the U.S. and South America.

«I've heard they like women with fae blood,» she whispered. «Because there's less chance of pregnancy.»

«Do you know how to get in touch with her family?»

«No, but someone at work will. Why haven't I seen this in the news?»

He frowned and looked abashed. «We wanted to make sure Le Monde really figured in the women's disappearances. We couldn't alert whoever's doing this, because they'd just go to another city, and we didn't want to cause a panic, maybe start a wolf scare.»

The doctor arrived. After a quick examination, he announced he wanted to keep her another night. Before she could protest, Taran cut in.

«Is that necessary? You said she seems okay. She hates hospitals.»

«Most people do…» the doctor began.

«No, she really hates them,» Taran said. «If I make sure someone stays with her, can she go home today?»

«Well…I guess so.» The doctor sighed. «But I want someone with her the rest of the day, just to be sure. The effects of GHB can linger as long as twenty-four hours, so no driving till tonight at the earliest. I'll start the discharge.» He left.

«You knew about my hospital thing?»

He shrugged and looked away. «Yeah. I guess Mom or Myall mentioned it once.»

TJ had brought some clothes from Lark's apartment. Taran stepped out into the hallway so she could get dressed.

As soon as the door closed behind him, TJ jumped at him like a curvaceous little terrier.

«Finally. You done? Is she okay? Did you yell at her? If you yelled at her, I swear…»

Nick slouched against the far wall, silently laughing.

Taran put an arm across the door to block TJ's access. «She's dressing.»

«So? I've seen her naked a hundred times.»

Momentarily distracted by the image that summoned, he didn't protest when TJ, all of five foot two, walked under his arm and through the door.

He went to join Nick against the wall.

«You okay, wolf?» asked his Alpha quietly.

«They almost got her. They almost took her, in the middle of a crowd.»

Nick nodded. «You think they planned it in advance?»

«No.» Taran shook his head. «Right now, I'm thinking this El chick was the target; they probably expected her to show up alone. Maybe she went willingly, maybe the other women did too. But when Lark showed up with El, and got a good look at them…I'll have to check my notes, but I think the other women also went there alone to meet someone.»

«You think they recognized you? Pegged you for a cop?»

He shrugged. «Don't know. It's possible. If they did, and they saw her talking to me…» He put his hands on top of his head and leaned back against the wall.

«I keep thinking about her being dragged out of there, no one noticing, and she wakes up alone and terrified, and they…» He closed his eyes, unable to finish.

Nick crossed his arms and stared at the floor, ponytail dangling over his shoulder. «She's not your blood, Taran.»

«No. She's not.»

«So…feelings. You've got feelings.»

«Yeah. She'd be shocked to hear it, but yeah,» he said morosely, grateful he could trust his Alpha with this.

«As opposed to just wanting to fuck her.»

«Right. Although I definitely want to do that, too.»

«Are these feelings the biologically imperative, completely out of your control, last for a lifetime kind?»

«Yep,» he said resignedly.

«Your mother's adopted daughter.»

«Yep.»

«Shit,» said Nick. «I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I know how-« TJ emerged from the room.

«I'll drive her home,» she announced.

«No,» he said calmly. «I will.»

«Why?»

«Because I said so.»

«What if she doesn't want you to?» the tiny redhead said stubbornly, hands on her hips. «What if she-« «TJ, we're leaving.»

«Wait a minute, Nick, I want to know why-« «TJ.» Nick didn't raise his voice. But he said it with all the force of a Pack Alpha, and it worked on humans as it did on other werewolves.

«Fine.» she said quietly. «I'll meet her at her house.»

«Whenever I get her there.»

«Asshole.»

«Leaving, minion,» said Nick. «Now.»

She rolled her eyes. «Right behind you, master.»

Lark looked so forlorn, so vulnerable as she sat the edge of the hospital bed, dressed in jeans and a sweater with her long legs stretched in front of her. Her glorious chestnut hair hung limp around her face. A raccoon mask of smeared mascara ringed her eyes.