The Heir Page 9

  "You're not going to find him anywhere near a church." Jessica replied, turning to look at the two women.

  “I think you're right, I never heard about Jesus kissing like that!" Dasha told her with a triumphant smile.

  Their knowing smiles had her turning red.

  "So who is he?" Laura asked her.

  “Yes, do tell.” Dasha demanded.

  "I didn't know we were all working today, it's really not that busy. Maybe I'll just go home.” Jessica hedged.

  "That's a good idea"

  “You can go home after you spill it.”

  Jessica gave in and told them everything between her and Nick, including his 'one week' demand, and at the end the girls released a dreamy sigh.

  "Girl if I were you I'd of dragged him to one of the fitting rooms and rocked his fine ass all the way to seventh heaven!"

  Jessica shook her head and rolled her eyes,

  “So what are you going to do?” Laura asked her.

  "What am I going to do? Go home." Jessica simply replied. She drew out her cell phone and called Shane.

  After making her excuses, she went outside to wait for Shane. It was another bright and sunny day in California but the turmoil within her left no room for the enjoyment of the weather. The sudden tap on her shoulder made her tense; she brought her hands up in a defense stance and snapped around. Her heart beat a happy dance when she realized that it was Nick standing in front of her.

  Angry at her own reaction, she lowered her hands and snapped at him. “What do you want now?" He took a step towards her and, shaking her head, she brought her hands up to fend him off and took a step back. "That's close enough." She told him, his nearness making her nervous and she needed all of her mental faculties to keep him at bay.

  Nick took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. "Listen I just wanted to apo-"

  "Hey baby, are you ready to go?" Shane suddenly asked as he came to stand next to Jessica and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

  Jessica failed to hide the disgust she felt from Shanes’ touch and Nick’s mocking smile told her that he’d noticed. She glared at him and just to annoy him, clung tighter to Shane. His glittering eyes, looking deep into hers, Nick rubbed his bottom lip with his thumb, reminding her of their shared kisses.

  Finally it was Shane who broke up their silent battle when he stretched his hand out towards him and smiled. "What's up man, I'm Shane. Jessica seems to have forgotten her manners."

  Nick looked at Shane's hand then up at him and nodded. He didn't want to shake his hand, he wanted to kill him. The only part of him that he wanted to touch was his neck.

  "I'm Nick and I'm going to tell you what I told Jessica earlier, one week. One week.” H She has one week to break if off with you."

  His words made both, Shane and Jessica stiffen. Shane took a step towards Nick and she went to stand between the two. Crushed in the middle of the two, she felt like a lily in a redwood forest.

  "Who are you, to think that we're going to do what you want us to?" Shane snarled at Nick over Jessica.

  "You have one week,” Nick repeated, ignoring Shanes’ outburst. ”And after this week, if I ever see you lay a hand on her, I will break your fingers followed by every bone in your body until you beg for death."

  "I'm not scared of you!"

  "Good, I don't want you to be scared; I want you rational, ready for me when I come after you." He told him then he turned his attention to Jessica, "You and I will end up together, one way or another,” he told her. “It’s your choice if you want his death on your conscience."

  "Try to kill me or come near Jessica again and I will make sure you rot in jail"

  Nick gave a booming laugh at the threat. "I won’t be trying." He assured him and didn't bother to respond to the threat of Jail time. Those flimsy bars couldn't hold any of his kind unless they wanted to be held. "One week" He repeated and turned to go as if he had no care in the world when inside he was seconds away from shifting and spilling the guys’ guts with his claws.

  "You've got a lot of explaining to do." Shane growled in a low voice as they stood there and watched Nick walk away.

  When Nick was out of sight, Shane grabbed her arm and pulled her along towards the waiting car. He opened the passenger side door and ushered her in, slamming the door behind her. She glared at him as he made his way around to the other side and after snapping her seat belt on, she rested her head on the headrest and closed her eyes.

  The ride home was made in silence and it gave Jessica time to contemplate Nick’s threat.

  “You have a thing for him!” Shane accused when they finally arrived home.

  Jessica shook her head and reached for the door handle, trying to deny the truth from him-and in a way from herself too. Without waiting for him she got out of the car and headed for the door. Shane caught up to her as she was opening door; he reached past her and slammed it shut before she could go in.

  On a sigh, Jessica crossed her arms and glared at him. "It's none of your business if I like him or not."

  "It’s not my business?! People think you're my girlfriend!" He yelled at her.

  "But you're not" She pointed out, reasonably. "You're just the bodyguard, remember?"

  Shane cursed and slammed an open palm against the closed door a few inches away from her head; making Jessica jump. She'd never seen him act like that before. It made her weary and she moved one hand to the door knob. Preparing herself to jump inside if necessary, Shane noticed and took a deep breath before speaking. "Bodyguard or boyfriend I still need to know these things."

  "I haven't seen him in months, there was nothing to tell."

  "Well now that he is back you're going to tell him to back off right?" Jessica hesitated and Shane bit out through clenched teeth, "Everyone thinks we are going out."

  "But we aren't." Jessica pointed out once again.

  "Because that's how you wanted it!"

  Suddenly Shane reached for her and hauled her up against him. Jessica fisted her hands and pushed against his shoulders with all her might. He tightened his hold on her, wrapping one hand around her waist and burying the other in her hair and he leaned down to kiss her. At the last second Jessica turned her head sideways and he grabbed her chin and turned her to look at him.

  "We could have a good thing if you gave us a chance."

  "The only relationship I want with you is you as my bodyguard but that's it. I'm sorry.”

  Shane tightened his hold on her even more. "You don't have a sorry bone in your body."

  "No, she doesn't," Riley agreed from the doorway, "but if you don't let her go, I'll make sure you leave here with more than a couple of yours sorry that you ever laid a hand on her.”

  Shane let Jessica slide down to her feet, he turned to look Riley up and down and threw his head back and laughed. "You think you can take me?"

  Riley shrugged, "I doubt it, but I will give it my best try and if I don't succeed," he nodded towards Jessica, "I'll make sure she doesn't get in trouble for beating the shit out of her bodyguard."

  Shane pushed a shocked Jessica aside and stood toe to toe with Riley. "Unlike the previous bodyguards, I actually know what I'm doing." Shane leaned in closer to Riley, almost touching his nose and Jessica was impressed when Riley didn't back away, didn't even bat an eyelash. "I'm going to let you both in on a little secret; your dear sister couldn't take me down with my hands tied behind my back."

  "This is not very professional of you." Riley commented.

  "You think I don't know that?" Shane snarled. "For months, I've been telling myself not to fall for her. Little by little I've done just that and no matter what I did, I could never get her to look at me. I thought she was worried about my job only to find out that she's been waiting for someone to come back!"

  Riley raised an eyebrow and shot Jessica a quick glance. “I guess that means-”

  “That this conversation is over.” Jessica cut in, “Nick is my business and only
mine.”

  Shane took a threatening step towards Jessica and Riley stepped in front of her. Jessica was astonished; never in a million years would she have imagined Riley standing up for her. They didn’t have the best of relations.

  "Stay away from my sister.” He told Shane. “I know it's not my decision but I think you should consider yourself fired, there's no way dad will be alright with this when he hears about it."

  Shane snarled and, faster than anyone could react, punched him in the solar plexus. Riley bent over trying to gasp for air and Shane knocked him out with a quick jab in the back of the head. He landed unceremoniously on the ground and Shane stepped over his prone body.

  Immediately, Jessica braced her feet apart and raised her fists. With little room to move around in, she struck out at him with a serious of jabs and upper cuts but he proved to have spoken the truth when he'd said he was an accomplished fighter. He deflected every punch as easy as if swatting a fly.

  But Jessica was relentless; she struck out again and again. As if tired of playing games, he blocked her last punch with his forearm, pushed her hand to the side then grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer. He pinned her wrist behind her and slammed her against the wall. Jessica brought her free hand up to try to push him away but it was also caught and slammed above her head.

  "Consider this my resignation." Shane murmured and closed the distance between their lips.

  Jessica clamped her lips shut and shook her head back and forth, trying to avoid his kiss. Shane released one of her hands to get a firm grip of her chin. She grimaced from the pain, drawing a wicked smile from him and he tightened his hold, making her wince even more.

  Jessica wriggled her body, trying to push him off of her, until she came in contact with what she hoped was his gun. Her sudden stillness made Shane chuckle and he confided to her in a low voice, "I carry my other gun behind my back."

  Shane moved his hips, grinding against her, and Jessica shuddered with disgust. She used all of her strength to push him off her but it was no use. Unbelievably, he was stronger than her, a lot stronger. Shane crushed his lips against hers and Jessica bit him with all her might. He reeled back and she spit the blood she drew from his lip in his face.

  Shane wiped his face, his eyes took on a murderous look and he raised his hand to strike her. Jessica braced herself for the hit and closed her eyes but the strike never came.

  Chapter 8

  She heard a short scuffle and opened her eyes slowly only to see that the hand Shane had tried to raise against her was now being held behind his back with a knife pressed against his throat.

  "Release her" Her rescuer ordered in a low, calm and controlled voice.

  He looked familiar but Jessica couldn't quite place him, she eyed him suspiciously before she was reminded of her current predicament by sudden pain on her arm that made wince. She tried to pull away and Shane tightened his hold on her arm, making her wince again. Any tighter and Jessica was sure her arm would snap.

  The guy holding Shane noticed and he repeated his order.

  Shane ignored him and began to struggle but his captor tightened his hold and pressed the knife deeper into Shane’s throat. Shane winced and Jessica saw a drop of blood slide down his neck.

  "Let her go, nice and easy, make a sudden move and you'll be leaving in two body bags" The guy warned in a soft murmur.

  Shane did as he was told and Jessica took a step to the side, away from them both. She went to her brothers’ side where was being checked over by another stranger.

  After he'd checked the back of Riley’s head, he turned to the one holding Shane and said, "This one will be fine." then turned back to Riley and began to turn him over onto his back.

  "What are you doing!? He might have a concussion! You can't move him!" She pushed the guy away from her brother; surprised and off balance, the guy fell back and landed on his rear end.

  The stranger holding Shane snickered and the one on the ground glared at him as he stood up wiping his behind. "He doesn't have a concussion." He assured her, "We need to get him inside though."

  "You aren't touching him until you tell me who you are." Jessica braced herself; they would have to go through her before they touched her brother. The two guys shared a look and the guy holding Shane introduced himself first.

  "I'm Axel."

  "And I'm Christian."

  "And we have about ten minutes-"

  "Less," Christian interjected and Axel glared at him.

  "-to get you-and your brother-inside and into an upstairs room with the least amount of windows because Nick is on his way and he is not happy."

  Jessica's eyes flew open when Nick was mentioned.

  Christian scoffed. "He is not happy!? He is past unhappy, crashed through mad, flipped the bird at angry, and is currently flying through livid. His plane lands at” Christian pointed at Shane "he is dead in five minutes! And if we are out here when he gets here..."

  Jessica raised an eyebrow at the outburst and turned towards Axel who was obviously the one in charge.

  "Please, can you go inside with Christian and your brother? My word, that we mean you no harm. I wish I could answer your questions but I can't right now."

  Jessica shook her head but stopped when Axel and Christian suddenly lifted their faces, as if scenting the air.

  "Oh shit."

  "Christian, grab her and go!" Axel ordered. "Leave the brother he'll be fine."

  Jessica didn't know what was going on, but one thing was sure. If the guy that was holding on to Shane so effortlessly was scared, then she should be too.

  "No! I'll go, just don't leave Riley."

  Axel nodded absently; he was facing the street looking up and down the road, still holding Shane at knife point. Christian crouched down to pick up the still unconscious Riley. He put him over his shoulder in the firefighter carrying position and nodded towards the door; motioning for Jessica to lead the way inside.

  She obeyed and only turned back once to see Shane struggling to get free. He knew that whatever was coming wasn't going to be good for him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw two more figures running up the driveway and she would have stopped and gapped at their speed but Christian blocked her view.

  "Which way?!" He demanded.

  Jessica pointed towards the stairs and he gave her a nudge in that direction. Later when she thought about this more calmly it would all seem like it had taken a lot longer than it did but in reality no more than a couple of minutes had passed since Axel stopped Shane from hitting her.

  "Is anyone else here?"

  "Danielle, my…my sister."

  "What about your parents?"

  "They will be back tomorrow."

  "We need a room with small or no windows. No windows’ is best."

  They were running up the stairs and Jessica noticed that he didn't sound-or looked- winded even though he was carrying an unconscious body that probably weighed as much as him.

  "No windows." He reminded her when they reached the top. "Which way?"

  "My bathroom has no windows." She suggested, he nodded and she led the way.

  Jessica hoped he didn't laugh at all the pink, she still didn't know how to tell her parents that she really hated the color.

  When they reached her room she pointed towards the bathroom while she ran to the bed and grabbed a couple of pillows. Christian laid Riley down on the floor and took one of Jessica's pillows.

  "Good thinking." He told her as he put a pillow under Riley's head.

  "Where is your sister?" Christian asked her as he rushed out of the bathroom with Jessica close at his heels.

  "She is in her room."

  Christian opened it her hallway door and Jessica found herself staring at two more strangers. They looked intimidating and suddenly Jessica was having doubts. “Who are they? No, I do not like this!”

  "Danielle is in her room, a couple of doors from here." Christian spoke over her protests and pointed down the hallway. "Go get her."
<
br />   "You touch my sister and I'll-" Ignoring her tirade, Christian grabbed her by the arm and dragged her back to the bathroom, pushed her down onto the toilet seat and went to stand against the door. "If my sister gets hurt, I'm killing you." Jessica promised quietly.

  "We aren't planning on hurting any of you," He reassured her for the thousandth time, not bothering to hide his exasperation.

  What Christian really wanted to tell her was that she should be thankful instead of contrary. They were putting themselves between her and her irate -soon to be-mate. Trying to keep the Alpha from doing something they knew he would regret later.

  But he couldn't tell her that.

  He couldn't tell her that if the Alpha got the chance to slip past them, in the mood he was in, Jessica would be mated before sunset.

  "Let me go you- you buffoon!"

  Danielle screamed in outrage; a second later there was a tap on the door before it flew open and Danielle was carried in by Jason, kicking and screaming, and dumped in the tub. Jason turned and made for the door like he was being chased by the hounds of hell and slammed it shut behind him.

  "To call you a troglodyte would be an insult to a Neanderthal!" Danielle screamed at the closed door.

  She flipped her hair back, out of her face, and Christian felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach. Even though he’d prepared himself for that moment the sight of her still stole his breath. In all the years that had passed nothing had changed and never would.

  Dani saw him for the first time and she stiffened but before she could say anything, Jason stuck his head back in, asking him for a quick word outside. Thankful for the reprieve, Christian backed out of the bathroom without taking his eyes off of Danielle and closed the door that would separate them.

  "Nick took the bait, he is going after Shane but Matt wants her-us- to stay put until we are sure that Nick is back in control of his wolf."

  "Looks like it's going to be a long wait, maybe one of you should go raid the kitchen for snacks. When you get back I want one of you by the stairs, the other outside the bedroom door and I will keep watch out here."