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by Maya Banks
“You need to calm your thoughts,” he said. “Find a good memory or image and focus on that. Try to blank your mind to everything else.”
Zack returned with a warm washcloth and Beau took it, gently wiping the fresh blood and then the remnants of her earlier bleed from her ears and neck, spots he’d missed in his haste to see to her injuries on the drive here. Wherever here was.
She glanced nervously at Zack, self-conscious that he was witnessing her at her weakest. It was bad enough Beau had to see her like this.
“I gave Caleb a quick call so he could get the doc headed this way,” Zack interjected as if sensing Ari’s discomfort. “You might want to put her in one of the bedrooms and let her lie down until he gets here. That way he can examine her in private.”
Beau slowly stood, and despite his insistence that he wasn’t hurt, she could see that he was at the very least bruised and stiff. When he reached down, obviously to pick her up, she put her hand out to ward him off.
“I can make it,” she said quietly. “I’m a little shaky but if I hold on to your arm, I can walk just fine.”
Beau’s lips thinned in displeasure but he didn’t argue or insist. Instead he slid his warm hand underneath her elbow and helped her get to her feet. She swayed slightly and just stood a moment, his fingers tightening around her arm as she got her bearings. She took a shaky step forward, Beau at her side.
Her hand automatically went to his shoulder to further steady herself and his hand dropped from her arm and he instead wrapped his arm around her waist, careful not to touch the gunshot wound. He anchored his arm underneath her shoulder and then glanced down at her.
“Okay?”
She nodded and then took another step, this time less hesitant because she was secure in the knowledge he wouldn’t let her fall. She relaxed into his grasp, leaning into his side as they slowly navigated from the living room down a long hallway to a room at the end.
When they entered the bedroom, Beau assisted her to the bed and then instructed her to brace herself on the nightstand while he pulled back the covers and positioned the pillows to cushion her head.
“You’ll hurt yourself more if you try to crawl up on the bed,” he said gruffly.
Not awaiting a response, he simply lifted her, and her arms instinctively wrapped around his neck, clinging to his strength as he lowered her to the soft mattress. She immediately sighed, her eyes closing as she absorbed the pleasure and the comfort the bed brought to her battered body.
“I’m going to clean you up better before the doctor gets here,” he said, already heading toward what she assumed was the bathroom.
He returned a moment later with a damp washcloth, gauze and several bandages. First he carefully went back over the area he’d already tended to, her ears and then her nose, scrubbing gently at the dried blood. Then he lifted the hem of her shirt, which had a large rip where the bullet had seared through material and skin.
Thankfully the wound was just below the band of her bra and he made no attempt to remove it. She was certain her cheeks were flaming and she stared up at the ceiling, tempering her thoughts, telling herself not to be embarrassed. He was no different than the doctor who was coming to examine her. Or so she told herself.
A low growl emanated from his throat and she opened her eyes, her gaze darting to the ferocious scowl on his face. He was staring at the bullet wound and there was murder in his eyes. She shivered, unable to control her reaction to his obvious rage. In that moment she knew he was capable of great violence when it came to someone under his protection being threatened.
He ran his finger lightly over the crease in her skin, frowning harder as he examined the wound.
“This shouldn’t have happened,” he said in a low voice. “I promised to protect you and instead I got you shot.”
“No—”
Her immediate denial broke off when his head lowered and to her shock, he pressed his mouth tenderly over the wound.
There was nothing sexual about the kiss. It was tender. Meant to comfort. Exquisite.
She stared down at his dark head, pleasure flooding her veins, replacing the pain so evident just moments before. Such a simple gesture and yet it tightened her chest, emotion welling in her throat.
The brush of his lips was like touching the wings of a butterfly. Soft and infinitely gentle. A direct contrast to the seething caldron of rage he’d been just moments before.
She lay there, holding her breath, afraid to move, not wanting to break the spell that hovered. They were cloaked with intimacy and time seemed to stop. Everything else melted away and there was only her and him, and his lips pressed tenderly against her skin.
As abruptly as he’d leaned down to touch his mouth to her wound, he jerked upward, his eyes brimming with regret and self-condemnation. He stood, tossing the washcloth several feet away on the floor.
Not meeting her gaze he turned and walked toward the door.
“The doctor will be here soon,” he said gruffly. “Rest until he arrives.”
THIRTEEN
BEAU’S mood was black and he was filled with self-loathing for taking advantage of Ari when she was at her most vulnerable. What in the hell had he been thinking when he kissed her?
It didn’t matter that it wasn’t a passionate kiss or even a kiss to her mouth. Somehow the brush of his lips over her wound, as if he could somehow make it better, had seemed decidedly more intimate than if he had kissed her lips. How arrogant and what an asshole it made him to think he had the power to make her pain simply go away, even if that is exactly what he wanted to do.
He shook his head as he returned to where Zack waited in the living room.
“You got a plan?” Zack asked, cutting through Beau’s thoughts and focusing them entirely on the situation at hand. At least one of them was thinking clearly, because Beau was still replaying the moment with Ari over and over in his mind until it was making him crazy.
Because what he really wanted to do was to charge back into that bedroom so she wasn’t alone. He’d been a dick to gruffly dismiss her and leave her just because he’d been thoroughly disgusted with his lack of self-control.
He wanted to hold her and simply offer her comfort. Precisely what she needed when her entire world had been upended and she was terrified that her parents were dead or terribly injured. Because of her.
It was a burden no one should have to bear and especially not this vulnerable, fragile woman who at her core had a thread of steel regardless of whether she realized it or not.
Beau sank onto the couch, allowing his stiff muscles a moment’s respite. Then he eyed Zack. “No,” he said honestly. “She walked into my office today with a rather incredible story and if I hadn’t witnessed everything that happened after firsthand, I’d think she was either crazy or making it all up. But she’s the real deal. And after hearing her story, it’s very likely that her parents were taken as a way to manipulate Ari. To make her come to them as an exchange for her parents.”
Zack made a derisive sound. “Like they’re just going to let her parents walk away unscathed after they have their hands on Ari? Not likely.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been trying to convince her of because she was prepared to go off half-cocked in her panic and surrender to them in order to get her parents back. I had to break it to her that they weren’t simply going to let her parents go once they had their objective. And if they did keep her parents alive, it would be only so they could control Ari and use them and the threat of harm to them if she didn’t comply with whatever the hell it is they want with her.”
“Seems that needs to be our starting point,” Zack said. “We need to do a background check, starting with her parents and any potential enemies her father has. A man does not go to the lengths he did with security and keeping his family well off the grid unless there’s a threat. Maybe we’ll get lucky and there’s something in either Ari’s past or her father’s that will give us a lead on who’s after Ari now. And why.”
“I can well imagine the why,” Beau muttered. “After that damn video went viral, there are any number of nutcases out there who would see the value in being able to control Ari—and her powers.”
“But no ordinary nutcase would have the resources these people evidently do,” Zack argued. “And I doubt her father’s security team, men he obviously trusted with his wife and daughter’s lives, didn’t just turn on him on a dime. This was likely planned well in advance and it may have taken them years to get the right men in place, with her father as careful as he was. That tells me the video had nothing to do with this particular threat, which makes it even more important to poke around her father’s business—and personal—affairs. Because this looks to be a carefully orchestrated attack. Not one dreamed it up on the fly. It was too pat, too professional. The video may have simply moved their timeline up on a plan already in motion to get access to Ari.”
“Which means someone knew of her powers before she was forced to defend herself and the video surfaced.”
“Exactly,” Zack said in a grim voice.
Beau scrubbed a hand through his hair. “We need information and we need it yesterday. Ari is only going to cooperate for so long. She’s desperate to find her parents and thinks nothing of turning herself over even though it’s the very last thing she should do, because then she loses the upper hand and any bargaining power she has.”
Zack nodded his agreement. “You’re going to have to sit on her, Beau. And keep her on a very tight leash. We can’t do our job if we have to worry about protecting her at every turn.”
“Tell me about it,” Beau muttered.
He rubbed his hands over his face, suddenly weary as the events of the day caught up to him. Shot at, forced off the road, shot at again. Ari going down. For him. Ari using her powers. To protect him. He’d never felt so goddamn useless in his life. Even when Caleb had been utterly focused on Ramie’s protection as well as his family, particularly Tori, who was still fragile and dealing with nightmares from her abduction well over a year ago, Beau had always maintained a steady hand, helping his brother through the unthinkable.
Yet one small slip of a woman, vulnerable and . . . good . . . had him shaken and unsteady, things he’d always possessed—needed. And she was good to the depths of her soul. He had uncanny instincts for discerning people’s character, and it was evident, not only to him, but to anyone who came into contact with her. She wasn’t right for, nor did she deserve someone like him, who saw in shades of gray and not black and white. The lines of right and wrong blurred for him when it came to those who mattered to him. He wasn’t above bending the law when it suited his purposes. People like Ari only saw the good in others, and now suddenly she was witnessing a whole new side of the world and it was heartbreaking to see the veil of innocence gone from her eyes and the deep hurt and sorrow that had replaced it. Her entire existence, the carefully constructed protective barrier she’d always lived in, had been shattered in the space of one day. It was natural that she was bewildered, frantic and her thoughts in utter chaos, and yet she hadn’t crumbled at the first sign of adversity. She’d faced down their attackers and unleashed a storm of fury and retribution and the hell of it was she very likely felt guilty for acting to save not only herself but him and Brent as well.
“Just so you know, when I called Caleb, he demanded to know what the hell was going on and he’s on his way over. Knowing him, he’ll probably beat the doctor,” Zack said dryly.
Beau didn’t know whether to be relieved or pissed that his older brother was inserting himself. Usually they worked as a team but for some inexplicable reason, he considered this mission . . . his. Only he, and those he chose as his team, most certainly headed by Zack—not Dane—would work this case.
Caleb had other concerns. He’d just finished construction on the house he’d built for Ramie after their old one had undergone extensive damage. Tori—for now—stayed with Caleb and Ramie while Beau had rebuilt on the same piece of land. The security breach that had led to the destruction had been taken care of permanently and Beau liked the isolation and the security of the original home. He understood why Caleb would want a fresh start with his wife, away from a place that had brought them both so much pain.
For the first time since their parents had died, the Devereaux siblings had split up, no longer living together under the same roof, where they could ensure the protection of their younger sister. Tori was safe with Caleb. Beau had chosen to remain here, in the rebuilt home that had been nearly destroyed, while Quinn had chosen a high-rise apartment close to the DSS headquarters in downtown Houston.
On cue, the front door burst open and Caleb strode inside, his features set in stone, but worry was reflected in his blue eyes. To Beau’s surprise, Ramie accompanied him and Beau frowned. Had they left Tori alone?
His question must have been obvious on his face because Caleb immediately responded.
“Dane and Eliza are with Tori,” he clipped out. “I’m more concerned with what the hell went on today. Why didn’t you fill me in from the start?”
“Ari came to me,” Beau said simply. “She came into the offices, scared to death. Her father had told her if she was ever in trouble to seek out either you or me. I was the one there so it was me. I saw no reason to bother you when I have things well in hand.”
Caleb arched a brow. “I don’t consider being shot at, run off the road and having three destroyed vehicles and you narrowly escaping with your life having things well in hand.”
“I’ve got it handled,” Beau said through gritted teeth.
“What happened, Beau?” Ramie asked softly as she took the seat next to him on the sofa.
He noted she was careful not to touch him and it was just as well, because she’d instantly be blasted with his rage and dark thoughts and that was the last thing he wanted for his sister-in-law. She’d had enough violence and evil in her young life. He’d be damned before ever being the cause of further pain.
Just then the buzz sounded from someone wanting to gain access through the security gate at the entrance to the long winding driveway. Zack strode over to the call box and briefly exchanged words with the doctor, all the while studying the video monitor carefully to make sure the physician was the sole occupant of the vehicle. He buzzed him in and Beau rose, unwilling to have this conversation with his brother until he was assured that Ari was all right.
“Zack can fill you in on what we know,” Beau said. He narrowed his gaze at his older brother, staring intently, not looking away even for an instant. “But Caleb, this one is mine. Zack will work it with me and he’ll handpick his team.”
Caleb’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Dane is the head of security. Shouldn’t the call be his?”
“I sign Dane’s paychecks,” Beau ground out impatiently. “He has a job going on and I’m not going to pull him off for this. Not when Zack and I are perfectly capable of handling this situation.”
Caleb’s frown deepened, and he looked at Zack in question, obvious impatient for a report on just what this case involved.
The door opened and the doctor, an old family friend, walked into the living room, carrying two medical bags. Beau went to greet him, ignoring the others as he led the doctor to Ari’s room.
He knocked softly to alert Ari so she wouldn’t be startled when he entered with a complete stranger. But he shouldn’t have worried. When he quietly pushed the door open, Ari was curled into a protective ball, lying on her uninjured side, and he was struck by the image she portrayed.
Even in sleep, her features were marred by fear and exhaustion, as if her dreams were taking her straight into hell. Her forehead was wrinkled and furrowed as though she were in pain, and he cursed softly when he saw the slow trickle of blood seeping from her nose.
He went to the bed and eased on to the edge, reaching up to smooth her hair from her forehead, gently stroking the lines to ease her strain. She stirred and her eyelids fluttered open, her eyes droopy from fatigue, cloud
y with confusion.
“Beau?”
“Yes, honey. It’s me. I’m sorry to wake you but you’re bleeding again and the doctor is here to see you.”
She reached self-consciously to her nose, but before she could wipe it away with her hand, Beau caught her fingers and reached for the washcloth he’d discarded earlier. Carefully, he wiped the blood away and then turned so she could see the doctor standing a few feet away.
Her pulse leapt. He could feel the sudden surge of her heartbeat against the hand he now had against her neck.
“It’s okay,” he said soothingly. “He can be trusted.”
“But I’m all right,” she protested. “I don’t need a doctor.”
Doctor Carey moved forward in his brisk, no-nonsense fashion and set his bags down on the bed in front of Beau.
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that, young lady?” he said kindly.
He glanced sideways at Beau. “Would you like to step out while I examine her?”
Ari’s respiration immediately sped up and she glanced in panic at Beau as if her were her lifeline.
“I’ll stay,” Beau said firmly.
Ari sagged in relief, her eyes closing briefly as she settled more comfortably on the pillows.
“My head hurts,” she admitted. “Much more than my side. The bullet wound just stings a bit but my head is killing me.”
Beau looked at the doctor in concern. “She had a serious psychic bleed. She was bleeding profusely from her ears and her nose. I’m concerned she could have incurred a brain hemorrhage or permanent damage.”
Ari choked out an instant protest, looking frantically at Beau as if she couldn’t believe he would betray her confidence.
Beau instantly put a reassuring hand to her cheek. “It’s nothing he hasn’t seen before. He can be trusted, Ari. I wouldn’t put you at risk if I weren’t certain of his trustworthiness and his complete and absolute discretion in this matter.”
The doctor frowned. “That does sound serious indeed and is evidence of great strain on your brain. I’d like to do a scan just to make sure there is no bleed or that it’s continuing to bleed. Left unattended, it could be life threatening. But first let me see your bullet wound and then we’ll decide what’s to be done about your head.”