Aaron's Kiss Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 7) (63 page)

“No, there isn’t a problem. I know you’re not stupid and you probably know your rights as well as anyone. If there was a problem, Sam, we’d be having this conversation at the station house and not here. Are you planning on having one anytime soon—a problem I mean?”

Sam grinned at him. He really was a good guy, she thought. “I don’t generally make plans that involve using a gun, sir. Unless it’s at the range. That would be just plain stupid, don’t you think?” She grinned when he frowned at her. “I have it for safety reasons. We make deposits here every day and the three of us are all women. You wouldn’t want us to not be able to protect ourselves, would you? I do, however, know how to use any and all guns I have ever used. Just like you do, I’m sure.”

“It’s not ‘
sir
,’ it’s David, just David. And I don’t make plans either, but sometimes things just happen.” He looked frustrated. And if he paced any harder, she was sure he would wear a nice path in the concrete long before it would wear from regular use. “Well?”

She looked at him, confused; he hadn’t asked her a question, so she was not sure what he meant. She shrugged. “Well, what, sir, I mean, David?”

“Did anything happen?”

Sam wanted to laugh at his question, but thought it might be wiser to just have some fun for a bit. At least until he pissed her off. “When?” She tried to look innocent, but she couldn’t quite pull it off. Probably, she thought, because she was having a hard time controlling her laughter.

“With the gun, why you carry it. Did anything happen?” His voice took on a tone she was used to. A tone of someone who wanted answers but didn’t want to cause trouble to someone he liked. And she could sense that David did like her. Like her even though he thought of her as a pain in the ass.

“To the gun? Why would anything happen to the gun?” She was really trying to keep it light, to diffuse and confuse. She didn’t want to hurt David’s feelings, she liked, and well…she respected him too much. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t have some fun too.

“What?” He looked at her as he asked. Snapped would have been a better term, but it was still a good question.

“Huh?”

She just knew that this could go on for hours if she let it. She was sure whatever had been his original concern was now lost. As he rubbed his forehead between his eyes, she tried to hide a smile. He was getting a headache and it was her fault, she was sure. He was clearly at his end of patience when he snapped at her.

“Have you killed anyone with this gun, Sam? Or shot anyone, or done anything that I should know about?”

“No, si...no, I haven’t shot or killed anyone with that gun. Nor have I done anything you should be aware of involving this gun.”

He looked at her skeptically. She had worded it just as he had asked her about the gun. She could tell that he was trying to figure her out and that he was not sure right now about her strange answers. But he would figure it out, she was sure. She just hoped he did long after she had completed her assignment for the night.

David left the shop ten minutes later, no closer to understanding her need for the handgun than before he started talking to her. She noticed that David was pulling out his cell phone as he exited the building. She didn’t have time to try and figure out what he was doing. Mrs. Blue-Top, Elizabeth Siemens, was waiting for her.

Sam left the shop at four o’clock and headed to Mrs. Siemens’ house. Bethany had called just as she was supposed to and was right now gathering up a few personal belongings to take with her when she left. Sam planned to get to the house by four-thirty and was going into the house through the back of the garage, just as the two women had planned.

Sam felt the first tingle of magic when she got out of her car. She looked around the street where she was parked and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. She locked up and started down the street. She opened herself up to find what her other senses couldn’t.

She didn’t like reaching out while she was on an assignment, but she was nervous after the Ship incident. She felt the first man about three blocks back on the opposite side of the street walking in the same direction she was. He was a wolf, pack wolf. The other one was also a wolf and was in front of her about two blocks on the same side of the street but walking toward her. She knew that they were only to follow her and not to harm nor to intercede. She also knew who had sent them. She could live with that, almost.

David and his brother Bradley had assigned them to her. She didn’t need or want a keeper and it pissed her off to no end to think that they thought she did. Sam had been taking care of herself for a long time and she wasn’t about to have an overgrown dog try to do so now. Especially when she had done nothing to warrant it.

The first man dropped to the ground in mid-step. He was asleep before his head hit the hard ground. She could have had him drop slowly, but was too mad to worry about niceties. The second man was a little more difficult as he was in a shop district and having him just drop might cause a ruckus. She laughed out loud when she thought how to take care of him. She gave him this sudden and overwhelming urge to use the bathroom—like right friggin’ now! And felt the moment his attention was elsewhere. She would never humiliate anyone, so it was only an urge and not actually anything major. She was still smiling when she stepped into Bethany Siemen’s garage.

Beth, as she asked to be called, was so grateful to Sam that she didn’t think they were going to ever make it to the car. They had had to stop every ten feet so that Beth could hug Sam again. Normally not one to let people hug her, she felt this woman needed the soft physical contact more than Sam needed to make her stop doing it. It took them nearly twenty minutes to make what would normally be a three minute walk.

When Beth asked if she could stop at the bank and take out some funds, Sam had explained that if Beth didn’t normally do this, then the bank clerk may alert Beth’s husband that she was there. Beth didn’t know if her name was even on the account. Sam made a few calls and found that not only was Beth’s name not on the account, but that if she used any of the household money or credit cards that the bank was to notify Mr. Siemens soon, if not immediately.

The bank assistant, a Tally Marsh, was a good friend to Mrs. Siemens’ grown daughter. And Sam also knew from her own dealings with the bank that Tally was a wolf—one of the few Sam trusted. Tally told Sam that if she would bring Beth in and her driver’s license, Tally would see what she could do for the woman. Tally apparently knew a little about the situation at the Siemens home and would do everything she could to help out.

Forty-five minutes later, Beth was nearly eight hundred dollars richer and on her way to a better life. She had tried several times to give Sam money, but Sam kept refusing her.

“This isn’t why I do this, and paying me isn’t an option. You keep your money, Beth. You are going to have to start a new life and money may be tight for a while. The people you are meeting will be very helpful and will do anything to keep you safe. Listen to them and you’ll be safe. I promise.”

With tears in her eyes, Beth got out of the car and onto the second of many parts of her safe journey far away from an abusive husband. Some of the women they saved went back to the men who abused them, she knew this. But she couldn’t make them keep safe anymore than she could control the weather. That’s just the way it was. Some people didn’t understand or know any other way of life.

Sam parked her car in the private garage and got into her little sedan that she had parked just down the street. She loved to drive, and she did it very fast. Too fast for those who rode with her sometimes. And when she was upset or pissed as she was right now, she also drove a little recklessly.

Her first stop was to the station house. She asked to see David Wolff and was granted permission from the large man at the desk to go back to his office. He was never too busy for a pretty girl, the Entry Control Chief told her; no one should ever be that. She thanked him politely and went back. The moment he stepped around his desk to greet her, she drew back and slugged him square in the nose, slamming his body against the desk and knocking him to the floor. David wisely stayed where he was.

“You set your watch dogs on me again and I will use my gun for things you will be very aware of. I don’t want, don’t need, nor do I require your help. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal. But it was…” He shut up the moment her foot lifted off the floor and swung back as though to kick him in the head.

“I will hurt you. You had no right to send pack members to follow me. You do not own me, nor do I answer to you. Do it again and I will not be content to just put them out of commission for a few hours.” He fell into a deep sleep as soon as she touched his forehead.

A few minutes later, nursing a bruised hand, she stormed out of the station house. Next, she went to the pack house. Going to the top sometimes got one better results than going through the middle man. And Sam wanted results. The longer it took her to get there, the more pissed off she became. By the time she was racing up the drive, she was ready to shoot any and all the men she had to deal with.

When she arrived at the pack house, Bradley was on the front porch. Good, she thought. He looked as if he hadn’t a care in the world. She sat in her car for a minute trying to regain control of her temper and finally said fuck it. He was going to get it with both barrels. He had been forewarned by David after he woke up, Sam figured.

~~~

Bradley was casually leaning again one of the posts with his hands in his pockets. His men had returned just under an hour ago, embarrassed and mad. He didn’t blame them; it really hurt to be bested by a woman, especially one as beautiful as this. Bradley put out his hand to her, smile on his face when she stepped out of the car.

“Miss Hunter. How nice of you to join us. I hope you’ll be staying for supper. You’d be surprised at the way the cook feeds us.” Bradley had to smile. She was fuming, he could see that from where he stood, and if that was in doubt, her next sentence left no doubt whatsoever.

“You mother fucking, cock sucking son of a bitch. If you ever, and I do mean ever, send someone to tag me again, I will personally come here and blow your fucking nuts off. I have never been so angry in my entire life! What do you think would have happened if her husband had come home and found Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb there? Do you think it’s easy to get an abused woman...” She slapped her hand over her mouth and stared at him with her eyes wide open.

“Do go on. Please don’t stop now. It was just getting interesting.” He leaned back against the house. “You were saying how you rescued an abused woman today. I’m sure your mate would want to know about that as well. How you go into houses and help these women out, help them pack up their memories. What do you do when the husband shows up? Ah, the gun. Now I understand.”

Bradley could smell the vampire all over Sam, and he also knew that the vampire was close to her, but not as close Bradley was. He started advancing toward her, to do what he wasn’t sure. Shaking some sense into her head came to mind. Then he stopped suddenly when she pulled out the Glock and pointed it at his chest.
Shit!

Her hand was steady and straight. Bradley figured she knew how to use it and wouldn’t be the least bit hesitant about doing so. He knew from talking to David that she had one in the chamber, and quite a few extra clips. Bradley took a few steps back. He had stupidly thought he could handle one little human and had sent his bodyguard in the house. If she shot him—no, when she shot him, he knew he would be dead long before anyone would be able to rescue him. He raised his hands up and faced his palms out.

“Don’t do it, Sam. I…David and I just wanted to make sure you weren’t doing anything stupid.” Her look made him very nervous. “Not that you’re stupid, but things could get out of hand, especially with guns.”

He took two steps back until his heel hit the bottom step of the porch he had stepped off of. He was not going to give her any reason to put a bullet in his head. He could smell the silver and cursed his own stupidity once again.

“Do I look like I can’t handle a gun, alpha? Don’t take another step or I will shoot you, have no doubt. Right now I’m mad enough to shoot you just to watch you bleed. I don’t think I’ve ever been this mad before.” She took one step toward him. “What the fuck were you thinking, if you were at all? That the little woman couldn’t possibly survive without the big bad man to save her? I don’t need your fucking help.”

“I can see that now. I’m not moving, Sam. Please don’t shoot me. You know as well as I do that you won’t get away. There are several hundred pack members that will track you down in minutes.” He hoped that wouldn’t be necessary. He really wanted to live. But he was partly responsible for pissing her off.

“Threatening me right now isn’t conducive to calming me down, asshole. And if I shoot you, no matter how many pack members come after me, you’ll still be a dead dog.”

He decided now was probably not the time to point out he wasn’t dog, but wolf. “All right, you’re right. I apologize. What can I do to reassure that we are all friends here?”

Her snort was not making him feel warm and fuzzy.

Bradley reached out and found the vamp about a hundred yards to the West. He sent him a plea to come and calm his mate. His reply from him was anything but helpful. Bradley wished like hell he’d never heard of the woman in front of him.