Feral Awakening (The Feral Series-Book 2) (14 page)

 “Dam it Kat! Just what
do you… “

 Smacking his hands off
of the back of her jeans, Kat slid out of the truck and began to give up the
contents of her gas station breakfast.
Oh lord
,
just shoot me now
.
Kat heaved as she got sick on the side of the road.

 Kat could hear boots
crunch behind her and then his big callused hand was holding her hair back over
her shoulder. Oh dam, why couldn’t he have stayed in the truck? Now he was
going to watch her? Since when did crazy kidnappers hold a girls hair while
they got sick anyway?

When things began to
slow down to just dry heaves, Kat spied a napkin dangling in front of her
followed by a bottle of water. Grateful, she wiped her mouth and rinsed with
the water. With a groan she felt Ronan guiding her back into the truck and
closing the door next to her. Lying on her side she curled up in a ball on the
bench seat, still feeling nauseous and dizzy.

 Feeling the seat sink
under her head as Ronan got in, she made to move out of his way and sit up only
to have him ease her head onto his leg and push her back down again.

 “Kat, what’s wrong?
What should I do?” Kat was surprise to hear what sounded like actual concern in
his voice and as screwed up as she was, she felt her heart do a little flip
that he might actually care.

 “I’ll be okay. I just
don’t usually spend this much time in cars or eat like this. I think my body is
just rebelling and I got car sick.” Stupid Kat, real stupid. This would have
been a perfect time to play like she was dying and see if he would take her to
a hospital or something. She just hadn’t been feeling well enough to think it
all through.

 Ronan smoothed her
hair off of her pale cheek before he could stop himself. Dam it, he hadn’t been
taking very good care of her. Just look at her after only spending two days in
his care. They would have to stop early tonight, he didn’t want to push her any
more than he already had.

 Ronan found himself
running his fingers through her hair. He couldn’t seem to help himself. Even
though their bond made him want to touch her constantly, he had been
restraining himself. As his destined mate she would find his touch soothing and
he found that he could not deny her when she was feeling bad. When she sighed
with contentment and didn’t smack his hands away, he continued to play with the
dark silky strands.

 Kat didn’t know why but
she found that his touch calmed her. She felt like purring while he stroked her
hair. She didn’t understand it but for some reason she needed him to touch her.
Finally relaxing under his surprisingly gentle touch she drifted to sleep.

Kat woke up just as the
sun was beginning to set. Hesitantly she sat up in the seat and rubbed the
sleep from her eyes. Taking a deep breath she began to take inventory of her
body. Pins and needles began to prickle in her left arm where she had been laying
on it but other than that she felt amazingly better. The nausea was gone and
she was actually feeling hungry. Well she hadn’t really had much to eat in the
last twenty four hours and the little bit that she did eat today hadn’t stayed
down very well.

 “How are you feeling?”
Kat could feel Ronan’s eyes on her, as she pulled her fingers through her
tangled hair. She desperately wanted a shower and clean clothes. She was
probably beginning to look a lot like Ronan did when he was playing the part of
homeless man outside of her shop.

 “Better. I’m actually
kind of hungry.” Kat smiled sheepishly at him. “Do you think we could get some
dinner? I mean real dinner, not something from a gas station. I promise to keep
it down this time.”

 Ronan snorted in
something very close to a laugh. For a moment Kat wondered what he would look
like if he let go with a real laugh. She would like to see that sometime but
she wouldn’t hold her breath.

 “I’ll see what I can
do.” Ronan decided she was right. He needed to get an actual meal into her. She
was too small as it was. Watching her sleeping on the seat, using his leg as a
pillow he had sworn that he was going to take better care of her.

 He knew that he had
been selfish when he had drug her along in his wake, frantic to get her to his
pack and put some distance between the two of them. She carried his mark and
until such a time that he turned her over to the pack she was his
responsibility to care for.

 The possessive surge
that ran through his system took him by surprise. Clenching his teeth he pushed
the feeling back down again. He found that he was constantly having to remind
himself that he was taking her to his pack and leaving her behind. To be mated
to someone else… Ronan saw red for a moment. The claws on his hands began to
lengthen and he struggled to calm himself. After a moment or two he got himself
under control again but his beast still hovered just under the surface. Glancing
at Kat he was glad that she didn’t seem to notice his loss of control.

 Having passed a
billboard advertising food, he turned off at the next exit. Driving into the
parking lot of Suzie Bee’s bar and grill he was glad to see only a handful of
cars in the parking lot and he was counting on a couple of them belonging to
the people working inside. It was a bit of a dive but they should be able to
get something to eat at least.

 Turning his attention
to Kat he almost groaned at the expression on her face, it was calculating to
say the least. He hoped she never played poker because every one of her
emotions were broadcast on her face.

 “I have a deal for
you.” Kat’s green eyes looked at him in curiosity. “We will go inside and you
can have an actual meal on one condition. You give me your word that you will
not try to escape me in anyway while we are here.” Kat could tell by his tone
that he was very serious.

 “You would actually
trust me on this on my word?” Kat looked at him incredulously.

 “I would if you swear
it to me.”

 Wow, he really was
serious. “Ronan as much as I want to eat, I can’t promise you that I won’t try
to escape.” Kat looked at the restaurant with longing. What was she doing? Her
stomach grumbled in protest.

 “I don’t want you to
promise not to escape. Just promise that you will not try while we are here, at
this restaurant. Once we pull out of the parking lot your promise is ended.”

 Kat considered her options.
She knew that a smarter person would take the deal and still make a run for it
but not her. How could Ronan trust her like this? If the roles were reversed
she didn’t think she would be so trusting. He had unknowingly nailed her
though. She would never go back on her word once it was given. Being able to
trust someone at their word was such a rare thing these days and it was a
covenant the Kat wouldn’t break.

 If she gave up an
opportunity to escape she could have a wonderfully full stomach tonight. If she
didn’t agree, they would drive out of here and she could eat another cellophane
meal. More than likely she would spend more time in the truck with him with no
opportunity to escape anyway if they left.

 Ronan held his breath
at the smile that Kat bestowed on him. “Okay, I’m in. Ronan, I swear that I
will not try to escape while we are here.” Kat stuck out her hand to shake on
it and she had to say the look on Ronan’s face alone had already made the
promise worth it. He engulfed her in his large palm and they shook on it. “Now
feed me dam it!”

 Ronan’s snort sounded
very close to a laugh. The sound caught Kat by surprise. That had definitely
been very close to a chuckle. He was making progress.

 Kat felt as if a
weight had been lifted off her chest. For just a little while she wouldn’t have
the pressure of fighting against Ronan’s possession of her. For just a little
while she would get to relax and not plot her escape and as an added bonus she
would get to fill her grumbling stomach.

 Ronan took Kat’s hand
as they walked around the front of the truck. He trusted her not to bolt but he
still wanted her close. Heat traveled up his arm as her fingers closed around
his without hesitation. Why did her skin have to be so soft?

 Painfully conscious of
her rumpled state, Kat tried to comb her fingers through her hair and
straightened her shirt as they walked to the door. As Ronan opened the door for
her and they stepped inside she realized she shouldn’t have worried.

 The place was pretty
run down inside but still fairly clean. A couple of construction workers sat
drinking at the bar in their dirty work clothes. A waitress-bartender-busboy
walked towards them to see them to a table. Her heavily mascaraed eyes had
about popped out of her head when she got a look at Ronan. 

 She was squeezed tightly
into a too small mini shirt and t-shirt that was knotted snugly at her back
with the restaurant’s logo on it. Kat could see the hint of a tattoo on the
cleavage peeking above her low cut shirt and as she turned to lead them to
their table there was another at the small of her back.

 Kat noticed she put a
little more swish in her walk now that she was in front of Ronan. Kat barely
resisted an unladylike snort at the woman’s behavior. Apparently the woman had
a thing for hairy, burly guys. My hairy, burly guy. Kat almost tripped over her
own feet as the thought entered her head. Oh god! Kat thought with a gulp. Where
the hell had that come from?

 Finally at their table,
Ronan and Kat sat across from each other in the booth as the waitress placed
their menus in front of them. “Hi, my name is Tammy and I will be taking care
of you tonight.” Tammy looked directly at Ronan as she said this and there was
no mistaking by her tone she would love to take care of more than Ronan’s dinner
tonight. “Can I get you something to drink?” The waitress directed her question
to Ronan and didn’t glance her way at all.

 “I’ll have a Coke
please.” Kat spoke loudly and leaned across the table to smile brightly at
Tammy.

 Ronan raised an
eyebrow at Kat but said nothing. “We want to order our food now too. We are in
a hurry.” Ronan looked at Kat pointedly and pushed her menu at her.

 “Oh, right. Um…” Kat
quickly scanned the simple menu. “I’ll have the grilled chicken sandwich with
fries.” Ronan ordered too and then Tammy was swishing away to get their drinks.
To his credit Ronan seemed totally uninterested and didn’t spare her rolling
hips a glance.

 Ronan tensed as the
door of the restaurant opened and two more customers walked in. After looking
them over, he seemed to decide that they were not much of a threat and relaxed
again. The man was forever on his guard. Then again, Kat figured she would be
too if she was a kidnapper driving a stolen truck.

 “So. What do you do
when you are not kidnapping helpless women?” Kat actually laughed out loud at
the expression on Ronan’s face. She was even more surprised when the corners of
his mouth lifted in response. Oh ya. She was getting to him.

 At first she thought
he wasn’t going to answer her but then found herself holding her breath as the
expression on his face softened. “I have lived alone for the past four years. Before
that I lived with the pack. I served as a protector. We were at war with… a
neighboring pack and I was needed. When things finally settled down I left.”

 “But why did you leave
your pack?” Ronan wasn’t comfortable sharing all of this with her but she would
soon find out everything once she joined his pack anyway. She would also find
out about her father’s death and how her mother had hidden her away. She needed
to know but he couldn’t tell her everything right now. He couldn’t even convince
her she was a Lykan so she wouldn’t believe him anyway and he would just be
wasting his time. It was best to just give her the simple version for now.

 “My father is the pack
alpha and as his first born son I was next in line to lead. I would not have
made a good pack alpha and I knew it. I… chose instead to leave so that my
brother Teagan could lead.” Kat didn’t realize it but she had started to swirl
circles on the back of his hand where it laid on the table. The tone in his
voice had instinctively made her reach out to sooth him. Instead of pulling
back as he knew he should, Ronan allowed her gentle touch.

 “So if you were living
outside of the pack, when did you start tracking the feral? How did you know
where to look for him?”

 Ronan could feel
himself relaxing under Kat’s touch. His beast, quiet for a time. “The feral
that attacked you was my cousin. I picked up his scent when he crossed through
my territory and I felt it was my duty to follow him. I tracked him for about
five weeks until he stopped in Eureka Springs.”

 “Hmm. It couldn’t have
been a coincidence that he went through your territory. Why would he do that?”

 “Your right. It was
deliberate. He wanted me to track him. He wanted someone to see the destruction
he was leaving in his path.”

 Ronan and Kat’s
discussion came to an end as Tammy showed up with their meals. Kat’s mouth
watered at the sight of the food. She felt like she hadn’t eaten in days. Tammy
thunked Kat’s plate down in front of her and then put her hand on Ronan’s
shoulder as she leaned in front of him to put his food down. “There you go
sweetie. Is there anything else you need?” Tammy batted her lashes at him and
let her hand linger while she waited.