Ryan's Treasure (3 page)

She asked the question with no expectation of an answer, so he remained silent. He wasn’t sure he could carry on a conversation without wanting to kill someone anyway. Scars, old and new, crisscrossed the girl’s nearly translucent skin, the savage bruising more visible without the layer of dirt. Though her belly looked better than her back, someone had done a hell of a number on her.

Several scratches and cuts were in various stages of healing, and the wide, raw band around her right wrist looked infected. Kya carefully washed the injuries with antiseptic. “Here, be useful and put this on the wounds after I’ve cleaned them.”

He took the small tube of antibiotic ointment. It disappeared in his hand. “I don’t exactly have a gentle touch.”

“Just make sure you get them all.” Kya tended the most obvious sores first and then eased the sheet lower. At her gasp, Ryan looked up. The cradle of the girl’s hip bore a raised burn scar. “What the hell happened there?”

Pink letters scarred the skin. In wolf form, it would have marked the soft, nearly hairless flesh under her right hind leg. “It’s a brand. Someone marked her so she could be identified.” He laid down the ointment and moved to study the mark. “N-A-D. It could stand for about anything.” He traced the letters with a shaky hand.

Kya touched his arm. “You can’t undo it. Come on. Let’s get done before the medication wears off.” His sister removed the rest of the covers. Abuse had left the female almost skeletal. “Sons-of-bitches should be shot.”

Blocking thoughts of stringing some bastard up by his balls, Ryan went back to his job anointing the wounds. “Is the damage permanent?”

Kya shrugged. “Her body should heal. Most of the physical stuff is superficial, but I can’t imagine how she could ever forget. This kind of viciousness scars deeper than any knife.”

“What can I do to help?”

“Be gentle…and patient.” His sister stepped back and assessed the areas she’d cleaned while he finished with the ointment. “Help me roll her over.”

He set the medicine aside and carefully shifted their patient to her stomach. Beneath the overhead light, the angry cuts and scars were so much worse than they had appeared earlier. Red welts crisscrossed her back, haunches, and thighs, nearly obliterating the creamy flesh.

Kya’s hiss echoed his own snarl. “Good Lord, where was this girl?”

“In the mill we liberated last week. The cops arrested the owners the following day so no one can hurt her or the animals ever again, but she was trapped there too long.”

“Donny told me the shifter ran.”

“She did. I think she followed me home.”

His sister’s laugh did little to lighten his mood. “Does that mean you can keep her?”

Could he? The thought died as soon as it rose. The rest of the mill had been filled with animals, no other shifters. But she had to have come from somewhere, which meant someone would want her back. “I would if I could, but the girl has a right to find her family.”

Kya studied him for a moment then returned to her task. “What if family left her there or sold her? It happens, you know.”

Anger flared hotter than he had ever experienced, and he crushed the tube of antibiotic cream in his hand. “Then I’ll make the bastards suffer for every bruise on her body.”

***

For nearly a week, Ryan kept the weakened female heavily sedated. He carefully trimmed her matted hair until pure white waves followed the contours of her skull. The short cut revealed a big-eyed pixie where the abused woman had lain. Unwilling to leave the girl alone, he shifted his cases at the law office and found someone to cover the front gate at the Sanctuary at night. He nourished her body and numbed her pain through an intravenous line laced with medication to help her sleep. Slowly, the red welts faded and the bruises turned a sickly green.

“You’re looking pretty good. Green must be your color.”

Once her body healed, she could work on recovering in other ways, but he wanted to see her eyes, one golden brown the other the brightest blue. Even in her sleep, she jerked at his touch on her arm, and he stepped back from the bed. “It’s okay. No one will ever hurt you again.”

The IV bag had dripped nearly empty. He pulled his cell from his pocket and dialed Kya.

“Yes, brother dear?”

He chuckled at her standard sarcasm. “Can you come give the all clear sometime today, so we can ditch the IV?”

“Sick of playing nursemaid already?”

“No.”

Kya laughed at his short-tempered response.

He ran a hand over his head and took a deep breath. “Nadi looks better, so I thought maybe we could let her wake up.”

“Nadi?”

“Yeah, I have to call her something.”

“So, you named her after the brand?” Kya’s huff of disgust echoed through the line.

How could he explain without sounding like a fool? “Nadi means little bauble…no that’s not right.” He searched for a more literal translation of his native tongue. “In
Ysán
it means a small prize, a gift of something fragile and precious.”

“And you see your houseguest as such a treasure?”

He groaned at the tone of his sister’s voice. “Stop playing matchmaker. The last thing this girl needs is an overgrown brute in her life. Once she regains consciousness and sees me, she’ll run like hell.”

“Why?”

Kya saw only what she wanted to see. “In case you haven’t noticed, most people think I’m intimidating. I doubt she’ll stick around once she’s strong enough to leave.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Ryan. I’ve seen women throw themselves at your feet.”

“Not ones who have been hurt repeatedly. Women like Nadi come through my office far too often. It’s rare they can even talk to me without cringing.”

“At first, maybe, but once they realize you’re an enormous puddle of warm, gooey pudding, they want to take you home and keep you, like an overgrown teddy bear.”

He chuckled. “Sometimes, but I’ve never seen anyone hurt as badly as this girl.”

“I thought you said she was getting better?”

“She is. The bruises are mostly gone. She hasn’t had a fever for two days, and her wounds look good. Healthy pink instead of angry red. But the emotional stuff worries me.”

“There’s not much you can do about those things. At least not until she can talk about it.”

Nadi whimpered in her sleep. He brushed a wayward curl off his patient’s forehead, careful to keep his touch light. “So, can you come and check her over? I hate to keep giving her meds if I don’t have to.”

“Can’t today. Lynx had her baby shots yesterday. She’s running a temp, and Ja’s out of town. I’m stuck.”

The mention of his tiny niece brought a grin. She was so damned smart. Learned to shift way earlier than most, and popped from form to form like a pro. The sweet kitten had him wrapped around her tail, and she knew it. “Okay. Tomorrow, then?”

“I’ll try. It sounds like things look good though. Why don’t you go ahead and take the IV out and let her wake up. If she still hurts, give her one of those pills I left on the nightstand.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah, you’ll be all right, big brother. Call me if you need me.”

“Okay. Give, Lynx a kiss from me.”

“I will. And don’t worry.”

“Thanks. I’ll keep you posted.” He hung up and studied the slight form in his bed. Even in her emaciated state, she was beautiful. High cheekbones emphasized wide-set eyes and delicate bone structure, and full lips pouted temptingly above a slightly pointed chin. “I hope you’re ready for this.”

He removed the IV and placed a bandage over the dot of blood it left behind. Without thinking, he pressed a kiss on top as he would for Lynx then shook his head at the silly gesture. A kiss would not fix his broken treasure. “Get better.”

The doorbell took him from her before she woke. His foster brother stood on the porch with his back to the house, shoulders stiff.

“Hey.” Ryan stepped outside and closed the door behind him. “What brings you here?”

Jake turned and dropped his lanky frame into a chair. “Rip tells me you guys liberated a mill last week.” An unusually serious expression clouded the other man’s face.

“Yeah, I’d have waited until you came home from DC, but my source said a kill was scheduled the next day. Donny took pictures and the ASPCA took over for prosecution.” He tapped his toe against his brother’s shoe. “What has you so somber?”

“Was there anyone there? Any shifters?”

“One. Why?”

Jake looked down at his feet, and his knuckles whitened where he laced his fingers. “I was born there. My sisters were still alive when I ran. I took off the day they shot our mother.” He looked up, and tears shimmered in his eyes. “I-I went back, but they were gone. Maybe one of the girls survived.”

Could Nadi be Jake’s sister?
Her long, slender form and big eyes said it was possible. “She ran before I could catch her. I—”

Dropping his head against the back of the chair, Jake sighed. “So, you don’t know where she is, then.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“What?” Jake sat up. “Where is she?”

“Asleep in my bed.”

“You slept with her?” Jake growled and lunged.

With a flick of his wrist, he shoved his scrawny brother back into the chair. “Settle down. She’s in rough shape. Kya sedated her.”

“She belongs with me.”

Jake’s possessive attitude angered him for reasons he couldn’t identify. “Nadi’s not going anywhere until she’s healthy enough to walk out on her own.” Despite the logic behind keeping her with him, the almost savage need to protect her unsettled him. He didn’t know the girl beyond the fact she’d risked a bullet to shield a stranger. Maybe he didn’t need to know anything more.

“Well?” Jake waited impatiently beside the door.

Ryan stepped past him, and his brother followed him down the hall to his room. The bed was empty.

Chapter Four

The white bitch crept down the hall, away from the voices of a stranger and the ebony god. Perhaps the mill owners had found her. Would they look for a barren female only to shoot her? Fear and nausea fought in her gut. Careful to leave the door open for escape, she slipped into an empty room and called forth her wolf. The change did not hurt to the extent it had when she shifted to human, but still, pain brought her to her belly. Her bones softened, and fur covered her bruised skin.

Run. Run. Run
. The single thought swirled through her skull, demanding she flee despite her certainty the cabin provided a safe haven. Someone had bathed and fed her. Her stomach remained hollow, but she felt stronger and the bruises had faded to green, indicating a week or more of healing. If she ran, she’d be alone again, just as she’d been the majority of her life. If she stayed, would the big man turn her over to her family’s killers? She didn’t think so, but humans stuck together and did not often see beyond the surface.

Nudging the door wider with her nose, she cautiously eased from hiding. The outer room remained empty. On silent pads, she crept through the open lounge quarters and across the tile toward the door. An oddly familiar scent hung in the air and pushed panic closer to the surface. Her heart drummed, and a feeling too much like shame swelled in her stomach. Why should she suffer guilt for fleeing? She hadn’t asked for help, so she owed the striking human nothing.

“Stop. Don’t go, Nadi.”

The man’s deep voice rumbled low with comfort and command. Still, she did not turn, did not trust the stranger with him. Her paws slid on the smooth tile until she found purchase on a wide area rug. She hit the screen door at a run, and it swung against the house wall with the pop of a killer’s rifle. The sound barked in the otherwise silent morning, reminding her of the fate she’d left behind. Perhaps she could find the black wolf; he had to be close. His comforting scent marked the area inside the cabin and out. After leaping a small ravine, she turned to see if the men pursued her. The trees remained quiet, undisturbed by clumsy humans. Relief flowed through her, lifting a bit of the ache and rapidly growing fatigue. Whirling to run again, she jerked back and nearly fell into a trench.

The coal black wolf stood beside a smaller gray one with distinct golden eyes. They obstructed the deer path. To escape, she would have to take the hard way. She spun to do so, but the black wolf jumped to block escape.
We won’t hurt you
.

Easy to say. Hard to believe.

Let me help.

Why?

As he crept closer, the dusty smell of sage assailed her. She crouched, prepared to attack if necessary though she longed to lean against him, to submit before the power of such an obviously protective Alpha.

The great black beast nuzzled her ruff.
No need for raised hackles. I owe you my life, Nadi.

The ebony human had called her the same. How had she not seen it before? Crouching lower, she bowed before the huge shifter, fear fading.
What do you want of me, Alpha?

The right to keep you safe
.

She peeked around his great shoulder at his scrawny companion.
Who’s the coyote?

A laugh burst from him, unnaturally loud in the quiet woods.
This skinny wolf is my little brother, Jake. He wants to meet you.

Why?

The thin one seemed familiar somehow. He stepped forward.
Do you remember me?

The black wolf held him off with the turn of his broad shoulder.
Now’s not the time.

Why? Are you afraid she’ll leave with me?

A savage snarl ripped through the quiet morning. The alpha attempted to intimidate the smaller gray.
Nadi’s mine to care for as I see fit. Don’t question me.

I’ll question whenever and whatever I please. I don’t answer to you or anyone else, brother, and until I hear her ask for your protection, I’ll watch over her. Not you
.

The two circled one another, hackles raised, growls forceful and vicious. The black wolf rolled the smaller animal to its back. A burn marred the inside of his thin hind leg. NAE—Crib N, Bitch A, Pup E. Her mother’s fifth and final live birth, her baby brother. Images of the scrawny wolf as she had last seen him rushed to fill her mind. The kick which rolled him away from their mother when he tried to protect her from the death shot, the blow to the side of his head, the lifted rifle, and the ache that filled her heart when a bullet grazed his shoulder before he disappeared from her life.