The Illegitimate Claim (48 page)

The amount of blood continued to spread across the floor.

Hours seemed to pass before they lifted him onto a gurney. Lord Darius’ face was a

bluish-gray. Dr. Digo was barking orders into his comm and instructing the assistants

around him. This was no time for Andru to ask questions. His mama’s grief showed on

her face and her puffy pink eyes looked up and met his.

“Mama, I didn’t mean for this to happen.” His own voice cracked as he wrapped

his arms around her shaking body.

“Don’t touch me right now, Andru.” She pushed away from him and hurried after

her claim as they carried him out of the room.

Andru was left standing alone in the conference room, his papa’s blood

everywhere. Slowly, almost unaware of his own actions, he pulled his comm out and

wrapped it around his ear. He could see his own reflection in the large dark puddle that

spread out on the floor in front of him and he stared at it as he spoke into his comm.

“Ana, where are you?”

“I’m supervising some of the fights.” Ana straightened and she wiped sweat from

her brow. There was a strain in her brother’s voice. “Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not. I need you now.”

“Okay. Where are you? What’s wrong?”

“I’m at home. And it’s Papa. He’s hurt pretty bad, I’d say.”

“Oh Crator. What happened?”

“I hit him.”

Ana pulled off her comm and grabbed her headscarf off the ground before turning

to Meah.

“Papa has been hurt. I need to go to the house.” Ana looked around distracted by

the pain she knew her brother must be experiencing. “Um, go ahead and take a break. I

don’t know how long I’ll be gone but I’ll contact you later.”

“Ana, what happened? Should I do anything?” Meah called after her friend as she

hurried off to her glider.

“No, not right now. I’ve got to go. Andru needs me.” Ana jumped onto her glider

and was airborne in the next minute.

Meah froze at Ana’s last words. Andru needed her?

Something terrible happened and Andru wanted his sister to comfort him, not her.

She shook the crazed thoughts from her head quickly as she poured water over her

head. A family crisis had occurred and it made sense that Andru would call Ana home.

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It made perfect sense. She held her head high as she walked over to her glider and then

sent dirt flying as she took off.

“Gilroy, do you know anything about Darius being hurt?” Meah spoke into her

comm as she flew high above the clan site.

“What? How do you know this?” Gilroy’s baritone voice was calm and quiet.

“Andru just contacted Ana and she took off quickly. All she told me was that her

papa was hurt and that Andru needed her. Can anyone at the house tell you what

happened?”

“I’ll find out.” And with that the transmission went dead.

Meah left her comm on her ear, knowing he would contact her when he knew

something.

She needed to clear her head. Fool’s Creek, flowing through the rocks around the

hills east of Bryton, caught her eye and she headed toward it. Meah needed time alone,

time to collect her thoughts and figure out how Crator expected her to act through all of

this. Andru was taking control of Gothman, and for some reason that scared her. Could

he get more powerful?

She traveled above the creek for a while until she discovered a portion of the creek

where the water fell into a pool. The water was surrounded by large rocks and

appeared calm and inviting. Meah landed and then sat down on the ground to pull off

her boots. She knew the area was secluded after flying above and so decided there was

no harm in stripping down to her underwear and sleeveless undershirt. Her

underclothes were made of the same black Runner material as everything else she wore

and clung to her from sweat.

She sat down by the edge of the creek and dangled her feet in the clear water. It

wasn’t even cold. Enough hot days and nights had warmed the water that fell from the

hills.

Gilroy hadn’t contacted her and she didn’t see how it could take this long for him to

talk to one of his guards on duty at the house and find out what happened. The truth of

the matter was that she didn’t rate having this information. Jolee would oversee the

Blood Circle clan in Tara and Ana’s absence, and as far as Gothman was concerned, she

was a claim, some man’s property. There was no need for Gilroy to tell her what he

found out, and in fact, he didn’t say he would contact her again. She yanked the comm

out of her ear and tossed it over onto her pants.

“Now that looks like a good idea.”

The baritone voice behind her made her jump, and instantly she realized her laser

was in her jacket. She turned around quickly and then almost slipped off the bank into

the water.

“You scared me to death. What are you doing here?” Her heart began racing as she

stared at Gilroy’s delighted eyes at the condition he’d found her in.

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“Don’t you want to know what happened at the house?” Gilroy offered her an

innocent expression and she scowled further at him.

“Well, yes. I thought you’d contact me on the comm.”

Gilroy shrugged and looked her over, then at the enticing pool of water. “I’m glad I

decided to come to you instead. Darius and Andru got into a fight. I guess Andru

reopened the wound on the side of the lord’s head. There was a lot of blood. That’s all I

know right now.”

“Oh, shit.” Meah looked down as she digested what Gilroy just told her. “Andru

wouldn’t attack his papa on purpose, would he?”

Gilroy shook his head. “I daresay his papa provoked him to get what he got. It’s a

damn shame. Andru wanted his papa to retire with honor, not because his papa

thought he couldn’t fight anymore.”

Meah nodded in silent agreement. She chewed on her lip as she thought about the

pain and guilt Andru must be experiencing at that moment. It was best that Ana was by

his side. She looked back up as Gilroy moved toward her.

“What are you doing?” She watched him warily.

“Can’t I go swimming with you?”

Meah jumped into the water when he tried to sit down next to her. The water was

rejuvenating and she sank down as far as she could before slowly kicking her way back

up to the surface. She could feel sharp rocks on the bottom and sides of the creek bed.

She spat water from her mouth when she surfaced and then shoved hair from her face.

“Gilroy, don’t you dare come in here with me. I’m not dressed properly.”

He smiled at her and pulled off his shirt. “I don’t mind. I can shed my clothes, too.”

“Don’t you dare,” she shrieked, and could hear him laughing as she ducked under

the water.

There was nowhere to go to get away from him. Meah blew bubbles out of her

mouth and looked wide-eyed when she saw that Gilroy had stripped out of his clothes.

His bare feet dipped into the water as he sat along the edge. She could see his broad,

muscular chest with black curly hair covering it and then tapering across a flat stomach.

Gilroy smiled at her through the water and a slight breeze blew through his shiny black

hair. Did her hair reflect the sunlight like that?

Just then a sharp slicing pain shot through her foot and Meah opened her mouth to

scream under the water. An incredible pain shot through her foot and up her leg. In the

next instant, strong arms were grabbing her and lifting her above the water.

“Ow! Oh shit, it hurts,” Meah screamed as soon as she’d coughed the water out of

her lungs.

“I imagine you cut yourself on one of the rocks,” Gilroy said, as he lifted both of

them out of the water with incredible ease. “Let’s take a look at it.”

“Damn it to hell, it’s deep.” She cringed from the pain as she saw the ugly gash

across the bottom of her foot.

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“Come over here and I’ll take care of that for you, child.”

Meah looked up quickly at the sound of the crackly old voice. The old woman

smiled at her and gestured to a rock next to her.

“Dog-woman,” Meah whispered.

“Where?” Gilroy asked and she realized at that moment that he held her in his lap

and was holding her foot.

“Can you help me get over to that rock?” She pointed and Gilroy stood up with her

in his arms as if she was as light as a feather, which she knew she wasn’t, and placed

her gently down on the rock she’d indicated.

“Now you’ve cut yourself real good, haven’t you, child?” The dog-woman chuckled

to herself but Meah scowled.

“Why are you laughing? It hurts like hell,” she grumbled through clenched teeth.

The dog-woman took Meah’s foot in her hand and Gilroy watched from behind

Meah with astonishment as her foot lifted into the air. He could see a hand impression

on her wet skin and was awestruck.

“I’m afraid hell would hurt a lot more than this.” The dog-woman shook her head

while making a clucking sound with her tongue. “You might want to hold on to

something. This might hurt a bit.”

“What are you going to do?” Meah barely got the words out of her mouth when she

screamed. The dog-woman pulled on Meah’s foot and rubbed the palm of her leather-

skinned hand hard into the open wound. “Woman, you’re killing me!”

“No, child. You’ll live many more winters, I hear tell. I believe you’ll be more

careful next time you go swimming.” The old woman must have been digging her

fingers into Meah’s filleted foot from the intensity of the pain.

Meah screamed again and contorted her body. Gilroy grabbed her from behind to

keep her from falling off the rock. His strong arms wrapped around her, and he stared

in disbelief, as Meah’s foot was held in midair by some invisible force. He was also

aware of the beautiful woman he held, and the large breasts that now rested on his

arms.