Savage Redemption Read online

Her gratitude would mean nothing to him, but there was so much she owed to this man that she could never repay. The least she could do was tell him.

  “That means a lot.”

  Kat looked up into Conlan’s ice-cold gaze. Just as she expected, her words only fueled his anger. Fine, at least she’d tried. Might as well go for broke, though, because another pressing need was making itself known.

  “While you’re busy hovering over me, can you at least unchain my ankles?”

  He looked at her as if she’d just sprouted a second head. “And why would I want to do that?”

  Her face flushed in embarrassment. “Because I need to make a trip to the bathroom. I’m assuming you’d prefer that to the alternative.”

  It didn’t take him long to think that one through. He immediately flipped back the sheet and unlocked her restraints. When he was done, she pressed the button to raise the head of her bed, saving her strength for her first trip across the floor to the restroom.

  She half expected Conlan to leave the room or at least return to his computer. Instead, he lingered nearby as she braced herself on the edge of the bed and slowly lowered her feet to the floor. When her knees refused to lock in position, she almost slid all the way to the floor but managed to catch herself at the last second.

  Okay—so far, so good.

  One step led to another, the tile floor feeling cool to her bare feet. She held on to the bed for as long as she could, but then she was faced with the daunting prospect of crossing the final expanse unassisted and unsupported. She actually made it almost halfway before once again her legs gave out.

  “Son of a bitch!” Conlan snarled, but his touch was gentle when he swooped in to catch her. One second she was flailing, trying to catch her balance, and the next she was cradled against Conlan’s powerful chest as he carried her across that last little distance. He set her down inside the bathroom and then stalked out.

  As he pulled the door closed, he said, “Call me when you’re ready to go back to bed. I’d rather carry you than have to scrape you up off the floor.”

  “Fine, I will.”

  So much for her dignity, although that wasn’t what had left her hands shaking this time. Instead, it was the realization that the few seconds she’d spent in Conlan’s arms had felt like coming home.

  * * *

  Well, that had been a major mistake, but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what else he could’ve done. Short of letting Kat crumple to the floor like a broken doll, he’d had no choice but to catch her. To hold her. To dredge up memories of how it had felt to hold her close.

  He needed his ass kicked for even thinking about such things. Maybe he’d go ask Rafferty to do the honors, except he suspected the vampire would tell Joss about it. Conlan had no desire to go toe-to-toe with her again. The sound of the door opening put a quick end to that line of thought.

  Kat appeared in the doorway, her face looking freshly scrubbed. “I’m ready.”

  This time, rather than picking her up, he offered Kat his arm. She grabbed on with surprising strength as the two of them shuffled across the room. At the side of the bed, he stepped back to give her room to maneuver. When twice she failed to lift herself back up onto the mattress, he gave up and grabbed her by the waist and picked her up. Clearly startled by the sudden movement, she latched onto his shoulders with both hands. Her touch sent a jolt of heat straight through him, leaving him hard and hungry.

  For the space of a heartbeat, their faces were at the same height. Her bright turquoise eyes locked onto his, the touch of her gaze almost tangible. He froze, leaving her dangling in midair as he tried to remember what he’d been doing.

  “Conlan, do you want to put me down?”

  No. Not yet. Not before he tasted that lush mouth. He lowered her to the edge of the bed, making a space for himself between her knees. If he stopped to think, he’d never forgive himself. Her lips parted, maybe ready to protest, maybe in invitation. He didn’t know and didn’t care.

  He swooped in to kiss her, to reclaim what had once been his. Her lips were soft, giving. She sighed, all the tension in her body draining away as her hands slid down to press against his chest, her fingers kneading his shirt like a contented kitten.

  He deepened the kiss, coaxing her to join him in exploring the heat flashing between them. The connection was red-hot; the way she fit against him was absolutely perfect. The only thing that would be better was if they were skin-to-skin, their arms and legs tangled together as they rode out passion’s storm together. Then his fingers brushed against her bandage, a razor-sharp reminder of why she was in the infirmary in the first place, dragging him back into the present.

  When he jerked back, Kat teetered forward. Only Conlan’s chancellor-quick reflexes kept her from hitting the floor. He shoved her back onto the bed. Madder at himself than he was at her, he waited until she lay back to quickly refasten the restraints.

  “Is that really necessary?”

  There was no mistaking the hurt in her voice, but he couldn’t let it get to him. They’d just crossed a line that he shouldn’t have even gone near. What the hell had he been thinking? The answer was simple—he hadn’t been thinking; he’d been feeling, something he hadn’t done in three years. This was sure no time to start.

  “Yes, it is.”

  Even as he started to fasten the straps, though, he noticed her skin was already rubbed raw in places. Damn it, why did everything have to be so complicated? It would be easy enough to bandage her ankles, but he wasn’t about to go there. Right now he needed to put some distance between himself and temptation, even if that distance was just down the hall to Seamus’s office.

  “Stay put.”

  For once she didn’t argue, but she still had to have the last word. “It was just a kiss, Conlan, nothing more.”

  He might have even believed it if her eyes weren’t suspiciously bright. Rather than respond to either her words or her tears, he walked out and didn’t look back.

  * * *

  Down the hall Conlan was surprised to hear Rafferty’s voice. Why was the vampire still hanging around the clinic? Didn’t he have a houseful of company he was supposed to be entertaining?

  Conlan paused to knock on the door frame before waltzing into Seamus’s office.

  Rafferty was just getting up. “What’s up? Did you need me for some reason?”

  He sounded like a man desperate for an excuse to linger. Conlan decided to give him one. “I was actually looking for Seamus, but since you’re here, I should bring you up to speed on what Ambrose had to say.”

  Rafferty immediately sat back down and reached for the bottle of scotch on the desk. He poured himself a stiff shot and a second one that he pushed across the desk toward Conlan.

  Seamus was already slipping his lab coat back on. “Is something wrong with Kat?”

  “When I unfastened her restraints to help her to the bathroom, I noticed the skin around her ankles has been rubbed raw. I thought you might want to do something about that before we put the straps back in place.”

  Rafferty set his drink down hard enough to splash the amber liquid over the side. “You left her alone in there without restraints?”

  “Where’s she going to go? The woman can barely walk, much less run.” Conlan injected far more calm into his words than he actually felt. He couldn’t very well tell his boss that he’d been the one who’d needed to bolt out of the room, not Kat.

  The doctor started for the door. “I’ll go check on her. I was about to see if she needed anything.”

  After Seamus took off down the hallway, Conlan sat down and sipped his scotch, letting the slow burn erase Kat’s taste from his mouth. Too bad it couldn’t cleanse his memory as easily.

  “So what did Ambrose have to say?”

  Conlan allowed himself a small smile. “He was not happy that someone sent mercenaries after a fugitive instead of reporting her location to him. He’s mobilizing a squad of his chancellors to bring Kat in.” He hesitated
. “It’ll be a day, maybe two, before he can make the arrangements. Normally he’d send one man after her. But under the circumstances, he thought the additional firepower might be necessary.”

  Rafferty tossed back his scotch. “Takes a real bastard to go after a woman and two children like that. Makes you wonder what Kat has on whoever was behind the attack. Maybe she’s been supporting herself with a little bit of blackmail these past three years.”

  Even though the same thought had crossed Conlan’s mind, he didn’t much like hearing it from Rafferty. It also infuriated him that he felt the need to defend Kat on any grounds.

  “Maybe, but maybe Eddington is tied in with what went down at the Institute’s lab three years ago.” Conlan poked and prodded that idea a bit. “I was still trying to get to the bottom of what really happened there when Kat took off. I never got a chance to finish my investigation.”

  “But you obviously thought there was something to her story or you would’ve never taken her out of prison in the first place. I know Joss took one hell of a chance when she did the same for me.”

  Rafferty finished off his drink. “But then, I stuck around until she cleared my name. I would’ve never left her to take the fall for me.”

  Then he stood up. “Speaking of Joss, I’ve got to get back home. If I leave her alone to entertain my aunts by herself much longer, there’ll be hell to pay.”

  As he passed by, he paused to look down at Conlan. “I have a feeling this is going to get pretty damn ugly before it gets better. Do me a favor and watch your back. Don’t let that woman drag you under again. You’re too good a security officer for me to want to lose you.”

  Then he walked out, leaving Conlan staring at the empty doorway and trying to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do next.

  Chapter 6

  It was midday, and Conlan hadn’t slept at all. Like Seamus, he was used to keeping odd hours, what with the humans on the estate mostly keeping to the daylight shift and the vampires operating on a nocturnal schedule. Even so, that wasn’t the reason behind the restlessness that had him outside walking circles around the infirmary.

  Maggie and Rose had paid one last visit to their aunt in the wee hours of the morning. They’d arrived bearing a basket of cookies they’d baked with Joss’s help. Granted, a few were a bit burned around the edges, and some of the icing looked as if someone with small fingers had snuck a sample or two, but the girls had been so proud of their wares.

  Kat had been suitably grateful for their gift and lavish in her praise. Heck, they’d even brought Conlan his own plateful. He’d consumed enough of the cookies to please both girls and their aunt. At least the smiles he and Kat had exchanged over the heads of the girls had felt genuine.

  For the first time since she’d arrived on the estate, Kat had looked animated, even happy, the horror hanging over her banished for the duration of her nieces’ visit. The girls had chattered about Rafferty’s house, how he’d slip in to steal a spoonful of cookie dough whenever Joss turned her back and that he was going to take them riding on a tractor. Even better, they’d each have their own room as soon as Rafferty’s aunts left at the end of the week.

  Finally, Maggie had run out of steam, falling apart when it came time to return to Rafferty’s because she had to leave her aunt behind. She’d still been sobbing when Joss had carried her from the room. Rose had followed them out, turning one last time to look at Kat. Her chin had been quivering, her pretty turquoise eyes looking so damned sad.

  Kat held up until she was sure the girls were gone and he’d stepped just outside the door. On his way by, she’d asked that he turn off the lights so she could sleep, but he’d heard her sobbing into her pillow.

  To keep from hauling her back into his arms and telling her everything was going to be all right, he’d headed outside, needing to put some physical distance between them. Two hours later, his mood hadn’t improved at all.

  He’d made a habit of not lying to people, especially himself. Nothing was going to be all right for Kat, that was for sure. Her nieces might eventually adjust to their new lives here on the estate, but they’d carry the scars of everything—and everyone—they’d lost for the rest of their lives.

  Looking back, he’d spent most of his adult life searching for the truth in each case he’d been assigned, working hard to put together all the pieces of the puzzle and hoping it all added up to make the course of justice clear. That’s exactly what he’d been trying to do when Kat had bolted on him three years ago. That’s what he’d always told himself. But standing out in the bright light of day, he had to own up to his own truth.

  Yes, he’d wanted to clear Kat’s name, but for his own selfish reasons. Maybe if he’d worked harder and faster and kept his emotions out of it, he might have found the answers before it had all gone to hell and imploded. He’d never know for sure. No matter what, he should’ve known the two of them had been on a road headed straight for disaster. The minute he’d realized his feelings for her had careened way past neutral, he should’ve reported the circumstances to Ambrose and asked for the case to be reassigned.

  Instead, he’d taken Kat to his bed. He’d known full well it was wrong, but he’d been unable to resist something that felt so damned right. Hell, he’d been almost painfully aware of her from the instant he’d walked into the interview room to meet with her that first time. She’d stared up at him with such desperation, as if he were the salvation she’d been so desperately looking for. It had been more than that, though. They’d connected on a visceral level in a way he’d never experienced before or since. He hadn’t wanted to be her hero; he’d wanted to be hers, period.

  After that, there was no way he could’ve executed her back then, and evidently despite the hell she’d put him through, that hadn’t changed. So the question was, what was he going to do about it?

  Before he could decide, his phone rang. It was his second in command calling from the front gate.

  “Finn, what’s up?”

  “You asked to be notified of any problems. Well, right now there’s an armed vehicle approaching on the main road. They tripped the motion sensors you had us set up at the far end of the valley yesterday. Their ETA is about twenty minutes.”

  Conlan didn’t hesitate; he headed straight for his transport at a dead run, reaching it in a matter of seconds. Even driving like hell, reaching the gate before the intruders would be a close call. It wasn’t an accident that the bastards arrived in broad daylight when Rafferty wouldn’t be able to take charge of the situation. But then, that’s why most of Conlan’s security force was made up of chancellors like him, whose mixed heritage gave them the same strength as vampires without their weaknesses. Being able to function in daylight was a definite advantage.

  While a lot of the purebloods on both sides of that equation looked down on the hybrid species, Rafferty wasn’t one of them, and not just because his wife was a chancellor, too. He paid top dollar to provide the best protection for his people, and that meant chancellors. Most of Conlan’s men were ex-military or former law enforcement, well trained in weapons and not afraid to use them.

  “Hold whoever it is outside the gate until I get there. I’m on my way now. I’d like to wait until we can assess the situation before calling for reinforcements. We can’t afford to leave the rest of the estate unprotected in case they’re coming at us from more than one direction. You got any problems with that?”

  “No, sir,” Finn answered without hesitation. “Right now there is me and three others inside the gate and two more outside circling around to get behind the vehicle. All of us are armed with those nifty armor-piercing-grenade launchers you bought us.”

  Conlan smiled. He’d argued long and hard to get his boss to buy such heavy-duty munitions for his security forces. He bet Rafferty was about to be damn glad he’d anted up for the expense.

  “Good job. My ETA is less than fifteen minutes now.” He pressed down harder on the accelerator. “I need to call Seamus, but then
I’ll keep the line open in case you need me.”

  Before hanging up, there was one more thing left to be said. “And, Finn, don’t hesitate to use lethal force at the first sign of aggression. Call me back if the sensors pick up movement anywhere else on the perimeter.”

  “Will do, boss.”

  Conlan punched in Seamus’s number. The doctor picked up on the second ring. “Seamus, I’m on my way out to the gate to handle a developing situation and had to leave Kat alone. She’s still chained to the table. Can you check on her?”

  Seamus let out a low whistle. “Things never stay dull around here for long. I was about to head in that direction shortly anyway. Keep me posted if that situation is the kind where I should be expecting any new patients. Have you notified Rafferty yet?”

  Conlan hesitated briefly. “No, but that’s my next call. Talk to you soon, Doc.”

  He immediately called Rafferty’s number. The vampire was a little slower to answer, but not by much. Despite it being the middle of his sleep cycle, he sounded alert. “Okay, Conlan, what’s gone to hell this time?”

  Leave it to the vamp to go right to the heart of the matter. “There’s an armed vehicle approaching the estate. I’m on my way out to investigate.”

  “I’ll be right behind you.”

  Rafferty had a transport with specially tinted windows that made it safe for him to travel in daylight, but prolonged exposure to the sun would weaken him considerably.

  “Let me see what we’re dealing with first.”

  He exhaled sharply. “Fine, but keep me apprised of what’s going on.”

  “Sure thing. I’m within sight of the inner gate now. I’ll see what Finn’s learned since I talked to him and call you back as soon as I can.”

  He disconnected the call to free up a hand to key in the security code to open the inner gate. As soon as it rolled back far enough, he gunned the motor and shot through the opening with only inches to spare.

  Up ahead, the armored vehicle was just rolling into sight. Conlan parked and ran for the steps to his office. Finn met him on the porch with his body armor and holding Conlan’s favorite rifle.