Tara stared at the envelope taped to the top of the door.
To Whom It May Concern was written on it.
She had opened the door in a hurry to catch the bus when it smacked her in her face. She looked around cautiously thinking it might be a joke after someone or something had destroyed her bike yesterday. Anyone could be hiding behind a tree or peeping out the windows of their house to see her reaction when she opened it. It was probably something gross or maybe it was that white powder stuff that killed people...if only she could think of the name...Anthrax...yeah that was it...or was it another name?
Kane stood behind a tree watching her impatiently. What was wrong with her? Why was she hesitating to open the damn envelope? He'd stuff a lot of money in there. He hoped she took it in the house before she opened it. No one needed to see her open the envelope outside.
Curiosity finally won over Tara's caution. She grabbed the envelope and slowly peeled it open, making sure to hold it away from her while she did it. What she saw made her grab what was in it and hold it up to the sunlight in pure disbelief. This could not be real!
Kane smacked his hand over his face in annoyance as he watched her wave the hundred dollars bills around for the entire world to see. Why would she do that?! He was beginning to see that Tara was not the most cautious person in the world even when she was trying to be.
Tara counted the money, a thousand dollars! A note fell out on the ground. She quickly picked it up and read it.
I'm sorry for the loss of your bike. Please accept this money as my apology. I know this is very confusing to you now, but one day I will explain everything. I would prefer you do not buy another bike. To ride such a dangerous thing, would not be good for you.
Tara looked around. Someone was watching her that was clear. Whoever it was, they didn't like her bike. She shivered. Who was it, a psycho stalker? It would be just her luck to attract a person like that. So, what did she do? Did she leave the money here, turn it in to the police, or buy the groceries she needed so badly? She was tired of starving. She had been living off sandwiches for almost two months. She stuffed the money back inside the envelope and ran into her house to put most of it in a safe place. Damn the consequences, at least she'd have food to eat.
Kane watch her come back out a few minutes later. The bus stop was only a few feet from her house. He smiled with approval as she got on. Turning back into the bird he became yesterday; he flew over the bridge following the bus and using the fog to cover his appearance.
The buses in San Francisco and the ones that took her from her home into the city were always overcrowded. People were packed in like sardines. Tara hated taking the bus, it tended to send her empathetic abilities into overdrive. She could feel every emotion, thoughts, motivations from every single person invading her space. Most of the time she'd end up suffering from a severe headache and become nauseous, but today Tara didn't mind taking the bus, nothing could spoil her happy mood.
Rhonda stood outside the law firm smoking a cigarette when Tara got off the bus. Her eyes widen and she burst out laughing as Tara walked to her.
"I can't believe what I just saw. What the hell are you doing riding a bus? I thought you hated them!"
"I do, but I had an accident with my bike. It's beyond fixing," Tara said.
"I knew you were gonna tear that bike up sooner or later. What happen? Did someone run over it with a car?"
"You can say that," Tara said. She quickly changed the conversation. The memory of her bike still terrified her even though the person had apologized and given her money. "What are you doing out here, isn't it time to go in?"
"Oh, I was talking to a friend before you pulled up. He's taking me to the ball. Have you made up your mind? I swear you're going to love it."
"I don't know, I don't have a costume. I wouldn't even know what to wear."
"Why don't you come as an angel? I'd bet you'd look so cute," Rhonda smiled at her and took another puff from her cigarette. "You definitely got the personality of one, all sweet and innocent."
Tara felt a little uncomfortable with the way Rhonda was staring at her. She turned away and saw Kane leaning upside the building with his arms crossed and eyes closed. He seemed to be relaxing. She couldn't help but noticed how good looking the guy was. For a moment she forgot about Rhonda and watched him quietly since he seemed to be in his own world.
Rhonda frowned and turned in the direction Tara was staring to see who had caught her attention. She smirked when she saw Kane. "He's fine as hell ain't he? Too bad he's psychotic. "
Tara continued to watch him. At least she wasn't the only one who felt Kane was dangerous. Although he had been very nice to her yesterday, she still felt there was something very off about him. All the alarms went off in her head that she should keep a far distance from him and yet something about him fascinated her. She felt strangely drawn to him, as if nothing else existed when he was around.
Rhonda gave Tara a curious look. She had never seen her stare at a guy so openly. Did Tara like this guy? "Girl, don't go messing with him. That guy is crazy. He rarely speaks to anyone unless they are in his way. When he does, he makes you think he's about to rip you into pieces with the way he stares, and he speaks in this soft calculated voice. The guy makes me shiver and not in a good way. Besides, I think he's gay."
Tara raised her eyebrows and turned to Rhonda.
"Seriously, he's got to be gay to not notice all this chocolate goodness," Rhonda ran her hands over her body. I started working here the same month you did and managed to attract the attention of every man here except him. I know I'm fine, he's gay as hell not to notice."
Tara turned back to Kane again. Kane had been on vacation, so she heard from the rumors, when she and Rhonda had started working at the law firm. It was only his second day back and Rhonda had expected the man to be all over her just like the other guys, except Kendrick who also didn't seem to notice Rhonda.
She wasn't sure, but she thought she saw Kane's lips twitch.
"Anyway, are you going? Please go! Do it for me? I've always wanted to hang out with you, you're like a sister to me here, you know? I've never bonded with another female as quickly as I have with you. You have to come!"
Tara laughed. "Okay, fine, I have a feeling you won't give up until I do." She thought about the money, she'd recently received. "I'm sure I can find an angel costume."
Rhonda jumped up and down and hugged Tara tightly. "Yay! We're going to have so much fun!" Neither of them saw Kane glaring at them.
Kane sat at his desk deep in thought. He did not want Tara going to that ball. He doubted she knew what it really was, but even if she did, he wouldn't want her to be there. How could he stop her from going? He couldn't. It wasn't like he could walk up to her and demand she stayed home. They hadn't spoken to each other since yesterday. She had smiled and waved at him when she saw him across the room, but that was it.
She worked harder than anyone in the office and no one seemed to notice except him and Kendrick. Kendrick was watching her almost as much as Kane today. He examined his brother's mind to see what he was thinking but all he could get was curiosity and heavy admiration. Kane didn't like the admiration part and quickly stated the obvious.
"She's mine!"
Kendrick only rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Get a life!" he replied. It was the only exchanged in communication they had for most of the day.
Tara looked up from her filing to glance in Kane's direction. Yep. He was still staring at her. She blushed and turned back to her work. He had been like that for half the day. Whenever she looked in his direction those piercing green eyes were staring right at her. His behavior should have freaked her out. Any normal girl would have felt uncomfortable and perhaps a little scared, but of course she wasn't normal. For some reason she felt warm and protective as if he was watching over her.
She still couldn't believe the way he stood up for her yesterday. No man had ever gone out of his way for her especially one she barely knew. She thought about the connection she had experienced with him when they first met and had a feeling it had something to do with his behavior. She was curious about it, but did not want to delve any deeper, afraid of where it might lead her, she glanced at Kane who was watching every move she made, yeah, she was very afraid where it might lead her...
"Tara, can I see you in my office for a moment?" Andrew poked his head out and smiled at her. Tara smiled and walked in. She stared at him curiously as he closed the door and shut the blinds.
Kane walked over to the office. He did not like Andrew. One, because he was the reason for Tara almost getting seriously hurt yesterday and two, Andrew was interested in her. Kane could sense it and he wondered if Tara knew too. If she did, she chose to ignore it. Kane stared through the half-opened blinds covering the office window. An unwelcomed scent slid out the room straight into his nostrils which began to flare instinctively. The scent of arousal was coming from Andrew.
Andrew stood behind Tara watching her bend over to pick up his files. His eyes were glued to her rear. He had already had a sample of dark chocolate -as she called herself- and now he wanted a little mocha.
Tara felt two emotions at the same time. One was Andrew who for some strange reason was standing so close to her, that when she took a step back for balance- after lifting several files from the floor-she brushed up against him and felt something hard pressing against her backside. Fear shot through her when she realized the true reason why Andrew had been so nice to her and that fear opened her mind to his before she could stop herself. It wasn't easy for her to read minds unless she was frightened, or some intense uncontrollable emotions had taken over her like now. Flashes of his thoughts showed clearly in her head. He wanted her. He craved Black women. They were a fetish to him. He had already had Rhonda and now was after her.
The second emotions came from someone else not in the room. She could feel rage gradually building up inside this person mixed with another emotion that caused her blood to run cold. Death. She could feel the icy fingers of death reaching out to Andrew.
"Tara, let's stop playing games and pretending like we don't like each other. You know I've had my eyes on you for a while," Andrew said as he pressed against her trapping her between his hard erection and the wall. She still held the files against her chest, feeling very uncomfortable and somewhat afraid. Men had come on to her before, but not in the work place, where she felt safe. If she complained she knew no one would believe her, being a minority played against her. Andrew was a respected lawyer, a true gentleman so everyone, including herself, had thought.
"I only liked you as a friend, Andrew, not like this. Get off me!"
"Awww come on, Tara, you know you want this just as bad as I do. You're always smiling at me and making eye contact."
"I was just being friendly, that's all!" Tara told him just before his body suddenly left hers. She turned around and dropped the folders when she saw the reason why Andrew had suddenly left her. Kane was in the office filling the entire room with his presence and fury. He was so intense that Tara's head began to hurt. She only caught a glimpse of his huge body before the room began to spin. Too much, the pressure of his feelings, his rage was filling her head. Suddenly there was screaming, panic screaming, she tried to see who was making the sound, but someone blocked her vision, someone huge, dominating and then she fainted.
*****************************************
"No one knows what happened...they just heard screaming and found him in the room alone holding a pair of scissors...he was rocking back and forth on the floor...muttering something about glowing red eyes, large fangs, claws..."
"He thinks claws chopped off it off?"
"We all know he did it with the pair of scissors he was holding, those things were huge! They looked like claws..."
"I just can't understand it. Andrew seemed so normal you know?"
"They say the pressure must have got to him and he snapped. He was working on a very big case that no one wanted to handle because it was so bad."
Tara heard the voices before she opened her eyes. Rhonda sat in the lounge room with their manager, Karen.
"Well, well, look who's finally decides to wake up from sleeping on the job," Karen teased her.
"Tara, you okay?" Rhonda asked her.
"What happened?" Tara asked sitting up.
"That's what we'd like to know. Kendrick found you in the break room passed out. He said you looked tired earlier and thought we were working you too much," Karen smirked.
"Kendrick?" Tara said, but she thought for sure the person in the room had been Kane. And, what was this about Andrew cutting off his private part?
"Seems like he's taken a liking to you too," Rhonda teased.
"The office is closed after a certain incident happened with Andrew, but I had to stay behind to make sure you were okay," Karen said as if she had better things to do. "Rhonda was nice enough to accompany me. You appear fine, go home until further noticed."
Tara waited until Karen left before turning to Rhonda. "What happened!?" she asked again.
"Girl, it's a good thing you did pass out in the break room. I don't think you wanted to see what went down in Andrew's office. The man went crazy and chopped off his own dick with a pair of gigantic scissors mumbling something about a wild animal. It was crazy!" Rhonda shook her head. "It's a shame what happened to him, a big dick like his did not deserved to be mutilated in such a way, the pleasure that man gave me...I'm going to miss his fine ass...damn..."
Tara slowly stood up, bits and pieces of jumbled memories slowly came back to her. She felt slightly dizzy and sat back down again. "What time is it?"
"It's almost four. Hey girl, if you want...I can take you home..." Rhonda said eyeing her as if she saw her chance at an opportunity.
Tara did not want to let Rhonda know where she stayed; she still didn't completely trust her. Yet, she wondered if she'd be able to make it home on the bus. Even though, she still had the money someone had given her this morning, taking a cab home would be very expensive, especially in the traffic.
Kendrick suddenly opened the door giving Tara a concerned look. "I'll take her home," he told Rhonda.
"You've been standing outside eavesdropping?" Rhonda asked him. She turned to Tara. "He's been dropping by to check on you. He's the one that brought you here, picked you up like you weighed nothing and laid you on the bed."
Tara gave the handsome man a shy smile. "Thank you..."
"You're welcome," he told her softly and stared at Rhonda.
Rhonda threw her hands in the air. "Well damn, I know when it's my cue to leave. You're going to be all right with him?" she asked Tara who nodded in response. "Okay, see ya girl. I'll call you tonight." She walked out the room.
Kendrick knelt in front of Tara causing her to blush as the same green eyes as his brother's moved over her as if checking her over. Kendrick's eyes were just as beautiful as Kane's but they were not intense like his brother's. As a matter of fact, Tara could barely feel anything from Kendrick. Whereas his brother had too much emotion, was too deep and intense with everything, Kendrick's emotions were calm, light, almost empty which, for once, Tara welcomed. She never wanted to experience what she had from Kane earlier which was the reason why she fainted.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Kendrick asked her staring into her eyes. She looked so vulnerable, pale, confused. He wanted to reach up and caress her cheek, to tell her everything was okay, he'd handled it, cleaned up his brother's mess...but he knew he couldn't do any of it. Kane had shown what would happen to any man who dared to touch his life mate, especially in the vulgar manner Andrew had.
Kendrick had been surprised at his own emotions when he'd caught a glimpse of what Andrew had been doing to Tara through his brother's eyes, before Kane had ripped into the bastard. He had wanted to do the exact same thing. This possessiveness was new to him. He had never felt it before. Actually, he'd never felt anything before. Unlike his brother, who felt everything beyond the normal, he lacked emotions until now.
For his entire life he had lived an emotionless, cold, empty life...until...now. No...it wasn't just now that he'd felt them, it was yesterday when Kane had met Tara. He'd kept it a secret from his brother. When Tara had touched him, he had also experienced the connection and it had been just as intense, but he hadn't wanted to acknowledge it, hadn't wanted to even accept it because Tara belonged only to Kane...didn't she? Why hadn't he experienced it when he first met her a month ago, while Kane was on vacation? Why now? Unless...both he and Kane needed to be together in order for it to happen...which meant...
"I'm fine," he heard Tara reply to him bringing him out of his thoughts. "You don't have to take me home, really."
She was so beautiful; he should not be so close to her. A man or a wolf could get lost in those lovely brown eyes. He'd always been attracted to her from the first day, but had never acted upon it. He'd been cautious of her, knowing she knew something was strange about him.
"I'm worried about you...you had a nose bleed before you fainted..." Kendrick told her. He cared...he marveled at the feeling, the only person he had ever cared about was his brother and his surrogate father, but he cared about this girl.
He knew why her nose had bled. Kane's emotions had been too intense for a sensitive empath like her. Yes, he'd known what she was for a long time, although she seemed to deny herself her abilities and the psychic powers she refused to tap into.
"I'm fine, really," Tara insisted.
He moved back so she could stand up. She stared at him for a while. "You want to tell me, what really happened?"
Kendrick looked at her in surprise; he hadn't expected her to be so straight forward. He smiled. "Are you sure you want to know the truth?"
Tara thought for a moment. Hell no..she didn't want to know the full truth, the truth would probably scare the crap out of her, drive her insane like Andrew, but she was curious about something. "Kane...he was there, wasn't he?"
"When has he not been there since you've met him?" Kendrick asked.
The question said far too much for Tara to accept. "He saved me again," she said. "That...stuff about...Andrew...did Kane...No...what am I talking about?" Tara laughed nervously.
Kendrick stared at her silently...
"I mean, he didn't chop his...you know...off with a pair of scissors did he?" Tara finally asked.
"No," Kendrick assured her, "he did not chop it off with a pair of scissors." He'd done it with his claws...
Tara sighed in relief and walked out the room with Kendrick following behind her. "At least let me pay for a cab to take you home," he insisted.
"Do you know how much that will cost?" Tara looked at him as if he'd lost his mind.
Kendrick chuckled as he walked through the building with her. Most people were gone; other still lingered around with the cops. "The cost means nothing to me compared to your safety, Tara."
She looked at him suspiciously. "Why are you being so nice to me?"
Kendrick smiled, "because you had a bad day," was the only answer he gave her.
"Andrew had a bad day," Tara pointed out, "not me."
Sharp anger struck through him, through both of them. Tara gasped. Kendrick had never been an emotional guy, where was this coming from all of a sudden? Kendrick couldn't stop the anger; he didn't even try to fight it. Neither he nor his brother cared about Andrew, they cared about her. "Both of us saw what he was doing to you, Tara. Do you not think he deserved it?"
His green eyes which were usually so friendly flashed dangerously when he asked the question. Tara swallowed. She didn't bother to answer his question; instead, she got into the elevator. Kendrick handed her a hundred dollars. "Be safe, Tara," he told her right before it closed. She stared at the money. "Wait!" she yelled at the closed door and wondered why he didn't get on with her.
The lights in the elevator suddenly went out. She backed away from the door wondering if they were having electrical problems again and ended up backing into a hard body. She gasped as strong arms circled around her, holding her tightly. Before she could panic or scream, feelings that weren't hers, began to overwhelm her causing her entire body to relax against the one who was holding her.
Warmth. Possessiveness. Tenderness.
"Mine, you're mine, Tara. I will never let another man touch you..." the voice whispered in her ear, comforting her.
She tried to turn around to face the stranger, although she knew...she knew...
His arms loosened allowing her to turn around only to bring her face against his chest as he held her tightly again. So warm, his body was so strong and big and warm. She needed this...He knew she needed to be held before she went home to a lonely, empty, house to cry over the incident. Warm lips moved against her temple, down her cheeks, cherishing her. "I will always protect you," the masculine voice whispered against her sensitive skin.
The door opened and the lights came back on. A cold rush of air filled the elevator as she opened her eyes. No one was here. She could have sworn a body had been here, holding her, giving her the comfort she needed. She blinked and looked around, then stepped out. Was she going crazy? Had her subconscious conjured up Kane at her most vulnerable time or had he really been here?
Kane watched from a distance as Tara hailed a cab and got in.
Kendrick stood beside him. "Glad you were able recover your control," he told Kane.
He had made it just in time to keep Kane from killing Andrew. However, he had not been able to stop him from slicing a certain part off. Kendrick had glanced at Tara slowly sinking into unconsciousness, her body sliding down the wall, blood running from her nose and knew Kane was the reason why she was suffering. Kane had been too enraged to know he was hurting her. The only thing on his mind was giving Andrew a slow painful death. Kendrick had to fight him before he was able to make him understand what he was doing to Tara. Kane had taken one look at her and flashed- another neat little trick that made them different from the wolf people. His body disappeared in a red blur leaving Kendrick to take care of everything, including Tara until he was able to return. "That was close today, brother. I had to do some pretty quick thinking to clean up the mess you made."
"You have a very sadistic sense of humor, brother," Kane told him referring to the scissors he'd stuck in Andrew's hand.
Kendrick grinned widely, his fangs glistening...