Hidden Rage: Kindred Tales

“Oh, son! What happened, is she all right?” His mother looked anxiously at the still-weeping Bobbi in his arms. “And what about your clothes? They’re in rags!”

“Bobbi will be fine,” Dragon said shortly, ignoring the question about his shredded shirt. “Though she would have been better if she hadn’t been allowed to go out into the Market! What were you thinking, Mother Tizlah? She hasn’t been with us a whole solar month yet! How could you break your own rule and put Bobbi in danger?”

“How could I know she’d get into trouble just going to the Market?” his adoptive mother exclaimed. “Your Sire thought it would be a good thing for her to learn how to bargain before the two of you got married. And since the wedding is in only two weeks—”

“All right, all right,” Dragon growled, cutting her off. “The important thing is that I got to her in time.”

“Bobbi, are…are you all right?” It was Keelah asking, looking over Dragon’s elbow to see Bobbi’s tearful face. “I…I’m so sorry I had to leave you—I ran as fast as…as I could to…to get help!”

Indeed, she was panting, nearly gasping for air as she spoke and the look in her eyes showed her honest concern.

“I’m all right,” Bobbi whispered hoarsely, looking up at her friend. “I’m just…it was just a lot, that’s all.”

“Thank you for running to get help,” Dragon told the Pleasure Girl.

But Keelah shook her head.

“We would have been too late, I’m afraid. How did you save her? What happened to the males who tried to take her?”

“What? Who tried to take her? What happened?” Mother Tizlah demanded.

“I’ll tell you later,” Dragon said curtly. “Right now, I must care for my bride.”

And he left them all behind and strode down the corridor leading to his rooms. He was going to check Bobbi over carefully and thoroughly, he told himself.

And then he was going to be certain that no male who wasn’t him would ever dare to approach her again!

47

“You don’t have to carry me everywhere—I can walk,” Bobbi said as Dragon carried her through the door to his room and kicked it shut behind him.

“The Hell you will,” he said shortly and continued to cradle her close to his broad chest.

“I really can, though,” she protested.

Her voice sounded weak and hoarse in her own ears—first from screaming and then from crying. She wasn’t a bit ashamed of the first—her screaming was probably what had helped him find her. But she was ashamed of the crying—it made her feel girly and weak and helpless.

Weak or not, though, she hadn’t been able to help it. Everything had just come rushing over her—the attack, the near-rape—the second one in two weeks—and then that thing in the alley. What in the Seven Hells, as the Kindred said, was it? Was it part of Dragon?

She thought it must be. But was it real? Or had she imagined it? Had her mind broken under the strain of being attacked and dragged into the dark alley?

She certainly felt broken, Bobbi thought as she lay limply against the big Kindred’s broad chest. As frightened as she had been of the thing she’d seen—or thought she’d seen—in the alley, he still felt like safety to her. His warm, spicy scent invaded her senses and seemed almost to act as some kind of a sedative—not to make her sleepy but to calm her down.

As she breathed him in, Bobbi felt her heart slow its frantic rhythm and she could have sworn that her blood pressure was going down too. Being close to the big Kindred was better than doing yoga and meditation combined.

Safe—he keeps me safe, she thought, nuzzling against him.

He’s your kidnapper—you wouldn’t even be in this situation if he hadn’t brought you here in the first place, a voice in her head tried to argue.

But Bobbi couldn’t make herself care. All she wanted to do was snuggle against the big Kindred’s broad chest and let herself forget the whole awful mess.

And then Dragon was carrying her into the bathing chamber and running steaming hot water into the big soaking tub.

“What are you doing?” Bobbi asked, as he stood her carefully on her feet and began unfastening her clothes.

“Giving you a bath.” His voice was low and growling—tinged still with a residue of the fury and fear he must have felt for her when he’d found her being attacked.

But was it him that found you or that other thing? whispered a little voice in her head. Do you even know, Bobbi?

She really didn’t know and she was much too tired to ask, she decided as he got her undressed and helped her slip into the steaming tub. As the heated water closed around her, she sighed deeply and looked up at him.

“Thank you for coming for me but how did you know I was in danger?”