Page 14 of Rutger

“I don’t think so.” He took the steps between them to be too close to her. “I don’t know you, and I don’t want to get into your car. I’ve called Rutger to me, and he’s on his way.”

“That was a stupid move, don’t you think?” He jerked her arm toward him and brought her arm up to her shoulders. The pain was horrific, and she was nearly sick with it. Just as she heard a shot, she noticed that Jimmy was no longer standing but lying on his back, bleeding. She pulled away to go to him and cried out in pain when she did it. “Get in the fucking car. Now.”

She was wrestled into the car when the door opened. Jimmy was dead; she could tell that from the amount of blood that was pouring from his wounds. Just as the door shut with her inside, the entire limo shuddered and shook until the man driving got out. While she couldn’t see what was going on, she did know on some level that Rutger had shown up and that he wasn’t happy with the way things were going.

When her arms were freed, she slashed her hand across the man’s throat who had been talking to her. Seeing his head fall back, she didn’t have time to be sickened by what she’d done. There were two more men in the limo who were trying to keep her from getting out. She dealt one the same blow while the door to the limo was torn off. Rutger stood there as his beast, and she was afraid.

Not for herself but for the man that dared touch her.

Rutger pulled the last man out of the limo and ripped him in half. As soon as he turned to ash, she knew him to be a vampire. When the second man in the front seat started for her, she decided that she’d had enough and shoved her hand into his chest and pulled out his still-beating heart. Blood was everywhere, and when she dropped the heart, it rolled to the ground where she’d planted the bushes.

Looking around for Rutger, she found him breathing hard, standing there at the side of the limo. She dared not touch him for fear of his beast that still held him. Once he looked at her, his eyes filled with blood, his body long and muscled, she said his name three times before he snarled at her.

“I was coming.” She nodded and took a step toward him. “They should have all been killed by myself. I failed you.” Katie slapped him. Hard enough to knock him to the ground.

“You failed me? How on earth do you figure that?” He backed away from her so she took two steps in his direction. “We worked together to save me. Or would you have rather I just sat back and let them take me so that you could do it all by yourself?”

“You hit me.” She drew back to hit him again. “Once was quite enough, I think. I gather from what you’re saying is that I did good in letting you—having you help me.”

“Yes, and I let you help me. I had already killed one of them before you got here.” He looked at the carnage and then back at her. “What now?”

“You killed two of them to my one. I guess I needed you more than you needed me.” She walked up closer to him and kissed him. “Not that I mind, but what was that for?”

“For being my mate and making sure that I was safe.” She laid her head on his chest and listened to his heart beating for several minutes. It calmed her in a way nothing else did. Looking up at him, she frowned. “What did they want me for? Even to kill to get me?”

“I don’t know. I would imagine ransom. I also imagine that they figured you’d be easy pickings as well.” She looked at the car and the men that had tried to grab her. “We’re going to have to take precautions from now on. I know you tangled with four men and a vampire, but you might not be so lucky the next time. And whoever sent them will know it didn’t work too. They’ll try again.”

“It has to do with the money that we have, doesn’t it? The stupid marks.” He said that it more than likely had everything to do with the marks. “What happens now? I mean, the marks won’t disappear until someone gets more money than we do. That’s what Brew said, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Then after that, the marks will disappear forever. Until then we’re going to have to be extra careful.” She held onto his chest and wondered what the next person would bring. She knew without a doubt that someone would come for her again. And all because of some stupid vampire ruling that she had nothing to do with. “I’m going to get with the pack master and see if he can help us out until then. It will mean that you have guards on you all the time, but it’s better than you being caught off guard when they come for you again.”

“Maybe it’ll get out there that I’m no one to mess with.” He laughed a little, and she smiled. “I do need to work with my magic more. Perhaps we can get the faeries to help me. They’d not be as noticeable when things go wrong. Gloom told me that he was there to protect me. I wonder what happened to that.”

“I’ll find out.” The police arrived just as they were getting ready to go home. It never occurred to either of them that they’d have to talk to the police, but they did. They told them that they attacked out of nowhere and that they didn’t know why. It was best to say that than to speculate on why she’d been targeted.

Both of them were arrested. Rutger said it was normal for what had happened, but they were released when it came out that she was working and defended herself. They had some help from his magic because the bodies only looked like they’d been beaten up and not had their necks torn out. The vampire would never be brought up, and that was good. It would have been hard to explain how he disappeared in ash and that Rutger had torn him in half.

After being released, they went to Brew’s home to find out what could be done about the magic that surrounded them and the money issues. They were going to be targeted again; they knew it, and he suggested that they do just what they said they were going to do. Get with the local pack and the faeries to see if they could help in guarding them. At least until he got the magic taken care of.

“I am working on it. I have gotten with a couple of older vampires that said that the magic could disappear on its own now that the rule is no longer in effect. I hope that’s right. I hate that you two had to defend yourselves over something as stupid as who has more money than who.” Rutger agreed with him and said he was going to get with the faerie queen and see if she could help them out for a time. “I’d bet that they’d be better in the long run. They’re so tiny no one would suspect them to be able to do anything more than to sprinkle faerie dust on them.”

His attempt at humor wasn’t funny at all, and Rutger told him that. Telling them that he was sorry, Brew said he’d contact Queen Danielle now and have her see what sort of help she could be. The faeries loved to help out when they were needed, and this was something he thought they needed badly. The next attempt at her getting kidnapped was something that she didn’t want to deal with. Not again.

The queen came into the room with them, and they explained what was going on. When she asked about Gloom, Katie told her that she’d not seen him in a couple of days. She said she only just realized that just now. When called, the little man didn’t come, and that worried them all. Gloom was the reason that she’d been able to find Rutger, and she didn’t want anything to happen to him.

“I’ll search the realm for him. It might be that something has happened at his home and he can’t come to you.” She hoped so. The little man meant a great deal to her. “I’ll tell you when I find him. I’m sure that it’s nothing more than he got sick at home and has been resting. They’re supposed to notify me when they’re ill, but it might be a simple thing, in that he forgot. I promise to let you know when I find him.”

“Good. And thank you.” The queen said it was her pleasure and decided to help them with the guarding of herself. She didn’t want them to be hurt, but she also knew from the queen that the little people were very good with swords and bows and arrows. They might seem small in appearance, but they were mighty when it came to protecting what was theirs. “I look forward to any help you can give me. You wouldn’t believe how scared I was when those men tried to take me.”

After going home, she realized that it had been several days since she’d seen her faerie. Gloom was special to her, and she didn’t want anything to have happened to him. He’d not just gotten her the house that she was living in but also the money that had been left behind by her father. He’d also been the one who made sure that she and Rutger came together as well. And that put him in a special place in her heart.

Katie was introduced to the team that would be with her all the time. There were a dozen faeries that would be around her while out of the house, and the magic on the house would make her safe there. No one with ill will could enter the house, and she liked that. The queen said that all the houses of the Smiths had it, and she wished that she could put it on more homes. Humans and shifters alike would cause harm to those they didn’t understand.

“I have but a few thousand faeries that were willing to come to you to aid you. I didn’t make it a large announcement, but those that were in the castle. I’m sure that there would have been tens of thousands more that would have come to your aid had I done that.” Katie thanked Danielle for her help. “I’m glad that I’ve been asked. It’s nice to be useful to such magical creatures as the vampires. Especially those like the ones here. The Smith kiss is a great group of men and women, and I love the fact that I can help them when they need it. You are a part of that group, and I love that you were willing to ask for help instead of getting hurt by unsavory people.”

“I might not be so lucky the next time they come around. That’s why I’m asking for help.” She told her it was a smart thing to do. “Yes, thank you for that. I don’t want to be hurt when I’ve just started my life with Rutger.”

“You know that you’re with child, don’t you?” Putting her hand on her still flat belly, she shook her head. “Ah, but you are. You are going to have a daughter, then a son someday in the future. They will be helpful to the faeries when they’re born. I’m looking forward to them helping me in the other realm.”