Lana had followed Campbell Marks since the judge dismissed the case against his brother Cameron, and she’d seen a couple of things she probably shouldn’t have.
To make matters worse, he caught her.
Luckily, she had been in her car and was able to get away. It turned out Lana’s theory was correct. It wasn’t Cameron who had committed the crimes but his older brother Campbell, a man with a long history of violence and domestic abuse under his belt. He had assaulted his ex-girlfriend, and the two men she had cheated on him with.
Gross, she thought, talk about getting around. I’d be pissed too.
Even though she was thrilled that she’d been right, and her gut hadn’t led her astray, Lana wished she could kick her own ass. Since she decided to take the detective work into her own hands, she was now in a predicament she wasn’t sure how to get out of. She had evidence that she really couldn’t prove, which meant she couldn’t use it in court.
She realized too late she should have left the investigating to the police, but she couldn’t help it. She found herself wanting to prove that Cameron was innocent, even though technically it was her job to do the opposite. As the prosecutor of the case, she was going about it all wrong. To be honest, she wasn’t sure why she was so hell bent on finding out the truth. It was her job to prove without a doubt that someone was guilty. But in this case she couldn’t.
She was so engrossed in her own thoughts that she didn’t even see him coming. Campbell grabbed her and shoved her against the wall—hard. Lana didn’t have time to scream before his dirty hand covered her mouth.
“Don’t you dare make a sound, got it?” he hissed in her ear. Lana nodded, if only to get him away from her.
His stench made her gag as he rubbed against her and groaned. “Hm, you’re a big girl.” Then he had the audacity to roughly fondle her breast before backing away.
Now he was angry again. Talk about mood swings.
Lana was pissed. Any other time she wouldn’t have stood for that kind of behavior from a man, but this one just so happened to be holding a knife in his hand. Maybe things were worse than she thought. She could handle being groped. Hell, she could even handle being roughed up, but she wasn’t sure if she was up for whatever he was planning. She shivered in fear, thinking of the worst case scenario.
She began to speak but shook her head, thinking better of it. Sometimes talking got her in more trouble than it was worth. Maybe if she kept her trap shut he would leave her alone. But the likelihood of that was slim to none. This time she wasn’t able to get away.
“You stupid bitch, you should have stayed out of it. Cameron knew what he was doing. And now they’re after me.” Campbell jabbed his knife in her direction as if he were going to stab her. Lana didn’t fear many things, but in this case she certainly wasn’t feeling confident about her chances. An erratic man with a sharp weapon wasn’t a good mix—ever.
“He wouldn’t have gotten the time I would,” he continued, as if that explained it all.
She nodded, slowly understanding. Cameron was going to take the rap for his older brother. She already knew the two were only fifteen months apart, and they were closer than anyone could ever imagine. She shuddered. The things she had come across sickened her. They definitely weren’t your everyday ordinary family.
Cameron planned to do whatever punishment he got. He’d be out of jail and back on the streets before Campbell was able to commit another crime.
Maybe.
That was loyalty, and Lana shouldn’t have been surprised, but she was. She couldn’t imagine taking the blame for something she didn’t do, no matter how much she cared about the person.
She held up her hands in surrender. “Let’s calm down, Mr. Marks. I haven’t told anyone anything, and I won’t. I’ll forget about it all, and then we can go on with our lives like nothing happened. Okay?”
Campbell laughed wildly. “Yeah, like I believe that shit for a minute. I’m not stupid, you condescending bitch.” He ran a shaky hand through his dirty blond hair. “And people actually believe the shit you spew?” He stepped over her, and she cowered against the wall. As he leaned his face against her cheek, his hot breath whispered against her ear, “You’re going to pay for messing this up for me.”
Lana shuddered and gagged. The feel of his breath on her skin turned her stomach. “Please,” she said. She wasn’t exactly sure what she was asking for. At that moment she only knew that she wanted him away from her.
Conner’s beast roared, and his body shook with rage. His bear tried to break free, but even though he was still out of it from his injuries, he knew that couldn’t happen. All he knew for sure was that he needed to get somewhere and he needed to get there fast. It was the whole reason he left the hospital.
He wasn’t sure why he had felt the urgency to come this way, but even with no memory he knew not to ignore the bear inside of him. Instinct alone led him further into the city to a parking garage.
Really, what the hell?
But his other half paced inside his head, pushing him to hurry. He sped down to the lower level of a parking garage, and it wasn’t until he heard a woman’s plea that he knew why he was there.
He didn’t know shit, except right at the moment it didn’t matter. The sound of her voice tightened his gut. His beast pawed at him, urging him to follow her voice. Otherwise, he drew a blank. He didn’t know what happened before he ended up in the hospital. The doctor said his memory would return in time and it could be a little at a time or all at once. Right now, that didn’t matter
The woman cried out, and something inside him snapped. He rounded the corner to see a man standing over a beautiful, plump woman. Both man and beast wanted to kill.
Mine! his beast cried in despair.
Conner shook his head in shock.
My mate.
He took a deep breath, inhaling her delicious scent and then narrowed his eyes on the man who was touching her. The man stunk of sweat, marijuana, and alcohol. He was also very sick, but the biggest problem was his waving a knife at Conner’s woman.
Conner barreled towards the man and swung a meaty hand at him, knocking the knife to the ground. The man hadn’t even seen him coming. He was too engrossed in scaring the woman. She gasped, and when he looked down at her, he saw a tear slide down her cheek. He wanted to reach down and wipe it away, but the man had shaken out of his daze and dove for the fallen knife. But Conner wouldn’t let him get that far. In one quick move he grabbed the man by the scruff of the neck and held him up, feet dangling in the air.
“You dared to touch her!”
The man paled and lost control of his bladder. The stench of urine filled the air, and Conner held him further from his body. Shaking him again, Conner felt disgust for the puny excuse of a man.
“Did you hear me? Don’t touch what isn’t yours, you worthless piece of shit!” Conner dismissed the man as a threat and tossed him to the side, not caring if he hurt him severely or not. It didn’t matter. He was on his deathbed anyways. Instead, he focused on the woman, who was watching him with wide, innocent eyes.
Conner knelt in front of her and placed a big hand on her forearm. His heart raced at the first touch and a tingle ran up his spine as heat filled his body.
Ours, his beast rumbled from within.
Conner’s jaw fell. She gasped at his touch and looked down at his hand. He pulled it away. “Sorry.” Then he smiled. “Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
She swallowed and shook her head. “You showed up in time. Thank you.”
“Where can I take you?”
She pointed right in front of her. “That’s my car. He cornered me before I had the chance to leave.”
Again, Conner touched her arm. She didn’t seem as scared. Her heart had slowed to a regular rhythm. “Let’s get you up off the ground then, okay?”
She nodded and allowed him to pull her up. He gaped at the woman before him. She was a tall woman with curves any man would fall to his knees for. She held herself with a confidence most women didn’t, and he found that was sexy as hell. She wore a tight skirt and a jacket. He could tell she was some type of business woman. His bear whined, wanting to be free.
She was perfect for him. She wasn’t too short or too small that he would hurt her. Fate had led him to his mate, after all the time he spent avoiding it. Now he wondered why. He didn’t even know her name, and at that moment in time, it didn’t even matter that he didn’t know his either.