Heat (Blood Bound Book 4)

Chapter 1

Heat

Blood Bound Series Book 4

Amy Blankenship, RK Melton

Copyright © 2012 Amy Blankenship

Second Edition Published by TekTime

All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Micah was resting in bed wrapped up in so many bandages he was starting to resemble a mummy. He couldn’t help but smile softly as Mrs. Tully clucked around him like a mother hen and occasionally shook her head. He also wasn’t complaining about the amount of pain killer she’d stuck in his arm. He could see himself in the dresser mirror across the room and started to c**k an eyebrow but decided against it when it instantly hurt.

They’d already assured him Anthony was dead but he couldn’t help wishing the alpha werewolf was still alive so he could torture the bastard the same way he’d been tortured. The story they’d told him had sounded like a quick death. He wouldn’t have made it quick.

“I think you shifters are going to end up being the death of me,” Mrs. Tully exclaimed softly. The shifters… both jaguars and cougars, held a soft spot in her heart. She’d delivered every single one of them and had been very close to their mother. “Just look at the shape you got yourself into.”

Micah pouted at the ceiling feeling dizzy when the ceiling fan kept going round and round. “It wasn’t my fault that I got kidnapped and tortured.”

Mrs. Tully softly tapped him on the forehead with the tips of her fingers. “I beg to differ, young Skywalker. If the stories I heard were true, you stood up to that horrid werewolf and that’s what got you kidnapped.”

“So you’re saying I brought this on myself?” Micah demanded, ignoring the grins from the other people in the room.

“Don’t interrupt your elders,” Mrs. Tully came back with a stern look. “I wasn’t finished. As I was saying… you stood up to that mongrel dog and I have to say it was something long overdue.”

Micah looked pointedly over at Quinn with an ‘I told you so’ smirk. He wasn’t ready to forgive his brother. He’d warned Quinn about Anthony and had been told to stand down. He hoped big brother was happy because now he couldn’t stand up.

“Stop that!” Mrs. Tully growled and slapped him on the top of his head.

The action made his lingering headache start to thump and he squeezed his eyes shut. “Hey, I’m hurt here,” Micah complained.

“You’ll make it worse if you keep up this sibling rivalry,” Mrs. Tully retorted and gave that same warning look to Quinn. “I need to call my granddaughter and let her know where I am. The poor dear will be worried if I’m not at home to answer the phone.”

Mrs. Tully didn’t wait for anyone to show her where the phone was. This wasn’t the first time she’d been to the Wilder residence. She missed a step when she noticed Michael sitting quietly in a chair in the shadowed corner of the room. It wasn’t like the charming vampire to be so dark and brooding. When the door closed behind her, all eyes turned back to Micah.

“It’s good to see you finally back home where you belong,” Steven said with a soft smile, trying to hide the fact that he was worried. Even though Micah was home, something was telling him he wasn’t out of danger. Micah was pale and his eyes were a bit too shiny for his liking.

Micah returned the smile but was starting to get drowsy, “It’s just good to be out of that hell hole.”

“You were very reckless this time,” Quinn stated from his position near the window and crossed his arms over his chest. “You could have died down in that basement if we hadn’t seen that message you sent to Alicia.”

Micah looked around the room for his little sister and frowned. “Speaking of Alicia, where is she? I thought for sure she’d be here.”

“She’s staying over at a friend’s house until this all blows over,” Kat answered. She glanced at Quinn wondering how long he was going to wait until he called their sister and told her to come home.

“Why didn’t she come back with us from Anthony’s?” Micah asked. “I thought for sure she’d…” again he glanced toward Quinn, putting the blame for Alicia’s absence on him simply because he wanted to.

Nick shook his head but was inwardly cringing. He tried not to look at Michael knowing the vampire had erased everyone’s memory except for his and Micah’s. “Dude, you must have had one too many hits to the head… Alicia wasn’t at Anthony’s.”

“But she was there,” Micah insisted. “I saw her with my own eyes.” He glared at Nick but the man just shrugged and shook his head.

He looked from one face to the next and realized that none of them would confirm Alicia being at the mansion. He remembered her in the basement… holding his hand. She was crying and it would eat at him until he saw her again and made sure she was alright. He didn’t know which had hurt worse… seeing her cry or being almost killed. He glanced around one more time making note of the fact that the man who had been with Alicia was also missing from the crowd.

Huffing, he pressed back against the pillows and silently planned to find out which friend Alicia was staying with. He’d hunt her down and demand the truth from her.

“You must have been hallucinating,” Jewel said softly.

Micah looked over at the pretty blonde and frowned. “Who are you?”

“This is Jewel Scott Wilder,” Steven said and wrapped his good arm around her shoulders. Mrs. Tully had already taken care of his own bullet wounds and had his other arm in a sling for now. “She’s my mate.”

“Anthony’s Jewel Scott?” Now Micah was even more confused.

“Only within Anthony's demented mind,” Steven responded but couldn’t stop himself from pulling Jewel a little tighter against him.

Micah blinked and looked over at Quinn to ask confirmation when he saw Kat was snuggled up against his older brother. With a sigh, he wondered how high a dose of drugs Mrs. Tully had actually given him because either he was losing his mind or everyone else was. He glanced up at the only other person in the room he knew that had any common sense, Warren.

“Did I pull a Rip Van Winkle or something? I mean, when I left… Steven was still single and Quinn had about as much romantic inclination as Dean.”

Warren smiled, “Quite a bit has happened since you’ve been gone.”

“Okay, my phone call is made,” Mrs. Tully announced as she walked back in. She actually hadn’t called her granddaughter. She’d only said that to give them a moment alone with Micah before running them off. “Now… everyone out and allow this little kitten to get some sleep.”

Micah growled at the older woman. “I am not a kitten.”

“Dear, my youngest cat could beat you in a fight with the shape you’re in right now and she’s a wimp, runs from her own shadow,” Mrs. Tully informed him. While she talked, she took a needle from the odd-looking box she’d brought with her.

“I’m not so sure I need more drugs,” Micah sighed. He had a lot of catching up to do. The mere fact that he hadn’t seen Alicia yet made him ache worse than the broken bones did.

“And that’s why you’re not the doctor.” Mrs. Tully was glad he still had that strange sense of humor… once he started healing he was going to need it.

Micah growled softly when the needle sank into his arm and had to look away. He hated taking orders from anyone and what he needed to be doing was tracking down his sister. Everyone filed out of the room when she pulled the empty syringe from his arm.

Mrs. Tully watched them go then turned back to Micah who was already asleep. His family was happy he was home, but the truth was… she worried for the cougar. His injuries were so severe she was surprised he was still alive.

Both of his kneecaps had been shattered by bullets, his ribs broken by being struck continuously over a period of time. It also looked like his back had been flayed by a whip of some kind. He was dehydrated, malnourished, and he had an infection spreading through his bloodstream. She would have given him penicillin had he been human, but sadly… human antibiotics did not have any effect on the paranormal.

Even though were-animals healed very quickly… it didn’t mean they couldn’t be permanently injured… or mortally wounded. She would consider him lucky if he survived the infection.

She glanced out of the corner of her eye at Michael, who hadn’t left and was sitting very still in his chair. Mrs. Tully decided to leave him alone. She thought a lot of Michael and if he wanted to stay then she would not make him leave. He was another that often came to her but it was mostly to bring her the wounded, never for injury of his own.

With a sigh, Mrs. Tully packed away her equipment and stood up. With a slight nod in Michael's direction, she quietly left the room.

Michael knew it was time to leave… he’d only been waiting for his anger to fade. Alicia was a handful, but Damon should have never brought her into the middle of a gun fight like that. He could still see the possessive look on Damon’s face when he’d wrapped his arms around her and wondered if history was setting itself up to be repeated.

His gaze returned to what was left of Micah and the image of Alicia crying as she held her brother’s hand came back to haunt him. Another image flashed through his mind… the image of Dean grabbing his hand and laying it on Kane to keep him from dying. Between him and Dean… Kane’s injury had healed right in front of them.

Michael had never thought about it, but he’d seen Syn do things like that in the past. There was one time in particular that stood out in Michael’s mind… so long ago that he had all but forgotten it.

It was during one of their many traveling excursions and they’d come across an injured child. He smiled softly in remembrance of Damon and Kane’s reactions to the little girl. One of her legs had been broken and she had several bruises that were in various stages of healing.

The child had insisted she’d only fallen but the guys knew there was nothing in the clearing that could have caused those injuries. When Damon knelt down in front of the little girl and started to compel her to tell them the truth, Syn had pushed him away saying, “You don’t do that to an innocent child.”

They’d offered to help her get back to her house but instantly smelt the fear that rose within the child. But, it wasn’t fear of them, it was fear of going home that made the little girl's heart pound. Though the child hadn’t said anything, Michael had known that her parents had been the ones responsible for all of her injuries… not just the broken leg.

Syn had said nothing to the child about it and dried her tears. Instead, he asked about her siblings and she replied that she had none. She started talking about her grandmother who lived in the mountains and her eyes shone with a grandchild’s love.

While she spoke, Syn had placed his hand directly over the girl’s hurt leg. When she finished her story, not only was her leg healed but all of her bruises had also vanished. That was when Syn had really shocked Michael. While Kane picked the girl up in his arms and started playing with her, Syn stepped closer to him and Damon.

Looking at Damon he said, “You are never to tamper with a child’s mind… except for this time. She does not need to remember the beatings, but she does remember their deaths.” His eyes had grown so cold as he added, “It was by fire.” With that, Syn had turned and walked down the path that obviously led to the girl’s home.

Kane made no secret that he wanted to keep the girl and raise her… he’d always had a soft spot for children. They all had soft spots but Kane’s was really bad. He’d buy a whole toy store for them if the whim struck him… and it had… a few times. However, Syn had insisted on doing the right thing and taken the child to her beloved grandmother.

When the sun rose the next morning, word had quickly spread around the village of a home burning to the ground. The remains of a man and woman had been found but their child, a small girl, was missing.