Khan (Bowen Boys, #2) by Kathi S. Barton
Chapter One
Khan looked out the back door to his home and watched the deer playing. He’d not been out much and they’d made a playground of his yard. He turned away from them when he felt his cat snarl at him. He wanted to go out and hunt them down. Khan walked into his living room and looked around.
His house was a sty. It probably smelled bad too, but he was so far gone in that department that, on his own, he didn’t notice it. That was one of the reasons he’d told his mom to stay away. She’d hang him out to dry if she could see this place. But he was in hiding.
His brother and his mate had left for their honeymoon three weeks ago. And in all that time, he’d not left his house. Not even to go out and run with his brothers. His mail he’d get well after dark and then only if he ran out, got it, and returned quickly. He hated doing this, but he was not meeting his mate.
Caitlynne, his brother Walker’s mate, had told him he was going to meet her and she would be human. She wasn’t clairvoyant or anything, but she’d been predicting that it would happen every day he talked to them. He liked the girl well enough, but was still not going to bring another human in this group. So he’d been hiding.
The phone ringing startled him and he ignored it. It was one of his brothers again, and he wasn’t in the mood to talk yet. He was staying right here until everyone got the idea that he wasn’t going to mate with anyone and that they should leave him the hell alone. He nearly screamed when someone lay on the doorbell, ringing the sucker like it was their job.
Opening the door, he was ready to snarl at the person there when he was suddenly engulfed in a pair of female arms and she was kissing him on the cheeks. Khan tried in vain to pull her off him, but Caitlynne was a lot stronger than she looked. Finally, when he saw Walker, he told his brother to control his female.
“Female, huh? I guess we haven’t moved on to the first name thing yet. No matter. I still missed you.” She walked in the house and went to his living room as if she owned it. Maybe she kinda did. He wanted to talk to her about that too.
“Come on in. Make yourself at home, why don’t you?” He glared at Walker when he laughed. “This isn’t funny. I told you when you called me this morning to stay the f*ck away. What are you doing here anyway?”
“You stink.”
Khan growled at her.
“And your house looks like a frat house. Though I’m thinking that a frat house might smell better. What the f*ck have you been doing?”
“I’ve been minding my own business like I wish the hell you did. Get out of there.” He jerked the box of cereal from her and put it with the others. “Tell me what you want, then leave. I think I’ve made it perfectly clear that my home is—”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s yours. So what? We have to talk to you and I can’t do it in here. Not unless you want me to decorate with puke. Christ, I thought you had more balls than to hide away like some sort of hermit.” She moved to the kitchen and out of the living room. “I’m waiting on you.”
Khan looked at Walker, who hadn’t said a word and was smiling like a sap. He didn’t know whether to punch him in the nose for siccing Caitlynne on him or kick him out with her.
“You’d better go in there. If it looks half as bad as this room, she’s probably calling a cleaning crew.”
Khan looked at the mess and knew that it was worse in the kitchen. He took off after her.
“Yes. Today, if possible. I’ll pay extra. And you might want to bring in extra help. It’s been awhile.” He could only stare at her when she hung up the phone. “You should be ashamed of yourself for this. What the f*ck would your mom say?”
“You do know that I’m not going to let them in, don’t you? You might as well call them back and tell them not to come. My house is mine.” She smiled and sat down. “Caitlynne, I’m not kidding you.”
“You know, that’s the really sad part. I know you’re not. But I can’t visit you in this place. I will really be sick everywhere.” Walker came into the room and smiled at her. “We have something to tell you. You might want to sit down.”
He sat. He knew that there were battles to win with her, not that he remembered winning any, but he sat. When she told him her news, he was going to demand that she call the cleaning crew back, and then he was going to discuss the money in his account.
“We’re going to have a baby.”
Khan opened his mouth and closed it twice before he looked at Walker.
“See, I told you he’d be speechless.”
She stood up again and started stacking dishes. He could smell that she was nervous and didn’t say anything as she continued to clean. Walker sat beside him and stacked the dishes in front of both of them as he started talking.
“We knew before we left, but didn’t want to tell anyone. She was nervous that no one would let her go on our honeymoon.”
Khan nodded, took the stack of dishes that Walker handed him, and gave them to Caitlynne.
“We wanted to tell you first, then we’d all go over to Mom and Dad’s and tell everyone there. We stopped here because we’ve heard that you’ve become something of a recluse.”
“I’ve been trying to get things together.” Khan flushed when his brother raised a brow at him and looked around. “Cleaning up was low on my list.”