Khan (Bowen Boys, #2)(50)

“She’s going to need me to help her. You have a problem with that?”

Khan shook his big head.

“Good. And Khan? She’s going to be hurt. I need for you to make sure you know that I’m only going to be helping her.”

Khan told him he understood. He looked at the now open door. He had to go in, and he wasn’t looking forward to seeing what that monster had done to her. He nosed the door open and entered the room on silent paws. They all moved to the bedroom to the right. The door was shut. When Dylan walked up to it and shook his head, they turned to the other door. The door was shut here as well.

Dylan shifted. He nodded to the door, and Khan was poised, ready to leap inside the moment it opened. When he turned the knob, Dylan stepped back and moved out of the way. The scream that rent the air made him knock the door back and leap in the room.

Christ, he was going to kill her. Blood was on the walls, over the bed. The smell of impending death filled the air. There were footprints in the carpet, bloodied and large. Booted and barefooted. A dress and a bra were there also covered in blood.

Khan moved forward to see her. He needed to see her in the worst way. When he was perhaps only ten feet away, Khan froze for a second, no more, but the man turned. The blood on his shirt was fresh and the knife in his hand dripped with blood, her blood. Khan snarled deep, his claws burst from his paws, and he moved toward the man. When he was less than five feet away, he leapt at him. Khan hit him with all his weight.

He felt the sharp blade enter his shoulder, then his hip. He couldn’t seem to get a good hold on the man. When the man raised his arm up to give Khan what would be a killing blow to the heart, he lunged for his throat. He clamped his powerful jaws into his neck just as he clawed at the man’s soft belly.

The smell of feces and urine permeated the air. The man’s screams rang in his ears, but Khan didn’t let him go; he tore at the man. Jerking his head to and fro until he felt the flesh give and fresh blood flood his mouth, he knew he’d torn his throat out. Khan wanted more than his death; he wanted him gone for good. He snapped his mouth over his neck again and felt the bone break under his strength. The man’s head rolled off and away from the body just as Khan dropped it.

He turned to the bed to see his brother over his mate. He snarled, the taste of fresh blood in his mouth, the adrenaline still coursing through his body hard and hot. Khan was ready to leap at him, to kill the man who dared touch his mate. But a sudden movement had him stop. He couldn’t harm the female.

“You take one more step forward and I will blow your f*cking brains out.” Caitlynne held the gun steadily at his head. “I mean it, Khan. You back the f*ck up and take a chill pill or so help me, I will kill your f*cking ass.”

“I’d do it, man. You don’t want to f*ck with her. She’s breeding and could—”

Walker cut Dylan off. “Khan, shift. I need you to…shift, please.”

Khan found he didn’t want to. He wanted to leap at Walker and have Caitlynne kill him. He shook his head and looked at Walker again. He nodded and Khan knew that they were too late.

“I can’t save her. She’s dying. The loss of blood is tremendous. She won’t make it to the elevator, much less to the hospital.” Dylan handed him a pair of pants as Walker continued. “He stabbed her so many times, did so much damage, I don’t know how she’s hung on this long.”

“You have to do something. You have to save her.” Khan went to the side of the bed and looked down at her. She was a mess. Her body and bed were so bloodied, he couldn’t tell where she was. He looked up at Walker when he cleared his throat.

“You could try to save her by converting her.”

Khan shook his head.

“It’s her only chance. If you—”

“She’ll die. I can’t do that to her, she’ll—”

“She’s going to die anyway. Try it, Khan. It’s her only hope. If you don’t do it, she will surely die. But if she makes it, you’ve saved her life.”

Khan felt the tears on his face. He was asking him to kill her. He couldn’t do it. He wouldn’t. He took her hand in his and kissed it. He looked up at Walker and shifted again.





Chapter Eighteen


Walker felt for his brother. He knew as well as the rest of them did that converting a human to a cat was nearly a death warrant for them. When Khan shifted and bit down hard into Monica’s belly, he cringed. She would either die immediately or she’d start the change. Walker reached for his own mate’s hand and held it as he listened to Monica’s heart slow even more.

“I’ve opened the room across the hall. It’s empty of anything that might belong to a guest. I know that time is running out for us, so we have to figure out a way to get them over there.” Dylan came into the room once more and looked at him. “Walker, can we move her?”

“No. Not just yet. We need just a little more time.” He listened again and held his breath. Her heart was slower, nearly five seconds between each beat. He knew that when they moved her, they would be moving a dead woman. Then he heard it. A stutter of a beat, then another.

“What is it?”

He looked up at Caitlynne and smiled when her heart started beating faster. Not like it should, but it was getting stronger. He nodded.

“We can move her now, but Khan, you stay with us. We’ll take the sheet, each of us taking a corner. Khan, don’t you dare stop giving her your essences. If you do, we might lose her yet.” They each took a corner and froze when someone knocked on the door. It was Bill.