Sebastian (Bowen Boys, #5)(50)
She nodded to them all as she looked at Sebastian. “I have to go to find Wanera. He asked me to and I’m going.”
“No, you’re not.” Her father stood in the doorway. “If I have to hold you here in my arms, you are not going to go to that…lord, and touch him. Let him die. For what he’s done, he deserves it.”
Khan stepped up beside her, as did Reed and Marc. She felt the others, the other brothers, do the same. Her father took a step toward her, and Khan suddenly shifted and growled at him. Her father glared at him.
“You’ll pay for this. See if you don’t. Helping an underlord can only mean death for you, and I’m not going to be here when you return if you plan to go through with his insanity. Is that what you want? For your own father to leave you now that we’re together?” Monica stood up and stepped in front of Ama. “You think you’re protecting her? All you’re doing is sending her to her death. Is that what you want?”
“Get out.” She glanced at George as he and Corrine walked in the door. “Get off this property and never return. You’re no longer welcome here. And if you come onto this land again, I will personally tear you apart and piss on you.”
Her father took a step toward her, and a shift in the room was the only warning he got. George had shifted so quickly and smoothly that it had taken her breath away. Her father stopped moving. George looked like a frail man as a human, but as a panther, he looked like he could have had him for breakfast. Her father looked at her.
“You would choose them over me?” She nodded immediately. “Well, so be it. I hope that you can live with yourself after this. If you live at all.”
When he left the room, she looked at the men and cats surrounding her. The women were standing near the bed, and she knew that if he had taken one step toward Sebastian, they would have killed him on their own.
“I have to go and get him. If for no other reason than to let him die here.” Monica nodded and smiled. “Will you watch over him while I’m gone?”
“Yes. Khan and the others are going with you.” Monica laughed a little. “I wouldn’t try and keep them from going with you if I were you. I’m pretty sure that it might get you into deeper trouble than it’s worth. And Khan wants to know if you could please pledge to him. He said he can help you more if you do.”
She dropped to her knees and looked him in the eyes. “Your timing sucks, you know that, don’t you? But if you can help me, I’m for it. I don’t know the words because I can’t think beyond the terror that I feel for that man on the bed, but if this won’t work then we’ll have to wait until I get back. I don’t think Wanera has a great deal of time left.”
He nodded at her, and she could see the man Khan in the eyes of the cat. “Khan Bowen, as my male and my brother-in-law, I pledge to you because I’ve never met a man more able to help when needed, more loving a man to his family, or a better friend to me. I give you my all.”
He licked her throat, and she felt tears. Wrapping her arms around him, she held him to her as she cried. Monica came up behind her and put her hands on her shoulders. Ama pulled back.
“I’m sorry. I know I’m not supposed to touch him, but I needed…I’m sorry.”
Monica patted her on the back, and she looked up at her. “That was the most beautiful pledge I’ve ever heard.” She glanced at Jonny and Jack. “Those two made it sound like a threat, but he loved it. He wants you to look into his eyes to make the connection.”
Ama looked at Khan again and felt it snap against her mind like he’d touched her. She smiled at him when he rubbed his massive head to hers. Standing, she looked around the room. This was it.
“Okay, you guys, we’re off. Let’s go and kick some ass and take some names.” Reed shifted first, then Marc and Dylan. Dylan moved up beside her, and she touched his fur. As Walker shifted, she had a moment of panic that he was leaving Sebastian when he needed him, but Monica assured her he was just sleeping.
“We’ll keep him safe. Won’t we, Corrine?” Her mother-in-law nodded, and Ama realized that George was going with her. Before she could say she thought he should stay there, Khan touched her mind.
“He needs this.” She nodded, and they all stood in a circle as she tried to think how to get them to Wanera. A swell of heat and a great movement—she opened her eyes and looked at the destruction.
The cats stood surrounding her. She knew that Khan was right in front of her, but wasn’t really sure until one of them brushed by her that she knew who each of them were. She nodded toward a room that seemed to be the only one that had power.
She stepped over little men with tags on, some of them dressed in child-sized jeans and shirts, while others were only in shorts, all of them dead or near death. When she leaned down to one that wasn’t hurt as badly, he shook his head.
“You must find the master. He will need to know what has happened.” He laid back his head and smiled. “I have called to him for you.”
She wondered who he meant and figured that he had meant Wanera. The poor man was hurting so badly that he seemed to be out of his mind with the pain. She moved closer to the light and was stopped by a half dozen or so men standing there with bats and large pieces of wood.
“I’ve come to see to Wanera. He and my mate are friends. He said...Sebastian said he was hurt. I want to see if I can help him.” The men didn’t move until she heard a voice deeper inside the room.