Walker (Bowen Boys, #1)(25)

Cats owed him a favor? And who gave him permission to let him go that way? Conrad looked out the window and watched as the biggest cat, he was sure it was a panther, he’d ever seen came out of the woods and sat watching him. When he nodded at him, it was all Conrad could do not to piss himself. It looked as if the monster was smiling at him.

Conrad let that image keep him company all the way to the jail and in the cell. He knew that others were talking to him, but his mind was too busy working through what he had seen. By the time they had come to bring him dinner, he had convinced himself that he’d seen nothing but a large house cat and those animals were so stupid that they didn’t know if they needed to smile or run for the woods. It was time to make his phone call. And he knew just who he had to call.

~~~

George walked into the house and nearly turned around again. Khan looked like he could and probably would bite a nail in two. Then swallow it for good measure. He smiled at Corrine, the love of his life, and sat down.

“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you all damned morning.”

George nodded.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

George suddenly snapped. Khan may be leader of this family, but he was still his father. He stood up and shoved his son against the counter. When he started to stand, George hit him in the chest with his fist. “Stay right there. You may be in charge, but I’m still your father, you overgrown shit for brains. I go where I want and do what I need to keep my family safe. If you got your head out of your ass for ten minutes, you’d see that Walker is going to be with this woman whether it’s here or not. And to be honest, I had hoped you’d see that as well.” When Khan opened his mouth, George glared. He might be old, but he was still a mean motherf*cker.

“What your father is trying to say is that neither of them had a choice in the matter. What’s done is done and the sooner we accept that, the sooner he’ll come home.” Corrine stood up as she continued. “What Roseann did to you was horrible, but—”

“He won’t bring that human in this house. Not if you want me to remain.”

George took a step back.

“I mean it. It’s the human or me.”

“Khan, you don’t—”

Khan cut his mother off quickly. “I do mean it. Humans aren’t going to be welcome here. Not so long as there is breath in my body. I will not allow it, and if Walker wants to come back here, he’d better not have his mate with him.”

George pulled Corrine back when she started forward to Khan. His heart broke for his son. George nodded once and turned with his mate to walk out of the house. He had to find some way to fix this and he wasn’t sure how.

“He’ll do just what he said, won’t he? He’d rather break this family up than see that Walker had nothing to do with who his mate is.” George held her close as they walked along the path to their own home. “I can’t stand this. None of it. George, what are we going to do?”

“I don’t know, love. I really don’t. I never knew that Khan’s heart was so cold that he’d do this to one of his own brothers.” George opened the door and they both went to the back deck to sit. “I’ll try and contact Walker again. See what he wants to do.”

George went to the kitchen to get his phone. He had asked Terrance to help him out if anyone came looking at the girl’s house. He knew after the team that had come out and had left that someone who’d been responsible would come to see too. Terrance had called him last night when he’d heard that some big shot was in town. He had agreed to let him hang around and now he was glad that he had. The man smelled evil.

“Walker, someone from Washington showed up today to see Lynne’s house. He smelled of something that crawled from under a rock.”

Corrine nodded and giggled. “Tell him that little man smelled of fear.”

He looked sharply at his mate.

“Of course I followed you. Did you really think I wouldn’t? You get into entirely too much trouble on your own.”

He thought he’d deal with her later and smiled. His son was talking and he had to slow him down before he understood him. Something about her running off without him.

“She thinks I’m going to leave her just because of what she does. I’ve told her it’s too late for that and that I’m going with her. I want to beat her ass right now.” George laughed at the background noise on Walker’s end. “I swear to Christ…I have to go, Dad. She needs a lesson in manners and throwing things.”

He closed the phone and looked at Corrine. “I believe they’ve mated. And she sounds like she can hold her own with him. She was using language that I’m sure she didn’t hear from a sailor. It’s pretty colorful.”

“Good. Then maybe she can hold her own with Khan. Because we both know that’s what it’s going to take. Someone like her to whoop his ass a time or two.”

When his phone rang again he answered it with caution. Marc was the one son that he knew could have a level head, and he wasn’t surprised when he seemed to be overly calm about what he wanted to know.

“So, Walker is no longer allowed on our land. What do you suppose is going to happen to them now?”

George asked them who.

“Lynne and Walker. I know they can live on their own and all, but I don’t want my brother to not have any contact with me. Nor do Sebastian and Dylan.”