Walker (Bowen Boys, #1)(48)
“What had she been doing?”
Walker looked at Caitlynne when she took his hand. She looked at him with a huge smile, then at Khan. “She’d been working with someone high on the food chain for months getting arms to our enemy overseas. The vice president would give her information on where the arms could be picked up and she’d relay the information to the buyer. She was the courier as well. When the deal was over she’d take a large cut and he and she would…celebrate in bed with the money spread under them like a blanket.” Caitlynne picked up the thumb drive. “The papers are destroyed. Everything, including the videos she made. I made copies of everything in case I had to show the president when the time came. But it never came up again.”
“So you knew about us before you came here.”
She shook her head at him.
“Then how did you know to give this to Khan?”
“Your mom. She mentioned Roseann’s name one day when I asked her about the poker up your ass about me. She didn’t tell me a lot, but just mentioning the name made me remember the stuff I’d found.” She handed the drive back to Khan. “You ready to know the rest, or are you going to sit in a corner and be a big baby still?”
“You’re not terribly nice, are you?” Khan frowned at her as he continued. “Tell me what you know about her. Is she dead?”
“Not that I know of, but that’s going to change as soon as I find her. Right after Small was arrested she disappeared. I’ve heard that she was in Iraq, but not sure. She had made some pretty good friends while working against her government. I’ve been looking for her for some time, but not with much success. What happened to the president?”
“He’s downstairs with my parents. He is enjoying himself, he said, for the first time in years. Did you know that he and Marshall were lovers?” Caitlynne nodded. “I figured you did. Is there anything that you don’t know?”
She nodded then looked over at Khan. “You didn’t trust me. Even after I told you to sit tight and not move, you didn’t trust that I would keep you safe. Why?”
Khan tried to stand, but she reached out and grabbed his hand. Walker watched his brother struggle, but didn’t say anything. When Khan finally spoke Walker could hear the pain in his voice.
“I had lost myself with Roseann. Not just myself, but my heart. And it wasn’t because she was human…no, that’s not right. It was because of her that I decided that no human was to be trusted again, because I couldn’t trust myself. Especially with you.”
Caitlynne laughed. “Why me, pray tell? I never did anything to you but make you pissed most of the time. I never once set out to harm any of you. In fact, if you remember correctly, you’ll know that I told you all numerous times that I was going to leave and, when that didn’t work, I tried to get you all to leave. You people are as stubborn as anyone I know.”
“I doubt anyone is as stubborn as you are. And I know about you wanting no part of us.” Khan looked at her with a sad face as he finished. “And truthfully, I hated you because you were everything I wanted to be. Strong, honest, and said just what you wanted. I found myself wanting to like you more than hate you. Even though you were a human.”
She shook her head and let go of his hand. “You do know that your own mate is going to be a human, don’t you? The fates couldn’t be nice enough to find you a nice pretty kitten to love. And she’ll have her own set of claws too. But you’ll not be able to turn her away. And you know what, Khan? I’m going to be right there beside you telling you with every breath I have that I told you so. And cheering her on as well.”
“You know this how?”
Walker nearly laughed at the fear in his brother’s voice.
“You have some sort of insider track on what’s going to happen to us?”
“No. It’s just me hoping. And when you do meet her? I’m going to hound you daily every time you screw up and piss her off. Because we both know…hell, Khan, everyone knows you’re not going to be able to help yourself.” She waved him at him to leave. “Go on, Khan, close up your heart and hide away, but it won’t do you a damned bit of good.”
Khan left by backing toward the door and never taking his eyes off Caitlynne. It might have been funny if Walker didn’t believed that she was correct in assuming that Khan would fall for a human. Walker just hoped she was strong enough to tame his brother and win his heart.
“You all right?”
He looked at her when she asked again.
“The reason I ask is when you picked me up at the scene, you were a bit pale. I didn’t know if you’d been hurt or not.”
“I’m fine. I wasn’t hurt, but…” He crawled into the bed to be with her and hold her. “You terrified me when I saw you there bleeding so badly. And when Khan pulled your cat, I’d never seen anything more beautiful in my life. You’re a very handsome panther.”
She smacked his arm and laid her head on his chest. “It hurt. Will it always hurt like that?”
He thought for a moment she meant being shot, but realized she’d mean shifting. He loved it so much that he’d forgotten what it was like for someone to make you shift. His father had done the same to him when he’d been younger and had refused to shift because he didn’t want to be different from the other boys.