Chapter Fourteen

Blind Sided

 

Grant’s shocked look was echoed through the group surrounding Catrina as she slept in Demitri arms. “What the fuck did you do?”

Demitri’s voice was hollow, “Tranqed her. She’ll sleep for a while now.”

“She is going to fucking kill you when she wakes up.”

Demitri sighed heavily, “Yeah, she is going to be pissed.”

“No, she is going to fucking kill you,” Grant was pissed and at Demitri.

“Grant, you didn’t see her aura. She was going into a rage. She would have thrown you off and ripped the throats out of everyone here. Being pissed at me will seem like a cake walk in comparison to that. Or did you want her to kill?”

“We had her under control.”

“You had shit. Once she got her leverage, she would have been out and killing.”

Grant stopped his tirade long enough to try to understand what Demitri was saying. “Ok, maybe you’re right, but man, you are in deep shit once she rouses. How the fuck are you going to deal with that mess?”

“Better that kind of mess then you having to order more body bags and Catrina being brought up on charges for murder.”

“The law here would have covered it. We have clearance to shoot to kill in this kind of situation. It is a miracle no one here was shot.” His face had the look of ‘yet’ on it. As if he was looking for any excuse to kill any one of them, handcuffed or not.

“The laws here, yes, we could have cleared her, but what about the Coven's Laws? No one at the time was under threat of body or spiritual harm. She would have had no defense in an astral court. Her Mother would have no choice but to punish her…again… for acting without just cause or permission from on high. And that on high is her Mother Goddess. Your Mother. Or did you forget what happened last time?”

Grant looked at Demitri and remembered just how harshly Catrina was dealt with the last time she'd taken the law into her own hands. He looked sadly at his sister as she slept cradled closely to Demitri’s body.

“You're gonna need knives. Lots and lots of knives.”

“I’ll deal with her when she awakens. Just get Crimson safely inside and tended to, and get this trash off my lawn.” Catrina’s mother glared at him, whether it was because of the way he had held Catrina as if she was a precious burden, or in response to what he'd said. He didn’t really give a shit.

Demitri carried Catrina inside and up the stairs to gently lay her in his bed. On the way up, he had cautioned everyone to stay away from this side of the house until he and Catrina had dealt with their issues. Then, he calmly waited for her to wake, no matter how long it took. He didn’t feel bad for what he'd done. No, not at all; but, he’d be damned if he would let her put herself in such a situation again. He’d sell his own soul first, before letting her suffer through another ordeal like that. Better her angry at him, then the shit she had already been through, he thought. It will be worth it.

 

Hours Later that same day

 

The sun had set and the house was quite. Too quiet. I could hear the familiar breathing of one of my mates in the room with me, but not much else stirred within my hearing.

I sat up and looked around, seeing Demitri sitting in the chair near the bed with a look of grim determination on his face.

I watched him wait for my reaction and I knew what he was expecting. I also knew he wouldn’t do anything to hurt me, even to defend himself from any attack I might throw at him.

I moved to the edge of the bed and sat there, seeing that I was still dressed. I even had my jacket on with all of my weapons. Man, he must love me or he'd overlooked everything I was carrying on me. I was betting on the first part.

“Is Crimson all right?”

“Lee tended to him. He’ll be fine.”

“I am really pissed at you.”

“I know that.”

“That was underhanded.”

“I won’t apologize for it.”

“I didn’t think you would.”

I stood up, feeling slightly dizzy still from the tranquilizer, but made myself move towards the door. Demitri moved quickly to block me.

“Where are you going?”

“Out.”

“Please don’t leave. I had no other choice.”

I looked at him and saw his fear. He was afraid I would pack my things and walk right out the door. If he was anyone else, other than a mate, I would do exactly just that. However, I loved him. I loved him deeply and unconditionally. I also remembered the pain I had caused him before, when we were just starting out, just trying to get bonded so we could search for each other physically. Pain I swore I would never cause him again. I reached up and caressed his face. “I’ll be back.”

“Promise?”

“Absolutely,” then I glared at him just a bit, “then we’ll have that talk.”

I felt him relax and he moved out of my way. Having me bitch him out was more preferable to him than me leaving. I inwardly laughed at the situation.

“Promise me, too, you won’t do anything irrevocable?”

I stopped and turned to him. “I’ll try.” I wouldn’t lie to him, but I couldn’t absolutely promise him, and he knew this. He let me walk out with what he could get out of me.

I drove carefully to the police station, knowing my brother would still be neck deep in paperwork. Sure enough, he was at his desk with a pile of sheets on both sides of him and a smaller stack right in front that he was working his way through.

“Sorry about this.” I waved at all the work in front of him, knowing he hadn’t gotten shit for sleep for days now.

He looked up, shocked to see me there. “Not your fault. Demitri alive?”

I gave him an evil grin, “For now.”

He shook his head and leaned back, “Unbelievable.”

His face looked haggard from lack of sleep. I wondered when the last time was that he'd had a meal with his mates. One of them was due to give birth soon and if he hadn’t been home to eat, he also hadn’t been home to sex any of his mates, but especially Sheryl, who was carrying his baby. We needed sex often, not only for the energy, but if pregnant, the females needed it for the enzymes in a male’s sperm that helps with dialation for giving birth. Without it, labor was long and hard. It also could get extremely dangerous for our kind. Humans, too, needed this enzyme for easier birthing, but our female bodies burned through them too fast or were incapable of creating the enzyme for ourselves, like me. The only other way for us to get that enzyme was through sex. He'd had to put his female's needs aside to deal with my bullshit and that just made me angrier with my physical mother.

“I need another favor, bro.”

His expression turned cautious. “What kind of favor?”

“I need you to get me into the pen, so I can have a chat with Mommy Dearest.”

“You’re not going to do anything stupid, are you?”

“What do you think?” I gave him my best innocent look.

He snorted in disbelief. “Don’t even try it. I know you better than that.”

“Just get me in there.”

“Fine, but cleaning up dead bodies in the pen is harder than you think. Please don’t make more work for me,” He pleaded.

“Trust me.”

“Fuck.” But he took me downstairs to where the prisoners were being held, until they were either moved to the main jail or they had a quick arraignment at the courthouse a block away.

My mother was there sitting on the edge of the small bed in her cell. I had never seen her in a cell before. This was a nice turn of events. Usually, it was her staring at me through the bars, telling me to get myself out, because she’d be damn if she’d bail me out. The first time, I was a mere thirteen years old and I had been framed for the crime. She didn't care. She never did.

“So, have you come to your senses and come to get your mother out of this cell, Catrina?”

Her tone of voice still hadn’t changed. No remorse. No guilt. Just this judgmental ‘I am holier than thou’ sound rang through her mouth.

“What was it you said to me time and time again? You got yourself into this hole, you get yourself out? Yeah, that was it. I think you need to learn to practice what you preach.”

She went to give me the up and down disapproval glare she had down pat, but stopped when she saw I was still wearing my guns in their holsters. My jacket was open and one could see the flashes of weapons hanging at my sides.

“Who or what are you, Catrina, that you can come into a police station wearing guns, can call in military people and have them back you up and have a large panther in your basement and no one fines you for it?”

“That is none of your business and you’ll never know now. The main thing you do need to know is this, woman. If you do manage to worm your way out of these pretty damn serious charges, you are never to email me, call me, or even write me a letter. You are to never come near your grandsons again, in any form. If you come near any one of us, at any time, for any reason, large or small, I will pull in favors you wouldn’t believe, have you up on charges as a potential terrorist, where they will lock you up and throw away the key. You won’t get a lawyer, you won’t get past go and you won’t ever see the light of day again. Are we clear?”

“How could..”

“Shut up…ARE.WE.CLEAR?”

My eyes were burning a bright green with power now, I could tell, but I didn’t care if she saw it or not, and didn’t bother putting on my sunglasses. Power she hasn’t seen me use since I was a child. I let her see that there was still something unusual about me. I let her see, and finally I saw the fear grow in her eyes.

She let out a breathless, “Yes.”

I let her see and then I walked away from her. I was done trying to be her daughter. I was done trying to be anything to her. She was now on her own and I hoped her God helped her if she ever got into trouble, because I sure wouldn’t… ever again.

I sat with my brother at his desk and helped him with his paperwork using a little misdirection spell, so no one would see me actually sitting there doing paperwork that should be for cops only. It was barely legal for me to cast the spell, but my brother needed to get home and be with his mates. Some serious family time with food, sleep and lovin’ and in that order, I told him, as I helped him with his paper avalanche.

I drove back home to my own mate, who I knew would be waiting anxiously for me. I wanted to go to a home to people who loved me. To people who cared about my wellbeing, even before their own. I went home giving thanks to the Gods I had such love in my life, finally.

Right after I tortured my mate with a feather for a few hours. It was either that, or the couch; but he did deserve something for sticking that damn needle in my ass instead of his dick. True, fucking me on the front lawn might have been a little excessive, but damn it, being sneaky with the needle like that? Oh no, my sweetheart must pay. Yeah, hours of teasing ought to be just the thing to teach him better. I smiled an evil smile all the way home.