Devoured Read online

  Tess’s cheeks got red and she looked away. “Um…we should probably go inside before some of my neighbors start wondering what’s going on.”

  “Agreed.” He nodded. “Lead the way.”

  She put the flat metal key in the lock and turned until the mechanism made a small, sharp clicking sound. Then she pushed the door open.

  The smell of dried blood and some kind of animal fur hit Garron in the face, making him wince. When Tess pressed a wall plate which brought harsh, overhead lights flickering to life, he saw the source of the stench.

  There was a small table in the middle of the front room which appeared to be some kind of food prep area. The table had wilted flowers and glass shards strewn across it. They were lying in a pool of congealed, mostly dried blood which covered the table and had dripped onto the floor.

  There were papers too, strewn in careless heaps. Looking more closely, Garron saw they were covered in small, dense script. Many of them were brown around the edges, having soaked up the blood.

  Scattered around the messy scene were a few tawny tufts of animal fur. From the scent, Garron could tell that the blood and fur were from the same animal…and judging from the size of the puddle on the table which had spilled out onto the floor, he doubted it was still alive.

  “Oh God…” Tess’s soft voice was hoarse. “I’m so sorry I didn’t warn you. I…I forgot how bad it was in here. I guess I kind of blocked it out.”

  “What happened here?” Garron asked quietly.

  “I…my…” She took a deep breath and tried again. “When I left Pierce and moved in here, I got myself a dog. Not a huge one—just a mixed breed mutt from the pound. I’ve never been a dog person but the woman at the shelter, she told me Gus—sorry, that was his name—she said he was a good guard dog. That he would alert me if anything was wrong.”

  “And did he?”

  “He never got a chance. Pierce did this while I was gone to work.” She put a hand to her eyes. “I knew something was wrong when I came home. Gus always barked while I was putting my key in the lock—he was always waiting for me. So happy to see me. That day there was nothing…silence.”

  She was quiet for a moment herself, with her hand still over her eyes as though she was trying not to see it all again.

  Garron’s heart burned in sympathy for her pain. He wanted to tell her she didn’t have to say any more if she didn’t want to. But after a moment, she took a deep, trembling breath and went on.

  “When I came in Gus was…was dead in the middle of the table. See the broken vase?” She gestured to the shards scattered around. “Pierce used one of those to…to stab him and…and cut his throat.” She blinked rapidly and Garron could tell she was trying not to cry. “That way if I tried to press charges, he could say the dog attacked him and he had to use the closest thing to hand to defend himself. ‘See, your Honor? No premeditation here. I was just coming over to drop off some paperwork and that vicious mutt…’” Her voice died for a moment and she had to breathe deeply before continuing. “That’s what he would say. But I know Pierce planned it—he wanted to send me a message.”

  “Which was?” Garron asked.

  “That he owns me. That I’ll never really get away.” She reached out and picked up a crumpled paper covered in dried blood. “These are the divorce papers I sent him to sign. I’ve been trying to get away from him for months using legal means. I was trying to be civil—trying to make it an amicable break. I wanted to keep living here—get into the nursing program at HCC and finish my RN degree. But when I saw this…when I saw what he’d done to Gus…” She shook her head. “I knew he was coming for me and if he got me back, I’d never be free again.”

  “Tess…” Garron began but then didn’t know how to go on.

  She sighed. “So I took Gus to Di’s house and buried him in her backyard but I didn’t dare to come back here to clean up. I knew he’d be watching. That was when I moved up to the Mother Ship. I just…didn’t have anyplace else to go.”

  Garron’s whole being ached with pain and shame. “And I sent you right back down here,” he said in a low voice. “Back to be beaten and terrorized.”

  “You didn’t know,” she said gently, putting a hand on his arm. “I don’t blame you—really.”

  “It doesn’t matter.” He pulled away from her light touch—though he longed to receive it, he didn’t deserve her comfort. “I blame myself.”

  Tess took a deep breath. “Well right now we’re both going to be to blame if we keep standing here until Pierce shows up. I need to grab some clothes and get out.”

  “I’ll wait and keep watch. Unless you need some help?”

  “No—I think I can manage.” Stepping carefully around the glass and pooled blood, she left the food prep area and made her way to the back of the dwelling.

  Garron squeezed his eyes shut and massaged his temples, trying not to smell the stench of dried animal blood and fur. Gods, to think that bastard had killed her one companion! The only creature she had to care for and love. What kind of heartless son-of-a-bitch was her ex mate?

  One who will stop at nothing to get to her, whispered a little voice in the back of his mind. Which means you must be twice as vigilant in protecting her.

  Garron vowed to himself that he would be. He would keep his vow to remember Nella and be true to her memory but this situation was his responsibility. He wouldn’t leave Tess’s side until he knew she was safe. Until Pierce was incarcerated forever, unable to hurt her…or dead.

  He opened his eyes and looked around at the messy food prep area. Clearly this scene disturbed Tess greatly—and with good reason. He didn’t know if he had time to do much, but maybe he could clean it up a little. Now where did she keep her cleaning tools…?

  * * * * *

  When Tess finished packing her large duffel bag, she realized it was too heavy to lift.

  Need to leave some of this behind. You’re going on the road—got to travel light. She opened it again and dumped half the clothes and all the non-essential knick-knacks except for the small music box her mother had given her for her twelfth birthday. That was special—she had to have it. She took a few travel sized bottles of shampoo and conditioner and her e-reader which had all her favorite books and pictures on it. The rest she left.

  She pulled out the bottom drawer of her night stand and felt for the envelope taped underneath. She was relieved to see it was intact with the contents—about seven hundred dollars—still untouched. It was her entire savings—not much but enough to keep her going a little while if she was careful. She kept it hidden in her apartment because she didn’t trust banks—the transactions were too easy to trace. Especially for a man like Pierce who could just flash his badge and get any information he wanted.

  When she’d finished her purge and repacked the bag with the money hidden in an inside pocket, the duffel was only a little bit lighter. Still, it was slightly more manageable and Tess thought she could deal with it. But it still hurt to carry the strap over her cut and bruised shoulder.

  In fact, she was beginning to fear that her back might be more of a problem than she’d thought. Pierce had beaten her before so she was used to bruises and welts. But the cuts… well, they weren’t going to heal well unless she could tend to them and she couldn’t reach her own back.

  She went to the bathroom and took off the dirty towel which was now much worse for the wear. She should probably pack it too—it had both her blood and Garron’s on it. For a moment she stared at the large, bloody handprint which had dried on the white terrycloth. She held her own up to compare. The Kindred’s hand was more than twice the size of hers—he really was a big guy. But she still didn’t know why he was here and so eager to protect her.

  Sighing, she draped the towel over the closed toilet seat and reached under the bathroom counter for a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. It was unopened and she had to spend a moment fighting with the protective packaging around the lid. Back when she was still living with Pierce, she’