Protected Read online

  He made a grab at me on the last word and I swiped out at him, catching his palm with the sharp point of the screwdriver.

  “Ow! You little bitch!” he snarled, dropping the sheaf of papers he’d been holding to clutch his wounded palm. “That’s going to earn you an even bigger punishment!”

  “Just try it,” I said, my voice tense and low. “I’m not the scared little wifey I was when I left you, Gerald. I’ve changed a lot and I’m no longer willing to put up with your abusive bullshit.”

  “Come here!” He reached for me again and I swiped out with the screwdriver, missing this time. Then I pulled away, backing out of his angry reach.

  “Stay away,” I said.

  We could do this all day, a cold part of my brain informed me. Him reaching for me, me swiping out and pulling back, slowly circling around the garage. Eventually I would get back around to either the door that led into the kitchen, or the garage door opener. And then I was going to make a run for it.

  “Come back and take your punishment, Goddamn you!” Gerald insisted in an ugly voice.

  “No!” I snapped. “I’m not going with you and you’re never touching me again!”

  My heart was pounding but it wasn’t only with fear—a rage I’d had locked away inside me for years was coming to the surface. How dare he act like I was his property? A pet he could lock away and beat whenever he felt like it? At that moment I felt like I could stab the screwdriver straight into his evil black heart and not loose a single night’s sleep about it.

  Along with the rage came another emotion—a strange, fierce protectiveness. A willingness to kill in order to save the one I loved.

  Wait…what? Who was I feeling protective of? Where was this feeling coming from? It almost felt like it was coming from outside me. Without knowing it, I let the screwdriver sag as my focus wandered.

  The momentary distraction was all Gerald needed. He lunged forward and before I knew it, he had one thick arm locked around my throat.

  “You’re mine,” he hissed in my ear. “Mine and I’m never letting you go, Leah!”

  “Get off me! Leave me alone!” I scrabbled uselessly at his arm but he was too strong. I tried to stab downward with the screwdriver but the angle was wrong and it skated harmlessly along his jeans.

  Fear and panic flooded me. Gerald had me and this time he wouldn’t stop. Either he would kill me here, or he would force me to come back with him to Virginia and kill me there. It might be a slower death, being locked in the house, unable to get out or call for help, completely at his mercy. But it would mean death, just the same. Because someday he would lose his temper and go too far. Someday he would—

  “That’s not gonna happen, darlin’. Not gonna let that happen to you, I swear!”

  Where was that voice coming from? I hadn’t heard it with my ears—it was almost as though it was inside my head. But that couldn’t be right, could it?

  “If there was just some fuckin’ light in there…” the low, familiar voice growled in frustration.

  That was it—I must be going crazy. It was either panic or oxygen deprivation causing an auditory hallucination because I could have sworn I heard Grav’s voice in my head. Which was impossible.

  But suddenly, as though activated by the words in my head, the garage door began to rattle up.

  Oh thank God! I thought. Mom must be home!

  I wanted to shout out to her to call the police but the chokehold Gerald had on my neck was so tight I could barely breathe, let alone scream. The garage door raised up to the level of Pinky’s rusted rear bumper and a gleam of sunlight reflected off the one, shiny spot on the whole car—the place where the part of my sister’s You Just Got Passed by a Girl! bumper sticker had peeled off.

  Then, to my horror, the door paused and then started to rumble down again. Oh no! Mom, come back! I thought as the beam of light started to fade. Please, I—

  Before I could finish my thought, Grav was standing there. Huge and blue—completely naked and utterly furious. Head lowered, horns leveled, and white-on-black eyes glowing with a menacing red spark in their centers, he took a single step towards us.

  “Get your hands off her now.” His voice was a growl so low it was almost a rumble. I felt it come up through the soles of my feet, as though someone had turned on a big bass speaker and let it play in the garage.

  “What the Hell?” Gerald’s voice was slightly breathless and completely incredulous. He fumbled at the wall, this time managing to get the light switch instead of the garage door opener. But Grav in the light was just as terrifying as Grav in the dark.

  “You heard me, fucker—get off my female NOW!”

  The last word was a roar so loud I felt my eardrums bulge. The garage door came all the way down, closing all three of us in the small space. It didn’t raise again and I wondered distractedly what had happened. Had Mom started to come home and then remembered an errand she had to do? It was possible—she was always forgetting something…

  “Who…who are you?” Gerald’s quavering voice pulled me out of my nonsensical thoughts. “What are you?”

  “I’m the male who’s gonna rip your fuckin’ arms out of their sockets if you don’t get your hands off my female right now,” Grav rumbled.

  “Okay…all right.” Gerald threw up his hands and stepped away from me. I ran to Grav at once.

  “You all right, darlin’?” he asked me, his eyes never leaving Gerald’s terrified face.

  “I think so.” I rubbed my throat where Gerald had grabbed me. “How did you find me?”

  “Through the AMI, of course. But it was too dark in here to get much more than a blurred view. The transporter needs light and a reflective surface to work and there wasn’t much of either until just a minute ago.” He shifted. “I wanted to come through a different part of the house but the damn Commercians were fine-tuning their receptors and I couldn’t, so I just had to wait until there was more light. It was driving me fuckin’ crazy.”

  “I bet,” I said dryly and coughed. “I wasn’t feeling too happy myself.”

  “Happy?” he barked a laugh that didn’t sound in the least bit amused. “Forget happy. I was feeling so possessive and protective of you it was all I could do not to let the berserker come out. But I knew if I did that, I would rip this abusive asshole apart and I don’t want to do that.”

  Suddenly, I remembered the wave of possessive protectiveness I had felt just before Gerald had grabbed me. And the words I had heard in my head. But what Grav had just said distracted me.

  “You don’t?” I asked in surprise. “I mean, you don’t want to rip him apart?”

  “Of course he doesn’t!” Gerald sounded shaky and somewhat relieved. “We can settle this like adults, without resorting to physical violence. Right?” He was backing towards the door as he spoke but Grav could move incredibly fast for such a big guy. He had my ex by the scruff of his neck before Gerald could even turn the doorknob.

  “Oh no, we’ll be resorting to violence, all right,” he growled in Gerald’s ear. “I’m not gonna rip you apart right away because I want this to be slow.”

  “Please…” Gerald whimpered and I was almost tempted to feel sorry for him. Then I remembered the way he had beaten me. Maybe it was time for him to get a taste of his own medicine.

  “But before we get started,” Grav continued. “You’re going to pick up every last one of these papers and sign them, the way Leah wanted you to.”

  “Wh-why do you care if I sign the divorce papers?” Gerald asked, his voice still wavering.

  “Because. I don’t want there to be any doubt that she’s broken all her ties with you, you asshole.” Grav shook him and though my ex was a big guy, he wasn’t nearly as big as the huge, blue Braxian. It looked like a Great Dane shaking a terrier.

  “But…but…” Gerald moaned.

  “Then I’m going to break every bone in your body for daring to touch her with anything but love and respec