Time Stands Still

Chapter 13

            A furious roar followed by a feminine screech had me jerking awake and jolting upright. My heart raced frantically as my eyes darted around the room. Brent wasn’t in there and I suddenly became aware of the fact that my mark was incredibly warm. Since the cops had come to our house two weeks ago, Brent had been more temperamental than usual and he was rarely away from me unless I was at school. The fact that he wasn’t with me and that it had been him roaring worried me, and I scrambled to throw some clothes on before racing out of the room.

            I could hear Brent bellowing at someone and it sounded like he was in the kitchen so I hurried in that direction. I reached the doorway and paused briefly to assess the situation.

            Brent was facing away from me and his body was shaking with anger. Samuel was standing by the kitchen table, his body half hiding someone behind him. He was shaking as well, but not as violently as Brent. Samuel wasn’t a ranking member of the pack, so he knew better than to try and challenge Brent.

            I couldn’t see who was sitting at the table, but I didn’t worry about that for right now. Brent was still raging at Samuel, so I stepped further into the room. “Brent,” I said quietly.

            He whipped around and I saw that his eyes were completely black. His body didn’t relax as he closed the distance between us. “Tara, you shouldn’t be in here.” His voice was low and his face was hard.

            I tilted my head slightly and raised a hand to his cheek. “Breathe,” I murmured. “Focus on me for a minute and breathe.”

            His eyes locked onto mine and I heard him take several deep breaths. Very slowly, his eyes turned lighter until they were almost back to his normal blue color. When he had gotten himself back under control, he leaned his face into my hand. “I’m okay now. Why don’t you go back upstairs? I’ll bring you some breakfast in bed shortly.”

            I raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you want me in here?” I asked.

            He placed his hands on my hips. “I just want to make sure you’ve had enough rest, that’s all.”

            I narrowed my eyes. “That’s bullshit.”

            “Not entirely,” he replied. “I do want you to be rested, but I also don’t want you to have to deal with anything else right now.”

            “So you want me to leave you to deal with everything on your own?” I demanded.

            He sighed. “Tara, I just want you to have as little stress as possible.” He lowered his head to brush his lips over mine. “Can you please just go back upstairs? I’ll be up in a few minutes.”

            His eyes were pleading with me and I sighed once before reluctantly nodding. The last thing I wanted to do was upset him with everything else that was going on, so I figured the least I could do was do as he asked when it was obviously so important to him.

            I was about to turn and leave when the person behind Samuel spoke up. “After she leaves, maybe I can have a turn with both you boys.”

            Something inside me snapped when I heard that voice and I lunged forward. Brent caught me around the waist and hauled me back against him, easily holding onto me despite my struggling. “Calm down,” he murmured into my ear. “Don’t do anything that you’ll regret later.”

            “I wouldn’t regret it later,” I spat. “Let me go so I can rearrange her skanky little face.”

            Samuel surprised me by stepping forward and moving into a defensive stance. “Lay a hand on her and I’ll have to stop you,” he warned.