Page 90 of Kidnapped By the Beast
And he would never let anyone take her from him again.
51
LEXI
Lexi’s mind spun as they left Bad Intentions behind. She could still see Butcher’s purpled face… his bulging eyes…the way Brandt had held him up by the throat as if he weighed nothing. And she couldn’t forget the awful, final thump when his body had fallen, limp and lifeless, to the sticky floor.
She shivered.
Brandt killed a man. For me.
The thought was terrifying. But also…had he really said “I love you?”
Did he mean it? Or had it just been something he growled in the heat of the moment?
Lexi had no idea and she couldn’t exactly ask with Uncle Herbert around.
She kept an arm around him in the back seat of Brandt’s shuttle as it lifted off into the night air. Some Kindred shuttles converted into car-like vehicles but either this one didn’t or Brandt just preferred to fly over driving. The night sky whizzed past the viewscreen as he flew them over the darkened streets, silent but steady, until they reached her home.
He landed the shuttle neatly on the front lawn and then helped Lexi get Uncle Herbert out.
Uncle Herbert seemed all right, Lexi thought, though his left eye was swollen shut and his voice was weak. Aunt Helen met them at the door with a cry of relief, pulling him into her arms, murmuring over him like a mother hen.
“Oh, Lexi—what happened to him?” she cried, looking in dismay at her husband’s black eye and swollen face.
“Some bad guys worked him over but don’t worry—they’ve been taken care of,” Lexi told her. “Just put him to bed and keep an eye on him, will you?”
“But what’s this he’s got?” Aunt Helen looked down at the plastic bag filled with cash. “Where did he get a sack full of money?”
“That’s a long story, but it’s his—don’t worry.” Lexi put a hand on her aunt’s arm. “Look, I’d like to stay and explain but I can’t right now—I have something really important to do. Can you trust me for now and just keep an eye on Uncle Herbert? I promise I’ll be back to explain tomorrow but right now I have to go.”
Aunt Helen still looked worried, but she nodded at last.
“All right, Lexi. You’re a good girl and you know we trust you. Just be safe out there, wherever you’re going.”
“I’ll be fine,” Lexi promised. She squeezed her aunt’s arm and hurried back outside where Brandt was waiting on the porch. She knew her elderly relatives were still agitated and normally she would have stayed to reassure them. But tonight, she couldn’t stay—not with the big Kindred waiting and so much unresolved between them.
Blowing Aunt Helen a final kiss through the door, she turned and looked up at him.
“Come,” he said, holding out a hand. “We need to go.”
Lexi followed him without question.
52
LEXI
They strapped themselves into the shuttle again and Brandt guided it smoothly into the night sky. Within minutes they were climbing higher, Earth shrinking below them. The stars flared bright against the velvet black of space.
Lexi pressed a hand against her aching chest, trying to ignore the sting in her nipples. Her breasts ached, heavy and swollen against the thin fabric of her blouse and she didn’t know how much longer she could stand it. But she didn’t want to say anything when there was so much else she needed to talk to the big Kindred about.
However, Brandt seemed to pick up on her pain. He engaged the autopilot and turned to look at her, his golden eyes sharp and knowing.
“You’re in pain, Alexandra,” he rumbled. “You need to be milked.”
Lexi’s heart sank, shame and frustration tangling together.
“Is that what this is all about? Your research? You came to get me so you could milk me?”
