Gerard by Kathi S. Barton Read Free Book Online Page A

than his death has already. I got a heads up, something that will save me a great deal of trouble when his family comes to collect his body.
    So, you don’t know for sure she’s my mate. You don’t know anything about her past, and you think she might have saved you some trouble. What is it you do know? He wanted Paddy to laugh again and tell him it was all a joke, but Gerard knew that is was true. All of it. Paddy, I’m not ready for this. I’m the baby of the family. The rest of them, my brothers, they should be mated before me.
    You’re a grown man, Gerard, and you should be happy that you have a mate, not complain that you’re not ready. When are any of us ready for major changes in life? But I will tell you what I do know about her. Gerard waited for him to speak, and when he didn’t, he thought the man was just playing with him again. Get to the Mitchell ranch now. There’s trouble.
    Gerard turned and moved to the yard, and shifted immediately. He was running to the house even as he smelled the smoke. Terror like he’d never felt ran over his body, and he just knew she was dead.
    ~~~
    Susie sat in the back of the ambulance without talking. She wasn’t really sure what she could say that she hadn’t already said. Someone had come up to the house just as she was going to bed. The smell of gas alerted her that something was wrong, and she’d gone to check it out. When she’d hit him from behind, the light in his hands had hit the wood pile and it had caught fire immediately. She knew it was because of the gas, but it didn’t stop her from trying to put it out as he ran from the scene. She looked down at her burnt hands and wondered if anyone would believe her if she told them she’d tried to put it out as best she could. She looked up when someone said her name.
    “You should go and shift.” The man in front of her was one of the brothers, but for the life of her she couldn’t remember his name. “It’s Darin. You and I met today in the house.”
    “No, thank you.” Looking around the small place, she looked at him again. “Are they taking me to jail soon? I have to make sure my things are with me. It’s all I have.”
    “You’re not going to jail. Why would you think that?” Nodding but not answering him, she looked at her hands. “My brother would like to speak to you. He’s having a hard time with his cat right now, and he’d have better control if you’d let him see you.”
    “I don’t want to see anyone. If it’s Mason, tell him…I don’t know what to tell him.” He didn’t say anything, and she looked up at him. “I think there’s a chance that I’m a mate to someone from around here. I don’t know who it is, but I’d like to be left alone. Do you think that Mason could let me go early? I’d like to run now.”
    He smiled at her then, and she felt her own smile start to curve up. It wasn’t like her to enjoy talking so much. And when he told her he’d be back, she felt the loss of his closeness. Closing her eyes, trying her best to ignore the smallness of the bed and back of the ambulance she was in, she nearly screamed when someone touched her leg.
    “You.” He nodded. The man from earlier was moving into the small space even as she tried to wrap her mind around what he was doing there. “You should go away and not touch me. I’m going to go to jail soon, and there will be no coming together for us.”
    “You ran from me today.” Not bothering to deny or agree with him, she tossed off the blanket that someone had put over her and heard his hiss of breath before she realized what he might be seeing. “Why haven’t you shifted and taken care of these wounds? Is this their doing? The men that are supposed to be caring for you? Damn it all to—”
    “I would like to go now if they’re going to take me in.” He moved to touch her leg where the worst burn had happened. “Don’t touch me. It’ll hurt and I don’t want you to touch me.”
    “Hush.” Susie