Lover Mine (Blood Brothers 1) by BJ Brandon Page B

will kick your ass!"
    "Really?" There was a moment of silence,
then the side door clicked open and a very large male slithered
into the closed space.
    Slithered was the best word Chayle could use
to describe him as he took a wide stance. She quickly took in the
military haircut, the wide shoulders, and dead eyes. Her brain
instantly calculating that something was not right.
    "You aren't one of Kayne's men, are you? How
did you get onto the grounds?" She took a couple of steps back,
positioning her back so she was not trapped in a corner.
    "You don't need to worry about that because
you're coming with me. My Master had plans for you and the other
one, and he doesn't like to be cheated out of his work." The eyes
did not change as he took a couple of steps forward looking too
confident for Chayle's piece of mind.
    "Well, your Master can go screw himself,
because I'm not going anywhere with you!"
    She almost missed the slight motion of his
shoulder, that little "tell" that indicates when an opponent is
about to attack. He came in low, ready to sweep her up but Chayle
was ready. With a quick slide to the ground beneath him and between
his legs, she punched straight up with her legs and into the one
area of a man's anatomy that would always bring them down . . . his
groin.
    She kicked with everything in her legs, back
and abs, making sure that when he fell it was all the way down.
Chayle would only have one chance and she knew she could not
miss.
    He dropped like a stone, his scream of agony
music to her ears as she turned for the door to the control room.
As she flung the door open she ran into an immovable wall, felt
steel bands wrap around her and the control she had fought so hard
for disappeared with a terrified scream.
    "Kayne!" Her terrified scream echoed
throughout the facility, vibrating off the walls.
    "Shush, little one . . . I've got you!" The
arms holding her did not squeeze but held firm, pulling her behind
him and pushing her into someone else's waiting hands. She barely
had time to registered Rafe's massive body entering into the
holo-cave before a sob escaped. Rafe turned to look at her, an grin
lighting up his face.
    "Not to worry, Chay . . . he'll not bother
you again and he will tell me who sent him! I promise."
    "He said it was the Master, Rafe," she
whispered. "It's the same ones who took us before." She was shaking
now, frantically looking around for Kayne. "Where's Kayne, why
isn't he here?"
    "He had a quick mission but will be back
before sundown. My brother didn't want to worry you."
    Anger hit hard as adrenaline surged through
her system. "Worry?" she screeched, not recognizing her own
voice.
    "Take her back to the main house and guard
her. There may be more that got through the perimeter and the
guards and I don't want to have to explain to my brother why she
has additional bruises." Rafe's matter-of-fact attitude almost sent
Chayle over the edge.
    "I'm not going anywhere until that son of a
bitch tells me what his boss wants!" She fought off the gentle
hands of one of the men trying to lead her out the control room
door as Rafe motioned for two others she had not seen to follow
him. But she was not going anywhere and it was time these men
understood that.
    Rafe's men hauled the intruder out of the
holo-cave and through the exercise facility toward a back entrance
she had not noticed before. The other men were so distracted that
she slipped out of the grasp of the one holding her and
followed.
    "Kayne's going to kick my ass if anything
happens to you!" he hissed, drawing Chayle's attention to a man
standing behind her. She had not seen him before, but now that she
had it would be impossible to forget the mountain of a man guarding
her back.
    "He will if you don't help me, I'll see to
it," she promised. Her eyes narrowed when long, tawny hair was
pulled back from a hard face sporting a scar that ran from the
right eyebrow to just above the upper lip. It did not detract from
the handsomeness of the face or