Page 10 of Soul Deep

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Chapter Nine

The following Thursday, Lily knew something was up as soon as she walked through the basement doors of the old church. A loud buzz of conversation floated around the space like static while most of the women seemed to have clustered around one individual – Jordan? Lily couldn’t quite remember her name, but the woman was crying, arms wrapped around her body as she rocked back and forth in her chair.

Through the noise, Lily began to pick up a few words here and there – none of them warm and fuzzy. Words likemurdered,beaten to death,the body,police, anddrug related… And then belligerently from the dark haired woman who had approached Lily the previous week, Ally? Amber? Lily still wasn’t sure, “Serves the bastard right if you ask me.”

You didn’t have to be an expert at puzzles to put these particular pieces together. Jordan’s ex-husband had been murdered and the news had every member of the group speculating as they offered their support.

“Okay, okay, let’s all settle down now.” Doctor Hillary’s voice penetrated the buzz in an attempt to bring the meeting to order, that ever friendly smile firmly affixed on her face. “Jordan, would you like to share your feelings tonight in light of the recent events?”

Every eye turned to the grieving widow as Jordan sniffed loudly and ran the back of her hand across her nose before she shook her head adamantly.

Doctor Hillary nodded in understanding and turned her attention to the remainder of the group who were taking their seats. “Very well, would anyone else like to share tonight?”

One of the women tentatively raised her hand, and Lily settled deeper into the uncomfortable metal chair, ready to embrace the healing when the hairs at the back of her neck began to prickle. Turning her head slightly, Lily spotted an unfamiliar woman hovering in the doorway. She was African-American, probably in her mid-forties with close-cropped black hair, her body built tough with strong shoulders and military straight posture, her dark eyes keen as she scanned the room. New members weren’t uncommon and that look of suspicion, well, that was also far too commonplace among these women with a shared history. Without further thought, Lily returned her attention to the speaker and the emotion choked words that were coming out of her mouth.

“If another man even looked at me, he would become so jealous – accuse me of doing something to attract attention. It got so bad, that I wouldn’t even leave the house.”

Lily nodded absently. She understood all too well what the other woman was saying, as well as the prison that jealousy built. Closing her eyes, the memory of how she got her scars came flooding in like a tsunami.

Daisy had wanted to buy a new dress for the summer solstice celebration and Lily had agreed to take her to the mall. With the new dress purchased, they were on their way out when a group of boys had begun to flirt with Daisy, and her sister had never looked as happy as when they had been lavishing her with such praise. Lily couldn’t help but indulge Daisy a few more minutes, though she knew it would bring a heap of trouble down on her own head.

Hank always had eyes on her whenever she left the house. All Lily could hope for was that whoever was spying on her today wouldn’t exaggerate when they reported back to her mate. Nervously, she had run through exactly what she would say when she arrived home, even willing to prepare his favorite meal to soften his temper.

Lily hadn’t even gotten fully through the door before the blow took her to her knees; hadn’t even had a chance to raise an arm to ward off the strike. Hank had slapped her with claws extended. As she remained on hands and knees, it took every ounce of will to keep conscious through the pain, her face feeling like it was engulfed in flames, her stomach rolling with nausea.

“You dare to disrespect me?” Hank had shouted, “Acting the whore in a public place and thinking you could, what? Just walk in here and I’d never be the wiser?”

Lily couldn’t lift her head to even look at Hank but she could see his feet pacing in and out of her blurred vision before he let out a scoffing sound. “Clean that mess up.”

That mess was her blood, dripping off her chin and pooling on the tile before her. He’d actually drawn blood, and this was no tiny scratch. It felt like he’d ripped half her face off. Swallowing the bile that had risen into her throat, Lily pushed herself up on trembling legs with a gasp, and somehow managed to stumble back out the door, not caring that Hank was yelling at her retreating back.

Lily couldn’t remember walking to her parents’ house, but she somehow managed to find her way to their front door. Her mother had taken one look at Lily’s face and had dragged her inside, into the bathroom, and pushed her down onto the closed lid of the toilet where she had begun to clean and stitch the wounds. The entire time her mother had made little tsking sounds as she had shaken her head. “You never did have much instinct for self-preservation.” A long sigh. “I really wish you would stop forcing your mate to discipline you so harshly.”

Lily couldn’t say a word. She was in pain, in shock, and she didn’t know what she had expected from her parents, but this – this wasn’t it. She had a vague notion of Daisy crying outside the bathroom, apologizing, attempting to shoulder the blame, and then her father barking at Daisy to go to her room before her mother snapped the lid closed on the first aid kit and straightened with another sigh. “I’ll have your father call Hank to come get you.”

Of course they would. They wouldn’t take the chance that she might not return home of her own accord and risk being punished by the pride leader for helping a female escape her mate. It didn’t matter that Lily was their daughter, as soon as she had been mated, she had become Hank Kramer’s property in the eyes of the pride.

When Hank arrived, he had his father with him. The elder Kramer had tipped her chin up to inspect the damage and had clicked his tongue. “You should be careful, my boy, not to mark her up to the point where you’ll need to put a bag over her head in order to fuck her.”

Hank shrugged, “I can always just take her from behind.”

The males, including Lily’s own father, had laughed like it was the greatest joke they’d ever heard, while Lily’s mother had just stood aside with her head lowered and her hands clasped tight before her, like the good, obedient mate she was.

Lily was summarily returned home where Hank had collapsed into his recliner with a content smile on his face, picked up the remote control to the TV, and as he scrolled through the channels had said, “My dinner’s late. You best get on that. And you still need to clean up that mess.”

The past melted away as Lily realized that the room around her had gone quiet. Perfect silence with one exception: a low growl that was rumbling from Lily’s own throat. Everyone was staring at her with different degrees of shock. Even the new-comer, who had at some point taken a seat, was watching her, those dark eyes trained on Lily like a hawk.

Lily closed her eyes in dread for a moment and then cleared her throat. Lamely she raised a hand and patted her neck. “Sorry, frog in my throat.” A sorry excuse, indeed, and Lily wanted to shudder at her own stupidity. Luckily, Doctor Hillary managed to break the awkward moment, “Would you care to share tonight, Lily?”

While she had come here with every intention of doing just that, Lily shook her head. She couldn’t trust her own vocal cords right now. Tucking her lips between her teeth, she ducked her head and stared at her hands, feeling Doctor Hillary’s gaze on her for several hard beats of her heart. Lily could just picture that patient smile of understanding, but then, to Lily’s undying appreciation, the good doctor moved on.

Lily nearly overturned her chair in her eagerness to reach the door once the meeting was over. She was mortified that she’d actually growled in front of all of these humans, and so desperate to escape before someone approached her that she punched through the doors a bit harder than necessary, sending it crashing forward into the outer wall with a wince-worthy bang. She was finally able to take a deep breath once she spotted her little beater in the parking lot and had to resist the urge to sprint those last few yards.

Once in the vehicle, she immediately started the engine and threw the car in reverse. As she was backing out, she spotted the new woman in her rearview mirror, standing just outside the doors of the church, her eyes trained on Lily’s car, her lips pursed with consideration.Probably wondering if I’m a dangerous lunatic, Lily thought darkly. And who could blame the woman? Lilywasdangerous and tonight, she may as well have stood up and shown off her claws for all the discretion she’d shown. Stupid. So stupid. With a disgusted sigh, Lily trained her eyes on the road ahead of her.