Footfalls on the stairs almost stopped his heart.
When Yardley’s shadow appeared in the open doorway Lily sat up but she didn’t move from her place on the floor.
Yardley didn’t say a word, merely lifted the covers and slid down next to him. Surprise held him still. She settled in and lay flat on her back, not touching him anywhere.
“The generator’s out. I was cold.”
Kye didn’t answer. It really wasn’t important why she was here beside him. Now he had a whole lot of new decisions to make. Or just one.
He slowly moved his hand across the sheet until his little finger met hers. When she didn’t jerk away, he hooked his over hers, curled and held on. “In the morning.”
He felt her relax.
He wanted her in the worst way. Wanted her so badly it hurt to breathe. But he’d seen her bruises. The last thing she needed to know after Stokes’s assault was that the man she trusted enough to climb into bed with for a sense of safety and comfort was lusting after her like a dog.
She needed to know there was refuge here. In the dark. In this bed. With him beside her.
He took a deep breath. Maybe it wasn’t going to be so hard to sleep after all.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Kye woke to Yard swearing like a drill sergeant. He sat up, muscles tightening for combat even before his eyes were open.
She was sitting beside him on the bed in the half-light of dawn.
“You’re shaking like a leaf.”
She shrugged off his touch on her shoulder. “Bad memories.”
“Of last night?”
She gave her head the barest shake. “Something that happened before.”
Kye’s whole body tensed. “What happened before?”
“Nothing.”
“Try again.”
She was silent so long he thought she wouldn’t answer. “The week after you left rumor got around Harmonie Kennels that I was putting out.”
Kye swore under his breath. “I don’t expect you to believe me. But I didn’t tell anyone about us. Not even Law.”
“Whatever.” Her voice was flat. “Some guy caught me hosing down the cages while training was going on. He—” She bit her broken lip hard, causing it to bleed freely. She didn’t seem to notice. “Bronson came in. Beat the guy half to death before some of the staff heard me screaming and came to pull him off.”
“At least he behaved like a father that time.”
She turned only her head to look at him, her eyes so dark with remembered pain it was hard to hold her gaze. “Bronson blamed me. He said it was my fault he had to half kill a decent man as an example so other handlers wouldn’t let themselves be seduced by me. It was bad for business.”
Bad for business. The words made Kye want to hit something but he didn’t dare scare her confession away. “And?”
“My father said he’d known about us but that he’d let it go as a onetime fuck.” She swallowed. “However, if I wanted to be a slut like my mother, I’d have to do that somewhere else.”
Kye thought quickly through what she had told him, trying to keep his anger out of his calculations. But doing that felt like sitting on a rumbling volcano.
Fact one: Word had gotten out that he and Yard had been together. He supposed someone besides Bronson must have seen them. Young lovers were often reckless when they thought they were being discreet. Had the way he looked at her given them away?
Fact two: Shortly after he’d left, a guy had tried to rape Yard.
Shit. Little eruptions of anger broke through his defenses, making his heart pound.
Fact three: Bronson had beat the assailant to a bloody pulp—not to avenge his daughter, but to protect his business.
Kye’s fists curled down tight, abraded knuckles itching to hit something, hard. “Why did you stay with Battise?”
“I had nowhere else to go. I’d enlisted in the army at eighteen because it was the best option to get away from the reservation.”
“You went to war?”
“It was easier in some ways than reservation life.” She shot him a dark look that dared him to ask her about that. “As my first tour of duty was coming to a close, I was suddenly out on my ass with discharge papers when everyone else was being stop-lossed with extensions. Once stateside, I learned Bronson had pulled some strings with the military, saying I was more valuable at Harmonie Kennels to help train military dogs.”
Kye whistled. “I knew he had pull. But to get you out of the army in wartime?”
She shrugged. “Bronson always got what he wanted. He promised to pay my college tuition for the fall semester if I’d work for him. So I agreed. But after the incident he took back that promise. He said I had to work for free. The bills for the guy he had to beat up were coming out of my wages.”
“Jesus, Yardley. No wonder you hate me.”