Ulrik, the Dark, and MI5 had all tried to get to Dreagan and the Kings in some way. And Kinsey had slipped in under the radar. Ryder felt like the biggest fool.
But he was going to protect his home and his family in the only way he knew how.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Kinsey woke feeling sick to her stomach. She rolled to her side to stop the nausea, but nothing helped. When she broke out in a sweat, she threw off the covers and made a dash for the bathroom to kneel before the toilet. As her stomach rolled viciously, her head began to pound.
She grabbed her head and fell to the floor. The pain was unimaginable, as if someone were inside her head. She cried out, squeezing her eyes closed, praying it stopped.
Ryder! Where was he? Kinsey needed him.
*
Ryder heard the screams when he was halfway to his bedroom. He started running with Thorn and Dmitri on his heels. As he approached the bedroom he saw the door open and panic set in.
He rushed into his room to find Anson kneeling over Kinsey in the bathroom. The light was on but Kinsey had her eyes closed with her hands on either side of her head as she curled up on her side. Her cries tore at Ryder as he saw the pain she was in.
Ryder grabbed a blanket off the bed as he strode into the bathroom. He covered Kinsey’s naked body then touched her arm.
Anson looked up at him, his black eyes troubled. “I heard the screams and found her like this.”
“Careful,” Dmitri cautioned Ryder when he tried to roll Kinsey onto her back.
Ryder needed to get her to Con. Con could heal anything. That’s when Ryder remembered Con was in Paris. He didn’t know what to do. As angry as he was with Kinsey, she was in pain. If he was going to get a confession from her, she needed to be lucid enough to answer his questions.
“Kinsey,” Ryder called. “Can you hear me?”
Tears streamed freely down her face, telling him the agony she was in. Ryder began to gather her into his arms to take her back to the bed. He was about to stand when she grew quiet.
He watched as her arms fell to her sides and the lines of hurt eased from her face as her body relaxed.
“What the bloody hell,” Dmitri murmured.
Thorn gave a shake of his head. “I doona like this, Ryder.”
He didn’t either, but he wasn’t sure what to do. At least Kinsey was no longer in pain. That was a plus. But there was no denying something was going on. He just needed to determine what.
If she were an electronic of some kind, Ryder would know exactly what to do. As it was, the human body was as foreign to him as designing an engine was to others.
“What are you going to do?” Anson asked.
Ryder looked at each of the Kings and shrugged. “I can no’ leave her on the floor.”
Just as he began to stand, Kinsey sat up, her eyes opening. The blanket fell away, but she either didn’t realize it or care. And the Kinsey Ryder knew would’ve cared.
All four of them froze as they waited to see what she would do or say. Seconds ticked by without a sound from her.
“Kinsey,” Anson said.
Ryder frowned as she ignored him. Then she rose to her feet and started for the door. Ryder pointed to Thorn who quickly shut the door before Kinsey could reach it.
Ryder then rose and moved to stand before her. He didn’t like the others seeing her without clothes, but he was more concerned with her attitude. “Kins, you’re naked. Don’t you want to put on some clothes?”
She turned her head and looked right through him. Ryder exchanged a look with Dmitri and Anson. No matter what, Kinsey wasn’t leaving the room.
Ryder put a hand out to stop her when she attempted to walk past him. With just a small shove from her slim hand, he found himself on his back.
“What the hell?” Thorn asked.
Ryder was thinking the same thing. He jumped to his feet and put himself in front of Kinsey once more. This time he was prepared when she went to push him.
This time he didn’t budge an inch.
She cocked her head his way. Then she used both hands to ram him. Ryder found himself sliding back on the hardwood until he met the rug, which scrunched beneath his feet.
Anson came up behind Kinsey and tried to get his arms around her, but she somehow managed to dislodge him.
“Her strength has more than tripled,” Ryder said, grabbing hold of her shoulders and stopping himself. “We can’t be gentle with her anymore.”
Thorn frowned. “But Ryder. You love her.”
“Right now she’s a threat to Dreagan. We need to stop her.”
Dmitri nodded vigorously. “I wholeheartedly agree.”
Before they could take her down, she sent an uppercut to Ryder’s jaw, nearly knocking him out. He stumbled backward trying to get his bearings as he heard his friends shouting.
Something hit the back of his legs. Unable to right himself, he fell backward, right into the chair. He shook his head, trying to clear it. When he blinked and the room stopped spinning he found Anson and Thorn rising from the floor and Dmitri bent over holding his cock as he braced a hand on the wall.