Master of Smoke

not to start a fight in front of Terry.”
    David said nothing and followed, his hands balling into fists despite her instructions. A man who harmed his own mate deserved a beating—at the very least.

    Terry’s apartment was two doors down, a mirror image of Eva’s, except for the furnishings. Unlike her bright color scheme, everything in this one was some shade of brown—dark brown couch, brown leather easy chair, beige carpet. Instead of posters, the walls were decorated with photos, most of them of Terry at various ages.
    Shelly Gordon was sprawled in the floor by the kitchen table, surrounded by spilled food and the shards of a broken plate.
    “I gather Ronnie didn’t like the menu again,” Eva growled, her full mouth drawing into a thin, pale line of rage.
    David knelt and started to scoop the woman into his arms.
    “Don’t lift her,” Eva said sharply as she dropped to her knees. “She may have internal injuries. Shelly? Shelly, honey, wake up. Terry needs you.”
    At those words, one swollen hazel eye opened a crack. “Ronnie?” She sounded dazed. No wonder, considering the beating she’d taken.
    “It’s Eva. And my friend, David. We’re going to call an ambulance ...”
    Shelly’s battered eye tried to widen in alarm. She was a pretty woman, but you’d never know it now with all the bruises distorting her delicate features. “No!” she rasped, her voice barely louder than a whisper. “Ronnie won’t like it.”
    “I don’t care. You’re hurt, and you need help.” Eva brushed the bright blond hair back from the woman’s forehead to reveal a huge knot. “Looks like you’ve got a head injury. And you were unconscious, so you definitely need to be seen.”
    “Who the hell’s here?” a male voice slurred from somewhere down the hall.
    David rose to his feet as the voice’s owner staggered around the corner. He was a massive man, his bearded face flushed red from drink. Enormous hands flexed and fisted as his gaze came to rest on David. His head lowered like a bull about to charge. “What the fuck are you doin’ here?”
    David gave him a smile that wasn’t in the least pleasant. “Taking care of the wife and child you abused.”
    Ronnie’s booze-reddened face flushed even brighter, and his small eyes narrowed to slits. “Get the hell out of my house!”
    “Not until we’re sure you haven’t killed your wife.”
    He sneered and lurched closer. “What, are you trying to get into her pants?”
    It would be profoundly satisfying to beat the bastard as badly as he’d beaten his woman. Unfortunately, the cretin was so drunk, he’d be no proper contest. David stepped forward, knocked aside Ronnie’s clumsy punch with his left arm, and plowed his right fist into the man’s nose. There was a highly satisfying spray of blood, and Ronnie toppled like a felled tree.
    “Daddy!” the boy cried, running to his father’s side. He shot David a glittering, betrayed look. “You hurt my daddy!”
    David stared at him, nonplussed. The bastard evidently made a habit of brutalizing both the child and his mother, yet Terry was furious at David for one soundly deserved punch.
    “He’s brainwashed them,” Eva explained tightly as she pulled her cell phone out of a jeans pocket. “They think they deserve anything he does, while he can do no wrong. Nine-one-one? I need an ambulance at Apartment E-7 at the Drayton Apartments. A woman’s seriously hurt. Her husband beat her pretty badly.”
    As she talked to the dispatcher, David watched the boy pat his father’s face anxiously until the man began to stir.
    “Get the hell away from me!” Ronnie pushed his son roughly aside. Shooting a glare at David, he scrambled to his feet and reeled back down the hall.
    David curled his lip at the man’s back and moved to crouch beside the women again.
    “... time to go to the women’s shelter before he hurts you and Terry any worse than he has,” Eva was saying.
    “But he’s not always like this.” Shelly licked blood from her swollen lips. “He just had a really bad day, and then I overcooked the steaks, and they were so tough ...”
    David stared at her. “He beat you because the meat was tough?”
    “Well, they were really expensive steaks. And his boss had raked him over the coals today ...”
    “I notice he didn’t beat up his boss.” Eva sighed and gently touched the woman’s bruised shoulder. “Look, you’ve got to face facts, Shelly. Ronnie could control his temper—after