Drantos

  “You honestly think someone is looking for us from your…” She paused. “Clan?”

  “Yes.” Drantos’s dark gaze narrowed in warning. “Decker wanted you to land at that small airport because all the clans live within a few hundred miles of this area. We’re not that far from him or our people. The plane almost made it to the airport. Be silent and keep walking.”

  “How do you even know where to go? Do you recognize this area?”

  “I know how long that flight takes and yes, I’m familiar with the territory. I know where we are and where we need to go. Now stop stalling and walk.”

  “Go screw yourself.” She jerked on her hand harder. “I’m tired. I’m fed up. Most of all, I want this nightmare to end. I don’t want anything to do with you or my grandfather. Take your crazy-weird eyes, your messed-up stories and just leave Bat and I here.”

  Drantos snarled. The sound came out terrifying and animalistic. He faced her, bent, and yanked on her arm hard. She gasped when it knocked her off balance and he bent forward. He wrapped his arm around the back of her thighs while he straightened to dangle her body over his shoulder. Drantos released her wrist to grip her legs and hold her in place draped over him.

  “Let’s move,” Drantos ordered. “We’ll make better time this way.”

  “I think we should gag her. She’s a pain in the ass when she talks.”

  “I don’t want to hurt her. She’s mine.”

  Dusti beat Drantos with her fists on his denim-covered ass but he didn’t seem to notice the blows. He just resumed his hike through the woods. “Put me down, you jackass! And I’m not yours.”

  “You have no idea.” Kraven chuckled. “I’m all for you teaching her who’s in charge if we’re stuck out here overnight. Maybe it will mellow her out.”

  “I doubt it. Mother always said we were hellions. I’m guessing this is payback for all the trouble we’ve gotten into.”

  “Oh damn. Mom is going to hate her. She wanted some sweet submissive type for you.”

  “I’m more worried about Dad. He’s going to really be upset with her being so human.”

  “Shit,” Kraven cursed. “You better wait and get permission first. He may forbid you the right to claim her.”

  “It’s not up to him.”

  “Put me down! Do you hear me, you oversized bully?” Dusti wiggled frantically but his hold on her just tightened. “I’m going to castrate you the first chance I get.”

  Drantos snarled and halted so quickly her face slammed into his back. She tasted the leather of his jacket. His hand left the back of her thighs and he slapped her ass once, hard enough to make her cry out. Pain burned on her right cheek and tears filled her eyes.

  “Damn it!” he roared. “I’m sorry. You just piss me off. Don’t threaten me with that ever again.”

  He gently rubbed the area he’d struck with the palm of his hand, massaging her butt. She relaxed only slightly when the pain faded. She blinked away tears.

  “You’re an abusive piece of shit.”

  He halted the movement of his hand. “I said I’m sorry.” His voice came out gruff. “I’m under a lot of stress but I didn’t spank you hard. I’m trying to protect you, yet you’re fighting and insulting me every step of the way.”

  “I almost feel sorry for you.” Kraven said. “I’ll never taste a woman again if this is what the future holds when I find the right one.”

  “I didn’t mean to smack you that hard, Dusti.” Drantos rubbed her ass again. He resumed his fast-paced walk. “I forget how human you are. If you were more VampLycan, that would have just been annoying rather than causing you any pain. I’ll watch my strength from now on. I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

  Dusti clenched her teeth for a good minute but then lost her temper. She’d never been good at holding back her feelings. “Don’t call me that again—and keep those bear-sized mitts away from my ass. You have to sleep sometime. Remember that, because I will.”

  “I believe that’s a threat.” Kraven laughed outright. “Damn, I almost envy you. She’s got fire for being so damn clueless.”

  “Shut up.”

  “Yeah.” Dusti hated to agree with Drantos about anything. “Shut up, psychopath’s brother. And keep your bear-sized mitts off my sister’s ass. If you hit Bat when she gives you hell, you can consider yourself warned too. I’ll get even.” She took a deep breath. “And stop playing with my ass, Drantos!”

  He stopped rubbing his palm over her skirt, but he kept his fingers wrapped round the curve of her butt. She knew he did it to piss her off. She closed her eyes, her body bumping and swaying over his shoulder.

  “It would serve you right if I puked on your nice leather jacket and down the back of your jeans. I bet that wouldn’t be fun to have in those boots of yours either.”

  “You do it and I’ll spank the other side.”

  “Asshole.”

  “Ready to gag her yet?” Kraven walled up next to them. “I’m willing to give up a sock for the cause.”

  Drantos snorted. “That would kill her. I don’t even want to be in the same room with you when you take off your boots after you’ve worn them for a while. Keep your damn socks to yourself and stop irritating her more.”

  “I don’t believe she needs any help with that. She doesn’t seem to like you.”

  “She will when we’re safe.”

  “You’re dreaming, bro.”

  “Shut up,” Drantos snarled. “Pay attention to our surroundings. I’m smelling bear.”

  Kraven sniffed. “Shit. It’s more than one. The last thing we need is to run into some of them this time of year. They’re going to be hungry.”

  “You better not put me and Bat in danger,” she snapped. “This was your crazy plan to leave the crash site. We had fire and people there. I don’t care if you two get eaten but my sister and I better not become dinner for a bear.”

  Drantos rubbed her ass again. “You’re going to be a meal alright, but it won’t be a bear putting its mouth on you, sweetheart.”

  What the hell does that mean?

  Dusti clenched her teeth when it sank in that he was making another sexual innuendo. What an asshole. “That’s never going to happen,” she swore.

  “It will,” he promised. “Soon.”

  “Listen up, you son of a bit—”

  “Enough of that, you two. We don’t have time for an argument. Stop taunting her, Drantos. We should separate here,” Kraven murmured. “It will double our chances of running into our clan. What do you think?”

  “Good idea. You go a bit to the left and I’ll go right.”

  Dusti panicked. “My sister and I stay together.”

  “You’ll be rejoined with her soon.” Drantos sighed loudly. “Keep just under a mile distance. We’ll cover more ground that way. Whoever finds someone from our clan first, we’ll know where to search for the other and still be close enough to hear if one of us runs into trouble.”

  “Good idea,” Kraven agreed.

  “We’ll make camp at the river to eat and get a little break before we continue. How does that sound?”

  “Bat’s out still, so I’ll keep going for as long as I can.”

  “That will put more distance between us and we need to make rafts. They might get sick otherwise.”

  “Right.” Kraven paused. “I just want to hand this one over to someone else as soon as possible. She’s annoying when she’s awake.”

  “You can’t keep her unconscious for too long.”

  “Got it. She’ll need food. We’ll both take a break when we reach the river. It shouldn’t take more than a few hours to hunt up some food, cook it, and build a raft. Then we’ll move out again. How about that?”

  “Sounds good.”

  “Okay. We have a plan.”

  Dusti turned her head, horrified as she helplessly watched Kraven walk away with her sister tossed over his shoulder.

  “Make him come back with Bat! Please?” she pleaded with Drantos.

 
“She’ll be safe. Our chances of being found are better if we’re in two places. We’ll send help to them or they’ll send help our way if he runs into our clan first.”

  Chapter Five

  “Please put me down. I need to go to the bathroom and I think my head is about to explode from the blood rush.” Dusti didn’t expect Drantos to listen. He hadn’t all morning as they’d marched through the woods. “Remember the puking threat? How do you feel about bladder issues? I can hear water and it’s making it worse.”

  “That’s because we’ve reached the river. We can take a short break.”

  Drantos stopped to bend over. Dusti had to clutch at his leather jacket when he eased her onto her feet. A dizzy spell had her swaying on shaky legs that suffered some numbness from being in the same position for too long. His big warm hands caged her hips to help keep her steady.

  She lifted her chin to stare into his eyes. If she wasn’t mistaken, she saw concern there.

  “Are you all right?”

  “No.” The dizziness passed. “You’ve kept me upside down for hours.”

  “We needed to move fast to put distance between us and the plane.” He frowned, studying her. “You don’t look so well.”

  “I don’t feel so hot.”

  He opened his jacket and reached inside, withdrawing one of her shots. “Do you need this?”

  She’d forgotten about them with all the stress she’d been under. Clearly he hadn’t though. “Probably.”

  His eyebrow arched. “You aren’t certain?”

  “I was in a plane crash and I’ve been abducted. I’m not sure if the lightheadedness is from you carrying me, the hypnotizing stuff you’ve done, or if my anemia is acting up.”

  “Sit down.”

  She glanced around and spotted a fist-sized rock nearby. She sat, feeling a bit better that there was a weapon within sight if she needed one. Drantos crouched in front of her. He removed the cap, frowning at the needle. “How often do you have to take these again?”

  “It depends. Sometimes I can go a few days, even up to a week. At other times, every day. My doctor told me to take one every other day but I hate needles, so I avoid it when I can. I usually make sure I eat well-balanced meals. That helps a lot. Stress can also activate it and make it pretty bad. I’d say I probably need one, now that I’m thinking about it.”

  He offered it to her. She took it and peered at him. “Did you bring my entire case?”

  “No. It wouldn’t fit inside my pocket.”

  “Did you grab the alcohol packets?”

  “No. I didn’t see your sister use one on you.”

  “That’s because Bat was freaked-out after the crash and not thinking straight.” She pulled her skirt up a little, twisting her legs to keep her modesty in place by only revealing the upper part of her thigh on the side. She injected the meaty area and winced. “I hope I don’t get an infection from not cleaning the skin first.”

  He took the syringe from her and sniffed at it.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Trying to figure out what it is. They aren’t marked. I looked at them very closely.”

  “It’s my medicine. It’s called Bord-orallis.”

  “I’ve never heard of it.”

  “I’m not surprised. It’s a rare disorder.”

  He capped it, and shoved it back inside his pocket. He pulled out another syringe. “I think you take after your grandmother. You know that anemia you suffer from? While you smell pure human, you aren’t. Your grandmother inherited more Vampire traits than Lycan. Your body is starved for a blood source.”

  That wasn’t funny in the least to Dusti. “A lot of people have anemia.”

  “I’m sure they do, but yours is easily cured if you start drinking fresh blood. I can prove what I’m telling you.”

  “How? I’m not drinking blood.”

  “We could test it.”

  “Forget it.”

  Drantos removed a syringe from his pocket. He snapped it in half and Dusti gasped, watching the drug spill out on the ground between his spread thighs where he crouched. He sniffed at the contents of the two pieces he held.

  “What is wrong with you? I don’t have many of those!”

  “We can get you more once we reach my clan. I’ll personally send someone to fill your prescription in one of the larger cities.”

  “You can’t just pick that up at a pharmacy!”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Only one company produces the drug and it’s sent straight to my doctor’s office, because there aren’t too many people who need it. Pharmacies don’t stock it.”

  His eyes narrowed and he lifted the broken vial to his mouth. He stuck out his tongue and allowed some of the drug to drip onto the tip of it. Dusti grabbed his hand, attempting to make him stop.

  “Are you nuts? Don’t do that. It could make you sick!”

  He pulled his tongue back into his mouth and sealed his lips. He closed his eyes. They opened almost immediately and he looked really angry.

  “It tastes bad, doesn’t it? It serves you right. Can you not destroy the rest of my medicine, please?”

  He suddenly stood. “I don’t suppose this doctor you see knew your mother?”

  “Of course he did. I’ve seen Dr. Brent my entire life. He’s our family doctor.”

  “Son of a bitch.” He spun away. “I was right.”

  She stood, already feeling much better. “About what?”

  He kept his back to her. “We’ll discuss this later.”

  “I hate when you do that.”

  “Do what?” He turned around.

  “Make some strange statement that makes no sense and then drop it. Either explain what you mean or don’t talk at all.”

  “Fine.”

  She waited for him to say something else but he just watched her. Her temper flared. “Leave my shots alone. Don’t break any more.” She peered around. “Where is my sister?”

  “Close by. Don’t worry. She’s safe. We’d have heard if they were in trouble.”

  “There you go again. It’s annoying. What does that mean? How would we know? We can’t see them.”

  “We’d hear it if there was trouble.” Then he walked down to the edge of the river.

  She glanced around again, just seeing a lot of woods. It was tempting to go search for Bat herself but there were bears somewhere out there. She wasn’t about to forget that anytime soon, and she edged closer to Drantos’s side, going down on her hands and knees. “Do you think this is safe to drink? I don’t want to get some parasitic disease.”

  “Go ahead. You won’t.”

  She cupped both her hands into the icy water, flinching at how cold it was, but brought it to her lips. It dripped onto her clothes but she didn’t care as she swallowed big gulps of the fresh-tasting water.

  “Easy,” Drantos ordered softly. “You don’t want to make yourself sick by drinking it too fast.”

  He dropped to his knees next to her, mimicked her position, and sipped from the river. She turned her head to watch him drink until he’d had his fill. He cocked his head to meet her gaze.

  The beauty of his eyes struck her hard. They were so dark blue they edged on black. The sunshine reflected off the water, hitting his irises enough to reveal those golden flecks she’d noticed before, seeming to highlight them. His black, long eyelashes were so thick that she felt a bit envious, and they only made him more appealing.

  Memories of him touching her the previous night suddenly flooded through her mind. The urge to stroke his skin almost overwhelmed her but she fought it down. It made no sense to be so attracted to him. Sure, he was looking better every second but he’d kidnapped her and told her crazy stories about mythical creatures that she didn’t want to believe existed. That thing he did with his eyes couldn’t be dismissed either.

  “I have a few questions and I want answers. What did you do to me last night?”

  “Now is not the time to have that discussion.” r />
  She clenched her teeth. “You’re the one who forced me to leave the crash site with you. The least you can do is tell me what I want to know. Did you drug me or something?”

  His expression softened. “No.”

  “You’re attractive. I’ll give you that, but that was…” She wasn’t sure how to describe it.

  “Powerful,” he rasped. “Intense.”

  She hesitated. “What did you do to me last night to make me want you so much?”

  “Drink more water. I don’t want you to be dehydrated.” He broke eye contact and stared up at the sky. “We need to eat and get moving again soon.”

  He wasn’t going to discuss it. It irritated her. “Right. Shut up and don’t slow you down. Got it. You don’t care if I’m confused or freaked-out.”

  He stared at her and frowned. “I do care.”

  Those three words he spoke in a near whisper unsettled Dusti. She could almost swear he meant them, considering the intense look he gave her. Drantos was one handsome man, in that super-masculine way that would draw any woman. She hated noticing that but she couldn’t help it. Her gaze dropped to his chest and arms. He was also really fit and muscled.

  “Stop looking at me like that, sweetheart. Otherwise I’m going to forget the fish and just eat you. This isn’t the time or the place for that. You’re going to have to wait until we reach my home. This is just a short break.”

  His words stunned her and they seemed like a verbal slap. She jerked her gaze up, holding his. “Excuse me?”

  “You were looking at me like you wished I was on the menu.” He grinned. “Hold that thought until we’re somewhere with a bed.”

  “No, I wasn’t. I was just thinking how sad it is that for such a good-looking guy, you’re a few crayons short of a rainbow.”

  His amusement faded fast. “What the hell does that mean?”

  “It means you look really good at first glance but then as you take in the whole picture, you notice something is missing. Like your sanity. You’re crazy if you think I want to have sex with you.”

  Drantos shook his head and his gaze softened while he continued to watch her. “I expect an apology for all the insults you keep giving me when you realize the truth about what we are to each other.” Amusement suddenly flashed in his gaze, which matched the wide grin that spread across his face, a reminder of how handsome he could be. “You can give it to me on your knees.”