“I respect and love you. I’d never challenge you. You’re my father.”
“I love you too. We show our emotions and welcome close bonds in families. GarLycans aren’t like us.”
The door opened and Drantos’s mother entered. He shot to his feet at her forbidding look. “What’s wrong?”
She held his gaze but then averted it to his father. “You need to gather your enforcers quickly and rush to the clearing to the northwest. It’s the small meadow with the yellow flowers in summer. You know the one.” She looked at Drantos. “I agreed to allow Dusti to try to save the girl. Lake and her should be arriving there at any moment. Go quickly. She’s waiting for you to rescue her.”
Drantos lost his mind.
He bellowed, his claws ripping out of his fingertips and his fangs painfully wrenching from his gums.
“She wanted to do it,” his mother stated calmly. “She’s trying to prove she’s worthy of being a VampLycan in this clan. You will respect that, even if you don’t agree. She’s a woman, and one of mine. Have faith in her abilities to survive.”
Drantos refused to hear any more. He started to shift, moving fast toward the door. His father cursed, following.
He needed to get to Dusti before Decker realized he had the wrong sister.
* * * * *
Without warning, someone snuck up behind Dusti and gripped her upper arms. “I have her.”
The voice was new and male. Dusti would have just gasped but she was playing Bat. Her sister would have hated to be touched. She twisted, smacking at the guy. “Get your hands off me, dirtbag! What part of ‘I’m an attorney’ and ‘will see you in hell’ do you not understand? I’m fed up with you assholes groping me.” She smacked him again and he actually released her, stepping back.
“You’re safe now, Batina.”
Dusti clenched her teeth and turned back around. Her grandfather stalked across the clearing, coming right at her.
“I thought Los Angeles was bad.” She reached down and smoothed the shirt, a Bat move if there ever was one. It also put her hands closer to the gun hidden in her underwear. It had shifted so part of the handle or barrel dug into part of her inner thigh. “You need to call the police and the FBI! Dusti’s been kidnapped by a bunch of crazed lumberjacks. I don’t know where they’ve taken her. To add insult to injury, they gave me these horrible clothes, my suit was ruined, I don’t know where my briefcase is…” She huffed. “And those jerks broke my phone too!”
“It’s going to be fine, Batina. I’m here now.”
She turned her head, glaring up at the dark shape of her grandfather’s thug. “Back off, barbarian.”
He did it. Decker came closer. “Let me look at you.”
She faced him. “Don’t you people own flashlights?”
“Get one,” Decker ordered. “She can’t see.” He reached out and took her hand.
She wanted to yank it away but that might let him know she was aware he was a bad guy. She grasped it tight instead. “What in the hell is going on? Who was that kid? Thank you so much for rescuing me.”
He sniffed. She hoped all he picked up was Drantos.
“I smell, don’t I? They forced me to wear some guy’s stuff. My suit was torn in the plane crash and we were dragged through the woods to some backward town.” She tried to sound outraged. “Do you have a phone? I’ll call my legal assistant and have her send me clothing immediately.” She wasn’t sure if Bat could do that but she was willing to bluff. Every second put Lake and that child farther away and out of danger of being captured once the jig was up.
“I’m going to take you to a friend of mine who lives near here. He’ll have a working phone and women’s clothing for you to wear.” He released her hand.
She let him go. He was probably speaking of Aveoth. They weren’t friends and she wasn’t stupid. “But we have to find Dusti! She’s probably terrified. The poor thing gets frightened easily and she’s sick. My law firm will pay whatever they demand if they want money. I just need to contact them.”
“They are cowards. They wouldn’t harm her.” Decker cleared his throat. “You can also bathe once we reach his home.”
“Good.” She peered around, spotting four man shapes close to them. She lowered her voice. “Who are they?”
“My employees,” he lied. “One of them will carry you. I see you don’t have decent shoes.”
“They stole my four hundred dollar Italian pumps! And I don’t want to be touched. I’ve been manhandled enough. I’d actually just like a few minutes to calm down after being toted through the woods like a sack of potatoes over that gorilla’s back. Do you have any idea how traumatic this has been for me?”
He hesitated.
“I’ve been through hell! You have no idea, Grandfather. I don’t trust anyone after the last few days I’ve had. I just want to decompress and not have everyone looming around me. Can I have some breathing room? I need them to back off! What is it with people who live here and invading personal space? It's so damn rude.”
“Of course.”
The shapes moved away. Dusti lifted her hand again and rested it on her forehead. “Thank you.” She dropped her hand and did a little pacing. She glanced around, watching the dark figures blend into the woods, and noted their locations.
“We really should get you to my friend’s home, Batina. It isn’t safe out here. Those criminals could be searching for you.”
“Just give me a moment to meditate.” That sounded totally Californian. She slipped her hands down her body and gave him her back. She dug the gun out of her underwear. “I’m going to throw the book at all the assholes involved with what was done to me.”
“We’ll sort this out later. We need to go,” Decker urged.
She turned her head, peering at him. She wished she could make out his features. It would be nice to know what he looked like. It didn’t really matter though. “Mom never talked about you. Why is that?”
“She was a foolish teenager when she ran away. She didn’t understand about duty and family loyalty. Now isn’t the time to discuss this.”
“I disagree.”
“I’m your grandfather.” He sounded pissed. “That’s all you need to know, and that I’m going to do what is best for you. Right now, that’s taking you far from here.”
“And giving me to Lord Aveoth?” She figured Lake had likely had more than enough time to get a good head start. “Maybe I don’t want to become the lover of a GarLycan. Do you even care?”
He sucked in a breath.
She hid the gun along her hip and slowly turned to face him. Her thumb found the safety and rested there. “I know you have a phone on you. They have these nifty lights on them. Pull yours out and show me your face.”
He didn’t move at all.
“Are you even Decker Filmore?”
“Of course I am.”
“Show me your face, Grandpa. I want to see you.”
“What the hell did Velder say to you?”
“Show me your face and I’ll tell you.”
He moved and she saw his hand fumbling with something. It surprised her when he actually turned on the phone and the faint glow of light lit his face. It had been a long time since she’d seen him but recognition hit. She stepped closer, studying him. He appeared no older than his mid-thirties.
“You look amazingly good for what? Two hundred years old?”
“Give or take a few years.” His tone grew cold. “I’m glad you know what we are. Velder lied to you. They’re a bunch of idiots who are going to get our race killed. They hide from the world like the cowards they are. We’re VampLycans, feared by all! We’re at the top of the food chain.”
“Is that what you told my grandmother before you killed her?” She expected him to deny it.
“That stupid bitch was always making me appear weak in front of my clan, with her nagging ways and sympathy for those who broke the laws,” he snarled. “She went behind my back one time too many. I have no use for
anyone who stands in my way. She didn’t deserve to live.”
Dusti stepped closer to him. “I guess I take after you in at least one way. I don’t think you deserve to live, either. You’re a piece of shit.”
His nose flared and she saw his eyes narrow.
“You were always an asshole to me, Grandpa.” She flipped off the safety of the gun. “You shouldn’t call other people idiots when you can’t even tell your own granddaughters apart. I’m Dusti—and I’m not going to let you hurt Bat.”
Rage registered on his face and his mouth opened. His fangs grew as he snarled.
“You know what else you were wrong about? I’m not totally human. I smell like it but I take after the woman you mated and killed. I’m not sick. I just needed some blood.”
Another growl came from him.
“You could have used either of us to give to Aveoth,” she went on. “I met him, by the way. He really hates your ass. That’s one scary guy. I already have a mate, so he let me go. I guess I should thank you for luring Bat and I here. Drantos is the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
“I’ll kill him and Aveoth will accept you then!”
“No, you won’t. You’ve hurt enough people. I always knew you were an asshole but you’re actually a monster. Bat defends criminals for a living because she feels some people might actually be innocent. You’re not. You just like to hurt people and step on them to get your way. Someone needs to stop you.”
His arm shot out and he grabbed her throat. “No one can. You think those cowards from Velder’s clan are capable of taking me out? I’ll slaughter them all and make you watch!”
“It’s never going to happen.”
“It will. And Aveoth will help me.”
“You’re delusional. Aveoth wants you dead.”
“He’s addicted to the blood. I’ll bleed you in front of him and he’ll agree to anything to have you. He has a weakness—and I intend to use it against him.”
“He was told about Bat, and do you know what he said? ‘Keep her away from me.’ He doesn’t want her either. It’s over. He knows what you’re up to and he’s a badass son of a bitch. I watched him kill one of your men. He didn’t even break a sweat. Boom. It was over that fast. He moves like the wind.”
“Smelling the blood will change his mind. I’ll own him.”
“You’re a moron.” She actually leaned closer, glaring into his eyes. “People say I’m the sweet one but they’re wrong. Go to hell, Grandpa.”
She lifted the gun and shoved it against the front of his shirt over his heart. He looked down right as she pulled the trigger.
She fired at least four bullets into him as he staggered back, releasing her and dropping the phone in his hand. She could still make out his shape when he hit the ground from the dim light of the moon. She targeted his chest and fired two more bullets, striking him again.
A loud snarl came from the woods. She turned and pointed the gun in that direction. “He’s dead! It’s over! You can kill me for that but if I were you, I’d save my own ass. Look up. Incoming GarLycans, assholes! That was the signal,” she bluffed. “Here they come.”
She heard something crash through the woods in a few different directions but nothing came out into the clearing. She did a fast turn, expecting one of them to attack from behind, but nothing did. Her pounding heart slowed after long moments passed and none of her grandfather’s men attacked. She walked over to the phone and bent, picking it up. A touch of the screen lit it up brighter and she turned it, getting closer to the man on the ground. She pointed the gun at Decker Filmore, ready to fire again if he tried to grab her.
Blood soaked the blue dress shirt he wore. It looked as if she’d shot him in the stomach at least twice and he’d taken four to the chest. He wasn’t moving and his eyes were closed. She couldn’t detect him breathing.
Decker Filmore was dead.
Dusti wasn’t sure what to feel about that. She backed away and turned, holding up the phone for the limited amount of light it put off. She was alone with her dead grandfather in the clearing. The men working for him had taken off.
“Now I wait,” she surmised. The wind blew and the gun in her hand felt heavy. She wondered how long it would take Drantos to arrive.
She turned around, staring at the body on the ground. “I don’t feel guilty. You killed my grandma and made my mother so afraid she left everything she knew. I bet that was terrifying for her.” Emotion choked her. “You would have used my sister without caring how miserable she would have been. That Aveoth guy would have ended up killing her at some point. You didn’t care about us, so why should I care that you’re dead? I don’t. Never fuck with a Dawson.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Dusti backed away from her grandfather’s body. It unsettled her, being close to it.
A howl tore through the woods and she faced the direction she believed it had originated from. It was where she’d come out of the trees with Lake.
She opened her mind, trying to feel Drantos. She caught an emotion that wasn’t hers. Rage.
She winced, figuring he’d be mad and hadn’t been wrong. He was coming for her. She sensed him getting closer.
Dusti touched the screen again to activate the phone and used it like a flashlight to enter the woods. “I’m over here,” she called out.
Something crashed through the woods at a frightening speed. She found a fallen log and climbed up on top of it. The phone light wasn’t good at showing her more than about four feet in front of her. She held it up, searching for any sign of movement.
She spotted a big beast just as it leaped over a bush and crashed into the ground in front of her.
It skidded to a stop and sat on its hunches, just staring up at her with black eyes.
“Drantos?”
He shook his head.
Fear came instantly but he didn’t attack. He just stayed in front of her, close to the ground. He watched her with those eerie eyes until more noises came from behind him. He turned his head and lifted up, walking a little to the right of her.
Another shifted beast bounded over the same bush and it almost struck the log she stood on. All four legs of the big furred body skidded on the loose leaves covering the ground until it came to a stop. It didn’t stay put. It snarled and lunged at her.
She gasped and almost fell off her precarious perch. Emotion flooded her though and she froze. The furry body hit hers but she didn’t hit the ground. One of the VampLycan’s limbs wrapped around her and she landed on Drantos’s big body after he twisted in the air.
He shifted forms, his fur receding to be replaced by skin. His other arm wrapped around her, almost crushing her to his big body. Something dark sailed over them then stopped. She lifted her head. The phone and gun had been torn from her grasp when she’d fallen. The dark shape of another shifted VampLycan stood near their heads.
How could you go against my orders?
She flinched as Drantos yelled inside her head.
She braced her hands on his chest and lifted up. “Did Lake make it back to the village with his niece?”
“Yes,” his father answered. “We passed him on our way to you.”
She jerked at Velder’s harsh tone.
Dusti? Drantos yelled at her again. Answer me!
“Where’s Decker?” Velder snarled.
That’s what I want to know. How did you get away from him? I was told he had you.
“Is she alright?” She recognized Red’s voice.
“Answer,” Velder demanded.
Dusti? I told you not to go, damn it. Are you injured? Hurt? Where the hell is that bastard Decker?!
“Enough,” Dusti shouted. “You’re all talking to me at once. I just had the wind knocked out of me from being tackled.” She took a deep breath and blew it out, staring down where she knew Drantos’s face was from the sound of his heavy breathing. “I’m okay. Everything is fine.”
“Where is Decker?”
She flinched. Her ne
w father-in-law still sounded furious. She stared up at his hulking shape. He wasn’t on all fours anymore. He stood tall and was just a big silhouette in the shadows.
Dusti wiggled her hips and Drantos released her. She stood. “I killed him,” she admitted.
“What?”
“Um, I took the gun from your nightstand drawer. I shot him. Trust me. He’s dead. I hit him in the chest four times, and twice in the stomach after he had fallen down.”
“No fucking way,” Red gasped.
“Way,” Dusti muttered, turning to try to make out Drantos’s cousin. She could barely see anything at all so she gave up, blindly turning to Drantos again. “He didn’t know about the gun until it was too late. I hid it. Then I bluffed so his men ran away instead of killing me.”
“What?” Drantos gasped again.
“What part of that is confusing you or so hard to believe? I shot my grandfather and then yelled at his men that the GarLycans were flying in, told them the shots were my signal for them to attack. I can’t see a damn thing but I heard them running for their lives.”
“Son of a bitch,” Red muttered.
Drantos yanked her against him, nearly crushing her in a bear hug. “You could have been killed!”
“He thought I was Bat at first. He needed her alive. He didn’t know it was me until I told him—by then it was too late and we were close enough for me not to miss him when I fired the gun. I would have shot him more but I didn’t know how many bullets were in the gun. I didn’t exactly count them. I think there’s eight, right? I wanted a few to spare in case not all of his men ran away.”
“Unbelievable,” Velder rasped. “Where’s Decker’s body, Dusti?”
“In the clearing. It was freaking me out, standing so near it.”
Drantos shifted his hold on her and lifted her up his body. They left the trees and her vision got a little better with the moon to help. She saw two large shapes next to them. Red and Velder, staying close.
Until Velder suddenly sprinted forward.
She could make out enough to see her father-in-law wasn’t sporting any clothes. The sight of his bare ass wasn’t something she wanted to see but she couldn’t help it. He walked over to a spot in the longer grass and crouched.