“What is going on, Dakota,” he asked as he looked me over. “Have you gone crazy?” Big black sunglasses took up over half his face and he was dressed in black slacks, shiny shoes and a red button up shirt that was left completely open to reveal his lithe body.
“Mr. Yates was killed. Father Allan shot him and I came to take care of the mess.” I reached up and tucked my messy platinum hair behind my ear and turned to meet Charlie’s eyes.
“Shit, baby girl,” he whispered as he reached up to my pale hair and touched my cheek too. “You look so different.”
“A lot has changed. I need to talk to you about your car,” I informed him and he placed a hand on his hip and glanced down at the nails of his free hand.
“Oh, I know, baby. That motherfucker came to get his shit but I already had the goods. What do you think I have been out here selling,” he sassed and smirked.
“You are trouble. Pure trouble,” I said as I shifted my glace past him to the old bleachers. Markham, the short built blonde sat on the top of the bleachers with his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward to talk in the ear of the tall, well-built and bald, Darius. Darius’s wicked jade gaze was upon me and a content smile pulled his full lips tight. I watched him nod and then my concentration was interrupted by Charlie’s snapping fingers.
“Bitch, wake up. What is with you? Have you been playing in the snow,” he asked and I arched a brow as I tried to figure out what he was asking. He made note of my confusion and lifted his pinky to his nose and snorted. Cocaine. I got it.
“I don’t play with that shit,” I said shaking my head. He followed my eyes as they shifted past him again and he tisked loudly.
“Are you still trying to play with the big boys, slut?”
“This game has really begun to suck,” I whispered as I started to walk past him. His hand was quick to grab my shoulder and I was extremely shocked at his strength. My eyes cut back over my shoulder to look down at his hand. His fingers were long and repulsive, even with long nails painted the color of his shirt. “Let go of me,” I requested. He smirked and tilted his head.
“I’m warning you, Dakota. You should leave now,” he said quietly and I watched him lift his sunglasses to reveal his electric blue eyes which now burned supernaturally like mine. “Baby, you have no idea what is going on right now. I am probably the only person who is going to care if you actually make it out of this shit alive.” I narrowed my brow as his speech confused me.
“What the fuck are you talking about,” I asked. He dropped his glasses back over his face and released his death grip on my shoulder.
“Baby, those are my people over there,” he said as he nodded towards the bleachers and I drew in a deep breath. “They have a little bit of business with you and I had to make sure it happened.” I reached out and slapped him with force that whipped his head back. His hand slowly lifted to rub his cheek. “Bitch, I’m going to let that slide. Do it again and I will fucking tear that new dye job of yours out,” he warned me.
“So you are part of the pack that killed my father,” I asked through a tight jaw.
“I wasn’t with them that day. But, yes, I am part of their pack,” he assured me and then smiled. “Can you guess where my paw is,” he smirked.
“I’m sure it’s on your ass, pillow-biter,” I spit and he began to laugh.
“Smart girl. Well, pup, I have a story to tell you. You see, your mommy dearest…” he began and I felt myself gasp for air; I had not taken a breath since he told me he was with the bikers. What the fuck did he know about my mother? “That whore belongs to the bald one,” he said with a flick of his finger in the direction of Darius. I turned to look and Darius was collecting himself and standing from the bleachers.
“What the fuck are you talking about,” I quipped and turned back to him.
“Cunt, shut it and let me talk,” he barked. “Viv is Darius’s bound mate; however, the bitch is a fickle twat. She obsesses over him, hates him and then comes back again. During one of her little “I hate thee” episodes, she skanked off with your daddy. Big man, strong, heart of gold…she could smell the wolf on him, thought he would be able to save her from the hold that comes with the mating bind. Nothing breaks that shit! Dumb little naïve twat, your mother was.”
“Was,” I asked in a hushed tone as I listened to his every word. My head began to spin as I tried to weave all the pieces of the puzzle together but found it difficult. There was so much in my life that had been a lie and I had a hard time figuring out what was bullshit and what was real.
“Oh, don’t worry. She’s still around. The old bitch just got smart finally.” I watched him as he lifted his hand and offered a wave over my shoulder. I slowly turned my head to see that Markham, Darius and another man were slowly approaching. “She had been gone for almost ten month’s when she came crawling back to Darius. He had to take her back but he was able to take it all out on your sweet Pops. He let it go at first. Then twenty-some years later he learned that she was still keeping in touch with Marshall, she really did love the man. Darius is very territorial and he didn’t want someone else dipping their fuck stick into his bitch when he was sure he finally had her being obedient.” He sighed and shook his head, “Once a whore always a whore.”
“She was still talking to my father? Did they know about me?”
“Baby, Darius had no idea you existed until he showed up to take your father out. The second he saw you he knew why…” his words were cut off as the three men at my back approached.
“That’s enough, queer,” Markham snarled at Charlie and Charlie walked over and smacked him. “Baby, love it when you are rough.”
“Bitch, please! I wouldn’t touch that three inch, flea infested, crooked little cock of yours if you paid me,” Charlie snapped. I stood with my arms crossed and placed my hand on my gun beneath my jacket.
“Child, there is no need for that,” poured his rich voice. Heat swept in and seemed to wrap me like a comforting blanket. It paused for a brief moment and then oozed once again. I felt my nerves begin to settle though I wished they hadn’t. I knew I should be scared but the moment he spoke my fear went out the window. Darius approached me and reached down to take my hand and lift it to his lips. His haunting green eyes remained on mine as he kissed the flesh on the back of my hand and nuzzled it like Daxo used to do when loving on me. I begged my muscles to work and snatch my hand away from him but I didn’t move. He was utterly bewitching. My hand on my gun relaxed though it remained tucked around the 9mm.
“Why are you here,” I asked calmly with my eyes on his.
“I’ve come for you, love.” His warmth was so different from Murphy’s. When Murphy touched me I found myself craving him like an addict. Darius’s touch put me at ease and made me feel like all was right in the world. The realistic side of me barked in my ear, telling me that my world was about to be shattered once more. He let my hand fall back to my side and reached out to tuck my bangs out of my eyes. I managed to move away from his hand. “You’ve changed since our last meeting,” he whispered and I noticed his tone was slightly bitter.
“Did my mother send you?”
“I guess you could say that,” he offered. “She honestly doesn’t know I am here. I have been watching you for some time, though through the eyes of another.” He held a hand out, gesturing towards Charlie. I sighed as I recalled that Charlie showed up not too long after my father was killed, three years ago. I obviously had never made the connection.
“The car was a total set up,” I asked, turning to look at Charlie.
“She catches on quick,” he said and rolled his eyes.
“Watch it Charles,” growled Darius quietly. Charlie stiffened and turned his face away from all of us.
“You are the drug dealer,” I said as I thought back to the story the prostitute told in Murphy’s room. She must work for Darius. Murphy had been drug into all of this to distract me? I was completely lost. I dropped my eyes and a warm hand lifted my chin. There w
as no electricity between us, not like Murphy and I. “Where is my mother?”
“She is back in Reno, working hard. She thinks I am out on business.” He took a step closer and looked into my eyes with an adoring smile. “You look so much like her,” he whispered. He pulled me even closer as he took a deep breath and I watched his nostrils flare. “You smell like her too,” he breathed into the night air.
I reached up and placed a hand on his chest. I took a step back and put some space between us. He smiled and turned to look back at Markham, Charlie and the man I had not yet met. The fourth man was quiet and seemed to stand behind the rest. I looked him over and found that he too had a paw tattoo on his wrist like Markham. He was quite Markham’s opposite in looks. He was extremely tall for an Asian man and had the build of a swimmer. Long black hair hung over his powerful shoulders and a scar ran down one side of his face. “Silent but deadly” was all that came to mind when I tried to sum him up.
“Why have you come for me,” I asked as I refocused on the man that still enveloped me with his warmth. “If you came to kill me then why haven’t you?”
“Who said we came to kill you,” Darius asked curiously. “It doesn’t do you any good to make assumptions, love.”
“You killed my Pops,” I said as I felt myself begin to reject his warmth. Like sticky fingers his touch tried to cling to me but one by one I managed to peel them away until I stood burning in my own fire. My temper began to flare without the comforting effects of Darius. My hands began to ache and I balled them into fists as they began to shift.
“Your Pops was trespassing,” he snarled. “Viv is my bound mate. We may be able to fuck freely but we never give our hearts or loyalty to another. She is mine.” I could tell he still had a bad taste in his mouth about the whole situation.
“So you killed him for loving her,” I asked boldly. I watched tension ripple through him as he thought about it and then it vanished as quickly as it appeared.
“Actually, he killed your father,” he informed me as he nodded towards Markham. “These two were in the back of the truck.” Markham smiled proudly at me and pulled the cuff of his black dress shirt back to show his wrist. “They are our gunmen…our hunters.” I imagined a huge target painted on the steroid freak’s forehead and felt my finger itch over the trigger of my firearm. I turned to look at Darius’s neck.
“And the paws on the neck,” I asked.
“We guide the pack…like the neck turns the head,” he schooled me and then sighed. “I am the only guide left.”
This puzzled me and he noticed. “After your father’s murder, Yates and his men got a hold of us. Two had not matured yet and didn’t live through the beating. Cooper was the third and I am sure you know all about his death.” I knew he meant the body Yates had gutted and drug to the bar. I still had his license.
“Your little pack pyramid is cute and all but you still haven’t answered my question,” I growled and found that my voice was getting raspier. My stomach began to churn and I could feel my features and senses begin to sharpen.
“You have so many,” he taunted me and avoided answering me once again. That was all I needed to shove my temper over the edge. A violent growl ripped through me and I took a few more steps away. Four on one hardly seemed fair. “You can run, child. We will only find you again.”
“Bitch, you better stay put if you know what’s good for you. You have never crossed me as being as dumb as your cunt mother,” Charlie warned me. Darius shot him a look and Charlie rolled his eyes. Charlie obviously did not care for my mom. I watched as Charlie sassed Darius with his body language and I suddenly grew to hate Charlie.
All this time I had thought he was my friend. I had done him favors and he had always returned them. The whole time he was simply spying on me for the men who killed my father. I wanted to pull him limb from limb and force feed him the leftovers. Without warning I pulled my gun and fired at his head. Gifting him with a hole in the head the size of the one in his ass, he fell to the ground. He was a Were, he would live.
Silence fell over the other three men as they turned to look at Charlie’s stunned body and then suddenly they erupted with booming laughter. I growled as they found great humor in me gunning down the pack tramp.
“Pick him up, Xander. He’ll have a headache but he will be fine. Carry him to the truck,” ordered Darius. Before he could finish ordering the tall man around Xander plucked Charlie’s limp body from the ground with ease and walked off with him over his shoulder.
Pain surged through me as I felt my insides begin to deviate. I was on the verge of completely changing and without warning I found Darius standing behind me with his arms around me and his face pressed into my hair. His warmth circled me once more and my pain subsided. I felt my bones flex back and my muscles relax. I prayed that one day I would be able to control my shift as well as he did it for me.
“There is no need to frenzy,” he whispered as he inhaled me. “You have been through so much today. You need rest.” One of his hands released my waist and slid to my hand holding the 9 mm. Before he could pull it from my hand, I squeezed the trigger and watched the toe of Markham’s designer shoes explode. He howled in pain and fell to the ground.
“You fucking bitch,” Markham grunted and reached down to his bloody foot. Darius froze when the gun fired and I could now hear him chuckling behind me. Some pack, always laughing when their members get hurt. I jerked my arm up with an unnatural quickness and the barrel of my Smith and Wesson pressed into the underside of his chin, over my shoulder.
“Let me go or I will pull the trigger,” slowly he released me and I felt his warmth slowly flake away. “I’m leaving now,” I said as I slowly turned, keeping my gun on him. He held his hands up and moved to Markham. He assisted him off the ground and smiled charmingly at me.
“You have a harder bite that your mother. I like that,” Darius said as his kindling jade eyes slipped over me once more. “You should come with us now and save yourself a fight later.”
“No…fucking…way,” I replied and he shrugged.
“Suit yourself, child,” he said with a slight bow. “Your mother will love to learn that I have met you. Maybe I will bring her by for a visit.”
“I want nothing to do with her or any of you.”
“Abandonment issues? That’s a shame. You will find that you don’t have much of a choice anymore, love,” he said with a deviant smile. “Until we meet again,” he added and nodded. Markham was finally on his feet and the two turned their backs to me and began walking away. I watched them with my gun still aimed until I lost them in the crowd across the field.
Once they were gone, I started walking home. It would take me a while to get there but I had time to reiterate this whole fucking catastrophe in my mind. Viv met my father in Reno where she worked. She was on the outs with Darius and my father swept her off her feet. My father really did love her and to my surprise, she loved him too. Her connection to Darius led her back to him after she had me. She left me with my father and returned to her life with Darius without telling him about the baby. My mother and father stayed in touch all those years until Darius found out…and this werewolf politic bullshit took my father’s life.
What was this “bound mate” bullshit? Why hadn’t he just killed my cheating mother too if he was that upset about it all? Where did I come into play? I had too many questions once again. Nearly the whole Yates family was dead now. Murphy had delivered me to hell and then bailed. My life as I knew it was one big lie. I had become a total monster with a hunger for human flesh and at the moment my only ally was someone I could hardly bare listening to for more than five minutes at a time. Father Allan was right, I was going to hell….shit, I was already here.
CHAPTER 17
My mind was exhausted and so was my body. My boots scuffed over the dry land as I approached my house. I wanted to take a shower and climb into the attic. I wanted to go through the boxes and see if there was anything that could better help m
e understand all of this. If my father was a werewolf then someone else in the family was too, if not all of them. There had to be something left by someone to give me further insight.
I was alarmed when I saw a figure sitting on my porch swing. I froze in my tracks and turned my head up to sniff the air. I lowered my guard a little when I caught his scent. I began walking again and startled him as I approached from the side of the house.
“Shit, you scared me,” Greyden said with a light chuckle as he climbed out of the swing and met me at the front door. He stood with his back to the door and looked me over. “You look tired,” he said, telling me what I already knew. “Where have you been,” he asked and looked at the watch on his wrist. “I have been here for a couple of hours.”
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