Silverbow (20 page)

“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 was 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 me 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.”

“I don’t know where to start,” I asked him and tried to reach around him to let myself in the house, but he blocked me. Sighing heavily, I lifted my chin and looked at his face. His dark blue eyes searched for answers and his wrinkled brow showed me how worried he truly was. His perfect lips were tucked into a soft pout and he looked like he had not shaved in three days. His hand lifted to tuck my bangs behind my ear and as he slowly touched me, I turned my face into his palm and whimpered. He had been my shoulder, my crutch and my partner for so long and I found myself missing him.

Both of his hands found my shoulders and he pulled me forward to press his lips firmly to mine. I reached up to lace my arms around his neck and he held me. My body ached beneath his grip but I didn’t care. My body began to quake as I started to cry. I pressed my face into his neck closed my eyes.

“Shhhhh,” he said trying to calm me. “I’m here. We will get through this, whatever it is. I’m sorry I left. I’ll never do it again.” I didn’t argue the fact that I was just as much at fault for him leaving as he was. I clung to him tighter and he eventually carried me into the house and up the stairs.

He undressed me with care in the bathroom and tried not to act repulsed by the healing bruises that spotted my whole body. He noticed the blood on my jeans and gave me a questioning glance. I sighed heavily and he put off the question. I watched him as he turned on the hot water and let it fill the bath tub. He sat on the edge of the white porcelain dressed in nice jeans and a black shop t-shirt. His blonde hair fell in his face as he leaned down to check the water temperature and his strong hands tucked it back as he turned to let me know it was ready.

As I climbed into the tub and the hot water consumed me, I closed my eyes and pulled myself under. I stayed under for a moment longer than he felt comfortable with and I came back up when his hand gripped my shoulder. I wiped my face and turned to look at him. Sadness, concern and surrender made him look so vulnerable. I reached up and placed my hand on his cheek.

“Talk to me,” he begged quietly. “I have to know how to help you.”

“I don’t know that you can,” I whispered but I knew that wasn’t an answer he was going to accept.

“Father Allan shot Mr. Yates today,” I sighed. I looked up at him as he froze and tried to accept this news.

“Why,” he asked and shook his head.

“Yates and I got into it a little and I told him about Father Allan and his wife. He must have gone to see him and started a fight. Father Allan defended himself.”

“Holy shit,” he said and glanced at me. “What happened? Where is the body? Who knows?”