Authors: J. Rose Allister
Either way, her parents would be home in a couple of hours. They would walk right into this madness if Terra didn’t stop this. She shuddered at the thought.
“Why are you doing this?” Terra asked. “I haven’t done anything. Nash did nothing other than get attacked, something you failed to save him from. So I have to assume this is really about Connor.”
“Again with questions you think I give a shit about answering.”
Anger flared Terra’s nostrils. “Look, bitch, I’ve been poked with a silver knife, bitten, and now I’m about to be shot. I don’t think looking for a damned explanation is out of line.”
“Sit down.” The gun waved over toward the couch. Terra stalked over and dropped onto the seat while the huntress sat in the recliner.
The redhead picked up the remote and flicked off the television. “If you think this is the part of the story where you and I bond over my tragic backstory and I develop a sudden case of remorse, think again. It doesn’t matter to me one bit whether you understand or not. You’re nothing in this game aside from bait.”
Terra glared at her. “Like I give a shit about bonding with you. I’m just damn interested to know why I spent the last six months recovering from a coma for no greater purpose than to be someone’s
bait
.”
Wary eyes met hers. “A coma?”
Terra nodded. “My boyfriend was driving me to my eighteenth birthday party when an argument sent us crashing into a gully. When I woke up, I was twenty, and the last memory I had was being pulled out of that fiery car wreck. I vaguely remember seeing Tommy through eyes that stung like hell from the blood pouring down my head. He was wrapped in a blanket and staring at me like I was dead. He wouldn’t come near me, as if my injuries were contagious. He just stood there. Something I wouldn’t be able to do again until several months ago.”
Terra paused, gazing at the woman’s unreadable expression. “Wow, you really have some fucked-up issues with men. Sorry, babe, but that’s not my problem.”
“Exactly my point.” Terra raised her hands. “Your issues with Connor aren’t
my
problem, either. But here I sit, about to be plugged with what I assume are silver bullets.”
The woman’s jaw tightened. “If it makes you feel any better, it’s not my intention to shoot you.”
“No, you’ll just hold me at gunpoint until the gun accidentally goes off, or you get tired of waiting for the cowboys who aren’t coming back, or someone comes home and you freak out and shoot them by mistake.”
“I assume by ‘someone’ you mean your parents?” The woman shook her head. “You don’t have to worry about them stumbling into our little social time.”
Terra’s eyes flew wide. “Shit. What did you do to them?” She pushed up off the couch.
The huntress was quicker and had the gun to Terra’s temple in a matter of heartbeats. “Sit down or fall down, your choice.”
She sat, glowering up at the woman. “What did you do to my parents?”
The woman stood over her, the gun still pointed her direction. “They’re fine. However, they might be under the impression that you ran away. They left town to chase after you.”
“How the hell would they get that impression?”
“Someone claiming to be an old friend of yours gave them an anonymous tip that you’re on your way to Oregon to throw your life away on a couple of cowboy losers.”
Terra clenched her teeth. As if her parents weren’t pissed enough about her involvement with Connor and Nash. Still, at least they were out of harm’s way.
She tried for a nonchalant shrug. “So what now? We sit here forever collecting dust while you wait for the enemy to come back? I have a news flash for you. They left town, and I haven’t heard a single peep from them since. Does that sound like they’re about to come crashing through that window?”
“They’ll come.” With that, the woman leaned over and pulled something Terra hadn’t noticed from beside the couch. The gleaming metallic chain was long, thick, and clanked heavily to the floor when she dropped it again.
“What the hell is that for?”
“You’ll find out when they get here.”
Terra wasn’t certain whether or not she wanted the huntress to be right. If the men stayed away, they’d be safe. But what would this mystery psycho do to her when she tired of waiting?
“So we’re supposed to just stare at each other while you play cryptic?” Terra tightened her robe around herself and folded her arms. “I don’t even know your name.”
“Since we’re not planning on bonding, it hardly matters.”
“So what’ll I call you, then? Psycho bitch from hell?”
“If that’d be a bigger comfort to you, painting me as the big bad so you don’t have to question your taste in men.”
“Yeah, well, they never poked me with knives or held me at gunpoint.”
“No, they just poked their dicks inside you while they sank their fangs into your neck.” The woman sneered in disgust. “Though all things considered, I guess you probably liked it.”
Terra frowned. “You really think you’ve got me all figured out, don’t you?”
“I don’t care what your deal is.” She waved the barrel at her. “I just need your boyfriend at the other end of this gun.”
“Why? Does he owe you money?”
She snorted. “His entire pack owes me something they’ll never repay with anything other than wolf blood.” The woman rose, smoothing her shirt with her free hand.
“His
entire
pack of two? One of which you claimed you were trying to save when he got turned?”
“Don’t be stupid. His other pack. Or didn’t he tell you about them? They’ve tried to scatter to avoid payback, but I’ll eventually track them down. Every last vile one.”
Terra clenched her fists. “Don’t flatter yourself. That pack didn’t separate because of you. They were taken over by a new alpha and he ordered them disbanded.”
Dark eyes flashed. “Well, well. You claim to barely know Connor, but you know about that?”
Terra watched several expressions, none of which were pleasant, cross the woman’s features.
“Still, that does explain a few things about the past several months,” the huntress went on, shifting forward in her seat. “But new alphas don’t just waltz in and take over. The only way Blaise would ever give up control is a fight to the death.”
She looked at Terra expectantly, but Terra shrugged. “I don’t know the specifics. I just heard that Connor’s pack separated when a new alpha took over. To settle an old score, he forced them all to part ways and go it alone.”
The woman’s eyes widened. “That’s it, then,” she muttered as though in shock. “That’s why they’ve split up.” Then suddenly, she jumped up. “Blaise is motherfucking dead?” She let out a whoop and a cackle that scared Terra more than the weapon waving in her hand. “Shit, no wonder I haven’t been able to draw a bead on him in months. Well, Terra, that’s the damn finest, fucking news I’ve had in a long time.”
“Blaise?”
“The pack’s alpha.
Former
alpha.” She tossed her head back and laughed again. “Damn, the bastard’s gone. I can’t believe it. Wish I could have been there to see that murderous gleam leave his fucking yellow eyes. Ever feel like a huge weight just lifted off your shoulders? Wow.”
Terra swallowed at the manic shift in the redhead’s personality. “So, uh, now that you’ve heard the good news, I guess you feel better now?”
“You have no idea.”
“So you’ll let me go?”
The smile dropped. “Hell no.”
“But you just said the weight’s off your shoulders.”
The giddy mood dissolved in seconds. “Blaise was the driving force behind that pack of freaks, but they acted on his orders. They’re just as guilty for what happened to Jayson.”
Terra tried to imagine just what orders the deceased alpha had given to warrant the woman’s quest—and what part Connor had played in carrying them out. “Who’s Jayson?”
The woman pressed her lips together. “My brother. He’s lost to me now.”
A small twinge of pity joined the butterflies in Terra’s stomach. “I’m sorry. But maybe the others didn’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice.”
“Like you choosing not to involve me in your vendetta.”
“Or you choosing to get involved with a violent animal.”
Terra wondered. In some ways, she felt powerless to resist the inexplicable pull that drew her to Connor. She hadn’t chosen love. It had come crashing down on her.
“He hasn’t been violent with me,” she said calmly, “and you won’t even tell me what he supposedly did. You won’t even tell me your
name
. So I don’t see why I should change my mind about him and come on over to Team Redhead.”
A muscle in the woman’s jaw twitched. “My name is Jayel. And you have a bizarre definition of nonviolent if you don’t count him ripping into your neck with his teeth.”
Terra’s fingers brushed her shoulder absently. “What, you’ve never gotten a little wild in the sack? Never had a guy give you a hickey?”
The woman’s full lips curled in disdain. “You mean, am I a giant slut like you? That’d be a never-in-hell.” She rose from her chair again and sighed. “Time to shut up now. I need to think.”
Terra had more questions, and had really hoped she could find out more about the woman’s beef with Connor. At least she’d learned the woman’s name, if it was even her real one. Probably not. What the hell kind of name was Jayel? In any case, keeping Jayel talking would at least have meant less time to plan out a strategy for trapping the men. Not that they were anywhere near here.
Then again, the silence would give Terra time to think, too. Time to plan her way out of this. Connor and Nash weren’t about to bust in and save the day, so she’d have to save it herself.
Minutes passed by on the wall clock, each tick piercing the thick silence that descended. Ideas came and went just as quickly, ticking off one by one as she rejected each plan. Even if she could figure out a way to distract the woman long enough, what could she do? She didn’t have access to her car keys. She couldn’t outrun Jayel, let alone a bullet. She could get to the phone, perhaps, and dial 911, but the woman would get to her before anyone would pick up. Then what would she do to Terra?
Terra glanced at the woman as she paced back and forth, appearing lost in thought. Her ass sashayed back and forth as she walked, but her gun was held at steady attention. She would be such a beauty if not for the whole obsessive, murderous hatred.
Another minute’s thought popped up with a highly unoriginal, yet potential solution.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” Terra announced after bouncing the idea back and forth in her head until she couldn’t take it anymore. Besides, it was true.
Jayel kept pacing. “Tough shit. Hold it.”
“Seriously? Come on. Even kidnappers have to let their hostages pee.”
An aggravated sigh followed, and the huntress stopped. “Fine. Hurry the hell up. And don’t try anything. Where is it?”
Terra nodded toward the hall. “Right by the kitchen.”
“Let’s go.”
The gun pointed at Terra’s back as she made her way down the hall.
Please don’t let her check, please don’t let her check
, echoed through Terra’s thoughts incessantly as she approached the door. She paused in the doorway and turned before the woman could get a look inside. “I suppose I’m not allowed to lock the door.”
Jayel snorted. “Lock away. I’m coming in there with you.”