Lion's Share
Page 61
“No.” He had to be lying. “We would have known.”
“You probably should have known,” he agreed. “But as long as we only picked off the strays, the rest of you seemed to be trying not to notice.”
Strays. He knew about them, just like he knew about Alphas and tabbies. My blood felt like ice. I tried to move my hand again, but nothing happened.
Damn it!
“You probably never would have noticed if we’d stuck to the free zones. It’s like serial killers offing prostitutes—no one really cares. But Steve just had to go after a tabby. I told him that was like thumping a hornet’s nest, but he wouldn’t listen. He thought you’d be an easy kill.”
I’d never been happier in my life to prove someone wrong. “If you know better, why are you thumping the hornet’s nest?”
His grin made me shudder. “I like a challenge.”
“The council will find you.” I tried to move my right foot, and when my big toe twitched, I had to fight to hide my triumph. The paralytic was wearing off!
Darren huffed. “This ain’t my first safari, sweetheart. No cat ever born pounces faster than a bullet flies.” He patted the pistol strapped to his side for emphasis.
“Maybe not, but we’re faster than any human trigger finger. Hargrove had a gun too.”
“Hargrove wasn’t a hunter. He shot at paper targets and stuffed dead animals.”
I swallowed nausea at the thought. “They’ll catch you, and you can’t possibly understand the pain you’ll feel before you die.” I tried to shrug, but my shoulders wouldn’t move. “Maybe they’ll skin you and preserve your flesh. I bet my dad would love a human skin rug, right in front of his couch, so he can step on you every time he crosses the room.”
“Enough.” He held the knife up in front of my face. “Where’s Robyn?”
“You can’t kill me unless I have fur. You told me that yourself.”
“A shot of adrenaline will pull the cat right out of you.”
Fuck! He knew how to force a shift. The room started to slide out of focus and I fought to slow my respiration. I couldn’t afford to hyperventilate.
“Until then, I can hurt you all I like...” The tip of his knife traced the length of my throat and I took a long, slow breath to keep from panicking.
The only thing keeping me alive was the fact that he thought I knew where Robyn was. If I debunked that theory—or refused to talk—he’d be done with me. I’d have to string him along. Keep him talking.
“You’ll never find Robyn.” My left foot twitched, and when he turned to pace away from me, I tried to curl my right hand into a fist. My fingers jumped a bit on the blanket. That wasn’t really triumph, but it was a good start.
“I found her once. I’ll find her again.” Darren shrugged. “She’s a girl and a brand-new cat, right? Not exactly the most dangerous game.”
I laughed out loud; he still hadn’t figured it out! “There is no more dangerous game than a new stray!” Except for an Alpha. “Strays can’t control their instincts or their tempers. Robyn killed Joe Mathews and the ones before him. She tracked down Hargrove and went after him in his own home.”
“Bullshit.” Darren frowned. “That was you and your pack.”
“It’s a Pride, not a pack,” I snapped. “And that wasn’t us. Our people want Robyn just as badly as you do, because of the attention she’s attracted.”
Darren didn’t seem to believe me. “Tell me where she is, or I’m going to start cutting.” He placed the tip of his blade against my left breast. “Five seconds.” The metal point bit at my skin through the thin sports bra, and my pulse rushed fast enough to make me dizzy.
“I left her in a closet,” I said, trying not to move beneath his knife.
“I checked all the closets.” He pressed harder, and I gasped when the blade pierced my skin, just hard enough to draw blood.
“Room 304,” I said. I’d actually left her in 312, but all my toes were wiggling behind him by then, and I needed him to leave the room. “Maybe she crawled into the bathroom. Or under the bed. Maybe she got out before you checked that room. I swear she’s here somewhere.”
“I checked everywhere!” Darren shouted, and his blade bit deeper. I whimpered, my heart pounding. If he lost his temper, he might forget about the rules.
He might kill me without a second thought.
Someone hissed, and he stumbled backward, cursing. A form shot out from under my bed and knocked Darren over. I didn’t realize I could move my neck until my head turned to follow the hissing blur, and I found my roommate perched on his chest in human form, growling like a cat facing down a large rat.
“Robyn!” She’d been under my bed the whole time. Darren hadn’t looked, and I hadn’t realized I could smell her, because the entire room already smelled like Robyn.
She turned when I called her name, and Darren’s grip on his knife tightened.
“No!” I shouted, and my arm flopped, but I couldn’t pick myself up. I couldn’t defend her.
Robyn stood as he swung his knife. The blade sank into her thigh instead of her chest, and she hissed. Blood poured from her leg and she collapsed onto one hip. Darren turned back to me, knife high, but already arching toward me.
I screamed as his blade swung, still dripping Robyn’s blood.
A dark blur lunged through the open doorway, and a terrifying snarl filled the room. Jace’s front paws hit Darren square in the chest and drove him to the floor. Hard.
Jace’s snarl ended in a satisfied note, followed by the gurgle of blood I could smell but couldn’t see.
Darren’s blood.
I burst into tears of shock and relief as Jace dropped a bloody hunk of flesh onto the floor. I wanted to sit up and hug him, but my arms wouldn’t cooperate.
Robyn hissed again and pushed herself into one corner of the room, her hands pressed to the gash in her thigh. Before I could tell her not to worry or tell Jace not to kill her, Lucas and Mateo burst into the room in human form, having followed Jace up both flights of stairs in their inferior bipedal bodies.
They stared at the bloody scene in silence. Then my brother blinked, and his gaze found me. When he saw that I was still breathing and only barely cut, he exhaled and found a grin. Then he turned to offer my roommate a hand. “You must be the new girl. I’m Lucas, Abby’s brother.” She glanced at me, and when I nodded, she let him pull her up, while Teo pulled the case from the nearest pillow, to use as a tourniquet. “And you…” Lucas turned back to me. “You are soooo grounded.”
“You probably should have known,” he agreed. “But as long as we only picked off the strays, the rest of you seemed to be trying not to notice.”
Strays. He knew about them, just like he knew about Alphas and tabbies. My blood felt like ice. I tried to move my hand again, but nothing happened.
Damn it!
“You probably never would have noticed if we’d stuck to the free zones. It’s like serial killers offing prostitutes—no one really cares. But Steve just had to go after a tabby. I told him that was like thumping a hornet’s nest, but he wouldn’t listen. He thought you’d be an easy kill.”
I’d never been happier in my life to prove someone wrong. “If you know better, why are you thumping the hornet’s nest?”
His grin made me shudder. “I like a challenge.”
“The council will find you.” I tried to move my right foot, and when my big toe twitched, I had to fight to hide my triumph. The paralytic was wearing off!
Darren huffed. “This ain’t my first safari, sweetheart. No cat ever born pounces faster than a bullet flies.” He patted the pistol strapped to his side for emphasis.
“Maybe not, but we’re faster than any human trigger finger. Hargrove had a gun too.”
“Hargrove wasn’t a hunter. He shot at paper targets and stuffed dead animals.”
I swallowed nausea at the thought. “They’ll catch you, and you can’t possibly understand the pain you’ll feel before you die.” I tried to shrug, but my shoulders wouldn’t move. “Maybe they’ll skin you and preserve your flesh. I bet my dad would love a human skin rug, right in front of his couch, so he can step on you every time he crosses the room.”
“Enough.” He held the knife up in front of my face. “Where’s Robyn?”
“You can’t kill me unless I have fur. You told me that yourself.”
“A shot of adrenaline will pull the cat right out of you.”
Fuck! He knew how to force a shift. The room started to slide out of focus and I fought to slow my respiration. I couldn’t afford to hyperventilate.
“Until then, I can hurt you all I like...” The tip of his knife traced the length of my throat and I took a long, slow breath to keep from panicking.
The only thing keeping me alive was the fact that he thought I knew where Robyn was. If I debunked that theory—or refused to talk—he’d be done with me. I’d have to string him along. Keep him talking.
“You’ll never find Robyn.” My left foot twitched, and when he turned to pace away from me, I tried to curl my right hand into a fist. My fingers jumped a bit on the blanket. That wasn’t really triumph, but it was a good start.
“I found her once. I’ll find her again.” Darren shrugged. “She’s a girl and a brand-new cat, right? Not exactly the most dangerous game.”
I laughed out loud; he still hadn’t figured it out! “There is no more dangerous game than a new stray!” Except for an Alpha. “Strays can’t control their instincts or their tempers. Robyn killed Joe Mathews and the ones before him. She tracked down Hargrove and went after him in his own home.”
“Bullshit.” Darren frowned. “That was you and your pack.”
“It’s a Pride, not a pack,” I snapped. “And that wasn’t us. Our people want Robyn just as badly as you do, because of the attention she’s attracted.”
Darren didn’t seem to believe me. “Tell me where she is, or I’m going to start cutting.” He placed the tip of his blade against my left breast. “Five seconds.” The metal point bit at my skin through the thin sports bra, and my pulse rushed fast enough to make me dizzy.
“I left her in a closet,” I said, trying not to move beneath his knife.
“I checked all the closets.” He pressed harder, and I gasped when the blade pierced my skin, just hard enough to draw blood.
“Room 304,” I said. I’d actually left her in 312, but all my toes were wiggling behind him by then, and I needed him to leave the room. “Maybe she crawled into the bathroom. Or under the bed. Maybe she got out before you checked that room. I swear she’s here somewhere.”
“I checked everywhere!” Darren shouted, and his blade bit deeper. I whimpered, my heart pounding. If he lost his temper, he might forget about the rules.
He might kill me without a second thought.
Someone hissed, and he stumbled backward, cursing. A form shot out from under my bed and knocked Darren over. I didn’t realize I could move my neck until my head turned to follow the hissing blur, and I found my roommate perched on his chest in human form, growling like a cat facing down a large rat.
“Robyn!” She’d been under my bed the whole time. Darren hadn’t looked, and I hadn’t realized I could smell her, because the entire room already smelled like Robyn.
She turned when I called her name, and Darren’s grip on his knife tightened.
“No!” I shouted, and my arm flopped, but I couldn’t pick myself up. I couldn’t defend her.
Robyn stood as he swung his knife. The blade sank into her thigh instead of her chest, and she hissed. Blood poured from her leg and she collapsed onto one hip. Darren turned back to me, knife high, but already arching toward me.
I screamed as his blade swung, still dripping Robyn’s blood.
A dark blur lunged through the open doorway, and a terrifying snarl filled the room. Jace’s front paws hit Darren square in the chest and drove him to the floor. Hard.
Jace’s snarl ended in a satisfied note, followed by the gurgle of blood I could smell but couldn’t see.
Darren’s blood.
I burst into tears of shock and relief as Jace dropped a bloody hunk of flesh onto the floor. I wanted to sit up and hug him, but my arms wouldn’t cooperate.
Robyn hissed again and pushed herself into one corner of the room, her hands pressed to the gash in her thigh. Before I could tell her not to worry or tell Jace not to kill her, Lucas and Mateo burst into the room in human form, having followed Jace up both flights of stairs in their inferior bipedal bodies.
They stared at the bloody scene in silence. Then my brother blinked, and his gaze found me. When he saw that I was still breathing and only barely cut, he exhaled and found a grin. Then he turned to offer my roommate a hand. “You must be the new girl. I’m Lucas, Abby’s brother.” She glanced at me, and when I nodded, she let him pull her up, while Teo pulled the case from the nearest pillow, to use as a tourniquet. “And you…” Lucas turned back to me. “You are soooo grounded.”
