She shook her head.
“Thousands. Plus, I don’t have to deal with whiny hunters who don’t know the butt of the gun from their ass.”
He wasn’t wrong there. Sometimes, I wished the hunters weren’t part of the deal. But I couldn’t fathom poaching as a job. Hunters were supposed to be stewards of animal welfare, not indiscriminate killers only out for what they could get from the animal.
“You know, this will catch up with you, eventually,” I said. “The game wardens in this area are top-notch. An operation like this”—I nodded to the workspace—“won’t just vanish without a trace. One day soon, they’ll come across your handiwork and then it’s game on.”
Deke cocked his head. “That a warning?”
“An observation.” I met his eyes. “I’m not in a position to warn anybody of anything right now.”
His soulless eyes held my gaze for a long moment. I stared back, refusing to blink.
“No, you’re not.” He turned to Vic. “Take the woman and get firewood.”
Lana sat up. “What? I’d rather stay here.”
Deke speared her with a quick look. “I’m sure you would.” He turned to Vic and tipped a finger at the trees.
Vic got up and took a step toward us.
I rose and stood in front of Lana.
“McCrae, sit down.” Deke sighed. “As you said, you’re not in a position to do much right now.”
Ignoring him, I kept my gaze focused on Vic, who had paused a few feet away. I might not be able to stop Deke from ordering us around, but I could offer them all a reminder that I wouldn’t go quietly into the night. “She comes back unharmed and untouched, or there won’t be enough bullets in your rifles to stop me from lopping off your favorite appendage and ramming it down your gullet.”
A slight widening of Vic’s eyes was the only indication he gave that my words affected him. He stepped to the side to see around me. I let my gaze slide past him to Toby, who stood at the edge of the tent circle, watching. The man met my stare, but I couldn’t read the expression on his face.
“Do you have gloves?” Vic asked Lana.
I glanced over my shoulder at her as she got up. Her eyes found mine. Hesitation pinched the fine lines around them. She was unsure whether to follow Deke’s instructions.
I nodded once. Crippled and held at gunpoint or not, they wouldn’t hurt her so long as I was alive.
She took her gloves from her pockets, giving them a little wave.
“Let’s go, then.”
“I might fry it first, too,” I called as he led her away.
Deke chuckled, low. “And people call me a psycho.”
My gaze swung to him. I was unamused. Rage boiled just below the surface of my control. I knew tonight—or one night very soon—my mind would pull out the reasons why I was so protective and smack me over the head with them, but for now my conscious mind was content not to know and just act. “You asked earlier about whether I was making threats. I wasn’t then, but I am now. You don’t want to meet me if you or your men hurt her.”
Some of the cockiness faded from Deke’s demeanor, and a more contemplative look crossed his face, a small vee forming between his brows as he held my gaze. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, but I wouldn’t hold back the devil inside if they tested me.
“She’s safe,” Deke finally said. “For now.” His expression turned hard again. “Now sit down.”
Slowly, and maintaining eye contact, I lowered myself onto the log again.
A tense thirty minutes passed until Vic returned with Lana in tow, the two of them hauling a tarp filled with wood across the ground.
As she came closer, I scanned her from head to toe. Minus some wispy hairs out of place, she looked just like she did when she left.
Her gaze met mine after she dropped the tarp and walked away from it. Annoyance flashed through her pretty hazel eyes, but no fear or anger.
She marched across the small clearing to stop in front of Toby. “Where are our bags?”
