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Ouch. Who needed motherly disapproval when she could send a whole pack to belittle my existence? Talk about taking my mommy issues to a whole new level.
“This is fucking stupid,” one of the minions grumbled. “Why are we still talking to her?”
“Because we can’t hurt her,” said another. I recognized him as the one I’d confronted outside the restaurant—Ian.
“Shut up,” Hank snapped, a vein in his neck throbbing an ugly purple color.
Guessing they weren’t supposed to let that tidbit slip.
“Let me guess—‘you can scare her, but no one touches her… I want her for myself,’” I said, mimicking my mother’s bitchy soprano the best I could.
“No one said anything about him,” another goon said.
I didn’t care how fragile my new human bones were, no one threatened my loved ones. I raised my gun and aimed it at the wolf who’d spoken. He was six feet tall and built like a linebacker. Why couldn’t there be more out-of-shape werewolves out there? Or little scrappy ones like Hank? I’d rather Hank be the rule than the exception. Too bad for me most wolves looked like they could be semi-pro wrestlers in their downtime.
“I say something about him,” I told the wolf. “And I say if you come a step closer to us, you lose a head. Capice?”
He curled a lip at me but didn’t say anything else and didn’t advance on us.
Desmond probably didn’t love having me jump to defend him when he had gone into this thinking I’d be the one who needed protection, but it was in my nature to be defensive of the people I cared about, and that didn’t change because I wasn’t a monster anymore. If push came to shove—literally—I was going to need him. But I was hoping big talk and posturing could keep us out of that.
“The queen said we couldn’t kill her,” Pony-boy said. “I don’t recall hearing anything forbidding us from hurting her. And there were no rules against killing the other one. ”
Pony-boy was pretending not to hear me. This was a tactic I was used to.
“What did your queen say about returning home with all your limbs?” a voice asked from behind the posse. The six men parted, and on the sidewalk behind them was someone I couldn’t have been happier to see if he was carrying six puppies and a credit card with no limit.
Holden looked bored with our present company.
“Who does this chump think he is?” the stupid linebacker asked.
“Use your nose, you idiot,” Hank grumbled, taking a few steps away from Holden. “He’s a vampire. ”
“He’s only one vampire. ”
“Oh, you’re cute,” Holden said, casually unbuttoning his camel-colored coat. “If you think there needs to be more than one of me to dismantle this…gathering…you must have a very inflated sense of self. ”
“Or they’ve never met a two-hundred-year-old vampire,” I added.
Holden and I were both talking out our asses. Six-on-one wasn’t the best odds, even in a vampire vs. werewolf scenario. Had I been myself, with Desmond in the mix, this would have been an easy win for us. As it was, we’d probably still come out on top, but it wasn’t going to be the cakewalk it should have been.
Our warning seemed to be doing some good, because the new additions to the pack appeared less than thrilled to be standing between Holden and Desmond and myself. Good. I wanted to get them nice and uneasy. I was hoping one or two would commit mutiny and run for the hills. I lowered my gun, since all the attention was focused on Holden for the time being and my arm was getting sore.
Pony-boy gave a growl that negated any hopes I’d harbored of seeing the minions flee. All scuttlebutt came to an abrupt halt, and the uneasy shifting from foot to foot ceased entirely. It didn’t matter that my mother was a crazy-faced bitch, she definitely had good taste when it came to the help she enlisted.
“Enough,” he snapped, as if the growl hadn’t been suitable indication of his displeasure. “We came here to do a job and we’re going to damned well do it. ”
He received no arguments.
“My mother’s business with me—”
With an expression that spoke to more violence than what he’d already threatened out loud, the wolf stared me down, stopping my words mid-sentence. “I’ve had enough of your mouth too. You’d best listen to your man when he tells you to shut up. ”
Beside me, Desmond sighed heavily, aware of the impact Pony-boy’s words would have. Holden, equally familiar with my attitude, snorted and shook his head. “You really are the dumbest son of a bitch on the planet, aren’t you?”
I fought the urge to lift my weapon again. This had the feel of something that was going to take an ugly turn soon, but I didn’t want to be responsible for making it happen any quicker than it would have naturally.
“Did you come here to insult me?” I asked.
