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“Hallo, Justina,” Bones drawled. “It’s your daughter’s degenerate vampire lover, in case you don’t know my voice.”
The spate of profanity that instantly followed had Bones chuckling.
“My, thatisan inventive directive,” he said. “I’d take notes, but there isn’t time. I’m ringing to tell you that I’m on my way to your house. There’s something we need to discuss.”
“I have nothing to say to you, murderer!” Justina snapped.
Bones snorted. “You have quite a lot to say, as you’ve just proved, and while you might lack manners, I don’t. That’s why I intend to ask you for your daughter’s hand in marriage.”
“Youwhat?”
Bones held the phone away from his ear at her shriek.
“This is only a formality. In truth, I don’t care if you give me your blessing or not, but my dearly departed mum would be very disappointed in me if I didn’t at least ask.”
“I willnevergive my blessing, you filthyanimal-”
“As I said, I’m on my way,” Bones replied, and hung up.
Bones drove the nondescript Chevy he’d rented to Justina’s. Half an hour later, he was pulling up to her house. Her heartbeat, already accelerated, kicked into another gear as he parked in her driveway.
Bones didn’t need to knock. The front door was already ajar. In fact, the frame was splintered around the knob. He’d be concerned if Justina’s wasn’t the only scent he smelled inside.
“Ready or not, here I come,” Bones said dryly.
The house looked vastly different from the last time he’d seen it. Then, everything had been immaculate. Now, every piece of furniture was upturned except for the sofa, and glass crunched beneath his feet from the smashed end tables, television set, and numerous broken figurines. Bones followed the sound of Justina’s heartbeat to the hallway. There, her defiant glare turned to confusion when Bones laughed at the sight of her blackened eyes, disheveled clothes, and bloody knuckles. No wonder her heartbeat was so rapid. She must have worked herself nearly into an apoplexy between trashing her home and then beating herself repeatedly in the face.
“Where’s your limp?” he asked, still chuckling. “Really, woman, if you’re going to play a victim, sell it!”
Her confusion changed to a glare of pure hatred. “I’m not ‘playing’ at anything. You came in here and attacked me.”
Bones snorted. “Intend to tell your daughter that, do you? Think she’ll believe you?”
“She will now,” Justina said, and kicked her own leg hard enough for Bones to hear something snap. Then, she fell, clutching the limb while muttering, “You’re right. This willreallysell it.”
A breath of laughter escaped him. “You’re so warped that it’s actually impressive.”
“And you’re delusional if you think my daughter will ever marry you,” she retorted.
Bones arched a brow. “I intend to find out. I even had the ring made from an uncut diamond nearly five years ago, but I didn’t get a chance to give it to her back then.”
Car brakes suddenly screeched in the driveway, so loud that Justina heard them, too. And smiled.
“You’ll never give her that ring,” she said before screaming, “Help me! Oh, God, someone, please, help me!”
Bones walked away. He’d expected Justina to be riled enough to call Don despite Cat’s threats if she thought that Bones was going to propose, but she’d outdone herself with this.
Several armed, helmeted humans burst into the home, wearing tactical gear with thick, Kevlar-like collars that covered their necks. More Kevlar covered every major artery, and when every gun cocked, Bones knelt in the middle of the demolished family room and laced his fingers around the back of his head.
“I surrender.”
None of the automatic weapons pointed at him lowered.
“Move and you die,” one of the helmeted men spat.
Bones didn’t move. He also didn’t attempt to use the power in his gaze. Cat had already told him the black visors on those helmets were specially designed to block a vampire’s gaze.
“Justina!” one of the men called out. “You okay?”
