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Making a slight head tilt, Henric ordered Joab out of the room. The guard returned about a minute later carrying a small backpack. He put it on the floor in front of Doone then unzipped it to expose ten straps of hundreds.
I snorted. Ten times ten thousand…I was actually surprised at how much Henric thought I was worth. There had to be a trick in there somewhere because Henric never parted with more money than absolutely necessary. He had to want something, had to want more than just the return of his runaway daughter for that kind of cash.
“It’s simple, my men take you and the cash back to your wolf clan. You hand over Mosa and they hand over the money.”
Doone absently thumbed through the stack.
“How many of your men?”
“These six,” Henric answered with a sweep of his hand.
Doone reached for the bag of money. Henric reached for the nape of my neck.
“A hundred grand is too much for that bitch daughter of mine,” he said. “So you’ll leave this little piece with me. When Mosa is returned, you’ll get this one back better trained than when you arrived here.”
A hot blast of anger rolled off Doone. I couldn’t blame him for not holding it in. In terms of experience among the communities of shifters across America, the ugly territorial spats, and the pissing contests that went on for decades, Doone was a lamb in wolf’s clothing.
He also had a sort of innocent feel about him, making me wonder if he was a virgin, despite how expertly he had worked my pussy back in Night Falls.
“You disrespect me,” Doone said in perfect imitation of Kalchik’s voice and tone despite how little time he had been given to study videos of the man. “You, boychik, are just trying to get your balls back after your wife and daughter turned you into a laughingstock beyond the territory of your paltry little leap.”
The insult stabbed deep. Henric incessantly bitched about how few births there were each year in the leap, how half the cat varieties were too antisocial, preferring to stay outside of a pride or claw or leap, moving more among humans than their own kind.
Rising to his full height, a full foot taller than Henric, Doone jabbed my stepfather in the chest. “Tell you what, take me to your mate and maybe she and your money can make it worth my time to return her daughter.”
A chill ran down my spine as Henric smiled.
“Oh,” he chuckled. “Isn’t…isn’t that a delightful proposition. I was looking for more ways to humiliate Justine. She can’t stand you as it is, wait until I let you fuck her in front of the entire leap…”
He paused, flashed a grin. “That’s assuming you don’t have performance anxiety?”
“Bend over and find out for yourself, pussycat,” Doone growled.
My heartbeat slowed at the insult. Henric could only be taunted so far before he lost all caution. I’d seen it in the past. But, surprising me, my stepfather’s smile broadened as he jerked his chin at Garon.
“Summon the leap. It’s time to pay a fresh tribute to my bride.”
CHAPTER25
JUSTINE
Everything ached,my heart most of all. Not because someone ran a blade through it, although someone had. And not because of the diluted nightshade Henric had the guards douse me in so I could not rapidly heal. My heart ached for a daughter I prayed was still alive and for the three members of the leap who had refused to betray me and died for their defiance.
There had been more vicious glee in the killing of the trio than in many of the pokes and stabs inflicted upon me in my cage. Even those shifters who had made halfhearted jabs at my flesh through the holes had turned vicious against the three who had displayed not only loyalty to me but common decency and a boundless bravery that had ended their lives.
Even the few woeful, apologetic gazes some had made as they pushed the blade into me came wrapped in accusations.
You betrayed the leap…
You broke leap law…
You exposed us to humans…
Fuck them all! Whatever else I did, I saved my daughter and freed her from the tyranny of a psychopath.
Or so I had dearly hoped.
Now, I could hear chatter from the guards that Mosa had been captured—not by the leap, but by an occasional ally of Henric who would sell her to him for a high price. I wondered if my beloved child had found even the smallest taste of real freedom before she was retaken.
