I couldn’t fight. Worst of all, I couldn’t beg for my baby’s life, because telling them I was with child might bring a worse hell than I could imagine. These men had traveled a long way to spill blood, and I wasn’t about to hand them a goblet.
“Stay close to me,” Atticus whispered.
Both April and I had left our purses inside—purses that had phones and car keys.
“These streets have cameras, you know,” I said.
Lied. Some streets did, but not ours.
Harley Man flicked a glance around. “So be it. Where’s my man?”
“Probably buried on a golf course.”
His eyes narrowed to slits. “I was going to take you as one of my bitches, but on second thought, your mouth is pissing me off.”
“Wise choice, because I’d rather be pushing up daisies than kissing your hairy ass. Why don’t you go back where you came from? You don’t stand a chance.”
He stroked his wiry beard. “You’re a tenacious wolf. We’ll just see about that.”
“We can prove what you’re up to.”
He laughed, revealing a silver tooth. “Accusation without evidence is slander, and so the law is on our side. As far as anyone’s concerned, we’re just visiting.”
The bitch with the tan boots laughed haughtily, pacing in a circle behind him like some kind of druggie on meth.
“If you put one finger on me, then they’ll have all the evidence they need.”
He slowly looked left, then right. “This neighborhood seems kind of empty this time of night. If we end up with witnesses, well… the best witnesses are dead ones. Security cameras are something I can work around. I didn’t know you associated with Vampires down here,” he said with disdain, not making eye contact with Atticus.
Ferocious snarls erupted from behind, and April’s boots skidded across my car. She didn’t have her coat on, and a cloud of frosty breath veiled her face as she watched their every move. Despite the fear in her eyes, she’d never looked so fierce and ready to fight. I, on the other hand, had on my pink bunny slippers with the floppy ears.
I counted four wolves in sight, excluding the one inside the shop. The shadows all around us seemed to bend with movement.
“I don’t think your leader would approve of your renegade actions,” Atticus pointed out. “He might consider it an act of treason and string you up by your toes to set an example.”
“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”
The woman giggled maniacally, walking a straight line back and forth behind him as if she were taking a sobriety test. Her stringy blond hair covered most of her face. “Let’s just kill them and get it over with.”
I glanced up at Atticus, and his fangs punched out.
“You don’t stand a chance against me,” Atticus said, a smile hovering on his lips. “How many of your men are you willing to lose?”
“Maybe I wouldn’t care so much if the man who went missing wasn’t my brother.” He squinted at me as if trying to read my mind.
For all he knew, I was kidding about the golf course comment. Only, I kind of wasn’t. The Cole brothers had a track record for finding unusual places to hide corpses.
April squeaked, and I glanced over my shoulder. She had climbed up the windshield to the top of the car.
“She’s not a Shifter, is she?” the blonde mused to herself. “I bet she’s human.” The woman skipped across the street in her chunky boots and stopped short of the car. “Hi, sweetie. Scared?”
“Only of your bad dye job!” April spat.
I almost wanted to laugh.
Almost.
“Get him!” the man bellowed, backing up a step. A wave of alpha power rippled through his words.
The wolves advanced, circling us until we had no way to escape. Most wolves wouldn’t attack women or children, but after what had happened to Hope, I wasn’t making that stupid assumption.
I adhered myself to Atticus like glue. Vampires were unnaturally strong, and that was all he had going for him since I didn’t think he could charm an animal into submission.
I felt confident until Atticus disappeared. I whirled around and glimpsed him drifting through shadows. Vampires could shadow walk at night, moving quickly in dark spaces.
Which didn’t exactly help my situation.
A wolf on the other side of the street yelped and then went silent.
“Atticus?” I called out, eyeing the two wolves on either side of me.
“Don’t worry, sweetie. I’m going to kill you with my bare hands,” the woman behind me cackled. “I don’t see why my wolf has to have all the fun.”
But she wasn’t talking to me.
I peered over my shoulder just as April kicked the woman in the face.
The blonde whirled around, bright blood streaked across her chin. “You bitch!”
I frantically searched for a weapon, a place to run… anything. That’s when I noticed a sheath on our fearless leader’s hip.
Advancing toward him, I held up my hands submissively. “I’ll surrender myself to you on the condition you call off your men and let my friends go.”
“Nothing’s that easy.”
I continued taking small steps toward him. The wolves flanking me growled but kept their positions. Where the hell is Atticus?
“You’re more submissive than I expected from a Packmaster’s bitch.”