Page 23 of The Union
Regardless, Harriet Aberdeen wasn’t a woman to mess around with. She was the matriarch of the Aberdeen family and a ballbuster, much like her son Jack. I wasn’t afraid of much, but the woman frightened me. She had one of those sweet demeanors, but underneath she was a viper waiting to strike.
“Holy hell.” I sucked in air. “When she finds out about Ray, watch out.” I was a dead granddaughter walking. Maybe I should run for my fucking life. I’d thought to ask my uncle Jack to accompany me, but I’d decided not to in case he stopped me. But I was kicking myself now. Then again, part of me didn’t trust Jack, so maybe I’d made a good choice.
“You’re not responsible,” Jordyn bit out. “Stop thinking that.”
“Easier said than done,” I mumbled. “Remember what happened when she learned Dad died?” My grandmother tore up Montana to find the person who’d murdered my father. In the process, she’d tortured several vamps before she’d strung them over the firepit and burned them alive. Not that she would do the same to me, but she might have other ways to make me sweat. What those were? I wasn’t sure and didn’t want to find out.
I brought the latte to my lips, my hands trembling. “Maybe I’m seeing things.” I took a sip, swished the delectable drink around, then closed my eyes, sighing as I swallowed, hoping that it would ease my jitters.
“Maybe Rianne called her,” Jordyn said. “You know Rianne and Granny have a special connection. Our sister seeks Granny’s advice when she feels the need.”
I stole another swig before setting my cup on the table. “Possible.” Rianne and Harriet had always been close since Rianne was a little girl. Granny felt sorry for Rianne because she was the middle child like my grandmother had been. Granny had never gotten the attention from her parents the way her younger sister or older brother had, and she always made a point of telling us that as she doted on Rianne.
Jordyn sighed. “Did Uncle Ray say anything about Rianne before he died?”
“No. He only mentioned Noah.”
“Maybe our sister wants Granny’s help to knock some sense into you about falling for a vampire.”
That sounded plausible and scary. Rianne knew that Harriet Aberdeen had the power, at minimum, to intimidate me. Plus, if my grandmother knew I was sleeping with a vampire, she would teleport here from Fiji if she could, maybe slap me around, or finish what Rianne and Noah had started—kill Sam. My heart sputtered.
“If Rianne did call Granny, does that mean our sister is at Intech?” she asked.
“Only one way to find out. Jordyn, call Uncle Jack. Find out if he knows his mother is here.” I would like to think he didn’t. He’d clearly been dumbfounded when he learned Ray had set us up as a ploy to kidnap Sam. Or maybe he was putting on a good show to throw us off. Still, the thread of trust between him and me was weak at best. “Call Steven and let him know what’s happening as well. I’ll check in with you later.”
“Watch your back, sis,” Jordyn said.
“Always.” Though the way the crap kept flying at me, it might be difficult to protect myself.
After we ended the call, I dug deep for courage. I didn’t want to go in with guns blazing. I had to be calm, a little devious, and act as innocent as I could, even though I was far from the latter.
9
SAM
Istartled awake. “Layla.” I gasped for air as my mind kick-started and panic gripped me by the balls. If the dream I’d just had was real, Layla was in trouble. How? I wasn’t sure. But she was running through a forest, clearly panicked.
I sat up or tried. A fucking cobalt collar was strapped around my neck and burning the fuck out of me. I moved my arms. Same response. Ankles too.
Rage coiled in my muscles, and the bed beneath me shook.I will tear out intestines, throats, livers, and rip limb after limb until these fuckers are nothing but a heap of human bones. Think, man.
But I lost all thought when the stench of something very familiar penetrated my nostrils.
Then a moan of laughter echoed, followed by, “Still an arrogant fuck.”
I slowly turned my neck to the left and did a double take. “What’s a mutt like you doing here?”
Dane Gray, alpha to the Gray Pack and an asshole shifter, was secured to a bed like me—collar around his neck, arms and ankles chained, and a metal contraption over his white hair.
His dark eyes met my green ones. “Do you think you’re the only one on the most-wanted-supernatural list?”
Confusion wormed its way into my head. “Dude, don’t sound so fucking proud of that.” I was wanted by every fucker, human or vampire, hungry for money and power. Or if they were anything like my uncle Patrick, who’d been human when he was killed, then their goal might be to become the very creature who could drain them dry. Which had been one of the reasons my uncle tried to develop a serum to engineer humans into vampires. He’d never had the opportunity to turn before his father had died, since the only way for a human born with the recessive gene to become a full-fledged predator like me was by drinking his vampire father’s blood.
Yet, if the goal was to build an army of super soldiers, then it made perfect sense to have a variety. I wasn’t one to panic, but humanity was in serious trouble.
“Doesn’t a shifter’s bite change a human?”
“Only an alpha’s,” he said. “Which I suspect is the reason I’m here. They want to study how and why.”
