I tossed the phone to Hank, who was laughing.
"God, my world would suck without you in it."
"I rose to the challenge and then some," I said proudly. "Alfalfa was my crowning moment."
"I'm partial to Asscrackada," he said.
"Happy to oblige."
"When they get here we pat them down and put the solution in Dima's mouth. Then we let them talk their way into a hole… or not," he said as he checked his weapons.
"I'll pat down Dima," I said, not making eye contact. There was no way I wanted to watch him put his hands on her if she was as hot as I imagined.
"Fine by me," he agreed, clearly understanding and politely ignoring my jealousy.
"They have three minutes to reach the wolves and then I'd say approximately two to the monkeys and then two to the reptiles," I said as the tension and excitement in my body coiled tightly.
"Seven minutes till show time," Hank whispered.
"Do you think Angela is playing us?" I asked.
"Don't know, but we'll find out soon enough."
I prayed to all the angels and saints and threw in Dolce and Gabbana in honor of Hank's mom. If Angela wasn't involved with the ambush, she sure as hell was going to help us find out who was.
Chapter 15
We stood as they approached. Dima was every bit as stunning as I'd assumed and Angela looked like she'd been hit by a truck. The Dragon had long flaming red hair and a body to die for. Her boobs looked fake to me, but Were bodies rejected plastic surgery so the monsters had to be real. I hated her on sight. Not because she was a Dragon and had ginormous perky knockers… because she was ogling Hank like he was dessert. Setting her straight would be fun and hopefully a little bloody.
The coast was clear and I scented no other Weres in the area. That relieved me more than I wanted to admit. The thought that Angela had betrayed me didn't sit well at all. Hopefully the Dragon would drink and the meeting would be filled with facts instead of death and fire. However, if she touched Hank she'd lose a hand.
As we stepped away from the bushes Angela's eyes narrowed to slits. It took all I had not to burst out laughing. She hadn't been exaggerating when she said she'd pulled half of her hair out. I felt bad for a moment, but her nervous tics were not my problem. However, I was delighted to realize the burner phone had photograph ability. This would come in handy if I stayed on with the WTF. I captured a fond and unattractive memory of my boss as we stopped and stood about six feet from them.
"I'd say it's nice to see you again, but it's not," I said calmly. "Has the Dragon agreed to drink?"
"The Dragon has a name," Dima countered smoothly as she glanced at me briefly before her eyes landed back on Hank and stayed there.
She was very short-sighted not to talk to the woman. Just like a typical car salesman—she thought the man was in charge. She had another thing coming.
"The Dragon drinks now or the meeting is over," I said tightly.
Hank stood quietly beside me with a vicious expression on his beautiful face. His eyes were on Angela and he ignored the Dragon completely.
"You're in charge here," he said in my head. "Let the Dragon know you mean business or we'll have trouble."
"Can I punch her in the head?" I asked.
"Will that make you feel better?"
"I think it would," I answered honestly.
"Then by all means—punch away."
"Drop all your weapons and slide them over. I want your phones too. Now," I demanded.
"What are you doing?" Angela snapped. "We are not the bad guys."
"That remains to be seen, boss lady," I replied coldly. "We've had a few little unexplainable issues on the way up and it's a bit difficult not to connect them back to you."
"Care to explain?" Angela asked as she reluctantly removed her weapons and dropped them and her phone to the ground.
"Not particularly," I said with a smile that didn't reach my eyes. "Suffice it to say we won and they lost."
That wasn't exactly true since Granny's life still hung in the balance, but there was no way in hell I was turning over that piece of intel. The Council would destroy a Wolf-Vampyre hybrid faster than I could blink.
"Who lost?" she bellowed. "What in god's name are you babbling about? Where the hell are Dwayne and Bobby Sue?"
"Michigan," I said.
"What the hell is in Michigan?" she demanded.
Ignoring her, I focused on the Dragon, who was taking her sweet time unburdening herself of her firearms, knives, and whatever else she had hidden under her ridiculously tight pants and t-shirt. God, her boobs were distracting.
"So… Wolf," she purred with distaste as a thin tendril of purple smoke wafted from her nose. "You're going to take my weapons and make me drink something to prohibit my shift?"
"Yep. Them's the rules," I said, pulling out my best Southern accent with a vengeance.
"Do you think I'm stupid?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.
Finally I had her full attention.
"I have no idea if you're stupid and I don't actually care. What I do know is this—if you can shift I can't kill you if the need arises. If you stay human, I can rip your head off of your body with my bare hands. I've done it before and trust me, if you cross me… I will happily do it again."