Daniel gave me a wet kiss and touched my face one more time. “You will win, Mommy. I know you will.”
“Take him,” I instructed. “Drive fast but stay safe. Junior, I want you to track them through the chip. Can you do that?”
“Yes ma’am,” he said through the phone. “I’ll know where they are every goddang minute. Hank, there are about six non-traceable burner phones in the junk drawer. Make sure Dwayne and Granny take a few and give the rest to Dima.”
“On it.” Hank sprinted to the kitchen.
“How many Dragons will come?” Essie asked as she filled squirt guns with the Dragon-shift prohibiting solution.
“There were about two hundred there, but I would guess they would send no more than three. It would be too difficult to hide that kind of attack and I’m not sure how valuable I am to them,” I replied as I put several of the filled plastic guns into a bag for Granny and Dwayne.
I knew Dwayne could mind meld and blow up the Dragons, but I wanted them to have every conceivable weapon against my people.
“Not to mention a full on attack would be noticed by the Council and your father. They won’t want that,” Hank said, putting the burner phones in the bag and moving Granny, Dwayne and Daniel to the front door. “Take my truck, it’s less conspicuous than the Hummer.”
“Will do,” Granny said. She squeezed my still shaking hands and looked me in the eye. “We’re gonna get my daughter and son-in-law as well. They’ll be extra protection for Daniel.”
I nodded as my voice wasn’t working. My throat was clogged with tears and a scream that I wouldn’t let out with Daniel present. Essie’s parents were stuck in their Wolf form, but they were deadly and they loved my son.
“Junior,” I choked out. “How close are you to ruining my father financially?”
“Close, but not there yet,” he said through the phone.
“You will keep several million out of what you get and use it for research to reverse the curse on Essie’s parents. If you need more than that, you will take it. Are we clear?”
The room went silent and all eyes were on me.
“What?” I asked as I tore off the eveningwear and put on some fatigues that Granny had pulled for me.
“You’ve paid me back,” Essie said quietly. “You owe me nothing for the rest of time.”
“I can never pay you back, but if the money helps you find a cure you can have all of it.”
Granny touched my face, her eyes swimming with tears. “You don’t worry about Daniel. He’ll be protected and happy always. You focus on comin’ back to him.”
I nodded curtly and armed myself as my world walked out the front door and left. A chill ran through my blood and the upset, shaky woman I was only moments ago was disappeared. My Dragon was very close to the surface and I embraced her. I was now the heartless killing machine that my kind was known for.
“I can’t believe Seth pulled one over on all of us,” Essie muttered in disgust.
“He’s a Seer,” I hissed as I pictured his lying horrible face. “And the best actor I’ve ever seen.”
“A Seer?” Hank asked in surprise. “Seers are celibate.”
“Hence the boobs not working,” Essie grumbled. “I’d like to tear his head off.”
“Get in line,” I snarled. “I’m going to the beach to shift and wait for them. I have a fireproof bag at the bed and breakfast. Can you guys get it and load it with the phones and solution? You can put it around my neck after I shift.”
“Um…guys?” Junior’s voice crackled through the phone. “We’ve got incoming. I’ve got cameras along the shore and I’m seeing four flying fuckers landing on the beach.”
“Only four?” I shouted as I sprinted for the door. I couldn’t shift inside the house. It would tear it off its foundation. I needed to be outside.
“Yep, and they don’t look happy.”
“I call one,” Essie said as she armed herself and took off ahead of me.
“No, I can take four,” I muttered as I tore off the clothes I’d just put on. “Four will be a breeze.”
Famous last words…
Chapter 7
Much to my extreme shock, the Dragons had shifted back to human form. I quickly did the same and gratefully accepted the loose dress Essie tossed me when I noticed Nicolai eyeing my naked body hungrily. He was a disgusting pig. He represented everything I hated about my kind—sex and death.
Thankfully, Junior was as good as his word. The beach was filled with Shifters of every kind and the air literally vibrated with hostility. I briefly wondered if Jimbob was here, but I had far more dangerous things to worry about—and all four were staring at me.
Nicolai, Seth, their mother Elaina and Boring Coat Taker Dude stood together at the shore- line and took in the scene warily. My stomach clenched as I remembered Elaina saying there was no one as powerful as Nicolai in the world. My only solace was that she’d never seen me fight. I had more to lose than they did and I would die for my cause.
“I told you the next time I saw you, I would kill you,” I said calmly as I stepped forward leaving the packs of Shifters behind me. “So unless you plan on dying in the next five minutes, I’d suggest you leave.”
“Dima, you’ve misunderstood what’s happened,” Seth said taking a tentative step forward.