He approached her, making sounds so she wouldn’t be alarmed. She froze, eyes widening.
“It’s Drantos,” he called out.
She turned in his direction. “I went too far. I can’t find the camp.”
That made his anger deepen. It was obvious she didn’t know what she was, either, and her senses were those of a human. She was only about fifty yards from temporary camp but the thick vegetation blocked the fire from her view. She still should have been able to smell burning wood and hear the soft voices of the survivors.
He reached out and curved his fingers around her upper arm. “I’ll lead you back.”
“Thanks.”
“I take it you can’t see anything?”
“No. I hope I didn’t pee in poison ivy.”
“There isn’t any in this area.”
“That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.” She gripped his arm as they walked. “Thank you for looking after my sister.”
He escorted Bat past the edge of the trees to the clearing. “Could you help me calm some of the passengers? They’re still pretty upset.” He wanted to keep her away from Dusti. “I think you’d do a better job of it than I would. My size seems to scare a few of them.”
“Sure.” She turned her head, staring at her sister. “I should check on her first.”
“She’s fine. I just left her to look for you. She was worried.”
Bat walked away from him and toward an elderly couple. He stood there watching her, to ensure she kept far from Dusti. He needed to think.
Decker Filmore had been denied using his own daughter to bargain with Aveoth when she’d fled, but now he must be planning on doing the same thing with her daughters. Daughter, he corrected. Decker believes he can only use Bat. He mistook Dusti’s scent to mean she didn’t inherit any of her mother’s traits.
Aveoth would never want to take Dusti as his lover with her being so human. She’d be considered too frail. She’d age faster too, if the harsh life of living with the GarLycan didn’t kill her outright. He’d want Bat instead. She’d be considered more worthy because at least there were hints of some of her mother’s heritage, implying she would be tougher.
The smell of a fresh kill teased his nose and so did the familiar scent of Kraven. He backed into the darkness and located his brother quickly. Kraven dumped the deer on the ground and bent, wiping his hands on the grass to clean them of blood.
He heard Drantos approach. “That was easier than I’d thought.”
“I know why Decker sent for the women.”
“I’ve been thinking about it too. Aveoth lost his lover. They’re Marvilella’s granddaughters. Her sister was once promised to Aveoth, so he’ll be interested in her kin.”
“We’re both in agreement then.”
“Yeah. Decker wants to break the alliance we have with Aveoth. That is, if the rumors are true that Aveoth is addicted to that family’s blood. Maybe it’s just a bullshit tale.”
“I don’t want to bet on it. Do you?” Drantos softly growled, annoyed.
“Hell no.”
“It’s Bat that Decker will use. We can’t allow that to happen.”
“Damn.” Kraven sighed. “I might want to wring the mouthy one’s neck when she gets going but not literally. I thought about killing them at first but it was just the shock of finding out who they were. I got past that. I’m not going to hurt a helpless woman.”
“We’re not going to kill them. We need to get them to safety.”
“Decker isn’t going to just allow them to return to wherever they’ve been living. Hell, he probably sent some of his men searching for the crash site as soon as he realized what happened when the plane didn’t land. We might have company by morning if they can pinpoint where we went down.”
“Do you recognize this area? I think we’re about fifteen miles from our southern border.”
“I agree. That means Decker is about thirty miles away. The darkness will slow down whoever he sends but they can cover a lot of ground when the sun rises.”
“We have the advantage,” Drantos whispered. “Decker doesn’t know someone warned us about those women, or that we were on the plane to stop them from reaching him. And we used false names so we’re covered if he gets a look at the passenger list.”
“That’s true.”
“We have another problem.”
“What’s that?”
Drantos hesitated but his brother needed to know. “Dusti and Bat don’t know the truth.”
“You mean that Decker plans to use one of them as a pawn?”
“I mean they’re unaware of anything about our existence. Their mother mated to a human and they were raised that way.”
Kraven sucked in a sharp breath and his eyes widened. “What?”
“I mentioned to Dusti that she smells totally human and she had no idea what I was talking about. She thought I was crazy. They honestly believe Decker is dying of old age or illness.”
“Son of a bitch.” Kraven growled. “I thought that was just a bullshit story they made up, hoping to fool us. And that they’re really good at masking their scents. I figured they just perfected how to do it while living with humans.”
“Nope. Dusti is clueless and I’m certain Bat is too. I found her lost not far from the camp. She’s never been trained to use her senses. Her mother would have done that if she had told them what they were.”