“I’m not wearing any. So nothing.”
“Eeew!” Mitchell exclaimed.
“Oh shut it, crotch sniffer,” his sister snarled. “No one’s talking to you.”
“Naomi, be nice!” Javier said in a firm tone. “It’s not his fault you’re upset. And besides, you know he’s going to go ballistic when he finds out. Won’t that be fun?”
“Find out what?” Mitchell asked, sitting on the arm of the couch beside Francine.
“That fucking skanky ho with the slutty-” Javier put his hand over Naomi’s mouth, silencing her, not quite managing to hide the wince when she bit him.
Ethan shook his head. “She’s a little upset.”
“Do you think?” Francine drawled, wondering what had Naomi in such a tizzy. Probably some groupie hitting on one of her mates again. This far in her pregnancy, with her hormones running wild, it didn’t take much for Naomi’s jealous green monster to come out swinging.
Javier, though, shot her theory to hell with his next words. “The hunter who shot Mitchell wasn’t the person who shot Francine.”
Ballistic didn’t even come close to describing Mitchell when he found out who had. Francine quite enjoyed seeing him all riled up. It pleased her inner bitch even more. However, the method of discovery, AKA her trashed apartment, pissed her right off. Someone’s head is going to roll.
Chapter Ten
Irritated and longing to go home, the new home he’d discovered in Francine’s arms, made Alejandro impatient. For the last two days, he’d followed the hunter’s sloppy trail. First missing him by minutes at the scuzzy motel he’d checked out of, the location courtesy of a receipt he’d found snagged on a branch in the tree the bastard perched in. The female clerk at least-after a little persuasion, AKA a smile from him-divulged not only the truck’s plate number for his prey but also the make and color of it, which as it turned out, Javier had if he’d bothered asking before running off. What a surprise, the hunter drove a big ass, red pickup truck. Stupid redneck. Most people thought hillbillies and rednecks were an American phenomena. He had news for them, Canada had its fair share of crass, belligerent types who shot anything that moved. But, even he had to admit, their daughters were raunchy in bed.
Stereotypes aside, he jumped on the highway, the clerk having mentioned the man said he was heading home to deal with his daughter. On his bike, it was a simple matter to weave in and out of traffic, slowing down before overpasses to avoid the inevitable radar traps. Late afternoon, he caught up to his prey on the highway. He felt like thanking the bastard for owning such a distinctive red pickup truck with the redneck sticker that read “Keep Honking Asshole, I’m Loading My Gun.” He meant to follow the vehicle until it stopped for either fuel, food, or sleep, but his fucking bike began to wobble, forcing him to pull off and deal with a flat fucking tire. Lucky for him, the tow truck driver knew a place to fix him up and get back on the road, but he lost two precious hours. Even worse, he’d lost the redneck he chased. Thus far, the stupid human traveled in a straight line, keeping his trek to the highway that led back to his home town. Alejandro decided he’d have to trust the idiot would keep on his path, meaning he’d rendezvous with him in the morning on his home turf.
Tired, wind beaten, and with a cold rain starting to fall, he decided rather than risk road rash, he would pull into a motel off the highway. And then he finally got a stroke of luck, seeing a big, honking red truck in the parking lot.
Thank you, Lady Luck, for that one.
Sniffing around the vehicle, he made sure of his quarry first, scenting the lingering traces of bear, a hunter’s perfume, and the familiar tang of the daughter, whose feminine scent was the last he’d inhaled before meeting his Francine.
Kicking in the motel room door, he startled the balding fellow lounging on the bed watching television. With a curse, the tubby hunter rolled off the bed, scrambling for his jacket and withdrawing a gun. Like that would stop him.
Enraged, not at the temerity of the human, but what he’d done to his precious mate, Alejandro leapt across the room and knocked it from his grasp. Ramming his forearm against the human’s throat, he used this as leverage and shoved him into the wall. But that wasn’t enough. He lifted him until the hunter gurgled, his fingers clawing desperately at his arm.
Alejandro’s lips curled back over his teeth in a vicious snarl. “Fucking prick. Not so brave without your gun, are you? I can forgive you for shooting the wolf. I’ve had the urge myself. But shooting at a woman through her window in the back? For that, you die.”
The hunter’s head tried to shake in a puny attempt at denial. Curious as to what lame excuse the bastard thought to spout, Alejandro eased the pressure to let him speak his final words before he killed him.
“Not me,” croaked the sweating human.
A cold smile danced over his lips at the poor attempt at rebuttal. “Are you denying you shot the wolf and the redhead?”
“Shot the wolf, but I left right after. I didn’t shoot any redhead.”
Truth rang in the human’s words, and Alejandro frowned. Removing his arm, Alejandro let his prey drop. The man slumped to the floor, gasping and clutching his throat.
“Start from the beginning and tell me what you’ve done, starting with following me. You know what I am.”
He nodded his head. “I saw you in the woods behind my place. You’re not human.”
“No shit. So that gives you the right to follow me and threaten the lives of people I know and love?”
“You seduced my daughter,” the redneck replied in a blustery tone as he sat up.
“She’s twenty freakn’ five. She bloody well seduced me.”
The hunter turned beet red. “She’s still my little girl and it fucking burned me to know she’d slept with some animal.”
“So you tried to track me down.”
“I didn’t try, I did. I found out where you lived and I saw you leaving. I followed.”
“Pretty long fucking trip.”
“Yeah, well, I was kind of pissed.”
“And then?”
The human shrugged. “I saw you visiting that house with the pregnant gal. I watched for a few hours, but I needed some supplies and left for just a little bit. When I came back, you were gone. I almost went home that night, but I called my daughter and she was so pissed at me.”
“So you came back the next day?”
“Not right away. I almost went home. I drove around for a bit, but then my damned daughter called again PMSing so off I went back to watch for you. But you didn’t show up. I came better prepared that time, though, and found myself a spot in a tree, and then that fucking wolf showed up.”
“Okay, this story is getting long and tedious. You shot the wolf, ran away, and then found me the next morning, right?”
“No. When I was running away, I heard all the fucking animals coming, and I got in my fucking truck and left.”
“Not too far you didn’t because lo and behold, I caught up to you. Made a pit stop perhaps on your way home, maybe to shoot someone.”
“No. I went and got royally fucking drunk. After I slept it off, I called my daughter cell’s phone only to find out she’d gone to your fucking ranch to warn them I was hunting you and then couldn’t leave.”
“My family kept her prisoner?” The news surprised him.
The human crossed his arms and scowled. “Not according to her. Apparently, she didn’t want go. So I demanded to speak to someone there and your brother Ignacio came on the line and said they’d mated and that I’d better get my ass home if I wanted to see her again.”
“I see.” Alejandro mentally winced, wondering how Ignacio felt about Alejandro dipping his wick into his mate’s honey pot. Probably not too happy. It would make Christmas interesting for sure.