I was ready to mutilate Jack Aberdeen.
“Sam,” Jordyn said behind me, “Layla will be fine.”
When we left the ranch, we hadn’t gone far. There was no way I was leaving Layla completely alone with Jack. On Jordyn’s advice, Conrad and I had parked on a dirt path off the main road. Then we hoofed it back toward the ranch and stayed far enough away but close enough that I could see without being detected.
“I know she will”—I didn’t take my eyes off Jack, who was talking to Layla and Tabitha—“because I’m not leaving until I know she’s fine.”
“My uncle isn’t going to hurt her,” Jordyn said.
“Are you sure about that? Because with vampires on your mom’s side, I’m betting his revulsion for Layla is as strong as his hatred for me.” He’d been one second away from lighting my ass up with his wife and two nieces in firing range.
Ripping out his heart would be too kind.
“Ninety-nine percent sure,” Jordyn said, her eyes widening.
Conrad came down a small hill. “I think I heard the aunt is taking Layla into town.”
The women went inside the house.
I texted Layla: Hurry the fuck up.
She replied immediately: Chill, vampire. I’ll be there soon.
If she wasn’t, I would plow in and bring down the house.
Jordyn tapped on my shoulder. “Let’s go. We’re meeting her at the Deer and Elk just outside of town.” She sounded a little jumpy. “I’ll be in the car.”
Conrad brushed dust off his black pants. “Now that Jack knows you’re here, this town definitely isn’t safe for you. Get to the airport. I’ll pick up Layla from the Deer and Elk.”
“I can handle myself.” I appreciated that he had my back, but I wasn’t one to hide or run.
Conrad glanced toward our cars. “Word around town is that Jack has a new weapon. I don’t know the specifics.”
“You mean the flamethrower isn’t doing the job?” My tone dripped with sarcasm. Still, the drug Layla had used at the nightclub came to mind. “We know he’s testing out a drug, or he was two years ago. I doubt that’s it since most drugs won’t kill us unless it’s an endotoxin.” At the moment, I couldn’t worry about a new weapon. “Look, man. You should think about getting out of town. Come back with me.”
He scratched the underside of his chin. “My job is to keep an eye on the Aberdeens. I can do that without getting caught. I don’t stay in one place that long, anyway. Besides, until your father tells me otherwise, I can’t leave my post. Any word on his condition?”
“He’s still out but alive. I’ll head to the Deer and Elk.” As much as I would have loved a good sparring with Jack Aberdeen, it wasn’t the time. I was certain he and I would go head-to-head at some point in the future. “Hang here until you see Layla leaving.”
Jordyn had the phone to her ear when I climbed behind the wheel. “Rianne, why are you ghosting Layla and me? Answer our freaking calls. We’re on our way to the Deer and Elk. Sam is in town. Meet us there as soon as you can.” She snarled at me, looking a little like Layla at that moment as she tossed the phone in her lap.
I laughed, starting the engine. “Don’t kill the messenger.” I imagined she was still coming to terms with having vampires in her family.
She clicked her seat belt into place. “I’m not irritated with you. I’m mad that I don’t know who my family is anymore, and it’s kind of sad too. Rianne seems to have joined the darker side, and my mom had vampires on her side. That’s a hard nut to swallow.”
“Explain about Rianne,” I said.
She toyed with her phone. “I don’t know why, but she told Noah about you and Layla sleeping together. It was probably a slip of the tongue. She and Noah had been watching a movie and drinking. I think she had one too many beers and told him accidentally.”
“And it got back to Jack, I’m guessing?” I would’ve loved to have been a fly on the wall when Jack found that out.
“Yeah, and that kind of set Jack off because my father dated a vampire before he died,” she mumbled. “Another piece of our history that is coming to light. I feel numb and sad. I don’t know where Rianne’s head is at. It’s like Layla and I are now banished from the family.”
I wheeled onto the main road. “I’m usually not good at giving advice, but I would be numb, too, after learning all that. I had a hard time when I woke up as a vampire, and not by my choice. It had been a life-or-death situation. I feel ya.” As a foster child, I knew what it was like not to have anyone care about me—except Jo, of course. “Your aunt cares about you and your sisters.”
She whipped her gaze at me, pursing her lips. “When did you and my aunt become best friends?”
I chuckled. “We’re far from that. But she’s worried about Layla.” I sped down the road faster than the speed limit, keeping my focus ahead of me. “What’s this about you talking to my dad about a job?” Her brazen delivery of that information still had me shocked.
She stared at her phone in her lap. “He was interested in my dad working for him. I’m an Aberdeen with skills. Why not? I could be a scout like Conrad or help in some way.”
We had a few humans working for our government, but Conrad wasn’t a human.
“My father is fighting for his life right now because of Roman.” A stabbing pain clutched my chest.
She sucked in a deep breath. “I’m so sorry. Is he going to make it?”
I gripped the steering wheel with crushing force. “Let’s hope so. Otherwise, I’ll go on a rampage until Roman is dead.”
Silence followed us for a few miles. The mood in the car was as dark as the storm clouds rolling in.
She rubbed my arm. “What can I do to help?”
“You can light a fire under Layla’s ass and tell her to hurry up.” It was best if we took off before the weather turned nasty.
She tapped out a text to Layla.
Silence followed us the rest of the way to the Deer and Elk, and within twenty minutes, Jordyn and I were crushing empty peanut shells beneath our feet on the sticky floor inside what looked to be a dive bar.
The burly bartender glanced up from the glass he was wiping. “Have a seat anywhere.”
The place was dead as a doornail.
Booths and tables were scattered around in front of the U-shaped bar. A doorway with a lighted sign above it led the way to the restrooms, and Sam Tinnesz belted out “Legends Are Made” from a jukebox that sat in the corner adjacent to the entrance.
A petite blond waitress, who was cutting lemons and limes, popped off the bar. “Jordyn Aberdeen, is that you?”
“Linda Getty,” Jordyn said. “It’s been a long time.”
The two women hugged briefly.
Then Linda sized me up, lingering too fucking long on my crotch. “Who’s this tall drink of water?”
I was about to say “none of your business” when Jordyn answered, “A friend of Layla’s.”
Linda finally looked up at me with too much lust swimming in her brown eyes. “You have a name?”
I didn’t want to say and didn’t have to when the bartender called Linda.
She huffed. “We just opened. I have to finish what I was doing. What can I get you two to drink?”
“Coffee for me,” Jordyn said.
“I’ll take a draft beer of any kind.”
She bounced away while Jordyn and I commandeered one of the booths.
“She and Layla went to high school together,” Jordyn offered. “Not a match made in heaven, if you know what I mean.”
Linda went by the wayside when a deep belly laugh pierced the stale air as two men strutted in. The shorter of the two was dressed in business casual—black pants, blue shirt, and loafers. The taller one was taking off his suit jacket as he ponied up to the bar. Then he smoothed a hand over his brown crop and glanced around. When his gaze landed on me, his dark eyes widened.
Jordyn followed my line of sight. “Do you know him?”
I acknowledged Lester Worthington with a nod before he hung his suit jacket over the back of the bar chair and said something to his friend.
“Some dude who showed up at the house earlier. He’s interested in buying a horse.”
“I missed a lot while I was packing.”
Linda deposited our drinks. “Is Layla meeting you here?”
Nodding, Jordyn picked up her cup as the two started chatting about Layla.
That was my cue to contact the pilot. “I’ll be right back.” I was never one to sit idle and make small talk. And waiting for Layla was driving me mad.
A strong breeze whipped by the minute I stepped outside. The storm clouds had grown darker, and a sudden eerie feeling dropped to the pit of my stomach. Inhaling, I crossed the gravel lot as the scent of rain invaded my nostrils. Man, I hated flying in a storm. I could withstand a bomb, but I just couldn’t get excited about falling out of the sky in a metal tube. Webb and a few of my comrades had survived a plane crash a few years back, but they’d had parachutes strapped to them.
I tapped the number for the pilot. He answered on the first ring. “I was just about to call you, Sam. The weather isn’t looking good. I suggest we leave as soon as possible.”
“Ten-four, man. I’m waiting on one person who should be here shortly. Give me an hour.” After I hung up, I strutted over to my rental, which was parked alongside a black SUV that I was sure was Lester’s, since there wasn’t another one like it in the parking lot.
My suspicious nature had me checking out the inside. A folder with the Aberdeen name on it lay on the back seat, and a small black case with the name Camden Industries etched into the plastic was next to the folder. The first thing that came to mind was a gun case. I couldn’t help but think of what Conrad had mentioned about Jack having a new weapon.
Maybe Lester wasn’t buying a horse but selling Jack a weapon, though I doubted whatever was in that box would kill a vampire. The only sure ways that someone like me could die was by fire, a cobalt stake to the heart, and losing my head. Even the cobalt stake had to be embedded until my heart burned to ash.
I called Tripp.
He answered on the first ring. “Are you on your way home?”
“I should be shortly. There’s a storm coming in.” I scanned the inside of the SUV again. “I need you to have Sawyer look into something for me.”
“Anything wrong?” Tripp’s voice dropped an octave.
“Not sure.” I didn’t see anything else that would lead me to believe Lester was lying about buying a horse.
“What’s going on?” Tripp asked.
“Have Sawyer do some digging on Camden Industries when he has a chance.”
“Sam?” A familiar female voice trickled on the wind before Rianne came into view from around the SUV.
Where the fuck did she come from? I scanned the lot and didn’t see anyone with her. “I have to run,” I said to Tripp. “I’ll call just before the plane takes off.” Then I hung up.
Rianne smiled as she raked her brown gaze over me. “I didn’t believe Jordyn when I heard her message that you were in town.”
I kept my senses open as I looked down her dirt-covered jeans to her mud-encrusted boots. “Have you been mud wrestling?”
“I was helping my uncle with something,” she said, staring at me as though she was trying to bore a hole in my skull.
I did another sweep of the lot but didn’t see anyone else with her. I also didn’t smell another human nearby. “Have you been here long?” I sniffed the air just the same. I couldn’t even pick up her scent, although the wind was whipping around pretty strongly, and a thick aroma of cooking oil wafted in the air.
She flicked a thumb at the bar. “I parked behind the club.”
There were plenty of parking spaces in front.
As if she knew what I was thinking, she said, “My cousin knows the bartender.”
That still didn’t satisfy my suspicions. “I have another call to make. I’ll meet you inside.”
She tucked her hands into her coat pockets and hesitated as if struggling with what to say.
“What is it?” I asked.
She swiped a hand over her brown hair. “If you’re calling Layla, she’s not coming.”
Every muscle in my body froze. “Say that again?” My fangs were ready to shoot out, and not because of her statement but the disdain in her tone. I angled my head, opening my empath senses. Fear lay beneath the fake bravado she was trying to portray.
She squared her shoulders. “She won’t be going anywhere with you.” Her voice was calm, in stark contrast to her rapid pulse.
“Is that what Layla told you?” I wouldn’t put it past Layla to run from me, but I knew without a doubt that she hadn’t changed her mind within the last fifteen minutes. If she had, I would stake my own heart.
“Something like that. Sam, just get in your car and go.” Her voice cracked on the last three words.
I closed the distance between us, and she stiffened. “Are you warning me?” At least she wasn’t threatening me like she had the first time I met her.
She lowered her gaze. “I’m telling you to go home. Let my family handle Layla.”
My fangs lowered, quick and deadly. “How in the fuck will your family handle Layla?” I fisted my hands at my sides. With the hard wind and the storm about to dump a ton of rain, it was the perfect opportunity to fuel my elemental powers. I pulled my energy from nature, which meant I was more powerful than Rianne was ready for. If she thought my compelling abilities were scary, she had no idea how powerful I could be in nature’s storm.
I leaned in, and she faltered, her back hitting the tail end of the SUV. “What’s really going on?”
She craned her neck up and stuck out her chin, defiant and brave, or at least she was trying to show me she was. “We’re ending any chance you have to corrupt my sister.”
Before I could grip her throat or compel her into oblivion, a series of rapid sounds pricked my ears before I felt a sharp, stabbing pain in my back. Then another. Then another. Suddenly, fire whipped through my body. I felt as though I was burning from the inside out. Rianne’s face blurred.
I shook it off as I slapped my hands on the SUV on either side of her head. The need to cause destruction saturated my veins, but I was about a gnat's ass away from collapsing.
Rianne pushed me, and I stumbled back easily.
Then a male voice, deep and mocking, muttered words that were garbled.
I straightened and shook off the effects of the drug as best I could. I wasn’t going down without a fight.
Rianne scurried away. “Noah, you need to pump a lot more into him. He’s powerful.”
I roared like a lion who was primed to fight off his attacker then whirled around—and not too gracefully, either. The man before me looked like an Aberdeen, only younger, and aimed a dart gun at me. He laughed like he’d won the fucking war.
“Is that all you got?” I uttered, but I sounded like I’d had one too many bottles of bourbon.
He shook his dark head of hair. “Vampire, you have no idea how powerful I am.”
I opened my arms. “Then, asshole, give me all you got.” I was about a second away from collapsing. I wasn’t sure if I would come out alive, only because I could feel the cobalt doing a number on my insides. “Because when I wake up, you’ll regret what you’ve done.”
The brave motherfucker marched closer with the gun, ready to pump more darts into me. “Oh, you might wake up, but when you do, you’ll have a front-row seat to your own death.”
Rianne rushed up to him. “Noah, shut the fuck up.”
I roared like the animal I was and tried with all the energy I had to conjure my elemental powers—to no avail.
Before I could take a step, Noah fired three more rounds into me. “There, that should do it.”
I blinked once, then everything around me went black.