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I parked the modified RV at the end of my adoptive mom's driveway and killed the engine. The camper was a big, slow monstrosity. But I'd altered it over the years, adding armor and all the necessities. I normally used it when I was going to be traveling a long distance. I'd long ago promised myself I was done sleeping rough on hunts. And besides, only a special kind of idiot would sleep under the stars outside the protective walls of the city.
I glanced at Finlay, who sat in the navigator's seat, an ice pack on his still-healing fingers. He promised me he healed faster than a human and the hand would be able to hold a gun well before we got to our hunting grounds, but I was skeptical. Emerson was snoring lightly, sleeping off the remainder of whatever they'd put in the dart that took him down the night before. It was a hilarious sight, seeing the tall, broad guy curled up on the fold-out bed like a shrimp.
"Stay here," I told Fin firmly. I might be growing more comfortable than I ever wanted to be with the guy, but very few people got to meet Josie. It was safer for all of us that way.
I was standing on the rickety front porch, reaching for the door, when the scent hit me. Baring my teeth, I growled, just as the door was flung open and I was engulfed in a cloud of perfume, soft, expensive clothes, and silky silver hair.
"Sam!" Angel's mother cooed as she squeezed the life out of me. "About time you got here."
"Let the poor mutt breathe, for shifter's sake, Athena," my own mother said in exasperation. She pulled the expensive prostitute off me and hauled us both inside, closing and bolting the door behind us.
I crossed my arms and glared. "What are you doing here?" I demanded. "Aren't you out of town on business?"
Athena arched one perfectly shaped brow. She was plump and soft in a way Angel never would be. But for some reason, the perfect agelessness of her always made me just a little uneasy. Madame Moonlight was a full fiend. She didn't have Angel's sound magic. Apparently only males of their species developed that trait, as a way to lure in mates. But she was magic all her own, and it was a cold and deceptive thing, for all she had always been nothing but kind to me.
"You believed my little story?" she purred. "I thought you were smarter than that, Sam."
I bared my teeth. "Apparently, I'm just all around stupid," I hissed. "Where is your lying, manipulative traitor of a son?"
The surprise on her round face seemed genuine. "Why are you so angry, Sam?" She reached out a hand and I side-stepped her. She frowned.
"Angel was blackmailed into doing a job for someone." She waved a hand dismissively. "Well, he didn't tell me that. But he did say he had to do a job and he wanted me out of sight. Why that boy thinks he can lie to me, I'll never know. He's terrible at it." She shrugged. "It's obvious that whoever it was had threatened me to make sure Angel did the job. He asked me to stay here with Josie. He said you would protect me if things went bad."
I mulled that information around in my brain. He hadn't told his mother that he was planning on screwing me over—literally. And he had the fucking balls to send her here, to my childhood home for protection and safekeeping, right after he betrayed me and left me tied up on a brothel floor. He used me and left me, and still he knew I wouldn't hurt his mother.
He was so fucking dead when I caught up with him.
Athena reached into the pocket of her ridiculous dress and pulled out an amulet on a leather thong. "He stopped by last night and told me to give this to you, when you inevitably showed up here."
I shook my head, but I took the damned charm and slung it around my neck, tucking it under my shirt. "I think your son has brain damage. Either that, or he has a death wish."
I skirted around her to avoid any more hugs. Then I went to greet my own mother, handing her the bag of non-perishable food stores I'd picked up in town. "I'll be gone about a week, week and a half," I told her. "This should keep you fed at least that long." I grinned. "And when I come back, we're going to have a barbecue with expensive steaks, and fire up your fancy new wood splitter."
She rolled her eyes at me and went to put the food in the pantry, navigating mainly by feel. I glanced at Athena and found her watching Josie with a sort of sweet, sad fondness in her eyes. Her gaze met mine and she shrugged.
"Are you sure you'll both be safe here?" I said, sharing a glance between the two women.
Josie groused about not being a helpless old lady, and my eyebrows rose up into my hairline when Athena bustled her in for a kiss. "I'll look after her."
Josie, clearly flustered, turned away and muttered something about bringing in some firewood.
I scrubbed a hand over my face. "How long has that been going on?" I muttered.
Athena just grinned, completely unrepentant. "About ten years, on and off."
I groaned. Suddenly all those trips into town so I could spend time with other people seemed to make a lot more sense. A sudden thought dawned on me. "Angel knows, doesn't he? That's why he sent you here."
She shrugged. "I suppose. He walked in on us once at the Mushroom."
I grimaced. I did not want to picture that. But I was feeling petty enough to be glad Angel was scarred for life. "Gross."
She just sighed in exasperation and slipped into a seat at the worn old kitchen table. "Oh please," she snarked. "Like we don't all know my family seems to have a strange way of wanting to bed yours."
I stared at her. Did she mean what I think she meant? My cheeks flamed. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
She arched a brow and I could see the consummate schemer and seductress in her expression. "Oh really? You and Angel haven't been pining after each other since you were kids?"
I growled. "Believe me, there is no pining after each other. There was me wanting things I knew I could never have. And him laughing behind my back all the while."
I didn't stay to hear the reply she attempted to make. "Stay here and stay out of trouble," I told my mom when she peeked around the side of the house with a pile of logs in her arms.
She just shook her head, well used to my dark moods. "We'll be fine. I've paid up, so the assholes in the woods will leave me alone for another month. And the assholes in the city don't know I exist."
I nodded and turned to go, pretending I didn't notice how she was carefully feeling for the bottom step with her foot because she couldn't judge the depth with her eyes.
I flung myself up behind the wheel of the RV, ready to get this whole mess over with so I could go back to being by myself.
Fin studied me as I started the camper and maneuvered the lumbering beast back down the road toward the wastelands. "You okay, Sam?" he said quietly. Emerson was still sawing logs, thank the Gods. I didn't think I could bear to face those soft, mournful eyes when he knew I was upset.
"Fine," I said, gripping the steering wheel so hard it creaked.
Fin sighed and set his ice pack aside, turning in his seat to stare. "If you're this pissed off, it's going to throw you off your game when you're hunting. That will put us all in danger." He crossed his arms over his chest. "So...spill. Get it off your chest. You still pissed that your friend drugged you and tied you up?"
I bared teeth that were not entirely human. I hadn't told him about the sex. But I had a feeling he was reading between the lines, the perceptive fucker. "He left his mother here for safekeeping. And he wasn't my friend. Just some random whore I happen to know."
Somehow, making Angel out to be nothing more than a cheap whore didn't make me feel any better.
Finlay huffed a sigh. "Oh. So, you...went looking for company after I fucked everything up."
I glanced at him. He was sitting rigidly straight, his eyes downcast and his face red. "Yeah, right," I said gruffly. "Like I'm that sappy. You weren't willing to play with me, so I found someone who was. You know, us beasts are only interested in fighting and fucking. Too bad it came back to bite me in the ass."
I could still feel his eyes on me as I stared out the windshield at the road that was rapidly deteriorating as we left town. For some reason, I didn't think he was buying my careless tough-guy act at all.
"Sam, I didn't mean—"
Emerson sat up with a groan, interrupting whatever the leprechaun had been about to say. Thank the Gods. "Where are we?" the half-ogre muttered, rubbing his head.
I laughed. "We just left town, big guy. Sleep all you want. It's nothing but a long, hopefully boring and uneventful, drive the rest of the day."
Emerson grunted and we were all quiet for a while. Then the ogre cross proved that this was going to be the most awkward fucking trip ever by opening his mouth again. "You're a good girl, Sam," he said softly. "It's okay to want to be loved."
I swerved and nearly killed us all. Glancing in the rearview, I spluttered.
Fin snorted. "He's not a girl, Emerson. And I'm pretty sure the "L" word is going to get you killed."
Emerson just looked confused. "Sorry, Sam. Do you prefer male pronouns? I just thought Fin was teasing you."
I glared between the both of them, ignoring Finlay's furrowed brow as he tried to figure out what was going on. "I have a wonderful idea," I said sweetly. "How about you call me whatever you want. In your heads. Because we are going to play the 'Who can shut the fuck up the longest' game. Okay? It starts now and it ends when we get back here and cash in our unicorn horns."
Fin laughed. Emerson just frowned in concentration as he tried to work out how he'd offended me.
Whatever. I didn't care, as long as they stopped talking. Gods.