Some Were In Time (22 page)

"
I can live with that
," I said with glee. "
I'm still going to punch her in the head
."

"
I expect no less
."

"It's unfair and ludicrous to expect me to give into all your demands. You clearly have issues with Dragons. Am I to believe you will defend me if the
need arises
?" Dima hissed angrily.

"Yep. You've got it right. You can earn back your weapons, but not drinking the solution is a deal breaker," I told her as I crossed my arms over my chest and waited.

"This is not smart," she muttered. "I could defend all of us."

"Possibly," I agreed. "But you are a Dragon. You're also a double agent. I have no clue whose side you're actually on. Your words and promises mean less than nothing to me at the moment."

"It'll be your funeral," Dima snapped as she slid her weapons over.

"Speaking of my demise," I said as my gaze zeroed in on Angela. "Who else knows Dwayne and my granny are working with me?"

"That sentence made no sense," Angela grumped as she kicked her phone and guns over.

"Trust me," I shot back as I crunched her phone beneath my rockin' cool combat boot, much to her dismay. "It makes plenty of sense. Answer the question."

"I know. You all know. And some of the Council knows," she told me.

I was speechless. Why in the hell did anyone on the Council know? I could tell it took everything Hank had not to take three steps forward and end Angela's life.

"Explain," I said tersely as I put a hand on Hank's arm.

Dima watched the drama unfolding with curiosity.

"It's protocol," Angela griped.

"
I need to kill her
," Hank said with a coldness that made me shiver.

"
Nope. If she dies, I get the honors
," I told him.

"
She put a target on our head. Is she stupid or just totally by the book
?" he demanded.

I couldn't answer that one.

"Nothing about this mission is protocol," I hissed viciously as Angela took several tentative steps backwards. "You wanted us to find out if the Dragons were crossbreeding and then ascertain if the Council was in cahoots with the Dragons. I fail to see how reporting the inner workings of the mission to the Council benefits anyone."

I knew my hair was blowing around my head. Angela and Dima watched me with both fascination and fear. My Vampyre was showing…

"The Dragons are working with the Council?" Dima asked, surprised as she kept her eyes glued to me.

"Holy shit," I groused. "Why in the hell are you on this mission? Do you not have any of the intel?"

"My intel seems to differ from yours," she said, glancing over at Angela with suspicion. "I'm here to take out the alpha Dragon and you're supposed to help me."

I stared up at the clear blue sky for a long moment. My need to tear something from limb to limb was dangerously close to the surface. The sparks flying off of Hank didn't bode well for anyone. The smoke wafting from the Dragon's nose was a clear indication all hell could break loose any moment.

"Listen," Angela said reasonably. "The goals all match up. There was no reason to brief all of you on every little piece of the puzzle. The Alpha is apparently the mastermind behind the crossbreeding. He needs to go. We also think he's the one funding the part of the Council that is fighting for the reveal of the Wolves to the humans. If we take him out we can go into his financials and figure out who he's paying. We stop the crossbreeding and we nail the Council. The Weres stay hidden and everyone wins."

"Angela, the whiskey has finally eaten your brain. Why in the hell would the alpha Dragon's financials be available to us if we off him?"

"Because I'm his daughter and I'm next in line for alpha," Dima said with eyes as dead as I'd ever seen.

"It’s lovely you want to kill your dad and all—I'd expect no less from a Dragon. However, this plan is sucktastic and is a death trap waiting to happen," I said as I pulled the squirt gun from my belt.

"You know nothing of me or my family, Wolf," Dima snarled.

"Enlighten me," I said sarcastically.

"My father killed my mother and my five brothers brutally—in front of me. He tried to kill me throughout my entire childhood, but failed because my mother always outwitted him. He leads our people as a dictator and he's stayed entirely too long at the fair. I plan to find him and kill him. It will hurt and he will suffer just like my mother did. I have no plans to fail. You are wanted by the Dragons… both of you," she said, referring to Hank and me. "They can't understand your power—and quite honestly, neither can I. But I don't care what you are so long as you help me kill him."

Her story shut me up for a moment. Dima's life had sucked, but it was not my problem to fix. I had no intention of letting anyone in on my Vampyre blood secret. Ever. However, I did have a few pertinent questions.

"What’s with the crossbreeding?" I asked.

"The crossbreeding thing is utter bullshit. A few rogue idiots trying to take over. From what I understand they were taken out…" Her look to me was questioning. "It was you?"

I nodded curtly and she smiled with satisfaction.

"Outstanding. You will be very helpful."

"Let's get something straight here, Dragon. We are not working for you. If you behave and drink your medicine we might let you tag along," I informed her coldly.

"Does he speak?" she asked, referring to Hank.

"He's a man of few words," I replied.

"Nice," she purred as she looked him over from head to toe. "I like a man of action."

"While that's incredibly awesome to know," I said in a voice that drew her startled eyes right back to me, "he's taken. His mate is wildly jealous and occasionally unstable. If you so much as touch him you'll lose a body part… starting with your hand, followed by your overly inflated left boob. Afterwards his mate would probably rip out your entrails and shove them down your throat. She wouldn't kill you… she'd play with you. Once a limb or knocker started to grow back she rip off three more body parts to compensate. You understanding where I'm going with this?" I inquired politely.

"Got it," Dima choked out and avoided Hank completely.

"That was appetizing," Angela said with a chuckle and a gag. "Back to business."

"You actually think we're going to take directives from you?" I asked as I gathered up all the weapons and handed half to Hank.

"Um… yes?" she answered hesitantly.

"Wrong," I snapped as Dima laughed and Hank grinned. "You are not in charge here. I need the names of the Council members who know the details of this mission."

"That's not protocol," she said indignantly.

"I can assure you that you don't want to know what Essie will tell you to do with your protocol. Certainly after her description of what touching me results in… I'd think twice about making her unhappy," Hank said with a deadly smirk on his face. "Spit out the names or I'm quite sure you'll be choking on your protocol for days."

"Months," I added. "And your throat is not the only place I plan to shove them."

"Aramini, Gades, Weterman and Dahn," Angela offered quickly.

"Breakdown on how they side on the reveal?" Hank demanded.

"Aramini and Gades want the reveal. Weterman and Dahn do not."

"Was that so hard?" I asked sarcastically.

She shook her head in defeat, reached into her pocket and retrieved a piece of paper. "I'd suggest you memorize this and then eat it," she advised as she held it out to me.

"What the hell is it with people wanting me to eat paper lately?" I asked as I took it from her slightly shaking hands. "What is this?"

"I'll eat it," Dima volunteered.

"Um… okay," I said as I scanned the typed information.

It was names, addresses and habits of the alpha Dragon's homes and businesses. I handed it to Hank.

"Isn't this information Dima already knows?" I asked my boss.

"Well, yes… but since she can't defend herself I'm not sure how long she'll be around. And I wasn't sure if she would willingly give you the correct intel," Angela explained.

"Well, isn't that special," Dima ground out through clenched teeth.

"And yet you thought it was a brilliant idea to pair someone you clearly don't trust with us," I said so quietly Angela had to lean forward to hear.

"Well, when you put it that way, it sounds awful," Angela groused and yanked on the little bit of hair she had left.

"Look, it's a bad idea all around," Dima stated the obvious. "But you need me and I need you."

"Who did I screw over in a former life to deserve this?" I muttered as I committed the information to memory.

"The sun god?" Angela suggested.

We all gaped at her. She simply shrugged, pulled her flask from her cleavage, and took a healthy swig.

"Open up, Dragon," I instructed as I aimed the squirt gun at her very full and redonkulously pouty lips.

"You're really going to do this?" Dima asked with narrowed eyes and a disgusted shake of her head.

"I am really going to do this," I replied with a wink.

She had no clue what my experience with Dragons had been thus far and I wasn't keen on informing her. I was slightly uncomfortable leaving her completely defenseless, but she could earn her weapons back as she earned our trust.

"Where are you staying?" I asked the Dragon as she choked down the vile solution.

"Wherever you are," she replied with an evil little grin and a very unladylike burp.

The burp almost made me like her, but her words… not so much.

"How about no freakin' way?" I yelled. "You are not going to… "

"Oh thank god, are you guys Wolves?" a stressed out female voice called to us.

"Um…" I stammered as she and her husband and about fifteen large children approached us like a freight train that had run off the tracks.

It was a family of Werewolves and they were a mess. They were dressed loudly and sloppy. The kids were smacking each other and had remnants of popsicle and chocolate all over them. The husband appeared bored and was trying to pretend he wasn't part of the motley crew. He stood slightly off to the left and stared at his fingernails.

The overly made-up and exhausted woman sniffed the air and sighed with relief.

"I knew it," she sang out and slapped two of the more unruly kids in the head. "I knew there were Wolves here. We're visiting from out of town and we got our credit cards stolen. Do you have any money we could borrow for a taxi back to our hotel and possibly a little extra for a bottle of Jack?"

"
Is she for real
?" Hank asked.

"
Um… I think so. Do I give her money
?"

"
Normally I'd say no, but we need her and her brood to leave. Give her a hundred
."

"
Those kids are damn big
," I mumbled as I reached into my pocket and pulled out a wad of cash.

As the woman reached greedily for the money, my instincts kicked in and a horrid feeling of dread shot up my spine.

"That's because they're not kids." Hank yelled as he pulled his weapons.

It happened so fast I was unsure if I was seeing it correctly. All hell had broken loose as the ragtag little family from out of town drew baseball bats and knives and syringes. What the hell?

"Duck," I hissed at Dima and Angela as I took aim and prepared to fire.

Dima was close enough to pull behind me, but Angela got swallowed up in the melee.

I had expected trouble from the Dragon or my boss, not from a group of garishly dressed Werewolves from out of town. We couldn't catch a break lately if it bit us in the ass.

"Do you know these freaks?" Dima hissed as she grabbed one of her knives and planted it in the head of a Wolf that was beating on Angela with a bat.

"Hell to the no," I snapped as I picked off two who were running at us with syringes held high.

Syringes? Who were these people? And what in the hell was in the syringes?

Hank used his fists. Dima hurled knives and I vacillated between throwing stars and daggers. A gun would draw entirely too much attention. I was shocked and grateful we hadn't attracted an audience.

As fast as it started it was over. In all the confusion and screaming not one of us realized several of the
children
had come up behind us. I felt a horrific burning as a large needle pierced my spine. My knees buckled and I saw Hank falling forward as the poison entered his system. Turning my head with inhuman effort, I realized Hank and I might have gotten off easy. The sound of the bat connecting to Dima's head was something I would have a difficult time forgetting. It caved the back of her skull in and she dropped to the ground like lead. Thankfully the blow wouldn't kill her, but it was awful to see. Bright red blood saturated her red locks and her eyes remained open. She looked dead.