Hunted (26 page)

“Lies!” he bellowed.

“Which part?” Uncle Lou asked as he stepped forward. “The part about you ignoring the fact Finn was only fifteen at the time or the part about throwing those of us who objected to your plans out of the clan?”

“Or perhaps it was the part about you saying your word as clan leader was law and not what all the clans had decided?” another man asked as he, too, stepped forward.

“Or perhaps it’s the part about sending trackers after her and keeping after her all these years.” Uncle Adam’s voice was hard.

“You ordered your trackers to violate clan territory without permission,” I continued. I needed Jennings focused on me. “When you finally felt you were close enough to actually capturing me, you ordered them to do whatever was necessary to subdue me and take me back to California. You approved them tainting the barbs of their tasers with a drug designed to slow our healing and to cause as much pain as possible. You equipped them with handcuffs and chains and other items to keep me under control. You even furnished a private jet for use when they found me.”

Sweat pricked out on his upper lip but he wasn’t about to lose face by admitting my accusations were true. Good. I didn’t want it to be easy on him. I wanted everyone present to know what sort of a monster he really was. Then they’d support whatever needed to be done to be rid of him once and for all.

“If you had any proof, you’d have presented it by now.” He stepped forward and turned to look at those gathered before turning back to me. “I don’t know what this son of a bitch has done, but it’s clear he’s brainwashed you. Well, that’s done with now. It’s past time for you to come home.”

“I am home, you fool. As for what Matt’s done, he’s saved my life. If it weren’t for him, I’d have fallen prey to your trackers.”

Matt moved to my side. As he did, he nodded to Danny. Danny nodded in response and, as he turned to leave the room, Uncle Adam joined him. So far, everything was going exactly as planned. All I could do was hope it continued to do so.

“Here’s your proof, Jennings.” Contempt filled Matt’s voice as the three trackers were escorted into the room. They were brought to stand between Jennings and us. The youngest cast a quick, terrified look at his clan leader before focusing his attention straight ahead. The other two looked almost as scared as did the first, but they refused to look at Jennings. Instead, they kept their eyes focused on Matt and me, dropping to their knees when Matt finally looked down at them.

The room was quiet enough to hear the men breathing and still enough to smell their fear. I realized then that Matt had been right. Instead of bringing them in in handcuffs as Danny and Teresa had recommended, he’d insisted they be free. He wanted everyone to see that they had not been mistreated. No one had laid a hand on them since their capture. He wanted no one to accuse us of coercing any information from them.

Without a word, my grandmother moved to stand before the men. As soon as they acknowledged her presence, she began questioning them. Names, clan affiliation, clan leader were all quickly established. Even though she stood with her back to us, I had no doubt that her expression betrayed nothing as she asked why they’d been in our territory and why they hadn’t let Matt now of their presence. When they explained they’d been told not to inform the local clan leader, there was an angry murmur from the crowd. Good, one more nail in Jennings’ metaphorical coffin.

“What were you to do when you managed to corner my granddaughter?” she asked.

I held my breath. This was one of those situations where the saying, “never ask a question you don’t know the answer to” could cause us problems. If any of the trackers suddenly decided their best bet was to stay loyal to Jennings, everything we’d planned so carefully could fall through.

“We were told to bring her back to the clan, no matter what,” the man closest to her said softly. “He told us she might not agree to come, that she’d been turned against him and our clan. We weren’t to listen to anything she said about not wanting to return. She was his mate and she belonged to him.”

I ground my teeth and my nails bit into my palms as I forced myself not to react. Hearing him say it, even though I’d already heard it before, reminded me of how close I’d come to losing everything. It wasn’t just that I’d have lost my freedom. I had no doubts I would have eventually lost my life because I’d never have willingly submitted to Jennings. But it was more than that. I had a home now, somewhere I belonged and wanted to be. I had a man, a mate, who respected me and cared for me. All of that would have been gone if Matt hadn’t appeared when he did.

“So you admit to violating the Texas clan’s territory?” one of the other clan leaders asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“At any time did you try to talk to your clan leader about what he wanted, try to remind him of clan law?”

“N-no, sir.”

“Why?”

“If you want to survive in our clan you learn not to question him. At least not if you’re male.”

That brought another murmur from those gathered and you could almost see everyone take a step back from Jennings. Yet it didn’t seem to faze him. His anger was so great, as was his confidence, that he didn’t realize he was in enemy territory. Either that or he didn’t care. Had he always been this much of a fool?

“This is all bullshit.” Jennings slashed the air with one hand. Before he could move any closer to the trackers or to the platform, Danny and Teresa were there to stop him. Neither so much as flinched when he glared at them, obviously surprised that anyone would dare lay a hand on him, much less prevent him from doing something he wanted.

“What’s bullshit is the way you so willingly put all of us in danger just to assuage your ego.” I was down the two steps and standing in front of him before Matt or anyone else could react. “Because of you, because you couldn’t get over the fact a fifteen year old might not want to be with you, you’ve risked everything, including all our lives.

“When I came to Matt and offered myself to him as mate, I pledged my life and my arm to pride and clan.” Seeing how Jennings’ eyes widened in disbelief at my words, I grinned. Finally, I’d gotten past his bravado. “That’s right. I knew as soon as I recovered from the drug you had the trackers use on the taser barbs that Matt was my mate. His jaguar called to mine and there was no denying we belonged together. So, yes, I offered myself to him as mate on whatever terms he wanted, something I would never even consider doing with you.”

“You bitch!” He was shaking with rage. I’d not only insulted him by refusing to be with him but I’d offered myself to another man on whatever terms that man wanted. I was playing a dangerous game but I didn’t care. I had to shake his confidence enough that he admitted what he’d tried to do to me and, hopefully, what he’d done to my parents.

“I may be many things, Jennings, but a bitch I’m not.” I smiled and took a step back. It probably wasn’t a good idea to stand too close to him, angry as he was.

“I don’t have to stay and listen to this crap.”

Before he could turn, Danny laid a firm hand on his shoulder. I watched the knuckles turn white as he dug his fingers into the soft flesh between the bones. Jennings didn’t say anything, but he paled slightly and a thin sheen of sweat pricked out on his face. I remembered Sharon telling me that Danny was a third degree black belt. My guess was that he’d managed to find a pressure point or two and was using it to keep Jennings in line.

That was good, but I needed Danny focused on me just then and not our “guest”. A nod was all it took for Teresa to change places with him. In her boots, she stood at good two inches taller than Danny and that meant she was at least three inches taller than Jennings. He’d hate being at the mercy of a woman, especially one that made him look even shorter than he really was.

Danny moved to stand before me. Without a word, he dropped to his knees, head bent. Just about every person there knew he was Matt’s close friend and advisor. But that didn’t matter. He was making sure they all understood he accepted me not only as a member of the clan but as Matt’s mate and as an alpha. I smiled and reached out to help him to his feet.

“You have had a chance to look into the circumstances surrounding my parents’ deaths.” It was a statement more than a question.

“I have and I risked overstepping my bounds by asking for the records from California before consulting you about it.”

I gave him a quick warning look. I knew what he was doing. He was trying to deflect Jennings from me to him. While I appreciated the sentiment, I couldn’t let him do it.

“What did you discover?”

Before he could answer, Jennings tried to twist out of Teresa’s grip. He gave a surprised yelp of pain as she kicked him in the back of his knee and twisted his right arm up behind him. A moment later, he knelt on the floor and she towered over him, using the leverage of her height to hold his arm close to the breaking point. If he tried to shift, I had no doubt she’d break his arm and then his neck before he was halfway through the process.

“Shall I tell them what he found?” I asked Jennings as I moved to where he knelt. I twisted my fingers in his hair and forced his head back. “Shall I tell them how it was you who told the police that my parents had come to you and revealed their plans to kill themselves because my father had been diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer? Or how about how you told them that they’d named you my guardian and then how you continued to lie after the police realized that wasn’t the truth? Or maybe you’d like them to think about how the case was allowed to go cold even though the coroner found no evidence of cancer or anything else wrong with father? And let’s not forget about how the coroner felt their bodies had been moved after they’d been killed. Who besides you, the one pack or pride leader they had concerns about and who so quickly moved to fill the void in clan leadership, had anything to gain by their deaths?”

Now I was the one shaking with rage. I heard Matt take a step in my direction. I shook my head and released my grasp. I had to put some distance between Jennings and me or I wouldn’t be responsible for what happened next.

God, it was so tempting to just reach out, grab his head in both hands and twist.

Instead, I forced myself to turn and walk away. That had to be one of the hardest things I’d done since that night so long ago when I took one last look at the bedroom I’d grown up in before I slipped out into the night, never to return. This time, though, I had someone waiting for me. Standing there, just a few feet away was Matt, pride and approval reflected in his eyes. I focused on him, remembering that I was no longer alone.

I stepped onto the platform and held my right hand out to Matt. His hand closed over it and he waited, letting me move to him. It was such a simple way of proving to not only those watching but to me as well that ours was a partnership. We chose to be with one another, something very different from what Jennings had planned for me.

“Gun!”

For a moment, the world stood still. Teresa’s warning disappeared in the explosion of sound that followed. I didn’t move. I didn’t even breathe as I waited for the pain I knew would follow. But it didn’t. Dear God, it didn’t.

I spun around, my eyes searching for Teresa, for Jennings. Relief filled me to see how she and Danny were wrestling Jennings to the ground. On the floor in front of them lay a gun. I knew enough to realize it was a semi-automatic and from the size of it--or more correctly from the lack of size--guessed it wasn’t one of the large caliber guns. But a gun was still a gun and could do a lot of damage.

A moan had me spinning back to the platform. My breath caught and fear had my knees buckling. Matt lay on his back, Sharon kneeling at his side. Blood soaked his shirt and covered his left side. Then his chest rose and I heard him draw a ragged breath. He lived.

“Hold that bastard. If he tries anything else, break his legs.” Part of me hoped he would try something. I wanted him to hurt as much as Matt was hurting now. But I had to think. I had to remember I stood for the clan with Matt injured. “He came with at least four others the one standing next to him and three more. Find them and bring them to me. And for the love of God, search them.”

With that, I turned back to the platform. A flicker of relief ran through me to see Matt now propped against his sister. Pain was etched on his expression and he groaned lowly as Sharon pressed a cloth she’d gotten from somewhere against his wound. Tears ran down her face as she tried telling him he needed to lie back. He shook his head and held a bloody hand out to me.

I fell to my knees at his side, grasping his hand in mine. I pressed my forehead to his and then tilted my head so I could brush my lips against his.

“Finn.” Fear and anger filled Sharon’s voice as she looked across her brother at me.

“Take care of him. I need to deal with
this
.” I glanced over my shoulder to where the other clan leaders as well as some of our own people were quickly bringing Jennings’ companions forward.

“Finn.” Matt’s hand tightened around mine.

“Shh.” I brushed my lips against his again and then sat back, trying to smile in reassurance. As I did, Stefan appeared with his medical kit. “I remember my promise not to do anything foolish, but I do need to deal with this. Trust me.”

“Always.” He gave my hand one last squeeze and then let go.

Fury unlike any I’d ever felt before filled me as I stood and turned back to face Jennings. Danny and Uncle Adam had him on his knees, his arms pulled behind his back. Teresa stood behind him. Her hand was fisted in his hair. She pulled his head back, baring his throat to me. It would be so easy to step forward and slit it--or rip it out. But not yet.

“Let him go,” I ordered as I stopped a few feet away and bent to retrieve the gun.

“Finn?” Danny looked at me in concern.

“Do it!” I snapped.

As I waited, my grandmother and the other six clan leaders who had already aligned themselves with Matt moved to stand behind me. But my attention was on Jennings, wondering what he’d try next.