Dylan (Bowen Boys, #3)(53)
“I would like for you to leave now.” He heard what he was saying and had a hard time believing it himself. He didn’t really expect her to leave, but maybe she was just stupid enough to do as he told her. Apparently not.
“I have a question or two that I’d like to ask you before we go. The first one is about the Manns, Sally and Karrie. Where are they?” He looked at her, confused. “You called her husband Kirby ‘human’ she said. Or is that what you call all of us, ‘human’?”
“You’re all barely that to me. Cattle are what I would label you. Just like all the other stupid, mindless animals that do little more than wander around the field eating grass and other things. On occasion, they give milk to supply you other mindless animal’s things like cheese and milk, byproducts that make them fat and lazier. All of you should be put into pens and fed once a day, then slaughtered when you serve your purpose.”
“So from that I can assume you don’t like us. Well, buddy, I don’t care much for you taking my family from me, either. Do you even care that we were having a good time until you came along and messed it up? I don’t shop often, but when I do, I like it to go smoothly.” She picked up the paper again. “Okay now, where are the human’s Sally Mann and her daughter Karrie Mann? By the way, bang up job on killing Kirby. I think they’ll be picking pieces of him out of that room for years to come.” He nodded at her compliment. He’d been angry at the human, but he had brought it all on himself. He still thought of that machine he’d been messing with, but doubted that it had been anything more than a toy to entertain him. But his good feeling at what she’d said was short lived when she spoke again.
“Of course, he did send us all a confession of everything you and he had been up to for all this time. The two of you were very busy little beavers, weren’t you? I mean, the list is long and very helpful. You had him by the balls, didn’t you?”
“I have no idea what you’re going on about. I don’t know any Mann person any more than I know anyone else you’ve spoken about. And I most assuredly don’t want anything more to do with you. Go away.” Her laughter made him want to get up and slap her until her neck snapped. But every time he moved she would point that gun at his chest, and he knew she’d have him dead before he was able to get across the room.
A movement to his right had him moving farther to the opposite side of the bed. A large panther, much bigger than any other one he’d seen, was sitting there licking his paws. When the cat leapt up on the bed, Lucius started to move. Then the girl cleared her throat. He was trapped for now.
“Okay, we’re going to do this again. Where are Sally and Karrie Mann, wife and daughter of Kirby Mann, the person you killed in a hotel room several days ago?” Her voice had grown hard and no longer full of humor. He knew she was getting mad at him, but he didn’t care. He was going to kill her soon enough.
Lucius knew he had two choices, and neither of them sounded like he would make it out in one piece. She wouldn’t be able to kill him—of that he was fairly certain—but she would hurt him. One plan was that he tried to materialize behind the girl, kill her, and deal with the panther while he did so, or he could let her take him before the council. He wasn’t thrilled with either of those ideas because he knew that he was wanted for a great many crimes, more than the girl knew about, that would get him killed by them. He watched her sit there as if she had not one care in the world. Lucius made his move.
He was behind the girl before the cat moved. When Lucius looked at the headboard where his head had been only seconds before, he was glad that he’d been gone when the cat moved. The gouges left by his massive paw tore into the wood at least three inches deep and a foot long. His head would have been severed from his body in seconds had he been the slightest bit slower.
Holding her head back with a handful of her hair and a knife he’d taken from one of his victims at her throat, he looked at her. He knew the cat wouldn’t move, not when he had her like this. He smiled down at her, and she winked at him. He hated when she did that and thought that she knew it. He shook her head hard.
“Are you so stupid that you don’t realize what I could and will do to you? You are nothing to my strength and age, you ignorant female.” The cat snarled at him. “Tell him to be quiet or I’ll tear your throat out.”
“No.” He looked at the cat, then at her again. Was she serious? Apparently so. The cat jumped off the bed and sat at her legs. When he laid his head on her, Lucius knew that he was her mate.
“So you’ve found yourself a panther to f*ck. Good for you. I do hope that you’ve enjoyed him. When I’m through with you, he’ll run from you every time you enter the room. That is if I let you live. Which I don’t think is going to happen for you.” He yanked her head back harder and looked at the pulse beating slowly.
“You think that I’m afraid of you, don’t you.” He nodded, confused by her lack of fear. “You’re the one who should be afraid. I mean, what kind of idiot lets a mere slip of a girl get into his room with a pissed off panther? Not to mention take what you stole from her in the first place. You’re the ignorant one, you f*ck-tard.”
He glanced at the panther, which hadn’t moved. He looked…Lucius thought he looked bored, and when he closed his eyes, Lucius was sure he’d fallen asleep. He watched her hand move toward the cat’s head and begin to rub it. When the cat began to purr loudly, Lucius wanted to scream.