Breaking the Play boy′s Curse(23)

“Dad,” Vail said, wrapping his arm around his shoulders. “Wouldn’t it be nice to know our family is now curse-free?”

Swallowing hard, Abbott grimaced before whispering, “Are you sure you can trust him?”

Draven held his tongue, just managing to keep from pointing out that he was right there and could hear every word spoken. He tried not to hold his breath as he waited for Vail’s response.

“Yeah, Dad,” Vail said, smiling. “I’m sure.” He turned that sexy smile on Draven, and it nearly took his breath away. “I think I might be falling in love with him.”

And that really did take his breath away. Draven gasped, his eyes widened, and his heart beat faster. Words stuck in his throat, so he just grinned—and he knew he probably looked like an idiot.

Vail returned his focus to his father. “We should head inside and—”

The crunch of tires on gravel caught everyone’s attention. A fire-engine red jaguar rumbled up the drive. Draven’s eyes widened as he realized where he’d seen that car before. The window rolled down and a gun appeared out the window.

“Down!” he roared. He leaped sideways, grabbing Vail and Abbott and shoving both men to the ground.

Draven heard the pop-pop-pop of bullets firing from a gun followed by the thunk of them hitting trees, the ping of them hitting metal, and the clatter of them skittering through gravel. He curled his body around the men. Pain tore through his side, making him grunt.

“Put the gun down!” yelled a voice Draven easily recognized, even through the haze of pain. He turned his head and spotted Detective Ricky Malone stalking out of the woods, pointing his own sidearm on the gunwoman. “Put the gun down, now!” he ordered again.

“How the hell did we miss him?” Vail muttered, shifting underneath him.

Grunting in pain, Draven rolled to his knees. “He’s a detective,” he hissed.

“Are you okay?” Vail asked, gripping his shoulders.

Draven groaned. Looking down, he pressed his hand to his side and felt liquid ooze between his fingers. When he pulled his hand away, it was covered in blood. “Well, son of a bitch,” he snarled. That explained his injury in the vision, at least.

“Draven!” Vail called, gripping his shoulders. “You’ve been shot!”

Rolling his eyes, Draven grimaced. “Yeah, I caught that.” He looked down and frowned. “It’s just a flesh wound,” he grumbled. “Son of a bitch, it does hurt, though!” He returned his focus to Ricky, who was ordering the woman out of the car.

She smirked coldly. “I can either keep my hands where you can see them, or I can open the door,” she sneered. “Which is it?”

Ricky glared. “Keep one hand visible, and open the door with the other,” he snarled.

The woman—Eliza—huffed, then chuckled. “Sure. Whatever,” she responded dryly.

Seconds later, she slid one lean, toned bare leg out of the car, revealing plenty of calf and thigh. A second later, she stood and stepped around the car door, her steps careful in her mini-skirt and five-inch platform heels. She leaned her hip against the fender and smirked at them, her hands on her hips.

“So, you finally broke my spell.” She shrugged. “No problem. I’ll just kill you and reestablish it. No biggy.”

“Spell?” Ricky frowned. “What the fuck are you talking about, lady?”

The witch rolled her eyes. “Look, human,” she sneered, “you’re in way over your head.”

“Malone,” Draven called, getting to his feet. “What are you doing here?”

“The morning before you left, I got wind that this bitch was sniffing after your…man,” Ricky replied, stumbling a bit, showing he still struggled with the notion. “When she headed north after you all, I took a few days off and followed her. It wasn’t difficult to figure out where ya’ll were headed, what with Vail’s family up here and all.” He spared Draven a glance. “We might not still work together, but I got your back, man.”

Draven was touched. He hadn’t realized they’d connected that strongly. Ricky had more loyalty than he’d given him credit for. “Thanks,” he replied, smiling in surprise. His gaze strayed to the woman, reminding him of the paranormal shit his ex-partner had stumbled into. How will he handle the truth?

Before Draven could decide how to proceed, Kontra made the decision for him. The big grizzly shifter stalked toward the woman. “You put a spell on a line of shifters and attempted to murder members of my pack. By shifter law, you will be stripped of your powers and handed over to the nearest pack for processing.”