“He wasn’t voted in. He took over from his father when he reached maturity and no one fought him to the death to take his position. Decker has loyalty from his enforcers. Think of it like one of your drug lords with a bunch of thugs who take out any people in town who want the tyranny to stop. His clan members aren’t even allowed to leave. He’d kill them first or punish the family they left behind. They’re trapped, and they send us warnings when they can to stop him from starting a clan war. We were at the airport searching for you after we heard two women had been sent for by Decker, and you’d help him accomplish that war. Our spies informed us of your travel route but couldn’t get your names or why he needed you. We only became certain you were the right ones after you boarded the second plane.”
“You have spies?”
“All four of our clans are mixed together by some bloodlines. Not everyone who is in Decker’s clan agrees with what he does. They send word to their families if they hear of anything that could threaten them. They don’t want to go to war with siblings, parents, or cousins.”
Dusti mulled that over, deciding to let that part of his story go. “There were other women on that plane. Why didn’t you pick them?”
“You and your sister were the only women traveling together. It made sense to us that you had to be the ones.”
“I still don’t understand why he wants Bat so badly.”
“I told you.”
“Tell me again.”
“Decker grew greedy as he aged. Now he wants to rule all four of the clans. He probably got fed up with our interference, like when he wanted to kill the humans who lived by his borders. The three clans let him know they wouldn’t allow it to happen. He can’t win a fight against us without the GarLycans fighting on his side.”#p#分页标题#e#
“Why haven’t the other three clans just attacked him and ended the threat?”
Drantos paused, staring at her. “Don’t think it hasn’t been discussed. It has. No one wants to fight their family though. And as I said, some of us are connected by bloodlines to his clan. The lives lost would be many. We try to avoid war.” He stabbed the raw fish onto sticks, dangling it over the fire to cook.
The smell had her stomach rumbling. She let his words sink in. It was tempting to keep arguing with him in hopes he’d see how illogical it all sounded but the smell of food distracted her. She’d rather eat. “I am so hungry.”
He finally passed her a stick. “Careful. It’s hot. Don’t burn your mouth.”
She almost drooled as she blew on the fish, taking a tiny bite. It wasn’t seasoned or the best she’d ever tasted, but it was still good. “Thank you.”
He turned his back to her to cook more. “Tell me about your life.”
She debated on answering but felt a little generous, what with warm food in her belly that he’d provided. “There’s not much to say. I work a regular nine-to-five job in an office as a secretary. I live alone. I don’t get to see my sister that much so I jumped at the chance to come with her when she said she was taking time off work.”
He glanced back. “Even though you hated who she was planning to visit?”
“Especially because of him. No way did I want her to be alone with that jack off. Bat comes off as tough as hell but she’s really not. I didn’t want him to get past her defenses just because he’s family. She expects him to be grandfatherly and I think it would hurt her deeply when she sees him for what he is. It would really mess up her head. I wanted to be there for her.”
“Weren’t you worried he’d hurt your feelings if he was still cold to you?”
“My expectations of him are as low as they can be. Nothing he could do or say would surprise me unless he turns out to be a nice guy. He wasn’t there when we needed him. Bat hired a private detective to get his phone number after our parents died, thinking he’d help us. She called him, sure he’d send us money. He didn’t. He offered to send her a plane ticket. Just one. He told her to hand me over to foster care; as if she would ever just abandon me. My sister would never do that. It made her mad but she thought he might be broke or something. But the detective said he was rich. That blew her best excuse.”
“He didn’t come after her?”
“Bat had been accepted to college and had planned to live in a dorm. All that changed when our parents died. The state tried to come in and take me. They didn’t feel Bat was mature enough to be my guardian. She’d just turned eighteen and graduated from high school. We listed the house for a lower price to get it sold within days and moved out of state. She switched colleges so we’d be a little harder to track if social services looked for me. We lived in some really crappy places but they didn’t ask for background checks. Most of the money went to her books, her classes, and I worked part time to help pay our bills.”