Some of her anger eased. He probably said that to all the women he had sex with but she wanted to believe it. She allowed the exhaustion to take hold. She didn’t want to deal with the fact that she might be falling in love with someone who wasn’t human and that her entire world had turned upside down.
I’m not totally human either. Tears filled her eyes but his massaging hands on her body soothed her into a dreamless sleep.#p#分页标题#e#
Chapter Eight
Drantos woke before dawn. He knew he’d messed up the night before. He never wanted to lie to Dusti but admitting that some biting during sex wasn’t rare with VampLycans had angered her. It was possible it even hurt her feelings.
Her slow breathing assured him that she still slept. His own anger stirred when he remembered the shape she’d been in when he’d found her curled into a ball, near death.
His pure hatred for Decker burned inside his chest. The clan leader had forced his only daughter to flee into the human world to escape a horrible fate of being sent to the cliffs to live with a GarLycan. Dusti’s mother, Antina, had either told the human she’d lived with the truth about her being a VampLycan, to actually form a mating bond with him, or she’d bypassed her instincts. It would have been difficult to get pregnant but not impossible if she snuck his blood, taking hold of his mind to make him forget afterward. It was a depressing thought to have to live with someone that way.
There wouldn’t have been a safe place for Antina to shift, even inside her home, if she’d hidden her nature from everyone living with her. He still couldn’t imagine how she’d survived without being attacked by Vampires and Lycans, but learning about Dr. Brent meant she’d had some kind of an alliance with one of the two. Vampires were stronger so he would bet the doctor was a master Vampire. Those bastards couldn’t withstand direct sunlight but they didn’t have to sleep during the day.
Antina had birthed two daughters with a human. It had been her responsibility to warn them of the truth of their heritage and to have prepared them for her father attempting to use them in the future. Decker’s reason for wanting Bat in Alaska couldn’t be mistaken.
He couldn’t blame Antina for avoiding Aveoth. It would have doomed her to never having a family or being loved. Aveoth had once been a good man. Things had changed in his late teens. He’d become a heartless, vicious leader who’d instilled wariness in VampLycans after his father’s death. He wasn’t as bad as Decker though. The GarLycans didn’t want war. They just believed in segregation of the clans.
He closed his eyes and tried to slow his breathing. He’d listened closely to the details he’d learned of Dusti’s mother. She’d died before Dusti had reached maturity but Bat had been eighteen. The age of consent. Why didn’t she at least warn Bat?
It left a bunch of unanswered questions. He believed Bat was as naive as her younger sister, despite Kraven’s reservations. He didn’t think Bat would have willingly boarded that plane to walk into Decker’s world otherwise, especially with Dusti at her side. She wasn’t submissive or the type to take orders without question. Drantos had to assume their mother hadn’t said a word to either daughter.
He adjusted his hold on Dusti to make sure she slept comfortably. She could have died when they’d had to separate. Her human blood made her weak and vulnerable. He slid his fingertips down her arm and grasped her limp hand. It felt small in his. He ran his thumb over one of her fingernails. They were thin and delicate. She had no way to defend herself. No claws were sheathed below the surface. He just wanted to protect Dusti and would do whatever it took to keep her safe.
Maybe that’s what Antina thought too.
He sighed. It was possible the female VampLycan believed she’d be there to deal with her father if he ever tried to take Bat. She would have been a fool, though, to assume she’d be able to prevent her daughter from being kidnapped. Decker never did his own dirty work. He always sent his enforcers to do it for him. She would have been outnumbered.#p#分页标题#e#
Maybe she had a spy within her clan who’d assured her Aveoth already had a lover. It’s possible she didn’t want to tell them unless she absolutely had to. Then she’d died before that happened, which left them in danger.
Word of Aveoth losing his lover had spread fast right after Lane’s death. The beautiful VampLycan from another clan had actually volunteered to share his bed. No one knew how Lane had died, but rumors spread that the GarLycan leader must have killed her in a fit of rage. Drantos didn’t believe it. He didn’t want to.