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Ripper(126)

By:Lexi Blake


Lee’s little jaw firmed. “He killed them. He should pay for that. My dad thinks you shouldn’t fight him though. Mama is mad.”

“Sorry.” I didn’t much care about Quinn and Donovan, but I liked the kid. I didn’t like causing him trouble. It was hard enough being eight. “I think she’ll probably get over it.”

“I don’t know about that,” a voice said from the doorway. I looked up and the queen stood there. A harried looking Trent started toward Lee, but the queen put a hand out. “Stop that. She’s not going to hurt Lee.” She gave me a wry smile. “Are you?”

“I think he’s probably safe. He brought me liquor after all.” I showed her my pilfered rum.

The queen held up her own bottle and I noted it was a damn good tequila. “He’s not the only one.” She walked into the room and affectionately ruffled her son’s hair. “Go to bed, little ruffian. You might have gotten suspended, but Papa found you a tutor. He’ll be here at 7:30 in the morning.”

Lee sighed. I got the feeling he was used to being outmaneuvered by his mom. He stood up and walked to her. He threw his arms around her waist and hugged her tightly. “Night, Mama. I love you.” He turned back to me. “Bye, Kelsey. I hope the alpha doesn’t kill you.”

The queen watched her son walk out of the room. “Trent, why don’t you follow my baby boy and make sure he doesn’t stop anywhere along the way?”

Trent eyed me like I would murder someone the minute he turned his back.

The queen arched a regal eyebrow and Trent sighed and walked out the door. She turned back and took a look at the bottle in my hand. She shook her head. “No, that won’t do. Let’s drink this.”

The Queen of all Vampire sat down across from me and pulled the cork on the bottle of imported tequila. She didn’t wait for me to tell her I didn’t have any glasses much less an actual kitchen in my crappy cell. She took an extremely long swig from the bottle and passed it to me. She didn’t look very queen-like in jeans and sneakers and a black sweater. It was similar to mine, and I figured out where I’d gotten the clothing from. She filled it out better than I did. Her auburn hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

I took the bottle and matched her. “You’re not what I expected.”

“I rarely am,” the queen replied. “Let’s talk, you and I. First off, I am so sorry my husbands are dipshits.”

“I’m sorry, too,” I replied, unwillingly liking the woman.

“Sometimes I think they make each other worse,” she mused. “They have a mutual admiration society for each other’s Machiavellian plots. They enjoy intrigue far too much. You should have been told what you are right off the bat. If I’d been doing it, I would have invited you to dinner, explained what you are, and offered you the training to control it.”

“That probably would have worked better,” I allowed. “If the dinner was really good, that is.”

She smiled. “Oh, it would have been good. I know the way to a wolf’s heart.”

“I’m not a wolf.” The denial was automatic. Even as I said the words, I knew I was lying to some extent.

She took another swig. “Not fully, but I think you’ll find you fit in well with wolf society, probably much more so than you ever could with humans. If you give it a chance, you might be able to find a home here.”

“I don’t need a home.” I felt surly. A couple of hours before I’d been moving into my new home, the one the man I loved had bought for me. Now I had a fucking cell.

“Spoken like a true loner,” the queen said. “Your father would have said the same thing.”

“Don’t call him that,” I shot back. I was starting to get emotional again. Twitchy. It was the only way to describe it. I couldn’t help but think about the dreams I’d had since childhood. They’d been just that—dreams. I’d had no loving father. Apparently he’d been here, busy taking care of the queen. “He was some promiscuous asshole who knocked up my mom and went on his merry way. There are probably ten more like me out there.”

The queen’s hazel eyes narrowed dangerously. “I’ll ignore that because I know what it feels like to be where you are, but understand your father would have loved you. He would have done anything for you had he known you existed. If Lee Owens had lived and discovered who you were, he would have come for you and nothing would have stopped him.”

I wanted to believe it. I wanted to believe someone wanted me. “How did he die?”