Rogue (Shifters #2)(61)

Somehow Manx had fought free from her captors and was now out for revenge. I couldn’t help but respect that.
“You’re safe here,” my mother said, almost crooning as she stroked the tabby’s hand. “We won’t let anything happen to you, or to your baby.”
But Manx looked skeptical. Downright disbelieving, as if the very concept of trust were foreign to her. Which was understandable, considering that she’d spent the last four years in hell. In a place where every man she saw beat her and raped her. Then one of them stole her child. Learning to trust men again would likely be the hardest thing Manx would ever do. If it was even possible.
And suddenly I understood why she’d killed the toms. I didn’t excuse it, mostly because I couldn’t picture Jamey Gardner ever hurting anyone. But Manx wouldn’t have known that. She would only have known what she’d lived through, and was determined never to go through again.
I opened my mouth, intending to say something brilliant, and comforting and singularly appropriate. But before I could think of a single thing, the screen door squealed open at the end of the hall, and footsteps pounded on the tile.
“Greg!” Marc called, dashing past the guest room in nothing but jeans and a pair of work boots.
I was out of my chair in an instant, running after him in time to see my father emerge from his office, a pen in one hand and a legal pad in the other. “What’s wrong?”
“He’s here.” Marc leaned over, propping his hands on his knees as he caught his breath after what had obviously been a mad race to the main house. “Luiz is here.”
Blood drained from my face, and chill bumps popped up all over my arms. For a moment, I couldn’t move. Could barely even breathe. Then a slow smile spread over my face. Luiz is here. On our land. My land.
There were half a dozen of us, and only one of him. He didn’t stand a chance. I was going to get a second shot at him. Or was it my third? Regardless, it would be my last, and when everything was over, there would be one less jungle stray to worry about.
“Where?” my father asked while I crossed the hall into my room, still listening as I prepared for the fight.
“In the woods. Parker and I found his scent on the back edge of the property, just past the stream. It’s fresh.” The guys had been patrolling twice daily since we got back from Henderson, just in case.
“Faythe!” my father bellowed as I pulled my shirt over my head, stripping in preparation to Shift. It would be suicidal to face Luiz again on two legs.
Still wearing my bra and shorts, I jogged into the office, where Marc, Vic, and Owen stood, apparently waiting for me. My father nodded when he saw me, then turned toward the guys. “Vic, Marc, I want you to Shift, then spread out into the forest with Parker. We’re going to search every acre of our woods, and the preserve, too.”
He paused, rubbing his temples with one hand as he considered how to continue. “Owen, go to the guesthouse and help Jace over here. Put him in Ethan’s bed, then you Shift and join us.”
Owen headed straight for the door.“Move silently and quickly,” my father said. “Don’t give away your position until you find Luiz, and once you have, roar loud enough to wake the whole damn county. Forget about taking him alive. Manx can tell us what we need to know about her fellow tabbies. We’re going to take care of this jungle cat once and for all.”
I gaped at my father, a silent thrill coursing through me. He was going hunting, too. For the first time since I’d become an enforcer, I was going to get to hunt alongside my father. My Alpha.
“Faythe?”
“Yes?” I stood ready for my orders, eager for a piece of the action. Luiz deserved to die slowly and painfully for what he’d done to Andrew, to Manx, and to all those other girls.
My father stared down into my eyes, his expression both serious and concerned. And skeptical. Crap. “I want you to stay here while we search the forest—”
“Hell no—” I started, but he cut me off with a furious look and a strong, firm grip on my left arm.
“For once, you’re going to do exactly as you’re told. That’s your job. If you can’t follow orders, you can spend the night in the cage with Ryan. Is that clear?” I nodded reluctantly, and he continued. “I’m taking the guys with me, so we can cover the grounds more quickly. But I can’t leave your mother, Manx, and Jace here without knowing I can count on you to take care of them. To defend them, should the need arise.”
A hint of a grin appeared on my face, in spite of my best efforts to keep it hidden. “You want me to protect the women and chil—er, the wounded?”
My father frowned. He obviously had no idea why I found my assignment so amusing. “Well…yes. Can you handle that?”
“It sounds like babysitting to me, and I’d rather go hunting.”
“We’ve all done our share of babysitting recently,” Marc said, throwing my time under house arrest up in my face.
“Think of it as paying your dues.”
I glared at him. But then I nodded. I could pay my dues, even if my father was using the lame assignment to keep me safely out of the action.
“Lock all the doors and windows until we get back. And close the curtains, just in case.” My father’s voice deepened and went gravelly in anger as he uttered what would normally have been a ridiculous order. We’d never needed to lock up before, because we’d never been threatened at home by anyone but our Alpha, who considered it his right to intimidate the living shit out of us on a regular basis.
For a moment, as he watched me, my father looked like he might smile. Then the moment passed, and his expression was unreadable again. “Thank you,” he said, and the guys followed him into the hallway and out the back door. 
I watched them until they rounded the corner of the house and passed out of my sight. When I could no longer see their afternoon shadows stretching out behind them, I turned and plodded slowly toward the front door, which I closed and locked. I left the back door open for Owen and Jace, then moved into my own bedroom, to start closing and locking windows.
As I flipped the lever to lock the one, high window in my bathroom, I heard the screen door creak open. Owen had arrived with Jace.
“Faythe, is that you?” my mother called as I pulled the worthless lace curtain closed.
“Yeah. I’m just locking the windows.” With my room covered, I moved on to Ethan’s, where I had both windows secured and covered by the time Owen appeared in the doorway, supporting Jace with one arm around his torso.
“’Bout time,” I teased.
“The doctor can only move as fast as the patient.” Owen lowered Jace gently onto Ethan’s bed. “Will you be okay until we get back?”
“Yeah.” Jace nodded. “Just turn on the TV before you go, please.”
Owen pressed the power button on Ethan’s twenty-inch set on his way out the door, already unbuttoning his shirt in preparation to Shift.
I handed Jace the TV remote and gave him a kiss on his stubbly cheek, then trailed Owen into the hall to lock the door behind him.
For the next few minutes, I went from room to room, locking windows and closing curtains. I felt like a fool. If Luiz was strong and fast enough to get past the guys, a few covered windows weren’t going to give him more than a moment’s pause.
Which meant—if he made it this far—the only thing standing between the weakest members of the household and a psychotic jungle stray was…well, me. And I welcomed the opportunity to kick Luiz’s brainwashing, raping, baby-snatching ass. Again.
Chapter Thirty
I saved the guest-room window for last, and for a while I stood watching Manx and my mother, marveling at how comfortable they seemed with each other. Manx wore the lacy white nightgown my mother had dressed her in, which set off her cascade of dark curls. Her right arm was in a cast and a sling, and her left hand held a glass of water. She looked feminine and delicate, and incapable of most of the things we now knew she’d done.
“They take four of us, at first,” she said, staring into her glass. “They already have Ana when they catch me. They keep us apart, but we can see each other through the bars. She was so young….”
I stepped back to listen from the hall, afraid she would stop talking if I came in.
“How young?” my mother asked, and I knew she was thinking of Abby.
“Maybe, quince? Fifteen?”
My mother gasped, and my own eyes closed in horror.
“She cried for her madre. I cried for mine, too,” Manx confessed quietly. “When I lose my tail. Much pain.”
Well, that explains the name, I thought, unwilling to even imagine how she could lose her tail.
“How did you get away from them?” my mother asked.
“Here, let me refill that for you, dear.” Her chair creaked as she stood, and light footsteps trailed across the room toward the master bath. “Faythe, it’s rude to hover in doorways.”
Well hell. I turned the corner into the bedroom, my cheeks flaming. Manx watched me lock the window, and she cleared her throat as I was leaving the room. “Faythe? You are welcome to stay.”
I bristled in irritation. Of course I was welcome to stay. It was my house. I plopped down in the armchair opposite the door and watched my mother tend to Manx. The pregnant murderer.
“How did I escape?” Manx asked as water ran in the bathroom. “I fight. I finally know that if I do not fight, I lose this baby, too.”Mom crossed the room again and handed the glass back to Manx. “How long ago did you lose the other one?”