Utah turned, keeping her behind him as he faced the men.
“What the hell is going on here? Why are we locked up in here?”
“Abby, you in there, girl?”
She was too terrified to respond when Utah turned around to look at her with powerful arms crossed over his chest and brows lifted in question.
“Abby?” His voice rumbled from his chest as he watched her. “I thought you didn’t know where we are?”
“I don’t,” she swore, but she didn’t blame him for doubting her.
“No one likes a liar. You’ll have to excuse her.” The cell door opened as he continued talking. “I’m Harlan Jones by the way. Abby and I are family.” He laughed and the sound sent a chill down her spine. “I swear, she’d forget her head if it wasn’t attached. Scatter brained. That’s my Abby.”#p#分页标题#e#
Utah looked at her again, and she wanted to scream at him for even believing the nonsense her father’s cousin was spewing. If Utah had paid attention to her as she had to him, he would know the words for the lies they were. She forgot nothing. Ever. Eidetic memory, what most people referred to as photographic memory, ensured there was little information she didn’t retain. Even the things she’d love to forget.
“I’m not your Abby,” she almost hissed, letting her hatred of Harlan show on her face. It was an emotion she couldn’t hide. He’d cost her everything she loved.
“And I was worried about you.” Utah shook his head as he turned from her.
She opened her mouth to remind him how he was in his underwear and that Harlan’s exact words had been, “I thought you got the girl too.” Too. As in also. As in he’d meant to get both of them. But who was she to hit him over the head with what should be obvious. Why, she’d lose her head if it wasn’t attached.
“Sorry you got caught up in our family mess,” Harlan kept talking as he motioned Utah to step out of the cell.
Her whole body tensed as Utah moved to walk out and leave her behind. This was wrong, so wrong. He stepped out from the cell and stood in the open with them. Something was off, she closed her eyes and let her mind see what her eyes weren’t focusing on.
“Utah!” she cried out his name as it registered.
He jerked toward her, and it was the perfect opening for them to strike. Southy and Whiney stepped in and hit him on either side with a stun gun. She screamed as his big body jerked and shook, his eyes going wide. He took a step toward her, reaching out even as he fell.
“No!” She screamed again, moving toward him. Harlan shoved her back, knocking her to her ass and shutting the cell door.
“Pick him up and chain him to the wall.” All pretense of the lazy, easy-going friend of hers was gone. Now he showed his true colors, becoming the cold-blooded psychopath she knew he was.
“Don’t do this, Harlan. Please.”
“You know, I remember the first time you told me about the paka watu,” he said as he watched his men go to work, manacling Utah’s hands and then using the chains to drag him on his back across the floor to the wall across from the cell. “I thought you were the funniest little girl talking about things you had no clue about. Figured you got your love of cats from your mom and dad. God knows that was all they talked about other than you. Those damn cats they loved. Jake was never the same after he married your mother. She never liked me, worked at turning him against me. But I tried to win her over by paying attention to her crazy daughter and her stories of people who shifted into cats. What do you call them?”
“Ailuranthropes,” she whispered, silent tears flowing down her cheeks as they fed the end of the chains through hooks and pulled, until Utah was held with his arms spread wide apart on the wall. They pulled the chains tighter, so his muscles were stretched and straining before attaching them to another hook on the floor.
“Yes. Werecats. Such a funny thing for a child to be interested in.”
They each took one of Utah’s feet and spread his legs until they could lock the cuff at the other end of chain around his ankles. He would be helpless now, completely at their mercy, and she was very afraid Harlan had none.
“I always knew you’d never give up on your dream of finding them.”
“Finding who?” she asked, her eyes never leaving Utah.
“The descendants of the original tribe. It was your fixation.”
“I gave that up a long time ago, Harlan. It’s a legend. A really good one, but a legend nonetheless.”#p#分页标题#e#
“You can’t lie to me. I’ve always been such an avid hunter. It’s in the genes.” His laugh was edged with madness, and Abby felt her heart lodge in her throat.