“You seduced my daughter,” the redneck replied in a blustery tone as he sat up.
“She’s twenty freakn’ five. She bloody well seduced me.”
The hunter turned beet red. “She’s still my little girl and it fucking burned me to know she’d slept with some animal.”
“So you tried to track me down.”
“I didn’t try, I did. I found out where you lived and I saw you leaving. I followed.”
“Pretty long fucking trip.”
“Yeah, well, I was kind of pissed.”
“And then?”
The human shrugged. “I saw you visiting that house with the pregnant gal. I watched for a few hours, but I needed some supplies and left for just a little bit. When I came back, you were gone. I almost went home that night, but I called my daughter and she was so pissed at me.”
“So you came back the next day?”
“Not right away. I almost went home. I drove around for a bit, but then my damned daughter called again PMSing so off I went back to watch for you. But you didn’t show up. I came better prepared that time, though, and found myself a spot in a tree, and then that fucking wolf showed up.”
“Okay, this story is getting long and tedious. You shot the wolf, ran away, and then found me the next morning, right?”
“No. When I was running away, I heard all the fucking animals coming, and I got in my fucking truck and left.”
“Not too far you didn’t because lo and behold, I caught up to you. Made a pit stop perhaps on your way home, maybe to shoot someone.”
“No. I went and got royally fucking drunk. After I slept it off, I called my daughter cell’s phone only to find out she’d gone to your fucking ranch to warn them I was hunting you and then couldn’t leave.”
“My family kept her prisoner?” The news surprised him.
The human crossed his arms and scowled. “Not according to her. Apparently, she didn’t want go. So I demanded to speak to someone there and your brother Ignacio came on the line and said they’d mated and that I’d better get my ass home if I wanted to see her again.”
“I see.” Alejandro mentally winced, wondering how Ignacio felt about Alejandro dipping his wick into his mate’s honey pot. Probably not too happy. It would make Christmas interesting for sure.
“After I hung up, I left for home. How could I not? Felicia means everything to me. And I can’t go around killing you and your buddies if she’s being held hostage.”
Alejandro dragged the man to his feet and hugged him.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Panic threaded his tone.
“Welcoming you to the family, of course,” Alejandro said, releasing him with a chuckle.
“What are you talking about?”
“Congratulations, your daughter is now married to an animal. My brother. And trust me, I’m a pussycat compared to him.”
“So you’re not going to kill me?”
“And have my brother hunt me down to please his mate? No. Besides, all you did was shoot a mangy dog. Can’t fault a man for that.” On the heels of his words, though, realization dawned just as his phone rang.
Answering Javier’s call, he blurted, “It wasn’t the hunter that shot Francine.” And he needed to get back ASAP to protect her from whoever still roamed at large.
“We know.”
“You do. Who is it? I’m going to kill the bastard.”
“It’s a she.”
“What?” Alejandro sat down hard as the hunter, and newest honorary family member, dashed to the bathroom and locked himself in.
“Chris went over to her place before lunch- ”
“And you’re just calling me now?” he yelled.
“We were busy. Now do you want to hear what happened or not?”
“Fine. But you have got to do something about your communication skills, brother, because this is twice now you’ve screwed me.”
“Yeah, I know. Trust me. I had to listen to an earful from my wife. Anyway, as I was saying, Chris went to get some stuff for her to wear and found Francine’s place trashed with the word ‘whore’ plastered all over the place.”
“Oh fuck. Which of my psycho ex-girlfriends did it?” he moaned, cradling his head in his hands.
“Not yours, Mitchell’s. Seems his ex, Jenny, wasn’t too happy he ditched her for Francine. She’s the one who shot her and trashed her apartment.”
Unfreakn’ believable. “And where is the crazy bitch now?”
“No one seems to know, but we’ve got the shifter authorities looking for her along with Naomi’s brothers.”
“What happens when we find her?”
A loud sigh was Javier’s answer.
“We can’t let her go free for this,” Alejandro growled. “She needs to be punished. She shot Francine. My mate.”
“Almost mate.”
“Don’t argue semantics with me. I want justice.”
“Something will be done, but you know they won’t put her to death. Especially with Francine recovered.”
“I’ve got an idea, why don’t we shoot her in the back, too? See how she likes it.” His sarcastic reply pleased his feral side, which demanded vengeance still for the wrong done to his woman.
“Now you sound like Naomi.”
“I knew I liked your wife. How’s Francine taking it?” Was she crying, terrified, angry…
“She’s still laughing her ass off.”
“What?”
“You have to see it to believe it. She’s pissed, don’t get me wrong, but she’s cracking jokes about it and giggling like she’s on drugs.”
He frowned. “What kind of jokes?”
Javier lowered his tone. “Um, well, the first thing she said when she heard who’d trashed her place was, ‘Anorexic slut was probably looking for cookies.’ So then Mitchell says, ‘Red, you do realize she’s the one who shot you?’ and do you know what your mentally unbalance woman said?”
“I’m afraid to ask,” Alejandro replied as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“She said, get this, ‘Hey, Naomi, you might have gotten shot at because someone wanted your men, but I got shot because I stole someone’s man. In your face!’ I think she’s still in shock.”
A chuckle, more of relief than humor, escaped him. “No, that sounds about right. Keep her out of trouble, would you? I’m on my way back. Oh, and that hunter I was chasing…”
“Yeah? Did you find him and take care of him?”
“Not exactly. He’s now family. His daughter is mated to Ignacio.”
“No fucking way! Damn. I’ll bet Mama’s pissed.”
Alejandro winced. Knowing how his Spanish mother felt about hunters, pissed probably didn’t even come close to describing her reaction.
They said good-bye and hung up. Pocketing his phone, Alejandro glanced around and noted the human still hid in the bathroom.
“I’m off now. Say hi to the family for me, would you?” he said loudly before exiting the motel. What a surprise, the hunter didn’t reply. Christmas would definitely be interesting. But he had other things on his mind.
Despite her friend’s protestations, Francine insisted on seeing the damage at her place. Somehow, though,
