Tiffany was in the driver’s seat, clearly crying. Artemis and I reacted viscerally. I let out a growl I didn’t even mean to. Walter whirled around to look into the woods.
“Walter!” Mary yelled. She must not have heard me growl like he did. “This is not what Kyle would’ve wanted. I can’t believe you did this. You told me you were just going to try to talk to Bethany’s mother, get her on our side. You never said anything about grabbing Tiffany! You’ve made me a kidnapper.”
“Kyle can’t say what he wants, can he? He can’t decide how his daughter should be raised. He’s gone!” Walter still had the gun in his waistband. “You give me back the keys. Now!”
So Mary had gotten the keys from him. That was good. Otherwise, there was no telling how far away they could’ve gotten by now.
Tiffany sobbed harder, and I wanted nothing more than to take Walter’s head off. Slowly.
Sirens in the distance made Walter and Mary panic. They were about to jump back in the car. Mary threw Walter the keys. “We have to take her back!” she screamed.
“I won’t!”
Mary grabbed Tiffany out of the front seat. I growled again, dangerously close to shifting as Artemis took control of our throat and let out a true dragon roar. They both froze, then Mary practically threw Tiffany into the back seat. Walter tripped over his own feet in his haste to get in the driver’s seat. They obviously had no idea what sort of predator was in the woods, but they wanted no part of it. Not to mention the sirens. Unfortunately, I couldn’t let them leave.
As I was about to dart out of the woods and try to arrest them without my gun, I heard a car on the gravel lane that led to the highway. Then my father’s cruiser came into view, blocking off the road. But he had to be careful. He knew Walter was armed.
Sure enough, when Walter realized he couldn’t go out to the main road, he jumped out of the SUV with his gun pointed toward the cruiser.
Looking at Jury, I nodded my head into the woods. “We can go around and surprise him from behind.”
He tapped his nose in acknowledgment and we tiptoed through the woods, keeping our eyes on Walter. At some point, we passed the point that he could see us as my father tried to negotiate with him. In the meantime, more police cars pulled up with my grandfather and Uncle Axel, plus Carlos. When we were sure we wouldn’t be detected by Walter, we exited the woods and ran on light feet toward his back. I pointed to the left. Jury nodded and pointed to the right. We split, each of us taking one of Walter’s arms. Mine was the left, the one that held his gun. Without giving him any warning, I sprang on him and thrust his arm upward, using my superior strength to take the gun out of his hand.
Jury took his right hand around and behind his back. “I got him,” he exclaimed.
I unloaded the revolver and flung the bullets as hard as I could, then pressed the switch to remove the barrel from the gun as if for cleaning. Now if Walter got his hands on it again, he couldn’t have used it even if he did have more bullets on him somewhere.
Mary walked around the car holding Tiffany. “I didn’t want him to,” she sobbed.
When Tiffany spotted me, she squealed. I rushed toward her with my heart beating out of my chest. “It’s okay,” I whispered. Mary gave her up without a fight.
Tiffany stopped crying the moment I had her in my arms. “Maddoth,” she whispered. “Did you bring my dinosaur?”
I chuckled and buried my face in her neck. Artemis and I inhaled her scent, both of us beyond relieved she was safe.
“Okay, it’s safe!” Dad yelled once he had Walter cuffed.
Mary agreed to handcuffs as well, but Axel put hers in front of her. I watched Bethany and her mother and father spring from one of the police cars toward the back of the line.
Bethany sprinted forward. “Tiffany!”
I set Tiff down and let her run to her mother, following slowly. When I reached them, I let Bethany question Tiffany over and over, but the sweet girl was unharmed. She’d been scared of the strangers, and if they’d wrecked, this would’ve been a far different outcome. But thank goodness, they hadn’t.
“Thank you,” Bethany sobbed. “Thank you so much.” She reached one arm around and yanked me toward them.
I pulled both my girls into my arms. Artemis purred with happiness to have them both with us again. She stared up at him and I remembered the night at my parents’ house. She may have been grateful, but she didn’t trust me or accept me. Artemis didn’t fight me, either. We remembered her reaction to us vividly.
I kissed Tiff’s head. “Be a good girl for your mommy.” Artemis was hurting and he needed to shift again. We waited until everyone was in their cars before slinking back into the woods to shift. I had to clear my mind and allow the pain I’d been keeping at bay to be released.
23
Bethany
Being alone made me panicky. I couldn’t stand to be away from Tiffany, not for a minute. My mom figured I had some sort of post-traumatic stress. After the first night trying to stay in my house alone, I called my mom and asked her if we could come to stay with her.
Of course, she’d said yes. They’d changed my bedroom into a guest room long ago, but it was nice. My mother had long ago given Tiffany her own room at their house. The little stinker was thrilled with us staying with my parents. She
