Hunted (27 page)

Danny and Uncle Adam reluctantly released their holds on Jennings and stepped back. Teresa took a bit longer. She bent and whispered a warning not to try anything else in his ears. Then, with a shove that sent him sprawling onto the floor, she stepped back. One look at her face was enough to know she’d not hesitate to kill him if he tried anything else.

Not that I blamed her.

“You bitch!” Jennings rasped as he surged to his feet and spun in Teresa’s direction.

I had to give him at least a little credit for not trying to close the distance between them. Maybe he wasn’t a complete idiot after all. Not that it would help him. He’d destroyed any hope he had for support among the other clan leaders when he brought a gun into the gathering. By actually using it, he was lucky not to already be dead.

Well, the time had come for him to realize just how big a mistake he’d made.

“On your knees!”

My voice carried through the room as I loosened my control. Gasps of astonishment were followed by many of those present doing as I ordered. Jennings’ eyes widened and the color drained out of his face. His body reacted instinctively and his knees buckled. I could see him fighting the need to do as I’d ordered. The corners of my mouth twisted up in a bitter smile as he finally sank to the ground, the only clan leader to do so.

Well, well, well. My suspicions had been right. He really wasn’t an alpha. That was why he’d been so desperate to control me. I’d legitimize his claim to clan leadership. As long as I was out there, I was a danger to him. How many people had he coerced or blackmailed just so he could hold onto his position?

“You’ve violated our territory. You tried to rape me and then you hunted me like an animal. Whether you admit it or not, you had something to do with my parents’ deaths,” I said as I moved to stand before him. He trembled as he looked up at me, fury reflected in his eyes. “But that pales in light of what you just did. You hurt my mate, you bastard.”

My hand flashed forward, catching him across the jaw with a full-strength backhand. There was a fleeting moment of satisfaction as he fell back, blood flowing freely from his busted lips. His muscles tensed and I braced, ready for him to launch himself at me. Then I remembered who I was. I was the daughter and granddaughter of clan leaders. I was mate to my own clan leader and an alpha in my own right. Jennings was nothing more than a blight I needed to deal with now, making sure everyone realized what a cancer he’d been.

“Don’t try it.” My voice was soft, the threat clear. For a moment, it looked like he’d ignore the warning. Instead, he reached up and wiped at his blood before spitting on the floor, barely missing my feet. “The only reason I’m not turning you over to the authorities to answer for my parents’ deaths is the fact I have no doubts that you’d shift and betray our existence to them. You’ve proven over and over again that you don’t give a damn about anyone but yourself.”

Now I turned my attention to the other clan leaders. It was time to drive home the point.

“This man has violated our laws and the laws of the normals and flaunted it. He didn’t care if any of you knew or not. Why? Because he knew you weren’t talking to one another. You didn’t know he was sending trackers into your territories over and over again in an attempt to find me. You didn’t listen when others came to you, asking if you’d heard of any trouble. Instead, you turned a blind eye and kept telling yourselves that the best defense was to keep your head down. If you didn’t pay too much attention to what was happening in world outside the clan, that world would never intrude.

“Now we have a clan leader who decided he didn’t have to follow our laws to challenge another in a fair fight. He brought a gun into our gathering and shot an unarmed man. He shot my mate!”

Now I was the one shaking in fury. I drew a deep breath and tried to calm down. I couldn’t lose control, not now. I had to finish this, had to make the others understand we couldn’t remain isolated from one another any longer.

“She’s right,” my grandmother said as she stepped to my side. “The Oklahoma clan has already pledged to work closely with the Texas clan. We will share resources and information with them as well as with the clans from New Mexico, Arizona, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming and Missouri.” As she spoke, those clan leaders joined her.

“But that leaves us with what to do with this bastard. I will not let him get away with his attack on my mate.”

“She’s right. We have to do something.”

The speaker was one of the clan leaders who Matt had identified earlier as trying to straddle the fence. While she didn’t exactly advocate our kind completely isolating ourselves from the world-at-large, she also didn’t want to think about how best to insure that, when our existence was finally discovered, we weren’t hunted down and killed out of fear. To have her step up now and support action against another clan leader had to be a good sign. I had to believe that.

“Before we do, I want to know what happened to my daughter and son-in-law.” There was no mistaking the anger in my grandmother’s voice now.

“As do I,” Uncle Adam said before I could speak.

“I don’t have to explain anything to you,” Jennings rasped as he struggled to his feet. “I’m a clan leader. That means I answer to no one except the members of my own clan.”

“Or someone who challenges you for leadership,” Jeremy Gibbs, head of the Colorado-Nebraska clan said.

“Or if the majority of other clan leaders charge you with violating our laws, laws we have all sworn to uphold in order to protect our kind,” Matt rasped from where he lay.

“Or when it becomes clear that your actions have put of our kind in danger without cause,” I added.

My fists clinched at my side and I breathed deeply, trying to still my rising anger. It would be so easy to shift. All it would take was the merest thought about changing and the shift would begin. It wouldn’t surprise me to look at my hands and see the nails lengthening, changing into claws. I could almost feel the fur sprouting from my pores. But I kept control. I couldn’t give in to the animal yet. I had to prove to everyone present that I had the control all alphas were expected to exercise. I had to prove to them I was a worthy mate to Matt. Most of all, I refused to give Jennings the satisfaction of seeing me lose control.

“What happened to my daughter and son-in-law?” my grandmother demanded, her voice brooking no disobedience.

 Jennings jerked once, his jaw working as he tried to stop himself from speaking. “Go to hell.”

“Answer her!” I snapped, my power once more flowing full force from me.

His jaw worked and sweat ran down his face as he fought to keep from speaking. Every muscle seemed to tense. Much more and he’d either break free of my control or he’d stroke out. I wouldn’t shed a tear if it were the latter.

“I said answer her.”

“I-I killed them.”

Just hearing him say the words was all I needed. That admission cost him his life. He might walk out of the barn but he’d never leave the property, at least not of his own accord. Our kind had gotten very good over the centuries making sure the bodies of those who violated our laws were never found again.

“I think we’ve heard enough,” Gibbs said coldly. “We have more than enough clan leaders here to deal with the matter.”

“No!” Jennings struggled to his feet. I quickly waved Danny and Uncle Adam back before they could stop him. I wanted to see what he did next. Heaven help me, part of me hoped he tried an attack then and there. “I killed to claim my place as clan leader. I claim Meg Finley as my mate as is my right.”

“Your right?” I threw my head back and laughed. He might think he was being smart by trying to invoke our laws to protect himself, but he was about to learn how wrong he was.

Jennings might have called upon an ancient, and rarely used, provision of our laws but he hadn’t really through it through. In the past, when such challenges had been issued, the clan leader answered them. With Matt injured, it was easy to guess Jennings felt he’d have to forfeit. If Matt insisted on answering the challenge, Jennings could kill him. That was something I wasn’t about to let happen.

Besides, I’d done my research. I knew that particular law inside out. Although tradition had the clan leader--or pride or pack leader--answering the challenge, it was actually the female who was challenged. She could choose to answer the challenge herself or she could name her champion. Under normal circumstances, if there was anything normal about it, I’d have gladly let Matt stand for me. But not today. This was my fight. Jennings just didn’t know it yet.

“Finn, it would be my honor to stand for Matt against this bastard.” Danny stepped forward, determination on his expression.

“As would I,” Uncle Adam put in and moved to stand next to Danny.

I smiled, touched, as voice after voice joined theirs. Not only did the various pride and pack leaders of our clan offer to stand for me, so did a number of the other clan leaders. Jennings’ eyes widened in surprise before his sneer was back in place. He still hadn’t figured it out. He continued to think he held the upper hand.

It was time to prove how wrong he was.

I climbed the platform and knelt next to Matt. I cradled his head between my hands and lightly kissed him. He knew what I planned, I could see it in his eyes, and he didn’t approve. At least he wasn’t going to try to stop me. Still, I had a feeling we’d be having a very long discussion about this when it was over.

“I know what I’m doing,” I said softly, so softly no one but Sharon and Stefan could hear me.

“Be careful.”

“Always.” I kissed him again and then turned my attention to Stefan. “Take care of him.”

“The best medicine for him is for you to be careful.”

I nodded and stood.  A sense of calm settled over me as I moved to stand next to my grandmother. Jennings watched and the first hint of uncertainty shadowed his expression. He wasn’t used to not being the one in charge. All his bluff and bluster hadn’t helped him today. Now he was about to learn how his lack of knowledge and respect for our laws had just signed his death warrant.

It might not be by my hand and I might not live to see it, but he would not leave this place alive.

“I demand justice for my parents’ deaths and for the wrongs done to all of us by this man.” I pointed to where Jennings stood. “But that is up to all clan leaders to decide. However, for what he did to my mate, I claim his life.”

“You can’t!” Jennings actually laughed. “I’ve called challenge.”

Now I smiled, confidence filling me. “But I can. My decision is as mate to the clan leader, alpha to his alpha. The clan has accepted me and that gives me the right and the authority to claim your life. But don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten your challenge even if it is obvious you’ve forgotten our laws. Matthew doesn’t have to be the one to accept. I can choose any of those who have offered to champion me or I can choose someone else.”

My grandmother’s gasp told me she understood what I was about to do. I patted her arm in reassurance as I stepped past her. Then I drew myself up to my full height and stared down at Jennings. Time for him to learn just how foolish he’d been to come here.

“I accept your challenge. We’ll fight here and now.”

As I spoke, most everyone gathered began stepping back, forming a circle around us. Several of those who had offered to fight for me remained where they were, ready to protest the moment I looked in their direction. Instead, I waved all of them but my grandmother back. She might not approve of what I was about to do--then again, she probably did approve. I had a feeling she’d love nothing more than to face Jennings down herself.--but she would also make sure that, no matter what happened next, Jennings didn’t leave here alive.

“I’ll make sure he pays for your parents if anything happens to you,” Grandma said softly. She pulled me into a quick embrace, her lips pressed to my ear. “Don’t hesitate. Don’t play with him. Just do it. He’ll try to draw it out and tire you, or force you into doing something stupid. Strip and shift and as soon as he’s done the same attack.” With that she stepped back, joining Uncle Adam on the platform where Matt sat propped against his sister, watching us.

I quickly toed off my boots. As I reached up and loosened the lacings on my vest, my focus narrowed to Jennings. He looked like he’d just been presented with a gift. Did he really think I’d let him force me into conceding the fight to him? If that were to happen, he’d have every right to force me to return to California with him. That assumed, of course, he managed to get past my grandmother and the others alive. He’d still have to answer for what happened to my parents and what he’d done to Matt. But it was obvious he either wasn’t thinking that far ahead or he just didn’t care.

“I’ve been looking forward to this for a very long time, Meg.” He actually smiled. “You’re going to learn how foolish you were to leave me. But I promise that before you die, you--well, your cat--will learn what a truly powerful lover I could have been.”

My blood ran cold as I realized what he meant. He’d rape me, either in human or shifted form, given the chance. Well, I had no more intention of letting that happen now than I had that horrible night so long ago.

“I remember your shifted form, Meg. Such a pretty little cat. It won’t be much of a challenge to me.”

Well, Grandma had pegged that one right.

“But my cat, like me, has grown, Jennings.” Now it was my turn to smile. “Besides, I remember your cat as well. It always surprised me that someone with such a small cat as their animal could actually be clan leader when there were so many larger, stronger cats among us.”

Fury suffused his face. I’d scored the first point. Good.

“Now, if you’re done talking.” I dropped my vest to the floor. My trousers followed.

“Down!” someone yelled from my right a split second before the sound of a second gunshot filled the room.

Damn it, not again
.

Instinct took over and I dove to the right. Pain radiated from my left arm. But the fury that followed overrode it. I rolled to my feet and looked around. Danny, Uncle Adam and several others had Jennings down on the floor. From the right came the sounds of scuffling. A moment later, several of Teresa’s people shoved someone forward.