“Oh,” Mr. Dunbury bent down with a groan, “this is why you couldn’t reach me.” He picked up the old phone’s handset attached to the curly cord lying on the desk and placed it on the cradle. “I must’ve knocked it off when I put the packing box on the desk. Sorry ‘bout that.”
Nigel’s face pinched. He pointed at the rotary phone. “What is that?”
Chapter Thirty
In Mr. Dunbu—Philip’s living room, Ryan and Nigel searched around to see if anything else needed to go upstairs. The weather was growing worse and Ryan wanted them all out of there.
“I think that’s everything of importance,” Philip said, picking up his duffel bag of clothing. “Where’s your mate, Alpha?” he asked.
“She stepped outside to make a phone call,” Ryan replied, glancing to the door. He should check on her.
“There’s coverage up here?” Nigel asked with a frown. “I left my phone in the car, thinking it’d be useless in the middle of nowhere.”
“They put up a tower on the ridge, so now you can make calls on your stupid phones and all that shit,” Philip grumbled.
“It’s a smartphone,” Nigel chuckled.
“Would you like to debate that, cub?” Philip’s eyes drilled the younger one’s.
Ryan shook his head. “All right, we were doing so well working together. I don’t want to see that end. Got it?”
“Yes, Alpha,” they both mumbled.
“Good, let’s go before the streets below start flooding.” Ryan led them out to the front porch. Rain pounded on the tin covering, creating a peaceful song. While Philip locked up, Ryan looked around for Parker.
“Parker!” he shouted against the rain and wind. He glanced at the SUV, seeing she wasn’t inside.
“Son of a bitch,” Nigel snarled, nose in the air.
“What?” Fear tensed his muscles. The growl from the twenty-something’s animal was serious.
“I smell that bastard Mark from the lions,” Nigel replied.
“Why would lions be up here?” Philip asked.
Only one reason he could think of. With a deep breath, he yelled, “Parker!”
In the far distance, he heard Parker scream his name.
He sprang off the porch into the woods, running dangerously down the steep slope. He heard the squeal of tires on blacktop. Mark had kidnapped his mate? What the fuck for?
Behind him, he heard Philip’s voice. “Cut straight down through the woods. They have to drive the curves, slowing them down.”
Hitting the pavement, Ryan sprinted across, eyeing the black marks on the road. The vehicle had passed where he came out of the woods next, but they hadn’t made it around the upcoming curve yet.
As he approached the road again, the car was almost upon him—the same car he’d seen on the road before he turned onto the mountain road.
How he was going to stop a moving car, he had no idea. Standing in front of it probably wasn’t the best of ideas. When he landed in the ditch, the car was in front of him. Without thinking, he leapt onto the hood, grabbing ahold of the base of the wipers flipping water left and right.
The face behind the steering wheel was of someone he’d never seen before. In the back seat, Parker was giving hell to the guy with the purple hair trying to hold her down. Fuck, yes. That’s my girl!
The car crossed into the other lane, sliding his body to the side. When the driver swerved sharply, tossing Ryan in the other direction, he knew the man wasn’t going to stop. Maybe this would change his mind. Making a fist, Ryan slammed it through the windshield, stretching for the bastard’s throat.
The car skidded around the wet curve, fishtailing, then scooted off the road into a tree. Ryan had bailed by the time the car crashed and was at the back door pulling Parker out before the others came to their senses.
He scooped her into his arms, walking up the road. “I’ve got you, love. You’re going to be okay.”
Philip burst out of the woods onto the road, then headed down toward them. “Is she all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she answered as she rubbed her head.
A voice behind Ryan yelled, “Running away just like the pussy you are. Too scared to face a real lion, little cat?”
Ryan turned. “Who the hell are you, stupid fucker?”
The older man who was driving stepped onto the road. “You want a piece of me? Come and get it, you pansy.”
A car stopped uphill just behind him and Philip, Nigel getting out from the driver’s side. “What the fuck?” the kid said. “Why is Mark’s grandfather here?”
“Well,” Philip said, “that explains a lot on several accounts.”
“Come on, chicken shit! Let’s end this,” the man shouted.
Ryan turned to set his mate down, but Philip held up his hand, stopping him. “Let me handle this, Alpha. You take care of your mate. She needs you.”
Ryan stared at him for a moment. Could the old schoolteacher handle a pissed off lion? If the old man needed help, either he or Nigel could jump in. He gave Philip a nod.
Philip moved downhill. “Okay, sir, what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that you tigers should be wiped off the face of this planet.”
“That’s not practical. Why are you mad?”
“Why am I mad?” The man stomped uphill. “Why am I mad?”
Nigel’s voice echoed against the woods. “Mark, you piece of shit.”
Ryan was looking beyond the angry lion to see a guy with a purple mohawk stumbling onto the road from the crashed car. The same kid Nigel was fighting at the bar and who supposedly burned down one of the tiger’s homes. “What the fuck is your family’s problem with us?”
The mad lion laughed. “Are you serious, twerp?” he yelled at Nigel. “Do you not have a clue how the world works?”
Philip popped his chin up. “Tell me how the world works for you, old man.”
“I’ll tell you how this fucking world works. When the alpha’s mate is disgraced in front of the pride, nobody gets away without punishment. We’ll take a mate for a mate.”
“What are you talking about?” Ryan said, completely clueless of the garbage the lion was spouting.
Philip laughed. “Are you serious? That was a hundred years ago. Hold a grudge much?”
Nigel tapped Ryan’s arm. “I taught him that phrase.”
The kid smiled, proud of his accomplishment. Ryan didn’t even want to know what he was talking about.
“You tigers need to pay for what you did.”
Philip crossed his arms over his chest, glaring down the short distance to the lion. “Well, Nigel,” the historian said, “I guess not everything you learn from your elders is virtuous. Hate for different species is never good for any generation.” He lifted his chin again. “Does your grandson know why you have hate in your heart?”
When the elder lion didn’t answer, Mark did. “What did the tigers do, Grandfather? Why do you and Dad hate them so much? Why am I supposed to hate them, too?”
Was this even happening? Did the younger generation even know the story? Or just hear the elders complaining and adopt the same attitude? Hell, he didn’t even know what happened. He’d have to ask Philip when this was all over.