He squinted and looked deep into her eyes. “You’re not foolish enough to believe the women in my house are subservient, are you? We are evolved from the way our ancestors ran a home.”
“Not everyone is as progressive as you are.”
He gave a short nod as if she had answered a question. That annoyed Blue—it irritated her when people felt entitled to her privacy.
“This is not a ruse, is it?” he asked, making her suddenly nervous. “Over the years, I’ve amassed a fortune. I know some envious immortals who would like nothing more than to disband my pride so they can make themselves rich.”
“I promise that’s not what this is about. I would never be a part of something like that.”
Sambah turned toward the setting sun, which Blue could see in the reflection of the tall windows. “In my homeland, there wasn’t always peace. We battled for land among other Shifters. Sometimes lions, other times hyenas or leopards. All warriors carried scars they chose not to heal. Scarification was practiced among human tribes, but with Shifters, those marks held a different meaning. They weren’t just symbols of courage but also of beauty. We call those marks fingerprints of the gods. We are not born warriors—we are chosen.”
Blue realized her shirt had moved away from her shoulder, revealing some of the nasty scar that ran beneath her tank top. There was no point in buttoning up.
“If your people cast you out because of your scars, they were foolish. It is a bad omen to turn away those touched by greatness,” he continued.
“That’s not what happened. I left them a long time before.”
“You carry pain inside you. It makes me wonder if anyone has told you how beautiful you are—how beautiful your scars must be. They’re a remembrance of pain, but if I were a single man, I would undress you and admire them.”
Blue snorted. “Well, I’m glad you’re mated. And anyone who undresses me without permission gets his hands cut off. Don’t worry, Mr. Freeman. The pain I carry is old and has nothing to do with the marks on my body.”
He suddenly turned and put his arm around her, leading her to the doors. “Good. Then I would very much like to introduce you to one of my brothers. He doesn’t live in my house anymore, but he has no issue with interbreeding. Though a goose once gave him grief.”
“Until you cooked her?”
Sambah laughed. “There is a sense of humor in there after all.”
Chapter 13
“What did he talk to you about?” Niko asked from the passenger seat.
“He wanted to set me up with his brother.”
The car was too dark to see if Niko was grinning, but she could feel it.
Niko shifted in his seat. “And what did you say?”
She steered onto another road. “I’d rather clip my wings than mate with a lion.”
“Bad blood?”
“Sambah’s a decent man—I can’t disagree with that. More than some of the families we’ve visited, especially the last one. Not everyone follows the old customs about feeding visitors, and he gave us a tour of his home. But it doesn’t erase the history between different animal races. It wasn’t uncommon to skin the hides of your enemies, and some probably still do it even though it’s a primitive custom. But there were a few who ate their enemies—roasted them on a spit. Lions were one, and I’ve also heard stories about leopards. It’s one thing if your animal consumes another, because we don’t have much control over what our animals do, but when you eat another Shifter while you’re in human form, it’s practically cannibalism.”
“Even if the victim is in animal form?”
“Doesn’t matter,” she said, tightening her grip on the wheel.
Niko took out one of the peppermints she kept in the armrest. “Perhaps it’s time you let go of that stereotype. People change, and more importantly, newer generations phase out the old.”
“I know. Like I said, I’ve got nothing against him. Nice guy, nice home, nice family. But I still wouldn’t mate a lion. Their ancestors might have eaten one of mine, and that would anger the spirits.”
“Wyatt says most of the spirits go somewhere after death, and only a few linger.”
“You’re talking about the same man who thinks Ding Dongs should have their own national holiday.”
Blue swerved when something darted in front of her headlights. The car went careening off the road and took a few hard bumps before she slammed on the brakes.
Niko unbuckled his seat belt. “My eyes were closed. What happened?”
“You tell me.” Blue looked out the back window but couldn’t see anything, so she pulled onto the road and put the car in park. “I thought I saw a man. Do you think I hit him? Viktor will kill me if I ran over some poor human.”
Niko opened his door. “Maybe we should check it out.”
“I’m one step ahead of you, amigo.” Blue already had her door open, one foot out. The headlamps of her car lit up a thin veil of fog, but without the aid of streetlights, she couldn’t see the road behind them.
“There’s a body,” Niko said. “Still alive.”
“Thank the fates.”
Blue hustled across the asphalt until she reached a dark shape on the ground. She knelt and rolled the man over and was searching for a pulse when he suddenly seized her wrist.
She pulled back, but he didn’t let go. “Were you hit, sir? I can take you to a hospital.”
“You’re the one who’s going to need a doctor.” The man rose to his feet, taking her with him. The red taillights on her car didn’t illuminate his features, but she could see he was tall.
“Blue, there’s one more in the woods,” Niko said coolly.
It was then she realized that this was a trap. Niko climbed onto the roof of her car, scanning the area. He could see what others couldn’t in the cloak of darkness.
“I thought falcons were smarter than you,” the man said, jerking her wrist. “Walking around unarmed, especially in wolf territory?”
Wolf. They weren’t in wolf territory. Wyatt had given her the specs of all the places she planned to visit, and outside of the Freeman pride was a whole bunch of unused land owned by the higher authority.
She squinted, trying to make out his face. “Do I know you?”
“You stupid cunt.” He grabbed a fistful of her hair and shoved her toward the vehicle. “Tell your blind friend to get back in the car.”
Blind. Yep. This guy knew them. And as many cases as they’d worked together, there was no telling what the hell this was about. Every blue moon, they ran into a thug they’d busted or roughed up, and all these jerks wanted was revenge.
Something moved within the tree line. Blue expected to see this guy’s buddy, but instead, a wolf trotted up to the car, sniffed, and barked. Not a ferocious bark she’d heard from Viktor on the attack, but one to call attention.
“They’re alone,” Niko said. “What do you want to do?”
“Give us what we came for,” the man gripping her hair snarled.
She stopped short and gave him a steely glare over her shoulder. “An ass kicking?”