Chapter 17 #2
The hood cracked with the force of the impact, and a scream from cornered prey shattered the morning’s air.
Kyzel curled his fingers around the edge of the hood in front of the windshield and extended his talons to keep his grip.
He blinked back to normal vision, and met Donahue’s wide-eye stare.
Donahue…alone…no passenger. The man clung to the steering wheel; his knuckles white.
The scent of fear emanated from the Earthling.
Fear would lead him to desperation, and eventually a fatal mistake.
Donahue yanked the steering wheel left and right in an attempt to dislodge him.
Kyzel curled his lip in a sneer at the desperate male.
Then Donahue jerked the directional control wheel of the vehicle hard to his left and the car spun one hundred eighty degrees —boom!
—into a tree. The passenger door caved in so far it seemed like the car was giving the tree a hug.
Rage filled him. If Robyn had been in the car, the fool would’ve killed her. He released his grip, slid off the hood, and gave Donahue a death stare through the cracked glass.
“Where is she, Donahue?”
“Look what you did to my car, you fucking prick.” Spittle flew from the fool’s mouth.
There was no sense in wasting any time here. Kyzel slammed his talons into the roof fabric and sliced it open to expose the rot within the vehicle.
“What the fuck?” Donahue screamed the words, but there was no one on the lonely mountain road to hear. Except Kyzel. “What are you doing, you crazy alien bastard?”
Kyzel leaped onto the ravaged remains of the car and grabbed the man’s flailing arms. Then he gave his wings a flap to expedite dragging Donahue back over the trunk and onto the gritty road shoulder. An odd name for the strip of dirt bracketing roads on this planet.
“Again. Where. Is. She. Donahue?”
“Fuck you.” Donahue’s boot-heel connected with Kyzel’s shin and he inhaled sharply at the pain and released his adversary.
The time for mercy was over. He turned away, counting off his steps. At twenty, he faced Donahue again and raised his hands, talons fully extended. “You will tell me everything.”
It had not seemed that the Earthling’s eyes could open any wider, but Donahue disproved that theory. Kyzel gave him a grim smirk, took a step, then another, moving toward the man faster and faster.
“No. No—oh, fuck.” Robyn’s ex scrambled for purchase in the dirt, gaining his feet.
But there would be no escape for the raptor’s prey today.
He sank his talons into the man’s shoulders then gave his wings several full beats.
The human’s flailing and weight was enough to bobble the take off, but experience gave Kyzel the advantage.
A moment later, Donahue was safely huddled in the crown of a forty-foot pine tree, blood oozing from the talon wounds.
Well, as safely as he could be, given the circumstances.
Kyzel alighted on the branch of the next tree over. “Now, we talk.”
“You’re a fucking maniac!”
“It is true. Such is our way when our mates are in danger.”
“I have nothing to say to you.” The man was the epitome of obstinacy.
“Perhaps I should leave you to reconsider your position…no pun intended, of course.”
Malevolence shot like darts from Donahue’s eyes. “Fuck you, freak.”
Well, there was nothing else to do. “All right, then. I will return after mid-day and we can continue this conversation.”
He rose and balanced on the branch, then unfurled his wings.
“Wait.”
It was all he could do to beat back a grin of triumph. “What?”
“She climbed out the bedroom window and ran away last night.”
“You forced her into your bed?” The words slipped out before he thought to stop them.
“I didn’t have to force her.” Donahue did not hide his malicious grin. “You don’t really think she run off with a freak like you, do you…especially after I told her you kept a very important secret from her?”
Regret sank its talons into his heart.
“That’s right,” Donahue gloated. “I told her about your royal title. She don’t wanna be your queen, that’s what she told me last night. She wanted me.”
“If she truly wanted you, she would not have climbed out the window.”
Donahue snapped his mouth shut. No, Robyn had not shared his bed—willingly, or not.
Kyzel regarded his opponent. “Why are you not out looking for her?”
“I was.” The lie reeked of sourness. “That’s where I was going when you wrecked my car.”
“Of course, you were.” He braced himself for a jump, bunching his legs under him. “I will send someone for you, if I find Robyn alive. And you best hope I do, otherwise it will not go well for you.”
He pushed off the branch, first diving, then swooping upward, catching the still-crisp mountain currents. Behind him, Donahue’s angry shouts faded with distance.
Had a truck-stop ever looked so wonderful? Robyn stumbled forward from under the trees and blinked hard as tears blurred her vision of the giant asphalt parking lot. Trucks, tour buses, cars, and people. Who would’ve thought she’d ever be so happy to see any of them?
Now, if someone would loan her a phone, she could call Meryl to come pick her up here. Wherever here was.
She gave her cheeks a back-handed swipe. Stupid tears.
“Ma’am?”
She turned, and blinked at the young man halfway out of the cab of a semi.
“Are you okay?” He hopped down.
“Do you have a phone?”
“Yeah, sure.”
Oh, thank goodness. That was easier than she’d expected.
The trucker pulled a cell phone from his pocket and handed it to her. “Sorry, but you look like you spent the night in the woods.”
“Not the whole night, just since three a.m.”
“Do you need me to call an ambulance—?”
“No.” The startled look on his face confirmed she’d spoken too harsh. “I’m sorry. I just want to call my friend to come pick me up.”
He nodded. “That’s cool, that’s cool.”
“Thanks.” She gave him as much of a smile as she could muster, then pressed the numbers and raised the phone to her ear.