Page 28 of Beyond the Darkness

“I will. Take care.”

“You too, son.”

Kit disconnected the call. “The bastard attacked my parents.”

Hudson turned Kit in his arms, then kissed him on the forehead. He hated that Lennox was causing such problems not only for Kit, but for his parents too. “I’m so sorry.”

Connie joined them, turning it into a three-way hug. “At least no one there was seriously hurt.”

“There is that.”

Kit sighed heavily. “Is the construction crew still coming Monday?”

“I actually called Kayden earlier. They are, yes,” Hudson said. He’d debated delaying them, but the property that had been damaged wasn’t where they were working. There really wasn’t a good reason for them not to start the construction.

“Okay, with all the attacks that went on, I wasn’t sure if anything had happened to them,” Kit said.

“Kayden didn’t say,” Connie admitted. “I’m guessing no.”

“That’s good, I suppose,” Kit said. “The sooner we can get this done, the sooner we get our bedroom back.”

“I totally—” Hudson’s cell rang again, interrupting him. The sound pierced the quiet morning air, and he let out an exasperated sigh.

“You’re certainly popular this morning,” Kit said.

Hudson clenched his jaw, the muscles in his face tensing as he forcefully yanked his cell phone out of his pocket and stepped back.

Connie leaned in closer to Kit. “I recognize that ringtone,” he said quietly. “It’s his mother’s.”

“Oh.”

Hudson really didn’t have time for this, but ignoring the call would only lead to more issues. She always found a way to get what she wanted, and if he didn’t answer, she would involve her mates. He could almost feel her impatience through the phone. She did not take being ignored well.

“Mother, I don’t have time to—”

A blood-curdling scream of pure anguish reverberated off the walls. “She’s gone! They ripped her from us and took her life! Theykilledher! Oh Gaura, she’s dead!” Eleanor, one of his mother’s mates, wailed with raw grief and righteous anger.

Hudson’s stomach plummeted to the floor. The sound of buzzing filled his head, drowning out all rational thought.Eleanor couldn’t mean what he thought she meant. That was impossible.

“Eleanor. Eleanor! Why are you calling on Queen Abigail’s cell phone? Stop screaming and—”

“Hudson?”

Hudson flinched when his father suddenly came on the line. “Cyrus?”

“We were attacked by humans who smelled so damn odd. They came two hours ago with their automatic guns. There was no warning. They busted in through the windows. We were totally caught off guard as they swarmed the house. There were so many,” Cyrus cried. “They killed everyone they saw.”

“What?” But that made no sense. As soon as the boundaries were breached, there should have been alarms going off. “What about security at your boundaries? What about security measuresinyour house? Guards? How did they get inside without you knowing?”

“You know your mother felt that was unnecessary,” Cyrus snapped. “We’re dragons, after all. We are the most fearful paranormals there are.”

It was an argument as old as time, and it still made Hudson want to beat his head against the nearest wall. “What an asinine—”

Hudson gritted his teeth as he left the sentence unfinished. It was a topic that had been argued for centuries, ever since the introduction of guns into society. He’d tried to make his stubborn mother and her equally arrogant mates understand—to see the error of their ways—all to no avail.

There was no use in pointing out that, obviously, being a dragon hadn’t helped either, but by Gaura, he was tempted, even if it was beyond the pale.

The humans his parents had dismissed as weak and insignificant had just proven their strength, and it’d come backto bite them. They didn’t seem to understand that humans might be weaker, but a bullet to the brain could pretty much kill anyone. And now it was too late.

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