Lord and Uriel help me, the looks on their faces were something else—like they’d never seen a naked man throw open a door during a kidnapping.
“What the—”
“Do you know what the fuck a headshake means?” Ryder snapped over the first guy.
“Oh, c’mon now!” I drawled. “I’m tryin’ to save your life here, baby!”
“You couldn’t put pants on first?”
“I’m savin’ your life here!”
“Without your fucking pants on!”
“I don’t need no fuckin’ pants to kick their goddamn asses!” I exclaimed.What part of that made no sense to him?
“You aren’t kicking anyone’s ass with your dick flapping around!” Ryder shot back.
“I can do whatever I damn well please!”
“Hey now—”
“Shut up!” Ryder and I interrupted, both pissed off and annoyed—probably for very different reasons.
Okay, definitely for very different reasons.
“Grab the other chair,” the second one ordered. He waved his knife around as he did—haphazardly like an idiot. “Put that one in it, and put some tape over his fucking mouth to shut him up. He’s fucking harmless.”
“Well now, boys,” I grinned, “that right there would be your first mistake. I ain’t all that harmless.”
I dug hard into my power, the room lighting up green as I did. The back wall exploded with roots, and chaos ensued.
CHAPTER 05
Their screaming was damn near comical, I’d give them that. As it turned out, these two morons didn’t know what a hunter was. Or what the hell they’d gotten themselves into. Poor souls. I’d almost feel bad for them if it wasn’t for the way they’d tried to kidnap Ryder.
I kept them tied up and dangling against the back wall—perks of getting the farthest room in the motel. We didn’t have neighbors this far down, and no one would hear what I was about to do. Granted, someone would be pissed about the structural damage by the time I was done.
Mostly Ryder from the look he gave me.
“You need to leave,” I ordered gruffly as I propped a cigarette between my lips. Ryder’s susceptibility to pain meant I didn’t want him anywhere near the room because what I was about to do wouldn’t be pretty.
“I’m staying—”
“You ain’t,” I snapped over him. “I ain’t goin’ to hurt you, baby.”
That was the last thing I wanted.
“Gray.” His warning tone wasn’t lost on me. He knew what I planned to do—hard not to. I had one line that no one was allowed to cross and that line was hurting Ryder.
Trying to kidnap him was unforgivable. They were goddamn lucky I didn’t rip the air out of their lungs right now, but they had information I needed. I knew who sent them—Ryder’s dick of a dad—but exactly what he knew was the question of the hour.
“I ain’t arguin’ about this, Ryder,” I replied. I crossed the room to where he hovered by the door, eyes glued on the chaos at the back wall. I didn’t need his power to know just how stressed out he was about the situation.He always was when his past came rearing its ugly face.“Look at me.”
I took his face in my hands and made him look at me, which was more of a feat than it should’ve been. Those baby blues were wrecked with conflicting emotions.
“You’re goin’ to go outside. I don’t care where you go—get a coffee, wait by the car, I don’t give a fuck what you do—but you’re goin’ to stay out of this room no matter what you hear, you hear me?”
“Gray—”
