Page 96 of As Darkness Fall
I knew he meant the vampires. Just how Lars knew about them was beyond me, but perhaps the secret wasn’t that well kept. Maybe I’d been living under a rock most of my life and this larger world we inhabited was common knowledge among the older members of our pack.
What Ididwonder was why he hated them so much.
“We have the Idol,” I said, gesturing toward Vir, who held the golden statuette in one arm.
“So you do,” Lars said, licking his lips greedily. “So nice of you to return what is mine. Now, hand it over.”
I threw my head back and laughed as callously as I could. “You must still think me that innocent, naïve child if you believe I’m going to trust you. Show me my family first. For all I know, you don’t have them.”
Lars glared at me, angry at my dismissive tone.Good, I thought.Let others see me ignore your Alpha status. Every bit of power we can take from you, the better for the rest of the pack.
“Very well,” he said, motioning to one of his men. “Wouldn’t do to have anyone think I’m not a man of my word.”
I snorted. “I think most people would be more surprised to see you keep your word than they would if you broke it.”
Lars bristled at the insult to his honor.
“Dani,” Vir said cautiously.
Damn. He was right. I was letting my wolf’s anger at him get the better of me. Making me say things I didn’t need to say.
The front doors of the mansion opened, and four people emerged.
“Mom?” I called, recognizing the short, stiff stride of my mother when she was pissed off.
Beside her came another man, lacking hair on his head but with a full beard desperately in need of some taming.
“Dad?”
The two of them looked up. “Dani?” my father said, horrified. “What are you doing here?”
“It’ll be okay,” I promised, working hard to keep my composure as I saw my parents for the first time in close to a year. A year of searching for them, while trying not to think that they were dead, believing I’d never see them again.
Yet, here they were. Alive and well in front of me. I swallowed, suddenly nervous about the rest of our plan. Until now, it had been Vir and me and the rest of the team. I had full confidence in them to extract ourselves if Lars tried to betray us.
But my parents? They were a different story. They weren’t aware of what was going on, of how I’d changed. I needed them to stay calm if we were to do this.
“There,” Lars said with false magnanimity.
I cringed. Did he actually believe himself to be one of the good guys?
“Let them go!” I snarled, taking a step forward.
Vir’s hand on my shoulder restrained me. I stayed put, but the semi-circle of enforcers around Lars stirred at my action. They were ready. I might be stronger than before, but I certainly wasn’tthatstrong.
“You can have them once I have the Idol,” Lars said.
I shook my head. “No. You outnumber us. By a lot. They come over here. We put the Idol down and back away. Nobody gets hurt. Everyone wins.”
Lars seemed to consider my terms. Then he spat orders to the men at his side, and the circle of shifters fanned out until they were almost surrounding us.
“Very well,” Lars said. “That sounds reasonable.”
He pushed my father toward us with casual disdain. I snarled silently. Thomas Wetter had been one of Lars’s staunchest supporters for the longest time, and to see the Alpha treat him so disrespectfully was yet another sign that he was unworthy of his position.
Not my responsibility,I told myself, taking deep breaths.
My parents approached. I wanted to wrap them both up in giant hugs and hold on forever, but I couldn’t.
