Triple Dog Dare [Triple Trouble 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (2 page)

The truth was, despite his wrinkles, Rodolfo Abernathy was still one cunning, dangerous wolf. And he didn’t fool Marston in the least.

“Marston,” he said. “What news have you for me?”

“I believe I’ve located Liam Pardie’s daughter.”

“You believe, or you know?”

Marston swallowed hard. “I cannot confirm anything yet, but—”

Rodolfo slammed his fist on the desk and slowly stood. “I am tired of your failures. Explain again to me why I shouldn’t take the blood oath out of your hide and be done with you once and for all? I have waited far too many years already for my satisfaction.”

“Her last name is the same. She just hooked up with the Lyall triplets. I don’t know for sure if she’s Liam’s daughter, but everything points to it.”

Rodolfo’s wrinkled visage eventually split into a horrific smile. “Excellent,” he said as he dropped back down into his wheelchair. “How long before you obtain her? The last thing I want to do is go through their Clan Council.”

“I’m working on it. You did hear me say triplets, right? It’s going to take time.”

“Work faster. Your sloppy methods are raising suspicions. I don’t have a problem with murder as a means to an end, but you aren’t getting the end we desire. Fix this, before I grow weary of the wait and eliminate you.” He made a dismissive gesture at Marston. “Get out of my sight.”

As Marston stood and turned to leave, Rodolfo had one more comment for him. “Oh, by the way. I heard you were responsible for some murders in Brussels two years ago.”

Marston froze momentarily before he turned. He hadn’t thought that would get back to the wily wolf. “I don’t know anything about that.”

Rodolfo’s gaze narrowed. “You don’t know what wolf could possibly be working in conjunction with the cockatrice for some unknown reason? What wolf was responsible for killing Bertholde, the dragons’ Seer, in Yellowstone? What wolf brought the dragons’ new Seer’s attention down upon my Clan? The wolf who killed two accomplices to that act in Brussels, including their family members?”

Marston shook his head as he eased backward toward the door. “From what I understand, the rumors said it was a cockatrice. That the victims were killed just like they do it.”

“Bullshit. Someone stinking of cockatrice surely can pick up a trick or two from them.” Rodolfo growled, low and rumbling in his throat. “Perhaps you are too young to remember it,” Rodolfo continued, “but I certainly remember how a wolf should take a life, the sensation, the taste of warm blood rolling down my throat from a kill. Of sinking my teeth into an adversary’s throat, crushing their windpipe and holding tight until their heart quit pumping their life force into my mouth. Rich, warm blood.” He growled again. “Just because I am old doesn’t mean I can’t and won’t shift and settle an old score. Do I make myself clear?”

Marston nodded.

“Get out of here, you lying fleabag,” Rodolfo ordered.

Marston bolted through the door before Rodolfo could change his mind.

* * * *

Rodolfo called his flunky back into his office. “Keep an eye on Marston,” he ordered him. “I want constant reports on his whereabouts and activities. I want to know everything he knows about the Pardie bitch. Once we do, we’ll get rid of him. We don’t need him bringing more attention to us. We have enough trouble without the dragons’ new Seer putting us in her sights. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

Rodolfo waved his assistant out. Alone again, he leaned back in his wheelchair and templed his fingers in front of him. Truth be told, he didn’t really need the wheelchair. He looked a lot frailer than he actually was, but he found it a helpful prop to lull people into a false sense of security around him.

What to do?
His own sons and grandsons had proved utterly disappointing. Even his great-grandson, Paul, the only decent one of his generation, was a poor excuse for a wolf. Definitely not someone he’d want taking over his position.

Especially if recent rumors about Paul’s extracurricular activities were true.

Unfortunately, Rodolfo’s line risked dying out unless he got new, fresh Alpha blood flowing through it. The Pardie woman was his last hope, as far as he could tell.

Screw “true love.” He needed and
would
have his heir.

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Paul. The boy, only twenty-three, answered on the second ring. “Yes, Grandfather?”

“Paul. What is this trouble I hear you’ve gotten yourself into?”

The boy hesitated before answering. “I’m not sure what you’re talking—”

“Do not lie to me, boy!” he roared. “I know about the girl.”

A moment of silence. Then, in a meek voice that nearly infuriated Rodolfo, Paul said, “She’s just a tramp.”

“Is it true? You knocked her up?”

“She says I did, but I don’t know that it was—”

“Take care of it,” he growled into the phone. “Prove to me why I shouldn’t kill you the way I killed your father and grandfather.” Paul’s father had been a sniveling omega not worthy of the family name. Paul’s grandfather, his own son, was a treacherous beta who’d wanted to kill him and take over. He needed to shore up Paul’s beta spine and fast, or all his options for a remotely worthy heir to his empire would quickly run out.

“Take care of it how?” Paul asked. Rodolfo despised the boy’s whiny tone.

“Any way necessary. If you don’t take care of her, I will take care of
you
.” He ended the call and hung up. Oh, how he longed for the old days, when they could settle scores like men, without artifice and pleasantries. These young pups now didn’t give a damn about family honor or reputation. They didn’t care about clean bloodlines.

They didn’t care about protocols. Their bloodline was tainted enough by betas and non-shifting humans as it was.

They damn sure didn’t need coyote blood muddying things up.

Now…

Lina Zaria-Alexandr still hated flying, even though in the past couple of years she’d grown a little more used to it. They had to fly over to France from Florida at least twice a year to meet with the dragon
flagyer’s
mucky-mucks. And truth be told, she’d grown very close to and fond of Andel Wattersson, the head of their
flagyer
, even though he was her uncle by mating and not by blood.

Zack, her best friend and Watcher, had the seat to her right and held her hand. Rather, he let Lina crush his left hand. To her left sat one of her dragon shifter mates, Jan. Behind them sat Rick, her other dragon mate, with Kael, Zack’s dragon mate.

“You okay, chica?” Zack asked.

“I miss Paris,” she grumpily muttered. “I miss it so fucking much I wish they’d just turn the damn plane around right now.”

“You hate Paris,” he reminded her. “And the plane hasn’t even pulled back from the gate yet.”

She opened her eyes and leaned forward to peer past Zack out the window. “Oh.” She sat back and closed her eyes again.

The seat belt felt uncomfortably snug across her ballooning belly. One, or both, of her twins, boys, decided to kick at that moment, landing a bull’s-eye on her bladder. “I hate flying,” she grumbled. “If I’m the goddess and the Seer, why can’t we just tell all of them to come over to Florida instead of us coming here?”

Their friend and wolf shifter, Daniel Blackestone, spoke to her from the seat directly behind her. “Remember, Lina. You’re the Goddess. The flight will arrive home safely.”

She grumbled again, but tried to settle back and relax. She knew he was right, but it still didn’t decrease her hatred of flying. Daniel always made the trip with them to Europe. He was once again one of the keepers of the Tablet of Trammel. After Lina hid it, she told him where it was. He also helped communicate to his wolf Clan’s Council the latest developments in the war against the cockatrice. Not to mention they were very close friends.

Brodey Lyall, also a wolf shifter who frequently made the trip with them, was at his home in Florida. They’d left him out of the loop this time.

Lina closed her eyes and tried to focus on that. She knew Brodey and his brothers had finally found their One, the woman meant to complete the triplet Alpha shifters. That’s why Lina hadn’t asked him to join them on this trip.

At least one good thing had come from my freaky-deaky visions.

Well, and hopefully a second good thing, depending on how the results of her and Zack’s visit to Bolivia a couple of months earlier shook out.

The plane lurched a little as the sound of the engines ramped up. It slowly pulled back from the gate. Zack made a pained squeaking noise as Lina squeezed his hand harder.

“Lovely,” Jan whispered in her ear, “it’s all right. You’ve made this flight dozens of times before.”

“And I’ve hated it every time, too.” At least she no longer feared accidentally blowing up the plane in mid-flight. She’d managed to develop a reasonable amount of control over her incendiary powers.

Now if I could just locate Fat Boy and fry his ass.

The mysterious man, whom she knew took part in the murder of Kael’s family, along with others, hadn’t crossed their paths again since their first trip to Paris and Brussels a couple of years earlier. Unfortunately, the cockatrice nest they suspected he worked with had gone completely underground, escaping them ever since the last showdown. Which was another reason she knew they had to travel to Europe in person. It improved their chances of locating the cockatrice nest and permanently putting them out of commission.

She closed her eyes and tried to relax.

Big mistake.

Even though she was a goddess, she was also their
flagyer’s
Seer. She had no control over the visions that came to her. Despite her eyes being closed, a vision flashed into view. Since it wasn’t blue in color, she knew it was something that had already happened. The past looked normal, while future events appeared as if through a blue filter.

She saw Fat Boy standing outside a storefront. He was staring across a street. In her mind’s eye, she turned and found herself looking at a farm supply store’s parking lot. A man she recognized as Cail Lyall stood there with a woman Lina had never seen before, but Lina instinctively knew she was Cail’s mate. They stood beside a stock trailer and reached inside to pet a horse.

The vision faded.

Lina opened her eyes and blew out a deep breath. “Change of plans, guys. We need to head to Arcadia as soon as we get home. Do not pass go, do not stop by home and do laundry. Arcadia, here we come.” She tipped her head back. “You don’t have to come with, Blackie,” she said to Daniel over the seat back. “We’ll be seeing you soon enough in Maine.”

“Another vision?” Zack asked.

“Yeppers.”

“What did you see?”

She smiled, but there wasn’t an ounce of humor in her mood. “Fat Boy’s back.”

“And there’s going to be trouble?” Jan added.

“Yep. Hey now, hey now, the psycho’s back.” She settled in her seat, her grip on Zack’s hand relaxing. She didn’t need to worry. She knew their plane would touch down in Florida safely. The only person that had anything to worry about was Fat Boy.

I can’t wait to fry him from the balls up.

* * * *

Daniel Blackestone sat back in his seat as the plane took off. It’d been an interesting couple of years, that’s for sure. His mate, Callie, hadn’t made the trip with him this time. He’d taken Lina’s advice to leave her at home in case Lacey needed her help. With this newest revelation about Fat Boy, he understood why. They all knew from Lina’s visions that things with the cockatrice were going to get bad again soon, and they’d have to tighten their ranks, dragon and wolf alike.

Well, all the shifter races except the cockatrice, since the cockatrice were bound and determined to wipe out all the other shifter races. It was one of the reasons he’d decided to relocate back to the main Clan compound in Maine. Safety in numbers. Plus it put him close to the Tablet of Trammel. And now that he had a mate to think about, regardless of how strong she was, he didn’t want to do the lone-wolf gig anymore.

Despite their best efforts, they’d been unable to locate the cockatrice nest in Europe. Every trip they took to Europe, he went with Kael on scouting missions, following old leads and tracking down new ones.

Nada.

The main issue concerning him was Callie’s dreams as of late. She wasn’t a Seer, but she was the sister of Baba Yaga. While she’d made the transition well to settling in as his human-ish mate, wife, and slave in their BDSM dynamic, she couldn’t escape her heritage.

She was still an immortal by birth, regardless of the fact that she’d sworn to submit to him as his mate.

She also wasn’t aware of the nightmares she had nearly every night over the past month that awoke him. Dreams where she would yell, scream, rage at people, obviously involved in some sort of battle. In morning’s light, she always looked confused when he asked her about her night terrors.

He’d even had a brief, yet futile, conversation with her older sister, Baba Yaga.