Roni knew she should have expectedReginald to do something stupid. He had never been the smartest man she had ever known but she hadn’t expected him to be one of the dumbest either. Actually, she hadn’t thought he would be inventive enough to slip past the Feline Breeds on guard while Taber was out of the house, but he did.
One minute she was alone in the living room watching the arrival of several wounded Breed males outside, the next second she was jerked around roughly to face the father she had always loathed.
“What are you doing here?” She jerked away from him, her eyes going to the open door of the room.
“Do you think someone won’t know you’re here,Reginald?”
The look in his eyes made her stomach pitch in nervous awareness of the danger he could represent.
“Doesn’t matter if they do find out,” he sneered angrily. “I’m just here visiting my little girl. Or did you forget you had a father?”
“Every chance I get,” she snapped back. “What the hell are you up to here? Don’t you have any more sense than to piss these men off, Reggie?”
His smile was terrifying. Confident, assured, stretching lewdly across his face as his blue eyes glittered with malice.
“What have you done, Reggie?” Roni could feel the last thread of hope she ever possessed where her father was concerned snap.
“Listen to me, Roni, they aren’t natural. They aren’t human,” he hissed with a fanatical fervor that terrified her. “I know he put that mark on you. All I need is for you to leave with me. Just for a little while, girl, and let my friends have some blood work. Just some little tests, that’s all.”
“You can’t be serious.” She shook her head slowly, edging away from him, suddenly more terrified of him than anything else she had ever faced in her life. “I’m not going anywhere with you. If this is why you came here, then you may as well give it up now.”
He frowned, a dark, sinister lowering of his brow that had her heart rate picking up nervously. He had never looked at her like that. She had never seen such hatred, such utter contempt in another human’s eyes before. And she had never imagined it would be directed at her.
“You will come with me, Roni,” he snapped, watching her with a feral intensity that bordered on the insane. “There’s no telling what he’s planted in your belly while you’ve been in his bed. Do you think I’m going to allow the world to know a kid of mine is a dirty animal f**ker?”
She flinched at the disgust, the terrible fury in his voice.
“You’re insane,” she whispered. “They have as much right to live as anyone else,Reginald. More so.”
“Oh, spare me your pretty little speeches,” he spat contemptuously. “Tell me, girl, how long have you been f**king the bastard anyway? Was that why he threatened to kill me if I let any of my friends around you? Wanted his pu**y all to himself, did he?”
Roni backed up as he edged closer to her. She could feel the hatred, black and vile, pouring from him.
“I won’t answer that,” she snapped, refusing to allow her fear of him to show.
“How old were you when he first found you, anyway, hiding like a snot-nosed brat in those hills? Ten?
Eleven? Was he f**king you then, Roni? Is that why you followed after him every chance you got?”
She shook her head desperately, wondering where the hell the men who were supposed to be in the house were.
“I won’t qualify that with an answer.” She fought to put as much space between them as possible. “Not everyone has the perversions your friends do, Reggie.”
“If I had known that was your fascination for him, I’d have given it to you myself,” he sneered. “I could have used a little excitement in my bed after that stupid bitch mother of yours died…”
“Stop.” Roni shook her head desperately. “Leave Mom out of this, Reggie.”
Her frail, weary mother. Roni trembled at the memory of her. She rarely allowed herself to remember her mother. The memories were bleak, painful. Margery Andrews had been too delicate, too gentle, for the lifeReginald had dragged her into.
“Leave Mom out of this,” he mocked her cruelly. “Fine, we’ll leave dear old Mom out of it. Get your ass out the door and in my car so we can take our little trip.”
“Why?” The couch was between them, but her way to the open doorway was still blocked. “Do you really think I’m stupid enough to go with you? To let you or anyone you know touch me, Reggie? It’s not going to happen.”
“How ‘bout a trade then?” He paused, watching her intently, his expression triumphant.
“What?” He was insane. Roni could only blink at him in astonishment that he could even consider she would trade her own soul for anything he had.
“A trade,” he repeated softly. “You come with me, Roni, and let the boys do their tests, and I’ll tell you why your momma fought so hard to stay hidden on that mountain. I’ll tell you why she let me use her however I wanted to and however my buddies wanted to. I’ll tell you, girl, who your father really is.”