"I'm not retarded!"
Coyote had curled his lip at him. "That's because you're too retarded to know just how stupid you really are."
Ren had slung him against the wall.
Even though he was limping, Coyote dared to laugh at him. "Do you really think your men follow you? They follow the Grizzly Spirit. Makah'Alay is a joke. They mock you behind your back."
Ren had grabbed him again.
"Go ahead and hit me. I dare you. You're not man enough. We both know it."
"Shut up!"
Coyote laughed even harder. "You don't order me around. I refuse to follow someone so revolting and stupid that not even a whore will let you touch her tits. Remember? We offered her four times the going rate and still she wouldn't even show you one. But I fucked her until she howled like a bitch desperate for my cock."
His anger burning so fiercely now that it was almost tangible, Ren pulled Coyote back to the present where they were once again facing off. "You goaded me. Every time I started to free you during that year, you ran your mouth and threatened, then insulted me."
"You were a coward."
"Yes, I was a coward and a pathetic fool who thought if I obeyed well enough and licked your ass enough ... if I swallowed all your shit with no complaint, that maybe, just maybe you would love me back. But what I learned from the Guardian's daughter is that love doesn't happen like that. Love isn't an obligation. You don't owe someone your loyalty and you damn well don't owe them your heart. It's an emotion, and it's born from mutual respect and generosity. It is not cruel and it is not judging. It comes from a willingness to live in complete and utter misery for the benefit of another. But when it's real, you don't feel that misery at all. The thought of their face, the scent of their skin brings a light to that darkness so bright that it drives out everything else."
Coyote sneered at him. "Congratulations, Makah'Alay. You finally allowed a whore to turn you into a woman."
Ren shoved Coyote away from him. Then as he moved to take Coyote's life, he heard the sound of men running toward them.
Coyote laughed. "Thank you for that award-winning chick speech, brother. Now ... let me show you how a man deals with things. I believe you haven't met my new friend Chacu ... but you might remember his men that you sealed in hell. If not, I can assure you, they remember you."
Shit ...
Sorry, Grizzly. His brother had just unleashed the one army that could kill him.
Demonstone or no demonstone.
Nick tossed Kateri over his shoulder as they hiked through the hinterlands of hell to find the right cavern that no one other than Ren or Choo Co La Tah knew the exact location of.
"He's in trouble. I can feel it."
Nick swept his gaze around the others-Sundown, Cabeza, and Sasha who was limping, but who refused to, as he so eloquently put it, 'lie down and lick his crotch while they either saved or condemned the world.'
"Why am I the one holding hellcat when out of this group, I'm the only one who doesn't really have to fear the gates opening?"
Sundown clapped him on the shoulder. "'Cause you're just that kind of man, Nick. And we appreciate it."
Nick snorted in derision. "You're so full of caca, Cowboy-no wonder you only wear shit-kickers."
Sundown flashed him a wicked grin. "I happen to like my cowboy boots. My woman says they make me look sexy."
Nick let out a "heh" sound. "I should have had Andy buy you scratchy wool long johns when I was a Squire."
Kateri stopped squirming at the word she wasn't familiar with ... at least not in the way he used it. "What's a Squire?"
"Humans who help Dark-Hunters," Sundown said. "Obviously, mine was named Andy."
That made her heart lurch. "Was? Did something happen to him?"
"Yeah, little booger up and married on me a few months ago, and ... well, I was going to say moved out. But that's just a pipe-dream I had once. I can't get him out no matter what I do, but I keep trying. Luckily the house is so big I don't ever really see him unless he runs out of eats or coffee, and has to mosey over to my side in the middle of the night to raid my cupboard or fridge."
"How big is this house?" she asked.