The Vow (Black Arrowhead #1) - Dannika Dark Page 0,104
A satchel and a knife? Anyone could have planted that evidence, and you know it. Crow planned to hunt me down, and he tried to kill Lakota. Look inside the trunk of his car, and you’ll find clothes that belonged to the victims. There’s proof all inside his house that he’s been trespassing on tribal land and stealing weapons. You can take him in on those charges if nothing else.”
Jack rubbed his chin slowly. “Anything else?”
I blinked as I sat there topless, my hands covered in blood, scratches on my arms, with Lakota half-alive while Kaota guarded our prisoner.
Jack shifted his stance. “Fine. Bring him in.”
“You motherfucker!” Crow spat. He had gashes on his thighs from Kaota’s punishment. “We had a deal.”
Confused, I turned my head slowly to Jack, then back to Crow. When I saw the looks they exchanged, it dawned on me that they were in it together.
A gun muzzle pressed against my temple. Jack gripped my left arm so I couldn’t move or knock the gun away. “Crow, why can’t you just keep your mouth shut?”
“Why?” I asked.
“Sorry, but you’re just a casualty of war,” he replied.
“There is no war. Why would you murder all those innocent girls? And Koi?”
“I didn’t kill anyone,” he snarled. “Crow’s the killer.”
“But you hired him. Why would you target all those women?”
“My family made a pact with the tribe centuries ago that entitles me to this land if they’re evicted.”
Kaota rose to his feet, the blade still in his hand. “I know of that contract. We made it as a show of trust when we needed your protection from the humans that were trying to exterminate us. It wasn’t a trade; it was meant to prove we weren’t a threat.”
Jack’s family must have had power and influence at a time when human settlers were slaughtering Natives and forcing them off their land. Some Shifters found ways to hold on to their rightful territories, often bartering with Vampires to either charm or slay those who were targeting them.
“You killed those girls,” I began, “just so you could pin it on the tribe and get their land?”
“I didn’t kill anyone.” He pressed the gun harder against my temple. “The girls were his idea.”
“But you authorized it! You’re a Councilman. What do you need with all this land?”
The more information he revealed, the more trouble I knew I was in. But I needed to keep him talking to buy us time.
“I’ve lived here for seventy years, and nothing’s changed. I serve on the Council, but do you think I have decent property? Land for my animal to roam? Room for a family? Their land is worth a fortune.”
“Ah, so you just want to make a fast buck at the expense of all these lives. Didn’t you swear some kind of oath?”
He tightened his grip on my arm. “These people are nothing but rapists and liars. They lured you out here to have their way before killing you. I got here during the struggle, but it was too late.”
Jack wasn’t talking to me anymore; he was rehearsing. Was he bold enough to pull the trigger? Maybe he didn’t possess the courage or the audacity to kill. Kaota still had his knife, but a bullet was faster than a blade.
“I’m just a girl,” I said in a small voice, hoping it would be enough to tug at his conscience.
He suddenly pointed his gun at Crow and fired.
I stood paralyzed as the gun continued going off—shots so loud that my ears were ringing. Kaota and Crow fell to the ground. When the tip of the muzzle pressed against my cheek, I wrenched my arm and cried out. My entire life flashed before my eyes, and I realized how short a life it had been.
Lakota’s wolf sprang to life. He moved so fast that he blurred, his jaws locking around Jack’s arm and forcing the gun away from my head. It went off as I ducked forward and stumbled to safety.
Jack flailed, Lakota’s wolf astride him and thrashing violently. The gun was nowhere in sight. Jack used his arm to protect his head and neck, but Lakota was ripping it to shreds. When Jack didn’t shift, it revealed that his animal couldn’t stand up to a wolf.
No mercy. Lakota was going for the kill.
I crawled over to Kaota and gaped at the gory scene. Fragments of Crow’s skull were visible where the bullet had raced through his brain and killed him instantly. He’d taken another bullet in the