Give You A Kid? No Way!

Chapter 2

Dante



Dante wondered what exactly Poppie was doing. First of all, she’d stopped at a bar she knew was off limits to her clan. But then again, that was his cousin – she liked to push the envelope. It was a family trait that they all shared, so he shouldn’t have been too surprised.

What really piqued his interest was that she was traveling with a non-shifter, a young woman that looked like she had no idea of what the hell was happening around her.

Why were they together?

He’d heard that Poppie had been away at college and wondered if she was heading to or from the campus. Knowing that summer just started, he had to imagine she was returning to Shore Lake.

But what was up with the girl?

Normally Lycan didn’t socialize with humans unless there was a need. It was too dangerous, for both sides. He wondered if Cousin Mick knew she was traveling with the girl and what it all meant. Considering that he was the Alpha of the clan, Poppie would need his permission to even bring the female to Shore Lake as a guest.

Unless the young woman already lived there?

He doubted it. It was probably someone from the campus and that meant Poppie could be bringing Mick home a treat. One Mick would probably torture the living s**t out of. He had dark and sadistic appetites, ones that were legendary and so sickening, even he felt bad for their clan. Dante was surprised that nobody had tried challenging him for leadership. It was well known that he didn’t just abuse humans, he got his rocks off by also torturing some of his own. Especially the females.

He truly needed to be taken out. But nobody had the balls and the Council – the secret government overseeing the rules and regulations of their society – would never allow an assassination attempt from another clan. Not to mention that Mick was one of the most powerful alphas in North America and many were afraid of him.

Except for Dante and probably Poppie.

They’d had their run-ins and Dante was certain he could take down his cousin if he had the chance. As far as Poppie went, she was probably the only female safe under Mick. He protected his sister and she idolized the freak. But Dante would give anything to take out his cousin, who he knew had murdered his half-breed father, Jerrod Storm.

It just couldn’t be proved and so the Council had no choice but to stay out of it.

Dante’s father and cousin had hated each other, mainly because Mick was a murdering psychopath and Jerrod had tried standing in his way. It was said that Mick's last victim had been a woman he'd kidnaped and later murdered with his bare hands because she’d produced a stillborn. Jerrod had raised hell about it and later disappeared. Dante knew his father would never abandon his pack, let alone his son, and vowed that one day he’d make his cousin pay for everything. It would be a slow and grueling death, one that would make him suffer as he’d made others.

But first, he would need approval from the Council. The banishment or murder of an Alpha needed to be proven and warranted.

“Keep an eye on them,” Dante said to Jax, his second in command, who was watching from the shadows.

“Will do.”

The two of them were visiting the region. checking in with clan members, like Shay who owned the bar. North Dakota was their territory and to run into Poppie put a bad taste in his mouth. Especially seeing her with the attractive young woman.

Jax nodded, his eyes not moving from the table. Just like Dante, he despised Poppie and her clan, but for his own reasons. Mick had tried kidnapping his little sister, Cari, one night, for his sick twisted pleasure. Thankfully, he'd failed. But, Jax still went ape-s**t and had wanted to rip Mick’s throat when he found out about it. Dante had been able to talk him out of it, however, promising that one day they'd all get their revenge.

“I can’t lose you, Brother. The Council will have you killed if we don’t do this right,” he’d told Jax.

Reluctantly, Jax listened to reason and now the two were just biding their time until they could take the monster down.

Dante headed back into the office, where Shay was going over the books. She was in her late forties and one of the wisest women he knew. He always enjoyed visiting with her and she treated him like the son she'd never had. Another reason why he visited her so often, he felt very protective of her and the bar.

She looked up from her paperwork. “Everything okay?”

“Poppie’s here.” He sat down across from her.

Her eyebrow lifted. “Mick’s baby sister?”

He nodded.

Looking amused more than anything, Shay chuckled. “She’s got balls, that’s for sure.”

“Yeah, well I don’t like it.”

Shay removed her reading glasses. “She’s harmless.”

“Maybe to us, but…” he sighed, “she’s with a human girl.”

This time Shay looked a little uneasy. “Really? I wonder what that’s all about.”

He thought about the young woman. She probably had no idea of what she was getting herself into, traveling with Poppie. “It’s not good, that’s for sure.”

Shay bit her lower lip. “Do you think she might be bringing her home for Mick?”

Dante scowled. "Let's hope not.”

She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “You know, rumor has it that they had another miscarriage in their clan.”

Dante nodded. He’d heard about it.

She went on. “This is the sixth one in the last five years. You think this has anything to do with it?”

“Not sure. What do you think?” Her gut instinct was always on point.

“He's tried it before."

"Yeah."

Lycan were able to produce offspring with human females, but it was rare and dangerous. Jerrod had been the last half-breed born by a non-shifter he'd known of.

"I mean, what choice does he have, right? No other clan will allow him to touch their females because of his reputation.”

That was definitely true. From what they knew, Mick only had a handful of females in his group and some of them were getting past their prime. He needed to do something to keep his clan from dying out. Rumor had it also that nobody was allowed to breed with the females until he had at least one son. That was part of the old ways that had died out with most of the other clans. Mick’s still abided by that, mainly because of his selfishness.

Shay got up and started walking toward the doorway.

Dante frowned. “What are you doing?”

“I’m curious to see who this poor girl is.”

Sighing, Dante stood up and followed Shay back out of the office.

“Oh, dear,” Shay murmured, stopping by the bar and staring over at the table in dismay. “Look at how little that one is. She’ll be mincemeat if he gets his hands on her.”

Dante agreed and as much as he knew that he should mind his own business, he felt a little protective of the petite human. Maybe it was just the fact that he despised Mick so much he wanted to thwart any devious plans that might be set in place. Or, maybe it was the fact that she was attractive, even to a Lycan like him. Normally, he didn’t think much of humans but this one had a thing about her.

Shay started heading toward the table, greeting customers as they called out to her. Dante watched from afar, wondering what she was planning on doing.