“Dusti! Thank goodness you’re alive. Are you all right? Get off me, asshole! You weigh a thousand pounds. I need to check on my sister.”
“Maybe I would get off you if you weren’t gripping my dick. That’s not my thigh you’ve been clutching in terror, woman,” Kraven snarled. “Let go!”
“Ewww!” Bat squealed. “Get off me! My hand is trapped there, damn it.”
The man still pinning Dusti to her seat chuckled. “Did I introduce myself? I’m Drantos.”
“Let me go. Please get off.” Dusti hated the way her voice trembled enough to make it sound more like a feeble plea than a demand.
He arched an eyebrow. “That’s all you’ve got to say to me after I saved your life? I believe this is where you’re supposed to say thank you and tell me your name.”
Dusti was still suffering from shock but this had to be the strangest conversation she’d ever had. “Your belt buckle is digging into my…um…” She tried to wiggle her hips away from his but it only caused more discomfort. The metal object pressed against her panties pushed in deeper, causing her to wince.
He jerked his hips back to put a few inches between their bodies but he glanced down. His smile turned into an outright grin. “Sorry about that. I hope I didn’t damage you down there. That would be a crime. I love bright red, by the way. Is that a thong? I can only see the front.”
Her mouth hung open and she gawked speechlessly until she realized he continued to stare at her exposed lap. She shoved at him with her hands, pushing hard against his massive chest, and tried to put her feet on the floor to scoot back in the seat and away from the obviously deranged pervert.
He let her go, still grinning as she grabbed at her skirt to shove it down the tops of her thighs to regain her modesty.
The sound of a sobbing woman filtered through Dusti’s shock-hazed brain and her jumbled thoughts. Other noises slowly penetrated and she became more aware of her surroundings when Drantos rose to his feet to loom over her, no longer touching as he stepped aside to stand in front of Bat’s empty seat. He surveyed the plane, his features set in a grim expression. Dusti heard soft whispers then someone cursing from the back of the plane. It sank in that the four of them weren’t the only survivors.
She peered up at Drantos, since he kept her trapped in the row with his body planted between her and the aisle. He sniffed the air, made a distasteful grimace, before peering over the seats in front of them. He turned his head, staring down at the floor of the aisle.
“Are you going to just lay there on top of her or are you going to get up? It’s no time to take a nap, Kraven.”
“Go to hell. I think she crushed something vital when she squeezed my dick. I’m trying to recover. She’s got nothing on a cock ring, that’s for sure.”
Drantos shook his head. “You’re going to give her a bad impression if you don’t watch your mouth.”
“Like I give a damn what she thinks,” Kraven grunted as he climbed to his feet.
Dusti stared at the other man when he appeared in the aisle a row ahead of where she sat. His black hair looked worse for wear, some of his spikes crushed flat on one side of his head. It gave him the bedhead look of a punker gone bad. Maybe a punk biker, considering the leather jacket he was sporting. He frowned down at something below him.
“What are you? A masseuse?” He lifted his chin and shot Drantos a dirty look. “I swear she crushed my dick.”
Bat struggled to her feet, her blonde hair in a messy ponytail now that her neat bun had been loosened from the crash. She glowered at the man, who gave her that angry look right back. “Why did you grab me like that? What the hell is your problem?”
“I was protecting you. I’m Kraven. You can thank me later, by the way.”
“Thank you?” Bat gawked at him. “You’ll be lucky if I don’t have your ass arrested for sexual assault, battery, and…hell, bad hair! Move out of my way. I need to check on my sister.” Bat tried to shove him aside, her gaze locking on Dusti. Relief showed on her features.
Dusti forced her body to move and she tried to stand but Drantos held out his arm, holding up a hand as if to tell her to stay. She stared up at him.
“Could you please move? You’re in my way.”
He arched a black eyebrow at her. “My brother can take care of your sister. He’s in charge of her now. You just stay put while I deal with this mess.”
Shock rolled through Dusti again. In charge of her? His words played through her mind. They left her even more confused as her gaze flickered back and forth between the two men standing just feet apart, with only a seat between them. They both had tan skin, huge bodies and black hair, but she wouldn’t have previously pegged them for brothers.
Now, as she stared, she started to see some similarities—the strong bone structure for one and the generous lips for another. The spiked-haired guy had light blue eyes though instead of dark.
“Help me,” a man called from the back of the plane. “Please, help!”
Drantos sighed. “I’ve got it.” He inched out from between the seats and into the aisle. “Kraven, watch them and keep them both where they are. We’ve got dead bodies in here, and panicked types who I never trust not to go crazy in a crisis.”
Kraven nodded. “I have the women.”
“Have this, you jerk.” Batina sounded riled still.
Dusti flinched when her sister nailed the unsuspecting guy in the chest with her expensive footwear. Kraven staggered back in astonishment and Bat lunged around him to reach her. Dusti rose to her feet on trembling legs, a moment of wooziness making her see spots, but she pushed the sensation back to hug her sister.
Bat clung to her tightly, both of them enormously relieved the other had survived.
Dusti pulled back enough to get a really good look at her sister’s face. There was a red mark near Bat’s right temple. It wasn’t bleeding but it looked as if it might become a bruise. Her complexion was unnaturally pale but Dusti figured she probably had that in common with her. They’d just been in a plane crash, for God’s sake.
“It’s okay, Bat. I’m okay. Are you hurt?”
Bat eased her hold on her a little. “Nothing a good drink won’t fix. I’m so glad you’re okay.”
Dusti gave a little nod but then looked away from her sister to stare in dismay at the cabin around them. Injured people were still strapped in their seats, but worse, a guy lay sprawled in his seat across the aisle next to the torn-away section of the fuselage. He was bloody and definitely dead. No one could be missing an arm that had been sheared off at the shoulder and survive. Bright red drenched his chest and lap—fresh and wet looking.
Dusti heard someone gag, only to realize she’d made the sound herself as bile rose.
Bat grabbed her face by cupping her cheeks. It jerked her horrified gaze away from the sight and forced her to stare at her sister instead. “Look at me and not that.”
Tears welled in Dusti’s eyes that she tried to blink away. She stared into her sister’s gaze, very much resembling her own since they looked so similar. “Oh God!”
“I know,” Bat crooned. “We survived though. We’re Dawsons. We’re tough, remember? Just take deep breaths. In and out. Remain calm.”
Dusti didn’t feel very tough at all. She was in shock, and she knew it. It was difficult to think, a surreal feeling fogging her mind. Too many awful things had happened in a short timeframe and everything seemed a nightmare at that moment. It helped to concentrate on her sister’s face. Bat caressed her gently with her thumbs.
“It’ll be fine. We both made it. We’re okay.” Her sister always knew how to keep her head—if not her tongue—in a bad situation.
“Sit down,” the spiked-haired man ordered harshly. “And I’ll spank you if you hit me with another shoe, you little hellion.”
Bat released Dusti’s cheek without missing a beat to raise her middle finger at the guy behind her. “Take a hint and get away from me, you perverted bastard. You should have picked another w
oman to molest.”
Kraven, if that was his real name, stepped closer. He looked dazed when Dusti glanced at him. He didn’t seem like someone you could be rude to without dire consequences, but her sister dealt with the dregs of humanity and didn’t seem overly concerned. She was used to stressful situations. Plus, her sister could be a first-rate bitch. That’s how she’d made partner at her law firm by the age of thirty-three. She defended the worst criminals, and had made a name for herself as a cold-hearted ball-buster in the courtroom.
Her reputation out of court had become even worse. A man had hurt Batina when she’d been younger so she avoided relationships now, treating all men equally—as if they were dog shit.
“I saved your life,” the clueless man said, not knowing he’d probably regret it. “I covered your body with my own to protect you, Cat.”
“It’s Bat, you moron. B.A.T.” Her sister turned her head to glare at him. “Back off, asshole. I refuse to deal with you right now. Can’t you see my sister is freaked-out? I’m trying to calm her down.”
“Crazy as a bat or bat-shit crazy. It fits,” the big guy said.
Dusti saw her sister’s nostrils flare and knew she had to act quickly. Her sister had a tendency to be harsh with her words when it came to men. The spiked-haired guy was bodybuilder-size, had to be at least six feet four, towering over them. The last thing she wanted was for him to attack Bat. The full-time bodyguard that usually stuck near her sister wasn’t along on the trip to intervene.
“Let it go,” Dusti ordered. “Let’s help the injured.”
Bat’s blue gaze narrowed when she turned her head to stare at Dusti again. “He’s irritating me and he felt me up!”
“That’s the least of our worries.”
“You’re right. I’ll ignore the big ape just for you this one time because I’m in shock too. I hope I’m not as pale as you look. You’re doing a hell of a ghost impression.” Bat cringed. “I shouldn’t have said that, considering the circumstances. Sorry.” She took a deep breath. “Let’s help out. People are hurt. Just breathe and focus on that, okay?” She released Dusti to reach inside her inner jacket pocket and then whipped out her cell phone.
Dusti felt a rush of relief. Her older sister was always the one to remain coolheaded in a crisis. They needed help, and Bat was obviously thinking the same thing. “Do you think you’re going to get a cell phone signal out here?”
Bat flipped open the case. “I hope so.” Her mouth curved downward into a frown a second later. She spun suddenly to glare at Kraven.
“You broke my phone with your gorilla-sized body.” She shoved the phone upward to show him the crushed face, parts of the broken screen falling to the cabin floor. “You owe me a new one. Give me yours.”
“It’s in my bag.” He pointed up to where the overhead cabinets had once been. “Wherever that is now.”
So much for that plan.
Bat was confronting the spike-headed guy yet again, who stood way too close to Bat as he argued back. Dusti turned away from them both. Kraven was the one who had grabbed her sister before the crash, after all, so Dusti figured if anyone deserved to be a target of Bat’s anger, it was him.
She got her first glimpse of the back of the plane and her heart nearly stopped.
“Oh God.”
“I know! I can’t dial 9-1-1.”
“Shut up, Bat,” Dusti whispered. “Look. Oh my God.”
Bat moved beside her and clutched her hand, which hung limply at her side. Her warm fingers laced with Dusti’s while they both stared toward where the rear of the plane had once been.
A big, craggy hole glared at them from five rows back, the tail section just gone—along with a few rows that had contained people.
The dreadfulness of it hit Dusti full force as she stared at the line of broke trees and scarred ground the plane had created when it had been dragged along the forest floor. A body remained still strapped into a lone seat in the near distance. It had broken free from its twin and the rear of the plane. No one could have survived that. The poor victim resembled bloody hamburger wrapped in soaked red clothing. It was impossible to tell if it had been a man or a woman.
A big body suddenly stood in the aisle, blocking Dusti’s view of the dead person a good fifty yards away. Drantos’s expression looked grim when he lifted a hand to run his fingers through his shaggy mane of hair. His lips twisted into a grimace as he approached Dusti. Their gazes remained on each other until he stopped a few feet in front of her. He shifted his attention to look at his brother behind her.
“There are ten survivors besides us in the cabin. Most of them will make it but I’m doubtful about a few. One of us should go hunt up the back of the plane to see if any of those people made it. We also need to check on the pilots.”
“Fuck,” Kraven sighed. “What a damn mess. I’ll go search for the tail section of the plane.” He paused. “You watch the bitches. The one in the dress suit is a terror, so don’t turn your back on her.”
Bat squeezed Dusti’s hand painfully as she turned her head to glare at Kraven. “I’m going to rip off your nuts if you call me a bitch one more time.”
Dusti jerked on her sister’s hand. “Batina Marie Dawson, enough!” Hot tears filled her eyes when her sister met her gaze. “I know bitchiness is your defense mechanism when you’re scared or mad but please stop! I can’t deal with it right now.”
A wave of dizziness hit, making her knees go weak. She swayed on her feet.
Bat grabbed her before Dusti collapsed. Her sister struggled to hold her upright until two strong hands gripped her. She opened her eyes to see the big guy, Drantos, lifting her until she was cradled against his chest.
“Where’s my purse?” Bat asked, clearly panicked. “It’s black. I need it!”
“I’m okay,” Dusti whispered. “It’s just a dizzy spell.”
“My purse, you big gorilla! Move out of my way. My sister needs her medication,” Bat yelled.
Drantos frowned while he stared into her eyes. “What’s wrong with you?”
He was strong, easily holding her in his arms while he stood in the aisle. She appreciated that he’d prevented her from falling on the floor and taking her sister down with her when he’d swept her off her feet.
“I’ve got a rare form of anemia. It’s bad sometimes and makes me dizzy. I have iron shots in my purse but Bat keeps a few of them with her, too, in case of emergency.”
He paled a little, lifting his face to stare at someone behind her. “She’s defective. I think we saved the wrong two women.”
“Shit,” Kraven cursed softly. “They were the only two single females aboard. I was positive they were the ones Filmore sent for. That blows every theory we had.”
Shock tore through Dusti while she stared up at the man holding her. “You know my grandfather?”
He swiftly looked back at her. “You’re Decker Filmore’s granddaughter?”
She nodded, feeling a little stronger and less lightheaded. Maybe it wasn’t her anemia kicking her in the ass but just the shock that had gotten to her. She’d also been battered around and nearly crushed by the big man who currently held her. “He’s my mother’s father. We were on our way to see him. He’s terminally ill.”
Rage tightened the man’s features, making Dusti feel more fear than when the plane was going down. He looked really scary.
“That’s a lie. That bastard will never die until someone takes him out.” He jerked his head up to glare at his brother. “We’ve got the right women. I never saw this coming, did you? Granddaughters? But we can stop him now that we’re the ones who have them.”
A soft growl came from behind Dusti, making her startle at the chilling animalistic sound Kraven had made. “I wouldn’t have risked my neck to save one of them if I’d known they were related to him by blood. Now we’re going to have to kill them ourselves.”
Terror struck Dusti as she stared into Drantos’s furious blue eyes, which were fixed on her. He blinked once, t
hen twice. His plush lips pressed tightly together to show his displeasure. He finally looked away and shook his head.
“I don’t kill helpless women, and you aren’t going to either. I know it’s tough to get a good read in here, what with all the blood and everything else filling the air, but they smell just like the other passengers.” He paused. “You know what I’m saying. You’re just angry and it’s been a bad day. We’ll find out what they know and crush that bastard’s plan. We’ll use them against him. They’re his blood, even if it is faint enough that we can’t pick it up. That means they’ll be valuable to him.”
Kraven glared at her and his nostrils flared. “How can they be his blood?”
“We’ll figure it out later, after we deal with this mess, but do you know anyone who would purposely claim to be a relative to that bastard unless it was the truth?”
“I found it!” Bat rushed to them, gripping her purse. “Hang on, Dusti. I have some of your shots.”
Dusti flashed a terrified look at Bat, trying to convey that things were much worse than just being in a plane crash. She tried to catch her sister’s eye but Bat remained too intent on finding the iron shots, digging inside her purse with one hand. She jerked out a small black case with a grin.
“Here it is. They aren’t broken.”
Dusti glanced at Drantos, only to discover him glaring down at her. She and Bat were in a lot of trouble.
Her grandfather was rich—and she had a sinking feeling they were about to be held for ransom.
Can this day get any worse?
Drantos watched the sister inject the woman in his arms with a small syringe. Then he looked at his brother, attempting to conceal his rage and dismay.
These women were the granddaughters of their worst enemy. He knew his brother hated Decker even more than he did, which was the only reason why Kraven would even contemplate killing the obviously helpless sisters.
Decker Filmore had sent a woman to seduce Kraven months before, and then she’d attempted to murder him. She’d failed, but it had left his brother with a hair-trigger abhorrence toward any females associated with Decker’s clan.