She finally met his compelling bright blue gaze again.

“Who are you?” His voice sent chills down her spine again but his tone had softened just slightly.

“I…” She swallowed the lump in her throat; perhaps her heart, still there from all the fear. She wasn’t sure what to say. “Who are you?”

“You’re in my territory without permission.” His nostrils flared when he inhaled, took in her scent, and generous lips curved downward. “Your scent confuses me. You smell male but you obviously are not. Is that your blood?” He glanced down her body.

“Blame him.” She hooked a thumb in her kidnapper’s direction. “I’m only here because he forced me to be. I’m just trying to get home.”

“I smell him even from this distance. That’s not his blood on you.” He crouched suddenly, his attention straying to her leg, and he inhaled again.

She watched his eyes change color. It made her gasp when the blue suddenly flashed sparks of silver. It looked like little lightning bolts were exploding inside his irises. He sniffed again and suddenly gripped her leg, his hand moving too fast for her to follow. He inhaled deeply.

He didn’t look away from her. “Human.” His expression became grim when he rose to his full height. He finally looked away from her to make his obviously unhappy discovery known to her kidnapper. “You attacked and brought one of them into my territory to kill? Do you want us blamed for her death?” Rage dripped from every word he spoke. “We don’t sanction hunting them on our lands. You offend me.”

“No!” Her kidnapper raised his terrified gaze to the stranger. “I was under orders from Decker to bring her to you, Lord Aveoth.”

I’m in such deep shit, Dusti thought. She gawked at the warrior before her. Using that term described how he appeared in the getup he wore and the danger that seemed to radiate off him in waves of anger.

I’m so screwed. This is Aveoth, the one everyone is so afraid of. I so get why now. He looks meaner than hell.

“To me?” Aveoth actually appeared confused for a split second before his face hardened to an unreadable mask again. “Why would he gift me with a human?”

“She’s his granddaughter.”

His masculine features slackened in astonishment to reveal his emotions once more before his gaze shifted to pin her where she stood. “Is that true?”

Fear rendered her speechless. Aveoth made a rumbling sound from deep in his throat. It reminded her of something she’d once heard watching a documentary about volcanoes. He, like those volcanoes, made that noise right before he seemed to explode. The raw fury on his handsome face made her back up a step on legs that threatened to turn to rubber.

“Is it true?” he roared.

Her mouth opened but nothing came out. She locked her knees together to remain on her feet. Falling on her ass in front of the scary GarLycan didn’t seem a smart thing to do. His coloring started to slightly change. He turned from a deep copper tone to more of a gray shade.

“It’s true! Her name is Batina and she is the eldest child of Decker’s daughter,” the jerk on his knees supplied. “He planned to offer her to you as a lover. She carries his dead mate’s bloodline.”

Aveoth’s skin had definitely transformed into a slate gray in color. His flesh lost some of its human facade to harden and smooth out. Dusti had a sinking fear his Gargoyle traits were showing.

“She smells human.”

“Her father was one of them. Her mother was pure VampLycan, as you know.”

“Batina?”

Her sister’s name coming from Aveoth’s lips had her taking another step back to put more distance between them. Even those inches made her feel a little better.

“Is that your name?”

She still couldn’t speak. She shook her head no.

“She lies!” Craig rose to his feet. “She is—”

“DOWN!”

The loud order from Aveoth hurt Dusti’s ears as if thunder had torn through the woods. She nearly dropped to her own knees even though he apparently spoke to Craig. Out of her peripheral vision, she didn’t miss her kidnapper collapsing back to the ground, lowering his head and trembling violently, as though he were having a mini seizure. She could relate. Her instincts screamed at her to curl into the fetal position.

Aveoth seemed to suddenly appear right before her. The guy moved too fast to track with her eyes. A cool, smooth hand that definitely didn’t feel fleshy gripped her face. He didn’t hurt her but he used a good hold that kept her immobile. She whimpered when she saw his eyes. They glowed silver now, the color seeming to swirl around his irises, as if they had a life of their own.

“Are you Batina, granddaughter of Marvilella and Decker? Don’t lie to me.”

“No,” she whispered.

“She lies,” her kidnapper quaked. “I took her myself. She acknowledged her identity when I did.”

The handsome man lowered his face to stare into her eyes. “I see no lie.”

“There were only two of… Shit! You conniving bitch! You allowed me to take you instead of your sister, didn’t you?” Craig tried to get to his feet again.

Aveoth turned his head to give him a warning look and rumbled again inside his massive chest. The VampLycan dropped back to his knees.

“She lied to me. She’s the younger granddaughter,” he hurriedly explained. “The the more human one who didn’t inherit the strong bloodline.”

Aveoth’s color started to return to a normal shade as he took deep breaths. His hand on her face seemed to warm while he calmed down, the texture of it softening to flesh again. His silvery eyes cooled to blue. Dusti couldn’t look away from his gaze when he gave her his full attention again.

“What is your name?”

“Dusti.”

“Your full name.”

“Dustina Ann Dawson.”

“Are you also the granddaughter of Marvilella?”

“I…that’s what I’ve been told. I never met her. My mother’s name was Antina.”

His hand slid down her throat, his thumb pausing on the area just above her collarbone, before inching forward until she knew he could feel her rapid pulse over her carotid artery. She prayed he wouldn’t slice it open to just kill her where she stood.

“Feel no fear.” He lowered the volume of his voice to a husky rasp. “I would never hurt a descendant of Margola. She was Marvilella’s sister. We’d intended to become lovers but she died before reaching maturity.”