Free Passions Recalled: Forbidden Passions, Book 2 by Loribelle Hunt Page B

side of a hurricane. If it passed directly over them, they’d get the worst of it, regardless of the psychopath in the living room with a gun. And here she’d thought her luck might be changing. Not.
    Jason met her gaze, then reached out and took her hand, squeezing it gently. There was a hard look on his face when he turned back to Derek, and she hoped it meant he had a plan to get them out of this in one piece. Releasing her hand, he shrugged, somehow combining it with a smooth step closer to Derek that the other man didn’t seem to notice.
    “If you’re going to kill us, we might as well know why.”
    “Why not? Celeste may not even know the story. Michael’s always spent too much energy protecting his human daughter.” Derek’s grin was pure malice and the way he sneered human made her skin crawl.
    “Once upon a time, there was an Alpha who was challenged by his Beta, and the Beta killed him.” He frowned theatrically. “Sound familiar yet, Celeste?”
    “My father. Your father.” She shrugged and tried to look nonchalant. She hadn’t had a clue he held a grudge about that. No one had. “That was what? Fifteen years ago? Isn’t that old news?”
    “Old news.” He sneered. “For y’all maybe. Michael killed my father and stole my clan. I’ve watched and worked and waited for years to get it back. Destroying his family in the process is just an added bonus.”
    “Well, I don’t have a problem with that on general principal you understand,” Jason drawled, and she glared at him. This was helping? “But Celeste is my family, not Michael’s, so she’s hardly a target for your revenge.”
    Derek shook his head in mock sorrow. “I might have let her go, but she saw something she shouldn’t have. It’s better if she dies here really. It’ll be quick, Jason. And it’ll destroy Michael. One more woman he’s responsible for that he couldn’t protect.”
    “About the women.” Jason stood calmly with his arms crossed over his chest as if it was perfectly normal to stand in his living room in the middle of a hurricane and hold a conversation with a madman, as if it was simply curiosity that made him inquire. “I get going after his business. I was ready to take the land. But how do the women fit into the plan?”
    “Ah, you spoke to Michael. He told you about the women.” Derek’s eyes were wild and he gave her a smile she could only describe as creepy. She wished Jason would hurry the hell up and get them out of this. She tried not to watch as he took another step toward Derek, tried not to give the movement away. Derek waved a dismissive hand in the air. “They were only human. Well, except the first one.”
    She sucked in a deep breath as realization hit her. She remembered the whispered conversations.
    “Michael challenged your father because he thought Darren killed his youngest sister. But it was you, wasn’t it?”
    Derek grinned at her. It made her skin crawl, and she tried to edge closer to Jason, but he’d managed to put too much distance between them.
    “So you do remember. Irresponsible of me to kill one of our kind though. I didn’t make that mistake again.”
    “So you target human women,” Jason said, admiration in his voice, part of sidle-up-to-the-crazed-killer-to-take-him-out act. She hoped like hell he knew what he was doing.
    “I knew you would understand, Jason.”
    “Oh, I get it all right.”
    The wind and rain picked up again outside, and Jason lunged at Derek. Before he could take aim, the rifle flew from Derek’s hands and skittered across the floor. She grabbed it as they fell in a tangle. Both men lurched apart and shifted as the eye passed over the house and the wind built to a roar. It was as loud as the tornado that ripped through her neighborhood a few months ago, and she tried to get a look out the window. She couldn’t see anything but knew tornado or not that much wind was very dangerous. They needed to find shelter fast.
    A growl made the hair on