Gator's Challenge Read Online Free Page B

well,” she retorted.
    “Are the boys all right?”
    At this query, her angry composure wavered. Her eyes filled with moisture, and she bit her lip as soon as it began to tremble. “I don’t know. I have no idea how they’re doing. I spent most of the night awake getting driven in loops to lose anyone who might have followed.”
    “Who brought you?”
    “I did, of course.” From around the other side of the car, an older man appeared, dressed in a suit, hair impeccably cut.
    Wes knew him. Most people did. His name was Parker, and he sat as a councilor on the SHC—crooked fucker if there ever was one—oh, and a Mercer. Parker’s mother had married outside the family—contrary to popular belief in town that they’d interbred.
    But a different last name couldn’t dilute the fact that half of Parker’s DNA remained pure, bad-to-the-bone Mercer.
    “I wondered when I’d see you again, Uncle.”
    Melanie blinked. “Uncle? You’re related? I thought I’d met all your uncles. At least those not doing time. This one is—”
    “Respectable?” Wes sneered. “Only until you get to know him. Then you’ll see he’s just like the rest of our family.”
    Parker slapped a hand over his heart. “Such disdain. And for family, too. After everything I’ve done, I’d expect a little more gratitude.”
    “I’ll show you gratitude. Anytime you like, you and me. No one else.” The feral grin felt great.
    Melanie frowned. “I’m beginning to feel like I’m in a soap opera.”
    “Isn’t real life always a never-ending punch line?” Wes pushed away from the wall. “So where is she staying, Uncle?”
    “What, aren’t you going to automatically assume she’ll be living with her husband?”
    His lips tightened. Why did his uncle hold a taunting smirk on his lips? Had he guessed how he felt about Melanie? He’d tried very hard to hide it.
    “Take me to my boys, this instant. They’re the only reasons I caved to Andrew’s blackmail. I want to see them now.”
    Distaste twisted Parker’s lips. “Ah yes, the brats. I think I’ll let Wes take you to them. I never could abide children. Noisy, messy things. Useless, too, until they’re much older.”
    His uncle really deserved a smack, and Melanie seemed determined to deliver.
    Wes grabbed a hold of Melanie’s arms, holding her back lest she launch herself, claws extended, at Parker’s face. Knowing his uncle, that wouldn’t go over well.
    As she snarled and thrashed, growling, “Let me at him,” he asked, “Where are the twins?”
    “Tell me now or I swear I will shred you to ribbons.” Melanie just might, given she managed a curled lip and a snarl, a sound no human body should ever be able to make.
    Parker seemed completely unruffled by the fact she’d eviscerate him in a heartbeat. “Top floor. The new nursery unit. They’re the first ones to enjoy it. But we hope to change that very soon.”
    For a moment, Wes stood still as a rock, despite the fact that Melanie pulled and yanked, desperate to go find her kids. Wes couldn’t move because Parker’s ominous words hit him with the force of a sledgehammer.
    The first… implying there would be more children, yet more innocents getting drawn into the sick game his uncle and the others played.
    “You can’t be serious,” he finally managed to mutter.
    “I am. And you will not question me. Now take the woman to her brats. I’ve other things to attend to.” With that order, his uncle stalked away.
    We should eat him, too.
    Except his uncle, with his tough and stringy carcass, would probably give him indigestion.
    “What are you waiting for?” Melanie said, snapping him out of his paralysis. “Take me to my boys.”
    “I’m waiting for you to not harp.”
    “I don’t harp. I bitch. Loudly.” She eyed him with tight lips. “So move or I’ll take my ranting from mildly peeved to full-on she-bitch.”
    As he led the way to the building, a need to explain burned, trying to force its way past his