Claiming the Enemy: Dustin (Porter Brothers Trilogy 3)

Accusingly, Holly stared at him. “You did something when you were gone with The Last Riders three months ago, didn’t you?”

“Woman—”

“Don’t woman me!” Holly stabbed a pointed finger into his chest. “Who did you heal?”

Greer stared at Rachel accusingly for upsetting Holly.

“Don’t blame Rachel. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Dustin winced when Holly poked Greer again.

“Because I don’t need you nagging me.” Greer grabbed the back of the couch to steady himself.

For a second, Dustin thought Holly was going to deck his brother. Instead, she threw her arms around him.

“I love you, you crazy man. You know that, right?”

“If I didn’t know it before, I do now. You going to hug me to death, or are you going to let me give Rosie her bath?”

Dustin could hear Holly’s frustrated sigh as she released him.

Greer took his chance at freedom, scooping Rosie out of her playpen to hold her against his chest.

“Aren’t you at least going to tell us what you and Rachel did?”

“Shush, woman …,” Greer hissed. “I don’t know.”

“What does that mean?” Rising, Dustin supported Ema so that she wouldn’t fall to the side as he asked his brother the question.

“It means I don’t want to know.” Greer’s voice dropped to a volume that had everyone in the room straining to hear. “There’s always a price to pay, and so far, I haven’t paid jackshit, so it must not have worked. I told Zoey I didn’t think it would.”

“Who’s Zoey?” Dustin’s headache was beginning to get worse from Greer’s nonexplanation. It would be easier to go to bed and get a few hours’ sleep before his nightmare struck, making it impossible to sleep for the rest of the night. He could wait until Holly was at the grocery store to get clear answers from Greer.

“A friend of Penni’s. I tried to talk you into going with me. You lost out, baby brother.”

“Won’t be the first time I lost out, and I’m sure it won’t be the last,” Dustin said wryly.

Standing, he laid Ema gently down on the couch, spreading a throw blanket over her. He tenderly gazed down on the sleeping child as she lifted her eyes and reached out to clutch his jeans.

“I love you, Uncle Dustin.”

“I love you, baby girl.”

His throat became clogged at how much he cared for his family. Dustin knew why the spirits claimed their prices. The town might consider them trash, but like diamonds in the rough, they had to be searched for, cleaned, and shined to show the true brilliance they were capable of. Diamonds didn’t come cheap. The greater the clarity, the more expensive, until only those willing to pay the price could hold one in the palm of their hand.

Greer paid that price each time he healed someone. Rachel, too. It was because of them that Logan and Holly were alive.

Dustin bent down to tousle Logan’s hair. “Ten more minutes, then it’s bedtime.”

“Yes, Dad.”

From the first time Logan had called him Dad, there had never been a moment when he hadn’t felt it in his heart. Greer and Rachel could perform miracles with their healing; he created his.

“You’ll be gone before I get back,” he said, seeing Rachel gathering her and Ema’s things. “Congratulations again, sister.”

Stopping next to Greer, who was about to go into the bathroom with Rosie, Dustin reached out and touched the strand of white hair that stood out from the rest of the copper locks. “You’ve never used your gift unless it benefited someone in need. There isn’t a man or woman alive who could sucker you into doing what you don’t want to do. Whatever you did must have been for a good reason, so quit beating yourself up about it.”

Greer’s eyes flickered. “What little education you got has gone to your head.”

“I didn’t have to go to night school to figure that out. I did that by myself.”

“Yeah, well … what did you figure out?” He snorted sarcastically, jiggling Rosie on his hip when she grew impatient.

Dustin dropped his hand back to his side and moved past Greer to the door. His brother would rather die by a horde of angry elephants before admitting he was softhearted.

“That I might be the better shot, but you’re the better man.”

He left his family staring at him in shock. Their idea of showing affection was beating the hell out of each other, or one-upping each other with sarcastic gibes. He just couldn’t do it after seeing Greer’s trepidation at the consequences of what he had done while he was gone.

Walking toward the woods behind the barn, he blended into the waiting darkness. Ignoring the brambles that snagged onto his jeans, he made his way to the heavily booby-trapped part of their land that they grew their weed.

Coming to a large cluster of bushes, Dustin wiggled under the part that Greer had hacked out so they could get through it without getting their skin torn to shreds. He then disengaged Greer’s boobytrap before picking up the mini-LED flashlight that hung on a rope from the bush. He adjusted the setting to low so that others snooping around the area wouldn’t see where he was until they were almost on him.