by D. K. Davis
“You guys can head in for lunch. I’m sure Aunt Becka has it ready,” I said, putting away the pitchforks and shovels.
“I’ll go with them.” Addison stalled-out for a moment. “Keep Oakly there when you talk with Lara, okay?”
I nodded.
Addison caught up with the group. Riley stood on the path and waited for them to catch up, and then they headed toward the house.
I strode to the side of the barn where I’d last seen Lara and Oakly, but they’d left. Great. I walked down the path toward the house. Maybe they went for lunch.
Rowan, Caleb, and Uncle Charlie drove up in the gator with only shovels inside the trailer. I took a breath and put a hand to my chest in an attempt to relieve the pinch I felt inside for Aunt Becka and Zoe. Uncle Charlie winked at me, without a smile. Caleb looked pretty sober.
“I’ll park the gator back inside Big Red, Charlie. You and Caleb go on in the house with everyone for lunch,” Rowan said.
Charlie looked at me. “You headed inside?”
Rowan patted the seat beside him. “I think she wants a ride?” He grinned at Charlie. “If that’s okay with you.”
Uncle Charlie waved us off. He and Caleb strolled up the porch steps as I climbed into the gator.
Rowan drove the path toward Big Red. “Did you get a chance to talk with Lara?”
“Looked like she and Oakly shared some lip-touchin’ time when the group and I walked passed the small cages. I asked Lara to wait for me while I helped take care of the big deer pen, but when we’d finished, she and Oakly were gone.”
“They’re probably sitting in the kitchen enjoying lunch.” He rubbed his hand across my back. When we got to the barn, I jumped out to open the big door so that he could park inside.
Uncle Charlie and Aunt Becka had organized barns, everything in its place always. Rowan backed into a parking slot precisely the right size for the gator and trailer. He detached the trailer and walked around to me.
“You ready for lunch?”
Rowan’s brows skewed into a smolder, one up and one down, and he struck a pose, making me laugh.
“How long did you practice that in a mirror?” I pressed my lips together to stop giggling.
Rowan did it again, paused for a heartbeat, and then grabbed me. My body crashed into his, strong arms wrapped around me, and then his lips consumed mine. My eyelids closed on automatic, and sparks lit the backside of my lids. Tremors worked like a sultry snake through my spine, encompassing my arms and weakening my legs. A groan escaped, and he sighed against my lips, leaving me breathless and faint.
I heard a groan. It wasn’t Rowan nor was it me. I opened my eyes and broke away from Rowan’s lips. “Someone else is in here,” I whispered.
We listened, moving in stealth-mode around the inside of the barn. Rowan pointed toward some equipment for a direction. I scented who it was, so Rowan must know also. He picked up speed, and I stayed right behind him.
The groans grew in rhythm as we closed in. Oakly and Lara lay enamored in heavy petting on a bed of straw. Thankfully, their clothes had remained on, although rearranged.
Rowan cleared his throat. “Busted, dude and dudette.”
“Lunch time,” I added and clapped my hands together.
Rowan joined in. “Amazing theatrics.”
“So, does that mean you want an encore?” Oakly grinned, his lips all puffy and red, just like Lara’s.
“Pull yourselves together so we can go get lunch with the others. And then, Morgan wants to talk with Lara afterward.” Rowan stood like a statue. “And I need to catch you up on what’s been happening.”
Lara and Oakly crawled out of the straw on their hands and knees.
“And good times were had by all.” I couldn’t help it. They wrecked our passionate moment, so we ruined theirs. Paybacks were hell.
Chapter Twenty-two
Morgan
Aunt Becka had the counter filled with lunch goodies. By the time Oakly, Lara, Rowan, and I got there, everyone else had finished eating. Aunt Becka stood beside the oven and pulled out a cookie sheet filled with warm, luscious bear claws. Sweet aroma wafted through the kitchen, making me salivate.
“Help yourself to dessert, and then I’ll take you in to see Zoe’s twins.” Aunt Becka set the pan on some hot pads and laid a pair of tongs beside it. She looked refreshed like she’d gotten some good sleep. Her arms wrapped me in a quick hug before she left the area.
Everyone from the table crowded around the other side of the counter, grabbing the pastries with their fingers. The rest of us loaded the lunch stuff on our plates and decided to eat under the oak tree so that we could talk in private.
The shade and breeze cooled the warm temperature, making the soft grassy spot perfect. Rowan situated himself beside me so that we sat across from Lara and Oakly. “Dad’s coming home tonight with Mom,” Rowan said, glancing over at Oakly, who appeared off into Lara-land. “He told me to schedule other Forest Guardians to patrol the territory so we can stick with Morgan.” He coughed, and it sounded more like a gag, probably to get Oakly’s attention, whose gaze consistently drifted to Lara. “I do have other things to share from Dad. Maybe while the girls are talking, we can sit on the porch.”
I took a bite of Aunt Becka’s delicious egg salad sandwich, stalling to think of the best questions for Lara.
She glanced at me. “So, what do you want to know?” She shot a watermelon seed through her lips, and it hit the ground next to me. “Well?”
“What did Jack say that made you think I needed rescued? What exactly was your plan of action to get me out of here?” I studied her eye blinks, her bobbing knee, and the tremble in her hands.
“Why do we have to go over this again. I was simply asked to rescue you.” She huffed as if frustrated.
“Why were you asked? What prompted Jack to assume that I needed saved?” I was the one boiling in frustration.
She glared at me and let out another hiss of hot air. “He told me that your mother called here every day to talk with you, and your aunt and uncle kept giving excuses for why you couldn’t come to the phone. Jack surmised that something turned sideways here for you.”
Oakly and Rowan had the same reaction as I did, eyes widened, and mouth opened.
I closed my mouth and pressed my lips together, considering all the things I wanted to say to her, besides calling her a liar. “So, what was your plan to get me out of here?” I knew my aunt would have let me talk to Mom if she’d called. “A shoot out?”
Her knee bobbed a little more. She turned her reddened face to Oakly. Her brows hovered in a pleading-format across her forehead. “What is she trying to prove here?”
Oakly’s gaze searched Lara’s face. “She’s simply looking for the truth. How were you going to rescue Morgan? Where would you take her?” He sighed. “You didn’t even drive a car here.” He shook his head. “Just answer her questions and we can leave.”
She jumped to her feet, her plate of food dumped on the ground. “I didn’t come with a plan. That’s why I brought the gun. No idea what I’d be up against. And I parked down the road on a small two track so my car wouldn’t get noticed or traced.”
Another damn lie. I got to my feet and stuck my hand out. “Give me your cell phone.”
“I don’t have one.” Her eyes narrowed.
I wanted to punch her in the face, again. “Turn around, let me see for myself.” She’d always carried a cell phone, texting whenever we were together before I left home.
Oakly and Rowan clambered to a stance. Oakly grabbed Lara by the arms and turned her, so I got her backside.
I patted her down and found her phone stuck under the back of her bra. I yanked it out.
Oakly frowned at her. “Why are you lying?”
Lara kneed him in the groin, head-butted Rowan, grabbed the phone out of my hands and then ran.
After a second’s pause from shock and surprise, I took off after her, across the driveway and into the forest. I breath
ed deep, opening all of my senses to her scent. She made little sound as she leapt over downed logs and shrubs. Her agility and speed kept me focused.
Rowan hollered for me to wait, but I couldn’t lose Lara.
I kicked it up a notch, adrenaline firing another hit to my senses and my speed. She crossed the main road, I followed. Hot prickles combed over my skin as I slid on my butt down a leaf-ridden hill. Not sure how I missed tree trunks and fallen branches, but I made it to the bottom without incident.
When I stood, her scent had disappeared. I did a three-sixty, scanning, smelling, and listening to no avail. How could she vanish?
I swung around one more time and considered climbing back up the hill. I had watched her fly over the top of this hill. She could only go down. I studied where I’d slid down. The leaves looked all shiny, oily. I bent over and picked up a leaf to smell the slick stuff on it. A stab in my right shoulder knocked me to my knees, and another hit my left shoulder. Scorching threads discharged beneath my skin, streaming along my back and up my neck, into my arms, and down my legs. I couldn’t lift my arms to reach my shoulders, nor could I turn my head. My tongue swelled, and my lips wouldn’t listen to my brain.
The hot pin pricks had warned me of danger, and I didn’t take heed. My vision darkened around the edges. My body dropped forward, a faceplant in the dirt and leaves, and then everything went black.
* * *
Rowan
It took me a minute to gain momentum after Lara took us by surprise. She had a head like a rock, and as I glanced at my brother, her knee probably had felt the same way. “Lara’s leading Morgan away. We can’t lose them.” I yanked Oakly to his feet, and he folded again, so I took off without him.
I hollered for Morgan to stop and wait, but she never slowed.
My stomach churned, and all parts of my skin prickled. I opened my senses, claiming a rhythm for my breath and my heartbeat. The need to shift overwhelmed me. Mid-afternoon daylight, a no-shift rule according to my father, but when saving someone’s life, what standard would he enforce?
Morgan’s scent drove me at high-speed. My mind-communication called to her, “Morgan, location?” Any communication from her would send me a signal, like GPS, I could hone in on her location. But nothing came.
Oakly hadn’t followed me either. Where the hell was he?
I tossed my clothes off on the run and shifted into cougar-form. My entire system went into red-alert. All senses heightened in cat-mode. I threw out sensory strings, like a spider throwing a web.
I knew this must have been Lara’s plan all along. Get us all to believe her story, make us accepting, so vulnerable to her dark side, and then kidnap Morgan. She was never here to rescue her.
Morgan’s trail led me toward the road. I jumped over a log, and crack like the sound of a shotgun. Sharp teeth skewered my front leg, and I stumbled to the ground in excruciating pain. My bone had snapped. A steel trap. I looked around. At least five more of these damn things were set and in formation around me.
How many guys had Lara brought with her? She didn’t set all of these traps herself. I sniffed the air and found no scent, other than Morgan’s and Lara’s. The traps must have just got set. Otherwise, our guardians would have discovered them, or maybe these were set for the guardians. The no-scent part reminded me of the men who’d poisoned Oakly and me. I was sure that same poison dowsed the teeth of these traps, and the traps weren’t meant for me. Lara had deviated from her original plan.
I lay on the ground unable to shift into human-form, or I’d bleed-out, and the only person I could communicate with wasn’t listening. She must be unconscious or worse. My heart hammered to her rhythm, proving she still lived.
I let out a cat-call for assistance and also in warning of the traps. I pawed the trap, throwing some strength into it, but that only made the pain worsen.
Oakly, where the hell are you?
* * *
Morgan
A vibration hummed beneath me. I lay on my back against a hard floor with my hands and feet tied together. I opened my eyes to darkness and realized something covered my head. Voices echoed close by, but I couldn’t make anything out with a constant buzzing going on behind my eyes. My body bounced a few inches into the air. Ahhh, I lay on the floor of a vehicle trussed up like a kidnapped victim.
“Rowan, are you there?” I threw the mind-talk out like a scream, only from the inside of my head. The rhythm of my heartbeat matched Rowan’s, slow and steady. “Rowan?”
Rowan should have been right behind me as I chased Lara. I thought back to piece it together and to recall if I ever heard Rowan call my name after I first ran into the forest. A picture of the oily leaves flickered in my memory. My face fell into them. Did they smell like…cooking oil?
No wonder I flew down that hill on my butt. Someone put a lot of effort into my elaborate kidnapping. Spikes of pain hit in odd places over my skin and I had no idea what that indicated, other than I was in deep doo-doo.
“Morgan, where are you?” Rowan’s voice busted through the fog inside my mind.
My body relaxed, he was looking for me. “A cover over my head, and my hands and feet tied. I’m on the floor of a moving vehicle.”
“She won’t wake up until we get there, not with the dose you shot into her.” Lara.
“So, her mate’s not going to survive the poison on that trap. I got a picture on my phone of him in cat-form laying on the ground. Look. Check out the ground around him.” A deep male voice I didn’t recognize. Some shuffling, and then he added, “No one can even get close to him with all of those traps.” He chuckled an evil, sadistic sound. “What about his twin? Did you get a chance to give him the knock-out drug?”
“I kneed him and shot him with the syringe at the same time. Even I was impressed with my ability to hide that needle in my hand. He’ll have no idea what hit him in time to help her or her mate.” She laughed, almost hysterically.
What an evil witch. Well, the guy was off about Rowan, and hopefully, Oakly’s back to functioning at full capacity. I had no idea how long I’d been unconscious or how far away she’d driven from my aunt and uncle’s place.
“How much farther to Mackinaw City? Check the GPS, would you?”
“Rowan. Lara’s driving. Male passenger. Their destination is Mackinaw City.”
* * *
Rowan
Oakly found me an hour after getting caught in the trap. Both he and Jobey helped move me away from the other steel-toothed snares. As soon as they freed me from that damn trap, my bones and tissue integrated and healed. Morgan’s blood still ran rampant in my system because the poison on the trap had never affected me. Jobey let me borrow his extra stash of clothes after I shifted back into human form.
More guardians came in. I made them all aware of the poison coating the steel nightmares. Everyone had come prepared carrying the syringe of antidote as Dad had requested. They went to work removing all of the toothy snares. Afterward, they also ran a roving search for any others set in our territory. No one picked-up any scent other than the area where Lara and Morgan had run.
Oakly and I followed the scents farther, crossing the road with caution. “So, what took you so long? I thought you’d follow me.”
“I tried. My heart responded in full, but my body wouldn’t listen to my brain, let alone opening an ear to my heart. I lay there lucid. My senses worked, but my muscles didn’t respond.”
“Did anyone inside the house see you laying on the ground? I can’t believe no one noticed any of the action.” Everyone was probably in a sugar coma from the pastries.
“Caleb, Riley, and Addison ran out to me after about fifteen or so minutes. They’d been looking at the baby fawns. Addison found the syringe on the ground. I just had to wait for it to work out of my system. Any other shifter would lay immobile for hours, I’m sure. I think Morgan’s blood gave me superpowers.”
“You’re right about Morgan’s blood. It’s a gift.” I nodded, realizing Morgan’s blo
od still resided in both of our systems. “But I’m surprised everyone didn’t follow you into the forest.”
“Oh, they wanted to. I played hell keeping them out. Becka and Charlie came up with some needed chores.”
We moved as one beside each other as we came upon a steep hill. “Look.” I pointed at the slick strip of scattered leaves. “Someone slid down this thing.”
“What do you bet me Morgan bit it as she flew over the top of this hill? Bet she took that trip on her butt-cheeks.” He grinned, and then slowly sobered. “This doesn’t look good. Check out the bottom of the hill. It looks like a bomb went off down there.”
I noticed it also. A lot of displaced leaves and dirt, and it had me wondering if it marked the spot where Morgan was captured. I moved along the top of the hill away from the slick trail and then made my way down to investigate. Oakly followed.
I opened my senses, reaching, throwing the sensitivity strings out, waiting for a response, and then calling to her through mind-communication. Nothing. When we reached the bottom of the hill, Oakly dashed ahead of me.
He lifted something from the ground, sniffed it, and then held it out for me. “A dart. I’d say your girl might have gotten the same drug as I did.”
I picked up another dart. “Only a bigger dose.”
Chapter Twenty-three
Rowan
I sucked in my breath and released it slowly, covering my ears and closing my eyes, an attempt to block outside distractions. Mind-communication was still new to me, not like I had a guide to tell me how to do it.