by Cree Storm
CHAPTER 13
Rory sat at the computer in the war room. He couldn’t believe how light hearted and free he felt. Funny, considering that he was now a mated man, which meant he was as good as married, but Rory felt how he felt and even though he had not worked up to the actual intercourse part of his mating, he had gone farther than he ever thought he could and his mates were so good to him—Patient and sweet.
“You sound happy,” Shadow said as he walked into the war room.
Rory kept tapping at the keys, until he finally had all four images on screen he was looking for. “Funny you should say that. I was just thinking how good it felt to be happy.”
Shadow walked to where Rory sat, handing him a cup of coffee, before sitting down himself. “Congratulations on your mating, Rory. I am truly happy for both you and Snake. I don’t know Ozcog that well, but from what I do know, he sounds like a very good man.”
Rory turned to Shadow. “He is and thank you. I have to say that I am very lucky with the men fate brought into my life.”
“Well, my kind believes she knows what she’s doing. Speaking of mates, where are yours? I find it interesting that they would leave you alone,” Shadow said, then must have realized how it sounded because he quickly jumped in with, “Not that you can’t take care of yourself, but a new mate is not easy to leave. You tend to want them with you every moment of every day for the first few months.”
Rory laughed. “That may be, and I had to wait forever for Ozcog to go to sleep, but the second he did, I kind of snuck out of the house. I wanted to get an early start on things and I remembered how Wade talked when he and Suneth first mated. I need to focus, you know? First, there is the fact that I still can’t get a hold of Flyer and he isn’t showing up on the radar. I’m hoping that it’s just because he is trying to maintain a low profile, but I’m really starting to get concerned. I’m running a scan on the black box hoping I might be able to tap into the GPS it has to locate the box. I won’t know what’s going on, but at least I might be able to figure out where the hell he is. Then, there is the asshat stalking our towns. I know that I’ve looked at these films hundreds of times, but I still feel like I’m missing something.”
Shadow nodded. “That’s why I came in, actually. I wanted another look at those still shots. When I saw them before, a thought came to me. I made some calls last night, and I’m waiting to hear back from a few people, however, one of the men I spoke with told me something to look for, so I came to have another look and see if I can clear the images up a bit more.”
Rory increased the size of the images he had already pulled up. “Shadow, I’ve tried to clear them up and honestly, this is the best I could do.”
Both men were looking at the still images, when Rory asked, “What is it you’re thinking?”
Shaking his head, Shadow replied, “I’d rather be sure before I say anything.”
Rory turned to Shadow. “Just fucking tell me, Shadow. I understand it’s just an idea and right now, I am willing to hear any suggestions someone might have. I really have a feeling that this guy is getting ready to attack again. So, anything you or anyone else might have for us to follow up on is welcome.”
Nodding, Shadow said, “You often hear me talk about my Native American family?”
“Yes, even though you don’t look one iota like any Native American I have ever met or seen before,” Rory replied.
Shadow gave a sad laugh, saying, “My birth father was the pride leader. He was a by the book kind of man and had little tolerance for anyone that tried to step out of line. Being his son, and the eldest, it was told to me that I would be expected to take over our pride one day. I didn’t want that. I knew there was no way I could be the next pride leader.”
“Why? You’re strong, loyal, smart, and can kick ass,” Rory asked curiously.
Shadow smirked. “Well thank you, but you left out one major thing.”
Rory’s brows drew together in confusion. “What?”
“I’m gay, Radar,” Shadow replied.
Shrugging, Rory said, “Yeah, so? Our entire team is gay, Shadow. What does that have to do with anything?”
“Back in the day, being a gay shifter was a death sentence, not a quality one might look for in a leader,” Shadow answered, then sighed. “Anyway, I knew who and what I was from about the age of eight. I had seen what had happened to other men and even women in our pride when they were outed, and I did my best to hide that side of me. However, becoming a teenager and having hormones flying all over the place, I got sloppy. I really liked this guy in town and one day we were making out. I was so involved in what we were doing, I never saw my father’s second. He saw me, went back to my father and told him. I was on my way home, when my brother caught up to me, telling me that our father had called a hunt on me.”
“A hunt,” Rory asked breathily.
Nodding, Shadow replied, “Yeah, it’s when a shifter has committed a crime and the leader of the pride, pack or whatever, orders his death.”
Rory gasped, “Your own father ordered your death?”
Shrugging once more, Shadow replied, “I told you, being gay was a death sentence and I was gay. I knew I had to make a run for it, and I also knew I had very little chance of making it out of my pride territory before they caught and killed me. I said good bye to my brother and shifted. I took off as fast as I could, and I almost made it. However, my father’s second caught up to me.”
“Oh, my god,” Rory rasped.
“I fought hard, but as a shifter, you know who is stronger and that wasn’t me. I was a kid and he was a full-grown man. He tore up my sides and had just latched onto my neck for the killing blow when he was shot with an arrow. Corbin, my dad’s second, jumped back, let me go and took off, leaving me for dead. The man that had shot Corbin picked me up and carried me to his tribe. Things are a bit hazy, but I know that there was a lot of chanting, singing, and prayers along with stinging pain on my injuries. I should have died, but I was saved.”
“You were lucky,” Rory said with a nod.
Shadow shook his head. “I had a destiny I had not yet fulfilled.”
“I don’t know about that, but with all the people you have saved throughout the years, I can see what you mean,” Rory replied.
“My savior was the chief of a small Cherokee tribe. He and his wife took me in and raised me as their own. They taught me their ways and storytelling is a major part of the Native American way. One of those stories is about a creature called the Naaldlooshii. It is about a human that is cursed. Now normally, it is a shaman. However, there are stories of a great and powerful tribesmen having the ability to curse other humans. It’s a curse for the wicked and very evil,” Shadow explained.
“Shadow’s right, I was taught to know what he speaks of as the Nagual. It’s how we got the story of Beauty and the Beast. It was based on a gypsy curse that was cast on someone that harmed a loved one, turning the man into a horrid beast with each despicable act he commits,” Savage said walking into the room.
“Savage, what are you doing here?” Rory asked.
Walking towards them, Savage replied, “I was hoping to see if there might be any word from Flyer.”
Shaking his head, Rory replied, “No, but I put a tracer on the black box for his plane. I’m hoping I might get a hit with a new program I created for just this type of situation when we were going into hostile territory back in the day.”
Savage smiled. “You have always been a brilliant man. So, why are we talking about curses?”
Rory looked at Shadow and Shadow let out a deep breath. “I was thinking about the images I saw and remembering a story my Cherokee father used to tell me many years ago. I called some of my people and I’m waiting to hear back from Mohe, the Shaman of my tribe. I wanted to see if we could get a better image of the man attacking the men in Crystal and Maddox. It might help when I speak with Mohe.”
Rory’s phone rang and figuring it was his mates, Rory hit the speaker button. “W
e are not alone.”
“He’s human!” Donny shouted.
“Donny?” Rory asked in confusion.
“The guy that attacked me and the others. He’s human!” Donny shouted once more.
Savage and Shadow leaned closer to the phone as Rory said, “Slow down, Donny and where the hell are you?”
“I’m outside the entrance to the war room now. With all the noises last night coming from your room, I figured I wasn’t going to get much sleep, so I did some tests on some new samples I obtained. Where are you?” Donny asked.
“In the war room, asshole,” Rory replied with a laugh.
The door opened, and Donny quickly made his way inside. “Hey, oh shit, hi guys.”
“Hello, Donny,” Savage replied.
“I didn’t expect anyone to be here so early, but I’m glad you’re here, Rory. I went to talk to the other victims and like I thought, there was something they hadn’t told the cops,” Donny stated as he made his way to one of the computers and pushed in an external drive. “Take a look at this.”
Everyone turned their attention to the large overhead screen, as Donny started talking, “As you may or may not know, the human body has fifty to one hundred trillion cells and they are placed into sets that make up about twenty to twenty-five thous—”
“Donny, I know you understand all the numbers and shit, but we don’t, just tell us what you found out,” Rory jumped in before Donny got carried away.
Pursing his lips and rolling his eyes, Donny muttered, “Fine. I’ll talk in smaller quantities.” Pointing to the screen Donny continued, “A human has twenty-two numbered pairs of chromosomes and believe it or not, an animal is only off by a few genomes here and there.”
Rory sighed, “Donny.”
Tossing his hands in the air, Donny hissed, “Well, I’m sorry. I’m trying to talk in laymen’s terms, but sometimes that shit isn’t easy.” Walking to the large screen that had one set of links on the right and another set on the left. “I got a new sample from one of the victims last night and then I got an idea and went to the alley in Maddox.”
“What the fuck, Donny? Are you fucking crazy?” Rory gasped.
Shaking his head and rolling his eyes, Donny said, “Relax Mom, Sylux and Juddan were with me. Hell, I even got to ride on a gargoyle. It was super cool.”
Shadow practically growled, “Okay, so you went to Maddox and—"
“I took a chance that dick lick left behind some evidence that hadn’t been collected. I knew they had gotten some hair and fibers from the trash bin I was in, but I remembered when he was searching for me and how he had thrashed around underneath the thing. I found a nice chunk of skin and did some testing.”
“Why? I mean, why did you have to get new evidence?” Rory asked in confusion.
Savage sat, saying “He isn’t supposed to be working the case at all. Donny was told a to back the hell off.”
“And I told all of you to kiss my ass and I will bare it if that makes it easier for you,” Donny snapped.
Savage snarled, “You could jeopardize the case, Donny. You are not exactly non-biased. Any evidence you gather will be looked at as compromised. We can’t do anything to let this guy get off, damn it.”
“And I can’t stand around picking my ass hairs out, and hope that you can find him. I am the best forensics analyst you have in Colorado. I know all about compromise, which is why I went out there and got fresh evidence to take a look at and damn it, I found something out that is seriously important.”
“Which now we can’t use because you are the one that discovered it,” Savage argued.
Holding up his hand, Rory quickly said, “Both of you stop. Yes, Donny shouldn’t be working this case, but can you honestly blame him, Savage? Could you sit back and do nothing if it had been you? Could any of us? Let’s just hear what Donny found out and then we can see what we can do with the evidence we already have.”
Savage pursed his lips, then replied, “Fine.”
Rory turned to Donny. “Okay, explain what you found and please, Donny, do it in a way we can understand you. We’re not all Mensa members.”
Donny pointed to the screen where the DNA strands were. “Look at these, they look a lot alike, but they’re different. To the left is a typical human, but to the right is my own DNA. See how I have ten more combinations than the human’s? That’s how we know the difference.” Donny tapped on some keys and a different strand appeared on the right. “This is from the samples I got from my attack and one of the other victims. Look, there are no extra strands.”
Savage looked confused. “So, this means—?”
“He’s human,” Rory murmured.
Nodding, Donny then went to Rory’s computer, and tapped until the four images appeared. “He’s human, but this is no costume, Rory. Something is going on with this guy and it has nothing to do with shifters.”
Shadow softly whispered in awe, “Naaldlooshii.”
Donny looked at Shadow in confusion. “Huh?”
Rory slumped back in his seat, rubbing his face with his hands, saying, “He’s saying we are looking for the boogieman and unless we find him soon, things are going to start getting even worse around here.”
CHAPTER 14
‘
“I can’t believe he left our bed like that. He knows that things aren’t safe out there and he skipped out without a thought to his safety,” Ozcog practically snarled.
Snake turned into the parking lot and saw Rory’s brand new, cherry red Rubicon Jeep Wrangler. “Ozzie, as much as I want to go in guns blazing with our mate, we can’t.”
Oz slowly turned his head towards Snake, growling, “Why not?”
“Because we will only piss him off,” Snake calmly replied. Turning in his seat, Snake faced Oz. “Rory is very independent. It’s important to him that we believe he can take care of himself. He needs to know we trust him and believe in him, Ozzie. If we go in there snapping and growling, he is going to pull back and all the progress we made last night will be lost.”
Oz closed his eyes and drew in a loud breath. Nodding, he softly replied, “You’re right. I just—It hurts that he would just take off like that. If anything were to happen to him, I—I—”
Snake removed his seat belt and leaned into his mate. Lightly brushing his palm over Oz’s cheek, Snake whispered, “I know what you’re saying, Ozzie, but we can’t wrap Rory in bubble wrap either. We have to trust that he can take care of himself. All I’m asking is that when we go in there, we stay calm. It’s okay to tell him we are not happy with how he snuck out on us, but we can’t sound as if it’s because we don’t trust him to be able to take care of himself.”
Nodding, Oz rasped, “Okay.”
Snake leaned closer and touched his lips to his mate's. The taste of the man was beyond amazing, and Snake wished they had time to take things further than even the night before. However, he knew that wasn’t the case and reluctantly pulled back, softly saying, “Let’s go see what our wayward mate has been up to.”
Exiting the vehicle, Snake and Oz made their way inside the building and could hear the chaos in the back room. Quickly making their way into the war room, Snake and Oz could only stand there and watch as Rory and Shadow stared at the large screen on the wall with Savage, Pauly, Vik, Baldwin, and Donny.
Bullseye, Six, and Brax were in another part of the room pointing and talking as Wade was screaming at someone on the phone. Oz looked at Snake asking, “What the hell is going on?”
Shaking his head, Snake replied, “I have no idea.”
Just then Rory looked up and quickly made his way to them without looking them in the eye. “I’m sorry I took off like I did, but I had some things I needed to do here, and I have a hard time concentrating when you two are close to me.”
Ozzie sighed, saying, “I know I should take that as a compliment, but you could have told us, Rory. You could have said you wanted to come in early and asked us to stay back. Sneaking off like that—”
&
nbsp; “I know I was wrong, and I swear I won’t do it again. But if it means anything, we know what it is that’s been attacking the men in Crystal and Maddox and I located Flyer—well, kind of. I at least kind of have an idea where the plane is, or at least was, an hour ago,” Rory said.
Snake followed Rory with Oz close by his side. Wade could be heard screaming, “I don’t care, damn it! After everything my men and I have done for you, the least you could do is lend me some men. Colonel—How could they—Fuck me! Colonel—God damn it!” Wade snarled, slamming the phone down. “They aren’t going to help us get to Flyer.”
“What the fuck? Why the hell not?” Six snapped.
“They said we retired and therefore we’re on our own,” Wade stated with disgust.
Savage walked up behind Snake. “I think we found the Naaldlooshii.”
Rory turned. “Are you sure?”
Savage shrugged. “Donny spotted him going into the alley behind the shelter. We need to move.”
Nodding, Rory replied, “Okay, just give me a minute. We’re having a problem with the Colonel.”
Savage looked at Wade in confusion. “What’s going on?”
“They refuse to help in any way. Lansing even went so far as to say he wouldn’t help if he could because our team is a death trap,” Wade explained.
Savage shook his head as he pursed his lips. “Let me make some calls. I think I have some guys that can help us out.”
“Colonel Lansing said something else,” Wade said with a slight hesitation.
Snake knew that look. It was the one that said Wade needed to tell them something he didn’t want them to know but knew they had to be informed. “What’s up, Commander?”