by Mia Taylor
“Come on, Chloe,” he begged quietly. “Come on.”
Slowly, her eyes fluttered and she peered up at him, dazed but awake, and he exhaled with such force, he fell back.
“That stupid ass,” Berlin sighed, stepping over them as she crossed the threshold, kicking Ammon in the rump. “Predictable and stupid.”
Cypher stared up at her uncomprehendingly.
“How did you know he was here?”
“He followed you, Cypher, just like I did. He must have known you would lead him to her eventually. It’s a good thing I figured that out too and warned you.”
“Who is that?” Chloe murmured, looking at Berlin in confusion.
“Get up, Ammon!” Berlin yelled, kicking the bear again. “The crew is outside waiting for you.”
“He’s not getting up,” Cypher said flatly, gathering Chloe in his arms and pulling her close. “I killed him.”
Berlin snickered and kicked the bear again. Cypher started as Ammon groaned and shifted back into his mortal form. Chloe clung to him and he could feel her heart racing.
“I killed him!” Cypher insisted, gaping as Ammon came to. “I felt his life slip away.”
“Oh, I’ve taught you nothing,” Berlin sighed, reaching down to grab Ammon by the cuff of his ear. “Didn’t you hear me, Ammon? I said it’s time to move!”
Ammon moaned again but he allowed himself to be dragged toward the door.
“I’ll be back for you!” Ammon spat and Berlin snickered again.
“Not in this lifetime,” she assured Ammon, hauling him out the door. Before they disappeared, Berlin turned back to them.
“Sorry about the mess but you can’t say I didn’t warn you. Thanks for your help.”
She was gone, leaving the couple in stunned silence.
“I swear, I killed him!” Cypher said in disbelief. “I did!”
Chloe stared up at him with shining eyes.
“Maybe you can’t die.”
His head jerked toward her in shock. It was something he’d never considered. There was still so much about himself that he didn’t know, so much that he needed to learn.
“Are you okay?” he asked, shoving his odd genetics aside as he stared searchingly at her face.
“Yeah, I am,” she replied and he could see she was unharmed. “Why is it that every time we get together, there’s damage?”
He scoffed.
“I think we have escaped remarkably unscathed considering,” he replied. “But if I don’t have to shift again for another ten years, I think I’ll be happy with that.”
“Agreed,” she sighed, laying her head across his chest as their pulses regained normalcy.
“Chloe?”
Their heads moved toward the top of the staircase where Dennis Byler stood, trembling and gray against his walking cane.
“Dad!” she gasped jumping to her feet. “Dad, I told you to stay in bed.”
“What is he?” Dennis moaned, pointing at Cypher, backing away as his daughter ran up the steps. “What kind of creature have you let into my house?”
Chloe froze and turned to look at Cypher in panic.
“Where is the other bear? Why are there bears in my house?”
His voice was reaching a frenzied pitch and Cypher ambled to his feet, poised to flee.
“Dad, how much morphine have you had today?” she asked, grabbing his arm and leading him down the hall. “You’re high, aren’t you?”
“No!” Dennis protested as Chloe shuffled him out of view but Dennis kept his gaze fixated on Cypher who exhaled.
Will she convince him that there was nothing to see? How much did he see anyway?
He thought of Berlin’s warnings, about staying out of the public eye, but he reasoned that being a rock star, it might be to his benefit if the truth ever came out.
But what is the truth? How much do you really know about who or what you are?
“Don’t worry about Dad. He’s already passed out.”
Cypher turned to her gratefully.
“I guess I should be happy that he’s all drugged out,” he mused. “But it doesn’t make me feel much better.”
“He’s so in and out of it lately that it doesn’t matter. He sees my mom sometimes so his recollections can hardly be used as gospel.”
They sat silently for a long moment, each wrapped up in their own thoughts.
“I guess that threat is over now,” Chloe offered. “You can go back to San Francisco now and know I’m safe.”
“I’m not going anywhere without you,” he said without skipping a beat. “And don’t even suggest it again.”
“I was hoping you’d say that,” she confessed. “But at the same time, I feel awful making you stay in this house. It’s filled with sadness and bitterness. I feel like I’m going crazy.”
“It’s filled with beauty and sweetness,” Cypher corrected. “Because you’re in it. We’ll overcome the shadows lurking in the halls and cast out all the demons, all right? But you can’t do this alone, Chloe. You need a support system.”
“Are you the pot or the kettle?” she asked teasingly. “You’ve been going at it alone since you were barely old enough to speak in full sentences.”
“You’re right,” he agreed. “And I think I’m ready to rectify that now.”
“Starting with me?” Chloe asked hopefully.
“Starting with you and finding my family. I have a lot of questions I need answered.”
She blinked and a smile radiated her face.
“Really?” she asked, jumping to her feet. “Are you sure?”
“Where are you going?”
“Are you sure you’re ready to look for your family?” she asked again, one foot ready to sprint back up the stairs.
“I think so,” he replied uncertain by her expression. “I mean, yes, I think I’d like to try again at least.”
“I’ll be right back.”
She vanished faster than he’d ever seen anyone move and in minutes, she was back, a file folder in her hand.
“What is this?” he asked, his dark eyebrows raised.
She grinned sheepishly.
“To say I thought about you a lot when we were apart is a little bit of an understatement,” she began. “I followed you somewhat religiously.”
He smiled, flattered to know that even though they’d been apart, at least their hearts had still been one.
“I started looking into your family for you and seeing whatever I could find based on what you told me.”
His mouth parted slightly as he accepted the folder from her hands and opened it.
“This is what I’ve found so far. It’s not much but it’s a start.”
Cypher began to pour over the pages, his heart quickening as he read, information that he had never found with his own investigators and lawyers.
“Where did you get this?” he demanded, his eyes wide with awe. “You found more in eight months than I did in fifteen years.”
“Maybe I was just more motivated than your hired guns,” she replied lightly.
“How’s that?” he asked. “Money is a very good motivator.”
Chloe met his stare.
“I’d say that love is a much better one.”
He swallowed the stone forming in his throat as he realized that she was finally at the place where he’d always been.
I knew she’d get there one day, he thought, pulling her toward him with his thumb and forefinger. Their lips met, their irises still melding together in a flash of blue and gray like molten steel.
“I love you too,” he told her as the folder flittered off their laps and onto the floor.
“Don’t you want to look at that?” she asked weakly but the desire in her eyes spoke volumes to her priorities in that moment.
“I’ve waited three decades. It will keep for one more hour,” he replied, yanking her onto his chest.
Epilogue
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…” the minister intoned as he droppe
d a handful of dirt onto the lowered casket.
Cypher reached for Chloe’s hand and they stood at the grave, both donning black from head to toe.
A veil covered Chloe’s face and as the minister finished his sermon, they immediately turned away against the flash of cameras which sat nearby to memorialize the moment.
“I’m sorry about this,” Cypher muttered. “I thought I’d lost them.”
“You don’t need to apologize, honey,” Maddy quipped from behind the couple. “You’re famous. Of course they want to know why you’re at some funeral in Milwaukee.”
“They know why I’m here,” Cypher replied coolly, guiding Chloe toward the limo. “I’ve explained that I’ve taken time to be with your family during your dad’s last days.”
They stopped at the black limousine where the driver opened the door and let them inside.
“I know but surely they want to know why you’re wasting your time here when you could be anywhere else in the world.”
Chloe glared at her sister.
“Is there a point to your rambling?” she snapped and Cypher swallowed a smile.
It had been a process but Chloe was not the same girl she had been when they had met a year and a half ago.
“I’m just saying,” Maddy continued, “that if he spends too much time here, the press is going to start talking about you and him.”
“The press is already talking about me and him,” Chloe yawned, removing her black gloves from her fingers and waving her three-carat engagement ring around. “Remember?”
Maddison’s mouth formed a straight, discontented line and she turned to stare sulkily out of the window as Blaine neared.
“Hurry up,” Maddy grumbled, finding a new point of contention. “It’s freezing out here.”
Blaine slid into the car and the door closed behind him as the chauffeur hurried up to the driver’s seat.
“I can’t believe he’s gone,” Chloe’s brother murmured and Chloe snorted.
“I’m surprised you even noticed,” she retorted. “You never came to see him when he was dying.”
“I didn’t know!” Maddy whined and Chloe rolled her eyes.
“It’s not about you. It’s stupid that we didn’t tell you but that’s what he wanted.”
“Well, what’s done is done,” said Blaine firmly and Cypher saw Chloe’s jaw tighten.
“When are you heading back to San Francisco?” Maddy asked, sensing the mounting tension in the car.
Cypher and Chloe exchanged a look.
“Not sure yet,” she replied evasively. “Cypher and I have some business to take care of first.”
“Ooh!” Maddy leaned forward, a wide smile on her face. “What kind of business? Are you thinking of opening a nightclub? Lots of musicians open clubs now.”
“Not that kind of business,” Chloe sighed. “Just… business, okay?”
She was trying to end the conversation but Maddison was like a dog with a bone.
“Why are you being so mysterious?” she insisted. “What’s the big deal?”
“Why are you so damned nosy?”
Maddison seemed hurt by the accusation.
“I’m just making conversation,” she muttered, turning her head away in a sulk.
Cypher was almost bursting with pride as he studied Chloe’s profile.
She’s learned how to stand up for herself. Did I have anything to do with that or did she learn by herself?
He felt like he’d played a bigger part in the story than he even knew.
We are perfect together. She has taught me how to work with someone else as a team and I’ve taught her how to assert herself.
She felt his eyes on her and raised her head to smile at him.
“Are you ready for this?” she murmured. “Or do you want to postpone it again?”
“No,” he whispered back. “I’m ready to do this. We’ve waited long enough. We said after your father died that I’d take the bull by the horns and do this, come hell or high water.”
“What are you two whispering about over there?” Maddison growled, apparently miffed about being left out.
“Mind your own business, Maddison!” Chloe snarled, turning to her sister, eyes flashing. “How many times do I have to tell you—”
“It’s okay,” Cypher said. “Tell her.”
Chloe eyed him warily.
“Babe, you don’t have to—”
“I want to. I want everyone to know. I’ve spent enough time hiding my past from everyone. We can tell her. She’s almost family anyway.”
He chuckled at the grimace on Chloe’s face.
“Tell her,” he insisted. “It’s okay.”
“Yeah, tell us!” Maddison chanted. “Tell us! Tell us!”
“How is she twenty-five?” Chloe muttered. “You tell her. I can’t even speak to her.”
Cypher raised his head and grinned at his soon-to-be brother and sister-in-law.
“We’re leaving in the morning for Eugene.”
Maddy and Blaine’s faces were an identical mask of confusion.
“Eugene, Oregon?” Blaine asked. “Do people still live there?”
“There’s at least one person,” Cypher mused lightly, entwining Chloe’s fingers in his. “The only one I care about that way.”
“Who?” they chorused.
“My brother.”
They were stunned by the revelation.
“You have a brother?” Maddy choked but her shock was quickly replaced with keen interest. “How old?”
“He’s eighteen months younger than me,” Cypher said.
“How come we never knew you had a brother?”
“I have three,” Cypher confessed and he felt Chloe’s hands tighten against his as if she was warning him he was saying too much.
“Three? I’ve Googled you, Cypher. I’ve never seen anything about siblings!” Blaine insisted, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. “Why are you bringing them up now?”
“I was never able to find them,” Cypher explained, casting Chloe a warm look. “But thankfully for me, I have a fiancée who is very capable in IT.”
Maddy and Blaine peered at their youngest sister.
“What did you do?” Blaine whispered. “We’re lawyers, Chloe! If you did anything illegal—”
“Then I know who to call,” she quipped, cutting him off. “See? I told you you shouldn’t have told them anything.”
But nothing could dampen Cypher’s good mood as the limo pulled up to the Byler house and the family piled out of the car.
“Well, I hope you find what you’re looking for,” Maddison told him, putting her hand on his upper arm with a now-familiar look of sickly sweetness.
“I’ve already found everything I’m looking for,” he replied, reaching for Chloe’s hand and helping her out of the car.
Maddy gave him a cold smile and nodded.
“My sister’s a lucky girl,” she replied, spinning away, annoyed at being rebuffed again.
“She’s never going to stop doing that,” Chloe warned him.
“I’m never going to get tired of seeing her get angry then,” Cypher replied, embracing Chloe into a hug.
“You know, you don’t have to come tomorrow,” he told her again. “I understand if you feel weird about it. Who knows what will happen?”
“I already told you that you are not doing this alone,” Chloe reminded him firmly. “We found Briar together and we’ll meet Briar together.”
Cypher knew there was another reason she wanted to go; if things didn’t go well, she wanted to be his shoulder to cry on.
“Briar is just the beginning,” she promised. “We’ll keep looking for the others too, but baby steps.”
“Baby steps,” he agreed, kissing her forehead.
“Hey,” she said, looking up at him. “Thanks for being here for me through all this, for taking the time off to help me with my dad.”
“You don’t need to thank me, Chloe. I would do anything for you.”
>
“You do everything for me,” she agreed. “And I will always do the same for you.”
They kissed sweetly and turned toward the house.
“I can’t wait to get out of Wisconsin,” she muttered. “When did it get to be so damned cold?”
“When you became a full-blooded Californian,” he replied.
“Everything’s better in California,” Chloe laughed. “Especially the men.”
Briar’s Mate
Shifters Forsaken
Book 2
By: Mia Taylor
Prologue
It began to rain in fat drops and the boy looked up at the sky. It seemed natural to him that the winds had changed, gauging by the thick tension which he felt but didn’t understand in the least.
He was only three years old, after all. What did he know about what was happening? From his viewpoint, the baby cried and his older brother tried desperately to shush the child. His second youngest sibling skipped along the cracks of the sidewalk and their mother…
Suddenly he realized what was amiss. His mother was walking away, her lean frame disappearing through the rain in long strides. He could barely make out the strands of her dark hair as she moved further away from them.
Then, above the shrieks of the infant were his brother’s mournful pleas. Confusion set in then, a startling realization that all was wrong.
“Mama!” he yelled, echoing Cypher’s words. “Mama!”
She didn’t turn, didn’t acknowledge him as if she had forgotten they were hers.
“MAMA!”
“She isn’t coming back,” the bigger boy said, his voice hoarse as if he had been crying inside. He could barely hear over the sound of the infant’s wails but that didn’t stop him from screaming for her again.
“Mama! Mama!”
She was gone. He started to run after her, despite Cypher bellowing for him to stop.
“She’ll be back!” he blubbered and his brother struggled to embrace him whilst juggling the one-year-old in his arms. “She’ll be back!”
“No,” Cypher said quietly. “She isn’t coming back.”
“You lie!” he howled, kicking away in his consternation. “You lie! She’s coming back!”
“We will be okay,” Cypher said with an assurance he couldn’t have felt. He sounded like an adult when he spoke, not like the brother he had fought with for the Xbox controller. He was only five. What did he know?