by Haley Weir
Nightfall spread through the valley and the hunters let the cold wind soak into their weary bones. For far too long they hunted down dead-end legends of bear shifters. It wasn’t until an anonymous tip was called into a conspiracy theory hotline that they learned of the protectors of Haden Springs.
What caught Corey’s attention was that the caller hadn’t sounded like the usual nutjobs who phoned the hotline. There was an air of intelligence and pride in the man’s voice that caused chill-bumps to appear on his arms. “We’re coming for you,” Corey vowed to no one at all. He crawled into his tent and rested his head beside Vanessa.
***
As the final song came to an end, the devoted audience clapped enthusiastically. Jenny walked to the back of the lounge and changed into her more comfortable clothes and removed her makeup. A couple of the guys from the band cracked a few jokes about Jenny “The Ice Queen” Owens finally finding a boyfriend. She took everything in stride, having grown used to similar pestering from Sapphire.
Guilt and sadness filled her heart. It often felt wrong for Jenny to enjoy the new changes in her life when Sapphire was stuck in a room at the clinic. She cast aside her darkened thoughts and pulled her hair up into a bun before walking out the door with her bag. Jenny shoved everything into the trunk of her car and drove to the clinic for a quick visit. She regretted how things had ended with her and Sapphire.
“I didn’t come here to be fair. Love doesn’t have a timer on it, Jen. You can’t tell someone that they aren’t allowed to love you,” Sapphire said. “I’m not here to comfort you or anything like that. I’ve seen what kind of person you are now and I need some time before I can decide if I want that person in my life.”
Visiting was the least she could do.
Jenny no longer wasted her time trying to talk to the staff, she signed her name and headed for Sapphire’s room. Her friend was the same as always, lying flat on her back with tubes coming out of her from all directions. Sapphire looked ashen and weak, nothing at all like her natural demeanor. Jenny missed her friend; the world was much darker without Sapphire White there to shake things up.
“We can barely function without you,” she said. “Dorian and I are back together, though. I’m sure you would be happy to hear that. He says the guys at the station are on strike because you haven’t been cooking for them.”
Jenny didn’t know why she talked to the silence, but she always watched Sapphire’s hands to see if they would twitch like they did in the movies.
“The most crazy things have happened to me. I wish you were here. I need to tell you that I’m sorry, Saph,” Jenny sniffled. “You were always the one I could count on to give me advice and I was too stupid to listen to you when you tried to tell me how selfish I was being. You’re worth so much more than you think. We all love you.”
A bouquet of flowers on the bedside table caught her eye. The card was unsigned, but Jenny was more intrigued by the purple clusters of catnip flowers in the arrangement. Someone had clearly caught on to Sapphire’s affinity for her feline friends and made the gift more personal to her. It was a shame that their efforts were wasted, for no one knew when or if Sapphire would wake up.
“Why were you out there? What did you see?”
The internal damage done to her body from the fall caused her to recede into the darkest corners of her mind, fighting to stay alive. A knock on the door came as Jenny kissed Sapphire’s cheek and wished her a good night. The walk to the car cleared her mind a bit, allowing Jenny to contemplate her situation with Dorian.
Jenny felt a prick in her neck before the world began to tilt on its axle. She clutched her throat, but a fist wrapped around her hair to keep her head back as a syringe was emptied into her bloodstream. “Who…”
A nurse’s uniform came within sight, but she didn’t recognize the woman’s face.
“Oh, no!” gasped a mockingly sweet voice. “What’s a sow to do without her burly boar to keep her safe? Don’t worry, Jenny. We’ll take good care of you. Nighty night.”
Jenny fought the shadows that flooded her vision. Her knees went weak and the woman who injected her with the sedative pushed her into the back of her car. The door slammed shut and the engine roared to life. She could only see the lights from the streetlamps flash through the car as she struggled to stay conscious on the backseat. But eventually, the shadows won and Jenny’s limbs turned to lead as the mysterious woman abducted her for unknown reasons.
In the back of her mind, Jenny called out to Dorian, but she knew he couldn’t hear her. She only hoped that when had she said goodbye that day it hadn’t been the last goodbye, that the kiss hadn’t been their last, or that the playful wink he gave her on the way out the door wouldn’t be the last, either.
When Jenny awakened she smelled the scent of liquor and gunpowder. Her eyes cracked open, but her vision took a moment to adjust to the blinding light of the sun as it beat down upon her body. Jenny willed her drug-addled brain to think clearly. She tasted something foul on her tongue and tried to roll over, but her arms and legs we bound.
Hogtied and stripped of everything except her tank top and panties, Jenny took in her surroundings. She tried to find something that she recognized, but her mind refused to cooperate. Had she ever been to this part of the forest? It looked almost detached from the rest of the wilds that surrounded Haden Springs.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Dorian stepped out of his shower seconds before his phone rang. He picked his jeans up from the floor and rustled around the pockets until he found it. “What do you want? I just talked to you an hour ago. You know Jenny is on her way.”
“We need to meet at Michael’s loft right now,” Brock said nervously.
“What’s going on? You’re freaking me out.”
“Get here now.” The line went dead. Dorian cursed and quickly got dressed, dialing Jenny’s number to see if he could catch her before she left the clinic. He got her voicemail twice, but he figured she got caught up at the lounge or something and it pushed back her visit with Sapphire. Dorian dropped the phone in the cup holder between the front seats and drove to Michael’s.
The ride up seemed to take much longer than usual. Dorian pulled open the gates and knocked on the door. He could hear the muffled voices of his friends in a heated debate, but couldn’t make out the words properly. Michael opened the door, looking quite ready to sever someone’s head from their shoulders. “What a warm welcome,” he scuffed and moved inside to pour himself a drink.
“Actually, you should sit down. I’ll get the drinks,” Brock said, but Anders lunged to his feet and cut off Brock’s path. The two argued under their breath until Dorian overheard something that Anders had said.
“Whoa! What do you mean tie me down?” he asked. “I love you guys like brothers, but anything kinky is off limits. What’s going on?”
Michael pulled out a baton that crackled with an electric current along with several tranquilizer darts and the gun that went with it. Dorian’s eyes widened and he took a step back with his arms raised in surrender. “What the hell is going on? Why does Michael look like he’s going to war with King Kong?”
“I have these things because unlike the rest of you, I’ve built up a tolerance to certain weapons over the years.” At their confusion, he scoffed and clarified his meaning. “Seriously? With centuries of people searching for things like BigFoot and Dracula, you don’t think there are others out there that track and hunt other legendary beasts? I didn’t need a romance novel to tell me there are people who want to hunt us down and turn us into decorative mounts on their walls.”
“So, this is about the hunters?” Dorian asked, still a bit confused. His friends shared a look and suddenly he was shoved onto the concrete floor of the loft. Michael pulled on a loop hidden beneath a floorboard and a chain extended from the floor. It was pulled out long enough to be secured around his left wrist. Michael repeated this process until his arms and legs were thoroughly chained to the floor. “I want answers
!”
“This is about the hunters,” Anders revealed. “But it’s also about Jenny.”
“Jenny’s at the clinic, which is where you should be!”
“No, she isn’t.”
Dorian stopped struggling. If his friends had gone through the trouble of chaining him up and gathering weapons to incapacitate him, something was seriously wrong. He looked up at Michael, who couldn’t seem to tell a lie if his life depended on it, and asked, “What happened to Jenny?”
“She was taken. One of the clinic staff saw her walk out to her car after visiting Sapphire. A woman attacked her from behind, pushed Jenny into her car, and drove toward the forest. This is a bold attack that needs to be handled delicately.”
“Delicately? They have my mate, Michael! I’ll rip their hearts out!” He felt himself begin to vibrate, sensing a shift in his muscles and organs, but he was zapped with the baton. Dorian’s skin flickered patches of fur appeared and disappeared as he convulsed. When he caught his breath, he glared daggers into Michael.
“As I said: delicately. We can’t afford for you to lose control and harm anyone in town. That would start a riot and bring even more problems down onto our heads.”
“What do we do, then?”
Anders, Brock, and Dorian all turned to look at Michael. He was their leader for a reason. Michael had gotten them out of trouble more times than they could count and they needed his guidance once again. “We watch. They’ll expect us to act like animals, so we have to think like men.”
“You want us to sit back and watch while they do whatever they want?”
“If they wanted her dead, they would have killed her in the parking lot,” Michael interrupted. “I don’t think they’ll hurt her. If she’s smart, Jenny ‘The Ice Queen’ will pretend that she’s using you or that your dates with the agency didn’t go well.”
“And we watch from afar for how long?”
“We learn their patterns. Humans are creatures of habit. Sooner or later, we’ll see an opening and then we can act, but not before I say so.” Michael poured scotch into four glasses and handed them around as Anders released Dorian. They agreed to release him, but Michael kept the tranquilizer gun nearby just in case.
“You say that as if we aren’t human,” Dorian said.
“We aren’t. And the quicker the lot of you realize that, the better.”
“Whether this is the result of some curse or genetics or whatever, I want to hang on to my humanity,” Anders snapped. He downed the contents of his glass and refused to meet their eyes. Michael, however, was relentless as always.
“One day that beast is going to claw its way to the surface and you won’t be able to hide behind your skin anymore. You are a coward, Anders. The only way to really dominate the darkness that lurks inside you is to harness it and force it to submit.”
“Not all of us want to be cultured beasts,” Anders replied, looking disheartened. “Some of us want to live normal lives without having to worry about hunters and mates and accidental triggers that get people killed.”
Dorian stepped forward. “It wasn’t your fault what happened to-—”
“Shut up!” Anders shouted. “None of you have any right to say her name.” They all grew quiet as Anders calmed his breathing. There was no danger of him shifting, Anders had too much discipline, but they all knew that he boxed for sport and was dangerous on his own. “Let’s forget about our own demons for a while and focus on getting Dorian’s girlfriend back.”
“She’s my mate,” he growled, turning around and lifting his shirt over his head to show them the mark. “It appeared the other night. Jenny has a matching one on her ankle. We were meant for one another, so do not lower her to the status of girlfriend.”
Dorian could see their shocked expressions in the reflection of one of the large windows that wrapped around the loft. He looked beyond the glass and toward the forest, hoping that Jenny was safe and wondered if Michael would sit here and watch the fires burn. It had to be a beautiful and terrifying sight to behold from so high up. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and lowered his shirt.
Michael looked down at the scotch in his hand and pursed his lips, Anders face contorted in discomfort. Brock bounced his knee, jostling the scotch until it spilled over the rim of his glass. Michael’s aggravation was palpable as he stared at his brother.
Dorian got on his phone and dialed the number he was supposed to call in case of an emergency. It was something that Jenny had agreed to after what happened with Sapphire. The phone rang until a tired English voice came through the speaker. “This is Destiny Collier. May I ask who’s calling, please?”
“This is Dorian Chandler. We met at your shop a while back. I’m Jenny’s…”
“You’re her mate,” Destiny finished for him. “So, what can I do for you?”
“Is there anywhere I can meet with you to talk? This really should be said in person.” Dorian waited for her to respond, listening to the sound of books toppling over and a teakettle whistle in the background.
“Come by the shop, I’ll have Tilly stop by as well. Be safe.”
“You too.” He made it to Books & Baubles in record time. He knocked on the door and it opened to reveal a woman he hadn’t met yet. “I’m Dorian Chandler.”
“You’re the hunky paramedic? Nice.”
His face heated with embarrassment. It was clear that Jenny had talked about him with her friends. “And you are?” he asked, shifting uncomfortably beneath her dark gaze.
“Matilda Riker. Everyone but students call me Tilly,” she replied, offering her hand. He accepted and stepped inside to smell the comforting aroma of Earl Grey tea. Destiny waved him toward the back with Tilly by his side. He entered what looked like an eighteenth century drawing room. The colors were bright hues of pastel paired with dark wood and flaxen embellishments. He took a seat, but politely declined the tea that Destiny offered.
“I’m guessing you’ve both read the…bear shifter series.” Dorian cleared his throat and looked down at his hands as they chuckled mischievously. “And you’re probably more than aware of who and what I am.”
“Oh, yeah,” Tilly said. “We know every detail.”
He tugged at his collar, feeling like he might suffocate from embarrassment. Dorian grabbed a cup of tea anyway just to have something to do with his hands as the women sat and elegantly observed him. “There are hunters in the forest. We believe they’re the ones setting the fires.”
The playfulness disappeared from their eyes. Destiny pushed her glasses up and anxiously stirred her tea. “Do they work for a council or an order? Are they poachers? Or are they…hunter hunters?”
“I’m not sure. I only just found out yesterday that all of this existed. My concern now is getting Jenny back. They took her and Michael wants us to—”
“What do you mean Jenny was taken?” Tilly growled. She gripped her teacup so tight that Dorian feared it might crack.
“She was attacked outside of the clinic. There wasn’t a fight, but she was drugged and forced into the back of her car. They might try to use her against me, but I want you to know that I would give my life for hers.”
“You look like you’re barely hanging on,” Destiny muttered. “There isn’t much Tilly and I can do, but we trust you to do what needs to be done to keep our friend safe. We’ve come so close to losing Sapphire. I don’t think we’d make it if something happened to Jenny as well. Thank you for telling us.”
“Actually, there might be something you can do to help.”
“What’s that?” Tilly asked. “How can we help?”
“I don’t know as much about this whole paranormal thing as you ladies do, so I would really appreciate it if you could compile as much information about my kind as possible. We’ve lived in the dark for too long. It’s time to find answers.”
A sly smile crossed Destiny’s features. “The Ladies In Waiting are at your service, Mr. Chandler. Books, after all, are what we specialize in.”
A bottle shattered by the stream and Corey looked up to see Travis arguing with Patrick. The stoic veteran didn’t react to Travis’s outburst. He simply stared unblinkingly at the man’s face until Corey shouted for them to quit acting like children. Sweat trickled down Corey’s temple as he finished securing the pressure plate to the last of the fragmentation mines he created. A throat cleared to his right.
Corey flicked his gaze up to meet the stare of Jenny Owens. The contents of her handbag were spread out upon the table beside her head where she sat on the floor. Her pretty eyes were filled with shock. “Thirsty?” he asked.
She nodded her head weakly. For three days she hadn’t had much to eat or drink on the mountain, forcing her to be more compliant to their demands. He clucked his tongue against his teeth and gave her a smile. “Your wish is my command.”
“Then let me go,” Jenny retorted halfheartedly, making Corey laugh. He was glad to see that the traumatic turn of events hadn’t killed the fire inside of her. In many ways, he saw a lot of himself in Jenny. She was resistant to anything that wasn’t a product of her own brilliance. But he saw through her mask as if it were made of glass. The brave face she wore when confronted with danger would wear off eventually.
“Do you know what these are for?” he asked, gesturing to the mines as he handed tilted a water bottle to her lips. She drank greedily. Most people in situations like hers tended to ration their resources, but he was glad she wasn’t that stupid.
“Are they to keep Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb over there in line?”
Once again, Corey found himself chuckling at Jenny’s dry humor. Not many people could coax an honest reaction from him, not even Vanessa. He went through the motions of each day with a profound sense of indifference. However, he learned to fake his emotions well enough to avoid any awkwardness. “No. I intend to scatter them all over the hills, the forest, and the mountains.”