Alpha Shifter Protectors: Paranormal Romance Collection

by Keri Hudson

  “Of course,” Abigail said with a little smile as he stepped away, leaving her to her miniature charge.

  Edith led Caleb through the bottom floor of the big house, through the ornate dining room with a hutch of polished silver and china, and into a kitchen, spacious for a house of that type. A black woman of about thirty was sitting shelling peas from pods, putting the former in one bowl and the latter in another.

  Edith said, “Lulu Simms, this is our new groundskeeper, Caleb Kahr… Carl’s brother.”

  Lulu looked up with wide, white eyes; she looked him over and extended her hand. “Nice to meet cha, sir.”

  “Caleb, please.”

  Edith said, “We’ll have Caleb joining us for dinner tonight, Lulu, I’ll set a place.”

  “Yes, Miss Edith.” Edith led Caleb out of the kitchen and through the exit to the side of the house. They walked toward a small house across the back of the property. Caleb said, “A cook and a housekeeper and a tutor?”

  Edith shrugged. “The boy still needs to eat, and be clothed, and to learn.”

  Caleb didn’t have to give that much thought. “Reasonable. He must do pretty well.”

  Edith nodded. “The family’s fortune goes all the way back to the lumber boom. Then the railroads, telegraphs, highways… the Armstrongs helped build this great nation.”

  After a somber silence, Caleb assumed, “Not without a price.”

  Edith could not disagree. “So it is for us all.”

  Edith led him to the small cottage, two stories tall. The bottom was principally a tool shed, featuring a small riding mower and various other tools: electric trimmers and leaf blowers as well as more traditional rakes and shovels and trowels and the like.

  “Tools of the trade,” Caleb said before she led him upstairs to a nicely appointed living room, a small kitchenette, a bathroom, and a single bedroom.

  “This is your… your apartment, everything you need. I didn’t have time to… to clean it out, so you might come across some, I dunno, personal items. I hope that’s not too upsetting for you.”

  “Good of you to be so concerned,” Caleb said. The place was neatly kept, befitting Carl’s personality. He could almost sense his brother’s vibrations still in the room, his energy still inhabiting the furniture—the desk, the simple table and chairs.

  Edith said, “I’ll leave you to get comfortable. Dinner will be served at six.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Mott.”

  She left him alone in the room, walking down the stairs and finally out of the little groundskeeper’s cottage. Caleb set his bag down and crossed to the closet, his brother’s clothes still hanging in the closet. He opened the desk drawer, finding little more than a few pens and sheets of paper. No laptop computer, no smartphone; he was living off the grid unless those things had been removed from the apartment.

  But, Caleb wondered, by whom? And why?

  Caleb sat down on the bed and looked around the little room. The cold chill of the reality finally closed in on him—his brother’s lingering aura, the sudden change of settings, the drastically bad news.

  I’m so sorry, Caleb thought, I should have come earlier. True, I… I didn’t know, but I should have known. I wish you’d reached out, brother. I wish we hadn’t… we were brothers, there’s no reason anything should have come between us, much less that! But… I’m gonna try to make it right, Carl. I’m gonna kill that ursine—for you, for this family, for all the normalos. And as for all the rest of it, all that… I only hope you forgave me, Carl. I… I don’t think you did, but… well, maybe in the next life.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The lemon pepper chicken was tender and delicious, asparagus tips buttery and crisp and colorful. The chardonnay was a bracing way to wash it down, and the company was even more refreshing.

  Abigail was a lovely presence at the table, more than Caleb had anticipated. His eyes were drawn to her exquisite face, framed by red curls which shimmered with a natural sheen. Her complexion was milky and lightly freckled, cheekbones high and straight, eyes green and clear. Her neck was smooth and creamy, leading to her perfect shoulders and breasts, which were high and proud despite the inherent humility of their owner.

  She was dainty and respectful and demure, enticing to Caleb in ways he tried not to think about. Edith sat at the table too, little Daniel quiet and reserved, eyes shifting to Caleb again and again.

  “We do not normally eat with Master Armstrong,” Edith said, “of course not.”

  Caleb shrugged and turned to Daniel. “You just eat alone? Me too. I don’t much like it.”

  “I usually eat with him,” Abigail said.

  “Well,” Caleb said, “that’s a different story. Still, just the two of you… seems kind of lonely.”

  “Master Armstrong spends much of the year here,” Edith said, “months on end.”

  “And he spends time with the boy?” Edith glanced at Abigail, who returned the look before both turned their attention back to Caleb. “A man as busy with his business as he seems to be, I’m just… curious.”

  They went on eating in an awkward silence. Caleb went on to Daniel, “Maybe we could spend some time together, after my duties are seen to; duck hunting maybe?” He looked at Abigail. “We could make a day of it.”

  Edith seemed to be watching with a keen interest, and Caleb was ready to attribute that to any number of things, from a general protectiveness to a sixth sense about things that Caleb had some awareness of as well.

  But the boy seemed to brighten up at the notion, big eyes getting wider and food suddenly going down faster.

  Edith asked, “Where do you come here from, Caleb?”

  “Philly. I’m about three years out of the service, special ops.”

  Abigail said, “Really? Special ops?”

  Caleb nodded. “Deep in country—Iraq, Afghanistan. I’m glad to be home.”

  Abigail asked, “And what were you doing in Philadelphia?”

  Caleb sighed, sad to have to reflect on it. He knew there was only so much he could tell her, that he could tell any of them. “I’ve been… I’ve been traveling the country, tell you the truth.”

  Abigail said, “You mean… you’re a drifter? Are you homeless? The way this country treats its veterans!”

  Caleb chuckled just a bit, taking a sip of wine to reflect. “No, I… I made some good investments while I was overseas, stock market, online trading, things like that. Met a guy who really knew his way around it. I don’t have anything like Armstrong money, of course, but… I’ve got some freedom of movement, and it’s sustainable, so… I’m very lucky.”

  Edith asked, “There’s no one place you want to live?”

  “Maybe I just haven’t found it yet.” They went on eating, the silence not nearly so awkward as before. “I know my brother was quite fond of it here, or he wouldn’t have stayed. I suppose I’ll bury him here… in the local cemetery, I mean.”

  Abigail said, “He gave us almost a year of such good service. We’d be proud to stand with you, when you say goodbye.”

  Caleb nodded with a grateful smile. “I know he’d appreciate it.” After a melancholy moment, Caleb said, “My brother and I had kind of… drifted apart in recent years. I… I hope he was happy.”

  Abigail and Edith shared another glance at this, then both their attentions shifted back to Caleb.

  Edith said, “He always seemed to feel welcome, and we did our best.”

  Caleb gave that some thought, and the answer didn’t surprise him.

  Abigail said, “He was… distant, always… preoccupied in his mind. But I took him for a very deep soul.”

  “He was that,” Caleb said, “tough on the outside, but deep down he was just a very tender man. He was a good brother too—protective, dedicated.”

  A long moment stretched by among them. Caleb could tell they were wondering what had separated them, why they’d become estranged. But they didn’t want to ask and he didn’t want to explain.

  But they shar
ed the rest of a lovely dinner, small talk and courtesies enough to take them all one step closer to a special union. Daniel ate more readily as the conversation went on, Abigail slowly also seeming to come out of her shell.

  ****

  The next day, Abigail brought Daniel to escort Caleb into Fall River to see to certain necessary details of life and of death.

  The highest-ranking cop in the Fall River Police Department, Dt. Paul Hume, had a bony face and tightly curled brown hair, a man of fifty who kept in shape like a man in his thirties. But he offered a friendly handshake and a sympathetic smile.

  “Of course, Carl Kahr’s brother, good to meet you.”

  He sat down on the other side of the detective’s desk, Abigail and Daniel waiting in the bullpen outside the little office to protect the boy from the uglier facets of the adults’ conversation.

  “Terrible, what happened to your brother. To see a man mauled like that…”

  “You have this kind of thing happen often?”

  “Never,” Dt. Hume said. “It was a total fluke. Maybe, I dunno, too much development of other areas, pushing the bears in. S’hard to say.”

  Caleb tried to disguise his skepticism. “There’s nothing more you can tell me about it?”

  The cop shrugged, raising his hands and letting them fall to the arms of his chair. “What am I gonna do, arrest the bear?”

  “Animal control,” Caleb said. “You should have helicopters scoping out the area, hunting teams out there to find this thing and kill it!”

  “We called animal control,” Hume said. “The bear could be anywhere in the state by now, and there are tons of them, a lot more than you’d think. They can’t prioritize it.”

  “They—? It’s a mankiller!”

  “And we’ve got people looking out for it. But I’ve got a staff of five officers, and that’s not really our jurisdiction. So if you’ve got some kind of problem with things, take it up with them!”

  “Maybe I will.”

  “Maybe you’d best,” Hume snapped back. “We have laws about shooting animals in this state, mister. Now, I know you’re here, just after this… this tragedy, and you probably have eyes to killing that bear, don’t cha?” He looked deep into Caleb’s eyes, and Caleb had no interest in disguising the truth which lay behind them. “You’re playing a dangerous game, Mr. Kahr, one that could get you killed.”

  After a moment to consider, Caleb responded, “I have no intention of breaking the law… Detective.”

  “You’d better not. Suffering a loss the way you have, that can push a man to drastic action. But I won’t have that, not in Fall River.” After another mean silence, Hume went on, “Watch your step, fella, because I will come down on you like the hammer of the fucking gods. You hear me?”

  Caleb cracked a little smile and stood up. “Loud and clear.” Caleb saw himself out of the office. Abigail and Daniel stood up from the bench where they were waiting, Caleb saying nothing as he led them through the bullpen, computer keyboards clicking, landlines ringing, desks set up in two columns of three.

  Abigail asked, “Caleb?”

  Caleb shook his head. It was all the answer that was required. Caleb had no intention of seeing the animal control agency. He knew what he was facing well more than they did. But he’d needed to know what that local cop’s disposition was, and it was clearly obstructionist. He was hiding something, Caleb felt certain—and what that secret was could hold the key to the mystery of Armstrong House and his brother’s violent death.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Pastor Eric Newton stood over the grave, King James Bible in his hands as the men who worked for the cemetery filled in the grave. Caleb could only stand there with a certain numbness as they slowly dumped shovel after shovel of dirt to gradually consume his brother. He couldn’t wipe clean the memories of their childhood, playing on the streets of Eugene, Oregon, best friends in a world of smiles and games and long, happy summers.

  Abigail seemed to read his melancholy, setting a comforting hand on his arm. Daniel stood next to her on the other side, Edith and Lulu down the line.

  “Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account. And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment, wickedness was there; in the place of justice, wickedness was there.”

  Caleb stood over his brother’s coffin as it disappeared, taking with it any chance of the relationship they could have and should have had. Together, with their shared power, they could have done great things.

  “I said to myself, ‘God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.’”

  A chill ran up Caleb’s spine, as if the scriptures had been written for him in particular. He turned to Abigail, pretty and soothing, a soft smile on that sweet face.

  “I also said to myself, ‘As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals.’”

  The words grabbed Caleb’s attention. It no longer seemed as if the scriptures were speaking to him, but rather the pastor himself. His eyes were locked on Caleb’s when he looked over, the aging man of God no longer reading but reciting, as if from the back of his brain and the bottom of his heart.

  “Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

  Caleb read the tired and weary expressions of Abigail and the others, and he knew they needed to go back to Armstrong House. He’d lost a brother, and he knew the sadness that flushed through his system. But they’d lost a good friend, a trusted member of their household, and it had clearly taken a toll on young Daniel in ways Caleb was intrigued to learn.

  But he had time. He’d be staying at Armstrong House for an indefinite period, and that would give him plenty of time to find out what he needed to know, not only about his brother’s death and the creature who was to blame, but the mystery of Armstrong House itself. There was something there, Caleb’s instincts made him certain, and he was coming to hope and to believe that Abigail Sanderson would be the one to help him resolve both problems, perhaps even more than that.

  “Mister Kahr.” Caleb looked up to see Fall River PD detective Paul Hume standing before them, stopping the party in their tracks.

  “Detective Hume,” Caleb said.

  He nodded to Daniel. “Young Master Armstrong.”

  The boy turned away, hugging Abigail and hiding his face. Hume turned his attention back to Caleb. “I’m sorry again, about your brother.”

  “Good of you to take time out of your day to come here and tell me that,” Caleb said.

  Abigail seemed to be watching them, glancing at Daniel and Edith in the growing tension around them.

  Hume went on, “You chose to bury him here, in Fall River.” Without needing a response, he went on, “You’re not planning on staying too?”

  “I am,” Caleb said, “to see the Armstrong boy and his… his staff here back on their feet. They’re without a groundskeeper, after all.”

  “Well, there are lots of young men from the area looking for work,” Hume said, his eyes locked on Caleb’s. “That won’t take but a day or so.”

  “If we were looking,” Caleb said.

  The tension between the men was thickening fast, and Abigail was clearly sensitive to it. “Gentlemen, I really have to get Daniel home. It’s been a very trying day.”

  The two men were locked in a contest of wills, neither willing to look away from the other. “I quite agree,” Edith said, silent tension lingering. “If you don’t mind?”

  Caleb stepped back, eyes still locked on the detective’s. “Have a good day, Detective Hume.”

  “Yeah,” Hume s
aid, “you too, pal, you too.”

  They walked away from Hume, huddled together and keeping their eyes forward. Abigail said, “Is there some problem with you two?”

  Caleb had to give that some thought, and he didn’t like the answer. “I think he may have a problem with me.” But, of course, Caleb couldn’t confirm what that problem likely was. He needed more time to investigate, to find out just what was happening; but he already had his suspicions, and the Fall River detective was streaming to the top of the list.

  Abigail drove them all back to Armstrong House, black ash and cottonwood drifting by on the sides of the road. Daniel asked Caleb, “What happens when you die?”

  Edith admonished him, “Master Daniel, no—”

  But Caleb said, “No, Edith, it’s… it’s okay.” Caleb knew the boy meant no harm, that he was likely thinking about his own mother and her premature demise. “Daniel, to tell you the truth, I don’t know what happens. I… I like to think there’s a place where our family and friends and loved ones go, someplace where they’re happy and rewarded for all the difficulties they had to endure here on Earth. But, honestly, I don’t know for sure. But y’know something? There are lots of things in this world that people don’t know about, incredible things! There are creatures on the bottom of the ocean that nobody has ever seen! There are alien races out in space that we’ve never met!”

  Little Daniel seemed intrigued, eyes widening, sadness seeming to be riven away by inspiration.

  Caleb went on, “In a lot of ways, I think, it’s the unknown that makes life special. Think about it; what if you knew everything? What if you knew everything about everyone, every fact and every joke and every event even before it was going to happen? Then what? You’d just be… sitting there, with no reason to get up. Questions are what keep us going in life, Daniel. We wonder, we ask questions because we don’t know. And it’s okay not to know. In fact, it’s one of the best things that there is. Do you understand?”

  Daniel nodded and leaned into Caleb’s side.