She should be concentrating on the search. And she was, but they were following a faint scent trail. There were miles to go and other than being on the lookout for predators under Rafe’s or Clayton’s control, there wasn’t much to do beyond watching her footing.
At times, the trail was rugged and uneven, and then it stretched wide. Every so often, Malcolm would leave the path to ensure the brothers’ scents weren’t stronger elsewhere.
After a few hours of hiking, she gave up and let her mind mull over what it really wanted to.
Harrison.
He was usually quiet, but he was also distant. He’d been that way since they’d started sleeping together. Other than sex, he didn’t offer more of himself, but it wasn’t like they’d had the opportunity.
Last night would’ve been a good time, but she’d shut herself off from him.
This search entailed finding the violent brothers of her equally abusive mate; she shouldn’t be dwelling on what another male was thinking of her. But here she was.
Perhaps it was because her mate had claimed her early and she’d missed out on the running around, the multitude of affairs her kind enjoyed before settling down with that one special person. She was adrift now, wondering what it all meant.
Roman had been her one and only. She’d been born and programmed for him—though thanks to Mother, those teachings hadn’t cemented like they’d been meant to. And thanks to Father, too.
The more she thought back on her upbringing, the more it all made sense. Long talks with Mother while Father stayed outside—their lawn had been immaculate in the summer. The looks exchanged with Mother when Father came into the room. At the time, Sylva had been panicking that he’d find out what she and Mother had said, the blasphemy they’d spoken about their leaders.
Each time, she’d worry Father would rain down one of his lectures, but after she’d learned to behave in public, he never had. It was like he and Mother had silently passed a baton. When he’d been done teaching her what the Raymores expected, Mother had taken over filling her head with resilience.
Thanks to those long secret talks, she’d rebelled, albeit passively, against Roman. After trying to legitimately be what he wanted and make him happy, she’d settled for claiming her independence in tiny ways.
Oops, I spilled this paint all over the orange carpet I never liked.
Roman, I heard someone at the store say John Todd should be the next leader, but I don’t agree.
I just couldn’t figure out how to unclog the vacuum. It didn’t get done today.
She wasn’t proud of not standing stronger, but if it hadn’t been for her parents, she would still be married to Roman and doing her best to please his brothers—one at a time or all together. Whatever Roman wanted.
Guilt gnawed at her. If she hadn’t kicked them out last night…
“It’s not your fault.” Harrison’s deep rumble intruded on her thoughts. He had closed the distance between them without her noticing. Great hunter she was.
Malcolm was farther ahead. He’d hear them talking, but not the words if they kept their voices down.
“I should’ve seen what they did for me.”
“If you had, they might’ve been exposed.” Harrison’s scent wrapped around her. They couldn’t walk side by side, but he stayed close enough to talk. “Your mate would’ve known that you weren’t brainwashed like he wanted.”
“What would he have done, though? I mean, really? Treat me worse?”
“Yes. You and them. None of you would have survived.”
She bit the inside of her cheek. It was easy to think she couldn’t have had it worse, but yes. Roman would’ve leveled up in his abuse.
“Don’t forget your role in the Synod is to keep this from happening again. To root out the dogma that drives isolated packs like the Raymores and the ones that killed Gloria. To stop them from taking over and strangling isolated colonies for generations.”
That was her goal. Since this whole thing had started, she’d been falling short of that goal. But one thing was clear—if she survived, she was going to go after those isolated colonies. She’d visit each one of them and listen to the voices that didn’t get a chance to be heard.
The path took a steep uptick and they had to spread out and watch their footing. When they reached the top, Malcolm let out a low whistle.
“Their scent is stronger up here, but not strong enough for them to be around.” Malcolm disappeared around some trees. “And there’s a cabin. An old one.”
She rushed after him, Harrison close behind.
Her first impression of the cabin was that it was indeed very old. She wasn’t acquainted with the history around here. This place could’ve been built by loggers or rogue shifters who’d wanted to live off the grid and not claim a pack. The walls were composed of rustic lumber and the window was a single sheet of cloudy glass.
Raymore stench surrounded the place, but like Malcolm said, it wasn’t strong enough to indicate either brother was around. Had they controlled Nala from this far away? They had to be twenty miles as the crow flies from her house.
No. If they weren’t here, then there was another location they lurked in, one that was probably closer to her house.
She stopped in the clearing around the little structure. Trees had grown back in the once felled area, crowding the cabin. They were thinner but scaled to the sky.
“This would be a quaint place if weren’t for the Raymore taint,” she said.
“Agreed.” Malcolm dropped his pack. “I’ll take a look inside.”
Harrison dumped his pack in the same spot and she followed suit. She wasn’t going to let them do all the work. Taking the inner perimeter, she searched for signs of what the brothers were doing here other than sitting on their asses and thinking of ways to torture her.
Harrison drifted in and out of the trees. She would’ve missed him if she weren’t so attuned to him. His dark shirt and dirt-smudged jeans blended well and he didn’t make a sound.
Malcolm appeared in the doorway. He was swinging the door back and forth. “Huh. They oiled the hinges to keep from making a sound.”
Harrison emerged from the darkness of the forest, squinting at the sky. The sun was setting. It’d be dark soon and they’d have nothing but the stars to guide them. “They probably wanted to be prepared in case we found them.”
“Well, they lived like pigs.” Malcolm swung the door wide open, giving the cabin as much air as possible. “No campfire, wrappers are all over in here, and they must’ve used their mind control to keep bears from pillaging the place. Empty tuna cans have been dumped in the corner.”
She folded her arms across her chest. Memories assaulted her. Beer cans getting tossed on the floor. Get that, will ya, Syl? Most of the time, they hadn’t bothered to ask. “I would say that they might’ve been masking their scent, but they’re really slobs.”
Finding the cabin meant they were close, closer than they’d ever been to finding them. But it was empty. Did the brothers happen to be out, or was her determination to hunt them down all for nothing? Was she still the one being hunted?
Chapter 16
Harrison roamed through the trees. It was after midnight and Malcolm and Sylva were camped in the cabin for the night. He and Malcolm were splitting four-hour shifts so each of them could get rest.
None of them was going to relax enough for sleep.
From here, the only direction they had to go was deeper into the forest. Farther away from civilization. Being this isolated made him twitchy. If Sylva had stayed back, he’d probably be vibrating out of his skin.
He and Malcolm had grown up like this. This should feel like coming home, whether he was hunting anyone or not. But he’d come to prefer the proximity of his fellow Guardians while at the same time relishing time away, like traveling to Synod headquarters and around the area on assignments. He was constantly around people, not blocked off from information, and most of all, and he got to see his parents once in a whi
le.
He liked his life. Huh. He’d never thought about it like that, but once he’d let Sylva in, he could see everything he had instead of all he’d lost. But with the way she’d avoided him last night, had he even had her in the first place? Was he just a placeholder?
He scrubbed his hands over his face. This was what being in the dark all alone did to him.
The cabin door whispered open. Malcolm would have been stealthier.
Harrison made his way back toward the cabin. Sylva met him halfway.
“I can’t sleep.” Her weapons were still in place. Good. There was no pajamas or getting comfortable on this excursion.
“Malcolm?”
“Dozing. I told him I was coming out for air.” She strolled around the cabin. “I can’t believe they didn’t have a campfire or anything.”
“They were probably in wolf form most of the time.” Judging by all the trees that had been sprayed with urine, they’d also marked everything they could. “Someone might’ve noticed the smoke and come looking.”
She tilted her head back. “I doubt they admired the view at all. Can you believe the Milky Way this time of year?”
He never stopped to look at the stars. When he’d been searching for Camille, he’d used them for light, navigation, and the target of his curses. “They’re nice.”
Her smile was serene. “Yes. They are. Looking at them reminds me that in the grand scheme of things, this is just a blip.” She sucked her lower lip in and worried it with the point of a canine. He had to look away. He wanted to do the same thing. “Thank you. For helping me, you know…”
“Anytime.” Was this her You’re nice and all, but I won’t be needing your services anymore speech?
“No, I mean it. I don’t think I would be out here without your support, in that way. But overall, your help and Malcolm’s advice—I can’t believe how wrong I was about you two.”
He withdrew the emotional part of himself from this conversation. How could he complain? Someone like Sylva wasn’t scared of him and she didn’t hate him. She seemed to like him. Had he expected her to fall madly in love with him? Hadn’t that been the last thing he wanted from any partner?
Or had he been afraid that he’d be the one falling hard and the female would slap him on the ass and say, “Good game”? Because that’s what was happening.
“Don’t worry about it.” That came out way too rough. Would she take it in an aw shucks kind of way?
She stepped closer. “So many people are wrong about you.”
Panic infused his blood. He didn’t need to hear how misunderstood he was. He didn’t care. She didn’t need to tell him he was nice and to leave and meet someone new. He backed away. “No, they’re not wrong.”
She blinked and frowned. “Harrison, I thought—”
“You’re strong. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I let you think otherwise.” That had come out wrong. Sleeping with her hadn’t been part of his job. But as a Guardian with the Synod, he and Malcolm had been teaching self-defense classes and building shifters up. They were strong creatures and their own leaders had made them feel otherwise for too long. “Sylva—”
“No.” She let out a bitter chuckle. “I’m not versed in the ways of our kind when it comes to sex. It appears I put too much thought into what we were doing.”
He shook his head. Did she think there was more between them? She hadn’t acted like it. Did she truly want more?
His hopes lifted but he squashed them down. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings and was letting him down easy. Of course she wasn’t interested in more with him than sex.
“Sex for me isn’t about feeling.” It was about forgetting that he wanted to feel. How could he explain it? Did he want to? “It isn’t about relationships. It’s not even about friendships.”
Hurt rippled through her features. “I guess I’m not that kind of shifter.”
“And you shouldn’t be.” She was more than an orgasm. When she came, it was like the sun shone on his soul. When she smiled and those shadows left her eyes? He lived for those moments. But he was not going to let her think that she should stick it out with him because she felt guilty for misunderstanding him.
The cabin door swung open and Malcolm stormed out, stabbing a hand through his hair. “Sweet Mother Earth, Harrison. Do you insist on being both dense and stubborn?”
He scowled at his twin. “Stay out of it.”
Sylva backed away like she was trapped between two predators. And she was, but it was the safest place for her.
Malcolm flung an arm out at Sylva. “Tell her.”
He ground his teeth together. His canines were going to puncture the inside of his lips if he didn’t let off the pressure.
Sylva’s gaze swiveled between the two of them. “Tell me what?”
“Malcolm…”
His brother ignored the warning in his voice. “How many females have you had sex with that weren’t in a threesome—or more—with me? Just you and someone else?”
It wasn’t dark enough to hide Sylva’s adorable blush.
Malcolm cupped a hand around his ear. “What was that? Just Sylva? That must mean she means something to you. And how many times did you sleep with Gloria?”
“I’m going to kill you.” But he was rooted in place, horrified, embarrassed, and enraged that Malcolm would dare butt in like this.
“What? Gloria wanted to wait? And you felt that if she couldn’t have the experience, you shouldn’t either?” Malcolm drew back like he’d detonated a bomb and wanted to watch the fallout.
Sylva’s brows drew together. “Is that true?”
Humiliation closed in until it was a struggle to draw breath. “We were young. She thought our day should be special. But then… I left.”
“I’m not leaving until you tell Sylva you like her.” Malcolm shoved his hands into his pockets.
“We’re not in grade school.” Harrison’s cheeks were burning. He’d grown a beard because he didn’t care about his appearance, but hiding his blush was an even better reason for it.
Sylva’s gaze was on him, but he was too much of a pussy to look at her.
“Perhaps I should go inside,” she said and turned away from him.
“Don’t.” She stopped. He couldn’t let her leave thinking that he really didn’t care about her. If she rejected him, he’d deal with it like an adult. “Don’t go.”
He opened his mouth to say, “I like you,” when what he really meant was that his world revolved around her. He counted down the minutes until he could be with her and only felt complete when he was buried inside her strong body. He wanted her to trust him. With her safety, with her life, with her heart.
But a familiar, foreboding smell wafted across his nose. He reached for the gun in his holster and spun toward the trees. “Get in the cabin, Sylva.”
Sylva ran for the cabin, her heart in her throat. They were coming. Rafe and Clayton were close enough to smell.
A roar made her jerk around and stumble backward. She almost fell on her ass, tripping over the threshold.
That sound hadn’t come from a shifter.
“Bear,” Harrison said to Malcolm.
The twins sauntered around the clearing. Only because she’d come to know them so well could she tell how tense they were. Their eyes reflected in the moonlight, their hands steady as they kept their weapons aimed toward the ground, their steps light.
She exited the cabin. “I didn’t hike all this way to hide.”
Pulling her top off, she flung it inside. She tossed her two knives on top. Her pants and boots followed. She shifted and went to stand between the twins. They each looked at her but didn’t shoo her away.
Her senses were more acute in her wolf form. Branches cracked as the bear charged through the trees, its breath huffing like a wild beast.
“You distract the bear,” Malcolm said to her. “And don’t forget they have a gun with silver-laced bullets. Stay low and keep moving.”
She di
pped her head and trotted in random patterns.
The pungent scent of bear grew stronger. All she had to do was be faster and more agile…in the same forest the bear lived in and knew intimately. Great.
She gave herself a shake. As long as she stayed clear of silver, the bear could maul her, but given enough time to heal, she’d be fine. The Raymore brothers could command it to do just that, but they’d be busy with the twins.
While her running might be erratic, she was sniffing the air with purpose, determining where the brothers’ smell was stronger. She hit on their scent and concentrated. The bear was coming right for them, but the stench of smelly shifter was stronger on the other side of the cabin.
Snapping limbs echoed through the night. The huffing of the bear was audible before it charged into the clearing. Its sides heaved and its dark eyes were wide, crazed. The poor thing might die of a heart attack before it got a claw in her.
She yipped and zigzagged in front of it before darting to the side. One mighty paw swiped out, missing her haunches. She’d done enough to catch its attention. Sprinting for the trees, she didn’t have to look back to know it was following her. The ground shook under her feet.
Damn, bears were fast.
Bunching and stretching, running at full speed through the forest in the middle of the night was the craziest thing she’d ever done. It wouldn’t do any good to outrun the mind control. They’d held on to Nala for miles. And she didn’t want to get lost in the forest and not know what the outcome of the fight was. She made figure eights around trees, wove through branches, any path that would force the bear to slow down and calculate its footing.
A shot rang out. She almost skidded to a stop. The bear was as startled as she was, but the noise wasn’t enough to shake the mind control.
And they were back to the cat and mouse game.
Fatigue dogged her. She had plenty of stamina, but going at full effort was taxing and the terrain was uneven, requiring all her abilities and total concentration. The bear was starting to weave and stagger. If she survived this, she’d kill a deer for it. As it was, all the deer had probably been smart enough to run far away after smelling the Raymore brothers.
A Shifter's Bodyguard (Pale Moonlight Book 5) Page 15