by Lynn Red
I laughed hollowly. “That’s an understatement. I can’t believe he just left like that. After everything we... I mean, I sound like an asshole, but I thought we really had something.”
“You do, Clea,” Dean said. “I’ve never seen anyone so protective, so inflamed and taken with someone else as he is. I mean, I hardly know the guy and I can see his emotions like they were a big neon sign that says ‘I am stupidly in love with this woman’ and then has an arrow pointing toward you. If he said he had something to take care of, then he does.”
“I know,” I said, looking down at my wriggling toes. “I feel terrible for thinking the things I do, but...”
“No, no,” Dean said. I could see him putting his hand up in a ‘stop’ gesture, and shaking his head even though he was at home, four miles away. He always gesticulated wildly on the phone. That was one of the first things we found out we had in common. “Liam screwed you over. Like, in a bad, bad way. I’d be more suspicious if you weren’t thinking Orion got scared or bored or whatever and took off. But I’m telling you – you’re a terrible judge of character. I think we can agree on that, right?”
I laughed softly, thinking about the string of horrible dates I’d had. “Yeah okay, I’ll grant you that one. Telling the zeroes from the heroes has never really been my greatest talent.”
“This one?” he asked. “This one is a hero, Clea. A real, honest-to-God, hero. I mean, he has saved us twice. What do you think of this storm?”
“I think you’re changing the subject,” I said. “But I’m glad you are. I’m worried sick about Orion. I’m making myself crazy with the fretting. I sprinted for like two hours earlier.”
“All I’m gonna say is that it’s a good thing you’re not an armadillo,” Dean said, though he started trailing off before he finished.
“Why’s that?”
“I’m... honestly not even sure what I was going for.”
He cracked a soft laugh and made me smile. “Thanks for the chuckle,” I said.
“So about this storm. Do you have anywhere to go? I mean in case it turns real shitty. Malia and I’ve got the cellar. After her, you’re the other person I’d like to most be shut up in a musty, dark hole in the ground with, after all.”
I stood up and crossed the room, then opened my front door. Wind howled through the trees, screeching like a horde of angry, wailing ghosts. It was pretty horrible, and he was right – I didn’t have much anywhere to go except a bathtub.
“Yeah,” I said. It’ll be good for me to not be alone right now anyway. “Yeah, I think I’ll head over there. You sure? About sharing your dark hole with me?”
I blushed as the words came out of my mouth, but I figured he’d have a laugh.
The bellow on the other end of the line proved I was right. “You always know how to make me smile, Clea. You might be a terrible judge of boyfriends, but you’re a great friend. See you in a few? Hurry up. I’m serious. This is gonna be bad and it’s gonna get here soon. I’ve never seen Whit Whitman look worried before.”
“You noticed that too?” I asked. “I’ve never seen him look any way but pleased with himself. Right. Be right there.”
The line went dead, and I grabbed my wallet and keys. On the way out the door, I spun on my heel and went back to the bedroom to collect Orion’s phone. I don’t know why I did, but it seemed like maybe it was a good idea.
When the door was half closed, I stopped it and went back inside to fetch the beer I bought the night before. If I’m gonna be stuck with my friends in a cellar for who-knows-how-long, may as well. Lemons into lemonade and all that.
As I settled into my Outback’s well worn, comfortable seat, I couldn’t help but wish I was saddling up behind Orion on his gigantic road hog. I longed to feel that thumping engine pulse through my body. I ached to hold him again, to feel my arms around my bear’s muscled waist. I needed, more than anything, to feel his heat, to listen to the beating of his heart.
Rolling down my window, I took a deep breath. The forest air had a sharp sting of fir scent, rounded off by the pregnant rainclouds, ready to burst. It’s something I had always done.
When things were at their darkest, when my life seemed closest to falling completely apart, the rain had kept me sane. I’d sit out on the porch, or in my car, or sometimes at a hotel, depending on exactly how bad the fighting had gotten. With all the windows open, I let the howling wind, the sweet coolness of rain wash over me, wash away my worries.
I never worried much about lightning or floods or anything like that. It always felt like I was immune. Maybe stupid, but it never backfired.
The first gentle patters of rain fell on my windshield. I sat, transfixed, watching the droplets splash and spread and run down the glass.
Turning my key, listening to the engine, it was all mechanical. It was like without Orion, the soul had been sucked right out of me. As much as being around him made me smile and laugh and feel like the soul had been breathed back into me, having him taken away did exactly the opposite.
I took a deep breath, stuck my hand out the window and turned it over a couple times, relishing the rain thumping against my skin.
“There’s no way he abandoned me,” I said.
Something about the rain gave me clarity. The gentle rhythm, the smell, or the feel of the water on my skin... something brought all my thoughts together at once. Like a crystal clear bell going off and focusing my attention after a long daydream, I realized at right that second, I was right. Dean was right.
I had found a hero.
But right then, he was a hero who needed my help.
Of course, before I could do any saving, I had to figure out where he was. That part? That was going to be a hell of a trick, considering that I had absolutely no idea where to start.
“Hey Dean,” I tapped out on my phone. “I’ve got to do some thinking.”
“Don’t do anything crazy,” he texted back. “Also Malia and I had a bet going on whether it would take five minutes, or ten minutes, for you to tell us you weren’t coming and instead you were going to go look for Orion.”
“You know me too well,” I replied, smiling as I did. “I promise I’ll be careful.”
“I don’t like this, but okay. If you get in trouble, or you get stuck or scared or anything, you know where we are.”
“Thanks,” I sent back. “You guys... you’re the best. I mean it.”
Tossing the phone into the seat beside me, I backed out of my driveway as the rain came faster. Where was I going? What the hell was I even doing?
In the distance, probably eight or ten miles from where I sat, a single bolt of lightning streaked across the sky and then another went from cloud to ground. The thunder rumbled, then rolled, and finally broke in a cannon-like peal that shook me to the core.
“The beaver,” I said.
One thing after another fell into place in my head like a perfectly arranged Tetris board. I narrowed my eyes, nodding slowly as I formed a model in my brain. Watching all those police procedurals finally came in handy for something besides arm-chair detective work.
The screeching beaver from that art museum exhibit, the tree falling on me that Orion caught. The rivers going dry...
“She’s doing exactly what she threatened,” I realized, as another lightning bolt flashed off to the east, a little closer than the last one. “And who better to use for enforcement than those bikers, the ones...”
I gulped.
“Bikers like the Devils. Bikers like Orion’s dad.”
I had spent enough time in my life in the Jamesburg woods. Most of it camping with Dean and Malia and a bunch of cubs, but I’d had plenty of time to explore. All five rivers only really had one place they could be dammed, one place shallow enough to make it happen without a major industrial effort.
But with the rain beginning to pour, if the dams were real, they weren’t going to last. And if all five broke at once? I wasn’t just going to lose Orion, I was going to lose a town.
/> The rain beat down. My ancient Outback’s four wheels gripped the road. I had some rivers to check.
And to think, I promised Dean I wasn’t going to do anything crazy.
-21-
“I didn’t expect to see... okay, well at this point, expectations are kinda out the window.”
-Clea
Two rivers checked, my fears were confirmed but I was no closer to a solution, or any closer to Orion.
What I had found though, was that every part of my crazy theory turned out to be right. Luckily I decided not to drive too close to the dam sites, instead parking my car and creeping the rest of the way on four paws. Lucky because at both of the rivers, at both of the choke points, small gangs of thugs were milling around.
Milling around for what? I had no idea. My only guess was that they were waiting for some kind of signal to pull the plug, so to speak, so all the water rushed toward Jamesburg all at once. If that happened, all five rivers would send massive walls of water hurtling towards the city center, probably flooding or destroying pretty much everything in the way.
And past that, if all of these bikers were converged on the dams, where the hell had they – or whoever had him, I guess – taken Orion?
The third river showed me exactly the same thing, except on the way back from scoping out the camp, one of my paws slipped in a mud suck and I twisted my ankle. Because, you know, the only thing worse than trying to spy on a bunch of mercenary bikers is trying to do it with a limp.
Back in my Outback, I thought I finally had enough to go on that calling the hyena brigade made sense. If I called earlier, when all I had was a hunch, I doubt telling the police “yeah, my Sherlock Holmes-like powers of deduction have led me to believe that there are several bikers getting ready to flood the town under the instruction of a crazy beaver. Also, my boyfriend has been kidnapped” would produce much in the way of a result.
“Jamesburg Police,” the voice coming through my phone said. “If you’re calling to tell us about the downed power lines, or minor flooding, please call the non-emergency line and—”
“No,” I cut in. “This is definitely an emergency. I’m out here around mile marker six heading east out of town. A quarter mile into the forest, the Dirty Devils biker gang has damned the Lesser James.”
For a moment there was no sound from the other end, but when I looked, my call was still connected. “Hello?” I asked. “Are you there?”
“Motorcycle club,” the voice answered.
“What?”
“The Devils are a club, not a gang. There’s a difference.”
“Right,” I said. “Anyway that’s kind of beside the point. They’re about to flood the town.”
Gum popped in my ear. “This is a little unbelievable,” the voice said nasally. “Sounds crazy.”
I sighed heavily. “I am well aware that this sounds crazy, but I’m also aware of what I’ve just seen. If you don’t send hyenas out, they’re going to break the dams they’ve set up and they’re going to cause a flood. Have you seen how hard it’s raining?”
Anticipating another of the dispatcher’s questions, I answered before she asked. “The rivers haven’t been running lower because of no rain, they’re running lower because a beaver dammed them up.”
She let out an impatient puff of air. “All right, I guess I have to report this. Can you hold on?”
I nodded yes and then said so. The dulcet tones of some sort of saxophone-based muzak hit my ears and immediately raised my blood pressure. I hate that stuff at the dentist’s office, and I hate it even more when I’m on the hold.
Yeah. On hold, with the police.
I had another thought. There was in fact a natural disaster about to happen. The town council must’ve been meeting to discuss it, because even in Jamesburg, massive floods are usually given some attention.
Abandoning everything my parents taught me, I hung up on the dispatcher, and looked up the main number for the Jamesburg Courthouse. No answer there, or on Judge Rawls’s line. But, my third option, calling the alpha direct, was both the biggest longshot and also the only success.
“Hello? Alpha Danniken speaking,” a very tired, but still undeniably smooth and sexy voice said.
I opened my mouth to respond, but he continued. “Alpha Danniken speaking because I’m answering my own phone, because I had the stupidity to mate with my secretary and so now I don’t have one anymore. The town alpha is answering phones in the midst of a disaster.” He sighed. “Anyway, who do you need to speak with? And... wait a minute, why is someone even calling here?”
“It’s about the flood,” I said in a quick, terse way. “I know what’s screwing with the rivers and also something is about to lay waste to Jamesburg.”
“When isn’t something about to lay waste to Jamesburg?” Erik sighed again. “All right, give me the details. And you’re sure there’s something going on with the rivers?”
“Yes!” I accidentally shouted. “I just looked at three dammed up rivers, all of them guarded by the Dirty Devils motorcycle club members.”
“Ha! Motorcycle club. What a ridiculous load of shit. Those guys are the grimiest, scummiest biker gangbangers I’ve ever had the pleasure of punching right in the goddamn mouth.”
He paused. I had no idea what to say to that.
“That’s... good,” I finally said. “Well listen, I was at the art museum when that weird little beaver started yelling at you and—”
“What’s your name?” Erik asked.
“Me? Clea Kellen.”
“Oh, you’re the daycare lynx, right? How’s all that going? My mate thinks all those cubs of yours are the cutest damn things in the world, you know. I have to admit, I’ve never been one for kids, but those little raccoon kits are totally adorable.” His voice got a little wiggly at the end.
“I, uh... yeah,” I said, shaking my head. “Yeah that’s going pretty well I think. Listen, about the rivers, I—”
I heard him laugh into the phone. “You know, that weird little beaver came back, right? Celia’s her name.” His casual, almost glib yammering was about to make my head explode. “She just can’t let things go. And to be honest with you, I don’t even know what she was talking about. She just kept saying things about, uh, the forest, and—”
“She is doing what she threatened,” I finally blurted out. “She’s dammed up rivers, she’s going to flood the town. I don’t know when, but she’s got the rivers backed up with the bikers guarding the dams, and my boyfriend is somehow mixed up in all this shit.”
The alpha grumbled. “This is the last damn thing I needed today,” he said, then paused for another massive sigh. “All right. Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll get some people out to look. Now, you said you’d seen them doing this stuff? I’m gonna tell you right now, get out of there. No ifs, ands or bears... I mean buts about it. Stop playing police. Let the hyenas handle it.”
“Yes sir,” I said, turning off the road again near where I figured the fourth river would be dammed. “Absolutely, I’ll stop immediately. Thanks for listening to me. I know it sounds crazy, so... thanks.”
“Crazy is what that beaver is. Thanks again.”
My phone beeped to signal the end of the call, but I had already tossed the handset on the seat of my car.
Normally I’m reserved, even a little bashful about the whole clothes-ripping part of shifting, but this was one time that modesty had absolutely no place. I crouched down as rain spattered my back. Even with the terror and the fear and the stubborn courage coursing through me, the rain had a calming effect. I grabbed my backpack full of clothes and slid it on.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as fur slid out of my pores. Denim ripped, cotton tore. Balling up my hands and curling my toes made the shift quicker and easier. Moments later, I scratched at the ground, then retracted my claws.
My paws squished over the soaked forest floor as I approached the wall of green. Hoping against hope this one would show me my mate, and a solutio
n to all this insanity. A car – or rather a motorcycle with a sidecar – slowed on the highway and then turned off.
“What ho, there!” It was the old man with the jingling beard, Jenga. “Everything all right? Hello?”
I hunched into a shadow, considering just ignoring him. But, if I really did either get caught, or come up on Orion, and he was hurt or something, then I’d need any help I could get. I mewled to get his attention and the dashed back toward my car. “They’re damming the rivers.”
He looked down at me, not even the least bit surprise. “Cathy, right?” He asked. “No, no, Katie. No, that’s not it.” He slapped his forehead. The zombie bear beside him, sitting, unbelievably, in the sidecar, smiled at me and drooled a generous amount.
“Cl...ea,” Atlas groaned. “I lo...ve you.”
“Clea! That’s it,” Jenga said, smiling broadly. “I’m very sorry about my friend falling in love with you. He ain’t the only one. Sara seems to have caught wind of that feller that fought the sea monster, and dashed off to find him.”
“Meaning he and she aren’t here?” I asked, wincing in anticipation of his answer.
“I was hoping so, but I don’t see any sign of her.”
“Listen,” I hissed. “We have to move fast. There’re five dammed up rivers and they’re going to break at any moment, I—”
“Oh, that. This might sound a bit funny comin’ from a man with zombie friends, but it’s hard to believe that whacked-out beaver managed it. Even more surprisin’ is that she got that far down the road to crazy without takin’ a u-turn to stupid-ville. That beaver’s sharp as a garden spade.”
I shook my head. “We have to act, we have to do... something. Orion’s been kidnapped I think, and without him I don’t know what to do. Please!”
“Hold on there, missy,” Jenga said. He opened his watery old eyes wide. “You said your boyfriend was kidnapped? The one Sara fell so hard for?”
I scrunched my nose up, not really sure what was going on. “Sure? I guess?”
“Oh, hot damn, little lady, I... I hate to suggest this, but how’s that nose of yours? Strong enough to catch scents through the rain?”