The Hyena's Hope

by Emilia Hartley

  A thought struck him like a bolt of lightning. It was possible that whoever was following them had kidnapped Carol. She’d been missing for a few months. Rodrigo had thought this town quiet and without any real threat. People hated the shifters who lived among them, but they never did anything to bother them.

  Had something changed? Or was it one of their own?

  Rodrigo sniffed the air, but he was upwind of their stalker. It gave him nothing more than the scent of burnt rubber at the mechanic shop ahead. He gagged but didn’t slow down.

  Ahead, Carol rounded a corner. Her broken nails struggled to get traction on the sidewalk. Cars honked at her. People leaned out of their windows to tell him to use a leash next time. He faked a smile and waved, hoping they would go away.

  Finally, Carol hit a dead end. She stood, her haunches low, and stared hopelessly at the wall ahead of her. Rodrigo was tired, but he strained to hear the shuffle of footsteps behind them. When he heard nothing, he peered out of the alley.

  This street was empty. Not a soul had followed them.

  “It’s me. It’s Rodrigo,” he beseeched the scared wolf. “You can trust me! Let me take you back to the bar!”

  The wolf shook, but it finally whined and dropped to the ground. She rolled onto her back. He shook his head.

  “Don’t play submissive with me,” he groaned. “Get up and walk beside me. If you can’t walk, I’ll carry you, but you have to let me know somehow.”

  She rolled back onto her feet and stood slowly. At first, she wobbled on all fours. Then she lowered her head and set forth, as if determined to walk on her own.

  “Now that that’s over,” he began, “Will you listen to me if I talk about this girl I met the whole time?”

  He wasn’t sure if he imagined it, but he thought Carol rolled her eyes at him. He grinned and launched back into talking about Lily. All the while, he scanned the streets around them for anyone who looked…off.

  Chapter Three

  “You disappeared real quick last night,” Vivian said, appearing from behind a stack of boxes.

  Lily clamped her hand over her racing heart, startled by her friend. “Where the heck did you come from?”

  Vivian gestured behind her. “I was unpacking some new true crime books. They’ve been flying off the shelves with the popularity of these true crime podcasts.”

  Lily couldn’t help but frown. She couldn’t imagine anyone listening to stories of how people were murdered for entertainment. Then again, could she really judge anyone when she read books about monstrous murderers falling in love?

  Vivian nudged her. “So? Did you go home with tall, dark, and handsome last night?”

  “What? No! Frida took me home after Brock showed up.”

  Vivian grimaced. “Doesn’t he know you’re not getting back with him? Who would forgive someone after something like that?”

  Lily sighed and swallowed her confession, that she was still mourning what she and Brock had. Six years of her life had been spent with that man. They’d met early in college, when she was a freshman and he a junior. Lily had been a naïve young woman, eager for love and affection. Then, she wrapped her whole being around him. It’d been easy, her identity still so malleable.

  Now, she was learning to live with the hole she’d created in her life. Without Brock, she could wear high waisted pants and a damp braid, but she didn’t have a future. What was more important? She was already missing all the things that could have been theirs.

  “Don’t tell me you’re thinking about him,” Vivian warned, a box cutter in her hand. “Tell me more about tall, dark, and handsome. He acted like he knew you when he stepped between you and Brock last night.”

  “You saw all that and didn’t come to help me?”

  Vivian shrugged. “You had it under control.”

  Lily rolled her eyes. “Well, if you must know, I met him outside. The bar was too loud for me, so I slipped out a door. He was out there. We talked for a bit, introduced ourselves.”

  “You’re blushing!”

  The door swung open and the floor manager swept in. He raised two thick brows over the rim of his black glasses. “Who is blushing and why?”

  Vivian pointed at Lily with the box cutter again. Lily covered her face and dropped into the nearby desk chair.

  “Tell me about him,” the floor manager prompted with a sly smile. “I need to know everything. Does he treat you nice? Does he own any dogs?”

  Vivian snorted and returned to her work, unpacking the boxes with a wild grin on her face. The floor manager looked between them, clearly craving more gossip than either were offering.

  “Oh no,” he said with sudden realization. He looked to Vivian, aghast. “You took her to that furry bar again!”

  Vivian threw her hands in the air. “It’s not a furry bar! The people there just happen to be able to turn into animals.” Her gaze grew distant and heated. “And lift cars with their bare hands. They could murder me, and I would thank them.”

  “You,” he said, pointing to Vivian, “are messed up in the head. And you,” he turned to Lily, “need a good rebound to teach you what it means to be loved. Because that asshole of yours never loved you.”

  Lily opened her mouth to argue, but she couldn’t find an argument.

  The floor manager waved to the computer fixed to the wall. “Go clock in and we will continue this conversation while we stock the romance shelves. Tell me you read the ARC of My Bloody Count. We need to discuss it.”

  She fingered the muddy and wet book she’d brought in with her. The floor manager gasped, as if affronted.

  “I may or may not have dropped it during a close encounter with a truck.”

  “Well, it looks like we can’t discuss it. Not until final copies come in and you get to finish it.” The floor manager looked sad on her behalf. “But that does mean we can talk about so-called Tall, Dark, and Handsome. Even if he is a furry, it wouldn’t hurt to rebound with him.”

  “There is a difference between shifters and furries!” Vivian groaned. “A furry can’t choke me out like they mean it.”

  Both Lily and the floor manager stared at Vivian in wide-eyed disbelief. This time, Vivian’s cheeks darkened.

  From deep in the stock room, Carlos shouted back, “Anyone with enough dedication could choke you out. I wouldn’t mind trying if it meant you stopped talking about furries!”

  Lily couldn’t take it any longer. Her face was too hot. She needed fresh air. Quickly, she punched her number into the wall-mounted computer, grabbed a box of romance novels marked to be shelved, and fled to the floor.

  The day went by with only a little more teasing from her co-workers. Most of the ribbing was focused on Vivian’s interesting sex life, and not on Lily’s recent break up. The crew for the next shift filtered in. Mary brought a huge tray of homemade cupcakes with her, trailing the smell of vanilla from her poufy white hair.

  Mary said the cupcakes weren’t to ease the ache of Lily’s recent breakup, but she also shoved four cupcakes into Lily’s hands before she left for the night. Her hands were so full of pastries that she didn’t have the chance to sift through the stack of ARCs by the door on her way out.

  Wondering how she would balance four cupcakes while unlocking her apartment door, Lily gave away two cupcakes on her way home. One recipient, a teenager with auburn hair, thanked her with enthusiasm.

  ***

  Dante didn’t believe Rodrigo.

  Not at first. Rodrigo explained what happened that day, how he heard Carol howl in town, how he found her crouched in an alley. He described how Carol had escaped him and run off like she was terrified.

  But Dante only shook his head. No one in town meant them any ill will. At least, not as far as Dante knew.

  Then, a door behind Rodrigo creaked. The whole room turned to look at Carol, some with awe and others with confusion.

  The alpha stared at Carol with disbelief, now shifted back to her human form and clothed in the scraps of lost clot
hing they could pull together. She slowly stepped forward, her head still hanging low.

  “It’s true,” she began. For a moment, she sucked her teeth, taking in everyone in the bar. “But I’m not sure if it was on purpose. I don’t…I don’t remember much.”

  Carol’s indecision, her lack of memory, made Dante wary. Rodrigo could see it in the way the alpha eyed Carol. It was possible Carol had lost control and wandered off. If so, then it made sense she would make up a kidnapping story to save her skin. Having disappeared for as long as she had, Dante wouldn’t want her in the pack. Not if she couldn’t control herself for that long.

  Even Rodrigo was beginning to wonder if she was making it up.

  No, he’d heard the footsteps. He’d seen Carol’s panic firsthand. Someone out there was hunting her. The question was, would the hunter stalk Carol or would they go after other shifters next?

  “Let me track the kidnapper,” Rodrigo said as he stepped forward. His heart thumped an unsteady rhythm, unsure of his own convictions.

  Dante sized him up, an unspoken question in the look. Do you think you’re ready for a task like this?

  Rodrigo looked between Carol and Dante. The alpha stood with his spine straight and his chin hoisted in the air. Carol was a mess, still hunched on herself. There had been a time when both Rodrigo and Carol had been snarling messes. They’d been drunk on the new magic coursing through their bodies, unable to master the power of it all.

  Now, Rodrigo was able to pull himself upright. His beast would growl and claw for control, but it hadn’t taken over in a long while. He was getting better at this. He was ready.

  Dante nodded. “You get to hunt this ghost. If it turns out to be something, then bring the offending party to us and the pack will lay down judgement. If there is nothing on the other end of this trail…”

  Dante cast a warning glance at Carol, giving her time to confess if she was lying. She said nothing. Rodrigo didn’t know how to feel. Here, among the other shifters, it was too easy to lean into their alpha and agree with him. Yet, Rodrigo had felt something out on that street. He clung to the memory, trying desperately to keep from warping it.

  The sound of the footsteps.

  The way his hair stood on end.

  Rodrigo wished he had a scent to go on, but he would take what he could get. The kidnapper had seen him with Carol. All he had to do was put himself in a risky situation, make himself vulnerable. The moment of weakness would draw out the kidnapper.

  Or, so Rodrigo hoped.

  The pack disbanded, everyone going their own direction and getting on with their lives. Rodrigo paused at the door. Over his shoulder, he caught Van staring at Carol. The man’s jaw was nearly on the floor. The sight shook Rodrigo.

  He’d felt the same only the night before, when he met Lily.

  Lily.

  Whatever he felt for the young human girl would have to wait. Dealing with this threat was more important than wooing a human girl. He didn’t want to put her in harm’s way, either. If he was going to track a kidnapper that had held Carol for nearly a year, then he wanted to make sure Lily was far away from danger.

  But he did owe her a new book. The least he could do was replace the one he’d soiled. Then he would explain to her that he couldn’t see her again. Or he could put it in her mailbox. Maybe, if he knew where she worked, he could leave it at her job.

  Rodrigo knew he was making excuses to see Lily again, but he couldn’t stop himself. The whole ride home, he didn’t think about the new mission he’d been given. He thought of the human girl he’d saved twice over. Once from her own ex and another time from a speeding truck.

  In the morning, he would head out. There was a bookstore in town. He’d never set foot inside it, but there would be a first time for everything.

  Chapter Four

  Rodrigo scoured the shelves, looking for a familiar cover. He couldn’t, for the life of him, remember what the title of the book had been, but he was determined to find it based on the cover. It turned out to be more difficult than he imagined. All the romance covers looked remarkably similar.

  “It was a vampire, I know that much.” He mumbled to himself as he jammed a book with a big bear on the cover back onto the shelf.

  This was maddening. He was at the edge of his leash, ready to tip the whole shelf over and dig through the fallen books. Pulling them out one by one and replacing them each time they failed to yield a result was pinching every last nerve he had. The beast inside him growled at all the six packs on the covers.

  He would have thought the images unbelievable had he not been changed. Becoming a shifter had toned his muscles. They were always working, always fighting against the beast inside him. He’d gone from a six pack when he flexed to a constant six pack. His biceps were easily the size of a baby’s head.

  It was no wonder women liked to flock to the shifter bar, he mused. Human men never stood a chance with shifters around.

  Rodrigo pulled out one more book before he jammed it back into place. A growl slipped from between his lips. He was one second away from letting his beast tear the whole place to the ground.

  No.

  He wouldn’t do that.

  Rodrigo chided his beast for inserting such thoughts into his mind. The beast only responded with a warning growl. When was the last time Rodrigo shifted? He tried not to think about such things, but the beast insisted. He flexed his hands, trying to shake off the sensation rippling through his bones.

  Change.

  Change.

  Change.

  With a scowl twisting his lips, he reached for another book. His hand crashed into another. A girl squealed. A shock of electricity rocketed from his hand to his chest. Time slowed down as he turned to look at who now stood beside him.

  Lily blushed and looked away, but then did a double take. Her eyes widened and a smile split her lips, so bright he thought he would go blind. He couldn’t look directly at her. She was too much to take in all at once.

  Rodrigo stared at the pin on her lapel first.

  I read past curfew.

  It was such a silly little thing, as if staying up late to read was such a daring and rebellious act, but it made him smile. The smile fell when he remembered he wasn’t supposed to see her. The plan had been, he decided earlier that morning, that he was going to drop the book in her mailbox once he found it.

  Now that she was in his presence, he didn’t want to leave. This could end badly, he reminded himself. But he couldn’t bring himself to move. All he could do was stare down at her. Even his beast, desperate to shift moments ago, was now quiet.

  It hit him like a ton of bricks. The beast was silent. Her fingers grazed the back of his hand as they fell away. Electrical shocks zoomed through his body before wrapping around his lungs. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t speak.

  Lily eyed the shelf beside him, and a wry smile overtook her. “What brings you to the, ah, romance section of the store?”

  Rodrigo thought he would be funny and say that he could ask her the same thing when he noticed the name badge hanging from a lanyard around her neck. She worked here. Maybe asking her why she was at the bookstore was a bad idea, but it left Rodrigo with nothing to say.

  “You don’t look like the type of guy to read romance,” Lily added, tucking a strand of wavy hair behind her ear. “You could be a sci-fi guy. Maybe a mystery reader.”

  “Oh, uh. I’m not really big on reading,” He finally managed to blurt out.

  Her features twisted with confusion. “Then why are you…?”

  “The book you dropped yesterday. I wanted to replace it. As an apology.” He managed to get more than two braincells to work at once, but his processing power was still stilted and janky.

  Lily’s presence seemed to jumble his brain. He was mesmerized by every flicker of expression on her face, by the way the light caught her dark eyes, and the gentle corners of her lips, like she’d never frowned a day in her life. He didn’t want to be the first to make he
r frown.

  Remembering the man who’d accosted her at the bar, he was probably safe in that department, but he still didn’t want to make her sad. He took a step back, trying to remind himself that he couldn’t get attached to her. Not until the investigation was over and he’d found the guy responsible for hurting Carol.

  “You mean the book I dropped yesterday?” Lily laughed. “You won’t find that one on the shelves yet. It doesn’t come out for another couple of months!”

  His hand dropped. “What?”

  Her cheeks reddened and she pulled in on herself, almost shy now. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”

  “No! You didn’t do anything wrong!”

  “But you spent all this time trying to find it for me and it isn’t even on the shelves…”

  Rodrigo offered a smile, tucking his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching out and touching the strand of hair that fell out from behind her ear again. “I have wasted my time on worse things.”

  She crossed her arms over a book she was holding and grinned up at him. “Yeah? Like what?”

  “There was a time, when I was still in college, when my frat mates threw a mattress in a pool and took turns jumping onto it.”

  A look of pain wrinkled her features. “That had to hurt, but I guess you would have been fine given that you’re…well, you know.”

  “I didn’t actually jump. I wasted my time taking them to the hospital after it was all said and done. Plus, this was before my change.” When was the last time Rodrigo got to talk about his life before the change? Since arriving, he’d been knee deep in the world of shifters and their beasts. It was all he could think about while his monster raged inside him.

  Talking about life before, about the person he’d been, was refreshing. It reminded him that not much had really changed. He was still the same person, only with an addition. The hyena crouched inside him.

  This was a nice change, but he couldn’t allow himself to linger. It wasn’t safe for her.

  ***