The Hyena's Hope

by Emilia Hartley

  Chapter Ten

  “I saw you out and about with tall, dark, and handsome,” Vivian teased at work the next day.

  Lily blushed when Vivian asked if they had slept together yet. Lily admonished her and said they were in public the whole date. Vivian, of course, shrugged and said she didn’t see why that was an issue.

  Which only made Lily blush harder. She could have cooked an egg on her face, it was so hot. Vivian just kept thrusting her hips and winking. The floor manager stepped through the stock room door and paused at the sight of Vivian. Slowly, he backed out as if he’d never entered in the first place.

  Both Lily and Vivian cracked up laughing. Despite feeling at home among her co-workers, Lily felt the hollow ache in her chest. It had been filled during the date with Rodrigo, but that only stretched it wider so that when he left and never called, she couldn’t ignore the gaping hole in her life.

  She grabbed a stack of books and hurried out onto the floor to shelve them. A couple came in, a short woman with her hair dyed green and a burly blond man behind her. Lily wondered if the man might be a bear shifter in Rodrigo’s pack. As she watched, her chest ached. The man followed the short woman around the store. Every time she picked up a book and looked at it with longing before putting it back, he plucked it from the shelf and added it to a stack.

  At the checkout counter, the man held four books and stopped to grab a set of bookmarks his girlfriend had stopped to look at. Her cheeks were pink as he paid for them with his card, but when he handed her the bag, she lit up like the moon.

  Lily wanted that kind of love. The man didn’t need to say anything. He just knew what his girlfriend wanted. He could see it in her and did what he could to make her happy. The sight of her smile brought one to his own stoic face. Like her happiness meant everything to him.

  She didn’t know how to find that for herself. All she knew how to do was carve her own contentedness out of life. She hoarded romance novels and read them in the sun, drowned herself in lavender lattes, and enjoyed C movies. But that wasn’t the kind of happiness she glimpsed on the small woman’s face.

  That kind of happiness was born from knowing just how much someone loved her, from having someone beside her who was attentive. Lily’s hollowness roared like the wind in the trees. She wished she could be like Lady Violetta, wooed little by little until there was no going back. She knew she would never be like the vigilante heroine of the lone ranger book. That heroine was far too bold for Lily to ever compare herself.

  Was it so bad to want someone to sweep her off her feet? That didn’t seem like a bad thing. Not to her. Not when she was hurting after the couple left the store.

  The floor manager sent her on a lunch break when she stopped being able to smile. Lily only nodded and retreated to the stock room. There she found a new book and a small treat. The floor manager’s handwriting was on the little note attached to the new book, stating that this was an ARC she needed to read.

  She slid it into her bag and pulled out the lone ranger book Rodrigo had bought her. She wanted to live inside this book forever, to turn over every word in search of some sort of clue about Rodrigo’s distant nature. It wasn’t like he’d picked this book out for its content. She was sure he pulled it off the shelf because it looked like every other book, but she couldn’t help wondering if there was another reason. If there was a bit of him between these pages that she needed to find.

  Rodrigo was an enigma she barely understood. Yet, there were times where it felt like she could see right through him. When she’d successfully guess his animal, she’d surprised herself. And him, too, if the look on his face had been any indication.

  They could have something if only he would allow her in. Every time they came together, he pulled away. Lily set aside her book and reached for her phone. Text conversations were always easier than verbal communication. Some intent might fall through the cracks, but she found it easier to ask certain things when she wasn’t standing face to face with someone.

  Her thumbs hovered over the screen, a moment of hesitation, before she typed the question that had been eating at her for days.

  What is wrong with me?

  She thought she could make him happy. There were moments when Rodrigo had the same look that man had earlier when his girlfriend smiled. She thought that meant she and Rodrigo had something. Then, he would pull back and put so much distance between them that she wasn’t sure if she’d read the situation right.

  Over and over, she checked her phone for a reply. None ever came.

  Chapter Eleven

  Rodrigo felt a void in his life. He sat back in his truck, feet on the dashboard. While his eyes were on the street outside the windshield, his mind was back with Lily. It seemed his chances had been dashed. She would inevitably return to Brock.

  The timing was all wrong. He’d needed someone like her in his life, needed her smiles and her love, but a wedge had come between them. The wedge, the kidnapper roaming their streets, needed to be taken care of. If he told her, she would always be looking over her shoulder. Not a night would go by that she didn’t fear every small sound or flickering shadow.

  He couldn’t do that to her. He didn’t know how to enter her life without alerting her to the danger that was following him. He wanted to go back to the day they’d shared, the time they spent in the batting cage.

  That day meant everything to him. It proved that he had a chance at a normal life, at happiness. He didn’t think Lily would wait for him and that left an ache in his heart, but he would forever hold onto his love for her. No matter what she chose in the end.

  At least, that was what he told himself.

  The beast knew better. It would never be happy if it could not claim Lily. But that had to wait. The threat that still hid among them needed to be dealt with before anyone else was hurt. Rodrigo had to prove to his pack that he could be worth something. That he wasn’t just a burden struggling to hold himself together.

  He could keep himself under control long enough to hunt this kidnapper.

  He wished Carol had more to tell him. She still didn’t remember how she’d been taken. She didn’t remember escaping. Her beast had wiped all the memories from her mind, perhaps in an effort to save her. Rodrigo had gone back to ask more questions, but he stopped himself when he found her crying on Van’s shoulder.

  She didn’t need to be put through anything more than what she’d already lived through.

  His phone vibrated. It was probably Lily, looking for an explanation. He didn’t know how to tell her that he needed to stay away. That his affection for her had become a weapon against him. He needed to pretend that he didn’t love her, that she wasn’t the only light in his life.

  But when he dug out his phone, it wasn’t Lily’s number on the screen. Rodrigo scowled at Alexis’s number. He shouldn’t answer it. Dante would kill him for indulging the teenager’s flirtatious tendencies.

  Still, with a danger in town, Rodrigo knew he couldn’t ignore the call.

  “Dude,” Alexis said, dragging the word out for five more seconds than he thought possible.

  “You’re drunk,” he said, filling in the blanks. He dropped his feet to the floor boards and reached for the keys in the ignition.

  “Yessssss, I am. I need a ride, doggo.”

  Rodrigo growled. “I’m not a dog. And you can’t summon me to save you from your own decisions.”

  “If you let me stay here and something happens to me, Daddy Tiger will be very unhappy with you.”

  “Have I told you recently that you’re too smart for your age?”

  “No, but I will accept any and all compliments sent my way.”

  Rodrigo got the address of the party and promised her, after much begging on her part, that he wouldn’t call the cops on the party. All she wanted was to go home and sleep off whatever it was she drank. He wanted that, too.

  Alexis was a good kid. The whole pack stood behind her, eagerly waiting to see what she would do when she grew u
p. He and Van were already running bets on how long it would take her to burn the world to the ground.

  The party was at a farmhouse on the other end of town. His truck’s rumbling engine had nothing on the sound blasting from inside. He suspected the windows were shuddering. Thankfully, he didn’t have to go inside. Alexis was outside, waiting for him in a cloud of smoke produced by her friends with glowing cigarettes.

  He hoped those were cigarettes.

  She bounced to her feet, swayed slightly, and lurched forward. She made it to the passenger door before throwing her hand out. Braced against the truck, she leaned over and emptied the contents of her stomach onto the ground. Her friends hooted in the background. Rodrigo scowled at them.

  The beast wanted to get out and throttle them all for not taking care of Alexis. She deserved better friends than these animals. He was going to have to tell Dante to put a shifter on this girl’s tail to keep her out of trouble.

  She whipped the door open and slowly climbed inside. Once she was seated, Rodrigo reminded her to put on her seatbelt. She mocked him but did as he asked. Once she was safely buckled in, he relaxed a little more.

  “Does your mom know you’re out here?”

  Alexis shrugged. She slouched in her seat, eyes closed and a grimace on her lips. The few moments right after puking were always heavy with regret. He remembered his college days. Drinking didn’t quite have the same effects anymore.

  “I’m going to take you to Dante if you don’t give me an answer,” Rodrigo warned.

  She waved him off, clearly unafraid of his alpha. Rodrigo wanted to sigh. He was supposed to be hunting someone preying on their pack, not being Alexis’s last-minute designated driver. He was no closer to figuring out what happened to Carol than he’d been when she first arrived.

  “Are you seeing anyone, big dog?”

  Rodrigo rolled his eyes. Both at her question and her ludicrous nickname for him. “Last time you flirted with me I got throttled.”

  Alexis twisted in her seat. Her eyes were growing glassy again. The moment of clarity was over, and the alcohol had taken over again. “That’s not what I meant. Besides, I want to be a veterinarian. That means healing animals, not humping them.”

  “You are so drunk. There’s no way your mother isn’t going to notice.”

  “Tell me you have a love life, Rigo. That you have a cute little girlfriend who loves you. Someone who will be mad at me later for stealing you away for a night.” Alexis pressed her hand to her forehead like she was fighting for sobriety.

  Immediately, his thoughts slid to Lily. He could see her smile as plain as day, her small laugh echoing in his ears as if she were there with them. Lily would have liked Alexis. The teenager had enough spunk for the both of them.

  But all he’d done since meeting Lily was give her mixed signals. He was supposed to keep her at an arm’s length to protect her, but he couldn’t stay away from her. Perhaps it was good he hadn’t gotten any closer to the kidnapper because he still hadn’t detached himself from Lily. There was still time to pull away.

  Yet the thought caused him physical pain. His chest felt like someone was tearing his heart in half. Not just anyone. No, he was tearing his own heart in half.

  He wanted to prove to the pack that he could manage his beast, that he could be useful. But what would it cost him? Could he keep pushing his own needs aside just to show his pack that he was worth keeping? It wasn’t like they would throw him out on his ass. He only wanted to give back after Dante and the pack had done so much to help him.

  “Get yourself a girlfriend,” Alexis told him. She only slightly slurred her words.

  Rodrigo sighed. “It’s not that easy. I can’t just…”

  “Don’t argue with me. I know what’s good.”

  He was heavily tempted to sigh again. Her house was coming up on the right. Rodrigo didn’t want to dump her on the curb, but he also didn’t want to be the one to bring her to the door. He knew Dante would assume much more than what actually happened. The man’s temper had improved since meeting his mate, but Dante had two kids to protect now and one of them was very compromised in the passenger seat.

  Finally, he decided he had no choice and parked the truck. By the time he made it around to the passenger door, Alexis was already fumbling out. He caught her before she could face plant on the ground. No one needed to leave a layer of skin on the sidewalk tonight.

  Just as he was helping Alexis back on her feet, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He jerked upright, scanning the dark street with all senses at attention. His heart thumped in his ears. Alexis cried out when he pulled her too fast.

  He muttered a curse and let go of her. She swayed on her feet, but he was already looking up and down the road. He didn’t know what he expected. There would be no flashing eyes in the dark, no hint of devil fire.

  “I can walk on my own better than you,” Alexis snapped, clearly annoyed at his help.

  He trailed behind her as she made her way to the door. The feeling of being watched never went away. His fear of Dante’s retribution faded as the sensation of being hunted crept up on him. Whoever was out there had turned their attention to Rodrigo now.

  Alexis lurched through the front door. Rodrigo had to be careful who he associated himself with. Lily had already been threatened. He couldn’t let the kidnapper hunt Alexis, too. Helping her had been a bad idea. He should have called Van. Maybe Carol. Either could have helped Dante’s stepdaughter.

  It shouldn’t have been him. So long as he tracked this kidnapper, he would be placing targets on the backs of those around him. The kidnapper wasn’t going to get away with hurting those nearest to him.

  “Tell Dante I’m leaving the truck here for the night. You can drive it to the bar in the morning if you’re not hungover.”

  Alexis waved over her shoulder as she disappeared into the darkness of the house. She was home safe. Whatever happened under this roof was between Alexis and Sadie. He had a hunt to get back to.

  He slunk into the house’s shadow and let his beast come forward. The change didn’t hurt as bad as it had in the past. His balance was getting better. He and the beast were learning to be on the same page. This hunt for Carol’s kidnapper drove both him and his beast. When he stood on four legs rather than two, he stepped out onto the street and sniffed the air.

  The town smelled like exhaust, greenery, and trash bins.

  He couldn’t discern the kidnapper’s scent from Sadie’s neighbor, so he catalogued as many as he could, trying to commit them all to memory. There was a woman who wore too much vanilla perfume. Probably not who he was looking for. A man smelled like a grill, smoke clinging to his clothes.

  Could that be who he was hunting?

  Rodrigo turned toward the scent, following it from shadow to shadow. Unfortunately, he came across a small yard with a little, round charcoal grill. The man was in his garage, the door open to the summer air and a single light glowing over his head. Rodrigo stopped and studied the man working in the garage.

  It was possible the kidnapper lived here. Rodrigo waited, but the man never looked up. He never stopped what he was doing. If the man knew Rodrigo was lurking in the shadow of the car in the driveway, he didn’t show it.

  No, this wasn’t the kidnapper, Rodrigo decided. He needed to find Carol’s scent. That was what was going to help him put the nail in the kidnapper’s coffin. There was no way the kidnapper could clear Carol’s scent from where he held her for six months.

  As he sniffed his way up and down the connecting streets, his mind wandered. It went back to Lily over and over again. If he could not catch this kidnapper in time. There was a chance she would reconnect with her ex-boyfriend. Rodrigo felt the pressure of keeping her from falling back on a bad man. He wanted to protect her from that choice, even if Rodrigo wasn’t the right man for her.

  If he could show her what it meant to be loved and cherished, if he could show her the value of being treated right, then maybe she would be
able to let go of her ex. The beast in him growled greedily. In the beast’s mind, Lily already belonged to him. There was no other for his beast, but he wasn’t going to force her into anything she didn’t want.

  Alexis tried to make him prioritize a relationship. She was right that he needed someone in his life, but now wasn’t the right time. Unfortunately, now was the only time. Any longer and he would lose his chance at the one woman who made him happy.

  He stopped, catching a familiar scent. His heart jumped. This was definitely Carol’s scent. It smelled just like the wolf he’d found not too long ago. The house he stood outside of was dark, but he could see that it was neatly manicured like every other house on the street.

  It felt wrong, in a weird way. Like the house should have been ramshackle or, at the very least, haunted. This perfect image of suburban life was at war with the feeling that crept along Rodrigo’s hackles.

  Slowly, Rodrigo slunk forward. He circled the house, giving it a wide berth the first time around until he knew the area was clear. Had he left the kidnapper back in Dante’s neighborhood? He liked to think that Dante could protect his family. Alexis was home now, where she belonged. She was safe.

  His skin still crawled as he approached the house. He didn’t like the idea that the kidnapper was away. What was the kidnapper doing while Rodrigo inspected his home? He wished the kidnapper was here so that he could end it all and get back to his life.

  Rodrigo would do this one thing for his pack. He would prove that he was strong and capable of handling his beast, but after this he wanted a life he could call his own. Everything had been in flux since his change. The beast in his head had turned him inside out in more ways than one.

  Only now did Rodrigo realize that he’d given up on his life, on having days filled with happiness. He deserved happiness just like everyone else. He deserved to enjoy what he’d been given, this extra time.

  Each step toward the house made him worry he wouldn’t have extra time. If the kidnapper caught him, would he be trapped like Carol? Or would he be strong enough to fight his way out? He didn’t trust his beast not to panic. He and the creature had a tenuous agreement for the time being. Should this sway toward danger, the beast could rebel and overpower him.