Greyriver Shifters

by Kristina Weaver

  I smell awful, like I haven’t properly bathed in days, and that will only make them come faster. I know from experience.

  “Why can’t you just listen, Han?”

  I whimper, hearing my brother’s voice through the air vent and stand on the mound of dirt beneath me, going to my tiptoes to reach the vent.

  “Because it doesn’t matter anyway, Blain, and you know it.”

  “Baby girl, you have to stop this, or the next time he’ll kill you, and then how will Brig and I deal with the council. It was so much easier when you were with Bear and you let little hints drop so he could warn his father.”

  “That wasn’t my fault. You know I loved him,” I say, grinding my teeth together when he chuckles.

  “Love. Hannah, what the hell do any of us know about love? You felt safe with him, sweetheart.”

  Yes, I can’t deny that, but I also really did love Bear. I won’t lessen what we had by saying that I didn’t. Maybe it wasn’t the love it should have been, but it was enough for me, and I know before Mika came along it was enough for him.

  But Blain is right, I have lost a very important part of what I needed to ensure that my father and the council are hindered in their activities. Not that I’m outright hoping to hurt Daddy, because I am not. I don’t want to harm my father in any way or outright accuse him of being a traitor, but I can’t just let things go that I don’t think are right.

  Like when the council was trying to vote and say that Lync needs to be put down. What I felt then, knowing that a male I considered a friend once would be killed for mourning his Fated…

  It just felt wrong. Of course, I wasn’t willing to get myself killed to save him. I mean, I’m not that altruistic, but I managed to drop a hint to Bear, prattling about how I agree with some off the pack that Lync is a waste of resources.

  That fired him up like no one’s business, and the next day Nick passed a law to protect those of us who are “incapable of protecting themselves”. It wasn’t easy on me that one, because Bear was pissed for days before I explained to him that “I just couldn’t stand to see Lync suffer anymore”.

  All lies, seeing as I fully believe that male should be set free and left alone, but hey, it’s not as if he’d have believed me if I’d said any of that. Not me, Hannah the self-centered bitch, who isn’t capable of one decent thought.

  I’m sure Bear just thought I was soft soaping him or something and only half believed my explanation, but at least he wasn’t pissed at me for long, and at least he didn’t break up with me.

  His brother Noble almost killed me for that statement, and God help me that hurt me because I considered them family, of a sort.

  “You okay? Anything broken?”

  I grunt, taking a minute to assess my injuries and groan when I feel a cracked rib and a bone-deep bruise in my hip. This is not going to be shits and giggles, staying down here in the dark while I heal, but at least I didn’t hit too many of the stairs coming down.

  “Just a few bruises,” I assure him, using my sleeve to clean the drying blood from my nose. “I need water.”

  “Later, when he’s not watching the door. How’d you manage to stay in lock up for so long anyway?”

  I giggle, my vindictive, victorious personality once again enjoying the way Logan just walked right into that one.

  “I demanded that Logan call Daddy and release me at once.”

  “And he of course did the opposite just to piss you off,” he concludes, his own laughter joining in with mine. “Christ, when is that male going to realize that you’re a good female?”

  “I’m not, and don’t even try to argue with me. I’m doing this because you and Brig have always been here for me, even when you aren’t, and I happen to agree with you that the council is starting a shitstorm. With the attacks that happened, even if they have stopped, we can’t afford to have new leadership, and you know they won’t allow Bear to rule. I don’t want him hurt, and they will hurt him and his family if they can’t wrest control from him.”

  “Dammit, I just pray we can pull this off. These stunts of yours aren’t going to keep them occupied for long, Hannah.”

  Like I don’t know that, but what else can I do?

  I no longer have Bear to drop information to, and everyone in the pack who is worth talking to hates me.

  Where do I go with information like this? Previously, I was just the airhead girlfriend, who didn’t know what she was saying half the time, between talk of shopping and hating humans. Now I’m the one no one trusts, and believe me, as much as I don’t really care, it’s hindering me.

  I may hate Bear, but I love him too, and no way will I betray the loyalty we once shared just because he left me all alone. He protected me for years, unbeknownst to him, and I owe it to him to return the favor.

  And that extends to ensuring his father isn’t harmed or unseated or both because we all know that no way in hell is Nick giving up his Alpha spot without a fight.

  “What about Logan? You could talk to him,” he suggests, making me snarl.

  “Oh yeah, right. I can just walk up to the male who hates me most in this town and tell him that the council is putting together a vote. He’d never believe me, and besides, he walks the other way when I get near him,” I confess, feeling pathetic when that hurts me.

  It’s seriously not easy being the most reviled female in town, trust me. Even if half of that hate is fairly earned, it doesn’t always feel great.

  “Well, what else do we have then? If I or Brig mention anything like this at work, it will get back to Dad, and you know he’d start watching us even more.”

  I know that! Does he think I’m stupid?

  I get that the only reason they came to me with this in the first place was out of necessity since we don’t really get along all that well and never have. My relationship with them is by no means loving, not the way most siblings are. My brothers are simply following their own code of honor, and if using me, the sister they don’t fully trust, to do that, well, I guess I should just be grateful they need me.

  “Yes, I know! I still can’t believe he agreed to let you become enforcers in the first place. But, but can’t you just…I mean, you guys are so tired and overworked half the time that surely someone wouldn’t see your ‘slip of the tongue’ as suspicious?” I ask hopefully, knowing that if not I will be forced to find a solution.

  My brothers are smart but by no means devious enough to come up with a plan smart enough to do what needs to be done. That’s where I come in, and ironically, that deviousness is something I have Daddy to thank for.

  “Hannah, it wouldn’t work. As it is, half the force hates us and the other half tolerate us because of Dad. We’re still on high alert and searching for the guys who invaded and took Flame and Bear’s females. As it is, I hardly get any sleep, and Dad keeps getting more intense about ruling the council.”

  Chewing my lip, I try to think of something to do, anything to move on information, but like I said, my options are limited. Anyone I usually hang out with is a daughter of a council member or related to one, so that avenue is not an option.

  The rest of the town despises me, and even my own mother and father hardly speak to me but to throw money at me and demand I keep up appearances.

  As if I want to spend every single day shopping for stuff I don’t get to wear before Mom tosses it for the newest season’s offerings.

  “I wish we could solve this invasion thing so that Nick isn’t so tied up with it. You know the council is using this as a distraction so he doesn’t notice their plotting.”

  “Fuck, what I wouldn’t give for a crystal ball right now. It would be a real feather in my cap on the force if I could at least bring something to the table about this situation. Even Brig can’t pick up a scent anymore, and he’s a fucking bloodhound.”

  “Yeah, I wish to God I cultivated my ability more, then I could have seen something,” I say offhandedly.

  They’re the only two people I ever told abo
ut what I could do, but only because I heard Brig think about Ashley Simmons’s boobs and started giggling and teasing him.

  To say they weren’t pleased is putting it mildly. They freaked.

  “If you could see something, anything, it would be a great help.”

  “You know I can’t.”

  “But what about those dreams you told me about?”

  “Blain, those were just dreams.”

  “About the name of some complete stranger winning the local lottery? Han, I checked that out, you know, and you were right,” he says softly, giving me pause.

  Oh shit.

  “Please…don’t say anything! You know what he’ll do if he thinks I’m a freak on top of being a disappointment,” I say, my voice pleading because just the thought strikes fear into me.

  “I won’t. Christ, you are my sister. I would never do that to you!” he snaps, sounding offended.

  “I…know.”

  The truth is, I don’t know because it’s really hard to believe that they care whenever I see them standing and doing nothing when Daddy hits me. Call me nuts, but someone who gave a shit would not let a man three times my size beat on me without saying a word.

  “I gotta go. I have to go to work. We’ll think of something, and Han…?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I do love you, little sister. I just can’t afford to show it right now.”

  He’s gone before I can reply and argue that statement, leaving me with a lump in my throat and the sincere wish that I could believe him. Lowering myself down to the mound of dirt and pulling my knees to my chest, I lean my head down and close my eyes, shutting out the pitch-black darkness surrounding me.

  I should get some rest, maybe think about the house I want, what I want to do with it, how many cats I could get, just to piss my parents off….

  It’s while I’m decorating the living room in my mind, seeing the deep tones of browns and burgundies when I feel…something, touch the edges of my mind.

  At first, it’s nothing more than a vague tickle of sensation, as if something just flitted over my brain, but soon, it becomes so much more. Frighteningly more.

  In the darkness, because my eyes are now open and staring blankly, I see a window with bars on it and the remnants of an old, flower-patterned curtain.

  The window is dirty, so packed with decades old grime. I struggle to see clearly, but what little I do confuses me. Sky, I think, squinting my eyes to peer closer. That is definitely the blue sky, even if it is a funny color because of the discolored window.

  Heart pounding deep in my chest because I don’t know what is going on, I blink and notice trees. A lot of trees. But not…ah! They’re off in the distance, I now see, the size no longer confusing me.

  The image is not as clear as one would expect, and I can only describe it as standing a few paces back from a book and trying to see the text. It’s visible but not clear.

  Next, my perspective changes, as if a camera just turned, and I see a filthy, little room with only a small, sagging cot pushed into one corner, furthest away from the door.

  Nothing else stands out for me, but what I feel soon catches my attention, now that the image doesn’t yield any information. I feel, everything. Angry. Afraid. Ashamed. Acceptance, and worst of all, I feel as if it’s okay to feel it all because I know I’m going to die.

  When that thought reaches me, I feel peace. Utter, chilling peace.

  Oh God, what is this? I think, struggling not to cry out when the camera turns and I face a door that is now opening to reveal a large, very muscular male wearing a mask and sun glasses.

  I can’t hear everything he’s saying, but what I do hear is confusing.

  “…Eat…he…not happy…”

  “…you…shove…ass…”

  The male lunges then, so fast I rear back even though nothing changes. He still advances, his hand raised and poised above me. Maybe it’s my familiarity with this, maybe I’m just still in shock, but whatever it is, I don’t flinch again when the blow lands, my head remaining still even as the angle changes to show the floor rushing up at me.

  I hear a cry, female, angry, and I swallow, trying to blink and free myself of the vision. Daddy must have hit me really hard because right now I have two things running through my head.

  I am either concussed or talking about my abilities jinxed me. How sad is it that sitting on a mound of dirt, hurt and struggling to heal while holding my fear of the dark at bay, I hope I am concussed because no way will I know what to do if the voices come back.

  Chapter Five

  Logan

  “This situation is fucked up, man,” Banner says for the fortieth time today, his place beside me in the passenger seat stopping me from hitting him as hard as I want to when he ducks the blow and chuckles at me.

  “You’re getting slow, old man. You tired?” he jeers, laughing when I snarl and push the gas harder, wanting to reach home sometime in the next hour before I pass out from sheer exhaustion.

  This week has been the pits. I’ve driven for miles, scouted for miles, tracked a hundred scents in too many places to count, and still, I have no answers.

  Nothing I say, do, think, or want is adding up to anything but a complete waste of time. No one in any of the surrounding towns has seen anyone strange or big or even normal but unfamiliar.

  I’ve talked to old ladies, mothers, grocery store clerks, and it is all the same thing over and over, I think, sighing when we reach the boundary road and the enforcer building comes into view.

  I see a few officers mulling around, probably talking about how slow things are lately now that the Blacktown pack has been recalled by their Alpha.

  It’s not great, but Nick couldn’t argue the need for them to stay without revealing that Barbie was taken recently, so at the moment, we’re short on males and tempers are flaring because Nick won’t lighten the workload.

  By the time Banner and I are out of the truck and walking into the building, I have heard three males complain about missing their mates and one asked me if he can quit and come back when Nick stops being an asshole.

  I laughed. Of course I did, especially when the guy turned and saw Bear glaring over his shoulder, but I don’t find anything fucking funny lately. I haven’t been laid in weeks, my body is running on nothing but a few snatched hours here and there, and for some ungodly reason, I got called back because Lync won’t stop howling, and according to Bear, he has miraculously started saying my name.

  Look, I’m happy if the guy is starting to become lucid. I am. But that doesn’t mean I need to rush back here to hold his goddamned hand.

  “You should get back to Dad’s place. Please. If he calls me to complain about Lync again I’m gonna lose my mind. I have a pregnant mate at home. Flame called in sick because Gretchen and the young need him. And Mom’s up my ass about fixing things before Dad explodes. Add Jules to the list, and I have shitstorm. Oh, and just for shits and giggles, Han is back in lock up, and Dad refuses to let her go this time,” he snarls, making me grimace.

  “Again?”

  Bear frowns, shrugging his shoulders.

  “I don’t know what’s going on, man. Trust me, if I could talk to Han without Mika having my nuts, I would, but as it stands, I don’t even go to Dad’s anymore because Hannah is such a frequent visitor.”

  “Bear—”

  “Please, Logan. You know I love her. She’s a friend that I cherished for a long time, and just because I can’t talk to her or see her anymore, doesn’t mean I don’t care. I don’t know what the hell is going on with her, but she needs someone.”

  “That someone isn’t me!” I growl, turning into the staff lounge to grab a cup of coffee.

  I’ll put going to Nick’s off as long as I can, now that I know Hannah is there. I’m tired, not in the mood for her shit, and my dick is hard all the time, signaling that I am going to be in big trouble soon if I don’t get laid.

  Fuck me, I don’t need this.

  “Well,
who else can I ask?! Jesus Logan, I never took you for such an asshole. The female doesn’t have anyone else, and since Meek and I mated and she’s conceived, I can’t rock that boat by talking to her about it. She hates Hannah, and while I can’t blame her, I also don’t understand why you guys can’t see past all the bullshit with her. She’s a person, someone who isn’t bad at heart,” he argues, sitting down at the table in the corner when I take a seat and grab a cookie from the bowl in the center.

  “Look man, I know she’s your friend, whether you talk to her or not, and as weird as that is, I ain’t judging. But she’s not my friend, and I am not pretending to give a shit when she knows I don’t like her.”

  “She’s your Fated,” Bear points out, making me snarl.

  “And as you both pointed out to me countless times in the past, that doesn’t mean shit. You love who you love, you hate who you hate,” I remind him, watching him flinch and look away.

  “You never used to be this cruel, Logan. I didn’t take you for a guy who holds a grudge forever,” he chides, making me feel bad because it’s true, I don’t hold grudges.

  It’s only Hannah who brings out this side of me.

  “I don’t care. I’m not doing it. For all I care, she can rot in that fucking cell,” I sneer, eating my cookie and taking another when my stomach reminds me I haven’t eaten in hours.

  “Fine. You know what, fuck you. You wanna live your whole life holding a grudge against a female with nothing in her life but people who don’t give a shit, fine. But ask yourself this, Logan, why does she keep getting caught doing stupid shit?”

  Bear rises and turns to leave before I can reply, and I am left there, slightly ashamed and very angry because he has a valid point. Hannah has never been arrested in her life, and yet in the last months, I’ve had her in that cell so many times she has her own pillow and a better grasp of Lync speak than anyone in town.

  Why?

  I can’t answer that question, and after a few minutes of pondering, I shrug and call it a mystery, personally not caring one way or the other. I’m about to leave when I hear a snippet of conversation coming from the other side of the room where Blain and Brig Seers are sitting, hunched closely together and whispering in such hushed tones that it sparks my suspicions.