"There was a book here, once. So many years ago. It's been handed down over the years, from Senior to Freshman. Only the person that has the book or has had the book technically knows about it, so the legend goes. Obviously, someone has blabbed or there wouldn't be a legend in the first place." She shrugged and held the papers up to the light coming from the lamp on the desk. "But the story goes that whatever is in the book becomes a myth. Today we'd say rumor. But, if it's written in blood, it comes true."
Studying the pages again, I grimaced. "This could really be blood."
Levon put the page in his hand up to his nose. "The smell is almost gone, but it's definitely blood."
"Gross," I muttered, throwing the pages down on the desktop. "What do they mean?"
He picked up the pages I'd set down and read through them. "Leola, this one talks about shooting them."
My eyes widened. "Could this be how he did it? How he controlled her?" If the headmaster was the man that had been controlling Mary, that meant he was likely a serial killer. My guys were convinced that the serial killer that had been active around the time my parents died was the same guy that had whispered in Mary's mind.
"Why and how is he here?" I asked. "What made him come here?"
"I don't know, but I think we should hunker down until Cas arrives. This is more dangerous than I thought."
"I agree. I don't want to be away from Hannah."
We took the pages with us after searching a bit more. When nothing jumped out at us we left, quickly going down the hall to our bedroom. Sheila touched the door. "How long before he's here?"
"It's a six-hour drive, but he got a flight out. He should be here in three if there are no delays."
"Should we go pick him up?" I asked.
"No, he'll take a cab to a nearby beach then walk. It's the fastest way."
The door opened, and we walked into the room. I couldn't wait to grab my baby.
"Levon," I whispered, dread filling my gut. "Where are they?" The room was empty.
Chapter Eight
If they thought an angry lion shifter was something to behold, then they'd never seen a unicorn shifter when her baby was being threatened.
I paced around the room, low key hating Levon for not letting me run off after this Richards man and tearing him limb from limb. I didn't even need to be shifted to do it. My bare hands would do the job just as well.
"He'll be here in a moment, Leola," Levon assured me, reaching out to urge me into his arms.
I shook my head. I didn't want his comfort right now. If I accepted it, I'd end up breaking down into tears. That man had my baby. If what we thought was true, then he was also the one who'd really taken my parents from me, as well as a lot of other shifters from the community. He was beyond dangerous.
"You've been saying that for the past three hours." I'd been counting every minute as it passed, each moment away from Hannah a stab through my heart. And that was without me letting in the guilt over April. I'd suggested bringing her here, and now she was in danger too.
"And for the past three hours, it's been true," he reminds me.
"Then why isn't he here?"
"Just give him a little longer before you start ripping his head off."
I paced a bit more, contemplating doing something stupid like sneak after the asshole that had my baby. "What does he have against me?" I mused aloud, no longer talking about Cas.
"He might not have anything against you in particular," Levon answered, clearly understanding what I was actually talking about. "It might just be that you've accidentally ended up at the center of this."
I huffed. Could it really be that simple? I was the accidental victim? I liked that even less than I liked the idea of being a target. At least if that was the case, I'd be able to do something about it.
A reply was lingering on my lips when the door swung open and Cas barrelled in, followed by Bryce, Eric, and Caleb. April's mates didn't look old enough to be out on a dangerous mission like this, but I knew asking them to stay behind when she was in danger would have been foolhardy. Especially when it was my fault that she was in danger in the first place.
"I thought you were a unicorn?" Bryce demanded, looking straight at me.
"I am." What did that have to do with anything?
"Then why do I smell three lions here?" he asked.
Levon and Cas exchanged glances.
"Oh no, what have you been hiding from me?" My eyes widened as I took in my mates. If they'd been hiding something from me that had put our baby in harm's way I was going to severely punish them. Or maybe just make them cook for me for a couple of months.
So long as we got Hannah back. If we didn't, then we'd probably all be dead. It was the only way I saw any of us giving up.
"We think we know who is behind all this," Cas admitted.
"And are you going to tell me, or are you going to keep being annoyingly cryptic and hide things from me?" I put my hands on my hips and narrowed my eyes. “Either you respect me enough to keep me in the loop or we need to seriously reevaluate our situation.”
Levon glanced at the wolves and I could tell what he was going to say before he even started.
"Uh-uh. They have as much at stake as we do. They get to hear it too," I insisted, still feeling guilty over April being in trouble.
"We think it's my Uncle," Levon said quietly.
"You have an Uncle?" He'd never mentioned one before.
"A long lost one," he admitted.
"And you didn't recognize his scent because…?" I tried not to let the anger rise too much. I was certain he had a good reason for keeping whatever he had from me, and I needed to be understanding of that.
"I was only a child when I met him, and it was only once. That, plus the perfume was enough to confuse my senses." He looked absolutely miserable.
"Oh."
The wolves stayed quiet, clearly itching to get going, but not daring to interrupt us. That made sense, though. Cas was still their alpha, while Levon and I were his family. We'd always pull rank above them, even if we didn't actually intend to.
"I feel like I'm missing something."
"You are," Cas answered darkly. "Mar challenged the previous alpha. He tried to use me as a pawn to do it."
"So this isn't about me at all," I whispered.
He shook his head. "Now I know who is behind it, I don't think so, no. I'm the real target, but I think he just wants to take things away from me, rather than outright hurting me."
Panic spread through me. "We need to get to Hannah."
He nodded firmly. "He won't do anything until we get there," he assured me.
"I hope you're right." And that we could get her free once we found her. I turned to the wolves. "You said you could smell the other lion, Bryce?" Wolves noses were notoriously better than all other shifters.
He nodded.
"Can you still?"
"It's faint, but I think so."
"Good. Follow it. Don't let anyone see you. Call us when you find anything," I ordered.
He looked over at Cas, almost as if he expected the alpha to have different orders.
"Now," I snapped, and he jerked his head back to me. I wasn't messing around, and right now, they could take their orders from me and me alone.
"What do we do?" Levon asked, a hint of amusement creeping into his voice despite the situation.
"We're going to follow Hannah's scent." There was an off chance that April had taken my daughter somewhere safe already, though somehow I knew that wasn't the case. It didn't matter. We needed to examine every possibility. We had to find her and bring her home safe. There was no other choice in the matter.
All the men stripped off their clothes, and I followed suit, knowing it would make it a lot easier to follow Hannah's scent if we were in our other forms. A little part of me was secretly impressed that the wolves had been able to smell so well even in their human forms. What I wouldn't give for that talent right now.
I stuffed our clot
hes into a loose drawstring bag we'd packed just in case we needed it for this. Swinging it over my shoulders, it bounced against my naked back. Once I was shifted, the strings would tighten, and I could carry it with us, meaning there were no awkward naked encounters on the other end. It had taken some practice to carry it right, but I had it down.
"Let's go," I said, bringing forward the shift. It felt easy now, and natural. Such a change from the way things had been before I'd met my mates. They really had turned my world upside down.
Two stunning mountain lions stood before me, each as magnificent as the other. Cas pawed the ground, clearly as anxious as I was to get going. He didn't even look at me with the predator driven eyes that he flashed me sometimes when I was in my unicorn form. It was one of his favorite games.
But now wasn't the time to play.
Recognizing my daughter's scent, I let it lead me out of the room...via the door. The bastard hadn't even had to be that sneaky about it. Which made no sense. Sheila had spelled it so that no one could get in, how had he managed to get past that unless he had some kind of countercurse himself?
Once we'd caught Mar, I had some questions for the receptionist. Maybe she wasn't as helpful and benign as she seemed.
The lions followed on my heels, their feet padding almost silently along the floor, so much different from my cloven hooves as they hit the stone. It was a good thing I wasn't trying to sneak up on anyone yet.
We soon left the academy building and ran out into the grounds. Luckily, we headed towards the woods and not the beach. There were too many scary possibilities when it came to the latter, especially with the number of boats I'd seen out at sea. Water wasn't any of our friends.
The trees were spaced well apart, almost as if they'd been planted that way on purpose rather than left to grow wild. I supposed that made sense. It was part of the academy and must serve a purpose. Or it used to, at any rate.
We traveled deeper between the trees, the air around us getting darker and darker as time wore on. At least I knew it was the foliage above that was making things so sinister and not actual darkness. The night would just make things worse, and I didn't want to think about what I was going to do if my poor child was still missing by then.
Levon growled on my left, and I swiveled my head around to see, careful not to catch my horn on a low hanging branch. It would be better for all of us if I didn't do myself any damage.
One of the wolves stalked through the trees, and I breathed a sigh of relief, though it came out as more of a weird chirp. I wasn't sure how to describe the sounds a unicorn made, even if I was one.
Unlike with my mates, I had no idea which of the three men the wolf was. Though I was sure if April was here, she'd tell me.
He pointed to his right with his snout and made a kind of shushing noise.
I nodded, hoping I'd understood him right. If I hadn't, then I was going to make a real fool out of myself.
Cas cut in front of me, his graceful walk drawing my attention. I envied my lions that grace. There was something mesmerizing about the way they walked. Something I could never achieve myself.
I plodded along behind him, with Levon falling into step beside me. He leaned in, pressing his flank against mine. It was a good thing we were still in the academy grounds, otherwise, some poor passerby might end up confused by why a predator and his prey were so intimate.
Also, they’d be confused to find a mountain lion this far from the mountains. Not to mention, is that a freaking unicorn?
We crept through the rest of the trees, making our way to the edge of a clearing. The wolf stopped in his tracks and yipped at us quietly, no doubt telling us to stay.
I studied the greenery in front of us, the dappled sunlight streaming through the trees and landing on the forest floor. Flowers littered the soft grass, adding a surprisingly cheery quality to the clearing that I was certain held my daughter. All my hopes of April and Hannah escaping to somewhere safe were dashed by the fact the wolves had met us here.
But I had to stay strong. It was our only hope.
A man stepped into the clearing. He didn't look like anything special, he was just...a man. With brown hair, jeans, and a flannel shirt. Nothing said intimidating about him. Or that he was the kind of man who would take a baby from her parents.
"Come out, come out, little unicorn," he called out. "I know you're there, you can't hide from me."
I swallowed loudly. How was that even possible? So much for the theory that he was after Cas and not me.
"If you come out, I'll let you have your daughter," he taunted.
That was it. I shifted into my human form even before I'd made up my mind, shrugging off the bag and pulling out my sundress, throwing it over my head.
"Leola, no." Cas's hand grasped my arm in an act of desperation. I hadn't even realized he'd shifted back into human form. He must have reacted at the same moment I had.
"It's our chance to make sure Hannah is safe. She's better off in my arms," I whispered back at him, desperate to go get my child. “Is it him? Levon’s uncle?”
Levon chuffed and nodded his furry head.
Reluctance warred with rage over Cas’s face. "Be safe."
"I will. Once she’s in my hands you can come in, claws blazing." I leaned in and kissed his cheek before scratching Levon's still shifted head.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped forward, stepping closer to the man threatening us all. I hoped I wasn't about to make a terrible mistake.
Chapter Nine
Circling the clearing, I stared at the perfectly ordinary man. “Where is my daughter?”
“She’s safe. Hello, Leola. It is nice to finally meet you.” I continued circling, breathing deeply for any sign of Hannah’s scent.
“Why?” I asked simply.
“Oh, but it's such a long story dear.” He smiled at me. “Would you like to hear it as your mates discover they can’t get in this clearing?”
Just then, I heard Cas roar. It was deafening, and the sound of forest creatures scurrying away filled the space once Cas’s anger left it. The barrier must've been out of my sight, because I couldn't catch a glimpse of Cas or Levon, not to mention the wolves.
“Oh, he’s gonna kill you, Richards,” I promised the deranged man. “Bring Hannah and April here and tell your story. If you don’t, you’ll face me.”
False bravado, my best friend at the moment. I had no way of fighting a lion. But what he didn’t know about me would hopefully kill him. The guys had been training me in self-defense, as much as they could while I was pregnant. How would that help me now against someone tough enough to challenge the alpha? And April, she was a damn platypus! Possibly less useful than me.
“Sweet Leola. You can’t hurt me. And your mates know me as Great-Uncle Mar."
Rage bubbled in me, and I felt my shift pushing at my skin. My unicorn wanted to rip him apart. The how didn’t matter, she just wanted out. I stepped forward. “Give me my daughter or you’ll see exactly what I can do.”
He waved a hand and April and Hannah appeared, sitting beside him. April looked up at him with rage in her eyes. "I can't wait for them to rip you apart," she said as she patted Hannah's bottom.
Hannah must've smelled me, because she began to cry, waving her tiny fists around.
"She's hungry," I growled. My breasts knew it because they instantly began leaking milk.
Striding forward, I slammed into an invisible wall and it knocked me back on my ass. Scrambling to my feet, my shift came even closer to the surface.
"You see, Leola, you must sit and listen to my tale. Whether you and your mates like it or not."
He hadn't mentioned the wolves. Did he not know they were there?
"So fucking talk already," I said as I stepped away from the barrier. At least I could see them.
"Your mother was the love of my life," he began.
Oh, fuck me. "Is all this bullshit because you were rejected by my mom or something?" I asked, totally floored. "You've g
otta be kidding me."
"It's not that simple, child, sit down and listen."
No way my ass was hitting the ground. I'd hear him out standing. "Continue," I said through clenched teeth.
"Your mother was my partner. We went through life together in complete harmony for many years."
"Wait, aren't you a serial killer?" I asked him with a sneered lip. "She didn't murder people with you."
His expression took on a dreamy quality. "As a matter of fact, she was the mastermind behind our little adventures in the land of the macabre." He smiled at me smugly. "She taught me the beauty of the human form, the sweet peace that accompanied the slice of a sharp knife into the skin of a sentient being."
My stomach churned. It couldn't be true. How would that have even been possible? My father and mother lived quietly in the mountains with me. "You're a liar," I whispered.
"No, that is one thing I've never been. And you'll have to forgive me for taking sweet Hannah. I had to get you to this particular circle where your mates couldn't reach me. I'd preferred to do this in the mountains where I have several strongholds, but alas my gifts didn’t lure you out, so... Needs must."
He spoke so oddly, so formally. "I don't believe you." I stiffened my back and stared him down. "Prove it."
"That's difficult, but!" He held up a hand. "I thought of that. I can show you, as it turns out." He waved his hand again, and I stiffened as my mind was filled with images, directly projected from his mind.
Images of a woman that looked distinctly like me, the woman from the locket, cutting into the body of a live shifter in various stages of the shift. "Oh, my god," I whispered. "How can this be?"
"Ah, we met here, at this school. She was glorious, my little Aria." Her name coming from his mouth nauseated me. "We were drawn to each other and spent every waking moment together. It wasn't until we'd graduated and moved in together that she began to draw me into her world. That woman, I would've followed her to the ends of the world and beyond." He shook his head ruefully. "But, it wasn't to last. Her parents insisted she marry your father. We continued our work, of course, even after she became pregnant with you, but then." He chuckled and held out his hands. "Then, she had you, and she changed." He spat out the word like it tasted bad.
Unicorn Truth (Valentine Pride Book 3) Page 6