by Ravenna Tate
“Nothing is wrong.”
He was lying. Arizona knew it as assuredly as he knew his own name. “Okay. All right.” Fuck. He didn’t want to make the situation worse by accusing his best friend of bullshitting him, but that’s exactly what was going on. “I’m here if you need to confide in someone. Okay?”
“Okay. Fine. But I don’t need to.”
Arizona gave one last glance into Stone’s eyes, wishing he could read minds, before he turned and left the building. He was so pissed off and worried that he didn’t bother returning to his own offices first. Instead, he walked into the woods, shifted, and ran as fast as he could until he was too tired to keep running. Only then did he stop and rest before returning to his office in Port Angeles.
Canyon answered his phone on the first ring, almost as if he’d been waiting for Arizona to call. After relating the conversation to his friend, they both decided the only thing they could do was wait until Stone came to them.
“I don’t like this,” said Arizona. “Something is wrong, and I don’t even know where to start.”
“He’s not in league with the Elders. We know that much.”
“Agreed. But something about having that petition sent to the Council has him bothered. Or afraid.”
“Why would that be? Let’s think this through logically.”
“I’ve tried that. I can’t come up with a logical reason for this at all, Canyon. Of the three of us, Stone has been the one to come closer than anyone to telling them to go fuck themselves.”
“You’re right. Okay. Let’s try another angle. You said he acted as though the blood on the door was no big deal.”
“Yeah, he did. But I can’t think why he would feel that way. It wasn’t a prank. We all know that much.”
“I agree. My guess is either one or more of the Medinas who weren’t arrested snuck back into the village and did it, or another group has decided to be assholes about you and Gillian mating.”
“But it was put there before we officially mated.”
“You were dating her. That wasn’t a secret.”
“Well Stone doesn’t oppose it, surely.”
“No. Of course not. But the Elders do.”
“We’re back to them.”
“Or back to someone else who does. The same person or people who put the blood on the door.”
“You think he knows who did it?”
Canyon sighed into the phone. “I don’t see how he could, but what other explanation is there?”
“If he does, why wouldn’t he say? And that still doesn’t explain why he wouldn’t want to be part of the petition.”
“None of this makes sense.”
“We’re missing something, Canyon.”
They agreed by the end of the call to wait and try to ferret out more clues. They also agreed to let Stone come to them. Arizona knew his friend had to be in some kind of trouble or he’d never be acting this way. He knew it in his soul, and he hated that right now, there was nothing he could do about it.
Chapter Twelve
By Wednesday of the second week after Gillian and Arizona had mated, everything was planned for the ceremony that Friday night. All Gillian had to do was show up. She had asked if it would be all right for her to give Arizona a wedding gift and was told he’d probably like that very much, but that she should give it to him in private. Not at the ceremony.
Gillian had found a herring charm in an antique shop in Seattle that the owner told her was from the nineteenth century. She thought Arizona might like it because herring, next to salmon, made up the bulk of their fishing business.
After taking the charm to another dealer to verify its authenticity, she bought some dark brown yarn and made a chain for it using a macramé pattern Fiera had shown her. Fiera had made all kinds of decorations and useful items with the patterns, and she’d used materials ranging from yarn to rough hemp.
“It’s a lost art,” she told Gillian, “but my mother still used it, and so does Leah.” Fiera was now teaching Gillian, a little at a time.
Wednesday afternoon, while they worked on a pattern for a wall decoration Gillian planned to hang in the kitchen, Fiera asked Gillian what kinds of skills her mother had taught her.
“She didn’t have the chance to teach me much. My mother died when I was six. She drowned in a boating accident. My father committed suicide a year later.”
Fiera’s eyed filled with tears as she gave Gillian a hug. “My mother died when I was young, too. My father raised me.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I am for you, too. Who raised you?”
“Her sister. My aunt had a lot of boyfriends, so it was like a revolving door in the house. She moved to Texas when I was still in college, and this will sound mean, but I was actually grateful.”
“That sounds like it must have been very chaotic for you.”
“It was different. At least the boyfriends left me alone, if you know what I mean. I learned to do for myself. I suppose that’s why I’m so independent now. I had to be.”
“Arizona loves your independence.”
Gillian laughed. “Yeah, he’s one of the few men I’ve dated who does.” It was impossible to miss the sideways glance Fiera gave her. “If you want to ask me something, just ask it.”
“I don’t want to sound rude.”
“You won’t.” Gillian put down her side of the wall hanging and waited.
“Well, it sounds like you had … relationships with more than one man before you met Arizona.”
“If you mean did I have sex with other men before we met? Yes. And he knows that.”
Fiera stopped working as well and shifted her body to face Gillian. “How did you know he was the one you wanted to spend your life with? I mean, didn’t you think that about the others?”
“No. None of them. Not even close. You’ll understand this part. The second I looked into Arizona’s eyes, I knew. And nothing like that had ever happened to me before. It was so weird, but it felt right so I believed in it. It was like he called to me. His entire expression spoke to my soul.”
“When you say things like that, you sound so much like one of us that I forget you’re human.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“I meant it as one.”
“I know you did. I’m teasing.”
The sound of something crashing around on the front porch drew their attention. A storm was brewing outside, and the wind had kicked up considerably during the past hour. Both women glanced out the front windows to find the furniture had moved around from the wind.
“That’s some strong wind,” said Gillian. She and Fiera went outside to take the furniture off the front porch and into the shed behind the house for safe-keeping.
While they worked, the howling sound the wind made in the trees sent shivers down Gillian’s spine. She wasn’t used to noises like this, and wondered how long it would take her to become accustomed to them. Her apartment in Seattle hadn’t been soundproof, but she’d heard far more traffic noises than wind while inside it.
“It’s all right,” said Fiera, giving her a concerned look. “It’s only an autumn thunderstorm.”
“Oh, I know. It’s the differences in sound here, and I don’t know … feeling so exposed in these woods.”
Canyon and Arizona were still working on the petition, and Arizona had told her recently that Stone was becoming more withdrawn every day. He and Canyon still had no clue what was going on with him. The whole thing left Gillian feeling unsettled, like something very wrong was out there, but she couldn’t identify it.
“We’re only a quarter mile away. Luke and Leah are right next door. Stone lives less than a quarter mile in the opposite direction.”
“Yes. You’re right.” Gillian didn’t know how much Canyon had told Fiera about how odd Stone was acting, so she had said nothing about it to her. Gillian picked up the rocker because dragging it wasn’t working, but when she turned the corner to the back yard, she dr
opped it on her foot. She barely felt the pain because of what she spotted on the door to the shed.
“Oh…” Fiera’s voice trailed off, and the synapses in Gillian’s brain took a few seconds to begin working again. She took the chair Fiera was holding before the poor girl dropped it on her own foot. “Oh, no…”
“That wasn’t there this morning.” Gillian pointed, the anger bubbling up inside now. “I know it wasn’t there because I was out here, gathering tiny twigs for that thing we’re making. You’ve been here for three hours. How in the hell did someone sneak into the back yard and do this, yet we never heard them?”
The worried look in Fiera’s eyes freaked Gillian out more than the words painted in what looked like blood on the door of the shed. “I should have seen it. I have the gift. Why didn’t I see it? Why didn’t I see them?”
Gillian had no clue why Fiera hadn’t seen it, but that wasn’t important to her right now. As the wind kicked up again, she glanced around, trying to see past the trees. Or perhaps behind them. Was whoever had done this out there, watching them now? “Forget the shed. Let’s take the furniture inside the house and call our mates.”
It was raining hard by the time the two had taken all the porch furniture inside. Gillian sprinted through the house, making sure all the windows were closed and locked, as well as the three doors to the exterior. By the time she returned to the kitchen, Fiera was on the land line with someone. She mouthed the word “Canyon”, and Gillian nodded. Fiera ended the call and replaced the receiver.
“He’s picking up Arizona. They should be here in less than twenty minutes.”
“Shit. I should take pictures of it.”
“Now?” Fiera jumped slightly as a bolt of lightning, followed closely by thunder, shook the house.
“If it’s fresh blood and washes away in the rain, we have no proof for the Council and the Elders.”
“We don’t need proof. I saw it, too.”
Gillian tucked her cell phone into her waistband and gave Fiera a droll look. “I wish I had as much faith in them as you do.”
The rain that soaked her bare arms and legs in seconds was so damn cold, she had the sensation of tiny ice shards assaulting her skin. But she was determined to get this done. Gillian had seen too many cases lost or never brought to trial that should have been because someone failed to gather evidence on the front end. She wasn’t about to let that happen to her and Arizona.
Whoever had done this had not only committed vandalism, they had also trespassed on private property. Surely even in this village, that was a misdemeanor.
The blood had not washed away, which was even creepier considering how freaking hard it was raining. What the hell had they done to it? Mixed it with molasses or something? She did the best she could with the cell phone before it became so wet she was worried it would stop working. As soon as she ran back inside and locked the door behind her, the power went out.
“Fuck,” she whispered. It was amazing how dark the house was even though it was mid-day. Granted, they were in the woods, but still.
“I’m glad they didn’t go to Seattle to work today,” said Fiera.
“Are you all right?” Gillian studied Fiera’s face. She was barely two months pregnant. Could stress hurt a baby that small?
“I will be. Did you get your pictures?”
“Yes.” Gillian took a seat at the table, dried off the phone, and then scrolled through them for Fiera. “Not the best but you can see the words, and you can see they’re red.”
“I don’t know as much Latin as Canyon does. What do these phrases mean?”
“Auribus teneo lynx means ‘I hold a lynx by the ears’. It’s an expression that basically means you have control of someone, or something, volatile and dangerous. We have a common, similar saying about having a tiger by the tail. I suspect whoever wrote this thought they were being clever with a play on words by substituting ‘lynx’ for ‘tiger’.”
An odd look swept across Fiera’s face. “But that would mean they knew enough about common human sayings to alter the words in such a way that you’d understand the pun. And it also would mean they know you and Arizona can read Latin.”
Fiera was right on both counts. Gillian swallowed hard as her mind raced. “This has to be connected to what Stone and Arizona found on their door a few weeks ago.”
“I agree, but what if we’ve been wrong to assume whoever wrote that was a shifter? Or that it actually had anything to do with the legend, or with the Medinas? What if it’s a human?”
Chapter Thirteen
As soon as Arizona walked into his house, he made a beeline for Gillian, pulling her into a tight embrace. She started talking about the writing on the shed, and how she’d taken pictures, but he kissed her, silencing it. He didn’t give a shit what it said or whether she had proof. He only cared that she was safe.
When he released her, she looked a lot calmer than when he’d first walked in. “I needed that.” She gave him a sexy smile. “Thank you.”
“Did you hear or see anything beforehand?”
“Nothing. And Fiera is very upset that she didn’t see them in her mind.”
“We can’t always control our gifts,” said Canyon. He still had his arms around Fiera. “When my mother was pregnant with each of us she said her gifts weren’t as strong.”
“Gillian went right out there in the rain,” said Fiera. “She wasn’t even afraid.”
Fiera gave Gillian a look that clearly meant she was in awe of her, but Arizona wasn’t happy to hear what his mate had done. He leaned close to her ear to whisper. “They might still have been out there, waiting for you.”
“Did you back down when the Medinas threatened your friends?” Gillian hadn’t whispered, and Arizona stifled a smile. He would have to remember that she wasn’t easily embarrassed, or afraid to speak up in front of others.
“No, but this isn’t the same thing.”
“You’re right. It’s not. This is likely some pathetic person or persons who think it’s okay to vandalize private property with blood, and who also happen to know some Latin. At the very most, all they’ve committed is a misdemeanor.”
“The Elders won’t see it that way. Our court system isn’t the same as yours.”
“They won’t do anything about it,” said Canyon.
“I realize that. All I’m saying is I don’t feel threatened by this.”
“Then why did you take pictures?” asked Arizona.
“We can use them as backing for the petition. To show the Council that the Elders allow people to go around doing shit like this, and nothing is done about it. This is more than a prank. It’s now a thinly-veiled attempt to harass you and me.”
“I told Gillian we might be wrong to assume a shifter is doing this,” said Fiera. “I think it might be a human.”
“Why?” asked Canyon.
“It’s a play on words,” said Gillian. “The phrase they painted. Having a tiger by the tail means you hold something volatile or dangerous. This phrase substitutes ‘ear’ for ‘tail’ and ‘lynx’ for ‘tiger’. Fiera recognized that means whoever wrote it understands human expressions, and also knows Arizona and I could read it.”
“That might be true,” said Arizona. “But if this is a human, why? Why would they care that we’re mated? And why would one of them write what they did on Cash’s front door? To bring in our legend like that doesn’t sound like something a human would do.”
“Unless they’re two separate acts,” said Fiera.
“Unlikely,” said Canyon. “It’s too specific.”
The four glanced around at each other, but it was clear none of them could piece this together or come up with a common denominator. Arizona glanced down at Gillian. “Do you want to take this to the Elders?”
“No. I want to finish the petition, and take it plus these pictures to the Council.”
Arizona cut his gaze toward Canyon and Fiera. “What do you two think about that plan?”
“I
agree,” said Canyon. “We’ve waited long enough to do something about this. What they painted on Cash’s house was more ominous than this silly phrase, and the Elders called that a prank. They’ll do the same if we go to them now with this.”
“Can we do that?” asked Gillian. “I mean, isn’t it breaking protocol to bypass the Elders?”
“Yes,” said Canyon and Arizona at the same time. That broke the tension, and everyone laughed.
“Yes,” repeated Arizona. “It is, but considering we’re taking the Council a petition to ask them to look into the actions of our Chief Elder and two of the others, we might as well go the whole route and show them these pictures, too.”
“Can we go now?”
“Ah, no, my love. We need to wait until after our mating ceremony.”
“Why?”
Arizona caught the smile that Canyon and Fiera exchanged. He knew they meant no harm by it, but he wondered how Gillian would come across to the Council who weren’t used to speaking with humans. He pulled her close and held her. “Because I want nothing to interfere with it. What’s a few more days?”
Having her body next to his, even with both of them clothed, drove him to distraction. She sighed against his chest. “All right. That’s very reasonable.” She lifted her head to look into his eyes, and his heart nearly stopped at the trust he glimpsed there.
“And I’m sorry. I sound brash and pushy, and I don’t mean to come across that way. These are your people, and you know them far better than I do.”
How he wished Canyon and Fiera weren’t in the house right now. The urge to kiss Gillian into next week was overwhelming. “They’re your people now, too, but I hear what you’re saying. We know how to handle them. Thank you for recognizing that.”
“I always do recognize it, at least intellectually. What I say doesn’t always come across that way.” She smiled in Canyon and Fiera’s direction. “Fiera and I were going to make pasta. She has a recipe for sauce she wanted to teach to me. Can you two stay for dinner?”
“‘Teach’ is a relative term,” said Fiera. “Gillian is a really good cook without my help.”