VEX: Valley Enforcers, #1

by Walters, Abi

  Vex did a good job of distracting me with conversation to keep his focus off of the television. When I would stop chatting and wave my hand to shush him, he would hum really loudly or chew with his mouth open. I made a mental note to never watch movies with him; he was completely annoying. He was either the guy who commentated in the theater or screamed so loud he got kicked out of the showing. There was absolutely no way I could go the rest of my life not watching slashers or possession movies. I’ll have to force him to watch Supernatural or The X-Files. Something. Anything. They’ll be a good introduction to the creepy stuff I love.

  I was in the middle of figuring out how to best trick Vex into loving horror when the eerie feeling was back. I looked over at my shifter of a mate to see if he noticed anything different. With his heightened senses, he’d be able to tell if something was out of place. I started to relax when I noticed his demeanor was completely the same. And then it happened all at once. A dour expression sheeted his face and he calmly set his plate on the cushion beside him.

  “What?” I breathed hesitantly.

  “There’s someone outside –”

  Whatever else he was going to say fell dead on his lips when there was a banging against the exterior of the house. It wasn’t a pleasant knock on the door. The angry thuds were reminiscent of the thumps that nearly destroyed my RV. This time, at least, it sounded like there was only one assailant. Fear wrapped around my throat and the healing scar that marked my arm tingled like I was Harry Potter and Voldemort was around the corner.

  “Call Deacon and tell him to get over here immediately,” Vex asserted. His voice was low and dark, and he tossed me his cell phone while he rose to his feet and stalked towards the front door. The pounding got louder. It was like a tornado was crashing against the sturdy frame of the cabin. “Don’t come outside. I don’t care what you hear; stay inside.”

  I didn’t say anything because I knew I’d end up following him out the door. I promised Vex I wouldn’t let any monsters hurt him. I’d run headfirst into the darkness to protect him – to hold his hand and assure him everything would turn out okay.

  I heard his voice bellowing beyond the walls of the house as I dialed Deacon’s number. When the call went through and someone picked up, I didn’t even wait for a ‘hello’. I quickly explained what was happening, keeping my voice as steady as I could, and hung up before I got a response. It had fallen silent outside, and my main priority was making sure Vex was safe, not telephone pleasantries.

  Doing what Vex and I both knew I’d do in the first place; I ran outside and searched for him. Stupidly, I yelled out his name, “Vex? Where are you?”

  The bushes rustled and my body cemented itself in place, unsure of what to do. I had experienced dozens of fearful moments in my life. Most came with an adrenaline rush and were filmed with a handheld camera while I purposely sought out the supernatural. But with Vex nowhere in sight and entire days’ worth of nervous jitters just under my skin, I felt nothing but sheer terror.

  “I told you to stay inside.” Vex pushed through the overgrown shrubbery. He looked bigger; his muscles bulging and straining against the fabric of his clothing. I expected to see anger or fear on his face, but he projected nothing but a collected portrait of a man on a mission. “It isn’t safe out here, Acacia.”

  “Like that has ever stopped me before.” My eyes still hadn’t fully adjusted to the dark, mountain night. Some light spilled out from the house, but it wasn’t enough. I pulled Vex’s phone from my pocket and turned on the flashlight application. “Did you see anything?”

  “You think if I did we’d be standing here? I’d have whoever was out here strung up by their feet.”

  The beaming light from the phone illuminated something on the ground and my stomach shot up my throat. I didn’t hide the tremor in my voice as I pointed Vex in the direction of the light. “I don’t think it’s a ‘who’, Vex, I think it’s a ‘what’. Look.”

  There, a few feet away from where we were standing in a muddy lump created by the earlier showers, was an impression of a very large foot.

  “What the fuck?” Vex whispered harshly under his breath as he moved towards the mound. He squatted and looked over at me with a scowl. “Is this some sort of game to you, Acacia?”

  “You think I did this?” I scoffed, both hurt and angered by his accusation. “That is the most asinine thing you’ve ever said to me, asshole.” I tossed his phone on the ground between us. Satisfaction rolled through me when it landed in a pile of mud. “I thought we were beyond the stage where you accuse me of this shit. Fuck you, Vex.”

  He didn’t follow me as I stormed back into the house. I slammed the front door and then opened it to slam it again like I was a child. I wanted to kick and thrash and scream until my throat was as sharp as the razors that were slicing at my heart. Dirt and clumps of mud smeared across the floor as I crossed the living room in a frantic frenzy. I collapsed on the couch with a strangled sob. I opened myself up to Vex and gave him every damn piece of my soul and he still questioned me. Will it always be this way? Can I stay with him? The future I wanted so desperately with Vex cracked and threatened to crumble in front of me.

  Whoever or whatever was out there was playing a cruel game. A game that would deliver me down a dark path or lead me to the happily ever after I never knew I wanted until it was dangling in front of me, just beyond my reach. I let my head rest on my knees as I tried – and failed – to compose myself.

  Would we ever truly be able to breathe?

  Chapter Seventeen

  Vex

  I fucked up with Acacia but irritating frustration kept me from following her inside. The words slipped out before I had a chance to filter myself. I didn’t think she was behind anything but apparently my psyche still had doubts or else I wouldn’t have accused her. Acacia had a shitty poker face, so I knew the horror that etched lines of worry on her delicate skin were the real deal. Even if she was an Oscar nominated actress, there was no way to falsify the smell of fear that came off of her and wrapped around my neck like two firm hands.

  I vowed to take care of Acacia and then moments later I stupidly unloaded my fears and insecurities onto her. My bear was a black hole inside my chest, but I couldn’t blame my brash behavior on him. He was shredding my insides, but I was the one destroying my mind with an angry back and forth and hypotheticals. The leash I held onto so tightly threatened to slip through my fingers. I wanted to shift. I needed to shift. But doing so could reveal myself to the thing that thought it could terrorize my home, the person who put up the cameras, and put me at risk for turning completely feral. My emotions were too high; my bloodlust too strong.

  I stalked around my property trying to sniff out a trace of anything until Deacon and Dean showed up. They met my own wild eyes with tense expressions. The typically light hearted Beta of the clan looked exhausted beyond belief, and my Alpha’s appearance was disheveled and his demeanor was substantially graver than it had been when I saw him earlier in the night. I launched into a retelling of the events, though I knew Acacia probably informed Deacon on the phone of what happened.

  “I don’t fucking smell anyone or anything different. Whoever – whatever – did this is either sterile and natural smelling or knows how to mask themselves. They could be watching us right now.”

  “What do you mean ‘whatever’ did this?” Dean asked. His stance widened and he crossed his arms.

  My phone was still buried in the mud, but our night vision was good enough to see the print in the mud. I marched over and jabbed my finger towards the ground. “This is either a fucked up game for someone or there’s a mythological creature trespassing on our territory.”

  “That’s a joke, right?” Dean deadpanned.

  “There’s no such thing as Bigfoot.” Deacon squatted near the mud and sniffed. I had tried to pick up a trace a half dozen times but I didn’t stop him. “There isn’t a human or animal scent anywhere near this.”

  “That’s what I’
ve been trying to tell you. I’ve done a close perimeter check and I’m not finding a damn thing.”

  Deacon’s eyes fixed on me. “Do you think Acacia has anything to do with this?”

  Beside him, Dean immediately followed up with, “Where is she?”

  My fingers dug into my palms as they elongated with an impending shift. I was so damn tired of Acacia being the scapegoat. I was guilty of trying to pin our problems on her probably more than anyone else in the clan. The moment I saw her I knew she was mine but when she handed me that flyer with the paranormal society branded in big bold letters I used that knowledge to shamefully keep her in the dark. I turned my back on my clan and my mate, not satisfying the need to protect either, to attempt a balance that would never happen. I knew I loved Acacia before I even saw her face or heard her utter a single world, but my love was turning out to be nothing but a toxic cocktail that consistently hurt her. Time after time I proved that I had no idea how to be a proper mate. I knew she was a few yards away inside the house, but I chose not to comfort her and instead soak in my misery.

  I didn’t want anyone else to speak her name with the wary look on their face or doubt in their eyes. I didn’t want her to wear a scarlet letter on the reserve for enjoying ghost hunting or believing in the unknown. Dozens of shifters were interested in the macabre and explored the supernatural aspects of our colliding worlds. What made Acacia any different? She was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  Boiling with anger and disgust with both myself and my Alpha, I spoke with a threatening rumble. “Don’t accuse my mate –”

  “I had to ask, Vex. Stand down.”

  My chest heaved. “Acacia would never do something to hurt us. I have given her nothing but grief when I want to give her the stars. What kind of mate does that make me? And through all of this she has accepted me. She has loved me. I stood here and asked her that same fucking question. She would readily sacrifice for every single person in the clan just because they’re my family. She’s selfless. Her nature is to give and help, not harm. So why, for even a single damn second, did I point a finger at her?”

  I thought I would be met with slack-jawed expressions or even ones of disbelief. But my leaders looked at me with an air of respect that momentarily sated the beast inside of me.

  “You have been an Enforcer for over a decade. It’s your nature to question. We don’t have time to stand out here and talk about our feelings, but I can speak from experience when I say that when you’re coming from a position where you’re supposed to protect a large group of people it can be easy to forget that you’re supposed to protect the ones closest to you, too. You can’t just flip a switch and leave your job at the door. It takes time to find the line in the sand and realize what side you’re on,” Deacon reflected. I blinked away the surprise I felt from his admission as his demeanor changed and he cleared his throat. “So, what are we thinking on this one? Is it connected to the cameras? A prank? Or is Bigfoot roaming around the mountainside?”

  “It has to be connected. Someone is toying with us.” Dean’s jaw tightened as he looked gravely into the blackness of the night. “I think it’s time to call Moxie in. We are three steps behind whoever is doing this. They’re dangerously close to the reserve. They’re finding our outlier houses. They have footage. There has to be something we’re missing here.”

  “I’m not calling in another favor with Moxie. Not yet. We found the cameras with the footage a few days ago, and so far nothing has surfaced on the web.”

  “Because they’re toying with us!” Dean exasperated.

  “I don’t even know where to go from here, Deacon,” I admitted. I hated that I wasn’t prepared to take care of my clan. Hated that I couldn’t take care of Acacia. “Maybe we should call her. We’re on the other side of the food chain here. We’re the mouse in this game.”

  My Alpha threw his head back and let out a menacing growl. “Moxie will be obligated to report the council. Maybe… maybe Alexis can find someone discreet to help fix this.”

  “Moxie is Alexis’ discreet person to fix this, Deac.” Dean sighed and rubbed at his neck like this was a conversation they had a thousand times a day. “It’s okay to ask for help. This situation is spiraling out of control. Think about the clan. Think about Libby.”

  “Don’t bring my mate into this, Dean.”

  “You constantly bring Alexis into the argument.”

  “She’s our Protector. It’s different.”

  The tension between the two was palpable. Both dominant and hard-headed, the two were mirror images in more ways than they liked to admit. I learned early on into Deacon’s reign not to interfere in their spats. It was easier to let them buff things out on their own, but the two looked like they were ready to shift and battle.

  “Bleeding one another right now won’t solve a thing,” I said flatly.

  Two sets of glowing eyes turned to me, but before either could speak, a muffled ringtone started up. Deacon’s phone lit up, dully illuminating an area in his jeans. At the same time Dean’s phone began to consistently beep, as if he were receiving a string of messages. My own phone was face down in the mud feet away, but I could see little flecks of light shining as if it too was being contacted.

  “Tucker –” Deacon didn’t get more than one word out before the noise began on the other end. Dean, who pulled his phone out while Deacon answered the call, looked up with wide eyes and listened to the conversation. It wasn’t on speakerphone, but it didn’t need to be for the three of us to hear.

  “We caught him,” Tucker rushed. “The scent matches the one that we found around the cameras. It’s him. Sam picked up a trace of the smell on his patrol out on the Quad near the old property line.” Coincidentally, that property line was the one my cabin was on. “Tracked him and knocked him out. We have him, Deacon. We don’t want to take him into the reserve –”

  “Take him to Hakeem’s,” I said loudly enough so that Tucker would hear on the other end. “He has an actual garage we can use.”

  Deacon nodded, though Tucker couldn’t see. “Hear that? Make sure he’s out cold and blindfold him just in case. I don’t want to risk him seeing anything.”

  We all knew that if we truly had the person who was toying with the clan that he wouldn’t leave the reserve alive.

  A flutter of anxiety and excitement tremored through my stomach. Tearing the bastard to shreds would be satisfying, but I was looking forward to making sure the clan life could return to normal. I wanted to close the chapter on the inquisition period and focus on my future with Acacia. Acacia. I had completely forgotten about her presence in my cabin – our cabin.

  “Send someone over here to watch Acacia.” I knew that the entire team would want to be there for the interrogation. Some would need to stay in the heart of the reserve, but I wanted Acacia protected, too.

  Deacon’s head nodded slightly to let me know he understood. “Have Barrel come to Vex’s cabin. Tell Justin, Sam, and Xavier to tighten up on the reserve. They’ll be the home base team. Tucker, you and George take the fucker to Hakeem’s.” My Alpha looked at me. “Is his place open or do we need a key?”

  “Spare is taped behind his name plate.”

  After receiving a confirmation Deacon hung up. Dean looked up from his phone screen. “I gave Parker a heads up so he can keep an eye out on his side of the land. I told Nate to keep Orsa inside with Thornton. She’s been having a difficult time keeping herself under control with the restrictions. I don’t want her to freak out.”

  “And Alexis?”

  “With Libby still. You know Xavier will stick to them like glue. Don’t worry, brother.”

  Deacon nodded. “I’m fine. I can’t think about Elizabeth right now. I don’t want to shift until we get more information. Vex, you can hop in the back of the truck. It’ll take, what, ten minutes to get to Hakeem’s?”

  “If we’re fast, but I need to go tell Acacia what’s going on. Give me three minutes, tops.”

  “Thr
ee minutes. We’ll be waiting.”

  Not caring about anything but talking to Acacia and calming my nerves before walking into an unknown situation, I rushed into the house. Following the muddy footprints on the floor and the salty scent of tears, I found her in one of the empty spare bedrooms with her knees pulled up to her chin.

  She looked up at me with puffy, sad eyes. “Go away.”

  “Baby girl.” I didn’t know what else to say. I dropped to my knees in front of her and tried to pull her to me but she tugged away. “Acacia, sweetheart. Listen to me. I don’t have a lot of time.”

  “What?” Panic clogged her voice. “Where are you going?”

  “They found him. I have to go. Someone is coming by to stand guard while I’m gone.”

  She eyed me apprehensively. “You have to go do what?”

  “Make sure you’re safe,” I answered honestly. “Please don’t send me away like this. It just slipped out, Acacia. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s always just slips out, Vex, and you’re always sorry.” She thumbed at a stray tear. Her eyes refused to meet mine. “I can’t do this.”

  My stomach fell to the floor. I tasted bile in the back of my throat. With a growing sense of despair, I asked, “What can’t you do?”

  “You know the answer to that.” Her brittle voice hitched slightly and she turned to bury her face in her hands.

  “You can’t just throw me away. I’m sorry, okay? I’m so fucking sorry for ever questioning you, but you have to give me a chance to show you I’m sorry. I love you. There won’t be a me without you, Acacia. Look at me.” I struggled with the emotions that thickened my voice. Unshed tears pressed against the back of my eyes. “Fucking look at me if you’re going to give up on me. You owe me that much. I want you to see what you’re doing to me.”

  “Just like you owe me the benefit of the doubt, right?” Her head lifted and hauntingly empty eyes stared back at me. The twinkle I loved in her almond eyes was gone, and it was my fault. I killed the fire that burned so brightly inside of her. “I love you, Vex, but love doesn’t guarantee forever. I’m sorry. Just go, okay? Please, just go.”