GHOST CAT
TOTEM #5
Christine Rains
Ghost Cat (Totem #5)
Christine Rains | Copyright 2017
Kindle Edition
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This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events, or occurrences is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Tagline: Bigfoot is rampaging through a small fishing town, and he has friends.
Summary: The whispers say a boy is missing. Kinley Dorn can’t ignore them. The last time she did, a giant almost killed her. Her investigation in the boy’s disappearance leads her and her boyfriend, Ransom Averill, to a village on Lake Iliamna. Unfortunately, that boy isn’t the only child missing.
Some folks claim Bigfoot is taking the children, but the gentle creature usually stays away from humans. Kinley believes a totem is making Bigfoot act strangely, but can she and Ransom find it before more kids are abducted?
Cover design: Christine Rains
All photos came from BigStock. Kinley model – Photographer: Cheschhh. Background – Photographer: and06. Frost – Photographer: Rafinade. Lynx chapter heading – Artist: mecaleha.
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Dedicated to my mom.
Thankfully I know you’re afraid of ghosts,
so I’m not worried you’ll creep me out by
talking to me from the afterlife.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Totem Series
Where to Find Christine Rains Online
Other Works by Christine Rains
Untethered Realms
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Would a mad scientist need a kitchenette in his lab? Kinley tapped her pencil against her chin. It would make sense. One couldn’t leave a sensitive experiment to go running upstairs and pop some pizza rolls in the microwave.
Doctor Jerret Bell, the scientist, wasn’t mad, but he was an alchemist. One to whom changing lead into gold was child’s play. And he hired Kinley to not only design his house but to decorate it.
She smiled and danced on her toes before biting her lower lip and stilling herself. That last part wasn’t something she told her sister, Ametta, yet. Ametta was the interior designer, but she loathed anything geeky and had no clue about steampunk. The Victorian gothic designs, the history, the clockworks, the richness and grittiness of it all. Which was why Jerret asked Kinley to do the decorating, and she wanted a chance to do a project that excited her as much as a Joss Whedon marathon.
Kinley needed to tell both her sisters about the project soon, but she didn’t want to disturb them. Maybe Ametta would be too caught up in redecorating her boyfriend Lucky’s house, and Lucky himself, to verbally breathe fire on Kinley.
And Saskia had thrown herself into the hunt for the totem tokens. Even more so than before. Yes, it was essential that they find them lest something horrible happened to all the shifters in the world. But Saskia had let the search consume her. All because Ametta was the first of them to find, or rather, earn a totem. The elk token.
That pissed Saskia off because she failed to get the fox token. And she’d had training as a Black Shaman, an elite group of shifters who policed other shifters. Sedge trained the Black Shamans, and the token had slipped through his fingers too.
Total drama. Which was exactly what Kinley needed at the entrance of Jerret’s lab. Perhaps a pair of plasma globes or two huge electrodes with crackling energy between them à la Dr. Frankenstein.
No. That would be too dangerous. The globes were more practical.
“Have you eaten anything since I left this afternoon?”
Kinley startled and dropped her pencil as she spun around to face her boyfriend in the kitchen. She hadn’t heard Ransom come in. Not even the best of thieves was as light of foot as he.
Her heart raced, and she let out a small laugh. “You scared me.”
Ransom didn’t have his jacket on. That meant he’d been home for a minute or two. His black Sex Pistols t-shirt clung to his sinuous body. There was nothing more sinful than his smile, though. And when he shone it on her as he was doing now, her stomach flipped and her legs quivered.
“Sorry, babe.” He held up a brown paper bag. “I thought you’d smell the treat I brought home for you.”
Treat. Mm, yes, he was. Oh! The bag. One small sniff, and she gasped. Sweet heaven. She waggled her grabby hands. “Gimme, gimme!”
He stopped out of her reach, and his grin grew wider. “Not until you show me what you have on under that lab coat.”
Heat rushed to Kinley’s face. She’d been so distracted by him, she’d forgotten she’d put on an old costume as inspiration for work. Her own pseudo mad scientist look. Not the Poison Ivy green leafy body suit that went under the lab coat, though. All she had on were briefs and a tank top.
Not that Ransom hadn’t seen her in her underwear before. He’d seen her in less! And while he certainly wouldn’t mind, she couldn’t help her own timidity no matter that she had moments when he brought out her sexual ferocity.
“Come on.” He coaxed and shook the bag. “Cookies from Marketa’s Bakery.”
Kinley whimpered. No one could resist Marketa’s cookies, but he could just crook a finger at her, and she’d feel the same way. He was perfect. Things between them were perfect. It scared her sometimes how well things were going for them.
The delicious aroma of sweets teased her nose again. She popped open the two buttons and gripped each side of her lab coat. In one swift motion, she opened and closed it. “Cookies now.”
Ransom raised a brow. “Was that my underwear?”
“What? No!” Kinley pounced and grabbed the bag. At the same time, he nabbed her and peeled open her coat.
“I was going to hold back the cookies since you hadn’t eaten any dinner, but damn, you take them.” He slid his fingers over the slice of stomach that was bare between her panties and shirt. Kissing her on the neck, he drew her against him. “So… lab coat and goggles. You’re a scientist… No, you’re a science student staying up late prepping for an exam and needing some hands on studying. I volunteer to be your model or cadaver or whatever.”
Kinley laughed and kissed him before wiggling out of his arms. “Cadaver, eww.”
“It is that time of year for the dead to rise.” Ransom wiggled his eyebrows and made a gesture with his finger between his legs of a slowly rising boner.
Giggling, she shook her head. That reminded her Halloween was a week away, and she hadn’t finished her costume yet. Designing Jerret’s house and hunting for totem tokens had distracted her. Well, not that she was out there like Saskia and Sedge. Even her dad checked out unusual reports from shifter
s in Alaska. No, her searches were all done online.
And she really wanted to be out there. The fate of all shifters rested upon finding the tokens. Why wouldn’t they want every one of them hunting the totems? Oh, yes, because Kinley had nearly died last time she came across one.
“Go ahead and eat your cookies, babe. I’ll ravish you later when you’re full of sugar energy.” He winked and turned to her desk to look at her design. “Oh man, is this Jerret’s lab? How fucking cool is this!”
Heat rose to her face again. He adored her mind as much as her body, always so supportive of her work. When he started staying at her house, and god, it was like he lived there… Were they moving too fast? It all felt right, but her hormones could be blinding her.
No. She couldn’t think like that. He was the man who brought her cookies to make sure she ate.
“Yes, but it’s not done yet.” Kinley set the bag down on the kitchen counter and opened it. She removed the paper inside, which described the kinds of cookies he’d picked in the dozen. Stapled to the list was a light blue flyer displaying the smiling face of a missing twelve-year-old boy.
Find him.
She blinked several times. She hadn’t heard a whisper this clear since she tried to get the owl totem and fought with an undead giant. Not that fight was the proper word. It was more like try not to get squished by a monster.
Nope. Too soon. Her vision blurred with sudden wetness. Azarius, family friend and Saskia’s mentor, had died distracting the giant and saving her.
“Kin?” Ransom stood in front of her. He caressed her cheek as concern lined his forehead.
She gave her head a shake and sucked back the tears. He’d held her enough over the past month as she quietly wept. Guilt and grief were still heavy upon her. No more. At least not now.
“The flyer.” Kinley held it up and read the name. “Brayden Ward. Missing since last week.”
“Is that what’s upset you?” Ransom smiled and kissed her forehead. “It’s sad, yes—” He stopped and stared at the photocopied photo. When he lifted his head and locked eyes with her, determination shone in his hazel eyes. “We have to find him.”
He’d heard the whisper too. That doubled the urgency of it.
She nodded. “We do. Let me get my laptop. I’ll find out more about Brayden.”
“Do you think…?”
“Maybe.” She knew he referred to the totems. It would be a bonus if this did have something to do with them, but her mind was focused on a lost boy. If she ignored the whispers, something horrible would happen to the child. She felt it as a chill down to her bones. “And if it doesn’t, we’ll still find him.”
Kinley scribbled another child’s name onto her list. Number twenty-one. Nearly two dozen missing children all around the same region. And while Alaska wasn’t the friendliest environment on the planet, that many kids gone missing in two months was beyond unusual.
“To think of all the children who went missing and weren’t reported too.” She scrolled through the articles and marked ones that might be of use. A weight rested against her chest, getting heavier with each name she wrote down.
“What?” Ransom walked down the stairs from her loft bedroom.
Their bedroom now, wasn’t it? Enough of his stuff was up there.
Kinley swallowed as she glanced up and tapped her notepad with a pencil. “Twenty-one names. All around the area of Iliamna Lake.”
“Damn.” Ransom shook his head and hopped onto the kitchen counter to sit next to her laptop. “I just talked to a buddy in Newhalen where Brayden went missing. Fishing season grounded to a halt early last month. Too much weird stuff happening.” He gripped the edge of the counter as his lips thinned to a white line. “So I’m thinking it’s a totem.”
Her heart pattered a little faster. If the mountain had a giant, that could mean… “It’s the Iliamna Lake Monster!”
He grinned and shook his head. “Don’t be silly. It’s Bigfoot. Tons of sightings.”
Like a sasquatch wasn’t as silly as the lake monster. Though nothing was out of the realm of possibility when dealing with the totems. She’d always been a skeptic when it came to local legends until she came face-to-humongous-face with a giant. So Bigfoot could be running crazy because of the effects of a nearby token.
“All right. This is huge. Let me call Saskia—”
“Wait. Let’s go check it out.” Ransom placed a hand on her shoulder as he slid off the counter and kissed her on the side of the head. “The message came in so clear. If your sister wants to come with us, she can, I guess, but this is our gig. And if Saskia comes, probably the big grumbling Bear will want to come too.”
Kinley choked back a laugh and coughed. Her family would freak if they heard Ransom talking that way about Sedge. Sedge was The Bear, the latest incarnation of the old Inuit god, and the one who trained the Black Shamans. She knew Ransom meant no harm in it, but her family wasn’t keen on him to begin with.
Perhaps they didn’t think Ransom good enough for her or maybe they wouldn’t like anyone she dated, but it stung when her father ignored her boyfriend or when her sisters snapped at him. Ransom had saved her life and made her feel more alive, more special than anyone else had ever made her feel. While she felt she had to carry the weight of taking care of her family, he took care of her. The L word hadn’t been uttered yet, but she loved him.
That was far more frightening than any type of monster.
“And you know that Bear wants to come with Saskia in the naughty way too.” Ransom winked, and she couldn’t hold in her laugh and gasp.
“I don’t want to hear it.” Kinley muffled her giggles with a hand. Thank God he didn’t make jokes like this while her family was there. Saskia wasn’t known for her sense of humor. “Let me just call and tell them then. Maybe they know something.”
“Okay.” He loosely wrapped his arms around her from behind and slid his hands into the pockets of her lab coat. Yeah, this wouldn’t be a face-to-face chat.
Kinley picked up her cell from the counter and tapped the screen to dial Saskia’s number.
Saskia answered after the second ring. She huffed into the receiver. “Hey, Kin.”
“Hi. What’s going on? You sound like you just ran a hundred miles.” Kinley held the phone between her ear and Ransom’s so they could both listen.
“Close enough. I’m up in Fairbanks. Moose are flocking to the city, and it’s snowing like it’s fucking January.”
“Oh, wow. That’s crazy.” Kinley considered for a second not bothering Saskia with the missing children, but her sister would want to know. “Ransom and I found something unusual. A bunch of kids have gone missing around the Iliamna Lake area.”
Saskia sighed. “Hate to say it, but that’s not so unusual.”
“But it is. I have almost two dozen names. Of missing children. Not teens or college kids. Ransom called his friend in Newhelan and he said—”
“Kin…” Saskia stopped her. “Horrible things happen. Kids go missing. Unless they’re shifters?”
“No, not that I know of, but there’s been a huge increase of Bigfoot sightings.”
Saskia barked out a laugh. “Bigfoot? People see the bushmen all the time. They’re not anything to worry about. Too timid.”
“They’re real?” Ransom exclaimed.
“Yes, they are.” Saskia’s tone went flat. “I need to get going, Kin. Talk to you later.”
Kinley clenched her jaw. Her sister needed to listen to her. “Wait! I was told to go find a missing boy. We were. Both Ransom and I heard the whispers.”
The line was silent for a few seconds before Saskia said, “Both of you? I didn’t know… Shit. Well, maybe you ought to go check it out.” She paused, and a rasping sound rattled over the phone. Muttered whispers were exchanged before Saskia returned. “Go find the boy, but Sedge says to stay out of the lake. It’s mating season for the Gonakadet.”
“Uh, okay. Thanks.” Kinley’s mouth hung open. The lake monster was
real!
“Be careful. And if anything happens to my sister, Cat, I will skin you alive.” Saskia ended the call before Kinley could chastise her for the threat.
She set down her cell as she shook her head. “I’m sorry.”
“For what? For having an overprotective family? They just know they’d totally be lost without you.” Ransom nuzzled the side of her neck. “Besides, I’d never let anything happen to you.”
Kinley smiled and twisted her head to kiss him. Her sister shouldn’t talk to him that way, but thankfully he was so easygoing about things. With her anxiety, it was good for her. Whenever she got worked up about something, he’d take away the stress. Usually in the most deliciously wicked of ways too.
“But we will have to be on the lake briefly. The only way to get out there is by floatplane.” Ransom put his hands on her hips and turned her around to face him, kissing her again. His scruff tickled her chin.
“I know a few people with a plane that might be able to take us tomorrow. We need to get there as soon as possible, before any more kids disappear.” She’d have to make an official list of the missing children too. Check out all missing persons on the Alaska Missing Persons website. Then create a map of all the sites, another list of people to contact, arrange for a place to stay…
“Don’t worry about it. We can take Bert’s plane.” He eased her lab coat off her shoulders and pushed it off onto the floor.
“We’ll need a pilot…” Her focus fast disappeared as he slipped his hands up the back of her shirt.
“I can fly. We’ll leave at first light tomorrow.” He let loose a low groan as he pushed her back against the counter.
“Really?” It was as an intelligible response as she could make. She reached up to her head for the goggles. “You should wear these then.”
Ransom’s hand darted upward and snatched her hand to bring it down to where he wanted it. He grinned against her mouth. “No. Leave them on. But only them.”
Berton Ellsworth swept his cape around him to peer over the top of his raised forearm. His dark eyes remained unblinking behind his sculpted white mask. “So what do you think? Can you guess what I am?”
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