“No. Geez Louise, this is just, uh, I don’t know!” Clyde threw up his hands and then ran them through his hair.
“There’s always a sliver of truth in the old stories.” Kinley nodded. Clyde and his mother didn’t need to know about the totems, even though she was pretty sure they’d keep the secret. Mara had told them that story because she knew they’d believe it even if her own son did not. And Kinley was also pretty sure it wasn’t because they were shifters.
“You understand now why you’ll not find the children, but only what they’ve become.” Mara’s mouth thinned and turned down. She lowered her head and sipped her coffee.
“We’re going to find them, and if they are transformed, we’ll find a way to turn them back. I won’t rest until we do.” Ransom placed his hands flat on the table, half-rising from his chair. His eyes shone with a fierce gleam.
Kinley raised her chin. His fire fueled hers, but before she could say anything, the older woman stood.
Mara shook a finger at Ransom. “Don’t you be wandering those woods at all hours of the night. You might be able to turn into a lynx, but it’s dangerous—”
“No one will even see me.” Ransom raised his chin.
“Ghost cat you may be, but the Urayuli are bigger, stronger, and wary. And they’re acting strangely. The one I saw crumpled the neighbor’s garage door as if it were aluminum foil.” Mara nodded once as if it were the end of the discussion.
Kinley placed a hand on Ransom’s arm to quiet his next protest. She needed more info. A clue, something to help her find Brayden. “Do you know why the Urayuli wrecked the garage door? Clyde told us other incidents involved smashing snowmobiles and four wheelers.”
Mara set her cup by the sink and pursed her lips. She tucked a graying lock of dark hair behind her ear. “I’m not certain. There was no food in there. They have no children. Walt was running his sluice box. Maybe the noise?”
It took a moment for Kinley to remember what a sluice box was. Gold miners used them for shaking out what they dug up and washing away the dirt to see the rocks. Tons of them on the market, big and small, and electric and gas powered. The racket any of them would make would be at the very least annoying. And for creatures with sensitive ears…
“Yes, the noise,” she agreed.
“So you’re saying noise makes Bigfoot go crazy?” Clyde shook his head and downed the rest of his coffee. “I need something stronger than this.”
A bang from somewhere outside brought everyone at the table to their feet.
Kinley’s whole body tightened. A gunshot?
A second bang followed quickly by four more, and a great crackling sizzle said nope to it being a gun. “Fireworks?”
It was October. Who let off pyrotechnics when summer was long gone?
“The birthday party. Little Andy loves them, and his dad likes to blow stuff up.” Clyde rushed over to give his mother his cup and a kiss on top of her head. “I think we should get over there.”
“Yeah.” Ransom hurried to kiss Mara’s head too. “Thanks for the fantastic meal.”
“Thank you.” Kinley smiled and winced to hear another dozen pops and booms.
Mara patted Kinley on the back and squeezed her upper arm. “It’s my pleasure, sweetie. I can’t get over how much like Tassa you are. She was the only one who could ever tame Kunik, you know? You’re just what Ransom needs, and I hope that boy knows it.”
“I know it!” Ransom winked at Kinley before fetching his coat in the living room.
“You boys take care of her, hear me?” Mara called after the men before giving Kinley one more pat. “I know you’ll take good care of them.”
Kinley paused, wanting to ask more, until Ransom ran up to her with her coat and tugged her to the front door. She said thank you again and waved at Mara who watched them through the window as they ran down the snow laced sidewalk toward the party.
Another whoosh and bang and then a scream.
Please let it just be a firework mishap. Not that Kinley wanted anyone to get hurt, but a spark in the eye or a burn on the hand was better than an angry Urayuli.
More screams and another bang. Not a firework this time.
She ran faster. Guns. Oh God. They couldn’t shoot the Urayuli. They might be the missing children!
Kinley and Ransom sprinted, leaving Clyde behind. Her heart hammered as they crested a hill and saw people fleeing from a backyard. Adults had small children tucked under their arms and dragged bigger kids.
A series of gunshots rang out followed by a crash. Shit.
Reaching the yard, Kinley spotted Yvette scrambling out of the shadows with a small boy clutched to her. She rushed over to help steady her. “Run. Get home and lock the doors.”
Yvette pushed past her to Ransom. Tears streamed down her face. “Galaxy’s still back there! You have to get her!”
Ransom didn’t hesitate. He took off to the backyard and disappeared around the corner of the house. Kinley wanted to yell at him to wait, to find out what was going on, to make a plan. What if he got hurt? Dammit.
A roar and screams. Another immense crack as a barbecue flew from the back and crashed through the roof of the house. Okay. No time for a plan.
Clyde caught up, and Kinley waved him over. “Get your sister home. Tell everyone to get into a house, lock up, and not to shoot anything!”
The Urayuli. Had someone shot one?
Dashing to the side of the house, Kinley peered around into the backyard. It was a huge open space leading to the forest behind. A thin layer of snow covered the ground, and sparkling gusts whipped into little whirlwinds. Only one corner post of the shed remained standing. The rest of it had been demolished. A snowmobile had been thrown into the truck under the carport.
Three men and two children hid behind an overturned picnic table. One of the guys shakily reloaded his gun.
A snarl drew her gaze to the rear of the yard. Easily seven feet tall, the Urayuli lifted a doghouse over its head. While so much hairier than Kinley expected, the rage contorting its face was clear. Behind the remains of the shed, a second Urayuli bashed a boat and attempted to pry the motor off.
Ransom. Where was he?
The man with the gun slammed in the last of the bullets and pulled back the hammer.
It took a few seconds, but she finally spied Ransom behind a bush, coaxing a girl out from under it. Warm relief surged through her until the Urayuli threw the doghouse through the picture window of the house.
With the shattering of glass reverberating in her ears, Kinley peeled off her coat and kick off her boots. No time to strip completely.
Taking a deep breath, she called to her bear. Like the kiss of a warm wind sweeping over her body, as simple and quick, she stood on four legs. No one would believe they saw a woman standing there a second ago. The shock of seeing a polar bear would be too much.
And that’s what she hoped the Urayuli would feel too.
Kinley roared as she charged the bushmen. Peeling back her lips, she let them see the full array of her deadly teeth.
The one wrestling with the motor of the boat fled into the woods. The second one crouched, staring at her with wide eyes.
Behind her, Ransom shouted, “Don’t shoot!”
Surely being shot couldn’t hurt as much as being thrown by a giant. And better her than the child in the hairy beast’s body.
Poor thing. He trembled—and it was definitely a he—and swallowed with a little hiccup. Frightening as he might look, he was just a scared kid.
Kinley huffed, unable to pull another roar from her chest. The sound was enough to send the last Urayuli running into the woods. No one shot at the creature or her as she trotted after him.
Footprints in the snow, the broken branches, and hair caught in tufts on trees. They were easy to track.
Winding through the trees, she debated her options. Approaching them as a bear now would only terrify them more. Would they be less threatened if she did so in her human form? She didn’
t know. They liked other children, but it didn’t seem as though any of the adults had positive experiences.
The frantic noise of the running Urayuli ahead of her quieted and stopped. Lifting her nose, she drew in a deep breath. The scent of them, earthy and musky, was not too different from a brown bear, and she followed it, pushing forward.
Her bear could keep them away from town, but the best course would be to find the totem. If she managed to get it, then the kids would turn back into humans.
She hoped.
Kinley stopped and shook the mess of thoughts out of her head. Cocking her head to listen to the whispers, she heard only wisps of old tales of the forest.
It would be so much easier if the whispers would offer step-by-step instructions to get the job done. She’d always wondered at their mystery, marveled at it too, but if they were speaking to her so she could help, being clearer would go a long way in achieving their goal.
A rustling in the woods. Her ears twitched. She lifted her nose and turned toward Ransom as he approached holding her coat and boots.
“Hey, babe.” Ransom sauntered up to her in the same manner as he always did. He stroked her head. “Everyone’s okay. No one’s hurt. Just a lot of scared folk.”
Good, good. No people hurt. No Urayuli hurt. She exhaled and let her shoulder sag. At the same time, her bear self-whisked away, and she shivered as the cold hit her bare skin. Ransom immediately wrapped her coat around her as she stepped into her boots.
“Do you think we should hunt for the token tonight? The sooner we find it, the better.” She slid her arms into her sleeves and yanked up the zipper. While it was warmer, it did nothing to stop the chill from tormenting her legs, rear, and yeah.
“I’m not even sure what we’re looking for.” He sighed and glanced the way the Urayuli had fled. “Tonight we’ll stay in. Yvette asked if I could stay with them at the house. She’d feel safer.”
Kinley’s throat tightened. What about Clyde? Wasn’t he enough to protect the family? Surely they had guns. And the Urayuli didn’t enter people’s homes. She doubted anyone would be noisy that night. Everyone was safe inside. The hunt was more important.
He didn’t even ask if she was okay with it.
“She said the kids could bunk with her, and we could have the kids’ room. Plus the promise of Mara’s breakfast in the morning.” He slung an arm over her shoulders and directed them back toward Newhalen.
Why would Yvette want Ransom… Oh. Stupid question. Hot and heroic shifter.
And he just assumed it would be fine with her.
She bit the inside of her cheek. So no hunting tonight. She wasn’t idiotic enough to go out on her own, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t do something productive.
“I’m going to go back to the lodge.” Did she say that out loud? By his look, she guessed she did. “I need to do some research, and I don’t want to disturb anyone else.”
Ransom kissed the side of her head. “Don’t worry. You can work on your laptop in the kids’ room. It won’t bother me. Unless you’re looking at naughty cosplay sites and don’t invite me to join you.”
He made it so hard to not give in to everything he wanted. Under that amazing rock god’s body, he hid a geek who made hers dance around with hearts in her eyes. How long had she been wearing these blinding hearts? Had she not noticed him and other women before? Was this why things were so great with them because he wasn’t even feeling the need to act as if he were in a relationship?
“No naughty stuff. Urayuli research and local geography and wildlife. I’ll be up really late, and I’d rather not intrude.” Kinley hugged her coat around herself more tightly as they came into view of the houses.
“Not intrude on what?” Ransom’s brows furrowed.
“Oh, you know.” She shrugged and picked up her pace. “I’m going to jog to the lodge before someone realizes I don’t have any pants on.”
And before he saw the emotional turmoil on her face.
Ransom came with Kinley to the lodge and kissed her good night before leaving her alone. Part of her didn’t really believe he would go over to Mara’s house for the night. He wouldn’t want to leave her in a strange place by herself, right?
But he was also a man who always fulfilled his promises. He told Yvette he would spend the night. And there he went.
Honorable? Definitely. Clueless? Yup. Or was Kinley the clueless one?
She stared at the wall as she warmed herself in a hot bath. Ransom had never done anything before to make her upset or angry. But it could be he had never been in a situation where that might occur. The majority of the time the two of them spent together was at her cabin. And a lot of that time was spent in bed.
Which was normal for new couples. Something she enjoyed just as much as he did. That part wasn’t a complaint.
She’d never seen him interacting with other women except family. That was the kicker. How was she to know what he was like and how was he to know what she found unacceptable?
If she said something in the woods about Yvette, what would he have done? Kinley sank farther down into the water. He would have went to Mara’s anyway, but maybe angry with her.
So she’d done the right thing. Right?
Kinley sighed and blew a few bubbles in the water. This trip had shown her she didn’t know Ransom as well as she believed she did. Things had moved too fast, and she purposely ignored all the trouble that doing so could cause.
To think of Ransom somewhere else with another woman clearly wild about him, Kinley could hardly breathe. She yanked out the plug in the tub and grabbed the towel from the rack beside it. A noise escaped her, the opening act for an all-out sob.
She wasn’t going to cry. No. This was her choice. As Ametta would say, she had to own it.
Dry, dress, research. She focused on these things, but her mind kept drifting back to Ransom, wondering what he was thinking, what he was doing, what Yvette was doing with him. Maybe she should call him?
Leaving the laptop on her bed, Kinley stood and paced. This was how good girlfriends became crazy stalker girlfriends.
Instead, she should call her dad and let him know how things were going. She stopped before she picked up her cell. No. Two things she didn’t want to happen would if she called any of her family.
First, they’d ask where Ransom was and she’d tell them. They’d say they’d been right about him all along, and at least three bears would be chasing him across the state ready to tear his limbs off.
Second, after she gave them an update on the situation, they would come to search for the totem, and she’d be stuck in the lodge. This was her hunt. The second she picked up the flyer with Brayden Ward’s picture on it, she knew it was her duty to find him.
She couldn’t call her family. Not right now.
Had one of the Urayuli at the party been Brayden? She hoped she hadn’t scared them too badly. Yeah, right. A charging polar bear. Most every living thing on the planet would be terrified.
Most likely all the Urayuli were together. Looking online at maps didn’t help. She’d have to track them by scent. If she was lucky, the token was at the same place. But there was a bigger question in regards to the totem.
The owl totem had let its presence be known. The fox and elk totems came to her sisters too. If there was a totem at work here, why hadn’t it shown itself to her or Ransom? Or had she just not realized it had made an appearance?
Ransom. The big king sized bed still made.
Kinley slid her feet into her slippers. She had to get out of the room for a bit. Leaving the door open, she walked down the dimly lit hall to the main room. She shivered and ignored the fact every mounted animal on the wall seemed to be glaring at her.
The owner’s cabin was less than fifty feet behind the lodge. It wasn’t as if she were by herself in the middle of nowhere in a haunted hotel.
The walls creaked, and there was a splash in the lake.
It was just the wind and the fish. Reason was her frien
d. Reason could not make those damn animals stop looking at her!
A drink. Yes. Whiskey would relax her and let her sleep.
Kinley walked to the bar and paused before she went behind the counter. She really shouldn’t be taking anything without permission. Sure, Clyde had said to help themselves to anything, but that didn’t mean everything.
She turned back to the door to the main room and found herself looking at a wall of framed photos. Lots of pictures of men and their big catch. She spotted one with Clyde. A little younger with long hair.
At about waist level, there was a photo of her dad and the lodge’s owner fishing together. Of course. But it made her smile. Her father looked thirty years younger and had a flat stomach. She barely remembered him like that, but she recalled that peaceful happiness about him. Her sisters joked her dad was the grumpy bear these days, but back then, he was the jolly bear.
The owner looked young and healthy too, but she caught a faint whisper coming from the direction of his cabin that spoke of rot and sickness. Maybe she ought to let her dad know the man was ill. Men usually didn’t tend to let their friends know how their health was, even if they were dying. Some silly macho thing.
Kinley browsed the pictures. Maybe there was another one of her father, and she found it. A small photo half in the shadow of the corner.
Her dad and mom. So young. Maybe before Saskia came along.
God, her mother was beautiful. So many people told Kinley she looked like her mom, but that beauty… Maybe it was a daughter’s adoration of her mother, but she always believed Tassa to be the most beautiful woman in the world.
Her mom’s heart was even more radiant. Her patient love… Kinley missed her so much.
Tears trickled down her cheeks as she ran a finger along the edge of the photograph.
Find him.
Kinley jerked back. Her mother’s mouth had moved.
Had she fallen asleep on the bed and this was a dream? She glanced at the other pictures. None of them were moving. It couldn’t be a Harry Potter dream.
A trick of the light. It had to be.
She leaned in closer to the photo. Her mom smiling wide and dark eyes so bright even in the not completely focused shot.
Ghost Cat (Totem Book 5) Page 4