by M. A. Church
Remi’s home reminded me of one of those old, smaller plantation homes. Much, much smaller, but just as beautiful. Obviously, Remi had been restoring it. He also had a ways to go.
“All we need now is a horse-drawn carriage.”
“Oh, it’s seen its fair share, believe me.”
“Right.” I laughed, but the look on Tal’s face stopped me. “Wait. Are you saying this house is real? I mean, it’s not just built to look like a plantation house?”
“Remi bought it in 1902, I think.”
“Oh my… God.” I gaped at the house. Suddenly, I could see Southern belles prancing around on the front lawns in those big hoop dresses. Talk about a mind fuck. Then another thought hit me. “So, the ’69 Mustang…?”
“He bought it right off the lot the year it came out.”
“My head may do that whole, creepy, 360-head-spinning thing. That’s just crazy.”
“No, that’s what I’d call crazy.”
Tal parked the truck and we got out. Remi must have heard us because he came from around the back of the house.
I loved those huge, round columns that reached to the roof in front of the house. The place was majestic. Of course, I loved our place more.
“Something else, isn’t it? So much history there. I swear, sometimes it’s almost like you can hear the ghosts of the past whispering… if you listen closely.”
“I don’t…. Just, no. I don’t want to listen to ghostly whispers, and if you keep that up, I’ll be getting back in the damn truck.”
“Tal doing the whole ghostly whispers spiel?” Remi asked as he joined us.
“Yeah,” I answered.
“Not to worry. All the ghosts are in the attic.”
“Oh, har-har, you’re a freaking riot,” I grouched.
“Come on around back. I converted the carriage house into a garage for my baby.” Remi slapped me on the back as he, and Tal laughed.
I was itching to get under the hood, and when I did, I was impressed at how well he’d maintained the car. It was a thing of beauty. Remi took us out to a deserted strip of land and turned the old girl loose. We flew down the road, laughing and yelling like a bunch of kids. Remi swung back through town, grabbed something to eat, and we drove back to his home. I joked that there was enough in that sack to feed five grown men. I had one of the hamburgers and one of the fries. Tal and Remi ate the rest while I watched in amazement.
Dolf’s cooking tended to be health conscious, so Tal and I didn’t get much fast food. After our snack, we had a few beers, even though it would take enough to float a battleship to get us drunk thanks to our metabolism. We killed a couple of hours, then returned home. Tal stopped to get gas. For some reason, I craved peanuts, so while he filled up, I ran inside. A quick look, and I found the nuts. As I walked to the register, I saw the Cokes. Perfect!
How long had it been since I’d put peanuts in my Coke? It sounded crazy, but it was actually damn good. Maybe I’d introduce Tal to it. Snagging a couple small pouches of peanuts and two Cokes, I walked to the register. I smiled at the guy as I laid my goodies on the counter. Huh. I took another look at him, then subtly sniffed. Just as I thought, he was a feline shifter. He was a skinny guy with a mop of dark, curly hair, big, pretty brown eyes, and the cutest little mole on his top lip. He looked to be early twenties, but I knew that meant next to nothing. The more I stared at him, the surer I was I’d seen him somewhere. Maybe at one of our clowder meetings?
“Hey, aren’t you Chris? Think I met you at the library thing last week.”
“Kent,” he snapped. “Name’s Kent.”
“Ah, sorry about that. There were a lot of people there.” I scooted the snacks over to him.
“This it?”
“Um, yes.”
He rung me up, and I paid cash. He crammed the drinks and peanuts in a bag, then shoved my change at me.
Asshole. “Alrighty, then. It’s been… interesting.” He didn’t reply, and my temper began bubbling. I hated being ignored. I probably should keep my mouth shut and let it go, but I was getting tired of this. “Cat got your tongue?”
His eyes snapped up and bored into me. Well, that got his attention. “Fucker. You’re not welcome here.”
“Really? Tal and Dolf might disagree with you. I swear, some of you need to some get over yourselves,” I muttered. “Right, we’re gifts… uh-huh.”
We were so involved, neither of us realized Tal had entered until he stood by me.
“Kent? I believe Dolf will want a word with you tomorrow before you go to work. And maybe his dad too. I think you need a refresher course on manners.” Tal spoke softly, but even I knew he was upset.
“Aw, jeez, Tal, I—”
“No. I don’t want to hear any more. Whatever excuses you have, tell Dolf. You better make sure you tell him everything… or I will.”
Kent’s shoulders slumped. “Yes. I will.” He glanced at me. “I’m… sorry.”
I shrugged, not taking him seriously. He was sorry he got caught, that’s all. “Sure thing.”
Tal and I left. No sooner than we got in the truck, Tal started apologizing for Kent’s actions. I nipped that in the bud. Tal wasn’t responsible for the little asshole’s attitude. I didn’t bother to point out this was happening more and more often. I didn’t see any reason to upset Tal over something he couldn’t control.
THE NEXT day found me alone at the house. Both Tal and Dolf had errands. That jerk from the gas station had called Dolf too. Dolf was more than a little annoyed. He planned to meet Kent at the house later. They’d each asked me if I wanted to run errands with them, but I’d begged off. I wanted a little time to myself. After they left, I decided go look at the site for my shop. I went inside to get my phone off the charger. I’d time myself to see how long it took me to walk to the site. Then maybe take some pictures so I could look at the layout of the land afterward.
A quick check of my cell, and then I hurried outside. Walking down the drive, it took me close to seven minutes, at a normal pace, to get to the area. Not bad. I pushed a branch out of the way as I left the drive and walked into the woods. The trees were bare, but come summer, the leaves would provide not only shade, but cover. I walked around the site, trying to visualize the shop in my head. I wandered back a little farther.
Maybe I could have a garden out here. I’d always had one, but it would be nice to grow stuff I wasn’t depending on to keep me alive. Having a garden for fun was a novel idea. The shop would have to have water, so I could have Tal put a spout at the back and hook up a hose.
“Just perfect.” I could see it in my mind.
Stuffing my hands in my pockets, I glanced around. Now that I was no longer daydreaming, I noticed something. When had the birds stopped singing? For that matter, the woods were silent. Eerily quiet. Not a single creature made a sound. Having grown up in the country and lived near woods for years, I knew that was just wrong. It was almost as if the woods were holding their breath. Waiting. A tremor ran through me, but this time it was from something other than the cold. The hair on my body stood up.
I scanned the woods, unable to shake the feeling I wasn’t alone, but there was nothing. Nothing except silence and the unshakable feeling someone—or something—was stalking me. Here my dumb ass was out in the middle of nowhere, alone, with nothing more than a fucking pocketknife on me. As tempting as it was to call out, I buried the urge. No use in pinpointing my exact location if the asshole out there didn’t already have it.
Because there was no fucking doubt in my mind I had company.
A twig snapped. I jerked my head toward the sound. Thirty yards from me was a massive evergreen. The lower branches shook as something crunched leaves underfoot. I didn’t know if I was more scared or pissed so it took a second for the low growling to register. Then I smelled…. I sniffed again. There was a suspicious lack of scent. What the hell? The sudden glow of bright blue eyes from the tangled branches and undergrowth around the evergreen made up my mind. Scared it was. I started backi
ng away slowly. How had this bastard covered his scent? Every shifter I’d met had a scent, but not this one for some reason.
I knew enough about predators to know not to run. I grabbed my pocketknife and opened it. It wasn’t much, especially against the claws I’d seen on Tal and Dolf, but it was better than nothing. While I was sure it was a shifter stalking me, I wasn’t 100 percent sure it was a cat shifter. What if it was another kind of feline shifter? Something really, really big. With huge fucking teeth.
Then the fucker in the tree attacked.
A flash of black, then something hit me midchest with enough force to knock me off my feet. Everything blurred as I went down on my ass. I threw my hands up to protect my face and somehow ended up with a mass of wiggling, snarling fur and claws. Shit. I ducked my head, trying to protect my very vulnerable throat. My coat helped some, especially since I’d zipped it up to my chin.
But still, one swipe with one of those claws and I’d bleed out in minutes. I got my head down, but pain lit up the right side of my face. Fucker got me. Cat. It’s a cat shifter. About as big as Dolf. Its hind claws caught me right at my navel where my shirt and jacket rode up, tearing at my skin. Pain burned through me as it sliced me open. Fucker was trying to gut me. I got a handful of fur, then lashed out with the pocketknife, stabbing into flesh.
The angry scream that followed brought a smirk to my lips, even though it was like trying to hold on to a tornado. But the son of a bitch got in one last hit. This time, it was a good one. The attacker managed to swipe its claw down my leg, shredding my jeans and laying me open as it fled. The abrupt departure of weight off my chest really made me feel better, but it didn’t last. The metallic scent of blood saturated the air.
“Son of a one-balled, gap-tooth, motherfucking, two-toed bitch,” I whispered.
I struggled to sit up, took a breath to steady myself, and then looked down. God help me, there was blood everywhere. My head spun and little lights blinked in front of me. Oh, fuck this. I’m so not doing this again. Damned if I was passing out here and bleeding to death. What was the deal with me bleeding everywhere, anyway? I gently touched the side of my face. Everything from my hairline to my jaw hurt. Same fucking side the log hit me on. My fingers came away bloody. Again.
I bent back enough to see my stomach. That was bleeding too, the wound deeper than I first thought, but I didn’t think that fucker had cut anything major, even though it hurt like hell. My eyes burned suddenly, and I bit my bit my lip to keep from crying. Or screaming. I finally finished the inspection of my leg. Nausea hit my stomach like a right hook. The blood leaking out of me so quickly scared me. So did the whiteness I saw between all that bloody red tissue.
That…. That was bone I was seeing, I was pretty sure. I gulped and the world around me tilted for a second, and a funny buzzing sound wiped out all other sounds. Fuck no, Kirk. You can’t pass out, dude. You need to call them. Now! Somehow, I dug my phone out of my pocket, swiped my finger across the screen, and hit my contacts. A few more taps, and the cell was ringing.
“Hey, Kirk. I was just thinking about you and—”
“Dolf….” Shit, my mouth was bone dry suddenly, and my voice sounded thin as a tissue. “Help.”
“W-what…? Kirk? What’s wrong?” Dolf’s voice hardened. “Talk to me.”
“Attacked. Where… where shop is supposed to—to go.” The breeze scattered leaves, startling me. I hissed in pain from the hasty movement. “Hurry… bleeding… I’m…. It’s bad.”
“Fuck, fuck!” Dolf’s snarl was anything but human, and I really hoped he wasn’t out in public. “Attacked? Someone dared to touch what’s mine? How bad is the bleeding?”
“I think…. The wound on my leg is the—the worst. Maybe cut down to… the bone. Fucker is tingling like c-crazy, though.”
“Aw, goddess, there’s more than one? Okay, okay, I’m heading home now, but fuck, I’m in town. The tingling means it’s healing. Good, that’s good. The other wounds? How bad are they? I’m at my truck and on the way, sexy. Hold on.”
I snorted out a pitiful laugh. The last thing I felt was sexy. “Bleeding, but not as bad.”
“And you’re out there alone, aren’t you? Fucking hell, someone is going to die for this,” Dolf yelled. “I’m on the way, but it’s going to take me at least fifteen minutes to get there from here. I need to get off the phone and call my dad, then Remi. Remi is five minutes from you.”
“I-I… I… oh God, Dolf, I don’t want to hang up.”
“I know, Kirk, I know. But I have… I’ll put you on hold, okay? How’s that? I’ll do that, then call Remi. He can call Dad. Just hang on.”
“Okay,” I whispered.
Clutching the phone, I glanced around. What if that shifter came back? There was no way I could protect…. Well, I had the pocketknife, but…. Shit, I had no idea a fucking cat could do so much damage. I glanced down at my leg. Had the bleeding slowed some? Maybe. It was kind of hard to tell with all the blood.
Shivering, I touched the side of the wound, and the tingling turned into a roaring fire. My head swam and I jerked my hand back. Things went uncomfortably dark for a second, but then faded as I struggled to breathe slowly. Shit, lesson learned. No touching the fucking wound as it healed. Got it.
A lifetime passed before Dolf’s voice came back on the line, but it was more of a buzz than actual words. He had such a nice voice. It made me want things, things I didn’t dare to hope for before. I strained to make the words out, but really, what did it matter? He was on his way, that’s all I cared about. Well, besides getting out of here. I cared about that.
I looked at the sky, at the pretty white clouds up there. Like big fluffy cotton balls floating around. Which reminded me, I was out of cotton balls. A shudder tore through me, and I groaned. God, I hated the cold. I’d be glad when summer got here.
The cold just seeped into my very bones. And I was tired. And everything hurt. And I was so, so cold. All I wanted was to lie down in front of that fireplace on that neat rug and let Dolf and Tal cuddle me. My teeth were chattering, the shivers giving way to hardcore shaking.
I glanced around. Why was I just sitting out here, again?
Miles and miles away, someone was stamping through the woods toward me, and suddenly, everything snapped back into focus. I’d dropped the phone, apparently. Dumbass, you’re going into shock. Dolf was yelling over the cell, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. Whoever was crashing through the woods like a herd of buffalo was getting closer.
I gripped my poor little blade. I’d gotten one good hit in on that bastard. If he came at me again, I’d stab him again. I wasn’t going to sit here and give up. Hell no. I finally had something worth fighting for, and damned if I’d give it up without a fight. That someone was currently yelling his head off on the other end of my phone. I wanted to comfort him, but I couldn’t. I had a fight on my hands.
A fight I was probably going to lose.
I bared my teeth and waited. Heart pounding, I listened to the sound of someone running, getting closer to me. It pissed me off to no end that I just found not one, but two men I thought I could love. I was not going to lose them. Not now.
Gripping the pocketknife’s handle with shaky fingers, I readied myself…. “Fuck!” And screamed bloody murder when Remi broke through the tree limbs and undergrowth.
Remi threw his hands up, skidding to a stop in front of me. “Oh fuck! Kirk, it’s me! Remi! Dude, put the knife down, man. I’m here to help.”
Chapter 19
Dolf
ANGER POURED through Dolf’s body, flooding every nook and cranny of his being. The landscape blurred, then sharpened as his hunter vision took over. A red haze covered the landscape. Certain objects glowed brighter, according to heat retention, but everything was awash in shades of red.
Hanging on to his cell, he raced to his truck. He needed to get away from the humans. The rage that swallowed him was too close to the surface, and his control wasn’t what it should b
e. Snarls fought to erupt from his chest, savage sounds that plainly spoke to his anger. Sounds that were not human.
Someone had attacked his mate.
That someone was going to die when he found out who dared do this. The few minutes he’d had to put Kirk on hold while he called Remi had shortened his lifespan by centuries. Kirk’s voice had been shaking; he’d sounded so scared, even while fighting to stay calm. When Dolf had switched back, Kirk had been mumbling, talking about cotton balls… and fear took up residence next to the anger.
His mate was going into shock. Dolf put his cell on speaker and tore out of the parking lot. Striving to keep calm, he tried to get Kirk to talk to him instead of mumbling about the cold. He repeatedly told Kirk to hold on, that he was on the way, and that Remi should be there shortly.
Then Kirk shouted “fuck” and Dolf nearly ran off the road. Every muscle locked up. How could one word kick him in the balls like that?
“Kirk!” he bellowed, heart stuttering. The road blurred from the sudden wetness in his eyes, and Dolf shook his head, still screaming for Kirk to answer him, to say something.
“…Dolf! Dolf, listen to me….” Dolf slammed the brakes, the back of his truck fishtailing as he swerved onto his driveway. “Dolf! Answer me!”
Through the angry buzzing in his head, he heard Remi’s voice, pleading to him to listen. He swiped at the moisture on his cheeks. “Remi?” Dolf croaked.
“Oh, thank the goddess. He’s fine, Dolf. I’m here with him. I have the wound on his leg under control. The bleeding has slowed down, and he’s okay. Do you hear me? He’s okay, Dolf. He’s safe.”
“You’re there?” Dolf parked off the side of the drive, next to Remi’s truck.
“Right here next to him,” Remi said.
“Okay. Okay, you’re there. With him.”
“Yes.”
Dolf hissed out a breath, one that didn’t feel as if he were being choked. At least his vision had gone back to normal. “Why did he scream like that?”