Shadows and Stars

by Becca Fanning

  “This is so sad. This poor woman was stuck in a terrible relationship and trying to stay positive.”

  Trent was watching her closely now. Heather still hadn’t opened up about her ex, but she knew Trent was intuitive enough to know there was a story there.

  “My ex never touched me, if that’s what you’re thinking. He didn’t need to. The words he threw at me were worse than a fist most times. The other women he flaunted in my face felt like a kick in the ribs every time. I would have rather spent a night in the hospital than catch him with my sister.”

  Heather watched as Trent’s eyes darkened. A growl ripped through the silence then. In the next moment, Trent brought her against him in a tight hug. Even though he was mad, he was gentle with her. His hand caressed her back. She knew she shouldn’t linger in his touch, but it was like a drink of water to a thirsty dog. She had been thirsty for too long.

  “You are worth so much more than all of that, Heather. I wish I could meet your ex one day and give him a proper ass kicking.”

  “I wish you could, too. I’m glad you won’t though because that would probably mean that I was there, and I don’t ever want to see him or any of them again.”

  “Your parents, I assume, approved of his relationship with your sister?”

  “The wedding is in a few months.”

  Trent finally released her and took a few steps back. Heather wanted to continue to lean into him and feel his strength. His body was so different from hers. Where he was tall, strong and lethally sexy, she was shorter, curvy and soft. Her hair was always a mess of curls and frizz and she rarely wore make up. Trent would look good with someone like Miranda Lambert on his arm and she definitely was nowhere close to being that attractive.

  “Do you think it would be weird if I took this journal? I have to admit I’m intrigued, and I feel like this woman deserves to have her story heard, even if it’s just by me.”

  Trent nodded without a word and took her hand as they started their hike back up.

  TEN

  TRENT PACED through the woods in his bear form. He had gone back to the places where they had found pieces of the first victim in the woods to smell. He wanted to see if the scent he hadn’t been able to place the first time he had been there matched the one from the woods the other night. But he had no luck. Too much time had passed, and the scent was gone.

  He would almost bet his life that it had been the same scent though. He remembered picking up a slight scent he couldn’t make out that first day. Soon after that moment he had been side railed by Heather’s accident. He hadn’t been able to focus on much else besides her lately. He was consumed with wanting to be near her and finding ways to see her smile. He was starting to worry about his mental health as he continued to realize how much he felt for her.

  His family was positive it was the mate bond. They were constantly hounding him about it, too. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to feel the mate bond; he just wasn’t ready for it to be now. Heather had been through such heartache in her life. She deserved better. He looked into her family down in Texas before she had told him anything about her life and realized that she also came from serious money. He was a Shifter who scrapped metal. Not much of a fortune to be made there.

  Even though he was a Shifter and a big man, he was nowhere near normal size. He was a runt. Most runts died; back in the good ole’ days they were simply killed off. His mom always badgered him for feeling inferior, but it was hard not too standing a whole head shorter than everybody else in the family. Not to mention they all mated off long before he did. His brothers teased him, but he knew they didn’t mean any real harm. If they actually knew how hard he took the taunting, they would probably quit.

  He made his way back to his clothes just inside the wood line by the cabins. He started to shift, but quit when he saw Heather sitting outside under an apple tree reading the journal. He loved watching her from a distance, even if it was creepy. She was gorgeous. All curves and sex appeal. Her hair was curly and wild, which made him want to wrap it around his hands while he kissed his way down her neck. He wanted to wrap her legs around him while he lost himself in her sweet scent.

  He shook his head. He really needed get a grip. Instead, he sauntered over to her still in his bear form and curled up next to her. She never missed a beat as she snuggled into his side. Her hand eventually found its way to his fur, and she stroked it while she read. His chest rumbled with pleasure. He didn’t even care if she knew.

  “I assume you can hear me while you’re in your bear form.”

  He dipped his head in response.

  “I think this woman ran off the side of the cliff on purpose. The poor thing was stuck in a miserable life. Ray, her husband, seems to have multiple personalities. It’s like one entry she’s blissfully happy and he’s treating her like a queen. The next minute she’s beaten and broken wondering what she did wrong. Why didn’t she leave him?”

  Trent didn’t want to listen to the woman’s sad story. It made him want to find the bastard and tear him apart. Men, Shifters or not, should never harm women. They were made to be worshipped and praised. The mother of their children made them the keepers of the family. Heather seemed extremely attached to the poor woman’s story, which made him mad all over again at her recent treatment.

  “Listen to this entry.”

  One minute his hands are caressing me and bringing me great pleasure. The next they’re beating me. He tries to break my spirit. It’s like he wants me to hate him. He wants me to leave him. Surely if he wanted out of the relationship, he would just say so. I can’t take much more of this back and forth. I love the highs, but the lows are becoming unbearable. I want to have a family one day, but I couldn’t imagine bringing them into this hell. When I think about leaving though, it tears me apart. He seems torn, like there’s two men I’m married to and they can’t figure out who is ultimately king. I pray that the back and forth ends soon, and I can have Ray back. I just want the man I met all those years ago back.

  Heather shook her head as she flipped the page. Trent didn’t like the sounds of the man from the journal. It was an all too familiar tug of war that he knew. He got up and went to shift and put his clothes back on.

  When he came back, Heather was heading back in the house.

  “I have my first shift tonight at the diner,” Heather said as they went into the house together.

  “I’d say break a leg, but that doesn’t seem appropriate.”

  “The way my luck’s going, it would probably happen. Any advice though?”

  “The customer’s always right?”

  She laughed as she headed up the stairs. He wanted to follow her and spend more time in the presence of that smile. His dad was standing off the side of the foyer looking like he needed to talk though.

  “What’s up, Dad?” Trent asked once Heather was out of sight.

  “Not much, Trent. How are things going with you?”

  “Don’t tell me you’re going to start hounding me, too? It can’t possibly be the mate bond, she’s a human.”

  “There are all kinds of human’s bonded to Shifters anymore. You know the signs. I think you need to be honest with her.”

  “I think that’s a terrible idea. She’ll run for the hills for sure.”

  “She may run right into your arms, too. You won’t know until you tell her.”

  “That’s a hell of a gamble, Dad.”

  His dad walked off without a response, but he could hear his father’s sigh. The sound made him want to put his fist through something. Maybe he should talk to Heather and tell her what he was feeling. There was a good chance she was feeling it too.

  “Trent, since I don’t have a vehicle, I was wondering if I could con you into giving me a ride to work?” Heather asked as she came back into the main room, dressed in a black shirt and jeans.

  “I’d love to,” he said as he led the way to his truck.

  With that he was back in the presence of her smile and left his co
nfession for another time.

  ELEVEN

  HEATHER WAS AMAZED at how easy it was for her to settle into her life in Acer. Melanie had been right about the waitressing job. It was natural to her, and she actually loved her work. The locals were so sweet and most of them were regulars. The small community had welcomed her in with open arms. They even made her feel more welcome then her own family back in Texas.

  Trent was still a tough matter she was trying to deal with. He drove her to work, and sometimes even stuck around town for her shift to end and take her home. He was also helping her make her way through the diary she had found. She figured he’d think she was nuts being so wrapped up in a stranger’s life, but he seemed to get it. They were the only two singles on Cipher hill, so that left them to either sit around by themselves or be together. More times than not they ended up spending time together.

  The more time they did spend together, the harder it was to not jump his bones. He didn’t seem nearly as interested in her as she was him, though. He flirted with every woman in town, so she wasn’t sure of what it meant when he flirted with her.

  “She’s living out there with them. She has to know what’s going on!” Jimmy, the man who had escaped death a few weeks ago yelled across the diner. He was pointing at her with glazed over eyes. Heather shook it off. Jimmy had been on a downward spiral since that terrible night. He was drunk more than he was sober. He had started wagging his tongue around town about the Ciphers. He seemed to think that one of them had been the predator in the woods that night.

  Nobody was listening to him, except Trent. It really seemed to bug Trent when Jimmy started spouting off. Luckily, Trent had decided not to stick around this shift. Heather poked her head back through the swinging doors to the kitchen and yelled at Nick, the night manager, that Jimmy was at it again. Nick usually just called his buddy on the sheriff’s department to take Jimmy home.

  “Why does nobody believe me? Who else would have golden eyes like that and be in those woods? They’re going to come after me to finish the job, so I might as well warn you all!”

  Jimmy was frantically waving his arms and turning in circles trying to get anybody to acknowledge his proclamation.

  “Jimmy, you need to go home. You’ve been through a lot. Maybe you should try and talk to somebody about what happened that night?” Heather tried to console him, but she was the last person he wanted to hear from.

  “What are you? Some sort of Shifter slut? They probably just pass you around out there. Shifter dick better than a real man, huh?”

  “That’s…”

  Before Heather got the sentence out of her mouth, Trent came through the back door in a fury. His eyes were glowing golden and within seconds he had Jimmy by the throat.

  “If I wanted you dead, shithead, you would have been dead that night. The way you’re speaking to Heather tells me that maybe you’d like to be dead this night.”

  Jimmy’s whole body had gone limp with fear. Between the booze and the fright, he ended up pissing himself. Heather felt bad for him. He was just drunk and having some sort of PTSD episode. She tried to get Trent to let him go.

  “Trent, he doesn’t know what he’s saying. You’re really scaring him, please let him go. I shouldn’t have got involved knowing how upset he was. Please, let him go.”

  She could feel the muscles in Trent’s back as she tried to ease his anger by stroking him. He didn’t relax his grip on Jimmy until she made him look at her. Once they made eye contact, his eyes dimmed and he dropped Jimmy. Jimmy immediately scrambled back and ran out the door.

  “Nick, maybe you ought to go after him. He’s pretty messed up,” Heather offered as she led Trent back into the kitchen. Her other patrons had already gone back to their meals. It was like having two grown men, one who is part bear, have a pissing match in the restaurant that was just an everyday thing.

  “Trent, you can’t just pop off every time some idiot spouts off at the mouth. I’m sure things like that will happen from time to time until I leave.”

  “You don’t deserve to be spoken to like that, Heather. I won’t tolerate it.”

  “Well, it’s really not your job to step in- especially if you’re going to scare the piss out of them, literally.”

  “It most definitely is my job.”

  Heather looked up at Trent. He eyes weren’t glowing with anger anymore, but they were glowing. They looked more like they were glowing with passion. Heather’s stomach dropped to her feet. Having him look at her like that was probably the most sensual thing to ever happen to her.

  “Heather.” Trent seemed to really be holding himself back. They just kept standing there staring at each other like love sick teenagers. Finally, Heather took a step forward, but just as quickly Trent stepped back. Then he was out the door and gone before she could even blink.

  “What the hell!” Heather glared at the swinging kitchen doors wanting to do nothing more than chase Trent down and strangle him.

  She finally snapped out of her angered stupor and went back out front. She silently berated herself the rest of the shift for even considering kissing the stupid idiot. As closing time approached, she got more and more nervous about the ride home. She really didn’t want to see Trent, but she wasn’t sure how else she’d get home. At the same time, she didn’t want to seem like what happened bothered her either.

  She had just decided to slap on her best bitch face, when Derek, Trent’s oldest brother, walked in the diner.

  “Hey, Heather. Trent called, said you may need a ride. He got tied up with something.”

  “Of course he did. Thank you for coming. I promise one day I’ll be out of your all’s hair and off to Boston.”

  “We don’t mind at all, Heather. It’s nice to have you around. You keep Trent on his toes. It’s kind of fun for the rest of us to watch.”

  Heather snorted in response and finished mopping behind the counter. The floors had probably never been cleaner from the angry way Heather scrubbed them. It was nice to have a physical job to help her burn some steam. The customers had kept her busy the rest of the night and her mind off of Trent. Now that her work was done, she’d probably be up all night deciding how best to kill him.

  “I’m all done.”

  “Great.” Derek polished off some of the left over apple turnovers while he waited. The amount the Cipher men could eat was amazing.

  Heather decided the only way to get any sleep tonight was for a nice tall glass of wine before bed. She had Derek stop so she could splurge on a locally made wine that she had a soft spot for. Who knew West Virginians were so good at making wine? She didn’t buy extras often so that she could buy her new car, but tonight it was a necessity.

  One glass turned into most of the bottle, but she slept like the dead. Trent didn’t even haunt her dreams like he usually did. When she woke up the next day to raised voices, her head was pounding. She padded down the stairs to see what all the commotion was about.

  “Heather! Have you heard from Trent?”

  “Nope.” She headed towards the coffee pot while everyone started arguing again.

  “What’s going on?” she asked the group once she had a cup of coffee in hand.

  “There was another murder last night. Well, I guess you should say a finished murder. Jimmy was killed last night, and his body parts were spread just like the others.”

  It took a second for Heather to realize the significance of it all. She gasped and her hand flew over her mouth. Trent would be the main suspect. Not only had Jimmy been telling everybody who would listen that it was the Ciphers, but Trent threatened him last night.

  “Oh my God! Trent didn’t do this. I mean, he was mad last night, but he wasn’t the one after Jimmy. We have to find him. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.”

  Everybody looked at her in shock. They must not have expected her to be such an advocate for Trent.

  “We appreciate your vote of confidence for Trent. However, it doesn’t look good. He doesn’t have muc
h of an alibi for any of the other deaths and we’re the only Shifters for miles.”

  “Well, that doesn’t mean anything. You guys are part animal which means you can travel through the woods faster than people. It could easily be another Shifter doing the killings. It is another Shifter. It’s not Trent. I shouldn’t have to defend him to you all. You’re his family!”

  “Heather, sweetie, calm down. We’re not saying we believe it’s Trent. We’re just saying it won’t be long before the townsfolk start to believe that it is.”

  “Then we work faster to try and find out who it is. Trent has been scouting a lot, trying to place the scent. Maybe you guys could go and just ensure that it’s not his scent on Jimmy.”

  “They’re not going to take our word for it, Heather. We need to find Trent and figure out where he was last night. We need to get him back here before the police show up to question him.”

  “Okay. What can I do to help?”

  “Just go anywhere you think Trent may be and bring him back here. Fast!”

  TWELVE

  TRENT WOKE up with his head pounding. His first thought was Heather. She probably hated him and rightly so. He wasn’t really sure why he didn’t kiss her. He had wanted to kiss her since the first time she started chewing on her bottom lip. It was a constant battle to not kiss her.

  Last night in the diner kitchen though, he realized she really was his mate. Nobody else on the planet would have been able to get him away from that sleaze ball. He heard every word he had said to Heather and the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to strangle him. Trent just saw red when it came to Jimmy. That night he saw Heather rubbing the man’s back, Trent had wanted to break his legs. It was a completely unreasonable feeling.

  Heather worked with the public and would be friendly to men and woman alike. He knew that. He flirted with women all the time. It was different since he couldn’t stand watching Heather so much as smile at another man. He needed to tell her the truth. If she really did feel the same way and they became mates, his bear would feel more appeased.