Right now, his bear was anxious and needed to release his pent up frustration some other way. Hunting, killing, or just beating the snot out of something sounded great. He looked around at his campsite then. He must have really hit the beer harder than usual last night. The place was a disaster, and Trent couldn’t remember anything after he left the diner. His head continued to pound at his racing thoughts.
He heard rustling of leaves in the woods then. He stood up and brushed himself off. Ever since the murders started, Trent had quit hanging out at his campsite by himself as much. Not because he was afraid of whatever it was, but because he knew eventually fingers would be pointed. Jimmy had already started wagging his tongue. People would jump on board the longer the killings went on without an arrest.
“Damnit, Trent! Where’s your cell phone? Why didn’t you come home last night?” Heather’s voice boomed through the woods.
“What the hell are you doing out in the woods by yourself! There’s a killer on the loose!”
“Oh yeah? I wasn’t aware! I’m out here by myself looking for you, along with the rest of your family! We’ve been calling you all morning.”
“What’s going on?”
“Jimmy was killed last night. Just like the others, and it’s just a matter of time before the police show up to question you. We didn’t want you to be missing when they do show up. So shake a leg, we need to get back to the house.”
Trent stumbled forward a couple steps as they news settled on his mind. He knew it was only a matter of time. Now, here he was without an alibi only hours after threatening the dead guy. What a stupid, stupid move that had been. He would probably be euthanized before the day was done.
“Heather, wait! I need to talk to you first.”
“Trent, now is not the time. We need to get back, fast. I’ll be shocked if the police aren’t already there. I’ll tell them I was with you last night.”
Trent stopped dead in his tracks.
“You will absolutely do no such thing!” Heather kept walking, not bothering to respond. Trent surged forward and spun her around to face him.
“Do you understand me? You will not hang yourself in order to save me. It was only a matter of time before they started looking at me. They will kill me.”
“No! No they won’t you big, dumb idiot because I’m going to tell them I was with you. If we hurry now, we can get your parents in on it. That’s all we need to do and you’re safe. I will not let them kill you. They can’t!”
Heather was distraught, and Trent wanted to kiss the concerned look off of her face. He hated that it had taken so long for him to have found her. Now to have found her in the middle of all of this mess. A mess he desperately didn’t want to drag her into.
“Heather, Shifters usually don’t live this integrated with humans for as long as we have. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened. Since I’m the only Cipher that’s not mated off with a family, I’ll be the one everybody points at. It doesn’t help that I threatened to kill the guy either.”
“But you didn’t do it, Trent. We have to figure out who did. Please just come back to the house so we can figure this out.”
“Not before I talk to you first.”
“Please, I can’t talk to you right now. I need to get you back to the house and know that you’ll be safe. Then we can talk.”
Trent forced her to stop walking and pulled her up against him, running his fingers down the side of her face. He skimmed her neck before he spread his fingers wide through her hair like he had wanted to do for so long. She bit her lip in anticipation, which sent him over the edge. He used his thumb to pull her lip free before he captured it for his own.
The kiss was fiercely passionate. It was unlike any other kiss he had experienced. If he hadn’t realized before that she was his mate, he knew without a doubt now. She immediately opened her mouth to allow his tongue’s invasion. She met him stroke for stroke. Her hands were frantically running up and down his back. She gripped her fingers in his back occasionally and tried to pull him closer. The fever just kept rising to the point where Trent was on the brink of not being able to stop.
This beautiful, passionate woman was his, and he would go to hell and back to make sure he was around to experience all of her. He dragged himself away from her.
“Heather, you are mine.” He couldn’t escape the growl that came after.
“Save it for later, bear man. We need to go.” She grabbed his hand and took off through the woods. He quickly took over the pace and skidded to a halt at the wood line as they watched the police make their way up to the front door.
“We can go in the back and up to my room. Tell them you spent the night in my room. If your parent’s act surprised, we’ll just say we didn’t want anybody to know.”
“They won’t act surprised. Are you sure you want to do this? How do you know I didn’t really kill those men?”
Heather gave him a look that told him she thought he was an idiot. He liked her loyalty to him. He grabbed her hand and led her around the back of the house and snuck them in. He didn’t have to make himself look disheveled. Thanks to the kiss and actually spending the night drunk in the woods, he already looked like he’d spent the night ravishing Heather. He wished it were really true. It would make everything a hell of a lot easier. He didn’t like her lying to protect him, but it may be the only thing that saved his hide long enough to find the true killer.
THIRTEEN
ANGER IS AN ALL-CONSUMING BEAST. It’s been said for hundreds of thousands of years and it couldn’t be truer still today. Anger was slowly ticking, eating him from the inside out. The night the human outsmarted him and escaped was the worst kind of failure. To be outsmarted by a human was the worst possible feeling he could experience.
That human, in particular, was taunting him by living; out walking the streets, running his mouth about his killer. They even had him on the news to interview him about his encounter. He shouldn’t have played around. He should have killed him immediately. What had his mother always said about playing with his food?
Now here he was on the outskirts of town watching that very man stumble aimlessly. He was drunk or he probably would have never been so careless. He hadn’t been the least bit careless since that night, but tonight. Tonight he was all alone walking the streets; drunk.
There would be no mercy tonight. No playing around with his prey. Tonight would be about revenge and finishing the job. Everyone would know that he kept his word. If you were to be killed, you would be killed. There was no escaping.
He shrugged out of his clothes and shifted in the darkness of an alley. Then as the man wandered closer to the river where there were neither houses nor street lights, he attacked. The man never even had time to scream. It took all of his willpower to not simply shred the body to bits. He had to keep it like all the others. He hid the body on the riverbank. When the town was all quiet, he would come back and take him to his final resting place. He would be spread through the woods, his woods.
How many more would there be until he felt fulfilled? How many would it take to free his tired soul from its own internal hell? He prayed it would be soon, but knew deep down it wouldn’t be.
FOURTEEN
HEATHER LAID wide awake in bed. She kept running her fingers over her lips. She had never been kissed the way Trent had kissed her. Every time she thought about it her stomach swarmed with butterflies. She had never been that turned on by anything Brian had ever done like that one single kiss from Trent. All she could think about was when he would do it again. Please God let it be soon.
She had an early shift at the diner tomorrow and at this rate, she was never going to sleep. She reached over to her nightstand and picked up the little black journal. She hadn’t read much more in it since she started working. Her body wasn’t used to such a physical job so at first she’d come home and immediately crash. Now that she was acclimated, she wanted to finish the journal. The poor woman deserved to have
the truth known and Heather felt like it was her job now.
She flipped over the book and picked up where she had left off.
Ray is gone more than he is home anymore. I hate to think it’s another woman, but why else would he stay out all night. He’s never seemed dissatisfied with our lovemaking, but why else seek out another woman? I bet it’s that whore Mindy down the street. She always has had her eye on Ray. She pretty much has her eye on any man really.
On the positive side, Ray hasn’t had any outbursts lately. He’s been so calm and gentle lately, I have to wonder what he’s doing that’s making him so happy. I always thought I would be the one to change him. I would make him so happy he wouldn’t need to lash out anymore. I guess not. I should be thankful that he’s found what has been missing. I can’t help but be jealous, though.
* * *
Heather yawned as she flipped the page. How could this poor woman not realize what a douchebag Ray was? He was a terrible man and she deserved better. Heather wished she could have met the woman in real life. Of course she wouldn’t have had any idea what was going on. It’s not like the lady would just walk up and tell Heather her life story. From the looks of her diary, she hadn’t told anybody.
She flipped to the back of the book then and started looking for any information on the woman. She perused the pages trying to find a name or town of any sort that would give Heather a clue as to where to start. Nothing. Who doesn’t write their name in their diary?
Surely she had her purse on her when she wrecked. She threw off her covers and crept out in the hallway. Trent was always awake at weird hours so Heather decided to ask him what he knew. She listened closely to his door to see if she could hear any signs of him being awake. Just as she was about to knock, the door flew open.
“Missing me?” Trent said with a devilish grin.
“You wish. I’m actually coming to see if you know the name of the woman whose journal I have?”
“I don’t know. If they knew, the news never released it that I know of. With it being a suicide, I guess they didn’t really care.”
“That’s terrible.”
“Why do you want to know her name?”
“I want to find out where she was from and maybe figure out who this Ray guy is.”
“Heather, you need to drop it. You are not to be anywhere near this Ray guy. If he even thinks for a second that you know how he treated his late wife, who knows what he’ll do.”
“It’s not like I’m trying to go look for trouble. I just want to know more about this guy, if you must make it your business,” Heather said with a huff.
“Oh, Heather. How soon you forget. I told you in the woods that you’re mine. That isn’t going to change. It is very much my business if you want to track down some psychopath that beats women.
“Trent, I think we need to talk about this, I’m yours stuff. I just got out of a really crappy engagement. I’m supposed to be leaving for Boston in a couple of weeks.”
Trent responded by grunting and then pulling her into his room and shutting the door. He leaned back on the door while he looked her over. She thought the kiss they shared was sensual. The way Trent was looking at her was all but setting her on fire. She tried not to fidget under his scrutiny.
“Do you know anything about Shifters and their mates?”
“Um, no not really. You guys are the only Shifters I’ve ever been around. I know you call your spouse’s mates.”
“It’s more than marriage. Shifters mate for life. We have one person who has been created just for us, and when we find them our souls will intertwine. It’s for life. There is no divorce or adultery in our culture. I would and will do anything for you. I want to make you happy. I want to cherish you. I also crave your touch and love. Without those I would lose myself over to my bear. I would be wild and feral, killing anything.”
“Oh…”
“Yes. You are my mate, Heather. I have waited decades for you, and I was starting to believe you’d never come. Without my mate, you, the animal inside of me would have eventually begun to take over.”
“Trent, I think maybe you’re confused. I don’t think I’m your mate. We’re just friends. It’s just because I’ve needed your help so much and because you get stuck spending time with me because everybody else is married.”
Trent took a step towards her. She tried to back up more, but the back of her legs hit his bed. She about fainted. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to throw herself in his bed and let him have his way, or run. No way was this happening. She couldn’t be his mate. If she hadn’t wrecked here, she would have never even met him. She’d be thousands of miles away living a different life. No way was she his mate. Some other local girl must be his mate.
“Heather, if you’re honest with yourself, you feel just as drawn to me. The kiss we shared earlier was the most passionate kiss you have ever experienced. You were lying awake across the hall because you were craving my touch. I know that’s why I’ve been awake most nights since meeting you.”
Heather wasn’t sure she had any more breath left in her lungs. Trent was just out of reach of her. If she reached her hand out the least bit, she would touch his chest; his beautiful masculine chest. His arms would encircle her and make her feel safe. His kiss would consume her and make her feel more wanted than ever before. It was all just too much.
“Trent,” she whispered.
“Think about what I’ve said, Heather. I won’t push you into this. Talk to my family, see what they have to say about it. They’ve known you were my mate since the first day. The next time I touch you, that will be it. Neither of us will ever touch another person after that.”
His voice was husky with passion. Heather wasn’t sure how the room hadn’t spontaneously combusted yet. She realized he was giving her an out and for some reason she took it. She skirted around him and ran back to her room.
She leaned against her bedroom door for what felt like hours. Finally, she gave herself over to exhaustion. When her alarm rang the next day, she was hopeful for her life. She may not be ready to deal with Trent, but deep down she knew she wouldn’t be able to resist him for much longer.
FIFTEEN
TRENT HAD SPENT the morning out in the woods searching for clues to the murders. The police had accepted that he had been with Heather the night Jimmy was killed. He knew for a fact that they were still looking at him as their number one suspect. He had searched the woods high and low multiple times after the murders, but there had to be something he was missing.
Jimmy’s body had been found in the woods, but Trent couldn’t understand why or how he would have got there that night. He had been drunk and angry at the diner. When he left he had been terrified , so why would he venture into these woods of all places. Trent also hadn’t found the point of the actual kill either. There was no large amounts of blood anywhere or any significant blood splatters. Jimmy had to have been killed elsewhere and then brought out here so that they would know who killed him.
Trent looked at the sun and realized it was getting close to time to pick Heather up from the diner anyway. He would check out the area surrounding the diner then. There was something missing from the equation. He shifted and put on his clothes. His old Chevy truck roared to life and he took off into town.
Heather hadn’t said much since the other night in his room. He knew she was close to caving, but he didn’t push her. It was a lot to take in. Even he had his doubts. Did she realize that he scrapped metal for a living? As a bachelor, he didn’t need much especially since he had never moved out of his parents’ house. Wow, what a catch he was? The first thing he needed to do was find a good, steady job. Then he would have his family’s contractor get to work on another cabin.
When he pulled in the parking lot of the diner, his worst nightmare was just walking in the diner, Tess. Luckily, he had managed to avoid her since the hospital when he promised her a date. He wanted to spend the evening with her about as much as he wanted to undergo open heart sur
gery. He knew she would hold him to it though. There was no way Heather would understand him going out with Tess right now. Not after everything he had told her. The only hope he had now was that she would be gone by the time he got done checking out the alleys next to the diner.
It didn’t take long for him to smell blood. It wasn’t fresh, but there was a lot of it. The killer had been clever enough to get Jimmy down by the river. There were no houses down there. People rarely drove that route either since the alley was so narrow. He called his buddy at the sheriff’s department and let them know he had found the actual kill site. The underlying scent was there, too. It was definitely a Shifter doing the killing, but what kind of Shifter he wasn’t sure. The scent was always too old to make out a distinct smell. He didn’t want there to be any more killings, but if there were going to be more, he wished he could get on the trail faster.
Back at the diner, his luck took a turn for the worst. Tess had been waiting for him to show up. She knew he was driving Heather back and forth to work thanks to small town gossip. Heather didn’t look pleased to have Tess sitting at the counter talking her ear off either. Her smile for Trent quickly faded when Tess stood up and threw herself into his arms. He immediately pushed her back.
“Trent, have you been avoiding me?” she purred.
“Tess, now’s not the time for us to talk. Maybe later?”
“No way, Trent Cipher. We’re going out. you said so yourself. No time like the present.”
“I’m here to give Heather a ride home so I can’t tonight.”
“Don’t let me stand in your way, Trent. Nick can give me a ride.” Heather’s tone was filled with venom, and she refused to make eye contact with him.
Shadows and Stars Page 5