by JF Holland
“Tell me Lana, in his shoes, how would you have felt if it were you that had walked into a lap bar and found him doing the same? How would you have felt to find this one person who’s meant for you and you alone, dancing for women?”
“He did,” Lara spoke up in her defence.
“No, he tried to make you feel how he’d felt. He was completely blindsided, devastated, so hit out the only way he knew how. He messed up, but it was never done with malice. He just wanted to get your attention, to get you to bring down your walls. He didn’t have a clue that you were a dancer, never mind that you’d be on that stage dancing because you kept that wall between you. How do you think he felt watching you dance for others? He was confused to find the woman he’d built up in his mind into something wonderful - after knowing you were meant for him for over twenty-three years? But, also bear in mind, that as soon as he knew the twenty-one-years had passed and you were of age he had been faithful.” Lara went to speak but Agatha held her hand up. “No, this was more than just about not being physically capable of being with another woman. Balin found the thought of being with anyone but his mate abhorrent, a sin against what fate had finally seen fit to grant him. He saw being given a mate as a gift. So, whether capable or not, he would not have betrayed that mark once it clicked in.”
A tick started in Jaden’s jaw and he stood, turning his back on Lana’s face, his own head spinning with the amount of taunting and ribbing he’d given his brother. Hell, this morning he’d growled at him for walking in on him and Maya. That could not be the last time that he saw him. He needed to get to know the man his brother had become properly - without all this madness and death surrounding them.
Lana sat stunned as she listened to Agatha, the ring of truth apparent in her voice. Confused she turned to her mother.
“Mum?”
“I’m sorry, I never realised. I’ve been so bitter and twisted over what I went through… what we went through that I’ve been blinded to anything else. For that I am truly sorry,” Lara whispered. “My own actions when you were little and everything you were a witness to has shaped you – but you are an adult now - therefore capable of making your own decisions.”
Lana swallowed, another tear escaping, running down her cheek. Looking across the room her eyes met Maya’s and then Helena’s in turn who smiled encouragingly at her. Swallowing again she nodded and turned to Agatha, her shoulders lifting.
“What did the nymph say when she came to you?” Agatha gave her a tired smile.
“She was sorry to have caused you such problems, but trust me, she paid a very high price for her mistake. She approached Maisie, not understanding just what she was doing or what she was capable of. Maisie in turn offered her a glamour spell and promised that she would help her to get what she needed. She also apologises for taking your purse,” Lana gasped and Jaden spun from the doorway he’d leaned against as he’d listened – now coming back into the room.
“She was in here, she got into the house?”
“Yes, she sneaked in as Maisie told her she needed a picture to help her with the glamour spell otherwise it wouldn’t work. She told me to tell you that you’ll find your purse behind the back of the shed, she took your driving licence but everything else is still inside.”
“Shit, I’m going to have to tighten security,” Jaden informed them.
“What else did she say Agatha, anything that could help us find Balin?” Sam asked.
“No, I’m afraid not, apart from they ambushed them behind the houses at the bottom end - just before the residential properties turn to businesses. That was the spot she’d been told to take him, close to the tree line where they wouldn’t be seen. Balin was taken by surprise as the nymph revealed herself. He never suspected a thing until he saw her eyes. She said to tell him she’s sorry for taunting him, but she was upset as it seems he could never remember her name,” Agatha smiled wearily.
“She also said she can’t tell you anything else helpful as they killed her there and then. It was so quick - the shock threw her from her body so it took her a while to get her bearings to come to me.”
“Thank you, Agatha, are you going to be okay?” Jaden asked.
“Her death was not drawn out like some of them. Although, they did take her body, so she’d appreciate it returning to her family if you come across it?” Jaden nodded.
“We need to call in some re-enforcements, a search party is needed. This is a now a rescue mission, not just the usual search,” Sam said standing and pulling his phone from his pocket as he stepped out of the room to make the call.
Chapter Sixteen
J aden kissed Maya at the back door of the house, then turned and began to run. Muscles straining, bones reshaping and fur covering what was once skin as he went from two to four legs. Up, and straight over the back fence he went in his cat form, Luc above him as they quartered through the trees to the north. The grizzly twins Adam and Nathan Lincoln stepped out next, also shifting into their animal forms. Maya stepped back, hand coming to her throat at the size of them before her – standing well over six-feet and wider than the door frame. A large furry head swung around in her direction, lip pulling up one side of his muzzle, teeth showing in a parody of a grin before he rumbled and barged into his brother. They took off after Jaden, keeping back so his cat would not feel threatened. Maya vowed to get a more stable fence as they grabbed it with their front paws and hefted themselves up and over it. She held her breath as it quivered precariously beneath their weight before settling once again. After they’d disappeared, she shut and locked the back door.
Maya moved back to the coffee table and stood beside Sam. They’d split the map into sections, a square mile at a time, and then split that into two so they could cover more ground. They were looking for any recent signs that someone had passed through the area. Lana came with her mother and Maya turned, putting her arm around her as Lara took a seat.
“They’ll find him, Jaden won’t rest until he has his brother back.”
“He will bring my boy home,” Sam said nodding, jaw rigid as Helena got up from the table and moved behind him, her head resting on his back. Her mother sat curled into herself on the chair, pulling her knees to her chest – arms around them as she rested her chin on top.
“How about a drink?” Maya enquired as she moved towards the kettle. “Jaden will keep me updated and I’ll pass on anything he tells me, there’s nothing else we can do for now, but wait.”
“This is my fault,” Lana said turning from the others. Her mind whirling with all that they could be doing to him.
“Why did she take him?” Lara asked from her seat, watching her daughter pace.
“To bring me. They took him because of me,” Lana groaned, “All he’s going through now is because of me.”
“No, it’s because of them, not you. Do you really think Balin would swap places with you, that he’d let them take you?” Sam piped up angrily, head turning to pin her with angry aquamarine eyes.
“I don’t…”
“No, you don’t know him, so please don’t pretend that you do. He may be your mate, but I brought that boy up. He would lay down his life for a stranger, why would he do anything different for his mate?” Helena rubbed her cheek against Sam’s back, and must have spoken to him as he nodded before looking up at Lana again.
“Do you feel guilty?”
“What sort of a question is that? Of course, I do, I’m not a monster. They wanted me and are torturing him to get me to go to them. If you’d let me walk out of here, I could change place with him…”
“Don’t be so naïve,” Sam snorted. “You are not a stupid woman, so don’t act like you are. The only thing that would achieve is to guarantee that they killed you both.”
“But…”
“It wouldn’t end there either,” he continued talking over her protest. “With your death, she’d have more power. How many more lives do you think she’d destroy then? This is bigger than us, and how we feel,” h
e spat. “My boy knows that and is willing to give his life to save others, that’s just who he is. You being here is the only thing keeping him alive right now, he’s their bargaining chip. So, believe me when I say this, I will sit on you if that’s the only way to keep you here. If you think to sneak out and try to be the hero I’ll hunt you down myself and tie you the hell up.”
“Now wait a god damn minute,” Lara prickled from her seat, positively vibrating.
“No, you wait, I will not have her putting Balin’s or any other life in jeopardy due to her guilt. If she has a problem with me she can talk for herself, it’s between us so keep out of it.”
She went to speak again and Helena leaned back, rubbing a hand over Sam’s bent back as he again began marking detailed sections on the map, plotting their moves.
“Lara, how would you feel if it were Lana out there in the clutches of that vile creature, being tortured?”
Lara snapped her mouth closed and huddled back into the herself, watching her daughter pace broodingly, mouth pinched.
“If you want to do something constructive, try to reach him again. You are our only link to him so take this time to get to know your mate without blocking him.” Sam told Lana without lifting his head from his calculations.
Jaden came to a stop at the coordinates they’d plotted on the map. Head lifting, he spotted Luc hovering, keeping pace above him so he could watch their backs from the air for anything coming at them. The grizzlies were further back, and he waited impatiently for them, his cat pawing at the earth. His head moved restlessly as his inbuilt warning system sampled the air, whiskers twitching. His top lip lifted off his teeth when he heard a sound to his right, ears turning as he dropped low to the floor. Hearing movement in the underbrush of heavy loping footfalls he lifted, head moving to the side and froze, waiting. He heard a rumbling sound followed by the Grizzly’s signal of a heavy breath blowing and teeth clacking.
Jaden took off at a fast pace as he searched through undergrowth, over roots, and brambles, sniffing, searching for any signs of his brother. He would pick up on his scent now and again, and change direction but once he got closer he’d find it was older - probably left over from a couple of weeks ago. He quartered his area, backwards and forwards nothing left unchecked, even checking for scratch marks in the tree bark or scent markings.
Frustrated on finding nothing, Jaden, used his back legs to propel himself up the trunk of a large Beech and onto the branch highway. Once up there he began running again, his tail moving to balance him on the slim limbs as he doubled back over the area he’d already covered on the ground. He came back to where he’d started from and jumped down again, pacing, slapping at the dead leaves and growling in frustration. Looking up he spotted Luc, who dropped down a distance from him, just as he heard the Grizzly’s come to a stop the other side of Luc, about one-hundred yards away.
Luc folded his wings as the shifters contorted, fur disappearing as muscle and bone once against reshaped and muzzles shrunk.
“Nothing,” said Adam shaking out his hair, and reminding Luc of a shaggy dog after bathing.
“Damn it,” Jaden hissed. “How the hell could they have taken him through here without leaving a scent trail?”
“I don’t know,” Nathan said as he came forward. “Do you want to move onto another area?”
“No, we need to get back and check in with the others. Maya’s been keeping them up on my progress but I need to speak to Agatha again. It’s not going to be tonight though, or what’s left of it. She needs to rest and I don’t fancy getting on the wrong side of her guard dog,” Jaden murmured making Luc laugh.
“Better not let Douglas hear you calling him a dog, he’d neuter you and walk off without a backwards glance - especially as it’s coming up to a full moon again.”
“Yeah, good point. Let’s call it a night. Come back and have a drink with us while we work out our next move,” Jaden said with a sigh, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
“We’ll find him,” Luc told Jaden.
“Yeah, we will,” Nathan agreed.
“He’ll be home before you know it,” Adam added, slapping Jaden on the shoulder before stepping away and shifting back to his animal form. The big Grizzly sat with his back to the group as he waited for his brother, bear language for submissive and no trouble.
“Race you back,” Adam said to Jaden as he shifted, barrelling into his brother before rolling back to his feet and running off ahead – Nathan giving chase with rumbles and clicks of his teeth.
“Shall we?” Luc asked, and Jaden took one last look around, shoulders drooping before he nodded and shifted. Luc unfurled his black, leather like wings and took off behind him. His wings were quicker than his legs, especially trying to keep up with shifters.
Chapter Seventeen
Six days later: -
L uc came through the door, Edwin and John on his tail, they’d been doing another search through the woods. Luc from the air and the tigers on the ground, using their cat’s senses to see if they could pick up any trails.
“Well?” Jaden asked as they stepped into the kitchen.
Luc shook his head, mouth grim as John and Edwin slapped his shoulder. Jaden swore and once again looked down at the map spread before them on the table. He put a cross through yet another section of the map they’d circled. “It’s taking too long. He’s been missing for nearly a week now and we’re running out of places to search. How much more can he come back from?” he asked thickly, swallowing and Sam turned his head away jaw ridged.
“We need to find my boy,” Sam said to the room at large. “How do we know they aren’t moving him, he could be anywhere,” he said shoulders sinking as he dropped into a chair.
Helena came up behind him and put her arms around him, resting her head over his.
“We’ll find him, we will.”
“He’s my son Helena. Maybe not through blood but I’ve raised that boy since he was five-years-old. I watched him grow, taught him to read, hunt, run,” he swallowed before whispering. “I can’t lose him, not now, not like this,” he said wiping his glistening eyes.
“We will find him; I will not give up. I did not get my brother back to lose him again,” Jaden told Sam squeezing his shoulder as he once again bent over the map.
Just then the door opened and in stalked Leonard, the vampire, a face like thunder.
“What’s wrong?” Maya asked frowning at his features.
“Another killing.”
“Where?” Jaden asked his head moving over the map.
“Edge of the section I was checking, it looks like it was one of Evans boys,” Leonard sighed about to say something when he was interrupted.
“Evan, no, his boys are only young,” Maya said gasping.
“The twins are just fifteen-years-old,” Luc explained sadly, pushing the map towards Leonard so he could mark the spot.
Leonard leaned over, a tick in his jaw as he marked a spot only a mile away from the river bank that ran at the back of the woods.
“What was he doing out? There’s meant to be a curfew?” Sam asked, as Leonard went to speak again. Just then the front door went and Douglas went to answer it, Agatha came staggering over the doorstep.
“Shit,” Douglas shouted as he caught his wife and helped her into the kitchen, pulling a chair out for her. She’d no sooner taken a seat when another knock sounded on the door, this one followed by shouting. Sam answered and could be heard closing the door and leading Evan into the kitchen, all eyes dropped.
“Michael is missing, Damien said he sneaked out. He’s only just told me as he didn’t come back, something about picking flowers for their mother’s Birthd…” he trailed off as he caught the sorrowful looks of those around the table. His eyes turning to Agatha who sat rocking on a chair, hands around her stomach – tears streaming down her face.
“Agatha?” she shook her head unable to speak and he swallowed hard. “No, not my boy, not Michael,” he sobbed, hands cov
ering his face as his shoulders shook with the strength of his tears as his heart broke.
The others in the kitchen hung their heads, no one able to offer comfort for the loss of his son. There was nothing they could say in this situation that would help or heal him. After a couple of minutes Evan looked up and glared at Jaden.
“I want her head – I want to rip it from her body. I want her to suffer, do you understand me, you - make - her - suffer. Now where is my boy?” he took a shuddering breath and swallowed before continuing quietly. “I want to bring him home to his family and bury him,” he whispered, wiping his ashen face on his jacket sleeve.
“I already have him,” Leonard replied quietly and they looked at him, only now noticing that his long coat was missing.
“Please, take me to him,” Evan asked, bottom jaw wobbling as a single tear slipped down his cheek.
“This way,” Leonard replied, as he led the way out of house via the back door. Walking down the garden, he bent and carefully lifted his coat up and into his arms from the bench. They all watched from the back door as Leonard gently lifted Michael, wrapping him snuggly inside his coat before placing him into his father’s arms. Maya bit back a sob as Evan dropped to his knees with his son held tightly to his chest and roared. Leonard crossed his arms and planted his feet, standing guard over him, stoic, eyes downcast, as he allowed the father the time he needed to hold his son and grieve.