Sebastian freed the radio from his waist. He knew the claw marks were too wide to belong to the two female feline residents of the town, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be some of their kin come looking for them. It could also be someone sent for Susan because of this ridiculous war. The thought nearly drove him to his knees that she was alone and vulnerable. The urge to go to her and assure her safety was nearly overwhelming. If anyone tried to hurt her he would rip their arms off and beat them to death with their own limbs.
He took a deep breath to try to regain his calm. The blood trail was heading in the opposite direction of where Susan was. It was much more likely that this feline was after its own kind. Susan was safe. He had to stay logical and call this in.
When Tim, their local fire chief answered the radio Sebastian let him know that he needed some men out at his location immediately but kept the details out in case other ears were listening. Then he added, “Get some men out to Lily and Daisy and keep them inside.” The two feline females lived on the outskirts near his old cabin and would be without help if this threat was against them.
Riley Cooper, Tarvahl Pierce, and Tarvahl’s eldest son Conner were the first to arrive. Riley crouched by the bodies and let out a mumbled expletive before standing up to look at the others. “Even for a shifter, whoever did this was a big son of a bitch.”
“Where are the felines?” Sebastian asked. “It may be one of their kin here for them.”
Conner answered. “Lily is working a shift at the diner and Daisy was over at the salon with Connie. We had one of our males go get Daisy and bring her to the diner just in case.”
Riley grimaced, “The Murphy family is in town too for their vacation. We better send someone out to retrieve them and warn them of a dangerous predator in the area so they’re not caught unaware.” He pulled out his own radio and turned away from the bodies.
Tarvahl was sniffing at the blood trail, “There’s something off about his scent.”
“What do you mean?” Sebastian rumbled.
Vahl straightened to his full height and shrugged. “He’s definitely a feline shifter, but I’m guessing he’s a different breed from anything we’ve encountered. If he’s here for Lily and Daisy, then they outsourced. This cat, whoever he is, isn’t a Florida panther or any type of cougar I’ve ever encountered. I’ve never smelled this breed before.”
“Susan” Sebastian whispered. Fear thickened his throat making it nearly impossible to swallow. The likelihood that this feline was after Susan had just increased. The west coast was heavily populated with many breeds of feline shifters and those felines were at war with Susan’s sleuth. He needed to get to her now.
Riley must have seen the panic written on Sebastian’s face because he grabbed his arm. “What is it, Sebastian, what’s wrong?”
“He could be after Susan. I need to get to her.” He heard the unmistakable edge of panic in his voice but didn’t care. He ran.
He’d already gone almost a mile before he noticed that Riley was keeping pace with him. It irritated him, but was also strangely comforting. Riley Cooper was a good friend.
When they were almost at the cabin Riley grabbed his arm and yanked Sebastian back. Sebastian snarled but Riley just raised a brow at him. “Calm,” Riley said with a quiet tone, “Use your senses, Bastian. I don’t smell feline or fear. Do you? There’s no reason to burst through those doors and frighten your female.”
Sebastian sniffed the air and relaxed. Riley was right he needed to calm down or he’d scare Susan. He nodded.
“Why do you think a feline shifter would be after your woman?” Riley asked his arms crossed over his chest.
Sebastian explained a little about the war and how Susan’s father had sent her here to keep her safe.
Riley grimaced but nodded. “You should have let us know right away. I’ll assign extra patrols around this area if she’s going to be staying with you.”
“I don’t know if she’ll want to stay here though I’d like her to. She may want to go back to the bed and breakfast.” Sebastian said looking down at his scuffed and stained work boots. The snow had soaked through the worn leather and his feet were getting cold.
Riley grinned. “So convince her to stay. I like the haircut by the way. I’m surprised you shaved the beard off before spring,” he said, tugging on his own growth of beard that was minimal compared to most of the males in town. “Your face is going to get cold.” Then his smile turned diabolical and he waggled his eyebrows comically. “But I guess you’re hoping your lady will keep it warm for you.”
Sebastian joined Riley’s laughter and inched toward the door. He liked the thought of Susan being his and staying with him. He was eager to see her.
Riley noticed and shook his head, still grinning. “I’ll get those patrols set up. If you need me, Bastian, just call; I think I’ll go let my own woman warm me up and let Vahl and Conner deal with the heavy lifting for an hour or so.”
Chapter Eleven
Susan was asleep on the couch, wrapped tightly in a brightly colored quilt, when he came through the door. Once again he found himself entranced by her loveliness. He remained as still as possible, not even wanting to disturb the air, as he took the opportunity to gaze on her face at his leisure. Usually Susan was so animated and happy, you easily noticed how pretty she was, but it was when she was in repose that one could see she was truly beautiful. Her skin was smooth with a light glazing of color from the California sun. Her brows were dark and perfectly arched over her closed eyes; eyes that were deep blue and danced with both happiness and mischief and fringed with dark lashes. She had a small smattering of tiny freckles that he hadn’t noticed before high on her cheekbones but none on her small, straight nose. Her top lip had a cute little bow, while the fuller bottom lip looked soft and infinitely kissable.
Something in her dream made her sigh and those kissable lips turned up at the corners in a smile. He couldn’t keep from hoping that she was dreaming about him. She snuggled deeper down into the quilt and Sebastian finally moved to add another log to the fire. Susan wasn’t acclimated to the colder temperatures yet so he would have to keep the cabin warmer to prevent her from getting chilled.
The rumbling in his stomach reminded him that it had been several hours since he’d eaten breakfast, and Susan should eat more – she was little. She’d recently been sick and she needed him to take care of her. It felt nice to have someone to think of other than himself. Perhaps if he made her a nice meal and assured her comfort she would see how eager he was to take care of her and she would want to stay here with him instead of returning to The Cedars.
Sebastian rifled through the cupboards. Riley’s wife, Tara had been nice enough to pick up groceries for him yesterday so he was now well stocked. It had amused him when Tara had made the offer. She had tried to make it seem like she was going to the store anyway and it was no big deal but he knew that she had had little confidence in his ability to shop considering the way he had lived before. His old cabin didn’t have electricity so he had foraged and fished daily for his meals or on the rare occasion, gone to the diner but never the grocery store.
He pulled out two cans of tomato soup, a loaf of bread, the butter, and the sliced cheese and set to work.
Susan awoke to the scents of tomato soup and frying butter. She blinked; slightly confused by her surroundings before she remembered she was at Sebastian’s new cabin. The place was toasty warm and she wondered how long she had slept. She yawned and stretched as she sat up and then glanced into the kitchen where Sebastian was standing in front of the stove. Her voice was a bit sleep roughened when she asked, “How long have you been back?”
“Not long,” he answered his attention on the food he was cooking. “I hope you like grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.”
Susan stood to join him in the kitchen. “I do. Were you able to find it? Is everything okay?” She asked.
He flipped the sandwiches on the large griddle and glanced over at her. �
�Two male hunters were killed by a feline shifter.” He grumbled. “The shifter was wounded in the attack so the pack is tracking him.”
She twisted her fingers nervously in front of her. “Him?” She asked, “So it wasn’t one of the felines that live here?”
Sebastian shook his head. “He’s an unknown. He may be here for them or he may be here for…”
He grimaced and stopped, but Susan knew what he didn’t want to say so she said it for him, “He may be here for me.”
Sebastian turned off the stove, pulled the sandwiches off the griddle and stacked them on a plate before he ladled out the soup. “I think it might be a good idea if you stay here with me. Riley is going to set up extra patrols just in case, but I’d feel better if you were close so I can keep an eye on you.”
Susan was glad Sebastian wasn’t looking at her as her mouth opened with shock. Live out her fantasy of being stranded in a remote area with Sebastian Black? Hell yes! Where do I sign up? She snapped her mouth closed and cleared her throat. She tried to sound unaffected as she said, “I’d need to get my things from the B and B.”
Sebastian’s turned toward her to place the loaded plate and bowl before her and his expression showed surprise before he masked it. Did he expect her to argue or had he hoped she’d decline? She didn’t want to ask. It had always been her motto that you don’t ask a question you don’t want to hear the answer to, and right now she absolutely did not want to hear Sebastian say that he didn’t really want to be stuck with her; that his offer had been more a courtesy rather than genuine. She sighed, “Let’s eat before this gets cold,” she said and pasted what she hoped was a bright smile to her face.
She inhaled and her stomach growled. “This smells wonderful; I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”
In the time it took Susan to eat her one sandwich and bowl of soup, Sebastian had polished off three sandwiches, his larger bowl of soup, and a tall glass of milk. She almost laughed, but then when one took into account that Sebastian had a good foot in height on her and well over a hundred pounds heavier, it made sense he would need a lot more food. He stood to clear their places and began to load the dishwasher when the phone rang.
When Sebastian answered she could only hear his side of the conversation but his responses didn’t leave her feeling very confident as he growled, grumbled, and paced before ending the call.
Susan got up to finish loading the dishwasher and then wiped down the counters, stove, and table top. He sat down heavily into a chair and ran frustrated hands through his hair and down his face. She wanted to jump on him immediately for answers but tried to be patient. He didn’t keep her in suspense for long.
“They tracked him to a den they believe he’s been using but the shifter had already taken off. As far as they can tell, he’s outside of pack lands now, but they have his blood scent so the patrols will know if he returns.”
Susan sat down too. “That’s good isn’t it? I mean, if he’s off pack lands than he’s not a danger.”
Sebastian grunted and his hands fisted on the table, “Except we still don’t know who he is or why he was here. He would have been aware of the scent markers and steered clear if he was just a traveler. He was here for a purpose.”
She covered one of his fists with her hand and rubbed. “I’ll call my dad and see if he knows anything, okay? Maybe he’s heard something through the grapevine if this cat is here for me.”
Sebastian stood abruptly and grabbed the phone off the charging cradle and handed it to her. “Call him now.” He rumbled.
Susan nodded and dialed but it only rang twice before it went to voicemail and she left a message, “Hi, Dad. Listen, I’m fine but I need you to call me as soon as you get this message.” She paused. “Shoot, I don’t know the number here but I’m hoping it came up on your caller I.D., I love you, Dad. Call me.”
Susan disconnected the call with a frown and tapped her fingers on the table before looking up at Sebastian. “Do you think Riley would mind if I use his computer to check my e-mail? There might be a message there.”
Sebastian nodded sharply and grabbed up the phone. “I’ll call him.”
With Riley’s permission obtained, Susan booted up his computer and logged into her e-mail. There were several of the usual junk e-mails and ads that she quickly deleted and nothing from her father but one e-mail from a college friend caught her eye. The subject line read “Isn’t this your town??? WTF!!!”
Susan frowned and clicked on the e-mail. The body of the e-mail read: “Please tell me this is a hoax!” and there was a video link on the bottom so Susan clicked on it and watched in horror as the video played out.
It was dusk, the video obviously recorded from someone’s phone at a distance with an unsteady hand. It showed a large black bear being attacked by three mountain lions. One of the lions jumped on the bears back and bit into his shoulder and the bear threw back his head and bellowed in pain and anger while the other two cats attacked the bear’s limbs. A female voice in near hysterics could be heard “Oh my God! Oh my GOD! Shouldn’t we do something? Put your phone down and do something!”
The bear threw off the cat on his back and swatted at the other two. A male voice yelled “What the hell do you expect me to do?”
The video continued as the bear fought off its attackers while the woman continued to screech and cry. Finally, the cats retreated; the bear – obviously exhausted from its exertions and badly injured – tumbled slowly to the ground. But as it collapsed, the unthinkable happened; the bear shifted to a man. The man holding the phone dropped it and the video went dark for a moment but the audio continued as the man said “Holy shit! Did you see that? Holy Shit!” The phone was picked up and Susan was nearly dizzy as the video tilted madly and swung to show the bear turned man motionless on the ground. The woman screeched, “Oh my GOD! Call an ambulance! Do something!” a disembodied, heavily jeweled, woman’s hand came across the screen and the video abruptly stopped.
Susan sat there numb as she stared at the screen. She’d recognized the bear as one of the men from her sleuth. Bob Conway was one of the lead enforcers and incredibly tough but going up against three cats with no back up was insane! Her father had already stated that the war was drawing too much attention and this was sure to have a devastating backlash.
“Did you find anything?” Sebastian’s voice made her jerk in her chair and she turned to face him. He was suddenly at her side; cupping her face and using his thumbs to wipe away tears she hadn’t realized had spilled onto her cheeks.
“What is it?” He asked; his concern easy to see in his expression. “What happened?”
She just shook her head and motioned toward the computer screen. Her voice came out weak and broken. “We’re in so much trouble. I need to call my dad again.”
Sebastian frowned and clicked on the link, but Susan couldn’t watch it a second time. She went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. Her stomach was twisting with anxiety and she was afraid she was going to lose her lunch.
She called her father’s cell phone and again got his voicemail so she disconnected without leaving a message and tried his office phone. This number also brought her to voicemail instead of the usual friendly voice of Alice the receptionist. Susan ended this call as well and looked at the clock on the microwave in the kitchen. Her father’s office should definitely be open unless something horrible had happened. She felt so disconnected, so powerless, and she hated it.
Chapter Twelve
Sebastian watched the video with a grimace. It was vital that shifter populations remain a secret to the outside world yet someone had managed to get pretty damning evidence. Mariposa was a town that had seamlessly integrated its shifter population with non-shifters. There were a few non-shifters who knew, but they were trustworthy individuals who were loyal to the community and keeping its secrets. Bear sightings were a pretty common occurrence and as long as there wasn’t damage, it was mostly shrugged off as daily life near Yosemite National Pa
rk, but seeing a bear shift to a man? That was a problem. He scrolled through the comments and noticed several of them were accusing the video of being faked or manipulated. That was a relief, but this was still going to pose issues. Mariposa would be swarming with government officials, conspiracy theorists, and anyone who was curious to see if they might catch a glimpse of the “bear man”, and poking around where they shouldn’t; after all, history proved that people loved a freak show.
While this infusion of tourists would be great for the local economy, it would also result in the need for extreme caution and the residents’ inability to shift for who knew how long. Their inner beast would not be happy; tempers would be shortened to the point of uncontrollable agitation and eventual rage. It was vital that a shifter shed his or her skin at least once a month to keep their higher functions and aggression levels normal, more often if they were sick, injured or in Mariposa’s case with this war, in a high stress environment. It was possible that they could head out to Yosemite and shift with little notice, but that’s if the cats allowed them to get that far.
Sebastian blew out a breath and ran a hand over his face. An internet news search for Mariposa pulled up a recent broadcast and he clicked on it expecting the worst. The anchorwoman looked steadily into the camera. “Residents of Mariposa California have been under attack of late by a large pride of mountain lions. Reports started coming in over the Thanksgiving weekend and have confirmed six dead and fourteen injured so far in these attacks. No word yet as to why the lions are attacking but California Department of Fish and Wildlife is working closely with local law enforcement to help keep its residents safe.”
Until You: A Malsum Pass Novel Page 8