In the meantime, he could explore the rest of the compound. He had also popped in and out of the dreams of the council’s Guardian pack. Many of them were new, but Rhys suspected at least one, probably more, were carrying out orders to harm human mates.
He tried to walk the dreams of the other prisoners but, weird thing was, he couldn’t find them. Like there was some kind of barrier around the rest of the prison. Was it so the prisoners couldn’t get any messages out using mental abilities? Or so outsiders wouldn’t know what kind of prisoners were being held?
Heal first. Dream walk later.
*****
That. Is a really big. Bear.
For the last three months, X had avoided civilization and her own kind. She’d come across all kinds of other wildlife, but, hello—she was top of the food chain.
As much as she missed Rhys’ blood, and she missed his blood, she was making do with her wildlife kills. Rabbit blood didn’t get her very far, but every so often she’d take down a deer.
She almost got a rack of antlers in the ass from the one buck she had come across. Maybe she’d gotten a little cocky with that target. But she’d been hungry, she missed cheesecake, and she could swear she heard the creature’s powerful blood surging through his veins, hyped on adrenaline from the chase she gave.
He put up an admirable fight, but in the end she won. Out of respect, she dined on him for as long as possible, the cold weather preventing him from turning bad. Once she had left, the scavengers quickly took over.
The bear she was facing now, however, was not below her in the food chain. He was groggy and out looking for food as it had been a mild week for winter weather. The big brown bear must’ve taken a pause in hibernation to obtain more fuel. Her father had told her they could do that; made sure she was up on moody bear behavior before he let her go running her wolf alone.
X’s heart rate spiked as the bear huffed and dipped his head, sniffing at her. When he swaggered forward, his flanks heaving, she danced back. They went on like that for several seconds before she decided to turn tail and run.
Darting around trees, she paused to glance back after several yards.
The bear couldn’t have cared less. He foraged, pawing through the snow for vegetation.
X was…disappointed. A little chase would’ve been a nice distraction.
Not that she was bored.
Okay, she was bored. Maybe that was a sign she needed to start interacting with people.
That thought didn’t dismay her as much as usual. Previously, the thought of roaming through town and acting “normal” felt like too onerous of a task. Not to mention she had to dodge anything with fangs while she was out and about.
Now, it seemed less daunting. Less trying to blend in and not evaluate everyone in the room. Not having to interact with people because they were targets, or that she was trying to get information out of them. She felt less pressure to become a proper shifter’s mate, even if the only pressure came from within.
As she trotted away from the disappointedly non-confrontational bear, she thought about how the nightmares had lessened. They didn’t plague her sleep every night. More often, she began dreaming of the good times, of the first eighteen years of her life. And that last night before she had left the lodge. That dream woke her up in a sweat, but for a much different reason than her nightmares.
Gawd, Rhys and his tongue were phenomenal.
Before she entered society again and learned how to play nice, she would have to visit her brother. That she was putting off. But she was getting closer to being ready.
Maybe.
Chapter Ten
Month Four
“Are you doing okay, ma’am?” the young saleslady asked in a high-pitched drawl.
“Hella good.” Now leave me the fuck alone.
Trying to decide one’s own personal style was a sort of torturous fun. It was easier when her daily choices were black on black. For fun, she used to tie on a corset. She’d had clothes for the clubs and she had jeans and T-shirts with witty sayings. Right now, she was looking for clothes that Alex King would wear.
Alex liked her shirts, and her corsets, and her short club dresses, but they were so X. She was on a damn personal journey, had spent the last few months in fur on four legs, and she needed some new shit.
“Is there any other size I can get you?” The saleslady buzzed like a fly around her changing room. Did she get commission or something?
Alex whipped open the dressing room door, wearing only her lacy fire-engine red bra and panties, with denim leggings pulled halfway up her thighs. Good thing for the sales associate, Alex had decided to give the whole underwear thing a try.
The petite young girl squeaked and jumped back, her eyes wide.
“As you can see, I haven’t gotten that far.” Alex gave a sassy smile and cocked her head. “How ’bout if I need anything, I’ll let you know?”
The little blonde’s eyes were stuck on Alex’s ample breasts, then her toned six-pack, then back up to her eyes. “Oh yes.” She flushed red. “I’m sorry.”
“Just doin’ your job. I get it.” Alex closed the door and finished trying on the articles of clothing she had picked out.
Leggings were a wonderful thing. Too bad they didn’t do shit to stop a knife, but shopping today was not about tactical gear, so a few would make her purchase list. Along with those boots she passed in the window on her way in. Those boots were fi-yah!
Checking out her image, Alex pondered her hair. It had grown a couple of inches since she last took to it with her clippers. It wasn’t shaggy as much as irritating, it hung in her eyes.
She moved her bangs around, fluffed up the back. Maybe a little taper around her neck and sides, a little layer and texture to the rest. Alex King was going to get a new ’do.
*****
Councilman Wallace waited for Rhys’ answer. He had appeared at Rhys’ cell door, looking oddly casual in khakis and a maroon button-down. He wore no tie, but left the top button of his shirt open to display a hint of the muscle that lay underneath. Rhys guessed the male was similar to him in age.
“Maybe,” Rhys answered.
“That’s your best guess?” The councilman had asked Rhys if he thought X would ever come for him.
“Not gonna lie.”
The male cocked his head. “I can see why my boys respect you.” His voice dropped so low only Rhys could hear. “I can see why they were willing to spy on dear ol’ dad for you.”
Rhys hid his surprise. He had sent Malcolm and Harrison to spy on the council because of who their dad was. “They tell you?”
Councilman Wallace scoffed. “I knew they didn’t come home for a long visit because they missed me. Definitely not for their mother.” He shrugged, his hands resting in his pockets, his voice still low. “After your Guardian was killed and they arrived here, I figured you had become suspicious.”
“What would I be suspicious of?”
The male gave him a mysterious smile. “I trust you to do your job, Fitzsimmons. I would be of little use to our species deceased and that’s what will happen if I speak about my own suspicions.”
“It’s pretty hard to do my job in here.”
Rhys got a wan smile in return.
“Is it? I’m sure Commander Young is picking up where you left off.” Councilman Wallace peered closely at him. “I’m sure you’ve found a way to keep yourself busy?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Shit. Had he been too abrupt in a dream and gotten noticed?
Sadness crept into the male’s eyes. “Don’t worry. It took me a while to figure it out. I have that dream every night, of my sweet Camille. She’s the reason my mate is so mean.” At the look on Rhys’ face, some amusement crept in. “No, Fitzsimmons. Camille was my daughter, older sister to the twins. I’ve dreamt of her every day since she was killed. So you see, when I felt something off…”
Damn.
“Tread carefully, Commander.” The fact th
at the councilman just referred to him by that title spoke volumes. “But you’re on the right track.”
*****
Month Five
Nerves were getting to her. She had memorized the address, figured they hadn’t moved on, hoped they did, prayed they hadn’t.
Brushing her hair off her face, she couldn’t imagine what John would think when he opened the door. She needed to do this. Needed to face this demon. Her brother wasn’t a demon. Far from it. There had been such a large gap in age between them, he had almost been like a father figure, or a favored uncle. He had doted on her, and she had lived for when he would bring his mate, Kenna, by with the kids. How would he act now, after he knew about everything she’d been through, what she’d done?
“You can knock.” She whipped around to the familiar voice behind her. A tall, dark form strode out from the trees. “I doubt Kenna knows you’re here yet.”
Kenna was human; even her heightened senses from mating John wouldn’t be good enough to sense Alex. John’s shouldn’t be, either, unless he’d been keeping them sharp over the years.
“John.” Good one. Twelve years since she’s seen him and that was all she could say?
He kept moving toward her, his green eyes, a deeper green than her own, reflected like the predator he was. “I’m glad you came.”
“Are you?” After the phone call, she wasn’t sure how he felt.
Her chest tightened with suspense as the tall figure of her brother came closer. He looked just like she remembered him, a few inches taller than her, with hair a shade darker than his daughter’s. His hands were shoved into the pockets of his pants, his feet were bare.
“Alexandria.” Her name came on a breath, like he’d been told she was alive but it had been too hard to believe until he saw her.
“Yep.”
He shook his head. “Sarah said you’d left and I hoped maybe you’d come here.” A wry smile curved his lips. “I headed straight to where Mom and Dad were buried, but I sensed I had already missed you.”
She smiled despite herself. “I wasn’t sure you wanted to see me.”
A tortured frown creased his brow. “Of course I want to see you.” He moved closer, hesitantly, like she might run away. “You have to understand my shock when you called. It was like a dream come true. But honestly, I have horrible survivor’s guilt. The remains were burned pretty badly, but I should’ve known that wasn’t you. I should’ve searched for you.”
“No,” she said adamantly. “You had two kids to raise and protect.”
They both stood unmoving, and she was sure he was thinking about the what-ifs and what-might-have-beens just as she.
“Want to head inside?”
Alex smiled. “Yeah. I’d like that.”
*****
After Councilman Wallace informed Rhys he had sensed him in his dreams, Rhys decided he needed to back off from the other two councilmen he hadn’t yet attempted to dream walk on. They were older and more powerful than both Wallace and Rhys. Councilman Seether and Councilman Hargrath would have to wait.
Mastiff’s dreams were fairly easy to get into. The burly Guardian who had been pummeling the shit out of Rhys for months may have also been assigned to interrogate other prisoners.
Rhys hovered at the edges. He saw random scatterings of thought. Mastiff hadn’t settled into a deep sleep yet so Rhys could give him mental nudges. Using his powers, he sent dream suggestions into Mastiff’s mind to recall his sessions with other prisoners.
It was only moments before Rhys could see flickers of shifters’ faces. He could see them how Mastiff had seen them when he was torturing them. Mastiff was a one trick pony; he used his fists to do his dirty work.
Suddenly a scene unfolded before Rhys. Councilman Seether was speaking privately to Mastiff, and in the next instant, the scene turned into Mastiff busting into a house, grabbing a young human woman and—
Rhys flinched and the scene went black. He opened his eyes to find himself awake in his cell, which meant Mastiff had woken up. The dream obviously bothered even the cruel shifter. The human woman hadn’t stood a chance.
Trying to drift back to sleep, Rhys realized he wouldn’t have to walk the dreams of Seether and Hargrath. He could hunt what he needed of the two councilmen out of others’ dreams.
*****
Month Six
“And who will this be for?” the petite barista asked.
“Alex.”
“Okay,” she said perkily, “we’ll have it right out to you.”
Alex wandered to the edge of the coffee shop to wait for her venti latte. She picked up a complimentary newspaper to look over while waiting.
After her visit with John and Kenna, she had stayed in cheap motels and started interacting with people. The hours she’d spent with her brother and his wife had revitalized her. It wasn’t until they had welcomed her in with complete acceptance despite her frank honesty about the past twelve years that she’d realized how much their possible rejection had bogged her mental healing down. The only negative emotion she’d sensed from them matched the sadness she felt for the years lost to them.
Without Rhys’ blood, and being unable and unwilling to feed from another, she started socializing in the evenings so the sun wouldn’t take its toll on her vampire half. Her blood need wasn’t as great when she stayed in shifter form, but wandering on two legs would make her thirsty for more than coffee.
Roaming the woods and mountains, she had to make sure she chose towns with a low shifter and vampire ratio. Although she’d probably smell like a shifter after being in wolf form so often, she didn’t want to chance an encounter. Who knew what had gone on while she was away.
Her name was called, her new name, her real name. She grabbed her coffee and walked out to the sidewalk. Taking a sip, she wandered until she reached a gap between the buildings that led to an alley. Turning casually into the alley, she headed toward the giant parking ramp that lined half the block. When she cleared a brick office building, she stepped behind it.
A quiet scraping of footsteps from the direction she had come drew nearer. They approached where she waited, rushing toward the parking ramp.
A male scurried past and she slipped in behind him. With the arm that wasn’t holding her coffee, she circled the male around the neck and yanked him behind the building.
He grunted and struggled. She kneed him in between the legs while she kept an iron grip around his neck. He groaned and tried to drop down, his hands releasing Alex’s arm to cup his balls.
She wedged her knee between his legs again and he went still.
“Why are you following me?” she asked casually, taking a sip from her coffee. She had smelled two male shifters following her when she reached the coffee shop, but she had wanted her damn coffee first.
Easing just enough pressure so he could speak, he gasped, “Reward.”
Oooh, how much was she worth?
“Who’s offering the reward?”
He lurched and twisted, reaching between them to grab the gun he had hidden in his waistband. Only, when Alex shoved him away, she had his gun and was pointing it directly at him.
She took another casual sip of coffee; her aim remained rock steady. The male froze, hands in the air.
She waived the gun at him to let him know she was waiting for an answer.
“The council. They’re offering ten-thousand dollars to whoever can turn you in.”
Alex snorted. “They thought someone could turn me in?” The male took a nervous inhale. She waved the gun at him again. “Go on. How long has this reward been offered?”
“F-for a couple months. They couldn’t get her mate, uh, your mate, to turn you in.”
Alex’s blood ran cold. The council has Rhys?
She leveled her blazing gaze on him, catching his frightened brown eyes in her hypnotic stare. “Tell me everything you know about me and my mate.”
“He’s some Guardian from up north. The council is holding him to lure you in. Whe
n that didn’t work, they released your description to all the packs, offering a reward for information on your whereabouts.”
“And you thought you’d be tough enough to bring me in?” A touch of humor laced her voice. He was a scrawny pup, barely old enough to drink.
“I was going to knock you out so when my friend brought the car around, we could put you in the trunk.”
“Shitty plan, you know that, right?”
He looked sheepish, even under her hypnotic hold. “I do now.”
A car slowed at the alley’s entrance. There was the doofus friend.
Increasing her concentration, she spoke quickly. “You lost me in the alley and dropped your gun. Call the council, tell them you had a sighting, but you can’t be sure it was the right shifter.”
His eyes went blank. The car was getting closer, the engine noise growing louder. The friend had turned into the alley and was creeping in their direction.
She released the young shifter from her hold, and when he turned to peak out from the behind the building, she made her exit.
By the time he looked back, he would only see his gun lying on the ground.
Chapter Eleven
Bennett rubbed his eyes and meandered toward the lodge to Commander Fitzsimmons’ office. Scratch that, his office. But when this debacle was over, he’d gladly hand it back to Fitzsimmons.
Bennett had known the day would come when the pack would be his. Just not so soon. He’d rather be balls deep in Sarah’s sweet body than pushing paperwork all night. Six months of this had felt like six years.
Fucking council. As if they didn’t have enough to deal with, they had sent new recruits. “To make up for losing a Guardian,” Councilman Seether said, as if they were a gift.
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