by Anna Santos
Barbara headed straight for the bartender, a tall man with bulging muscles. He was cleaning some pint glasses and watched her approach. In the bar, there were only two other women. The men stared at her. She was used to that, but she knew that it wasn’t just because she was pretty. She was new here.
“Hi, Jason Kent told me you might be able to help me,” Barbara said to the bartender.
“I don’t know any Jason Kent,” the bartender said with a shrug.
Barbara realized that she should have given the codename to show that she was genuine. “You are Farmer, right? I was given the codename fishers.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, of course I’m sure. I traveled a long way to get here and talk to you.”
“Are you Jason’s girlfriend?”
“No, I’m his sister.”
Farmer looked at her with pondering eyes as if not believing it. “You are a lot prettier than him.”
“Thanks, but I’m in a hurry, and Jason said that you could help me.”
“Anything for Jason. He’s a good man. How’s he doing?”
“Truthfully? I have no idea.”
The man shrugged like it was no big deal. He put down the cup he was cleaning and asked, “How may I help you, Barbara?”
“I was told to find Kayden Carter. It’s urgent.”
The bartender’s gaze sharpened. “Why do you need to find him? Are you sure that Jason told you to find Kayden?” Looking pointedly at the backpack she was carrying, he added, “Is that your entire luggage to come here? You don’t seem dressed for this weather.”
“I didn’t have time to pack.” Putting her hands on the counter, she leaned forward. “Listen, Farmer, I need to find Kayden. He and Jason were war buddies.”
“I know that, sweetie. Yet, I don’t think you know what you’re getting yourself into. Kayden and his brothers are dangerous, and they don’t like strangers.”
Pursing her lips, Barbara tried to ignore her racing heart and the fear that clutched it. “I still need to see them.”
“You better find a place to crash and go tomorrow, then.”
“I need to go now. It’s important.”
“The weatherman said there would be a blizzard today. You should reconsider.”
With a serious face and without diverting her gaze from the bartender, she insisted, “As I said, it’s urgent.”
“Well. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Follow me,” he said.
He led her to the back of the bar. There was a 4x4 off-road vehicle there. Farmer brought out a map and showed it to Barbara.
“Kayden and his brothers live in a cottage at the highest peak of this mountain. Just drive along this path here,” he said, pointing to a path on the map. “When you get to this place”— he pointed to a spot—“press your horn five times. Don’t you forget that. It is a matter of life and death.”
“What do you mean?”
“Those boys up there don’t like people snooping around them without an invitation. Many signs around there say, do not trespass, trespassers are liable to get shot. You don’t want to get shot, do you?”
Barbara shook her head. She understood the brothers’ caution. They were dragon shape-shifters and trusted no one as many shape-shifters in the world.
“Good, so, press the horn how many times?”
“Five times,” Barbara answered.
“Excellent. Ever drove one of these before?”
“Not really, but I’m sure I can handle it.”
Farmer gave her the keys.
Barbara climbed into the vehicle, started it, and drove away.
Farmer went back inside. He picked up the phone and dialed a number.
“Hello,” a voice answered.
“Hey, it’s Farmer. Tell your brother you’ve got a stunning woman coming for a visit.”
“Really? That’s cool.”
“Yeah, easier for you to say.”
“What did she say she wanted?”
“How the hell should I know? She said the codename. She’s on her way. Ask her yourself.” He hung up.
Chapter Seven
Kayden Carter was six-foot-tall with thick black hair that had a forelock that covered one of his brown eyes. Crouching behind his cottage while using a machete, he dressed the two animals he and his brothers had hunted that day.
They needed the meat to survive the winter. His calloused palms expertly rubbed the parts of the animal he wanted to wash and cut. The fresh beef needed to be roasted on fire before he froze the rest to be saved. Fresh meat tasted better and, that night, they were having a feast to celebrate the good hunting trip.
Kayden’s parents had left him and his brothers many acres of land in a non-populated area where they could hunt and be themselves. His father owned a car parts store in the village.
After his parents’ slaughter, he had to provide for his siblings. Alaska wasn’t the best place to have a business, and he had to close the store and join the Navy eventually. He built the cottage and moved there with Cody and Charlie, his twin brothers. They lived peacefully, getting no visitors and only leaving the cabin for supplies they couldn’t get on the mountain or go to meetings with the other dragon clans.
“Kayden?” Cody asked.
“Yo.”
“I just got a call from Farmer. He said, and I quote: Tell your brother, you’ve got a stunning woman coming for a visit.”
Kayden frowned. “Who is she?”
“Farmer didn’t say. Said, she told him the code,” Cody answered.
“A girl is coming here?” Charlie, Cody’s twin asked. “She must have heard of my beauty and has come looking for me.”
“In your dreams, Charlie.” Cody laughed.
“Who would want to come here when a blizzard is coming?” Kayden asked. The twins shrugged. “It’s reckless of her no matter how urgent it is.”
“She still has time before the wind picks up and it’s too dark to see anything.”
“Or she will end up lost, and we’ll have to go find her,” Kayden muttered.
“She’ll take a while to get here. We need to cut the rest of the meat and bring wood for the fire,” Cody said as he walked to the back of the cottage.
“I’ll feed the animals while Charlie fires the grill, so we can roast some of this meat.”
“On it,” Charlie said, rubbing his hands together. “I’ll cook some rice since we are having a visitor.”
“Don’t put your hopes up. Whatever she’s here for, we need to be ready to send her back. I don’t want anyone who can find out about our secret.”
“Chill, Kayden. It’s just a girl, not a death squad.”
Kayden clenched his teeth. “Get your guns, and we’ll give her a proper welcoming.”
Cody rolled his eyes. “Nice way to introduce yourself to a hottie. I’ll be cleaning the rest of the bear.” Signaling him a peace sign, he walked to the shelters on the back of the cottage.
Nevertheless, Kayden went to get his shotgun. As the oldest brother, he had taught his siblings how to survive by shooting, attacking, and defending against anyone who would want to hurt them. Being an ex-Navy Seal gave him an extra set of skills that were useful to him in his human form. His brothers were still young and didn’t have the weight of the centuries on their backs. They just knew the peaceful surroundings of Alaska and the goodness of their kind and the other humans who were brave enough to live there. Kayden was not as trusting as them. He had learned the hard way.
Thirty minutes later, the eldest was the first to spot the 4x4 vehicle from where he hid. With his binoculars, Kayden watched the vehicle stop. The woman pressed the horn five times and waited in the exact spot friendlies to the Carter cottage were supposed to stop. If she had continued to drive, he would have fired a warning shot at the vehicle. If she had kept on coming, he would have shot out the tires and sprung the many traps he had set up in the area.
He brought out a megaphone. “Step out of the vehicle.”
He watched the woman hesitate as her eyes squinted to look at her surroundings. Using his enhanced vision and helped by the binoculars, he observed how her red hair fell about her round face and noticed her petite mouth and big eyes. She was a real beauty. Farmer was right. His throat closed and his heart raced only with a glimpse of her face.
Despite looking around, the female couldn’t see him. He had been trained well. He could hide in plain sight, and no one would notice him.
“If you don’t comply with our wishes, we will have to treat you as a hostile,” he said into the megaphone.
The woman stepped out of the vehicle with trembling hands and weary eyes. She looked upset and something else. Frightened.
“Good. Now trek up the path. We will be waiting for you.”
The woman shook her head, combed her soft hair with her fingers, and fixed her parka before walking up the path to their house as she held the straps of her backpack with her hands.
Kayden whistled, and he saw Charlie slip out of his hiding place towards the vehicle. Spinning around startled, the red-haired female watched how Charlie drove the vehicle up to the front of the cottage. Then, she pursued her trekking.
In the cottage, Cody peeked outside with his gun. Any mischievous action and he would shoot her in the leg as Kayden had instructed him. Only one person had come close to being shot. A stubborn hunter, who was trespassing and believed they were fools. He had learned his lesson and never came back. The rest of the villagers were either friends or knew better than to trespass on their territory.
A few minutes later, the woman arrived at the front of their cottage. Her breathing was heavy, but she still managed to wave at Cody who gave a toothy smile.
Kayden focused on the backpack on her back and walked out of his hiding place towards the woman. She was catching her breath as her eyes opened wide to watch him approach.
The moment he was closer, she snapped, “What in the world is wrong with you people?”
“Are you all right?” Cody asked, descending and holding her arm.
She shrugged Cody’s hand away. “Do I look all right? I’m not used to the thin air of the mountains. How could you let me walk all that way when I could have easily driven the vehicle? Have you people no respect for visitors? Do you have any idea how long it took me to get here?”
Kayden smirked at her temper. His eyes fixed on her lips and the softness of her exposed skin, which was not much because she was wearing an oversized parka, jeans, and sneakers. He gulped, surprised by his reactions to her. She had the ability to distract him and making him fantasize about kissing and touching her. He needed to stay focused and be sure that she didn’t have a hidden gun.
The last time he’d kissed a woman’s lips was two years ago. Perhaps his reaction to her was because he hadn’t gotten laid for a long time. But then again, he hadn’t been attracted to any of the women in the city that intensely either. He tucked his loose hair behind his ears as his eyes roamed down her petite frame.
She suddenly caught Kayden watching her. “What are you looking at?” Placing her hands on her hips, she enquired, “Which one of you is Kayden Carter anyway?”
“I am,” Kayden said. “What in the world are you doing here? This is no place for someone like you.”
“Someone like me? What exactly is that supposed to mean?” she fumed as she aimed her gaze at him.
He stepped back as the words from this woman with porcelain skin, a fragile figure, and enticing green eyes echoed inside his mind demanding an answer that he would never give her.
“We are rugged guys, as you can see,” Charlie said, walking up to her. “You are like a rose. A beautiful woman like you should not be here. Not that I mind.”
Cody smiled. “I don’t mind either.”
“I do,” Kayden said with a harsh tone, looking at his brothers who stopped in their tracks and frowned at him. They said nothing and understood the hard command. Aiming at the woman, he resumed his speech as he pointed at the exit of the property. “You need to leave quickly. A blizzard is on the way, and you won’t like it if you are stuck here with us.”
“Great, just great! That’s all I needed, a blizzard! And do you think I did this on purpose? Do I look happy to be here?”
Kayden rubbed the back of his head.
It seemed to be a rhetorical question since she continued as she folded her arms. “I am not. What brought me here is a matter of extreme urgency. The sooner I talk to you about my problem, the faster I can return home.”
Waving in dismissal, Kayden barked, “I want no part of it. Whatever it is, I don’t want to hear it. You need to leave.” He waved at the jeep. Still, he wondered why he was being hostile to her when his gut told him to let her stay. She was desirable and feisty. A damn distraction.
“Hey, chill man. At least hear her out,” Cody said.
Kayden glared at his brother as Barbara said thank you.
Suddenly, snow began to fall.
“Too late, the blizzard is here,” Kayden announced with a sigh as he fisted his hands.
The female looked at the sky with amazement and opened a hand to grab the flakes which melted against her skin. Kayden lost a moment glimpsing at her and her actions. It was as if she had never seen snow or it fascinated her. She momentarily closed her eyes as she breathed in the freshness of the mountain air and his heart went into overdrive.
Stunning.
“We need to get inside,” Cody stated the obvious.
The woman’s eyes focused on the twin. Her lips trembled because of the cold.
Kayden grabbed her arm and, without a word, pulled her to the cottage where his brothers were already tapping the snow from their boots.
Entering the living room, he let go of her arm and watched as she looked at the simple decoration of his home. It wasn’t much, but they had an equipped kitchen, three sofas, four chairs around a glass table with piles of papers stacked on it. They had a plasma TV, a DVD player, game consoles, and a laptop.
Kayden ignored their visitor and sat on one of the sofas after closing and locking the door behind them.
“Have a seat. Do you want coffee?” Charlie asked Barbara, serving as a host.
She nodded as she sat on a sofa, far away from Kayden. “Thanks.”
“Black or with a drop of milk?”
“Black with three spoons of sugar, thank you,” Barbara replied.
Charlie went for the coffee while Cody switched on the TV with a remote. The wind outside grew stronger, and Barbara looked at the window with the shutters closed. Suddenly, there was a power outage.
“It’s a strong one, it seems,” Cody announced.
“The generator, Cody,” Kayden ordered.
“I got it,” he said, leaving the comfort of their home and opening the door to exit. The wind entered, and Kayden had to get up to help shut the door.
Meanwhile, Charlie lit the candles on the kitchen counter that produced enough light for them to see one another.
The female’s hair looked striking in the candlelight. She seemed calm, with her hands on her knees, and her big eyes opened wide, attentive to everything that was happening.
Using the stove to boil water and make a fresh pot of coffee, Charlie brought a cup for Barbara.
“Thanks,” she said as she received the mug.
The lights came on.
“Do you want one too, Bro?” Charlie asked Kayden.
“Sure,” he said, getting up when Cody knocked on the door to get inside. He opened it and waited for his brother to enter and remove his coat. “What was wrong with the generator?”
“I had to replace the spark plug. But we are good on fuel for the next few months. I also parked the jeep next to ours because I don’t want a fallen tree to destroy it. Farmer would be upset.”
Kayden nodded. He moved to the kitchen and grabbed a mug to serve himself some coffee. As Cody cleared the snow from his clothes and grabbed a cup from Charlie’s hand, Kayden sat on the opposite side of the visitor�
�s sofa and muttered, “Looks like the blizzard will keep you here. I can’t send you back, so I guess I have no choice but to listen to you.”
Chapter Eight
Barbara stared at Kayden with mixed feelings. He was breathtakingly hot but a complete caveman. He had pointed a gun at her, forced her to trek up the mountain, and was treating her like a criminal. At least, his brothers seemed a lot nicer and friendly.
“Well, look who is on the TV,” she heard Kayden say.
Barbara turned to the TV and saw the picture of her apartment building, the bullet holes, and her photograph. The newscaster was saying that she was wanted for questioning by the NYPD.
“What did you do?” Kayden asked.
Barbara looked at him, tears welling in her eyes. “I lived in peace until my brother sent me a package and asked me to find you. Because of what he sent me, gunmen are now looking for me.” She felt the tears prickle her eyes. She didn’t want to cry, especially in front of this brute.
Kayden frowned as he rubbed his hands against his pants. “Who is your brother?”
“Jason Kent.”
Kayden’s features softened. “Jason Kent? I haven’t heard that name for a while. You must be Barbara Kent, his little sister.”
“I’m not little anymore. How long has it been since you’ve seen him?”
“A few years. How is he?”
“He’s in trouble. I received a package from him with instructions to come here and see you. I was packing when these men showed up. I had to escape as they shot at me.”
“Are you all right?” one of the twins asked.
Kayden leaned forward with a worried expression. “What did your brother send you that is so important to them?”
Barbara breathed deeply as she rubbed her hands together. “A dagger. He said that you knew what to do with it.”
“Why would I know?”