by Tara Rose
“I remember.”
“Are you still planning on finding out more about the Ruiz family?” asked Maverick.
Kane glanced west, wondering exactly how far away they were from the village he’d found. He looked around, but no one else was on this summit with them. “Can I trust you both with a secret?”
Maverick narrowed his eyes but Felicity sat up, her face shining with curiosity. “Well, I certainly hope so. We’ve all had sex together.”
“Well, not technically,” said Maverick. “Kane and I didn’t have sex together.”
She laughed and rubbed Maverick’s arm. “Okay. Not technically, then. What’s your secret, Kane? It’s safe with us.”
He told them what he’d found on Sunday, and judging by their reactions, neither one had known the settlement existed. “Well,” said Felicity, “I guess that explains why no one knows where they live.”
“I wouldn’t feel right trying to find it again,” said Maverick. “They aren’t trying to hide it or anything. They’re very private people, that’s all.”
“I agree,” said Felicity. “We shouldn’t say anything or go looking for it. If they wanted people to know about it, they would have said something. I’ve lived here all my life and I’ve never heard anyone talk about it. If people know it exists, they’ve never said so.”
Kane watched them both and realized he felt the same way. Sneaking up on the village wasn’t going to prove one way or the other that Mason, Mancie, Nevada, or the entire family for that matter, were shapeshifters. And even if it did, then what? He’d risk upsetting Felicity and Maverick, not to mention a lot of people in this town who seemed to like the Ruiz family, even if they did think of them as odd or different.
Doli had told him flat-out that Mason, Mancie, and Nevada were what he’d suspected they might be. Wasn’t that enough? Did he really need to know anything else right now, if ever? Her words proved that such beings existed. He could look for them somewhere else one day, couldn’t he? Since he wasn’t staying here.
“Kane? Are you all right?”
Felicity’s question snapped him back to the present. “I’m fine. I really am. And, I agree with both of you. Let’s leave the Ruiz family alone and keep walking along this trail. I like it here.”
* * * *
Felicity tried to tell herself that just because Kane had agreed not to pursue finding the settlement hidden in the woods west of here didn’t mean he’d decided to completely abandon his search for the truth about the Ruiz family. It simply meant he wasn’t going to push it today. Because if he decided not to search for the truth about them, he’d have no reason to stay in town.
She pushed the thoughts away. She’d promised him that she wouldn’t think about that today, and she didn’t want to break her promise, even if there was no way he’d know she’d done so. The higher they climbed, the thicker the pine forest became, and that also meant it grew cooler. Soon, they were the only ones on the trail, and from the looks of it, not too many people came up this way very often. That was just fine with Felicity. She could think of worse places to be alone with her two gorgeous, sexy men than in an isolated forest on a perfect late summer day.
They made small talk about the weather and upcoming events in the town as they continued, and then all three stopped as the unmistakable sound of a car motor reached their ears. “What the hell?” asked Maverick quietly. “There are no roads up here.”
Kane glanced around. “It’s coming from over there.” He pointed toward the east. The three followed the sound for a few moments, and then it stopped just as suddenly as it had started. All three looked at each other with wide eyes when they heard a car door slam.
Kane put a finger to his lips and motioned them further into the trees. Felicity’s pulse raced. Was there another hidden settlement up here like the one that Kane had found? What if he was right? What if the entire Ruiz family were shapeshifters, and they all lived up here in hidden villages?
She glanced up at the row of wind turbines, barely visible above the tree tops. How difficult would it be to do what he’d suggested had happened? Notus could easily have run a cable from one of the wind turbines to a transformer, so they would have electricity. There was water nearby, even if they did have to use a pump system to get it into their homes. It was certainly doable.
The sound of two male voices arguing stopped the three again, and because Felicity wasn’t paying attention, she nearly collided with Kane and Maverick this time. They crouched down next to a huge blue spruce and Kane gently pushed aside the fronds closest to him, but they still couldn’t see anything. It was too thick in the tree.
“Whose voice is that?” asked Maverick, in a stage whisper. “I know it, but I can’t quite place it.”
Felicity shrugged. She didn’t recognize it. She also couldn’t make out any words, but clearly they were arguing. Finally, Kane stood. “I’m going to try and get closer. You two stay here.”
“Not a chance,” said Maverick.
Felicity shook her head. “Me either. You go, we all go.”
Kane looked like he was going to argue the point, but finally his expression softened. “All right. But ditch the backpacks for now. We can move easier that way.”
They left them under the tree, and then moved aside the fronds of two trees that had grown close together, walking past them in single file, with Kane leading the way. There was no actual trail through them, and Felicity didn’t think they could get past, but Kane found a way. He’d obviously done this before, because he seemed to have an instinct for it.
She kept having to brush bugs off her face and clothes, but other than that, she found this exhilarating. What would they find on the other side? Whose voices were they listening to? Once again, she nearly collided with them as Kane and Maverick stopped in front of her. She heard a car door slam again and then a motor as it sped away. But where was the road?
They crouched down again, but all Felicity could see was a male figure pacing in front of what looked like a ranger station. But there was no radio tower behind it like the ones next to the parking lot had, and this building had high weeds and grass all around it, as though no one had been up here for a very long time. The paint was peeling and faded, and several windows were missing screens. It was the perfect place to hide out.
Felicity gasped. Was this man Trace Coleman? Maverick glanced over his shoulder at her and put a finger to his lips, his eyes wide and full of trepidation. “Trace Coleman?” she mouthed, pointing toward the house.
He shrugged and turned his head back toward the house, but she’d seen enough in his eyes to know he was thinking the same thing. She wanted to reach around Maverick and tap Kane on the shoulder to ask him, too, but didn’t. They were too close to the man, whoever he was, and if he spotted them, and it was Trace, they’d tip their hand and he’d run again.
But who was the other person that had been here? Someone else knew he was here. Was it one of his crew? Felicity knew that she’d heard the other man’s voice before, but she couldn’t place it. That meant he was someone who lived in Passion Peak, which excluded the possibility that he was one of Trace’s film crew.
Kane scooted closer, but Felicity stayed where she was. Maverick moved to her left, also scooting closer. She now had a clear shot of the man, still pacing back and forth. He was muttering to himself, and every once in a while he punched the air with a fist. Who else would be up here, in the middle of nowhere, hiding in an abandoned ranger station and pissed off as hell other than Trace Coleman?
Kane had a small digital camera around his neck, and Felicity watched in horror as he began to snap pictures through the fronds in front of him. If he was caught…Maverick moved again, and a twig snapped underneath his boot. Since it was currently the only other sound up here beside Trace’s low muttering, it was as loud as a damn gunshot.
They all froze as Trace stopped and faced the trees, shading his eyes with one hand. He scanned the tree line, but clearly he couldn’t see them. Felicity still didn’t r
elax. If he decided to walk toward them and investigate, they’d be caught.
“Who’s there?” he called. “I heard you just now. Who are you? What do you want?”
No one moved. She didn’t dare breathe. Despite the cool day, sweat collected under her arms and along her hair line. Her stomach contracted in fear. She watched Trace move toward the trees, taking a few hesitant steps, and then Maverick tried to scoot backward and almost fell. The sound it made was as loud as the one before, when he’d stepped on a twig, and this time Trace’s reaction was to sprint toward the back steps of the house.
Kane turned around and motioned for her to run. Maverick was already ahead of her, glancing back to make sure she and Kane were both following him. As they made their way through the trees, Felicity ignored the sharp sting of the fronds, until a gunshot rang out.
Felicity stared to scream but Maverick clamped a hand over her mouth as they both dropped to the ground and he lay on top of her. Was he hit? She couldn’t breathe. She’d never been so afraid. Someone pulled her to her feet, and she glanced up to find Kane standing over her, motioning her back toward the trail, his eyes wide and fearful.
Maverick was ahead of her again. How had he done that? Was he all right then? She was dizzy and confused, and couldn’t figure out where the trail was. She thought she heard someone behind them, but when she tried to glance over her shoulder, Kane practically pushed her forward.
A voice called out, from a distance, asking again who was there, and she finally dared to breathe. Whoever had fired the shot wasn’t that close behind them, if he was following them at all. They didn’t stop until they’d reached the summit where they’d rested earlier, and then all three fell to the ground, breathing heavily.
Kane kept his eye on the trail behind them as he dug water out of his backpack. It was then that Felicity noticed Maverick carrying hers as well. She’d forgotten it. She would have left it back there, under the tree for Trace to find, if not for Maverick.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Kane handed her a water bottle. “Drink, baby girl. All of it.”
“I almost left my backpack behind.”
“I have it,” said Maverick.
“I almost fucked up.”
Maverick pulled her into his arms and held her while she trembled. He put the bottle to her lips and she finally drank. As the water trickled down her throat, she felt some of the fear subside, and the cotton clear from her thoughts. It was okay. He hadn’t followed them. He hadn’t shot Maverick. Her backpack was right here. He had no way to figure who had been in the woods, or even if anyone had been there at all.
“That was Trace, wasn’t it?”
Kane put a finger to his lips and glanced up the trail again, but no one was there. “Don’t speak again until we get to the ranger station. Can you walk the rest of the way now?”
She nodded and got to her feet, taking her backpack from Maverick and putting it on.
* * * *
Felicity and Kane sat inside the ranger station, drinking water, and telling the park rangers what they’d seen and heard. Maverick was on the phone with Tommy.
“There’s a road up the north side,” said one of the rangers, “but only a 4X4 would get up there. The station was abandoned when we built one just west of here with better road access in the winter.”
“Whose voice was that?” asked Felicity, wishing she could place it.
One of the rangers came inside, pointing toward a dark silver Chevy Silverado that had just pulled into the parking lot from the north. “Any of you recognize that? He just came off the old north road.”
All three of them glanced out the window. “We didn’t actually see the vehicle,” said Felicity. “We only heard it.”
One of the other rangers was on his radio, describing the vehicle. “No, he’s just sitting here in the parking lot, bold as shit. It’s a Colorado plate. Two, niner, seven, Charley, Echo, Foxtrot.”
“Holy fuck,” said Maverick, after he disconnected his call. “I know whose truck that is. He was parked outside Dalton’s house for two weeks last year, along with everyone else’s trucks and cars. That’s Jason Monroe.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
By the time Felicity, Maverick, and Kane had taken Kane’s things back to Wes’s house and helped him settle into a small suite down the hall from Maverick’s, the news had spread all over Passion Peak that Trace Coleman had been captured by the FBI at the abandoned ranger station up the north side of Passion Peak. His black mustang that had last been seen in town about a month ago had been hidden in Jason Monroe’s garage.
Jason was in custody at the Passion Peak police station, but rumor had it that the FBI would be taking his ass to Denver as well, as soon as they finished talking to just about everyone in town. It was finally over. Trace Coleman wouldn’t be digging around in abandoned mine shafts or homes in town, and whatever was buried would stay buried for a while longer.
The gunshot they’d heard in the trees was a deer rifle that Jason had brought Trace for protection. He’d also been bringing him food and information, and had been the one to hide Trace right after the incident on Monday night. Neither man knew that Trace’s crew hadn’t named him, but they weren’t taking any chances. The rest of Trace’s crew had been rounded up and were also in custody.
“I guess we saved the day,” said Felicity. She, Maverick, and Kane were on the balcony outside Maverick’s bedroom, drinking beer and trying to make sense of the whirlwind day. The FBI and Tommy had already talked to them, but Felicity knew it would be a long time before the gossip about this ended in town.
“And almost got shot in the process,” said Maverick. “If my damn big feet hadn’t stumbled on that fucking giant twig, we wouldn’t have been spotted.”
“You’re okay,” said Felicity. “That’s all that matters. I thought you’d been shot.”
“I thought you’d been. That’s why I pushed you to the ground.”
“It’s over now,” said Kane. “The end result is the same.”
She and Maverick glanced at him. What would he do now? Would he stay and try to find out more about Mason, Mancie, and Nevada, or was this the last time they’d see him? She couldn’t ask, but as soon as he met her gaze, she knew she didn’t have to. The look of profound sadness in his eyes made her breath catch in her throat, and she had trouble keeping the tears at bay.
He held out his arms and she crawled into his lap. As he stroked her hair, she kissed his neck, not caring that all of them needed a shower and he smelled like loam and pine needles. Her kisses moved to his lips, and he captured her mouth in a rough kiss that was desperate in its intensity, as if he were afraid he’d never be able to kiss her again.
She wrapped her arms around him, not caring what happened tomorrow. Tonight, he was hers, and so was Maverick. Hands caressed her back and ass from behind, and she moaned into Kane’s open mouth as she realized it was Maverick touching her. All she wanted to do was make love to them both again, and she didn’t care that her pussy and ass were still sore from last night. She didn’t want to let either of them go.
Her clothes were taken off by both men, and she helped undress them. No one spoke. They didn’t need to. They communicated with their eyes, filled with tenderness and what could only be called love. They touched her with soft caresses that became more hurried and rough as their arousal built. They nuzzled her neck, kissed and sucked her nipples, and then they took turns licking her clit and pushing their fingers inside her pussy as she lay on her back on the glider, stark naked to the first twinkling stars and the brilliant gold and purple sunset.
One cock was in her mouth and the other was in her pussy, and Felicity didn’t even try to keep up with the competing sensations and emotions. She sighed, she moaned in pleasure, and she cried out as one crazy orgasm after another rocked her entire body. They came in her mouth, on her breasts, and in her pussy, and still they weren’t done with her.
Maverick took her hand and pulled her
inside, into the bathroom, where he turned on the water in a shower large enough to hold half the town. Three jets sprayed warm water over them, and Felicity closed her eyes as both men lathered her in woodsy-smelling shower gel, neglecting not even one square inch of her body.
They rubbed against her back and ass cheeks, their dicks erect and ready again, and then they bent her over one of the built-in seats and took turns fucking her pussy and asshole from behind. She lost track of who was where, and when, and she no longer gave a shit about it. All she did was feel, and enjoy them, and give her entire being—body, heart, and soul—over to them. Because if she wasn’t head-over-heels in love with both men, she’d eat a bar of soap.
When they were finally spent, they took turns toweling her off as if she were a small child, and then Kane picked her up in his arms and carried her to bed. He gathered her into his arms and clung to her as if it was the last time he’d ever touch her. Felicity was convinced that he’d be gone forever in the morning when she woke. But she drifted off to sleep despite that, listening to his heartbeat, and to Maverick’s next to her as well.
* * * *
The next two weeks passed by in a blur for Felicity. She worked her shifts, but if someone had asked her to describe what she’d done during any of them, she wouldn’t have been able to. Kane and Maverick took turns driving her to and from work. They took her home each day so she could pick up her mail and check on her house, and finally she gave Rowena a spare key and asked her to keep an eye on things for her. She also broke down in Rowena’s kitchen and told her everything. Rowena listened and then she handed Felicity a box of Kleenex and told her she had no words of wisdom, but that she’d be there if Felicity needed to talk.
Felicity also told Summer, Angela, Winona, and Eve what was going on. Summer and Angela both told her that it was in Kane’s hands now, but that they would be there for her if he decided to leave town for good. Winona and Eve both told her to have fun and enjoy what she had, for as long as she had it.