by Jane Jamison
“Stop acting like we pissed all over your store.”
The anger of the three men was palpable. She backed up until she couldn’t go any farther and ran into the metal table she was using as a temporary desk. “If you hurt me, I’ll scream. And I’ll fight.”
At once, their anger was gone, replaced by incredulousness. They stared at her as though they’d never seen her before.
“We’d never hurt you, baby. Not ever. No matter what.”
The ache in Scott’s tone stabbed into her. She had no reason to believe they’d ever do her any harm, and yet, she’d gone there, the past coming back to taint the present.
“Are you afraid of us?” The hurt in Billy’s eyes was almost more than she could bear.
“Don’t ever say we’d hurt you, darlin’. We’d lay down our lives for you.” Foster took a step forward then stopped. “Is that it? Did someone hurt you before? Because if they did, tell us who, and we’ll tear his head off.”
She wasn’t aware of her phone’s music playing, announcing a call. At least not at first. Wanting to give her customers her full attention, she’d left it on the table.
Saved by the song.
Instead of answering their questions, instead of admitting that she knew in her soul that they’d never hurt her, she picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“Betsy?” The voice from her past swamped over her.
Oh God, no.
Chapter Six
It can’t be. How did he find me?
Betsy clung to a false hope. Maybe the man only sounded like her father. Maybe it was someone else. Yet the sickening feeling in her gut said it was him.
“How’d you get this number?”
The men she’d accused of wanting to hurt her surrounded her. They held her up, supporting her as she’d hoped they always would. Having them near her made the impossible possible. She pressed her palm to Scott’s chest and concentrated on the steady beat of his heart.
Go away. You can’t come back into my life.
“Never mind how I found you. I want to see you.”
“No.” How could he think she’d want to see him?
“Doesn’t matter what you say, girl. I’m your father, and I say what goes.”
He was still the same. The same bully. The same tyrant. The same asshole she’d spent her life trying to forget. And when she couldn’t, she’d tried her best to forgive him. But that wouldn’t happen. She didn’t have a big enough heart to ever forgive him.
“Baby, who is it?”
She ignored Scott. It was all she could do to stay on her feet. Gripping the phone until her hand hurt, she did her best not to cry. To keep the scream sliding up her throat from escaping.
“No, you don’t. Not any longer.”
“We’ll see about that. I know where you are.”
How? But he wouldn’t tell her. Why bother asking? “You don’t have any right to be in my life any longer. Leave me alone.”
Foster tried to take her phone, but one man telling her what to do was already too much. She jerked it away and sent him the cold stare her father deserved.
“That’s a nice little store you have. I’ll bet you take in a good bit of cash, don’t you? Shit, I bet you put a lot of cash into the place. You must be doing real good, girl.”
He’s watching me?
Horror snaked its way through her, stiffening her limbs and tearing a hole in her stomach. The old familiar pain, pain she’d thought she’d buried deep inside her, ripped free to torture her again. She fought the urge to scream, to run, to hide. If the men hadn’t been there, she probably would have.
Please no. Make him go away.
She checked around the small room as though expecting her father to jump out and grab her. He was the boogeyman she’d feared all her life. None of the other terrors in the world could frighten her. Not when she’d already faced the worst and survived.
Until now. She’d managed to escape, but somehow he’d found her.
“Please. Go away. I don’t want you anywhere near me.”
“Sorry, girl. No can do. You owe me, and I’m going to collect.”
His awful cackle of a laugh echoed over the phone. She hated his laugh. It had darkened her days and haunted her nights. Only until recently had she been able to forget it. And now it—he—was back.
“I don’t owe you a damn thing.” She wouldn’t give in to the fear stiffening her body. She wouldn’t let him intimidate her any longer. Closing her eyes for a moment, she searched for strength.
“Darlin’, give me the phone.”
She shook her head, denying Foster. As much as she yearned to turn to them for help, this was her fight.
“Who’s that with you, girl? Some guy you’re fucking? Or is there more than one?” He laughed again. “So you finally found some punks who want your fat ass, huh? Good enough. You better make sure they understand what’s going on. That you’re going to give me what I want.”
“Shut up.” Her words came out in a whisper. “Shut the hell up.”
“I’m coming to see you, girl. When I do, you’d better have some cash for me. A thousand should do just fine. Nah. Wait a sec. You’re a big-time shop owner. Make it five thousand. Yeah. Five grand should do it.”
She couldn’t stand to hear his voice any longer. Her hand shook as she hit the red button to end the call.
“Honey, are you all right? Who called? Tell us, damn it.”
She wanted them, needed them, but something inside her wouldn’t let them give her what she needed. “Please leave. I need to be alone.” Being without them was the last thing she needed. She yearned to lean on them, to feel their support through their strong bodies, to let their courage ease into her. Yet she had to stand on her own.
“No way. Hell, you’re shaking. We’re not going to leave you alone.” Scott dipped his head, trying to get her to meet his gaze. “Tell us who that was.”
“Betsy? Oh, Betsy? It’s Mrs. Rutherford.”
Shit. She’d forgotten about the customers. “Yes?” Strangely, her voice sounded calm, even though she was anything but calm.
“There are a few ladies at the counter who’d like to check out.”
Thankfully, the older woman didn’t come farther down the hallway to her office. Maybe she knew she shouldn’t. Had she overheard her phone conversation?
She swallowed back the tears and pushed away from the men. How she managed to walk as the tremble billowed through her was a mystery. Still, she had to keep her mind on the store. If nothing else, she wouldn’t let the horror that was her father ruin her store’s grand opening. “I’ll be right there.”
Please let me make it through the rest of the day. I’ll think about what to do later.
* * * *
“We still don’t know who called her.” Scott leaned over the mutilated carcass of the cow and her calf. Like the other butchered cows they’d found a few days earlier, the poor things never had a chance. And as before, they’d found several claw marks scratched along the bloody strips of hide. What animal could stand a chance against an animal that large? Even as werewolves, they’d have the fight of their lives going up against a big cat.
“It’s a lousy time for this shit to happen.” Foster squatted next to the heifer. “Something’s going on with Betsy, and now we’ve got a rogue cat problem. Could be a cougar, but judging from the size of those claw marks, it’s more likely a tiger.”
“How do we know it’s a rogue?” asked Billy.
Scott wasn’t any fonder of the local cat pride than his friends, but he wasn’t ready to blame them for everything like some werewolves did. “It’s not one of the locals. I asked Quinn Malloy. He swears up and down this wasn’t one of theirs.”
Quinn Mallory was the reigning alpha among the Mallory Pride, a small pride of different kinds of cat shifters. As such, he had his thumbprint on everything his pride was into. If there was a weretiger who’d gone rogue, he’d know about it.
“I know you trust Quinn, but
he’s still a cat.”
“And I know you don’t like them, Billy, but Quinn’s a good guy. He wouldn’t want a rogue running around anymore than we would. Especially a tiger. The few tigers he has in his pride have alibis, and he vouches for them. He’s doing some checking around, too, but until we get more leads than a few mutilated cows and calves, we’re kind of stuck.”
“Let’s hire some guys to watch the herd.” Scott couldn’t think of anything else they could do.
“Yeah. We should do that.”
It seemed Billy was as tired of staying up at night and watching over the herd as he was. It was time they took a break.
“Are you sure Quinn’s not overlooking one of his own? I could see a man not wanting to admit he’s got a pride mate fucking up.”
He’d had the same thought as Foster, but after talking to Quinn, he was sure that wasn’t the case. Quinn was protective of his pride, but he was also a realist and one who couldn’t be fooled easily. “Nah, this was an outside job. Looks to me like someone’s got it in for us. Why else would they tear up a cow and her calf and not eat any of the meat? This is personal.”
It wouldn’t be the first time a weretiger had gone off on its own. Cats were strange creatures. Although they liked having a pride to live with, they also liked their independence. As far as Scott was concerned, the saying “lone wolf” could easily be changed to “lone cat.”
Foster stood up. “So now we have two problems. We need to find the asshole who’s tearing up cattle for the hell of it and figure out who called and upset Betsy.”
“She’s more important than the herd.” Scott had no doubt in his mind. He’d give up all his cattle and the ranch to keep her safe. But was she in danger? They’d spent the past few days trying to get her to open up, but she’d become withdrawn, using the pretense of being busy at the store as an excuse not to see them.
“Agreed. Nothing else matters if we don’t have her. I’ll get someone out here to clean this up.” Foster walked away, his phone already at his ear.
“We can’t let her keep putting us off. Not after all we’ve told her.”
Billy was as antsy as he was. Every minute away from her felt like a lifetime. “We’re running out of time. We need to tell her what we are.”
“Fine with me. I’m ready and willing. I’m sure Foster is, too.”
“Yeah, but she has to be ready. I don’t like showing her what we are until we get her to tell us what’s up. That call really rattled her. We don’t need to add to her stress.”
Billy pushed his hat back and sauntered over to his horse. “Are you saying you want to back off?”
“Nope. I think we need to get closer. Not to tell her, but to keep her safe. She’s got to feel safer with us around, so why is she backing off?”
“Got any ideas?” Foster slipped his phone into his back pocket. He’d finished the call soon enough to hear the rest of their discussion.
“You’re a primary alpha. What’s your idea?” Every so often, Billy would push at Foster.
When he did, Scott stayed out of the way. In time, Billy would earn his way into being a primary alpha, too. To do so, he’d have to prove his worth to the pack. Maybe if he found the rogue, he could do that. Until then, he’d egg Foster, pushing the limits of his status.
“Let’s get her away from all of it for a while.”
“What do you have in mind?” There weren’t a lot of things to do around Fate. Most people tended to work hard and then relax at home with family or friends.
“She’s been stuck at the store most of the time.”
“True enough. Not that we haven’t tried to get her away.”
They’d taken turns watching over her since she’d told them more than once to give her some space for a few days. Giving her space and leaving her alone and vulnerable, however, were two different things. “She goes home just long enough to sleep and then heads back to the store. The good thing is that the store’s been busy. Whenever she’s not helping customers or doing the books and such, she’s busy training Brittany and Sara.”
“Yeah. I’ll never understand why she hired them. Not after how they treated her.”
He agreed with Billy. But he knew why she’d taken on the girls as sales clerks. “Because she’s got a big heart, that’s why. I guess she sees something good in them.”
“She might change her mind after she finds out what they are,” added Billy.
“Maybe we should let her find out about them before we tell her about us.” Yet, as soon as he’d made the suggestion, he knew it wouldn’t work. “Never mind. If she freaks out that they’re a couple of cats, then it’ll make it that much harder for her to accept us. She might even hightail it out of town before we get a chance to tell her.”
“Which is why I think we need to get her away from the store for a while.”
“Yeah? Where, Foster? Are you talking about driving down to Atlanta? Or maybe up into Tennessee? I wouldn’t mind spending a weekend in Nashville.” Music City was a favorite place of theirs not only because of the music and lively entertainment the town had to offer, but because of the friendships they’d formed with another pack that lived in the nearby hills.
“We can’t take off that much time.” Foster nodded at the dead cow and calf. “Not with this going on.”
“Then what?” Billy’s tone dripped with impatience. “I swear, man, it’s hard as hell to get you to the point. Just spit it out already.”
“Let’s take her to the waterfall.”
It made sense. Although there were other more popular waterfalls in Georgia, especially in the mountains surrounding Fate, they’d found a smaller waterfall that very few people knew existed. It wasn’t on any map, and it wasn’t a spectacular waterfall driving water from a dizzying height, but it was secluded, and the pool at the bottom was clear and cool. The best part, however, was the small hidden cave behind the falls.
“Hey, good idea.” Billy grinned. “I guess there’s a reason you’re an alpha, after all.”
Foster took their ribbing well most of the time and usually only growled or showed his fangs when other members of the pack were around. “There are a lot of reasons I’m an alpha, but coming from you, I’ll take it.”
“We’ll have to take the horses.”
“Yeah? So?” Both Foster and Billy cocked their heads.
“She might not want to ride.” He hated to put a damper on the idea, but someone had to say so.
“If she won’t go on horseback, then we’ll take her in the pickup. Might be better that way, anyway.” Foster’s eyebrows shot up. “So? Are you with me or not?”
“While we’ve got her relaxing, we can find out what that call was about, right?” asked Billy as he sauntered over to his horse and swung into the saddle.
“I thought the goal was to get her to relax.” As much as he wanted to find out, he wanted her to enjoy their time together. The closer they became, the more likely she’d be to accept them for what they were.
“It is. And if she does, then maybe she’ll open up to us.” Foster’s horse pranced when he hooked his foot in the stirrup and pulled himself into the saddle.
“Yeah, Scott. Take it easy. It’s not like we’re going to interrogate her.”
Scott mounted his horse. “Just be sure you remember that when we’re there.”
Billy sported his usual cocky grin. “I will. Don’t you worry your pretty little head none.”
There were times when Scott felt like punching his friend and times when Billy could make him laugh his ass off. This was one of those latter times. “Shut your trap, dog.”
He saw the flash of amber in Billy’s eyes a moment before he tugged on the reins of his horse and kicked his heels into its flank. His own cocky grin covered his face as he raced back to the house.
* * * *
Betsy shouldn’t have given in so quickly, but after spending the past few days doing nothing but working and sleeping, she was more than ready for a break. And ready t
o see the men she’d been dreaming about.
Throwing herself into her work had helped take her mind off her father’s call, but it hadn’t kept her from thinking about the men. Why should she block out such wonderful thoughts? She’d thought about them while stacking clothes. She’d thought about them while trying—more times than she’d have ever imagined would be necessary—to show Brittany and Sara how to use the cash register. The girls had changed, becoming the sweet girls she’d believed they could be, but they weren’t the quickest to catch on. Still, she was determined to make them into first-class sales clerks. Then, and only then, would she be able to take more time off.
“They’ll be fine.” Foster placed his hand on top of her knee. They sat together in the back of the pickup while Billy drove and Scott took the shotgun seat.
She jerked back to reality. “I’m sorry? Who’ll be fine?”
“Brittany and Sara. They’ll be fine manning the shop. Besides, didn’t Babs promise to check in on them?”
“Yes.” Babs Lithgow, the owner of The General Store where Raven worked, had offered to step into Classy Cat every hour or so to make sure nothing had gone wrong.
“Then what are you worrying for?”
What was she doing? She’d finally said yes to going to the waterfall, and she was ruining it by leaving her mind back at the store. “I’m not.”
“Uh-huh. The furrow in your forehead says differently.”
She let out a breath. With his hand heating the way through her jeans and into her skin, it was hard to think about anything, including the store. “Okay. You’re right. It’s just hard to let go.”
“But the girls are doing a better job nowadays, right?”
“They are. They can definitely handle the day-to-day operation.”
“Then let it go.”
How could she say no to his deep, take-me-to-bed eyes? “You’re right.” She shook her arms and blew out another breath. “This is me letting go.” At least of the store. Letting go of the sizzle that had started the moment they’d sauntered into Classy Cat and told her they wanted to take her to see a waterfall was altogether another thing. A thing she didn’t think she could do. A thing she didn’t want to do. She’d missed feeling the tantalizing sizzle and wanted more of it.