Dare

by T. A. Foster

  “So what do you think?” I asked.

  “Sounds like it was her.”

  “Ok. Anything else?”

  “Don’t know about the other cat though. I’ve had my suspicions another group has moved in here. She’s probably not happy about that.”

  “She didn’t seem to be. I don’t speak panther or anything, but she seemed pretty pissed.”

  I waited. Silver stared toward the exposed beams overhead. “I wonder if you could draw her out.”

  “What do you mean? Sketch her?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “She’s saved you twice. Third times a charm.”

  “What do you want to do? Catch her?”

  “No, I want to find out who she is.” He picked up a brush and ran the bristles against his thumb. “You might already know her. Have you thought about that?”

  “She’s an enormous panther who guards the forest. That’s how I know her.” The man was sounding crazier by the second.

  Silver looked amused. “She’s only half panther, boy.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “That cat, the one who has saved you. She’s a girl.”

  We crouched low. I could smell the grass, and feel the longer blades stroke my chin. Vix focused her eyes ahead of us. Maya’s ears twitched at every sound.

  “What if they moved her?” Vix asked.

  I scanned the perimeter. We had been here an hour. No one had come or gone.

  I whispered, “Then, we’ll have Ian do the spell again. He said he’ll help us—whatever we need.”

  We hadn’t been to this neighborhood before. It was dilapidated, but part of an old district in town that used to be popular. When the light hovered along Corinth Avenue on Ian’s map, I had to study it. I didn’t know why Case would have chosen this place for Abi.

  I adjusted my position. They would have to leave for class soon.

  Maya poked me in the side, and I zeroed in on the doorknob. It was moving.

  Eli zipped his jacket to his neck then slung a backpack over his shoulder. He scanned the perimeter before throwing one leg over his motorcycle. We watched him turn the corner before rising to our knees.

  “Do you think it’s safe?” Maya asked.

  “We don’t know how much time before someone else shows up.” I started toward the house, checking the neighboring yards for surveillance.

  “Why this place?” Vix growled. “It looks like someone’s grandma lives here.”

  “I don’t know. Let’s hurry.”

  We ran toward the door under the carport where Eli had exited. It was locked.

  “Stand back,” I ordered. I leaned on my left leg before throwing a sold kick at the door with my right heel. It popped open.

  Vix rushed ahead of me. “Abi? Abi?”

  “Maya, watch the door while we check the rest of the house.” I ran after Vix.

  The rooms were unfurnished. It was a small house. If Abi were here, we would find her.

  “Back here,” Vix yelled. I raced to the last bedroom.

  “Abi.” I covered my mouth.

  She was sitting on a bed, watching TV.

  “She won’t look at me, Dare.” Vix sat next to her. “Abi, it’s us. Come on. We don’t have much time before Eli gets back from class.”

  I walked toward her, turning off the TV when I passed in front of it.

  “Abi, do you know who we are?”

  She searched our faces. “Where’s Eli?”

  Vix jumped back. “Not her. It’s not possible.”

  I sat on the other side. “Abi, he’s in class. He needs you to come with us.”

  “He does?”

  I nodded. “Yes, he has a special surprise planned. You wouldn’t want to ruin it, would you?”

  “He wouldn’t like that.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “Let me get my things together.”

  We watched while she collected clothes and a few items from the bathroom and put them in a bag.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Vix whispered.

  “I don’t know. We’ll get her home and we’ll figure it out. Tegan can help her.”

  Vix grabbed my arm. “What if Tegan is like this too? And Eva?”

  I closed my eyes. “Let’s just get her out of here.”

  We ushered Abi toward the door. Maya greeted her with a hug, but quickly realized something wasn’t right. It was as if Abi were operating in a sleep state, only with her eyes open.

  “What did Eli do?” Maya snarled.

  “I don’t know. She’s completely out of it.” I put my hands on her shoulders. “All right, Abi, just a few more steps and then we’ll take you to the surprise.”

  “Eli likes it when I make him happy.” She turned to smile at me. It was wide and innocent.

  “Good, then he’ll love this.”

  We guided her outside and to the car, parked on the next block over. I had a sinking feeling the other Nox might be like this or worse.

  Vix paced in the den in the lair. “She doesn’t even know who we are.”

  “She will. We just have to figure out what they did to her. She’s here now. She’s safe. That’s the important thing.”

  We had coaxed Abi into wearing a blindfold, all part of Eli’s surprise, while we carried her through the woods to the cave. After what Sloan had revealed about how strong her pull toward Ronan was, I didn’t know where Abi’s loyalty lied. It was better if she didn’t know how to get to our location. Eventually, she would discover Eli wasn’t a part of the plan, and there was no way to predict her reaction when she put it all together.

  Maya appeared, the flame light illuminating the sadness in her face. “She’s napping. I put her in her room. I showed her pictures of Tegan, but she didn’t recognize her.”

  “She will.” I put a shoulder around Maya’s shoulder. “It’s magic, whatever it is. Magic can be undone. There’s always a balance between what is done and undone. It’s the law.”

  Vix made another lap. “They’ve brainwashed her. Erased Tegan and us from her memory, so she’ll say yes to Eli. What if she did? What if they bonded? We were too late.”

  I shook my head. “No, Case wouldn’t do that. He knows he’ll lose all leverage with me if another Nox leaves.”

  “But Sloan left,” she roared.

  My eyes shot to hers and she mouthed an apology.

  “Once Tegan is back, I’m sure it will trigger something. Abi will come around. And Sloan—it’s going to be more difficult, but we’ll bring her home too.”

  None of us was convinced. All the rules were being broken, and I was the one who had started it. I couldn’t promise them Abi and Eli hadn’t bonded. I couldn’t promise them anything. Ronan’s move had shifted things. Sloan was gone.

  “Then let’s go get Tegan,” Vix suggested.

  “I think I should stay with Abi. She might wake up and not know where she is.” Maya sat on a stone bench. “If it’s ok with you.”

  “Of course. Vix and I can handle the rest.”

  We left Maya in the lair in charge of taking care of Abi and preparing for us to move. I couldn’t work this hard to get everyone back, just to have someone kidnapped again. We needed to move underground ahead of schedule.

  Vix and I walked through the forest.

  “It’s getting worse, Dare.”

  “I know, but it will get better. It has to.”

  She stopped. “Did you hear something?”

  I looked ahead. The trail was in sight. “It was probably a jogger.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t care what the rules are anymore. If anyone in the Tribe comes near us again, I can’t promise I won’t attack. Seeing Abi like that changes things.”

  I didn’t blame her. The Tribe had pushed us, broken us, changed us.

  “Do what you have to do to stay safe, Vix.” I didn’t like saying it, but I couldn’t hold her back. The Nox weren’t killers; at least they weren’t before the kidnappings started.

  “Thank you.”

  We walked t
he rest of the way in silence.

  I stared at him. Seconds passed. Maybe minutes.

  “You want me to help you capture a fabled she-panther? Wait. Kidnap a girl that turns into a panther, or a panther that turns—” I stood too quickly, forgetting my leg. “Damn it.”

  “Calm down.” He scowled. “Here.” He pulled out an unopened bottle of vodka from a paint can. “Looks like you could use one of these.”

  He filled two plastic cups, and shoved one in my hand. “Drink.”

  I slung it back. My leg was calling for it. I took a deep breath as if starting from the top would clear up the insanity.

  “Explain it to me again.”

  Silver unscrewed the lid and poured a second cup for himself. “I’ve needed help for a long time. But one, either people think I’m crazy as hell, or two, they think I’m crazy as hell.” He laughed. “But you don’t because you’ve seen her. Now people will think you’re equally as crazy.”

  I raised my palm. “I did see a panther, but I never said I believed she was part human.” I held out my cup, needing a refill. Things like this weren’t real. Shifters were part of folklore; it wasn’t possible. “That’s nowhere in the legend. She can’t be human.”

  “She is.” He filled it higher this time. “She’s human like you and me. Only, there’s another side of her—the panther side. That’s what everyone is caught up in.”

  I chugged the vodka. It made me forget about my leg. It also made me forget reality.

  “So what you’re saying is the town’s legendary panther is really a shifter? And not just any shifter, a girl shifter?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  We were both drunk, but his eyes were clear. His words were certain.

  “And why do you want to catch her?” I sat the empty cup on the paint-splattered floor. The messy surface matched my emotions.

  “Don’t you? Aren’t you the least bit curious about her?”

  I stared at the eyes painted on the wall. The green, the fierceness, the power. He captured her.

  “I-I’m not a kidnapper. I’m not interested in hurting her.” I imagined a cage in his studio with a black panther pacing inside the bars.

  “I wouldn’t hurt her.” He twisted the brush in his hands. “I only have one interest in her.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “I want to paint her in her true form.”

  “And that’s it?” I asked.

  “She is art to me. In my world, there’s nothing more sacred. Art is everything. It’s my life.”

  I rubbed my hand along my stubbled chin. It was crazy. Ludicrous. The ramblings of a drunk artistic type. However, I couldn’t stop thinking about. What if there was truth there? What if he wasn’t insane? What if the panther I had seen in the woods was actually a woman? What if she had stopped to listen to me?

  Before I had been cornered in the forest, I had thought it was legend. I was a non-believer. Now, with a gash in my leg that throbbed with every step I took, I was reminded that the legend was real. The legend was out there in the woods.

  “I’ll help you.”

  He stopped pouring his third cup and looked up. “You will?”

  “I have a few conditions.”

  “Of course you do. Let’s hear them.”

  The green eyes hovered over his shoulder. I wondered how many hours it took him to get the eyes just right. “First, we don’t hurt her.”

  “Never. What else?”

  “We don’t involve the media. No press. I don’t want this turning into a media circus.”

  He shook his head. “Wouldn’t want them anyway.”

  “The last one.” I waited. “I want to write her story. You can’t give her story to anyone else. I get the rights to write it. You can’t tell anyone about her.”

  He chuckled. “I guess she’s more than one man’s muse.”

  “I guess so. Do we have a deal?” I held out my hand.

  “We do.”

  We shook. “Now what’s your plan?”

  I listened as Silver explained an idea he had been concocting for years.

  This wouldn’t be as easy. I could see three of them. Case, Trev, and Noah were inside. I wondered if Sloan was here too. I hoped she was in class. The thought of fighting against her would be more than Vix and I were emotionally prepared to handle today.

  When did Case branch out in Sullen’s Grove real estate? This loft apartment was nowhere near where he lived.

  I realized he had chosen populated areas to hide the girls. Places away from the forest. Places where we couldn’t shift. A panther on the city’s main streets would take panic to a new level.

  We had spent too much time in the woods. Worried he would stake his claim to the borders, I had posted the Nox in regions around the city. Now we were completely divided, fighting to reunite.

  “It’s the middle of the day. They have to leave for class soon.” Vix spoke quickly. “We’ll break her out. They’ll leave and we’ll find her.”

  I put a hand out to stop her from pouncing too soon.

  “Unless they’re skipping classes like we are.” My part of the group project was due tomorrow. I hadn’t touched the assignment. I wasn’t sure I’d get it in tonight. Maybe if I had a cave full of Nox panthers, I’d be able to focus on school again.

  “They must not know we have Abi, yet.”

  We stared at them through the window. They were engrossed in video games. Case was laughing. I didn’t see anyone else. Tegan must be in a back room. Rescuing her from this scenario wasn’t going to be easy.

  “I think we need to go after Eva.” I turned from the window.

  “But we need Tegan. She’s our best hope to stir Abi’s memory.”

  “We need all of them,” I reminded her. “Eli’s out. These guys are here. Eva is probably alone. Let’s get her before their guard is up.”

  Vix hurried behind me. “Where is she?”

  I rolled my eyes. Case had chosen an especially significant location for Eva, the spot of our first kiss. “Under the union.”

  “The union on campus? That union?”

  “Yes, that one.”

  Looking back, I should have known he was a roaming jaguar. All the signs were there. He was cocky. He was gorgeous. He was smart. He circled me every day until I gave in. I should have seen it a mile away, but I didn’t.

  Case lured me in one line at a time. One look. One kiss. Until I found out his truth. That was when everything changed.

  “Let me guess. Don’t tell. Don’t tell me. You’re a model.”

  I looked up from my book. His head blocked out the sun.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You look familiar. Thought I’d introduce myself. Hi, I’m Case.”

  “Case?” I shoved my sunglasses on my head to make out his features. I felt a magical presence.

  He sat next to me and I shifted on the bench. “Am I right?”

  “Right about what?” I wanted to see his eyes.

  “The modeling. You’re beautiful.”

  I gathered my books. “I’m not a model.” I pushed them both into my backpack.

  “You should be.”

  I cut my eyes in his direction. “Nice meeting you, Case. Maybe I’ll see you on campus.”

  “Wait. Don’t go. That was lame line. I can do better than that, darlin’.” He followed me through the quad.

  I paused. “Where are you from?”

  “Tennessee. What about you?”

  “Sullen’s Grove.”

  “A little home grown I guess.”

  I stopped walking. “Are you always like this?”

  “Like what? Charming? Irresistible?”

  “Irresistible?” I laughed louder than I meant to. I covered my mouth as a couple walked past us. I wasn’t going to tell him he was attractive. That was the last thing this guy needed.

  He finally slid the glasses off his face. Not that it mattered, but I was relieved to see he had brown eyes. Whatever he wa
s, it wasn’t a threat to me.

  “Look, I know I came on a little strong. I’m sorry. But you’re beautiful, and I knew if I didn’t say something, I would kick myself for being a coward. I took a chance you’d take one on me.”

  Without trying to impress me, he had done it. “I like it when guys don’t try so hard. Just a tip.”

  “I can do that.” He winked.

  I leaned toward his ear. “Tell me what you are.”

  He glanced around. “That obvious?”

  I nodded. “Shifter? Vamp? Witch?”

  “That’s awfully personal, don’t you think? We just met.”

  “True.” I considered which one I thought he might be.

  “Get a drink with me. I’ll tell you, if you tell me.”

  It wasn’t even noon yet. “How about something from the union?”

  He grinned. “Lead the way.”

  We sat across from each other at one of the small bistro tables inside the student union. We talked for an hour. Case told me what it was like moving from Tennessee. I learned he was a biology major, thinking about pre-med. He was sweet, overly flirtatious, and hot. The kind of hot I knew Vix would be excited about.

  He threw our empty cups in a trash can.

  “Have you ever been in the movie theater during the day?” he asked.

  “The union only shows movies at night.”

  “That’s why you’ve got to see it during the day. Come on.” He grabbed my hand, taking off down a side staircase. We descended to the bottom level of the union.

  I laughed as he ran faster, tugging me behind me.

  He pushed open the double doors and stopped. The theater was pitch black.

  “Where are the lights?” I asked.

  “Lights?” He smiled.

  I felt his hands circle my waist, his breath against my cheek.

  “You said you’d tell me,” I warned. I knew his lips were dangerously close. The magic was humming around us.

  He brushed his lips across mine. “You were right. I am a shifter.”

  I smiled. God, I just wanted him to kiss me. “What kind?” He pulled me against him, tight enough I could hear his heart beating.

  “Does it matter?” His lips made another pass against my mouth. I almost sighed out loud.