by Abigail Owen
She considered it a miracle that she got out of the house at all given Shane’s skills and her…well…lack of skills. Guilt niggled at the back of her mind at ditching him, but she reasoned that she’d send someone back with a helicopter to get him. He’d be fine.
She was about an hour into her trek now, slower going because the snow was deeper than she’d expected. After the first few miles, she no longer bothered to attempt to cover her tracks. She wasn’t doing that great a job anyway, and the effort slowed her down more.
With zero warning, a large male cougar dropped from a tree branch to land in front of her. He hissed in furious displeasure.
Before she could do more than lower her pack to the ground, he shifted. Her eyes flew wide as she tried, for the second time in two days, not to stare at his gorgeous body.
“Damn it all to hell, Tieryn!” he yelled. “Are you crazy or just willfully stupid?”
She shook her head.
“What were you thinking?”
Wasn’t he cold? Tieryn sat and waited out the tirade. She idly wondered how long before his feet froze in the snow.
“We’re going back. Now,” he ordered.
She shook her head again.
“I will drag you back with me if I have to.”
She tipped her head.
He shifted back to his cat form and started to stalk closer to her. With each step forward, she moved back a step. She was prepared for his pounce when an odd whistling sound snagged both their attention. They whipped their heads toward the source of the sound, off to Tieryn’s right.
A beautiful doe, delicate and proud, stood there watching them. Once she had their attention, she made another low whistle.
Shane and Tieryn exchanged a glance. The animal couldn’t be a shifter, could she? Out grazing in feet of snow and making noises like a gym teacher running drills.
With a toss of her head, the doe seemed to ask them to follow her. A sense of familiarity had Tieryn taking a few steps in that direction until Shane’s bulk blocked her way. He shook his head.
She gave him a look she hoped he interpreted as, “It’s a doe, and we’re two mountain lions. What’s the worst that could happen?”
He growled low in his throat.
“If you want my help, come with me.”
If she had been in her human form, Tieryn would’ve gasped. The doe was back. She hadn’t shifted, but her voice sounded as clearly as if she had. Shane’s suddenly rigid form told her he had too.
She chuffed lightly at him and tipped her head toward the shifter, or whatever she was, who’d left.
He nodded.
Tieryn grabbed the pack in her mouth again. Side by side, they followed the doe through the trees, over the snow-covered mountainous terrain. They walked for an hour, all the way back to the cabin. Tieryn reined in her irritation. All that work for nothing.
As soon as they reached the house, Shane shifted. He pulled on the clothes he’d hurriedly dropped all over the porch.
Tieryn bit her lip as she considered the outward sign of his concern. She’d expected him to find her gone and just let her go. He’d made it clear since they met that he considered her a burden. She should have realized honor ran deeper than personal desire with this man. Or had it been anger at being ignored that had driven his haste?
Dressed, he waited, arms crossed. She wondered if he left the sleeves on his shirt permanently rolled up. Not that she minded. Something about his lean forearms and capable hands was damn sexy. And what a random thing to be thinking right now.
“If you think I’m leaving her with a total stranger, then you’ve got another think coming,” he addressed the doe.
Tieryn rolled her eyes, although a small part of her purred at his concern. Paranoid concern, yes, but concern nonetheless.
Without preamble, she turned her back to him and shifted. Staying in a squat that hid as much as one could when naked, she pulled her clothes out of the backpack and dressed. She was getting pretty sick of the black slacks and white button down. She’d been wearing them since the day of the attack. Not that that was important now. The cold biting at her skin in addition to the man at her back made her actions hasty. Once dressed she turned to face them.
“Do you have clothes?” she asked the doe who shook her head.
She glanced over at Shane and silently debated with him. After a second, he sighed but nodded his head toward the door of the cabin. Without a word, she went inside. They’d found men’s clothes stashed inside. Tieryn had tried them on, but they’d just fallen off her slim form. She grabbed a few things now and brought them back out to the waiting deer and laid them on the rough wood of the porch.
“We’ll wait for you inside.” Shane, his hand on Tieryn’s elbow, was already pulling her away.
He jerked her inside and shut the door behind them, but then he did the strangest thing. He pulled her up against his chest and held her there with a hand on each arm. Fury etched in his chiseled, clenched jaw and the flint sparking in his gray-blue eyes, he stared down at her
She looked back at him, wary at first. As he did nothing, her caution morphed to confusion. “Callahan, I—”
“Don’t.”
His voice was deceptively quiet, though she still caught the underlying anger. She bit her lip. When he’d pulled her close, he’d trapped her hands between them. Now, under her fingertips, she could feel the erratic beat of his heart. “I’m sorry—”
She stopped again when he growled and gave her a tiny shake.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I don’t have much time.”
Startled at the sound of the woman’s voice, she and Shane looked over to find a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties, tall, slender, with caramel colored hair and big brown eyes, watching them from the doorway.
Tieryn frowned. She recognized this woman. Needing a closer look, she tried to step away from Shane, but he tightened his grip and held her in place. “Who are you?” he demanded.
The woman opened her mouth to say, but recognition clicked in Tieryn’s head. “Mom?” she asked in a shaky voice.
Shane’s snapped his head her way, but her focus was entirely on the woman who gazed back with eyes now sorrowful and wary. “Hi, baby.”
Good thing Shane had such a strong grip on her, because Tieryn doubted her legs would’ve supported her at that moment. Which made no sense since the blood drained from her face. It had to go somewhere, right? “I’m not your baby.” She ground out the first thing that came to her. Her brain caught up with her mouth a moment later. “I don’t understand. You look the same as Dad’s pictures of you.”
Her mother grimaced. “And I don’t have time to explain. I shouldn’t be here at all.”
Tieryn shook her head. “I—”
“I am your mother, but I’m not an ordinary shifter, which is why I don’t appear to have aged.”
“Dad calls you Nell. Is that even your name?”
“No. I go by Neah.”
“Neah,” Tieryn muttered. The unusual name fit the woman before her. A woman she didn’t know. Never had. She didn’t even know where to begin with questions. All of those she’d had growing up, like why her mom left, warred with why and how she was here now.
Years of bitterness churned inside her. She crossed her arms. “How’d you find us?”
Neah clamped her lips tight shut for a moment, as she seemed to carefully choose her words. “I have certain abilities.”
“You’re a Healer.” Tieryn found her voice.
“Among other things,” Neah confirmed.
What other things? Was her mother the source of her dual gifts? She gave herself a mental shake. Not the time. “How’d you get here?”
“Another ability. I think you’d call it teleportation.”
Shane and Tieryn exchanged a glance. Her source of the Survivor ability? “Why’re you here? What do you want?” Tieryn asked again.
“I wish I could tell you everything, but there isn’t time.” Neah mov
ed forward, reaching out as if she might take Tieryn in her arms.
With a low growl, Shane put himself between them just as Tieryn jerked back. Neah was lucky she wasn’t hanging by her neck in a mountain lion’s jaws at that moment.
Neah dropped her hand to her side and nodded. “Now isn’t the moment anyway.”
Tieryn couldn’t think of the woman as her mom. “Just answer the question,” she demanded. She moved from behind Shane, who kept his hand on her arm.
A hard light entered Neah’s eyes, replacing the pain and regret. “You’re in danger.”
“Explain,” Shane barked.
“The lions have sent a pack of wolves here to take Tieryn,” she looked directly at Shane, “and kill you.”
“Lions?” Tieryn remembered seeing the shifters during the attack on the Kuharte conference.
“They’re the driving force behind all the shifter attacks.”
“How do they know where we are?” Shane eyed her mother skeptically.
“They have help from some…powerful people who have located you, and some, like me, who can teleport.”
Tieryn didn’t waste time debating that answer. After the attacks that seemed to come out of nowhere, especially the latest one on the Kuharte, she could believe that other powers were involved. “Can you get us out?”
A shake of Neah’s head negated that idea. “But I can help you. I’ve been in touch with ya…errr…George.”
Shane’s hand tightened on Tieryn’s arm and she glanced up to catch his confused frown. “George Cottiliard?”
Neah nodded. “I’ve let him know where you are, and he’s bringing people to get you.” She glanced at Shane. “He said to tell you to meet him at the emergency rally point. You need to move. Fast.”
“In this snow?” Shane asked.
She gave him a small, satisfied smile. “The weather is about change in your favor.”
“How the hell do you know that, lady?” he demanded.
“Trust me.”
Shane’s glare indicated trust was the furthest thing from what he was feeling.
Neah’s expression twisted with frustration. “She’s my daughter. I’m here to save her life not put you both in danger.”
Years’ worth of memories of her father telling her that her mother didn’t abandon her, that she had good reasons to leave whispered in Tieryn’s mind. She gritted her teeth but had to admit that they had little choice here. “Listen to her, Shane,” Tieryn murmured.
He slowly turned his head to look down at her. His eyes widened in incredulity. “You don’t know we can trust her. You apparently don’t know her at all.”
She flinched but titled her chin, sure of this. And, if Neah’s warning was accurate, she didn’t have time to get into it with him here and now. “I’m telling you we should listen to her.”
His eyes hardened to steel. “My mother was the reason I’m missing this.” He pointed at the scarred side of his head where his ear should have been.
Tieryn gasped as pain for him filled her, mixing with the myriad of emotions swirling inside her. “I’m sorry. And I’m not saying that I trust Neah, but that I think we can trust her about this.”
She caught her mother’s wince at Tieryn’s use of her name instead of calling her mom, but ignored her, focusing on Shane. “If she was a threat, my gift would be kicking in now.”
“That’s true. Teleportation is a gift she gets from me,” Neah confirmed. “Only, I can control it. It’s how I came here.”
Shane ignored her mother and stared down at Tieryn for a long moment. He shook his head, jaw rock hard, then turned to the woman before them. “Okay. What do we need to do?”
Chapter Fifteen
“You okay?” Shane placed a steaming cup of coffee in front of Tieryn.
He didn’t like the sickly hue to her skin or the way she sat at the kitchen table, shoulders slumped, staring blankly into space.
“Fine,” she croaked.
Shane shifted on his feet, not sure what to do. He didn’t handle emotions well, especially not female emotions. Although he preferred tears and hysterics to the total shut down which Tieryn was doing now.
He crouched in front of her and put his hands on her knees. That at least got her to look at him, and he rewarded her with a smile—something only she seemed to be able to pull from him, even when she was a total wreck. “I’m going to gather provisions. According to Neah—”
She flinched at the sound of her mother’s name.
He paused and then continued. “We need to move fast.”
“Okay.”
He gave her knees a pat and left her there, hoping like hell she snapped out of it soon. If he were honest, he’d admit he was dealing with his own shit. He’d hadn’t experienced fear like he had this morning when he’d discovered Tieryn had run off. Not since his wife had died—not a memory he appreciated in any way. Luckily, her ability to cover her tracks was pretty pathetic. Nothing like her skills with a crossbow. He’d found her path quickly enough.
When he’d finally caught up to her, he couldn’t decide if he wanted to shake her until her teeth rattled or claim her as his right there and then so he’d have some right to the anger coursing through him. Engagement be damned.
Neah’s appearance had added a whole new level of anger to what he’d been feeling, because his protective instincts had kicked in, followed by shock, distrust, and more need to protect as they’d talked with the deer shifter. Then Neah said something cryptic about how she couldn’t stay any longer, warned them again to move fast, and disappeared.
Shane shook his head and shoved all of that down deep. He had one job—keep Tieryn safe. He’d do that until he could hand her back over to her father and fiancé.
Gathering gear didn’t take long. Down in the weapons locker was also a pack designed for shifters to use while traveling. It took two shifters to get it on, but they had that. He quickly transferred the jerky and other of Tieryn’s provisions from her pack to his. Then he added more as his was a bigger bag, and two would be traveling now. He included more equipment such as water treatment tabs and an ultra-lite sleeping bag, among other things. He also added a handgun and ammunition. Tieryn’s crossbow they’d have to strap to the outside of the pack, but given her aim, the weapon was worth taking.
Satisfied, he headed upstairs to find Tieryn hadn’t moved. The cup of coffee cold and untouched.
“Ready?”
She stood, which he took as a yes.
“I’ll need your help getting this on—” He indicated the pack flung over his shoulder. “It’s sized for bears, so it might take some rigging.
“Okay.”
She followed him out of the house. He quickly locked up and stored the key. It was a sign of her shock that she didn’t look away as he stripped and put his clothes in the bag. Then he shifted.
She helped him wiggle into the pack, which fit over his back and strapped under his belly. She cinched it tight. It took some fiddling to secure it to his relatively smaller size. Most shifters couldn’t rival the bears in size. Done, she attached the bow. Then she reached up and peeled her shirt over her head. Shane turned away to give her privacy. He listened to the sounds of her undressing then felt her stow her clothes in the pack on his back. The rasp of the zipper sounded as she closed it up.
Shifting was a silent activity. He gave her several moments to do it before turning his head. She was gorgeous in her cat form, but her blue eyes were glassed over and dull. Concern stirred in his belly. He resisted the urge to rub up against her in a show of comfort. She’d have to snap out of this soon, though. If Neah were to be believed, he’d need both of them on high alert.
Neah had instructed them to travel east rather than south toward the nearest town. She insisted the wolves would be coming from the south. They started plowing through the snowdrifts. Shane ahead, Tieryn behind.
To his shock, the gray clouds portending more snow cleared as they went. Soon they were walking along under gloriously
blue skies, and a warm breeze carrying traces of spring, so like Tieryn’s personal scent, drifted around them.
Part of Shane didn’t trust it. Weather didn’t just change so abruptly in this remote part of Canada. How had Neah known? Or was there something bigger at work here?
Traveling got easier as the weather continued its strange pattern, turning from winter to spring faster than was natural. Eventually, Tieryn was able to walk beside him, rather than behind. Although, from the zone she continued to be in, he wondered if she even noticed.
At one point, he bumped her with his shoulder. She turned her head to give him a questioning look.
Shane tipped his head, as if to ask how she was doing.
She didn’t respond, merely turned to face back forward and kept walking. So he was to be frozen out too, huh? The land around them might be thawing, but Tieryn was an emotional block of ice.
When they’d first met, he appreciated it when she’d ignore him and sit quietly. Now…he didn’t like it.
****
Several hours later, with night deepening the shadows around them at a rapid pace, Shane led a dragging Tieryn up a mountainside to a spot he’d scouted while she rested. Not a cave exactly, more of a ledge with an overhang that would protect them from inclement weather. Though the clear skies indicated that wouldn’t be an issue.
The ledge was difficult to access for a mountain lion, which made it impossible for wolves who weren’t nimble climbers. They’d take any advantage they could get. They hadn’t crossed any game, which meant tonight’s dinner would be jerky and granola. They’d found a stream not long ago, and Shane had filled their water bottles. They were pretty well set.
As soon as they made the ledge, and Shane wasn’t sure Tieryn was going to make it, he’d shifted, unstrapped the pack, and pulled out their clothes. While it was much warmer now than it had been even this morning, the cold night air bit into his skin just the same. Back to Tieryn, he dressed quickly. A glance over his shoulder told him she’d done the same.