by Renee George
You’re welcome.
After a long, hot shower, I’d fallen asleep in Billy Bob’s arms. When morning came, we were rudely awakened by the incessant push of the doorbell. The ding-dong ding-dong annoyed the hell out me.
Billy Bob pulled me into his arms, spooning me from behind, his peace pipe jabbing me in a sensitive place.
I giggled.
Don’t judge me.
“There’s someone at the door.”
“They can wait,” he said, nibbling my ear.
I groaned at the pleasure his love nips sent through my body. The doorbell kept ringing, but Billy Bob’s hands on my breasts, his fingers teasing my nipples as his hot breath sizzled my skin pretty much meant I didn’t care.
Finally, the noise stopped. I turned in his arms, my fingers slipping around his shaft. “You are frisky in the mornings.”
He kissed the tip of my nose. “You bring out the pup in me, woman.”
Oh lawd! The way he said woman tripped every hot, alpha fantasy I’d ever had. I moved closer until my breasts touched his chest, and leaned in for a heated, passionate kiss that scorched my brain with its fiery licks.
And just when my leg looped over his, giving him an all-access pass to my throbbing goodies, a loud banging on the window sent us flying apart and ready for battle.
A blonde I recognized all too well had her face pressed up against the window. She slapped the window pane again and then squinted. Her eyes grew large, much like Billy Bob’s…you know. I yanked the cover up around me to hide my nakedness.
“Sunny!” I yelled.
She snapped her attention away from my naked boyfriend and stepped back from the window.
She managed a chagrinned, lopsided smile. “Open the door,” she shouted, pointing sideways. She held up a white bag with her other hand. “I brought donuts.”
I sighed with deep regret as I took in the Adonis in the room. I shrugged a half-apology. “She brought donuts.”
“I can’t compete with donuts.” He turned his back to me and grabbed a pair of jeans off the back of a chair.
I cussed Sunny ten ways to Sunday for her ill-timed interruption as he pulled them up over his sexy ass. I didn’t know when or how, but my ex-BFF was going pay. I got dressed too, mourning the loss of morning nookie.
Billy Bob started the coffee while I answered the door. Sunny had a fake as hell smile plastered on her face as she held out the bag. I gave her a dirty look and gestured for her to come in.
I closed the door and relocked it. Leftover nerves from the night before. When I turned around to follow Sunny to the kitchen, she pitched herself into my arms. The wet of her tears smeared on my cheek.
“Oh, Chav,” she said, squeezing me with more strength than an anaconda. “Why are you always getting kidnapped?”
“I don’t know.” I put my arms around her to complete the hug. “I must have ‘take me’ tattooed on my forehead.”
She leaned back, grabbed my chin, and tilted my head down. She examined my face very carefully. “Nope,” she said. “No tattoos. Just a few wrinkles and some ghastly clogged pores.”
I gasped in horror. “Sunshine Ambrosia Haddock. You are an awful human being.”
She sniffed and nodded. “Yes,” she said. She wiped at her eyes and managed a genuine smile. “I really am.”
We both began to laugh, and the tension I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding inside released like a cake in a well-greased pan.
“Coffee’s ready,” Billy Bob said.
Sunny and I turned to see him standing in the archway leading back to the kitchen. He wore a black T-shirt that fit snug across his wide chest, and damn, he made those tight jeans look mmm-mmm-good.
Sunny gave me side-eye, her eyebrow raised.
I gave her side-eye back and wiggled my brows.
Billy Bob shook his head, chuckling softly, as he went back into the kitchen giving us both a very nice view of him walking away.
“Holy shit, Chav,” Sunny said in a quiet voice. “You and Billy Bob. I am seriously impressed.”
“What? You didn’t think I could land a man like the doc?”
She wrapped her arm around my waist and put her head on my shoulder. “Don’t be silly. I’m impressed he managed to land you. You are a fucking catch, and any man would be goddamn lucky to have you in his life.”
I don’t know why, but I teared up. Not enough that anything leaked from my eyes, but I think on some level, I was almost afraid I was too damaged for any relationship. I rubbed her shoulder. “Thanks, Sunny. You always know the right thing to say.”
“Yeah,” she said. “It’s a gift.”
We laughed again. “That coffee smells good.”
“Well, let’s go get some then.” She picked her donut bag off the floor.
“Cinnamon twist?”
“You bet.” She winked. “A cinnamon twist for you, old fashions for Billy Bob, and a double chocolate dipped raspberry éclair with extra raspberry for me.”
“So you really are pregnant.”
She grinned. “I’ll wait until after the Jubilee and we find these fucking bastards before I take the official test.” She glanced at Billy Bob, who had already poured three cups of coffee and set the steaming mugs on the counter.
“Have you told Babe?”
“Do you think I would have said it in front of Billy Bob if I hadn’t?”
“I guess not.” I chuckled, so glad I had her in my life. She was right. Babe would have had a conniption if she had told Billy Bob about her pregnancy before him.
“Congratulations, Sunny.” He pushed her mug to her. “You can come in anytime during clinic hours. I’ll work you in.”
“Of course, you will,” I said, more out of habit than a real belief that he preferred Sunny to me. He’d pretty much kissed and…well…you know… the doubt right out of me.
Sunny smacked me. “So, tell me what happened, and don’t you dare leave a single thing out. I may get an impression or something.”
“We should be safe for tonight. The killer has to be a therian, so he’ll be shifting along with the rest of us.”
“They grabbed you in broad daylight,” Sunny said. “If they want to kill someone today, they will find a way to do it, and I want to help stop them.”
“You’re right,” I said. “The man the night before had seemed determined to get in a third killing before the full moon.”
“Sunny,” Billy Bob said. “Trying to get a vision while you’re pregnant isn’t a good idea.”
She narrowed her gaze on him. “My baby is the size of a cashew. She doesn’t even have a nervous system yet, let alone a brain. She will not be traumatized by any visions I get, but I will certainly be traumatized if we don’t catch these psychos before they kill someone I love.”
He didn’t look completely convinced, but, finally, he nodded. Good thing too, because I’d known Sunny for almost a decade, and she wasn’t going to let him stop her from doing what she wanted to do.
Sunny took my hand and closed her eyes.
“We’re doing this now?”
She peeked at me with one eye. “Now is as good a time as any.”
“Fine.” I sighed. “What do you want me to do?”
“Focus on yesterday. Everything you can remember. Try to picture it in your mind as you do.”
“Okay.” I put my thoughts to the day before.
“After the public make-out,” Sunny said.
I blushed hotly. I hadn’t meant to go back that far, but wow, it was hard to forget climbing up my man in a public eatery. “You saw that?”
“Along with half the town.”
Oh yeah. I’d forgot about the recording.
Sunny kept her eyes shut. “And while it was very exciting, it’s not going to help us find the bad guys.”
“Does this mean your gift is working?”
“It’s like I’m watching TV with an old UHF antenna, everything is grainy, and I’m only getting a partial picture, but yes, I
see bits and pieces.”
“Gotcha.” I tried to only sift through the memories after entering Sunny’s Outlook. The sharp prick in my neck. Waking up in the back of a truck. The rough roads leading into the woods. Brother Wolf.
Do you need something, little sister?
Oops. I hadn’t meant to call him. He had been a major part of how I’d managed to escape.
A strange look passed over Sunny’s face. “Who is Brother Wolf?” she asked. “Does Billy Bob have a brother?”
“No,” I heard the doc say. “He is Chavvah’s spirit guardian.”
“Huh. I’ll expect a full explanation later,” she said. “But keep thinking about the Brother Wolf dude. I am getting a stronger signal when he’s in the picture.”
I couldn’t help but think about when I first started hearing his voice while kept in a cage. Brother Wolf had been a way to escape the metal bars. He’d help me escape the pain.
“Oh, honey,” Sunny said. “It was so awful for you.”
“What do you see?” Billy Bob asked.
“The cage she was kept in at the lodge.” She held up a hand to silence Billy Bob’s next question. “I can see a shadowy figure in a stretch of green pastures and blue streams. The sky is the color of sapphires, and the clouds are ridiculously fluffy and white as if giant cotton balls levitated in the air.
“He is a giant wolf. Black as night with eyes that are the color of white diamonds.” She took a deep breath and held it for a moment. “I can hear him talk to you, Chavvah. I hear him tell you that you are not alone. That you are his child.”
I wanted to cry as she spoke. I remembered that day so clearly. The hunters had broken my collarbone trying to make me turn. I almost did. Brother Wolf, even when I didn’t have a name to call him, had lent me his strength.
“Where is this place?” Sunny asked with wonder.
It is the aether, Brother Wolf said. It is the place where I exist.
“It’s the spirit world,” I told her. “It’s where my guardian lives.”
I can show you, sister. I can show you through the seer.
Yes. Without hesitation. Yes.
In the next second, I was standing in a field with Brother Wolf. I was in animal form as well now, and judging by the size of my paws, I’d appeared as the timber wolf, not the coyote. I gave my first nature a gentle apology.
I saw then what Brother Wolf saw. A curled up woman, damaged but not broken, on the ground in front of him. He could see me in the cage, but he couldn’t see the cage. He could see the result of the physical abuse on my body, but not the attackers. I understood now why he couldn’t have guided Billy Bob to my location. We were in a realm where time and place didn’t matter.
“Is this the past?”
“There is no past, present, or future here. Time is irrelevant.”
“So that…” I pointed to my battered visage. “…is happening to me now?”
“Yes,” he said sadly, his voice no longer in my head. The large black wolf shook his head. “You are strong, child. You are brave.”
I looked at the helpless version of myself. “I don’t feel it.”
“Fear is not weakness. Fear keeps you alive. Weakness is a failure to act because of fear. This is not the case with you.”
Enduring my torture had been wretched, but I imagined it must have been awful to watch.
“It is.” Brother Wolf rubbed his muzzle against mine.
I forgot this wasn’t a memory for him. Just as I was beside him in the aether, I was also, for him, still in the cage.
Across the meadow, movement caught my eye. A coyote ran across the field, his body blurring and blinking as if it struggled to keep form.
“Who is that?” I asked
“A visitor.”
“To what purpose?”
“His own, I suppose. He has come in his upright form many times, but lately, he transforms into coyote when he approaches.”
I was curious how many of us could communicate with the guardians. “Is he like me? A spirit talker?”
“He has made himself one.”
“What do you mean?”
“He is not mine. I know nothing more.”
The scenery around me began to blink, to fade. The girl I’d been only a year ago disappeared. I wanted to reach out to her, to comfort her, to tell her that help was coming. She knew it was on the way.
I mean, I knew it.
I didn’t have to go back to be saved. A flickering of images staggered me. Fur, blood, exposed muscle. A curved blade used with surgical precision. The strong scent of sassafras. Someone chanted. I tried to raise my hands to my ears, but I couldn’t move. Was I paralyzed? Had they found me again? Had I been taken?
The star. The eight-point star. Not made of twigs. Not mine.
It covered the naked back of the killer. He stopped mid-slice. And pivoted slowly to stare at the place where I watched. Only, he didn’t have a face. Not a human one. Oh my God. If this was a dream, I wanted to wake up.
“Chavvah!” The rough shaking of my shoulders roused me. “Chavvah!” It was Billy Bob. He and Sunny were crouched over me, and I was on the floor blinking up at them.
I screamed as I sat up. I tried with all my might to stop picturing what I had just seen. It could have been me. “Oh, God.” I shook my head when Billy Bob tried to help me up. “His face. It was a black bear face, but it wasn’t his. Christ. He wore Mike like a second skin.”
“I know,” Sunny said.
I looked at her then and saw my own horror reflected in her eyes. I’d always thought it would be cool to have her psychic ability, but now… “How do you live with that, Sunny? How?”
My hair stuck to my sweaty cheeks, and Sunny brushed it away from my eyes with her fingers. “I get up in the morning, brush my teeth, wash my face, and maybe have breakfast.” I appreciated her efforts toward humor, but her bleak smile said how she really felt. “It’s not bad all the time. You know that, Chav.”
Billy Bob lifted me then. “No more of that,” he said.
“Agreed.” I was in no hurry to see visions or visit the spirit world again.
“Tell him about the star,” Sunny said.
“The killer had an eight-point star tattooed on his back. I didn’t see if he had any other marks.” I rubbed my upper arms as if to ward off a chill. “I think we should start with Hans Fisk. I saw the edge of a tattoo on his upper arm.”
“Lots of people have tattoos,” Billy Bob said. “We need a better reason to examine the man.”
“Yes, but this one was a star.” I crossed my arms.
“Okay.” Billy Bob mimicked my stance, and the way it made his pecs dance when he crossed his arms, made my nipples rigid. He flicked a glance at them, a half smile tugging at his lips. “We’ll go talk to Sheriff Taylor.”
“Great,” Sunny said. “Chavvah can ride with me.” She tugged at my arm. “We have much to discuss.”
Billy Bob stopped her by pulling me back. “You are going to your cabin, Sunny, and locking the door. The full moon is tonight, and as the day gets closer to sundown, everyone is going to be feeling antsy. You need to lock yourself in and stay safe.”
“He’s right,” I said.
Sunny green eyes widened with betrayal. “Et tu, Chav?”
“Just go home, Sunny. You’ve helped so much. We know more now because of you, but today is going to be hard enough if I’m worried about you as well as these killers.”
“More than one?”
“Yes. Even though we only saw one in your vision. The guy who took me was talking to a partner on the phone. Please go home. You and baby Jude need to keep safe until this is all over.”
To my relief, she nodded. “I’ll go. But call me today if you find out anything new. Or call me if you don’t. I’m going to go crazy out at that cabin by myself, knowing all this stuff is happening, and I can’t do a damn thing about it.”
I gave her a quick, brief hug. “You got it, sweetie. You’re the best.”
Chapter 13
The sheriff’s department bustled as the cataloging of citizens and visitors continued. They hadn’t made much headway on my kidnapping, but since I’d been there and had no idea who had taken me, I guess I couldn’t really blame them. What I could blame them for was the immediate cessation of talking and the obvious gawking as Billy Bob and I walked in.
I crossed my arms and glared at every person with the nerve to meet my eyes. I almost shrugged Billy Bob’s hand off the middle of my back as he guided me to Sheriff Taylor’s office, but really, that small display of affection was nothing compared to me climbing him like a greased pole at the fair.
Sheriff Taylor beckoned us into his office. He closed the door behind Billy Bob and me. “Take a seat.” His shoulders slumped, and his voice sounded weary. He shook his head as if to clear the cobwebs, then met my gaze. “Dr. Smith says you have more information. Did you remember something new?”
“Not exactly.” I wasn’t sure how much to tell. He’d barely believed Sunny last year about her psychic ability. Telling him I was talking to spirits might not make me the most credible witness. I decided to go with a half-truth. “Sunny came over to Billy Bob’s this morning around six.”
Sheriff Taylor raised a questioning brow. “She’s planning on staying in tonight, right?”
“Yes. She’s not dumb.” Which is not to say that she always makes good choices, because, I’m pretty sure everyone knows that’s not true. “She had a vision.”
“Yeah? I thought her radar was on the fritz.”
“Apparently, it got a jump start this morning.” I let my exasperation shine on my face. “This would go a lot faster if you’d just let me get through it.”
He rolled his hand at me as if to say, “It’s your show.”
“She saw a man with a curved skinning blade.” I gagged as I thought of him. “He had an eight-point star tattooed on his back.” For a moment, I was afraid to even blink. Afraid that I’d be back in that room again with the monster. “She couldn’t see his face. He was wearing his victim’s half-form face. It was a black bear.”