by Rivi Jacks
Max is instantly on his cell phone. “Dominic? Yes, please.” He glances over at us. “She’s okay. They are a little shaken, but they are both unharmed.” Max looks at me again. “Miss Sofie, did any of those men touch you or—your friend?”
“Rose. Her name’s Rose.”
I see a smile cross his lips. “Were either you or Miss Rose touched?”
“No.”
He relays the information to—I guess he is speaking with Lucas. Or maybe it’s Dominic.
“Let’s go,” I say. Rose agrees, eager to leave.
Max has finished his call, and he walks with us to the door. He hands me my coat from a closet in the foyer. “My apologies to you both for your fright. Lucas told me to tell you he will speak with you later.”
“Thank you, Max, for getting here when you did,” I tell him, which makes him smile. We hurry to the Jeep and lock our doors as soon as we’re inside. We drive through the gates without a word and head for the Shotgun Shack.
How did Lucas know I was even at his house? It doesn’t make sense. Maybe the guard at the gate called him when we first arrived. I glance over at Rose, and she looks at me. Neither of us say anything. I’m sure we’re wearing the same expression. I park, shut off the engine, and we just sit.
“For now, I think it might be a good idea if we don’t tell anyone what happened,” I say.
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” she readily agrees.
A truck pulls up beside us, and I look over to see that it’s Taylor. He’s been out of town for a few days. He waits for us at the door, holding a bag I’m sure contains the bottle of tequila he always brings. He never drinks the cheap stuff, either. Rose proceeds through the door, but Taylor sticks out his hand to stop me. His intent regard is unsettling.
“What?” I ask.
“Well, I have to say—I’m not really surprised.”
“About what?” He shakes his head and motions for me to go in. “I don’t understand. What are you talking about?” I ask, in confusion.
He simply shakes his head again. Sam and Sawyer, along with Terry Joe and Logan, are inside at the bar.
“Got any limes, Sofie?” Taylor asks as he removes not one, but two bottles from the sack he brought.
“If I slice some, can I have a shot?” I ask.
“That’s why I brought a couple of bottles. I figured you girls might need a drink or two,” Taylor says for my ears only.
I look at him with surprise. His expression lets me know he’s aware of what happened at Lucas’ house. He pours the three of us a shot and slides the bottle over to Sam. Sam picks up the bottle, looks at the label, and peers at Taylor with lifted brow.
Taylor shrugs. “It’s from Santiago’s stash.”
“Did you pick out the most expensive?” Sam asks jokingly.
Taylor snorts. “Hardly.”
I wonder at their exchange when Sawyer walks up. “Sawyer, don’t you have a date tonight?” I ask.
“Yeah, Arilla should be here anytime.” The ones of us who know Arilla give Sawyer dubious looks.
“It’s gonna be a wild night,” Sam states warily as he pours us all another round.
I want to get Taylor alone and find out what he knows and how he learned about what happened so quickly. When I get my chance, I wait, hoping he’ll bring the subject up. He doesn’t.
“How did you hear about what happened?” I ask quietly, keeping an eye on the others.
“I was with Lucas,” he says simply.
“When Max called Lucas?” He smiles slightly. “Do you know Cardwell?”
Taylor makes a rude sound. “Cardwell is scum. He’s overstepped himself for years.”
“He claimed he was there waiting to speak with Lucas.”
Taylor smiles, again with no comment. At my thoughtful look, he laughs and says, “You need to talk to Lucas.”
Well that’s obvious, but the thing is, why hasn’t Lucas tried to get in touch with me? “I don’t know where Lucas is.” I glance over at the others where Sawyer is whooping it up and then back at Taylor.
“Max called Lucas, and I heard him say Dominic. Dominic is Lucas’ friend who owns that bar, the supernatural bar, right?” Taylor gives me a puzzling smile.
Lucas saved me from that scum Cardwell, but why hasn’t he called me? I bite my lip to control my sudden emotions. Because… he’s with someone else.
Taylor must see something in my face that gives me away because he reaches over and touches my hand. “Sofie—”
Whatever Taylor is about to say is interrupted by a blood-curdling scream from outside the Shotgun Shack.
Every one of us stops what we’re doing, frozen. Then we all move at once, rushing to the door. Right outside, between Terry Joe’s truck and Sawyer’s Jeep, Arilla Kane is on the ground on her hands and knees.
Sawyer and Logan reach her first and kneel beside her. Blood runs along one side of her face from a cut at the corner of her eyebrow. I hurry back inside and return with a roll of paper towels. I drop to my knees beside her, tear off a couple of towels, and dab at the blood.
Arilla is crying and babbling incoherently. Sawyer tries to soothe her, but she won’t calm down. She is hysterical, grabbing my arm, trying desperately to get me to understand her.
“Arilla... take a deep breath... stop crying for a moment,” I say, trying to get through to her. She grabs my other arm and pulls me closer. “Guys?”
Arilla has risen to her knees and she keeps repeating the same thing while she maintains her death grip on my arms. Sawyer is standing now, talking to Sam and Taylor, and looking down at Arilla. They seem unsure what to do.
“Guys!” I say more forcefully.
“Sofie?” Sawyer squats down by Arilla and me.
I look into his face. “She’s telling me... the monsters took Sheena.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Sawyer picks up Arilla and carries her inside. The rest of us follow. We quickly decide we’ll go through the woods in the direction that Arilla saw Sheena taken.
Sheena Holt is Arilla’s best friend. She is a slim girl, not much taller than I am, with long, platinum blond hair and blue eyes. I never could figure out their friendship. Sheena is incredibly shy—I guess opposites can attract, even in friendship.
We arm ourselves with what weapons we have. We all have a shotgun in our vehicles, except for Terry Joe, who carries a hunting rifle, and Taylor, who carries no weapon at all.
Sam stays with Rose and Arilla. At first, Taylor insists I stay behind too. Oh—he really doesn’t know me at all. When he at last understands he can’t make me stay, he insists I go with him. I have no problem with that.
We head out within minutes of Arilla’s scream. Sam is going to track down Jake and Lucas and let them know what happened. Taylor and I head due east. Sawyer, Terry Joe, and Logan span out heading south. Sam will have Jake and Lucas come in from the west. We’re confident that the Kihn won’t head north toward town. I can tell Sawyer’s a little apprehensive about me going off with Taylor, but Taylor assures him he won’t let anything happen to me.
Thank goodness it’s winter, and we won’t have to contend with the overgrowth of summer, which would have made traveling through the woods extremely difficult. We’re also fortunate that the moon is nearly full, giving us more light than just our flashlights.
Taylor moves, with me following, quickly through the brush, up and down ravines, and across hollers. I have to hurry occasionally to catch up, but he doesn’t let me fall too far behind.
“You need to stay close—Lucas would have my head if anything happened to you.” With that said, he’s off again, with me trying even harder to keep up.
He moves as if he’s following a scent, tracking the Kihn. We clear a gully and struggle—well, I struggle—up the hill. We come out into a clearing where the old McCallan homestead sits. The log cabin’s roof and a couple of the walls have long since fallen in, but the log barn and smaller log outbuilding are still intact.
Taylor stops as soon as
we’ve cleared the trees. He extends his arm, stopping me. “They’ve been here,” he whispers.
I look around anxiously. I have my Mossberg loaded with shells Jake gave me, and I have some of the Dragon’s Breath shells in my coat pocket. We advance with caution toward the outbuildings. “Do you know this place?” Taylor asks softly.
“Yeah, it’s the old McCallan place.”
We move toward the smaller building first. Taylor kicks the door with a foot that moves so fast, I only see it as a blur. His kick has a lot of power and knocks the door back against the interior wall and off its rusty hinges. He looks around the dark interior. This puzzles me since I can’t see a thing. I turn my flashlight on, send the beam around the room, and up into the rafters. He gives me a funny little smile when I give him a questioning look.
“They’ve not been in here,” he states with certainty.
I keep looking behind us and around the clearing as we move toward the barn. The rickety barn doors are propped open with two large field rocks. I don’t want to go inside there. To be more specific, I would give anything not to go into that dark barn. Taylor clearly doesn’t have the same foreboding, and I am not staying out here alone.
He stops in the doorway with his head tipped back as if smelling the air. He turns toward me and nods.
What does that mean? That it’s okay to go in or he smells something in the barn?
He enters on full alert with me close behind. He surprises me when he produces a nifty little crossbow pistol and hands it to me. I shake my head, but he keeps pressing it into my hand until I finally take it. He motions for me to stay close—as if I’m going anywhere but right on his heels. We proceed into the barn. It’s eerily dark, and my flashlight doesn’t illuminate the whole area as it did in the smaller log building.
I can hear my heart pounding, and my breathing is making too much noise. I try to calm myself, but there’s a sudden tingling at the base of my skull.
Look out, girl!
I dive to the left as I call out a warning. I land hard on my hip and roll until I’m pointing both the shotgun and the crossbow toward the danger. I see something large and dark launch at Taylor, taking him down. It’s too dark to see what’s actually happening. I dropped my flashlight when I went down, and it’s shining back toward the entrance. I’m scared shitless at this point and too afraid to retrieve it. I don’t want to take my eyes from where I think Taylor is, struggling for our lives.
An ungodly noise echoes through the barn, causing the hair on the nape of my neck to stand. I hear growling and sounds I can’t begin to explain. Screams, emitted from a non-human voice, rent the air as I scramble to my feet. When an arm sails out of the dark and lands near the light, I have to keep myself from screaming. I back up until the wall stops me.
Then all struggling ceases. There would be silence if not for the loud breathing of myself and either the man or monster still standing. I try to make myself as still as possible, but I can’t control my breathing. I’m too terrified.
A shape moves and I hear a muffled, “Sofie.” I close my eyes and thank Jesus. I move toward Taylor to check on him.
“Stay back!” His voice sounds strained, and I’m afraid he’s hurt.
I slip my arm through the strap of the shotgun and sling it over my shoulder, keeping the crossbow ready. I hurry over to pick up the flashlight. “Taylor, let me check you over and make sure you’re—”
My voice cuts off as I see him, bent over, with his hands on his thighs. I remember the arm flung toward the light. “Taylor?” Something isn’t right here. I swallow convulsively and flash my light on him, moving the light up his body. He turns his head to let me see his face. Yellow-gold wolf eyes look back at me.
The breath is forced from my lungs in a rush. As I watch, the mouth covered in blood returns to human shape. I inhale sharply, telling myself to breathe. Taylor pulls his shirttail from his jeans and wipes the blood away before moving slowly toward me. The light has slipped so it isn’t shining right on his face, but his eyes still pick up enough to make them glow.
Well, I guess that explains why he didn’t need a flashlight earlier. I want to back away from him, but I can’t make my legs work. He steps up close, and I have to tilt my head back to see his face.
“I won’t hurt you.” His voice is deep. It sounds closer to normal than when he spoke before.
“I know.” My voice sounds calmer than it should be, but I know he would never hurt me. My reaction is more shock at the situation and revelation of what he is.
I sense his relief. “We need to leave here right now,” he urges.
“Okay.”
“Can you travel on?”
“Y-yes.”
He looks closely at me then turns and steps over to where the fight took place. I see blood and more pieces of the now dead Kihn.
“Let me have the crossbow pistol,” he says, reaching out. He shoots an arrow into the body of the Kihn. “We’ll make sure that he remains dead,” he says and returns the crossbow to me. I nod. I’m all for being sure. “We need to move on, Sofie. We’ve got to stay on their trail. It’s going to snow, and when it does, I won’t be able to track as well.”
We move out of the barn and walk toward the trees again.
“Maybe you should go on. I know I’m slowing you down.”
“I am not leaving you alone,” he says firmly.
“I’m so sorry. I should have listened and stayed with Sam.”
“Well... I’m glad to hear that.” Lucas’ deep, dark voice comes out of the night.
I inhale sharply, spin around, and see him and Max emerge from the trees into the clearing. The sight of Lucas makes my heart beat erratically, and I want nothing more than his arms around me. I take a step toward him, but I halt when I see the glacial anger in his eyes.
Crap! He’s pissed.
“Did Sam contact you? Do you know what’s happened?” Taylor questions. Of course Sam spoke with Lucas. How else would he know to look for us?
Lucas tears his gaze from mine. “He did. Have you found anything?”
“A Kihn was in the barn waiting for us,” Taylor answers.
Lucas’ gaze flies back to me, and he advances with alarming intent. I suck in a quick breath and back up, extending my hand to ward him off, but it has little effect. He grasps both my arms.
“Are you hurt?” he asks.
“She’s not hurt,” Taylor assures him.
“I-I’m okay.”
He pulls me into his arms, pressing his lips against my forehead. Releasing me he searches my face as if he’s looking for something. His eyes shine silver in the moonlight and I can tell he is still mad. He turns and advances on Taylor. Unlike me, Taylor does not back up.
“Explain to me, my friend,” Lucas’ voice is harsh, “why you brought Sofie out in this.”
I step forward to explain, but Max places his hand on my shoulder. When I look at him, he shakes his head as if to say, “Stay out of it.”
“I had no choice, Lucas.” Taylor’s voice is calm. “She would have followed us if left behind, and I knew if she were with me, I could keep her safe.” Lucas’ stance does not relax. “I would die before I’d let her be hurt.”
“If she’d been hurt—then yes, you would die.”
At this point, I can’t stay out of it any longer. “Stop it!” I stride forward. “He’s your friend, and he’s right. I would have followed. This is my fault, not Taylor’s. The next time I—”
Lucas is in my face as if he’s materialized in front of me. “There will be no next time!” he practically shouts through gritted teeth.
I’m proud of myself. I hold my ground and don’t retreat at his anger. “Stop shouting at me!” I shout back.
We stand there, glaring at each other.
“Lucas,” Taylor says his name with calm, “the night is getting late.”
Without taking his eyes from mine, Lucas says, “Go. Max, go with him. You both be careful—and find that girl!”
“Wait!” I yell as they start to leave. I hand the crossbow pistol back to Taylor. When I try to give Max my shotgun, he smiles.
“I will not need it,” he assures me.
Without another word, they leave, swiftly moving through the trees, soon lost in the darkness. Leaving me with one pissed-off man.
Lucas strides toward me, and I step back, which halts him in his tracks. Surprise flickers across his face.
“You think I would hurt you?” he asks. I hear a note of… sadness I think, in his voice.
“No, but sometimes you act like a raving lunatic around me.” I see a smile tug at the corner of his mouth.
“You do have a tendency to bring that out in me,” he admits, and I hear the amusement in his voice. This makes me feel better. I don’t like him mad at me. “We need to go. I don’t want you out here if his friends venture back.” The thought of that makes me shudder, and Lucas rests his hand against the side of my face. “Don’t be afraid,” he murmurs as he lowers his head.
As he brings his lips to mine, I sigh, “Okay.” His kiss is soft and gentle and ends way too soon for me. He is such a good kisser. He pulls away, but I’m still in kissing mode and sway toward him. He chuckles and steadies me.
“We need to leave here, my sweet.” His voice is deep and sexy.
“Okay,” I sigh. My voice doesn’t seem to want to work.
Lucas strides to the barn, stands in the doorway, and turns to me as I join him.
“Were you in there—when Taylor fought with the Kihn?” His voice is slow and cautious.
“Yes.” I make eye contact with him. I’m not saying anything further in case he doesn’t know about Taylor. I realize this is silly since they are good friends and have known each other for years. It’s even possible—Lucas is the same.
He searches my face for several moments. When he speaks, his voice is soft and wary. “What did you see?”
“His... eyes.”
Lucas watches me steadily. “His wolf eyes,” he states.
“Yes. His—” I swallow “—wolf eyes.”
Lucas continues eyeing me in silence. I lean my head back, looking up as the first snowflakes fall. The ringing of Lucas’ cell phone causes me to just about jump out of my skin.