by Jayne Hawke
34
NATASHA SENT COLE THE details on Dean, the garou that had been taken. She didn’t explain why his pack wasn’t around to watch over him, or why the council hadn’t been notified. I let that go, not wanting to seem like a bitch in front of Cole.
Amy was working diligently on the blood witch information we’d gathered, but her goddess was unamused and pulled her away frequently to work on other things. I had to let it sit while I went to look around the site where Dean had been taken. Turning my music up louder, I tried to ignore the feeling that something was getting between us and the blood witches.
Something squeezed around my chest as I left the Loxwood territory and entered the neighbouring one. I hadn’t felt that when I’d last left the territory, but I hadn’t really felt the pack bond that time either. As much as Briar was being a pain in my ass, she was still pack. Adam had settled in really well, not that I saw much of him. He was usually hidden away with his nose in a book.
I drove for almost two hours before I finally approached the lakeside cabin that Dean had been staying in. Stopping on the dirt patch in front of the cabin I closed my eyes and tried to let my instincts tell me if there was anything around there. Breathing deep, I took in the scents of the lake, the fresh water and incoming storm. Birds called out and a smaller predator rustled through the nearby woods hunting something small. I needed to relax and allow my instincts to come forward. There was something about a complete calm and trust.
Time stopped being a thing as I tried to trust in myself and reach deep within. Something was wrong about the space. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was there. Opening my eyes, I saw that the bruised grey clouds promising a big storm were almost over the lake now. The air was full of the impending rain and electricity. I smiled and walked around the small rustic cabin trying to look for any small detail.
The cabin itself was roughhewn with the classic log construction and simple matching windows and doors. The area around the cabin was clean and clear dirt, pale sand with some smatterings of darker grey. There were no footprints, as though it had been swept clean. That suggested witches to me. Nothing else would have been able to wipe the area completely clean.
I growled and went around to the front door to look inside. It opened without any need to pick a lock. The interior was dark and simple. A plain blue rug sat in front of the open fireplace. An old black couch with two seats and numerous bare patches filled half of the living space. I was careful to move slowly and take in every detail before I took the next step. My hackles were rising from the feeling of wrongness. Yet it looked pristine. There wasn’t a single dirty dish, stray hair, or drop of blood. It would have fit into a magazine.
There wasn’t a chance in hell that a teenage garou kept his cabin this clean and tidy. If nothing else, it would have taken an age every day to go over every detail. There wasn’t even a trace of dust or cobwebs in the high corners or along the top of the slender wardrobe. I growled in frustration just as the first peal of thunder rolled overhead like a stampede of angry bison.
Closing my eyes, I tried to follow my instincts again. My senses were failing me. I couldn’t smell a damn thing, not even furniture cleaner, and my eyes hadn’t picked up anything out of place. Something tugged me into the bedroom. Opening my eyes, I pulled the single bed away from the wooden wall and saw a tiny circle painted in blood. Breathing deep, I caught it then, the scent of old blood and stale earth.
I took a photo and tried to catch a scent that I could track. Nothing.
Returning back outside, I started looking for the perimeter of their cleaning job. It had to be there somewhere. They couldn’t have cleaned the entire territory.
35
THE STORM DIDN’T SCREW around. Hard rain pelted my skin, thunder crashed overhead, and the lightning cut through the darkness. I moved as quickly as I could while worrying that the intense rain was going to wash away any signs that I could use.
A garou was missing, and I wasn’t ready to give up. My shirt was clinging to my skin and the cold wet had long ago sunk into my bones. Cold water dripped down my face and ran in rivulets down my spine, making me shiver. Still I pushed on. There had to be something they’d missed. Something I could use to get Dean back to his pack.
I was out there for almost four hours in total. By the end, I’d found two more small blood symbols. They were painted in thick heavy brush strokes and hidden away in the hollow of a tree. I took photos of them and the surrounding area before accepting I wasn’t going to find a trail there that day.
The heater in the Mustang didn’t do much to dry me off or warm me up. I had only just stopped shivering when I finally pulled up into the driveway. The storm had followed me every step of the way. My windscreen wipers could barely keep up, and the thunder rolling overhead eclipsed the sound of my music. Normally I loved a good storm, but this one was getting in my way.
I ran inside and toed my sneakers off before I ran upstairs and dove into the bathroom for a scalding hot shower. The scalding hot part lasted a grand total of thirty seconds before it ran icy cold. I’m not ashamed to admit that I let out a scream of pain and horror. Clutching my towel to me, I stalked back out of the bathroom and went looking for the culprit. Cole had a very nice water heater. There was no reason for the water to be arctic cold.
Briar emerged from the basement with a smile on her face.
“I just had to tweak the water heater. It was acting up.”
It was the smugness in her tone that pushed me over the edge. I snarled at her. My wolf side pushed forward, sharpening my teeth as I prowled towards her.
“I am your alpha and you will begin treating me with some respect before I hand you over to the council,” I snarled.
Her eyes went wide and she swallowed hard as she stepped back and desperately tried to hunch her shoulders and make herself small.
“I’m sorry. You don’t understand. I’m sorry. Really.”
I almost believed her.
“What happened?” Cole asked.
“I made the water run ice cold while Rosalyn was in the shower...” Briar said barely above a whisper.
Cole bared wolf teeth at her. Briar swallowed hard and stepped back down towards the basement.
“Get to your room and do not leave,” Cole growled.
Briar scurried past us and shot up the stairs. I was shivering again. Cole ran his thumb over my cheek. The lightning lit the room, giving him a pale glow for a split second.
“You’re freezing,” he whispered.
“I was out in the storm looking for the missing garou.”
He frowned.
“I should have helped. I was called away.”
“By Natasha,” I said more sharply than I should have.
He sighed and hooked his finger under my chin.
“Yes.”
His lips were caressing mine before I could reply in a biting fashion.
“I’ll make sure the rest of your shower is suitably hot.”
I was tempted to invite him to join me, but I didn’t know the deal with Natasha and didn’t want to risk making a fool of myself.
AMY CONFIRMED THAT the symbols were blood witch symbols, which meant they had taken Dean. I growled to myself and pulled my fluffy blanket closer around me. I was struggling to get warm even after the gloriously hot shower.
My instincts should have told me. There was something blocking me, interfering. I didn’t know why or how, but I knew I was going to put an end to it.
I pulled up all of the photos Amy and I had gathered at the library and settled in for an evening of reading and comparison. Something there had to give me a clue about what had happened to Dean, and if there was some chance of getting him back.
Chewing on my bottom lip, I found my mind wandering after the second hour of trying to read the photos. Who would get in my way and why? It had the feeling of a deity presence, which meant a witch. The only witch I knew was Amy, and she’d been bending over backwards to help me. The blood wi
tches must have known about my presence, but the reading I’d done didn’t tie them into storms, or the ability to cover their tracks this way.
What little I understood about them, blood witches only did big workings. They focused on gaining power, presence, and wealth. The sacrifices they did to their god would grant them a booming business, a few million in their bank accounts and such. The notes on them said they rarely cared about the smaller issues in life such as minor annoyances; they were big-picture thinkers.
I lay back on the bed. If it was them, then it was tied back into my being a guardian. I was a protector of garou, which I was currently sucking at. So, if they were trying to take me out of the picture, they were an even bigger threat to my people than I’d originally thought.
36
MY NIGHT WAS FULL OF weird dreams with a large snake. There was a feeling of the snake devouring the sun, but it was quickly chased away by blood. So much blood.
I woke up feeling exhausted and not even slightly prepared for the day. Of course Natasha was there in the kitchen when all I wanted was some time in Cole’s arms, right after a large plate full of fluffy pancakes drowning in maple syrup. What I got instead was insipid giggling and a rage that threatened to consume me. I was mostly asleep when I first stumbled into the kitchen. That quickly changed when I saw Natasha press her lips to Cole’s like the old lover she was.
I spun on my heel and left, not wanting to see any more. So much for my thoughts and feelings about Cole. It seemed I was a little distraction before he returned to his neat and tidy life with the pack princess. I couldn’t blame him. No, that’s not true, I absolutely blamed him. I could see his reasoning. She was gorgeous, poised, experienced as a garou, and politically connected. Perfect for a strong alpha and councilman like him.
Autopilot kicked in, and I didn’t realise I’d even left the house until I pulled up in the carpark of my favourite coffee place. They did amazing waffles and didn’t judge me when I asked for extra whipped cream. I ordered two portions and lashings of thick rich chocolate syrup on top. It wasn’t a good morning, and I had every intention of eating my feelings.
AMY WASN’T REPLYING to my texts. I got the impression that her goddess had called her away for something. That left me feeling distinctly alone. Jake was the gods only knew where, and he hadn’t spoken to me since I’d moved in with Cole. That was partly my fault, as I hadn’t made much effort, but he’d been my best friend. I rubbed my temples and smiled gratefully when the guy brought me over a hot chocolate with extra marshmallows, on the house.
“You look like you could use it.”
I gave him a weak smile and then realised I wasn’t even wearing matching sneakers. The day really was a disaster.
Sure, it was petty, but I pulled out my phone and began looking around the Grim for Natasha’s profile. I wanted to know who this woman was that had strutted into my life and pulled my pack out from under me.
Her profile was bizarrely sparse. High-ranking garou usually had colourful profiles full of photos from grand galas and such. As a pack princess, I’d expected her to have tons of information for me to mentally make snarky comments over. There was only the bare bones there. She was a Bellefleur, a descendant from one of the original garou families in America. Her pack was relatively small given its status, and that was all.
I was about to give up when I spotted a search result from a gossip section of the site. It turned out that her pack wasn’t quite as high ranking as she was making out. I clicked through and read with perverse glee as I saw that her pack had in fact fallen from grace and she was no more a princess than I was.
37
IT WAS A GREY AND MISERABLE day when I finally felt ready to leave the coffee shop. I gave the baristas a large tip, partially as a thanks for their pity, and partially as a bribe so they wouldn’t bring it up in the future.
The need to run and be with my pack had been creeping up on me all morning and it was close to unbearable as I stepped out into the cool air. The temperature only dropped further when I saw a lithe woman in silvery whites approaching me. Eira. She was the last person I wanted to see right then.
The ice fae gave me a suitably icy smile as she approached me.
“Rosalyn. I have a proposal for you.”
My instincts screamed at me to tell her to leave me alone and walk away, but I was tempted. She was clearly a powerful fae and I certainly had some big problems in my life.
I crossed my arms and waited.
Eira ushered me over to her pristine car. A small wave of her hand, and the sound around us was muted. I felt trapped and went to walk away, but she had approached me twice now and my curiosity had been piqued. I really should have been a feline shifter.
“You’re clearly not interested in small talk, so I’ll get straight to the point. You’re an abysmal guardian, and I can help with that. I can tell you how to step into your full guardian nature. All I ask in return is for a little help with a problem I’m having, and a favour.”
I snorted. No one in their right mind offered a favour, let alone an open favour, to a fae.
Eira pursed her lips. The temperature around us dropped further, sending a shiver skittering down my spine.
“What’s the problem?” I ground out.
She smiled and the temperature shot up. My body didn’t know what was going on.
“Your little friend, Jake, is refusing to take up his position as prince. That is causing some difficulties on Fae. Tell him to be a good prince, and I’ll help you with your guardian situation.”
I wasn’t surprised to hear that Jake was being a general pain in the ass. Some part of me was proud of him, it couldn’t have been easy to stand up to that pressure.
“I have lost contact with him,” I said with a shrug.
“Then I suggest you reconnect with him,” Eira said sharply.
I smiled sweetly.
“No deal.”
Eira stepped forward and placed her very cold hands on my arms.
“Garou are dying because you are not doing your duty as a guardian. All you have to do is one little favour, and talk some sense into your friend. You do want to save your people... don’t you?”
I swallowed down my rage and tried to speak calmly.
“Of course.”
She stepped back, delighted.
“Excellent. Then you’ll speak with Jake. I’ll find you once you’ve upheld that part of our little bargain.”
“I never agreed to anything.”
“Didn’t you?” she asked innocently.
Damn fae. They were a nightmare to deal with. I should have walked away when I had the chance.
38
I HAD LEFT THE COFFEE shop and moved two blocks over, where I sat on a bench furiously texting Jake. He might not even have been on the Earth plane any more, and I assumed Fae didn’t get cell signal.
Pausing my flurry of texts, I returned to the Grim and looked at the posts about the two latest garou sacrifices. Why hadn’t my instincts kicked in? I growled. Eira was right, those deaths were on my head. Something was wrong with me and I needed to fix it. Now.
Jake finally rang me, I answered on the second ring.
“Where the hell have you been? I need to see you. Now,” I said.
Jake sighed.
“Things have been complicated.”
“Eira says hi.”
The tension crackled between us.
“The ice queen?”
I hadn’t known she was a queen but it wasn’t surprising.
“Yes.”
“Are you ok?”
I shrugged then remembered he couldn’t see me.
“Ok enough.”
I could see him running his fingers through his hair in my mind’s eye.
“Where are you?”
“My favourite bench.”
“I’ll be there in ten.”
He was in Wolf Ridge and he’d made no attempt to contact me. I closed my eyes and tried to unclench my jaw before I broke
something. Emotions rolled through me. My gut twisted and butterflies formed as I bounced between heartbreak that he’d vanished on me, and excitement to see him again.
I slowed my breathing and tried to make myself look less like a complete wreck.
He showed up as if nothing had happened. He still wore the same jeans he’d loved for years and the familiar dark t-shirt that highlighted his toned body. There was a slight coldness to his eyes now, though, and a predatory efficiency to his movements that hadn’t been there before. He was Jake, but he wasn’t. Not any more.
39
JAKE MADE A SIMILAR little motion with his hand that Eira had before he sat down on the bench next to me.
“What happened?” he asked flatly.
“I’m doing ok, thanks. Living with Cole is weird, but we have a couple of new packmates now. His ex-fiancée showed up which isn’t great, but it’s ok, I have my best friend to lean on. Oh, wait...” I said sarcastically.
Jake’s mouth thinned.
“I didn’t abandon you for my own amusement. There are many things going on that I can’t pull you into.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Drop the cryptic act. Eira told me you’re refusing to step up as prince. She’s demanded that I make you.”
Jake’s eyes narrowed and something golden sparked within them.
“Did she threaten you?”
I shrugged.
“She’s fae. I don’t think they do anything without a threat.”
She hadn’t threatened me per se, but there was a clear warning to her tone and the fact she tried to give me hypothermia.
He exhaled slowly and sat a little taller, composing himself.
“Stepping up as prince would put a lot of lives in danger,” he said carefully.
“I’ll tell Eira you said no,” I said as I stood.