by Tamar Sloan
Mitch glances at me, his eyes asking what I just watched. “Kurt attacked a bear, knowing full well it was being recorded.”
Dana cocks her head. “He didn’t kill it.” She studies me for long seconds. “You guys did.”
As the pieces fall into place, the fury unleashes. The injured bear that was at the house. The one Eden tried to help. The one she couldn’t calm—because it was set on revenge against the ones who wounded it so badly.
The one who landed her in hospital, unconscious and injured.
Mitch must realize that I’ve just passed snapping point, because he’s at my side in a split second. His arm slams across my chest, but he’s too late. They need to know the consequences of their actions.
“This is what they want, Noah. She needs to go back a Were.”
Bloody twins. They know exactly what to say to deflate you. All it would take is to break her skin and she would no longer call herself one of us. Although the tension ebbs, I still push against his arm. “I wasn’t planning on turning her.”
Mitch’s arm tightens over my chest, but he knows this is just for show. “Dana’s right. You do that and you’ll just give Kurt the green light to start this thing.”
Dana steps back, her hands coming to grip her bag. What she doesn’t realize is that Kurt was probably willing to sacrifice her to see if I’d snap. He would be more than willing for her to be a lamb for his cause.
The disgust is what ultimately calms me. Kurt won’t get to say how this goes.
By the look of Dana, she knows exactly how close she just came to some serious Prime Alpha action. Even from this distance I can see the effort she makes to swallow.
Mitch’s arm drops and I straighten. “You need to stop this, Dana. You’ve seen this is bigger than just Weres.”
“Actually, it just shows you this is what we’re destined to do. With Fae we didn’t even know about slinking around doing who knows what, we need to show who is ruler. It’s what the world needs.”
I bet she’s just about quoting Kurt word for word.
“Kurt will never rule Weres, let alone anyone else.”
Dana’s eyes flare as her chest inflates. “We will lead Weres as the ruling species.” She flicks her hair. “And that camera was to let you know it has begun.”
I cross my arms. “The Prime Prophecy began centuries ago and it was never for that.”
Dana is stepping back, deciding her message has been relayed from the looks of things. “Fools. You have no vision, no concept of what we can be.”
I don’t say anything. Dana is starting to sound like a fanatic, which is just what Kurt is looking for. And then I get an idea. “Tara doesn’t agree.”
That stops Dana in her tracks.
Mitch narrows his eyes beside me. “She would have liked you to meet our child in a few months.”
Dana’s shoulders tense like an arrow just pierced her between her shoulder blades.
I can’t help myself, I send the final barb. “We’ll tell her you stopped by.”
Dana starts striding away, glancing over her shoulder, her cold and calculated facade finally cracked. The look she shoots us is full of anger and something I can’t define.
In a flash, she shifts, and a red wolf is looking at us. My hands are balled into fists again as she watches us. Civilization is on the other side of the nearby garden. She’s making a statement by pulling such a risky move. Anyone could come along and see us facing off against a mammoth wolf.
With that, she’s gone, agilely leaping into the forest.
Mitch steps forward, determination carved into his features, but it’s my turn to put up an arm.
“Let her go.”
Mitch raises his brow. “Let her go?”
I wait and watch as Dana disappears into the trees.
“She’s going to take us right to him.”
Chapter Eight
Mitch looks back to the gap Dana just disappeared through. “We’re going to follow her?”
“Yep, although we won’t catch her on foot.”
“And she’ll smell us as Weres.”
I look at my twin, knowing the penny is about to drop. “But she went north.”
Mitch’s eyes glow as realization dawns. “And there isn’t much up north…”
“Nothing but a highway that leads to the next town.”
We turn and stride toward the truck. Our best bet is that Dana has headed to Bowerman or beyond. I doubt she’ll risk remaining Were for long. Kurt’s plans will be bigger than that. Which means she’ll have to shift back to human, and slink on home.
And we’ll be there to see exactly where that is.
As we jump into the truck, I know Mitch is doing exactly what I am; trying to get his head around the implications of what Dana just told us. There’s nothing but the rumble of the engine as I pull out of the parking lot and onto the highway. Nothing but the rumble of the engine as the realizations slam into me one after the other.
“Kurt’s been following and watching Eden the whole time.”
Mitch is staring out the windshield just like I am. “Yeah.”
“Kurt knows Eden is the Changeling daughter of the Fae King.”
“Yep.”
My hands tighten around the steering wheel. “The target on her just grew.”
“Yes, yes it did.”
I glance at my twin. “Feel free to disagree whenever you want.”
Mitch puts his hands up in a show of reconciliation. “Hey, when the Prime Alpha is right, the Prime Alpha is right.”
“Thanks,” I mutter, turning back to the road.
It looks like the Prime Prophecy just got real.
Mitch pulls out his cell and starts texting. “I’ll let Tara know we’re going to be late.”
“Good idea.”
The first thing Tara will do is let Eden know. And then the rest of our family.
The road slices through pine forest for miles. We don’t see a trace of Dana, but neither of us expect to. She’ll run as a wolf for as long as she can, deep in the woods, but eventually she’s gonna hit civilization, and then she’ll become human again.
All we have to do is find her and she’ll take us straight to her traitorous father.
The one who has a score to settle with Eden.
My fingers tighten on the steering wheel, and I kind of like the way my knuckles go white. They speak of the strength I’m going to need to do what needs to be done.
A gas station comes into view in the distance. I glance at the needle, and figure we’d better pull in. When we set out this morning, the plan hadn’t included heading out of town.
Pulling in, I notice that the owner seems to have a thing for potted plants. Big ones, little ones, even a couple of massive ones, are stacked around the main building, particularly around the front entry. They obviously had an eye for it because it gives the feeling you’re in a little slice of nature rather than a gas station.
I glance at Mitch and he shrugs. “Trying to cancel out their carbon footprint?”
I shrug too as I head around the back, knowing that’s usually where the fast-flowing pumps for the big rigs are. May as well stay out of sight.
Mitch jumps out as I start pumping the gas. Even if we weren’t twins I reckon I’d pick up on the tension pulsing through his body. He can’t keep still. It’s the same unease tangling every one of my muscles.
We’re heading around the building when he stops. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I look up to see what has caught Mitch’s attention, and stop. Dana is crossing the road, as casual as can be, and heading into the building.
All that tension morphs into simmering anger. “Bingo.”
Mitch crosses his arms, his gaze focused on the door Dana just went through. “So we wait?”
I pull us back around the corner. All the vegetation at the front of the building is actually hiding us from view. “Yep. My guess is that’s her car over there.” I jerk my chin toward the battered hatchbac
k on the other side of the petrol station. “Then we follow at a distance. We only need an address and we turn around. We’ll face them as a pack.”
Mitch nods, face stony. He has his own reasons to hate the father of his mate.
We step back, moving further into the shadows of the building. Dana shouldn’t take long. She probably needed a drink after her little run.
We stare at the door like we’re willing her to come back out.
“What’s taking her so long?”
I stretch my shoulders. “I don’t know, maybe she had to go the bathroom.”
“Do you want me to go check?”
I stare at the door as I consider this. It hasn’t moved since Dana went through. “No. If we give away that we’re here, we lose our lead on Kurt.”
Long minutes pass. Our shoes scrape over gravel as we shift and wait. This is taking too long.
We both step forward at the same time. Something is wrong.
Passing through the jungle-like entry, we enter. The place is small, only two short aisles of groceries and cans and a counter to the left. Apart from a girl behind the cash register, the place is empty.
The girl, blonde and spectacled, smiles at us. “Hi, was it just the gas today?”
I look around again. She couldn’t have just disappeared. “There was a girl in here.”
“Dana?”
That has me spinning around. “You know her name?”
“Yeah, sure. She comes here all the time.”
I blink. Dana has been here before?
The girl smiles, the act pushing her glasses up as her cheeks dimple. “Although she usually comes with Kurt and the others.”
Mitch’s eyes fly to mine, surprise making them round. “The others?”
The girl’s mouth snaps shut. She looks from me to Mitch and back again, obviously wondering what the heck’s going on. I pull in a breath, checking to see if Dana is still here. She was, but the scent is getting weaker by the moment. Bloody hell, there must be a side door or something.
I look at Mitch. She must’ve known we were here. I want to slap myself. How could we have been so stupid?
The girl shifts back a little. The irony that she’s feeling unsafe with us when Kurt and Dana are regulars here isn’t lost on me.
I yank up a smile. “Sorry.” I pause, the false explanation of why we’re acting so weird dissolving on my lips. Now that I’m a little closer to her, I notice the girl’s eyes behind her glasses. There’s something oddly familiar about them. “Have we met?”
The girl shifts back almost imperceptibly, her brows moving further down. “I don’t think so. Was it just the gas?”
I make a concerted effort not to clench my fists. Now that Dana has managed some sort of vanishing act, I can’t afford for this girl to shut down.
Mitch nudges me with his shoulder. “Man, you can’t try that line on her.”
I turn to him, confused. “What?”
“Yep, and there you go with your ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about’ act. This routine is getting boring, bro.” Mitch turns to the girl. “He tries the ‘have me met’ line with every cute girl he meets.”
You’ve got to be kidding me. But the girl blushes, eyes dropping as her mouth tips up a little. That sense of familiarity hits me again, but I can’t figure out why. She’s obviously not Were, and I’d swear I haven’t seen her around Jacksonville.
Mitch shakes his head with a grin. “You’d totally have a boyfriend.”
The girl pushes up her glasses, the blush now a flame on her cheeks. “I’m too busy for a boyfriend.”
I throw Mitch a warning glance, we’re about as far from two single human guys as you can get. He winks, obviously enjoying my discomfort.
He takes a step forward, his friendly smile stuck on his face. “You said you know Dana?”
His forward trajectory stops and his Sir Charm-a-lot smile drops when a screech pierces the room and two great, big wings fan out behind the girl. An owl, a darned big owl, leaps from the shadows behind her and lands on her shoulder.
The girl turns her head as she lifts her hand to stroke its chest. “Sh, Shamus, these guys are just paying for their gas.”
As we watch, the bird, his saucer sized eyes staring at us, ruffles and seems to relax. His body drops, like he’s snuggling into her shoulder. One of his eyes blinks, then the other, before both lids droop.
“You have a pet owl?”
The girl rubs her forehead on the bird. “Yeah, my stepdad hit him with the car one night when I was a kid.” She turns to me, a contented glow softening her features. “Long story short, he kinda adopted me and refused to leave.”
As the bond between girl and bird becomes obvious I suck in a breath. I look at her eyes again, and it all falls into place. Behind those glasses, they ever so gently tip up at the edges. Add that to her affinity for the bird, and I’m pretty sure I’m looking at a Changeling. I glance at Mitch, wishing I could tell him.
I turn back, wanting to do some investigating. “How did your dad feel about that?”
“My stepdad was pretty used to me bringing in strays.” She giggles and the owl ruffles himself. “Although I don’t think he expected this one to stay.”
That’s the second time she’s made the distinction that she has a stepfather. When the girl looks up at the bird again I mouth one word to Mitch. “Changeling.”
Mitch’s face has ‘no way’ stamped all over it, but he quickly recovers. Mitch will only need three seconds to take in the eyes which are so much like Eden’s, heck, even some of the mannerisms the minute an animal is in the picture, and see that I’m right. I turn back, knowing we now have far more questions than we have time to ask.
And unfortunately, the missing Dana is our first priority. “We were hoping to catch up with Dana.”
“You know her?”
Mitch’s smile is back. “We grew up together.”
Which is technically correct. She was practically family until she was brainwashed and tried to get Eden killed.
The girl looks at the two of us. “Well, Shamus has never screeched at anyone else but you guys and them, so it must be some Jacksonville gene or something. And there’s one thing I know, animals don’t lie.”
There was a time Eden put more faith in animals than humans, too. I wonder how growing up with a father who didn’t hang around has affected this girl?
“Yeah, their business brings them through here quite often.”
I bet it does. “I’m disappointed we missed her.”
Mitch doesn’t have to fake his disappointment. “Yeah, me too.”
“They’ll be back at some stage. They’re always keeping an eye out for land since that new law was passed in Congress.”
Huh? I suppose greed is Kurt’s middle name. “I didn’t know Kurt got into real estate.”
The girl’s smile grows wider. “They buy blocks of land before they can be developed and turn them into sanctuaries and reserves.” She glances up at the owl. “Places where animals like Shamus can live.”
Mitch coughs beside me. He’d be thinking the same thing I am. That’s the weirdest alibi we’ve ever heard. I rub my lip. It makes sense though. What better way to endear
himself to anyone than look like an environmental evangelist? I glance at the girl. If Kurt knows of Avery and the Fae, did he realize this girl is probably a Changeling too?
“Where are our manners? My name’s Noah, and this is my brother, Mitch.”
“Hi, I’m Willow, and you’ve already met Shamus.”
I grab my wallet and pull out some cash, passing it to Willow. “Do you know when they’ll be back?”
“They’ve been coming more often, but there’s never any regularity.” Her smile is apologetic. “I couldn’t tell you when they’ll be back.”
“Thanks anyway.” I step away, realizing that all this little trip has generated is more questions. At least we’ll be back at home before it’s dark. As we pass through the doorway I’m hi
t by the smell of foliage and green.
I turn to find Willow watching us. “You created this, didn’t you?”
She pushes up her glasses as the owl ruffles himself. “Yeah.”
I smile, realizing that in some ways, the Fae are getting it right. “Nice sanctuary.”
If I didn’t have heightened Were sight, I wouldn’t see the blush that rises up Willow’s cheeks. “Thanks.”
I turn to join Mitch outside—it’s time to go home.
“Noah?”
Willow moves a little behind the cash register, likes she’s shuffling from side to side. “You know when you can sense stuff about people?”
A Changeling would. I nod, like this stuff happens to people all the time. “Sure.”
“I think you need to talk to Dana. Kurt’s always seemed…driven.” She pauses, looking to gauge my reaction.
So Kurt has given some story about being a philanthropist. But her spidey senses are saying something else. I figure it’s time to be honest. “Kurt has a lot of anger in him.”
Willow sags. “Yes, he does. But this time, when they were heading back to Hazel’s Inn, he was more intense than usual. I think Dana should be careful.”
I nod. Between the greenery and this girl’s warm heart, I have a suspicion I know why Dana knew there was a side door she could use. “She likes coming here, doesn’t she?”
There’s that blush again. “Yeah, she does.”
I turn back to the door, Willow just gave us a lead, but then I turn back one more time. “You should take the time to find a boyfriend.”
Her blushing couldn’t be missed now, not even by a human. Willow’s quiet, reflective voice follows me out the door “Thanks Noah.”
As I stand amongst the greenery I look at Mitch. “Did you hear that?”
Mitch holds up his cell. “Hazel’s Inn is in Bowerman.”
Which is about another hour north. We’re back at the car when Mitch asks the obvious.
“So, what now?”
“Well, we have two choices. We either head home and talk to the others.”
He nods his head to the left. “And lose the trail even more.”
“Or we keep going for a little longer and see if we can find it again.”