True Nature

by Jae

  “What happened?” Kelsey’s skin tingled as her anxiety rose.

  “We never found Little Franklin,” her father said. “We searched for days but finally had to give up the search. There’s no way a baby could have survived when even your brother didn’t make it out of the river alive. His body was probably swept away by the river.”

  Danny... He’s Franklin. He’s my nephew. Even before, Kelsey had been almost sure about it. Another deaf Syak baby found at the same river on the same day that Little Franklin disappeared… That couldn’t be a coincidence. But still, the confirmation rushed through her veins, vibrated through her every cell. Joy pulsed through her, but then anger swept away every other emotion. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

  “Kelsey, please. We did what was best for you.”

  “Best for me?” Kelsey’s voice rose to a disbelieving screech. “I blamed myself for Franklin’s death for years! How could that be what’s best for me?”

  “We wanted you and everyone else in the family to see his body go up in flames so you could start grieving,” her father said. “There was always a small part of me that kept asking questions. What if he somehow survived? How did he die? Did he suffer? Endless questions and no one could provide answers. I didn’t want to do that to you. I wanted you to have some closure and be able to go on with your life, so we wrapped Franklin’s favorite stuffed animal in a blanket and burned it with Garrick and Sabrina.”

  Kelsey’s hand with the phone dropped to her side. The traffic noises around her sounded as if they were coming from a great distance. The world tilted, and she clung to a streetlamp. Fire spread through her limbs.

  “Kelsey!” Rue’s spicy ocean-and-pines scent engulfed her, and then two strong hands wrapped around her upper arms. “What’s wrong? Look at me! Look at me, goddammit!”

  With difficulty, Kelsey lifted her head and looked into Rue’s worried blue eyes. Their color reminded her of the ocean back home, and she let the soothing feeling wash over her. The roaring in her ears lessened, and her skin stopped burning.

  She exhaled shakily. That’s twice Rue had to stop me from shifting in public. She shoved the thought away. She didn’t want to think about what it meant that Rue was able to do that.

  “What happened? Did he hurt you?” Rue pointed at the phone still clamped in Kelsey’s hand. Her eyes narrowed, and she stared at the phone as if she wanted to wrench it to her ear and shout at Kelsey’s father.

  “No, everything’s fine.”

  “No, it’s not.” Rue pulled Kelsey even closer and cradled her cheek with one hand. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  A ghost. Yes. Kelsey trembled and leaned into the touch for a few seconds longer, then gently freed herself of Rue’s steadying embrace.

  “Kelsey?” Her father’s worried voice came from the phone. “Kelsey? You still there?”

  With a shaking hand, Kelsey lifted the cell phone back to her ear. “Dad, I need to go. Tell Mom I love her.” She stared at the phone for a few seconds more, then shook herself out of her trancelike state. “I’ll call Jorie and Griffin now. We need help to find Danny.” She hadn’t been able to save Garrick and his wife fourteen years ago, but now she could at least bring her nephew home safely.

  Chapter 41

  Before Kelsey could dial, her phone rang. “Great minds think alike,” she said after a glance at the display. “It’s my boss.”

  “Where are you?” A woman’s voice boomed through the phone, loud enough even for Rue to hear. It sounded like the roar of a wild animal, making Rue shudder.

  “Um…” Kelsey glanced around. “Seventh Avenue, somewhere in the Garment District.”

  “Go to Greeley Square and wait there. Don’t move a muscle before we get there. And shut off your damn phone. Now!”

  When the call ended, Kelsey stared at her phone, frowning, then hit the power button and put the phone away.

  “What’s going on?” Rue asked.

  “I have no idea. Seems Griffin and Jorie are coming here.”

  * * *

  Thirty minutes later, Kelsey’s bosses still hadn’t shown up.

  Rue paced in front of a statue in a tiny, triangular park. “Where the heck are they?” She didn’t want to waste time waiting here while Danny was running around the city alone, afraid and sick with that strange shape-shifter fever.

  Finally, a large woman strode toward them, her red hair bouncing against a broad forehead with every powerful step. “Do you have any idea what kind of mess you created?” she asked as soon as she reached Kelsey.

  A second woman—this one smaller and Asian—tugged on her elbow, trying to pull her away, but the large woman kept advancing.

  Kelsey backed away until the statue of a seated man stopped her retreat.

  The large woman crowded her. Her nostrils flared as she noisily sucked in air through her nose. Then she frowned as if she didn’t like what she smelled.

  Rue stepped between Kelsey and the large woman. “Who the heck do you think you are?”

  The redhead glared at her, her eyes flashing. A low growl rose up from her chest. “I’m Griffin Westmore, Kelsey’s commanding officer.”

  Rue kept her ground, even though the woman in front of her was towering over her. “You’re Griffin?” She had assumed Jorie was married to a man. “Is being gay the norm for the Wrasa?” She looked back at Kelsey, who blushed.

  “No,” Kelsey said. “I think about twenty-five percent of us are gay.”

  And you? Rue wanted to ask. At times, it had seemed that her attraction to Kelsey wasn’t one-sided, but maybe it was just this crazy situation. She shook her head at herself. It’s not important right now.

  “Let’s talk about this later,” the smaller woman who had to be Jorie said. “We need to get out of here before the Saru find us.”

  “Saru?” Kelsey and Rue echoed, Rue in confusion, Kelsey with sheer horror.

  “Soldiers whose sole mission is to protect the Wrasa’s secret existence,” Jorie said, lowering her voice.

  Rue frowned. She glanced at Kelsey, who didn’t look like a soldier at all. “And you’re one of them?”

  “Yes.” Kelsey squirmed. “But it’s complicated. I’m not here on official Saru business. They don’t even know I’m here.”

  Griffin growled. “Oh, yes, they do. Your father called the council and told Jeff Madsen that he’ll personally declaw him if anything happens to you on this mission. Tala Peterson and her team are looking for you all over New York right now. I knew from the start that sending you was not a good idea!”

  Kelsey flinched and ducked behind Rue’s back.

  A protective impulse flared up in Rue, surprising her. “Hey, tone it down. I was the one who called Kelsey’s father, so why are you attacking Kelsey? I always thought there was loyalty among wolves.”

  “Wolves?” Griffin looked as if Rue had slapped her. “I’m a liger-shifter, not a wolf.”

  “No offense, but I couldn’t care less if you’re a lion, a wolf, or a spotted hyena.” Rue couldn’t think about the complexity of the shape-shifters’ existence now. She would deal with it later, after Danny was safe. “Are you going to help me find my son or not?”

  “That’s why we’re here,” Jorie said. She turned toward Kelsey and pulled her out from behind Rue. “But you better get out of here. We’ll book you a flight to Europe, and you can lay low until—”

  “No.” For once, Kelsey’s voice was firm, leaving no room for objections. “I’ll stay and help find Danny.”

  “That’s crazy. It won’t be long before the Saru figure out where you are. Maybe they already located you through your cell phone.”

  “I shut it off as soon as you told me to. And I’m not leaving.”

  Acid burned in Rue’s throat. “Maybe you should. You said you could be sentenced to death…”

  “No,” Kelsey said again. “I’m not leaving. Please let me help.”

  Two different instincts warred within Rue. She wanted Kelsey saf
e, but she knew she needed Kelsey’s help to find Danny. Finally, she nodded. “All right. Then let’s split up.” Splitting up would double their chances of finding Danny, and it would also keep Griffin away from Kelsey. “Danny’s cell phone has been turned on somewhere in this area. The only thing Danny knows around here is the Port Authority bus terminal. You two could check around there.”

  “The bus terminal?” Jorie asked. “You think Danny might be trying to return home?”

  “He’s running a fever,” Kelsey said. “Once he realizes he’s sick, he’ll search for the safety of his pack.”

  Griffin nodded. “Either that, or he’ll hide in a secluded den.”

  “Secluded?” Rue pointed at the busy shopping area all around them. “Not much chance of finding that in the middle of Manhattan.”

  “All right,” Griffin said. “We’ll check out the bus terminal.”

  “Here’s a photo of Danny.” Rue rubbed her thumb across Danny’s picture before handing it to Jorie. He looks so human. But so does Kelsey.

  “Keep it,” Jorie said, her gaze soft. “We already know what he looks like.”

  Yeah, guess you do. A thousand questions bounced through Rue’s head. Why had Jorie and Griffin sent Kelsey to North Carolina in the first place? And how had they learned about Danny? But for now, none of that mattered. There’d be time to figure it all out once they found Danny.

  “Try to avoid run-ins with the police,” Kelsey said. “They’re searching for Danny too.”

  “And you stay away from the Saru,” Griffin said. “If they catch you, don’t you dare tell them that Jorie is involved. Keep her name out of this, do you hear me?”

  “I won’t tell them that anyone else was involved. I swear.” Kelsey ducked her head. “My loyalty is to you and Jorie, not to the council or the Saru. And to Danny.”

  Griffin stared at her through narrowed eyes for a few seconds longer. Her amber eyes glowed with intensity.

  For the first time, Rue saw a glimpse of a predator lurking beneath the deceptively human exterior of the Wrasa. A shiver ran down her spine. But then again, humans can be predators too. That was why they needed to find Danny before he fell prey to a predator of any species.

  Chapter 42

  A flood of yellow taxis passed them as they strode down Eighth Avenue. Kelsey’s thoughts tumbled through her mind—flashes of the past mixing with images of Danny. The fear of losing Danny made even the threat to her own life seem irrelevant. No. I won’t let that happen. Never again.

  She let her gaze skip over pedestrians on both sides of the street. Her nostrils flared, and she dissected the smells around her, searching for the familiar peanut scent. I should have realized. He smells just like Garrick. Instead, her nose caught another scent she had encountered before. Her head jerked around.

  There, just turning right into Thirty-First Street, was a large man who towered over the other people. His distinct, aggressive body odor almost drowned out Danny’s peanut scent still clinging to the watch he wore.

  “Rue!” Kelsey clutched Rue’s arm. “Look! That’s the man who has Danny’s watch!” She started to run.

  Rue dashed after her without hesitation.

  They darted around the corner, away from the main flow of traffic.

  The large man turned his head. When he saw them, he ran, quickly gathering speed.

  Kelsey sped up too. Hunting instincts sparked alive in Kelsey. She suppressed an excited yip as she raced after the man, weaving around pedestrians like a hunting wolf winding her way around trees in the forest. A frantic stream of “get him, get him, get him” played through her mind as if on auto repeat, but she kept her wolf tightly leashed.

  A group of students in front of a school of technology scattered as the man crashed through them. At the next intersection, he turned left.

  Rue and Kelsey rounded the corner, now hot on his heels.

  A woman with a pretzel nearly bowled Kelsey over.

  Kelsey lost some precious seconds as she veered around the woman. She craned her head to catch sight of the man with the watch.

  The man streaked across the street, barely making it before the pedestrian light changed to a flashing red hand.

  Ignoring traffic, Rue ran after him.

  Cars honked as their traffic lights turned green and Rue was still in the middle of the intersection.

  “Rue! Watch out!” Kelsey slid to a stop at the edge of the street and squeezed her eyes shut. Honking cars drove past her, but no crash came. When she opened her eyes again, Rue had made it to the other side. A sharp breath escaped Kelsey.

  But Rue was still far from safe. She was running after the man at top speed.

  “Rue!” Kelsey shouted over the traffic noises. She bounced up and down to see over the mass of cars, feeling like a wolf cut off from the rest of her pack by a river of steel. “Wait for me! Don’t hunt him alone!”

  The stench of violence clung to the man. He had attacked them before, hit Rue in the face. Kelsey trembled at the thought of Rue cornering him on her own.

  “Come on, come on!” she chanted at the pedestrian light. She glanced across the street again.

  Rue hadn’t stopped or slowed. She had almost caught up with the fleeing man now.

  The cars on both sides of the intersection braked as their lights turned red.

  Not waiting for the pedestrian light to change, Kelsey raced across the street. Blood roared through her muscles. The rush of the hunt made her arms itch.

  The warning signal of a backing-up truck shrieked in front of her.

  She jumped to the side and ducked beneath the scaffolding of a building, never slowing down.

  Ahead of her, the man sprinted into a parking lot and weaved between cars.

  Rue leaped and slid across the hood of a car.

  “Rue! Be careful!”

  But Rue didn’t listen or wait for Kelsey to catch up. When the man climbed up a chain-link fence, she grabbed one of his legs and pulled.

  The man kicked out.

  His foot hit Rue’s throat, making her collapse.

  The man landed next to her and reached into his coat pocket. A steel blade flashed.

  A wild growl rose up Kelsey’s chest. Her tightly leashed wolf burst free, and she struggled not to shift. She let her momentum carry her between Rue and the man. Her left forearm shot forward and deflected his knife arm. One half-turn and she jabbed her elbow against his throat.

  When he stumbled, Kelsey followed up with a knee strike to his groin. A quick swipe pulled his legs out from under him, and he crashed to the ground.

  Adrenaline pumping, Kelsey bent over him and stomped on his wrist.

  The knife clattered onto the concrete.

  Kelsey kicked it away and made sure it skidded beneath a car, out of the man’s reach.

  Her gaze searched Rue, who was on the ground, clutching her throat. “Great Hunter, Rue! Did he hurt you?”

  “I’m fine,” Rue rasped, clearly struggling to breathe, much less talk. “Ask...him…’bout Danny.”

  It took all of Kelsey’s self-control to avoid shifting and tearing into the man. “You bastard!” She straddled him, grasped his chin, and forced his head around, this time not bothering to rein in her growl. “What did you do to Danny?”

  The man’s eyes widened when he couldn’t free himself of her grip. “D-Danny? I don’t know no Danny.”

  “Oh, no? Then how did you get this?” She stripped the watch from his wrist, not bothering to be gentle, and dangled it in front of his nose.

  “I-I don’t know.”

  Kelsey let the barely controlled wildness raging through her enter her gaze. “Don’t make me beat it out of you!” She imitated the threatening tone her former alphas had used with their opponents.

  The man bucked beneath her, trying without success to throw her off. “I didn’t hurt him. I swear!”

  “Then how did you get his watch?” When he was slow to answer, Kelsey tightened her grip on his upper arm until she f
elt the bones groan.

  He wailed in pain, and Kelsey loosened her fingers around his arm so he could talk. “I...I stole it. His cell phone too. But you can have it back. I haven’t even used it until today.”

  Moving back a bit, Kelsey reached down and patted his pockets. After a few seconds, she retrieved the phone. The subtle peanut scent told her it was Danny’s. She put the phone in her coat pocket and bared her teeth at the man. “Where did you see Danny?”

  “I don’t remember. Somewhere around here, I think.”

  “How did he seem?” When the man was slow to answer, Kelsey increased the pressure on his arm.

  He writhed on the ground. “He’s okay. I swear I didn’t harm a hair on his head.”

  Kelsey didn’t trust him, but she trusted her nose. His sweaty smell indicated fear, but the odor of a lie was missing.

  “If you...” Still clutching her throat, Rue got to one knee. Her voice was raspy. “If you did, you’re a dead man!”

  “Rue!” Kelsey let go of the man, hurried over, and knelt next to Rue, then threw a glance back at the man.

  He lay still, cradling his left arm.

  Kelsey pressed against Rue’s shoulders. “Stay down until you get your breath back.”

  “I’m fine.” Rue wheezed. She pushed away Kelsey’s hands.

  Kelsey slid her gaze over Rue. She was pale, but there was no sign of blood or other injuries. “You were lucky,” she whispered. “He could have crushed your larynx.”

  When Rue waved her away, Kelsey turned back to the large man.

  The spot where he had lain was empty. He was scrambling up the chain-link fence.

  For a moment, Kelsey’s prey drive threatened to overwhelm her, but then she got a grip on herself. Hunting after him would earn her only a kick to the throat too, and maybe he had another knife hidden somewhere.

  Rue stumbled to her feet and sprinted after the man.

  Kelsey lunged, grabbed her arm, and pulled Rue back.

  “Are you crazy? Let me go! He’ll get away!” Rue struggled to break free, but Kelsey held on, anger fueling her strength.