“Will it hurt her?” asked Jake.
Wilber stared blankly at him. “Why yes, I mixed it up to destroy a sweet, innocent girl who is descended from close personal friends of mine. No, it won’t hurt her. It will help her see the truth. It will do what the stone of truth is meant to. It will open her eyes fully.”
“We need to look for Kelsey.”
Wilber grunted. “We’ll cover more ground if we split up.”
“What if they hurt her? What if she’s—?”
“Don’t let your mind go there, March.” Wilber walked toward the door of the shop.
SIXTEEN
JAKE TAPPED the wheel of his SUV; the need to shift forms and let his inner beast run free gnawing at him from the inside out. He was worried about Kelsey. He and Wilber had looked all over town for her with no luck. No one seemed to know where she was staying. They’d even brought Jolene in on it all, asking her to put out feelers as to Kelsey’s whereabouts. If Jake knew Jolene (and he did), she’d started a phone tree, with the first call being to Mrs. Mays.
Wilber had agreed to check the marina and the docks to see if she was there, while Jake drove to the outskirts of town, hoping to see any sign of her. And Petey wasn’t picking up his cell phone. Not that he ever did.
Jake punched the button for Wilber’s phone and waited as the call connected. Wilber picked up on the second ring.
“Jake, I haven’t found her yet. I told you I would call the minute I did,” Wilber said, annoyance coating the man’s every word.
Jake tensed more. “You should have never let her leave. I shouldn’t have let her go either.”
“You’ve mentioned that several times now,” said Wilber, sounding agitated. “I’m sure she’s fine. Petey is probably with her as we speak. You know he’ll protect her. He may be a crazy old goat, but he’s powerful and can give someone a run for their money—and that’s when he’s just in human form. In wolf form, that’s a whole lot of furry crazy going on.”
Jake’s jaw set and his legs burned, nearly changing forms into those of a horse as he drove. He felt light-headed and strained to keep his attention on the road as he fought with his body—trying to will it to remain in human form. He didn’t have time to shift forms, and he surely couldn’t drive a car while half of him was a horse. He was good, but not that good. Now wasn’t the time to lose control of his shifter side. Not when Kelsey needed him.
He let out a line of curses that would get him a hefty dose of Polly’s anti-cursing potion, should she hear it.
Wilber grunted. “Feel better getting that off your chest?”
Jake rubbed his right leg as he drove. “I’m fighting a shift.”
Wilber fell silent a moment. He let out a long breath. “Go out to my hunting cabin. Shift there and get ahold of yourself. I didn’t find any sign of her down at the marina. I’m going to the Magic Eight Ball to see if Petey is there. If not, maybe Monte or Sam have seen him.”
It was a smart idea to look at the bar. Petey tended to frequent it often and was normally found there with his buddies, Monte Gallagher and Sam Chester. They were all old fishermen who liked their whiskey and sitting around telling tall fish tales. “I’ll head that way.”
“Jake, listen to me for once,” said Wilber sternly. “I get you don’t much care for me, but I’m right on this. You need to shift and get it out of your system before you do something stupid, like lose control and shift into a centaur in your SUV and wreck, or worse yet, find Kelsey and accidently shift in front of her—before you have a chance to explain it all to her. How well do you think that will go? Plus, a chunk of the town doesn’t know what you are. Want them finding out that way?”
Jake wasn’t sure if he was angry for his sudden lack of control or because Wilber was right. It was undoubtedly both. “Fine,” he said through clenched teeth, trying desperately to fend off the impending shift. “I’ll go to the cabin and transform there. I can run in the woods and maybe pick up on her scent. Everything on me is super heightened in that state. I won’t be long though. Just enough to get control of myself.”
“If you do catch her scent, do us all a favor and change back to something with just two feet, okay?” asked Wilber with a half laugh. “We’ll never find her if she’s hiding from horse people.”
Jake hung up and tossed his cell onto the passenger seat. He flipped on his police lights and put the pedal to the floor, exceeding the posted speed limit. Usually, he wasn’t one to break the law, but the burning need to shift was something he considered an emergency. Since a significant portion of the town of Everlasting was something more than human, they’d agree. Plus, finding his mate if she was in danger was a high priority. No one would fault him for that.
He hurried in the direction of the woods on the outer edges of town, near Wilber’s cabin. The woods went on for miles and would afford him not only great cover, but ample room to run.
The stretch of highway he was on was barely traveled anymore since the interstate on-ramp had been built not far from Everlasting. He made quick time in the direction of the hunting cabin, spotting the smaller turnoff road just ahead. Jake’s body burned and he felt his leg starting to shift forms. He hit the steering wheel and tensed his entire body in hopes of stopping it. He’d never make it all the way to Wilber’s cabin. Not with how on edge he was. All he could think about was Kelsey and the Babcock witch line. If they had her, she could be hurt or dead.
The very thought of anything happening to her sent Jake into a panic the likes of which he’d never experienced before. He drove his SUV off to the side of the small road that led to the cabin and didn’t bother shutting off the engine or flashing lights. It was all he could do to make it out of the vehicle in time to start hurrying out of his clothing.
He threw his work jacket into the open door of the SUV and began tossing layer after layer behind it. His hands shook as he took off his gun belt and fought the burning need to change forms. He barely managed to get around to the back of the SUV, pop the hatch, and put his sidearm in the built-in weapon-storage unit. He locked it and shut the back of the SUV, unconcerned that he was naked on the side of the road. No one ever used the old road the cabin was on anymore. The risk of having to explain himself to a tourist or out-of-towner was extremely low.
As the cold night air moved over his body, he tipped his head back, trying to hold on long enough to get the rest of his SUV locked. He did, and then turned, tossing the keys, knowing he could find them with ease when he was done with his shift and thinking clearly. Anyone other than a shifter would have a hard time locating them in the meantime. It wouldn’t do to have someone steal his work vehicle. It would make him about as competent as Deputy August.
He shuddered at the thought.
The natural magic he’d been born with burst free, flaring up and around him. It was not happy to have been kept waiting. It had been bottled up far too long, and it was worried too.
Worried about its mate.
Jake drew in a deep breath as acceptance rushed over him, along with his power. Magic encased him, and he felt his body changing forms. There was no pain. Only pure bliss. Unlike a regular shifter, Jake couldn’t change fully into the animal that he was part of. When his shift was complete, he was left with the upper body of a man but the lower body of a horse—he was also left with keen hunter senses. More than a normal shifter.
Jake took in a deep breath—and paused, sure his mind was playing tricks on him.
He could smell orange blossoms and water lilies.
Kelsey.
His woman.
Mine.
Rational thought left him and he took off in the direction of the scent at a full run. Wilber’s warning words of changing back to human form never even entered Jake’s mind. His singular focus was Kelsey. She was close. He just knew it.
Branches cut at his chest but he didn’t care. The scratches would heal quickly. His only concern was finding Kelsey and making sure she was safe.
Nothing else mattere
d.
Her scent intensified as he burst through the woods into a clear area, only to find himself standing near Wilber’s hunting cabin. The very one in which Wilber had suggested Jake shift forms. The same one where Wilber had tied Jake to a chair and forced him to watch the Home Shopping Network.
Why did it suddenly smell like Kelsey?
Had his mind snapped?
Had all Jolene and Wilber’s talk about mates gotten under his skin and into his brain?
He stepped around the side of the cabin and caught sight of a light on in the kitchen window. As he looked in, he saw Kelsey standing there, holding a mug in her hand and sipping from it—staring out of the window directly at him.
Her eyes widened and she dropped the mug. “Holy guacamole! I drank the pink elephant tea!”
Momentary relief came over Jake to see she was alive and okay. The relief was short-lived when he remembered he was in full centaur glory, and she was looking right at him. He put his hands up fast, attempting to appear harmless. Well, as harmless as a man who was half horse could look. “Kelsey!”
She lunged back from the window and out of his line of sight. “Artemis! Come here quick! Scary hallucinations are outside. Hide!”
Jake winced and considered changing back to his human form right there in order to try to calm her fears, but he didn’t think storming into the cabin to try to explain himself while naked would do much good. His clothing was back with his SUV. He needed to get dressed and then get back to her.
He pivoted and ran as fast as he could back to his SUV. By the time he reached it, the entire area was blanketed in darkness except for the flashing of his lights which did nothing more than bother his sensitive shifter eyes. His eyesight was far better than a human’s at night, but even he was having trouble. It was that dark out. There was barely any hint of the moon. And streetlights simply didn’t exist on the old country road.
Jake shifted back into human form and went in the direction he was fairly sure he’d pitched the keys. As concern over not only Kelsey’s safety but her possible rejection of him weighed heavily on his mind, he found he couldn’t exactly remember where he’d thrown the keys.
He searched, fumbling around in the dark, bent down, naked in the chill of the night. He knew he was a sight to behold, and that he’d never live it down should Hugh or Curt find him in such a state, but he didn’t care. He just needed the keys, his clothes, and then to get to his mate.
“She’s going to reject me,” he said as he searched without any luck for the keys. “She’s scared of me. How can she not be? I look like a monster to her.”
He continued to look around for the keys, desperate to find them. If he didn’t locate them soon, he’d break the window out of the SUV and grab his clothes that way. To heck with what anyone thought of it all.
She was more important than any work-issued vehicle.
He felt around in the cold grass, coming up empty. He stood, a hand going to his hip as he thought about what Kelsey had yelled upon seeing him. What did she mean by pink elephant tea?
He heard the approaching vehicle before he saw it. As the headlights grew closer, he cupped himself. When he saw the vehicle belonged to Petey, he lowered his head. “Hugh and Curt will be the first to know about this.”
Petey rolled down the window of his old truck and arched a bushy gray and black brow. “You just get out of a bath too? Drip-drying?”
“What?” asked Jake, shaking his head. “No.”
“It’s okay. You can tell me the truth,” Petey said, glancing around and leaning partially out of the window. “The breeze feels nice when nothing’s in the way, doesn’t it?”
Jake got his meaning and coughed. “Petey!”
“What?”
“I really don’t want to know about you enjoying walking around naked with the breeze on all your bits,” said Jake, sure he’d never be able to get the mental image of Petey doing that very thing from his head.
“Well, if you didn’t just finish up with a bath, whatcha doing out here naked? You didn’t shift out here, did ya? Kelsey is staying at Wil’s cabin and she might see you.”
Jake stared blankly at the man. “She’s living there?”
“Sure,” said Petey, looking proud. “Fixed it up myself. I tried to tell Wilber he should rent it out and make some side cash from it. He doesn’t believe me. Of course, I haven’t let Kelsey pay me anything for it yet, so I guess not much money has been made.”
Jake let out a long breath, doing his best to remain calm. The man would talk for hours if left unchecked. “Petey, I’ll deal with you letting anyone stay in that deathtrap another day. Right now, we have a bigger issue. Kelsey just saw me in shifted form.”
Petey touched his chin, appearing surprised. “Well, this is gonna make for an interesting evening then, isn’t it? I’ve been telling her about Everlasting, but she hasn’t believed me. I’m pretty sure she just humors me. It’s okay though. I like telling her stories about the folks in town. She’s a good listener.”
Jake looked pleadingly at him. “Help me find my keys.”
“You got naked and lost your keys?” Petey asked, putting his truck in park. “Thought I was the only one that happened to.”
“Petey.”
“I’m coming. Hold your…horses,” the man said, rolling at his own joke.
“Kelsey is in danger,” Jake said.
Petey practically jumped out of his truck. “What? From who? I’ll get ahold of them and show them where a bear goes in the woods.”
“What?” questioned Jake, positive the man had finally snapped.
“No one better think of hurting that girl,” said Petey, walking right past Jake. He bent and came up with the keys Jake had been in search of. He tossed them to Jake, who uncupped himself to catch them.
Petey stared at Jake and nodded. “Impressive.”
“Petey!”
With a shrug, Petey headed back to his truck. “I’m older than dirt, I used to live with a pack, and I was in the Navy. Not much surprises me, Jake.”
Mortified, Jake hurried to his SUV and unlocked it, grabbing his clothes quickly. Haphazardly, he pulled on his uniform pants and then his undershirt.
Petey nodded again in approval. “Commando. I like it. It’s what we real men do. None of that running around in our boxers like He-Who-Shall-Remain-A-Ghost.”
Jake yanked his uniform shirt on but didn’t bother buttoning it. He glanced at Petey, knowing the man had issues with the ghost that inhabited the lighthouse on the opposite end of town. Cornelius, the ghost in question, had caught Polly’s eye some time ago, leaving Petey a jealous mess. Jake felt for the guy.
“Let’s go.”
Petey eyed him. “Why are you in such a hurry to get to Kelsey? You’re taking a real strong interest in her well-being there, Deputy.”
Swallowing hard, Jake held on to the open door of the SUV. “She’s my mate.”
“Well I’ll be a werewolf’s uncle!” shouted Petey, slapping a knee as he did. “Doesn’t that just beat it all?”
Jake lowered his head. “She’s got to be terrified of me. She just saw me shifted.”
“I’ll explain things to her. I’ll help make it right,” offered Petey.
Jake normally wouldn’t actively seek out Petey to smooth anything over with anyone, but he got the sense Kelsey and Petey had formed a strong friendship. “Thanks.”
“Let’s get a move on. We’ve got a girl to win over for you and keep safe. Wait, what are we keeping her safe from?”
“Evil witches,” said Jake.
Petey grunted. “I hate evil witches.”
SEVENTEEN
KELSEY MOPPED up the puddle of tea on the floor with a hand towel as she mumbled to herself. “Jake is a horse-man. Sure, why not?”
She stopped what she was doing and looked at the unbroken mug on the floor. Somehow, it had survived the fall. Her gaze then went to the cabinet full of bizarre items. Had she drunk something that wasn’t actually tea? Ha
d it made her think she was seeing Jake, and that he was half horse, half man? Like the toy crystal ball had shown her in Wil’s basement? Had all the talk at the shop before she was sent home gotten to her? She had monsters on the brain and couldn’t get Jake out of her head, so it stood to reason that if she was under the influence of something, she’d hallucinate him.
She heard a car pulling up and set the mug on the counter, putting the damp hand towel next to it. Kelsey headed to the front door and waited, listening as she heard car doors opening and closing. Did monsters drive cars?
“If they can and I can’t, there is something really wrong with this,” she murmured, her ear pressed to the door.
“You gonna go on up there and talk to her or are you gonna stand here looking disheveled, hoping I smooth things over with your woman for you?”
The sound of Petey’s voice left Kelsey moving the chair propped against the door. She set the chair aside and tossed open the front door to find Jake standing next to the old fisherman. Petey’s truck was to the left and Jake’s SUV was next to it. Both had left their lights on, making the yard very bright.
Jake’s uniform shirt was unbuttoned and he had on a white undershirt. He was wearing pants but he was barefoot. He stared up at her, rubbed the back of his neck, and averted his gaze. Nothing about him looked like a horse now, but the forlorn expression on his face told her she wasn’t going to like what he had to say.
Kelsey grabbed the doorframe in preparation for having her world rocked. “I didn’t hallucinate you as a horse-man, did I?”
Petey snickered. “Horse-man. I like it. We should call you Ponyboy.”
“Not helping here,” said Jake out of the side of his mouth, still refusing to meet her gaze.
She put a hand on her hip and leveled a hard look on the men before her. “Someone had better tell me what’s going on really fast before I go back in there, get that broom, and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine on one of you.”
Petey laughed and pointed to Jake. “Be mad at him. I’ve been telling you all along what goes on around here.”
Total Eclipse of The Hunt: A Cozy Paranormal Mystery (The Happily Everlasting Series Book 5) Page 12