Trouble in a Fur Coat (The Fur Coat Society Book 1)

by Sloane Meyers

  The table continued debating what the mayor’s plan might possibly be. No one had any good answers. The most plausible suggestion was that the mayor wanted to start stirring up unrest regarding shifters for the election next year. But that didn’t explain why the scanner had to be done this week. An election that was over a year away wasn’t exactly urgent.

  Jack jumped a bit as Silver poked him in the ribs. “Hey,” she said. “I don’t suppose you’re a fan of telling our parents anything.”

  Jack frowned, turning his attention back to the conversation at hand. Everyone at the table was staring at him, waiting for his response to Silver’s question. “No, I’m not. There’s not really much to tell. So we know that something big might be happening next week. But we have no clue what it actually is. I say we continue to do what we have been doing, just keeping our ears open and watching out for anything suspicious.”

  “I agree,” Grant said. “If I tell my dad about this he’ll probably flip out and want to launch an all out attack. The old crew back home is too bothered by every little threat.”

  Silver frowned. “I have a bad feeling about this, guys,” she said. “Something is really off here. It’s not just another empty threat. I can feel it deep down in my gut. We’re in for some hard times ahead.”

  Juno nodded her head. “I hate to say it, but I think she’s right. Something big is brewing.”

  Bash set his glass down and shrugged. “Well, as it long as it’s just brewing and not actually affecting us, let’s just leave it be. The last thing we need to do is invite our parents to join the fray and stir the pot.”

  Jack nodded in agreement with Bash, and so did Grant. Storm remained silent, but she had a troubled look on her face.

  Silver’s frown deepened. “Fine,” she said. “But I hope for all of our sakes’ that you guys are right.”

  Jack gave Silver an encouraging smile, but he couldn’t ignore the shiver of fear that ran unexpectedly down his spine. Something his mother once said to him ran across his mind as he looked at Silver’s unhappy face. When he was a boy, he had gone out on a sunny day against his mother’s wishes. She had told him that something just felt “off” and she wanted him to stay home. He hadn’t listened to her, and had gone out to the woods to play anyway. A violent blizzard had come out of nowhere, nearly trapping him in the forest for the night under several feet of snow. When he finally made it home, his mother had punished him for not obeying her, and had given him a stern warning.

  “Never ignore a woman’s intuition, Jack,” his mother had said. “It’s a powerful thing, so if a woman in your life insists on something, listen to her. It might just save your life one day.”

  Jack glanced over at Silver one more time. She was laughing now over something Storm had said to her. But the uneasy feeling Jack had in the pit of his stomach didn’t go away.

  He clenched his fist under the table, trying to let go of some of the nervous energy filling him. One thing was certain: no one better try to hurt Silver. If they did, they would pay with their lives.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Silver rubbed her eyes and glanced around in confusion. What time was it? Why was her phone ringing.

  Ding, ding, ding. The ringtone loudly invaded the silence of her bedroom, causing Silver to scowl and sit up fully.

  “Call from, Anderson Rowe,” the computer announced.

  “Shit,” Silver said, suddenly wide awake and glancing at the clock. It was ten a.m. here, which meant it was seven a.m. in Alaska. Why was her dad calling her so early? Had something happened to her mom? Silver jumped out of bed and started pulling on her robe.

  “Answer call!” she yelped at the computer as she took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down the fear bubbling up in her stomach. On the bed, Jack raised a sleepy head, giving her a questioning look.

  “Shhh!” Silver hissed, putting a finger to her lips. “It’s my dad.” Silver had never been so glad that she hadn’t enabled video calling on her home’s phone system. The last thing she needed was to have to answer to her dad for having a man in her bed. Not that it was any of her dad’s business. Silver was a grown woman and could make her own choices. But she knew her dad would give her a hard time about it, anyway. No man was ever good enough for his little girl, and he had threatened to tear the limbs off of every boyfriend Silver had ever had. Silver rolled her eyes. No wonder Bash had such a temper. Like father, like son.

  “Silver?” her dad’s voice came onto the phone.

  “Daddy! What’s wrong? Why are you calling me so early?”

  “It’s not early,” her dad answered. “It’s after ten there.”

  “Right, but it’s early for you. Is everyone okay? Is mom alright?”

  Silver’s father laughed, instantly putting Silver’s mind at ease. She smiled at the warm hearty sound of her father’s deep belly laugh, realizing suddenly that it had been well over a year since she’d heard that laugh in person.

  “You should know that seven isn’t early for your old man. I’m up at five every day during the summer to get the planes ready for the tourists. And mom is fine. Busy with summer camps for the dance studio, and having a blast with that.”

  Silver smiled. Her dad always complained all summer long about how busy he was, flying tourists around Alaska for Frost Peak Tours, the tour company he co-owned with his two best friends. But the truth was, he loved the work. He was damn proud of his flying skills, too. Frost Peak Tours was one of the few tour companies in Alaska that still used manually flown airplanes. With Alaska’s unpredictable weather, having a pilot skilled in manual flying was a necessity—at least Silver thought so. So many of the tour companies were switching to auto-flying planes, but Silver knew her dad never would. He loved to control the plane too much.

  “Okay, well, I’m glad to hear everyone’s okay. But I’m still surprised you’re calling me in the middle of tourist season. As nice as it is to hear from you, it’s a little unusual. Don’t you have tourists scheduled for flights today?”

  “I do, but not until later. My early morning tour cancelled. So I thought I’d call you and ask if what Bash told me last night is true.”

  Silver’s father paused, and Silver froze, looking over at Jack with a concerned expression. What had Bash said to her dad? Surely, he hadn’t told him about the eye scanners? Bash had seemed to be firmly against the idea of going to their parents about the issue. Jack’s eyes widened too, and he shrugged helplessly.

  “Uh, what did Bash tell you?” Silver asked.

  “He said you have a new boyfriend. A new shifter boyfriend.”

  Jack looked relieved at these words. He had probably been worried that all of the Alaskan elders were about to come over to Chicago. Silver, however, felt less relieved. She knew she was about to get a full-on interrogation from her dad.

  “That is true,” Silver said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. She was probably going to be here for a while. “Jack Tanner. Remember him? He’s James’ and Alexis’ son, from the Northern Lights Clan.”

  “I remember him,” Silver’s dad said. “Nice boy. But does he know how special you are?”

  Silver rolled her eyes. “Of course he does, Daddy. That’s why he wanted to date me.”

  “Is he there now?”

  Jack started to open his mouth, but Silver put her finger to her lips to tell him to be quiet.

  “No, Daddy. He’s not here right now.”

  Jack raised an eyebrow in Silver’s direction but didn’t say anything.

  “Well, next time you’re with him, give me a call. I want to tell that boy that if he breaks your heart I’ll break his neck.”

  Silver groaned. “Well, Bash has already made that threat to him. Jack’s a great guy, Daddy. Why can’t you just be happy for me? And why is Bash calling you to inform you of my dating life. You two are ridiculous, you know that? I’m a grownup. Let me live my life.”

  “Doesn’t matter how old you are, sugar plum. You’ll always be my baby, and no man wil
l ever be good enough for you. Make sure you tell Jack that, too.”

  “Fine. I’ll tell him,” Silver said in exasperation. “Anything else?”

  “That’s all for now. Call me next time you’re with Jack.”

  “I’ll think about it. No promises,” Silver said. Jack was silently laughing on the bed by this point, and Silver glared at him.

  “Alright, I gotta get to work on these planes. I love you, baby girl.”

  “I love you too, Daddy. Talk to you later.”

  As soon as the computer announced that the call had ended, Jack burst into laughter.

  “I can’t believe your brother called your dad to tell him about your love life,” Jack said between guffaws.

  “Well, I’m glad you think it’s funny. You do realize that they’ll probably hate you at least until you marry me. And probably even after that for a little while, just for good measure. No one is ever good enough for me.”

  Jack kept laughing. “They’ll come around,” he said. “I’m just glad Bash didn’t tell them about the eye scanners. My heart dropped there for a second.”

  “I wish that would have been why my dad was calling,” Silver said. “I hate this threat hanging over our heads. It’s all I can think about.”

  “Come here,” Jack said. “I’ll give you something else to think about.”

  Silver rolled her eyes at Jack, but allowed him to pull her back down onto the bed. As he pushed her robe off and found her lips with his, thoughts of anything except how much she wanted him faded away.

  * * *

  A few hours later, Silver hopped on her bike to go for a ride by the lakefront path. It was early afternoon, and Jack had gone home to try to get some more rest before his shift that night at the hospital. Silver wished he could have come riding with her, but it was nice to have a little bit of alone time by the lake. She rode north, stopping just past Foster Beach and finding a shady spot to lie down in the soft grass. The weather was beautiful, and the Saturday crowds down by the lake were huge. Thankfully, up here in the grass things were a little bit more tame. Silver closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, letting the warm, fresh air of early summer fill her lungs.

  She smiled, feeling like she could fall asleep right here in this peaceful spot. She might have fallen asleep, too, if it hadn’t been for a tall, skinny man walking up to her spot and interrupting her solitude.

  “Nice bike,” he said. “Where’d you get it?”

  Silver sat up, instantly alert. Something about this guy was setting off warning bells in her gut. Was he trying to get her to let down her guard by being friendly like this?

  “I got it at a bike shop over in Wicker Park,” Silver said, preparing herself to jump up and grab the bike if the man tried to run off with it. But he didn’t try to take off with the bike. Instead he squinted in Silver’s direction, as if trying to remember something.

  “Do I know you?” he asked. “You look really familiar.”

  “I don’t think so,” Silver said. She was pretty sure she had never seen this man before in her life. He had a distinctive scar across the right side of his forehead that she would have remembered.

  But the man suddenly snapped his fingers. “I do know you!” he said. “You’re Silver, aren’t you? Joe’s old girlfriend. Sorry to hear things didn’t work out for you.”

  Silver stared at the man in confusion, racking her brain. Was this guy a friend of Joe’s? She tried to recall whether she’d ever met someone with Joe who had a big scar across his forehead. His voice did sound vaguely familiar.

  “You don’t remember me, do you?” the man asked, sounding vaguely disappointed. “We met at a party a few months ago, at Joe’s parents’ house. I’m Tim.”

  Tim walked over to where Silver was sitting and extended his hand. Warily, Silver shook it, still trying to recall ever seeing Tim before. Her mind was drawing a complete blank, and the uneasy feeling she had deep down was only growing stronger. Tim sat down next to her in the grass, chuckling to himself.

  “Joe’s parents are something else, aren’t they? I bet you’re glad to be rid of them, at least.”

  “I try not to think about them,” Silver said, frowning. She didn’t appreciate her peaceful moment being interrupted by some guy she couldn’t remember, especially when he just wanted to discuss Joe’s family. That was definitely not Silver’s favorite subject.

  “Joe’s a good guy. It’s too bad he comes from a family like that,” Tim said. “What are you up to these days? Still dancing? Planning any more big shows? Dating anyone?” Tim winked at her after the last question, and Silver felt the hairs on her arms standing on end. She frowned.

  “I’m sorry. What party did I meet you at? I’m having trouble recalling.”

  Tim laughed. “Oh, right. I’m sure you must have gone to hundreds of parties with Joe. It was the big charity ball last fall.”

  “I went to a lot of charity balls last fall. Do you remember what charity it was for?” Silver asked.

  Tim smiled. “I think I have a picture from it on my phone somewhere. Here, let me look.”

  Tim reached into his messenger bag, and started digging around for his phone. Silver glanced around at her formerly peaceful little sanctuary between two large trees. The lake’s blue water lapped against the grass in the distance, and the sound of children’s laughter floated down from the beach a few hundred yards away. This spot would be perfect if Tim just went away. She didn’t really care about some charity ball from last year. Suddenly, Silver’s blood went cold. She knew where she had heard Tim’s voice before. He had been the man in the library talking to Joe’s father the first night Silver had discovered that Mr. Astor wanted to get rid of shifters.

  “Here! Found it,” Tim said. Silver turned to look at him again, dread filling her body. But he wasn’t holding his phone. Instead, he was holding a small square cloth in his palm. The cloth was white, and looked like it was wet. The warning bells in the back of Silver’s mind started ringing frantically. Something definitely was not right here.

  “What is that?” Silver demanded, pointing to his hand. That was the last thing she remembered before everything went black.

  Chapter Seventeen

  When Silver came to, she was in a dark room that looked like some sort of prison cell. It was cold, and she was handcuffed to two metal rings on the wall. She shivered, and tried not to panic when she realized that she had no idea where she was or how she had ended up here. In the corner of the small room, her bicycle was leaning against the wall.

  As her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, she looked around and tried to find some sort of clue as to where she was. Nothing in the room looked familiar to her. The walls were plain concrete, as was the door. There were no windows, although a small amount of light came in from the small gap around the side of the door.

  Silver squinted, trying to see if anything as visible in that gap, but the gap was too small and she was too far away. The handcuffs forced her to sit within a few feet of the wall. Silver took deep breaths and tried not to panic. She had to think clearly and keep her wits about her.

  She went over the events of the day, trying to remember anything unusual that might have happened. Nothing had seemed strange until Tim showed up. He had given her a bad feeling from the first moment he walked up to her that afternoon. He must have knocked her out with some sort of chemical on the little white cloth he held up to her face. But why? Was he working for Mr. Astor? And why was she here in this little cell?

  She had no idea how long she had been knocked out for, or what time it was. The light coming through the door was indoor, artificial lighting. Silver had no way of knowing whether it was still daytime or not. She felt a sudden fear gripping her heart as she realized that it might take quite a while for someone to miss her and realize that something had happened to her. Jack worked all night tonight, and he likely wouldn’t begin to worry about Silver not answering texts until at least late afternoon the next day, whenever he woke up from catc
hing up on the sleep he’d missed for his overnight shift. The other Fur Coats wouldn’t think anything of not hearing from Silver for a day or two, and probably wouldn’t really start to worry until several days had passed. By then, who knows what would have happened to her?

  Silver frowned, trying to figure out why she had been kidnapped. The only people she could think of who didn’t particularly like her right now were Joe and his parents, and she was pretty sure Tim was working for them. But why would they kidnap her? They had better things to do with their time, and they wouldn’t want to mess with the legal complications that might arise from hurting her. She wasn’t that big of a deal to them, was she?

  As if in answer to her question, the heavy concrete door to the small room opened. Silver momentarily squeezed her eyes shut as a flood of bright light hit her. The brightness was painful after being in such a dark place. Silver forced her eyes open, though, trying to catch a glimpse of what was behind the door before someone shut it again. To her surprise, she recognized the room as the interior of Mr. Astor’s office. Apparently, there was a hidden door and hidden room behind one of the wall panels. And when Silver finally raised her eyes to see who had come into the room, it was Mr. Astor, with Tim. Silver felt her heart dropping. Whatever this was about, it wasn’t going to be good.

  “Well, well, well. If isn’t the mighty Silver Rowe,” Mr. Astor said, circling around Silver in a way that reminded Silver of a tiger circling its prey. Tim laughed, his face twisting into an evil grin and sending a fresh wave of panic through Silver’s core. She forced herself to look calm, even though all of her instincts were screaming at her to call out for help.

  “Not feeling very conversational today, are we Silver?” Mr. Astor said, still pacing around her like he might pounce at any moment. “That’s okay. I’ll do the talking. Since you were so interested in butting your head into my business, I figured I’d let you have a firsthand peek at the shifter scanners. Tim?”