by Ripley, Meg
I harrumphed. How nice of him to be concerned with me now, after he used me to cheat on his girlfriend, or whatever she was. That must’ve been why he snuck out in the middle of the night. He either felt so guilty he had to leave, or he went to meet her. The thought of him having sex with her right after sleeping with me turned my stomach.
“Did Cooper talk to you last night?”
“Obviously. He is my brother.”
“I mean, did he tell you anything?”
I shot a glare his way. “Of course he did.”
Jace let out a long sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. “That’s not right. He shouldn’t have told you. I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you. I’ve been wanting to tell you, I just…”
I crossed my arms and waited. “You couldn’t manage to blurt out that you’re in love at some point during our night together?”
“I almost did! I took you outside to the garden, and that’s where I was going to tell you.”
I made a disgusted face. “You have one warped sense of consideration.” He really thought taking me out there—which I had believed to be a romantic gesture in the moment—then telling me about his girlfriend, was the best way to do things? And then what? It was too hard to tell me, so he just kissed me instead? And then slept with me?
He hung his head and refused to look at me. “Well, I’m sorry. I’ve messed everything up now.”
“Pretty much. But I’m sure it’ll be fine, eventually.”
He laughed. “There are some things people just don’t get over, Bug.”
The nickname tore a small hole through my heart. How dare he call me that now, when everything between us was in shambles? Involuntarily, my mind went to the memory, Cooper and Jace and I playing in the dirt. Jace holding up a worm and teasing me with it. Cooper squishing a bug and then insisting on calling me Bug, then saying he was going to squish me like a bug. Jace had covered for him that time, taking Cooper’s side and telling Mom that they called me Bug as a nickname, not an insult. She bought it. Somehow. But they were left calling me Bug in an affectionate way to keep their lie. Cooper had dropped it many years ago, but Jace still brought it out now and then.
“I thought you would be happy. I wouldn’t have told Cooper if I knew you were going to react like this.” He walked toward the door.
I pressed my lips together. I could hardly look at him without feeling disgusted.
“So, you wouldn’t have told me at all?” I demanded. “Just leave me in the dark forever? How could you possibly think I’d be happy about this? This whole situation with you and me? It’s ruined everything.” Then, I went ahead and said it even though I knew I shouldn’t have. “I can’t even look at you right now.”
“Fine then.”
The door slammed and he was gone.
My tears were right there, waiting to comfort me the moment he left. I fought them for a while, but eventually had to give in.
I would have never in a million years asked Cooper to move his honeymoon back. He’d offered to, assuring me that the cruise ran back-to-back for months and it was no big deal to move it to another week. But he needed to go, for him and his new bride. Kodi was staying with our parents, and they were having a blast. I’d already gotten four pictures sent to my phone and the kid had only been awake for an hour. Yet, as much as I knew Cooper had to go and I wanted him to go, I wished he had stayed home that week.
When Cooper left that morning, I wanted to go with him. Obviously, I couldn’t have. He and Alexis had headed out to the port, our mom had headed into Grandma Land, and I headed to work. But what if I did need Cooper that week? I couldn’t call Jace. My mom would be busy and it would be difficult for her to get out of the house. Of course, I had Gabby, but I still felt abandoned somehow. Maybe it was because both men were such an integral part of my world, that anytime they were missing, it felt off.
But more than that, this thing with Jace was killing me. I tried not to think about it. The physical pain helped distract me, but I’d rather not have needed to rely on pain for that. I wished I was only heartbroken. I wished I’d found out Jace was in love with someone and that had been it. That would have been easier to take than the truth that he slept with me while in love with someone else.
When I’d cried all the tears I’d needed to, I got back to my work, determined to make it through at least one day well. So far, the physical pain was manageable, and the pills weren’t making it too difficult to work.
The emotional pain, however, suffocated me.
8
Jace
I bolted out of the Ranger station and yanked my clothing off, tossing it inside my car. I shifted and took off at a sprint. There was nothing to do but run.
I couldn’t tell if the pain was greater in my heart or my head. If I could stop thinking about it all, would it stop hurting? If I didn’t feel anything about it, would the thoughts be so troublesome? It didn’t matter because neither the thoughts nor the feelings were going away anytime soon.
My body felt like it might explode, but I kept running, as hard and as fast as I could. I ran for a long time, then slowed to a more sustainable, long-distance pace.
I just didn’t get either of them. How long had I known the Hurst family? Something like fifteen years? And just like that, they both turned on me. Cooper pissed me off. I could see if he thought I was a player and was going to treat Kylie badly, but he didn’t know the reasons behind me being a ‘player’ to begin with. Cooper wasn’t much the problem, though. I figured we’d get over it eventually. And if not, my loyalty was to Kylie over him, anyhow.
But Kylie? Kylie who had kissed me just days ago? Who had slept with me? I certainly didn’t think she was the type of woman to be intimate with a guy she had no feelings for. So, why the rejection? How could she have slept with me, then be angry that I loved her? How does my loving her ruin everything if us sleeping together hadn’t? I couldn’t make sense of any of it.
If both of them were going to be like that, I might have to cut the whole family off. If that was how it was going to be—me fighting with Cooper and crushed by Kylie—then why stick around Glacier Bay at all?
I tried to be logical. Okay, what was my part in this? I had been known to be a player. Right. So, Cooper’s side made sense, and I could prove to him that Kylie was different. But Kylie… what had I done wrong there? I hadn’t told her I loved her sooner. That was a major mistake. I shouldn’t have slept with her so quickly and while not in a relationship. I left her while she was sleeping. Probably the biggest mistake right there.
I tried to convince myself that I really hadn’t lost them both. I couldn’t imagine my life without them, without their parents. Our families had picnics together and spent minor holidays together for years. My family knew the Hursts so well that Kylie and her friends, some years back, had joked that my dad was a DILF. It was horrifying, and of course, Cooper found out. Every so often, it still comes back to haunt me. Point is, there was history there. Long history.
So, why are they doing this to me? I couldn’t recall ever feeling so rejected in my life. My two best friends—my only close friends—had just ditched me. At the same time. And for something that should have brought us all closer together. For something neither of them should have been angry about.
I ran hard again, trying to burn off the pain, and only started to circle back when I grew hungry. I’d been gone many hours already. It was time to go home and face whatever awaited me.
As I neared the more civilized area of the park, I came across a strange scent: a human smell and footprints. It wasn’t a camping area, and there were certainly no homes around those parts; no one was allowed to live—or camp—in that section of the park. So, who was out there and why?
The mystery was the perfect sort of distraction. I followed the funky scent as long as I could. Whoever it was must have had a vehicle of some sort because his scent ended where I saw tracks. As I trailed the tracks, I finally saw the vehicle. It was smaller than a car, mor
e like a golf cart. And the guy getting out of it was filthy. A breeze blew his scent toward me, and I gagged when it hit my nose like a train. Goddamn! This dude hasn’t showered in weeks! And that gave me my best guess: he must have been an off-grider, trying to live off the land.
In my searching, I didn’t find much: an apple core and a food wrapper, nothing major. No more trails besides the ones I’d already followed. He was probably innocent, just trying to survive, but it was my duty to report it anyhow—especially with another female tourist reported missing just the day before. That guy could’ve been involved somehow. He might have even been abducting the women, for all I knew.
I headed back to the station and went inside after dressing. I avoided Kylie’s office and went to write up my report, including as much information as I could. When I was done, I turned it in and walked by Kylie’s closed door on my way out.
Pain stabbed through my heart, filling me with an icy cold sensation. But I had something now. A lead. Something to research. Something to find an answer to. And maybe I’d be the one to figure it out. Maybe it would lead to a promotion, and I’d figure out a way to get out of the area or out of the state altogether.
And as far away from Kylie and Cooper as possible.
Or maybe I’d be a hero—the one who’d jumped in to rescue the women who went missing; the one who searched and never gave up. Maybe seeing that side of me would change things, reminding them both who I really was. Maybe then they’d both come around.
9
Kylie
I sat in a large meeting of Rangers. A gathering that size almost never happened. Usually, Rangers from just our immediate area of the park would come for our monthly meeting. But the moment Cooper was back at work after his honeymoon, he had called everyone available who worked anywhere in Glacier Bay.
Our meeting room was packed. I’d gotten there early, since it was in my building, and sat beside my best friend and fellow Search and Rescue Ranger, Gabby.
“I feel like I’ve hardly seen you this week,” Gabby said, sliding into place beside me.
“Sorry, I’ve just been so hurt and confused over this Jace thing.”
I swallowed hard as a stab of pain hit my chest. It won’t hurt so badly at some point. I wasn’t believing my own thoughts. How could it ever hurt less to know the years I had spent knowing Jace and the bond we had were now washed down the drain? How could it ever hurt less having him out of my life?
Even if losing Jace would always hurt, I did have other friends to rely on. I couldn’t forget that, and Gabby was one of those people I could always be real with.
Cooper walked by and touched my shoulder. “There’s a surprise coming for you.”
I furrowed my brow. “What do you mean?”
“You’ll see.” He grinned and kept walking before taking his place at the front of the room.
Gabby turned to me with a raised, perfect eyebrow and I shrugged. “No idea.”
Cooper tapped on the microphone to test it before greeting the attendees. The reason for the meeting was the recent disappearances of female tourists. With a total of three women missing as of that morning, the case was getting media attention. Cooper ran through how to properly handle press inquiries, but the most important part of the meeting was the action plan. How would we recover these missing women and prevent this from happening again?
Cooper urged us to be “uber vigilant.” A section of the room didn’t know he meant anything more by that. But the shifters recognized “uber vigilant” as the code phrase it was. It meant that in every clan, in all areas around the disappearances, there should be shifter presence at all times. It meant long hours of patrol and being on heightened alert 24/7.
With having all four clans of Glacier Bay involved, representing such a diverse range of shifter species, we would surely get good coverage. The bald eagle clan would watch the skies, the otters would be scouring the water, and, of course, our bear clan—along with Gabby’s wolf clan—would be surveying the ground.
Cooper looked right at me and announced to the room, “I’ve called my cousin, Hunter, to come down from the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve. He’s bringing a team down to assist in our search efforts. They’ve dealt with this sort of thing before, and they’ll be a great asset to us all.”
I couldn’t help but return Cooper’s smile. It was always good when Hunter visited, and lately, his visits had been scarcer as he became more involved with work and his clan up in the northwest. It helped that he didn’t have to buy a plane ticket. Hunter owned a small plane, which was nearly a requirement when you were a Ranger up in those parts. The Bering Land Bridge National Preserve was in such a remote area, there were no roads or commercial planes that flew there. In his little Cessna, it would still take him over eight hours and a refueling stop to cross the thousand miles between us. No matter how short his stay, it’d be good to see him.
Cooper projected a map onto the wall and pointed to the areas where the women were last seen. GPS signals from cell phones and other devices were great in helping to locate MPs, but they only worked if the devices stayed with the person. In all of these cases, the women’s belongings were found charred, having been burned, at various sites around the park. Those sites were also pointed out on the map. Many assignments were given out and questions were answered. The meeting lasted a full hour but felt short, like we hadn’t had enough time to discuss everything.
Gabby finished up her notes and sucked in a breath. “This is a fun case,” she uttered with a hint of sarcasm.
“Yeah. I wish I could do more.” How I wanted to be out there running, trying to find the guy responsible for this. I’d spend hours running until I picked something up.
“I’ve gotta run, but let’s do dinner tonight, okay?” Gabby suggested.
“Sounds like a plan. Be careful out there!” I called as she turned to leave. Having dinner with Gabby would surely help me sort out my thoughts about Jace. She’d be able to figure the whole thing out, I just knew it. I purposely didn’t look for him in the meeting, and I tried to keep my gaze down to avoid accidental eye contact with him. At least I had this huge, awful case to focus on and not be plagued by constant thoughts of Jace.
My ‘job’ was busier than usual with this big investigation affecting multiple departments. I had calls coming in frequently and it was all I could do to stay on top of those, the emails, do what needed to be done for our Rangers, and report it all. Who usually did this job? I didn’t even have time to wonder because the phone rang again.
When I had a free minute, it was only an hour and a half from my shift’s end. I checked my phone but hadn’t heard from Gabby. I texted her to see what the plan was for the night.
A half hour went by without a response. That wasn’t like her. I texted one more time before I called her. No answer. I texted her again.
When it was time for my shift to end and I still hadn’t heard from her, I grew even more worried. I grabbed the walkie, which she would have to answer since she was on duty. She might have left her phone behind, but she would not have left her walkie.
“Gabby! Gabby, come in.”
Nothing. I tried again, but still, no response.
Then I called Cooper.
“I haven’t heard from her in hours. Do you think that could mean something?”
“I’m sure it’s nothing. She’s probably just busy. Knee deep in water or something.”
I gritted my teeth and glared at the wall since I couldn’t glare at him directly. “I don’t appreciate your casual response with all that’s been going on.”
“Well, I’ll check it out. It’s time for the shifts to change, so maybe she turned off the walkie early. I’ll head over to her station, but I bet she’s fine.”
“Let me know, please. This isn’t like her, I’m telling you.”
“I will, Ky. It’ll be okay.”
The tension in my chest wanted to argue with him. I kept my phone in my line of sight at all times and cranked t
he volume on my ringer. If Gabby did text or call, I wanted to know immediately.
10
Jace
“Jace, come in.”
I grabbed my walkie, wishing I had the option to ignore Cooper. “Yeah?”
“Urgent response requested. Gabby has gone missing.”
“What do you know?”
“She was last heard from by her coworkers just before heading out on patrol. Kylie tried to contact her numerous times through texts and calls, then tried her walkie, but didn’t get a response.”
I took notes as he talked. I had badly wanted to solve this case before, but now that a Ranger had gone missing—Kylie’s best friend—I had even more of a reason. I pictured going to her and telling her I’d found her friend. I wanted to be her hero.
“There’s one more thing,” Cooper said. “Don’t run this through the office, contact me directly.”
“Why?” It seemed like a setup to me. Would he try to get me fired?
“Right now, Kylie just thinks Gabby is between shifts. I’d like to keep her from knowing as long as possible. She’s been through enough, don’t you think?”
“Yes, but she’s not weak. She might be pissed at you for keeping this from her and not letting her help. She’d want to feel like she’s a part of the efforts.”
“I’ll take the risk.”
“Well, you’re the boss. I’ll be on patrol right away.”
“I thought you were done for the day.”
I looked at him pointedly. “I was.”
I grabbed my gear pack and headed out. I drove the Ranger Jeep to the outpost and quickly undressed, putting my pack in place carefully for the shift. I left the outpost and started running in a strategic pattern. I would follow a grid, covering as far as I could.