Timber Valley Pack 4: Lynx On The Loose
Copyright 2014 by Georgette St. Clair
This book is intended for readers 18 and older only, due to adult content. It is a work of fiction. All characters and locations in this book are products of the imagination of the author. No shifters were harmed during the creation of this book.
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Wolf shifter Dashiel Battle has always known that Isadora Mosswood is a rebel, a rule breaker, a perpetual thorn in his paw...but is she also the greatest traitor that the shifter nation has ever known? Shocking new evidence seems to indicate that she's been secretly collaborating with a group of humans who were conducting experiments on shifters. When she's confronted, Isadora doesn't explain or defend herself - she goes on the run. Dash has no choice but to hunt her down, but as soon as he catches up to her, he discovers that someone's painted a big fat target on both of their hides. Can he keep the fiery tempered lynx shifter alive long enough to bring her to justice, and can he resist his growing attraction to the criminal who's vowed to flout the system for as long as she lives?
Chapter One
Timber Valley, Colorado (don’t try to find it; it’s not on any human map, and the shifter inhabitants like it that way)
The fall air was cool and crisp, and the carpet of leaves on the forest floor made a satisfying crunching sound underneath lynx shifter Isadora Mosswood’s feet. She dodged behind a lodgepole pine and peered out at the patrol car racing down the narrow rural road towards her house. She’d already gotten the warning phone call from a friend of hers who was a dispatcher at the sheriff’s office.
“Dash is on his way to your house, and he’s pissed,” her friend Sarah had warned her.
“Lousy coppers. You’ll never take me alive,” Isadora smirked to herself. The driver of the patrol car, Sgt. Dashiel Battle, was looking for her because he suspected that she was the person who’d drawn an unflattering picture of Mayor Darius Harden on the side of the town hall building.
Maybe she had. Maybe she hadn’t. Maybe Mayor Harden and his snooty wife shouldn’t keep shooting disapproving looks at Isadora every time she strolled past them in downtown Timber Valley. Sure, Isadora had tattoos and a nose stud, and hair colors that did not naturally occur in nature. So? It was the 21st century.
Dash generally found a way to track Isadora down, sooner or later, but he’d never managed to bust her in the act or make a single charge stick – not yet, anyway.
Isadora let out a low feline hiss at the thought of Dash and his disapproval of her. He was a big, handsome wolf shifter, a Beta but a pretty macho one, and she knew that a lot of the female shifters in Timber Valley simpered when he strolled by.
As for her, he wasn’t her type at all. She’d told friends of hers that, time and time again, when they had the nerve to suggest that she was baiting him on purpose. She was all about living on the edge and defying authority - and Dash was Mr. Authority. He’d been known to write tickets for jaywalking. The fact that Isadora liked to keep the locals on their toes with the occasional harmless prank utterly set him on edge.
He wasn’t even her type looks-wise. He was big, burly and rugged looking, true, but he didn’t have tattoos or a pierced ear or long hair. She’d always gone for the bad boy type. Sure, those relationships never lasted long, but that was kind of the point, wasn’t it? Her parents had made it clear ages ago that nobody would ever want to marry a woman as unladylike and uncouth as Isadora, and her response to that had always been “And thank God for that.”
Dash, now, he struck her as the marrying type. Maybe if he got married he’d stop chasing her around town and trying to slap handcuffs on her for the most trivial of offenses. Yes, it would be great if he got married. Then she’d never have to look at his stupid, handsome face again, with its disapproving glower and…
Damn it, why was she wasting her time thinking about the uptight jerk? She had better things to do with her time.
She turned and started strolling towards town. The small house that she rented was a couple of miles outside of the town center and it was a perfect day for a leisurely walk in the woods.
Her cell phone trilled in the pocket of her jeans, and she grabbed it. It was the distinctive ring tone of her friend Karen, a fellow lynx shifter. Karen had met the love of her life, Dash’s cousin Ty Battle, and they’d moved to North Dakota recently. Karen was expecting their first cub, which should be interesting. Wolf or lynx? Or both? How cute would that be?
“Hello, almost-mom,” she said. “How’s life without alcohol or coffee?”
Karen was being a super responsible mom to be. She’d sworn off coffee and alcohol for as long as she was pregnant and then for as long as she was nursing. Isadora shuddered at the thought.
“Don’t forget no sushi, or raw cookie dough, or nail polish,” Karen continued. “That part of it sucks.”
“Nail polish?” Isadora echoed, glancing down at her nails which were painted black and adorned with little white skull decals.
“It has dangerous chemicals in it,” Karen said virtuously. “I read it on the internet.”
“Huh. Well, if it’s on the internet of course it’s true. Personally, I think that this pregnancy has driven you a little crazy, and not the fun Isadora Mosswood kind of crazy.”
“Would that be the kind of crazy that has you requiring the services of a lawyer on a regular basis?” Karen asked, sounding impatient.
“Meh. Think how boring life would be around here if it weren’t for me. In fact, if Isadora Mosswood didn’t exist, they’d have to invent me.”
“Right. So what have you done this time?” Karen was, in fact, an attorney. She handled typical shifter legal issues that didn’t fall under the purview of the Council of Elders who oversaw wolf affairs, or the Council Pride, who oversaw feline affairs. She dealt with contract law, and minor crimes, such as those committed – allegedly – by Isadora.
“Hmm. Let me think carefully before I answer that question,” Isadora said, as she kept strolling towards town. “Are you just checking in, or have I been accused of something specific?”
“Sheriff Barnabas Connors just called me here in freaking North Dakota and asked me to have you report to the sheriff’s station immediately. Said he’d been trying to call you and you never answered.”
“Of course I didn’t answer. He’s a douchenozzle. I miss Steele. I’d have answered if he called. I mean, I’d probably have told him to go have unnatural relations with himself, but I would have answered.”
Steele Battle had been the previous sheriff of Timber Valley. Unfortunately, he had violated the ultimate taboo – he’d fallen in love with a human. Then he’d mated with her. Then it turned out she was one of the few humans who could get pregnant with a shifter’s baby. The Council of Elders, who ruled over the affairs of all wolf shifters, had banished Steele from shifter territory. He’d moved with the human and their baby to her home town in Montana, the only town in th
e country where the humans knew about wolf shifters.
“I liked Steele too, but there’s a new sheriff in town now, and unlike Steele, he has no sense of humor.” Karen’s tone had taken on an edge. “So, Isadora, you know that we’ve got lawyer client privilege when you talk to me. Tell me – what did you do?”
“Somebody rendered an artistic impression of Mayor Harden on the side of town hall. A very realistic and lifelike impression, I might add. Except that in the impression, Mayor Harden’s head was shaped like a penis. It’s a metaphor.”
Isadora could hear Karen letting out an angry hiss that turned into a growl. She imagined Karen right then, fur rippling over her face, fangs descending.
“You’re going to give me gray fur! Damn it. All right, I’m going to call the sheriff’s office and tell them that you’ve been eager to do some volunteer work lately, to give back to the community. I will tell them that without admitting guilt, you are offering to paint over the offending drawing. Today. And you’ll pay for the paint. Quit stressing me out, woman, I have a younger brother and sister who fulfill that function quite well, thank you.”
“Fine,” Isadora sighed. “I’ll be there in about half an hour.”
“One of these days, they’re going to catch you in the act, and you will spend a very boring month or two staring at the walls of a small jail cell. I’m running out of favors I can call in.” Karen’s tone was a mixture of peevish and worried.
“Duly noted.” Isadora picked up the pace. Damn it, now she had to waste her afternoon painting over a perfectly good piece of public art. She wanted to get this over with.
As she trotted through the woods, her phone trilled again. She glanced at the screen.
It was a text message from the shifter she only knew as WarriorDemon1.
“Still planning to stop by next week?” the text asked.
“Yes, thanks for helping me out. I’ll give you more specific details when I’m ready to head out. See you then,” she texted back. She had never met WarriorDemon1, but he was part of a network of what were known in the shifter world as Hobos. Those were shifters like her who didn’t declare any allegiance to any pride or pack. They had codes and symbols just like the humans Hobos did. They even had internet sites where they met up and chatted.
When shifters like her travelled around the country, away from their home towns, they frequently stayed with the Hobos in their encampments, rather than checking in with the local packs or prides. It was the kindred spirit of the disenfranchised.
She tucked her phone back in her pocket, and paused to think. If she was going to be painting, she wanted to change her clothes; she was wearing brand new Doc Martens, and her favorite skull T-shirt.
With a sigh, she turned and headed back towards her house. It was a small log cabin style home with one bedroom and one bathroom, which was plenty for her.
She had grown up in a town called Crystal Falls, but after Karen left town, she’d moved to Timber Valley and enjoyed bedeviling the local tight-asses there. It wasn’t all bad; there was a night club in town and several bars, and she had an active social life when she wasn’t travelling.
When she came to the clearing where her house sat among the towering pines, she paused. Dash’s patrol car was parked there, and he wasn’t alone.
Chief Warden Loren Redthorne was parked in front of the building. The Wardens were only called in on very serious matters. They enforced the rules laid out in the Covenant, the ancient document which contained the rules for all wolf shifters. They dealt with matters which threatened the welfare of all wolf shifters, such as exposure to humans, out of control Alphas, and overseeing Death Challenges to make sure that they were carried out fairly.
They cooperated with the Council Pride and the Pride Patrol, who oversaw feline affairs, but in Timber Valley, there were mostly wolf shifters, so the Wardens would deal with any serious issues.
Isadora felt a jolt of alarm shoot through her body.
Her cell phone rang.
She glanced at the phone number. The prefix told her that she was getting a phone call from Pride Patrol headquarters.
Her blood ran cold. All of this activity…a call from the Pride Patrol…they didn’t want to talk to her about any old vandalism.
Had they found out? And exactly how much did they know?
Damn the timing. This was really, really bad timing.
She turned to go – and realized that Dash had strolled up behind her.
There were two wardens with him, and worse, two members of the Pride Patrol – a mountain lion and a bobcat. She could outrun wolves, and run straight up trees, but she couldn’t outrun or outclimb her fellow cats.
The look on Dash’s face was one she’d never seen before. He always looked annoyed at her – but right now his expression was a mixture of anger and disgust. It cut surprisingly deep.
They’d been laying in wait for her, obviously. They must have used noscentium, the herb which would have disguised their smell so she couldn’t scent their approach.
She took a step back. Did she have enough of a lead? Was there any hope of outrunning them?
“Don’t try to run,” Dash said, as if reading her mind. “Isadora Mosswood, you’re under arrest for high treason.”
Chapter Two
Dash sat at his desk, his fingers drumming a steady tattoo on the wood. One of the other deputies shot him an annoyed look, got up, and walked away.
He stopped and flattened his hands out on the desk top, scowling at the blank screen on his computer.
This whole thing made no sense to him. He’d really hoped Isadora would have some explanation, but she’d refused to say a word. She’d maintained her silence as they drove to the sheriff’s office, with her handcuffed and sitting in between two Wardens. That had been on Dash’s recommendation; he knew from experience that Isadora could pick a handcuff lock with her claws and break out from the back of a patrol car faster than he could blink. He’d picked her up on trespassing charges in the past, although the charges had never stuck.
Why wouldn’t Isadora defend herself? The only reason that he could think of was that she was guilty, which he found hard to believe. Isadora was a pain in the ass, but she wasn’t evil.
They’d know soon enough, of course. Isadora was sitting in a jail cell under guard, waiting for their local Shaman to show up. Cody would be able to use his powers to compel her to talk. Unfortunately, he was on a hunting trip, but they’d sent the fastest runners in the Battle pack out to fetch him. He’d be back in town in a couple more hours.
Dash’s desk phone rang, and he picked it up.
“Hello?” he said.
Immediately he wished he hadn’t. It was Karen Battle, his cousin Ty’s wife and Isadora’s best friend, and she spat out a string of curses. “You mangy mongrel son of a bitch dickhead! I should have you neutered!”
“Ah…hello, Karen,” he said, taken aback. “I’m glad to hear from you too. How’s married life? Are you enjoying North Dakota?”
“Isadora was going to take care of the vandalism! I can’t believe you freaking ambushed her, over a stupid cartoon on a wall! And you called in the Pride Patrol? Really, Dash? Life must be very boring in Timber Valley right now.”
Word travelled fast in the Shifter world. He wondered who had told her. Isadora hadn’t been allowed any phone calls; in a matter as serious as this, she didn’t have the right to a lawyer.
“We don’t care about the vandalism. That’s the least of her problems right now.”
“Oh, please.” Contempt dripped from Karen’s voice. “What are you charging her with? Getting into a catfight? Oh, I know - did she kill somebody?”
“Worse.”
There was a puzzled silence on the other end of the phone.
“How could it be worse?” Karen finally asked, the fire gone from her voice.
Dash forced himself to say the words, which were like lead on his tongue. “She’s accused of collaborating with humans to commit treason agai
nst the shifter nation. We think she’s working with the surviving mercenaries from the lab, giving them information about shifters.”
He heard Karen’s sharp intake of breath. Now her tone turned frantic and pleading. “Dash. Seriously. This is Isadora we’re talking about here. She has risked her life to save kidnapped shifters. She is not guilty of treason.”
Only a month earlier, Isadora had been one of many shifters who’d rushed to a secret underground laboratory to help free more than a dozen kidnapped shifters. Dash had been there too, and he’d seen her fight – she’d been vicious, slashing and snarling at the humans, taking down the mercenaries fearlessly. She’d rushed into the labs where the shifters were strapped down, frantically ripping their bonds off, helping them stagger out of the underground lab where they’d been held for so long…
She’d seemed as furious as everyone else at the torture that the shifters had experienced. Had that all been an act? Had she really been there to help – or had she been there to spy? Dash was questioning everything that he knew about Isadora.
“I can’t tell you too much…” he glanced around to make sure that nobody was watching him, and lowered his voice. “But I do need to tell you this, Karen. Whatever she’s up to, you’re part of it. You and your family could be in danger.”
“How?” Her tone sharpened. Karen was as fierce as a lion when it came to her family.
“This information was discovered during an undercover operation. What I’m telling you could get me fired, or worse.”
“Fine. It’s just between us. Dash, if my family might be in danger, I need to know.”
“A couple of weeks ago, I was on patrol and I saw Isadora breaking into the medical clinic. I followed her when she left. She headed out of town, and she was checking behind her in her rearview mirror, so I had to hang back. I called up patrol officers from other shifter jurisdictions, and they helped track her. She drove hundreds of miles west, and ended up meeting a couple of humans and handing over some boxes to them. They watched her from a distance through telescopes. When we contacted the clinic, they found out that a dozen vials of blood were missing. They were just normal vials of blood that were being sent to a lab for routine tests. Annual checkup, cholesterol tests, all kinds of different things. One thing that they had in common, though, was that they were all from shifters who had some kind of mutation.”
Timber Valley Pack: Lynx On The Loose( A Paranormal Romance With Shifters) Page 1