SOMETHING MALEVOLENT HAS INFECTED THE FREAK SHOW, SPREADING TERROR AND DEATH WHEREVER THE CIRCUS TRAVELS. ONE VISIT WILL ENCHANT YOU, BUT DON’T DARE STAY PAST DARK OR YOU MIGHT NEVER LEAVE.
After her recent nearly-fatal case as a paranormal consultant, Raven decides to take a much-needed vacation with her pack. They stop at a freak show, a circus owned by the paranormal, and stumble upon a case … or to be more precise, the pack is kidnapped and held hostage.
WHAT WOULD YOU RISK FOR LOVE…
Raven plots their escape, knowing that if even one thing goes wrong the circus would vanish overnight without a trace, taking her pack with them. When her newly awakened dragon sabotages their every attempt to leave, Raven must depend on her wits alone to discover who is terrorizing and killing the shifters in the circus before her pack becomes the next target. Her situation only grows more precarious when the bonds between her pack begin to unravel. To save them all before it’s too late, Raven will have to make the ultimate sacrifice.
This is a work of fiction. Names, character, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations for articles or reviews. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials.
Copyright © 2015 Stacey Brutger
Cover artist: Amanda Kelsey of Razzle Dazzle Design (www.razzdazzdesign.com)
Editor: Amy Eye (http://theeyesforediting.com/)
Editor and Proofreader: Megan Kelly (http://www.megankellybooks.com/editing.htm)
All rights reserved.
A special thanks to all my readers for their support.
I wouldn’t be here without you.
To my husband—
Thank you for being you.
Chapter One – Day 1
DAY ONE: FIRST DAY OF VACATION
Menace pooled in the air, an icy chill that crawled over her skin. Frost crept down her throat until her lungs crackled with each breathe. Raven woke up gasping and found herself plastered over Durant’s tiger form, using him like the world’s largest pillow. Death’s bitterly cold fingers skimmed along her spine, and she took comfort when her hand settled over her sword.
She remained perfectly still, expecting an attack at any second.
Time stretched, tension mounted … then petered out when nothing happened.
She lifted her head and cursed to find herself piled into the back of a crowded station wagon, leaving her no room to maneuver with a five-hundred-pound tiger taking up most of the space. With great reluctance, she released the sword. In the cramped space, she’d be more apt to stab herself than the bad guys. The metal sent a lick of static up her arm in protest at the separation before gradually falling dormant.
The sword should’ve been safely tucked under the folded-down seat.
So, how did it get into her hand?
Did it sense something or had it reacted to her unease?
Everything around her appeared blessedly normal. Durant remained sleeping as he recovered from his injuries. Crushing relief trickled through her that he’d managed to survive the severity of the wound. He’d come so close to dying that her throat still ached every time she saw him.
Needing a distraction before she got maudlin, she focused on what triggered her unease. She eased backward, her body rebelled at leaving the warm haven, the pain like ripping off her skin.
Before she could make her escape, Durant placed one large paw on her shoulder. The furry mitt pinned her down with ease as if she were a tiny mouse, and a displeased growl rumbled in his chest. Those golden eyes of his cracked open. Unable to stop herself, she stroked her fingers along his shoulder where he’d been speared by a sword in an attempt to save her life and marveled at the warm fur beneath her fingertips.
He’d survived.
Contented by her touch—or maybe that she couldn’t escape the confines of the car—he heaved a sigh and closed his eyes. Raven sat back on her haunches and finally tore her attention away from Durant, determined to discover what had triggered her disquiet.
Energy welled up from her bones at her growing agitation, and she quickly trampled it down. As a rare conduit, she had the ability to control electricity, her very touch deadly if she wasn’t careful. In this tin can of a car, there’d be a good chance she’d end up lighting everyone up if she lost control.
Her powers were both a blessing and a curse, leaving her more than human. To make things more complicated, she’d recently learned that she was a shifter, not to mention a rare female alpha.
She didn’t grow up in that world, spent most of her life avoiding any entanglements and minded her own business.
Now she was paying for it.
She only knew the basics about shifters. Her pack was scrambling to help her fill in the blanks, guiding her through the steps, but it left her at a disadvantage. She didn’t know the rules and ended up stepping on toes, gaining her share of friends and enemies.
Jackson sat in the driver’s seat. As an enforcer, he was granted the privilege of operating a car. Only those with the utmost restraint were permitted to drive—smart when road rage could provoke a shifter to change into his beast and attack. Taggert was more beta, his sandy-blond head bent as he diligently studied a map, but Raven was beginning to suspect that when she used her power to save his life, she’d changed him on an elemental level.
He was more aggressive. Growing possessive and territorial.
Alpha traits.
She frowned in worry, wondering if there was anything she could do to stop the process, but feared it was much too late.
Behind him, the sun was just a hint on the horizon, turning the sky a bright crimson as it began its descent. The sunset should’ve been peaceful, but it looked too much like spilled blood. Towering redwoods lined both sides of the road, sending shadows chasing from tree to tree as the car sped past. The place felt almost primordial, danger thick in the air as if ready to reach out and squash them. A shimmer of fog wound through the trees, only emphasizing the haunted and uninviting feel.
As if warning unwary travelers away.
“You’re awake.” Taggert spotted her first, his splintered green and brown eyes devouring her. He’d always seemed so attuned to her, now more than ever.
Raven ignored the way her heart fluttered pathetically under his perusal. “Where are we?” Her voice emerged as a croak, and she cleared her throat, unable to drop her gaze as she drank in his appearance.
A tiny smile kicked up the corner of his mouth as if he could read her thoughts and liked knowing he had an effect on her. “We’re at the northern end of Oregon.”
Raven blinked in surprise, not expecting that they’d leave California.
“We’ve been careful to go around the larger packs so as not to invade their territories.” Jackson studied her through the rearview mirror, his cool gaze clinical and detached. But beneath, she saw the worry and the hint of uncertainty.
He was one of the strongest shifters she knew. She winced in shame, knowing that by pushing him away to protect him, she’d ended up hurting him instead. Then what he said registered. “Which territories?”
“Bears.”
Bears had a habit of being territorial and would viciously defend what they considered theirs. They were big and mean and capable of getting rid of any bodies before law enforcement had a chance to i
nvestigate. They didn’t need a pack or allies, preferring the solitude of their families. “Is that wise?”
Taggert shrugged, unconcerned at the prospect of being mauled to death. “As long as we don’t linger in their territory, we don’t have to present ourselves to the alpha.”
Taggert’s father had moved from one location to the next, keeping them under the radar to provide his son a normal life … as much as one could be considered normal when one was a shifter pretending to be human just to survive. Her heart ached for the lonely boy, but the pang eased to know that his father loved him enough to risk everything to give his son a chance to survive without the stigma of being labeled a rogue.
“Where are we heading?”
Taggert’s eyes glimmered with the thrill of excitement. “We won’t know until we arrive.”
Lone shifters without a pack, those deemed rogue, couldn’t afford to make plans. They roamed from territory to territory, never settling or drawing attention to themselves, making it virtually impossible for anyone to track them.
Clever, but a twinge of sadness echoed in her soul at the nomadic life he’d been forced to live before she stumbled into his life.
No friends.
No family.
No pack.
Beneath Taggert’s calm exterior rested a ruthless determination to protect her at any cost. It frightened the crap out of her. She’d nearly lost him once. Nearly lost everyone in her pack. She had to be more careful, or they might not be so lucky next time.
Her fingers tightened in Durant’s fur, the steady thump of his heart easing the panic clawing up her throat, and she forced herself to release him.
The unease plaguing her continued to press against her chest. As the distance between them and the foreign pack territory yawned wider, she expected the smothering pressure to dissipate.
It didn’t.
She rubbed her chest and scanned the countryside, but there was nothing to see but miles and miles of trees and road. She peeked out the rear window for the third time in the last five minutes, expecting to see someone on their tail, something she could fight.
Only everything appeared ordinary.
They hadn’t had peace for so long, the lack of a direct threat left her reeling half a step off. It could explain her unease. Pretending everything was normal, she forced herself to stop staring out the window and faced Taggert. “Where are we staying for the night?”
Taggert nodded toward the woods, and her eyes widened in alarm. “Camping?”
A shiver worked up her spine at the thought of living outside without the shelter of walls. They were shifters for gosh sakes, part animal, so why did her skin crawl when she peered into the massive trees surrounding them? “But aren’t we too close to the pack borders?”
Jackson’s hands clenched on the wheel. “Do you trust us?”
Raven didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“People in town will notice our presence. If we camp, no one will have a record of our passing.”
Everything he said was true, so why did she suspect that both of them were keeping something from her? Then her heart dropped. “You’re afraid I’ll lose control and hurt someone.”
Their silence gutted her, and she recoiled from the truth as the confining space of the car became smothering.
They thought her a monster.
They were right to be afraid, and she swallowed hard at the brutal truth.
“Raven.”
She flinched at the sound of her name.
“It’s the only way we know how to protect you. If one of us is threatened, you’ll do anything to keep us safe.”
There was no denying the truth of Jackson’s words, and her dragon hummed in agreement. Raven lifted her chin, feeling defensive, as if what he’d said was a bad thing. “So would you.”
“Yes, but wolves are common. No one would take note of us. If pushed, can you guarantee that you won’t react? Once people discover your affinity for electricity, word will spread like wildfire.”
Raven wanted to laugh. Her powers were the least of her concern. They didn’t know her creature had wakened, and it was the last thing she wanted them to find out, not until she could find a balance.
“Makes sense.” Raven cringed, hating that she kept something from them.
“Besides—” Taggert turned in his seat to watch her. “Being out in open air will help your beast.”
That was when she knew they both suspected something had happened. Like a coward, she nodded and turned away.
Raven scratched the itch at her side. The small metal symbol imbedded into her flesh felt warm and irritated, but the last thing she could do was peek with the guys watching her every move. But that wasn’t her only concern. In helping the witches find a killer murdering them, she’d becoming infected with tainted magic. She needed to check and gauge how far the infection had spread. She was almost afraid to see how it reacted to the creature that inhabited her body.
The witches feared the taint would make her beast feral.
An unstoppable killing machine.
With her emotions growing more volatile, Raven feared they might be right.
No one could ever discover she harbored an actual dragon. As far as the paranormal world was concerned, dragons were evil creatures that were better off left to myths and legends. If anyone ever suspected the truth, she’d be lucky to survive.
Oh, she trusted the unconventional pack of outsiders she’d somehow collected, but the truth would only put them in more danger. She needed to find a way to harness both her powers and the dragon, or she could lose the fragile pack she’d fought so hard to keep safe.
The dragon stretched under her skin until her body felt cramped and small. Claws thunked into the tender undersides of her ribs, gouging grooves into her flesh in protest of having the pack taken from her.
Knowing they were in agreement, the crippling fear eased.
They would do whatever was necessary to protect the pack.
When she glanced up, she found Jackson staring at her. The instant their eyes met, the car lurched as if someone had plowed into them. The vehicle shuddered then veered wildly toward the ditch. The momentum threw her sideways, and her head smacked the glass with a brutal thud. The tires caught gravel, and the car began to spin and twist.
Chapter Two
Jackson stomped on the brakes and wrenched the wheel, muscling the car to the side of the road. Only his quick reflexes kept them on the road.
When the vehicle finally lurched to a stop, they were on the opposite side of the highway, a couple of feet from where the forest looked like it was trying to take back any signs of civilization. Heavy breathing filled the car, and she rubbed the lump already forming on her temple. “Everyone all right?”
Jackson nodded and flung open the door, scorching anger radiating from him in waves. He circled, coming to stand in front of the car. Legs spread, hands on his hips, he scowled at the tire. Durant lifted his giant head and chuffed in amusement at the mishap, completely unruffled by the near miss. Raven gave him a shove, rolling her eyes the way the two men antagonized each other at every opportunity. “Be nice.”
She turned and hit the latch to the tailgate before crawling out the back. A groan escaped her lips as she straightened, the kink in her legs protesting movement after so long. Her injuries might have all healed from the abuse of the last few days, but her body still felt bruised by all the abuse. She inhaled the sharp, crisp fresh air, unobtrusively searching for a threat, but all the trails appeared to be days old.
She straightened her clothes and rebound her wild hair, so the distinct silver color remained hidden. Every time she used the current, bits of silver ate away the black, made her noticeable when her job and safety relied upon her remaining hidden and forgettable.
When she glanced up, the guys were watching her in various stages of fascination. Her stomach dipped and lurched, leaving her flustered at being caught primping.
Durant was the first to break th
e spell, gingerly lowering his bulk to the road one paw at a time like a dainty housecat. When he straightened, his animal form was huge, well over three feet high at the shoulders.
A sane person would hyperventilate with panic at seeing him prowl toward them. She gave into the urge to trail her fingers down his back, marveling when a rumbled purr sounded under her caress.
Durant’s nose lifted in the air, catching the scents before he wandered off. Taggert exited as well, coming to stop next to Jackson, giving her a blessed few minutes to recover from hours cramped in the back of the vehicle. Their intoxicating scents had kept her on edge for hours. It should be a relief to breathe fresh air, but she kind of missed them now that the smells were beginning to fade.
This trip was supposed to help her get to know her pack better and decide their future. She was very much afraid that she was falling in love with three different men, which only complicated things, and she didn’t know a way to dig herself out of this mess.
She was hoping the trip would settle things between them.
Darkness raced across the landscape, the trees blocking what little light tinged the horizon—not that shifters needed much light to see. When she came to stand next to the guys, she understood the silence.
The tire was completely shredded.
This was no accident.
“What could’ve done this?”
Jackson crouched and yanked something out of the mangled rubber. When he raised his hand, three nails rested in his palm.
Her hackles rose at the innocent sight. Pure energy swirled in her body at the challenge, and Raven whirled, her gaze skimming the trees, looking for the ones who had set the trap. “How could they have found us so fast?”
Current splashed through her system, but instead of the pale blue cords of her usual power, blistering strips of angry red twined around every strand.
Raven Investigation 04 - Electric Legend Page 1