by Zoe Winters
“How did you know my name?” Z said, suspicion coming back into his eyes. By this point, Cole was putting on clothes, though Z still stood without a stitch of clothing on, with no sense of unease about it.
“Relax,” Jane said. “I’m the pup’s mother. I saw you on a screen when I was in heaven.”
Z didn’t look like he was buying it, and Jane could tell. “Nice try, but a demon and werewolf can’t make a pup. They can make a vampire, but they sure as fuck can’t make a pup.”
“Oh, I was human when we made him. Why else would I have been in heaven? Do you think demons get visitor passes?”
While she spoke, Jane did that hungry once-over on Z again. It tripped Fiona’s territorial meter, though she knew she had no claim on him. Before she could challenge the demon to a fight she couldn’t win, she went back to the bedroom and grabbed jeans and a T-shirt for Z. When she returned, she tossed them to the panther.
He caught them mid-air without taking his eyes off the two interlopers. He put the jeans on, but eyed the shirt like it was infested with roaches. “I never wear T-shirts in the cave,” he protested.
“Please.” She hoped he wouldn’t embarrass her in front of the pup’s family by pointing out that she wasn’t his mate and couldn’t make such demands. He stared at her for a few seconds, then put the shirt on.
As he pulled it over his head, he said, “Pup’s not here. He was taken by some magic users in the forest yesterday afternoon. I don’t know who they are. I don’t know who they’re working for. I don’t know why they took him. I don’t know how to get him back. Thank you for visiting. Now I’d like to go back to sleep if you don’t mind.”
Cole growled, glancing over at his mate. “This is Cain’s fault. If he hadn’t felt like he had to teach you all your fancy demon skills, we could have gotten to the pup first.” He turned back to Z. “Why didn’t you go looking for him?”
And now the fangs were out. “Hey, crazy wolf. Did you miss my monologue just now where I said I don’t know where the fuck to look for your rug rat?”
“Z!” Fiona said. He’d promised he’d go look. She felt so stupid. He’d never intended to look or form a plan. He’d just wanted in her pants. Shutting her up about the pup had been the necessary evil to serve that agenda. She couldn’t hide the betrayal in her eyes. Z’s return expression was tense, but obviously not looking forward to drama, because anything that inconvenienced him and his glorious bachelor lifestyle was drama. And they couldn’t have that.
Fiona felt bad for the werewolf. The light went out of his eyes, replaced by a haunted look it seemed he’d gotten used to wearing. That was how easily it fit on his face. The demon, on the other hand was angry.
Her eyes glowed red. “Cole. We’ll find him. Wherever he is, we will find him. Charlee knows that sorcerer guy.”
“We are not dealing with Dayne Wickham,” the wolf said. “Besides, if magic users took him, they’ll have shields up. They could want him for anything.” He paced in front of the couch.
Jane went to the cage. “Which one of these toys has the pup had the longest?”
Z pointed to a red ball in the corner. “That one.”
She retrieved the ball and went to the kitchen, sorting through a drawer like she owned the place. Nobody bothered trying to stop her. She came back with a pen and paper and handed it to Cole. “Write down your cell number. They can call us if they hear anything, and I’m sure Dayne will be willing to do a spell to try to track him.”
“Not after I cut him off from theriantype.com, he won’t.”
“Wait,” Z said, “You own theriantype.com? That’s hilarious. Nobody trusts werewolves, and they’re all doing business with one. And a demon.” He gave Jane an appreciative once-over that made Fiona feel insecure times thirty.
Jane and Cole both glared at Z as the wolf shoved the paper into his hands. “You call me if you hear anything,” Cole said. Then the two disappeared out of the cave without another word.
“The manners of some people,” Z said, sinking back onto the couch. He crumbled up the piece of paper and tossed it in the corner.
“You had no intention of looking for the pup, did you?”
“Fiona, I’m tired. I want to go back to sleep. Do we have to do this now?”
Her voice was cold when she replied. “That’s all I needed to know. Take me home right now.”
She was already packing up bags, putting her magic book back into the duffel beside the fireplace.
“You know I can’t. It’s not safe out there. We don’t know who they are. They could come back. And anyway, it’s outside” He used sarcastic finger quotes, putting emphasis on the word to remind her of her phobia, as if it were some red button he could push to control her. And ordinarily, it might have been. But at the moment she was too pissed.
“Yeah, I know how agoraphobia works. It’s just that I don’t care what happens to me right now because you lied to get me in bed. Maybe you’re the thing the birds warned about. If you are, the danger’s over so take me home.”
Z stood, his jaw clenched tight. “Oh my god. Virgins are such drama. I did not lie to you to…”
Before he could finish the sentence, she slapped him. She’d moved so fast that for a moment he forgot she was human. The sharp snap of her fury echoed off the walls of the cave.
“Don’t you ever make me feel like some lesser being just because I haven’t screwed everything breathing. You are not the measuring stick of normal so get over yourself. Take. Me. Home. You have no right to keep me prisoner here.”
“Fine. Fuck.”
Chapter Ten
Z had to get her out of his cave. If he didn’t, he’d try to mount her again. The flushed anger in her face was much sexier right now than he wanted to admit.
He didn’t say another word as he helped her get her things together. He slung a few of the satchels over his shoulder and loaded Fiona down with the others. He helped her down the side of the rock, gave her his helmet, and took her back to her place.
This is why I don’t sleep with virgins. Of course it would end like this. Sex was too big of a deal to them. No matter what they said, they couldn’t just fuck and move on. It had to be a big deal. It had to be romance and relationships and confrontations.
What was he supposed to do about the pup? How was he supposed to find him? Maybe he should have put some kind of tracker on the little guy, but that was water under the bridge now. Whatever he should have done had no bearing on what he had done or where they were now. All he wanted was to disentangle himself from all of it and get back to being a normal panther.
He was relieved it was the family’s problem now, instead of his. Z could sleep without guilt, without having to be further involved in any of it. And that suited him just fine. Who was more motivated and better equipped to find the missing pup? Him with his unpracticed witch, or the parents, one of whom was a demon and knew a powerful sorcerer?
And now that Fiona had gone nuclear, he didn’t have to worry about what he was going to do with her, either.
He could get rid of that stupid cage and all the toys from the bachelor cave. He could sleep through the damned night. He could go out whenever he wanted and sleep with whomever he wanted and go back to who he’d been before this domestic interruption. Life was good again.
But it was hard to convince himself of that when he could smell Fiona’s tears and feel the warmth from her body as she held onto him on the back of the motorcycle. His protective urges wouldn’t shut up around her. Didn’t she need him? No, that was stalking, he was pretty sure. Yeah, he’d kidnapped her, but that was a one-time event. Continuing to impose himself in her life was a whole other level of psycho he wasn’t prepared to embody.
She’s drama. You’re better off without her.
When they stopped in front of the cottage, everything looked secure. Stan had been by to fix the window like Z had requested. Fiona hopped off the back of the motorcycle like her ass was on fire and marched straight up to the h
ouse without looking back. Z followed with the rest of her bags.
He put the bags down beside her front door and slunk back toward his ride. She could keep the helmet. He didn’t need it anyway, and the sooner he put space between them, the happier he’d be.
Her voice stopped him cold. “You know, I might die alone because of my fears, but so will you. Think about that when you’ve run through the available female population.”
Ouch. Some nasty part of him wanted to call her a bitch, but she wasn’t a bitch. She was right. They would both end up alone. But that didn’t mean he was good for her.
“Fiona…”
“What?” Her voice was guarded, as if she expected him to say something vicious, and maybe that had been the plan before he’d seen that stark look in her eyes. Now he couldn’t remember what he’d been about to say.
The anger drained out of him. “You deserve somebody better than me. There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re amazing. I’m just… not that guy. I don’t know how to be that guy. I still don’t feel good about leaving you alone here…”
You’re stalling.
“They got what they came for. They aren’t coming back. Just go. Leave me alone so I can start forgetting I met you.”
Z nodded. “Okay.”
When he got back to the cave, he couldn’t help noticing how quiet it was. How had he lived in so much quiet before?
The place still smelled like her. He’d been tired, but now sleep was the last thing he wanted. A scrap of purple fabric peeked out from under the bed. She’d left one of her T-shirts. For a moment, he had the idea to go back to her cottage on the pretext of returning the shirt, but he couldn’t bring himself to. He wadded it up and threw it in the garbage can under the kitchen sink.
He opened the cabinet and stared. Several coffee mugs lined in a perfect row from largest to smallest stared back at him. Z took the cups out one by one and hurled them across the cave to smash against the mantle of the fireplace. The crash and shattering of ceramic was cathartic until it was over. Then it was just a mess.
He swept up the pieces, along with the crumpled piece of paper with the werewolf’s cell phone number and threw it all in the trash. Speaking of cell phones… he wondered if Fiona still had his phone. Maybe he could call her tomorrow, just to make sure she was okay.
He shook his head. No. She’d been very clear. He’d already made a big enough mess. He could at least respect this one request.
***
The mood in the hive was somber, like a funeral. And in a way it was. They all knew the odds of finding the pup alive were small. Thinking otherwise was kidding themselves. Therians born in their fur were stronger than those born the normal way. That was a lot of magic, and there were a lot of people who would want their hands on that magic.
Cole had locked himself away in the private den. Jane needed him if they were going to find their pup, because no matter the odds, there was still a chance—if he could pull it together. She had to believe that or she’d fall apart.
“He just needs some time,” she said as Mara approached. It was her new reasonable-reassuring-Jane face.
“We almost lost him last time to the bottle. You have to talk to him, reason with him,” Mara said.
“He wanted that pup, and now we can’t have another one. We haven’t talked about it in detail, but I know Cain won’t let us have a kid—not with me being what I am now. It would make another pure blood vampire. He won’t have that. Cole won’t take that kind of micromanaging in our affairs well. Either way, even if we could have a baby, it wouldn’t be a pup. It wouldn’t shift and be like Cole. He’s lost that forever.”
The wolf put a hand on Jane’s arm. “Hey. Look at me. You talk like the pup’s dead. We don’t know that. He could still be out there.”
Jane shook her head. “I can’t get in touch with Charlee, and I know Cole would be furious if I approached Dayne alone. Cain may have a connection, but I doubt it. Demons avoid magic users. They’re our only true weakness in this world.”
Blake walked up and handed her a slip of paper.
“What’s this?”
“It’s the new code to Cole’s private den.”
The beta kept a copy in case of emergency.
“I can’t use this. He wants to be alone.”
Blake growled. “He’s being a dumb ass, and you’re losing time. He needs to pull himself together and go after his pup. And he needs you. Go to him.”
“Thanks. You’re a good beta.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t want to have to play substitute alpha again.”
But they both knew that wasn’t what motivated him.
Jane moved quickly through the tunnel that connected the main den to her and Cole’s den and punched in the security code. She hadn’t been inside since she’d been human and pregnant with the pup.
“Cole?” she said, when the metal door whooshed open. She was thankful he’d gotten rid of all the paintings of her bleeding to death.
A quiet whimper came from their bedroom. She wasn’t surprised to find him in wolf form curled up on their bed, his nose between his paws. He just wanted to recede into the animal part of himself and not hurt so much.
Jane took her clothes off and shifted into the wolf form she’d assumed earlier in the demon dimension, back when Cole had been so excited and happy. It had only been a few hours ago. And now they were back to this. She curled up with him, unsure how long she could hold this form, but she’d hold it as long as she could to comfort him.
They stayed like that for what felt like forever until Cole growled and abruptly shifted.
Jane shifted back as well, tired and hungry from all the energy she’d used to show solidarity. “What is it?”
“I’ve got an idea.”
***
Fiona sat in the living room with a half gallon of Chunky Monkey ice cream. She was going to be a chunky monkey if she couldn’t put down the carton. The sun had just set, and she was watching a tearjerker on her computer and bawling her eyes out.
There was a knock on the front door. She looked down at her fuzzy pink bathrobe with spaghetti sauce stains. Her hair was a mess, and no doubt her face was all splotchy from crying.
“Just a minute!” she called out, sure it was Z. A part of her wanted to yell for him to leave, but the movie had made her all mushy inside. She’d kick herself if she let him get away again. Not that he was coming to swoop her off to some happily ever after. At best he just wanted to have sex again. How lame was she if she said yes?
Fiona scrambled to the kitchen to put the ice cream back in the freezer and raced to her room. She tore through three drawers of clothing before she found a pair of jeans that made her ass look great, a push-up bra, and just the right top. She ran a comb through her hair, thankful it was just messy and not dirty. She swiped a lip gloss wand across her lips, put powder on her forehead and nose, and some concealer under her eyes to cover the signs of crying, then she headed for the door.
She would have spritzed perfume on, but that would have been too much. She didn’t want to look like she was trying too hard. Or at all. She just wanted to look natural, like she didn’t need him. She opened the door, afraid he might have given up or changed his mind and gone home.
On the other side of the door stood three men. Two she recognized as the sorcerers who had taken the pup. They wore black suits and looked like government agents. The other man was dressed like a priest. She shoved the door with everything she had, but they were too strong.
The sorcerers dragged her outside, kicking and screaming. She bit one of them in the arm and got smacked in the face for her trouble. How far away was Z? Was he out with a woman, or would he be in the woods or in his cave?
“Z!” she shouted. Would he come for her if she were in trouble? Once he’d washed his hands of the pup, he hadn’t been concerned with the wolf’s welfare. Why would it be any different with her?
The other sorcerer put a hand over her mouth to stifle her screams
. “Don’t think about biting me,” he snarled.
The priest guy stepped forward then; his eyes glowed red and fangs peeked from between his lips. Fiona closed her eyes and resumed struggling.
“My name is Father Hadrian. We don’t want to hurt you, we just need some leverage to broker a trade.” His voice was hypnotic, and she wondered if he could control her mind with her eyes shut. Why, oh why hadn’t she learned to use her magic?
A beat of silence and then he spoke again. “You think we can’t make you open your eyes? You have no chance here. If you fight us, you’ll end up getting hurt. If you scream, you’ll end up getting hurt. I won’t use thrall if you’ll behave. Will you behave?”
Tears slipped down her cheeks, but she nodded and stopped fighting. The sorcerer took his hand from her mouth.
What else was she going to do? Three against one were terrible odds, especially when it was three males to one female: two strong sorcerers and a vampire against a novice witch. It was like taking a nuclear warhead to a minor playground spat between schoolchildren.
Fiona looked up, determined to avoid the vampire’s gaze. It didn’t matter because he’d turned and disappeared through a thick patch of trees. The sorcerers dragged her through the woods.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Don’t speak,” one of them said. “You know, we should kill you right now. Your stupid panther killed two of ours, but the boss says we have to keep you breathing.”
Their grips were unnecessarily tight, but she didn’t say anything else. She tried not to hyperventilate as they moved farther from the cottage. The fear over being outside and far from safety warred with the real fear—the legitimate fear. This was what the birds had warned about, and the catalyst had been helping the wolf that first day. She should have ignored the pup.
To hold onto the last threads of her sanity a bit longer, Fiona mentally rewound everything until she was back to that day. She counted the steps to the mailbox, pulled out her electric bill, and then counted the steps back. She heard the pup cry, and she ignored him and went back inside. Everything would be better if she’d taken that path instead.