“Can I be your flower girl?” a little blonde girl piped up. “I like flowers. Will you pick me some flowers?”
“Oh, my goodness. Look, is that Dora the Explorer standing over there?”
When they turned to look, she turned and ran.
Suddenly she was grabbed from behind, by two strong muscular arms. She didn’t need to turn around; his familiar scent sent a wave of delicious heat sizzling through her.
Smiling, she spun into his arms.
“That was a dirty trick,” he grinned.
“It was a matter of survival. It was them or me. I had to escape.”
With a huge grin, he added, “How’s this for a dirty trick?” And then he said very loudly, “Ginger Colby, will you dance with me? Please?”
Everyone turned and stared. Everyone held their breath.
Ginger Colby was no fool. She wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.
She made a big show of doing a graceful half curtsy and answered loudly “Of course, I will dance with you.”
He swept her into his arms as Wilhelmina turned up the boom-box, and the two of them spun around on the grass. Ginger loved to dance, but Ashmont had always acted as if he were afraid she’d fall on him and break him.
But Loch spun and twirled Ginger as if she were light as a feather. He dipped her backwards until her hair brushed the grassy lawn. He spun her like a top.
And when the music stopped, the crowd burst into applause.
“Ginger Colby, there’s something else that I want to ask you,” the sheriff said loudly. Ginger froze.
Seriously? Was he going to ask her what she thought he was going to ask her?
And how would she respond?
“No, you don’t.” A shrill voice cracked across the lawn.
Ginger turned, her heart sinking in her chest. Portia Sinclair and an elegantly dressed woman who looked like an older version of Portia were walking across the lawn towards them. Portia wore jeans, strappy high heeled sandals, and a clingy, silky t-shirt, and her lip curled in disgust when her eyes lighted on Ginger. The woman wore a tailored linen suit that fit her narrow frame like a glove, and she carefully picked her away across the grass in high heeled pumps.
There were two Werewolf Enforcers with them, in uniform, tall muscular men with buzz cuts and grim, expressions stamped on their faces. The Enforcers worked for the council.
“Aurora Sinclair, you were not invited. Get off my property,” Willie snapped, eyes blazing with anger.
“I’m sorry, Willhelmina, but this is council business.” Aurora turned to Loch, who looked as if he were about to explode with anger.
“She is a red wolf. You are a gray.” Aurora spoke in clipped tones. “If you two mate, your pups will not be pure. For the good of the council, if you insist on continuing this relationship, I will be forced to order your removal as Alpha and replace you with Jax.”
Ginger gasped in horror. Hot-headed Jax? That would be an utter disaster. He would have the Blue Moon wolves at war with the panther nation before the week was out. Every wolf shifter in Blue Moon County would be in danger.
Her parents, Loch’s pack…she couldn’t do this. She just couldn’t. There were too many good people that she’d hurt if she selfishly insisted on staying. There was much more at stake here than her own happiness.
As Loch started to protest, Ginger spoke up, eyes filling with hot tears.
“Stop!” she shouted. “I’m going back to New York, tonight. It’s over, Loch. That’s my choice.”
She turned and ran back to her car.
Behind her she heard howls of rage, and snarls. It sounded as if Loch was clashing violently with the Enforcers. She knew he’d be all right, because he had dozens of his relatives there.
But she had to get out of there right away, she knew, before she changed her mind.
She drove down the road blindly, tears streaming down her face, her heart aching. She’d been so close to happiness.
Loch was right, he was her fated mate. Every time he came near her, her heart sang. How could this be? How could she find her fated mate and be torn away from him? Why was fate such a cruel bitch?
Crying so hard she had to gulp out her words between sobs, she called Marigold to tell her what happened, and asked Marigold to pack her bags and meet her in an hour at a gas station on the edge of town. She couldn’t bear to set foot in the boarding house again, couldn’t bear to face Loch if he came to the boarding house and tried to change her mind.
Chapter Fifteen
She turned off her cell phone and drove aimlessly, down country roads she’d never see again. She rolled down the windows so she could feel the breeze caress her face and hear the birds sing one last time.
When she showed up at the gas station, she was shocked to see that Marigold and Brenda were both waiting for her, and Brenda looked frantic.
“I found this under my door,” she said, and thrust a note at Ginger.
“Jax and a gang of wolves started a fight with the panthers, and a bunch of them are at the hospital now,” Marigold said at the same time. “And the panthers grabbed Jax and kidnapped him.”
“What?” Ginger’s jaw dropped. “Slow down. What the hell is going on?”
She looked at the note. “The professor told me not to tell anyone, but I had to let you know so you wouldn’t be sad any more. He’s not dead. He asked me to come with him and be his bride. Don’t worry, Brenda, you’ll find your own true love some day. I’ll tell you more when I can.” It was signed, Tallulah.
Ginger felt an icy chill radiating from the note, and her heart dropped to the bottom of her shoes. She closed her eyes and concentrated, opening her mind.
Tallulah was dead, and she had died violently. She could sense it.
She blinked hard, tears burning her eyes. She didn’t want to tell Brenda and Marigold until she was absolutely sure, but deep in her heart she knew.
“What happened with Jax?” she asked in a shaky voice.
“We drove to the sheriff’s station with this note and gave it to Jax,” Marigold said. “He said he’d take care of it himself, because the sheriff never does anything. I guess he rounded up some wolves and they went to the Panther Nation and tried to muscle their way in, and it started a huge fight. The wolves were injured, and they ran off, and Jax was dragged away by the panthers.”
Ginger’s heart sank.
She didn’t dare go talk to Loch. She might weaken. Or Aurora might see her talking to him, and take away Loch’s position as Alpha on the spot.
“I’ll go try to talk to Montgomery,” she said. “We’ve got to find out what happened to Tallulah. And if the professor’s still alive, maybe he’s hiding out on panther territory still. Maybe he had help. If Montgomery actually let people on to his territory to arrest Tommy Deerkiller, I think he’s coming around and he’ll listen to reason.”
“I feel like something really bad’s happened to her,” Brenda said. “Has it?”
“I’m not sure yet,” Ginger lied.
“I feel terrible for all those times that I said mean things to her.”
“You were both victims of the professor. He’s been alive all this time and letting both of you suffer? He manipulated you both. He played you against each other.”
“I see that now.” Brenda nodded, and tears filled her eyes. She put her hand on Ginger’s arm. “Be careful, Ginger. I’m sorry I’ve been such a naggy, annoying pain in the ass.”
“You weren’t at all,” Ginger assured her.
Yes you were, Ginger thought.
With her heart aching for poor Tallulah, Ginger quickly headed out to panther territory. Her head was in a whirl; what the hell was going on here? What would she find there?
When she arrived at the gates that led into their territory, she identified herself to the shifter in the guard shack.
He spoke to someone on the radio, and then came back and nodded to Ginger.
“Wait here,” he said to her.
; A few minutes later a car pulled up, and the panther in the car gestured to her to follow him. With shaking hands, she followed him down a narrow country road.
There were no telephone poles out here, no electric poles. The trees loomed like ancient giants, dark and swaying in the wind, and she had an uneasy feeling churning in her stomach as they reached a sprawling wooden structure that was more like a compound than a house.
She parked and climbed out, and with every step she took she felt more and more certain that she’d made a terrible mistake coming out here by herself.
She paused at the front door, hesitating. Should she just turn around and leave?
Before she had a chance to decide, Montgomery opened the door. “I’m glad to see you,” he said, grim-faced. “We’ve got a problem, and I don’t know what to do about it. I need to talk to you.”
“Is Jax here?” she asked him anxiously.
“He’s here. I’ll let you talk to him in just a minute.”
She swallowed hard, her palms damp with perspiration. If Jax was there, she had to go in. He was probably injured. She might be able to sweet talk Montgomery into letting her take Jax with her.
She followed him into the house. Hand woven rugs in geometric patterns adorned the floor. The walls were plaster, and paintings of panther shifters decorated the walls without frames.
Something felt very wrong here. Somebody was trying to speak to her from the other side, pounding at the edges of her consciousness. Tallulah? She wondered. But how would Tallulah have reached her here? She needed to be touching something that had belonged to the dead, or in their home or a place they’d spent a lot of time, before she could communicate with them.
Jason Strikes True and Richard Iron Claw were standing in the spacious living room, still as statues, with their arms by their sides. They had odd expressions on their faces. A ripple of alarm ran down Ginger’s spine as she noticed that the curtains were all drawn. It made the house feel like a dim, closed-in prison.
“Hello, Jason. How are you?” she said.
He stared at her, his eyes bulging, and his lip quivered, but he didn’t speak.
Suddenly Montgomery’s radio crackled.
“Sheriff Armstrong is at the gate. He’s asking to speak to you,” a voice said.
“Perfect. Send him back here,” Montgomery said.
Perfect? Ginger thought with alarm.
What did he mean by that? Why was it perfect?
“Come with me,” Montgomery said. He nodded at Jason and Richard. “You come too,” he said.
Well, at least Loch would be there, she thought with growing unease. She followed Montgomery down a long hallway, with Jason and Richard right behind her.
Montgomery led her through several doors and into a large library with books stacked high on the walls, and as she walked through the doorway, the coppery tang of blood filled her nostrils.
She froze on the spot and spun around, but before she could run, Montgomery nodded his head at Jason and Richard. “Grab her,” he said. “Bring her in the room.”
They both leaped forward and grabbed her by the arms, dragging her across the floor. She struggled and screamed, but it was useless. Their grip was like iron
The smell of blood was overpowering. Glancing at the back of the room, she saw where it was coming from. A body lay on a wooden table, wrapped in a tarp. Flies buzzed around it. There was a bloodstained knife resting on top of the body, with a cruel curved blade.
It was Tallulah. She could sense it.
Ginger wanted to scream, or cry, but the sound died in her throat.
She suddenly realized with shock that Jax was sitting in a chair by the table, his arms by his side. He was staring straight ahead with a blank expression on his face. His lip was split, one of his eyes was blacked, and the right side of his face was swollen.
“Jax!” Ginger cried out. “What are you doing? Help me!”
He blinked hard but didn’t move.
“I’m afraid he’s not capable, my dear,” the professor’s voice said. “I own his mind now. I own his will. And soon I will own yours.”
Montgomery walked around to stand in front of her. His face began to melt. The professor’s wavy hair appeared, his face…
Professor Reese stood before her. He had several small stone icons dangling from a leather cord on his neck.
“Where is Montgomery?” she gasped. “Did you kill him?”
“Oh, of course. The night I disappeared.”
Yes. That was who had been hammering at her mind, trying to get her to open up. Montgomery. As soon as she’d walked in he’d tried to warn her.
She heard Loch walking down the hall and she struggled to scream, to warn him. “Cover her mouth,” the professor said to Richard, and Richard clamped his hand firmly over her mouth, pinning her in place. Ginger writhed and bit at Richard’s hand until it bled, but he didn’t move.
Should she shift? There wasn’t much point; she was in a room with two panther shifters who could easily take her wolf down.
Loch entered the room a minute later, and froze for a second in shock when he saw the scene before him, with Ginger restrained and struggling. Then he let out a roar of rage and lunged forward.
Professor Reese waved the stone icon and said a few words, and Loch went crashing down to his knees, and his eyes glazed over.
“Stand up,” Professor Reese barked. Loch stood up. “Sit at the table, in that chair,” Reese ordered, and the sheriff did as he was told.
“What did you do to him?” Ginger gasped.
“You’re next, you know,” Professor Reese smiled gently, the way he did when he was asking one of his students to fetch him coffee. “You’ll still be able to understand what’s going on around you, and feel rage and despair and humiliation. But you won’t be able to do a damned thing about it. I could tell you to gauge your own eyes out, and you’d do it.”
Ginger’s heart was pounding so hard she thought it would crack through her rib cage.
Was Loch’s mind gone forever? Was there no saving him? The thought made her so angry that her vision swam red. Her mate. Loch was her mate. Professor Reese was hurting her mate.
She needed to stall. This couldn’t be the end. Ginger Colby was not a quitter. “Tell me what happened first,” she pleaded.
His smile spread wider. He was a raging egomaniac, and she knew he couldn’t resist the urge to brag.
He turned to Jason. “Tell them what you did,” he ordered him. “Tell him about how you brought about the end of the Panther nation.”
A tear glittered in Jason’s eye, and he blinked hard, and began talking, in a wooden, despairing voice.
“I was supposed to guard the icons,” he said. “It was my sacred duty, but I let myself be distracted by Tommy Deerkiller’s daughter. While we were in the woods together, someone broke in to the hut where we keep them. It was probably Tommy; we’ve known for a long time that he was stealing and selling sacred panther items. I heard the noise and ran back there and interrupted the burglary, but it was too late. Someone had disturbed the wooden box which held the most powerful of icons, the Mind-stealer. The box was on the floor and there were stone amulets scattered all over. I told my father. He said that it was high time we found a way to destroy the icon, but we didn’t know which one it was.”
“How could you not know?”
He stayed silent.
“Answer her,” Reese said.
“We never open the box. We simply guard it. It hasn’t been opened in centuries, since the death of River Runs Red. We thought that there was only the Mind-stealer in there. We were shocked to see all the icons scattered on the floor.”
Ginger glanced over at Loch. His face twitched, his eyes blazing with anger, but he stayed frozen where he sat.
“Richard and his father contacted me at the university, and secretly hired me to come out here and look through the icons and identify the Mind-stealer,” Professor Reese said with a smile. “I set up the dig so that I c
ould get close to the panther’s property, and then Richard and Jason arranged for a disturbance on the far edge of the property to distract everyone, so I could have time to come on the property and look at the icons in the hut where they’re guarded. I saw the shape-shifter icon in there, recognized it, and changed shape just as Montgomery came into the hut to confront me.”
“You killed him and took his place,” Ginger said. “Why take his place?”
“For all kinds of reasons. For power. For fun. To hide the fact that I’d killed him. So I could stay on the property and look through all of the icons at my leisure. I’m the ruler of the panther nation now. I’ve been fucking every young panther woman I fancy. It’s been delightful.” He grinned, and his eyes had a mad glow to them. Jason’s face twitched with anger, but he stood still as a statue.
“Jason’s sister was particularly tight and delicious. I fucked her in every hole,” The professor taunted. “Of course, she cried when I popped her cherry, and she cried even harder when I took her up the ass, but no panther dares to refuse the orders of Montgomery Eagle Feather. She could barely walk when I finished using her. Limped out of here bleeding, and wailing like a kitten.”
Jason’s lips quivered.
“Got something to say, Jason?” the professor grinned.
Jason stood silently, with murder blazing in his eyes.
“Why did you kill Tallulah?” Ginger blinked back tears.
“Ahh, yes. Quite sad. Tallulah was an angel, wasn’t she? But it had to be done, you see. The Mind Stealer is the most powerful icon of all, giving the wearing complete control over any shifter…but it is only activated by the fresh blood of a human virgin.”
Ginger felt as if she were going to vomit. Tallulah must have been overjoyed when she saw the professor again, and over the moon when he asked her to marry him. She’d eagerly run off to her death. Ginger could only pray it had been quick.
“When did you kill her?”
“Last night. The people here were starting to suspect me. Jason and Richard came to confront me. I needed to gain control of them.”
“If the icon gets its power from fresh blood, won’t the power wear off?” she asked despairingly.
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