Circle of Dreams (The Quytel Series Book 1)

by Jane S. Morrissey

  Bri laid her hand over his heart and shook her head. “That confidence again.”

  He leaned in and kissed her tenderly. The look shining in his eyes wasn’t the heat of desire, but of affection. “I really care about you, Bri.” He hesitated, resting his forehead against hers. “This feels too real to be part of an enchantment or the compulsion. Damn it. I think I’m falling in love with you,” he finished in a rush.

  Bri’s heart slammed in her chest as a hot glow ignited deep in her core, a burning passion for this man that went beyond the physical chemistry between them.

  She twined both arms around his neck and held on. She couldn’t look at him, knowing what she planned to do. She loved him, too. She knew she did; the words lodged in her throat.

  “I don’t want anything to happen to you.” She buried her head in his shoulder as he held her in his strong arms, then pulled her into his lap and rocked her. Her heart pounded, protesting her plan. If she waited she might back out, especially if they started talking about love and the future of their relationship.

  She untangled herself and eased out of his embrace. “I need some air.”

  “It’s pouring out.” He frowned and the disappointment on his face broke her heart.

  “I’ll stick to the covered walkway,” she assured him.

  Cole stood. “I need to talk with Nathanial anyway. Take a hot shower, and I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  His caring ways, combined with his sexiness, made Bri ache. She had to turn away to hide the tears gathering in her eyes, afraid he would see her desperation. He loved her. She hugged the knowledge close and let it guide her, locking her love for him away in a secret place within her heart. She couldn’t afford to go there, not when she was such a danger to him. Cole felt safe and strong, but she had to put that fantasy away. He couldn’t chase away her demons; she was the demon now.

  He didn’t turn to her as he left the room. He’d told her he loved her, and she’d said she needed air.

  She watched him close the door and waited for a few long seconds before grabbing the backpack and the keys to the jeep. Sneaking out of the room as quietly as she could, she made her way down to the parking lot.

  Soaked from the downpour and shivering with cold, she unlocked the door and got behind the wheel. Now or never. She started the engine, hoping the sound of the rain would drown out the noise. Leaving the lights off, she pulled out of the parking lot.

  She turned on the headlights as she hit the main road out of town and drove as fast as she dared. Her heart broke with every mile that took her away from Cole. Darkness surrounded her. No stars, no moon, just relentless rain and dense, heavy forest on either side of her. She wanted to lose herself in those dark woods where no one would find her, where she couldn’t hurt anyone.

  Her mind obsessively returned to her unanswered questions. Was her mother alive? Did Jonah know? Were he and Mack alive? Would Cole come after her, and if he did, what if she killed him?

  Silly, crazy girl, focus! She reprimanded herself. She had the car and a good head start.

  When she saw Jonah, they were going to have a serious talk. She was furious with him, and wanted to concentrate on that, not the worry she had about his safety and Mack’s survival. There was more. She knew her father was distant and held far too many secrets she could only guess at. What else hadn’t he told her about her life, her parents; her mysterious and dangerous psychic abilities? How could she forgive him?

  Bri drove for what felt like hours, blasting the heat to chase away the chill in her bones. She was exhausted, shattered, emotionally and physically. The car suddenly jerked and listed to one side. A flat tire. Shit.

  She slowed to a crawl and pulled the jeep over onto the shoulder. Laying her head on the steering wheel, she took a moment to breathe. This is not happening. Sheets of rain pounded the top of the car and bounced violently off the hood.

  It was a scene out of a horror movie. She almost laughed at the ridiculousness of it, but her heart beat too fast. She felt nauseous with fear, alone and unprotected, blind from the rain and darkness and still miles from any town.

  Anxiety raced through her system like jet fuel, her sweaty palms slipping off the steering wheel. “Come on, Bri, you’ve got to go out there and fix the tire. Get back on the road.”

  She shut off the engine, and the interior temperature dropped immediately. Locking all the doors, she crawled into the backseat to search the side pockets for a flashlight. She found one along with the jack and spare tire in the back. She struggled a bit to unlock the gears from the backseat, finally managing to gather everything she needed.

  Taking a deep breath, Bri hopped out of the car. Instantly soaked, her hair and clothes plastered her body like a second skin. As she set the jack under the car, she saw a flash of headlights off in the distance. It was too soon for Cole to have followed her. She waited. A second, two.

  “It’s nothing, Bri, you’re just being paranoid,” she told herself to keep her mind from scarier thoughts. Her teeth chattered, and her chin shook from the cold. “Just someone out for a drive in the middle of the night, on a deserted road.”

  The oncoming headlights flickered in the downpour, as the car got closer. Bri’s heart stuttered. She fumbled with the jack. Her hands were too cold, and she could barely hold on to the wet metal.

  What if they find me again? She dropped the jack and took off at a dash for the relative shelter of the forest.

  Bri ran fast and hard, away from the car and the road. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. This was how people got lost, hurt, or even died. She was freaked out from the storm, the rain, the darkness, all of it. The sane part of her brain knew that much. She couldn’t stop, and then didn’t want to. The deep forest enveloped her, the wet ground slippery under her feet. Keep moving. You’ll be fine, Bri, if you don’t stop.

  The hair on her neck prickled with awareness. Someone is out here with me. Double shit! She stopped, barely able to breathe, heart pounding. Fatigue sapped her strength and cold seeped into her bones.

  Bri tried to listen for someone following her, but it was impossible to hear anything but the pounding of the rain. Or see much of anything except for the thick, impenetrable canopy overhead illuminated with each flash of lightning, only to be consumed by darkness in the next instant.

  “Bri?” Her name floated to her over the beating rain and she froze.

  Cole? Of course he’d come. Relief made her knees weak. He’d come after her, but he couldn’t stay with her. It was too dangerous.

  Turning in the direction of his voice, she called into the night. “Cole, you have to leave me. I’m not safe for you to be around. Please.”

  “Who’s Cole?” the voice asked sharply.

  “No idea,” another man chimed in.

  Adrenaline hit her system like a fireball. She turned away from the voices and bolted as fast as she could, straight into the solid chest of an enormous man. His arms locked around her, and she fought like a wildcat.

  “Hey, calm down,” he ordered as she kicked and screamed, wrestling for her freedom. “Stop that.” The man grunted when her foot connected with bone.

  “Just knock her out.”

  And that was the last thing she heard.

  Chapter 18

  Cole banged on Nathanial’s motel room door until it opened and his friend faced him, gun in hand.

  Furious didn’t begin to describe what he felt.

  Bri had been quiet for most of the drive and had been on edge in the small hotel room, occasionally looking at him with heart-wrenching longing. It had not been easy for Cole to give her space, especially after he’d told her he loved her. Fool that he was, he’d trusted her, handing her his heart on a silver platter.

  And she’d left him. Left. Did she have any idea what that did to him? Did she care?

&nbs
p; “She took off.” Cole ran an agitated hand over his clammy face, staring at his friend with unseeing eyes.

  “You let her go?” Nathanial grabbed his bag and followed Cole along the walkway.

  “Shut up,” Cole replied hotly, pacing in front of the row of rooms. “I was giving her space.”

  “Did she take the car?” Nathanial seemed mildly amused.

  “What do you think?” Cole shot back. “And this isn’t funny.”

  Nathanial stopped him with a firm hand on his shoulder, all humor gone. “She will not get far.”

  Calming, Cole took a breath and let it out. “She may think she can outrun me, but she could never get away from the wolf or this damn compulsion.” Fear and anger raced through his bloodstream, neck-and-neck with betrayal. The compulsion had started its discordant beat while he’d been talking with Nathanial. He’d been too distracted to notice at first. He’d tried to ignore it for as long as he could, wanting to give her some space, which had been his second mistake. His first had been trusting her.

  “She didn’t give us much of a selection.” Nathanial stared out over the nearly empty parking lot.

  A bellow of wind pushed sheets of water sideways across the exposed walkway. They retreated to the relative protection of Nathanial’s doorway, still spritzed by the icy spray.

  “That one.” Cole gestured to a reasonably well maintained Chevy truck. The only other option was a beat-up Honda Civic that had seen better days. “We’re about to ruin someone’s vacation.”

  Steady and loyal, Nathanial had been a good friend, partner, and colleague. As usual his expression gave almost nothing away as he nodded. In unison, they took off for the truck. Nathaniel made short work of the door lock, yanking the panel down from behind the wheel and connecting the wires he needed to start the engine.

  “Move over, I’m driving,” Cole ordered, raising his voice above the storm. A blast of wind came on strong, and he got a numbing face full of water.

  Nathanial shook his head, equally soaked, and slid behind the wheel. “You’re a crazy driver when you’re mad.”

  Cole grunted, even as he ran around to the passenger side and hauled himself in. Flipping the heat on full blast, he shivered, soaking the cracked vinyl. Nathanial started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot.

  “I can’t believe she’s out in this,” Cole muttered under his breath, pissed at himself for worrying about her.

  “Which way?” Nathanial asked as they approached the main road. His long black hair hung in wet strands and stuck to his face and neck. He wiped at the drops running into his eyes.

  The pearl beat wildly in Cole’s core and the wolf paced, waiting, ready to stalk and track. He took a deep breath, and then another, still not believing she’d actually left him. What was she thinking?

  “Cole,” Nathanial snapped. “Which way?”

  The pearl would let him know if he turned the wrong way, but he knew where she would be headed. “Take a right.”

  Bri would either go on to Vancouver or south to Arizona in the hopes of finding Jonah. He glared out at the downpour. They wouldn’t be able to move fast in this weather. Then again, neither could she.

  Nathanial flipped on the headlights as they hit route 17 heading south out of town.

  “Follow this around the lake.” Cole rummaged in the glove compartment of the old truck and found a map. “Does this thing go any faster?”

  Nathanial shot him a dark glare. “How accurate is your compulsion?”

  “Pretty damn accurate.” Cole flicked on the interior light on his side so he could see the map.

  She’d most likely follow one of the main roads. In this weather, he doubted if she would risk taking back roads. She had to know he was right on her hot little tail.

  They drove in silence for an hour. At some point, the road veered off into the forest and away from the lake, offering them some protection from the roaring winds. The rain finally started letting up a few minutes later, the downpour turning to a heavy drizzle. Cole drummed his fingers on the dashboard. The compulsion alternated between a steady rhythm and an erratic tempo.

  The feeling of wanting to crawl out of his skin had returned, which meant they were on the right track. He needed to find her before anyone else did. His fear for her safety quickly morphed into anger. How could she leave me? Damn her.

  He saw something up ahead—a car pulled off to the side of the road. “Slow down.”

  “I see it.” Nathanial slowed the truck.

  As they got closer, Cole recognized the jeep. The left rear tire was flat, and a tire iron and jack lay next to it on the road.

  A shot of pure adrenaline hit Cole’s system. He yanked the door open before Nathanial stopped the car. Shedding his clothes as he ran, Cole embraced the shift. Dropping to all fours, he took off at a run into the deeper forest, following the barely present scent of jasmine and lavender the rain hadn’t yet washed away.

  Fear, anger, and confusion beat at the brain of the beast. Pure animal drive propelled him into the darkened forest. Tracking. Hunting. He connected to the earth through the pads of his paws. Information fed his senses.

  He arrived in a clearing where her feet had last touched the ground. Pacing the perimeter, the wolf caught the scent of two men, but no trail. The three of them had disappeared into thin air.

  He howled to the moon, a cry of anguish. The pearl glowed luminescent in his solar plexus.

  “Cole!” Nathanial made it to the clearing a few minutes later at a dead run. Breathing heavily, he came to a stop, gun drawn. “Where is she?”

  Fur receded, bones reshaped, and paws became hands and feet. Cole stood naked in the dense forest, uncaring of the wind and drizzle biting at his exposed skin.

  “She was taken by two men,” he rasped, locking fear behind an iron wall. He couldn’t function like that, couldn’t focus enough to find her if he went there.

  Nathanial handed Cole the wet ball of the clothes he’d shed at the car. “Can you track them?”

  Shaking his head, he struggled into his jeans. The cold, wet T-shirt, clammy against his skin, chilled him to the bone. “All three of them disappeared.”

  Nathanial laid a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll find her.”

  Chapter 19

  In the early morning light, they stared at the high wrought-iron gate blocking the road. “You sure?” Nathaniel asked.

  “I know she’s alive.” Cole slammed his palm on the dashboard. “We’re close.”

  Sliding out of the car, he approached the dilapidated gate, an abomination of civilization in the Canadian wilderness. A rusted tribute to security crossing the dirt road they’d been following for the last two miles.

  Cole examined it carefully, detecting no magical enchantment or protection. The thing had been around for decades and had fallen into serious disrepair. Rusty hinges squealed, even as it opened easily enough. He gave Nathanial the all-clear signal and guided the stolen truck through. Leaving the gate wide open in case they needed a quick escape, he climbed back in the cab.

  His friend looked over at him with a tilt to his head. “Ready?”

  “Just drive.” Cole leaned into the seat and rubbed tired eyes. They’d driven all night, stopping only for gas and food. The impulses of the pearl had taken them west over mountains and across high farm country. Each wrong turn had sent discordant notes quivering through his body. He was exhausted, body and soul.

  “I don’t have a good feeling about this.” Nathanial pulled the truck off to the shoulder and parked in the relative cover of a copse of trees, out of sight from the curve of the road.

  “Yeah, but I think this is the place.” Cole hopped to the ground, closing the truck door quietly behind him. The pearl had finally calmed to a steady beat, which meant Bri had to be close.
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br />   “On foot from here,” Nathanial confirmed across the hood of the vehicle.

  Guns in hand, they rounded the next curve in the road, and came upon a farmhouse. The large post and beam structure had fared only slightly better than the gate they’d passed through. It sat at the end of the long, tree-lined dirt driveway with a gentle rise of foothills behind it. Tall, craggy mountains pierced the skyline in the distance and rolling fields of tall grass surrounded the building on the other side. The air was crisp and clear, despite the warmth of the late-morning sun.

  Surveying the house from about thirty feet back, he searched for an approach that wouldn’t leave them open to an attack. Turning to Nathanial to coordinate their plan, he suddenly couldn’t move, his entire body paralyzed.

  Out of the corner of his eye, a striking woman stepped through the front door and onto the wide wraparound porch. Her long, dark hair was pulled into an intricate braid hanging to her waist. She wore knives strapped in leather sheaths over tight-fitting black pants on both of her muscular thighs and along her forearms.

  “Darius, let them go,” she ordered. Nothing happened. “Darius,” she repeated with a hint of exasperation, and then they could move again.

  Standing shoulder to shoulder, they spun around to face this new threat. Nathanial raised his gun and trained it on the woman.

  “Oh, put the gun down,” the woman said dismissively, her pale blue eyes cool and assessing. “It won’t help you.”

  The screen door opened, and Bri stepped out, looking beautiful and refreshed in clean blue jeans and a light green, form-fitting T-shirt. Cole wasn’t sure what he’d expected to find.

  He’d told her he loved her and she’d walked away. A part of him had held on to a sliver of hope that she’d regretted her decision, but she seemed at ease, maybe even annoyed to see him. Damn her.