by Susan Bliler
Thea glanced at James’ back then slid her eyes up to the clock hanging on the wall behind the bar. This might be easier than I thought.
Outside, Shane’s eyes narrowed on the window of the bar as Recker suggested, “We should probably tell her we’re Walkers.”
Shane’s response was a grunt.
“Seriously. She’s probably freaking out right now. It’d be easier on all of us if she knew we were friendlies.”
“Obviously we’re friendlies. You think enemies would find a restroom for her comfort?”
Recker shook his head and stared at the window. “I’m just saying.”
Chapter 18
Thea peeked out of the bathroom door and watched James sipping on a beer and staring at the pretty blonde bartender. Glancing at the clock over the bar, she knew it’d be any second now that she got her break. Just as she thought it, she heard the bell over the front door ring and then it sounded like a herd of elephants stampeded in. Voices filled the small bar/restaurant, and James’ head whipped around as he frowned at the crowd that just entered.
Having lived in this part of the state most of her life, Thea knew that Rusty’s was one of the stops on the Greyhound bus line. She’d even hopped on the bus from this very location once when she and a girlfriend had gone to a concert in Billings. Now, as passengers filled the restaurant looking for something to eat and to use the restroom, she knew she’d get her shot at escape.
As if sensing her thoughts, James’ head whipped toward the bathroom, and Thea quickly closed the door. Listening, she heard booted feet coming closer, so she made loud retching noises.
There was a knock, and then James bellowed, “Lady? You’re gonna need to hurry.”
She groaned loudly and went back to making more puking noises. She grinned when she heard James mutter, “Gross!”
She listened to the sound of his feet going back down the hall even as more footsteps came closer. When the bathroom door opened, she was ready.
“Excuse me,” a gray-haired lady smiled as she entered, followed by two younger girls who looked to be in their early twenties.
Tiptoeing to see over their heads, Thea found James leaning over the bar and talking to the pretty bartender.
Time to go.
Thea slipped out the door and down the hall in the opposite direction. There was a back door that led out to a patio that overlooked the river behind the bar.
Stepping out onto the deck, Thea was relieved to find it shoveled. She’d been worried that her footprints in the snow would give her away, but this was perfect. She crossed the deck and took the stairs that led down the side of the bar. Quickly, she checked the wooden door under the deck where she knew the place stored the patio furniture during winter. In the summer, she and Sonny would come to Rusty’s for dinner, and while the adults sat up on the deck smoking, drinking, and talking, she and Sonny would hide in the storage shed to make out.
Inside the shed, Thea pulled the door closed and waited. It was the best she could do. Running out into the forest wasn’t an option because those supes would be on her like white on rice. Hiding in the bar wasn’t an option either because it was an all open floor plan with no place to go besides the kitchen.
Footsteps on the deck above her had her clamping her hands over her mouth as she hunched her shoulders and listened.
Peals of laughter filled the air before dying down. Thea was sure it was the two young girls from the restroom. She heard someone flicking the spark wheel of a lighter and her excitement rose.
Yes!
The girls smoked and chatted and a short while later, she heard the bellow from out front. “ALL ABOARD!”
It was last call for the passengers, and as Thea waited, her stomach knotted.
When she finally heard the roar of the engine as the bus pulled away, she knew she needed just a few more minutes. She didn’t have to wait long. The back door of Rusty’s flew open so hard, she heard it bank off the wall.
Above her, she recognized Shane’s voice, “One job, James! You had One. Fucking. Job!”
“It’s not like I could go in the bathroom with her,” James argued.
“Anyone got a scent?” Recker asked.
“All I smell is cigarette smoke.” Shane cursed, “Fuck!”
“I can’t believe you actually fucking lost her!” There was pacing overhead, and then it stopped as Shane spoke again. “She’s gotta be on that bus!”
“You sure?” Recker countered. “Maybe she’s hiding in the woods.”
“You see any footprints?” But Shane’s tone sounded condescending.
Silence reigned a moment before James declared, “Well let’s get after that damn bus!”
They disappeared back into the restaurant and Thea didn’t come out of hiding until she heard the motor of a vehicle out front start up and pull away.
***
Marko had made shit time, and he knew it, but at least he’d finally arrived. The only thing that had kept him sane the entire run was thinking about how he was going to kill Jenny, Stoney, and King the next time he saw them.
He stepped onto the Apex property without so much as a buzz of fanfare. Apex, run by Dominant, Tyce Steele, was nothing like StoneCrow. Back home StoneCrow Estates was surrounded by a massive stone wall. All visitors had to be checked in at the front gate, and there were security monitors, heat sensors, motion sensors, and a dozen other security devices to ensure the Walkers there knew when anyone stepped onto the territory. Here though, Apex was more lax. No alarms blared to life, and Marko raced to the giant house that sat in the center of gently rolling prairie land. Where StoneCrow was nestled deep into the mountainside, Apex sat out on the plains, bold as you please. It was a testament to Tyce’s don’t care attitude. He didn’t house children on his property, and while two of his best Sentries had recently been mated, Tyce had made no changes at all to how his estate was run. Marko thought it was foolish, but he knew the Skin Walkers that resided at Apex liked the less militarized feel of the place.
Marko shifted as he reached the driveway and struggled to slow his breathing. It had been a long run. So much so, that the sun had already set and the moon above cast her pale light on the glittering snow.
Before Marko could reach the door, it opened, and Commander Conn Drago stepped out. Marko could tell by the grim set to the Commander’s lips that something was wrong.
“Marko.” Conn dipped his head once in greeting.
Cutting straight to the heart of the matter, Marko demanded, “What’s wrong?”
“King said you were on your way here.” Conn looked over his head. “I was hoping the team would beat you, but…they got held up.”
“Held up? What happened?”
Sighing, Conn scrubbed a hand down his face before answering solemnly. “They lost Thea.”
It felt like the ground opened up beneath him and he was falling. It took all of two seconds for rage to tear through him. “The fuck you mean they lost her?”
Dark brows speared down in Conn’s scarred face. “She was ill and needed to use the facilities, so they stopped at a place called Rusty’s. Thea gave them the slip.”
Marko shoved past Conn, forcing his way into the house with a growled, “What kind of ffffucking morons…” He didn’t finish the sentiment as he reached into a glass bowl perched on a stand near the door. Without even looking, he fisted a set of keys and turned and stormed right back out the door.
Behind him, Conn bellowed, “She’s not at Rusty’s, Marko, and she didn’t catch the bus that stopped there either. Your woman is in the wind!”
He didn’t argue that Thea wasn’t his. He didn’t say anything. Instead, Marko hit the unlock button on the key fob and stormed toward the vehicle whose lights lit up. As he backed the truck out of the drive, his gaze slid over Conn where he still stood, arms crossed, in the doorway. It took every ounce of his strength not to flip the Commander off. His list was growing, and now the good Commander and his crew of fuck-ups joined Jenny, Stoney,
and King on the list of Walkers he wanted to mutilate once he finally found Thea.
Chapter 19
Leaning on the railing of the back porch, Thea breathed in the crisp arctic air as she stared out at the winding river that snaked through the snow-covered field not a mere stone’s throw from her back door.
After escaping the men who’d caught her, Thea had hitched a ride to town, pretending to be exhausted so she could lie down in the back seat for the entire ride. The entire ride she thought about Marko. How was it possible to miss someone you just met so much?
Once, a punch of lust hit her so hard she thought she was going back into heat, but it slowly ebbed after she clenched her hands and concentrated on breathing through it.
Once she got to town, she forewent a stop at her apartment and went straight to the bank where she withdrew a good chunk of money before renting a truck and hitting the road. She’d wanted to call her parents, but opted to shoot them a letter instead, letting them know she was okay and apologizing for leaving so abruptly. She wanted to call them so badly, but she knew she wasn’t strong enough to not tell them everything that had happened and they didn’t deserve that kind of worry. Besides, she didn’t know if those men were still after her, which meant it was best for everyone she knew if she went off the grid for a while. She’d considered calling StoneCrow and begging help, but that idea died a rapid death. StoneCrow was a literal disaster area right now, and clearly, they had zero time for her and her issues. And, if she was honest with herself, she only wanted to call StoneCrow so she could talk to Marko, but he’d made his intentions quite clear the day she woke alone in that suite. He didn’t want the burden of her, and she couldn’t blame him. He’d been so distant in all of their interactions. She’d been the one infatuated, and it had incited her to throw herself in front of a tranq dart meant for Marko. He’d done what he’d done for her out of gratitude and nothing more. Thinking about it now, she was embarrassed, so ashamed at how she’d acted. And Marko…he’d been great. More than great, which was even worse. He was the most attentive lover she’d ever had, not that there’d been many before him, but he’d just been so, so…so, perfect! She wanted him more now than she ever had before, which meant she needed to stay away from him because she wasn’t sure she could keep herself from acting like a complete fool in front of him after what they’d shared. She knew to him it’d just been sex, but to her, it’d been so much more.
Decided that she needed to stay away from StoneCrow and Marko specifically, Thea had gotten her cash, taken her rental truck to the nearest pawn shop where she’d bought a gun, and then she’d hit the road.
Knowing she didn’t want to go too far, she contacted one of the outfitters in Wolf Creek. This time of year, most of the fishing cabins on the water sat vacant. It wasn’t hard to rent a cabin and satisfied with herself for paying for everything with cash once she’d left the city, Thea was confident that she was safe from anyone who might be hunting her down.
Now, staring at the doe and fawn that lapped quietly from the river, she huddled deeper into her blanket and brought her hot mug of tea to her lips. Her appetite had come and gone and then come again with a vengeance. There was a small store in the tiny town of Wolf Creek, but Thea made the twenty-six-minute jaunt to the bigger grocery store in Cascade to stock up on supplies. She’d gotten enough meat to fill the freezer along with the necessities of butter, milk, sugar, flour, eggs, bread, and a whole case of assorted canned goods. She’d even splurged on enough fresh produce to have her feeling satisfied that she was eating healthy. She was all ready to settle in for the month she’d already paid for the cabin.
She loved it here. It was quiet and beautiful, the perfect place to do some reflecting.
Watching the doe step up the embankment, she noted how the animal turned and waited for her baby to make it safely up. She’d been at the cabin only two days, but watching the animals, she realized how much she missed interacting with her own species. The cabin was great, but it was also lonely as hell. Her mind instantly shot to Marko, and a pang gripped her chest at what might have been. She’d spent her last few nights wondering how things would be different if there weren’t an attack on the estate. She’d have continued her silent ogling of Marko until she finally built up the courage to ask him out for a coffee. He might have said yes, and they might have hit it off. They could have dated a while and maybe even started the process of becoming intimate. Even now, she wondered what it’d be like to be able to call herself his girlfriend. She missed it. She missed belonging to someone. She missed a man’s protective arm slipped around her waist holding her close. She missed soft forehead kisses that spoke more of love than wild bouts of sex. She wanted to be cherished, she wanted to be loved and appreciated, and she didn’t know how to make that happen. Sure, she’d been crushing on Marko and had been building up the courage to make her move on him, but that was blasted out of the water now. He’d had to sleep with her to save her, and the second he could get away from her, that’s exactly what he did. And fuck, that stung. That stung like nothing ever had. Hell, it hurt even more than walking in on her piece of shit ex fucking some lumpy whore in their own bed. Why? Because she realized now that she wasn’t happy with him. She never had been. He was a selfish asshole who only thought of himself. He did a lot to change her, and before she even realized it, she was wearing frumpy clothes and was eighty pounds overweight because he’d always refill her plate at least once during dinner. At first, she’d thought it romantic. Now, she saw it for what it was. He was trying to get her to feel like shit about herself so that when he cheated on her…and boy did he…she’d just accept it because who would want someone like her? Pathetic douche! God, she hated him.
Still, she felt like she deserved a chance at true happiness. She was a good person, and yeah, her husband left her, but he’d given up on someone who was doting and faithful. He’d walked away from someone who truly loved him. She hadn’t been the breaker. She’d been there. She’d been true, all in, and for that she felt the universe owed her some good. She breathed deeply as hope settled into her bones. Closing her eyes, she rested her hip on the railing and muttered hopefully, “I believe in the good things coming.”
***
One month later Thea was bent over the railing puking her guts out. Even secluded, she’d somehow managed to contract the flu, and it was doing a number on her. Today, she’d felt better than she had in days, so she’d made a pot of tea and carried a mug out to the porch swing, but two swallows in and all her tea was coming back up. Now, huddled in a sweaty heap inside her blanket as her body rested against the porch rail, she pressed the back of one hand to her lips as she tried to steady her breathing in hopes of calming her roiling belly.
I can’t catch a break.
She’d been sick so long that she’d gone through a majority of her provisions. She desperately needed to hit the grocery store, but feeling like this she knew shopping would have to wait another day or two. Luckily though, contacting the outfitter with a promise of another cash payment had bought her another few weeks in her hideaway.
Chapter 20
Marko paced the length of a small exam room in the infirmary at StoneCrow Estates. He was waiting on Jenny, and his patience was wearing thin.
It’d been a month since Thea had disappeared and in that time Marko had fallen apart. He’d searched and searched for Thea to no avail, and Tyce’s team had been no help.
Stupid bastards! In his opinion, Tyce’s team was comprised of idiots, and Jenny was an idiot. And so were Stoney and King and Monroe and everyone! Everyone was a goddamn moron!
Marko snarled and buried a hand in his hair. He’d been so damn irritable lately that he could barely stand himself. Worse, the longer he’d gone without finding Thea, the worse his shifts got. They’d been harder to come by and weren’t lasting as long. Now, they were non-existent, and Jenny kept drawing blood and running tests to find out why. At first, she thought it was an interaction from being in contact with T
hea and the drugs in her system, but she dismissed that after things got worse instead of better the longer he was away from Thea. Now, she kept feeding him several lines of bullshit, and he knew that’s exactly what they were.
Stopping to glare at the door, a growl rattled his chest at how little the doctor clearly thought of his time. Without being able to shift, he was forced to search for Thea via vehicle, and it took so damn long getting anywhere that he despised himself more with each passing day for falling apart when Thea needed him the most.
Glancing at the clock, he ticked up his lip in a snarl and stalked toward the door. Enough of this waiting bullshit! He had much better things to do with his time than wait on Jenny.
Storming down the hall, he slowed at the sound of raised voices. He recognized Jenny’s instantly and inched closer to listen.
***
“What do you mean, you didn’t give her anything?” Monroe’s growl rattled the windows.
“Like what?” Jenny’s brows speared down. “She wasn’t raped, Monroe. The decision should have been hers!”
“And what of Marko’s decision?”
“He made his when he took her! That was his decision! Besides, I couldn’t give her anything. I didn’t know then, and I don’t know now how any drug would interact with what’s already in her system. She needed fewer toxins in her system, not more.”
The Chief of Surgery and CEO glared at each other for long minutes before King eased between them. “This isn’t helping. We’ve got a human out there, potentially pregnant with a Walker child and a Walker father who has no clue.” He looked at Monroe. “Can the Blackbird wolves track her?”
“I haven’t asked.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want word getting out there’s an unprotected female, pregnant from Walker seed roaming the streets!”
“We don’t know if she’s pregnant,” Jenny countered gruffly.
“We don’t know she’s not,” King countered.