by V. Vaughn
18
Nadia
I know I shouldn’t feel sorry for a hunter, but I do. When Caitlyn went to Julie she had hope her life might change. She remembered her happy childhood and wanted a piece of it back. But Julie shot her down quickly, and I screamed in Caitlyn’s head when Julie tried to play her. I get it though. I saw memories of what happened once the headmaster of Caitlyn’s private school recruited her for the Eradicators. Without any family to her name, Caitlyn was at the mercy of men who have no respect for women, and still is. She’s not happy, but she doesn’t know anything else.
I have my doubts that Jean Luc would kill a half in his clan, and I certainly don’t believe anything Julie said, but Caitlyn does. And when we left the trailer park, she renewed her hatred for werebear. I never thought I’d say this, but I want to save Caitlyn.
We’re at the grocery store, and cans of beans clatter in the cart as Caitlyn grabs the items on her list. She’s stewing over how cruel werebear are while I’m trying to sort out what happened to get me here. When Tally grabbed me, I think she pulled me with her into something magical. I ended up in Caitlyn, but what I can’t figure out is where Tally is. And I really hope the witch has plans to get me back home.
Since there is nothing I can do to get out of Caitlyn or affect her actions, I’m busy taking notes on the Eradicators. Caitlyn swears under her breath as she swipes boxes of pasta into the cart. And she pauses a moment before she grabs a few jars of a gourmet sauce. Apparently because she’s female, her duties include cooking for the men, which she and her friend, Linda resent. Although, Linda is a pretty kick-ass companion, because she can shoot a gun better than most of the guys who were on the range during target practice this morning. I sure wouldn’t want to face her. Caitlyn struggles with shooting, and I think it’s mental. Every time her trainer yelled an insult she sank further into failure mode.
Items thud onto the conveyor belt while the machine beeps as the clerk scans the food. Caitlyn peels bills off a wad of cash to pay for it, and I wonder how the Eradicators get their money. Instead of leaving the store, she pushes the cart full of bags over to the customer service desk and pulls out the jars of expensive pasta sauce.
The woman behind the counter asks how she can help, and Caitlyn says, “I just realized I bought the wrong sauce. Can I return these?” Caitlyn’s nervous, and it’s because she plans to steal the money. She’s going to help Julie? I’d shake my head if I could.
“Sure, no problem.”
When Caitlyn gets the cash, she puts it in a separate pocket of her jeans. I feel her sadness as she thinks about the woman she thought was her mother, and I realize she still loves Julie. It’s a pain I can identify with, because I still loved Sven even after he found his true mate and left me.
Seagulls call out overhead as Caitlyn pushes the cart toward her truck, and the tailgate clunks open when she lowers it to put the groceries in the back. Her phone rings, and she sighs before she answers.
A man asks, “Where the hell are you?”
“It was crazy here today,” says Caitlyn. “And the line was a mile long. I’m loading the truck now.”
“You need to get back here. Buck wants you on tonight’s mission.”
Caitlyn’s heart begins to beat faster as she says, “I’ll be right there.” Her hands are slick with sweat as she grips the steering wheel tight, and I realize she’s afraid. While I understand nerves for a dangerous situation, I also know the difference between healthy adrenaline and paralyzing fear, and Caitlyn is experiencing the latter. Crap. She’s going to get us killed.
She speeds to get back to camp, and by the time she arrives her pulse is pounding in her ears. I’m afraid now too, because I can’t do a damn thing to help her, and if she dies I bet I will too. “Tally! Where the hell are you?”
Caitlyn has pulled up to the back of the big lodge where the kitchen is, and Linda jogs out. She says, “I’ve got this, so go get dressed. Buck’s waiting on you.”
“Shit,” says Caitlyn.
Linda grabs her by the shoulders and stares intently at her. “A report came in this afternoon that a werebear was spotted nearby. You’ve got this, girl. You come back alive so I don’t have to suffer these fools all by myself. You hear me?”
Caitlyn nods before she takes off running towards the cabins. It’s freaking amateur hour when she gets inside her room and tries to find everything she needs. Clothes fly through the air as she searches, and I wish I could teach this girl some organization. She runs her mental checklist in her head as she changes into a dark outfit, and her hands shake as she checks her rifle and straps it over her shoulder. She’s halfway out the door before she remembers ammunition. When her stomach lurches with the threat of vomiting I want to join her, because of all the dangers I’ve faced in my lifetime, nothing compares to being trapped in someone I haven’t got an ounce of control over.
I imagine closing my eyes and take a deep breath to gain my composure. Perhaps I do affect Caitlyn, because she inhales deeply as she talks to herself. “Just keep your eye on the prize and focus. You can do this.” She steps out of the cabin with determination, and hope flickers in my heart that maybe she can.
She walks over toward the range where we shot earlier, and I see two trucks with men in the flatbeds. “Cat!” barks a bald man with eyes squinted so hard they’re only slits.
“Yes, sir!”
He jerks his head toward a truck, and a young guy slides over to let her get in. The bald man swirls his finger in the air before he gets into the passenger side of the truck Caitlyn is in. She glances around, and I think she’s trying to find a friendly face, but it doesn’t happen. The dark-haired man she was with earlier today glares at her and says, “You fuck this up, and I’ll kill you myself.”
Any confidence she had flies out of her like a deflating balloon, and I want to punch the guy. Don’t listen to the prick. I close my eyes again and focus inward in a futile attempt to get her back on track. The guy sitting next to her presses his hand to her thigh, and she glances down. He lifts up his thumb in a silent sign of encouragement, and she lets out a big breath. Thank god. She’s not alone in this after all.
The trucks squeak and rattle as they bounce along a road that seems too narrow to be purposeful, and I think it might an old logging road they recently recut when I notice logs stacked on the sides. The sun is low in the sky and it will be dark soon. The guy next to Caitlyn whispers, “Great night for a bear hunt, eh?”
She smiles at his kindness. “Yeah.”
“First time’s the hardest.” He stiffens when one of the older men glares at him, and Caitlyn doesn’t respond.
I’m only privy to what Caitlyn sees, and she’s more interested in keeping her head down than figuring out where we are. When we stop she glances up, and I notice we’re in a small clearing. Nobody speaks as they climb out of the truck, and hunting gear rattles and clicks as men organize themselves. They form six groups, and I assume they’re spreading out. Buck approaches Caitlyn and speaks in a low voice. “We’ll be close to the trailer park where you can identify it.”
The panic that rises in Caitlyn matches mine. Caitlyn wasn’t joking when she said she identifies werebear for the Eradicators. Brush rustles and twigs snap as she walks through the woods, following Buck and two other men. When the forest thins, she opens her mouth to gasp and then quickly stops. Ahead of us, I recognize the buildings, and the sagging porch and door hanging askew confirm it. This is Julie’s trailer.
19
Isabelle
“Izzy!”
I jerk awake to Tally’s voice. “Oh my god.” I hug my friend tightly, and she gasps as I squeeze the air out of her. I release my hold. “You’re back. What about--”
Tally scrambles off my bed. “I need to get Nadia to my potion room. Now!”
I keep my hand on Nadia’s thigh as I climb out of the bed too and ask, “Am I still her portal?”
“Yes. You come too.”
Jean Luc rushes into t
he room, and his face lights up when he sees Tally. “Kimi and Bella are on their way.”
She says to him, “Yeah. Yeah. I’m back.” Her feet thud as she moves toward the door. “Save the joy for later, and get us to my house.”
He glances at me as I lift Nadia up in my arms. I say, “I’ll get us there.”
My keys jingle as she grabs them from the hook by the door. The cold night air surrounds us as we walk quickly to my SUV.
I climb into the car with Nadia as Jean Luc grabs the keys from Tally and gets behind the wheel. She climbs into the passenger side and I ask, “Who did you end up in?”
“Julie, and man what a bitch that woman is.” The plastic framing on my door is firm under my hand when I brace myself for the hard turn Jean Luc takes. “She sent Caitlyn to prep school and told her to never come back because Jean Luc would kill her for being a human and knowing about werebear.”
“What?” asks Jean Luc.
Tally says, “Relax. I know you would have never done something like that. You would have bent over backwards to make sure she was safe. Henri too.”
“How do you know this about Julie?” asks Jean Luc, and I hold Nadia tight as we jerk to a stop in Tally’s driveway.
She kicks her door open and Jean Luc moves to yank at mine as she says, “Caitlyn met Julie at a run-down trailer where Julie asked her for money to get away.”
Tally’s lilacs are in bloom and the scent wafts up my nose as we walk to her house. “Do you know where it is?” asks Jean Luc. I’m sure my husband wants to send warriors to get her. I notice the lights are on in Tally’s house, and I guess that Bella and Kimi are here already.
“No.” She glares at him. “I was kind of trapped in the woman’s body. I couldn’t do a damn thing but get back here.”
Jean Luc holds up his hands in an apology. While she’s being disrespectful to the alpha, he’s willing to let it slide considering the urgency of the situation. Bella squeals, “Tally!” when she opens the door, and then embraces her.
Kimi also hugs Tally quickly before they lead us back into the kitchen. Two tables have been dragged together to form a bed, and Kimi tells me to lay Nadia on them. Jean Luc lifts Nadia from my arms as I take her hand. I ask Tally, “Do you know where Nadia is?”
“In Caitlyn.”
I glance at Jean Luc in surprise, but before we can get more information Kimi says, “I’ve already started the potion.”
Nadia’s bones thud on the table when my husband sets her down, and I think about how thin she is. The poor girl barely had time to put on any weight before she was sucked away into more danger. My first reaction about her being in a hunter’s body was horror, but now I’m fascinated. I bet Nadia’s gathering important information, and that has to appeal to the warrior in her. I squeeze her fingers and gaze down at her face. “Hang on, Nadia. We’re coming for you.”
Salt pelts against the floor as Bella pours it in a circle around me and Nadia. Drawers scrape open and slam shut as Tally gathers the ingredients Kimi barks out. I have questions, but don’t dare to speak as the women work. Jean Luc remains quiet too.
A match flares, and Bella lights candles that she’s set around the salt circle before she steps inside it to talk to us. “The three of us will be the points of a triangle. Our magic will combine and we’ll pull Nadia through the portal.”
I ask, “What can I do to help? Do you need my powers too?”
“No. You need to focus on letting your magic be the portal. Picture a golden tunnel and let your power maintain it. If you try to do anything else you might close the opening and trap Nadia on the other side forever.”
I nod as I imagine the hell it would be to live inside a hunter and watch her kill your kind without being able to do a thing to stop it. Kimi says, “We’re ready.”
Bella and Jean Luc step away from me, and the three witches take their places. A silence settles over me like a dark curtain before Kimi begins to chant in the ancient language of her tribe. Tally joins her and it sounds like they repeat the spell. Wind comes from nowhere and swirls around me and Nadia before Bella’s voice is added for another round of the chant. My magic hums in me, and I close my eyes to focus on letting it be a golden light that forms the portal. The wind is howling now, and my hair swirling around my face tickles my skin.
The women’s voices get louder as the floor begins to vibrate. A wave of nausea passes through me, but I swallow it down as I try to maintain my balance. The golden light of my portal shimmers, and my dizziness makes me snap my eyes open. I find the room is spinning around me too. I’m disoriented, but the table is firm in my fingers when I grab it to steady myself. I can’t hold on, and I begin to sink to the floor. I grip Nadia’s hand as tightly as I can so I can still be her portal, but when stars float before my eyes I’m afraid I’m about to pass out. My voice is distant when I say, “Tally. I’m--”
A sense of weightlessness wraps around me, and my eyelids fall shut. Now I gaze at the glowing tunnel before me. My nausea has passed, and I want to go toward the light. I reach out my hand. But suddenly the portal disappears, and my cheek stings with the slap of a hand. “What the hell?” I gaze up at Tally.
Her eyes are huge, and her shoulders relax as she says, “We almost lost you too.”
“What?” I rub my cheek as the pain subsides. “Did you just slap me?”
“You were drunk on magic. It had to be done.”
“Wait.” I recall the desire to go to the tunnel. “Was I getting sucked into the portal?”
“Yes.” Tally reaches her hand out to help me up. “I had to destroy it.”
I ignore her assistance and stand up to gaze down at Nadia as reality sinks in. Oh my god. Jean Luc wraps an arm around my shoulders, and I lean into him as I glance back at Tally. He says, “Please tell me Nadia’s not gone forever.”
Tally’s brow is knit in concern as my heart sinks. Kimi says, “She’s not. We’ll find a way to get her.”
“I think we need Caitlyn,” says Tally.
Jean Luc nods, and I listen as he orders the clan warriors telepathically to meet him at our house as soon as possible. My heart stops for a beat as I imagine what might have happened if I had been sucked through the portal just now. The pain of being separated from my true mate would be next to unbearable. Nadia must be frantic trying to get back to René.
I gaze at Jean Luc and notice the strong lines of his jaw and steely determination in his eyes. We will capture Caitlyn and get Nadia back, because my husband is the most powerful warrior I know. He’ll stop at nothing to save her.
20
Nadia
Sweat trickles down Caitlyn’s spine, and it’s not from the temperature. Being staked out waiting to kill the woman you thought was your mother for twelve years is nerve wracking. Somehow Julie managed to be seen in bear form and got the Eradicators on her tail. If she decides to go for a late night run, which is likely considering the stress she’s under holed up in a trailer hiding out from the Ouellette clan, she’s going to discover more than a dozen hunters with guns that can’t wait to kill her. And one of them is the girl she stole as an infant and pretended was her daughter.
Caitlyn adjusts the earpiece she’s wearing and talks to herself in her head. Please, moth-Julie. Stay put. While Caitlyn feels betrayed and abandoned by Julie, there is still an underlying love for the woman who was the only mother she ever knew, and Caitlyn doesn’t want her dead. Or to be the reason for it. She shifts her hips and stretches out her stiff legs slowly to avoid making noise, and her muscles groan in protest from sitting so long.
Caitlyn inhales sharply when someone announces in the headsets that he’s spotted a man leaving his trailer, but it’s quickly discounted when the guy deposits garbage in a bin. She settles in for a long night behind the bush as her mind is active with every scent and sound. She’d relax some if Buck’s breathing wasn’t loud enough to be a constant reminder of his close proximity. She thinks about how as a child she never realized she was human, and
living as one for the past decade has shown her that she developed senses growing up with werebear which are more acute than most humans have. Maybe that’s why Caitlyn was so shocked when she couldn’t shift and when Julie told her the truth about her half status.
Mosquitos buzz in Caitlyn’s ears, but she only squishes them when their stingers sink deep enough to itch instead of slapping to avoid the sound. Even though her genetics give Caitlyn an advantage, she’s stewing about how strongly she abhors her werebear side, and her deep hatred for the species that rejected her as she replays her meeting with Julie. I imagine hearing that the man you thought of as a loving father would kill you if he found out what you really were would sour anyone’s perception. And even though I know what she believes is a lie, I understand her feelings.
As the hours pass, a few more false alarms are reported, and Caitlyn yawns as she struggles to stay awake. But when she hears the squeak of the old door at the dilapidated trailer she’s suddenly alert. And so am I. Caitlyn begins to imagine scenarios where she can warn Julie, but she can’t think of any that won’t get her killed instead. So she holds her breath as she watches Julie step onto the porch and take a deep breath.
Julie stiffens, and Caitlyn thinks she’s recognized her scent. Julie glances around, and Buck’s voice echoes in Caitlyn’s earpiece since he’s right next to her. “That’s one if I ever saw it. Line her up, Cat.”