Flame

by Ophelia Sexton

  Cassie couldn't let Baldwin and his thugs harm Ethan, Annabeth, Matt, Ellie, or any of the other people she'd grown to like and even love during her weeks in Bearpaw Ridge.

  "The kind of deal where you agree to come along back home without makin' a fuss," Baldwin said. "I want cubs from you, Cassie. You agree to give me that, and we'll all leave town peaceably. No one'll get hurt."

  She swallowed down bile and revulsion. "Even if I were to agree, you know I can't become your mate. Not now, not when I'm bonded to Thor."

  It was true. This time, her cat would resist his advances until either she or Baldwin were dead.

  Cassie couldn't submit to Baldwin even if she wanted to…which, God help her, she did not.

  "Cassie, Cassie, Cassie." Still smiling, Baldwin shook his head. "And here I heard you'd gotten yourself a fancy degree in biology! Or are you just playin' dumb because you're still hopin' to cheat me?" He paused, and his expression of false cheer evaporated. "Ain't you ever heard of artificial insemination?"

  His question hit her like a punch to the jaw. Of course. Her cat probably wouldn't react to a procedure that required no physical contact with Baldwin.

  The idea still made her skin crawl. She wanted children…someday…but she wanted them to be Thor's children. Not sired by a man she feared and loathed like Ed Baldwin.

  "And if I agree to—to get pregnant by you, y'all promise to leave all of the Swansons alone?"

  "Sure," Baldwin said, his grin reappearing. "Me and my enforcers got no need to be causin' unnecessary trouble if I get what I came for. You come along like a nice kitty, and I'll consider my business here concluded."

  Cassie didn't want to do this. She was shaking with a toxic mix of rage, terror, and desperation. More than anything, she wanted to run away.

  But she couldn't. Not when the well-being of innocent children, not to mention her mate's entire family, depended on her now.

  And even if she said no, it wasn't as if Baldwin and his enforcers were simply going to let her go.

  One way or another, she knew that they'd be taking her with them. The only difference was how many of her friends and in-laws would be hurt or killed in the process.

  Cassie drew a deep breath, trying not to throw up or scream. This was it, then. She didn't have any real choice.

  "Okay," she said. "You've got a deal."

  * * *

  It was barely three p.m. when Dane and Thor hit the highway and headed south, back home to Bearpaw Ridge.

  It had been a long and strenuous day of cutting brush and digging trenches in an effort to clear firebreaks. Thor was dirty, sweaty, and tired to the bone, but happy to be back on the job fighting a wildfire for the first time since his accident.

  And best of all, thanks to combined efforts of all the local fire departments plus firefighters from the US Forest Service and BLM, they had brought the blaze under control by noon. All the work after that had been cleanup and due diligence to ensure that they hadn't missed anything.

  Thor was looking forward to having a shower, followed by dinner with his mate. Tonight, instead of sleeping under the stars, he'd be falling asleep in her arms, surrounded by her sweet scent.

  Next to him, in the driver's seat of the big wildland fire engine, Dane looked just as tired and dirty as Thor. Mark was driving the tanker somewhere behind him, with Ash riding shotgun and all of their camping gear stuffed in the engine's storage compartments.

  Thor pulled out his new phone and turned it on, hoping to see some bars. They'd been out of cell range all day, so he'd turned it off to conserve battery life.

  Yes! he thought, when his phone sprang to life. He saw he had missed a call from Cassie and that he had voicemail.

  The message was from her and dated two hours ago.

  "Hi Thor, it's me." Cassie's voice sounded strained and breathless.

  Something's wrong, he realized, a chill running down his spine.

  "I, uh, was doing some thinking while you were gone, and, I, uh, came to some conclusions."

  In the background, faintly, he heard a man's voice say in a Texas twang, "Keep it short and sweet, darlin'."

  Thor heard Cassie inhale sharply. He recognized that sound. His mate was fucking terrified, and it put every protective impulse in his body on high alert.

  "Look, I've changed my mind about the wedding. I don't think our mating was a good idea—your family hates me, and I need to be with my pride. So I'm going home."

  What the hell? He couldn't believe his ears. Cassie go home to her pride? Not in a million years.

  Oh yeah, something's definitely wrong.

  There was a long pause, when all he could hear was her uneven breaths.

  Dane glanced over at him, his expression filled with concern. Of course he could overhear everything.

  Cassie spoke again. "Thank you for everything, Thor. It's been fun. Don't follow me. I lo—" He heard a gasp, and the message stopped abruptly.

  Thor immediately tried calling her back, but his call went straight to voicemail.

  "Hey, it's me. I got your message and I really need to talk to you before you leave town. I love you, Cassie, and I'll always be there for you."

  When he had finished leaving his message, he stared at his phone in frustration and mounting worry.

  What the hell happened? Is she okay?

  "Thor?" his brother asked gently. "What's going on? Were you guys having problems?"

  "No," Thor growled. "I tell you, there isn't a chance in hell that Cassie would go back to her pride while Ed Baldwin's still in charge…" He let his voice trail off as realization struck him. "Oh, hell. Oh hell, no."

  "What?" Dane asked.

  "It's a long story," Thor said, "but Ed Baldwin is the kind of guy who likes to threaten people to get them to do things they wouldn't otherwise do. While we were on our road trip last month, Baldwin coerced Cassie's best friend Amanda into telling him where we were, and then he sent a couple of sabertooth goons after us."

  He saw Dane's dark brows go up. "And you just happened to forget to mention that part of your trip?"

  "Um…" Thor didn't have a good answer for that.

  At the time, it had seemed like a good idea to present Cassie to his family as someone who didn't have any unpleasant surprises in tow. Her sabertooth lineage had already made acceptance by his family more difficult than he'd anticipated, even without bringing up the fact that she was being hunted by her former pride leader.

  "Anyhow, we thought we'd resolved that issue," Thor continued quickly.

  Dane's lip curled. He clearly wasn't buying it.

  "But now I'm thinking that Baldwin showed up while we were gone and threatened Cassie somehow into breaking off the wedding," Thor said. "But I can't figure out why. Cassie and I are mate-bonded—the wedding's just to establish an Ordinary legal status for our mating. Making her leave me won't break our bond, and he's got to know that."

  "What kind of threats did he make before?" Dane asked. "With the friend?"

  "He sent some of his people to spy on Amanda's sister and threatened the sister's kids—oh, shit," Thor said, as a sickening realization dawned.

  He could picture it now—Baldwin or one of his goons had come to town, photographed one of the Swanson cubs, and then Cassie had had done something noble but foolish out of a desire to protect him and maybe other members of the Swanson family.

  "You mean this guy may have actually threatened Matt or little Ellie?" Dane's voice had dropped dangerously low, and a growl shaded the edge of his question.

  "I'm thinking, yeah, it's possible. It fits his MO," Thor answered. "Damn it, Dane! It was my duty to protect my mate! And I completely failed. Damn it!"

  "As long as she's still alive, you can get her back…if you're sure that this Baldwin guy is really behind this, and she isn't leaving you of her own free will."

  "Did that message sound like someone leaving of her own free will?" Thor demanded.

  "No." Dane shook his head. "And if you think that M
att and Ellie may be in danger…Okay, let's do this. Call Sheriff Jacobsen and have him meet us when we get to town. Maybe he can help find Cassie."

  Thor heard the roar of the fire engine's motor as Dane stepped on the gas and drove hell for leather back to Bearpaw Ridge.

  Then he turned his attention to his phone and began making calls.

  If Baldwin thought he could just steal Thor's mate, the sabertooth shifter was about to find out it wasn't going to be as easy as forcing Cassie to leave a bogus voicemail.

  * * *

  "Look, I know you're upset," Bill Jacobsen said in a soothing tone forty-five minutes later. "But her voicemail clearly says that she's leaving voluntarily. There's no proof that your mate was abducted, and no one reported seeing any suspicious strangers hanging around town…or Jodie's Daycare."

  He sighed and leaned back in his desk chair, which creaked alarmingly. "Are you sure that Ms. Long didn't get cold feet about mating outside her lineage? Sabertooth shifters are notorious for keeping to the old ways. Maybe she just had second thoughts about the whole thing."

  Bill Jacobsen was a tall, lean man with weathered features and a blond buzz cut. A wolf shifter like all the members of the Jacobsen clan, he'd been working for the Bearpaw Ridge Police Department for twenty years, and he was well-versed in handling shifters in both their human and animal forms.

  As soon as they had reached the town limits, Thor and Dane had driven straight to the police department, which was located behind an old storefront at one end of Main Street, and parked the fire engine in front of the entrance.

  "Sheriff, we're already mate-bonded," Thor said, trying to keep a rein on his temper. "And I know Cassie. She'd never do something like this."

  "Bonded mate or not, you've only known each other a month," Jacobsen said with infuriating calm. "Maybe if you just let her go for now, she'll come back when she's had some time to think about it…and to miss you. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, you know, especially between bonded mates," he finished in a condescending tone that made Thor see red.

  Thor leaned forward and glared at the sheriff.

  Jacobsen, who had already been working in law enforcement while Thor was still in high school, looked back at him, completely unfazed.

  "My brother believes his mate was taken under duress, and I agree with him," Dane said. "I've spent a fair amount of time in her presence over the past few weeks, and Cassie sounds like she's under a great deal of strain in that voicemail. And, as you must have heard, there's someone else with her, directing her as she leaves the message."

  Sheriff Jacobsen frowned. "You have to understand," he said patiently. "Without a witness to this supposed abduction, and without any solid proof that your mate did not, in fact, develop a case of ordinary pre-wedding jitters, I can't do anything."

  Won't do anything is more like it, Thor thought in disgust.

  He knew that the sheriff had been tricked by a sabertooth shifter working in law enforcement during the incident when sabertooth assassins had been sent after Mark's mate Caitlyn. Apparently Jacobsen had developed a real grudge against the cats after that, and his bias was showing now.

  "Can you at least track her cellphone and let me know where she is? She's not answering, and I need to know she's safe," Thor pleaded.

  Bill Jacobsen had been a friend of the Swanson family for many years. Even if he doubted Thor's story, surely there was something he could do to put Thor's worries to rest!

  Jacobsen shook his head regretfully. "Not without a warrant, son. Sorry." He looked around, clearly wishing them gone. "Now, if that's all…I'm sorry I can't be more helpful. Maybe you'll have better luck if you try contacting your mate's family. They might be able to help you convince her to come home."

  Thor felt his jaw drop. He couldn't believe it. And he could sense that Jacobsen hadn't quite been telling the truth about needing a warrant to track Cassie's cellphone.

  What was crystal clear, though, was that the sheriff really didn't want to get involved unless there was indisputable evidence that Cassie had been taken by force. Thor and Dane were wasting their time here.

  Thor stood, shoving his visitor's chair back with a screech.

  "Thanks for nothing, Sheriff," he said bitterly and stalked out of the building.

  Behind him, he heard Dane's quiet apology to the sheriff, "—only been mated a short time, and he's really upset. I'm sure you understand."

  Thor gritted his teeth. He had just wasted twenty precious minutes asking for the sheriff's help. He was on his own now, and he had to think of some way to find where his mate had been taken.

  Well, not quite alone.

  Dane emerged from the building and gave his younger brother a sympathetic look. "All right," he said, sounding comfortingly competent. "Let's go drop this baby off at the station. Then we'll go talk to Mom and muster the troops for a retrieval operation."

  Thor breathed a sigh of relief. Elle had faced down an entire pride of sabertooth shifters before. She would know what to do.

  * * *

  "Oh, honey, I'm so sorry," Elle said, after Thor and Dane had reached the ranch.

  Thor had cornered his mother on the porch of her house as she was returning from her usual late afternoon amble around the ranch.

  The walks were always conducted in her bear shape, but due to the presence of paying Ordinary guests at the ranch, she had resumed her human form before returning to the house.

  "Cassie seemed like such a sweet girl," Elle continued. "But I guess it was only to be expected that eventually she'd want to cleave to her own kind."

  "What?" Thor asked in disbelief.

  "I know you must be in shock," Elle said. "It's a terrible thing to abandon your mate, and I honestly can't imagine why Cassie would do this to you. I thought—well, she seemed to be in love with you."

  "She is in love with me!" Thor exploded "She didn't leave because she wanted to! And I need your help to get her back."

  Elle simply looked at him, her expression much like Bill Jacobsen's had been a short time ago. "Are you sure she didn't go willingly? Maybe she misses her own kind. Maybe she had feelings for—"

  "Mom, if you knew what kind of person Ed Baldwin was, you'd never say that!" Thor snarled.

  And then he proceeded to tell his mother what Baldwin had done to Cassie the last time she had been in his power.

  Elle had seen Cassie's scars during the wedding dress fittings. Now, Thor saw his mother's expression go from sympathetic to shocked during his recitation as she realized where his mate had gotten those scars.

  "—and thanks to the history of Bertrand's attack on our ranch, she probably thought that you'd would blame her for any trouble that Baldwin brought with him. She may have even thought that without me there, the rest of you would leave her to deal with Baldwin on her own," Thor finished bitterly. "Seems she was right."

  "Well, I don't know much about sabertooth politics—" Elle began, her tone defensive.

  "Forget about sabertooth politics. She's my mate!" Thor exploded. "And I'm going to get her back, whether or not you're willing to help me."

  Dane added, in a soft but cutting tone, "Weren't you the one who taught us that Swansons protect their own, Mom?" He shook his head. "Instead, Cassie was trying to protect us, a bunch of bears who dislike her just because she's from the wrong shifter lineage."

  "I don't dislike her!" Elle protested. "And I had no idea that Mr. Baldwin had done such awful things to her! Of course I'll help you. What can I do?"

  Before Thor could say anything, Dane spoke up. "Thor thinks Baldwin threatened to harm Matt and little Ellie," he said. "And possibly Annabeth, Caitlyn, and Steffi, too, because they can't defend themselves against shifters. We've already called Jodie to warn her to keep an eye out for strangers in her neighborhood, but will you and Aunt Margaret go to town and make sure that none of the sabertooth shifters are around?"

  "And what are you two going to do?" Her eyes narrowed. "Should I unlock the gun safe?"


  "That might not be a bad idea," Dane said.

  "But first, we need to find Cassie," said Thor. "We asked Sheriff Jacobsen, but he said he couldn't track her cellphone without a warrant."

  "That's where I can help you out, bro," Ash said, striding up the path.

  Thor's youngest brother was still on the lanky side but beginning to fill out. He still hadn't successfully shifted to his bear form yet, and everyone, including Ash, was beginning to think that maybe he never would be able to manage it. It was a constant sore spot in Ash's otherwise cheerful nature.

  But as if to make up for his inability to shift, he was the most brilliant and ambitious of the five Swanson brothers. Ash's Grizzly Creek Games, founded while he was still in high school, had received industry-wide kudos for Hunter's Blood, a "naked and afraid" survival game set in a wilderness filled with physical threats and predators. He had a huge and loyal fan base clamoring for each new release, and bigger gaming companies were making increasingly larger offers to acquire the right to distribute Hunter's Blood on their platforms.

  "I have a couple of apps that can locate Cassie's phone even if it's turned off," Ash said.

  Finally, some good news! Thor thought with relief.

  "And I've called Mark. He'll meet us when we know where we're going," Dane said.

  Thor took a deep breath, glad to know that he wasn't alone in this crisis. His mother and his brothers were going to help him reclaim his mate…if it wasn't already too late for Cassie.

  If Baldwin really did have her, what could he possibly want from a female shifter already mated to another? Thor didn't like the answers he was coming up with.

  And even if Ash could locate her, how could they possibly reach her in time? She'd already been gone for three hours. That kind of head start would be difficult to overcome.

  Icy dread congealed in Thor's chest. Please don't let me be too late, he prayed silently.

  Chapter 19 – Ambush Predator

  Cassie should have been paralyzed with terror.

  She was terrified, but underneath that, she was angrier than she'd ever been, a white-hot rage that poured through her, burning away paralysis and leaving only determination.