My Furry Valentine

by Karen Ranney

  Instead, I closed my eyes and focused on the color blue. I don't know why I thought of blue. The color had always struck me as cold. Maybe that's why. I had to chill for what I did next.

  You’re going to let me go. You won't bother me anymore. You’re going to leave me alone.

  I said it a few times, long enough to wonder if I really could mesmerize anyone. Austin’s arm was tightening and he was growling at me. I wasn’t all that fond of him making that noise in my ear.

  I kept concentrating on my mantra.

  You’re going to let me go. You won't bother me anymore. You’re going to leave me alone.

  Finally, he dropped his arm, stepping back.

  Well, hallelujah and pass the biscuits.

  I slowly turned to face him, wishing my neck didn’t hurt.

  “Tell me about Craig.”

  I might be pushing my luck. Then again, I might not get another opportunity. I didn’t trust Austin farther than I could throw him, but I was relatively safe with my family in the next room.

  “Tell me what you know about Craig. Why is he here? Why did he come home? What does he want?”

  “He and I have been talking,” he said, his eyes wide. He looked stunned as he kept speaking, almost as if the words were flowing from his lips without his participation. Poor thing. Okay, I was kidding about the empathy. “We’re going to take over the clan.”

  Oh, really?

  “How are you going to do that?”

  I could get used to this compelling thing. Too bad I hadn’t figured out how to do this when he was draining me dry.

  "We’re assembling members of the clan, those who object to the way my father is governing.”

  I would bet that one of those things they disagreed with was Hamish putting me on the Council. I also guessed that most of the men they were assembling were Wolfies.

  “When is this coup supposed to happen?”

  Hamish stood in the doorway, watching both of us, his face carefully expressionless. His clenched fists, however, gave his thoughts away.

  "During the next full moon," Austin said.

  He flinched when our father came to stand in front of him, but otherwise didn’t move. I almost felt sorry for him. Okay, still kidding.

  "Ask him who the traitors are," Hamish said to me.

  I was a little taken aback by the request. Evidently, Hamish knew that I could do special Pranic things.

  I really should have tried this before tonight.

  "Who have you recruited?" I said to Austin, keeping my attention on his eyes. He didn't look away. Wasn’t there some popular wisdom that said the state of the soul was revealed in a person’s gaze? If that was the case, Austin had a lousy spiritual future.

  What was that old poem? If in heaven we don’t meet, hand in hand we’ll stand the heat. I had no intention of joining my brother in hell.

  He began to name names, his mouth forming the words, but his stance and expression in rebellion. Any pity I might have felt for him disappeared with his recitation. He’d conspired against our father and actively worked to take down the alpha of his clan. That was pure treason.

  Hamish didn’t move to write the names down or record them. He only listened, his face stony as Austin gave up the traitors.

  When Austin was finished, my father turned to me.

  “Tell him to return to his rooms and stay there until I release him.”

  Austin had a decked out apartment over the garage. House arrest wouldn’t be a hardship.

  “He isn’t to communicate with anyone.”

  I nodded and gave my brother his instructions.

  “Give me your phone,” my father said to my brother.

  Austin blinked, but complied.

  I wish I could have said that there was regret on Austin’s face. Or that he looked as if he wished he'd made a better choice. But there was only anger in his expression. Not only against me, but our father.

  What had Hamish ever done to deserve his son's rebellion?

  Elevated me, for one. And now given up his concubines. My father was moving into the 21st century while Austin wanted to go backward, just like Craig.

  Torrance.

  I shook my head, stepped away from my father and brother, and pressed my fingertips against my temples.

  Mark. It would be easier if you just called me.

  This compelling thing was taking a lot out of me. I had a headache that was promising to be a bad one, but I didn't have time to deal with that at the moment.

  When he didn’t answer I had the feeling that something was wrong. Mark was calling me just like I had tried to summon him weeks ago. Maybe he was too far away for us to communicate. Maybe what he was doing was sending out a distress beacon, a bat signal.

  Are you safe? I asked.

  All I got back was my name again, a desperate tone in Mark’s thoughts or voice or whatever it was that tied us together.

  I was suddenly terrified.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  How the hell had I ever been stupid enough to date him?

  "I've got to go," I said over my shoulder as I left my parents’ house. It wasn’t the best time to leave, especially with so many things left unsaid or undone, but Mark needed me.

  I stopped halfway to my car. Where was I going? What was I going to do? All I had was a voice, maybe near, maybe not. Maybe the second transfusion had done something to our radio signal or whatever you call it. Maybe I could hear him from a distance now.

  What was I going to do? Get in my car and drive around San Antonio?

  Where was Mark?

  I got into my car, closed my eyes, and concentrated.

  Where are you?

  One of the spells I’d copied from the castle library had to do with vision. I’d honestly thought it might come in handy if my eyesight went wonky like my hearing. I’d thought I might need it to lower my visual acuity, not ramp it up.

  I hadn’t practiced it yet, but I found it on my phone and began to say the words slowly, hoping I wasn’t mispronouncing the Latin. I knew enough words to guess at the way to say them. What would happen if I screwed up a word? Would I turn into eye of newt?

  As I said the spell I thought about Mark, his smile, that way he had of looking at me as if I were the only person on earth. I remembered walking up to him, putting my arms on his shoulders, my fingers playing with his hair, then slowly smoothing the back of his neck.

  I remembered his smell, something citrusy and all man. His lips were soft, but only at first. His voice was low and always did something to me, dancing up and down my nerve ends.

  Gradually, I let myself feel all the emotions I kept so carefully tucked away. The admiration I felt when seeing Mark in his wolf form, moonlight shining in his eyes. The quiet joy sweeping through me after we’d made love and Mark held me. The feeling of unshed tears when I sometimes looked at him, as if my heart couldn’t hold all that happiness. I’d never felt that before. Not for Craig. Not for anyone. Only Mark.

  Where are you?

  I put the phone on the front seat, turned on the car, and slowly drove out of my parents’ subdivision. I turned left, heading for IH-10. I don’t know why. I was heading toward the castle, but before I went more than ten miles, I left the expressway, taking an exit I’d never used.

  This part of San Antonio — if I was even still in the city — was a mystery to me. I found myself in an almost park-like setting with mature trees hiding the night sky. I couldn’t see any markers, though, so I suspected I was on private property.

  Oh, goody. I’d probably be shot for trespassing.

  Mark?

  I pulled off on the side of the road, now only two lanes and barely paved, picked up the phone again and read the spell once more. I couldn’t hear Mark. Nor could I see him. Yet I still felt like I was following some kind of beacon.

  This magic spell stuff was not all it was cracked up to be. I’m sure the witches understood everything they were doing, but I was totally lost.

 
The weirdest thing in a night filled with weird things was that I wasn’t afraid. It was so dark a few stars winking through the tree branches looked as bright as spotlights. The perfect place, time, and opportunity to be set upon by a vampire or ten. Or other paranormal creatures lurking in the underbrush. A gnome with a hate on for humans? Not that I was one, but what did he know? An elf who wanted to rob me? A Were-cat like Alice the B/W itch? Right now I wasn’t concerned about other creatures. I just had to find Mark.

  I started driving slowly forward, the headlights of my car piercing the darkness like bright eyes. I felt compelled to take this road by something I’d never felt before, almost like one of those tags you put on keys and then hear them beeping at you. This was an inaudible sound, but it triggered something in me — a watchfulness or an alertness, just like when I went on the Hunt.

  I could always change into my wolf, but I suspected that my voice might be necessary. Again, I don’t know why I thought that.

  Welcome to the world of the Weirded out Were, or the Frustrated Furry. How about the Panicking Paranormal?

  If I’d been really smart about this whole thing, I would have turned to my father and told him about the situation. After all, he had seen me compel Austin. He knew I had enhanced abilities. I was a little loath, however, to tell him about Mark or our connection. My father was one smart cookie. He could figure out, really fast, that Mark was like me. It was one thing not to want to banish his own daughter, but what would his reaction be toward Mark?

  Did my brother and Craig actually think that they could overthrow an alpha? Maybe Craig did because he’d done that very thing by challenging his own father and winning. But Hamish Boyd was a little different.

  Although I knew my brother wasn’t responsible for what had happened to Mark, being on house arrest, if you will, I didn’t have the same feeling about Craig. I thought it was very possible that he was involved. Maybe he was paying Mark back for attacking him in the park. I would bet that he’d called all his buddies together and ambushed him somewhere.

  Had Craig also been responsible for the fire at Graystone?

  How the hell had I ever been stupid enough to date him? Or foolish enough to give him my heart? I’d been young, but even that wasn’t a good enough answer. I’d been naïve. That, coupled with excessive youth might excuse me halfway. The rest? I had a feeling I had a lifetime to atone for that screwup. I just hoped that I didn’t have anything to regret about Mark.

  I was creeping forward at only about five miles an hour which was a good thing since it seemed like the night was getting darker. The trees were thicker here than they had been closer to the interstate. I switched off the lights — again, I don’t know why I did. Except for the faint glow from the dash there was no illumination anywhere. I might as well have been on the other side of the moon.

  Please let Mark be okay. Please let me be in time. Please.

  The God of my childhood, the one that had always seemed so kind, genial, and understanding didn’t answer. Still, I got the feeling of sudden warmth as if someone was sending me reassurance.

  Was it Mark?

  I knew that he’d gotten one of those mysterious phone calls again. He hadn’t come out and actually told me that he’d gotten a tip about his ex-wife, but that’s what I’d inferred. Whenever the vampires were involved, I got that creepy feeling. Except for tonight. I was angry enough — and my rage had begun with my brother — that I wasn’t worried about encountering any one of the fangy persuasion. I was, after all kind of one of them, however much that admission made my stomach curdle.

  To my right it seemed like there was a break in the Stygian darkness. I slowed even further and saw what turned out to be little more than a dirt track. The rutted path, barely wide enough for a car, looked as if it had been carved into the earth decades ago.

  The people who’d settled this part of Texas had been real pioneers. I wasn’t one. I wasn’t as girly as my sister, but I’d come to appreciate the niceties of living in the 21st century. Things like indoor plumbing, rain shower heads, and washers and dryers.

  Witches had existed from the beginning of man’s recorded history. Were witches able to do their laundry with a spell? Instead of kneeling at the river’s edge, pounding their clothing on a rock, could they just mutter an incantation and the soiled garments cleaned themselves, al la Sorcerer’s Apprentice? I would ask Marcie’s grandmother. As a venerable, well-respected witch, she would know the answer to that question.

  Too bad I didn’t have a posse of witches with me now.

  I wasn’t going to send a message to the cavalry, however. I wasn’t going to bother Marcie or her daughter. I didn’t want to put Marcie in danger, and out here, in the wilderness, in the dark, would be an ideal place for Maddock to find her. Nope, I was definitely not going to call Marcie. I had to find Mark on my own. With his help, hopefully. Together Mark and I could be pretty formidable adversaries.

  Unless he couldn’t help me. Unless he was beyond help. Unless I was too late.

  My radar or beacon or ESP or whatever the hell I was feeling was telling me that something was wrong. I knew — another one of those things about which I was certain but I couldn’t tell you why or how — that Mark was not only being held against his will, but that he was in danger. He was also being systematically hurt. Maybe for information or maybe just because someone was a sadist.

  That was not at thought I wanted to have.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  I was not a nature gal

  My eyes kept returning to the rutted road. I knew I had to go in that direction, but I wasn’t sure my car could navigate it. A few hundred feet in the road looked as if it narrowed even further. The last thing I wanted was to get stuck out here. Some help I would be to Mark then.

  I was going to have to do the rest of my reconnoitering on foot. That idea didn’t thrill me all that much, but if I needed to be Super Torrance I would.

  Mark needed me.

  Instead of leaving the car right away I closed my eyes, concentrated on the image of Mark in my mind, and called out to him.

  Nothing.

  My super duper hearing picked up the sound of the wind, the rustling in the undergrowth, the far off sounds of insects, a cry of an animal — did we have foxes in Texas? But no Mark.

  I didn’t start the car. I felt like I was locked there, frozen in time and space in an odd way. Who was I kidding? The past year had been bizarre — this was just one more example.

  Even though I couldn’t feel him, I knew Mark was close. Somehow he’d ended up in the middle of this South Texas forest, an isolated spot promising danger, vampires, and lots of other creepy things lurking in the shadows.

  I was not a nature gal. I didn’t like all this vegetation around me. I didn’t want to get closer to the earth. I got close enough once a month, thanks. Some humans might think that we Furries reveled in our animalistic nature. Most of the women I knew just accepted it, didn’t whine about it, and coped. But we sure as hell didn’t go out camping every weekend in an effort to get close to our roots. Good God, no.

  I didn’t know one female Furry who would have — voluntarily — been in this position. Shopping, yes. Malls, yes. Movies, fashion shows, antiquing, facials, mani/pedis, yep to all of the above. Here with the bugs buzzing and the night winds soughing through the trees, and absolutely no trace of civilization? Nope.

  I'm coming. I don't know why I thought that, but I wanted him to realize that help was coming. Okay, maybe I hadn’t been Super Woman before now, but right at the moment I felt like an avenging angel, a Furry with a mad on.

  A flash of light in my rear view mirror caught my eye. I saw the headlights of an approaching car. For a fleeting second I wondered if I needed to move to the shoulder to let them pass. Instead, they pulled up behind me, so close that our bumpers almost kissed.

  I may be able to talk to Mark long distance and compel Austin to give up information, but that was just about as far as my ESP or whatever you want t
o call it went. I didn't have a clue who was behind me, but one thing I did know. They’d been following me. I hadn’t seen any other cars since I’d gotten off IH-10. This was too isolated a spot for it to be a chance encounter.

  I’d declared myself angry enough to face a passel of vampires. Now I was reevaluating my earlier statement. I wanted to lock the doors, dial my father, and call for backup. What I did was open the door and dare myself to approach the other car.

  My hands were shaking. Some big bad wolf I was. I was annoyed enough at myself enough to clench my hands into fists and keep them at my side as I walked back to the car. I had copied two other spells from the castle library and those I’d practiced for a few hours. I was all for using one or both of them if I had to. Plus, there was always my enhanced strength if it came to that.

  "Torrance?"

  The passenger door opened and Michael stepped out. I stopped in my tracks. Douglas opened his door but didn’t move. I had the odd thought that he was prepared to make a quick getaway.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  "We were worried about you."

  "And you followed me?"

  It was too dark to see their expressions, even with the interior light on. But I could hear the amusement in Michael's voice.

  "When our father commands something, Torrance, we really don't have a choice."

  So, “Dad” sent them after me. My feelings about Hamish were undergoing a thorough metamorphosis. I pushed my thoughts aside to deal with later.

  “What’s going on?” Douglas asked, finally getting out of the car.

  What did I tell them? Um, I’m not just a Furry, guys, I’m an enhanced Furry, with telepathic powers and the ability to hear my boyfriend. Boyfriend, now that was a word, wasn’t it? It sounded so adolescent. Yet lover didn’t quite cut it, either, especially in mixed company. We Furries are pretty traditional.