The Raven's Trail (Book 1)

by Liz D. Marx

Damn it, they had found Mason, which meant play time was over, and he needed to get the hell out of there.

  Foster put on his best decrepit-looking face and started to cough violently. Then he brought out the ugly choking noises. Next, came the trembling.

  In less than sixty seconds, Mr. Tough Guy was overtaken by panic―his boss wouldn’t like to find out that their only lead had died of anaphylactic shock, right? So there was no other choice but to untie Foster and let him breathe properly.

  As soon as Foster hit the floor, he placed both hands flat downwards and lifted his left boot up, hitting the moron right on the knee. Dwayne fell with an ugly grunt. Foster’s next move was to aim another one right between the guy’s legs. Too easy.

  Dwayne went down like a rotten tree trunk, but Foster threw in a few extra punches for good measure. Then, he tied up the Neanderthal, pig-on-a-spit style, palmed the pistol off his belt and left the basement.

  At the top of the stairs, he poked his head out and scanned the area. The kitchen was empty and there were no signs of anybody else in the house. Foster spotted his wallet lying casually on the counter. Crouching low―his years of experience would not allow him to let his guard down―he picked his stuff up and ran out the door.

  As expected, he was in the middle of nowhere.

  So freaking predictable.

  His body was aching all over, his face probably bore a striking resemblance to Frankenstein’s monster, and he could feel that a few ribs had been cracked, but he carried on. He had to―Mason’s life was in danger.

  Breaking into a light jog, he calculated how long it would take him to get back to town, rent a car, find a hospital, get the major wounds treated and head off to find Mason.

  Too long, he concluded. His ribs would have to wait.

  He needed to get to his friend before Miss Red Locks did.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chloe felt fantastic. Her body was completely relaxed, her mind clear and calm. She stretched out on the small bed to wake her muscles up. What a great night’s sleep she had. All that dancing must have tired her more than she had realized. A wide smile lifted her cheeks at the memories of her trying to catch up with the other women in the circle. She started off quite embarrassed, but the other ladies had been so friendly that she let herself go and enjoyed the moment.

  “Why should I care if I can’t dance? The others didn’t, so whatever.”

  The loud rumble in her stomach reminded her she hadn’t eaten much since they’d left Hot Springs.

  It was time to find herself some breakfast.

  Chloe got up, found her purple suitcase and put on a blue fitted top, her favorite jeans, and her jack-of-all-trades getup―brown flat boots and matching leather jacket. After making up the bed, she checked if the Tula stone was still safe and sound in her bag.

  “Good morning, my dear,” she greeted the relic, then wrapped it back in her makeshift cover and placed it in one of the inner compartments of her large purse.

  She was still humming last night’s tune when she found Matilda. They were almost finishing breakfast in the pavilion. The children were running around playing catch. The sun was bright in the blue sky. It seemed the whole world felt as good as she did.

  “Oh, the goddess has finally awakened!” Matilda joked.

  Chloe smiled in reply.

  “Come, my little dancer, you need some food after all the excitement you had last night,” her friend said, motioning her to take one of the seats.

  “Thanks. I’m actually starving.”

  The food looked amazing. Plates and trays with grilled sweet corn, several types of cold cuts, flat bread, scrambled eggs, crispy bacon and pancakes covered the long table.

  Chloe picked up one of the juicy, sweet corn sticks and happily munched on it. Her gaze landed on a group of elders sitting in the backyard.

  Mason’s chocolate eyes met hers. A quiver of awareness shot up her body, and she felt her cheeks burn as butterflies started a party in her stomach.

  “This is just a subconscious reaction caused by the release of mood-altering endorphins,” Chloe murmured to herself, trying to calm her nerves down. It was ridiculous the way that man could stir her insides with just one look.

  She watched Mason excuse himself and walk toward her. His tall, imposing figure crossed the courtyard in just a few strides. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she had to force herself to breathe.

  He took a seat next to her. “How are you feeling?”

  “Great.”

  “Are you really?” The back of his fingers brushed her forehead, like a concerned doctor.

  “Yes, I am. Why wouldn’t I?” Chloe asked, not quite understanding where he was coming from.

  Mason simply stared at her, then his features opened up and his eyes went wide, as if he had just had an epiphany.

  “What? What is it?” She was really worried now.

  Mason blinked a few times then changed the subject. “I was talking to the elders about the stone,” he said. “They would like to see it.”

  Oh, he has got to be kidding her! When was he going to stop the hot-cold-hot-cold game?

  Chloe took a deep breath and just nodded in agreement. She was starting to get Mr. Mason Green. His dismissal of the subject had meant he wasn’t ready to share what was on his mind. So she grabbed a piece of bread, smeared it with peanut butter and jelly, and followed Mason toward the sunny courtyard.

  The elders greeted her warmly as Running Bison gestured for her to sit next to him on the stone bench. She complied without questioning because she knew an assembly with the tribal leaders was a big deal.

  Mason crouched down by her other side.

  “Where did you find the ancient stone?” queried a very old man sitting across from her.

  She told them where she worked and how she had come across the relic, and Mason prompted her to show them what happened when she touched it.

  She carefully took it out of her bag and unwrapped it from the cloth. Just like the other times, the symbols came to life in a colorful display of lights. A wave of gasps and “ahhs” went around the circle.

  “May I?” Running Bison asked.

  Chloe flinched at the request, but she knew she could trust these people, so she shushed the mother-hen inside of her and handed him the stone.

  The air around the group grew thick. Everyone seemed to have held their breath in anticipation. But when RB touched the stone, nothing happened.

  His bushy eyebrows went up and he exchanged glances with Mason. He passed the relic on to the others. One by one, they repeated his actions, and the stone remained inanimate.

  Mason didn’t say a word, but Chloe was very aware of his nearness. She could feel his warmth seek out and envelop her. She turned her head and quickly glanced at him. Their eyes locked briefly, but he averted his gaze.

  Panic and confusion choked her purple.

  Why was he acting so distant? What happened last night to trigger such coldness?

  Then it dawned on her that she could not remember anything that happened after the dance. Nothing at all. How bizarre.

  “This looks like a Binding Stone,” exclaimed the eldest of the leaders called Black Dog, bringing her attention back to the stone. “My great-grandfather used to tell us stories about these objects. They only come to life by a very powerful soul.”

  Oh, dear. That was exactly how the girl in her dreams had called it.

  Four pairs of eyes stared at Chloe.

  She swallowed dry, feeling like a kid who had been caught cheating on a test.

  “Why is it called a Binding Stone?” she managed to ask.

  “Once activated, it binds its ancient powers to the owner, helping him or her channel their inner energy to the forces of the spiritual world,” Running Bison replied.

  One of the elders asked a question in Caddoan and was answered by one of the others, who was then replied by another. Chloe could pick up some words but they spoke fast and she lost track of the conversation
.

  “What are they saying?” she whispered to Mason.

  “They’re just recalling the old legends where the stone is mentioned,” he replied just as quietly.

  They were quite close to each other. Chloe’s eyes were drawn to his lips, like a moth drawn to the light. Mason looked at her under his long lashes. Was he gawking at her lips too?

  “Listen, about last night…”

  Chloe waited for him to finish the sentence, and when he didn’t, real panic shook her all the way down to her highly insecure ego.

  “Oh, dear,” she exclaimed. “Did I make a real fool of myself? I mean, I know I’m a terrible dancer, but I was having fun. Maybe I should have stopped, but Matilda kept on encouraging me to keep on going, and the drums…Oh, those drummers were awesome, maybe I should have stopped…”

  “Shut up!” her mind screamed at her. There was still time to save the last remains of her dignity; she just had to shut that pie hole of hers.

  Mason gazed at her, looking quite confused, but rescue came in the form of lovely Matilda. “Excuse me,” she said bowing low in front of Black Dog. “All the women are going to the river. I wondered if Chloe could join us.”

  Chloe could have kissed her friend’s feet at that moment.

  “Sure,” the elder replied. “I think you will enjoy it, Miss Doyle. It’s our tradition for all the women to go swim in the river the morning after the Turkey Dance.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of the stone,” Running Bison added, after she looked longingly at the relic in his hands.

  Chloe turned to Mason, who nodded in reassurance. She knew in her heart he wouldn’t do anything stupid like run away with it or anything.

  She followed Matilda around the building complex, down a narrow dirt path and through the short woods that led to the famous Caddo River. Even lost in thought about Mason’s odd behavior, Chloe couldn’t avoid the feeling of déjà vu. The path seemed familiar, like she had been there before.

  “You’re going completely crazy, Chloe,” she muttered to herself.

  “Who?” Matilda asked.

  Chloe intended to share her silly contemplation with Matilda, but the sight of all the women taking their clothes off and jumping stark naked in the water stopped her.

  “Come on. The last one in is a rotten egg,” Matilda teased, shrugging out of her own dress.

  Chloe felt her cheeks burn.

  Did Matilda really expect her to go skinny-dipping in broad daylight? Was she mad? There was no way Chloe would go au naturel in front of all those people! She had only been naked in front of a handful of human beings in her entire life, and that included her mom and her gynecologist.

  “Chloe! You’re missing it!” one of the elder ladies shouted out just before jumping into the water. Her large backside wobbled furiously with the force of her dive-bomb.

  “I’m fine here,” Chloe shouted back.

  “We promise we won’t bite!” one of the young girls joked.

  Chloe giggled and watched them play in the dark waters of the river. They seemed to be having so much fun, completely devoid of any self-conscious judgments about their overweight bodies, or their cellulite, or their love-handles that had a lot of love stored.

  Mason’s words from the night before invaded her mind. “This is our magic, being one with nature.”

  Suddenly Chloe felt utterly silly. When did she become such a prude? She had to embrace the native way of life in order to fully understand it, right?

  “Right,” Chloe agreed with herself, then drew in a long breath and decided it was time to take the plunge―literally.

  Before anyone realized, she quickly undressed and ran as fast as she could toward the river.

  Everyone cheered when she jumped in.

  The water felt fantastic. It was mildly cold and very refreshing. She dove in and stayed submerged for a while, just feeling the current pass by. Coming back up, she noticed a few young girls watch her and giggle.

  “Well, I think I’m not as gracious a swan as I thought,” she joked to Matilda.

  “Nah, don’t mind them, Chloe,” Matilda replied with a shrug. “They just hadn’t seen anyone kissing in public before.”

  “Kissing?” Chloe asked with a frown. She had a bad feeling about this.

  “Oh, well, you know, you and Mason… last night at the festival.”

  “Me and…” Chloe’s cheeks burned again.

  She looked around and all the ladies seemed to be pointing and giggling at her.

  Oh, dear lord, she had kissed Mason?

  It couldn’t be. She had danced with the other women, Mason had snuck out to the dorms, and… and?

  What the heck happened after that? She couldn’t remember. Her breathing became haggard, her stomach churned as she desperately tried to recall anything after the dance, but nothing came to mind. There was only one plausible explanation.

  “That bastard!”

  Chloe stepped out of the water and put her clothes on, ignoring the other ladies’ shouts of concern. Her mind was going a hundred miles per hour, her blood boiled in her veins.

  Mason must have gotten her drunk, or spiked her wine with some sort of Native American roofie, and then had taken advantage of her vulnerable state. That was the only possible explanation.

  Fuming, Chloe grabbed her bag off the ground and crossed the path back to the compound. Mason Green was going to get a piece of her mind.

  “Don’t go there,” a small voice came from out of nowhere.

  “Goodness gracious!” Chloe jumped in surprise. She searched for the body that the little voice belonged to. Johnny, the teenage boy from the roof, stood just a few feet away, half hidden by a shrub.

  “Were you spying on us?”

  “No! I just came here to tell you that it’s not safe for you to go back to the pavilion.”

  “It’s not nice to spy on people, you know.” Chloe was so enraged that it took her a few seconds for his message to sink in. “Wait, what?”

  The lad opened his mouth to explain but something behind her caught his attention and he ran in the opposite direction.

  “Johnny, wait!” Chloe turned around to check what had spooked the boy so much, only to spot Mason marching toward her from the other side of the main building. He had a backpack over his shoulder and was not looking happy.

  “Good, just the scumbag I was looking for,” Chloe growled between her teeth.

  “We need to go. Now,” Mason said, grabbing her elbow.

  Chloe pulled herself out of his grasp and put her foot down. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  “What?”

  “You bastard, you took advantage of me,” Chloe said, pointing her index finger at his broad chest.

  “I did what?”

  “Don’t look at me like you don’t know what I’m talking about. Everyone is talking about us making out.”

  Mason shook his head. “Chloe, we can talk about this later. We have to go now.”

  “The thing is, Mr. Roofie, I don’t remember a thing,” she carried on, ignoring his urgent tone. “So, you either spiked my drink or my food to get into my pants. So which one was it?”

  “Get into your―” Mason looked like he was about to lose it. He tightened his lips, then glanced towards the main house, then back at Chloe. “Chloe, we don’t have time for this.”

  “Well, too bad, because I’m gonna stand here and wait for you to change your tune.”

  Mason exhaled sharply. “I didn’t spike your drink. You kissed me, and nothing else happened. There, can we go now?”

  Chloe was about to retort back when she heard a loud roar of cars from the compound. Mason pulled her to the ground behind the thick bushes.

  “Ouch! What do you think you’re doing?” she cried out, appalled by his man-handling her.

  But then she saw five armed men step out of three Range Rovers. A yellow lightning bolt with the words “Thunder & Co.” adorned the side doors of each car.

  Imag
es of her dreams flashed before Chloe’s eyes. “Thunder and Storm are coming,” she mumbled.

  “What did you say?” Mason asked, looking like he’d seen a ghost.

  “Nothing important,” she answered quickly. “Who are these people?”

  Running Bison came out of the compound and greeted the new arrivals, accompanied by a few of his own tribesmen. A beautiful tall woman with fiery red hair stepped out of one of the cars. She offered her hand but Bison didn’t shake it.

  “They found us,” Mason said between his teeth.

  “Who found us?” Chloe was sick and tired of his half-explanations.

  “Shh,” Mason said, blocking her mouth with his hand.

  Oh, that man was asking for trouble!

  Chloe was about to unleash her Irish temper on Mason but he held her tight, cocking his head toward the newcomers.

  At first, Chloe didn’t understand what the fuss was all about, but then she realized that the conversation between RB and the woman didn’t seem very friendly.

  “Come, we have to hide deeper in the forest,” Mason whispered and pulled her by the elbow.

  “Why?” Chloe demanded. “Who are those people? Are they farmers?” She had heard about the land wars in this part of the country.

  “No, those men are far from being farmers fighting for the land. They’re after something very specific, Chloe―the same thing that brought us here.”

  Her stone. Chloe’s hand instinctively covered her bag as panic rose in her gut. Oh, no! She had left the artifact with Running Bison. “Oh gosh, it’s with…”

  “Me,” Mason finished, already unzipping his backpack. He pulled the stone out and gave it to her, safely wrapped in the black cloth.

  A wave of relief overtook Chloe as she enveloped her hands over it, but the respite didn’t last long. Cold reality sank in quickly.

  Holy crap, they were after her.

  Chapter Eighteen

  That stupid Indian was going to get someone killed. Why the hell did the Caddo leader have to pull out his rifle? Now all her men had their guns out too, itching for a freaking battle.

  Pamela had had enough of male bravado for the day.

  As soon as they arrived in Norman, she had sent a small group to patrol the woods behind the Caddo complex, another one at the entrance guarding the gate, and five hired hands came with her to talk to the Caddo leaders.