by Mia Taylor
“I don’t know,” Paul mused softly. “Is it?”
She gritted her teeth, knowing his question was valid. How could she know what she wanted?
“I’ll leave you to your break but I’ll send someone in to help with your hair and clothes in a bit. You can take the rest of the day off. You’ll probably need it.”
He turned to leave and there were a thousand questions ready to spring from Brynn’s lips but she forced them down.
She had long since learned not to ask anything because the runaround answers were more than she could bear.
For five years, she had accepted that she worked for Paul Stark and while she was far from abused, the pit of unrest in her gut never really went away.
Slowly, she sank onto a chair near her dresser and peered at her gaunt face in the mirror. Her mass of blonde waves hung loosely around her startling blue eyes, falling from an ill-tied bun atop her head. She was too skinny, not from lack of available food but because her appetite was nonexistent.
Is it my father coming? My brother? My lover?
She reasoned it didn’t matter. The Brynn they knew didn’t exist anymore. She was a shadow of the woman she’d once been. Whoever it was who was looking for her would be sadly disappointed.
She rose and pursed her lips together, determined not to let the depression sink into her bones.
So you will meet whoever it is and be done with it. At least you got the day off for this travesty.
She wondered why she couldn’t unfurl the knot of anticipation in her stomach.
~ ~ ~
Brynn was woken by a loud knock on the door, startling her awake, and she blinked quickly. A glance at the alarm clock on her bedside table told her it was after seven o’clock and she leapt to her feet, smoothing out the dress she had put on before falling asleep.
“Coming,” she mumbled when another knock ensued. She pulled open the door and peered outside. To her surprise, Stella stood there, a wide grin on her face.
“Oh… were you sleeping?” Stella purred. “Sorry, sweetie.”
“It’s all right,” Brynn replied with some embarrassment. “I must have dozed off.”
“We really should see about getting you a TV,” Stella sighed, looking around the sparsely decorated room. “I wish you would let us.”
“I like my books,” Brynn countered quickly. “But thanks.”
Television was just an escape to a world she’d never know. There was no purpose in taunting herself. No, books sufficed well enough.
“Well,” Stella sighed. “Paul told you that someone is coming to see you?”
“Yes,” Brynn said quietly. “Has he arrived?”
“He has.”
Stella paused and studied her face, a slight look of sadness crossing over her expression.
“You look lovely, Brynn,” she offered unexpectedly. “How do you feel?”
Now Stella is asking me how I feel? What is going on in here today?
“Fine.”
“Good. Good. Come on, let’s not keep him waiting.”
Stella spun and moved toward the front of the house and Brynn cast herself one last look in the mirror before heading after her.
As they neared the visitor, Brynn’s heart began to pound with anticipation.
Don’t be stupid. Whoever it is has no bearing on your life, not anymore.
Yet she couldn’t deny that her breaths were being knocked away with every step.
Keep it together, she chided herself. This is no big deal.
They paused outside the sunken living room and Stella gave her one final yet indiscernible look before stepping down into the room.
“Brynn, this is—”
Stella didn’t even have a chance to finish her introduction before Brynn was snatched up and swung around by the waist, staring into a misty pair of hazel eyes.
“Oh gods!” he rasped. “It’s you! It’s really you!”
My lover, Brynn thought, struggling to unhook herself from his ironclad embrace. It proved harder than expected and when she finally wriggled free, she glared at him defiantly.
“Do you mind?” she demanded but she couldn’t pull her eyes away from his. A flicker touched her heart but she quickly silenced it and turned her head away.
“Brynn?” His voice was etched in shock. “It’s me—Mal.”
She maintained her steady stare on the floor.
“Hi.”
He scoffed, his head whipping around to gape at her employers.
“What did you do to her?” he demanded. “What the hell have you done?”
“We saved her, Malcolm,” Stella sighed. “I probably should have warned you about this.”
“Warned me about what?” he roared. “Brynn, look at me!”
She didn’t meet his gaze despite the almost overwhelming desire to do so.
“Brynn… why don’t you tell him?” Stella suggested gently and only then did her head jerk up to gape at the woman in stunned disbelief.
“Me?” she echoed. “No!”
“It’s all right, Brynn,” Stella told her. “He’s one of us.”
“One of us?” Mal repeated. “Oh gods…”
Brynn chewed on the insides of her cheeks and Stella sighed.
“Fine,” she muttered. “I guess I’ll have to tell him.”
“Someone better tell me,” Malcolm growled, his eyes flashing. “Or so help me gods…”
“I found Brynn in Belize, Malcolm, not long after she was taken from you,” Stella explained. “And I brought her back to the States to stay with us.”
“You’re disgusting!” Mal spat. “People were looking for her, I was looking for her! What did you do to her?”
“Nothing,” Stella replied calmly. “She’s been here, working as a housekeeper. She’ll tell you herself that she hasn’t been mistreated or abused.”
“You’re keeping her here against her will!” Malcolm cried heatedly. “That’s kidnapping in the first degree!”
“It’s not,” Stella retorted. “Brynn didn’t know who she was or how she’d come to be on that beach in Belize when I located her.”
“And you just happened to stumble upon her, did you?” Malcolm’s tone was laced with fury and disbelief.
“Of course not,” Stella replied flatly. “But that’s irrelevant right now. The important part is, your lover has absolutely no recollection of who she is.”
Brynn cast Malcolm a sidelong look, color staining her cheeks in embarrassment.
I should remember him, shouldn’t I? He’s been pining for me for all these years and I have no idea who he is.
“Impossible!” Mal snorted. “I know those wolves took her. I saw them, fought them off. You bought her from them or—”
“I didn’t,” Stella said impassively. “I run a brothel, not a trafficking ring. If Brynn had shown the slightest interest in turning tricks, I would have set her up there but since she hasn’t, I didn’t. Don’t let your emotions cloud what’s really happening here, Malcolm. I saved Brynn and I have nothing to do with her memory loss.”
Malcolm turned to Brynn, his eyes wide with shock.
“Is this true, Brynn? You don’t remember me?”
She shook her head miserably and bit on her lower lip.
“I’m sorry, I don’t,” she whispered, and as she said it, she realized she truly was devastated that she didn’t know this handsome, passionate stranger before her.
“You did something!” Mal insisted, his face contorting. “I know you did.”
“You can believe what you want, Mal, but the truth remains the same. Brynn had no memory of you or her life before I found her.”
“That’s a hell of a coincidence,” Malcolm roared, reaching for her. “Come on, Brynn. Let’s get you the hell out of here.”
Instinctively, she pulled back and stepped away, looking nervously at Stella, who sighed.
“She’s not going to go with you, Malcolm,” Stella told him with exasperation. “She has no idea who you are
.”
“Because you made her that way!”
“You can believe whatever you want but maybe you should try speaking with her instead of throwing around accusations.”
Mal glared at Stella before turning his face toward Brynn.
“Brynn,” he said urgently, reaching out toward her. Brynn could only stare at his outstretched arm, unmoving.
“Brynn, we were on vacation in Belize and you were taken by a group of…” he paused, inhaling, to again glance at Stella. “By a group of men.”
“They weren’t just any men,” Stella volunteered and her words were met with a scathing look. “What? She knows the story, Mal. I haven’t hidden the past from her.”
He eyed them both cynically.
“Obviously you didn’t tell her everything or she’d be looking to be back with her family.”
“Fine,” Stella sighed. “Don’t believe me. Go on. Tell her what you want to say.”
Mal paused before taking a deep breath and continuing.
“I stayed in Belize for two months looking for you,” he murmured, reaching toward her again. “You were gone. There is no way that Stella just stumbled on you! I retraced our steps for weeks, followed every lead—”
“I never said I stumbled upon her,” Stella corrected, but Mal didn’t justify her insertion with a look this time.
“I never stopped hoping to find you, Brynn,” he pleaded. “You need to come with me. Your father died last year. His heart was broken. Your family—”
“I don’t want to see anyone,” Brynn said with surprising sharpness. “I’m happy here.”
Confusion stained Malcolm’s face and again, he glowered at Stella.
“This isn’t normal!” he hissed at her employer. “Anyone in her position would want to go home!”
“Not exactly,” Stella sighed. “There’s slightly more to the story.”
“Like what?” Mal demanded. “What the hell else could there possibly be?”
Stella nodded at Brynn, who shook her head wildly.
“Show him,” Stella said. “It’s all right, Brynn. He won’t hurt you. I swear.”
“Hurt her? I love her! I’ve never stopped loving her!”
“That might well be,” Stella chuckled. “But it doesn’t change the fact that you can never be together.”
Mal’s face was a mask of rage.
“I am taking her out of here—”
“Show him, Brynn, before he does something stupid,” Stella hissed insistently. “Show him why you can’t leave here.”
Hanging her head in shame, Brynn began to morph, her nose extending into a grey snout, fangs elongating as she did.
Malcolm gasped in shock as he realized what she was becoming.
“Oh gods…” he muttered when she dropped her head back and released a ferocious howl toward the ceiling. “She’s a wolf!”
“Yes,” Stella agreed. “And that’s why she can never leave here. She’ll be killed the second anyone figures it out.”
Chapter Four
Remembering the Past
Mal paced through the living room, waiting for Stella to return.
How could this have happened? What did those wolves do to her?
It was entirely possible that the wolf pack had never taken Brynn to traffic at all but simply to turn for whatever reason. Was it possible that Stella had protected Brynn all this time?
Nothing about this makes sense. Nothing. All I know is that I can’t leave Brynn here with this woman, no matter what Brynn thinks is best. She doesn’t know how badly she was missed.
On the other hand, he couldn’t exactly sweep her out into his world where there were bears everywhere. Stella was right about that if nothing else.
“Hello, Malcolm.”
He whirled and eyed a stranger who had entered the room.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
“Paul Stark,” he offered. “I’m the father of one of your co-workers.”
Malcolm wracked his brain for a detective named Stark but it didn’t surface immediately.
“She’s a rookie,” Paul offered, flashing him a quick smile as he adjusted the glasses over his nose.
“Great,” Mal growled. “Do you have anything to do with my girlfriend’s present state of mind?”
“Who, Brynn?” Paul laughed. “I hate to tell you this, Malcolm, but Brynn doesn’t think of herself as your partner, not anymore.”
“Yeah, I got that,” Mal hissed. “What do you want, Paul?”
“I thought Stella already explained what I wanted, what we want.”
Mal didn’t respond, his mind still on what had happened to Brynn and how it could be overcome.
The wolves have steered clear of the bears for years. We’re much more powerful, even with their numbers, but if they think we have one of theirs and won’t let her go, they will revolt. And if the other bears learn what she is, Brynn will certainly be exiled or killed.
Mal had never heard of such a situation and he didn’t even know how to begin to handle it.
That’s why Stella told Cory to go home while she brought me here. She didn’t want to risk Cory knowing about Brynn.
Cory was one of Mal’s most trusted friends but even he wasn’t sure if he would be able to tell his partner what he knew about Brynn.
“Stella held up her end of the deal,” Paul went on. “It’s only fair that you do the same, isn’t it?”
Mal’s eyes narrowed.
“I still don’t understand what you want me to do,” he retorted angrily. “You don’t just stage a coup with a police precinct.”
“Yours isn’t any precinct, though, is it?” Paul replied conversationally. “Yours is run by a bear and consists only of bears. You can certainly overthrow rogue leadership, can’t you?”
“Are you even a cop?” Mal asked contemptuously. Nothing about the mild-mannered man indicated that he was and no matter what Mal’s suspicions were about Lewis, his loyalty was still to the uniform.
“Maybe not,” Paul chuckled. “But your girlfriend isn’t a bear either.”
The threat hung in the air between them and Mal paled.
“What are you saying?” he demanded.
“I’m saying that as long as you do what you’re told, Brynn will be safe. If not… I can’t guarantee that her location and secret won’t get out.”
Ire coursed through Mal but he managed to keep his temper in check.
“Rhett Lewis must have something big on you,” Mal said leeringly. “I wonder if I shouldn’t talk to him and find out what it is. He might be interested in knowing that he has a stalker here in Chicago.”
A cold, unfazed smile formed on Paul’s lips.
“You’re playing a very stupid game with the life of someone you claim to love,” Paul said evenly. “But if that’s how you want it to go down...”
He trailed off and the men stared at one another, neither faltering.
“You still haven’t told me what it is you expect me to do,” Mal snapped begrudgingly.
“We just want assurances that when we come for the 22, you’ll be on our side.”
“I don’t even know what that means,” Mal snapped.
“You will,” Paul assured him. “Be patient.”
“I am not leaving Brynn here,” Mal said and Paul sighed heavily.
“It’s really not up to you, is it?”
Mal gritted his teeth, his mind racing as he thought about what to do next.
“I’m not leaving her side, then,” he said finally. “I’m staying here.”
Paul laughed.
“You weren’t invited. Anyway, you have a job to do. I can’t risk cops knowing where you are.”
“I’m off until Monday. I’m staying until then.”
There was no room for argument in his tone but Paul shook his head again.
“Sorry. The inn is full.”
“Then I will camp outside,” Mal thundered.
“Malcolm, what will it accomplish?” Paul d
emanded. “You’ll just unnerve poor Bryn with your presence.”
“No, I won’t,” he promised. “I’m going to refresh her memory. Whatever those wolves did to her, I’m going to undo.”
“Even if that works, Mal, it doesn’t change the fact that she can’t go with you.”
“One thing at a time,” Mal growled. “And my first order of business is reminding Brynn what she’s missed out on.”
“That sounds like a lovely idea,” Stella called, sashaying back into the living room. “She’s a nice girl. She deserves a bright future.”
“Something tells me you don’t give a rat’s ass about her future,” Mal snapped back. “But I’m going to help her through this.”
“I have every reason to believe you will,” Stella replied. “In fact, I think you should stay here.”
“Stella,” Paul growled, but she waved a hand dismissively.
“It won’t hurt to have him here, Paul. We’re all friends now, anyway, aren’t we?”
Mal frowned. He wasn’t sure what to call this wary relationship, but friendship was certainly not what he had in mind.
“I’ll have Jasmin set you up in a suite,” Stella continued and Mal’s eyes narrowed.
“Just like that?” he demanded and Stella shrugged.
“What can I say? The sooner we get the wolf out of here, the better,” she tittered. “But I can’t guarantee she’ll go with you.”
“If you were in such a rush to get her out of here, why did you wait so long to contact me?” Mal wanted to know.
“Because you had nothing of value to trade until now,” Stella scoffed. “We knew your lover would come in handy one day and today is that day.”
“You really are despicable,” Mal spat. “Whatever Rhett did to you, you deserved. I’m sure of it.”
The couple exchanged a bemused smile.
“Well,” Paul snickered. “You might find yourself eating your words when you find out about your boss.”
“I don’t give a shit about anything but Brynn right now,” Mal hissed back. “You and Lewis can be enemies until the next ice age for all I care. I just want Brynn.”
“And we’ll try to make that happen… even if your relationship is destined to end in tragedy.”
“Don’t say that! We’ll figure a way out of this,” he snapped. “Just show me where I can put my stuff and find Brynn.”