“What did you find?” Hunter asked as he watched her climb the steps. He held out his hand to her and she took it, grateful for his strength as he pulled her out of the cellar.
“There are some clothes belonging to Joey. There are four photographs on the wall.” She looked down at the envelope in her hand, with her name scrawled in the same handwriting as the letter. “And there’s this.”
“Have you looked inside?” Guy asked as he took the envelope from her.
She shook her head, reluctant to let the envelope go, but needing an unbiased view on what she’d seen and what she’d found. “There was also one of Thomas’s toys down there.”
“One of Thomas’s toys?” Hunter asked, his voice hoarse with barely concealed rage. “They’ve been to your house?” He quickly looked up at Guy. “We should contact Flint and check that they are safe.”
Cynthia put her hand on his upper arm and tried to calm him. “It’s okay. We thought we’d lost it in the move. But I think it was taken from the house when Cracol’s men came for the children originally.” She was remarkably calm. Perhaps because she knew they were entering the end game. The letter contained the reason she’d been drawn back here.
She was, in some ways, about to learn her fate.
Chapter Sixteen – Hunter
Hunter fought to control the urge to punch something. More specifically, he fought the urge to hunt down the people who were taunting his mate and punch them senseless.
Or worse, his bear added.
Or worse. Much worse, Hunter agreed.
“Let’s all take a breath before we see what’s in the envelope,” Guy said. He looked at each of them in turn, his eyes meeting Hunter’s last of all.
“I’m okay.” Hunter clenched his fists and then let go of the tension in his body.
“Open it,” Cynthia instructed him. “I need to see what’s inside, and then we should call the police.”
“Unless whatever is in this envelope changes that.” Liam pressed his lips together. “I’m just saying what we’re all thinking. This is the trap. We walked into it, and now it’s about to be sprung.”
Guy slid a finger under the flap of the envelope and opened it, pulling out a single sheet of folded paper. Carefully, he unfolded it and scanned the information it contained. “Whoever set this up wants Cynthia to go to a set of coordinates in the forest. Alone.”
“No,” Hunter snapped.
“Why?” Cynthia asked.
“If you go, they will reveal the location of the children in those images.” Guy locked eyes with Cynthia. “We know this is a trap. They know you will do whatever it takes to get those children back.”
Hunter clamped his mouth shut, even though in his head he was yelling, no, she could not go. But this was Cynthia’s decision. “So what do we do?”
“I’ll go. You follow,” Cynthia said calmly. “You’re all shifters. They won’t be expecting a couple of bears and an eagle to be looking out for me.”
“I don’t like it,” Hunter said. “We have no proof they even know where the children are anymore. Those photographs, were they taken here?”
Cynthia looked down at her phone and tapped the screen. Then she held it out for them all to see the video of the cellar. “It’s difficult to make out.” She looked closer. “I have no idea who these children are. Horatio is wearing the sweater that was found here. And Joey was already wearing different clothes. No, these photos could be old.”
“They are just trying to lure you into the forest,” Guy said. “We all know that. But we don’t know if they really have information on these children and where they are.”
“You know I have to go.” Cynthia reached out and took hold of Hunter’s hand. “I can’t live with myself not knowing if I could have saved them.”
Hunter nodded. “I understand. And we’ll all do whatever it takes to protect you.”
“Not whatever it takes,” Cynthia said. “I don’t want you to risk your lives for me.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. They’re expecting you to go alone. I’m assuming they will be watching.” Guy looked around the kitchen. “Just as they might be watching now. We tried to be thorough, but we might have missed something.”
“So the camera was to simply alert them to me being here?” Cynthia asked. “They’re not about to come crashing through the door?”
“No. I always thought it would be too risky for them to come back here.” Guy inclined his head toward the door. “We should go.”
“What about all the equipment?” Cynthia asked as they went back out into the hallway.
“We’ll sort out what you need. In case you get stranded out there or have to hike further on.” Guy took out a map of the area and spread it on the old floorboards. “These are the coordinates. It’s a two-hour hike. From there they might ask you to walk on somewhere else. My guess is they will lure you deeper into the forest.”
“Out of sight, out of sound,” Cynthia said quietly.
“Don’t worry, we’ll have ears and eyes on you at all times,” Liam told her. “Don’t forget you have eagle eyes on your side.”
Cynthia smiled, trying to look relaxed, but the tension in her body was evident. “I have every confidence in the three of you.”
“And we have confidence in you,” Hunter said. “Remember what Liam said, about how you can sniff out a liar. You have to put all your personal feelings aside and use your professional head. Just because they say they know where the children are, it doesn’t mean they do. Even if they dumped them in the forest, it doesn’t mean they still know where they are.”
“Don’t let my heart rule my head. That’s what you are saying.” Cynthia nodded, and then went to him, standing on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “I’ll be back. And then we can start getting to know each other and move on with our lives. I know this is hard for you. And I want to thank you for not trying to stop me.”
“I’ve already learned you are not an easy woman to stop. You have your own mind and your own ideas. And I will never be the person who tells you what you can or can’t do or what you are capable of. You need to find out those things for yourself, you need to push your limits.” Hunter pulled her close and inhaled her scent. “Come back to me.”
“I will.” Cynthia hugged him, holding onto him as if she didn’t want to let go. She was scared. She had every right to be.
“We’ll be there for you. Just use your intuition.” He pulled back from her and cupped her cheek in the palm of his hand while Liam and Guy went outside into the sunlight and breathed in fresh forest air. “You might not be a shifter, but you have your own superpowers. You wouldn’t have gotten so far in your career and taken down so many bad people if you didn’t have your own unique brand of super senses. Never forget that.”
“I won’t.” She kissed him, her hands threaded around his neck, and her lips hot on his. Hunter held her close, the heat from his body ignited in a furnace of desire.
Then she stepped away from him and became Cynthia Callaghan, investigative reporter. The warmth in her eyes faded to be replaced by a coolness, she’d buried her feelings, it was the only way she could survive the things she saw. In that moment, Hunter had a unique insight into the woman he loved. And he could not be more proud. She sacrificed a piece of herself to save others.
Hunter would make sure she didn’t sacrifice all of herself for those children. He would rather sacrifice himself than live in a world without her.
The contents of Cynthia’s backpack were quickly rearranged. They added in food rations for five days and a small tent she could erect to keep off the worst of the elements. Only when she shouldered the pack did they all realize it was heavy for her small body. Small compared to the three shifters at least. To Hunter, she was perfectly formed, and he loved every curve of her body.
“Are you certain you can manage?” Liam asked as he pulled the straps, testing the weight.
“I’m sure. If it gets too heavy, I’ll ditch something.” She stood before them
, confident and strong.
“Just remember, we are here for you,” Hunter said. “You might not see us or hear us, but we will have eyes and ears on you. Either from the sky or the ground.”
“I know. I trust you all. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be so willing to walk out into the forest with no phone signal.” She held up her phone.
“Are you sure you don’t want to take a satellite phone?” Liam asked. “We brought two.”
“No, if they search me, it’s the first thing they’ll take. I’m okay. I have you guys. And anyway, you might need them.” She looked at each of them in turn. “I should go. See you soon.”
Hunter kept his feet firmly on the ground, even though he wanted to follow her into the forest. “See you soon.”
The three shifters stood together and watched her walk away into the forest with only the map and a compass to show her which direction she needed to take. Hunter wished he could follow her even now, but the three shifters had to hang back. The plan was for Guy and Hunter to take the rest of the gear back to the truck and then skirt around the route Cynthia was taking.
Meanwhile, Liam would shift and fly overhead, keeping a close watch on Cynthia and alerting Guy and Hunter if they needed to get back here faster. But for now, none of them could sense another person, shifter or otherwise, for miles.
“She’ll be okay,” Guy assured Hunter as they collected the rest of the gear and headed back toward the truck.
“I know she can take care of herself, but I also know things go wrong,” Hunter told him. “She’s too emotionally involved.”
“The same could be said about you,” Liam said lightly. “You have to take a step back and let her get on with her job. She’s good at what she does and I’m certain if anyone can get through this with the children safe and the bad guys in jail, it’s Cynthia.”
“You’re right. I know you are. But damn it, right now I just want to tear the head off of something.” A low growl emanated from his chest. “And I know I have to get rid of that tension before we go back out there. I don’t want to risk Cynthia or anyone else by overreacting.”
“You’ll be fine,” Guy told him. “You’re a professional, too. You can find a way to compartmentalize your private and professional feelings.”
“And you know this because you have a mate?” Hunter bit back. “Sorry.”
“No, you’re right. I don’t have the experience you have on that front. However, I do have experience working with you and I know what you are capable of.” Guy slapped him on the back. “You just have to dig in and find the part of you that’s you, that’s not attached to Cynthia.”
“I don’t think there is a part of me that’s not attached to Cynthia,” Hunter half-joked. “Thanks, though, Guy.”
“You’re welcome.” Guy stopped and looked around. They were in a dense piece of the forest, it was time for Liam to shift and fly over Cynthia. Hunter sure would feel better having the eagle shifter watching over his mate.
“This is the first time I’ve ever been jealous of a bird,” Hunter admitted as Liam shifted and took to the skies. He had one of the satellite phones with him and would alert them if Cynthia got into any trouble.
“You’ll be back by her side before you know it,” Guy told him as he turned back toward the diner where Hunter had left the truck.
“I know and I’m grateful to Liam for watching over her,” Hunter admitted. “But I won’t be happy until we’re all back safe in Bear Creek.”
With Cynthia and the children under his roof and the bad guys in jail. But he knew for Cynthia to be truly happy and for her to move on, they needed to find the children, too.
It was looking more and more as if they needed a miracle.
Chapter Seventeen – Cynthia
Cynthia kept her mind on navigating toward the coordinates given in the letter, not easy when there was no trail to follow. She assumed this had been part of their plan. Whoever they were.
Anyone could see she was traveling alone, that there was no backup crew following her.
Not a human backup crew anyway.
However, above her head, an eagle soared, before catching a thermal and drifting out of sight, lost behind the tall trees of the forest which seemed to go on forever.
She pushed herself harder, knowing she was traveling too slow. If she didn’t go faster, she would reach the rendezvous point at nightfall. That would leave her at a disadvantage, she wouldn’t be able to see who she was meeting with, she wouldn’t be able to identify them to the police.
If she ever got the chance.
Cynthia guessed they were not meeting her in the middle of a forest to show her where the children were out of a sudden need to clear their conscience. If the children were there. If there was any truth to what the letter said, then there would be a trade. Her life for theirs.
Or was this just a decoy, a ruse to get her out of the way so they could get her children?
But her children were safe. She’d spoken to Flint before she left, and he’d insisted they were all safe and no one would get through the ring of shifters who would protect them at all costs. It seemed if anyone went to Bear Creek in the hope of getting her children, they would be in for a nasty surprise.
‘What you took from me, I will take from you.’ The children seemed to be the most obvious of targets, but Cynthia didn’t buy that.
This was all too convoluted, too planned.
She stepped over a fallen log and began the slow descent into a wooded valley. An hour or so more and she would be there. A cry from Liam’s eagle reminded her she was not alone, she would never be alone.
Yet when she stood in a clearing at the coordinates given in the letter, she felt very much alone. There was no eagle above her head, no bear shifters lurking just out of sight. At least not as far as she could tell. She’d never wished for shifter senses more than she did now.
She waited. There was no sound other than the birdsong and the rushing of wind through the bare trees. The forest must be an incredible place in any other season, but in late winter, in the pause before the sun warmed the ground and everything began growing anew, it seemed a desolate, cold place.
Too cold for children to survive out here alone.
“I didn’t think you’d come.” The voice came from the forest, but as she swung around to face the owner of the voice, she saw nothing.
“How could I not when your letter was so compelling?” she asked, keeping her voice light, even though her heart was heavy. This was it, the reason she was here.
“I thought so, but I didn’t think you were brave enough to face up to what you’d done.” The voice had moved a little to the left, but even though she turned to follow it she still couldn’t see anyone.
“What I’ve done?” she asked. “I haven’t done anything other than uncover a group of sick individuals who thought they were entitled to hurt children and use them as if they owned them.”
“And that very action meant those children were lost to their parents,” the man said.
“You mean the children from the farmhouse?” Cynthia caught a glimpse of movement but couldn’t see a face or any distinguishing feature.
“Those children had to be disposed of. Of course, they were supposed to be permanently disposed of, but that didn’t work out.” Closer. Was he closer now?
“Your men didn’t have the nerve to kill them?” Cynthia took a step forward toward the edge of the clearing and the person took a step back, snapping a twig underfoot.
“Oh, my men had the nerve, but the children slipped through their fingers and out into the forest. We hunted them, but they eluded us. Until a couple of days ago.”
“Ah, so that’s when you decided to send me a letter. So kind of you to rescue the children for me.” Cynthia walked a couple of steps forward and stood at the very edge of the clearing. “Where are they?”
“I’ll take you to them. But first, you have to make a choice,” the man said.
“Of course, I do.” Cy
nthia placed her hands on her hips. “Out with it.” She tried to keep her voice level, even though she was scared, scared she would make the wrong decision and the children would suffer for it.
However, she didn’t think that would happen. Since she was fairly certain the person in the trees had no idea where the children were either. He was bluffing. But why? Why get her to come out here into the forest? If he wanted her dead as a way of revenge, why not just kill her in her bed?
She really needed to stop thinking of things like that. It wasn’t helpful at all.
A rustle of a holly bush close by told her he was closer now, then she saw him. Or at least saw his clothes. He wore a ski mask, his face covered except for his eyes and nose. She might be able to identify him just from those features, but she doubted it. She needed to get a closer look and preferably pull the mask off his face.
“Put this on.”
Oh, so that confused things just a little. The figure in front of her in the ski mask didn’t belong to this new voice. There were two of them. She should have guessed really. This made things a whole lot more complicated.
A hood landed at her feet and she looked down at it, not wanting to pick it up, let alone put it over her head.
“Why would I put it on?” Cynthia asked. “We all know I’m not getting out of here alive.”
Unless they really were going after her children. Had she gotten it wrong, was kidnapping her children still their end game? Kidnapping them and... She couldn’t think of them like that. She had to wall up her emotions and keep her mind straight.
“If you don’t put it on, you won’t get to see the children.” The man’s voice was compelling, but she didn’t believe him. However, she did recognize it.
From somewhere deep in her past, her mind latched on to a memory. She’d heard his voice before. But where? It certainly wasn’t Cracol or anyone to do with that investigation. She tilted her head. “Do you have any proof you know where the children are?”
She needed to keep him talking, to try to figure out who he was and where she knew him from.
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