Winter Tails: A Limited Edition Winter Shifters Collection

by Fox, Piper

  Christian was still staring at the insightful human as he slowly answered his friend’s questions, “Sylvia is still in town but had planned on leaving next week. After what’s happened up here this weekend, I believe she will be hanging around a little while longer. Look, it’s not like she doesn’t like the states or anything; she just prefers to be home. She has a family of her own in England that she hates being away from for too long. However, since she is still in town, she would be the one we would talk to about this situation. What else do you have in mind, Tamara? Even I can tell you are still thinking.”

  Tamara looked between the men, not sure how to word what she was thinking.

  Taking a deep breath, she blurted, “Well I was thinking that maybe I should go with you to talk to her. You know inform her of just how serious this situation could turn?”

  Christian and Declan shared another one of those looks and Declan wrapped his arms around her, kissing her forehead before answering, “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, my love. The Coalition doesn’t approve of human and supernatural relationships. They sometimes don’t end well.”

  Tamara pulled back from her mate, “While I can understand that we were together before this happened. What do they suggest you do in a situation like that? Just break it off?”

  Christian nodded his head, “Something like that. Look, it’s not the entirety of the Coalition that feel that way, just a select few. Believe it or not, Sylvia isn’t one of them. Remember my mentioning her family? Well, her husband is human, and the kids are, well let’s not focus on the kids right now. When you guys decide to start your family, we can discuss the possibilities of what could happen, but until then we will focus on this. I don’t think it would be a bad idea to have her come with us to report to Sylvia, buddy.”

  Declan smiled and the relief was evident on his face, “Well all right then. Now that we have settled that particular issue shall we get back to working on our plans for the trip to Wisconsin?”

  Tamara held her hand up and gave her mate a wink, “Not so fast, my dear. I still have one more thing to work out.”

  Declan tipped his head to the side and gave her a look filled with curiosity, “What is that my heart?”

  She turned to Christian, “Do you remember when I told you last night that I was going to ask you how you knew that my neighbor was standing on my front porch?”

  When he nodded, she continued, “I bet you thought I’d forgotten about that with all the distracting you and Declan did last night and all of the excitement that has happened today, didn’t you?”

  Christian chuckled cheerfully, “What would you like to know, beautiful? In truth I thought you knew because my best friend had promised to make sure you were in the know before I showed up last night.”

  Tamara gave him an understanding smile, “What type of creature are you?”

  Christian gave Declan a look that promised a world of hurt before looking at the woman who had asked, “I’m a Were-Lynx. The reason Declan came to me about his condition is because he had known for a year prior to it happening to him what had happened to me and thought I might be able to help. Not to mention the fact I happened to be on the same expedition in Madagascar as he was. Truth be told, I’m still learning how to deal with my own condition. The Supernatural Coalition assigns mentors, kind of like sponsors in AA, to lead the newbies through their second change and make sure things don’t get so out of hand that a human ends up turned or dead. When I took him in front of the Organization to report his furry condition, they assigned me to be his mentor. I’ve been doing my best to help him since.”

  Tamara nodded thoughtfully, “But it’s only been a few months and you’re not even the same type of animal. How did the higher ups decide that you would be the perfect mentor for Declan?”

  The men shared a look that she couldn’t decipher before the Lynx answered, “Because I was just as worried as Declan is now when I first found out that I was different. I tried hiding in my apartment and not socializing but Declan was the one who talked me into returning to school. It wasn’t until someone from the Coalition reached out to me and explained what was happening to me that I realized I wasn’t losing my mind. We never did catch the bastard who turned me, but I’ve learned to live with my condition. I’m hoping to help Declan get there. Sooner rather than later.”

  Declan gave his best friend a wan smile, “I’m getting there, amigo. Things aren’t nearly as dire as I thought they were when we first got back from Madagascar. I just wish there was more known about my condition.”

  Tamara and Christian each took a hand of the man whose voice sounded so defeated.

  Tamara gave the hand she was holding a squeeze and shared a smile with the man who had become just as close to her as her fiancée had, then returned her attention to her better half, “We’ll find all the missing pieces, my love. All of us. Together.”

  Chapter 10

  The threesome parked their individual vehicles, Christian on his black and chrome Harley Davidson motorcycle, and the couple in their burgundy ’69 Chevy Camaro, in the warehouse parking lot.

  Tamara climbed out of the car and looked around the vacant lot, “Are you sure Sylvia said to meet here? It looks like this place has been empty for years.”

  Declan opened the driver’s side door and stepped out, “Christian? Are you sure you got the address, right?”

  Christian climbed off his motorcycle, setting his helmet on the handlebar and looking down at the paper he pulled out of his jacket pocket, “Yup, this is the correct address. Maybe she’s already inside?”

  Tamara looked at the building as the three of them walked toward it, intent on entering, “But I don’t see any other vehicles besides ours. Maybe we’re early?”

  Declan looked unsure as they stopped in front of the door and checked the time on his watch, “Nope. We’re right on time. I agree with Christian; we should head inside and see if Sylvia is there. Did you give her the cliff’s notes version as to why we wanted this meeting, amigo?”

  Christian led the way as they entered the building, “I gave her a brief idea of what the two of us are thinking where the Greek is concerned, yes. That is the reason she agreed to this meeting in the first place. After I told her that the cabin, he claimed to be staying in looked as if no one had stayed there for months, she decided we needed to fill her in on the whole story and an initial investigation needed to be made by the Coalition.”

  Their footsteps echoed as they entered the warehouse, looking around the spacious area for the woman they were supposed to be meeting. Declan kicked an empty can, causing a hollow sound to be heard over their footsteps. Tamara kept looking around at the abandoned machinery, trying to decide what type of warehouse they were in. There were shelves scattered throughout the building as if they were waiting for items to be placed on them. On the right she saw a conveyor belt that led into another area of the warehouse. The threesome continued walking through the large room, the gravel crunching underneath their feet adding to the echoes of their footsteps.

  Tamara rubbed her arms as gooseflesh appeared, “I hope we find her soon. This place is giving me the creeps.”

  Declan wrapped his left arm around her shoulders protectively, “Is the abandoned equipment giving you the willys, my love?”

  When she only nodded, he realized that the time wasn’t right to tease her, “We should be running into her soon,”

  The three of them stepped into a wide-open space, no machinery or items to be found. They whirled around at the sound of someone clearing their throat behind them.

  “I’m so glad you could make it, Christian,” said a beautiful, tall, light skinned woman with red hair that reached her shoulders.

  Christian stepped away from the couple he had walked into the warehouse with and approached the woman, “Thank you for agreeing to this meeting, Sylvia. I wouldn’t have asked for it if it wasn’t important.”

  The two embraced each other, stepping back as Christian continued, �
��As I told you on the phone, Declan and I aren’t sure what is up with the man we met, but alarm bells are seriously going off.”

  Declan nudged Tamara and the two of them stepped forward, “It may seem like we’re jumping the gun, Sylvia, but we didn’t want to take any chances in case it did turn out to be something.”

  At the sound of his voice, Sylvia turned in the couple’s direction, “I agree whole-heartedly that you and Christian made the right decision to come to me about this man who seemingly came out of nowhere, especially since he saw you shift. If that is the only reason, we are looking into him, it’s a good enough one.”

  Tamara shuffled from foot to foot as she stood next to her mate, waiting for the questions to start.

  Sylvia turned her attention to the antsy woman, “Ah! You must be Tamara. I have heard so much about you! I’m glad to finally put a face to the name.”

  The tall woman held her hand out as she spoke and Tamara took it in a firm grip, “It’s nice to meet you too, Sylvia. I’m so glad you were able to arrange this meeting so we can put the men’s minds to rest.”

  Sylvia let out a small laugh, “Well there is the matter of a human witnessing Declan’s shift, but I’m hoping that is the only issue we will have to tango with. If it turns out that there is more, I will be sure to let you guys know. Now, Tamara, why don’t you fill me in on what happened this past weekend up at the cabin.”

  As the women talked, they walked away from the men, deep in conversation. While Tamara believed that their so-called neighbor was completely harmless, Declan wasn’t so sure. The men watched as the two women walked to the other side of the large room, wondering what else Tamara might be telling Sylvia.

  “You don’t think that Tamara is going to go into all of the details about last weekend, do you?” Christian asked his best friend nervously.

  Declan laughed at the look on his friend’s face, “Of course not! She prefers discretion, amigo. Besides, she seems to have more fun planned for this coming weekend with us, you don’t think she would chance ruining that by telling anyone about our threesome, do you?”

  Christian shook his head as he watched the women talk on the other side of the room, “No, I suppose not. But you never know where ‘girl talk’ can lead.”

  Declan turned his attention to the women who were walking their way as he patted Christian on the back, “I can promise you that Tamara hasn’t told Sylvia anything about our fun at the cabin last weekend. Take a deep breath and relax, pal. Let’s see this through and get the investigation underway. From there we can move on to getting more information on my condition and, hopefully, finding the son of a bitch who turned me. Who knows, we might even find the bastard that turned you.”

  Christian turned his attention to his best friend, “That would be icing on the cake, buddy. But you’re right, we need the Coalition to begin this investigation so that we can turn our attention back to the important matter of finding out more about you.”

  “Still researching Declan’s condition, are you?” Sylvia asked as the women rejoined the men.

  Declan nodded his head, “Of course. Since not much is known about my animal side, I would breathe easier if we could find at least one other person here in the states that could explain why my condition is so rare.”

  Sylvia gave a curt nod, “That makes sense to me. I can understand wanting to understand everything that is going on with you. Did you manage to get a glimpse of the animal that bit you?”

  Declan shook his head, “Unfortunately no. I was sleeping when it happened, though we know what type of animal it was since that it was I turn into.”

  Sylvia smiled, “Of course, of course. I was just wondering if you might have picked up any clues, is all.”

  The Were-Fossa tilted his head in thought, “I don’t think so. My professor and the class looked around our campsite but found zilch. It wasn’t until we had returned to the states that I had my first shift, so no one knew that I had been bitten by a supernatural being.”

  Sylvia tapped her lips with her fingers, “Hmm. Christian, how far did you get into the research you were doing?”

  Christian put his hands behind his back as he answered, “I found a reported sighting of a Were-something in Wisconsin that we’re going to check out during break, but we’re not sure what that will lead us to.”

  The Coalition authority figure looked from Declan to Christian, her gaze finally settling on Tamara, “It has to lead somewhere, right? I think it’s a good idea for you guys to travel to Wisconsin to check out this lead. While you are doing that, the Coalition will continue with the investigation into Conrad and we shall see where that leads.”

  The threesome nodded their heads in unison to the woman’s words. Christian was glad to have the Organization’s backing into their research and Declan was relieved to know that at least one of the figureheads understood where he was coming from. As they were getting ready to say their goodbyes, there was a loud thud from the front of the warehouse.

  “What was that?” Tamara exclaimed as she reached for Declan.

  Christian looked behind them where the noise had come from, “I’m not sure but it seems that we have company. Where you expecting anyone, Sylvia?”

  The tall woman shook her head, “No this meeting was only between us. I did let the Coalition know that we were meeting and the reason behind it, but I didn’t ask, nor was I ordered, to bring anyone else along.”

  Tamara started moving towards the other side of the warehouse away from the noise, “Is there another way out of here?”

  Sylvia moved her attention to the other woman, “Yes there is. I came in from the back side. I’m assuming you three came in from the front?”

  Another loud noise came from the direction the threesome had entered the warehouse as they nodded their heads in the affirmative. Sylvia pulled out a small gun and pointed it in the direction the noise was coming from.

  She looked at Christian, “It doesn’t look like we’re gonna be leaving just yet. That noise was closer than the last one, so it appears that we are going to find out who followed you here.”

  The four of them were facing the direction the noise had come from, but Tamara saw movement from the corner of her eye. Turning to see what it could be, she felt a hard whack on the right side of her head, near the temple, and fell to the floor. She heard shouts as she tried to cling to consciousness, afraid that she was going to lose the battle and wake up somewhere else.

  “Just what do you think you’re doing?” Tamara heard Sylvia shout as a loud thump sounded next to her.

  She moved her head slightly, trying to see who had landed on the ground. Tamara gasped at the fact that Declan had fallen only inches away from where she lay, the angle of his head worrisome. Declan’s eyes were closed and there was blood oozing from a cut on the top of his head, which scared Tamara more than the fuzzy condition trying to consume her brain.

  Tamara tried to form words to get his attention, to get him to wake up somehow but the only thing that kept bouncing through her head was, How could someone get the drop on three Weres? How in the Hells does that happen?

  As the human woman lost consciousness a single gunshot echoed through the warehouse and Tamara heard Sylvia shout as footsteps sounded, growing fainter.

  Chapter 11

  Tamara woke in confusion with a screaming headache. She sat up slowly, her stomach rolling with the need to vomit, and raised a hand to the throbbing right temple.

  “Woah, darling, you need to be careful. You took a nasty hit to the head,” Christian told her as he helped her into a sitting position.

  Tamara swallowed hard, hoping her stomach wouldn’t rebel against her, “What happened?”

  As Christian helped her stand up, she took a look around as a memory gripped her, “Oh shit! Where are Declan and Sylvia?”

  The Were-Lynx helped the human walk through the warehouse, intent on leaving the area and heading back to his apartment to work out a plan, “I don’t know. Someone hit me
from behind and when I came to, we were the only two in the warehouse. I don’t know what the Hells is going on, but I surely plan to find out.”

  Tamara leaned against her car, “You aren’t doing it alone, Christian. Please don’t make me argue with you and have to sell the reason why I need to be involved with this.”

  Christian laughed and held up his right hand, “No arguments here, beautiful. Follow me to my apartment and we can see if we can make heads or tails of what happened here this afternoon.”

  She nodded and climbed into her car, “What are you waiting for? Let’s go!”

  * * *

  Tamara and Christian climbed the stairs to his one-bedroom apartment, both lost in their own thoughts. Christian was mentally kicking himself in the ass for being caught unawares to their attack at the warehouse, and Tamara was trying to figure out how long the attacker had been inside the building before he decided to show himself.

  As Christian unlocked the door, he cleared his throat, “Listen, I didn’t know I was going to have company and, of course, I spent the rest of the weekend up at the cabin with you and Declan, so I haven’t cleaned up the place.”

  Tamara gave the Were a weak smile, “My mind is too occupied to worry about whether you keep a clean house or not, Christian. Trust me when I tell you that at this point in time, I don’t care if you have clean underwear hanging up in your shower as long as we can come up with a plan to find Declan and Sylvia.”

  Christian nodded, “And a plan we shall come up with. But let’s get inside first. My neighbors are a nosy bunch, and I don’t feel like coming out of the supernatural closet tonight.”

  They hurried into the apartment and Tamara took a look around the small space, “It’s not that dirty. The way you were talking I expected the place to be filthy, littered with half-empty pizza boxes and the sinks overflowing with dishes. You know, dirty clothes piling up in a corner or something.”