by Sammie Joyce
“Well now,” Charlie laughed. “We ain’t huntin’ wabbits, if that’s what you’re asking.”
No. They weren’t hunting rabbits. They were hunting shifters and I’d sent Marcel directly into their path.
14
Marcel
My paws crunched through the snow and I walked laboriously as if I was in pain. Probably because I was in pain. My heart was broken and I knew I had no one but myself to blame for what had happened.
I went back and forth between being furious with Vivian and angry with myself but the more I played out the situation in my head, the more I wondered how I could have handled things differently.
Coming clean with her earlier certainly wouldn’t have resolved anything. If she had told me about Charlie sooner, I would most definitely have ended things before they got started.
It’s better this way. Go home. Call on the Protectors. Stay loyal to your cause.
If only I’d done what I’d supposed to have done in the first place, I wouldn’t have been in this mess to begin with. I wished I’d had the foresight to grab my bag from Vivian’s car before heading down the mountain. It was much easier to travel in my lupine form but I wanted my cell phone, if only to give my team a heads up about what was potentially coming. I still wasn’t sure what to do about Charlie Hunt.
I wondered what Vivian was going to do now that I was gone. Would she really call on her brother and have me hunted?
I didn’t want to believe that but I didn’t really know what to believe anymore. If she did, I would be within my rights to end him first but if she didn’t…well, he still needed to be stopped, didn’t he?
I was in no frame of mind to be making any decisions. It was probably for the best that I had the time to sort things out.
Suddenly, I paused, my snout raised as I sensed someone behind me. The hairs on the back of my neck rose and I instinctively knew that I wasn’t alone. Instantly, I put my head down and resumed walking, not wanting the stranger to realize I was onto them.
Whoever it was clearly was following me, the soft crush of snow barely meeting my ears as he kept his distance.
Subtly, I again tried to sniff out the air, to get a better handle on who it was. I couldn’t determine if it was man or animal on my trail but their presence was unmistakable.
I stopped at a low trickling creek and bowed my head, pretending to drink but my peripheral vision staked out the landscape. When I saw the slight blur of movement, I wasted no time pouncing.
A yelp of fear reached my ears as my massive paws overtook the leopard on my trail.
Immediately, I fell back, shifting into my human form as I glowered at the shifter.
“What are you doing?” I demanded, my voice a growl of disapproval. She was vaguely familiar to me. I had seen her around but I didn’t know her name. As quickly as I had shifted, she did the same and I was gazing at a hazel-eyed young woman.
“Me?” she demanded. “What the hell are you doing?”
Her words took me aback and I raised an eyebrow to stare at her questioningly.
“I’m going home,” I replied slowly. “You are following me.”
“You’re going home?” she repeated dubiously. “Where’s Vivian?”
I was thrown by the question.
“Who are you?” I snapped, unsure of how to deal with this.
“Rachel. Rachel Drake. I work with Vivian and I know she’s up here with you.”
I snorted but I was still perplexed.
Vivian works with a leopard shifter? Does she know that?
“Where is my friend?” Rachel demanded. Suddenly, I remembered the phone call Vivian had received the previous night.
“Are you in the habit of stalking your friends when they’re on getaways?” I barked back, annoyed at this girl.
“When my friend is with a Protector who knows better than to fraternize with humans, then yes, yes I am.”
There was a confidence about her that I likely would have admired under any other circumstance. In this case, however, I was irritated.
“Go home, Rachel,” I snarled, turning away to head back down the mountain. “Vivian doesn’t want to see anyone right now.”
“You left her alone on the mountain!?” Rachel’s voice rang out through the trees, disturbing some of the sleeping creatures who tweeted in protest. “Very chivalrous.”
I wouldn’t admit it to her but the words cut me. Of course I hadn’t wanted to leave Vivian alone but what other choice did I have?
“If you’re so concerned, you go for her,” I bit back but I didn’t move after I spoke.
“The roads are all closed, Marcel. It’s dark and I’ve heard that power is out in some places. You can’t leave her alone up there.”
I frowned. There was something about this woman’s tone that affected me more deeply than it should have, like she was sensing something I was missing.
Gods know, you can’t trust your own instincts anymore, I thought grimly.
“She doesn’t want to see me,” I muttered but now I was torn.
“Then take me to her,” Rachel said firmly. “And then you can head back.”
I contemplated her offer. It wouldn’t do any harm to bring Rachel up there. I would take comfort in knowing that Vivian was safe with someone, even if it wasn’t me.
“Does she know about you?” I asked as I weighed my decision.
“That I’m a shifter? Of course not.” She scowled at me. “Unlike some beings, I can follow the rules.”
I grunted.
“It’s so black and white, huh?” I muttered, spinning back around.
“Isn’t it?”
I paused and glanced at her, a small smirk touching my lips.
“Says the girl who climbed a mountain to check on her human friend.”
“That’s a friendship. It’s different.”
Is it? I wondered. Because there’s a good chance that Vivian will turn you in too.
“Are you coming or what?” Rachel demanded. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at me, her jaw twitching as she waited for me to make a move.
“I don’t think you know everything there is to know about Vivian,” I sighed. “I think you’re setting yourself up for heartbreak.”
Rachel grimaced.
“Do you have any idea how many times that woman has helped me over the past six months? I’m a nursing student and I train under her sometimes. She’s done more for me than all the other nurses combined.”
I wasn’t shocked to hear that about Vivian but I also knew that Rachel was only seeing one part of the picture.
“That’s because she doesn’t know you’re a shifter,” I replied flatly. Understanding and concern colored Rachel’s peaches and cream complexion.
“She found out about you!” she realized and I shrugged, nodding slightly.
“Oh shit.”
“Indeed,” I agreed. “I’m telling you, her family doesn’t like our kind. You’re wasting your time going out to check on her. If she doesn’t know about you, keep it that way because there’s a good chance she’ll send someone after you otherwise.”
Rachel’s eyes bugged.
“Are you suggesting that she’s part of Anticlaw.”
“I’m not suggesting anything. I’m telling you that her brother is one of their ringleaders.”
Rachel gaped at me unspeaking for a moment. I watched the wheels turning in her head.
“So what?” she said and my jaw dropped at the nonchalant reply.
“So what?” I echoed. “So Anticlaw is trying to kill us, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“What does that have to do with Vivian?”
“Do you need your ears checked?” I demanded, wondering if she was purposely playing dumb.
“I heard you say something about her brother. That has nothing to do with her.”
“Yeah, well, you weren’t there when she was waving a shovel around and threatening to call her brother on me.”
More disbe
lief crossed over Rachel’s face but she shook her head.
“So what? I mean, can you blame her? She was probably scared out of her mind. If the roles were reversed, how do you think you would react?”
“She meant it, Rachel!”
I was becoming exasperated explaining my position to this girl when she seemed determined not to hear me.
“Maybe she did in that moment but honestly, do you think Vivian Hunt is capable of doing harm or inciting harm on anyone? Think about it.”
I opened my mouth to retort but Rachel’s words resonated with me. She was right, after all. For all her threats, Vivian hadn’t tried to attack me. All she’d asked was that I give her space.
“You know I’m right,” Rachel said smugly. “Now think about what you’re leaving behind. A scared, heartbroken woman in the aftermath of a snowsquall.”
The more she spoke, the guiltier I felt. I could only stare at her as her grin widened.
“Like I said, she doesn’t need to see you. Just take me where I need to go and head home. I’d wait by your phone though. Viv doesn’t strike me as the type to hold a grudge.”
Not with Rachel Drake as my advocate.
“I’ll take you to the cottage but then I really have to go,” I mumbled, knowing that my words were irrelevant. She’d already known what I was about to do. I was going to do the right thing.
Instead of responding, Rachel fell forward, morphing into her leopard frame again and bound forward. She waited at the top of the ravine and I knew I had little choice but to take her where she wanted to go.
* * *
I hadn’t even realized how long I’d been trekking down the mountain until we were heading back up.
The mountain keeps calling me back, I thought with some amusement but as we got closer to the cabin, I felt the hairs on my neck rise again.
Rachel was still several feet ahead of me like she knew where she was going even though I was certain she didn’t.
I slowed to a walk and sniffed around but whatever had caught my attention seemed to have wandered off.
Probably a rabbit, I thought. Rachel paused to glare at me for being so slow and I upped my pace, bringing us to the roadway in front of the cabin. I could see the lights from where we were and when I shifted to tell Rachel that was as far as I was taking her, a shiver snaked down my spine. At precisely that moment, Rachel froze in place and the two of us looked at each other, me in my mortal form, Rachel still a leopard.
Before I could utter a word, I saw the flash of a torch light as three men emerged from the trees, armed and grinning lecherously. Instantly, I recognized Charlie, a bigger, more sinister version of the photo inside the cottage. I would have known him anywhere.
“Well, well, well,” Charlie leered. “Looks like we found ourselves some wabbits, boys.”
Although the evidence was staring me right in the face, I still couldn’t believe that Vivian had sent us to our death by calling on her brother.
It looked like Rachel had been wrong about her after all.
But then again, so had I.
15
Vivian
The emotional exhaustion had taken a toll on me and without realizing it, I drifted off to sleep, the shotgun in one hand, cell phone in the other, back pressed firmly up against the locked door as I sprawled on the floor.
I dreamt that I was running through the woods, someone chasing me as I sprinted. It was all so real, the feel of snow under my feet, the chill of the air permeating my bones and I struggled to breathe.
“Leave me alone!” I yelled into the air but no one responded. Still, I knew I was being pursued and when I thought my lungs might explode, I spun to confront my attacker.
But it was only Marcel.
“Stop running,” he said in his smooth, even tone. “You have nothing to be afraid of.”
I wanted to believe him but as I reached out to take his extended hands, he became Charlie. Roughly, my brother grabbed my arm and yanked me back the way I’d run.
“Stop!” I screamed. “Charlie, stop!”
“You are a shifter lover!” he hissed, his words instilling terror in my body. “You deserve to die like the rest of them.”
I struggled to break free, my head whipping back to look for Marcel but he stood in the shadows, shaking his head.
“You shouldn’t have sent me away,” he mouthed but I heard the words like shrieks in my ears. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
I woke with a start, sweat forming in beads at my hairline and I saw that I had slumped to the side. I almost jumped at the sight of the shotgun in my lap and like it was made of fire, I shoved it away, shaking my head as I ambled to my feet. What the hell had I been thinking, getting the gun? I hated guns.
If the dream had been terrifying, the sleep had given me a semblance of sanity and I inhaled deeply, realizing that the fog that had consumed my brain had finally lifted.
I heard the wind howling outside and the noise made my brow furrow in confusion.
Was it snowing again?
I moved toward the window, blinking away the remnants of sleep and froze in horror at the scene beyond my view.
Three men encircled another man and a large cat, wielding torches and jeering loudly. It hadn’t been the wind I was hearing but the sound of the cat yowling in pain.
I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing, my brain trying to connect what was happening. It didn’t take me long to understand.
My brother had found Marcel.
A strangled gasp escaped my lips as I watched, unsure of what else to do. My legs felt like rubber as Morris, my brother’s best friend, raised a gun to aim directly at Marcel’s head. Before Morris could shoot, however, the tan cat leapt up and attacked, causing Morris to miss his shot. The bullet flew into the trees.
Chaos broke out then.
Marcel became a wolf, his bright silver fangs flashing as he moved to gnash at Charlie but my brother seemed to anticipate his movements. Charlie locked Marcel into a headlock and despite the distance between us, I heard him yell to his group.
“Shoot them! Shoot them both!”
It was with those words that I found my legs and I flew out the door, screaming like a banshee, waving my arms to distract Morris and Craig from doing any more damage.
“STOP IT!” I howled. “STOP!”
The three men seemed stunned by my appearance, Charlie dropping his hold on Marcel who immediately pounced, pinning him down. As I neared the group, my eyes widened in disbelief as I saw that the cat was a leopard.
Another shifter. What is it doing here?
“Vivian, get back in the house before you get hurt!” Charlie choked as Marcel’s fangs flashed over him. I watched with bated breath as Marcel snarled, his desire to murder my brother as palpable as the snow beneath my feet.
The leopard growled furiously at the other two men, daring them to shoot with baleful eyes.
“Please, stop!” I begged them, racing to put myself in the middle of the group. “Let them go. They aren’t hurting you!”
I trembled as I put my hand on Marcel’s fur, willing him to look me in the eye. The struggle to protect himself was fighting with his morality and when he met my gaze, I knew which had won. Slowly, the fire began to fade from his eyes and he backed off slowly, keeping Charlie underneath him.
“KILL THEM!” Charlie howled. “Just don’t hit my sister!”
“No!” I shouted, the firmness in my tone leaving no room for argument. I turned to Craig and Morris, my eyes flashing. “If you shoot them, I’ll turn you into the police myself. Put the guns down.”
My brother’s friends eyed me with contempt but whatever they saw in my face seemed to convince them that I wasn’t lying—and I hadn’t been. I would have called the sheriff and taken photo evidence too.
“Stand down.” Charlie’s voice was weak. “But call them off too, Vivian.”
I looked at Marcel and the leopard, nodding slowly.
“They aren’t going to h
urt you,” I promised. “Just go now.”
Begrudgingly, Marcel released Charlie and relief flooded my body. He would have been well within his rights to end my brother for what had just happened but he hadn’t.
Because of me.
The two beasts slunk back, exchanging a look but I was too busy focusing on the men before me, not trusting that they wouldn’t shoot. I stood taller, ensuring that I blocked the way.
“Go!” I yelled without turning around and through my peripheral vision, I saw them finally move.
It was only after I was sure they were out of sight, I exhaled and let my shoulders sink.
“What the hell was that?” Charlie growled, his tone furious as he leapt to his feet. “We could have eliminated two more of those animals.”
“You need to stop this!”
Charlie balked at my plea.
“Do you know those two? We followed that little leopard right from the hospital. Seems like they know you, Vivian. In fact, it sounded like they both know you very well.”
Charlie was furious but not as livid as me.
I blinked at the information, wondering who the cat could be but the matter wasn’t of prime importance at the moment. My fury was bubbling over, this matter with Anticlaw bringing me to the brink.
“The hospital where I’m constantly dealing with you idiots coming in with injuries because of these antics?” I spat, my words like whiplash. “The hospital that you and your moronic friends continue to clog up my emergency room because you can’t just live and let live? How dare you lecture me when I’m the one who has to clean up your messes?”
Charlie balked at my words and opened his mouth to respond but I was just getting started.
“We live with these creatures,” I hissed, glaring at them. “They are our friends, our co-workers and you’ve declared war on them!”
“They declared war on us first!” Morris whined. I swiveled to turn my wrath on him.
“Are you responsible for every school shooting, Morris?” I growled. He looked confused by my analogy.
“I ain’t done one school shooting,” Morris muttered.