Frost Bite

by Marissa Dobson

  “Alicia, you were telling us about a woman. I’m assuming that’s Roxanne.”

  Styx’s words pulled her from her thoughts, forcing her back to the situation at hand. “Uh…yeah…she lives up the road.” She leaned back against the seat, gathering her thoughts on Roxanne Sullivan. How was she supposed to describe a woman who had instilled fear in her from the moment she stepped into the office? There was something off about her, something that Alicia couldn’t describe.

  “I guess it’s better to start at the beginning. Hazel Sullivan—Roxanne’s mother—wasn’t only a neighbor to Lou. They were friends, and I think in some ways he considered her a mother figure. She was a sweet older grandmother, and she always kept Lou supplied with food whenever he came up here. When she passed, Lou met the daughter, Roxanne Sullivan. She’s the one who inherited her mother’s property. There was nothing unusual during the estate proceedings, but a few months after she moved in, she started pressuring Lou to sell his land to her. Since he rejected her offer, he’s had issues with her.”

  “How did you know it was her magick we felt?” Frost shifted in his seat to look at her.

  “When he wouldn’t sell, things got…strange. I guess that’s the best word for it. Strange before becoming dark and deadly.”

  “What do you mean?” Frost questioned.

  “Lou believed she was into black magick.” Reaching up she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I did, too. Now I guess it’s proven.”

  “For the moment, forget about what you saw, and tell us why you believed that.” Styx glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “Do you have any proof?”

  “She has a reputation for delivering whatever you need. Curses and potions are only the start of it. She can make you see things that aren’t there—hallucinations—and hear voices. She will do things to you that will make you wish you were dead.” Glancing out the window as Styx sped out of the woods, the trees whipped passed her and blurred together. “For as long as I’ve known Lou, he’d spend one long weekend a month at the cabin. Eleven months ago, he mentioned something was different. He said he couldn’t explain it, but it was something he could feel. The land was changing. He tried to shrug it off, but every time he came he said it got stronger.”

  “The timeline fits with Titan and Alvin’s enslavement.” Carran glanced over at Styx. “That’s not coincidental.”

  “Go on,” Styx encouraged.

  “Eight months ago, he was uneasy about coming here, so we came together. That’s when we found it…” Sucking in a deep breath, she squeezed her eyes shut trying to block out the memories flooding back to her.

  “Found what?” Frost’s hand cupped hers, instantly pushing the fear back.

  “The altar.” Her body shook uncontrollably, making her uncomfortable. Mentally she cursed herself for being weak. No one else in the vehicle would fall apart over what had happened, yet she couldn’t keep it together.

  “It’s okay you’re safe.” Frost slid into the middle of the seat and pulled her against him. “Sugar, everything’s going to be okay.”

  “So weak,” she whispered more to herself.

  “No, sugar, you’re strong. You made it this far all by yourself. That’s more than a lot of people would have.”

  More than anything she wanted to believe him. Instead of arguing she clung to him, allowing his embrace to bring her comfort as she finished telling them what they needed to know. “There’s a ley line running on the far side of his land. That’s where we found it. Fresh blood stained the ground. We called the police, but they didn’t believe us. It was close to Halloween, so they wrote it off as teenagers being kids and the blood was that of an animal. Lou was positive it was human blood. I guess he could smell it. We were packing to leave when there was a knock at the door.”

  Brooklynn pulled out another blanket and wrapped it around Alicia’s shoulders.

  “No one was there. A black envelope lay on the ground in front of the door. The note warned Lou to leave and never come back, otherwise his blood would be the next spilled on the altar.” She tugged the blanket closer to her body, huddling in it.

  “Why would he send you there?” Carran turned in his seat. “He went to meet with Omar to sell the land, he had to know they were working together. He could have sent you into a trap.”

  “He didn’t!” Her voice rose as anger heated her from within forcing her to pull back from Frost.

  “It’s okay, Alicia.” Frost kept his arm around her, gently pulling her back against him. “Carran’s only trying to understand what brought you back to the cabin and what’s been going on.”

  “I didn’t know where else to go,” she reasoned, staring into Frost’s eyes. “I remembered the gun back at the cabin and figured it would be worth the risk to have something to defend myself with. I sent the message to the forum and headed to the only place I knew. Perhaps it wasn’t the wisest move, but I survived. It gave me a place to hunker down while waiting for you guys to arrive.”

  “You were safe. That’s what matters.” Frost gently squeezed her shoulder before glancing up at Carran. “Can you have Connor look into this Roxanne Sullivan? There must be a connection between her and Omar or Lorcan. Otherwise, how would she have a way to call them in for help? From what I know about Lorcan’s group, they don’t seem the type to help someone unless there’s something in it for them.”

  “She knew what Lou was.” The words left her mouth before she even realized it. “I forgot about that until now. She knew Lou was a shifter when they first met after Hazel’s death. From what Lou said, the knowledge of shifters is a closely guarded secret, so she had to find out somehow. Maybe if you can figure out how she knew, it would give you the connection she had with Lorcan? She also knew something else about Lou, but he wouldn’t tell me. Whatever it was unnerved him. I never saw him so unsettled before. His beast was close to the surface making the hairs on his arms turn white like his wolf’s coat. It was disconcerting…I mean…he seemed out of control which wasn’t like him. If there was one thing he prided himself on, it was his control.”

  “Baby,” Brooklynn waited for Carran to turn back to her. “Have Connor research Lou further. We need to know everything we can find out about his past. There’s something there Roxanne or Lorcan found. Whatever they found they were using as leverage along with Alicia’s wellbeing.”

  “Research him?” Alicia pulled away from Frost and spun around to face Brooklynn. “He’s dead. What does any of it matter now?”

  “Something in his past put you in danger. Until we know what it is and overcome it, the threat will continue to follow you. It will also place a target on my clan.” Brooklynn placed her arm on the back of the seat, scooting closer. “We can’t fight it unless we know the details.”

  “It’s an invasion of his privacy.” Alicia understood what Brooklynn meant, but the betrayal cut into her. Not wanting anyone to see the tears welling in her eyes she turned toward the window, watching the darkness speed past her.

  “Sugar…” Frost teased his fingers along her thigh, working up toward where her hands rested. “Lou’s dead, he’s not going to care. From what you’ve told us about him, I believe he’d understand we need to do this in order to keep you safe. If you’re worried about what we learn will change your opinion of him, you can’t focus on that. You must remember the man you knew, the man who risked himself to keep you safe today. That’s the man he was. His past means nothing.”

  She knew he was right but the tightness in her stomach refused to subside. There had to be a reason for whatever Lou had kept hidden. She didn’t know much about his past. Not that she pried. How could she when she didn’t want to share her own past? She didn’t want to explain to anyone how many years she lost because she refused to stand up for herself. They lived in the present. The past was like a dream they didn’t bother to acknowledge.

  I’m sorry, Lou.

  Chapter Nine

  Drawing in a ragged breath, Alicia tried to force herself to f
ocus on the man before her instead of the discomfort. Between the pain in her leg and the plane bouncing around the sky, her stomach rolled until she thought she was going to heave. “I guess I should be happy we didn’t hit turbulence while you were stitching me up.”

  “Let me give you something more for the pain.” Frost secured the fresh bandage over the wound and turned his attention to the bag near their feet.

  “I’m fine.” Her eyelids drifted close as she leaned back against the airplane seat. “Just need a minute.”

  “You’re not fine, you’re pale and about to pass out.”

  “That obvious, huh?” She forced herself to open her eyes and look at him. “Really, I don’t want any drugs, I’ll be okay in a few minutes.”

  “We’ve got something.” Carran rose from his seat, taking his laptop with him as he made his way toward the inflight system. Connecting the laptop to the system allowed everyone to see his screen.

  “I hope it’s better news than what Turi found.” Letting out a deep sigh, Brooklynn shut her laptop.

  “This…” Carran paused as he waited for the image to display on the screen. “Roxanne Sullivan with—”

  “Lorcan,” Styx growled. “That fucker keeps popping up, doesn’t he?”

  Brooklynn shifted in her seat to glance at Frost. “It’s personal for him. Really for all of us. Mira, Styx’s mate, was attacked by a group of Lorcan’s clan members.”

  “She was forced to leave her former clan in a hurry, and ran to the only city she remembered visiting with her family as a child to wait for us. It was the wrong city, and she came in contact with a group of Lorcan’s men.” The anger rolled off Styx, making Alicia shift in her seat with unease.

  “Was she…um, I mean, is she…okay?”

  “She’s safe because we made it there in time, but if we’d been delayed, she’d been…” Styx sucked in a deep breath. “Tortured and raped before one of those assholes finally killed her. I will rip their heads off personally.”

  “When the time is right. We need to be prepared, otherwise we risk losing too many people and not eliminating those who are the biggest threat to us.” Brooklynn leaned over the back of her chair to look at Styx. “The time is coming.”

  “Not soon enough,” Styx mumbled. “The only reason I haven’t already gone after these fuckers is respect for Ty and Tabitha.”

  “I don’t understand,” Alicia spoke, hoping to ease some of the tension within the confined space. “Lorcan’s a shifter. How would Roxanne even know him, let alone be working with him? Unless there’s some draw between…I don’t know, magick connection or something. Maybe what turns you into an animal also draws someone who practices magick together.” She was rambling, but she wasn’t sure how to explain what she was thinking.

  “They’re siblings.” Carran pressed a button on the computer and two birth certificates appeared side-by-side. “Mrs. Sullivan adopted Roxanne from her sister. Unofficially the adoption occurred because Roxanne wasn’t a shifter. The father, a tiger shifter, had always been ashamed he was mated to a lowly human, and absolutely refused to acknowledge a human child. Roxanne’s mother sent her away to give her a better life. Unfortunately, as a teenager she learned the truth and turned to magick in hopes of finding a way to connect with her father and Lorcan.”

  “Did she?” Alicia considered the picture she’d been shown moments before. Lorcan and Roxanne had been standing next to each other in the image, but even the still image had picked up a tension between them. What had it been like to witness that moment in time?

  “Their connection is strained at best. Lorcan has used her for his own gain, but he’d never consider her family. If her usefulness ran out, he’d allow his members to have her to do with her as they wished.” Carran ran a hand through his long black hair, making the white stripes separate throughout before falling around his shoulders again. “It’s likely she’s realized this and looked for a way to become more powerful than Lorcan. By doing so, her magick has become darker. Once white and pure magick has been replaced by more sinister stuff, growing darker with every spell she completes. Alicia already mentioned it, but I can confirm there’s a ley line running through Lou’s property, making it valuable to her. She believed she could absorb the energy within it to become more powerful than Lorcan. She wants to eliminate the last of her family and rise from the ashes as the most powerful of them.”

  “Even if she does it won’t change things, it wouldn’t make her a shifter.” Alicia tipped her head toward Frost. “Right?”

  “True shifters are born. Magick can’t make you one of us.”

  “True shifters? That makes it sound like there’s another kind.” She watched him, waiting for him to explain.

  “A rogue shifter could bite someone, forcing a piece of their animal on them, but they’re never truly a shifter. They’d only be able to change on the night of a full moon and even then, they’d be a cross between a man and the animal who bit them.” Frost explained taking her hand into his. “If we went around biting people, don’t you think humans would know about our existence already?”

  “I…um…never thought about it.” Enjoying the touch, she stared down at their hands. “Maybe they already know. There are plenty of legends of werewolves and vampires. There’s also all those popular paranormal romance books.”

  “But do you see shifters on the news? Or really believe your neighbor might be a lion shifter? That the guy living in the basement apartment, working the night shift at the local hospital, might be a vampire?” Frost shook his head. “No, because humans believe they’re fairytales, not reality, living the same life you are. Shifters aren’t the things that go bump in the night, at least not most of us. We’re very similar to you.”

  “Except you can turn furry.” Looking up at him, she shot him a smirk. “I get it. When I found out what Lou really was, I admit I was pretty freaked. Then I remember the man he was. So what if he turned into the big bad wolf. He was a man who would protect those he cared about, and that included me. I guess when I think about it that way, I’d rather have him on my side than against me.”

  “That’s true for most of us,” Styx added. “We’ve kept this secret from the masses for our safety. Humans would see us as the enemy and the government would seek to exploit us for their benefit. Then there’s some who would want to hunt us. No matter which category the masses fell into, it would be devastating for us.”

  “The humans who know about our existence and who help us would be placed in great danger. Those of us mated with humans, or the shifters who have human offspring…they’d all be at risk.” Carran stepped closer to his mate and placed his hand on her shoulder. “I’m not willing to take that risk.”

  The ramifications of Brooklynn’s humanity settled over Alicia. When word leaked about shifters, there was no doubt Brooklynn would be viewed as a traitor to her own kind. How would shifters see her? Would they view her as those who threatened to eliminate their species? Not fitting in with either group completely, the question would be would either accept her?

  “Most underestimate me when they find out, but before mating with Carran, I was a police officer. Back then I could handle myself against an opponent who outweighed me and did their best to overpower me. Now…” Tipping her head back, Brooklynn smiled up at her mate. “With Carran’s beast within me and Styx’s training, I can hold my own with most shifters.”

  “With the right people surrounding her, she’s unstoppable. That’s why she was chosen to lead the Shifter Peace Keepers.” Within Styx’s tone there was a hint of pride. It was clear he was pleased with how far she had come and what she was able to accomplish.

  “So that’s what you are? A group of shifter law enforcement?” The words were out of Alicia’s mouth before she could think the question through.

  “Not exactly.” Carran tipped his head toward Frost. “We were in New York to find the newest member of Brooklynn’s team. Styx and I are not officially part of the Shifter Peace Keepers. Styx
handles most of their private training, but the team also trains with the Elder guards.”

  “What is the Shifter Peace Keepers?” Alicia questioned.

  “It’s a group of shifters standing for a better tomorrow. The main goal will be to help smooth the transition as Tabitha takes command and as shifters make their presence known to humans.” Brooklynn explained. “I’ve put together a diverse team. Having different shifter breeds will hopefully allow us to be accepted easier by each group we interact with. Tabitha is already working to unite the tigers under her, but once she unites all shifters, we’ll be interacting with other groups on a regular occasion.”

  “If it’s okay for me to ask, what shifter groups are represented?”

  “As you’d expect there are members from the Alaskan Tigers. Brooklyn talked another member of our clan, Ambrose, a lion, into joining. Then from recruiting she’s added a snow leopard, a wolf, a jaguar, and now with Frost joining there will also be a polar bear.” Styx glanced at Brooklynn. “For a human, you’ve acquired yourself a broad range of shifters willing to follow you. You should be proud of yourself.”

  “Don’t doubt for a second if I showed any weakness, they wouldn’t try to overpower me.” She shook her head. “Also one of the Kodiak Bears is an unofficial member. We’ll be using the Brown brothers to pilot us wherever we need to go. Besides, as our pilot they’ll be additional members we can count on if needed.”

  “Ty’s made it clear you’re in charge. There’s to be no challenge to your authority. It’s not like challenging a clan leader to take over. You’re appointed, and if something were to happen to you the next person would be as well. A challenge will get a person nowhere.” Styx reminded her. “Without you Shifters Peace Keepers wouldn’t exist. Tabitha and Ty liked Ivy’s idea for the team, but it wasn’t until you came into our community that it was possible. We needed you in order to make Ivy’s idea a reality.”