by Jade Alters
Nodding, I unlocked the door. No words came to mind; for the first time in my life, I didn’t even have a question to ask.
He stared at me, still huddled in a ball. “Are you okay?” he asked. “I didn’t hear any bullets fired.”
Now the words came back in a flurry. “No, I am most certainly not okay!”
As I tried to turn around and sit in the driver’s seat, pins and needles stabbed my legs and I pitched forward. Hunter caught me, helping me sit back, which wasn’t helpful at all.
I needed to pace. Hell, I needed to kick something, possibly Hunter. “There were people in my house, people who are doing God only knows what. Now they’re dead. And you’re a bear! What the fuck!”
“It’s a lot to take in,” he said. His voice had been downright placid.
“A lot to take in? Is that all you have? A lot to take in means your tax return isn’t what you thought it would be. Or your water bill’s too high the same month you need a filling at the dentist. ‘A lot to take in’ isn’t having gun smugglers chase your child all over your property. It also isn’t having your friend, who you’ve only known for a week, turn into a bear right in front of you.”
He just looked at me with that blank stare. It was beginning to dawn on me that the guy wasn’t an unfeeling asswipe, completely devoid of emotion. He was reserved, and quiet, but he had absolutely no idea what to say in times like these. While I ranted and spilled my guts, he pulled back. Retreated. Was that a bear thing? Or a Hunter thing?
Hunter kept his deadpan expression, but he came around to the other side of the SUV and sat down in the passenger seat. He locked the doors and pulled a small gun out and laid it on his lap. “I’d like to ask you for a favor.”
A favor? He’d just killed two people for me. “Like I said, I owe you. Probably forever.”
“You don’t owe me. For anything. But I would like for you to keep this to yourself. We don’t reveal ourselves to humans.”
“I won’t tell anyone. I don’t think anyone would believe me anyway.”
“There are those who would.” The set of his jaw got even more rigid. “And the results aren’t great for us.”
“Do they try to lock you up?”
“No. The people who would believe you aren’t part of the government. If they knew where we were, they would kill us.”
A gasp slipped out of my mouth. “Kill you?”
“Yeah. They call themselves clan hunters. And they hunt shifters.”
“I am so sorry. I’d been imagining something from a movie, maybe a secret government military…” His blue eyes had darkened to a somber gray. “Oh. You’re already in the military. And they know,” I said.
He didn’t answer, but he did look away.
“Does everyone in the military know? Did Richard know?”
“It’s very unlikely. Everyone in my unit’s a shifter, but it is not general knowledge.”
“I won’t say a word,” I promised. “I keep confidential records every day. The stuff parents tell me, often it has nothing to do with their kids’ health. And obviously, I won’t be telling Jacob. He’s a great kid, but I don’t think any kid that age could resist telling their friends.”
“Thank you,” he said. His eyes were still that cloudy, troubled gray. I missed the clear blue. “Why do they want you dead?”
“I’ve never met a clan hunter. But my uncle said they think we’re a threat because we’re faster. Stronger.”
“But you can be killed.” I forced myself not to look over at his leg. “And injured.”
“Yes. We’re just harder to kill. We don’t get sick as easily, and we heal faster. We hear better, see better, smell better. But overall, we’re not that different.”
“You never mention your parents.” At that moment, I hated to push for more information, but if we were going to stay friends, then I wanted to avoid accidentally blowing up any hidden landmines. “They weren’t killed by hunters, were they?”
“No. They were both in the same kind of military unit I’m in. They were killed in combat in Brazil when I was five -- another shifter group had gone rogue and staged a coup with the government. My parents’ unit was called in to intervene. I’ve been with Aunt Debra ever since.”
“I’m sorry. I’m glad you had her.”
“Me too. Most shifters have more extended family, but my parents didn't have a lot. Most live in clans and stay right in each other’s business. My parents moved away from our family land, and it pissed everyone off except Debra because she agreed with it.” He stopped and stared out the window for a few long seconds.
More questions rose to the tip of my tongue, but I clamped down on them. Just because I dealt with stress by chattering and asking questions didn’t mean he wanted to spill his guts right after he’d been forced to kill those guys.
“We should be safe for a little bit if you want to go in and get Jacob’s stuff,” he said.
“I do.” Once we were both out of the car, I flung my arms around him again. “All I could think when I was in the car was that I was going to die and that I’d leave Jacob an orphan.” Again, my eyes stung. “I don’t have a sister. Or a sister in law.”
His strong arms fit perfectly around my waist. “Do you have a plan for if something happens to you?”
It was an odd question to talk about with someone I barely knew. But Hunter had been through it, so it wasn’t a weird question for him. “Yeah. I have a will with directions for what happens if I die. My best friend’s going to take him. She’s great. She’s the prosecutor I mentioned.” I swiped at my eyes. I might as well have dumped sand directly in them, as gritty as they felt.
“Okay. I’m done flipping out. Let’s go in,” I said. The inside of my house was a ransacked mess. All of the drawers in the kitchen were pulled open. Every shred of paper we had stashed was on the countertop. “What were they looking for?”
“They were looking for you and Jacob. To find out where you’d be.” Hunter’s hand brushed over my arm. “I was going to tell you. They were planning to find his school and follow him. He doesn’t need to go back tomorrow.”
My stomach, already a twisted mess, plummeted when I heard they’d been looking for Jacob. “But they’re dead.”
“They could have bosses. There could be a network. There’s no way to know how many knew about their location.”
“Do we need to move?”
“Don’t make any rash decisions yet. He just needs to skip school tomorrow. At this point, I’ll have my CO bring the sheriff in, and they can excuse his absence,” he said.
“He’s hardly missed any days. He’ll be crushed to miss the yearbook signing day.”
“I’m sorry,” Hunter said, but I could tell he didn’t think yearbook signing was of much importance. I happened to agree, but it was the only thing I could think about.
“Do you work tomorrow?” he asked.
“Yes. I’m on the weekday shift now,” I said. “I could call in, but with what I’d paid for Universal, I need the hours. However, if we’re dead, I won’t need to pay for park passes or hotel rooms.”
Hunter’s mouth dropped open. “You are not going to die.”
“Nurses love black humor. It’s a thing.”
“God, I thought soldiers were bad.” He dragged his hand over his face. “It would be best if you called in, but if you can’t then you’ll need a guard.”
Before I could ask, he explained. “It’s a lot easier to post a guard outside a clinic than to follow a kid around an elementary school.”
“If there’s any risk, then you’re right. I don’t want Jacob out in public.”
He nodded. “These were the only two that have been in your house, but we’ll keep looking for any other suspects.”
“You can tell these were the only ones?”
“Yes, I’d be able to smell any others. I can smell you, Jacob, another woman, and these two,” he said. “So once I take you back to my house, I’ll come back and look around the island
. If there are more people involved, I’ll find them.”
“I don’t know how I’ll ever thank you. I know you said I don’t owe you, but I do.” In the distance, the lake loomed, and beyond it, the island where those thugs had been. “Jacob was in danger. And now he’s in less danger. I can’t believe he went out there by himself.”
“I’d have done the same thing at that age. All this land, this lake? And his very own island? The temptation would have been impossible to resist.”
“But you could turn into a bear! He doesn’t even weigh a hundred pounds yet.”
“I couldn’t then. We don’t start shifting until puberty. But I was still a little faster than a human kid.”
“I was so freaked out that I just let it go yesterday.” Had I been too lax, letting him roam all over our property? Richard would have said no. But Richard was gone, and if something happened to Jacob… I couldn’t think about it.
“Hunter,” I said, “when you come back over here, please be careful. I know you’re special forces, and that you can handle yourself. But we brought this fight to you. Please.”
“I promise.”
He’d proven himself over and over, and I had no choice but to trust him.
Hunter
Besides my unit, my Aunt Debra was the only person I was accustomed to looking out for. Knowing Cassandra had been in the car, right outside where I’d fought the smugglers had sent shock rushing through my veins.
She knew I was a bear.
She was the first human I’d ever told.
As soon as I’d dropped Cassandra off at my house, I called my commanding officer on a secure line. “I’m going to need some clean up out by Oneida Lake. I had a face-to-face run-in with some gun smugglers,” I said.
“Dammit, Kensington, you’re supposed to be the one that doesn’t make trouble.”
“This trouble came to me.”
“What the hell were you doing out there?”
I made it a habit not to lie, but I did not want to tell my boss the truth. “Personal time.” Why hadn’t I said I was visiting a friend or camping? Anything but implying that I’d met someone. Not that Cassandra and I were dating.
“Kensington! You sly dog! Did you have a hot date?”
“Colonel Levine, this is a big deal. There’s a woman and a kid who live here.”
“Fine,” he growled. “Give me the address.”
“Has there been any chatter about an illegal gun market in the area?” I asked after I’d recited Cassandra’s address to him.
“I’ll check with the FBI as soon as we’re off the phone,” he said. “So. You said a woman and a kid. No husband?”
“He’s dead, asshole. Killed in combat.”
“I’m sorry, man. Human?”
“Yes.”
Once we’d gone through every possibility, I disconnected and I went over every inch of the island and the little cabin there, but I only detected the scents of the two men I’d killed. They must have been the main runners.
That was irrelevant though; Cassandra and Jacob had no business coming back here until we’d eliminated every threat.
After I went over the island, I went back to Cassandra’s house. By then, one of the units that specialized in domestic investigations had shown up, along with my CO, and they were all going through her house for possible evidence.
“We’re dusting for additional prints. But we don’t smell anyone either,” Sergeant Jones said. I’d worked with him a few times before. We needed enough to put in our reports that wasn’t just shifter speak. We still existed within the human organizations.
“Didn’t need the prints. Not with your problem-solving skills,” Jones added, nodding his head toward the bodies.
Sergeant Lorne, a friend I’d gone through basic training with, emerged from behind the cabin. “This your girlfriend’s house?” he asked.
“She’s a friend.”
“Not what I heard.”
My CO made a face. “I didn’t say a word.”
“Your aunt told me,” Lorne said.
Of course. My uncle had been in the same unit Lorne served in. In the shifter community, gossip traveled quickly. And my aunt made sure to do her part. Debra was a contradiction at all times. She didn’t fully trust the clan, yet she socialized with them non-stop.
“Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. This woman’s husband was a human Sergeant in the Army. He was killed in action. So we’re going to make sure we track down every one of these bastards that are using her backyard to smuggle guns.”
“You got it, Kensington.”
A spicy aroma met me at the door of my cabin that evening.“Something smells really good,” I said.
Aunt Debra rarely cooked. We had a meal delivery service, and when I was deployed, she often met friends for dinner.
Both Aunt Debra and Jacob pointed a spatula at me in unison. “Don’t come in yet,” Jacob shouted.
In the living area, I found Cassandra folding towels. “Are those mine? Don’t tell me Debra put you to work?”
“I insisted. I felt terrible for imposing on you again. But.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “With the trip to Universal, I used up most of my savings.”
“Universal?” She’d mentioned it earlier today, but I hadn’t stopped to ask.
“Oh! I didn’t tell you. As you know, since you showed up wearing a robe for the party that didn’t happen, Jacob loves Harry Potter. So I got us tickets to Universal. He’s never been to Florida before. I was planning to give him the tickets during the party.”
“That sounds like a fun gift.”
“Have you been to any of the big theme parks?”
“A long time ago. My unit stopped at Six Flags in Dallas. It was a hundred degrees. If you ever wanted to see a group of big tough guys puke after a roller coaster, that was the day.”
“That sounds like a normal day at work for me.”
I laughed. “Your patients are pint-sized. None of us weighed under two-fifty, and we’d eaten funnel cakes and fried Oreos.”
“Ew!” She made a gagging motion. “That does change things.” She neatly flipped a towel into a perfect rectangle. “I loved roller coasters. Jacob hasn’t been much. He was five when his dad died, and after that I was…”
“Surviving,” I said.
“Yeah.”
“I watched Debra go through it.”
“How old were you when your uncle died?”
“Fifteen.”
“So you remember him.”
“Yeah. I do.” He’d always been my role model. I hated that Jacob didn’t have a man like that in his life.
“I worry that Jacob won’t remember Richard.”
“You can help him. Even now there are things about my uncle I didn’t know. So now when Debra remembers one, she writes it down and I scan the page, so we have a record of it.”
“That’s a great idea.” Cassandra wiped at her eyes.
“Dinner’s ready!” Jacob’s voice called out.
Cassandra sprang to her feet, blinking a few times. “Coming.”
Jacob and Debra both appeared in the hallway wearing white aprons. “Right this way,” Jacob said, leading his mother to my dining table.
Debra winked at me. “Tonight’s special is filet mignon, with baked potatoes and kale salad.”
“This looks great,” I said.
“Yes, it all looks lovely,” Cassandra added. “Jacob, before you run off, I need to talk to you.”
A wrinkle formed across his forehead. “What is it, mom?”
She looked like she was bracing for maximum meltdown. “Sweetie, you can’t go back to school tomorrow.”
Now his nose scrunched up along with the forehead wrinkle. “Where will I go?”
“Debra said you can stay here with her.”
“Really?” His face smoothed out and he broke into a wide grin. “Cool!”
“What? I thought you’d be upset. Last year when you had to miss the talent show, you slammed ever
y door in the house. And you missed it because you had the flu!”
“I guess I’m more mature now,” Jacob said.
Cassandra’s eyes looked ready to pop out of her head, so it was a welcome relief when Debra stood up and waved her arms around. “Jacob, I remembered I need help with that project,” she said.
Jacob bounced on his toes. “Right! I’m ready to help,” he said.
Debra took off at a quick clip, with Jacob trotting behind her.
“Well, that was unexpected. And transparent,” Cassandra said as we dug into our food. “Your aunt and my son clearly have decided to give us some time alone.”
I had no idea if she thought that was a good thing or a bad one, but after that first night, every evening was a variation of the same.
During the day, I’d work with my team, following several open-ended leads. We’d spend the day investigating, chasing down potential witnesses. When Cassandra went back to work, I escorted her, and a local sheriff’s deputy that she trusted took over guarding the office building where she worked. Jacob stayed home with Debra, but to Cassandra’s shock, he didn’t complain much.
We had a routine, and it worked for us. I never wanted it to end.
Cassandra
Despite my hesitance to stay with Hunter, our days fell into a comfortable routine. Because we hadn’t gotten to have his party yet, I’d given Jacob his gift -- the tickets to Universal, and they’d been as big of a hit as I’d expected.
But now the fun and games were over. After a week, I had put the talk with Jacob off long enough. Now that the initial shock of discovering the smugglers had passed, I had to address how he’d gone off alone, broken every rule we had and then stumbled onto the smugglers.
“I’m sure you know what I want to talk about,” I said.
His gaze went straight to the floor. “Yeah.”
“You being safe is what matters most. And I don’t want to make you feel bad, and I don’t want to scare you. But we have these rules for a reason.”
