by J. K Harper
“So. She ticks off every box in the prophecy,” Mac had thought out loud as they ran their usual route. He and Bryony had also known one another for years, though when they'd first seen one another again at the hospital a few months ago when she'd been there for a checkup and Mac had been taking a statement from an accident victim, it simply hadn't occurred to him to mention that Wyatt was back in Serenity as well. “She's just shy of twenty-five. She's definitely warrior-like. You're a dumbass to piss her off so much, by the way. Hmm. Is Bryony a flower name? I never really thought about it. Just always figured it was some sort of girly name.”
“Yeah,” Wyatt had grunted back, putting on a fresh burst of speed as all the implications whirled around in his head. “It's a little white flower on a climbing vine. It actually means 'to sprout.'”
When Mac side-eyed him, Wyatt had shrugged with some self-consciousness, huffing a bit as they tackled a low rise. “Well, we were pretty good friends when we were kids. She told me a lot of stuff.”
“Really.” Mac's tone had been speculative. “How much did you tell her?”
Everything. Wyatt had told her everything. He had never had any secrets from Bryony, not even about being shiften. Which was supposed to be a pretty damn big secret. But it had felt natural to tell her, when they were kids playing in literal sandboxes and then riding bikes in their neighborhood, even though he was older and should have ignored a snot-nosed little kid like her. She'd been his little shadow, following him everywhere, trying everything he did, even if it was kind of scary for a girl three years his junior. Like climbing trees to the very top, or leaping off the swings at their apex and flying through the sky to land on the hard ground. She'd been cool, though, and a total tomboy. Fearless and daring, she could keep up with all the older kids on their bikes, swimming in the river, running around playing mock battle games in the woods. She had an uncanny knack for physical activities, like she knew what would happen before it did. Which, as it turned out, she did. He'd told her everything over the years, and she'd always taken it in stride, like it was no big deal at all.
Like it was no surprise to her that he could shift into a wolf. She'd just accepted it as a part of who he was, solemnly swore to never tell anyone, and still treated him like a normal friend.
After he and his dad had moved away and he'd lost touch with her, he'd told himself she probably thought it was all make-believe, the way kids did. Like it had been their own private version of Narnia, and once she grew up, she'd forget all about it. But dinner the other night had proved she'd forgotten nothing. Then like a fool he'd gone and pissed her off, behaving like a maniacal caveman that night by growling and lunging at a guy who looked twice at her while she and Wyatt strolled along the riverwalk. She'd stormed off, snapping over her shoulder that if he wasn't ready to be an adult, she didn't need to know him again.
He'd planned and plotted every second since that night to see her again, but running into her on the same riverwalk had been a very unexpected, welcome surprise. Until he'd gone all jackass on her again. He shook his head in savage fury as he ran. The way he was blowing it with her, he'd be lucky to even see her again before she jetted from Serenity, let alone wine and dine her again just so he could soak up every moment of being in her presence.
But he had to see her again. Something deep inside told him if he didn't, he was blowing the biggest thing that would ever happen to him in his entire life. Such as the fact that she might be his mate. His one true mate.
By the time Wyatt had run off enough steam to consider that he might be thinking clearly, he and Mac had decided the only way to know for sure if Bryony was a one true mate was to ask the local citlali, or spiritual leader, a wolfen named Wade whom Wyatt had known as a boy. A citlali knew many things, and Mac's citlali would surely be able to discover if Bryony was a one true mate.
But now, when Wyatt knocked on Wade's office door, it went unanswered.
Standing there for a minute, trying to figure out what to do next, Wyatt forgot about the rookie kid until there was a sudden “Sir” uttered behind him as crisp and clean as any ranking officer could want. Wyatt turned around to see Mac bearing down on them, his expression so stark that Wyatt felt it like a gut punch.
“Wade in there?” Mac's voice rapped out harsh and loud, turning the heads of a few cops chatting in a nearby doorway and silencing them with its sharp edge of worry.
Wyatt shook his head, a cold feeling shivering through him. For some reason, Bryony's features laughed through his mind, filling his head with her presence. That had been happening ever since he'd seen her again the other night, but right now it felt stronger. More intense. In sharp focus, almost as if she stood right in front of him. “What's wrong?” His voice snapped low and quick.
Mac drew to a stop in front of the door, staring at it and then Wyatt with a grim fury. “Khain's grabbed another one. Another possible one true mate. He dragged her into the Pravus right in front of her family. He knows who the one true mates are, and he's going after them.” He looked Wyatt square in the face. “Rogue is safe, but you've got to get to Bryony. Now. If she's a real one true mate, then he knows where she is. Do you?”
Wyatt felt all the blood surge to his head with fear and fury as he slowly shook his head. He had no idea where Bryony was right now.
He'd left her unguarded and vulnerable, making him worse than a jackass.
It might make him an unwitting accomplice to the unthinkable if she was indeed special, and had been snatched by that fucking evil demon, Khain.
Every terrified, longing sensation in his body told him the truth. Bryony was special. She was very special to him, and that meant one thing only.
Turning, he sprinted blindly down the hallway, heedlessly barreling down on open-mouthed cops and ignoring the confused exclamations that breezed in his desperate wake.
“Where are you going?” Mac barked behind him, his own feet and another set, probably belonging to the eager rookie, pounding along as well.
“To find her,” Wyatt shouted into the echoing halls. “To find my one true mate, and save her.”
4
Bryony frowned at herself in the mirror. “I'm not seeing it.”
Behind her, Renata rolled her eyes, visible in the mirror. “How can you not see it? I swear, you're glowing. You're all glow-y and stuff. Oh, wait!” She gasped dramatically, pausing with her sharp little scissors in one hand and a hank of Bryony's long hair in the other. “You're not pregnant, are you?” She squealed like a high school girl instead of a woman in her forties. “Bryony Jones, my sweet young friend! Are you pregnant? Oh, you can't leave now! Tell me everything!”
Exasperated, Bryony leveled a death glare at Renata's ridiculously bubbly excitement. “No, I am not pregnant. You still have babies on the brain.” Renata and her husband had been surprised by a late pregnancy a few years back, which had resulted in the youngest member of their family.
"Spill," Renata commanded breathlessly as she went back to trimming Bryony's hair.
Bryony wasn't the type of girl to always have perfect hair and nails. Far from it. But Renata was an actual friend, so she made the effort since she'd been back in Serenity to come in once every six or eight weeks to pretend she made an effort at keeping her hair healthy. It was good to catch up, anyway. She frowned. Well, at least it was when Renata the Relentless wasn't grilling her.
"Spill about what?" Her voice was as casual as she could make it, but her friend and hairdresser had been hearing secrets told or kept for years. The woman knew full well when people in her chair were being truthful or not.
“Spill about the reason you're glowing. There's a guy behind it, I just know it.”
Irritated or not, Bryony couldn't help a small smile as she thought about Wyatt. He was the sexiest guy she'd ever known, though she hadn't seen him since they were kids and she sure hadn't thought of him as sexy back then. She'd been stunned to run into him last week while out on an afternoon exercise session by the river. The same riv
er, she thought as she wrinkled her brow, where he'd gone totally off the deep end yesterday, again. Geez, threatening to rip out Shelton's throat and demanding that Bryony bow to his every whim like he was her lord and master.
Um, no. That was not how the world worked. Bryony's world, at any rate. Even so—damn, was he a good kisser. The best. Her whole body had sort of hummed when they'd kissed five nights ago. The only real reason she'd fled him that night hadn't really been because he'd gone all growly, possessive male on her by lunging at some other random guy who'd checked her out.
No, it was because one of her funny little visions had reared up in her head, showing her what was about to happen between them. Showing her what would happen if she let it come true, and shocking the hell out of her.
Sexy or not, she couldn't deal with something so intense when she'd just re-met him. She'd learned long ago that sometimes her visions wouldn't come true, at least not right away, if she acted immediately. So she'd made the excuse that he was an arrogant, pushy jerk by getting all snarly at that other random guy.
Then she'd run away from him like all the demons in hell were after her, instead of only his startled, upset “Bryony!” chasing her down the street under the pale fingers of the half moonlight.
Behind her, Renata made a little noise in her throat and shook her head, which Bryony caught in the mirror as she looked up. "I knew it. You've got that dreamy little smile that says there's a boy. Tell me all the wicked things you've done with him. This is what I live for."
Despite herself, Bryony laughed. Renata had been married for nearly twenty years, very happily, and had not only this business but three kids who kept her and her husband busy. But even an old married woman, as she liked to joke, loved hearing the salacious stories her clients sometimes told her.
"Fine," Bryony conceded, feeling a sweet little flush even as she said it, "there's a guy. He's unbelievably hot, not to mention he's a good human being. Actually, he's an awesome human being. But," she frowned again, "he's also arrogant, bossy, thinks he's my keeper or something, and nothing wicked has happened so far. Just, you know." She paused before mumbling out the next bit. "The hottest kiss of my life is all."
Renata grinned hugely in the mirror even as she paid careful attention to her trim job. "And does this mister sexy bossy amazingly good kisser have a name?"
This time, Bryony let the silence stretch out. It stretched out so much that Renata looked up from what she was doing to meet Bryony's gaze in the mirror, her eyebrows raised questioningly. Bryony sighed. "Did I ever tell you about Wyatt? My best guy friend as a kid, until he and his dad moved away from Serenity when I wasn't even in high school yet?"
"Since you were kids?" Renata romantically clutched her hand her breast. "I love it! What a beautiful story you'll have to tell your grandchildren one day."
"Renata," Bryony warned. "It was one tiny kiss." One that had knocked her socks off and actually had made her think about children and grandchildren for a split second. His children. No, it was completely crazy. She just hadn't been with a guy since before the accident. Her body was deprived and just overreacting in a hormonal haze to Wyatt. That was all. Then she'd had the vision and ran away. Not, of course, that she could tell Renata about that. No one in the world knew about her visions.
No one, that is, except Wyatt.
Frowning again, she tapped her fingers on the arm of the chair under the plastic sheet Renata had clipped around her neck. “He moved back here and applied to be on the Serenity police force, but I didn't know that till I ran into him last week. I had no idea he even moved back here. We lost touch for years. His dad got a new job or something in Ohio, and Wyatt was going to a special school.” It was a school for people like Wyatt—well, not people, he wasn't really a people, but that was also something she couldn't tell Renata. That was a forbidden childhood secret Wyatt had trusted her with, and she'd never once broken that promise. “Anyway, we lost touch, especially after I left Serenity and did my best to forget about this place.”
In the mirror, Renata's face softened. “Oh, honey, it's not that terrible here, is it? Even though I know you can't wait to leave again.”
Bryony watched dark strands of her hair drop onto the plastic sheet and slide down as Renata neatly sliced them with her scissors. She sighed and shrugged. “I just like more excitement than Serenity can offer me. This has never felt like home, you know? Even though my folks would love for me to settle here.”
Renata laughed as she finished the trim and put the scissors into a little container on the counter under the mirror. “Every parent feels that way. You flew far from the nest, little one. They've just liked having you back, even for a short time.”
“Hmm,” was all Bryony could come up with as a reply. She knew Renata was right. Her parents always worried about her daredevil life as a worldwide adventure guide for a top expedition company. The accident in the Chugach Mountains in Alaska had confirmed their worst fears. She'd just missed the final turn after a long, awesome day of heli-skiing with some great clients and lost her balance on an icy patch, taking a bad fall. That had sucked the wind right out her sails, and it had just sucked in general. But after her months of recuperation here, now that Shelton had officially proclaimed her healed, she'd already booked her flight back to the company's headquarters in northern California, where they'd managed to keep a position open for her.
She was ready to go. Being here again for so long made her so restless she'd sometimes felt like her skin was crawling with bugs on the inside, clawing at her to get out. She had to flee, to escape, to feel free again. Freedom was what she'd always wanted in life.
Even a sexy, gorgeous, smart, sweet, funny, fascinating guy like Wyatt, who was still so much like the boy she'd once known yet also so different, wasn't enough to make her want to stay. Especially not, she thought as she narrowed her eyes at herself in the mirror, when he started acting as if he owned her or something after a single scorching kiss.
And then there was the vision. Shivering, she pushed it away.
From the chair along the wall behind her where she'd left her things, her phone abruptly belted out its most recent ringtone, a jolting reveille. Renata jumped a bit, then looked down at it. Eyebrows raising again and her mouth making a little circle of appreciation, she swooped her hand down to grab up the phone and stare at it.
“What?” Bryony demanded, twisting around in her chair to reach for it. But Renata held her phone hostage, now shaking her head and smiling like a vixen.
“Ooh, honey. If this is him, I think you need to re-think getting out of Serenity. This man is a keeper. I can tell just by his picture. He's going to be great at a lot more than just kissing, girl!” She cackled in glee.
“Give me that, you naughty thing.” Bryony swiped at her phone again. This time, Renata let her grab it, still smiling with such a knowing expression that Bryony gritted her teeth.
Fine, so Wyatt was hotter than hot. She stared down at the screen, where his wildly sexy face stared back up at her as he called. At their impromptu dinner, she'd snapped his photo to put it in her phone along with his number. So he looked like a totally lickable movie star. So just looking at his face made her stomach quiver with butterflies, made her lady bits quiver and clench, too. It didn't mean he was a keeper. It just meant Renata had a dirty mind. It just meant she herself had a dirty mind.
Renata nudged her shoulder with her hand. “Answer that sexy man before it goes to voicemail. Just pretend I'm not here while you set up a sex date with him.”
Bryony rolled her eyes and pressed the flashing green answer on the screen. “Wyatt, I'm not—” was all she got out before his frantic voice came through loudly enough that both she and Renata froze.
“Bryony, where are you? You need to get out, wherever you are.” His voice, edged with a darkness that boomed through the small, thankfully empty salon, seemed to thunder through Bryony's entire body. “He's here, and he's coming for you.”
Deep, sudden cold lik
e an icefall tumbled through her veins at the sheer panic in his voice. “What—who's coming for me?” she managed to stutter out, sitting up straight in her chair and looking outside the large windows to the calm scene of downtown Serenity on a weekend afternoon. Nothing scary lurked outside that she could see. “I'm getting my hair cut at Renata's,” she added, watching as families and couples strolled down the street outside, happy and laughing and completely oblivious to anything resembling danger that might be nearby. She relaxed, although Renata was clutching her arm, mouth open wide as she listened. “Nothing's wrong here. What are you talking about?”
“Bry—” his voice was clipped and tortured at once, also heaving as if he were running—“remember when were kids? What I told you happened to my mom?”
The coldness turned into an ache of old pain that ripped into her. Pain for Wyatt's pain, which he had shared with her when they were kids.
Pain, and another little blast of fear. “Yes?” Damn it, her voice got a little high and squeaky when she said that. But she remembered his stories. All of them. Even the scary ones.
Especially the scary ones.
Labored breathing, then the sound of footsteps running along pavement. He was running. To come to her? “He's back. The guy who did it. He just took another one, and I think you're one, too. You're my one,” he added, which made no sense at all. “He's coming for you, and I won't let him.”
Such intense rage and protectiveness filled Wyatt's rough voice that Bryony's already hitching breathing hitched even more despite his cryptic words. Oh, for crying out loud, was she getting all girlishly turned on because he was acting like a big old guy's guy and getting all macho about her?
Well, yeah. Yeah, she was.
