They spent the afternoon skirting around the pasture, setting up safe spots where the shifters could watch for Demetri and his men to show up when the time came. They still hadn’t sent the email, but the plan was to send it as soon as they got home.
When it came time to set up camp, everyone was exhausted and hungry, but after a good meal, some of their energy returned. But they had a long trip home the next day, so Dalton suggested that they all go to bed early. When it came time to pitch their tents for the night, no one wanted to stay in the cabin even though it had been cleansed.
Melody tried to steer Dalton away from camp. “I just think the tent would be better over here,” she said, pointing to a spot over in the trees.
After a day of watching him at his most alluring, Melody was desperate for him and wanted to put as much space between the two couples as possible. When Dalton figured out what she was trying to do, he pulled her into the trees and kissed her until she was breathless.
“In case you’re wondering, I’m planning on putting a spell on our tent. Once we’re inside, we won’t be able to hear anything, and no one will be able to hear us,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her.
Melody giggled, “I didn’t know mind reading was one of your talents.”
“Hmm, I’m full of lots of little surprises,” he said, nibbling on her neck. “I might just have to show you one tonight.”
***Dalton***
When they came out of the tent the next morning, it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. They hadn’t slept much the night before, but neither of them looked tired as they saddled their horses. He was looking forward to the ride back to the ranch and hoped that they’d have time to stop for a long lunch somewhere along the way.
Jake must have had the same thing in mind because as they were riding out of the pasture, he said, “I was thinking about stopping for lunch by the big waterfall; there are some great swimming holes around there, and it’s going to be a hot one today.”
Joslin and Melody exchanged a look. “We didn’t bring bathing suits,” Joslin said, innocently.
Jake looked over at Dalton and said, “We promise not to look.”
“We’ll be perfect gentleman,” Dalton added, a grin on his face.
The girls exchanged another look, then Melody said, “We’ll think about it.”
Dalton knew what that meant, and for the rest of the morning, he couldn’t get the picture of Melody swimming naked in a deep blue pool of icy mountain water out of his head. They pushed themselves and the horses hard that morning, but the time flew by as he fantasized about waterfalls and Melody’s ample curves under them.
He caught Melody looking at him curiously several times, and almost blushed at where his thoughts just couldn’t seem to stop going. A few times, he would have sworn that she knew what he was thinking; their eyes would meet, and then hers would get big, and she’d suck in a deep breath.
It didn’t seem possible that she could know what he was thinking, but her eyes did hold power, and today when she looked at him, he could have sworn she was reading his thoughts. He’d heard of witches that could do that, but never a shifter with that kind of power.
Wanting to test his theory, he looked over at Melody, who seemed lost in her thoughts. When she turned and looked at him, he thought about her naked, spread out for him on a warm rock in the sun. She gasped, then looked quickly away.
He laughed so hard, he nearly fell off his horse; when he looked back over at her, she was glaring at him. “You deserved that. When were you going to tell me that you could tell what I was thinking?”
Melody knew that she’d been caught but wasn’t about to let him win. “I’ve been listening to your thoughts all morning, and I have to say, you have a one-track mind. Is sex all you think about?”
Dalton grinned at her, “It is when I’ve got you and a waterfall in my future.”
Melody pretended to be offended but couldn’t pull it off. “Uhhh, you’re impossible,” she finally said, grinning back at him.
“And you wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said, blowing her a kiss.
They spent the rest of the morning playing a game; Melody would look at him, and he’d picture them together in some erotic pose, making her gasp or blush and twice look away. But by the time they got to the waterfall for lunch, he’d managed to get them both so aroused, food was the last thing on their minds.
As soon as the horses were hobbled where they could graze on some high grass, Dalton said, “I’m not hungry yet. I might go take a swim first,” then looked over at Melody whose face turned an attractive shade of pink and made his blood begin to boil.
“I’m not hungry either, so I’ll join you,” she said and started up the trail.
They barely got out of sight before they heard Joslin and Jake roaring with laughter, but they didn’t care; the passion between them had to be satisfied, and soon, or they’d both explode. The waterfall had just come into view when Dalton stopped. “I forgot to bring a blanket. I’ll be right back.”
“We don’t need one,” Melody protested.
“We do for what I’ve got planned; it’ll just take a minute, and I promise you’ll thank me later,” he said, then pulled her into his arms. “I want you naked and waiting for me when I get back.”
Chapter 18
***Melody***
Melody walked across the rock and looked down into the water, thinking that it looked inviting, but she knew it was ice cold, that swimming a pool that deep wouldn’t be fun. They’d want a shallow pool, one that was still so that the sun had warmed it. But the rock was warm and would be a good place to sit when they came out of the water.
Satisfied with her choice, she sat down and took off her boots, then stood to remove her clothes. She paused for a second, unsure of herself then pulled off the light jacket she’d been wearing against the chill of the morning. This had seemed like a good idea when Dalton had been with her, but alone now in the forest, she had an eerie feeling that she was being watched.
Walking back over to the water, she stared at it, heightening her senses and scanning the forest around her. After a few minutes, she lowered them, sure that the only thing out there to witness what she and Dalton were about to do were the creatures of the forest.
She was just about to turn and go back to where she’d left her boots when something hit her hard from behind, hard enough to propel her into the deep pool. When she hit the water, it was cold; she opened her mouth and sucked in a deep breath, but her mouth filled with water and she sucked it into her lungs.
Her first instinct was to shift, but before she could, a hand pushed her under the water, and she had to fight. She made it to the surface twice more before the world began to go black and she felt herself fading away. Her last thought before everything went dark was that she hadn’t been able to say goodbye to Dalton.
***Dalton***
Dalton woke to the sound of Jake calling his name, his voice becoming increasingly frantic the more times he called. His head was pounding; he was lying on the ground, and for a minute, he couldn’t make his brain work. Finally, he managed to sit up, only to discover that he was lying in the middle of a bunch of undergrowth and covered with leaves.
“I’m over here,” he managed to say, slowly getting to his feet.
As the pounding in his head began to ease, he tried to remember how he’d gotten there. He remembered going back for the blanket, but not making it back to camp. Looking around, he saw that he was a few feet off the trail, and then it all came back to him: the dark shape coming out of the trees, the stick coming down on his head.
Someone had tried to get him out of the way, wanted him immobilized but not dead; the question was why. Then it hit him: Melody. Someone wanted Melody, and he’d given her right to them. Cursing his stupidity, he yelled for Jake again and thrashed his way out of the undergrowth and back onto the path.
When he met Jake coming up the path, he demanded, “What time is it? How long have we been gone?”
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Jake took one look at Dalton and demanded, “What happened? Where’s Melody?”
They stared at each other for a second before Dalton said, “Someone knocked me out; you woke me up. I don’t know where Melody is; I was coming back for a blanket. We’d better go look for her.”
Dalton ran up the tail, his heart pounding, knowing that they weren’t going to find Melody. When he saw her boots and jacket sitting on the rock, his heart plummeted. “Do you think she fell in?” he asked, Jake.
Jake shook his head, “No way, and even if she did, she would have been able to shift and get herself out.”
They stood there in silence, turning the possibilities over in their minds until Jake finally said, “I think Demetri has her; I think we were too confident.”
Dalton’s heart sank; he’d been thinking the same thing, but hearing it said out loud made it all too real. “What are we going to do?” he asked, feeling beaten.
“The first thing we’re going to do is remember that Melody can take care of herself; she’s a smart woman. Then we’re going to go back to the ranch and get some help. We’ll start looking for her and wait to see if Demetri contacts us.”
Dalton nodded, then went over and picked up Melody’s boots and jacket. When he did, a piece of paper fluttered to the ground. He stared at it for a few seconds, then picked it up and opened it; inside was a message. “I’ve got something you want, and you’ve got something I want. I’ll trade you your shifter for the witch.”
***Melody***
Melody came slowly awake; her chest hurt and each time she took a breath, she wanted to cough but knew that it wouldn’t be a pleasant experience. When she tried to move, she discovered that her arms were pinned and wouldn’t move. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw that she was in a tin shed and that her hands were chained to the wall.
The shed wasn’t big, only six by eight feet, the only illumination a high window on a far wall, too high for her to reach. Taking slow and shallow breaths, she pulled on the chains, then tried to shift only to feel an emptiness inside her she’d never felt before. Looking around the shed, she tried to figure out where she was and how much time had passed.
The sun was slanted where it came in through the window, so she knew that it was late afternoon, and her heart sank. If no one had found her by now, she knew that it was going to be a while before they did. Then with a lurch of her heart, she realized that maybe no one had come looking for her because no one was left to look.
Pushing that thought from her mind, she tried to stand but found that she couldn’t, the chains pulling her back to the floor with a loud rattle. Only a few seconds later, the door flew open, the sun streaming in blinding her and forcing her to close her eyes.
When she opened them, she was surprised to find Demetri standing in front of her. Looking up at him, saw a man who on the outside looked normal, but when she focused her eyes on his, she saw the evil inside him. Forced to look away, she shivered and kept her eyes on the floor.
“I see you’ve decided to wake up from your little nap,” he said, walking farther into the little shed. “I’ve been waiting patiently out there.”
“Where’s Dalton? What did you do to him?” she asked, afraid to hear the answer.
“Your witch is just fine; I’m sure he’ll have a headache when he wakes up but otherwise I left him unharmed,” Demetri said walking around her. “I didn’t think everything I’d heard about you could be true, but I see that it is. Half my men are in love with you, had to be reassigned before they made fools of themselves.”
“What do you want?” Melody demanded, not liking the look in Demetri’s eyes.
“Oh, I want lots of things. But right now, I want the witch and shifter who destroyed the amulet and turned it into this,” he said, holding up a brown chunk of stone.
“That’s not going to happen, and if you don’t let me go and give that up, my people will destroy you and your little empire,” she said, sticking her chin out.
Demetri crossed the room in three steps and grabbed her chin in his hand and squeezed. “I don’t think so; in fact, I think your witch will do whatever I ask to get you back. I’ve been watching you two, such a sweet little romance,” he said, twisting her head back and forth to look at her eyes.
He shoved her head back, and it connected with the wall, making a thud and stars explode in her head. “Your eyes are extraordinary, but I don’t see what all the fuss is about.”
Demetri turned to leave, then turned back to her, “I suppose you’re wondering why you can’t shift,” he said, walking back across the room and reaching toward her.
She flinched, but he only laughed and reached for a leather bag hanging around her neck. He lifted it off her chest, “This is a little trick my witch friend taught me; comes in handy. Sorry about the chains but can’t have you taking this off. I’d rather not kill you since you’re worth more to me alive than dead, so I’ll just keep you in your human form,” he said, letting the bag bang against her chest.
***Dalton***
Dalton stood and walked across the kitchen to look at the map on the wall, then began to pace back and forth again. As soon as they’d gotten back to the horses, Jake had called the ranch on the satellite phone to get a search party organized. By the time they’d gotten back late that afternoon, Daniel had search parties already out and the map tacked to the wall of the kitchen.
But there were over thirty pins stuck in the map representing places Demetri could have taken Melody, and it would take time to search each one. Daniel had promised that if she was being held anywhere close to the ranch, they’d find her, and that was what really worried him.
If Demetri took her someplace else, it would be impossible to find them, and he had the resources to take her anywhere in the world. But Melody wouldn’t have gone quietly; he’d have had to find some way to restrain her, so that left out any kind of transportation other than a car. It was most likely that Demetri had her some place close; traveling would have been difficult, and Melody wasn’t his ultimate prize; he wanted Charlie.
He wished that he could be out with the search teams, but Daniel wanted him there when Demetri called as they all knew he would. Thanks to a few phone calls, Daniel had been able to locate one of Melody’s friends from college who’d set up a trace, so he had to be close to the computer when he called.
But waiting was driving him crazy; every minute felt like an hour, and he couldn’t control his imagination. Pictures of all the terrible things Demetri might do to Melody kept flashing through his head, to the point that he’d had to ask Joslin to do a cleansing spell.
The cleansing spell had eased the worst of his irrational fears, but he still had to face that phone call, and the anger that he was sure would be overpowering when he heard the man’s voice. He’d never wanted to kill someone before, but now he knew what that felt like and was sure given the choice, he would have followed his instincts without a second thought.
But he had to be calm on the phone, had to put Demetri off, lie to him and tell him that Charlie was on her way and hope that the lie would buy them enough time to find Melody and rescue her. He’d made it perfectly clear to Daniel that once the phone call was over, he was going to search for Melody.
When his phone began to ring, he took a deep breath and picked it up. “Hello.”
“I assume you got my note,” a deep voice said.
Dalton’s heart was pounding, his anger beginning to swell, so he took a deep breath then said, “Yes.”
“Good, then this will be simple. You bring me the witch who destroyed the amulet, and I’ll give you your shifter back,” Demetri said.
“And if I don’t?” Dalton asked, stalling for time.
Demetri laughed, “You don’t want to know what I’ll do, but let me tell you this: I might like to sample that shifter before I kill her slowly,” he said, his voice full of excitement.
It took Dalton several moments to answer, but finally, he managed to say, “It will take
a day to get her here.”
“That’s not going to work for me; I want her here now,” Demetri yelled into the phone.
“That’s the best I can do,” Dalton said, wincing when he heard Demetri growl.
“You have until sunset tomorrow to bring me the witch or your little girlfriend is going to pay a late penalty. You may not want her when I’m finished,” he said, then the phone went dead.
Chapter 19
***Melody***
Melody woke to the sound of the rusty door being opened; she’d been dozing, trying to regain her strength. She’d pulled on the chains until raw wounds had appeared on her wrists, then spent a long time trying to get her teeth on the leather cord around her neck, but no matter what she tried, she couldn’t quite get it between her teeth.
Exhausted and bleeding, a crick in her neck, she’d fallen asleep with her head down. When the bright light of morning hit her, she closed her eyes again against the glare, only opening them when she heard the door close.
“I hope you slept well,” Demetri said, standing in front of her a cup of coffee in his hand. “I bet you’re hungry and thirsty. I hadn’t planned on hosting you for this long, so I’m not sure what we’re going to do about that.”
Melody looked up at him; she was hungry and thirsty, and she really needed to use the bathroom. Trying to look as beat down as possible, she said, “Yes.”
Demetri nodded, then really looked at her. “Oh, what have you done to your wrists?” he asked, coming closer.
Melody tried not wince when he got up close, but when he reached out and touched one of the sores on her wrist, she couldn’t help it. “That must hurt,” he said, then added, “Too bad you can’t shift and heal those.”
Melody knew that Demetri had the upper hand right then but promised herself that she would personally see that he paid for what he did to her. But she had needs, and they came first. “Can I please use the bathroom?” she asked, her voice soft.
Fairplay Shifters Boxset Page 59
