The Keeping
Page 46
“I was hoping you’d agree. You seem like such a nice man.” She stepped closer and brushed his hair back from his forehead, letting her hand trail slowly down his arm. “If you need anything… anything at all, just ask. And feel free to call me by my first name. It’s Mary, though some people use my nickname, Marla.” She smiled widely and stepped away. “I’ll go place that ad for you, now. See you tomorrow.”
Stupid girl, he thought as she left the room, vaguely noting she had the slightest limp. If she thinks I’ll fall for that act… Ha! I know her kind only too well.
Fin
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Preview of The Finding
Preview of the next book in this series, The Finding. Look for it in the winter of 2010/11
Cassie stood in the shadows at the edge of the alleyway, watching the cars and people pass by. No one so much as glanced at her, but she stepped back a bit, just to be sure. The street was lined with stores and small businesses, and in the distance there appeared to be a number of flashing, lighted signs with crowds milling about. If she didn’t know better, she’d think it looked Las Vegas, but that was ridiculous. The bus she’d been on couldn’t have travelled that far! She furrowed her brow, wondering where she might be, and how she’d ended up in an alley.
The last thing she remembered was lying on a bed in a motel, having spent half the night fleeing from the site of her uncle’s death and the wolf attack. She’d taken her medication and tried to calm down by thinking of happier places; that was the last thing she could recall until waking up here, just a few minutes ago.
Her body had been wedged between a brick wall and a dumpster. A mouse crawling over her hand had stirred her from her sleep. She’d screamed and skittered a few feet away, watching in a combination of horror and disgust as the tiny creature ran into a hole under the metal bin. Then, once she was over that shock, she’d looked around frantically, wondering why she wasn’t in her motel room. Her heart had been pounding, panic wrapping around her like an iron fist as she realized that there was no bed, no TV, no faded curtains; just brick walls, utility meters, bits of garbage and graffiti.
The strap of her bag had been clenched in her hand; amazingly enough there was still money inside of it, so she hadn’t been robbed. And her clothing, though filthy and wrinkled, was intact which probably meant she hadn’t been assaulted. Her skin crawled as she thought of all the things that could have happened to her while she was unconscious. Obviously something had occurred, otherwise how had she arrived in this place?
She wracked her brain but there was no recollection as to what might have occurred. She looked around fearfully, wondering if the werewolf had something to do with this. There was no sign of the creature but it could still be following her, ready to end her life as easily as he had ended Mr. Aldrich’s.
Just the thought of the large black wolf and its blood drenched muzzle had her shivering, despite the relative warmth of the air. She stepped back into the alleyway and hunkered down by the dumpster where she’d awoken. As she leaned her head back against the brick wall, she stared at the graffiti covered sign that graced the steel door straight across from her; Chinese and Thai Restaurant, Deliveries Only. Apparently she was in the back alley behind a number of businesses. As she glanced to either side, she noted other similar doors giving support to her assumption.
At that moment a delivery truck roared down the alley and she pressed herself closer to the wall. It stopped a good distance from her hiding place, and a man got out, whistling tunelessly. She watched him go about his business, taking cartons out of the truck and handing them to someone who stood just inside a doorway. He never once glanced in her direction but she still felt the need to move. No doubt other trucks would be through here in the near future and she didn’t want to be found hiding here. People would ask questions, to which she wouldn’t have any answers.
She bit her lip, knowing she needed to do something, go somewhere, but it all seemed so overwhelming. How she longed to be back in the security of her uncle’s home. To hear him blustering away, to see Franklin pulling faces behind the old man’s back, to have Cook fussing and making her favourite meals… Her chin quivered. Oh God, how could her world have been destroyed so quickly?
A lone tear trickled down her face and she quickly wiped it away. Crying wouldn’t help. Her uncle was dead and she was alone now. She had to handle this situation on her own. As she searched her mind for a possible course of action, she gave a short, wry laugh, realizing that her private tutors had never covered topics related to running for your life while being chased by a werewolf. How remiss of them!
Her brief moment of levity quickly died though as the delivery truck’s engine was started up. It roared past her leaving a cloud of exhaust fumes in its wake. Forcing herself to her feet, she gave an inelegant sniff and walked back to the end of the alley, resuming her earlier hiding position in the shadows. From the angle of the sun, she could tell it was early morning. People seemed intent on getting to their work or appointments. No one was taking notice of her. The anonymity gave her some modicum of comfort.
There was a restaurant on the corner and a variety store. She bit her lip and squared her shoulders. Maybe…
“Hey there, girly! What’re you doing?” A voice spoke from nearby and she jumped, backing away until her spine was against the opposite brick wall. It was a young man, probably in his early twenties. He had brown hair, blue eyes, and was dressed in respectable looking shirt and pair of pants.
Cassie clutched her bag tightly to her chest while staring at him warily.
“Are you okay?” The man had a faint look of concern on his face. “Are you in trouble? A runaway?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Funny, ’cause you sort of look like life’s been treating you pretty bad.” He studied her for a minute, then smiled and held out his hand. “My name’s Kellen. Kellen Anderson.”
Hesitantly, Cassie held out her hand. “I’m… er… Sandra.” She heeded the voice inside her head that told her not to reveal too much, so she switched to another derivative of her full name.
“Pleased to meet you, er… Sandra. Strange name, with the ‘er’ in front of it.” Kellen grinned and winked. “Never mind. I’ll just call you Sandy, okay?” She nodded and he continued. “So you look like you could use something to eat and maybe a place to stay? I’ve been down on my luck before, so I know what it’s like. Actually, I’m sort of the downslide right now since I just dropped a wad at a poker game down the road. Come on. Misery loves company. I’ll buy you a meal, no strings attached.” He gestured towards the restaurant.
“I… I have money.” Immediately after she spoke, she chastised herself. Telling a complete stranger—one she’d met at the edge of an alleyway, no less—that she had money was not a good idea. Trying for some damage control, she qualified her answer. “I don’t have much, but I can buy my own meal.”
Kellen shrugged. “Sure. No skin off my nose. But at least we can sit together, right? Eating alone is no fun.”
Her stomach chose that moment to growl and he laughed, holding his hands out at his side. “Hey, I’m completely harmless and you’re starving. There’s usually a crowd in the restaurant, so you don’t need to worry. You won’t be alone with me.”
Cassie bit her lip and then gave a brief nod. The idea of being by herself was daunting; the werewolf could be anywhere, but surely it wouldn’t attack in front of witnesses. Having someone with her, even a stranger, seemed like a good idea. Also, she needed information and right now Kellen was her only source.
“Not much of a talker, are you?” Kellen quipped as he led her across the street. “That’s okay, though. It doesn’t bother me. Listen, you might want to get cleaned up a bit. There’s a ladies’ room right inside the door. I’ll get us a table while you use the facilities.”
He held the restaurant door open for her.
She gave him a brief smile. “Thanks, I wouldn’t mind washing up a bit.” As she headed to the washroom, she glanced back. Kellen was already sitting down, perusing the menu. Cassie allowed herself to relax a little bit. He seemed harmless enough…
Three years later, in Stump River, Ontario, Canada…
Bryan sat in front of the computer, frowning at the screen. He drummed his fingers on the desk then sighed and ran his hands through his hair.
Ryne looked up from the papers he was working on. “Let me guess, you’re still brooding about that girl?”
“Yeah, I keep thinking I’ll find something if I look long enough.”
“You’ve been working on it, for the past three years. What makes you think today will be any different?”
“I don’t know, but I just can’t let her go. You know the dangers a rogue wolf could mean.” Bryan swivelled his chair so that he faced his Alpha.
“At least she hasn’t gone rogue, though how a young kid like that is keeping her wolf under control all by herself, is beyond me.” Ryne narrowed his eyes and reiterated what they both already knew. “You traced her to that motel in Kansas—”
Bryan finished the sentence. It was a story they’d gone over many times. “And then she just disappeared. I know it was almost two weeks later when I got there, but there was no scent anywhere. No one saw her leave town. There was nothing on the surveillance cameras at the bus stop. She stepped off the bus, found a room at the motel across the street and vanished. All I found was that pill wedged between the nightstand and the headboard.”
“It was a prescription strength sedative, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah. Very hard to get a hold of and used only under strict doctor supervision. Definitely suitable for a werewolf but almost deadly for a human. Whoever gave it to her knew something about Lycans.”
“That would have been her guardian, Anthony Greyson. I’m sure that’s how he kept her under control during the full moon, though how he knew… ” Ryne let his voice trail off.
”Well, that pill was the only concrete clue I found in Kansas. Two days later all her banking accounts were emptied from an instant teller inside a casino in Las Vegas and her credit cards were maxed out. From there it’s a dead end.”
“Well, you did a fine job in Vegas, getting the hotel to let you look at their surveillance video footage.”
Bryan chuckled at the memory. “Thank heaven the head of security was female and she liked my eyes.”
“From the story you told when you got back home, I don’t think it was just your eyes she was interested in.”
“There might have been a few other features that drew her attention.” Bryan grinned for a few minutes but then sobered and leaned forward to study the screen again. “I was just looking at this footage that shows someone using the ATM machine at the time Cassandra Greyson’s account was emptied.”
Ryne stood up and moved to the computer, peering over Bryan’s shoulder. “Do you see anything new?”
“Not really. It’s just the same thing as always. Average sized individual, wearing jeans and a hoodie pulled up over his or her head and low across the forehead. Unisex sunglasses, chin tucked into the collar.”
“The person knew what they were doing; that there’d be cameras recording the transaction.”
“Yeah, there’s nothing here except… See that bit of a shadow?” Bryan turned his chair back to the computer and pointed to the screen. “I think someone was standing there, watching.”
“Hmm… Could be.” Ryne stood up straight and shrugged. “It doesn’t really help us much, though.”
“Maybe not. But it means she might not be on her own. I think she met up with someone and went with them to Vegas, possibly realizing it was a perfect place to get lost in a crowd.”
“But where did she go after that?”
Bryan shook his head. “Damned if I know. I checked every bus, train and plane out of there from the day of this footage and then for two weeks afterwards. There was no one matching her description.”
“So she must have left by car or stayed in the area.”
“Uh-huh. I’ve searched all over that city but there was no sign of her. And I have alerts out to packs all over the country to contact me if they see her, but no one has reported anything.”
“You’d think after three years someone would have noticed a lone wolf – an inexperienced lone wolf at that. How has she stayed hidden and managed the lunar changes? Those pills must be used up by now. Someone must know something.”
At that moment, Melody called from the bedroom. “Ryne, where’s my chocolate ice cream?”
Ryne grimaced. “Since she’s been pregnant and can’t have her coffee, she’s switched to chocolate but it’s not mellowing her mood.”
“Isn’t chocolate just as bad?”
“Are you volunteering to tell her? I survived the no-coffee rants. I’m not inciting another one!” Both men winced as they recalled Melody’s reaction when Nadia, the nurse practitioner, told her to cut back on coffee until the baby was born.
“Hey, she’s your mate and you’re the Alpha. Go do your duty.”
“Thanks, Bryan. You’re a real pal.”
Bryan chuckled as Ryne left the room and then returned to pondering the image on the computer screen. Somewhere out there Cassandra Greyson was a lone werewolf and he was determined to bring her in.
From the same author on Feedbooks
Forever In Time (2009)
She was in there, he knew it. He'd been following her for weeks and knew every move she made. There'd be no escaping him. Time was on his side. "I'm waiting, Steph. I've been waiting a long, long time."
Stephanie thought she was ordinary. Her life was stable, or at least it was until the stranger appeared. Was he the answer to her dreams or a nightmare?
The Mating (2010)
Elise had no idea when she came home that day that she'd end up mated to a complete stranger. A new Alpha and the need for an alliance between packs have made her a pawn. WINNER OF THE FPSSA - BEST ROMANCE and the SKOW - BEST VILLIAN
EXCERPT: She lay beside him, staring blankly at the ceiling. The deed was done. They were mated. It didn't matter that she had no love for him nor he for her. Political alliances were more important than feelings, or so she had been told. That fact was cold comfort right now as her heart broke within her.
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Food for the mind
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Epilogue
Preview of The Finding
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