by Rayna Tyler
“I will, and tell Berkley I’m glad she’s doing okay.”
“Thanks. I’ll pass your message along.” Reese tipped his head, motioning to Nick and me that it was time to leave.
“I believe him.” Nick had waited until we were all seated inside the truck with the doors closed before saying anything.
“I have to agree with Nick.” Eli was mouthy, had a rebellious streak, but he’d been just as terrified today as he had been the time Reese and I had paid him a visit.
“I had hoped we’d find out who was behind this quickly and quietly. I’m worried about what will happen if any of our guests or the locals hear about the shooting.” Reese gripped the steering wheel. “A lot of our neighbors are shifters and might not view this as an isolated event. The last thing we need is the panic it will create.”
“The best we can do is keep it quiet as long as possible,” I said. I’d been thinking the same thing and had my team spending more time patrolling the area. “Do you want me to shut down the run?”
“No, not yet. Bryson’s suggestion to carve symbols in the trees along the perimeter of the running area for our shifter guests has been successful. We’ve received more than one compliment on the measures we’ve taken to make them feel safe.”
Reese slid his key into the ignition and started the truck. “The clearing where Berkley was shot isn’t in the designated area. I don’t think it was a coincidence that the shooter happened to show up at her favorite spot.”
Neither did I. My instincts, in the form of a gut gnawing pain, had been contemplating the same thing most of the morning. “You think someone is specifically targeting Berkley.”
“Don’t you?” Reese asked.
“Everything we know seems to point toward the possibility.” I tapped the armrest on the door. “If that’s the case, we might be dealing with someone who knows her habits and wants her dead.”
“There are only a handful of people I can think of who know about the clearing. They all love Berkley. None of them would ever want to harm her.” Nick dropped back into his seat and reached for the belt. “Are we sure Bishop isn’t behind this?”
“Not a hundred percent, but close. That’s what makes this so difficult. We have too many people in the shifter world diligently monitoring for any sign of him. If he’d resurfaced, we’d have already heard about it.” Reese reversed the truck, then turned and headed down the drive.
Chapter Fourteen
BERKLEY
I ran the entire way to Maris’s cabin, relieved to know that Mandy and Bryson would be along shortly to help me with Sherri. I hadn’t taken the time to switch to my boots before I left. Plowing through patches of snow had been unavoidable, leaving my shoes soaked and my feet cold. Luckily, I preferred to be comfortable when standing on my feet for prolonged periods of time and had switched from my dress heels to a pair of old tennis shoes; otherwise, I’d have had to make the trip barefoot.
When I finally arrived, I found Maris pacing the gravel drive near the front porch, an injured Sherri nowhere in sight. Unwanted dread crept along my skin, along with an instinctual warning that something wasn’t right. If one of my family members or friends had been injured, no one would be able to pry me from their side. I eyed Maris suspiciously. “Where’s Sherri?”
“She’s through there.” Maris pointed, taking a few steps toward a gap in the trees near the side of the cabin. She must have sensed my apprehension when I didn’t make a move to follow her. “I didn’t want to leave her, but I was afraid to move her.” She nervously wrung her hands. “And, and my cell wouldn’t work, so I had to use the phone in the cabin. Then I was worried you wouldn’t find us, so I decided to wait for you here.”
I couldn’t shake my unease but didn’t want to waste any more time listening to Maris. Heading off into the woods with her wasn’t the smartest move, but I needed confirmation that Sherri was okay. Mandy and Bryson would be arriving shortly, a fact I wasn’t going to share with Maris. He was a good tracker, so I wasn’t worried that he wouldn’t be able to find us.
It didn’t mean I was going to trust Maris or that I had any intention of turning my back on her. “Show me where she is.” I brusquely motioned for her to lead the way.
If Sherri was nearby, I couldn’t smell her. Walking close to Maris, breathing in the excess dosing of perfume on her body, was impairing my ability to scent and giving me a headache. Even breathing through my mouth didn’t help mask the offensive odor.
After we’d walked a lot farther from the cabin than I’d expected without seeing any sign of Sherri, I was more than a little wary. I pulled Maris to a stop. “Sherri’s not out here, is she?” Maris wasn’t an outdoor person, and if she were a human unfamiliar with navigating a forest, I’d understand if she got lost. But she was part cat and able to find her way through any environment on smell alone.
She slowly drew her lips into a wicked sneer. “No, she’s not,” she proudly admitted in a devious tone.
Maris was capable of a lot of things, but I was unsure if hurting her cousin was one of them. “Then where is she?”
“Don’t worry. You’ll get to see her shortly.”
I was about to ask her what she meant by that when I heard twigs snapping behind me. If I’d been paying more attention to my wolf instead of assuming the animal’s warning growl was because Maris made her antsy, I might have noticed the subtle yet distinct sounds letting me know that we had been followed.
By the time I realized Maris had purposely worn the disgusting fragrance to mask the odor of the male I’d smelled the day I’d been shot, it was too late. Too late to bare my fangs and claws, too late to relinquish control to my wolf, too late to react to the metallic blur in my periphery.
A sharp pain exploded between my shoulder blades, and instinctively, I reached for my back, coming away with a dart. Turning to see who’d shot me had been a mistake. I staggered a few steps backward on legs that were losing their strength to support me and tripped over an exposed tree root. Flailing through the air and hitting the ground hard had been inevitable.
I gasped to gain the air I’d lost during impact, and struggled with focusing my hazy vision at the man hovering over me. The man who was leveling a pistol, the one he’d use to shoot the dart, at my chest.
“Pick her up and carry her,” Maris said, her image gradually fading. “I don’t want to kill her here.”
Hearing the word “kill” was like getting a jolt to the chest. My heart raced and I struggled with my unresponsive body to get up, to move, to fight back. Instead, I was forced to listen to Maris’s incessant cackle as my world dimmed into darkness.
PRESTON
My cat had been agitated from the moment Reese started the truck’s engine. I had no visible reason to explain my cat’s mounting irritation but instinctively knew it had something to do with Berkley. We were less than an eighth of mile away from the access road that bordered the resort and Al’s property when the company radio I’d set in the holder between Reese and me crackled with static. “Preston, you there? Come in, damn it.” Bryson’s bellowed growl filled the cab.
The pressure squeezing my chest made it hard to breathe. Even before I grabbed the radio and answered, I knew something had happened to my mate. Reese and Nick seemed be having similar reactions, either that or their animals were responding to mine.
Reese gripped the steering wheel tighter and stomped on the accelerator. Nick leaned forward, digging his fingers into the sides of our seats. Any second now, I expected to see claws and hear leather ripping.
“Berkley’s…” Bryson’s bear was growling and garbling his words so badly, I couldn’t understand the remainder of what he’d said.
“Let me talk to him.” I heard Mandy say, and imagined her wrestling the radio away from Bryson.
“Preston, it’s Mandy. Where are you?”
“Near Al Thompson’s place. Tell me what’s going on. Did something happen to Berkley?”
“I don’t know. She was suppos
ed to be at Maris’s cabin, but there’s nobody here.” The concern in her voice wasn’t much better than Bryson’s, and learning Maris was somehow involved wasn’t helping my anxiety.
“What was she doing with Maris?” Reese, who I’d never seen lose his temper, was practically shouting.
The snarling and sounds of fabric ripping in the backseat told me Nick was barely restraining his wolf. I wasn’t doing much better. It was taking every bit of self-control I possessed to keep my cat from taking over.
“Maris called and told her that Sherri was hurt and she needed help.”
I could hear Bryson growling in the background but couldn’t make out what he was saying to Mandy.
“Hold on a second,” she said to us, then mumbled something to Bryson.
“Bryson said he’s having a hard time getting her scent because of some disgusting floral odor. We need Nick.” I heard Mandy gulp in a deep breath, her voice crackling to cover a sob. “Can you hurry, please?”
“We’ll be there in ten minutes.” I returned the radio to the holder and stared out the window.
With Reese driving, the ten minutes were shortened to five, but they were still the longest five minutes of my life.
Chapter Fifteen
BERKLEY
“Berkley, you need to wake up.” Sherri’s scared whisper filtered through the fog in my head. Her trembling hand shaking my shoulder was a strong incentive to move my eyelids. I had to blink several times to get the blurred surroundings to focus. I was lying on a wooden dirt-covered floor inside a small wooden structure, which at one time might have been used for storage. The only light in the room came from a single window that was missing most of the glass from its frame.
It hurt my head to look up at Sherri, who was sitting next to me with her back braced against the wall. Dirt smudged the drying tear tracks streaking her cheeks. She continually glanced from me to the door on the opposite wall. The scent of her fear was overpowering and closely resembled my own.
Memories of Maris’s final words before I lost consciousness—her imminent plan for my death—ran through my mind. I assumed Sherri’s presence meant she’d been slated for the same fate.
Movement was slow. My body ached. It took a lot of effort to roll into a sitting position and keep the bile threatening to leave my stomach from reaching my overly dry mouth. At least our captor hadn’t bothered to bind our hands and feet. He wouldn’t need to, not with the amount of drugs he’d shot into my system. The effects were wearing off, but not fast enough to shift or make a run for it. He could easily catch us in his human form, shoot us with another dart, and finish what he’d started. I preferred to remain awake, give my body a chance to purge the drug, and hope that an opportunity for escape presented itself.
“Any idea where we are?” I whispered.
Sherri shook her head. “No.” The word came out in a moan.
“Where’s Maris and the guy with the gun?”
“I pretended to be unconscious when they dumped you in here with me. I haven’t seen them, but I think they’re outside.” She took some sniffs and scrunched her nose. “Not sure how close, though.”
Other than the small window, which neither of us could squeeze through, the single door was the only way in or out. It was only a matter of time before Maris and the guy who’d shot me made an appearance. I wanted to be ready when they did. I braced my hands on the floor, straining to get up. My elbows buckled, my arms shuddered, my muscles rebelled and refused to cooperate.
Damn. My body needed more time to recuperate. Time I was afraid we didn’t possess. Resignedly, I slouched against the wall next to Sherri. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” She sniffled, and a fresh trail of tears slid down her face. “Berkley, I’m so sorry.”
“For what?”
“I should have been a better friend. I knew what Maris was doing, that she was going after Drew. I didn’t know how to tell you.”
Now was not the time for Sherri to be overemotional. I needed her to be strong, or at least some semblance of strong, so I could get us both out of here. I placed my hand over hers and gave her a gentle squeeze. “Hey, I understand the need to be loyal to family.” Even when they’re wrong.
“Besides, what happened between Drew and me wasn’t your fault. If he’d really cared about me, he wouldn’t have ended up with Maris.” If circumstances were different and Maris wasn’t trying to kill me, I would have sent her a thank-you basket. If she hadn’t come between Drew and me, things might have been different, and I wouldn’t have found my mate.
There were things about my past I wished I could change. My experience with Drew—the pain, the heartache, the betrayal—wasn’t one of them. Not if it meant a life without Preston.
“It was more about being afraid than anything else. She can be pretty scary.” Sherri stared at her lap and bit the side of her lip as if contemplating what she wanted to say next. “Maris lied when she said some of her friends had recommended your new resort. The truth is she and Drew aren’t together anymore. He broke it off last month.” She slumped her shoulders and blew out a weighted sigh. “She caught him researching your website, and they got into a huge fight. He told her he’d made a mistake by letting you go.”
Six months ago, those words might have swayed my emotions, but not anymore. Now they sounded sad, pathetic, and I couldn’t muster even a pittance of sympathy for the man.
“I’m confused. Drew and I were never going to get back together. What would Maris gain by coming to the resort?”
“I think she thought she could get Drew back if you were out of the picture completely.”
It was the piece of information I’d been missing, the main motivation behind Maris’s visit and her twisted plan. It also explained the reason for the shooter. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn he specialized in hunting shifters, and Maris had the connections and the money to pay for his special kind of service.
“I don’t believe she intended to kill you, not at first anyway. I got the impression she was hoping you’d be with someone else, that she could take some pictures to show Drew, to convince him you weren’t available anymore.” Sherri shot a quick glance at the window before continuing. “Maris was always jealous of you, but it got worse after we arrived. When she saw how well you were doing, she sort of lost it.”
Maris had a tendency to rant when something upset her. I could only imagine the number of tantrums poor Sherri had to endure for the last week.
Sherri dropped her head back against the wall and stared out the window. “That might have been when she decided to get more creative. I caught her trying to get into the employee area. She pretended to be lost, but I think she was trying to find your room so she could get something with your scent on it.”
I furrowed my brows. “Surely Maris had to know I’d pick up her scent if she got anywhere near my room.”
“She’s so obsessed with getting Drew back that she isn’t thinking clearly. I’ve never seen her get this crazy over a guy before. I was afraid of what she might do next and started following her whenever she told me she wanted to go for a walk alone.”
The twinkle in Sherri’s eyes, along with a lopsided smile, promised the sharing of a well-kept secret. “Since my cat is submissive, Maris always assumed it meant I was useless. She didn’t know that my father helped me compensate by teaching me how to be a good tracker. He also told me if I wasn’t strong enough to fight, there was no shame in finding a place to hide.
“I got good at the hiding part too,” Sherri proudly stated, her grin slowly fading. “Not that it did me any good. The last time Maris went into the forest alone, I followed her. I stayed out of sight and watched her taking pictures of you after you’d shifted. I was concerned and was going to tell you about it that night at the bar.”
“But Maris made sure you didn’t get the chance, didn’t she?”
“Yeah, and after I’d heard you’d been shot, it was easy to figure out what she’d done with the photos.” Sherri ner
vously smoothed her hands along the front of her jeans. “Then last night, I overheard her on the phone with some guy. She was screaming at him about not getting paid until he finished the job. She stopped when she realized I was listening to the conversation. I think that’s when she decided I was a liability.”
Sherri swiped at the moisture on her cheek. “I should have said something sooner, but she’s family. I didn’t want to believe she was capable of something so horrible.”
“You shouldn’t be hard on yourself. Maris had everyone fooled, including me.” It wasn’t entirely a lie. I knew Maris was capable of doing mean things to others, but I’d never considered her capable of hiring someone to take another person’s life.
I clenched and unclenched my fist, testing the diminishing effects of the drug. With some exertion, I was able to extend a claw from the tip of my right index finger. At this point, I’d take any progress I could get, anything to help us get out of here. Too bad the hopeful sliver I clung to was squelched by the muffled voices I heard coming from outside the shack. “Can you stand?”
“I think so.” Sherri pulled her legs closer to her body and used the wall as support to stand. She wobbled a little, then offered me her hand and helped me to my feet. I waited for the wave of nausea to pass before testing the strength of my legs. They were a little weak but would be fully functioning in no time, provided I didn’t get shot with another dart.
I gripped Sherri’s arm, coaxing her to hold my gaze. “We don’t have a lot of time. I’m going to do whatever I can to stop them. The first chance you get, I want you to go for help.” If Sherri had any kind of tracking capabilities, she’d be able to find her way back to the lodge without any problems.
“I can’t…” Her words were cut off by the door swinging open and banging on the wall. Sherri cringed and didn’t resist when I pushed her behind me.
Maris stomped inside, crossed her arms over the front of her coat, and pinned the man following her with an angry glare. “Stuart, if you don’t do this for me, I will tell my father what you did, and you’ll be ruined.” Her elevated shrill bounced off the tight confines of the tiny room.
