Tooth and Nail (Small Town Shifters Book 3)

by Lola Kidd

  This was where her mind went as soon as she had a moment of silence. This was what she wanted to stop. She needed balance for goodness’ sake.

  She dressed in her new blouse and jeans. While she was doing her hair, she heard Zach come in.

  “You’re home early,” she called down the stairs. “I’ll be a bit longer to get ready since I thought I had a whole two hours left.”

  It wouldn’t take her nearly that long, but she wanted to give herself a little wiggle room.

  “Can I talk to you?” He was in the bathroom doorway. His eyes were sunken and he looked awful.

  “Sure, let me finish this side part.” Her heart was suddenly pounding. She was afraid. He must have found out something about the case. Something that was going to make it hard to do her job or something that was going to change everything at least. Maybe he knew that Rhett was full of shit and not to be trusted. Or maybe he had info on the human who was attacked.

  She was doing it again. She had to stop jumping to conclusions. Maybe he hadn’t been able to get a reservation at the restaurant or maybe he wanted to do something else. Or maybe he’d had a very hard day at work and wanted to reschedule. It didn’t have to be something bad or life-threatening. It could just be a run-of-the-mill problem.

  After she finished the first pass with her blow dryer, she went to find Zach. He was sitting on the couch with a glass of clear liqueur in front of him. When he saw her, he motioned to the couch next to him. “Please have a seat. Want something to drink?”

  “No, I’m good,” she said, sitting down.

  He nodded, finished the drink in his glass, and poured one more from the bottle on the floor next to him. “Cool.”

  They sat in silence while he seemed to be thinking of how to start the conversation. She would normally try to help him. Prompt him with something to get him to open up. But this was different. She was hoping that maybe he would change his mind and wait to have this conversation later.

  “We could talk after dinner,” she blurted, finally tired of waiting. The tension was getting to her. “Let’s save it for tomorrow even. I’m sure it can wait.”

  She was pleading. Begging for him to just let it go, whatever it was.

  “I don’t think it can. I mean, it could wait, but I think you’d be furious if I did that to you.” He wiped his hands down his jean-clad thighs. “Okay. Please just remember that I’m not a bad person. That I didn’t mean for this to turn out the way it has. I think you’re a phenomenal woman and I hope that maybe one day you’d like to really go out on a date with me, but I understand if you never want to talk to me again after I tell you what’s been going on.”

  Her blood ran cold. She knew what he was going to say. She could see where this was going, but she didn’t want to believe it.

  He took a deep breath. “I’ve been lying to you this entire time. I was never trying to help you find stuff for your story. I’ve been giving information to my Keeper station and trying to keep tabs on you.”

  She nodded. Of course he was. He was playing her this whole time. She knew it. She’d suspected all along. “Okay, and?”

  His brow furrowed. “And I’m sorry. I was authorized to do this. It just sort of happened and after we’d met and got paired up, I asked my boss if I could do it. He went along with it, but this wasn’t a whole thought-out operation. I was going rogue and got reeled in.”

  “Super. Are you going to get a promotion or something?”

  He shook his head. “I get that you’re mad, but we’d like you to consider coming in and talking with us in the station. We were hoping that you might want to work with us in an official capacity. There’s so much more at stake here than you realize. If you want to work with us, you’ll get so much more information and you’ll understand why this is such a sensitive topic for me and our Keeper team.”

  “Because of Rhett’s wife. I found out about her. She was one of the humans that was attacked.” Tally was so tired. She wanted to change back into her pajamas and sleep until next week. But she couldn’t. She had to get out of here before Zach realized that she wasn’t going to take their bait. No way in hell she was going to work with them and help them do whatever coverup they were trying to do.

  “No,” Zach said quietly. “Not because of her. Well, not only her. It’s bigger than that. I should also let you know that my team isn’t in on everything either. We don’t know exactly what’s going on. It’s part of why we’d love it if you’d come and work with us. You’re good with the internet. Better than any of us, and that would be a huge help to us. We’d probably never be able to find anyone as good as you who wants to work with us. I know you’ll probably say no, but I’d love it if you’d consider it.”

  “Sure. Give me some time to think. I’ll get back to you in the morning.”

  “Any chance you’d still like to get dinner tonight?” One look at her face and he nodded. “Right. Of course not. Well, I’ll leave you alone with your thoughts. I’ll be around if you’d like to ask me anything or talk with me about anything.”

  “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why did you trick me? Why lie to me and pretend to be my friend? You didn’t have to go as far as letting me stay at your place.”

  “That was more for your safety and my peace of mind,” he said. “My animal really likes you and with all your poking around, you’ve gotten the attention of the Abbott dragons. They aren’t shifters you fuck with. These guys are bad news and they wouldn’t think twice about hurting you. That’s why Rhett tried to use magic on you too. Trying to see exactly how immune to it you are.”

  “What do you mean? Are you not working together?”

  “No. Like I said. We don’t know everything. We aren’t exactly big fish around here. The Abbott dragons tell us as much or little as they deem fit. If they wanted to hurt you, they would just do it without telling us. By keeping you close, I can keep an eye on you and make sure that it doesn’t happen.”

  “You think they want to hurt me. So I’m in danger.”

  “No. We don’t think you are, but you could be in the future. I really don’t want anything to happen to you. I wasn’t pretending to be your friend. I do want to be your friend if you’ll have me.”

  She nodded. “Sure. Maybe. We’ll see. I think I need to be alone now. I have some stuff to think about.”

  “Of course. Like I said, I’ll be around. Come to me with anything. Please.”

  His eyes were imploring but she didn’t care. She had to figure out how to get the hell out of his house and out of this damn town.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  She wasn’t saying anything. It had been over two hours and she hadn’t said a word to him. He was afraid to go and talk to her since he’d told her he’d leave her alone. What a stupid thing to say. He knew it was the right thing to do but he wanted to know what she was thinking. He was dying to know. If a genie appeared and said he’d have to give up shifting for a year to hear what Tally was thinking about, he’d gladly trade. This was torture.

  She wasn’t happy. He could tell that much. It was very obvious how hurt she was. He didn’t know how he was going to make it up to her, but he would figure it out. After he figured out how to get her to talk to him again. To believe him when he said he was sorry and that he was her friend and he cared about her.

  It was a terrible thing that he’d done. He knew it. He wished he could take it back. If he’d known how special she was to him and how kind she was, he never would have approached her like that. He would have told her the truth from the beginning, but it was too late for that. It was already done and he couldn’t go back and change it. He’d lied. All he could do now was apologize and explain where his head was. He hoped it was enough, that she would see that his heart was in the right place and she would forgive him. Start over and get it right this time.

  But he was afraid it was too late for that. She would never talk to him again. Never forgive him. She would leave and never come back.
He had to do something to make sure that didn’t happen. He had to at least try. Because he could feel it in his bones. If he waited for the morning to say something else, she would be out of his life forever.

  He went to his bedroom and knocked at the door. It had been five hours and he needed to get to bed soon. Now or never. “Tally?”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m going to get ready for bed. I wanted to see how you were doing before I call it a night.”

  “I’m doing okay. Good night.”

  “You don’t want to talk or anything?”

  “No. I’m good.”

  Shit. He couldn’t think of anything else to say. This was his big moment and his mind was blank. He couldn’t think of any way to talk to her without going back on his word. He’d told her he wouldn’t bother her and he couldn’t go back on that. It would only reinforce that he was a liar who couldn’t be trusted.

  “Okay. Good night.”

  He got ready for bed and went to the couch. He didn’t get much sleep, but when he finally did doze off, he was awakened not long after by the front door opening.

  Zach was on his feet in a second. “Hello?”

  There was no call back but he could see Tally rushing to get her bags out of the house and down to her car. She was leaving in the dead of the night. She must have stayed up waiting for him to fall asleep before she tried to slip out. She was afraid of him. She thought he wouldn’t let her leave or that he might try to hurt her if she did. If she wasn’t, she would have left as soon as he told her he’d lied to her.

  “Wait!” He rushed from the house after her. She scrambled to get to her car faster, almost tripping in the process. “I’m not going to stop you. Just hold on a second. I won’t come any closer if you’ll stop and talk to me for a second.”

  She turned and he stopped. “Okay, what do you want?”

  “So you’re just going to go in the middle of the night without saying goodbye? You aren’t even a little curious about what we have to offer?”

  “Nope. You’ve already lied to me once. I don’t need to wait around so you can lie to me more. I’m done trying to work with you and sharing information.”

  “It has to mean something that I came clean,” he said. “I could have kept lying and never told you. But I didn’t. I told you because we want to work with you. We want to cooperate. We can help each other. You really want to try to do this alone?”

  He didn’t want her to. If she tried, there was no way he would be able to stay away. She was going to be in too much danger. He didn’t know what he’d do if she just up and left like this.

  “I’m not alone,” she huffed. “I have a partner. An honest partner who works with me and helps me. I don’t need a lying shifter and his lying Keeper buddies to help me with anything. I don’t know what kind of angle you guys are trying to work here, but it doesn’t even matter. I’m done. I’m leaving and I don’t want anything else to do with you guys.”

  “Why? Again, I lied but I apologized. It was for a good cause and I regret it. I didn’t know what you were like before. You could have been a danger. You have to see how that’s reasonable? I’m sorry I did it, but there’s no way to go back and change that. You really think I’m a bad person who doesn’t deserve a second chance?”

  “I don’t know what kind of person you are. I know that you’re a liar so anything else you’ve shown or said could all be a lie too.”

  “You’ve been around me. I wasn’t faking everything. I did lie, yes. But not about everything. And if I wanted to hurt you, wouldn’t I just do it? Why come clean and try to bring you into the fold? I nor my people want to hurt you.”

  “I don’t believe that.” She crossed her arms. “You can say whatever you want, but I don’t believe you. You just want me to stay.”

  Well duh. Of course he wanted her to stay for his own selfish reasons, but this was bigger than that and he had to get her to see that.

  “Listen, I want you to stay because you’re my friend and I don’t want you to get hurt. If you keep poking around in shifter business like this, you will make the wrong people angry. You’re already doing that. That’s why we want to help you.”

  She laughed. “Come on now. You don’t want to help me, you want to silence me. You want me to stop investigating and stop making posts on the internet. How in the world would I ever be able to work with you?”

  “I’m confident that once you know everything I know, you won’t be so quick to post things on the internet. I think you’ll be more cautions once you understand it all.”

  “I doubt it. You don’t know me. You think you do but you’re confused. If someone wants to hurt me because I’m shining a light on their deceit, they can come for me. That won’t stop the truth from getting out. Some movements need a martyr.”

  “Tally, listen to yourself. You sound insane. You want to get martyred for this? For a story that will come out eventually anyway? You think this is the hill you need to die on? For what?! Your life is worth more than that. Keep reporting, but do it in a safer way and with people who can protect you.”

  “You don’t want to protect me!” she screamed. “You want me to shut up and I’m not having it. I’m done talking to you. This is going to get us nowhere and I’m ready to go. Thanks for letting me stay here. Take care of yourself.”

  Zach hung his head. He wasn’t going to be able to convince her. Not tonight anyway. She was too pissed. It was going to take time for her to cool down. “Okay. Goodbye, Tally. If you ever need anything, you have my number. Seriously, if you need anything, call me.”

  She snorted and shook her head as she pulled her bag into her trunk. She didn’t look at him again as she got in the driver’s seat and then pulled out of his driveway. He could see her lights as she drove down the street. It took all of his strength to keep his animal inside. It wanted to follow her. This was a bad idea. This was dangerous. She was going to get hurt.

  The Abbott dragons were keeping an eye on her. They would know she’d left his house and they had to know where she’d been the last few days. Talking to the lions and the professor. There was no way they were just going to let to her keep this up.

  He needed to talk to one of them. Even if she was out of his life, that didn’t mean he couldn’t protect her. He had to protect her. She was...she was special to him and his animal. Except he probably would never get to tell her just how special she was. Maybe he would never be able to spend time with her like this again. Maybe this was it for them.

  He put his hand to his cheek. He was crying like some kind of child. He roughly wiped at the tears. Now wasn’t the time for this. He had things to do. He could mourn for what he’d lost later.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  She wasn’t going to make it far. She had barely slept for an hour. There was no way she’d be able to drive for long before it got dangerous. There was a whole gaggle of shifters who were after her probably. She wasn’t about to do them any favors and get herself killed because she was driving exhausted. No, she was going to get as far as the next roadside motel.

  She’d already called Bettina and told her she was on the road again. She hadn’t spelled out exactly why she was leaving, but she thought she left a pretty good breadcrumb in case something happened. Bettina knew she was coming from Zach’s house too.

  The nerve of that man. Trying to make it seem like he wasn’t a lying schemer. Like all he wanted was to be her friend and keep her safe. Ha! She’d have believed it that morning. Even twelve hours earlier she’d have taken his word for it. So what if he came clean about his lies? The lies themselves were the problem. It wasn’t like he was lying for her benefit. It was all about him and his precious Keeper team.

  She was sure this was all part of some big design. Coming clean was a better way to further their cause. If she started working for them, they’d be able to neutralize people like her faster. She’d open all her counterparts up to them and make it easier for them to move in the circles where they were most
vulnerable. She’d be a double agent really, without even knowing or doing it on purpose. That’s what Zach was offering her. What a freaking jerk.

  The more space she put between them, the safer she’d feel. It took her a little longer than expected to get to a motel, and her eyes were burning when she pulled in. Only forty minutes outside of Lake Magnolia, but it was good enough. She checked in and promptly fell asleep as soon as she got to her room. She didn’t even take off her shoes. When she woke up, the sun was high in the sky and she had three missed calls from Bettina.

  “Hey,” she said, calling her back. Her head was still under the covers and she wasn’t about to change that.

  “So you’re still alive. Thanks for letting me know.”

  “Sorry. I’ve been sleeping. I really needed it.”

  “I bet. So are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?”

  Tally filled her in on everything that went down. “I’m not sure if this phone call is even private. I mean, what if they’re tapping my phone calls now too? Who knows how big this thing is?”

  “You’re paranoid,” Bettina assured her. “They might be onto you, but they aren’t that powerful. Wiretapping is illegal.”

  “So is intimidating and stalking humans, but that hasn’t stopped them.”

  “You can always quit whenever you want, you know. No one will think any less of you.”

  “Do you want me to quit?”

  “It doesn’t matter what I want. What do you want?”

  To be able to talk with Zach about this, Tally thought bitterly. It had been a short time and she had let herself depend on him. How fucking stupid of her. She didn’t even know the man. That’s how she got in this mess. And whatever she did know might be a lie. Was probably a lie. It didn’t feel that way. She had to admit that, even if it was only to herself. There were parts of his personality that seemed real. Like there was no need for him to watch her favorite TV show with her or cook her favorite dinner or let her order whatever she wanted to eat and always pay. None of those things really helped him with his mission.