by K. L. Donn
“Nick?” he heard Ace behind him, but he was still lost in his own thoughts. Nick wasn’t a man to believe in guardian angels, or protectors, or any other spiritual mumbo. This was forcing him to exam it more closely, however.
When the killer had taken that baby, they were right where he needed them to be back then. Now, they were no more than five kilometres from his cabin and he could feel the same kind of tension in the air. Especially after finding that abandoned glove in the morning. Something that clearly didn’t belong to any of them.
“Shit,” he mumbled again.
“What’s going on, Nick?” Ace asked, and he found himself explaining about the animals. About them being in the right place at the right time years ago. About the way the one cougar looked at him just now, as though it knew Nick was going to need a hand.
The look of disbelief on Ace’s face wasn’t exactly encouraging to his own doubt.
“I know, man. It’s crazy.” He did. There was no doubt, but he couldn’t shake it.
“You think they’re what, like avengers?” He didn’t blame his cousin for his scepticism.
“I have no fucking clue, man. It’s just weird.” Needing to change the subject, he asked, “How’s our girl?”
“She’s been sitting in there, staring at the computer screen. I think she’s terrified. I even offered to do it for her or to sit with her. Kept shaking her head no.”
Gazing toward Ace, he told him, “Let’s not give her a choice then, huh?”
His amused smirk spoke volumes. “You always were the smart one, Nicky boy.”
Laughing, they headed inside. The scene that greeted them as they entered the office made him sad. Removing his coat and boots without a word, Nick picked her up, placing her in his lap. He cooed into her hair, “I’m sorry, baby.”
Rubbing her cheek into his face was answer enough for him as Ace pulled up a chair beside them.
“Why is this so hard?” she asked them.
Looking at the screen, he saw that she’d typed her name into a search engine but nothing else. She was just sitting there contemplating her name.
When he attempted to hit enter, she grabbed his wrist. “Wait! What if I’m a bad person?” Genuine fear projected from the very fibre of her being, and he knew she was afraid.
“We’ll never know until you hit enter. Unless you prefer to go sit in the living room while we look?” he suggested.
The look of horror she sent his way made it virtually impossible not to laugh. “What’s his name?” Her question took Nick off guard.
“Whose?” He really didn’t want her asking about who he thought she was.
“Him. The man who did this.” She swept her hand up and down her body. “What is his name?”
Ace responded before he could. “Alex Medina.”
After a minute of processing the name, she spoke. “It means nothing. Shouldn’t it mean something? I mean, it’s likely he did this to me, right? His name should be familiar, shouldn’t it?” The last part was whispered more to herself than them.
Hugging her body to his own, Nick said to her, “No, Pepper, it shouldn’t. Your mind is protecting you from that dreadful night, which means blocking his name out. You said you had a brother, correct? You had a dream about him.”
Her entire body lit up with excitement. “Yes! James. So, he’d be James Wallace.” She deleted her name and typed in her brother’s. The first thing to pop up once she hit enter was the fatal accident that took their parents.
He thought, for sure, that she’d wilt and give up, not wanting to see the awful event unfold again. Their girl was made of stronger stuff than that, though. He should have known. She scrolled through until she found a commendation James had received after rescuing hostages in a domestic abuse case.
“He’s a North Vancouver detective. Is that far from here?”
“’Bout eight hours or so,” Ace told her.
“That’s not too bad.” It seemed like she was thinking out loud now.
A cell phone interrupted anything else they could have said. Dashing to the kitchen after depositing her on Ace’s lap, he picked it up just before voicemail set in. “Sheriff Kelly,” Nick answered.
“Hey, Sheriff, it’s Ranger Allen from Glacier National Park.”
“What can I do for you, Ranger?” he asked, confused because he didn’t normally get calls from the National Parks.
“Well, Sheriff, I have a problem. Some cougars we’ve had keeping proprietary over here have gone missing, and we heard a few years back you had a pack in the area?”
“That’s right, we did,” he confirmed.
“These particular cats, they aren’t mean. At least, that I’ve seen or anyone for that matter. Plenty of folks have run into them on the trails, and they’ve just kept to themselves. Darnedest thing, I tell you. Anyway, I don’t suppose you’ve had any sightings, have you?”
It made perfect sense. “As a matter of fact, my dog and I saw a group of them together just an hour ago. Sitting in a field.”
His sigh of relief was palpable. “That’s great news, Sheriff. Now I have a favor to ask?”
“What’s that, Ranger?”
“Don’t let some busy body shoot them. They’re being studied for their movements and interaction, and well, it’d be a damn shame for animals to be hurt when they haven’t done nothing wrong.”
“I couldn’t agree more, Ranger. So long as they keep to themselves and residents don’t get too scared, I’ll spread the word.”
“Appreciate it. Have a good day now.”
“Thanks, you, too.”
A ten-ton weight had just been lifted from his shoulder. Nick was incredibly glad to know he wasn’t losing his damn mind where those cougars were concerned. To have confirmation that they could cohabitate was a relief.
Going back to his office, he watched as Pepper sat on Ace’s lap, giggling while reading articles about her brother. She looked happy, less stressed. Which in turn made him happy, and he was sure his cousin was thrilled if his own twitching was a clue.
Deciding to leave them alone, he made a quick call to his dad, inviting the older man to dinner the following night. Pepper seemed to really enjoy his company, and Nick thought she could use the entertainment.
While Nick made his call, Ace used the quiet moment to study Pepper’s features as she went through all the information available on her brother. For the most part, she remained happy that someone whom she loved wasn’t drowning in sorrow. When she came upon the inevitable article about him searching for his missing sister, she stiffened, and he knew her wonder was over.
“He’s looking for me.” Her hushed words were full of awe and remorse.
“Did you think he wouldn’t?” Ace couldn’t imagine having that kind of doubt in his own family.
“Well, I didn’t know. I never wanted this to happen. I was so lonely and just wanted to feel loved. James had been so busy, and he met this new girl, and all of the sudden nothing was the same again.”
Excitement at her remembrance nearly doubled him over, but he needed her to continue, to remember what happened. “Why would you think that?”
Pepper was lost as she answered him. “She was always cancelling our outings. James and I had a standing lunch every Sunday. No matter what was happening, we always had lunch. Then she comes along and just like that, he was too busy, or she had plans for them already. I could never reach him. When I called the house, he was never home. When I called his cell, he was always on the other phone or in the shower, and he never got my messages. I know she didn’t give them to him.” A lone tear slid down her face as she remembered, and he wanted to gut the callous female whoever she was. “I started feeling like a burden, so I stopped calling, stopped being stood up in that stupid restaurant I always hated. I just wanted our connection back, you know?”
Ace soothed her. “Yeah, baby, I know.” He spotted Nick entering the room. The thunderous look on his face one of knowing.
“Do you want to ca
ll him?” Nick asked Pepper.
Startled by his question, she gave him a horrifying look. “I couldn’t possibly. I don’t want to be a bother to him. Or her.” The last part was said with so much hurt, he felt it to his soul.
“A bother?” he and Nick both asked at once.
“Well...” She looked between them, not understanding their outrage. “Yeah.”
“I can’t imagine it would be a bother to him. Men are dumb, Pepper, far dumber than we let on, and I can tell you that it’s unlikely your brother even realized what he was doing let alone noticed this viper was manipulating him. We’re stupid like that.” Ace tried to reason with her. Men weren’t the smartest when it came to women, especially their feelings, but he knew without a shadow of a doubt, they would love their family.
“What he said.” Nick thumbed at him.
“I don’t know…” Her voice trailed off as if she wanted to but was afraid.
“How about I call him first?” Ace offered, hoping to ease some of her fears.
Turning on his lap, she looked at him hopefully. “You would do that?”
Her doubt in them kept him baffled, but he supposed after what happened to her, it was more with humanity than them. “We’d do anything for you, baby.” She could ask him to jump off a building and the likelihood of him doing it were high. Higher still if she had a good reason.
Leaning forward, she placed her lips on his, murmuring a quiet thank you as she nodded for him to call her brother.
Excusing himself, he walked into the kitchen with Nick’s phone in hand as they whispered back and forth to each other. After looking up her brother’s information, it was easy enough to get a hold of his cell number.
It rang three times before a strong, haggard male voice answered. “Detective Wallace.”
“Detective, this is Deputy Ace Mitchell with the sheriff’s office in Golden–” Before he could finish, her brother was interrupting him.
“Tell me you’ve found her! Is she okay? Where can I find her? Oh, fuck!” He cursed as though an idea struck him. “Is she dead?” Ace could feel the other man’s pain as real as his own.
“Calm down, Detective, she’s fine. Well, mostly. Sheriff Kelly and I found her two weeks ago.”
“Two weeks!” James screamed through the line. “Why the fuck have you waited so long to get in touch? What kind of shit show is your sheriff running down there!” Ace tried to hold his temper, this was Pepper’s brother after all. A man he would have to converse with on a regular basis if they had their way, but his own patience was wearing thin.
“Detective!” he snapped back. “Some things have happened, and I’d rather not discuss it over the phone.”
“Things? What things? Where’s Pepper?”
Ace’s voice was getting out of control just as Pepper and Nick walked out of the office, obviously hearing his escalating tone at trying to get her brother under control.
“Let me?” she asked quietly.
Ace chanced a look at his cousin. Was she ready?
Nick took the phone, pushing the speaker phone button so they could all hear. “Detective Wallace?”
“Who’s this now?”
“This is Sheriff Kelly. I understand you’re upset and need to know what’s happening. Before I allow that, you need to understand not everything can be explained over the phone.” Nick was far more patient than he was able to be.
“Fine, whatever. Where’s Pepper? Where is my sister?”
The agony in her brother’s voice was Pepper’s undoing as she broke down in tears, snatching the phone from Nick’s strong grip. “James?” she sobbed into the receiver.
“Pepper?” His voice was full of amazement and relief. “Christ, Pepper, are you alright? Where are you?”
“I’m fine, James. Mostly. There was an accident. I’m sorry I couldn’t call.” Closing her eyes, she absorbed the love exuding from the other end of the line.
“How could you when I haven’t been around? I’m so damn sorry, kid. You have no idea.” A bark of laughter left her mouth at his apology.
“What do you have to be sorry for, James?”
“For what I said before you left. I didn’t mean any of it.”
His answer confused her. “What do you mean? What did you say?”
“You don’t remember?” He was the confused one now.
“James, I don’t even remember my name. Until a week ago, I didn’t remember you,” she explained.
“What? What happened up there?” The grief in his words was palpable.
The reality of speaking to a man she only remembered in name was so much more difficult than she ever could have anticipated. “I don’t know,” she responded quietly. While she was getting her memory back, she still had no idea of who had done this to her.
“Sheriff?” James called out.
“I’m here, Detective,” Nick’s strong voice gave her strength when she thought her own was zapped.
“Take me off speaker phone please.” Her eyes widened in shock at his request. Was he going to tell Nick to keep her, that he didn’t care about her? Was she really the burden he’d accused her of?
Ace must have sensed her turmoil as he pulled her into his strong arms, rubbing her back in soothing circles as she fought to control her frantic mind.
“Relax, baby. He’s concerned.” His whispered words didn’t help calm her the way he probably would have hoped.
Pulling back, she went to sit on the small bench by the window. It had become her place of solace when her mind tried to control everything. Watching nature had helped ease some of the pain from the memory loss, to help her open her heart to these two incredible men when she felt like she had shut it off from the pain of loneliness.
Nick and Ace moved to the office, evidently intent on talking to her brother and figuring out everything that was going on. She knew Nick had gotten the name of her attacker, and she should feel some sort of relief or closure in uncovering who he was, but all she felt was empty inside.
Everything was coming to a close, and her fear was stronger than ever. She wanted to remember desperately, but with that task she knew would come the time to make decisions she wasn’t ready for. Like whether she went back to Vancouver or stayed here with them.
Pepper knew they wanted her to stay. Oddly, it was the only thing she did know. Her fear originated with the thought of what if they only said it to soothe her. What if it was said in the heat of the moment.
Roxie’s bark from the door drew her from her ruminations before she could come up with a concrete answer. Rising to her feet, she strode towards the animal. “Hi, girl,” she said. After scratching the dog’s ears, she got her own coat and shoes on, needing the fresh air to clear her mind.
As soon as the door was opened, Roxie shot off like a rocket going to space, chasing something that had caught her eye. Pepper wished she had the freedom to just be the same way the animals did. To just be herself without the expectations from others.
Clearing the snow from the porch steps, she sat and waited for the dog to come back. Her black and white fur could be seen dashing through the trees as she chased her prey. One thing she continued to be shocked about was that Roxie never pursued to kill. Even when she had an animal cornered, she always backed off so they could escape.
A classy girl she was for sure.
Closing her eyes, Pepper enjoyed the soft breeze as it cooled her overactive mind. The shine from the sun bouncing off the fresh snow lulled her into relaxation. Her mind wandered as birds chirped and branches rustled.
“Oh, Alex, it’s so beautiful here,” she exclaimed as they entered their room in the Kicking Horse Lodge. A place he’d been telling her about for weeks.
“I told you you’d love it.” His arms wrapped around her from behind as he ground his erection against her ass. Something he’d been doing more and more of late. Pepper was still unsure of how she felt about such intimacy.
“What are we going to do first?” she asked him enthusiastic
ally, not wanting to point out she wasn’t ready for taking that next step yet as she turned in his arms.
A dark look crossed his features when she moved away from his touch. “I thought we could just relax in the room for the night. Get room service, find a movie, talk.” He said all the right things, but his eyes, there was something within them she couldn’t identify.
“Oh.” Disappointment rang through her words. “I suppose so.”
“You don’t want to be alone with me?” His voice held laughter, his face held anger.
She was quick to amend her statement. “No, no, of course, I do. We have plenty of time to see everything.” She tried to smile but knew it didn’t reach her eyes.
The rest of the evening was spent walking on eggshells, trying not to anger him. He masked it well, but she saw it. Lurking behind his fake mask.
They ate dinner in strained silence, only commenting on how wonderful the food was prepared. She couldn’t even taste it. She wanted to call Tami so bad, tell her she had to leave, but he never left her side. It was like he sensed her nervousness.
When it came time to choose a movie, his pick was not something she’d have ever watched with someone else, let alone by herself. But he seemed to like the whole blood and gore of the horror flick. Pepper spent the whole time trying not to cringe when he would slide his hand up her thigh with each squirt of blood across the screen. When the villain massacred the entire town, she realized Alex was getting off on all the horror. His eyes were lit like a Christmas tree as the character licked blood from his fingers.
“I’ll be right back.” She attempted to excuse herself to the washroom, but his hand tightened on her thigh. It was almost as though he hadn’t heard what she said. His body came down on top of hers, his mouth devouring her while she fought to push him away. She knew she was in trouble.
“Alex, stop.” Her request only seemed to spur him on as he tried to force himself on her more.
“I need you, baby.” His words were distorted. She couldn’t even describe it.
“No. You have to stop, Alex.” She kept saying his name in hopes he would listen to her plea.
