by Elle Thorne
Should he give chase?
Near him, on the coffee table the loud sound of a cell phone vibrating on wood disrupted the alarming peace. He flinched from the jarring sound and leapt to his feet, heading toward the offending noise.
Hopefully it was Glory with an explanation as to why she vanished without a word.
Picking it up, he saw the name. He’d added it after her last call.
Mae Forester.
Uncle Frank’s note said to call her. Should he talk to her now or go after Glory?
Aunt Mae could keep. He pressed Decline and pocketed the phone. He dressed to go after Glory.
In his pocket the phone began its insistent buzzing. Could it be Glory this time? He looked.
Again Mae.
Again he declined the call.
On the third ring, he decided if she was going to work that hard to reach him, he should talk to her.
Tapping on the Accept icon, he put the phone to his ear and gathered his clothes.
“Dane?”
“Hey, Aunt Mae.”
“I was beginning to worry when you didn’t take my call.”
“Worry about what?”
“That something had happened to you. That you’d been hurt…” On the other end he heard her breath being sucked in. “Or worse.”
“I’m fine.” Except I’m headfucked again. Over Glory. Again. “Uncle Frank’s note said to call you, that Glory’s parents were killed by the same shifters.”
“Yes. I was supposed to talk to you, if something happened to him.”
“How long have you known that the same shifters that killed my father and Uncle Greg were the same ones that killed Glory’s family?”
“Not long.”
Long enough. “Aunt Mae, that’s not very definitive.”
“Here’s something definitive for you. They’re coming back. This time for you. I’ve had them tracked.”
“It’s time for you to stop protecting me. I want to know why they’re killing my family and why they did the same to Glory’s.”
“Glory’s family was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The rovers ran into them while they were hunting for you and Frank. They’d heard that the ivy shifter girl was involved with you, so they thought she’d have answers. They mistakenly assumed Honor was the one. They never knew about Glory. Her family never told about her.”
Dane knew Mae well enough to know she was skirting. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“They tortured her family. Clearly they never gave you or Frank up.”
“Why? Why do they want my family dead?”
“It’s a vendetta. Your mother…”
“My mother? She died giving birth to me, what could this have to do with her?”
“She was mated to a cruel shifter—a badger. He tormented and beat her mercilessly. One night, at a poker game, he was drunk and losing. Your mother was the stakes.”
Dane took a seat. “My father won my mother in a poker game?”
“He won her for a night. A night wasn’t enough. You should have seen the way your parents loved, Dane. I’ve never…” Her voice became choked up. She coughed, sniffled, and then continued. “I’ve never seen a couple so in tune with each other. The badger was furious and shamed. He died trying to kill your mother. The badger’s father swore vengeance that the Forester bloodline would be erased. Here we are.”
“Holy hell. That’s…” Dane didn’t even know what to say. What could he? “That’s fucking crazy. Sorry, Aunt Mae.” He’d never cursed around the woman who’d been as close to a mother as an orphaned, wandering man could have had.
“They’re back in Bitter Falls. And my sources say they know you’re there. They haven’t figured out that Dane Forester is Dane Snow.”
“How can they not know what I look like?”
“You can thank Frank for that.”
Dane knew his aunt Mae. He also knew the unspoken words. She and Uncle Frank both worked hard to protect his identity. Him, the last of the Foresters, now it was up to him to carry on the family name. He knew that meant a lot to his father and his uncles.
“I’ll do that, when I see him in shifter heaven.” Dane strove for humor because he couldn’t show how angry he was about the eradication of his family at the hand of an egotistical badger shifter who was perfectly willing to sell his woman for the night, but not to let her go free, and certainly not to let her be happy—without him.
“I don’t think I like what I’m hearing in your voice, Dane. It’s dangerous for you there. They are coming for you.”
Anger flourished in his soul, a burn to let blood flow, even if it meant his own. The same bastards had taken his father from him and then Glory’s family. “I’ll be waiting.” His tone was grim.
“Don’t be foolish, Dane. There’s at least five of them.”
His mind flew to Glory. She was out there, alone, and possibly in danger.
“I’ve got this. I need to let you go, Aunt Mae. I can’t have them killing Glory this time. She got lucky last time.”
“One more thing, Dane. Glory’s sister, Honor. She didn’t die that day.”
“What are you saying? She’s alive?”
“There was no third body that day.”
Now what was he to do with that? Was he supposed to tell Glory and throw her life into chaos again? If Honor wanted Glory to know where she was, wouldn’t she have contacted her? Maybe Honor didn’t want her sister to know she was alive. Maybe she’d started a new life somewhere else.
Or maybe Honor was dead, and it would be cruel to tell Glory she might be alive, only to have her relive the whole ordeal again.
“Perhaps word of Honor’s body not being found that day is best kept from Glory, Aunt Mae.”
“Agreed. Leave town, Dane. Go far away. I’m sending a team to handle them, once and for all.”
Yeah, right. As if he’d abandon Glory a second time.
He shoved on his jeans, pulled on a tee and his boots and headed out the door.
As soon as he’d stepped into the cool predawn darkness, he paused and took a deep breath.
Glory’s scent was strong, but not so strong that she’d just left. It had been a good while since she’d gone. He’d be able to track her though.
He’d travel much more quickly in his snow leopard. He sprinted from the porch to the thickness of the forest and paused in the cover of the trees, camouflaged from any prying eyes.
He gritted his teeth as his snow leopard pushed forward into the shift. A burst of pops broke through the sound of the crickets, giving the forest’s noises a momentary pause.
He closed his eyes against the pain and grunted as tendons elongated, then changed. Hundreds of bones cracked, his flesh felt like it had become a large rubber band.
His chest heaved and he dropped to all fours. Fur began to sprout on his arms, his hands morphed into large snow leopard paws. Stretching his pads, his claws extended and dug into the forest’s dirt floor, sinking into the mulchy texture, displacing pine needles and stones.
He threw his head back, releasing a roar, filling the forest with his fury and concern for his mate.
Yeah, that’s right.
His mate.
He’d think of her as no other’s mate after what they’d shared. The ivy shifter she was pledged to would have to answer to him.
His snow leopard’s anger drove his passion for revenge, the need for caution now secondary to the desire for retribution and the safety of his love.
Chapter Twelve
Glory wanted to shake her head to clear it. She knew better than to do that. She’d garner unwanted attention from the shifters. She could hear the voices of the shifters who’d Tranq-ed her.
The fog tried to push her back into a fuddled state, but her ivy worked overtime with Glory to regain control of her brain.
She was in her human form. She didn’t remember shifting. She opened her eyes to a slit. Four shifters, gathered around a dead fire, long dead by the looks of it. Sh
e was still in the forest, thankfully. For some reason it gave her comfort to know she was still near Bitter Falls. Still near enough for Dane to save her.
If he comes for me.
Why would he come, though? He’d have no reason to. Not really, since she’d slunk away like a thief in the night, without as much as a word. Why would he want anything to do with her after her actions?
Her hands and feet were bound, she was leaning against a tree on soft ground. Soft, except for the rock that was poking in the middle of her ass cheek. It felt more like an arrowhead. She wanted to move. She couldn’t. That wouldn’t do. That’d give away she was not unconscious.
The four shifters were seated on boulders, talking in low voices. She heard occasional words but they were careful for the most part to keep their voices below the preternatural shifter threshold of hearing. She kept her breathing and pulse even so they wouldn’t notice she’d awakened.
Of the shifters, she recognized the one named Basil, who’d been with Abel, the one she’d killed. She also recognized the one who’d held the pistol that Tranq-ed her. The other two had been with the one that shot her. Were there more of them? Could her ivy take four shifters? She wasn’t convinced she could, especially not if they were going to Tranq her again.
She’d give it her best try though. She pushed her ivy to shift.
Nothing happened.
She pushed once more.
Again, nothing.
What the hell is going on, she asked her ivy.
Her ivy had no answer, but she was there.
Why couldn’t she shift? Was it something in the Tranq? Had it ever been used on an ivy shifter? Her guess would have been no, since ivy shifters remained private and did not mingle with other shifters.
Don’t panic, she instructed herself. Don’t panic.
The last thing she needed was to freak-out and set her pulse to racing and give herself away to the thugs around the fire.
What did they want with her? They were clearly the same ones that killed her family. Why were they back? Was there some reason for them to go after her family?
She heard her name and held her breath to hear what they were saying.
“… Kill… now…” This came from Basil.
Grumbling sounds came from another shifter.
“He said…” a third shifter began, before the rest of his sentence trailed off into indiscernible mumbling.
“No.” Basil’s voice was loud. “I don’t care what he said. She killed my brother.”
That explained the resemblance. Abel was Basil’s brother. Too bad she hadn’t killed him too before they’d Tranq-ed her.
She heard the sounds of branches crackling.
Dane! Who else could it be!
She lost control of her heart rate as it sped up. Dane would help her get free and he’d kill these bastards.
She reined her pulse in. The sound of footsteps and leaves rustling grew closer.
But it sounded like more than one person.
Perhaps Dane had reinforcements.
Even better.
The wind blew, blowing scents of shifters her way. She inhaled deeply to pick up Dane’s reassuring scent.
Except that wasn’t Dane’s. There was one.
Male.
Unfamiliar.
And there was another scent.
Familiar.
Sara?
Sara was with Dane? Here to save her? No, wait. That wasn’t Dane’s scent. Did Dane send someone out here? Was Dane behind them?
A form shot forward from behind the trees and bushes then collided into her.
“Glory. Thank goodness we found you.” Sara hugged Glory.
“Oh my God, Sara, be careful. There are…” She’d been ready to warn Sara the rover shifters were there and now she’d be in danger too, when another form stepped out of the shadows.
Glory had never seen him before, but she knew right away who it was from his picture.
“Perry Moore?” The surprised words slipped out.
His smile was tight-lipped. “Glory.”
“You’re in danger. You don’t understand.” The words came tumbling out of Glory’s mouth.
At the same moment, the four shifters walked up, standing next to Perry.
God, they’re going to kill him and Sara.
She pushed for a shift so she could help them before it was too late, but nothing happened again.
Fury flowed through her body, leaving her shaking with anger at her helplessness.
Two more innocents are going to die now, and it’s all my fault. They’re here to save me.
“What’s going on here?” Perry frowned, the downward vee in his brows marring his handsome face.
“Can’t you see?” Sara turned toward Perry. “They’ve taken Glory captive. We have to help her.” Sara fumbled with the binds securing Glory’s hands.
“Hush, love.” Perry leaned down, put a hand out and pulled Sara to a stand next to him. “You really don’t understand what’s going on here.” He snaked his arm around Sara’s waist, pulling her close to his body.
Sara looked at him, her smile insipid and her gaze infatuated.
Sara and Perry?
Confusion rocked Glory. Not that she cared about Sara and Perry being together, but that she had no clue.
What?
Glory’s head began to spin, but this time it wasn’t the Tranq. She was the one who didn’t understand. Why did he call Sara love? Why were the shifters not attacking him?
“She’s not supposed to be here.” He scowled at Basil. “You and Abel should have handled this.”
“She killed Abel.”
“We agreed. She was not to see me.”
Sara’s eyes were ping-ponging back and forth between Basil and Perry, her mouth agape.
Glory tried to process this new change of events. It was too much. What did Perry have to do with these shifters? They were the ones who killed her family and Dane’s uncle. How did Perry know them? Why’d he say she wasn’t supposed to see him?
“Perry?” Sara’s voice sounded like a little girl who’d lost her puppy. “What are you saying?”
“Nothing, dearest. We’ll be together just like we should be.”
“But Glory’s not going to be hurt, right? You promised. You said she didn’t want to be bonded to you anyway—”
Perry put his fingers over her lips in an intimate way that made Glory’s stomach turn—not from jealousy but from the deception being perpetrated.
Glory had thought Sara was slow, sure, but this… this trickery was too much.
“She killed my brother. She doesn’t deserve a swift death.”
“You and your brother are far from the professionals I thought you to be. How difficult can it be to take out a single female ivy shifter? It was a side job to augment the assignment you were here for.” Perry shook his head as if in disappointment. “Such a disgrace to rovers everywhere.” His glare took in the other three shifters. “I’d find a new leader if I were you.”
Basil ground his teeth so loudly, the sound was worse than nails on a chalkboard. His fists clenched at his side.
“Deal with it.” Perry gave Basil another dirty look. “Immediately. Or you can forget payment.”
“No, Perry.” Sara yanked on his sleeve. “You can’t do this. They can’t hurt Glory.”
“Everything will be fine. Don’t worry, love. I can’t break the agreement between her parents and mine. I can’t bring disgrace to my family or lose my position. I have a plan.”
Glory scoffed. “Your position is worth more than my life? Sara, don’t let this happen.”
“Don’t you trust me?” Perry asked Sara. “Aren’t we going to be happy? You’ll have my heirs. With her out of the way, you’re the next in line for her position within the Aleman family.”
“What position?” Glory screeched at him. “We aren’t royalty. We—”
Sara turned toward Glory, her face lit up “You don’t know what you’re talking
about. Your parents never told you.” Sara’s smile was vapid. “You’re descended from royalty. As are my sister and I. And Perry needs to marry ivy royalty to keep his position. Luckily, he fell in love with me.” She ran her fingertips up his arm, then back down. “Right, Perry?”
Glory cringed. Her cousin had lost it.
“That’s right. I did.” He barely gave Sara a glance.
What’s his game?
He didn’t love Sara—that was obvious. What was this business about royalty though? She’d have to ask someone—but who? She had no friends in the ivy shifter world. “Does Mary know about this?”
Sara frowned. “Not yet. Perry doesn’t want to make it public yet. Don’t worry, Glory, Perry won’t let them kill you.”
Sure he won’t.
“Why kill me? Why not just have it annulled?” Glory flexed her hands, hoping to release the binds. “And what makes you think we’re royalty?”
“That’s not how it works,” Perry scoffed.
Sara scratched her head. “Didn’t your parents tell you? Before your father’s father was exiled, your family was next in line to rule the Irish ivies.”
Has she lost her mind?
Glory thought of all the stories her mother used to tell her about a young prince whose father had lost the crown. Bedtime stories, when she and her sister were young. Was there a measure of truth in her stories? She always stopped telling them when their father would come in to kiss them goodnight.
That can’t be.
And yet, it looked like it was.
“Then I don’t understand, if my father’s father was exiled… how is it that…” Her head ached from the effects of the Tranq. Putting her thoughts together was difficult. She didn’t seem to be able to draw a line between two points.
“Your father’s family was reinstated back to power. And you’re the only heir.”
Behind Perry two of the shifters began to cough. He gave them a dirty look. “What’s your problem?”
The two shifters glanced at each other.
“Nothing. Sorry,” one said.
And yet the shifters didn’t look apologetic.
“So if I’m…” Glory didn’t want to use the word dead. “So if I am not around, my nearest relative…”
