She tilted his head back and pinched his nose before blowing into his mouth. Once, twice. She then pressed her palms together just below his sternum. Pushing down hard, she did it again and again. “Come on, Ransom. Please.”
Her tears watered down her words. How long had he been underwater? Did time move differently between the two realms? Did the impact kill him before he could drown?
She wasn’t going to think like that. She couldn’t. Another pair of rescue breaths and she compressed his chest again. “Breathe!”
Harder this time. Something snapped under her hands. Now he had a broken rib too.
“Don’t make me walk into the realm of the dead to fetch you, Ransom. Because I will.” She punctuated each word with a push on his chest. “I will go wherever—”
Ransom convulsed and turned on his side, curling up as he vomited water.
Yes! He’s alive. Kinley laughed between her tears.
Brayden let out a whoop that echoed over the lake.
Kinley patted Ransom on the back as he emptied his stomach and lungs. She pressed her body to his, giving him her heat, and brushed his wet hair back from his face. “You’re alive. I thought I’d lost you.”
“Never.” Ransom coughed as he spoke, but he gripped her hand and held it against his chest.
His heart thumped beneath her palm. Regular and healthy. She kissed his cheek.
Ransom attempted to sit up and winced, shivering against her.
“Sorry. I think I broke a rib. Maybe two. I need to get you inside—” Kinley turned her head as Brayden chuffed, moving closer to her. He pointed at something, she slowly swiveled her gaze to it.
Not five feet away stood a lynx. The lynx. The totem.
A hint of mist swirled around its paws as it regarded her and Ransom. It padded closer, and she noticed a hint of color nestled in its thick fur. The token.
“Hey, friend.” Ransom’s voice was hoarse and low. “Sorry to walk on the bridge. I promise not to do it again. Well, until, you know.”
The lynx’s eyes lifted to stare at Kinley.
You found him.
She smiled. “I did. Nothing would have stopped me. Please don’t be angry with him for going on the bridge. He’s a hero. He saved Brayden.”
Behind her, Brayden softly rumbled a few non-words. The tone told her it was his own apology.
He led a soul to one side and saved a soul on another. The totem put a paw gently on Ransom’s chest and lowered its head as if bowing. Several more once more.
“What?” Kinley gaped. She wasn’t going to let Ransom out of her sight!
Ransom gasped as the totem melted into his chest. His back arched and a snap preceded him drawing a deep breath. The totem vanished, leaving an intricate patterned tattoo necklace upon him. It had similarities to Ametta’s elk tattoo, and yet it was immensely different. The blues and white mixed with a hint of red and brown, and the lynx at the center might not catch a person’s eye if they didn’t know what they were looking for, hidden so well within the swirls—branches and snow?—as it was.
“Ransom?” Kinley held him tighter.
“Holy crap!” Brayden exclaimed. In his boy’s voice.
Glancing at him, he was human once again. Fully clothed with his hair neat and trimmed. Realizing he was back to normal, Brayden let out another hoot and hugged himself, laughing.
Ransom took Kinley’s head between his hands and kissed her, passionate and hungry. He grinned when he finally took his lips away. “I have to do one thing more. Will you wait for me?”
“Yes.” She couldn’t manage any other intelligible word. And before she could think to ask him what it was he had to do, he shifted and ran into the woods. Gone. Again.
She just got him back. She hadn’t said all the things she wanted to. Surely he’d be right back, right?
“This is awesome! I need to go see my mom. Did you… Uh…” Brayden’s eyes went wide and his face colored. He averted his gaze, but it drifted back to her again. “Um, you’re naked.”
It didn’t matter. She had to wait for Ransom. He would… Damn. She didn’t have any clothes on in front of a twelve-year-old boy. Swiftly she wrapped her arms around herself and stood. If she was lucky, she hadn’t already jump-started the kid into puberty.
“Let’s get inside.” Kinley stood and hurried into the lodge. Brayden followed behind her, hopefully not ogling her rear. She grabbed the nearest thing—a plaid blanket draped over a chair—and covered herself with it.
Modesty. Good. The kid still gaped at her. Kinley gave him a small smile. “So I should go to my room to get dressed. Are you doing okay? You’re not hurt or anything?”
Brayden swallowed and shook his head. “Nope. Feeling good. Um…” He held his closed hand out to her and opened his fingers. “Here. I kept a hold of this for you.”
Her bear necklace. She smiled even more and gently removed it from his hand. “Thank you so much.” She slipped it on over her head. “You should go home and see your mom now. Unless you want me to come with you?”
“Mom.” Brayden yanked his gaze from her and stumbled back to the door. “No, it’s okay. Thank you for, you know, everything. When Ransom comes back, let me know.”
“Yes, of course.” Kinley waved to him before he turned and darted out the door. Early as it was in the morning, she expected that once Brayden got home, the whole village would be woken up with the excitement.
Back in her room, she dressed. Her boots and coat were lost, but she layered on the fleece and threw on one of Ransom’s hooded sweatshirts on top. She picked up her cell and started to type a text to her family to let them know Ransom got the lynx totem, but stopped. Maybe she should wait until he got back. They’d have questions. And if he was gone longer… No. He’d be back soon.
Slipping her phone into her pocket, Kinley went outside and stared into the woods. Ransom’s scent was barely in the air. Or was it his shirt she was smelling? She could still follow him. His tracks… were absent. Interesting. An effect of the token?
Ransom asked her to wait, though, and so she would.
An hour or so later, Clyde tromped through the snow toward the lodge. When he saw Kinley on the porch, he waved and hurried over. “You guys are back!” He swept her up in a massive hug. “And Brayden’s home. No one thought it possible, but I knew you guys wouldn’t let us down. Where’s your man? I owe him a drink.”
Kinley stuffed her hands into her front pocket once he released her. “Ransom’s… gone to do something.” She wished she knew what. “He’ll be back soon. I’m just going to wait here for him.”
“Okay.” Clyde’s brows furrowed. “Do you want to wait inside? I can make you something to eat. You guys have been gone for a while—”
“How long?”
“Jefferson, the bossman, passed away two nights ago. You guys have been gone since then. Everyone’s been really worried.”
Two nights. Kinley snatched her phone from her pocket and opened her messages. Three from clients. None from her family.
“Oh. I’m sorry.” She slipped her cell back in and shuffled to sit on one of the Adirondack chairs. Her chest constricted as she looked back to the forest. She couldn’t cry in front of Clyde. “I’m just going to be here.”
“All right.” Clyde leaned and rested a hand on her shoulder. “If Ransom says he’s going to be back, he will.”
Clyde brought her hot coffee and blueberry waffles. Mara cooked her soup for lunch. Brayden’s mom came with zucchini bread and cried with gratitude on Kinley’s shoulder while the boy blushed.
The sun disappeared from the sky and still Ransom had not returned.
The cold crept into her bones, but Kinley refused to move. Mara had fetched a blanket for her earlier, but the fibers now glistened with frost. Kinley stood and bounced, walking along the porch to get her blood pumping.
Clyde came out with another round of coffee. “Maybe you ought to come—” Splashing in the lake had both him and Kinley rushing to the shore.
Please let it not be Ransom again. He was lucky enough to survive the first time, but if the lake monster—
“The fish!” Clyde laughed and cheered. “The fish are back, and they’re feisty. Yeah!”
Yes, she could see them now. Dozens of little splashes of excited fish near the mouth of the river. But no Ransom.
“I need something harder than coffee.” Clyde tossed his coffee into the snow and turned to Kinley. His grin fell. “Hey, come inside. Get warm, sleep a little. I’ll keep watch for you.”
Kinley shook her head and turned away from the lake. “It’s okay. I’m not tired…” Was that movement in among the trees? “I…”
A lynx loped out of the woods. Ransom. She ran toward him.
Behind him, more slowly, came a girl with pigtails. And a boy. Then a dozen more with others still coming.
The missing children. He’d found them all.
As Kinley reached him, Ransom shifted, and she wrapped her blanket around him along with her arms. “You came back.”
“And you waited for me.” He grinned that sinful grin and kissed her. “No matter how much I want to celebrate alone with you, we’ve got a bunch of kids who need to get inside and have Mara feed them. Please don’t let Clyde do it. They’ve already been through too much.”
Kinley laughed and hugged him tighter. He came back.
Kinley didn’t want to carry a baby as part of her Goblin King costume, so hopefully the crowd at Bert’s masquerade knew which character she was. Thankfully she got more raised cups than confused stares. One vampire even whispered in her ear that she noticed the cuffs were the same pattern of lace as David Bowie’s.
Not that Kinley had a chance to ask, but either she met another fangirl as crazy for details as she or the vampire had known Bowie.
The great tents in which the party was held were gothically grand with black and gray stripes, and the heat inside surprised her. Could be from the several candles and fire bowls set up throughout, but the fact there were several shifters present could also be the cause. Along with the activities she’d spied going on in dark nooks and not so dark ones.
Ransom’s band played first on the stage at the side closest to the mountain. The five of them had dressed as the automatons from Five Nights at Freddy’s. Ransom with his auburn hair was Foxy. And that was what he brought to what should be a terrifying costume.
Kinley watched from the side and accepted a drink from a masked maid. All the catering staff wore maid and butler costumes. Not sexy French maids or secret agent cut suits, but staunch Victorian styled outfits. Something she bet was Bert’s idea.
“Kin!”
She turned at the sound of her name to see Ametta dragging Lucky through the crowd toward her. Lucky’s muscles bulged in his gladiator costume, and her sister’s white Roman noble dress swept elegantly around her. They dressed as a couple. How did Ametta manage to convince… No, never mind. Ametta always got her way in these things.
“Mett!” Kinley smiled and hugged her younger sister. “You guys look spectacular!”
“Thanks. So do you… mash-up of a Victorian noble and punk rock singer?” Ametta motioned to Kinley’s costume.
Lucky reached over and pulled Kinley into a one-armed hug. “It’s the Goblin King. Even I know that. Hi, Kin.”
Actually, Kinley was shocked Lucky knew it, but it tickled her that he did and her sister didn’t. “Hiya. You got it, gladiator.”
Ametta waved it off and glanced out into the crowd. “Have you seen Mr. Ellsworth? Or the doctor? And Saskia’s supposed to be here too.”
“Saskia?” Kinley choked on her next breath. Of course all three of the sisters were invited to the masquerade, but Saskia had been obsessed with the totem hunt. And only she would dare decline or ignore Bert’s invitation, which Kinley assumed.
What was even more, Saskia had only texted Kinley a few words since she told her family Ransom had the lynx token. She suspected since someone else found a totem before Saskia again, her older sister would be going crazy to locate one herself.
“I told Saskia she had to come. She’ll be working a lot with Mr. Ellsworth next year, and she needs to rub elbows a little more. I also added that maybe with all the supernaturals in this one spot tonight, something might happen.” Ametta shrugged and smirked.
The band’s last song ended, and the crowd cheered as the band took their bows before exiting the stage. Kinley waved at Ransom, but he was already making a beeline toward her. His smile seemed all the more mischievous with his costume.
Kinley embraced him. “You guys were awesome!”
“Thanks, babe.” Ransom kissed her and then held out his hand to Lucky. “Hey, man. Kickass costume.”
Lucky grinned and shook his hand. “Thanks. You too.”
Ransom presented his hand to Ametta. “And you look as gorgeous as ever.”
Ametta pressed her lips together, but she’d never been one to ignore a compliment. “Thank you.”
When Ametta took his hand, expressions of shock chased away the smiles. They immediately let go of each other, both stepping back. Ametta rubbed her palm and cursed under her breath.
Ransom didn’t bother to do it quite so quietly. “Shit. That was intense.”
“What happened?” Kinley laid a hand on his arm.
“It was like an electric charge. We touched, and it didn’t want to break apart.” Ametta inched closer to Lucky who put an arm around her and rubbed her back.
“Not exactly electric. It was hot and almost like it was alive.” Ransom flexed his fingers and shook his hand out. “You think this is because we both have tokens?”
It made absolute sense. The tokens were meant to be together in one totem pole. It would be natural that they wanted to fuse together. It would be fascinating to see what happened when they had all the tokens. Would all the token bearers come together to form one giant robot? Well, no, that would be silly. She guessed it would be Sedge’s job to see all the totems meld into one again in the pole.
If they could get all the tokens. The owl token was stolen by the golden eagle shifter, and Saskia claimed Death took the fox one. Kinley didn’t argue with her about it, but she suspected it might be the same bitch who’d swiped the other one.
“Good evening to you all.” Bert stood beside Kinley. She hadn’t even seen him approach. He was in Phantom mode tonight. “You each look marvelous.”
“And so do you, Mr. Ellsworth.” Ametta flashed her business smile and let the vampire take her hand to kiss the back of it. He did the same with Kinley before offering the Kodiak shifter his hand.
“Nice to see you again, Mr. Osberg. I hear you’re keeping my designer busy this winter.” Bert’s smaller hand disappeared in Lucky’s.
“That I am.” Lucky grinned and ignored the tone-it-down look Ametta gave him.
Bert then hugged Ransom. “So good of you and your friends to play at my masquerade. And even better that you managed to drag yourself away from your romantic trip to be here.” His gaze drifted to Ransom’s chest where the tattoo was partially covered, but he said nothing about it. “Where is the last of the lovely Dorns? Ah, here she comes.”
Kinley strained to see over Lucky’s shoulder. And there, coming like two bulls through the crowd, was Saskia and Sedge. Not dressed up, of course.
Bert stepped forward to greet them. “Miss Dorn, such a pleasure to have you here. It’s rare I see all three of you beautiful sisters together.”
“Thanks for the invite.” Appearing way too calm and cool, Saskia shook the masked vampire’s hand. She motioned to Sedge without looking at him. “Let me introduce you to—”
“Ah yes, Sedge Kvasnikov. I’ve heard about you.” Bert was a foot shorter than Sedge and a mere slip of a man next to the humongous polar bear shifter. Yet he didn’t shy away. Well, Bert did run up a giant zombie and stick it in the face with a sword.
“Berton Ellsworth. I’ve heard about you too.” Sedge clasped hands with him, and while the shake was b
rief, it seemed to Kinley to last decades with how they looked at one another.
And their comments. Wow. Cryptic. Kinley swallowed and waited for someone to break the growing silence.
Thankfully Bert stepped back and gave a sweeping little bow with his cape. “I’m afraid I must cut this short. My Christine awaits me in her dressing room, and I must see if she is ready to take the stage. Please do enjoy yourselves.”
Everyone said their thank yous and good nights, and when Bert made his exit, Saskia was fast in front of Ransom to examine his chest.
“Oh. Hey, hi.” Ransom’s grin was not its usual sparkling self.
Ametta put her hands on her hips. “Hi to you too, Saskia. You haven’t been answering my texts.”
“What was that we felt a few minutes ago? What did you do?” Sedge folded his arms. His white coat did nothing to hide the strength in his massive arms.
“I didn’t do anything, unless you were asking about my sweet, sweet music. I had no idea you were a fan.” Ransom didn’t stop Saskia from her inspection of his totem tattoo, but his muscles tensed with their scrutiny. Saskia ignored Ametta’s question.
Kinley’s stomach roiled. How she hated how Ametta glowered at Saskia and how Saskia acted like neither of her sisters existed. Family needed to stick together, even when there was a crisis. Especially when there was a crisis.
“Do you mean when Ametta and Ransom shook hands?” Kinley drew Sedge’s and Saskia’s attention. “When they touched, a current ran between the two of them, linking them together. We suspected the totems did it.”
“They did.” Saskia sighed and then grumbled, “There doesn’t seem to be a way to get it off him.”
What? They wanted to take the token away from Ransom? Kinley’s brows furrowed. There had been no indication they wanted to do that with Ametta’s. Why would… Ah. Of course, because it was Ransom.
“No, I don’t suppose there is other than death.” Sedge huffed.
“Whoa. Wait a second.” Ransom put up his hands. “Why was that even a thought?”
“You’re thinking about killing him?” Ametta shook her head. “I can’t believe you guys. I understand wanting to take the token, but killing him for it? You’ve gone over the edge with this thing.”
Ghost Cat (Totem Book 5) Page 8
