Professor Reese stood before her. He had several small stone icons dangling from a leather cord on his neck.
“Where is Montgomery?” she gasped. “Did you kill him?”
“Oh, of course. The night I disappeared.”
Yes. That was who had been hammering at her mind, trying to get her to open up. Montgomery. As soon as she’d walked in he’d tried to warn her.
She heard Loch walking down the hall and she struggled to scream, to warn him. “Cover her mouth,” the professor said to Richard, and Richard clamped his hand firmly over her mouth, pinning her in place. Ginger writhed and bit at Richard’s hand until it bled, but he didn’t move.
Should she shift? There wasn’t much point; she was in a room with two panther shifters who could easily take her wolf down.
Loch entered the room a minute later, and froze for a second in shock when he saw the scene before him, with Ginger restrained and struggling. Then he let out a roar of rage and lunged forward.
Professor Reese waved the stone icon and said a few words, and Loch went crashing down to his knees, and his eyes glazed over.
“Stand up,” Professor Reese barked. Loch stood up. “Sit at the table, in that chair,” Reese ordered, and the sheriff did as he was told.
“What did you do to him?” Ginger gasped.
“You’re next, you know,” Professor Reese smiled gently, the way he did when he was asking one of his students to fetch him coffee. “You’ll still be able to understand what’s going on around you, and feel rage and despair and humiliation. But you won’t be able to do a damned thing about it. I could tell you to gauge your own eyes out, and you’d do it.”
Ginger’s heart was pounding so hard she thought it would crack through her rib cage.
Was Loch’s mind gone forever? Was there no saving him? The thought made her so angry that her vision swam red. Her mate. Loch was her mate. Professor Reese was hurting her mate.
She needed to stall. This couldn’t be the end. Ginger Colby was not a quitter. “Tell me what happened first,” she pleaded.
His smile spread wider. He was a raging egomaniac, and she knew he couldn’t resist the urge to brag.
He turned to Jason. “Tell them what you did,” he ordered him. “Tell him about how you brought about the end of the Panther nation.”
A tear glittered in Jason’s eye, and he blinked hard, and began talking, in a wooden, despairing voice.
“I was supposed to guard the icons,” he said. “It was my sacred duty, but I let myself be distracted by Tommy Deerkiller’s daughter. While we were in the woods together, someone broke in to the hut where we keep them. It was probably Tommy; we’ve known for a long time that he was stealing and selling sacred panther items. I heard the noise and ran back there and interrupted the burglary, but it was too late. Someone had disturbed the wooden box which held the most powerful of icons, the Mind-stealer. The box was on the floor and there were stone amulets scattered all over. I told my father. He said that it was high time we found a way to destroy the icon, but we didn’t know which one it was.”
“How could you not know?”
He stayed silent.
“Answer her,” Reese said.
“We never open the box. We simply guard it. It hasn’t been opened in centuries, since the death of River Runs Red. We thought that there was only the Mind-stealer in there. We were shocked to see all the icons scattered on the floor.”
Ginger glanced over at Loch. His face twitched, his eyes blazing with anger, but he stayed frozen where he sat.
“Richard and his father contacted me at the university, and secretly hired me to come out here and look through the icons and identify the Mind-stealer,” Professor Reese said with a smile. “I set up the dig so that I could get close to the panther’s property, and then Richard and Jason arranged for a disturbance on the far edge of the property to distract everyone, so I could have time to come on the property and look at the icons in the hut where they’re guarded. I saw the shape-shifter icon in there, recognized it, and changed shape just as Montgomery came into the hut to confront me.”
“You killed him and took his place,” Ginger said. “Why take his place?”
“For all kinds of reasons. For power. For fun. To hide the fact that I’d killed him. So I could stay on the property and look through all of the icons at my leisure. I’m the ruler of the panther nation now. I’ve been fucking every young panther woman I fancy. It’s been delightful.” He grinned, and his eyes had a mad glow to them. Jason’s face twitched with anger, but he stood still as a statue.
“Jason’s sister was particularly tight and delicious. I fucked her in every hole,” The professor taunted. “Of course, she cried when I popped her cherry, and she cried even harder when I took her up the ass, but no panther dares to refuse the orders of Montgomery Eagle Feather. She could barely walk when I finished using her. Limped out of her bleeding, and wailing like a kitten.”
Jason’s lips quivered.
“Got something to say, Jason?” the professor grinned.
Jason stood silently, with murder blazing in his eyes.
“Why did you kill Tallulah?” Ginger blinked back tears.
“Ahh, yes. Quite sad. Tallulah was an angel, wasn’t she? But it had to be done, you see. The Mind Stealer is the most powerful icon of all, giving the wearing complete control over any shifter…but it is only activated by the fresh blood of a human virgin.”
Ginger felt as if she were going to vomit. Tallulah must have been overjoyed when she saw the professor again, and over the moon when he asked her to marry him. She’d eagerly run off to her death. Ginger could only pray it had been quick.
“When did you kill her?”
“Last night. The people here were starting to suspect me. Jason and Richard came to confront me. I needed to gain control of them.”
“If the icon gets its power from fresh blood, won’t the power wear off?” she asked despairingly.
“Yes, it will. I will have to re-activate it at every full moon, with a fresh human virgin. That won’t be a problem. Killing is surprisingly easy after the first time.”
“It doesn’t work perfectly. These people here are still fighting you. If anyone saw them out in public, they’d know something was wrong.”
“It takes time. The longer I have people under my control, the weaker their minds become. I’m still experimenting, learning my way around these icons. But the day will come when I control all of the shifter leaders in the nation. And now…it’s your turn.”
He pointed the stone icon at Ginger and said the words again. She froze in place.
“Let go of her,” he said to Richard. Richard released her arm.
He pointed at the table. “Go sit down,” he told her. She walked over to the table and sat down, staring at Tallulah’s body. The smell of blood was overwhelming, threatening to choke her.
How long had it taken Tallulah to die? She wondered, blinking back tears. What had her final thoughts been?
He walked up behind her, and ran his fingers through her hair.
“I’m going to make you watch while I fuck your fated mate,” he told Loch. “She’s going to suck me dry. She’s going to howl like a dog for me. Then I think I’ll have her fuck every panther shifter under my control, all at the same time. We’ll have a big, delightful orgy. I might even make you join in.”
Ginger felt fear and nausea swirling inside her. She was so terrified that she was light-headed, her heart pounding in her chest. She could feel her lunch roiling in her stomach and struggled not to vomit on the table in front of her.
Loch quivered, but couldn’t move.
“Isn’t this fun, Ginger?” Professor Reese grinned, bent down, and ran his tongue up her neck. She sat frozen in place.
The professor turned and started to walk away.
Ginger’s hand shot out. She grabbed the blood-stained knife that lay next to Tallulah’s body, and leaped through the air, knocking the professor to the ground. He h
it the floor with a surprised oof.
Big girl power, she thought.
Before he could move or bark a command to his enslaved thralls, she’d slashed the leather cord holding the stone icons, and yanked it from his neck. The icons scattered and bounced on the wooden floor.
“What? How?” His eyes were wild with fright and shock.
Her fangs sprang out, and her eyes blazed with rage. “I’m only half shifter,” she snarled. “So the spell didn’t work on me. Stay down, or I’ll kill you.”
Something black appeared in her peripheral vision, and the next thing she knew, two huge panthers who had been Jason and Richard knocked her away and sent her rolling on the ground. And then Loch and Jax joined them, in wolf form, huge and gray and howling with fury.
She heard roars, and claws rending flesh, and horrible, horrible screams that grew higher and higher in pitch. She covered her face with her hands; there was nothing that she could do to stop the enraged shifters.
The screaming turned to wet gurgling.
She felt strong hands on her. Loch was in human form again, kneeling next to her.
Loch pulled her to feet and she collapsed into his arms, weeping, her knees trembling so hard she could barely stand.
Chapter Sixteen
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Loch asked for the millionth time.
“Fine. I’m fine.” Ginger’s voice was steady but her hands were still shaking.
She was sitting in the sheriff’s office with Winifred, Loch, Lola and Marigold crowded around her. Lola had bought her an ice pack which she pressed against her temples; she had a throbbing headache from the whole ordeal.
“I just heard from Marcus Running Horse, who was the Panther Nation’s second in command. He’s temporary leader while they convene and figure out what to do next,” Loch said. “This is unprecedented.”
“What about the icons?”
“They’re going to modernize their security. Build a massive vault to store the icons in.”
“What about Tommy Deerkiller?”
“He’s still going to be prosecuted for dealing in stolen property. He’ll likely get a few years in prison. Obviously he didn’t kill anyone. It appears that the professor, disguised as Montgomery is the one who framed him, put the bloody clothes in his house and called us from a disposable phone to tip us off.”
Ginger nodded, wearily. “I still can’t believe Tallulah’s dead. That poor, silly, naïve girl. Have you notified her parents?”
“Yes.” Loch’s face was resigned and sad. “The part of my job that I hate the most. They’re flying in to claim the body.”
“At least this hideous ordeal is over with,” Marigold said.
“Most of it. We’ve still got the Wolf Shifter Council gunning for us,” Ginger pointed out.
“No, you don’t. You didn’t stick around at the barbecue to see what happened,” Willie said. “I told Aurora that I’m planning on making an immediate challenge for her council seat. You should have seen her face. She went white as a sheet.”
“You can do that?”
“Yes. It requires 90 percent of the vote to pass, and normally it’s just about impossible to unseat a council member, but Aurora’s very, very unpopular, and she knows it. Her family’s been throwing their weight around for years. And everyone knows that she tried to replace Loch with Jax. After what Jax pulled, openly attacking the panthers and nearly starting a war, that makes her look like a fool. She’s going to lose her council seat, big time.”
“I can stay?” Ginger’s eyes lit up, and suddenly she felt as if she could breathe again.
“I was never going to let you go,” Loch’s voice came out in a growl.
He went down on one knee and took her hand in his.
“You’re going to ask me to marry you, right here and now?” Ginger asked.
“No, not now. What I am going to do is, I’m going to tell you that I’m going to ask you to marry me, when a little time has passed, when we’ve put this day behind us. I love you. When you’re not with me, I ache for you. You are my fated mate, and you are here where you belong.”
“Oh.” Ginger’s voice was husky with emotion. “Well, when you ask me to marry you, I will say yes. Because now that I’ve met you, I believe in fated mates. I never did before, and I fought it every step of the way, but I can’t fight it any more. I love you so much it hurts. You are the one for me. And I will dance with you any time that you ask.”
Epilogue
“You’re sure that you want to do this?” Loch said, as they pulled up in front of the battered metal shell that served as the Arbuckle residence.
“Rather than have Cletus’ family taken away and placed with strangers? Yes,” Ginger said firmly. “You know what that would do to him. He’d fight you like crazy, and it would be horribly traumatic for everyone, and then he’d probably quit work and fall to pieces. I think he’d be okay with me stepping in as foster parent until he turns 18. He likes me. I’m the best alternative.”
She’d stalled Loch as long as she could, but Loch had finally put his foot down. He had to uphold the law. He couldn’t leave four young children living in a house with only a minor to supervise them, and Cletus was still a minor.
“It’s too bad,” Loch said, shaking his head. “The house looks the best I’ve seen it in years. He’s obviously doing a pretty good job keeping it up.”
The house actually did look as if someone was taking the best possible care of it. The lawn was mowed, there were fresh geraniums planted out front in a bed of mulch, and someone had washed the metal exterior recently and slapped a fresh coat of paint on the shutters.
The door swung open, and Cletus walked out. When he saw Ginger and Loch, his face lit up in a smile, to Ginger’s surprise.
“You heard about my ma?” he asked.
A woman appeared behind him, and walked down the steps, holding a broom in one hand, which she set down on the stairs. She was older, with a weary, lined face and brown hair shot through with gray and pulled back in a bun. She wore a faded dress and had holes in her dirty sneakers.
“You’re back?” Loch’s jaw dropped.
“I went away to rehab. I haven’t had a drink in a month now,” she said proudly.
Loch peered at her. “By god, you’re right. If you had I could scent it on you. You should have told someone where you were going, though. You should have arranged for care for your kids.”
She looked down at the ground, ashamed. “I know I should have. I was just so afraid I’d screw up, and let everyone down again. But I’m back now for good. That man at the community center, where Cletus works, he gave me a job cleaning up.” She smiled proudly. “He said Cletus is a real hard worker. Best one he’s got. He said any family of Cletus, he’d be proud to have on his payroll.”
Loch nodded slowly. “See that you stay clean this time, Emmaline. You pretty much are out of second chances.”
She bobbed her head earnestly. “I know. I know.”
Ginger pulled Cletus aside. “That was your wish, wasn’t it? At the wishing well? You wished for your mother to come back?” she said in a low voice.
He nodded, his eyes suddenly glittering with tears that he blinked away quickly.
“It worked, didn’t it?” he said proudly.
“It most certainly did. Because we’re in Blue Moon County, where wishes come true.”
THE END
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue
rgette St. Clair, The Alpha Claims A Mate
The Alpha Claims A Mate Page 13
