by Chloe Cole
He dropped his head back against the chair and squeezed his eyes closed as the tension in his neck crawled upward to his temples.
They had definitely gotten off on the wrong foot this morning. He'd been in the throes of a recurring nightmare. One where he'd been sent to rescue a small group of people from a refugee camp in Algeria. And, just like in real life, in his dream, it hadn't worked out the way they planned. A dozen innocent people were killed.
But then, Mina was there, in his dreams. With her cool hand on his chest, soothing him, comforting him, drawing the pain from his body and taking it into her own. And in his dream he had clung to that, desperate for the lifeline that she was. Needing to feel a connection so badly. The tents and the guns and the blood had faded away until it was just the two of them.
When he'd finally heard her calling his name, dragging him from his slumber, he'd felt like he'd gotten hit with a brick. His body like a furnace, blowing off so much heat, he could barely catch his breath. It took a few seconds to get his bearings, and when he did, he knew he'd made a critical error letting her stay so close.
So he'd come in to work this morning with what he thought was a solid plan. He'd stay here at the station on his little office couch, and Mina would stay at his place with Rip guarding her there. He would set up his part-timers to take four-hour watch shifts outside the house as a secondary precaution.
Now, he had to re-evaluate yet again. He didn't want to make either of the women uncomfortable when Rip clearly had beef, but he sure as shit couldn't spend another night with just a wall separating him and Mina.
He was still chewing on that bone when his door swung open again, without a knock.
Rip poked her head in again, and the tension around her mouth had increased tenfold.
"Jogger just found a body in the woods over near Jessup Road. Looks like a wild animal attack."
Mina had walked up behind her, the riot of emotions playing across her face speaking volumes. Surprise and sadness, to be sure, but underneath it all?
Rage.
Pure, unadulterated rage. It rolled off her in waves, and she fairly trembled with it.
Which meant she knew something about this new development.
A chill of unrest stole through him. Wild animal attack, his ass. He would bet his last dollar that, once they investigated this further, they'd find that this was another murder, plain and simple.
And while Mina hadn't committed this crime either, his gut told him she knew who did, and it sure as shit wasn't some ex-boyfriend.
There was something far bigger going on here, and he was going to get to the bottom of it, even if it killed him.
"Not on your fucking life."
Dans hot her a withering glare, but she ignored him.
"If you want to charge me with something, go for it. But until or unless you do, I'm not getting in that cage."
Mina flicked a glance from him to the open cell and back again, trying to keep her expression neutral. In truth, she was fighting panic. Shifters were animals in the deepest part of their hearts, and being trapped brought every one of those instincts to the forefront. It didn't matter that, with just a few moments of alone time, she could stretch those bars apart wide enough to squeeze out. It was the principal of the thing.
No cages.
Not ever.
He jangled the keys in one hand and flexed his jaw. "What do you suggest then? If your ex is still out there looking for you, you're in no less danger than you were yesterday. The safest place for you is here."
She let out a snort and rose one brow in challenge. "Really? According to you last night, the safest place for me is with you."
His jaw clenched and his eyes went stormy. She could almost see it...the mental reel playing in his head of the two of them tangled on his bed just a few hours before.
Okay, so maybe that hadn't turned out the way she'd planned it, but there was no way she was going to let him back her into a corner here. If she managed to stop herself from ripping the bars off their hinges, she was still in for hours of helplessness, stuck in a box while more innocents were hurt.
And if she didn't manage to stop herself?
Then she'd wind up effectively outing herself as something "other" or making the local police think she was some sort of escape artist and criminal mastermind. Option A would only enrage the Council further and ensure that Dan and his crew would wind up on a kill list to keep them from spreading the word. Option B would have her at the top of the Styx police department’s most wanted list as he tried to figure out her tie to the murders and disappearances in the area.
"Let me come with you." She knew it was a long shot, but she was running out of solutions.
His brow caved into a dark frown. "Not going to happen. You're not law enforcement, Mina. I can't have you out there tromping all over the scene or risking your safety."
"I can help, though. I'm an experienced tracker. That's why I came to Montana in the first place."
Not exactly a lie, for once. She had come to Montana to track an animal. Namely, Etienne the dragon shifter so she could get to his now-mate Taya. But that didn't make her feel less guilty. She was already knee-deep in lies. She wasn't about to pat herself on the back for backing into a sort-of-truth.
Nerves gave way to steely resolve as she focused on the goal. She needed to stay in the know and in control of the narrative here in town until she figured out how to neutralize the Council before anyone else got hurt. In order to do that, she needed an in, and this was the only one she had right now.
"If it was a wild animal, I can tell you what kind and locate it for you so you can take action and put it down. Deputize me," she demanded, determined not to let his stony expression sway her. "If you're worried about liability, make it official, quick-like, and I'll do my best to help you guys. You said it yourself, Dan. You guys are short-handed already. Think about the safety of the rest of the town."
Her tone had shifted to pleading and she realized with a start that she had reached out and grabbed his forearm at some point during her pitch.
She resisted the urge to drop it like a hot potato as the electricity between them sizzled like a live wire.
"Please, Dan." She held his stony gaze. "I'll lose my mind if you leave me here in that cell."
He must have heard the sincerity in that...the first entirely honest thing she'd said almost since they'd met.
She nearly melted into a puddle of relief when she sensed the softening in him.
"Shit," he muttered, before nodding his head slowly. "Fine. You can come, but only long enough to look for tracks. After that, you wait in the car until we've processed the scene, got it?"
"Yes, sure. Absolutely." She released his arm and took a step back before glancing down at her clothes.
Dan had loaned her a hoodie that reached the middle of her thighs, so she was covered, but she still wore her heels, which obviously wouldn't work.
He followed her gaze and jammed the keys in his hand back into his pocket.
"We'll stop at the general store on the way out and get you some work boots or sneakers so you can make the hike. But first, let's get out that bible and some forms and make this official so we don't find ourselves slapped with a lawsuit."
Deputy Ripley was going to flip her shit when she realized what was happening, but Mina couldn't worry about the redhead right now. She had to use every spare second to formulate a plan for every eventuality when they reached the crime scene.
Deputy Mina Silva.
She had to admit, it had a nice ring to it.
"Do I get a badge or-?"
He didn't bother to reply before turning to cut a path down the hallway, but she didn't let that bring her down.
She'd managed to score her first win in days and she wasn't going to squander it. She'd already managed to send a coded message to Etienne’s uncle, Rene, when she'd been online looking through random Facebook pages in search of good old "Vince”. By sunset, she should have a very cle
ar picture of what the Council's plan was and how far they were willing to go to get to her.
And then? She'd find a way to stop them and their reign of terror.
For good this time.
Chapter Seven
It was a crying shame.
Danstared down at the body of the mangled hiker, willing the image of a vibrant, living Stacy Bruce from his mind. If he started to feel too much, he wouldn't be able to think straight, and now more than ever, he needed his mind right.
But it wasn't easy. Stacy was one of the good ones. Smart, quick to laugh, and the first to volunteer for any committees or charity events, she'd been a teacher in town for way longer than he’d lived there.
Now, here she was, totally unrecognizable, looking like she'd been put through a meat grinder. If not for the fact that they'd found her cell phone nearby, they would've been forced to wait for labs to ID what was left of her.
He sucked a breath in through his nose, the smell of death souring that of damp earth and fresh, Montana air.
"Boss?" Rip's low voice was warmer than it had been all day as she pulled up beside him and patted his shoulder. "You good?"
He turned from the gruesome scene and faced his deputy.
"Yeah, fine. Let's start by walking a grid, dozen yards in all directions, all right?"
She snapped to it, striding off toward her squad car to get a camera and some evidence bags, shoulder-checking Mina "by accident" as she passed. To Mina's credit, she didn't react, but there was no question she felt it.
"Sorry about that," he said stuffing a hand into his pants pocket. "I don't know what's gotten into her."
"Seriously?" A baffled frown wrinkled Mina's smooth brow. "And you call yourself a detective?"
"No. I call myself a Sheriff."
"Well, either way, you need to get a clue. She's in love with you, Sheriff. And she sees me as a threat."
He heard the words but they took awhile to sink in.
Rip? In love with him?
That was insane. Sure, she cared about him, and respected him as a boss. And of course there was a deep level of trust between them like with any small crew tasked with handling difficult or dangerous situations at times. She felt the same way about Jimmy.
Didn't she?
His chest went tight as he recalled the expression on Rip's face earlier in his office. Then, he thought back to the night before.
She'd disliked Mina on sight. And she had seemed hurt when she realized he'd followed Mina back to her motel. Dan had assumed it was just irritation at the idea that he'd fallen for the pretty face despite the fact that Mina was trouble from the start. That Rip was disappointed in him.
Could it be more than that?
"You'll get there eventually, sport," Mina said with a mirthless grin. "And when you do, pay her the kindness of letting her know you're not interested. Until then, she'll think there's some hope. And hope that things will change when they won't is what gets people stuck in a holding pattern. She deserves to move on and find someone who will love her back."
Despite the lack of judgment in her tone, the words hit home like an arrow to the gut. He was saved from responding as she brushed past him toward the body, but the damage was done.
He'd had some tough days in his life, but the past two were ramping up to be in the running for top ten worst for sure. He'd failed to protect two more of his citizens, and had actively hurt one of his best friends.
But as it stood, there was no time to dwell on it now. He had another body on his hands and, he suspected, a shit-ton more trouble coming down the pike. Sometime soon, though, he'd have to prep for an uncomfortable talk with a woman he had no desire to hurt.
He watched as Mina circled the scene, keen, blue eyes seeming to take in every detail. Her shoulders stiffened as she stared down at Stacy's remains but beyond that and a barely suppressed grimace, she didn't react. Major improvement from the night before. Sad how quickly people adapted to horror when pressed.
Or was it more than that?
She stood for a long moment, lips moving wordlessly in what he could only assume was a silent prayer, before turning away, gaze locked on the ground.
She moved slowly, purposefully, eyes flitting this way and that. Every so often, she'd pause, drop to a squat and touch her fingertips to the ground. Less than a minute later, she came back to where he stood, stopping a few feet from him.
"Mountain lion," she said flatly.
Not a question. She'd said it like it was fact.
And it was.
He'd lived in Montana now long enough to know mountain lion tracks when he saw them. As much as he'd only allowed her to come along so he could gauge her reaction to the scene, she'd been telling the truth about her knowledge of tracking. The only question now was whether or not she would tell him the truth about the rest of it.
Because there was more to this story than just the animal.
The muscle in his jaw began to twitch as he waited for Mina to say something. To mention what he'd recognized almost instantly. But the longer she remained silent, the more his instincts clamored.
Dimly, he heard Rip in the distance radioing for the M.E., but he kept his gaze on Mina.
"So, what do you think happened, exactly?" he asked, irritated with himself for even showing that much of his hand.
She pursed her lips and looked off in the distance as if the mountains held the answer to his question.
"What's there to think?" She shrugged and then leveled him with those tortured blue eyes that said so much more than she realized. "It's a cut and dried case of wrong place, wrong time mixed with the unpredictability of a wild animal. Tragic."
It was tragic. Only this wasn't some unlucky happenstance resulting in an easy meal for a hungry predator, or a mother protecting her young. This was something else. Something he'd seen before more times than he'd cared to count, and he knew Mina had seen it too. It was written all over the forest floor around them, in the broken branches, trampled saplings, and muddy prints.
A goddamned trap. A sophisticated ambush that, if his instincts were right, would have required the cunning and forethought only one beast on this earth possessed.
Man himself.
God help them all.
Mina stared out the passenger side window, the dank gray of the wispy clouds in the early evening sky a perfect match for her mood.
The scene in the forest had been grim, to say the least. They'd been there for hours collecting samples and measuring prints, all under the guise of tracking the animal responsible and locating it for capture. But Mina knew better.
And, worse? She was starting to think Dan did too.
"How are you holding up?"
His quiet concern derailed her thoughts and she turned to peek over at him through her lashes.
He was exhausted. Even in the fading daylight she could see weariness in his profile. They’d gone straight from the scene back to the station and worked for another three hours before he finally called it quits. Even then, she was pretty sure if he wasn't saddled with her he would've stayed longer, but she imagined she looked about as rough as he did. What he didn't realize was that sleep wouldn't fix what was ailing her.
"I'm hanging in."
"You should grab a slice of that pizza before it gets cold."
They'd stopped by Rosie's pizza joint on their way out of town when Dan remembered his cupboards were bare. Too drained to argue, she reached back into the neat white box on the seat behind them and tugged open the top. The mouthwatering smell of tangy tomatoes and olive oil filled her senses.
"Oh my god, that smells good."
She tugged out a still warm slice and handed it to Dan before getting herself one and closing the box.
She closed her gritty eyes and bit in, humming with relief as warm, gooey cheese hit her taste buds.
Things were bad right now. About as bad as they got, but the power of a hot meal was strong magic, and she couldn't deny that her misery lessened a notch.
"Christ, I was starving," Dan murmured as he navigated the country roads with one hand. "I didn't even realize it."
For the first time since they had gotten into the car, the silence was companionable as they ate. Once they'd polished off their slices, she got them each a second without prompting, which Dan took with a nod of thanks. It all felt so easy and comfortable for once.
Which was why she was totally unprepared for Dan's next words.
"When were you going to mention that all the mountain lion tracks led into that clearing, but none came out?"
A chunk of crust wedged itself into her suddenly dry throat and she swallowed hard to dislodge it.
Rage filled her, and the false sense of momentary calm she'd allowed herself to be lulled into faded in a flash.
Those bastards had been so cocksure, so full of themselves, that they hadn't even bothered to try to clean up their mess aside from a cursory swipe at the human footprints the lion shifter had left behind when he'd shifted back into a man after his meal.
Or was it more than carelessness? The Council used to pride itself on secrecy. Making sure that shifters under their regime kept a low profile whenever possible. Now, only two days into their hunt for her, they'd done the exact opposite with one bloody murder and a suspicious-looking animal attack. Were they making a point? Letting her know there truly was nowhere to run...nowhere to hide, nothing they wouldn't risk to get to her?
One more thing she promised herself she would make them regret.
"Mina?"
Dan's tone had an edge to it now and he shot a glance her way. There was no way she was getting out of answering him somehow, but damned if she knew what to say.
She'd opened her mouth to try to stall for time when a sharp crack echoed through the car and the windshield buckled as a large rock bounced off the glass. Dan bit out a curse as he yanked the wheel hard to the right. Mina slammed against the center console, gripping the armrest to stay upright.
"What the hell?" Dan snarled as the tires skidded to a halt on the dirt and grass shoulder of the winding road. He popped the car into park and scrubbed at his jaw as he craned his head toward the window. "What was that?"
