by T. Cobbin
“Shut up, you idiot.” The other elbowed his companion in the gut and pointed at Harris. “Didn’t you just see him change from a fucking cat?”
“Huh, change?” the other asked.
“Shut up.” Harris growled and took a step forward. “How many pictures did you take and where are they?”
“Pictures?”
Harris rolled his eyes. “Are you deaf as well as stupid? Yes, pictures, with a camera.”
“Oh, you mean…We umm took a few… Jacob told us to…”
“You fucking idiot,” his friend screamed at him. “You don’t say his name. If he finds out, he will shoot your arse.”
“Shut up!” Harris roared. “Your arses are mine at the moment and theirs.” He gestured toward the multitude of different cats. “Where are the other pictures? How many did you take? Where’s the fucking camera? What did you tell him?” His frustration was growing. He wanted to be with his mate, by her side, and taking care of his people instead of standing in front of two thick bastards who didn’t have any idea their days were numbered.
“We gave Jacob the SD card from the camera this morning. We’re only here now ’cause the boss told us to clean out. We told him about one black cat we took the picture of. We didn’t know about the others. The only other picture we took was of Melinda with a young girl walking through the village. Are those cats really people?”
“Where’s the camera?” Harris asked, exasperated.
“In the boot of my car in a rucksack,” the other bloke answered, glaring at his companion. He looked slowly around him, his eyes wide. It looked like fear was catching the man up; he was beginning to quiver. “You let us see what you are…”
Harris watched as both men suddenly realized they were in deep shit once again, only this time not with Jacob Hardy. Harris nodded, signaling the shifters who completely surrounded the men.
“You think Jacob is your worst nightmare...well, think again.” Harris shifted back to his leopard and with a roar he pounced.
With wide eyes and the stench of urine hitting the air the men took their last breaths.
* * * *
Melinda paced the bedroom floor. Terrie had gone to her room when they all returned to the house. Garrett was downstairs in the living room drinking a glass of Harris’s expensive brandy. The pictures she’d seen on the table were playing on her mind. Terrie had told her everything that had been said in the bakery. Would Jacob really release the pictures? What would that do to the village?
She threw herself on the bed, rolled, and crawled up it to bury her head in Harris’s pillow. Breathing his scent in calmed her frayed nerves. She had come so far in such a short time. From waking up with no memory and falling in love with a man built like a brick shithouse to loving the village where he lived. Where she now lived. She sighed. Rolling onto her back, she hugged Harris’s pillow close to her chest. Tears burned behind her eyelids, threatening to fall.
She wouldn’t let Jacob ruin everything for Harris and these folks. This place offered peace to those in trouble like her. The pain, or even death, of one person was better than a hundred, right? she asked herself. Sitting up, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the small, white card she’d plucked from the bakery table. Looking over at the phone, she knew what she had to do.
“Jacob.” The man answered his phone after a couple of rings.
“It’s Melinda. I’ve been told you’re looking for me.”
“Why yes, hello. You have caused me quite an ordeal, my dear. Are you ready to come home now?” he asked, his voice all smarmy.
Melinda fought the bile rising in her throat. “I lost my memory. I didn’t remember who I was or where I came from. I’m sorry if I’ve caused any trouble. These people have been so kind to me. I woke up freezing cold and hurting, and they looked after me. Garrett, the village policeman, gave me your card this afternoon after you left, and he showed me my picture on the missing persons poster.”
“That’s quite a story, dear. You don’t remember who I am?”
She could hear the hope in his voice that maybe what she was saying was true. Well, part of it was, she mused, but if she could carry on playing this game maybe he would forget about the villagers and move on to her. She had put up with shit from her father for years, she could do it again, couldn’t she?
“No, sorry. I know your name is Jacob Hardy because it’s on the card. I also know you’re my uncle, and I know you were looking for me because Garrett told me. But I have no idea about anything else.”
“Where are you now?”
Melinda had already thought this part of the plan out and hoped she could fulfill it. “In the police station. Garrett brought me here to show me the poster.”
“Stay there, I’ll come pick you up.”
Melinda put the phone down, her heart pounding in her chest. She looked around the room, thinking about Harris and what he had given her in such a short time. Harris and the villagers had given her hope that love and life could be what she had always wished for. But if she stayed there, it would put them all in danger. If she could play dumb and hold out with the memory loss with Jacob, she could give the villagers the peace they had come there to find.
She walked to the bedroom door, taking in the bedroom one more time, then turned and crept downstairs. Getting past Garrett was no problem at all. For a policeman, let alone a shifter, he wasn’t very observant. The back door shut with a click and the hole in Melinda’s heart grew. She walked behind the houses until she arrived at the police station. Taking a seat inside the small building, she waited.
* * * *
Harris paused from licking the blood off his paws to look around. The two men had been disposed of and it was doubtful their bones would ever be found. A couple of Harris’s enforcers were taking care of their vehicle. It was currently being driven to an airport long-stay car park. Now all he had to do was get rid of Jacob. That, though, might be a little harder than getting rid of his men. Jacob was a well-known, influential man, and if he went missing, more than likely someone would notice.
“Alpha, we have movement again. One of the SUVs from earlier is coming back toward the village,” Lens said, breaking through Harris’s thoughts.
He’d left a few enforcers to patrol the village, but most of them were currently with him now. Panic hit him. What the fuck were they coming back for?
“Terrie?”
“Aye, Harris. What’s up? You sound worried.”
“Where are Garrett and Chick?”
“Garrett is downstairs, and Melinda’s in your room.”
“Verify that and get back to me.” Harris sent out a telepathic warning to everyone. “We have company. Be careful.”
He moved off with the other felines who were with him. Gradually, the group spread apart from each other. Each of them prowling low, camouflaging themselves into the background. All of them heading toward the village.
“Harris, you aren’t going to like this…” his sister said quietly.
“Melinda isn’t in the house.” It was a statement, not a question, because in his bones he already knew it.
“Aye.”
“Stay there and don’t go out.”
“But I can help, Harris.”
“Not this time, Terrie. Where’s Garrett?”
“He’s out looking for her as we speak.”
“Okay, stay at home and stay safe.”
Blocking the connection between he and his sister, Harris pushed his leopard. With a burst of speed they ran as fast as they could toward home.
Chapter 23
Harris crept along one of the village walls. The black SUV was beginning to pull away from the police station.
“What do you want us to do?” his brother asked.
“I have a really bad feeling Chick is in that car.”
“What the fuck for?”
“I guess she thinks she can save us.”
He knew he had to make a decision, but it was his mate or the village. Would J
acob release those photos? Having a panther in the village was nothing, they could hide that, ignore the press, but the faces of his people were in those pictures and that’s what could be damaging. They had come there for peace, some of them hiding from their old prides or kin. Each villager had their own story. His heart was tearing in two as the vehicle pulled away. If Jacob was to die, who would miss him? If he had the memory card on him, who would have seen it? Harris knew he had to take the risk.
“Surround the car,” Harris ordered. “I’ll get in front and stop them. When I do keep yourself hidden ’til I give the sign.”
Harris ran along the road behind a wall. The black tinted windows didn’t let him see who was inside the vehicle as he passed it. Reaching a safe distance ahead of the car, he stood in the center of the road and shifted back to his human form. He gritted his teeth and hoped the damn car stopped.
* * * *
Sitting at Garrett’s huge desk, Melinda finished writing the note she wanted to leave for Harris. She couldn’t disappear and not let him know how much she loved him. Folding the paper neatly, she left it in the middle of the desk so it would be the first thing Garrett saw.
Her mind slipped into a depression every passing second she sat there waiting for her future to arrive. She lifted her head when the door opened, but it wasn’t who she expected. Standing in the doorway was a rather disgruntled and sweaty Garrett. He opened his mouth to say something, but instead of speaking he stood on the spot frozen for a second, then his face changed to a grimace and he collapsed on the floor face down. She winced hearing the thump of his body hitting the ground. There was a small bleeding wound on the back of his head. Looking up, she gasped when she saw a tall man with sunglasses on his face and a gun in his hand. This was not how she saw things going. He waved the gun in a come-hither motion.
“Why did you do that?” she asked, glancing down at Garrett sprawled on the floor.
“I wouldn’t make Jacob wait any longer than necessary.” The man grunted and waved his gun again toward the door.
Rising from her seat, she moved toward the man, who gestured for her to walk ahead of him. She guessed the façade was over and Jacob was about to show his true colors.
Walking past Garrett’s body, she breathed a sigh of relief seeing his chest rise as he inhaled. She saw the car as she stepped outside of the small building, and she walked toward it. Every nerve in her body was standing on end. Her insides were screaming this was wrong. Her mind was in turmoil, shouting what the fuck have you done? But seeing the car door open she knew it was too late. Looking around the village one last time, she ducked in and sat down.
“Hello, Uncle,” she said, keeping up the pretence.
“Nice of you to finally join me, Melinda. I’m sure your father will be most happy that you are alive and well and finally in my care. He has gone through a rather rough few weeks.” Jacob chuckled.
Melinda was unsure how to feel about that statement. Had Jacob had her father beaten to a pulp? Did she really care? A small part of her did. He was her father, after all.
“I’m sorry I haven’t contacted you before. As I said on the phone, I woke up a few weeks ago in some kind of crevice in the earth, freezing cold and with quite a few injuries as you can see,” she said, holding up her broken arm. “I had no idea how I got there or even why I was so beaten up.”
“It seems a likely story, especially after my visit to the village and of course leaving the photographs too.”
His eyes examined her from top to bottom, and she could almost hear him telling her she was a liar. Which didn’t bother her that much, because she was. Keeping her emotions hidden, she decided to keep the lie going.
“I was visiting Flo upstairs in the bakery when Terrie came rushing up to tell us some man had come looking for his niece and she thought it was me.” She paused telling her story when she remembered why she’d gone upstairs in the bakery in the first place.
Suddenly, she was jerked forward as the car braked heavily. She hadn’t put a seatbelt on when she’d climbed into the car so found herself hurtling forward into the back of the driver’s seat. Her head rebounded off the headrest and whacked against the window. Pain exploded through her brain for a few seconds before darkness pulled her under.
* * * *
Harris stood in the middle of the road butt naked having managed to run past the car and get in front of it.
“Alpha, we found Garrett on the floor of the police office. Chick’s been in here recently, her scent is here and she’s left a note for you.”
“Is he alive?”
“Yeah. He’s coming to now.”
He was going to tan her backside to make sure she didn’t pull anything like this again. Didn’t she trust him to take care of this? A panicked thought went through his head briefly. What if she’d gone with Jacob because she wanted to? He quickly shoved that aside and concentrated on the car that was thankfully breaking hard at seeing him. Before the car came to a full stop the first bodyguard was out of his front passenger seat, pointing a gun directly at Harris’s chest.
“Move!” he shouted.
“Felix?”
“On it.”
Harris stood his ground and watched as Felix’s snow leopard crept up behind the bodyguard. It opened its jaws wide and lunged forward, grabbing hold of the man’s ankles and pulling him backward. The bodyguard screamed in pain. He went down hard and fast, his face scraping along the ground, his hands scrambling in front of him, trying to reach his lost gun. Harris watched both leopard and man disappear behind the car. He could scent the fear now coming from the vehicle.
“Get out of the car,” Harris shouted. He waited patiently until finally the back passenger door opened and Jacob climbed out, clapping his hands.
“Well done, Mr. Rockwell. It looks like you have trained your pussy cats well. It also seems you have more than one big cat here. Am I right?”
“You have no idea.” Harris smirked.
“I don’t suppose my men will be much good for anything now. Oh well, I was thinking about breaking some new ones in anyway.”
Harris growled and took a few steps toward Jacob.
The bloke held up his hands. “I wouldn’t. I have two men with me, and the other is currently pointing a rather large gun at Melinda’s head. That’s why you’re here, I guess?”
“Melinda,” Harris shouted without taking his eyes off Jacob. Hearing nothing, he roared her name louder. “Chick, answer me!” Silence greeted him again.
“She can’t answer you right now.”
Harris inhaled and sure enough he knew she was in the car. “I know she’s in there, you bag of shit.”
“You’re right, of course, but she wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, so she hit her head and is currently unconscious.” Jacob leaned down and peered into the back of the car. Harris growled low again, he could smell the faint scent of blood coming from inside the vehicle.
“You hurt her?” Harris asked.
Mentally, Harris sent out a message to the shifters surrounding them. “Can any of you get a take on the bodyguard in the front seat?”
His heart sank hearing all no’s coming back at him.
Looking up from the car, Jacob turned his attention back to Harris. “She is alive, I promise you that. And I can also be truthful in saying I have yet to lay a hand on her. So let’s talk.”
“Let her go,” Harris ordered.
“Now why would I do that? I came all this way to find her. I don’t think you’re in any position to be making demands, do you?”
“You think you can come here and blackmail us with a few fucking pictures? Just because we live in the moors, don’t go thinking we are some woolley backs. We aren’t as thick as you might think we are, Mr. Hardy.”
Harris let his gaze flicker to the windscreen. Catching a glance inside the car, he saw something that filled his chest with hope.
“Chris, I have a clear view through the windscreen. The bodyguard is concentrating more on Jacob
than Chick. The gun level drops to the floor when he ducks to look out of the car. Think you can break the passenger window and sort him out?”
“Aye, no problem at all. Just say when.”
Harris inwardly smiled, his leopard chuffing along with him.
Jacob clapped his hands together, seeming to come to a decision. “Never thought you were dumb in the slightest. I like a good challenge. You must be getting cold, and I have to be going home, so we need to end this.”
“I agree,” Harris said, cutting the man off before he could say anything else.
“Show yourselves,” Harris ordered his shifters, and then gave Chris his order. “Chris, now!”
Harris enjoyed the mortified look on Jacob’s face when he suddenly found himself surrounded by a large group of different species of sizable cats.
“You have a lot more…” Jacob swallowed. “...cats. Is that a tiger? Wow, I must say well played, Mr. Rockwell. So you have your felines and I have the girl. What happens now?”
The explosion of glass revealed that question’s answer. A gunshot was heard then the deep gurgle of a man dying came from the car. Looking through the windscreen, Harris could just make out his chick. She was sitting in the back seat, slumped over on her side, not moving. Worry blasted through him. Had she been shot too? After a moment of silence Chris broke through his frantic worry.
“She’s okay, Alpha. She is out cold and will wake up with a headache from the bump she took, but she’s fine.”
“Jacob, there is one thing that you and I agree on, and that is it’s time to end this. If you would kindly take a look inside your car, you will notice that your final bodyguard is out for the count. That just leaves one piece of shit left for us to deal with.”
Jacob leaned down to look inside the car and stood back up with a horrified expression on his face. Harris walked toward the man who had caused so many women to be hurt and violated. He was nothing but filth.
“The p-photo,” Jacob stuttered. “I have already sent it to someone. If they don’t hear from me, they will release it to the papers.”
“I call bullshit.” Harris walked closer until he was a breath away from him.
