Dare

by T. A. Foster

  He shrugged. “Wouldn’t I?”

  “I will rip your throat out, Case!” I hurled toward him, but he dodged my pounce.

  “If you do that, how will you know where to find them?”

  “You better not have hurt them.”

  “No, I wouldn’t do that.” He sat on the top step. “Come sit with me.”

  He had the cards. I sat. “What do you want?”

  “We keep going through this dance and I don’t see why we need to. Just marry me and get the Nox to do their part too. We can stop fighting. You can stop your endless patrols. It would make life better for everyone.”

  I laughed. “Better for whom? You? Because then you’ll go to your next territory and marry the next girl on the list. And I won’t be able to marry anyone. I’ll be stuck here with your stupid cub and you’ll have all my territory. I don’t think so. This insane tradition ends now.”

  “But it’s prophecy. It’s fate. You can’t say no.”

  “I already did.”

  He shook his head. “Just know the longer you put off the wedding, the longer the lovebirds will be hanging out with my crew.”

  “Let them go.”

  He stood from the step. “As soon as I see you at the other end of the aisle.” He walked a few paces backward, his eyes amused.

  “I’ll get them back,” I declared. “I will hunt you down and everyone who has had anything to do with this.”

  “Looking forward to it.” He spun on his heel and waltzed out of the yard.

  I wouldn’t be able to follow him. No matter how fast I was, Case was sure to have prepared an escape route. My only option was to take this to the Nox.

  “Oh my God, what are we going to do?” Maya let a tear slip down her cheek.

  “We’re going to get them back.” I patted her shoulder.

  There were five of us in all. Five fierce, lethal she-panthers, but there should have been seven. We are the Nox.

  Case had just cut our numbers. I looked around our group. The possibility of losing everything had brought us together. Their faith and loyalty to me kept us together.

  “Case is such an asshole.” Vix paced along the back wall, her hair swinging wildly as she pivoted.

  I nodded. “He’s more than that.”

  “Did he say anything about where they are?” Sloan asked.

  “No. He just said we could get them back if I married him. It’s the same story he always has. You’d think the guy would just move on.”

  Eva’s eyes narrowed. “He can’t move on. He’s the king. You’re the queen. Yada yada. He’s not going to give up.”

  I faced her. “No, he’s not. But that doesn’t mean he gets to ruin our lives or kidnap our friends.”

  “So, how do we get Tegan and Abi back?” Vix asked.

  “I think we need to split up. Start patrolling now,” I suggested.

  “But, they could be anywhere. Campus. The town. There’s no telling how he thinks.” Maya looked like she was going to cry again.

  “We’ll get them back. I promise.” I tried to comfort her as I wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

  The torchlight flickered along the walls of the cave we had claimed as our lair. It was rustic, but it was one place we could meet in our true forms without being seen. Tonight we were still in human shape.

  “And if we don’t find them?” Eva questioned.

  “He’ll slip up. We’ll patrol tonight. If we don’t find them, just go to class tomorrow like normal. Act like you’re worried about exams. Focus on your projects. It will drive Case crazy. He’ll have to stop by again. He can’t stay away.”

  Vix scoffed. “And in the meantime, our girls are with those idiotic goons. What bastards.”

  “I know Case won’t hurt them.” It sounded good if I said it, even though I had nothing to back it up.

  He had no allegiance to me. This was a last ditch effort to make me seal the agreement our families had made hundreds of years ago when they accepted the magic that made them.

  “I hope you’re right.” Maya stood.

  “Wait.” I motioned for everyone to stay seated. “On top of this, we have another problem.”

  They groaned.

  I reached into my front pocket and unfolded the flyer the lady at Cartwright’s had given me. It seemed to pale in comparison to the kidnapping, but they needed all the information.

  “There’s a storytelling convention this weekend. Some of my fans are going to be in the forest, looking for me.”

  “What?”

  “We might have to limit the patrols Saturday night. That’s when the big group tour is.” I relayed all the information I had from the poster.

  “Any good news?” Eva rolled her eyes.

  “Not really.” I attempted a smile. “I don’t want you in the woods that night. I’ll patrol myself.”

  “But…” they began to protest.

  “Really, I’ve got this. Five panthers roaming the forest are more likely to be seen than just one,” I reasoned.

  Eva seemed particularly edgy tonight. “But the Tribe is constantly looking for the lair. We need to keep it protected.”

  “I’ll take care of it, Eva. Let me handle it.”

  Vix whipped around. “I really hate Case.”

  “I know. Me too.” I watched her pace some more. “At least you’ll be in the woods too on your date.”

  “Date?” The other girls stared at Vix.

  “So what? He’s cute. He asked.” She shrugged off their ambush.

  I looked at my phone. “We need to get out there. It’s getting late.”

  “God,” Eva snarled. “I’ve got econ at eight in the morning. I don’t know which I hate more: econ or the Tribe. Case knows we’ll kill him if we see him.”

  “Yeah, he knows.”

  We gathered in a circle, a smaller one than we were happy with. We were missing two and it tore at all of us. I wrapped one hand around Vix’s waist and the other around Maya’s. One by one, we began to shift. Our long dark hair transformed into thick silky fur. Our legs now powered by the strength of our animal nature. Our nails, sharper than any known claws. The only recognizable trait was our green eyes.

  The circle of Nox panthers slinked out of the lair. We had friends to rescue.

  I hit send on the last email and closed my laptop. It was five o’clock and I had spent two weeks getting ready for the Sullen’s Grove storytellers festival. I needed a drink.

  “You headed out?” Lacey, my assistant, popped her head in my office.

  “Yeah. I’m done.”

  “Want to grab a drink before you head home?” She stood in front of me wearing a skirt that wouldn’t pass any professional dress codes.

  I tapped my messenger bag. “Nah. I’ve got more work to do.”

  “You sure?” She bit on her lower lip, raking her teeth over it.

  I nodded. “Yep. Have a good night, Lacey.”

  “Have you gotten your workout in today?”

  “I ran this morning. Did some training.” I didn’t feel like giving her the full rundown on my kickboxing session. I always felt as if she memorized every morsel of information I gave her.

  “I can tell you’ve been working out more.” Her eyebrows arched. “See you in the morning, boss.”

  “Right.” I waited for her to walk past me so I could turn off the lights and lock my office. She strutted slowly, making sure her arm brushed against my chest. I wasn’t positive, but I thought she might have unbuttoned another button on her blouse.

  It wasn’t that I didn’t think she was attractive, because I did. Holy hell, the girl had legs. And her lips pouted in a perfect heart that I had more than once thought I should kiss until they were bruised and swollen, but I had learned self-restraint in the past year.

  This was my third job in fourteen months. I needed to keep it in my pants this time. This was the first place in five years I wasn’t fighting stability. I had a chance to make some changes in my life.

  I pushed
the elevator button for the first floor.

  I walked to the corner pub about five minutes from the museum. I liked living in Sullen’s Grove. It wasn’t my first choice for a new place to live, but it had grown on me. It had a small town coastal vibe, but enough tourists and university events to keep it alive. I had run out of options when I was fired from my last job for inappropriate office conduct. If we hadn’t been caught by the PR director, I doubt it would have been a big deal, but I couldn’t appeal and well, it was history.

  I knew I sabotaged the other jobs. I found a way to get kicked toward the next city, the next position. But, I had finally used up all my chances. The museum in Sullen’s Grove wasn’t going to do anything for my career except give me a paycheck. I had to make this work. I needed this job. This town would be home. I needed to stop running.

  The pub was dark. They played Irish music louder than they should.

  “What can I get you?” the bartender, Isaac, asked. He had become sort of a friend.

  “I’ll take something strong.” I pointed to one of the top shelf bourbons.

  “That bad?” He laughed and pulled down the bottle.

  “Yeah. Trying to keep myself from doing something I shouldn’t.” I gulped the drink and handed the glass back to Isaac. “Another.”

  “All right.” He poured a second serving. “Want to talk about it?”

  “Not really.” It was better to ignore Lacey.

  “I keep seeing your face all over town for the festival.”

  “Yeah, I think they’ve gone a little overboard with the posters.”

  “Aye, I don’t know about that. Little celebrity never hurt anyone.”

  I eyed him. “I’m a historian, not a celebrity.”

  “But when all a town has is history, it sort of makes you one by default.”

  “I guess.”

  “You gonna watch the game tonight?”

  “The playoffs?” I asked. I wasn’t a big sports fan, but I’d catch something if I had the TV on.

  “Yeah. Down to eight teams.”

  “I might.” I threw a twenty on the bar. “See you, man.”

  He picked up the bill. “You want change?”

  “No.” I walked toward the door.

  “Zac?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Forgetting something?” He pointed to the messenger bag on the empty stool.

  “Shit. I need that. My entire presentation is in there.”

  “Be careful out there, brother.”

  I turned toward him. “Why do you say that?”

  “You should know better than anyone. The Ghost is out there. She’s prowling when the moon is like this.”

  I shook my head. This town was insane when it came to its stories about witches and ghosts. The museum would probably have me head up a class on zombie preparedness if I mentioned it.

  “I think I’ll be fine, Isaac.”

  “Just sayin’.” He threw a towel over his shoulder.

  “Right, right.” I walked out of the bar, ready to end the day. What I really needed to worry about was the blonde in my office who showed more cleavage and leg than clothes. She was far more dangerous than an urban legend.

  I strolled past more posters for the festival. Every time I saw my face, I cringed.

  Tomorrow was the walk-through for the tour. Lacey would want to tagalong. Come up with another reason to be together outside of the office. I groaned. Maybe I’d swing through tonight and tell her in the morning it wasn’t necessary.

  I was feeling good. The bourbon had loosened my muscles. The evening was cool.

  I kicked the iron gate of the park. It creaked open.

  I stepped over bits of paper. Looked like someone had shredded one of the posters.

  It was my job to know the history of the town. That was why the museum hired me after all, but four months later, I didn’t know shit about the place. I had crammed the past few weeks on the Ghost of the Forest. There was no doubt it was the town’s favorite legend.

  I stepped onto the trail. It looked like a good place to start the tour.

  I had read at least five books on the topic of the elusive she-panther. None of them made me believe she existed. But that wasn’t what I was interested in. It was more about how the legend formed. What happened in Sullen’s Grove a hundred years ago to start the story? How did it evolve into what it is today?

  I continued my scouting project. There wasn’t much light on the path, but that would add to the tour. These people wanted authenticity.

  I couldn’t figure out why she was a panther. Panthers didn’t live in North Carolina. Couldn’t they have come up with something more like a bear or maybe a fox? The paved path roughened and I stepped on gravel.

  This would definitely work, I thought. The foliage was thicker here—the lights less.

  She was some kind of protector. A dark angel who watched the city. Most of my research kept pointing me to a festival. There used to be a day in Sullen’s Grove dedicated to celebrate her, but one of the mayors in the 1980s cut the day out of the city’s calendar, citing religious conflicts in honoring a fabled creature.

  The museum was trying to get the day reinstated. If the weekend’s festival pulled the kind of numbers they were hoping, it might happen. I imagined half the city wearing cat masks.

  I faced a row of trees. The trail stopped. The wooden sign marked the end of the trail.

  Panthers were known loners. They were territorial. I tried to picture one roaming outside of the city. The legend still didn’t make sense to me.

  I turned to retrace my steps. It was low at first. A slight rumble. I listened for it again, thinking it had been my stomach. Bourbon wasn’t an actual dinner.

  Then I heard it again. This time the sound pierced the air around me. My neck stiffened. I froze. What in the hell was that?

  The growling turned to hisses. I started to run. I didn’t need to hang back to figure out what had found me. I couldn’t see what it was, but it was close by, snorting heavy breaths. It was gaining speed. I ripped the messenger bag off my shoulder and threw it behind me. It seemed to stop my predator for a second, but then I heard the snarls and the footsteps.

  I didn’t know what to hope for. I didn’t have my car. I didn’t want to draw it in to the public where it could hurt other people. I saw the clearing for the park in front of me, but turned off on a secondary path. The growl sounded like thunder spreading through the trees. The hair on my neck stood up, but I kept running. I had to lure this thing away from town.

  I forged deeper into the woods. I had no idea where I was, and the last bits of the sun were gone. I didn’t see the fallen tree in front of me, and I tripped over the log, tumbling forward. My hands skidded over rocks. I clamped one in my palm. It was the only weapon I could find on the run.

  My eyes closed. I could feel its breath on my neck. There was nowhere else to run. I flipped on my back to face the beast that had tracked me. I stared into its eyes. Oh my God.

  I slinked along the outskirts of Sullen’s Grove. I sniffed every tree, every bush, inspected every footprint in the soil. Case was thorough, but it wasn’t as if Tegan and Abi had vanished. He had them. Somewhere there were clues.

  I pawed at a broken limb, but it wasn’t a clue. I was reaching.

  The weariness was starting to get to me. It wasn’t just my chemistry exam or the project I had due in psych 22. I had failed as queen to keep the Nox safe. It was the most important job I had and I had failed.

  There were promises I had made that were harder to keep. When I brought the Nox together, I promised them that if they lived in my territory, I would look after them. I would make sure the Tribe didn’t force them into loveless marriages. I was more certain then of my power than I was now. It seemed pointless to be a queen when Case was stripping away the security I was supposed to offer my panthers.

  I listened for sounds in the woods.

  I didn’t know how he had taken them. It made my idea for us to all move
in together seem more imperative. The way we were split up made us easier targets. Eva still lived on campus in a dorm. Maya rented a one-bedroom apartment and Sloan spent most of her time with her boyfriend. I couldn’t watch them all the time. I wasn’t that type of queen. I wanted them to have freedom. I wanted them to live independent lives. It was what we were all fighting for.

  There was a time when my nightly patrols were only about the town—my way of watching over the people I swore to protect—but Case had changed that. The Tribe was looking for the lair, hoping to gain access to our secrets, our safety.

  My ears twitched. I thought I heard a growl. I stopped moving and waited.

  There it was again. I heard the snorting and hissing of another shifter. I ran, sprinting with the power in my legs. The sounds were coming from the direction of the park.

  I stopped. Twenty yards in front of me, there was a man pinned under a jaguar. I couldn’t tell who the shifter was, so I roared to startle him.

  His head snatched back and he glared at me.

  “What are you doing, Noah?” I was slightly relieved he was from Case’s tribe, but I didn’t know why he had chased down a human.

  “None of your business.”

  I inched closer to Noah. He hadn’t changed his stance. His tail flicked a few times, letting me know he wasn’t going to back down.

  I studied the guy pinned beneath Noah’s paw. His eyes were filled with fear. He was just as scared of me as he was of Noah. All he could hear was our garbled cat language.

  “It is my business. You’re in my territory. Let him go,” I growled.

  Noah’s paw pressed deep on the man’s chest. His claws began to extend. “Why would I do that? This is more fun.” His claw cut into the human’s shirt. I could hear them rip through the fabric.

  I roared, “I am queen here. Not you. Let him go.” I batted at his face.

  “Not for long you aren’t.” He sat back on his hind legs, releasing the pressure on the guy’s chest. The blood had started to seep through his shirt. He grabbed at his chest.

  “Go!” I didn’t know how many times I would have to roar before he left.

  I noticed the man scooted out from under him, shielding his body with the heels of his feet. It looked like he was ready to kick Noah in the head. He clutched a rock in his hand. I sort of hoped he pelted Noah with it.