by T. A. Foster
I slinked between them, my back toward the man. “Noah, get out of here.”
He scratched at the ground. “I was leaving anyway. I have other plans tonight. Case wants to make sure our message is heard.”
“Your message? What are you talking about?” My eyes narrowed, but my fur bristled. It made me nervous to think there was more on tonight’s agenda. The guy who had just been attacked seemed like enough.
“Come on. Case is being pretty generous these days. He’s not going to put up with your disobedience much longer. You’ve got to know that.”
I snarled. “Disobedience? That’s funny. He has lost his mind. Are you sure you aren’t on the wrong side of this, Noah? You have teamed up with a lunatic.”
His ears stood forward. “I don’t get it. The rest of us are doing what we were born to do. And you—you and the Nox are going against hundreds of years of shifter tradition, and you want to call us crazy. From where I stand, you’re the crazy ones.”
He walked past me, his eyes following mine. “Tell Vix I said hi.” He flicked his tail.
“She’s not interested. None of us is interested.”
“Doesn’t matter. We’re going to be bonded.” He headed for the clearing. “That’s how all of this works. We’re the only ones it seems that have figured this out.”
“Get out of here!” I roared from the back of my throat. I could hear the man behind me move farther away.
“I’ll let Case know we ran into each other,” he called over his shoulder.
“Yeah. Tell him I said if I catch any of you in Nox territory, we will kill you.”
“Empty threats, Dare. You wouldn’t even try.” He spit the words before disappearing into the brush.
I turned slowly. I didn’t want to end up with a rock or a kick to the head.
“Nice, kitty.” The man put his hands up. He was in a defensive posture, ready to fight if I advanced.
I wanted to laugh. I wasn’t a nice kitty. His shirt was ripped, his chest bleeding, and his hands bloody with scratches, but he looked like he would survive those wounds. I started to leave him.
“Wait,” he called.
I turned around, my tail circling my body.
“You can understand me, can’t you?” He pushed himself off the ground, dusting the dirt and leaves from his clothes.
I backed up. It was dark, but I could see everything as if a giant lamp lit up the forest. I knew who this guy was. I had seen his face all over town. He was Sullen Grove’s famous she-panther expert.
“Wait, are you?” He moved one foot forward.
I hissed and he quickly paused. “Thank you.” He held his hands in the air.
I didn’t wait for another question. I took off in the brush. Shit. The last person on Earth I wanted to know I existed had spotted me.
Early dots of dawn peeked through the blinds. After the run-in with Noah, I traced every inch of land around the park. I thought I had been tired before, but this was utter exhaustion.
“This is bad. Very bad.” Vix watched me from the couch in our cramped living room.
“I know it is.” I was pacing, usually her trick.
“And Noah was in the woods? What in the hell was he doing there?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen him in that part of the forest. It looked like he was going to eat the guy.”
“Humans don’t taste that great.” She smirked.
“Not helping.” I fell into the recliner. “If I hadn’t gotten there, he was really going to hurt him. What in the hell is wrong with the Tribe? They’ve lost their damn minds.”
Vix looked up. “You know this is what Case is good at doing. He loves mind games.”
“He does. If he sent Noah out to screw with me, it worked. And now I have a human spotter. Not just any human.” I sighed.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“He saw me. Really saw me.”
“He was probably so scared he’ll think he was dreaming.”
“Not likely.” I thought about him. He was alert, studying my every move. He looked directly in my eyes. If he doubted there was a panther roaming the woods outside of town, I had completely erased all of that thanks to Noah.
“So bigger problems than that,” Vix reminded me. “Not a single clue on Abi or Tegan. Wherever Case has them hidden, it’s good.”
“I wish he were stupid.” I ripped the stuffing out of a pillow. “Sorry.” I grimaced. My betrothed was scarily brilliant.
Vix yawned. “I don’t think I can make it to class this morning.” She stretched until her legs filled the couch. “I’ll just take a catnap, no pun intended.”
“I can’t. I’ve got to meet with my group this morning. Our final project isn’t finished. Maybe I’ll see one of the others in the Tribe and I can force a confession out of them.”
I had about fifteen minutes before I had to leave the house to make my library meeting.
“Good idea.” Vix nuzzled into a pillow. “Look for Trev. He’s such a gossip. He can’t keep anything to himself.”
“Trev.” I nodded. “Yeah, I’ll try to find him.”
I left my roommate sleeping on the couch and hopped in the shower. My body was sore. I had spent the entire night after the encounter with Noah combing the woods around the park. The Tribe was up to something. They had the girls, they were in territory they weren’t supposed to touch, and they were attacking humans.
I thought about Noah’s words. Case wanted me to know he was serious. Panic would ricochet through the town if there were a human murder, especially one caused by someone like me. I squeezed body wash onto my palm and began to scrub. If I hadn’t found Noah last night, my reputation in Sullen’s Grove would be ruined. The Ghost of the Forest would become the town’s horror story, not the legend that protected the town.
I rinsed out the shampoo and stepped out of the tub to towel off.
One animal attack was all it would take to destroy a hundred years of town loyalty. I shuddered, thinking how close I was to that happening. Lucky for me, Noah was sloppy.
I tiptoed past Vix on my way out of the house.
Campus was quiet on Friday mornings. No one wanted to go to class at the end of the semester, let alone the morning after the biggest party night of the week. I tried to think of the last party I had gone to. Queen of the Nox meant patrols, magical research, and rescuing humans—who had time to party?
I walked through the center of the quad. My group met for two hours in the domed library. It was the oldest building on campus. I liked the stained glass windows and the rotunda. I didn’t know anything about architecture, but it was a pretty building—a landmark for The Grove for sure.
“Dare, you want to add anything?” Bill, one of the group partners, asked.
He caught me staring at the glass colors bouncing around on the floor. “Uh…no. I think we’re good.”
We had divided everything equally. Sharon, the group leader, had made sure of that.
“Ok, then we’ll meet back here Tuesday to write the paper.” He stuffed a binder in his notebook. “Don’t forget to bring your outlines and a few slides for a PowerPoint.”
“Thanks.” I smiled at everyone as they filed out.
Two weeks, I reminded myself. Two weeks. The projects would be completed. The exams taken. The studying finally over.
I unzipped my backpack, and shoved my notebook inside.
“Do you have a section on town lore?”
I heard the question and turned to see him. Him. The guy from last night. The one Noah had pinned down in the forest. The one who was supposed to be an expert on me. That one.
The librarian pointed to a section of the library labeled local history. “We do have some interesting archives in a private room down the hall if you can’t find what you’re looking for there. Just let me know.”
“Thanks.” He hurried over to the history section. I watched as he scanned the books, his fingers tracing over the titles, then skipping to the next shelf.
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He ran his fingers through his hair and approached the librarian a second time. “I think I am going to need to see the archives.”
“No problem.” She smiled. “Right this way.”
He followed her out of the main gallery. I waited until she had returned to the desk before I walked down the hall. I peeked in each room, scanning the students in case he had stopped in one of those rooms.
He was sitting at one of the tables, his head buried in a book.
I ducked into the room and pretended to look at what was on the shelves. I moved closer to his table.
His frame covered the book. I couldn’t tell what it was he was reading. He flipped a page and I saw the cuts on his hands.
“Damn it,” he mumbled.
“Something wrong?” I whispered.
He looked up, his face giving away that he thought he was alone. “Uh-no. I didn’t know anyone else was in this room. Sorry. I was just talking to myself.”
“You know that can be dangerous.”
“How so?”
“Well, it could be a symptom of a potential mental breakdown.”
“You may have just diagnosed me.” He smiled. “You a psych major or something?”
“It’s that obvious, isn’t it?” I slid into the open seat at the table.
He turned another page. “I wish this was as easy as psychology.”
I leaned in. “What are you studying?”
“Research.”
“Ok, what are you researching?” I tried to read the title, but his hand was splayed across the page.
He looked at me. “Have you ever heard of the Ghost of the Forest?”
I had options. I could tell him it was complete kid stuff, made up to scare children from going into the woods, or I could tell him it was all just a big tourism ploy to bring travelers to Sullen’s Grove. Or I could tell him the truth.
“Sure. It’s an old legend. Who would believe there’s really a panther in Sullen’s Grove? You don’t believe in that kind of stuff, do you?”
“No. Actually, I don’t.” He turned back to the book, flipping a series of pages at a time.
“But that’s your research?” I questioned.
“Yeah, it’s part of it.”
“Why do you want to get into all that stuff? Those stories were meant for kids.” I tried to laugh.
His gaze was forceful. “Because I’m not so sure anymore.”
I swallowed. “I’ve heard there are some really cool witch stories. Have you looked into those?”
“I don’t care about witches.” He shook me off.
“Oh, my mom used to tell me one before I went to bed about bears. Have you seen anything on them?” I was grasping at anything I could remember.
“Don’t care about bears.”
I recognized the look of determination. This guy had it.
“I’m Dare.” I held my hand out in front of him.
He looked startled. “Hi, Dare.”
“Do you have a name?”
He closed the book. “Yeah, it’s Zac.”
“Zac.” I rolled it off my tongue, almost to the point of purring.
His eyes lit. “What accent is that?”
“Local.” I smiled. “I’m from Sullen’s Grove.”
“I don’t think I’ve heard anything like it.” He shelved the book.
Thank, God. I didn’t think I could get him to stop poking into the legend. I looked up at him.
“This sounds a little crazy, but would you want to get some coffee with me?” I refrained from batting my eyelashes, but I would have tried it to coax him out of the library, away from anything related to the Ghost of the Forest.
“Coffee? Seems a little cliché.”
“How so?” I asked.
“Guy meets girl in the library. Girl asks guy out for coffee. Guy ends up falling head over heels for cool girl.”
I blinked. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
He laughed. “I’m just playing with you. Sure. Let’s get some coffee. My head’s about to explode from all this legend crap anyway. I can’t get a straight answer no matter what resource I use. Maybe I should try the local approach.” He winked.
I gripped my backpack. I didn’t know how this would go. I just needed to find out what he was planning on doing with his newfound knowledge about the Ghost of the Forest.
I texted Vix.
With the history guy. See if you can track down Trev.
Knowing her, it would be a few hours before she woke up. I was lucky I could last this long on adrenaline. I think fifty-two hours was my record.
Our friends were being held captive and half the town was getting ready to set foot in the woods looking for me. Sleep didn’t seem like a luxury I could afford right now.
“Have you lived anywhere other than Sullen’s Grove?” Zac asked. He adjusted a lid on his coffee.
“Born and raised here.”
“Really? And you didn’t want to go to college somewhere else?”
Leaving Sullen’s Grove had never been an option for me even if I wanted to travel or pick up roots. I had a commitment to protect the town, not that Zac needed those details.
“Why would I? I love The Grove,” I answered.
“The Grove.” He chuckled. “Yeah, I guess it’s a pretty good school.”
“Where did you go?”
He straightened his posture. “George Washington. I’m a history buff.”
“I guess that’s fitting. And what exactly does a history buff do?”
“History stuff.”
“That’s so specific.” I batted the conversation back to him.
“Well not many people want to talk about history.” He tipped his cup toward his lips. “Especially not pretty girls.”
I stirred in my seat. “Maybe I’m not like other girls.”
“Maybe.” He scanned my face, and for a second, I thought he knew. I thought he could see right through my flimsy ruse. See into my green eyes and know my identity. But he looked over my shoulder as if we had never locked gazes.
“Quick. Pretend we’re on a real date.” He took my hand and squeezed it.
“What the—?”
A blond girl walked up to our table, tossing a handful of curls over her shoulder. “Hey, boss. Haven’t seen you all morning.” Her foot tapped on the floor.
“Lacey, I didn’t see you. Sorry.” He winked at me. “This is Dare.”
It was an innocent gesture, but it caught me off guard, enough to make me forget what it was I was doing with him.
“Dare?” The girl held out her hand. “Zac hasn’t mentioned you before.”
My hand was warm from where he was holding it. I accepted her handshake. “Funny, he hasn’t mentioned you either.”
That seemed to annoy her.
“I try to keep my personal life private, Lacey.”
“Whatever. I’m just picking up coffee. I’ll see you at the office. You need to get back there anyway. The director is freaking out about the dinner tonight. The caterer doesn’t know if they have enough chicken or something like that.”
“Don’t know what I’m supposed to do about that.” He had focused on my eyes again. He was so good at this that I was starting to think he was interested in me too.
“Just get back to work,” Lacey fumed. “Nice to meet you, Dane.”
“It’s Dare,” I corrected her.
“Yeah.”
She stormed past a customer on her way out of the door.
“So you work with her?” I eyed him. His hand was still clasped to mine.
“She’s my assistant.”
“And what does an assistant do for a history buff?”
He rubbed his thumb over the top of my hand and then withdrew it. “She helps with research. Gets coffee. Sets up meetings.”
“Uh-huh. And how long has she had a thing for you?”
“What? She doesn’t—no, that’s not the—how could you tell?” He stroked the back of his neck.
I
looked around the coffee shop. “It was obvious. She wanted to gauge out my eyes with the coffee stirrers, and you were desperate to make her think we were a couple.”
“Ok, I guess it’s pretty transparent.”
“Very.” I smiled over my cup.
“Thanks for going along with it.”
“Sure. No problem.”
“I don’t want her to get the wrong idea. This job is important to me.” He rubbed the side of his jaw. “Hey, what about the banquet?”
“What do you mean?”
“I know it’s kind of last minute and I realize we just met, but I could use a date.”
“Wow, romantic.”
He leaned over the table. “I promise I’m much more romantic than this. But, you’ll have to go out with me to see it in action.”
“Really?”
“Really.” He grinned.
I had to patrol tonight. There was no way around that. I patrolled every night, but it didn’t mean I couldn’t have dinner with a hot guy. Vix did it all the time. Plus, I still didn’t know much about his research. Maybe he would open up a little more over dinner.
“Ok. I’ll go with you.” I reached for my backpack.
“All right. Should be fun. Lots of storytellers and history fanatics.”
“You realize nothing about that sounds remotely romantic.” I stood to leave. I had to track down Trev if Vix was still asleep.
“Oh, it’s black tie. Do you have a dress?”
“I’ll find something. I have a roommate.” Vix and I shared clothes all the time. Her dress collection was far more extensive than mine.
He tapped his phone next to mine. “Here’s my contact info. Can I get yours? And your address?”
I pulled up my info and sent it to his phone.
“I’ll pick you up at six.”
“Sounds good.” I headed toward the door. “Good luck with the research today.” I waved.
I probably let his blue eyes distract me. Or maybe it was his voice. And he smelled like juniper. I shook my head as I walked down the street. Yeah, it was probably all of those things.
Trev was in the corner of the cafeteria eating a warmed up slice of pizza. The staff cut back on the menu options this time of year. I guessed they were trying to unload everything in the freezer before summer semester started.
