by Amelia Jade
Ow.
Enough was enough, and Darren wasn’t interested in doing more damage than needed to be done. Most of the time he was content to let Corey win, but when Darren chose to utilize the training of his past, the smaller shifter didn’t stand a chance.
He shot forward unexpectedly, bowling over the smaller shifter. His legs trampled across the other animal as he cleared him and spun around. Corey was a little slow getting himself upright, and as he rolled over, Darren’s open paw descended, giving Corey a very solid bop on top of the head.
“Enough!” Garrett’s voice rang out, carving through the wind like a freshly sharpened butcher’s knife.
Respecting his Alpha’s command, Darren calmed his bear, and shifted back into his human form. Corey did the same, but instead of walking up to the Alpha, he simply walked to his truck and got in, ignoring the others.
“Well that was fun,” Darren said, approaching Garrett. He saw a disappointed look in the Alpha’s eyes as they watched Corey’s truck disappear. “Everything okay boss?”
“Perfect,” Garrett spat. Then he sighed. “You may as well come on in.”
Darren hesitated. “I’m not going to come storming out like that, am I? Because honestly Garrett, I’m in a great mood this morning, and I really don’t want to have the buzz killed.”
Garrett raised his eyebrows. “Get in my office,” he snorted and turned around, heading back inside.
“Damn,” he said, looking up at the gray sky before following his Alpha through the door.
Two figures waited there for him.
“Oh,” he said dully. “Well, now I at least understand why Corey was so mad. What the hell do you want Nash?” he asked before Garrett could even get a word out.
The LMC liaison simply smiled.
“He’s here because Emma isn’t going to be around for a bit,” Garrett said.
Darren turned to his right. “Everything all right?”
“Everything’s fine,” Garrett assured him. “But Russell, Gwen, and myself will be accompanying her.”
“I see.” It actually took him a few seconds longer for everything to percolate through his brain. The fog of the morning hadn’t quite dispersed yet, despite the cold weather. Then it hit him. “Wait, so who’s going to lead us while you’re gone?”
Even as he asked it, a sinking sensation settled over Darren. The number two of the Ridgebacks was Evan, but he was in jail for the foreseeable future. Corey was the third, but if he had just stormed out…
Holy hell.
The next candidate, possibly even before Corey, would have been Russell. But he was going with Garrett. Which meant that—
“You want me to do it?” he asked incredulously.
Garrett glared at him. “Why is that so hard to believe Darren? You’re smart, level-headed, and you have the command in you. The biggest thing preventing you from being an Alpha in your own right is the lack of faith in yourself,” he said bluntly.
“I…” Darren stuttered to a halt. He had no idea what to say. Between the shock of realizing that he was going to be in charge of the Ridgebacks for an unnamed period of time, and the realization that Garrett thought he had the potential to become the Alpha of a crew, it was more than he was prepared to accept in such a short period of time.
Start with the more pressing issue, a small corner of his brain urged, much to his relief.
“How long are you gone for?” he asked, doing his best to tackle the situation head-on and learn as much information about what was going on as he could.
“Probably a week. Maybe more, I’m not sure. Could be as long as two, but no more than that. The crew can’t spare two bodies for any longer than that,” Garrett said.
“Okay,” he said, his head bobbing slightly as he thought everything through. “What about Evan?”
“What about him?”
“Well, if they decide to set him free.”
Nash chose that moment to speak up. “Not going to happen anytime soon. Trust me,” he said snarkily.
Darren looked at Nash for a moment, then shifted his gaze back over to Garrett. His Alpha coughed, attempting to hide a laugh at the blatant distaste for the liaison who was universally hated by the Ridgebacks, and likely every other crew in the Valley.
“From what I’ve heard,” Garrett said, “Evan is going to be up there for a while.”
“Understood. And,” Darren grimaced, “Corey?”
“Corey didn’t want it. At all. In case you missed that,” Garrett explained. “You’ll be fine, nothing to worry about.”
“When do you leave?”
Garrett looked over at Nash. “That’ll be all for now, Nash. Go make sure the others aren’t discussing any evil plans, would you?”
The liaison fumed at the dismissal, but he left nonetheless.
“We leave today,” Garrett told him as the door closed.
“Where are you going?”
“We’re going to retrace some of my last steps, to see if we can’t jog some of my memory.”
Darren nodded. The crew had decided that it was best to keep Russell’s revelation about being Garrett’s stepbrother a secret. Only a select few outside the crew knew about it. If the LMC knew about it, and knew what Garrett was about to do, they would have had a fit. It had become clear that someone inside of the Mining Consortium was in on what had happened to Garrett. Unfortunately, nobody knew who. There were exactly zero clues.
“Well,” Darren said, sticking out his hand. “Best of luck boss. I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
“Me too,” Garrett said distantly. “Me too.”
“What’s the public reason for your leaving?” he added belatedly, realizing he should know to keep the cover story intact.
“Well, with Emma being pregnant, we figured it would be best to go visit her parents. Gwen is Emma’s best friend, so it just made sense to bring her along, which gave us a convenient excuse to bring Russell.”
Darren nodded. “That’s pretty sneaky of you, boss.”
“Why thank you,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m glad you’re just now realizing I can be sneaky.”
It was Darren’s turn to snort. “Right. Just now. Anything else I should know? Otherwise, I’m gonna grab some chow.”
Garrett looked at him for a long while before responding.
“There’s a lot more going on in the Valley than we know. One thing that you should be aware of,” he paused, contemplating his next words carefully. “If something goes wrong, call Ajax.”
Darren’s eyebrows furrowed. Why would he call the Alpha of the Silvertips? Wouldn’t it make more sense to call the LMC office? Then he could speak to the Kedyns, or perhaps one of the Stone Bears. That was the usual process if something came up that the Alphas couldn’t handle themselves.
His Alpha seemed to follow his thought pattern. “Why would I tell you that?” he asked softly, his voice still managing to fill the space between them and be heard over the howling wind outside.
“The obvious reason is that you think Ajax could be of more help. The reverse of that though, would mean that the LMC can’t be of any help. Alternatively, they won’t help, which isn’t overly positive-sounding. If they can’t help, that means something or I guess someone is preventing them from doing so. If they won’t help, then I can only assume that someone is actively choosing to work against us. Which leads me to all sorts of unpleasant conclusions.” Darren really was beginning to see why Corey had stormed out, assuming they had even gotten this far in the conversation.
“We’re not sure yet,” Garrett told him. “Evidence points toward the key power players in the Valley having been neutralized. Somehow. Again, we don’t know.”
“Who is this we?” Darren asked. “And which figures have been compromised?”
“Me, Ajax, Gabriel. A few others. And now you,” Garrett said, looking at his subordinate levelly. “So far, the Kedyns and Ferro have all but been confirmed.”
The green eyes staring
back at Darren were hard and uncompromising. He was being tested right now, and he knew it. Garrett was probing to see how much he could accept and understand.
“Are you expecting anything to happen while you’re gone? Anything I can be on the lookout for?”
Garrett stared for a moment longer, before shaking his head. “No, it feels a lot like we’re in the eye of the storm right now. As if the inroads with the Sapphires were their strongest effort yet, and that they haven’t had an attempt to recover. Unfortunately, without knowing their end goals, we can only react to them, instead of make them react to us.” Garrett grimaced as he finished speaking, his expression mimicking how Darren felt.
“Well, I’ll do my best, boss. Hopefully they keep calm until you return.”
Garrett rose, sticking out his hand. “I do too, but I also know you’ll do just fine while I’m gone. They’ve been quiet for two weeks, hopefully another week and change won’t affect anything.”
***
“Lunch call!” Darren yelled, setting down his tools and gear, signaling to the others that they should head for the surface.
Normally the shifters would be working in two separate parts of the mines, but with their manpower down to just four—Garrett and Russell were absent and Evan was in jail—Darren had decided that they would all work together.
“Last one up is buying beers!” the temporary Alpha yelled and then charged past the others, letting his bear flow to the surface in one smooth motion, maintaining his momentum.
He heard the others scramble to join after him, and in seconds there were four huge bears dashing up the main trunk of the mine shaft toward the surface. They normally took the powered carts to the surface, but Darren felt the need to exercise his animal today, and knew the others wouldn’t object. They worked hard, and it was nice to blow off some steam sometimes.
The finish line was in sight, and Darren put on an extra burst of speed, intending to be the first one out. Twenty feet from the opening to daylight however, Corey came flying by him. His bear was one of the smallest of the group, but he was universally acknowledged as the fastest. Still, none of the others could catch him, and he turned to watch Cole and Joel come crashing across the line together, the massive bears dissolving into a pile of laughter as the two shifted back.
“Guess you’re splitting the bill,” he said, clapping the two of them on the shoulder and helping them to their feet. They both protested that they had beat the other, but nobody was listening to them anymore.
“You’re sure in a good mood today,” Corey said, falling in step next to him as they walked the remaining distance to the trailer that served as their headquarters when they were on the job.
“Sure am,” Darren agreed, his boots crunching through the snow. Another inch had fallen while they were down in the shaft. Judging by the way the skies were turning grayer, there was still a lot to come before the storm blew over.
“Any particular occasion?” Corey asked. He seemed to be genuinely interested, and Darren decided to take it at face value. It could very well be Corey’s way of apologizing for being a dick earlier, and that was just fine with Darren. They all had a temper, and often it was easier to just move on and forget about what had happened than it was to have a big hashed-out apologetic discussion about it. He snorted mentally, thinking it probably had something to do with being male. They could do things simpler sometimes.
Don’t ever say that around Emma, he thought, making a mental note. Or Gwen. Or Trestin. Especially not Trestin. Pregnant hormones... she’ll probably kill you just because.
Feeling wiser, he turned his attention back to Corey.
“I have a date tomorrow night,” he proudly declared, elevating his chin ever so slightly, proclaiming his superiority.
“Oh yeah? With whom?” Joel asked as he and Cole caught up to the others.
“Wait, is it with that chick you were talking to last night?” Cole asked, chiming in.
“As a matter of fact, it is with ‘that chick,’” he said with a laugh. “Her name is Kierra, and she’s running for mayor of Genesis Valley.”
“Oh ho ho!” Corey exclaimed, putting an arm in front of Darren to stop him while the other three continued a step forward while turning to face him. “Look at mister bigshot here,” he teased, elbowing the two smaller shifters at his sides.
“Shut up!” Darren bellowed with a smile, pushing past the trio toward the trailer.
“Here we go,” Cole said. “He gets told he’s the boss for a week and now he thinks he can just tell us to shut up whenever he wants! This is going to be a long week boys, just—”
The snowball hit Cole square in the face, ending any more of his protests. Darren ducked inside before he could retaliate, but the sound of laughter reached his ears before the door closed behind him.
He pulled out his phone and checked it for messages. None yet.
“Hey,” he said as Corey came inside, followed by the others. “Where should I take her?”
“There’s not exactly a plethora of selections here in town,” Corey said dryly. “But you said she’s making a move for mayor?”
Darren nodded.
“In that case, you gotta go fancy.”
“Shift,” he said bluntly.
“Shift,” Cole agreed as he came inside, still brushing off some snow.
Shift on Main was the sole fancy restaurant in town. There was also the Café, but it wasn’t nearly as quiet or upscale. Darren was definitely interested in making an impression.
“Okay, Shift it is,” he declared, and sent Kierra a message letting her know.
Shift on Main. Seven thirty tomorrow. I’ll meet you at your place at seven?
“Well, this should be fun,” he said, cracking open his lunch and beginning to devour it.
***
He stabbed the red “end call” button on his phone’s display angrily and tossed it in his pocket. The urge to hurl it against the mountain face behind him was overwhelming, but then the phone would have to be replaced, and that was just a pain in the ass.
Instead, he bent down, grabbed a hefty rock the size of his head, and hurled it off the path into the forest with a roar.
“Everything okay?” Corey asked, moving up alongside Darren as they came down the path from the mine to their trucks.
He snarled silently. The rest of the day had passed quickly as he waited to hear back from Kierra. There was no service down in the mine, and only an emergency phone line connected them to the outside world, and theoretically only the LMC could use it. So he’d had to wait four hours to know if Kierra was okay with his chosen location.
“She cancelled on me,” he said.
“Why?”
“I don’t know,” he muttered angrily.
“What did she say?” Corey pressed, his tone regretful. Whatever had happened that morning was now long in the past between them. Darren was grateful for that, at least.
“She just stuttered and said it wouldn’t be a good idea.”
“What?” Corey shook his head in confusion. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would she say that?”
“I don’t know,” he repeated. Then he pulled out his phone and punched up the voicemail, giving it to Corey.
The other shifter listened, his face contorting more and more as he listened to the brief message, before handing back the phone. “Something is up. That’s not the ‘I regret saying yes’ voice. She almost sounds... I don’t know. Pressured? Forced? As if it’s not her idea, you know?”
Darren nodded, though he wasn’t sure he believed his friend. “Well, that’s that I guess. I suppose I’ll be seeing you boys at Ferro’s tomorrow.”
Corey shook his head. “Maybe, but don’t give up yet. That was a weak-ass explanation. You should go find her, and just ask what changed.”
“Don’t you think that’s a little…I don’t know…over the top?” he said, looking questioningly at Corey.
“That’s up to you,” Corey said. “But from the dumbs
truck look on your face when you were talking about her at lunch, it sounds to me that this woman hit a chord with you. Something more than just another pretty face. If that’s the case, you need to find out why she suddenly brushed you off. If she has a legitimate reason, then hey, you back off and that’s that. But if it’s some bullshit excuse like ‘Oh, my friend said you were no good for me because you work in the mines,’ then that’s a different story. She’s hiding something.”
Darren thought about what his friend was saying. There had been a connection between them. Of that he was positive. After listening to the others in his crew talk as they found mates, it hadn’t been the sort of lightning-rod strike that some of them had experienced. In fact, it had been….awkward. Confusing. But at the same time he was so absolutely sure that something had happened between them as they talked. He just couldn’t figure it out.
Maybe he should go down to the town hall and speak with her for five minutes. Perhaps she was operating under some sort of false assumption about him. Her message truly had sounded unbelievable.
“Okay,” he said at last. “I think I will go see her. Calmly. No brute force. Nothing to seem like I’m crazy, just asking for an honest reason.”
Corey nodded. “Exactly. This isn’t high school, we’re all adults here.”
Darren still felt odd about it, but he also felt a pull to Kierra. Something had made him get up out of his seat to go talk to her the night before. Whatever it was, he was going to listen to it for a second time.
“Well, wish me luck,” he said, climbing in to his truck.
“Blow her away champ,” Corey said, giving him a ridiculous dual thumbs-up support.
“Real encouraging,” he said with a shake of his head, and gunned the truck down the single-wide road that led down the mountain.
He pulled up in front of the town hall shortly thereafter. It was a small building, at least compared to similar places from other cities. Two stories tall, it was square-shaped, though the center was an open courtyard filled with well-tended gardens and a small fountain as well.
“Valcke...Valcke…Valcke,” he muttered to himself as he scanned the building directory, looking for her office location. “Ah, there we are. K. Valcke, Room 210-C.”
