Moonlit Feathers

by Sarah Makela

  She looked up at me like a wild animal, tears staining her cheeks. "No. You have to leave. I..." She looked down at the carpet. "I just need time to think. You can't be here right now. I shouldn't be so emotionally invested in you."

  The way she said it made it sound like she didn't want us to be together. But that didn't make a lot of sense, since she'd been just as into making out with me as I had been. What could have changed? I glanced at the cell phone and felt jealousy flare in my chest. She'd loved and lost. But what kind of loss? Maybe she was just trying to push me away because her boyfriend might be back in the picture. Maybe he'd contacted her to try to get back in her good graces.

  I rose to my feet, shaking my head. She’d been so reluctant to let me in, and maybe, just maybe, she'd been right to push me aside. It would've saved us both pain if I'd only listened to her wishes, but I'd been too pigheaded. "I should've known. How could we have had something? You're so alone and isolated out here, you just don't know how to let anyone in." I walked toward her bedroom door, but before I could get there, she threw herself in front of me.

  "Wait. That's not the deal. I—"

  "Save it, Morgana. I shouldn't have come over. Maybe we're just wrong for each other." Even as I said the words, they pained me more than I wanted to admit. I wanted to be with her, but my quick temper was taking over.

  Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. For a moment, I recognized that the woman I'd admired for her strength and kick-ass nature was weak, and didn't need to be kicked any further. Maybe she was reacting because of the call. Maybe it wasn't what I thought it was. But I couldn't know unless I let her get the words out.

  "I'm sorry."

  She closed her mouth and lifted her chin a little, the brick wall around her heart slamming back into place. "No, you're right. You shouldn't have come over. It's really just best you leave." She stepped out of my way and crossed her arms over her chest.

  My heart dropped into my stomach, and I felt even worse about myself than I'd thought possible. I'd truly hurt her, and now I was really doubting my knee-jerk reaction. She was a treasure hunter who dealt with plenty of dangerous things, more than other people knew existed. How could I know she hadn't gotten a work-related call? Except... I couldn't see her reacting like this when it came to work.

  Maybe she'd come around in a day or two. Maybe all she needed was some time. She was still working my job and trying to find the talisman. Besides, I'd done enough.

  "Fine. I'll talk to you later, I guess." I turned and walked away. As I got closer to the door, I had a nagging feeling that something wasn’t right, but my emotions were raging. I couldn't zero in on what was wrong, let alone find the energy to care. My coyote had tried talking with me about things before that didn’t make sense, and I'd always listened to him. Right now, he needed to shut up and mind his own business. Until I got out of her house and away from her property, I wasn't in the mood to hear it.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Morgana

  I watched Cody stalk off into the darkness. He held his shoulders back, and his haughty stride made me want to punch him in the face. How could he have just blown up at me like that, when he didn't even know what the hell was going on? I couldn't believe that I'd almost let him into my life. That we'd been making out. God, how stupid was I?

  I was about to close the door when my raven krawed at me in warning. I glanced back outside in time to see a bulky man, all in black, running at me. I slammed it shut just as he got to me, but his momentum and size made the door explode off its hinges. I flew back, sliding across the floor a couple feet, more than a little dazed. But I couldn't just lie down and let him do whatever it was he wanted to do to me. Maybe we could talk this out, and avoid violence.

  "What do you want?" I yelled at him as he charged me again like a bull. I leapt out of the way, and he crashed into an end table, shattering the table and the lamp on top of it. I screamed, but I hoped Cody was far enough away that he wouldn't hear me. The last thing I needed was for him to be wrapped up in something this dangerous.

  The big guy turned and looked back at me, grunting and shaking off the glass from his black suit. The only part of his face I could see well were his eyes, and what I saw in them was rage and hatred. This wasn't good at all. I looked to the files I'd had about Cody's family's talisman. Usually I locked all my files in my safe, but now I had to make the choice of leaving my house with all my things for some rhino of a man to ransack, or staying and trying to fight him.

  My raven flapped her wings, wanting to go. That was the best idea, anyway. Even if I wanted to stay and fight, I couldn't go up against this guy. I was pretty good at defending myself, but a guy like him? I doubted I would even hurt him, much less do enough damage to drive him away from me and my home.

  "Answer me! I don't even know what you want!" I leapt over the back of the couch as he barreled toward me again. At this rate, he was going to destroy everything in my house.

  "You shouldn't have rejected my boss. He doesn't take that well, especially not from little ladies." He cracked his knuckles and threw my other lamp to the side. "You would've liked working for him, and now it just might be too late. But I'm supposed to bring you to him, so don't act dumb. If you do, I might not be able to save you from yourself and your stupid choices."

  I looked toward the window, clenching my fists. There was no way I'd be able to open the door and get out of there without him getting his grubby paws on me. But I really didn't know if I wanted to break through the window again, because if I did, I might be in worse condition than if I just tried to stay and fight him. None of my options were good.

  On top of that, I looked at the things smashed to pieces to see that my picture of Ezra, the one we'd taken together in Eastern Europe, had been crumpled beneath the asshole’s feet like it was trash. I wanted to pick it up and clutch it to my chest. Maybe making out with Cody had been the wrong thing to do. I couldn't help but feel like I'd betrayed Ezra. My heart fell into the pit of my stomach, and I wanted to just sob. My life was falling apart.

  The thug stalked closer to me, and I took a few steps backward. I'd done all I could to distance myself from the world, and now I was surrounded by people who’d somehow found my personal information, and who I didn't want any part of dealing with. What had I done to deserve this? I'd turned clients down before, and no one had ever come after me because of it. I grabbed a candlestick from a side table and turned back toward the glass door. I swung it back, but before I could hit the pane, I was pulled back by my T-shirt and thrown to the floor.

  I stared up at the big man, who had taken the candlestick from me. He lifted it up as if to hit me with it, but instead he threw it to the side. I jerked to my feet in a graceful flow of movement and lunged after the makeshift weapon, but before I could get far, pain exploded in the back of my head. I collapsed to the floor, darkness swallowing my existence.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Cody

  I'd walked far enough into the forest that I could have some distance from her, and she wouldn’t catch sight of me changing from her living room. The idea of her watching me strip just didn't do it for me right now. After that argument, all I wanted to do was punch something, but I’d settle for the next best thing: running as fast and as far as I could, and just burning off all the negative energy I was feeling. Going back there wouldn't help anything. It'd only make our tension flare that much higher, and unfortunately this tension wasn't the kind I'd been hoping for when we'd settled into the evening. My coyote wanted to feel her body pressed up against us, not have her tell us to leave and push us away the way she had. Her scent lingered inside my head, in my nose, and I found it hard not to long to smell it again.

  I growled under my breath and kicked a nearby tree. It groaned a little under the assault, but I had a feeling that in the morning I'd be feeling the impact a lot more than the tree would. I patted the trunk, remembering my grandmother's teaching that all things had life in them. If that was true, I shouldn'
t be taking out my anger on a tree. What the hell was wrong with me?

  Leaning up against the tree trunk, I stared up into the branches. My emotions were so off-kilter that I was having a hard time recognizing myself. The full moon wasn’t for a few weeks, so that wasn't the problem. I glanced back into the trees toward town. If I wanted to leave, I should be going. I stripped my shirt off, folded it, and put it in the small duffel bag I'd shoved in my back pocket while I'd been in the house with her.

  I’d unbuttoned my jeans, and was just about to push them off, when my sensitive ears picked up a loud crash and a scream. I fastened my pants back up and took off toward the house, cursing myself for leaving her. This was one of the things I'd feared, and it was my fault for flying off the handle in the first place. I was stupid for believing that she was hoping to rekindle a lost love, when she'd been so warm and pliant in my arms. Why would she be there with me one moment and getting back with someone else the next minute? That made no sense.

  Of course, it would've been nice if she'd actually talked to me in the first place, but it wasn't her job to assuage my ego and soothe away my surprising jealousy. Now I was afraid I'd made the biggest mistake of my life. The closer I got, the less I heard, until the soft whine of an electric motor and tires squealing down the road ripped through my ears. My heart pounded in my chest so hard I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I bent at the waist and placed my hands on my hips, staring out at the expensive tan car tearing away. I kicked at the gravel in the driveway and watched several pieces go sailing through the air. I'd fucked up big time.

  How could I help her if I didn't know the first thing about why she’d been taken? I might have been able to follow the car if I'd already been in coyote form and it hadn't been going so damn fast, but by now it was pretty useless. I examined the tire tracks in the road, following them back to the house. Her front door was wide open, and I frowned, heading toward it. Maybe I could find out something if I went inside and looked around.

  The door had been broken open, but the lock was still intact, so she hadn't even locked the door when the attacker had come inside. I ran my hand through my hair, self-loathing washing over me like an ice bath. Inside, it looked like a bomb had gone off in the entryway and living room. She wasn't a big girl, so I couldn't imagine how she'd been able to fend off her kidnapper for so long.

  I found myself trying to get a whiff of her scent lingering in the air. A few strands of her hair, a small blood splatter, and an indentation on the wall told me that she’d defended herself despite everything. My coyote gave a small grin, which I let out to play on my lips. The trivial amount of blood meant that she was most likely alive. Arterial blood sprays were the same regardless of the prey, and they were rarely contained in small areas. No rich, deep bloody scents filled in the air. Instead it was awash with sweat and testosterone. My nose was assaulted by a barrage of unfamiliar smells, but I could pick out a few things that surprised me. One, whoever had been here had been afraid. Their anxiety was obvious in their sweat, which carried an acrid tinge of desperation. Secondly, there was the smell of someone who lingered around magic, and that slight sharpness of tin that older warehouses carried with them. I took a gander around the place and headed for the obvious target, her notes.

  People rarely got kidnapped 'just because.' There was always a reason. Usually, someone the victim once worked or socialized with was involved in some fashion. While I hated violating her workspace, it was one of the better clues I had right now. My coyote wasn’t too happy about it, either. His nose was turned away from the entire process, as if he was trying to avoid a future conflict. Suit yourself. I don't have that luxury. Her notes on the job at hand were the same as what she’d shared with me earlier, with a few details added in. None of it seemed a strong enough motive for kidnapping.

  Taking in my surroundings, I turned my gaze toward the next obvious target—her computer. I wasn't familiar with all the latest and greatest in software, but the basics were the same. My skills would do, because the other option was just unacceptable. I stopped myself in the moment and realized what I was feeling. My coyote had noticed it too. I wasn't just helping someone I was interested in anymore. Instead, my intentions were those of someone protecting a person they cared about.

  With a long shrug, I powered on the computer, ignoring the sense that I was violating yet another aspect of her privacy. If it would help me find her, it didn't matter. The computer had password protection enabled, and I sighed. All computers had their weaknesses, and I knew a few of them, a side benefit of playing pranks on others in the tribe. I rebooted it, and waiting patiently for a moment before I switched to booting from a secondary partition, intended for backups. A few key presses in the right place gave me a command-line terminal to the computer. There’s no need for a password if what you load has none. Within a few minutes, I had complete access to her hard drive, and her files.

  It didn't take long to find her e-mails. Sorting them by most recent, I started to go through the ones that stood out, and the ones she’d replied to. Nothing seemed to be relevant, until I reached an e-mail from a ‘Mr. McGuire.’ After reading it, the gears in my head began to turn. What was going on here?

  Chapter Seventeen

  Morgana

  My jaw ached from being overpowered by the man who’d attacked me. I hadn't had a chance to see his face, and all I could smell from him was desperation and some kind of musky cologne. I jerked, trying to move my arms, but it was no use—someone who knew what they were doing had tied them behind my back. A silky cloth covered my eyes. It seemed as if someone had gone to a BDSM store to purchase the tools to keep me bound and blindfolded.

  I cocked my head to the side, relying on my remaining senses to examine my surroundings. To my right, something smelled sweetly metallic—the scent of blood, easy to detect, especially as a Raven shifter. I'd hunted enough to know it well. While my mundane brethren were omnivorous carrion-eaters, Raven shifters were carnivores, due to the extra energy needed to shift from human form to raven.

  Drip, drip, drip. The sound came from my left, breaking through my thoughts, and I honed in it. I had to figure out where I was, using any clues I could. No obvious scent came from that direction. Could it be water? The loud plops came in a steady pattern, a few seconds between each drip.

  My nerves frayed at the edges like rope coming undone, and I squirmed against my bindings, doing my best to break free. If that sound was water, it could be someone trying to clean up the blood before he left the scene. He'd probably use me for his purposes and kill me as well. Danger. If I didn't get out of here, I might be lying in my own pool of blood soon.

  "Ah shit, it's still not coming clean. This is what I get for hiring slobs." The man's voice raised in pitch a little, belying his bravado, laying out his fear for my sensitive ears. "Stop moving around so much, girlie. Don't think I've forgotten about you, especially not after you've disrespected me." His voice deepened, and the fear disappeared, replaced by anger. "Wipe that smug look off your face, before I do it for you." He stomped in my direction.

  I quickly adjusted my expression, even though it was hard. Maybe I was crazy for finding this whole situation funny, but if I didn't laugh, I’d just curl into a ball and cry uncontrollably. The smile crept back onto my lips. I tried to force it into a neutral frown, but I wasn't quick enough. The blow to my face knocked me off-balance, throwing me hard to the ground, and I lay there gasping in pain at the force behind his punch. He was human, but more than that...a wizard. Ugh. I could tell by the tangy scent of magic that clung to him. Plus, he was pretty damn strong.

  "What do you want?" I growled between gritted teeth, hoping they were all still in my head after the blow. I remained where I was, more out of fear that he'd knock me back down than anything. My agility was beyond most, so I knew I'd be able to get up, even with my hands and arms tied behind my back as they were.

  "Now you're interested." He didn't sound much older than I was, which meant he coul
d've been a college grad with dreams far beyond his grasp. But how would he have gotten my information? "I would've thought our previous emails would strike your fancy, but I guess not. You know what to look for to get me out of my current mess. You'll give me what I've always hoped for, or you'll die trying."

  Even as he spoke, I tried to remember the voice from the phone call earlier. This had to be James McGuire. Shivers of fear trailed along my spine like a cool fingertip. "If I'm going to find anything for you, you'll need to give me more information than this." I had a feeling I knew what he wanted.

  "You're right. Coming to your senses. Good, I'm glad. I wouldn't want to hurt you any further than you've already forced me to." After a moment, the dripping water increased to a full-on spray.

  The faint trickling sound of a small stream of water ran toward me, and I sat up, sliding away from it. The closer it got, the more I could smell the blood lacing it. I bit my lip to hold in my discomfort at the thought of sitting in someone else's blood.

  The man's musky cologne closed in on me again, and I almost jerked away when he pulled both the blindfold and a few strands of hair from my head. He grabbed me by the upper arm and yanked me to my feet with such force that I nearly tripped over my own legs. I couldn’t let myself underestimate him. He was stronger than I’d expected wizards could be, and I had to get over that. "Now, you'll do as I say if you don't want to get hurt."

  I glanced down at his other hand and saw a long yellow garden hose traveling back toward the wall of a cabin’s large shed, its walls lined with aluminum siding. Near the path to my left was a chair that he must've set the hose on while he'd gone off somewhere. That explained the dripping sound. My gaze swept to the right, and my heart dropped into the pit of my stomach.