Prey (BookStrand Publishing Romance)

by Mary Lou George

  Chapter 5

  Sam’s clinic was impressive. The kennel part, where he housed his patients, was bright, airy and very clean. Jade bent and patted Rags who hesitated before joining her on the tour. She understood that at first he’d thought she was going to put him in one of the many cages. Sure, they looked like the most palatial cages he’d ever seen, but they were still cages. Jade reassured the nervous little fellow and promised him that he was merely visiting.

  They stopped at a crate that held a West Highland White Terrier. The little dog didn’t bother to look up as they approached. When Jade stopped, he turned his head away, unwilling to communicate.

  “What’s wrong with this little guy, Sam?” Jade asked.

  He shrugged sadly. “We don’t know. He won’t eat and he’s lethargic. We cannot find the cause, and I’m going to have to put him on an IV soon if he doesn’t rally.”

  “May I open the door?” She had a hunch and wanted to follow it.

  Sam nodded. “Sure, his name is Barney. He’s a harmless little guy who’s not feeling very well at the moment.”

  Jade opened the gate and sat down in the opening. Barney looked at her, a small dim light in his eyes. He sniffed the air and accepted Jade’s touch. She stroked him for a couple of minutes, and Barney started to open up to her. When he was done telling her his tale of woe, she patted the little terrier with reassurance three more times and stood up. Slowly, she closed the door to his crate.

  Sam waited patiently for her to speak. When she did, she used a husky whisper forcing him to bend over to hear all that she was saying.

  “Barney’s not physically sick, so you can cancel any tests you’ve scheduled.” She smiled reassuringly at the dog. “He is missing his friend.”

  Confused, Sam said, “His owners told me that no one in the family has died or gone away. I thought he might be pining. His symptoms are classic.” He put his hand through the bars and patted him. Rags whined with sympathy.

  Jade explained what she’d learned by communicating with Sam’s patient. “He’s not missing a person. He’s missing the dog that used to run in the yard next to his. It’s kind of funny actually. I don’t get the impression that they were actually friends in the conventional sense. More like two personalities who agreed to disagree. Spike, that’s his name, had been there for years and now he’s not. Barney didn’t get the chance to say goodbye and no one has taken the time to try to explain what had happened to his friend.”

  Sam smiled with obvious relief. “If that’s all it is, you can tell him that Spike is fine. His family moved to a bigger house on the outskirts of town. Could you tell him this? Or do we need to show him proof?”

  Smiling at Barney she kneeled down and opened the crate again. This time the little dog walked to her hand without hesitation. She communicated with Barney for a few minutes, and when she was finished, Barney licked her hand once, wagged his tail and started to eat from his bowl.

  Amazed, Sam started to laugh. “You’re going to put me out of business.” Then he frowned. “Well, since I rarely charge, do I still call it a business?”

  “You can call it whatever you like. The place is great. I’m so impressed.”

  His crooked smile charmed her. “I’m glad you like it. How do you feel about coming to work here?”

  Stopping dead in her tracks, Jade looked up at him. “Are you serious?”

  “Sure. You haven’t found a job in New Crescent yet have you?”

  Jade shook her head. “Not yet.”

  “Well now you have. When can you start?” A man of action, Sam started talking about hours of work, salary etc.

  Jade got caught up and by the time they started to walk out to the stables, she was gainfully employed, with dental.

  The stables were very familiar, but they’d been updated. She’d spent many hours here when she was a child. Sam and the others found it hilarious that though she loved horses, she’d never learned to ride. She had never wanted to. Even when her brother and his friends took off for hours on a trail ride, Jade still resisted the temptation, and she’d never explained why.

  Sam had tried many times to get her to talk to him about it, but whenever he did, Jade would start to hum and ignore him entirely. Stopping just inside the barn doors, Sam folded his arms across his chest and tried once more.

  “Tell me again. Why didn’t you want to learn to ride?”

  Jade’s eyes met his and in a low voice, she started to hum… “Buffalo Girl won’t you come out tonight, come out tonight,…”

  He laughed. “One of these days. You’ll tell me.”

  She stopped humming. “Yeah, good luck with that.” Throwing him a provocative look over her shoulder, she moved further into the barn.

  He explained. “The horses in the stalls have to stay calm for some medical reason or another. The rest are out in the paddock. Did you want to start here or out there?” He pointed to other end of the stables where Jade could see horses grazing happily in the field.

  She ignored him. Drawn to a large chestnut with a white blaze, Jade moved towards her stall. There was a name plate above her that read Petra. Jade forgot that Sam was there as she communicated with the animal.

  Her stomach dropped and bile rose in her throat. How barbaric! Jade’s heart pounded, and she gasped as red hot anger raged within her. After a moment, she did her best to clamp down on it because the chestnut was remarkably sanguine and Jade didn’t want to distress her.

  Gazing with admiration at the mare’s limpid dark eye, Jade rubbed her cheek against Petra’s face. She pressed her fingers gently to her velvet soft lips and felt her sigh. Very slowly she turned Petra’s head. What she saw made Jade want to lash out at someone in desperate anger and sorrow.

  On the other side of Petra’s head there was nothing but an empty socket where once there had been a beautiful expressive dark eye. And Jade knew she’d been mutilated on purpose.

  Sam came up behind her and stroked the beautiful horse. “I’m sorry, Jinx. I should have prepared you.”

  Jade closed her eyes, her lips trembled and she licked them to try to stop the tremors. When she tipped her head back, the tears ran down her upturned face and dripped off her earlobes. Sam caught one with his finger and brought it to his mouth. He kissed the tear from his finger and said, “Please don’t cry Jinx. Petra is well taken care of and very loved here at my stables.” He took her in his arms, soothing her. “She has a wonderful life now, sweetheart.”

  Jade nodded, her ear against his chest. “I got that from her. She thinks quite highly of you, and she feels no bitterness or anger toward the people who did this to her. She’s a miracle to forgive such cruelty. It was monstrous.” Her previous humans had used her simply as an eye donor for a very expensive show jumper. Sam got wind of it and burst in to stop them from just leaving her behind, bleeding, mutilated. Petra had a strong will to survive and had lived happily with Sam ever since. She became his companion. When he walked the grounds, she went with him like a very faithful dog. Sam never rode her though. He figured she’d had enough of human beings and Jade agreed with him.

  Through her tears Jade said, “She’s magnificent. I love that you did what you did. When I was with my father, I stopped him from doing horrendous things to the Standard Bred horses he’d trained. He’s dead. That’s the only way I could come home to New Crescent. He can cause no more pain, so finally my life is my own.”

  Sam squeezed her tight, Petra softly snuffled and Rags pawed the ground with a whine. Chase was the first person who knew about her father. She’d never told anyone else, until now, until Sam and Petra.

  Robert Adams was an abusive man. As a child, overweight and awkward, Jade had suffered his constant humiliation. When he was drunk, he’d call her horrible names and strike out at her in disgust. It stopped for a time when he’d married Chase’s mother, Rachel McCann and while Chase was living in the house, he’d been good. But her father couldn’t hide his true nature from his bride for long and in the end, he�
��d turned his vitriol on Rachel, who protected Jade like a mother would. A freshman in college, Chase had known none of this, until his mother had passed away. He would have killed the man. Knowing that gave Rachel and Jade a reason to keep their little secret from Chase. In front of his stepson, Robert was a devoted husband and father.

  * * * *

  Holding her in his arms, ladies man Sam Daniels felt helpless for the first time in his life. What she’d described was horrible, but the man who’d caused all that pain was dead. He couldn’t kill him. He gained a new insight into his buddy Chase’s strength. It must have taken tremendous effort for him to let Robert Adams live. Sure Jade had given him no choice. She’d told her brother that if he hurt her father he’d be hurting her. Sam knew that none of his friends could ever hurt Jade. She was their angel, even if she did bring him bad luck now and then.

  She fit so right in his arms. It surprised him because she was so much smaller than he was. He didn’t want to ever let her go. He almost staggered as an intense feeling washed over him. Putting words to it was impossible, but he finally knew what he should have realized years ago. Ever since that night on his beach when she’d so innocently kissed him and he’d messed the whole thing up, Sam had been waiting for her.

  Strange, he thought, now that he’d had his epiphany he didn’t know what to do about it. It was a day of firsts for Sam. He’d always known how to charm a woman. He loved them, everything about them. Women were so different than men and he was fascinated with their every little nuance. Knocked flat, Sam had no idea how to proceed. What did he do now…with this woman...the one…his Jinx…his mate?

  He didn’t have a plan. Sam always had a plan. His mind raced while his body held Jade tight. She shifted in his arms, and he wanted to groan. He was aroused, damn it, how inappropriate. Control, he needed to control himself. The first thing he needed to do was put some distance between him and Jade before she felt his arousal. Right now that was a monumental task, since every instinct he had told him to hold on tight, to never let her go again, so he concentrated on that one simple act. One step at a time, that was a plan, wasn’t it?

  Little by little he eased his body away from Jade’s. She didn’t seem to notice, and he was relieved to see that she was no longer crying. He spread his legs and bent at the knees so he could look her straight in the face. How beautiful she was. He cupped her head in his hands and used his thumbs to wipe her tears away.

  Her almond shaped, green eyes looked huge as they shimmered with as yet unshed tears. Her lips trembled. Idly he noticed her bottom lip was fuller than the top one. When she darted her pink tongue out and moistened them, he died a thousand deaths and moved away from her abruptly.

  The hurt and confused look in her eyes when he’d retreated made him want to hurt himself. Instead he said, “Are you ok now? It looks like Petra and Rags here are getting worried.” He knew his smile was lame, but he couldn’t help it.

  She blinked, and her unshed tears wet her lashes and made them look spiky. She was exquisite.

  Her husky voice was almost his undoing when she said, “I…I’m okay. Thanks, it’s nice to have a shoulder to cry on. I’ve missed my brother so much these past years.”

  She may as well have hit him in the face with a baseball bat. Her words sure cooled his ardor. He was horrified. She’d put him in the same category as her brother. He’d have to claw his way out of that box right away, but he’d been taken by surprise and had no idea how to handle the situation. Humor, yeah, humor was always good.

  “Chase is boring, you haven’t missed anything. Reggie’s the most interesting thing about him, and you’re here for that, so it’s all good.” Babbling, was he babbling now?

  Jade didn’t seem to mind. She lifted a brow at him and put her hand out to Petra. She looked over her shoulder at Sam and asked, “Do you have any treats for her? I’d love to give her something. She loves apples. Do you have any apples?”

  He said a goofy, “Sure thing.” And felt fourteen again as he loped over to an alcove that held a kitchen of sorts.

  He used the barn’s refrigerator as a regrouping station. The cool metal helped to ease his heated skin. “Pull yourself together, man,” he whispered aloud. He gave himself a shake and grabbed an armful of apples.

  “You know me so well.” Jade said when he reappeared with his arms full.

  It just felt right to be here talking to her like this. He said, “Everyone knows you couldn’t treat just one horse when there are so many others around. Remember Tobin, that nasty little pony I had? He bit your hand every time you gave him a treat, but you refused to stop.”

  She laughed. “Oh I remember him. They were just love bites. He was terribly sweet underneath it all. He was…misunderstood.”

  “If you say so.” He nodded, not convinced. “Anyway, he lived to a ripe old age and is buried out back.”

  They walked through the stables and Jade treated each stall’s occupant with a juicy apple. When they reached the paddock, she looked at Sam’s chest and counted to make sure he’d brought enough for every one. She frowned and her disappointment made him feel ridiculously uncomfortable.

  He hurried to reassure her. “There’s more in the fridge. This was all I could carry in one trip. I can get more so go ahead, knock yourself out.” He watched as she walked through the paddock feeding each horse an apple. She didn’t speak, and Sam wondered if she was communicating with them. He jogged back to the barn and collected more apples. Finally, she walked back to stand in front of him.

  She had a scowl on her face as she said, “Sam. We have a big problem here in New Crescent.” Just as she finished her sentence Sam’s cell phone rang.

  Chapter 6

  Six of them sat around Reggie’s dining room table. Gillian and Travis had arrived first. Jade came with Sam because they’d received the news together. Travis had made the call. His deputies were on the case doing all they could, but Travis’s gut told him this was something that needed more than the usual investigative procedures. He turned to the people he trusted most.

  The mutilated body of local farmer, Allan Simpson, had been found early that morning. In his capacity as Sheriff, Travis spent the better part of the afternoon at the Simpson farm. Allan had been found by his son, Henry, who’d come to help him with his dairy cows at dawn’s early light. Henry had seen an animal ripping his father apart. The poor man tried to track it, but lost it in the woods. There was no help for Allan Simpson. He’d been torn asunder. Ashamed to admit it, Henry had a hard time even looking at the gruesome figure that used to be his father.

  Looking around the table at the faces of his closest friends, Travis said, “Henry wasn’t thinking straight and neither was his brother. They made a particularly messed up crime scene even worse. If there was any evidence to be found, it was obliterated. The county coroner’s got the body. I’m hoping science can shed some light on what we have here but I’m not holding my breath. That’s why I came to you guys.”

  Matrimony brought out the hostess in Reggie who’d thrown a mix of foods on the dining room table so they could eat while they talked. The subject of discussion was hardly conducive to hearty appetites, but Reggie was pregnant and couldn’t help herself. She was unapologetically licking ice cream off a spoon when she said, “What’s your best guess, Travis? A rabid dog? Do bears get rabies?”

  He shrugged his shoulders, “Whatever it was, it was big. Simpson wasn’t a big man, but still, he’d been reduced to almost nothing. The coroner is going to have trouble identifying anything. There wasn’t much left.”

  Chase spared a glance for his wife and her ice cream spoon. “I hate to be the one to say this, but what can we do about it? It’s an animal attack. Granted we don’t get many in these parts anymore but I don’t get why you want us involved. You have deputies. Aren’t they working on it? Aren’t they more qualified?”

  Reggie looked at her husband and frowned, “Of course he’s coming to us. Gillian and I are both Guardians. Just because I’m
pregnant doesn’t mean I’ll shirk my responsibilities. It’s our business.”

  “Yeah, you’re pregnant, Reggie. I think that should be enough to keep you out of it. I won’t risk you and the baby for anything.” He took hold of his wife’s hand and looked around the table daring his friends to challenge him.

  Travis looked apologetic but pressed the point. “Reggie’s right, Chase. Yes, I have deputies, and they’re investigating what happened using the best means at their disposal, but you and I both know that here in this room, there are much more unique and accurate talents. My gut tells me this isn’t something regular police work is going to solve.” When Chase opened his mouth to argue, Travis held up his hand. “I swear I’m just seeking advice at this point. There is no danger to the people in this room.”

  Silence filled the room. Finally Chase brought Reggie’s hand to his lips and nodded.

  Sam broke the silence. “Speaking of unique talents, where is Ernestine?”

  Travis said, “She’s with Allan’s wife Iris. The poor woman is shattered. I figure Ernestine will have plenty to say tomorrow, but for tonight I’m looking around this room for help.”

  Travis stared at each of them in turn and received five different versions of affirmative nods in return. His gaze stopped at Jade. She could see the question in his eyes and answered it in her husky voice. “I checked with the horses out at Sam’s place. The ones out in the paddock are terrified. They’d rather not be out in the open for some reason…or rather, with good reason I guess, given this recent news.”

  Sam nodded. “Yeah, I brought them all in as soon as she told me. That’s why we were a little late getting here.”

  Travis was intent. “Jade? What about the dogs? Do they have anything more to add?”

  She shook her head.

  “I hate to have to ask you this, Jade, but would you be willing to come with me tomorrow when I visit the Simpson farm again? Maybe check out how the animals on the farm are feeling?” He looked apologetic.