Rob said, “Ethan, you can’t kill him because you represent the team. The team has to uphold any alliances that Garrett has in place." He glanced at Kyle. "I suggest you come up with something that won't kill him but would distract him long enough so she can get away. A defensive device made of iron. Then after the attack we could call Lord Caelen to take care of him.”
“That sounds perfect, but what?” I turned to look at Kyle who was nodding his head.
“I’m actually working on something right now. It’s not iron, it’s silver, but I can develop an iron version. I should have it ready in two days for a test.”
“I won’t carry it in the house around Liam.” Liam would be very sensitive to any iron weapon, even a defensive one.
Garrett turned to me. “I’ll have my friend ward the house and the yard against all fae except the Elders and their family members. That’ll keep Kennet or his cronies out.”
“Elizabeth?” She was a witch who I’d met before my duel with Antoine.
“Yes, she’s adept at spells of this type.”
Rob spoke up, “I think we can move on to the subject of Brina. Ethan, Jackie, are you agreeable to taking a summer class at the High School in Gasquet?”
I looked at Ethan and laughed. “As long as he doesn’t make up horrible stories about his twin sister and all the dumb things I did growing up.”
“Well, there was the time…”
“I’m warning you now, brother, don’t mess with me.”
“Ok, fine. You’re no fun.” I threw a grape tomato at him and he caught it gracefully in his mouth making the rest of the group laugh.
Rob continued. “Sinc, when you’ve worked out the phony names, ID’s, transcripts, birth certificates, social security numbers and whatever else they need, you’ll call me and I’ll register them. Sorry, but you only have three days.
“I got it covered.” To an outsider, Sinc can appear arrogant, but we knew she was a genius with anything of this nature and that those documents would be ready and perfect in two days. It wasn't her work of choice, however. With a Masters Degree in forensic science, she’d hoped to eventually be able to do more work for the team in that area rather than just computer generated forgeries, research and security.
“Kyle, you need to make sure that whatever we give Jackie as protection will be easily concealed. The High School may have metal detectors.”
“Sure Rob, no problem.” I could see Kyle’s wheels turning behind his dark eyes. He loved this kind of challenge. His often immature behavior could sometimes make you forget that he was a weapons expert and had invented quite a few extremely high tech devices that even the military might be interested in. Of course, as shifters, we had no desire to get involved with human politics.
Rob continued, look at me and Ethan. “I'm renting you a house just outside of town and getting you an old car. You'll say you live with an uncle who's out of town on business. You two need to sit down and come up with a plan. You might want to go into Gasquet tomorrow and hang out at the local dives, just so you’re seen together.”
“I already have some ideas." Ethan, our team strategist, was not just another pretty face.
“Come over around noon tomorrow, bro, and we’ll put our heads together.” He nodded and laughed.
Garrett leaned forward. “Rob and I are stepping back as far as Brina is concerned, but I'd like to remind you of a few things. She's the daughter of a fae Elder and therefore very powerful. Don't try to fight her. You'll lose. You're there to get information. We need to know where she is, the reason she's there, and if she's responsible for Drew’s death. We’ll tell Liam or Lord Caelen as soon as we have any information at all. We can’t violate the alliance."
His expression turned serious and he glanced in my direction. “Rob and I will be working on finding Kennet. He's left Faerie. You'll call us immediately if you see him or even suspect he's near.“
"Sure Garrett." Ethan answered for all of us.
Garrett relaxed and cracked a smile. “As far as Brina is concerned, we’re here if you need us, for advice or for backup. You all know what you have to do and we trust that you’ll be able to handle this.”
The four of us looked at each other and grinned. This was going to be so cool.
Chapter Seven
The next day at noon on the dot, Ethan and I sat at my kitchen table eating boxed mac and cheese, both of us missing Liam's cooking. I'd made a salad and some iced tea but it was still kind of a sad offering. Ethan, being a good sport about the food, had just finished telling me about the latest zombie movie he’d seen with Sinc a few days ago. It sounded like something Garrett and I might have a few laughs over. Hollywood was hopeless when it came to anything realistic regarding supernaturals, but we were always up for a couple of hours of good natured ridiculing. We particularly loved renting movies about werewolves or vampires and getting the gang together to scream, howl and hiss in all the appropriate spots.
For our current mission, Ethan and I had decided on the names Sam and Melanie Gray; generic and unremarkable, exactly what we were hoping our classmates would think of us. In order to get information, we’d need to blend in and not attract attention. I took a look at Ethan and sighed. Well, I’d blend in well enough. I was dressed in my usual jeans and a light blue tank top. He was wearing dark jeans and a dark red tee shirt that fit snugly over his muscular chest, not leaving much to the imagination. His chocolate brown hair always seemed to send out scouts to hang over his golden brown eyes, and his smile was always warm and infectious. Ethan would stand out in a stadium of people.
He spoke excitedly. “So I was thinking—how about we take a drive to Gasquet and then grab a soda somewhere and just kind of hang out in town for awhile? We could check out the school and maybe the local fast food joints.
"Sure. Maybe we can get something better to eat." I pushed my plate away. "Sorry."
"It's fine. I'll eat anything. You know that." He shrugged. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Sinc is coming over in a few minutes to dye your hair. She’s also bringing our new drivers licenses and she’ll have the rest of the documents tomorrow. Then Rob can register us at school.”
“You didn’t just say that Sinc is coming to dye my hair did you? Because if you did, then I’m checking you for drugs.”
“Sinc is more in tune with what people are talking about and she thinks there’s still too much info out about the blonde cheetah shifter living in the area who killed the vampire. She thinks it’s the smart move and so do I. You can wear a wig, but they get really uncomfortable if you have to wear it for a long time.”
“C’mon, Ethan. I’d rather not dye my hair.“ I whined.
Ethan’s usual warm expression turned serious. “Are you part of the team or not, Jackie?”
“You know that’s not fair!” I was pissed. “I don’t see you or Sinc dying your hair.”
“Sinc is more suited to work behind the scenes or as backup when necessary, which makes you the one female we have to be out in the field. Someone will recognize you, and then the whole plan goes down the crapper.”
I rolled my eyes. Ethan was back in ‘Team Leader’ mode. I admit, I sometimes took issue with following orders that I disagreed with. But Ethan was a patient guy who understood the best way to deal with each of us, so he leaned back in the chair and waited quietly for my response. He probably knew what I’d say before I did, but he always allowed me the time to work it out for myself.
I took in a deep breath and tried to calm my initial angry reaction. What he’d said was true. Gasquet wasn’t far from Crescent City and yes, someone could recognize me. As far as my hair was concerned, it was just a dye job. I could color it back to my normal blonde as soon as we found Brina, so what was I really upset about?
Ethan was our acknowledged leader and there would be plenty of times when I’d have to follow instructions instantly whether I agreed with them or not. Still, I didn’t like not being asked first. I wondered if Garrett would mind if I dye
d my hair, then shook off that thought. Deep down I was still a tiny bit insecure about my relationship with Garrett. I mean you only had to take one look at him to wonder why he chose me. But those doubts were few and far between and they always dissolved into dust with the first kiss of the day.
Knowing Garrett, he'd probably care more that I hadn't instantly followed Ethan's orders.
“Ok.”
“That’s it? Ok?” He looked unsure.
“Yes, that’s it, unless you’d like to argue some more.”
“No, I’m good.” Ethan said, holding up both hands. As we heard a car drive up, Ethan barked out a laugh, probably because of the timing. Sinc had arrived with hair color in hand. Oh Joy. He let her in, giving her a hug and a kiss before bringing her into the kitchen.
She was dressed in casual haute couture: looking like she hung out with the Kardashians. As usual, she got right down to business, taking the boxes of color out of the drugstore bag and plunking them in front of me on the table. “So I got two different shades because I want to look at your skin tone again. Ethan’s much darker than you, but I think we can do a really dark red or a russet brown. What do you think”? She didn’t wait for my answer. “I brought brown contacts too. Green eyes are uncommon.”
“I said ok to the hair, but I’d rather not wear contacts if I don’t have to.” I looked at Ethan who didn’t need to say a word. I sighed and slumped in the chair. “Do your worst.” Sinc’s eyes actually glittered with excitement as she jumped up and dragged me into the bathroom.
45 minutes later, I emerged as Sinc’s latest masterpiece. She’d gone with the dark red hair color and light brown contacts, similar to Ethan’s eye color. She’d trimmed my hair, under protest of course, and gave me some cool layers which brought out my natural waves. Standing side by side with Ethan in front of the mirror you could almost imagine a resemblance, which would definitely help cement our twin story.
“You guys go to Gasquet and have fun.” She walked over to Ethan and leaned in for a kiss. “I’ll see you later.” She turned and swayed her way to the door twisting around to wave one more time before leaving the house.
I nodded my head and chuckled, looking down at the outfit she’d brought for me to wear: denim shorts and a purple lace edged tank top. “She’s like a force of nature; a tsunami that sweeps in and leaves—a makeover in its wake.”
“Tell me about it.” Ethan chuckled and looked me over. “You look great. Are you ready to hit Gasquet, Mel?” He took out a pair of cool looking glasses. I screwed up my mouth and shook my head. That was the extent of his makeover, I guessed. Life is so unfair sometimes.
“Sure Sammy, let’s go.”
Chapter Eight
It didn’t take us long to get there since Ethan drove like a typical eighteen year old guy, making me laugh the whole way with funny stories that Sinc had told him about her training with Kyle. We pulled up in front of the local pizza joint. There were eight or nine cars parked outside so we decided to grab a slice and a soda and keep our eyes open.
A few different groups of high school students occupied some of the booths along the wall, so we sat in one of the tables near them. We talked quietly about the zombie movie while I very cautiously sent out a few mental feelers. I’d be able to recognize the aura of a fae, but I had to be careful that she didn’t feel me nudging her. After a few minutes I deduced that this group was all shifters, wolves and humans, no fae in the bunch.
I found it interesting that the humans and shifters were friends but the weres stayed apart in their own clique. I remembered Rob telling me that the two groups of weres that caused the Crescent City shifters so much trouble had pack lands in the Gasquet area. The Brownlow and Pine Ridge packs were rumored to be allies. It would be really unfortunate if any of them knew who we were. They’d love to take some revenge out of our hides after what we did to the Pine Ridge pack leader and his cohorts after they’d kidnapped Garrett with the help of the witch. Drew had been a member of the Brownlow pack and his friend George probably still was.
Ethan indicated that we should leave, since we didn’t want to spend too long in just one place. The plan was to hit some of the local spots, just so we were seen around town before class started. Which reminded me…
“What class are we taking?”
“English History. It’s taught by the new teacher who we think might be Brina.”
“It could be worse. It could be trig.”
“I like math. It makes sense.”
“I did fine with most of it, but trig was hard.” We’d walked several blocks to a small park and took possession of a generic bench in the center of things. I sent out my mental fingers, but no luck at finding a fae.
“So you graduated early?” Garrett asked.
“A year early. I took a lot of summer classes and I skipped ahead. It got me out of the house." My diploma had come in the mail to Rob's house, sent by my adopted parents, the Crawfords. Garrett had framed it and put it up in my room.
“Were you going to college?”
“I was thinking about just going to the local community college. I was really happy living with Justin and Maggie and figured I’d take a year there and then transfer somewhere like UCLA or USC or maybe Berkeley.”
“Rob made me get my GED, so I was thinking about enrolling in the local community college this fall myself. Maybe we could take a couple of classes together.”
“That would be great.”
After ten minutes of sitting and chatting, two shifter females came over to us. “Hi,” the blonde said. “Are you guys new around here?” She was petite, a little plump and very pretty, with perfect skin and large blue eyes, dressed casually in capris and a peasant shirt.
“I’m Sherrie and this is Bridgett.” She was eyeing Ethan like he was a Hershey bar. I took a whiff and smelled cougar mixed with pine. I grinned at Ethan and he wrinkled his brow as if to say, what? He couldn't tell she was another cougar.
Bridgett was Sherrie’s polar opposite in looks and behavior. She was too thin, with dyed jet black hair and walnut brown eyes. She had a tattoo on her forearm of a phoenix rising from the ashes and a brass stud in her lip which might have made her edgy, only she was looking down at the ground like she was afraid to look us in the eye .She wore black jeans and a tank top which emphasized the thinness of her arms.
“Hi. I’m Sam and this is my sister, Melanie“ Ethan smiled his warmest smile and Sherrie’s red aura brightened. “We moved here last week from Sacramento.”
“So where do you live?” Sherrie was a curious little cat. I guessed that Gasquet wasn’t really a hotbed of new gossip, so we were possibly a dream come true for a bored teen.
“Over on Oakcrest.” Rob had called to tell us that the house was all set up and that the key was under the planter.
I was listening to Ethan and Sherrie chat but I couldn’t stop watching Bridgett. Her aura was a muddy yellow, which wasn’t too far from the Faerie gold a daughter of an Elder might wear. Brina could have disguised her scent to smell like a shifter. Bridgett stole a glance at Ethan when he laughed and then looked down at the ground again. I decided to see what I could find out about her.
Very carefully I extended my mental probes in her direction and came smack up against a solid mental wall. I quickly pulled back, but she’d already noticed. She raised her head slowly to look at Ethan curiously, then at me. Our eyes locked for a moment as we assessed each other. We both took in a slow breath. I smelled jaguar, but something else. Cheetah. Cheetah and the sharp smell of newly cut grass. Her eyebrows lifted in surprise when she caught my scent, but she shifted her gaze quickly back down to the ground. She was afraid of something.
“Are you two taking a summer class? We’re in English History at 11:00.” Ethan was still talking to Sherrie, although he’d caught the looks that Bridgett and I had exchanged.
“Not me, but Bridgett is taking calculus at 11:00. She failed and has to take it over.” Huh, some friend.
I touched
Bridgett's arm so she'd look at me. “I did really well in calculus. If you’re having trouble I’d be happy to help.” I wanted to learn as much as possible about this girl. If she was actually Brina in disguise, then she could change her scent, but why would she choose two shifter scents? It didn’t make sense to me.
“Thanks.” Her voice was so soft I barely heard her.
“I like your tattoo. Is it a phoenix?”
“Yeah.”
“She got into soooo much trouble with her dad when she got it. “ I was liking Sherrie less every time she opened her mouth. A couple of guys walked over to see who Sherrie and Bridgett were talking to.
“Oh, hi! This is Sam and his sister Melanie. They just moved to town and are taking a summer class next session. This is Darren and Frank. They’re seniors too.”
Darren was good looking and knew it. He was tall and broad with dark blonde wavy hair and light blue eyes. He wore tan shorts and a black tee shirt that said "WTF!" over his well muscled chest. He smelled like a bear shifter with a hint of birch and I knew from the way he stared at me that he was arrogant.
Frank was dark skinned, lean and graceful. He had gorgeous dark eyes, a great smile and curly black hair. I knew what he was before I even took a sniff; black leopard like Rob, mixed with tangy lime. He wore a tan button down shirt unbuttoned with a green tank underneath, and jeans. Frank’s aura was turquoise, like Ethan’s.
“Hi,” I said looking at Frank, but watching Darren out of the corner of my eye.
“Hi,” said Frank with a warm smile.
“It’s really nice to meet you, Melanie, Sam.” Darren actually held out his hand so I shook it. He held mine just a little bit too long before he let go and shook Ethan’s. “What class are you taking?”
Stalked (Rogues Shifter #2) Page 6
