by Calinda B
He whistled again, shaking his head. “I’d say you’re having one hell of a sucky day.” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “I could make you forget, you know. You’d forget all about your problems.”
She rolled her eyes. “Nice try. I really value your friendship.”
“It would still be there, I swear.” He made a cross over his heart. His face danced with mischief.
“Yeah, but I doubt you’d stop sharing your delights with others. That wouldn’t go down with me. I’m a one guy at a time kind of girl. I know you pride yourself on keeping the female population of Charming happy.” She winked at him, then fell silent, her mind on this whole mess of murder and hunters and… “What do you think this lunatic Kyle meant by saying ‘Megan got involved with a monster?’ Either he’s a raging jealous fanatic or…” She shook her head. “Or, Megan got involved with a bad, bad shifter. That’s all I can think of.”
Cecil scratched the side of his head. “I don’t know what to think. And it hurts me to have to go after him. That’s not usually our way.” He fixed his clear blue gaze on her. “We don’t mess with other shifters. Unless maybe he’s a conservative aberration who thinks all shifters are abominations. Maybe he hates who he is. I’ve met people like that. They won’t accept their shifter abilities. So, they come after us, trying to work out their own demons.” He shook his head, making his messy hair sway and swish. “Or, then there are those who simply hate—the non-shifters, I mean. Been beat up more than my fair share of times over what I am.”
Giving him another side-eyed glance, she said, “Poor dawg-man. This world can be so unfair and brutal.” She waved her hand in the air, turning to face him. “What do we do?”
A sly smile formed on his face.
“Not that.”
He made a pout.
She slugged him softly in the shoulder. “Dawg-man…I adore you but…” An idea flashed through her brain. She snapped her fingers. “You’re a Husky! You’ve got a super sniffer, right?”
“Yeah, but…”
“So, you can pick up his scent from the rug in the foyer, right? He stood on it with his bare feet…and he held the clothes I handed him.” Her eyebrows rose as she studied him.
“Girl, he’s a bird shifter. I’m not. I can’t catch any kind of scent from the air.” He shook his head, a somber expression replacing his tease.
“Yeah, but, maybe he shifted back. It’s worth a try, right? We put you on the trail and see what we can find.” Her body began to vibrate with excitement.
Even her ghosties perked up, peeling themselves from the counter and hovering around her head.
“I can see them, you know.”
She stiffened. “What can you see?”
“Those things.” He waved a hand at her ghosts. “Whatever they are, I can see them.”
Her head fell back and she groaned. “No.”
“What? It’s part of the charm of Chia.” He grinned.
“Please don’t tell.” She clasped her hands beneath her chin. “I can’t afford to be a laughing stock. They’re remnants from my past.”
“Who would I tell? We each have our mysteries.” He shrugged.
“Thank you, dawg-man. Now, about your super sniffer—I can’t simply sit around, you know that. I’m an action kind of gal. If you say one word about throwing it down with you…” She wagged her finger at him.
A look of innocence crossed his face. “I wasn’t going to, I promise. I was going to say, ‘sure, let’s give it a try’.”
She threw her arms around his waist and hugged him, hard.
“Then again,” he said, sweeping his strong hands up and down her back.
“Then again, nothing. Let’s do this thing.” She pushed away and headed for the foyer. “Let’s catch ourselves a bounty hunter for the second time today.”
Chapter 11
Followed close on her heels by Cecil, Chia scurried into the foyer. She snatched up the gray sweatshirt she’d handed Kyle earlier, twirling it at Cecil’s face. “Here. Sniff. Get anything?”
He pulled his head back. “Jesus, girl. Other than the fact you use an over-scented laundry detergent, no. I need to shift first to active my super sniffer.”
She waved her hand at him. “Well? Go on then. Do it!”
He stepped back, eyebrows raised. “What makes you think I can shift on command? A guy’s got to be in the mood.”
“Seriously?” She propped her hands on her hips.
He tilted his head to the side and back, regarding her with narrow eyes. “Maybe.”
She stepped toward him, stabbing his sternum with her fingertip. “If you’re going to say one word about getting busy with me before you can shift…”
He lifted his hands, palms facing forward. “Okay, okay. Just back up and give me a little space.”
She took one giant step backward. “Better?”
“Yes.” He started to say something, opening his mouth slightly.
“Wait. We need a communication plan since I don’t speak dog. How about two barks for ‘I found something,’ one bark for…”
He smirked. “How about you pay attention? I’m sure you’ll be able to tell when I’m sniffing the ground, my tail wags like a helicopter rotor blade and I bark and start following the scent…”
“Right,” she said, her cheeks flushing. “Go on then. Let’s do this.”
Cecil took a deep breath and opened his mouth again.
“Wait.” Chia blinked.
“Now what?”
“Boots. I’ve got to put my boots on first. I don’t want to go trekking through the woods in socks.”
“Good point. Too bad you can’t shift.”
“Right?” She settled on the floor and sighed. “I wish I had some kind of magic inside me. My stupid parents must have ‘scienced’ it out of the gene pool.”
The strange buzzing she’d experienced earlier came to mind but she kept that thought to herself.
“You have lots of other skills, I’m sure.” He waggled his eyebrows at her.
She scoffed. After she laced her boots tight, she reached out a hand to Cecil for assistance.
He easily pulled her to her feet. “Ready?”
“Yep. You?”
“Woof,” he said with a smile, flashing into his Husky dog self.
“Oh, you do not have to be in the mood.” She glared at him.
He trotted to the door, wagging his tail.
She opened it, and he darted outside.
Chia followed him onto the porch. “Hold on, let me get the door,” she said. She pulled it shut.
He padded into the dirt driveway, lowered his head, and sniffed. Then, he straightened, training his pale blue eyes fringed with black fur at her. He barked.
“I’m coming, I’m coming.” She leaped from the porch, foregoing the steps.
Head down, he trotted back and forth in the driveway. He shook his head and made a soft growl.
“Nothing?”
With a wag of his tail, he took off, keeping his nose to the ground. He stayed close to the copper fence lining the creek. When he reached the end of the fence, where the huge bronze bear her granddad had installed stood, he turned to look at her.
“I told you, I’m coming,” she said, jogging toward him. She took one glance down the road. “The police were supposed to come out and watch over me. What do you think happened to them? A donut crisis?”
Cecil barked.
Chia chuckled.
Making his way past the bronze bear, he trekked into the stream and lapped the water. Then, he lifted his head and let out a woof.
“Me try it?” She pointed a finger at her chest. “No, thanks. I’m sure you have canine enzymes in your tummy. I don’t want to risk giardia contamination. One of my neighbors a few miles away owns a cattle ranch. You never know…”
Cecil barked. He leaped from the stream on the other side, resuming his sniffing.
Chia slogged after him, wading through the shallow stream, her feet cold
and wet as water splashed over the side of her boots.
“Dag, nab it,” she muttered.
Cecil zigged and zagged. He trotted in rapid circles. His tail wagging picked up speed. Eyes bright, tongue lolling, his movements quickened.
They’d gone several yards in the direction of the glacier, when Cecil barked excitedly. His tail twirled exactly as he’d described it earlier—like a helicopter blade.
Chia, struggling to keep up, said, “You found something? Good boy! Let’s go.”
Instead of heading toward the lake, Cecil veered toward a wooded area behind her house.
Grandpa called the woods Fae Forest. He said if she were to sit in the dark on a full moon she’d sense the fairies. She’d kept vigil on many occasions, feeling foolish perched in the woods in the dark shivering her butt off, but she never sighted anything other than Northern lights streaking across the heavens. While the lights were truly spectacular, they weren’t the kind of magic she wished she could see. A surge of hope and possibility always filled her heart, however, each time she entered the woods. Today was no exception.
Keeping his nose down, Cecil sniffed his way along the forest floor. Occasionally, he sneezed.
As she raced to keep up, shivers danced along her spine. Kyle, a murderer, at my house?
Cecil raced over fallen logs, leaped over branches, and disappeared into the underbrush.
Chia scrambled to follow. “I’m not a dog, Cecil. Not so fast.”
They trekked deeper and deeper into the woods. Cecil’s tail kept wagging, like it might lift him into the air any second.
Finally, she lost sight of him. She stopped, hands on her hips, peering this way and that.
“Cecil!” she called. “Hey, mutt!” She cupped her hands around her mouth, calling, “Dawg-man! Where are you? Come on, Cecil, come back.”
A branch snapped behind her. A whine followed.
She whipped around, saying, “There you are…”
Her mouth fell open.
The other guy—the sexy, somewhat insane bounty hunter she’d met by the lake stood behind her, holding Cecil’s scruff with his left hand, and his rifle in his right.
Yet again, the Ruger was aimed at her face.
“And, there you are.” His face looked grim. “No funny stuff this time, sexy. Both you and the mutt need to listen.”
With a sigh, Chia nodded. This time she intended to hear him out.
Chapter 12
Chia cast an accusatory glare at the far-too-sexy man holding a gun to her head. “Have you been tracking me?”
The late afternoon sun sliced through the trees of Fae Forest, casting stripes of light across the hunter’s face, making him look tigerish.
The sexy tiger-guy gave her an easy smile. “It’s not hard considering you and the mutt here are lumbering through the woods like a herd of elephants.”
He kept a tight grip on Cecil’s canine ruff.
Cecil squirmed and tugged against the man’s grip, whimpering and whining.
“You can let him go. He’s a shifter. You can stop pointing the damn gun in my face, too. I’m getting tired of inspecting gun muzzles today.” She knocked the rifle to the side.
Mr. Sexy lowered the gun. He stared at the Husky for a few seconds. With an angry flip of his wrist, he let go the dog. “Go on, then.”
Cecil shifted into his human self. He rubbed the back of his neck. “You’ve got quite a grip.”
“Sorry,” Mr. Sexy said, not appearing the least bit apologetic. “I tend to react when a mutt bites me.”
He extended his hand as proof. Sure enough, a fresh set of canine chomp marks bruised his skin.
Cecil gave a manly chin lift, and grinned.
The barest of smiles formed on Chia’s face. She acknowledged his chin lift with one of her own.
“Are you two finished congratulating one another?” The hunter looked between them.
“Maybe,” Chia said, giving him her best cold, hard glare.
The corners of Mr. Sexy’s mouth turned up. Then, he shook his head.
He trained his eyes on Cecil. “You been tracking the asshole who murdered Megan?”
“Yeah.” Cecil crossed his arms over his chest. “The trail was stronger at the start.” He pointed to the place where they’d entered the woods. “It’s pretty weak in there…” He gestured toward the deep woods. “We thought it was worth a try, though. He’s been here in the last twenty-four for sure.”
Mr. Sexy nodded. “Good to know. I suspect he’s long gone but good for you for trying. The name’s Hung Durand, by the way.” He shifted the Ruger to his left hand and reached out to Cecil with his right.
Hung? Chia’s awareness took a nose dive down to the man’s crotch. How hung are we talking?
Cecil shook his hand, saying, “Cecil Carpenter. This is Chia. Chia Petit.”
Chia stood staring at Hung, overwhelmed by his sexy appeal. He had some sort of mainline connected to her lust. Or, maybe I’ve gone too long without sex.
Cecil shook her shoulder. “Chia. Where’d you go?”
“Huh?” She blinked and shook her head.
Hung Durand smirked as he studied her. “I know a lot about Ms. Petit. Been tracking her for quite some time.”
A shiver tickled her insides. The thought of being tracked by someone was creepy as hell. The thought of being tracked by Hung Durand made her wet with longing.
Stop it. You just haven’t had any sex lately.
“By the looks of it, she thinks she might know why my name is Hung. Am I right, sexy?”
Her cheeks began to boil.
“You’re wrong about why I got the name, darling. But I’ve still got the right equipment, I assure. You can check if you like.”
Her eyes flicked to his groin. Is that the outline of his…? Her gaze darted back to his face.
He studied her with the tip of his tongue poised at the corner of his mouth.
The look he gave her could be the invitation to a good fuck. The boiling sensation in her neck and cheeks turned into searing hot steam.
She brushed her hand across her lips.
He slid his tongue along his top teeth.
“Jesus Christ,” Cecil said. “I’ve got better things to do then stand here and watch you two eye-fuck.”
Chia shot him a look. We’re not eye-fu…”
Hung laughed.
She reeled in her reaction. “Why is it you’ve been tracking me?”
“That’s a topic for a later time.”
“Now’s as good as any,” she said, assuming her bitch-wing hands at her hips pose.
“It’s really not.” His face turned serious, as if clouds had formed, smothering the playful sexuality. “I need to find the hunter who murdered Megan.”
“We’ll take care of it. Our police precinct is small, but mighty,” Chia said. She crossed her arms.
“Not mighty enough,” Hung said. “He got out pretty fast, don’t you think?”
“How do you know he got out? If you’re so clever you would have caught him at the precinct when he escaped.”
“I told you, darling, I’ve been tracking you, as well. The bastard was just at your house. I could smell him but missed seeing him. He must have been here and gone. He’s an avian shifter, like me.”
“You’re a shifter?”
“Yep. A shifter hybrid. A new breed of shifter. There are very few of us. I’m not limited to one form. If it flies, I can assume its shape.”
Cecil let out a low whistle. “Damn, dude. Anything winged?”
“Like I said, if it flies…” He shrugged. “Anyway…” He turned back to Chia. “Walk with me. Let’s get out of the woods.”
After slinging the leather rifle carry-strap over his shoulder, he turned, heading out of Fae Forest.
Chia strode next to him, and Cecil fell in behind.
“Megan’s my cousin. She’s…she was…” His voice grew thick and hoarse. He swiped his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “She was a sweet,
rebellious young woman. Always had to follow her own drum beat. I tried to help when I could but I have a job and a life and couldn’t always be around. She lived up in Two-Cross. Heard of it?”
His gaze slid toward Chia.
She shook her head.
“Didn’t think so. It’s a conservative, evangelical community over near Anchorage. No place for a young shifter with a wild spirit, that’s for sure. They tried their best to purge the sass from her soul. Temper her. More like make her life a living hell of conformity. After she graduated from high school, she moved to Charming. She’d heard there were other shifters here…”
“Who live in the closet, mostly,” Cecil said, maintaining an easy stride to keep up with them. “We can’t all be out, that’s for sure.”
Hung shook his head. “Sucks. So much judgment among humans. But, there are enough of you around here to make a difference. Maybe some kind of change can be made.”
He glanced at Chia, a curious expression on his face.
Her eyes narrowed. What does he know? He sure seems to have a lot of secrets.
He turned to follow a fork leading from the main trail. He hopped up a log that had fallen across the path. Balanced on the log, he pivoted and held out his hand for Chia.
She stopped and stared up at Hung, then shook her head. “I can do it.”
“You’re short, sweetheart. Take the assist.” He gave her a genuine, soul-searing smile.
She grimaced.
“I won’t bite. I’m only offering help.” He flashed her a reassuring smile.
She took his hand. The warm contact soothed and stirred. She glanced up at him and smiled.
He returned the smile and, with no effort at all, tugged her onto the log, right into his body.
She let out a small gasp, putting her palms on his chest.
“Jesus, get a room, you two,” Cecil grumbled, clambering over the log. He dropped down on the other side and strode ahead.
Chia stood looking up at this strange, sexy man, Hung Durand.
He looked down at her, seeming to consider her with the same, intense curiosity.
“Destiny reveals itself,” he uttered, in a too-sexy-for words kind of voice.
