by Marla Monroe
Once outside again, she located the direction with the most lights and noise and started walking that way. It didn’t take long to find the main drag of the town. She located a dinner and ordered a steak, baked potato, and an order of fries. Before she had finished eating that, she ordered a couple of burgers to go, figuring they would think they were for someone at home. She didn’t need to call attention to herself by eating it all right there in one sitting with so many people around. So far she hadn’t scented another shifter in the area, so Serenity felt fairly safe.
The food had been good and she felt much better than she had after getting off the bus. After paying her tab, she carried the burgers to the little motel the waitress at the diner had told her about. She’d said it was clean but short on amenities.
The clerk at the front desk hadn’t batted an eye at her backpack and bag, nor had he protested cash instead of a credit card. She paid for one night and walked around to room 115. The waitress had been right. It was clean and even smelled decent despite the outdated style. An old TV sat on a stand that didn’t look strong enough to hold it up. She checked the bathroom and was pleased to see that it was clean with complimentary soap, shampoo, and conditioner.
Serenity had decided not to take her toothbrush and toothpaste since that would have tipped them off faster if that had been missing. She would have to make do with her finger and water for the night. She checked the bed and was satisfied that it was just as clean as it looked since the sheets still smelled of laundry detergent.
After finishing off the two burgers, she took a quick shower, wedged a chair under the door handle, and unplugged the TV to move it in front of the window. It would alert her when it crashed to the floor if someone tried to get in that way. Satisfied that she’d protected herself as best she could, she changed into her lynx form and crawled under the covers in the makeshift den she’d created with the pillows and blanket. It didn’t take her long to fall into an exhausted sleep once more.
Chapter Sixteen
Creed had broken every speed limit on his way back to the house after his brother had called him. They’d essentially finished their business but had been talking about how to handle future threats like the hunters when he’d received the call.
Before he’d even turned off the engine, both Locke and his sibling were at the truck, opening the door. The grim expressions on their faces said that there had been no luck in locating her.
“They lost her scent once she made it to town. They’re checking with the female wild dog now and will call back as soon as they have,” Locke told him.
“You’re sure she was alone?” Creed asked as they walked into the house.
“Yes. They found no other scents anywhere close to hers,” Shayne said.
“How long do you think she’s been gone?” he asked.
Shayne opened his office door. “We had figured that she’d left sometime within an hour of you leaving her in the office.”
Locke walked over to the window. “But when I found this, I knew she left exactly when you did. She had tried to rig the window so that when she opened it the alarm wouldn’t beep and alert us that a window had been opened. It was a good try and would have worked with just about any other system, but when she tried to keep the circuit closed by switching it to this one, she still opened the circuit since I didn’t wire it that way. Each window is on a separate circuit and this is just a dummy case for show.”
“So she had to leave exactly when I did because otherwise the alarm would have beeped anyway. She lucked out that you had shut off the alarm long enough for me to get out the door and down the drive. Son of a bitch!” Creed pounded his fist against the window facing.
“At least we know she didn’t overhear our conversation. She was too busy setting things up to sneak out to have made it up the stairs then down before you left,” Shayne said.
“What about the Rogue Hunters?” Locke asked. “Are they gone?”
“They were escorted out of town by over half of the wolf and wild dog packs. It was explained to them what would happen if they ever showed their faces there again. They will be clearing out the few stragglers if they are still here in the morning,” Creed said absently.
“What did you tell the others that convinced them to help you get rid of them?” Locke asked.
“I alerted them to the fact that they weren’t acting on official business anymore and that with the new legislature being introduced in the next day or so, they would no longer have jobs which left them open to continuing their bounty hunter plans if we didn’t put a stop to it before it got started.”
“They believed you about the government angle without you having to give them some sort of proof?” Locke pushed. “I don’t understand. Wolves never cooperate with anyone unless it will benefit them, and then they have to have something tangible to sink their fangs into.”
Creed smiled. “They probably wouldn’t have but Mojave backed me and even confirmed what I had to say. It seems one of their uncles is part of the group working with the political group on the bill. The wolf knew him and agreed that if the old guard was changing, the hunters had to be shown that they would no longer be tolerated.”
“None of this gets us closer to Serenity though,” Shayne snarled.
Locke’s cell shrilled. He answered it on the first ring. “What did you find out?”
Despite their keen hearing, Creed couldn’t hear what was being said on the other end with all the static on the line.
“Get back here then.” Locke ended the call and slapped the cell back on the holder on his belt.
“What?” Creed demanded.
“The female wild dog hasn’t heard from her since we left the meeting the other day. They didn’t scent her anywhere around the apartment or her car. Neither did they scent her around the garage. What they did find was that she had been at the drug store. Someone overheard them asking Wren about her. The older woman was worried that she was missing and started talking about hunters and how she’d warned her to stay clear of them. She said she saw her in the drug store purchasing a bus ticket,” Locke told them.
“They need to find out where she was headed,” Creed shouted.
“They did. She bought a ticket to Seattle, Washington,” Locke said taking a step back.
“Shayne, pack for a couple of nights. Locke, you and Otto are in charge while we’re gone.” Creed started to walk out of the office, but Locke stopped him.
“Ursus, wait. I don’t think she’ll go all the way to Seattle. She’s smart. She’ll get off at another stop and buy a different ticket to where she’s really going. Wait and let’s look at a map with the route the bus takes to figure out where she might have gotten off to snag a different bus. They will be here by the time you finish packing,” Locke said without looking him in the eyes.
He could tell he’d shed power since Locke had called him by his title and wasn’t looking at him. He regretted it, but there was nothing he could do about it now. Drawing in a deep breath to settle his raw nerves, he nodded.
“We’ll be downstairs packing if they return before we come back upstairs.” He nodded at his brother to follow him.
“I’m sorry it took us so long to realize she was gone,” Shayne said quietly as they crossed the house to the stairs that led down.
“I’m as much to blame as anyone. I never should have started the search without including her. At least then she would have been with at least one of us while we worked on a solution to the problem,” he said.
“I was the one who started digging in the first place,” his brother said.
They both grabbed a duffle bag and started throwing clothes in it. By the time they’d returned upstairs, Zeth and Quill had returned and were dressing since they’d shed their clothes to shift into their bear forms.
Zeth handed the bus schedule to Shayne. “Sorry it’s a little wet. I had to carry it in my mouth.”
“Let’s go to the kitchen,” Locke said. “Otto has a couple of ma
ps spread out on the table for us.”
They followed the big bear to where Otto had pulled the chairs out away from the table to give them all room. Creed watched as Locke took the schedule from Shayne and laid it on the map. Otto handed him a red marker.
“Okay, here we are here.” He put a red X over the community. “This is the route the bus is taking to Seattle.” He drew a red line along the road between them and the bus’s destination.
Creed studied all the potential towns along the route and cringed. There were way too many to have a hope of finding her soon.
“The dots are the towns they usually make stops at to exchange passengers and the Xs are where they stop for longer periods of time such as for meals or fuel stops.” Locke continued making marks on the map. When he’d finished, there were a lot fewer towns to have to worry about.
“Looks like, five, six potential places she could have gotten off,” Shayne said with a low growl in his throat.
“She wouldn’t have wasted the ticket by getting off at the first few stops. She would have wanted to put some distance between her and us,” Locke said. “My vote is either here”—he pointed at Coeur d’Alene, ID—“or here.” He indicated Moses Lake.
“Why not Spokane? It’s a much large city and she could easily disappear there,” Creed asked.
“She doesn’t want to disappear yet. She just wants to put some space between us and her until she can locate a bus or train going directly to her actual destination,” Locke told him.
“How do you know that’s what she’d do? You haven’t known her any longer than we have,” Shayne said.
Locke sighed. “I don’t know for sure, but I know strategy and she’s a strategist. I’d bet my truck on it after looking at her computer setup and how she took only what she thought we wouldn’t miss. She made sure to leave things that would obviously be missed, like her toiletries.”
“So where do you think she got off that bus at?” Creed finally asked.
“I’d bet on Coeur d’Alene. It’s far enough away from here to give her a measure of comfort without forcing her to ride all the way to Moses Lake on a possibly full bus of humans. Plus, it looks like they were planning on eating here since the stop is for two hours.”
“Let’s go, Shayne.” Creed stooped to pick up his bag, but Locke beat him to it. He also had another one that looked an awful lot like his Steelers bag.
“Locke…” he began but the other bear stopped him.
“I’m your Ruka. I can’t protect you and Shayne from here. Otto will handle the sleuth until we return. I’m not leaving your side,” he said, showing his chin.
“Stubborn bastard,” Shayne muttered under his breath.
Lock grinned but quickly sobered when Creed growled at him.
“You can drive then.” Creed snarled and stomped out of the kitchen.
* * * *
Serenity woke at some point during the night hurting so badly she had returned to her human form and was all tangled in the covers. She fought the pain and the covers until she finally rolled out of the bed, hitting the floor with a loud thump, her head banging against the side of the bed frame. More pain exploded along her cheekbone as it made contact with the unforgiving floor.
Tears welled in her eyes as she untangled herself and attempted to crawl back onto the mattress. She didn’t bother with picking up the blankets. She didn’t think she could stand for anything to touch her skin right then. Even the bottom sheet felt rough against her overly sensitive flesh. Sizzling heat scalded her as if she’d stepped into an oven. The combination of glowing heat and tender skin made it feel as if instead of walking into an oven she’d walked into a windstorm in the middle of a desert where sand blasted her skin from her body.
Serenity stuffed the corner of a pillow into her mouth to muffle her screams of pain as her lower abdomen seemed to be eating itself. Why was this happening to her? What was wrong with her?
After a while, the pain and heat subsided leaving the gnawing hunger she’d had before. It took her two tries to get up from the bed and dig through her pack for the last of the nabs and candy bars she’d bought at the drug store. When she felt better she was going to have to go shopping or she’d starve to death.
Her cell phone said it was nearly ten. She hadn’t slept all that long. As soon as she felt up to moving again, she would look for somewhere close to load up on something to eat. If she was going to do this every few hours, she wasn’t going to be able to get on a bus full of people yet. It looked like her one night was going to turn into at least two.
Almost an hour later, Serenity felt able to walk some. She needed to find a store before they all closed. Most convenience stores only stayed up as late as ten or eleven if they weren’t open all night. Her first stop was the motel office. She said she decided that since the place was so clean she would stay another day and rest up. The male didn’t even blink, just took her money and marked her down for another night.
After that, she located a twenty-four-hour store and stocked up on food that wouldn’t spoil and bottled water. Then she returned to her room and arranged everything within reaching distance before arming her make shift security system once more.
Another wave of sizzling heat seared her skin making her cry out before she could stop herself. Serenity quickly stripped out of her clothes and curled into a ball on the bed, wishing she would die as pain tore through her belly once more. This time, instead of lingering or growing worse, it turned into arousal unlike anything she’d ever known before. Her body ached to be filled. Her lynx whined, feeling the effects for the first time. Where before she knew her human side was in pain and uncomfortable but hadn’t felt any of it herself, not even the raw hunger. Always ready for a nap, the exhaustion hadn’t seemed a problem to her, but this need was different.
Oh, God. I can’t take this much longer.
She’d never felt this overwhelming need to be fucked before. Even when she’d had her breeding heat in the past, it had never been like this. She’d always been able to ride it out alone, preferring not to risk accidently finding her mate or ending up pregnant. The chances of creating kits when in heat were almost ninety percent in favor of receiving a visit from the stork.
This wasn’t something she could handle on her own. If she’d had her mate’s numbers in her cell phone, Serenity would have broken down and called them. That was how bad the need was pulsing inside her cunt. As it was, she was seriously considering kidnapping the man at the front desk for a few hours. He looked to be at least twenty-five or so. He would be able to handle her heat—maybe.
“Please! I can’t take this. Please stop,” she sobbed as another roll of heated desperation washed over her.
After an hour of rolling around on the bed wishing for a vibrator or even a damn cucumber, the need slowly receded to a bearable level. It didn’t go away completely this time though. Instead, it felt as if someone had taken mercy on her and turned it down to give her time to rest. She had no doubt it would be back though.
While she was able, Serenity ate again and drank two complete bottles of water before slowing down. Her mouth felt as if she’d swallowed her pillow and her skin felt brittle. She contemplated taking another shower, but exhaustion poured over her once again and it took all of her remaining energy to climb back into the bed and find a fairly comfortable position before she slept.
* * * *
They’d arrived in the little town Locke was certain she’d stopped in to find most places already closed for the night. The bus station was dark as were most of the stores they saw. Creed felt as if it was a sign that they would never found her. He wasn’t usually this negative, but just the fact that she’d run away from them depressed him and his bear. She didn’t want them. If it wasn’t for the danger she was in, he’d have let her go and suffered through the pain it would cause to lose her, but he couldn’t let her go while there was a danger to her out there.
Shayne pointed out a convenience store that remained open, so they
pulled in to fill up the truck’s tank and grab something to eat. They had no idea how far they’d have to drive the next day.
All three of them cl out of the truck and stretched before walking into the building. He and Shayne took turns in the bathroom then started grabbing food. They’d have to find a hotel and spend the night to find out anything at the bus station. When they walked back up to the counter to pay for their goods, it was to find Locke talking with the young male behind the counter.
Locke turned with a smile on his usually neutral face. “There’s a motel just one block over. It’s very clean and reasonably priced.”
He and Shayne exchanged confused expressions. Why would Locke be so pleased about that? He started to ask the bear what his problem was, but he told them he’d be waiting for them in the truck and hurried outside.
They paid the man who looked just as confused as they felt then took their bags out to the truck. As soon as they cl in, Locke took off.
“What in the hell is wrong with you?” Creed asked.
“I thought you were going to fill up while we were here,” Shayne added with a frown.
“The kid back there saw your mate. She’s staying at the motel around the corner where we’re headed. Evidently she walked here around ten tonight to get some food and water. He asked if she needed a bag since she was carrying a backpack. She said yes, that she was going to have to carry it to where she was staying at the little motel around the corner.”
“What made him tell you about her?” Shayne asked.
“I asked him if there was a clean cheap place to stay close by. I figured she’d want to conserve her funds. We don’t know how much cash she had with her. He told me that a woman who’d been in around ten mentioned that the motel around the corner was clean and cheap. He remembered her because he worried about her since she looked sick.”
“There it is,” Shayne pointed out even though it wasn’t necessary. It was the only building that still had lights on in it.
