A Shifter's Fevered Heart (Distant Edge Romance Book 3)

by Chloe Adler

  No response.

  Standing up proved challenging and I almost fell, reaching for a boulder to steady me. Not an actual boulder? I shook my head to clear it. I was leaning against a tombstone that read Beloved husband, father and friend.

  A cemetery? Really?

  “Alec!” I cried out again, staggering around the graves. I remembered his ramblings about helping Sam before he’d passed out. Had he gone back to the church without telling me?

  Leaning against a tree, I took stock of my body, moving each limb, and then my hand to the back of my head—blood.

  The tombs, plaques and flowers seemed to mock me. You passed out and lost your love just as we have.

  Alec’s backpack lay nearby. He must have left it for me. Rummaging through it, I found my phone, which I unlocked to call Burgundy. No answer, which was hardly a shocker, since the display read 6:15 a.m. and she was not an early bird.

  I tried Sadie.

  “Wow, you’re up early. Is everything okay?” she answered.

  “Stuck in San Diego County, too bruised and dizzy to shift. Alec is missing.”

  “Oh my god, no,” she shrieked into the phone. “What can I do?”

  I was limping around the cemetery, trying to find a sign with the name on it while we spoke, holding onto trees and tombs.

  “In a cemetery. Finding name and texting you. Can you come get me?” I said.

  “Of course,” she said without hesitating.

  “Wait, Sadie, why are you awake at 6:15 a.m.?” The fog was slowly lifting.

  “First day of work.”

  “Send Ryder instead.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yes. I would feel awful otherwise.”

  “My friends come first. Before work, before anything,” she replied.

  “I know and I love you for that. But send Ryder and go to work. I’ll be pissed if you don’t.”

  “All right,” she sighed. “Text me and him the name immediately and then let me know as soon as he picks you up and again when you’re safely home.”

  “Yes, Mom.”

  Ryder arrived a few minutes after my phone battery died. He took one look at me and insisted I sit down so he could perform a complete assessment.

  “You have a concussion,” he pronounced, proving his worth as a friend and paramedic a thousand times over. I wasn’t surprised, my head throbbed. He helped me up. “Let’s get you home.”

  “I’m not going home.”

  “You’re in no condition to go anywhere else.”

  “Drive by the church they held me in so I can look for Alec. I won’t budge otherwise.”

  Ryder assessed me slowly and then nodded.

  I was able to give him directions but when we got there, it was obviously empty. The entire structure had collapsed but Ryder got out and checked the area anyway.

  When he returned, shaking his head, I was leaning against the door to his Mustang.

  “I need to see.” I took one step and fell. Ryder caught me. He led me around, holding me up while I called for Alec, my spirit sinking a little more each minute.

  “We’ll find him.” Ryder’s tone was low and deep. “Let’s get back to the car.”

  “No.”

  “Jared,” he said and I turned my head on his shoulder to look at him. Blurry.

  “Either you let me take you home right now or I call an ambulance and they take you to the hospital. Your choice.”

  “Dammit,” I growled. “Fine.” I let him lead me back to the car, where he placed me carefully in the passenger seat.

  “Do not lay down,” he said.

  By the time he dropped me back at my house, Burgundy was awake. Rex was on her heels at the front door, almost knocking me over.

  “Rex, down,” Burgundy commanded and the dog, saddened but obedient as ever, plopped down at my feet. “I panicked yesterday when you and Alec left without a word and then I woke up to Sadie’s text and your missed call had me beside myself!” Burgundy, babbling? Oh that was not good. Both her and Ryder helped me inside.

  “It’s important for you to look after him, Burg,” said Ryder as I took in the state of the house.

  “I always do,” she smiled, looking me over like a worried hen.

  “Wow, the house is cleaner than it was before the Trackers trashed it.” My aching head swiveled on my shoulders, looking for any signs of them.

  “Chrys and Sadie came over last night and spelled it clean. Let’s get you into the kitchen.” She sat me down at the table.

  Ryder followed, petting Rex and getting some ice for my head.

  “Can he have coffee?” she asked.

  “Nope. Concussion. He needs water, he’s dehydrated.”

  “Of course, what am I thinking.” Burgundy rushed to get me a tall glass, filled a pitcher with more water and set them on the table before me. “What happened? Where’s Alec?” She looked between us. “You couldn’t find him?”

  “The church had collapsed,” I said, dropping my head into my hands. Burgundy patted my back.

  “I scoured the area.” Ryder shook his head. “They were all gone.”

  I spent the next twenty minutes telling Burg and Ryder what had transpired at the church. Then she showered me and carried me to bed. Even though I was woozy, I still tried to fight her.

  “I know I shouldn’t—but . . .” She was holding me down with one hand.

  “What?” I already knew what she was going to say.

  “You need help. If you want to be better by tomorrow to get Alec, you need to heal quickly and sleep.”

  She was right. I was no use to him in this state. Offering her my neck, I closed my eyes and waited. The pierce was quick and the cocktail of hormones and other goodies she injected after sucking some of my blood was like opium, or what I suspected opium would be like if I’d ever tried it. Vampires weren’t legally allowed to heal anyone but they possessed the ability to do so. She laid me back down onto my clean sheets, my body heavy. My mind heavier. Alec.

  Rex jumped up to snuggle. Unable to keep my eyes open, I drifted off, spooning the dog, my nose buried in that sweet-smelling spot behind his ear.

  “Hey, sleepy man, you really need to get up.” A disembodied voice pierced my dreamtime.

  The morning sun was bright and painful, penetrating my eyelids with its stark evil.

  “What time is it?”

  “Nine.”

  “At night?” I sat up too quickly and had to grab my head with both hands. Pain throbbed lightly in my ears. I’d forgotten the hangover that came with imbibing too much vampire venom.

  She put her hand on my shoulder. “Pain? More vamp juice needed?”

  “It’s subsiding. That bite knocked me out. I want to be alert. I need to find Alec.” I looked around my room. Sunlight was peeking in from around the dark blinds. “Why is it light out?”

  “Yeah, that.” She sat down on my bed, petting me with one hand and Rex with the other. “You kind of slept through the day and the night.”

  “What?” I tried to move but she calmly held me in place with her superhuman strength.

  “Shhhh, let’s figure out a plan. Everyone is standing by to help.”

  Burgundy’s phone rang. She peeked at the number and held out a finger. “Benedict. What’s up?”

  I listened in. How could non-Signum stand one-way phone conversations? I was always grateful for my supernatural hearing.

  “We’ve had a call from Dr. Wong,” Benedict said and I leaned forward.

  Burgundy paused, not responding.

  “Landry wants to trade his son for the doctor.”

  “What the hell?” I cried out.

  Burgundy put her finger to her lips. “Why?” she asked calmly into the phone.

  “Apparently their beef is with him, not his son.”

  “And Dr. Wong said yes, I presume?”

  “He did not.”

  I growled. Rex leaned back, cocked his head and looked at me.

  “What did he say?” B
urgundy said into the phone, her voice calm and soothing.

  “He said they could kill his . . .” Benedict cleared his throat, “gay son for all he cared. Said the kid was a disgrace.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” Burgundy’s voice rose a notch.

  I leapt from my bed and punched my wall so hard my fist splintered the plaster.

  Burgundy didn’t move to stop me but she gave me a warning look.

  I didn’t care. Grabbing the phone from her hand, I practically yelled at Benedict. “What the hell is wrong with him? I’ll go get him myself and turn him into those whackos.”

  “Jared,” Benedict’s voice was low and soft, “you will do no such thing. You cannot act like the law here. We’ll figure this out. No one wants the Trackers here. I’m on your side.”

  “If you don’t figure it out quickly, I will,” I snarled and threw her phone down on the bed.

  Rex followed me out of the room.

  I waited for Burgundy in the kitchen, where I poured myself some coffee that she had already been thoughtful enough to make.

  “Benedict wants us there for an emergency meeting he’s calling this afternoon,” she said, entering the kitchen.

  “I’d rather track Alec myself and rescue him.”

  “I know you would but don’t you think we should find out what we’re dealing with first? You know perfectly well that if they’re not going to help you, the girls and I will.”

  I sipped my coffee, trying not to punch something. It didn’t work and I ended up slamming my hand on the table.

  “What’s going on?” Chrys asked, walking in wearing a fuzzy blue bathrobe.

  She was such a pretty girl and that bathrobe did her no justice. “Is Carter here?”

  “He’s in the bathroom, shaving. What was that pounding noise?”

  Burgundy explained and Chrys nodded along. I was so disgusted that I left them there and stormed back into my room.

  A few minutes later there was a knock on my door. “Go the fuck away,” I snarled.

  The door opened a crack anyway and Carter’s head poked in. “Hey, man, I heard what happened. Look, we’ll do whatever we can to help. Just say the word.”

  “Appreciate it,” I grumbled. “Need some space.”

  He closed the door quietly.

  Great. Leave me alone with my maniacal thoughts. If I could get my hands on Landry, wrap them around his neck . . . Not helpful, the sane part of me interjected. Fuck helpful, the nutty part replied.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The Council meeting was held in city hall, an old colonial building adjacent to the police department. The Council itself was a newer addition. Prior to the Council’s inception, the witches who had originally conjured the town into existence and the humans who’d soon followed had formed a governing board called “the Founders.” They hadn’t been well-liked, nor had they represented all the races, and they’d ruled with little regard for all Signum. A few years ago, an internal vote had replaced them with the Council.

  We gathered in one of the meeting rooms on the ground floor. For public Council meetings, we were notified by text and email. It appeared that many people had skipped work for this one. The seating was full. Not surprising for such a mammoth undertaking. Everyone was fearful of Trackers, it was why so many Signum had chosen to live in one of the three protected areas on the planet. Burgundy, Chrys, Carter and I sat in the front where Benedict had saved our seats. Iphi, Sadie and Ryder were a few rows back.

  Benedict stood at a podium at the front of the room. A long table spread behind him with the other Council members. A feeble woman who looked half dead sounded a bell and the room quieted.

  “Thank you all for coming. We all know why we’re here,” Benedict began.

  “Give the Trackers what they want so they leave,” a man called out from a row behind me.

  “Quiet,” shrieked the feeble woman—her voice rising to such a high decibel that we all had to cover our ears.

  I looked at Burgundy and raised my shoulders. Banshee, she mouthed.

  I shook my head. I was a Signum, and I hadn’t known banshees were real?

  Benedict cleared his throat. “You will all have a turn to speak when we are finished. Understood?”

  People nodded and no one spoke.

  “Yes, the Trackers are in our midst. They’ve vandalized the house of some of our citizens.”

  People’s heads swiveled toward where we were sitting, and I shifted in my seat. They all probably knew about the hate speech on our walls, and since most were homophobes, I doubted they cared.

  Someone near me raised their hand.

  “We’ll take questions at the end,” Benedict said. “You may find that we answer them during this discussion. What we’re here to talk about is what we should do. They want to exchange Alec Wong, a new shifter who moved here a couple of weeks ago, for his father, Dr. Wong.”

  “Why?” someone called out.

  Benedict sighed heavily, probably realizing he couldn’t control the angry crowd. “We don’t know why, they won’t tell us.”

  “Then give him the doctor,” someone else called out.

  “It’s not that simple,” said Benedict. “We can’t kidnap the doctor against his will and turn him over to a group of fanatical killers.”

  “Surely he wants to save his son,” said someone else.

  “He has chosen not to trade himself for his son,” replied Benedict and the audience gasped collectively.

  “So what’s the point of this meeting?” I yelled. “You’re basically telling us the Trackers have a foothold in our town, they’ve kidnapped one of our own citizens, and there’s nothing we can do about it?”

  Burgundy placed her hand on my arm to quiet me but I shrugged it off, shooting to my feet. Looking around the room wildly, I gestured to everyone. “Do you want to know why Dr. Wong won’t save his son?”

  Silence. All eyes were on me. Even Benedict and the banshee were standing there, watching with wide eyes.

  “It’s because he’s gay.”

  A few people snorted.

  “Laugh away, assholes. What happens when they come for you? And they will. They hate us all. Anyone who is different from them. Anyone who doesn’t follow their particular brand of religion. First they came for the witches, but those of you who weren’t witches didn’t stand up. Then it was the shifters, but vampires said ‘at least it’s not us.’ Who will be next? Who will be left? None of you are immune to their vitriol.”

  Benedict moved in front of me so quickly I didn’t see it. Fucking vampires. In a low voice he said, “I have to ask you to leave now, Jared. I’m sorry.”

  “Fuck you,” I spat. “Fuck all of you.” I turned around and stormed out.

  My friends followed me out of the courthouse, running to keep up.

  “Jared, wait,” Sadie called. “We want to help.”

  I threw my hands in the air. “I don’t know if you can.”

  Needing the air, I started walking, leaving my friends behind. Walking by the boardwalk pier brought a hard lump to my throat, and for a few minutes, looking at the circus tent, I couldn’t swallow. Our house was a couple of miles from the courthouse. The last mile was the most difficult since it was uphill, but I was so worked up I ran it.

  Burgundy and the others were home already, having driven, and they let me retire to my room without a word. I knew they were worried but I couldn’t interact with anyone, I was too upset.

  An hour later, there was a knock on my door but I didn’t answer. I was lying in bed, formulating a plan.

  “Rex has been asking about you,” came my roommate’s voice. “Can I let him in?”

  “I bet he has.” The hint of a smile tinged my voice. “I could sure use some cuddles.”

  She opened the door. The oversized Rotty pup bounded onto my bed and threw himself in my lap, licking my face and pushing up against me. We’d sure gotten attached quickly.

  “The girls are offering to scry for Alec or what
ever you need. We all want to help.”

  “Was anything resolved at the meeting?”

  Burgundy shook her head, the only part of her body that was in my room. “Benedict called; no one knows what to do. They don’t want the Trackers here but they can’t legally make Dr. Wong turn himself in.”

  “I want to know why they want him so badly.”

  Burgundy shrugged. “Yeah. Didn’t Alec say they had to flee China because the Trackers were after them there?”

  “He hinted at that, yes, but he never went into detail.”

  Burg pushed my door open more. “Can I come in?”

  “Fine.” I couldn’t stay mad at my BFF even when I was furious at the world.

  “I have an idea,” she said, sitting down and taking my hand in hers.

  “All ears.” But I couldn’t bring myself to smile.

  I had to ask the girls for help since I didn’t have anything of Dr. Wong’s to track with. Chrys was more than happy to scry with Sadie. Iphi was still sequestered at Aurelia’s, and once she got out of there, she wouldn’t go back until she was healed. Aurelia must have known that too.

  Scrying revealed that Dr. Wong and his wife lived on the far end of town.

  “Do you want a ride?” Sadie asked.

  “I think it’s better if I shift and try to sneak in,” I said. My fox had great hearing.

  “I don’t like that idea,” said Burgundy. “We already know he hates you and he hates Alec. If he finds you, I worry he’ll try something violent.”

  “Ridiculous,” I threw at her, retreating to my room. She followed.

  “I’m not gonna let you go there alone, Jared. I’ll venom you up if I have to.” Her arms were crossed over her chest. I knew she was serious.

  “Fine, what do you suggest?”

  “I’ll drive you there and we’ll ring the bell and ask him point-blank.”

  “You think he’ll answer truthfully?”

  “If only I could bite him and slip in some truth serum.”

  “Well, you can’t. He’d press charges for sure and I do not want to see you in jail.”

  She was silent for a little bit, resting her chin in her palm. “What if we scry again, and listen in on him and his wife? Maybe they’ll talk about it.”