by Carol Lynne
Ryker glanced up at him. “The Hunters won’t be able to undo the curse.”
“Yeah, I know that, but I also know there has to be more to it. What will bridging the earth and sky do? There’s a reason we’re being brought together, but I can’t figure out what it is.”
Ryker shrugged. “Mother won’t tell me anything.”
“And neither will Father. Don’t you think that says something? Why is everything happening now after all these years?”
“The now isn’t important. It would’ve been now at any time in our past. You’re right though, the big question is why at all.”
“Ummm, excuse me, but what the fuck are you two talking about?” Jack asked, looking confused.
They’d been so wrapped up in each other and the unfolding events they’d completely forgotten to fill Jack in on what was going on. As Ryker began the long, confusing story, Hakan continued to study the papers they’d retrieved from the bunker.
Maybe if he was lucky, he’d find a clue as to where The Hunters were holding Daniel. If nothing else, perhaps he’d get lucky and figure out how Layla fit into their plans.
Chapter Five
“Daniel!”
Daniel heard his name being called over and over, but he was too tired to open his eyes. “Sleeping,” he mumbled.
“It’s the drugs. You need to wake up,” the voice said.
Daniel rolled over to get away from the voice and wound up with a mouth full of dirt. He spit out the earthy substance and tried to open his eyes. All he could see was shadows.
“Where am I?”
“I don’t know, but you’re not alone,” the voice said.
Daniel looked in the direction of the deep-timbered voice and saw nothing but a dark shape across from him. “Who are you?”
“Jarek.”
Daniel shook his head. “Not possible. Jarek’s dead.”
“Not yet, but I have a feeling I will be soon. The Hunters captured me and brought me here.”
“Why?” Daniel knew why he’d been kidnapped, but what did Jarek have to do with the joining of earth and sky?
“Wish I knew. I’ve been in this stinking hell-hole for too long,” Jarek growled.
As Daniel’s eyes became more accustomed to the light, he noticed the bars separating the two of them. His mind began to travel back to his own pack’s capture so many years ago.
He pushed the bloody memories aside. “Have they hurt you?”
“No. They even feed me once a day.”
Daniel tried to sit up, but slumped back down to the loose dirt. “They’ve given you absolutely no indication what their plan is for you?”
He heard Jarek shuffle around in his own cage for a few moments. “What?” Daniel prodded.
“They’ve made mention of my sexuality, and the fact that I’m a virgin.”
Daniel’s eyes opened wider. He couldn’t imagine the large tawny-haired man being a virgin. “Is that why you seemed so excited to go to Refuge?”
Jarek cleared his throat. “Never met another of my kind until you and Ryker.”
“There are more of us than you realize.” Daniel had a strong feeling if somehow Jarek made it back to Refuge, he’d meet a cougar shifter with ‘true blue’ eyes. “Have faith. Your mate is out there somewhere.”
“Easy for you to say. You have a mate.”
The words cut Daniel to the bone. “No, actually I don’t. But I have two men who seem to enjoy my company and whom I love deeply.”
“You’re kidding. You and Ryker seemed so…close.”
“We are, but Ryker’s mate is Hakan, the Sky Guardian.”
“He’s the other man you’re in love with?”
“Yeah.” Daniel yawned. He knew he needed to gather his strength in case The Hunters came for him.
Daniel cupped his hands behind his head and used them as a pillow. A hazy memory floated back to him. “Have you seen a woman since they brought me in?”
“Several,” Jarek answered.
He didn’t know why it surprised him, but it did. For some reason, he’d always thought of The Hunters as men. “This woman looks young, dark brown hair, kind of gold colored eyes?”
“You’ve just described every woman I’ve seen. Why are you asking?”
“Doesn’t matter.” Daniel closed his eyes. The pain of Layla’s betrayal weighed heavy on his heart. Why had she done it? He tried to remember their earlier conversation. The last thing he recalled was Layla apologizing. Daniel wondered if he’d ever know why she helped The Hunters capture him.
“Hey, you think Ryker and that other guy will come for us?” Jarek asked after several minutes.
“I know they’ll try.” They need the bridge.
Although the air in their dark prison was stale, Daniel forced himself to take several deep breaths. He concentrated on his two lovers in hopes of feeling…something.
He knew at least they were still together. He wondered if they’d already found The Hunters they’d gone after.
“Do you know how long I’ve been here?” he asked.
“Not more than a couple of hours. Why?”
“Before I was taken, a group of men, including Ryker and Hakan, set off to engage a group of Hunters. I was wondering if they were successful.”
Anxiety was the predominant feeling he gathered from Ryker and Hakan. Daniel smiled. At least they were missing him. Maybe they liked him more than he’d originally thought. An attack of the yawns came over him.
“I’m gonna get some sleep. Try and shake off the rest of whatever’s in my system.” He probably should’ve told Jarek about his weakened state, but no sense worrying the cougar shifter more than was necessary. It was obvious the two of them weren’t going to get out of their prison unless Ryker and Hakan got them out anyway.
He wrapped himself in thoughts of his men as he drifted off.
* * * *
“There’s nothing here,” Ryker said, slumping onto the sofa. He and Hakan had gone over every inch of their house, hoping to find a clue as to where The Hunters had taken Daniel.
“I want to check out Layla’s apartment.” Hakan pulled Ryker to his feet and wrapped him in his arms.
Ryker’s thoughts drifted back to their drive into the compound. Chaos was the best word to describe the current state of Refuge. With so many of his people dead and wounded, Ryker couldn’t help but think wasting time at Layla’s was a bad idea.
“If there’s nothing here, I doubt we’ll find anything at Layla’s. Why don’t we go check in on Mica instead and see if he’s well enough to tell us what the hell happened here.”
Hakan’s dark eyes stared into Ryker’s. “I know you’ve been focused on Daniel, but haven’t you noticed anything odd about this place?”
Ryker looked around the room. The only thing odd to him was that Daniel wasn’t with them. “I don’t understand.”
Hakan sighed and held Ryker tighter. “Where’s Layla’s stuff? She had a small overnight bag earlier. It’s gone.”
“So?” Why the hell should he be concerned with Layla’s missing clothes?
“I don’t think she was taken. I think she walked out under her own power, and I have to ask myself, how was it possible?”
Once spelled out for him, it was easy to follow Hakan’s way of thinking, but Ryker didn’t agree. “No. Layla’s Daniel’s friend. They’ve taken care of each other for years.”
“I hope you’re right, but I still think we need to check it out. There’s just something about her that I’ve never trusted.”
Ryker shook his head. “I’m telling you it’s a waste of time.”
“Maybe so, but it’s something I need to do. You go check on Mica. See if he can tell you anything, and I’ll go to Layla’s.”
“What about Daniel? If we’re apart it’ll hurt him.”
“Then we’ll have to both be quick about it. As soon as I’m done, I’ll find you.”
Ryker stared in amazement at his lover. “Even though you know he’ll feel
the separation, you’re still determined to go to Layla’s?” Fuck. What was happening to his family?
Hakan’s silence cut Ryker to the bone. For the first time in their newfound relationship, Ryker’s anger boiled over. “Well, you may not love Daniel as much as I do, but I’ll be damned if I’ll let my little guy hurt. I’ll come with you on your wild goose chase, but after this is over, we need to sit down and have a serious talk.”
Hakan stepped back and pointed a finger in Ryker’s face. “Don’t you ever accuse me of not loving Daniel. I’m doing this for him. In your world, people may always be what they seem, but I’ve lived betrayal. I know the signs. I’ll be damned if I let myself be drug into your rose-colored fantasy world without following my gut instincts.”
Ryker grabbed his jacket off the couch and headed toward the door without looking back. Fuck him. If it weren’t for Daniel, Ryker wouldn’t give a shit about what Hakan said or did.
“I’ll be in the truck,” he snarled.
Getting behind the wheel, he heard the front door slam as Hakan left the house. He could feel his body temperature start to elevate as he tried to keep his anger in check. The passenger door opened, and the cab of the truck ratcheted up several degrees. Seems he wasn’t the only one hot under-the-collar.
Without a word spoken between them, Ryker drove to Layla’s apartment. At one time the building had been a hotel, so it had been easy for Ryker’s contractors to turn all the rooms into apartments.
Ryker didn’t even have to try to melt the lock on the ground-floor unit. The moment he touched the doorknob it was apparent the apartment had been left unlocked. Strange. Why would Layla leave it unlocked knowing she’d be away overnight?
He pushed the door open and stepped inside, Hakan right behind him. The small apartment looked spotless, no caldron brewing, no signs that she was as evil as Hakan seemed to think.
“What do you expect to find?” he asked.
Hakan moved past him and disappeared into the bedroom.
Rolling his eyes, Ryker stuck his hands in his pockets and waited.
“Can you come in here?” Hakan called.
With a resigned sigh, Ryker pushed off the wall and strode toward the bedroom. “What?”
Hakan gestured to the empty closet of the pristine room. “Notice anything?”
Ryker’s gaze traveled from the closet to the open dresser drawers as his breath caught in his chest. Empty. As he continued to look around, he finally noticed there wasn’t a single personal item in the room.
Without a word, he backtracked to the living room. Why hadn’t he noticed it before? Ryker swallowed around the lump in his throat. Layla had taken everything she owned.
“How much do you know about her?” Hakan asked, stepping up behind him.
Ryker couldn’t bring himself to turn and face the man he loved. “Now that I think about it, not much. I mean, she’s a wolf shifter who was married to Garth. I know she’s the one who found Daniel when he escaped from The Hunters and took him home, nursed him back to health. But I guess that’s about it.”
“I don’t think Layla finding Daniel was a coincidence,” Hakan said, placing a hand on Ryker’s shoulder.
Ryker turned to face his love at the gentle touch. “Why? What’re you not telling me?”
When Hakan shut his eyes against Ryker’s probing stare, he knew his mate was warring with himself. Holding secrets was part of being a Guardian. Ryker hoped his need to know the truth outweighed Hakan’s promises to Father Sky.
“Hakan?”
Hakan reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew a folded sheet of paper. “It was part of the information we took from The Hunter’s bunker.”
Taking the offered paper, Ryker began to read. The more he read, the hotter he became, literally. By the time he’d read the last line, scorch marks marred the surface where he held it.
Ryker had never felt more betrayed in his life. He dropped the paper to the floor. “When we find that bitch, she’s mine.”
* * * *
After getting Ryker calmed down, Hakan drove them to the meeting hall where Toby had set up triage for the wounded shifters and guards.
By the time they walked hand in hand into the room, it was nearly empty. With the healing powers of the shifters, it left only the guards for the volunteers to tend to. Hakan spotted Mica right away, even though the extremely large man had his face to the wall.
According to Jack, Mica and the other guards had stood their ground, despite the barrage of automatic gunfire that ripped through their bodies. Hakan knew normal men wouldn’t have survived such an onslaught, but he didn’t smell shifter when he was close to Mica.
As they approached Mica’s bedside, Ryker released Hakan and laid his hand on Mica’s. “Mica?”
Hakan watched as the guard stiffened. “I’m sorry,” Mica whispered.
“It’s not your fault. You held your post despite the fire power The Hunter’s brought. That’s more than most men would do.” Ryker glanced over his shoulder and met Hakan’s gaze, silently begging him to say something.
“We know you did everything you could,” Hakan added.
“It wasn’t enough.” Mica finally turned his head to regard Ryker. “Can I talk to you alone?”
Hakan knew Ryker shared a secret with the head of Refuge security, and hopefully soon his mate would share it with him.
Ryker looked at Hakan with pleading eyes.
“Sure.” Hakan gave Ryker a quick kiss and started to walk away.
“Don’t go far, remember?”
Hakan turned back to see a worried expression on his lover’s face. He knew Ryker was concerned with Daniel, and how distance between them would affect the weakened coyote shifter. “I won’t. I’ll just be outside.”
When he stepped out into the cool afternoon air, Hakan spotted Jack and Toby helping one of the guards into a truck. Hakan took a seat on one of the benches and waited. He needed to call upon his bird shifters for help, but first he needed to tell Jack and Toby about Layla. He knew they weren’t going to take it well, but the last thing Ryker needed was his friends blaming him for Layla’s deception. Ryker was doing a good job of that on his own.
The truck drove away, and Hakan waved at his new friends. “Will he be okay?”
Jack nodded. “The way he’s healing, Slate’ll be good as new by morning. Find anything out?”
Here goes. “Yeah. I need to talk to the two of you about it.”
As soon as Jack and Toby sat down, Hakan informed them of Layla’s activities, and her reasons behind them. By the time he finished, both men appeared dumbfounded.
“I can’t believe it,” Toby said, shaking his head. “How could she have fooled us for so long?”
Hakan shrugged. “She’s a shifter. I guess we got into the mindset that all shifters could be trusted.” His eyes narrowed. The thought of the bitch’s betrayal of Daniel had his body temperature rising in no time. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
“None of us will,” Jack added. “Any ideas on where they’ve taken Daniel?”
Hakan nodded. “I think so, but if I’m wrong, it’ll be a costly mistake. We only have a couple of days to find him. Wasting time on a wild goose chase could mean his life, so I’m going to ask the bird shifters for help.”
The door behind them opened and Hakan glanced over his shoulder to see Ryker coming out onto the porch. Hakan held out his hand and waited for his lover to join them.
“How’s Mica?” he asked. He could see the conversation with the chief guard had genuinely upset his man, the red-rimmed eyes proved it.
“Not good, but his problems are more emotional than physical.” Ryker bent over to rest his forearms on his thighs, his hands clasped between his knees.
“What’s going on?” Hakan asked, rubbing comforting circles across Ryker’s back.
“When I gained control of this land, I knew I needed guards. I needed strong men who would put their lives on the line for the shifters…”
> “And you evidently found them. You couldn’t ask for better guards than Mica and his men,” Jack said, cutting Ryker off.
“You’re right. I did. But it’s where we found them that has always concerned me.”
A dozen different scenarios raced through Hakan’s mind. “What’re you saying?”
Ryker took a deep breath, the air stuttering as he exhaled. Ryker’s emotions were once again rising to the surface. “Earth Mother came up with a solution. The one thing Refuge had plenty of was rock.”
Hakan’s skin broke out in goose flesh. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
Ryker nodded. “Mica and his men were granted life by Mother. They aren’t shifters, but they did come from stones found on the property. Mother thought it was the perfect solution. I disagreed.”
“Why?” Hakan prodded.
It took Ryker several moments to answer. “Because rocks aren’t living things. I knew the men created from them would be different.” Ryker took another deep breath and wiped his eyes. “But Mother assured me everything would work out, so I finally agreed.”
Hakan put his hand on Ryker’s shoulder and pulled his love against his chest. “They’ve done an admirable job for us so far.”
“Yes they have, but Mica’s changing, and he’s not handling it very well.”
Hakan thought back to the look of guilt and remorse on the big man’s face. Even Mica’s eyes looked different from the guard he’d met his first day at Refuge. “How exactly is he changing?”
Ryker gazed up at Hakan. “When Mica was first created, he was void of extreme emotions. The intelligence was there. He understood who and what he was and assured me he’d guard my people to his death, but it was more a sense of duty Mother ingrained in him than anything else. But now, he’s starting to feel things that he shouldn’t be feeling, and, like I said, he’s not dealing with it very well.”
“He’s evolving,” Hakan surmised.
“Yes.”
Hakan tilted Ryker’s chin up and kissed him. “That’s a good thing. It proves that life breeds emotion. Mica and his men will enjoy a more satisfying existence.”
Ryker nodded. “If they can keep their emotions in check. It takes humans years to gain control of their emotions. What happens when we have a bunch of strong men throwing temper tantrums like a group of two-year-olds?”
