Amanda closed her eyes and took deep breaths. More sleep would go a long way toward soothing her nerves…
»»•««
Logan leaned his head back against the couch in his brother Trace’s house. He was exhausted. He hadn’t been able to fall asleep after Sawyer left, and they hadn’t spoken to him yet. He didn’t want to risk distracting him if he was in a dangerous situation. Besides, they knew where he was. All they had to do was turn on the television to see the broadcast.
The fire had originated about fifty miles north along a section of well-traveled hiking paths. Undoubtedly some hiker or camper hadn’t heeded the no-fire warnings. If someone left even the smallest amount of burning embers or tossed a cigarette, the timber was so dry it would only take minutes for the forest to go up in flames.
He smiled as he watched Melinda bustling about in the kitchen making lunch. Laurie sat at the kitchen table with a sleeping baby in her arms, and Amanda was perched on a bar stool, her head darting around to take in all the commotion. When the Masters and their mates got together, there was always commotion.
Finally, the ladies came to sit more comfortably in the great room, and Melinda sighed.
“What do you know?” Logan asked. He knew this wasn’t a social visit. Melinda had something to say. He tugged Amanda closer to him on the couch and set his arm around her shoulders.
“Laurie and I shifted yesterday and went to check out that logging site.”
“The logging site?” Amanda asked. “Why?”
Logan had to agree. Today’s headline was fires. He hadn’t put much thought into the logging site since Sawyer had left hours ago.
Melinda nodded. “Ever since you two mentioned it, it’s been bothering me.”
“Me too,” Laurie added, juggling Miriam from one arm to the other. “And for a good reason. That entire area feels off. It gave me the creeps.”
“What does it mean?” Amanda asked.
Melinda shrugged. “It’s hard to say. I wish I knew. But what I can tell you is that it means something. I can feel it in my bones. There’s great unrest in that area. I called the safety manager that oversees the logging operations in this territory. He’s a Native American. Lives in Sojourn.”
“Not a shifter, though?” Logan asked.
“Nope. Sorry. That would be nice.”
“What’s his name? Do I know him?”
“Jackson Wolf.”
Logan chuckled at that. “Jackson Wolf, who is not a wolf.”
Melinda smiled. “It happens. Common last name. Anyway, he’s going to check it out tomorrow.”
“Do you know everyone?” Amanda joked. Logan had to agree it certainly seemed that way some days.
“Nah, but Jackson comes into my shop sometimes. Nice guy.”
“Does he have other relatives in the area? I’ve heard the last name before. Wouldn’t forget that.” Logan sat forward, trying to figure out where he’d heard that name.
“I think his parents still live in Sojourn or just outside. And he has a sister I’ve met too. Her name’s Jazmine.”
“Jazmine?” Amanda flinched next to Logan.
“Do you know her?” Melinda asked.
Laurie giggled. “She knows her quite well. And so do I. Jazmine is Mary’s partner.”
“Amanda’s sister Mary?” Melinda asked.
“Yep.”
“Small world,” Melinda said.
“I don’t think I’ve ever known her last name,” Amanda added. “And I didn’t know she had a brother. I don’t think she spends much time with her family. She doesn’t talk about them.”
“That’s because her parents don’t approve of her lifestyle,” Laurie said. “Well, that’s not completely accurate. They don’t even know about Mary. I suppose it would be more accurate to say they wouldn’t approve.”
“Oh.” Amanda glanced at Logan. “That’s so sad. I can’t imagine living that way.”
“And yet your sister did until yesterday,” Laurie pointed out.
“Shit. You’re right.”
“It’s not your fault. She chose not to tell you. I think she was afraid you wouldn’t approve either, and she didn’t want to face it.”
“I feel terrible she’s been sneaking around hiding her relationship from me for the last month.”
Logan squeezed her shoulder and hauled her closer. “She made that choice, baby.”
“I guess so.” He didn’t like the tension coming off her in waves. He held his tongue when he considered pointing out that Amanda herself was also embarking in a new relationship that would largely remain private. He didn’t see her reaching for the phone anytime soon to fill her parents in. And keeping their threesome under the radar in public was hardly different from the way Mary and Jazmine lived. Why couldn’t the world be more accepting? Live and let live?
∙•∙
“Hey.” Sawyer opened the line of communication, shocking Amanda when he suddenly spoke into her head. She instinctively knew he included Logan too. “Just wanted to check in.”
“Thank God. You okay?”
“Yep. In fact, this fire didn’t behave as predicted. The wind died down. We almost have it under control. I’ll be back later tonight.”
“Awesome,” Logan said.
“See you then.” Sawyer broke away as fast as he’d jumped into their heads.
“Sawyer okay?” Laurie asked.
Amanda was startled. “How did you know?”
She smiled. “It’s a look. Most of us get it when we’re communicating. Your eyes don’t focus on anything, and you kind of seem to freeze in your spot.”
Made sense.
“He’s fine. Coming back tonight.” Logan extracted his hand from around Amanda’s shoulders and set it on her thigh.
That did nothing to keep her calm. His touch so close to her pussy lit a flame inside her. She tried to brush him off, but he gripped harder, ignoring her.
Just when she thought she was going to have to draw attention to herself by physically prying his fingers off her thigh, the front door opened. While everyone glanced to see who was coming in, Amanda jerked her leg free and stood. “I think I’ll get a glass of water,” she mumbled, trying to get her feet to move forward.
Mimi came in. She’d met Mimi briefly Friday night, but so many things had happened since then it seemed like months ago. Mimi’s face was tight with concern.
Melinda stood. “What’s the matter, Mimi?”
“You tell me.” The woman was small. Hell, her daughter Joyce and both her granddaughters were tiny also. Amanda didn’t think any of them were more than five feet. She was not frail, however. She was full of energy and spunk. She traipsed into the room wearing an old-fashioned dress that reached halfway down her shins and had sleeves all the way to her wrists. She’d worn something similar on Friday. This dress was dark blue. “I assume you’re all here for a reason. And if I had to guess, I’d bet it has something to do with the logging site just north of here.”
Melinda smiled. “You’d guess right. Why am I not surprised?”
Amanda was surprised. Shocked.
Logan reached for her hand and gave a tug. “I told you. She knows things.” He grinned. “Or at least senses them.”
It was going to take awhile for Amanda to get used to the bombardment of weird that seemed to be her new normal.
Mimi eased into a chair and smiled at Amanda. “Welcome to our family.”
“Thank you.” Warmth spread through her body as this kind woman opened up to her.
“Sorry it’s so chaotic, but that seems to accompany every mating in this large bunch lately. I fear the spirits want to communicate something again, and until they’re heard, they’ll be relentless.”
“Why? What does this have to do with us mating?”
“No idea,” Mimi continued, “but my gut tells me Fate arranges a new mating when Nature needs us to pay attention to something.”
“What kind of something?” Amanda let Logan pull her back down
beside him. Luckily, he didn’t set his hand on her thigh again. She might have smacked him if he tried to tease her in front of Sawyer’s grandmother.
“With Rebecca, there was an earthquake. The agitated spirits made it clear she needed to drop out of the Spartan race she was about to participate in. Turned out her nursing skills were needed to tend to the injured athletes.”
Mimi cleared her throat and continued. “With Melinda, it was the casino site. The original construction had been shoddy, and the distressed spirits made themselves present to warn about continued construction. In the end, her mate Keegan was injured in a scaffolding collapse. Fortunately all work was eventually halted, and the project was scrapped.”
Amanda glanced at Melinda, who scrunched up her face, probably reliving tense moments.
“And then Laurie. She grew into her powers as a shaman in our family quickly when she moved here and mated. The spirits guided her to keep people off the top of the mountain during a snowstorm last year. Hundreds would have been trapped in an avalanche had they ascended. Zachary and several employees of the resort were trapped.”
Amanda gasped as her gaze shifted to Laurie. “Oh my God.”
Laurie kissed the top of Miriam’s head and smiled. “Found him in time. We’re so grateful.”
“What now?” Amanda sat up straighter. “I don’t have any powers. What can I do?”
Melinda spoke again. “Not sure. And it might not be you who holds the key. My biggest concern is this logging site. It can’t be a coincidence that Logan happened to see a sprit and get a bad vibe on Thursday, the day before you three met and mated, and then he and Sawyer saw one again Friday night in the same location.”
Logan cleared his throat. “We got a threatening message yesterday too.” He glanced at Amanda and grimaced as he spoke.
“What?” Laurie nearly shouted. The baby wiggled in her arms, startled by her mother’s outburst.
Amanda twisted around to face Logan, narrowing her eyes. “What message?”
He cringed. “Sorry. We didn’t get around to telling you about it.”
“Apparently not.”
Logan ran his free hand through his hair. “Yeah. Someone must have stuck it in the mail slot yesterday morning. There wasn’t time for it to go through the postal service.”
“What did it say?” Mimi asked.
“It said: Mind your own business.”
Amanda set her hand on Logan’s and held it tight. She didn’t like the message any more than either of her mates did.
“So, someone must have seen you watching the logging site when you stumbled upon it on Thursday,” Laurie said.
Logan shook his head. “That’s just it. There’s no way. I’m certain there were no shifters on the team, and I was in wolf form. No one even glanced my direction. And when we went there in the middle of the night Friday night, there was no one in the area at all.”
Melinda frowned. “I don’t like it. Something’s off about this.”
Logan chuckled sardonically. “Something’s off for sure. And I’m exhausted just thinking about solving this new puzzle to appease the spirits once again.”
Melinda stood. “We need to go back to the site.” She glanced at Logan. “Maybe if you show us where you’ve seen the spirits. You never know. It might trigger something different.”
Laurie glanced up at her and then back down at Miriam. “Not sure I can pull that off again today. Zach is guiding a hiking group, and Corbin is fighting crime.” She giggled.
Amanda remembered someone saying Corbin was a deputy on the reservation. “I’ll watch her.” Miriam was an adorable baby, and she’d been easy to take care of Friday night. Amanda looked toward Laurie. “You are far more useful snooping around the logging site. I’m human. I’ll watch the baby.”
»»•««
Pete Sandhouse sauntered over to Corbin Archers’ desk. For all intents and purposes, they were equals in the deputy hierarchy, but Corbin was mated to one of the Masters brothers and a mixed woman. The asshole had a screw loose to engage in such activities.
There was a level of animosity between the two of them, though Pete wasn’t sure why. He knew why he would just as soon shoot Archers in the back rather than protect him in a shootout, but he felt a vibe always wafting off Archers that he didn’t understand.
There was no way the guy knew how much Pete hated him.
“What do you want, Sandhouse?” Corbin said without lifting his gaze from whatever papers he was perusing. His voice was leery, infuriating Pete more.
“Can’t a guy stop by to shoot the breeze?” he jibed.
Corbin lifted his gaze, his eyebrows raised in question. “A normal guy could. But you aren’t normal. Now, what do you want?”
He lowered his voice. “I understand congratulations are in order, is all.”
Corbin didn’t flinch as a few seconds ticked by. “I give up. Congratulations for what?”
“Didn’t I hear another one of the Masters brothers mated with another one of the Hamiltons?” It was a stab and a bit of a risk to phrase it that way, but there was little other explanation for why the two would be together. If he was wrong, he would simply shrug and look shocked at his bad information. But he doubted that immensely.
Corbin sat back, dropping his papers on his desk. “Where did you hear that, Sandhouse?”
“Let’s see…” Pete tapped his chin with his fingers and glanced at the ceiling. “Can’t remember who told me. Must have been someone at the bar last night.”
“I bet.”
“So it’s true.”
“Never said that. It’s none of your business, actually.” Corbin leaned forward again and picked up his papers. His hands shook just enough to tell Pete what he wanted to know.
“Testy. Geez. Just trying to be a nice guy here.”
“Yeah. I’m sure you were voted ‘nicest guy’ by your high school senior class. Scram. I have work to do.”
Chapter Twenty
Logan ran alongside Laurie and Melinda. The site was close enough to their land they could easily shift at home and make it there without taking a car and running the risk of driving and getting caught with their pants down, literally. The community at large was disturbed enough by the groups of three living on the land at the border of the reservation. The last thing they needed was for someone to see groups of them together naked.
When they got close, Logan slowed, glancing at Sawyer’s sisters to make sure they were in agreement. “The last thing we should do is risk being seen.”
“Agreed,” Melinda communicated. “When we were here yesterday, no one was around. I don’t sense any humans this afternoon, either.”
“Still. Let’s be careful. No sense taking chances,” Logan stated, turning his gaze toward the logging site at the base of the valley. He hunched closer to the ground and peered over his paws.
Nothing looked unusual. “Is there a way to know if they’re breaking any laws?” he asked. “I mean, do you suppose there’s a danger we should be aware of that involves improper equipment? Maybe a chainsaw or climbing gear? I mean, other than the fact that they may have cleared more land than allotted, I don’t know how we could spot anything else.”
“How would we be able to tell?” Laurie asked into both their heads.
“No idea.” Melinda inched closer. “I guess if they are breaking any laws, we’ll find out tomorrow when Jackson inspects.”
“I don’t have a good feeling about that plan,” Logan said, a tingle racing up his spine at the thought of sending an innocent man in to face the wolves.
“More importantly,” Laurie lifted her head and glanced around, her ears rising, “why is the land so calm now, and where are the spirits that made themselves so present before?”
Something caused Logan to turn around and look behind them. And there it was, the eerie, almost ghostlike figure in all its glory. It looked as though it had been hanging around there for a while, fully formed and shimmering calmly behind them. “Laur
ie. Melinda…” Logan didn’t take his gaze off the spirit as the two women turned around.
Both women advanced toward the spirit immediately, making Logan think he needed to grow some bigger balls if he was going to hang with shaman. But honestly, who did that?
Instead of hovering, the spirit seemed to turn around. In a weird, unusual show, it glided away from them in the direction of their land. Slowly. Deliberately.
Logan’s legs shook, seeming as if they would give out. “What the hell,” he questioned as the spirit floated slowly away.
Melinda lifted her head higher and pranced in the direction of the spirit. “I don’t know, but I feel like we’re barking up the wrong tree or something. As if it wants us to know the danger isn’t related to the site. Perhaps the danger is closer to home.”
Laurie groaned into their heads. “I don’t like it.”
Nevertheless, they followed the aura as it glided down the side of the mountain.
When they reached the bottom, the spirit turned around, hovered for a few more seconds, and then drew in on itself and disappeared.
As they were about to finish their trek home, Laurie froze and stared at nothing straight ahead.
Logan nudged Melinda with his paw and nodded toward Laurie, and the two of them waited several moments while Laurie undoubtedly spoke with one of her mates.
Finally, she broke the telepathic connection and met Logan’s gaze. “That was Corbin. He says Pete Sandhouse somehow found out you mated, and he’s nosing around.”
“Shit. That’s the guy Trace and Corbin have been trying to nail to the wall, right?” Logan asked.
“Yes. They’ve just been waiting for him to step out of line again. Hopefully in a bigger fashion. Trying to get him arrested for possibly throwing a brick through our window last year isn’t enough. Corbin watches him closely, hoping for something bigger.”
Logan shook his head. “I hope that something bigger doesn’t come at a price.”
“Corbin knows that. He’ll be keeping an eye out. Let’s get back. I’m sure Amanda’s had enough of watching Miriam for a good long while.”
»»•««
Perhaps Amanda had been wrong to agree to babysit again today. She must have gotten lucky Friday night. Babies were a lot of work. This sweet cuddly bundle had started crying almost the second everyone but Mimi left and hadn’t stopped to catch her breath often since.
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