by Rosanna Leo
One week. That afforded him plenty of time to help Fleur liberate her mother. He simply needed to remain focused. No more of this senseless flirting that only caused him confusion. No more adding to her troubles. He’d failed Hanna when he allowed emotion to direct his actions. He’d failed his parents and himself.
So help him God, he would not fail Fleur.
Chapter 5
“JANI’S coming,” Byron warned the next morning, as he topped off Fleur’s coffee. “I can see the steam from his nostrils through the trees.”
“I know.” Fleur sat up straight and braced herself with a sip of the hot liquid. She sat outside the Moon cabin at a picnic bench with Byron, Percy, and Suzan. She could do this. After talking to Suzan last night and having a substantial snack, she’d fallen asleep and had the best sleep in weeks. Somehow, not being under Jani’s roof did wonders for her relaxation. This morning, she’d awoken focused and sharp and ready to banish her remaining demons.
If Jani really wanted to help her find her mother, great. If not, and his only intention was to get in her face, then he could find some other damaged woman to repair.
She’d told Suzan about the tattoo incident, expecting to hear cries of Oh, no, he didn’t and That creep, but they never came. Rather, Suzan had bitten her lip and had spoken in diplomatic tones. “I can’t really blame him for jumping to that conclusion. For five years, you were the poster child for the Alpha Brethren.”
Perhaps Fleur shouldn’t have been so hard on him. She knew her past was checkered. How would others believe she could be redeemed when she barely believed it herself most days?
Still, Jani had looked so disappointed. He’d been swayed by two initials drawn on her hip in ink. If that was all it took to make him doubt her, perhaps he didn’t trust her as much as he said he did. On some level, he’d expected her to fail.
She wanted to show him and everyone else she could triumph over her past. The first step would be to get over her anger at Jani. If Suzan could find it in her heart to spend the better part of an evening cheering her up, Fleur could find it in her heart to forgive Jani his pigheadedness.
She looked over at Suzan for encouragement, but the other wolf woman stared at the picnic table, seemingly lost in thought.
“Are you okay?” Fleur asked.
Suzan turned glassy eyes upon her, seeing past her. “Huh?”
Byron and Percy, seated on either side of their mate, ran their hands along her back, soothing her.
“What’s wrong, Suzi?” asked Percy.
Suzan leaned into their arms, closing her eyes against a barrage of feeling no one else felt.
“She has moments when emotion overwhelms her,” explained Byron, moving his hand up to Suzan’s neck to massage it. “It’ll pass.”
“Her empath ability is pretty freaky shit.” Fleur eyed Suzan with equal parts wariness and captivation. “How do you guys handle it? It’s like she can see into your soul.”
Percy gave Fleur a look. “We manage.”
Guilt made Fleur’s hackles rise. Once again, she’d said the wrong thing. Jani was right. One day, she’d piss off the wrong person. She didn’t want to upset these people. Despite their past grievances, they’d been kind to her.
Suzan let her head fall forward into her hands. Fleur knew her well enough to know the empath suffered physical side effects when the emotions of others attacked her. It was likely Fleur’s fear Suzan felt, Fleur’s shame. She hated seeing it manifest in another woman’s pinched features. Fleur preferred to bear her burdens alone rather than trouble others. She reached out to grab Suzan’s hand over the picnic bench, wishing she could do more. After all, Suzan had listened to her moans the previous night, never judging. “Can I get you something? A pill or a cold compress?”
Suzan cracked open her eyes and smiled through her pain. “I’ll be okay. Thanks.”
Footsteps sounded on the gravel path leading to the cabin and they all looked up. Jani strode forward through the trees, lips compressed and gaze locked on Fleur.
Damn. How was it he looked even better this morning? Perhaps “better” wasn’t the right word. In truth, he looked awful. He mustn’t have slept well. Shadows haunted his face and she spied a touch of red in his eyes. Still, the determined set to his jaw made him as sexy as a superhero on a quest to save the world. She could almost visualize the cape billowing out behind him.
Fleur swallowed. It relieved her dry throat as much as a drop of water disappearing into desert sands. “Jani.”
“Fleur.”
“Nice day today.”
“I suppose so,” Jani said. “Did you sleep well?”
“I did, thank you. And you?”
“Tolerably well, thank you.” His nostrils flared. “You look nice today.”
She glanced at the outfit she’d borrowed from Suzan. Jeans, a T-shirt and a pale pink cardigan. Librarian clothes, for sure. No wonder he liked them. The only items missing were the fucking pearls. “Thank you.”
Byron rolled his eyes. “Oh brother. This conversation sounds like something out of Jane Austen.”
Fleur frowned and resumed her conversation with Jani. “Look, what happened yesterday…”
“Was a mistake,” Jani interrupted. “It won’t happen again. We need to concentrate on finding your mother, getting her away from Breckenridge and into a place where she can dry out.”
“That’s what I was going to say.” It was just like him to steal her thunder.
“Good.” Jani nodded in the clipped way he always did when he was frustrated. “I was thinking about where to look next…”
“I know where she is.” Suzan inhaled and exhaled through her mouth. As she turned to Fleur, life sparkled in her eyes once more. Her pain seemed to have lessened. “Your mother, I mean.”
“But how?” Fleur asked.
“I just do. When you were thinking of her this morning, the information came to me. That’s why I spaced out for a bit. I was able to see your mother as she is now, and I know where to find her.” Suzan’s auburn brows came together over her nose. “You won’t like it.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” Fleur assured her. “Please, tell me.”
“Okay,” Suzan replied. “She seems to be alone right now. This might be your best chance to get her out of there without inciting suspicion. Do you know Tooley Street?”
Fleur sighed. She knew it. There were certain neighborhoods on the mainland where one just didn’t go. Tooley Street was nothing more than a home to addicts, prostitutes, and losers. Even Fleur was too clean cut for Tooley Street.
Jani drew closer. He placed a hand at the back of her neck and warm tingles shot up her spine.
“You won’t be alone.” His deep voice had lost all traces of annoyance. “I’ll come with you.”
Feeling mellow with his hand on her skin, she couldn’t resist the urge to tease him. “Fine, but I’ll have to change out of this cute cardigan to look the part. And you might need to borrow my assless chaps.”
Jani’s mouth fell open, but Fleur didn’t wait for him to find his voice. She stood, headed into the cabin, and allowed herself the small victory of knowing she’d left him frozen to his spot.
* * * *
Before they’d passed three dwellings on Tooley Street, Fleur and Jani encountered at least five homeless men. Jani had stopped to give each of them a few bucks. As they approached the building Suzan described, another man held out his hand to Jani.
“Hey, big guy. Could you spare some change? I haven’t eaten in a week.”
Jani glanced at the empty liquor bottle next to the man’s stoop but still handed him a ten. “Use it for food, okay?”
“Sure, buddy.” The man stood, wobbled and righted himself, and then walked toward the liquor store down the road.
“You’re too soft,” Fleur teased. “But on the plus side, the liquor store owner loves you right now.”
Jani grunted, miffed. “I’m not
soft.”
“Sure, softie. Whatever you say.” She pretended to duck the laser beams shooting out of his eyes.
“Did you notice the majority of those homeless men were shape-shifters?”
“Yeah. What about it?”
“Fleur, I’ve never seen so many shifter addicts. There’s a real problem here.”
Having grown up with addicts and drunks, she’d never stopped to consider whether the druggie population had increased. Considering Lake Gemini was a small town, she supposed Jani might have cause to be worried.
“Think about it. Most shifters can tolerate human drugs with no side effects. Most of us aren’t even tempted by the idea of doing human drugs. Your mother and my sister are part of a choice few. It also leads me to believe their dealers are pushing dangerous shit. More dangerous than I expected.”
Her stomach pitched as a wormlike sickness put a stranglehold on her guts. What kind of crap was Breckenridge pushing now? She’d always known he had little regard for anyone other than himself, but to poison a whole community?
“Someone needs to help these people. The shifters aren’t the only ones suffering. If Breckenridge continues to deal, the human population with dwindle. They’ll either leave, afraid of all the erratic people, or the shifters will attack. There’s no telling what a high shape-shifter might do.”
Unready to deal with the implications for their community, she checked the address before them. “This is it. If Suzan’s right, my mom’s in here.”
“Are you okay?”
“Sure, I can handle it.” She walked up the steps to the small bungalow, sidestepping the used condom and syringe on the bottom step. She kicked the debris into the bushes at the side of the entrance. “If she’s high, she might freak out when she sees you. I’ll go in by myself.”
“Over my dead body. You don’t know what’s in there.”
“Suzan said she was alone.”
“And that might have changed in the last hour. Besides, your mother could be in a state. If I don’t go in, you don’t go in.”
“Suit yourself.” Fleur shrugged but was secretly glad of the company. Now that she knew her mother was just on the other side of a rickety door, panic began to creep in. It had never been easy confronting the woman, and each instance had only left Fleur with a greater sense of disappointment. “I’m glad you have my back.”
“I have your back and your front.”
A sudden laugh gurgled up from her belly, relieving the ache there. “Your grasp of the English language is excellent, but we need to work on some of your expressions.”
Jani tried the door and it opened. Surprise, surprise. Fleur never expected her mother would remember trivial details like locks in a bad neighborhood, not while Breckenridge’s crap polluted her veins.
As they entered, the stench hit her first, a cocktail of old urine, mold, and stale cigarettes. The walls in the hallway were chipped in so many places, Fleur could see layers of color from years of paint jobs. One wall was decorated by a hole the size of a fist. More used condoms nestled against the yellowed trim leading to the front room.
Jani leaned in. “I’d like to take back what I said about your apartment.”
“Thanks, although I doubt she actually lives here. She’s probably just hanging out.”
“Wilf! Is that you? Did you bring food?”
Fleur’s heart seized. Her mother’s voice sounded groggy and slurred, the same way it always did whenever she was high. A part of Fleur had hoped she might find Barbi sober and healthy. Another stupid pipe dream. She glanced at Jani for support and peeked around the corner into the front room.
Barbi Bissette sat among a pile of smelly clothes in the middle of the floor. She wore only jeans and her bra. Fresh track marks scarred her arms. Her pupils dilated, making her blue eyes seem black and ghostly. “Where’s Wilf?”
Fleur stepped forward. “Mom. It’s me.”
“Hailey?”
Fleur kept an eye on her mother but spoke to Jani. “Hailey’s my older sister. She left town years ago. She was the smart one.” She addressed Barbi again. “No, Mom. It’s Fleur.”
Barbi’s eyes glazed over as she appeared to be considering the name. “Fleur?”
“Yeah, I know. It’s been a while.”
A gurgled noise of disbelief issued from her mother’s throat. “I can’t believe your master let you off your leash.”
“That’s a good one, but I’m not with August anymore.”
“What’s the matter? Did you finally realize his religion was a crock of shit?”
“Yeah,” Fleur replied in a matter-of-fact voice. “That, and he’s dead. Anyway, we’re not here to talk about August Crane. We’re here to take you to a place where you can get help.”
Barbi snuggled in among the clothing and drug paraphernalia on the floor. “Piss off. I’m fine where I am.” She looked around the room, craning her neck. “You’d better leave. Wilf will be here any minute.”
“It doesn’t look as if your boyfriend has been here for some time, and you’re coming with us.” Fleur advanced.
Barbi turned toward Jani. Her eyes widened, as if a monster had materialized before her. “Who the hell is this?”
“I’m a friend,” Jani replied. He crouched before her and peered into her red eyes. “What are you on?”
Barbi scrambled away toward the couch and hid behind it. “None of your business and you’re no friend of mine, you filthy cat!”
“Your mother can still recognize a fellow shifter. That’s a good sign.”
“This is Jani, Mom, and he’s just here for moral support.” Fleur walked slowly toward her mother. “But if you put up a fight, he’s mean with a rope and he’ll have you hog-tied in no time. If that happens, you’ll end up in the back of his truck, smelling of fish. You don’t want to go down that road. Trust me, I know.”
Barbi reached for a dirty syringe that was sitting on an occasional table, surrounded by coffee stain rings and old pizza crusts. Fleur moved and knocked it off the table, avoiding the needle, before her mother could touch it.
Her mother stood and began to scream. “Wilf! Help!”
“Mother,” Fleur implored. “We want to help you. We want to take you somewhere you can get the help you need.”
Her mother continued hollering.
“You can shout all you want, but I won’t take no as an answer. Consider this your intervention, lady.”
Barbi stopped screaming long enough to mutter, “Intervention, my ass.”
“I’m giving you one more chance to come with us,” said Fleur, trying to keep her cool. “But if you keep fighting, Jani will carry you out of here. You’ve already figured out he’s a tiger shifter, Mother. He can do it. Do you see his big muscles?”
Jani was stifling a grin, but Fleur saw it anyway. Smug cat.
Barbi chose that moment to pick up a table lamp and launch it at Fleur’s head. Jani darted in front of Fleur, caught the lamp in one hand and set it on the floor.
“Thanks,” Fleur said in a small voice.
“No problem.”
She was getting used to his hero act. It sort of felt nice. At particular moments, when he didn’t drive her nuts.
Perhaps it was time to end this adventure. “So, do you think you could carry my mother out of here now?”
He rolled up his sleeves and stalked toward Barbi. “It would be my pleasure.”
Although her mother put up a fuss, writhing and kicking, promising Wilf would rescue her, Jani picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. When she hammered on his back with her fists, Fleur winced. Jani winked to reassure her. She already knew it took a lot to knock him down, but she was still relieved her mother wasn’t hurting him.
“Now, now, Mrs. Bissette,” he said. “You’re just going to tire yourself out. Sit back and enjoy the ride.”
“I hate you. Put me down,” she shouted as he carried her outside and toward the truck. “I ho
pe my boyfriend rips your heart out. He’ll come for you! And you,” she screamed, turning to Fleur, “you’re dead to me, girl. Dead. Do you hear me? I should have let your father beat you to a pulp when you were a kid. You’ve brought me nothing but misery.”
“Yeah, well,” Fleur countered, already dancing on the edge of sanity. “You haven’t exactly brought me sunshine and roses, either.”
Jani bundled Barbi into the back seat of the truck. After convincing her he’d toss her in the flatbed if she misbehaved, she settled down and mumbled to herself about “life” being “unfair.” He shut the door as she began to hurl curses their way.
Jani leaned back against the door, shielding Fleur from her raging mother’s face. He reached for Fleur’s hand. Without saying a word, he stroked it slowly, running his thumb over her palm.
For the first time, Fleur didn’t flinch.
“She doesn’t mean it. All those insults. It’s just the drugs talking.”
“I know.”
“My sister said the same sorts of things to me. I know now she was just lashing out.”
Fleur nodded, heart-sore.
“One of the men who’s been helping Ryland at the resort is a drug counselor. Luke Miller. I got to know him when you were away. I called Luke last night and asked him to be on standby for when your mother arrives. He’s volunteered his services. He’s a big-ass bear shifter, so she’ll find it hard not to listen. You should see him. The man scares me.”
She smiled at the thought of anything scaring big, bad Jani. As her lips curled up, a ray of bright hope tore another hole in the cloud-riddled sky of her world.
Jani noticed and his lips spread into a slow, sexy grin that made her breath catch in her throat.
“Thank you, Jani. For everything.”
He dropped a soft kiss on her forehead. Unable to resist, she leaned into the kiss, seizing his heat for just a moment before she had to let it go. She closed her eyes, permitting herself a fleeting dream of happiness with Jani, and pulled away.
Don’t go there.
His smile became pensive, understanding. He nodded toward her mother, who was doing her best to pound the dashboard into smithereens. “Don’t thank me yet. We may have to tranquilize her.”
