by Rosanna Leo
Our mate. Why hasn’t she returned?
Before Jani could attempt to soothe the beast, Connor burst back into the cabin.
Gripping his side, Jani demanded, “What happened to you?”
“Don’t even ask.” Connor marched over to the snacks table, picked up the bottle of rum and downed its remaining contents in one gulp. “Women are nuts.”
“You’re figuring this out now?” Anton quipped.
Marci elbowed him.
“Seriously,” prattled Connor. “I do everything for that woman. I would have tied her shoes if she’d asked me. I would have stood on my head if it made her smile. And what do I get for my friendship? For my loyalty? A slap in the face. I know she’s hurting, but to leave Gemini Island?”
“Who’s leaving Gemini Island?” asked Ryland.
“Elaine.”
“Wait a minute,” said Jani. “Back up. Elaine’s talking to Fleur.”
“I know. Fleur was there too.”
“Connor,” asked Jani, holding his temper at bay. “Where are they?”
“Gone.”
Jani got up and confronted him. “What the hell do you mean by gone?”
“Just what it sounds like. Elaine got mad at me, jumped in a boat, and took off. Fleur jumped in with her. They were headed for the mainland.”
Jani almost brought up the contents of his hot chocolate. “The mainland? Don’t you realize there’s a vicious drug dealer out there who hates Fleur?”
Connor’s face went from red to white. “Um, no.”
Jani clapped a hand over his mouth. With everything going on, with both them and with Elaine, he supposed Connor wasn’t quite up to speed. “Well there is.” He turned to the assembled friends. “I need to go. She’s not safe. If she runs into Breckenridge out there…” His tiger let out a roar of anxiety.
Anton put a hand on his back. “I’m coming with you. We’ll find her.”
Jani nodded. “If Breckenridge harms a hair on her head…”
“All we know is the girls went to the mainland,” said Anton. “They might be sitting in a coffee shop somewhere, having a nice chat.”
“No.” Jani shook his head. “My tiger is stressed. Something’s wrong.” He whipped open the cabin door.
Luke and Barbi stood there. Luke’s hand was raised, as if he’d been about to knock on the door. “We came to visit the baby.”
“Fleur’s on the mainland with Elaine,” Jani explained. “I need to go after her.”
Understanding everything at once, Luke nodded. “I’m coming with you.” He turned to Barbi. “Stay here with the others. Give the baby a kiss for me.”
Barbi moved slowly into the cabin, her forehead creased with anxiety. “Stay safe, okay?”
Luke grinned. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
Jani, Anton, and Luke raced out the door. With a loud sigh, Connor joined them, muttering something else about women being ‘so confusing.’
Jani sent out a telepathic message to Fleur, in the hopes she could assure them of her whereabouts. Fleur, where did you go? Please tell me you’re safe, drinking a latte.
Despite their strong connection, he received no response.
Chapter 14
“HOW much farther?” Fleur asked Elaine as they headed down yet another dirt road. Elaine had parked a car on the mainland and had retrieved it, insisting on driving to her cousin’s house. Fleur had insisted on going with her. Elaine’s cousin Abby lived in the neighboring community of Wolfville, a good half-hour drive from Lake Gemini. Elaine said she wanted to pick up her kids and get out of Dodge.
“I told you to stay behind.” Elaine stared ahead, her knuckles white on the steering wheel. “You shouldn’t have come.”
“I wasn’t about to leave you alone in this state. You’re not listening to reason. You need to go back and sit down and talk calmly with Connor.”
“I’ve had enough talk. I’m done. I just want to start over.”
“Elaine, he cares about you so much.”
“He has a funny way of showing it.”
“That’s not fair and you know it.”
Elaine sighed. “I do know it, and it’s just another reason for me to get out of Connor’s hair. He doesn’t deserve this. He didn’t ask for this. He’s a good, handsome man in his prime. He should be having fun, not babysitting a widow and her children. He should be starting his own life, not helping me pick up the fragments of mine. It might not look like it now, but I’m doing Connor a favor by leaving.”
“Did you even see the look on his face when you said you would go? He was distraught.”
“I’m sure he’ll get over it. Connor’s a big boy. He has a lot of friends, many of them women. In no time, he’ll be cuddling up to one of them. Who are we kidding? Probably a few of them.”
Fleur swore she heard a tinge of bitterness in Elaine’s tone, even jealousy.
No, surely not. The woman is in mourning.
Still, grief did strange things to people.
“And are you going to take your children with you?” Fleur asked.
Elaine nodded. “Yes. Andy and Layla lost their father. They deserve their mother back. It’s going to be hard, but I have to buck up. I need to get past this. I love Lloyd and I always will, but I have to move on. It’s what he would want for me.”
“Actually,” Fleur ventured, “I think Lloyd would want you to stay at the Ursa with your friends.”
“Don’t tell me what my mate wanted for me. I knew him one hell of a lot better than you did.”
“I realize that, Elaine, but Lloyd died protecting your friends at the Ursa. Would he have done so if he didn’t see the people there as family?”
Tears threatened to spill forth from Elaine’s eyes. She swiped at them. “I was his family! Me, not them. What do you know about us anyway? You’re an outsider. An enemy. I haven’t forgotten what the Alpha Brethren did to us. I’ll never forget and I’ll never forgive you!”
August Crane appeared, taunting Fleur from the back seat. And so, the other shoe drops. See, Fleur? I told you so. These people don’t trust you. They don’t even like you. You’ll never be one of them.
“Shut up,” Fleur cried.
“Don’t tell me to shut up,” Elaine shouted back.
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
“Then who were you talking to?”
“Never mind.”
“You’re crazy. I don’t want you here with me. I want you out of this car. Now.” She turned the wheel, aiming for the side of the road.
“Oh no. You’re not getting rid of me too.” Fleur put her hands on the steering wheel and tried to angle the wheels back toward the road.
“Let go.”
“You need to settle down.”
Elaine took one hand off the wheel and pushed Fleur. Infuriated, Fleur pushed back. The car swerved. They both tugged on the wheel in a feeble attempt to right it, but it swerved in the opposite direction.
A huge shadow appeared before the car, catching Fleur’s attention. “A moose! Watch out.”
Elaine turned but it was too late. The car hit the animal with a sickening thud and the moose landed on the hood, smashing through the front window. Shards of glass cut into Fleur’s face and her head hit the dashboard. Pain shot through her body. Didn’t this car have any fucking air bags? As the car skidded to a stop, a memory from her driving classes sliced through her flagging consciousness.
Her driving instructor always said, “If you ever encounter a moose on the road, for God’s sake, brake. Those big suckers will kill you.”
Jani. Oh God. Everything hurts.
Blood streamed into Fleur’s eyes, but she pried them open. The moose, its neck broken, lay on the hood of the crashed car. Elaine’s head was slumped forward and appeared as bloody as the poor moose. Steam rose up from the smashed hood and the front of the car, from what she could see, was likely totaled.
Caught on
a gravel road somewhere between Lake Gemini and Wolfville, Fleur knew their chances of being found were bad. She tried to lift a hand to see if Elaine was conscious, but the pain was too great.
She needed to rest just a little bit to regain strength.
Right before she closed her eyes, Fleur spotted some other shadows among the trees lining the side of the road.
Wolves. A pack of them, their eyes shining bright with hunger.
Jani…
Defeated, Fleur lost consciousness.
* * * *
Once on the mainland, Jani tried to reach Fleur again, but no matter how hard he flexed his powers of telepathy, he couldn’t seem to get through. Was it possible she was too upset, trying to console Elaine, and her brainwaves might not be open to reception? No. That didn’t feel right. He’d never had a problem reaching her before.
Something bad had happened. He knew it in his gut. His tiger knew it. The animal was frothing at the mouth, trying to catch her scent.
Fleur, please say something.
Ryland and the other residents of Gemini Island kept several vehicles at the ready in a parking garage by the mainland docks. Jani and his friends raced toward the largest of the trucks, an F150 Supercab. Although their animal bodies would move them quickly through town, none of them were as fast as the truck.
Connor took the wheel. “Elaine’s car is gone. She must have headed toward her cousin’s house in Wolfville. I know the way.”
Jani slid in next to him. Luke and Anton took the back seat.
“Have you been able to reach Fleur?” Anton asked Jani.
“No. It’s like she’s shut down. What if she’s hurt? What if she’s unconscious?”
“Keep trying.” Anton’s voice remained calm. “Their scents are here. They went down this road. We’ll find them. And for all we know, they’re fine.”
Jani’s tiger slashed its claws down the inside of his stomach, making Jani want to double over. “Then why doesn’t she respond? It’s not like Fleur to ignore me. Something feels wrong. So wrong.”
“We’ll get them back.” Luke reached over from the back seat and clasped Jani’s shoulder. His tone might be encouraging, but Jani glimpsed the worry in all their eyes.
The very same worry that made his heart seize and his throat constrict.
No one in that truck believed Fleur and Elaine were fine. The girls might have left with Elaine in a huff, but neither woman was the sort to ignore a desperate plea. Jani knew in his heart Fleur would never treat him that way.
Fleur, talk to me. Please, életem.
She didn’t. For whatever reason, whether benign or sinister, Fleur had stopped talking.
* * * *
“Wake up.”
Someone kicked Fleur’s shoe. At least, she thought so. She wasn’t sure. Her head hurt too much.
“I said, wake up.”
This time, the person kicked her in the stomach. As the wind was knocked from her, she curled into a ball, shielding her ribs from any other attacks. It didn’t matter. The man grabbed a fistful of her hair and dragged her around on the floor so she would face him. She cried out. The pressure on her hair exacerbated the deep cuts on her face. Everything burned and screamed inside her.
“Look at me, you little bitch.”
She forced her swollen eyes open.
Wilf Breckenridge stood nude before her, flanked by several of his wolf shifter biker pals. Ricky Mason brought up the rear. An unconscious Elaine sat up against a wall.
“Where are we?”
“This,” said Breckenridge, his arms out to show off the room, “is where you will die. You and your pretty blonde friend.”
“Seems extreme,” she lisped, tasting blood.
“Ah, but you see, Fleur,” he continued, “you’ve been an annoyance to me. You always have. Honestly, I should have had you and your sister killed the same time I had your father killed. I should have taken care of loose ends years ago.”
So he had arranged her father’s death. She always knew it somehow. Although she and her father had been at odds her entire life, familial loyalty kicked in. Terry might have been a dick, but they were still of the same pack.
“Asshole. I’ll get you for this.” She spat at Breckenridge, knowing it would piss him off.
Sure enough, the fastidious shifter winced and wiped the glob of saliva from his leg. “Common little whore. Just like your mother.”
“If you think my mom’s a whore, then why go to all this trouble?”
“Trouble? What trouble?” Breckenridge held up his hands. “I was heading out of town with my associates when we ran into you. It wasn’t our fault you hit that moose. You fell into my lap.” He sighed melodramatically. “And as for Barbi, I suppose it’s time our affaire de coeur came to an end. I always knew it would, although I suspected she’d overdose first. She’s such a weak woman, so easily influenced.”
“Then why did you care?”
“Care? Honey, all I cared about was your mother’s pussy.”
Fleur lunged at him, but his goons held her back. Ricky pinned her by the shoulder.
She glared at her ex-boyfriend. “Traitor.”
Ricky had the sense to blush. “I owe him, Fleur. Big time. I’m sorry.”
“Fuck you.”
“Let me explain something, Fleur,” Breckenridge continued. The man walked the floor as he talked, as if delivering a theatrical monologue. “Power is a wonderful thing. I’ve craved it all my life. When I began dealing, people began to respect me. Your mother certainly did. Once I started providing her with Spider, she no longer saw me as the runt of the litter. She recognized me as a force of nature. In masterminding her downfall, I got revenge on all the cool kids who taunted me in high school. Every time I fucked your mother, I fucked with their memories. When I filled her veins with garbage, it was like screwing them all over again. Where they never noticed me before, I now inserted myself into their very bodies. I see some of them now and then on Tooley Street. The people who made fun of me are now drunks and addicts, and I put them there.”
“Then why were you leaving town? Have you grown bored with your power?”
“I’m a straightforward man. I don’t like complications. You took your mother from me before I could orchestrate her demise. Your friend Luke Miller has been sniffing around too. Oh yes, I know all about him and I see what he’s done. He thinks he can rid the town of my influence? Who cares? I’ll just find another town. There are addicts everywhere.”
“So let me and my friend go then.”
Breckenridge’s mouth curled into a smile. He crouched before her and cupped her cheek. She inhaled as he scratched at one of her lacerations with his thumbnail. He applied pressure to the wound, tearing at her skin.
“I told you I like power. So do my associates. See Mikey over there?”
One of the men loomed over Elaine, touching the unconscious woman’s hair.
“He’s taken a shine to your friend. I think I might have to let him have his way with her before we go, or I’ll never hear the end of it. And if Mikey gets his way, well, the others will complain if they don’t get a little treat too.” He smiled, as if he were a loving uncle. “So, I’m going to let them fuck you girls, and then we’re going to kill you.”
Fleur’s wolf startled from its wounded stupor and jumped to its feet. It put its teeth back and growled. Although her entire body hurt, she forced herself to her feet. “I won’t let you.”
Breckenridge held out a hand. Ricky retrieved something from a nearby table and handed it to him. It was a syringe.
“No.” Fleur backed away but the other men grabbed her and held out her arm.
Breckenridge stabbed it into her elbow and depressed it. “I don’t need to fuck you to feel power, my girl. This is my high. There’s enough toxin in this dose to slowly destroy you. I have another needle all set to go for your friend as well. Just think of it as a little something to make you more rece
ptive to my men. Don’t worry. By the time they’re done with you, you’ll practically be dead.”
Fleur watched in horror as the liquid seeped from the syringe into her arm.
Jani. I’m so sorry.
By the time Breckenridge removed the needle from her arm, the room began to spin.
* * * *
“More hot chocolate? Or something stronger?”
“Huh?” Barbi looked at the woman standing before her.
“I know you’re worried about Fleur.” The red-haired woman sat next to her. “I’m Suzan Moon, by the way. A friend of your daughter’s.”
“Suzan, huh? Fleur’s told me about you. It’s nice of you to call her a friend. I don’t think she would expect that.”
“We’ve moved past our differences. You will too.” The woman stared at her, into her, her hazel eyes glittering like gems.
“Wait a minute,” said Barbi. “You’re the one who has that strange power. The empath. You…feel things from other people, right?”
She nodded. “Here and there.”
“Can you see what I’m thinking?” As a test, Barbi concentrated on the image of Luke’s rounded ass, so gorgeous in denim it should be immortalized in marble.
Suzan’s eyes widened. “Yes, I can. I’m a married woman so you should probably stop putting those pictures in my head. Byron and Percy might not appreciate it.” She laughed and pointed her thumb at the handsome twin jaguars standing in the kitchen.
It was Barbi’s turn to gawk. “Those two?”
The redhead nodded. Her cheeks turned as red as her hair.
“Boy, I can see why Fleur likes hanging out on this island.” All kidding aside, she did worry about her daughter. She’d been trying to contact Fleur since the men had left the cabin. Barbi realized her ties to Fleur weren’t as strong as they used to be, but she’d expected to feel a zing of knowledge. Where had she gone? Jani had looked so scared. He seemed convinced Fleur was in trouble.
What if she did run into Wilf? She knew him to be petty and to hold grudges. Now that Luke had weaned her off Spider, she recognized so much about Wilf that she hadn’t been able to see before. She’d believed him to be worldly and strong, but deep down he was still the same insecure dog Terry had punched all those years ago.
