by Rosanna Leo
She just hadn’t known then that Wilf’s insecurity cut so deep.
“Where do you think Fleur and Elaine might have gone?” Suzan asked.
“I don’t know. Fleur and I have made up but I’m getting to know my own daughter all over again. I’m not sure where she would go.”
“Doesn’t your wolf tell you anything? Doesn’t it have some instinct about where to find her?”
Barbi tried to talk to the dog but it only seemed to appear when Luke was in the room. It had gone into hiding again. “My wolf’s not so reliable these days. All the drugs I took forced it into a kind of hibernation. That’s what Luke says anyway.”
“What about this Wilf person?” asked Suzan. “Would he have taken Fleur and Elaine somewhere?”
“He had a bunch of hideouts on the mainland.”
“Can you give me addresses?”
A tear sprang to Barbi’s eye. She shook her head. “I was always high. I just don’t know.”
Suzan thought for a moment. After taking a deep breath, she put her hands on Barbi’s arms and looked her in the eye. “If I…come inside your head, I might be able to dig through your memories and see where Fleur is. Will you let me?”
Come inside her head? Barbi had no idea what that meant, but she was willing to do it if it saved Fleur. “Okay.”
Suzan’s mates Percy and Byron walked over to them and she explained what she was about to do. Within seconds, the rest of their friends had gathered, standing behind the empath.
Feeling self-conscious, Barbi sat still. “What do I do?”
“Just close your eyes and think about your time with Wilf. Try to picture the different places he took you. The way you felt when you were with him. Think about Fleur and imagine her as she looked today. I’ll do the rest.” Suzan closed her eyes.
Barbi did as she was asked. It seemed the only sound in the room came from the far corner. The soft gurgle as baby Lloyd drank from his mother’s breast lulled Barbi into a state that seemed almost dreamlike.
Barbi remembered Fleur, both as a rebellious child and as the capable young woman she’d become. Barbi thought of Terry and all the times he swore to stop hitting her. She then thought of Wilf and how he’d promised to take her away from the husband who’d betrayed her. Although she’d rarely been sober with Wilf, she began to visualize different locations. Rooms in cheap motels. The outside of Wilf’s posh condo. He never took her inside. The pizza joint on the mainland where they had their first meal as a couple. That littered dump in Tooley Street.
And another house on the road to Wolfville. Owned by one of Wilf’s flunkies, he used it as a base whenever he felt the police were getting wind of his activities. Barbi could see it now. The green paint in the living room. The fake leather couch. The framed pictures of Playboy bunnies on the walls.
She saw Fleur there too. And Elaine. Both unconscious, surrounded by men.
Barbi’s eyes snapped open.
“I got it,” said Suzan, her voice breaking as if she labored under a strain. “Marci, can you reach Anton?”
Marci nodded.
“Tell him Fifth Line. There’s a gray brick house set back from the road. They’re going to hurt Fleur and Elaine.” She turned to Barbi and rubbed her arm. “You did it. Thank you.”
Barbi still felt deflated. They did it, but were they too late?
Chapter 15
“THERE,” said Jani, trying to keep the roar out of his voice. “I see the gray brick house. Cut the engine.”
Connor turned off the ignition. All four men opened the doors to the truck. They shifted into their animal counterparts while leaping out of the vehicle. Luckily, there was no one around for miles, aside from the men who held the women captive. Otherwise, any human who happened to look at that moment would have seen two tigers, a grizzly bear and a mountain lion pouncing from the F150. Even Jani acknowledged it was the stuff of nightmares. Bits of their clothing hung from the open doors. Pieces of flannel and denim lay strewn on the dried grass. The scene resembled a massacre without the bloodshed.
Moving as quickly but as stealthily as he could through the tall grass, Jani raced toward the house. Marci’s message had been urgent.
“Hurry,” she’d told Anton through telepathy. “The girls have been drugged and those men are going to rape them.”
Jani still had nightmares of August Crane abusing Fleur, even though he sought to shield her from his nighttime anxieties. After learning of Fleur’s experience with Ricky Mason, that steaming, cowardly piece of shit, Jani had sworn no man would ever touch Fleur again.
If Breckenridge so much as breathed on her…
A lone wolf stood guard on the far side of the house. Jani led the charge, his friends right behind him. The enemy wolf turned, spotting them, and opened its mouth to howl a warning. Before it could even dream of singing, Jani’s tiger pounced. He landed on the beast, pinned it down with his sharp claws, and ripped out his throat and part of the man’s spine. Disgusted, Jani spat out the bloody gristle.
Connor, his voice raised in the distinctive, raspy roar of the mountain lion, crashed through the nearest window. The others followed. They came upon Breckenridge and his group on the main floor. The room was exactly as Suzan had described to Marci. Green walls, covered in pictures of naked women. Leather furniture.
Their assailants, all wolf shifters, had yet to shift, and Jani could see why. Fleur and Elaine lay slumped on the floor, their clothing torn. Their heads were bloody and their faces and arms were scratched. The men had come upon Elaine’s damaged car and they saw what happened with the moose. Jani was even more incensed to think Breckenridge would assault the women right after they’d been in such a bad car accident.
He was evil through and through, and he would die today.
Jani looked for the drug dealer. Breckenridge cowered at the back of the room. With Mason.
Surprise, surprise.
Before they dealt with the cowards, they had to finish off the goons. Several men stood between them and Breckenridge. As Jani surveyed the scene, the wolves shifted into their animal selves, letting up a collective howl.
One of the men had been in the process of removing Elaine’s jeans. Connor, his feline eyes blazing hatred, leaped and sank his fangs into the wolf’s brain, puncturing it. Jani often utilized the same kill tactic. Many cats employed it. No victims lived to describe it.
Another two wolves barricaded his way to Fleur. Her shirt had been removed but the men had been interrupted before they could dispense with her bra. Neither woman appeared to have been sexually molested.
As his friends battled the other wolves in the room, Jani stalked closer to the dogs guarding Fleur. If he attacked one, the other would kill her. He needed to draw them away from her body. Moving slowly, his gaze never dropping from the wolves, he circled behind them. As they watched, unsure of his movements, he edged closer to his mate. Taking care, he nudged her hip, grabbing her waistband with his teeth. He pulled her body away from the action, dragging her under a table that had been pushed up against one of the walls.
The two wolves, novice fighters if he’d ever seen any, didn’t seem to know what to do. They seemed ready to bolt, as if convinced Jani didn’t really want to fight them.
They couldn’t be more wrong.
With Fleur momentarily secured under the table, Jani rushed out and pounced on the first wolf. With a whimper, the dog went down. Jani crushed its windpipe, suffocating it. As the shifter expired, it transformed back into grisly human form.
Just as Jani was about to move, the other wolf rallied and jumped on his back. It sank its canine teeth into his back and ripped. Jani reared back, banging the creature against a wall in an attempt to dislodge it from his frame. The blow winded the beast, but it hung on.
Jani aimed one of his great paws but couldn’t reach it. The dog bit and bit, tearing pieces of his skin. Jani roared. The wolf whimpered and suddenly fell off.
Anton’s
tiger, blood marring its noble face, appeared before him. It looked as if you needed some help, cousin.
Just then, another wolf rushed toward Anton. Jani lunged, clamping onto its neck. He tore at the creature’s throat, ending its life. He glanced at Anton. Happy to help you in return.
Jani assessed the situation in the house. Connor had taken down two wolves and had shifted back into manly form. He crouched at Elaine’s head, trying to revive her.
Luke, no longer in his bear guise, stood amidst three dead wolf bodies. The bear man panted and pointed at the back door. “Breckenridge and the other guy are getting away.”
“They hell they are. Anton, stay here with Fleur. Luke, come with me.”
Jani and Luke shifted into their animals and sprinted out of the house. Sniffing for the scents of the retreating wolves, they chased them into the wooded area at the far end of the yard. The property bordered a stretch of forest. The brown tree trunks might provide excellent camouflage for a couple of wolves, but Jani and Luke wouldn’t stop until they tracked them.
As they barreled through the woods, their large bodies trampled saplings and bushes. The image of Fleur’s torn skin and limp frame was seared into Jani’s brain. He would fell every tree in this goddamned forest if it meant he could catch the men who hurt her.
Luke’s grizzly nudged him with his nose and he huffed, inclining his head to the right.
Jani stopped in his tracks and inhaled. He smelled Breckenridge and blood.
He and Luke stalked toward a clearing. They found the drug dealer there in human form, naked and bleeding from a severe gash in his neck. The man sat against a fallen log, clutching at his throat. Mason was nowhere to be seen.
Ricky the Coward had finally found his teeth.
Pissed off at having been denied the right to administer the fatal blow to Breckenridge, Jani growled and lunged. Luke stopped him.
“Jani, don’t,” he said, shifting. “He’ll be dead in minutes. We need to know what he gave Fleur and Elaine.”
Jani allowed his body to undergo the transformation once again, even though his tiger cried out for revenge. He reached for Breckenridge and shook him, ignoring the man’s screams. “What did you give them?”
“You’ll never know.” A gleam of lunacy shone in the drug dealer’s eyes. “When Fleur dies, it’ll kill Barbi. My vengeance will be complete.”
“Do something right for the first time in your life,” Luke urged. “It’s not too late.”
“Too late for them.” Breckenridge choked up blood. “I’ll. Never. Tell…”
“Fuck this,” Jani roared. “Selfish pig. Rot in hell.” He called upon his tiger once more but only allowed him to take over his body in a half shift. As his right arm pricked and the skin erupted with striped fur, Jani slashed at Breckenridge’s neck with his claws. He severed the man’s head, curling his lip in disgust as it rolled toward his foot.
Luke sighed and turned to him. “You have a temper, my friend.”
“When I find Ricky Mason, he’ll be the one to feel my temper. If Fleur dies…”
“We’ll do everything we can to make sure she doesn’t.” Luke grabbed some loose branches and camouflaged Breckenridge’s body until they could dispose of it properly. “Come on, let’s go. We need to get the women back to the island and get Josh Douglas to examine them. Mason will have to wait.”
Heartsick, his body quaking with unsatisfied rage, Jani rushed with Luke back to Fleur. They had to find a way to make her well.
He prayed to God she wasn’t already at death’s door.
* * * *
“Mindenem, can you hear me?”
Jani must have asked the same question fifty times already that night, but he asked it again. However, just as with the first fifty times, Fleur did not respond. She lay comatose in his bed, her eyes closed.
Their bed, not just his. Like everything in his cabin, in his world, he’d grown to think of it as hers as well. Even all his possessions in Budapest, things Fleur had never had a chance to see and enjoy. He considered them all hers. He wanted to share his life with her, but he needed her to open her eyes.
What the hell was he supposed to do if he couldn’t glimpse those beautiful brown eyes again?
Tortured by thoughts of what might be, Jani lifted one of her eyelids. He wanted just a flicker of hope, the slightest movement or recognition. There was nothing. Her irises continued their floating dance in the back of her head, making her resemble a revenant.
Dr. Josh Douglas touched Jani’s hand. “Let her rest. I know it’s hard not to touch your mate. You can stroke her hand, but let’s refrain from poking her eyes out.” His smile was laced with sadness.
“I just want her to wake up. Can’t we give her something else?”
Josh had administered some vitamins to both women, hoping to boost their immune systems, but had explained earlier that most shape-shifters didn’t react to human medicines. “There’s nothing more we can do.”
“If medicine can’t help her, then why would Breckenridge’s drugs have such an effect?”
“If you only knew the kind of crap Breckenridge shoved in people’s arms. I’ve been in touch with a shifter friend on the drug squad. You wouldn’t believe the stories he’s told me. Breckenridge was vile. He put so many toxins in his drugs, some of them I’ve never even heard of before. Compared to his shit, a hit of crystal meth might seem like a drag from a candy cigarette.”
“Fuck.” Jani reached for Fleur’s hand under the blanket, forlorn. “So even someone like us can’t help but feel the effects.”
“Look, Jani.” Josh sat next to him. “I’ve studied shifter medicine, for lack of a better word, for a long time. Our people heal more effectively than humans do. We’re already one step ahead. It’s my belief our bodies do best when we get back to basics. We need rest. We need food and water. Fleur and Elaine have been hooked up to IV’s so they won’t get dehydrated. Their wounds have been tended. They’re not suffering from fever. They just need time.”
“And when will time run out for them?”
“I can’t answer that, but I promise you I’ll do everything in my power to make sure it doesn’t.” Josh checked his watch. “I’m going to check on Elaine now. Connor’s been texting with all sorts of questions, too. I’ll be back shortly. Do you want me to send Anton in here?”
“No. I want to be alone with my mate.”
“I understand. Hang in there. She needs you to be strong.” Josh stood and brushed Fleur’s hair back from her forehead. “Jani, I suspect whatever battle is being fought in this room, the battle in Fleur’s mind is bound to be worse. We have no idea what’s going on in there. She’s going to need your support when she comes to. I can’t guarantee you she’ll come back the same woman.”
Jani nodded, absorbing the implication of Josh’s statement. She might not be the same woman? But he loved this woman. He loved everything about her, even though he used to think she drove him crazy. He wouldn’t change a hair on her head.
His eyes filled with tears. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d cried. Hanna’s funeral, he supposed.
Would Fleur come back with brain damage? Would she become a vegetable?
He thanked Josh and the doctor left the cabin. Only then did Jani put his head down on the bed next to Fleur’s thigh. As her fruity scent teased him from under the blanket, he began to cry. Waves of sadness poured out of him, wracking his body, seizing him with a terror he’d never known before.
For the first time, he felt he truly understood Elaine’s grief over Lloyd. It hung over him, a black cloud, threatening and rumbling in the distance. He knew, without a doubt, if that cloud ever burst, he’d drown in the deluge that followed.
When a soft rap sounded on the cabin door, Jani almost shouted, “Get lost!” However, thinking it might be Josh again, he invited the person in.
Suzan entered, flanked by Percy and Byron.
Jani wiped his eyes.
<
br /> The empath hurried to his side. “I’m sorry to disturb you at such a moment. Thing is, I’m concerned for Fleur. Jani, August Crane was my cousin. As much as I hate to admit it, I had a connection to him.” She frowned, gazing at Fleur’s form. “I know this will sound strange, but I feel him all around her.”
“But he’s dead.”
“Crane was a powerful empath. That sort of energy doesn’t just die. Fleur is vulnerable right now. Even if Crane can’t hurt her in the physical sense, I have no doubt he can still exert some kind of influence.”
“He already has.” Jani relayed the tale of Fleur’s visions of Crane.
Suzan glanced at Percy and Byron, fear etched into her face. “Jani, will you do what I say? Fleur needs some psychic support right now. Can you connect to her using telepathy?”
“I’ve been trying. She isn’t responding.”
“Maybe I can do a little something to connect you.” Suzan laid one of her hands on his arm and another on Fleur’s arm.
Jani didn’t understand Suzan’s abilities but he wasn’t about to question them now. “If it means I get Fleur back, I’ll do anything you want.”
* * * *
Fleur waged a war inside her head, the likes of which she’d never known, and nothing like either Jani or Josh Douglas expected. She was already sick and feeble, and those side effects travelled with her into her unconscious state. However, the physical side effects were nothing compared to the emotions running her ragged. When Wilf Breckenridge pumped her full of chemicals, he exposed her to a monster. Fleur doubted even he realized what he’d done to her.
In capturing her in this nightmare world, a chemical-induced limbo, he’d made her prey to the one person she feared the most. The one person who still haunted her dreams and tormented her thoughts.
Breckenridge had unwittingly unleashed August Crane.
She’d held his spirit at bay for weeks, refusing to let him overpower her with his malice. Now that she was weak and bruised and cut, he rushed to the fore, in control of her mind once again. Crane loomed, seemingly multiplied, seeing everything. His laughter followed her no matter where she ran. His wolf paws clawed at her, tearing her clothing from her body, leaving her naked and even more vulnerable.
