Quinn's Quest l(-4

by N. J. Walters

  Bethany wasn’t sure about that, but he was the only hope she had. No one she knew could help. And she didn’t think the police would believe her story. No, if she told them the truth she’d wind up in a mental institution sedated with copious amount of drugs. Something inside her knew she’d die if she were locked up again. She needed to be free.

  “Find him,” Chrissten whispered. “Send help.” The adrenaline that had helped her friend push back the effect of the tranquilizer was fading. Chrissten’s legs buckled.

  Beth dug her fingers into Chrissten’s arm and kept hauling her up the narrow, wooden staircase. “I’m not leaving you.” There was no way in hell she’d abandon Chrissten here to suffer any longer. Bethany didn’t know exactly what Chrissten was, but that was no longer of any importance. Chrissten was a woman in danger and she’d become a friend.

  Plus, if Chrissten was right about what she was, then she might be able to give Bethany the answers she’d always sought.

  “Why didn’t you show me sooner?” If her friend had broken out the claws and fangs when she’d first arrived, Bethany might have been more inclined to believe her stories.

  “Didn’t want to frighten you any more than you already were.”

  Sweat rolled down her Bethany’s back, making her thin cotton top stick to her body as she continued to haul her friend up the steep stairwell. They had to be getting close to the landing.

  “And you thought finding out like this wouldn’t freak me out of my ever-loving mind?” Bethany knew her voice was getting louder, but she couldn’t help it. The adrenaline coursing through her body was making her sweat. Her heart was racing. Her blood pumping.

  Another thought occurred to her. “How come you can change and I can’t?”

  Chrissten’s laugh was bitter. “Because you need a male werewolf for that.”

  Bethany frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  A loud roar sounded in the distance, ending all talk. Terror spurred Bethany on and she pulled harder. Brian was coming.

  “You have to leave me.” Chrissten dug in her heels, bringing them both to a halt. “If you don’t, we’re both dead.”

  Bethany feared her friend was right. The footsteps were getting closer. There was no way she could get both of them out in time to evade whoever was coming for them. They had no weapons. Chrissten was too weak to do her wolf thing and, even if she could, Brian could do it too.

  Bethany was no match for either him or the doctor’s tranquilizer gun. Her stomach dropped but she knew what she had to do. “I’ll come back for you. I promise.” She eased Chrissten gently down onto the hard stairs.

  She paused one final time to look back. Chrissten lay crumpled and unmoving. Bethany vowed she wouldn’t rest until her friend was free. Drawing on reserves she didn’t know she had, she surged up the stairs to the top of the landing and came to a door. She prayed it wasn’t locked and pushed at the bar. It opened and she stumbled out into a foyer of sorts.

  It was deserted.

  The building felt empty. Abandoned.

  Dust and garbage, years of decay and neglect, lined the floor. The stench assaulted her nostrils and she tried not to breathe too deeply as she raced for the front door. It was boarded up but she yanked at the nailed pieces of wood, splinters gouging her skin and drawing blood.

  She took a quick peek over her shoulder, her breathing coming faster and harder. Brian couldn’t be far behind her. Frustration and anger welled up inside her and she gave one final pull. The wood gave under the pressure and snapped.

  Bethany dragged herself through the small hole and began to run. Cold wind whipped at her thin clothing and tugged at her hair. Her footsteps sounded like thunder in her ears as her feet hit the pavement in an uneven rhythm. She ran until her lungs ached and her legs would no longer hold her.

  With her lungs burning and unable to catch a breath, she stumbled into an empty doorway and leaned against the wall for support. Her muscles trembled and she slid to the ground, dropping her head against her knees. She sucked air into her starving lungs, desperately trying not to black out.

  She had no idea how long she sat there. Eventually her breathing calmed and her heart no longer felt as though it was in danger of bursting through her chest. The black spots in her vision cleared.

  Now that her heartbeat was no longer pounding in her ears other sounds began to seep in.

  Her head jerked up. Traffic. That was the beautiful sound of cars and buses. That meant people. Help. She pushed herself up and her legs wobbled. She steadied herself against the side of the building until she was sure she wasn’t in danger of collapsing.

  For the first time, she studied her surroundings. Her flight had been quick and she’d paid no heed to where she’d come from. Most of the buildings around her appeared derelict. She could smell the water above the stench of garbage and exhaust fumes. Obviously, she was in an abandoned area of some warehouse district in a major city.

  She didn’t even know what city she was in.

  “Damn.” She shook her head to clear it and forced herself to pay attention. Her lungs hurt, her legs felt like jelly and her hands were bruised and scraped. Thankfully, they’d stopped bleeding.

  “Find something familiar. Some landmark. You can do this.” The pep talk helped some.

  Bethany left the dubious safety of the doorway. She had no way of knowing if there was already someone searching for her. She couldn’t let them take her. Chrissten had given her this chance at freedom and she wasn’t about to waste it.

  “Hang on, Chrissten,” she whispered under her breath. “I’m coming back for you.”

  Chapter One

  Keeping beat with the music, Quinn Lawton drummed his fingers on the dark oak bar. A beer sat in front of him, the bottle damp with condensation. It was still almost full. He stared at the dark stain widening around the base of the bottle. He wasn’t in the mood to drink, but he had to do something to pass the time as he waited for tonight’s meeting.

  He peered around the bar. Haven was hopping tonight. A jazz quartet played on the tiny stage in the far corner. Some couples danced, but most sat around small circular tables or at the bar, talking and laughing with friends.

  What would it be like to have a normal life? Did they have any idea how lucky they were? His life had been fucked up for so long he wasn’t sure he knew what normal was anymore. Not that it ever could be, considering his mother had been human and his father was a pureblooded werewolf.

  “It won’t be long now.” Meredith Striker, the owner of Haven and the female alpha of the pack that lived here, slipped onto the bar stool beside him. She usually wore long, slinky dresses and high-heeled shoes when she worked. Tonight she was wearing black slacks and a silk blouse, but still managed to look classy and stylish. Her black hair fell over her back like a curtain. She was a pureblooded werewolf, but she’d adopted four half-breeds, whom she treated the same way she did her two sons. She’d also opened her home to him and his brother.

  “I know.”

  “We’ll find her.”

  Meredith’s words did nothing to buoy his confidence. He’d been making that same promise to himself over and over again this past year and a half. He didn’t know if he believed it any more. It had been too long without a word or a trace of his sister.

  Hell, he’d infiltrated and worked with fucking paranormal bounty hunters for a year in the hopes of finding out some small scrap of information about who might have taken Chrissten. But he’d lost his last link to the hunters when he’d been forced to kill one of them to protect another werewolf. Still, his actions had garnered him the unexpected support from two packs of werewolves. Not to mention he’d found his birth father.

  He shoved that thought aside. He didn’t want to think about Donovan Brody, the werewolf who’d had a short-lived relationship with his mother before abandoning her. The guy seemed okay, but Quinn didn’t feel any real connection with him and had no time to care.

  All his thoughts were of his miss
ing sister.

  He was sorely afraid Chris was dead. The only thing that gave him any hope at all was the close bond they shared as twins. In his heart, he didn’t feel as though she was dead.

  He rubbed his chest, feeling the ache growing there with each passing moment his beloved sister was missing.

  The hair on the back of his neck stirred. Quinn didn’t need to turn around to know who was there. Isaiah Striker, Meredith’s husband and the alpha of this small pack. Quinn was here only because Isaiah had agreed to help him.

  “I heard from Damek. He’ll be here after closing.”

  Quinn closed his eyes and said a brief prayer of thanks. Until Isaiah confirmed it, he hadn’t believed the meeting would truly happen. He didn’t know who this Damek guy was or why they all thought he might be able to help, but at this point, Quinn would try anything. Isaiah and the rest of the pack had been strangely silent about Damek, telling Quinn next to nothing about him.

  He shrugged. It didn’t matter who he was. Not if he could help.

  Quinn continued to sit at the bar nursing his beer while Meredith and Isaiah went off to do whatever it was that needed doing. He’d been working at Haven himself for about a week as payment for his room and board. Nothing he could do would ever repay them if they actually helped him find his sister.

  “You doing okay?”

  Quinn shook his head. “I don’t know.” His brother took the seat Meredith had vacated and leaned his elbows on the bar. Craig was his brother, but he was totally human, the product of a yearlong affair his mother had with a dockworker. His mother had never been good at picking men and Craig’s father had disappeared as soon as he’d known Craig was on the way. Hell, Quinn’s father had left before he’d even known Quinn’s mom was pregnant with him and his sister.

  Never in a million years had Quinn dreamed he and Craig would be temporarily living with a werewolf pack, half of which were half-breeds.

  He could sense his brother’s excitement. Smell his fear. Craig was only twenty, but he was hell on wheels with a computer. His unassuming, kind face and wire-rimmed glasses hid a deep well of determination. Not that he was weak. Far from it. But he was human and wouldn’t be able to physically defeat a werewolf, not in hand-to-hand combat. His intellect was his greatest weapon and he’d used it these long months to aid Quinn in his search.

  “You think this guy Damek can help?”

  That was the million-dollar question. He turned to his brother and shrugged. “I don’t know.” He scrubbed a hand over his face as weariness settled over him. He couldn’t rid himself of the feeling that time was running out. “I hope so.”

  “If not, we’ll find another way.”

  That was Craig. He’d never lost hope, his mind always searching for new ways to work on the problem. “I’m glad you’re here.” And he was. The three of them had been close growing up, but even more so since their mother’s death. He and Chris had practically raised Craig. They were a family. Or they had been before disaster had struck.

  “Me too.” Craig snagged a bowl of mixed nuts from a few feet down the bar and began munching. “You were away too long.”

  He’d missed his younger brother during the unending months he’d been undercover with the paranormal bounty hunters. His occasional phone call with Craig had been his only connection to his past life, his only link to sanity. He’d missed a year and a half of his brother’s life. Craig was different now—harder, independent and more cynical. He’d matured, losing some of that indomitable spark he’d always had. But there was still a touch of it there, for which Quinn was profoundly thankful.

  Unspoken was the fact that he’d been living with paranormal bounty hunters all that time. He’d worked with them. He’d killed with them. Granted, he’d only killed pureblooded werewolves who would have killed any half-breed. He’d also helped save a few of the good ones, like Isaiah and the Haven pack.

  But he still had blood on his hands. A lot of it. And nothing to show for it. In all that time he’d never heard a whisper about his sister.

  Craig sat beside him, a quiet presence. Quinn was grateful for the undemanding company. He didn’t want to talk, didn’t want to put too much faith in this Damek character. Maybe he could help. Maybe it would be another dead end.

  Quinn didn’t know if he could take another disappointment.

  Suck it up, he ordered himself. His sister was out there somewhere and he’d find her, no matter how long it took.

  The night dragged on and his beer went warm. Craig drifted away at some point and Quinn was left alone with his thoughts. He sat at the far corner of the bar and watched all the people enjoying the club and bitterness coated his belly. His life had been like that once. Nothing more to worry about than earning a paycheck and having some fun. Okay, so his life had never been quite that carefree, but it had been his and he wanted it back.

  He glanced down at his hands and saw the light from the flashing neon sign reflect against his skin. Red. White. Red. White. It looked like blood. He raised his fingers and studied them. They were strong and callused and capable, yet he still hadn’t managed to find his missing sister.

  The minutes turned into hours and finally people began to leave. Michael, one of Meredith’s sons who was working behind the bar, gave the last call. There were no human members of staff working tonight so once all the patrons were gone only members of the pack, he and Craig remained.

  Hank, who was the resident bouncer and a half-breed werewolf, closed and locked the door. “That’s it.” They all scattered, each taking care of the necessary tasks that came with closing down a bar for the night. Quinn knew he should be helping, but he just couldn’t stir himself to care. His gaze was focused on the locked door. How long would they have to wait until Damek arrived?

  He finally pushed away from the bar and began stacking chairs on the tables so the floors would be cleared for cleaning. Anything to keep busy. The waiting was beginning to wear on him.

  The other members of the pack worked quietly and efficiently. He knew Teague would be in the kitchen, making certain everything was shut down for the night. The tall red-haired male sported tattoos and a trio of gold earrings in his left ear. He was surly with most everyone but he was a hell of a cook and ruled the kitchen.

  Teague’s mate was his opposite in every way. With her café au lait skin and warm brown eyes she was as gentle as Teague was tough. Neema was clearing glasses from tables and ferrying them into the kitchen. She offered him an encouraging smile and a pat on the arm as she passed him.

  Behind the bar, Michael and his brother, Benjamin, were chatting as they put everything in order. They both resembled their mother with their black hair and blue eyes. Quinn turned away from them. He’d often wondered what his life would have been like if his mother had lived. She might not have had the best taste in men but she’d been a hell of a mother, putting her kids first. Always.

  Hank glanced at Quinn but said nothing as he and Kevin helped him stack chairs. Quinn watched Meredith and Isaiah chat in low tones as they dealt with the daily paperwork and the cash register receipts.

  It was all so damn normal. Fury flooded Quinn and he had the urge to smash the chair he held in his hands against the far wall. It wasn’t fair. Chris had never hurt anyone in her life. All they’d wanted was to be left alone to live their own lives.

  Wood cracked. Quinn looked down to find the back of the chair splintered where he’d held it too tightly. His knuckles were white with the strain. His arm muscles tense.

  He sensed Hank coming up beside him. “Let me take that for you.” The other man’s expression gave nothing away. There was no sign of pity or judgment. He simply waited patiently, his hand extended.

  Slowly, carefully, he released his hold on the chair. Hank took it and set it aside to be disposed of later. Then he went back to work stacking chairs as if nothing had happened. Hell of a steady guy. Quiet. Quinn wasn’t quite sure what to think of him. Not that it mattered. He wasn’t here to make friends.
He was here to find his sister.

  He also had to get a grip on himself or he wouldn’t be any good to anyone, especially not his sister.

  Isaiah stirred, headed out from behind the bar and walked toward the door. Tension flooded Quinn and he set down the chair he was holding. This was it. Damek was here. He was about to meet the person who might be able to help him find his sister.

  Quinn didn’t care if Damek was the devil himself. Not if he could help him find Chris.

  The locks on the door began to open before Isaiah reached it. Quinn watched in amazement as the handle slowly turned. A dark shadow filled the doorway and flowed inside, bringing a tsunami of power with him. The heavy panel door shut with a thud.

  Oh shit. Quinn knew this guy. Had seen him once before, back about six months ago when Quinn had still been working with the bounty hunters. Damek was a powerful and elusive creature. A vampire. Traditionally, a natural foe of the werewolf, at least until the bounty hunters had started stalking them all and their populations had started dying out. Then all the rules had changed.

  How did the saying go? The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

  Quinn had watched from the shadows that fateful night as the vampire had taken control of another hunter’s mind as easily as a mortal might pick up a cup of coffee.

  This creature was beyond dangerous. He was also Quinn’s only hope.

  “Good evening, my friend.” Damek inclined his head slightly in Isaiah’s direction. The vampire was wearing a dark suit that had obviously been tailored to fit his lithe build. His shirt was silk and he had a Rolex on his left wrist. Shoulder-length black hair was pulled away from his face and tied neatly at his nape with a leather thong. His features were strong, his skin pale. Power seemed to leak from his pores, filling the air around him.

  “Ah, you look as beautiful as ever, my dear.” Damek flowed toward Meredith, his stride fluid. Isaiah growled and pulled his mate closer to him. Quinn tensed, ready in case a battle broke out between the two alpha males.