Lost & Found (A Lost Ones Novel Book 1)

by Khristine Stain

  Dae didn’t know him, never saw or scented him before. She would have remembered if she had; if there was a true scent of evil, she would have said he reeked of it. However, Dae knew even the most evil people didn’t always smell so completely tainted. Beady-eyed grease man was different. The scent didn’t merely cling to him like it did to normal people; it was like it was rooted deep inside him.

  Some religions believe that the soul can be tainted by true evil. Dae would have to say this guy’s soul had been drowned and decayed by it. She didn’t think he had much if any untainted soul left.

  Then there was the major mystery: why? In order to sort this all out, she needed to know what she knew that made her important. She wasn’t anybody special, she didn’t come from money or fame. She was a struggling college student; she didn’t work in a top-secret lab underneath the ground or have a superhero friend. In the movies, they made it so easy to figure this crap out.

  Damn reality and its penchant to suck rotten ass carcasses.

  Since she came from nothing it had to be knowledge that made her a target. It was the only logical explanation. Knowledge was power. Whoever wielded it made the rules. She had to know how to play this game and how not to show her hand.

  The time Koda gave her to think was brief though she doubted there would be enough time in a year to figure out the why of it all anyway. Dae had the feeling the silence had been killing him bit by bit. He kept watching her, as if he was waiting for her to do or say something. She half hoped an alien would explode from her stomach and dance to a Ragtime song along the back window of the cab. At least then he would stop staring at her. She wasn’t in the mood to be entertaining.

  Koda, on the other hand, was.

  After about 15 minutes of staring, he melodramatically proclaimed himself king the forest and howled out of the window for all the animals to bow down to him. The cab driver thought it was funny until Koda started growling at him. When the cabbie paled, Dae started laughing.

  The rest of the trip was interesting to say the least. The cabbie kept giving them both alternating looks of fear and absolute terror, which only made Dae laugh harder and Koda growl even more.

  They got back to Dae’s apartment less than a half hour later. When Dae offered to pay the cab ride, Koda gave her a murderous stare. Since Dae still hadn’t stopped laughing, his death stare made it necessary for her to hold on to the brick exterior of her building so she didn’t roll over on the sidewalk in hysterics, which she doubted was his intent.

  “If your eyes had lasers, I would be ash. I was just offering.” He was not amused. Whether at her offer or how long it took her to compose herself, she didn’t know.

  She managed to walk up to the entrance to her apartment building without incident. She was sure the sidesplitting laughter would have made her fall on her ass and was thankful it didn’t.

  She was at her door when she realized she was not alone. Koda was behind her, not walking to his condo down the street. She turned and announced, “I’m going inside now.”

  “Ok.”

  “So I’ll see you sometime.”

  “Oh, no you don’t. Stop trying to get rid of me. We need to talk to Iya.”

  “No, I need to talk to Iya. You need to do whatever it is you do when you’re not on your throne in the forest.”

  He grinned and Dae couldn’t help grinning back.

  “I don’t think so. Iya needs to know the whole truth, barring the reason for our three-hour cardio workout. I can’t trust that you will tell her everything she needs to know.”

  Her grin left as quickly as it came. She heard what he said and what he meant by his comment. “You can’t trust me? Are you kidding?”

  He knew that would burn her. She was so untrusting, so he gave her a taste of her own medicine. Her face looked like she had a lemon surgically implanted in her mouth.

  “Nope, not kidding at all. You’ll only tell her what you think she needs to know. She needs to know everything.”

  “So I’ll tell her–” The door opened making Dae’s words freeze in her throat. The man who stepped out looked at her in surprise as she scowled at his interruption. Just some random neighbor Dae didn’t waste time speaking to. He quickly got the picture and skedaddled. He better had.

  Koda grabbed the door and strolled inside like he owned the whole building. Dae was practically chasing after him and his stupidly long legs.

  “Where are you going?” Dae demanded once they hit the stairwell.

  “I’m going to talk to Iya. If you want to stay down here all day, it’s up to you.”

  Outrage had Dae momentarily speechless as Koda swiftly started his way up to her floor.

  “Oh no you don’t!” Dae began racing up the stairs, taking as many as her legs allowed in one stride.

  Koda was stunned when she elbowed him in the ribs to knock him out of her way. Then he saw the way she was jumping steps.

  Now he knew how she got away so quickly earlier.

  Koda should tell her that jumping steps that way looked very inhuman but he doubted Dae did it on a regular basis. Probably only when she was chasing someone… Yeah, he was going to have to tell her the truth about herself sooner than later. That was not something a normal human did.

  Koda was entranced with how her butt moved and then it all too soon, it disappeared. Ignoring the tighter fit of his pants, he shot after her like a bullet. He caught up to her on the third floor and she tried to elbow him again. This time he was expecting it and blocked her with his forearm. He could tell by her low growl that she was not a happy camper. In fact, it sounded like she was speaking wolf and said ‘I am not happy camp’.

  They reached the top flight side by side, with her still growling and him still laughing. She went to reach for the door handle but he got to it first and held it closed. She snarled at him and it echoed down the metal hallway making it sound more ominous. Paired with the look she gave him, he could foresee bodily injury in his future. Thankfully, he would heal fast and it wouldn’t be a permanent maiming. Maybe.

  “Dae, be reasonable. She’s going to want to talk to me.”

  Dae’s lip curled as someone banged on the industrial metal of the door. Dae smiled an evil smile as Koda was forced to let in whoever saved him his hand.

  Dae was still smiling until she heard “WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO YA’LL!” in Iya’s don’t-mess-with-me voice.

  Dae immediately felt stupid as Iya stared at Koda’s blood stained clothes. They both still had blood on their hands. Oh, this picture was not pretty. She should have called Iya to let her know she was ok, but the thought never crossed her mind, which was not an uncommon occurrence for Dae.

  Before Dae could think of a semi truthful spin to blame Koda and have him banished from Iya’s presence forever, he paraphrased the morning’s events.

  “Dae ran away from me. I chased her through the Thibodaux to the bridge and outside the Wentworth parking lot. Dae was almost kidnapped, but I got there in time. She wasn’t hurt, believe me I checked, but her attacker ended up getting away and Dae needed to calm down before she came back here. I am sorry I didn’t call you. There is no excuse.”

  That bastard!

  All of that was more or less fact through logical deduction and reasoning but Dae didn’t appreciate his tone. He sounded so repentant and it made Dae want to punch in the Addams apple. That repentant ‘I’m sorry’ garbage was Dae’s plan to get back in Iya’s good graces. Dae knew Iya would eat that remorseful crap up like buttered toast. Bastard!

  Iya took a deep breath to control her anger and her relief. She had a feeling she knew what the Sasquatch meant when he said ‘Dae needed to calm down’; it meant Dae went walking again. The past few months Dae was ‘walking’ a whole lot more. Iya was even forced to look for other jobs because they were so close to being fired from their restaurant gig. At least now, with the transcription job, it wouldn’t be the end of their financial world if Dae disappeared.

  Only Iya’s personal one. D
ae had almost been kidnapped? Iya felt a foreboding in her gut that told her this was not the end; it was just the beginning.

  Iya swallowed. What was Iya going to do? The stalkers tried to grab Dae. Maybe she could call somebody, anybody, to help. Speaking of cell phones…

  “Why didn’t she call? I’ve only called her a thousand times, why didn’t she pick up or call me back?” Iya put as much venom into her voice as her control allowed before she got biblical on Dae’s behind.

  “Because my bag, which had my cell in it, is gone. I don’t know if it’s still in the parking lot or if beady-eyed grease man has it. Either way, it’s gone forever. To be honest I didn’t even remember I had a cell phone. I just did what I always do, I came back home to find you and now your being really mean.”

  The face Dae made looked pitiful and Iya felt guilty for yelling at her in the hallway like a crazy person.

  “Dae, I was worried something had happened to you–”

  “Something did happen to me and I just want to shower it all away. Can I go into our apartment, or do you need to yell at me in the hallway some more?”

  Iya immediately grabbed Dae in a hug. For all her friend’s manipulations–and her pitiful almost whiney tone was one big manipulation to make Iya feel guilty– Dae knew exactly what Iya would do once prodded. Dae didn’t allow anyone else to touch her. She was always on guard with people and only in the most emergent circumstances did she allow Iya to give her a comforting hug. This was number three. Iya took advantage and let her soothing gift seep through her skin into Dae.

  Iya knew what would happen once Dae noticed that she felt better. She would break free and try to deal with her confusion and pain alone. But Iya wanted to help her friend as much as she could for as long as Dae would allow. She could only use her soothing gift by touch when it came to Dae; she didn’t know why that was when on others she could project it out easily with the same effect. Iya figured Dae was special, sort of like her.

  Koda stared at the two women, shocked and angry as they walked down the long hallway to their apartment door. Her arm was around Dae’s shoulders and she was doing something to his mate. He didn’t know what, but the half-and-half was changing something in Dae and his wolf did not like it.

  Did Dae know what her roommate was? He doubted it. The Nephilim were very secretive and they hid their gifts well. But Iya wasn’t hiding anything. Hell, a human could see something wrong here.

  Iya’s arms were glowing. And wherever she touched Dae was glowing too.

  He was fighting the wolf’s demand that he attack the half-and-half when Dae turned back to him. The look on her face was quizzical as she tilted her head to the side in a very animal like gesture; this time one of confusion.

  Dae slipped out of Iya’s arm halfway down the hall and walked back to where Koda was frozen by the stairwell door.

  “Come on; well eat some pizza or something.” Dae mumbled.

  Thank you, Great Creator. Dae was inviting him in to her apartment. She wasn’t under duress, or wolf-ridden. It was Dae the women inviting him in her territory. His anger evaporated immediately.

  She didn’t touch him –she stopped a foot or two away from him– but this was still an opening, however small it may have been.

  They walked towards a very confused looking Iya. He guessed Dae had never invited anybody into their apartment before. He felt the smug grin he wore until he realized Dae paused tense by the doorway. Immediately, he was in front of her, scenting the air to see what caused his mate’s distress.

  Dae didn’t push Koda out of her away because she already had the scent. She didn’t know what he was doing, but she couldn’t have cared less. He was all macho dominance chest thumper and she had other things on her mind.

  She turned to Iya and gave her that knowing look. “So, Marcus was keeping you company, huh?”

  Iya felt sheepish. She wasn’t embarrassed about sex but Dae seemed to always know things she didn’t want her to. It was weird, but as the pot in this scenario, she kept her comment to herself.

  “I told you he would watch my back.” Iya said with a shrug.

  Dae smirked and Iya could hear the comment Dae would have said had they been alone: That wasn’t all he was watching!

  Iya couldn’t help but smirk too. She was just happy Dae was letting go of the war she waged with Marcus for the moment. Iya sensed something good in him but she couldn’t explain that to Dae. Iya didn’t think she could explain that to anybody.

  Koda turned around to see the two women smirking at each other.

  What did he miss? He began to feel wary.

  “Let’s go, I feel like I haven’t eaten for a week.” Dae announced as her stomach convulsed.

  “You know that expression is so dramatic. I doubt anybody really means they’re that starved.” Iya made the comment in passing but it plucked a random memory forward. Dae did feel like she hadn’t eaten in a week and she knew very well what that felt like.

  She ate that morning with Iya and then secretly in her room again. Lately, she’d had to eat more and more to keep away the almost constant hunger burns.

  Iya continued, “Besides, I had a feeling you’d show up soon. The pizza guy just left.”

  A feeling, a whispering voice in Iya’s head… it was all the same, right? Her stupid-sense finally got something right.

  The pizza man had just left, right along with Marcus. Marcus even paid for the pies, which was nice and so unnecessary. Iya had to order three large pies because, lately, Dae ate for 10 and it worried Iya.

  What was more worry some was that Dae kept trying to hide it. She would eat a whole pie and then ‘run out for cocoa’ or something else. Iya started to think her friend was bulimic but something about that didn’t fit.

  Iya would hear Dae at night in the kitchen. Dae would leave at three or four o’clock for about an hour or two almost every night. About two months ago, Iya inspected the kitchen after Dae left and saw that their groceries were nearly wiped out. The following morning Iya saw that everything that was previously gone was replaced. Iya didn’t say anything.

  Dae didn’t gain a hundred pounds in a month and Iya couldn’t sense any sickness in her, so Iya let it go.

  Koda scented the male he met from earlier this morning. His scent was strange; it could have been that cologne he wore to mask his natural scent. Humans didn’t know about scent camouflage, they thought something smelled good and rubbed it all over themselves.

  Humans. Koda loved the scent of honey but the only thing he wanted to rub on him was Dae…

  Koda stepped back to let the women pass him inside, as a gentleman should. The hallway was narrow so even if they entered single file, he would be close to Dae. Close enough that all he would have to do was wrap his arms around her and she would be trapped…

  But that would be a bad idea, he tried to tell himself.

  Dae stopped in front of him and gestured, “After you.”

  “Ladies first.” He replied amused at his mate’s wariness. She didn’t like him at her back. Her eyes narrowed.

  “I said after you.”

  “And I said ladies first.”

  “No thank you, go right on ahead.”

  He grinned. Dae’s cheeks were flushed with anger and Gods that made her look sexier. He knew he should be more wary; it took hardly anything to get Dae angry and that was not a good sign for a pre-shift hybrid shifter. At least he guessed it was for a pre-shift hybrid; for a shifter it definitely was.

  “But a gentleman always allows ladies to go first.”

  “Then how about you gently stay there while this lady slams the door in your f–”

  “Are ya’ll going to admire the architecture all day? It’s not that impressive. It’s got a door and a way. Completely generic.” Iya said.

  Dae was just so ridiculous sometimes it was laughable.

  Eleven

  Koda entered last with a mischievous grin. Dae walked backwards as she passed him hoping the abominable bastard
would hit his head as he stepped inside. No such luck. He maneuvered that wide muscled body like a figure skater.

  Dammit! Dae knew this was all her fault. She knew it. She invited him in. But something inside her couldn’t leave him standing there looking so… lonely. Lost. Even though it was insanity to think he was lonely without her. Because it was.

  Dae wanted to kick him right back out on his keister but the pizza scent wiped out all rational thought.

  There were three pies, thank Iya. She was heaven sent.

  Food.

  Dae bypassed Koda and Iya at the table and snatched the first box. Meat lovers… she was almost salivating over the pie before she closed it and made her way to the kitchen counter.

  This was her pie, company be damned.

  “Iya you are sure going to get your wings if you keep this up.”

  Iya smiled as Koda’s eyes widened. It was comments like those that made him question if they didn’t know exactly what the other was. But he was almost positive Dae didn’t know about her second form. He hated not knowing for sure. It would all be so much easier if she knew…

  He made his way over to where Dae was standing and saw exactly why she abandoned her glaring at him.

  Meat lovers. He growled low in anticipation.

  His growl was met with a feral snarl from his mate. Dae had the pie at her back and her eyes were nearly completely dilated. He kept forgetting she had shifter hearing and senses since she was so close to her first shift. But that didn’t explain why she didn’t want to share with him.

  It was just food and they could always get more. He was going to order more anyway; this wasn’t going to be enough for him or her by themselves.

  His wolf growled his displeasure as Iya stepped between them facing Dae.

  “Hey now, there’s another meat lovers on the table Koda.” Iya pointed in that direction for Koda’s benefit before she continued, “No need to get vicious, Dae.”