Woman of Midnight (Wardens of Midnight)

by Helen Scott

  “I’m not blaming you, Lola.”

  “Lola?” she repeated, flushing at his use of her middle name.

  “Yeah. Lola. Now, I’m pretty good at tracking animals, so let me concentrate for a minute and see if I can pick up her trail.”

  “What were you, an eagle scout or something, Nic?”

  He scowled at her use of the nickname he disliked, but if he was going to use her middle name, then fair was fair. “Or something,” he muttered, almost as though he didn’t intend for her to hear him.

  She watched impatiently as he stood there taking deep breaths with his eyes closed. What was he doing? Meditating? Centering himself to focus on tracking Daisy? All she knew was that she wanted to be moving, not standing there. When his eyes opened, they looked almost black instead of the soft brown she’d been so infatuated with the other day. The sun was starting to dip behind the trees, though, so it must have just been the shade causing the color change.

  “This way.” His voice rumbled through her, deeper and more resonant than before as he began walking in a slightly different direction than she’d expected. He took them along the edge of the park, almost next to the road, but not quite.

  Harper looked around for any clues as to how he was tracking Daisy, but all she saw was lush green grass, the kind that meant it was treated with chemicals at least once a month so that it grew thick and fast without all the weeds or crabgrass that she was used to in her friends’ backyards. Her parents had their grass treated too. Keeping up appearances was key to the Powell family, with their fancy house and immaculate front yard and a backyard that she was discouraged from playing in as a kid. She much preferred her friends’ dandelion-marked lawns that spoke of nature and cooperation rather than the harsh use of chemicals to force the ground to do what people wanted it to.

  “Something must have scared her pretty good for her to get this far without hunkering down. Daisy isn’t usually a runner. She was always hiding or making a cave for herself at the shelter.”

  “I don’t know what the noise was, but yeah, I think it freaked her out.”

  His black eyes swung toward her for a moment before going back to the invisible path he was following. The sky had clouded over, and raindrops were starting to fall. Harper’s chest tightened at the thought of Daisy being stuck out in a storm. The poor thing would be terrified. She wrapped her arms around herself as the rain started to pelt her with increasing frequency and force.

  A low rumble sounded, and she wasn’t sure if it came from the sky or from Domino until it sounded again, and then she realized it definitely came from the sky as the ground around her seemed to shake with the next rumble of thunder.

  “We have to find her. The storm is going to scare the shit out of her.” Urgency rang in Harper’s voice, and she almost regretted cursing in front of Domino, but she was who she was, and if he was going to be out here with her searching for her lost dog, then he’d have to get used to it.

  “I’ll find her, don’t worry. It might just take a while. If you want to go stay dry in the car, I won’t be offended.”

  “Fat chance of that happening, buster.”

  He laughed, and the melodious sound made her body tingle. She tried to surreptitiously glance at him and assess what her body was reacting to that her mind didn’t want to acknowledge. He was tall and wide, his limbs thick with muscle, but not the body builder kind. No, his arms, and she was willing to bet his legs, didn’t have individual muscles popping out from under vein-covered skin. Instead, they just spoke of strength, almost overwhelmingly so. If she ran into him on her walk home from work, then she’d probably be slightly nervous, but knowing him now, seeing his tender nature, it melted part of her that had been frozen for a long time. The thick, floppy dark-brown hair he had was slowly becoming plastered to his face as they pressed forward in the rain.

  It felt like they had been walking for miles. She couldn’t even see the area where they’d parked the car anymore, but surely Daisy couldn’t have gone that far. God, she was a terrible dog owner. More than that, she was a terrible person. She took the sweet dog out of the shelter, away from all the people she knew and her nice cushy room, and stuck her in a one-bedroom apartment, only to proceed to lose her.

  Before she knew it, tears were streaming down her face. She didn’t feel so bad since the rain would hide them, and she just let them flow. After years of practice, she knew how to cry quietly when she needed to. She’d have a raging headache when she was done, but she’d been through worse. She sniffed, and Domino spun around.

  “What’s wrong?” his husky voice demanded.

  “Nothing, just allergies.”

  “Bullshit. Now, try again. What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing!”

  “Come on, Lola.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her under a nearby tree with him so they were partially out of the rain. “Your eyes are beet red and your breathing is labored. You are crying. Now, tell me what’s wrong or we will stand here until you do.”

  The commanding tone pricked at her skin. Who was he to tell her what to do or demand answers from her? She sniffed again because she couldn’t help it as the tears continued to fall even though they weren’t getting pelted with rain anymore to cover it up. There was no other choice; she had to come clean or else she could go looking for Daisy without his help. Since he’d already been able to track her much better than Harper had on her own, she was left telling him what was wrong.

  “I’m a terrible pet owner. I only had her for a week, and I lost her. It doesn’t exactly bode well. If she liked me, liked her new home, then why didn’t she stay with me?”

  “Oh, Harper.” He sighed and, without warning, pulled her into a bear hug. He was so warm that she snuggled into it before she could help herself. A chuckle vibrated through his chest and into her, soothing her frayed emotions and calming her nerves, which only made the tears flow harder. “I can tell there’s more to this than a lost dog. What’s wrong? I’m not going to judge you. I just want to help.”

  Dare she tell him? Before she knew she’d even consciously made the decision, the words were tumbling out of her mouth between gasping breaths. “Just over a year ago, I was left at the altar. He just never showed up. No one would tell me what was going on, and it was only when I saw his parents and sisters getting into a car and leaving that I started to put two and two together. To top it all off, my mother made me tell everyone. So, I stood up there in my white dress, which I still haven’t been able to throw away, and basically told everyone they could go home or stay for free food since everything was already paid for. Some people left; some people stayed and enjoyed the meal. No one said anything to me. My mother blamed me, and when I refused to move back home and go back to school, she told me not to contact her until I was ready to do so. I adopted a dog because I needed a companion, and then she ran away just like everyone else. I feel like I’m cursed. If we find her, would she even stay with me? Or would she just run again?”

  “I’m so sorry, Harper. No one should be treated like that. We will find her, and she won’t run away again because we’ll find a harness for her that she can’t get out of.” He rubbed circles on her back as he spoke, soothing the tears away until she was just shivering and cold, even though she was surrounded by the warmth of his body. “Do you mind if I ask what you do?”

  “I’m a hair stylist. The salon I work at is, or was, just around the corner,” she said, looking around and realizing that she wasn’t as familiar with this part of town.

  “And your mom doesn’t like that?”

  “No, she thinks it’s beneath the family name. She’s kind of a bitch like that.”

  “Gotcha. Well, I spend most of my time at the shelter. I work a couple days a week as an adoptions counselor, and the rest of the time, I work as a member of the cruelty investigations team. We contract with the national organizations to help with stuff in the area. I see some screwed-up stuff, so you can believe me when I say that the life you’re building for y
ourself is a good one, whether your mom agrees with your choices or not.”

  “Wow. You must see some crazy stuff.” The images of the shelter commercials on TV with that heart-wrenching song ran through her head. She didn’t know how he remained so positive.

  “Yeah, but that’s why we all rotate into the adoptions position. It helps combat the wear and tear from the negative side of things, you know?”

  She didn’t know, but she could imagine. They stood in silence for a moment, her head resting on his chest, and she realized that she felt surprisingly at ease with a man she barely knew anything about. Every instinct she had told her that she could trust him, and usually her instincts were spot on.

  “You ready? I think she crossed the street up ahead, but we can hang out here for a bit if you want?” He glanced at the rain now falling heavily all around them.

  “Let’s go.” Harper nodded and followed him to the edge of the sidewalk where they waited for a break in the traffic. Cars passed them, their tires slushing through the water that covered the road as their headlights lit the way. When the gap between vehicles was big enough, they jogged across the street.

  “Through here,” he said, gesturing to a line of trees in front of them.

  Harper was amazed that Daisy had crossed the road by herself without getting hit or at least injured, but more than that, she was starting to wonder how exactly Domino was tracking her. It was raining so hard that it was like sheets of water were falling from the sky and crashing to the ground around them. The path he carved for them led them under and through the line of trees, which offered a brief respite from the onslaught of Mother Nature.

  The sound of a groan that was almost a growl froze her in her tracks. Domino’s body was shaking in front of her. He staggered forward, breaking through the line of trees into the clearing of what looked to be someone’s backyard. The area was neat and tidy, just as the park across the street had been, and when she looked out, she saw a couple houses backed up on the green space.

  She walked forward to catch up with Domino, but when she broke through the tree line herself, it was like the whole world shifted. The houses she’d seen a moment ago vanished, and one house stood there in the central location between where she had seen the two. Houses couldn’t just disappear. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, only to find the single house remained.

  “Nic, what’s going on? I could swear . . .” Her voice trailed off when she could no longer see Domino in front of her. She walked forward a few steps and felt like she was walking through an air lock. Her vision went hazy for a second before clearing up, only to find what was in front of her even more confusing.

  A man stood in the center of the yard, completely dry while it stormed all around him. Not as in he’d only just come outside, but as in the water seemed to be avoiding him. She just stood there gaping at him. He was like nothing she’d ever seen before; at least, not outside the movies. The long almost-robe-looking outfit he wore was completely insane. There were clearly pants and a shirt underneath it, but the outer layer was an intricately patterned pale cream with silver accents. It had long sleeves, and the whole thing hung to his ankles but didn’t completely wrap around him. A large silver sash kept it in place around his waist. His hair was long and straight and shone like the silver of the moon on a clear night, and he had eyes that matched, with deep-red lips. A chill broke out over her skin, leaving goosebumps trailing down her arms.

  “Trespassers! Leave now or face the consequences, shifter,” the man snarled, his uncomfortably red lips peeling back over startlingly white teeth.

  Domino roared in response. Yep. Roared.

  She stood there like an idiot while the air around him shimmered like heat coming off the ground or water being gently moved by a breeze. The problem was, both of those things were impossible. He wasn’t in a bubble of water, there definitely wasn’t a gentle breeze, and the ground wasn’t hot enough to be producing that kind of effect, especially on a grass-covered lawn. A part of her mind screamed at her to run, but her body wouldn’t move. She knew she was being that girl in the horror movie who called out to the serial killer or ran upstairs to try to escape, only to get cornered in a closet or something similar. Domino’s whole body was shaking, his arms and legs taut as though he was trying to hold on to something she couldn’t see.

  Something dark and smoky flew from the man’s hand toward the two of them. At the last moment, it veered off and smacked Domino square in the chest. The air shimmered once more, and what had been Domino seemed to just blow away in the wind, leaving a terrifying black bear behind.

  The huffing noise the bear made broke through her mind’s endless loop of yelling at her to run, and stopped every thought she had. It was massive; even standing on all fours, it was almost as tall as her. Its thick, shaggy black fur seemed to be draped over its body more than fitting it. The rain began to soak its coat, making it look clumpy and textured.

  The strange man threw another black ball of smoke, and the bear dove in front of it before it could hit her, standing on its hind legs and showing off its thick white canine teeth and long, sharp black claws. Its mouth opened wide, and though she could see the pink of its inner lips and tongue, it was the saliva that dripped from its fangs that had her gaze fixed.

  Without realizing it, she had been backing up, and when she got tangled in tree branches and smacked into the trunk, the bear swung its massive head around and huffed at her a few times, steam rising from its tan muzzle, which startled her even more, and she ended up on her ass in front of the tree. Its eyes focused on her, but not in a predatory way. In that moment, she noticed the marking around his eye. Where Domino had the birthmark, the bear’s fur was a different color. It was a lighter tan than its muzzle, looking almost cream colored, but just in that one spot around its eye. The exact same spot that was dark on Domino. Thoughts raced through her head, trying to connect to each other in a way that her rational mind rejected.

  The bear whipped back around as fast as it could and began a slow gallop toward the silver-haired man.

  “Shifter! Get off my property!” The man swung his arms, and it looked like the bear hit an invisible forcefield.

  After stumbling for a moment, the bear was right back to where he’d started and was swiping at the man with his giant paws. The man reached into his robe and withdrew a dagger. A literal dagger. Who the hell carried something like that? And who the hell looked like that? The thing was wickedly curved and glinted in the dim light as he twisted it around in his hands before lashing out.

  The bear screamed and went on the offensive once more. Its big, heavy paws came out and landed a good smack on the man’s face. Blood trickled down from a cut on his cheek, and he brought the dagger down on the bear’s back, slashing at the fur. Blood seemed to be streaming on both of them now. Scarlet covered the man’s cream and silver robe, and the bear’s black fur had taken on a red sheen.

  The sounds coming from the bear were unlike anything she’d ever heard before, and she wasn’t sure what the hell was going on, but she felt like she’d lost her damn mind. The bear charged the man, and when he swung his arms, she expected the same thing to happen again, but this time, a wall of black smoke came toward them at a frightening pace. When it struck, the entire world went black.

  Chapter 5

  Domino shook his head, clearing the last vestiges of the shift. The mage had hit him with magic he hadn’t experienced in decades, forcing his bear to come to the surface. The guy either dealt with black magic or blood magic—he wasn’t sure which—but he was willing to bet it was one of the two, especially given his coloring. No one had pale skin and red lips like that unless they were a member of the Bloodmoon clan or something similar.

  He groaned as he sat up, the ache in his body letting him know exactly what it thought of the abruptness of his recent shifts. His shirt was plastered to his skin in a few places, and he knew that the mage’s dagger must have been spelled silver for the wounds not to heal during hi
s shift. The sight of trees around him meant that they hadn’t moved far from where he and the mage had fought, but he could tell they were on the other side of the glamor. What he knew was one house now looked like two. Reality was that the mage had one of the largest plots of land in the area, barring what the pack owned, and had glamored it to blend in. Why was he there? How long had he been there? Why was Domino so stupid? That was the bigger question. He’d felt the wards, seen the glamor, but he was so focused on the scent of Daisy and Harper right behind him that he ignored the flashes of magic that blew over his skin as he moved past the warning signs. This was all his fault. Before he could stop it, another question popped into his head. Did Valentina know a mage had set up shop right next to the pack’s territory?

  There were too many questions and not enough answers; at least, not yet.

  Harper was still passed out against the tree. He wondered what she would remember, if anything, and how he was going to explain it if she did remember. Quickly, before she woke up, he texted Liana to get her address so he could take her home and she could wake up somewhere familiar. He also texted Valentina to give her a heads-up as to the situation. By the time he was done explaining everything as succinctly as he could to his alpha, Liana had responded with the address. When he felt his phone buzz again, he ignored it. Either it was his packmate being nosy or his alpha being pissed off at him. He knew if she was angry enough or it was important enough, his alpha would call if he didn’t respond.

  Gently, he picked up Harper, cradling her against his chest as he ducked through the remaining trees toward the road. He loped toward the car as quickly as he could in the rain without drawing too much attention. Within ten minutes, he had her settled in her own apartment, thankful that she had such a big collection of keyrings that it made it easy to find in her pockets. The last thing he wanted to do was feel around an unconscious woman any more than absolutely necessary.