by Mila Young
“Sephy, I’m fucking serious.” His voice climbed an octave. “I can’t return home. Someone’s put a curse on my house.”
Such things weren’t impossible. Didn’t happen often, but if you pissed off a sorcerer, damn, you better move to another planet.
“Okay, so let’s say it’s true. What do you want me to do? I’m not a witch.”
He sighed and turned to the road ahead, studying the pines on either side of us. No other cars were nearby, just us, and the tranquility ought to have calmed me. It wasn’t working.
“I’ve seen the readings and cleansing you do.”
“That’s not a spell, but me tapping into the universe and following a few guidelines to see people’s future. But what you’re talking about is natural magic. People are born that way.”
“But you know witches who can help, right?”
I nodded and looked over at him momentarily. The sincerity on his face made me want to believe him, and despite our past, deep down inside, Ryder meant well most of the time. He just had his priorities fucking twisted, and why he’d probably end alone most of his life.
“Sure, I can ask around.”
“Thanks,” was all he said, and he offered me a crooked smile. The crack in his demeanor revealed itself, showing me the rawness of his soul, his worry, and how much this upset him. I wouldn’t turn away anyone in trouble, even if they were an ex who broke my heart and reminded me why I struggled to trust people.
I swallowed back those emotions and swung left down a dirt road marked by a yellow signpost with a black diagonal line, indicating shifters were permitted to visit this area. It also told everyone else to steer clear. Hypocritical bullshit. All because ten years ago two wolf packs had grown so enormous, they’d fought to claim every piece of land in a turf war across Evangel city. Hundreds of humans had died as the wolves had battled without a care who got in the way. This was their territory they said and they reigned over every single person was their motto. If anyone didn’t like it, then they could leave.
Yep, not saying that was right, but the authorities had banded together and declared martial law. When the army had arrived, all members of the wolf packs had been killed. Then there came the new law prohibiting shifters from congregating together. Packs larger than five were arrestable offenses. And over time, that had led to the division between the races, each blaming each other. But with humans in power positions, guess who got the upper hand and pushed out all non-humans? You got it. And now clawing back any equality was close to impossible for the shifters. They were born as separate races, yet punished and discriminated against for the actions of a few.
I turned into a parking lot near the water.
We got out and the warm air circled me. When we reached the pebbly shore, sweat beaded across my brow and the back of my neck. Across the bay lay the great expanse of the city, the high-rises, lavish homes along the beaches, yachts in the rich district farther to my left. Yet my attention settled on the docks where I’d been that morning.
“Damn, didn’t the brother say his sister swam from there to here super-fast?” Ryder rubbed his jawline in that thinking pose I’d seen too many times on statues in museums. “Has to be at least a mile. No way can someone do that even in a few minutes.”
“I don’t think the girl is a normal human at the moment.” I strolled along the shore, scanning the ground for clues indicating which direction she’d gone.
“I can smell blood over here,” Ryder called out, and I joined him closer to the dense woods. He already tracked the scent into the forest, and I did the same, noting a bloody handprint on a small boulder. She was injured.
Ryder raced up ahead, following a scent. So I ran after him, dodging low-hanging branches of the pines. Ten minutes later and I was out of breath going at full pace, and Ryder stopped at the edge of the forest. Cars were zooming past on the freeway. He sniffed the air and pointed right. “Scent’s real faint now, but she went that way.”
“Toward Leafside.” A small shifter settlement off the grid. Nothing else lay between us and the place, except trees. If she headed away from the city, it made sense she’d head to where others lived to maybe drink more blood or their souls. “All right. Let’s go back to the car and drive there.”
If we were right, I might track down the girl within the hour, cleanse her, and return the child to her brother. He must be beside himself with worry, and I couldn’t live with myself until she was safe. No kid ought to feel abandoned, forgotten, abused.
My heartbeat accelerated, and I sat in the driver’s seat checking my nails for dirt. I wasn’t a child anymore. I’d grown up, dealt with having a broken past. But when I was young, my parents had left me, and in my eyes, gone was gone forever. No coming back. Now, every time I worked on a case with kids facing trauma, I know how it felt. Lost, confused, and bleeding out emotionally. I had nothing to anchor myself back to the world. No one had seen my vulnerability, but it tore me apart. And some days it still did.
“We heading off?” Ryder asked.
I hit the gas pedal without another thought, and we raced up the sloping freeway, zipping past other cars. Time to get my head in the game. I scanned the edges of the woods for any sign of the girl in case she hadn’t reached the town. You’d think someone would have reported her to the cops, but then again, the police were understaffed and drowning in the crimes gripping the city.
Once we crested the hill, I followed the curve of the road around the mountain, familiar with the area. Too familiar. This was where I lost myself two months ago and found Dana, a close friend, butchered. I rode the churning ache in my gut. That raw feeling returned where it felt as if I had no skin over my pain.
“You okay?” Ryder asked. “Your knuckles are white. We’ll find the girl. Don’t worry.”
I nodded. “Yep, all is dandy.” I stared at the dirt road to my right up ahead. Dana was a tarot reader, and I had worked with her closely. But two months ago, she had sent me a riddled text message.
Ruins, was all it had said.
Everyone knew the old Stonecircle location up on the mountain. History had it that witches from centuries ago used the place for magic and to cross into the afterlife. A “portal” was one word for it. But what I’d found that night at the ruins had given me nightmares for weeks. I mean, I’d seen dead people, but when it was a friend, it breaks you. And the horror can never be unseen.
Dana was laying on her back in the middle of the circular ruins, her arms and legs stretched out and pinned to the ground with nails in her hands and feet. She was slit open from neck to navel.
I didn’t remember ever vomiting so much. Her heart had been removed and never found. I couldn’t stop seeing the image for weeks afterward.
Weeks later, the police had insisted it had been a ritualistic shifter clan praying to Satan since we were so close to the Leafside settlement. Liars. Most shifters prayed to the moon goddess. The authorities had interrogated the townsfolk and roughed everyone up—plus destroyed their homes. No evidence found to link them to Dana’s death. I could have told them that.
Two months later, and I was no closer to understanding who’d killed her. I’d held dozens of séances, hired real witches, and even tracked down a supposed necromancer. No one had found her in the realm between the two worlds. I believed until she got her heart back, she wouldn’t be able to cross over to the afterlife.
I zoomed past the entrance and ignored the knot in my throat.
Ryder placed a hand on my knee, and he didn’t say a word, but something about his touch comforted me, helped me. I’d told him about Dana after he’d called me at seeing her photo on the evening news report, so I appreciated his silence. I dug into the center console and pulled out the two chocolate bars, handing one over to him.
Half an hour later, we turned down a bumpy track. We passed a yellow sign with the black line again, indicating shifters ahead. Soon, we emerged in a small open area where rows of trailer homes lined a wide dirt road.
“You think she came this far?” Ryder asked.
“Hell if I know, but if she did that marathon swim, she’d run damn fast too. And demons aren’t hermits. They need people to drain energy from before they fade away.”
“Or human blood specifically in this case.”
I sighed and agreed, so I swung the Jeep off the road and parked several feet from the first trailer home.
“So what’s the plan?” he asked.
“Simple. We’re just here to see if they saw the girl. And with you being a shifter, maybe you can sway people to talk freely with us?”
His eyes narrowed. “Not all shifters get along.”
“Yeah, but I’ve got the best one with me.” I winked and climbed out of the car, Ryder following suit.
“Best, you say?” He ran a hand through his hair. If I could freeze time, I’d do it now with the glint of admiration in his eyes as he stared at me. I’d remember Ryder as the man who’d once made me believe in happily-ever-afters.
“Well, yeah,” I said. “Aren’t you on the shifter’s list as the most wanted eligible bachelor, and every dad wants to mate their daughters with you?”
6
“Who have you been speaking to about mating?” Ryder poked me in the arm as we walked side by side down the road that made up Leafside settlement.
“You sound paranoid.” I loved the curiosity burrowing behind his gaze. “I’ve heard you’ve been upsetting families by making promises to their daughters.” That part was a complete lie, but I enjoyed stirring him.
His mouth gaped open, then shut. “I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to find out if I’m dating anyone. Honey, just ask me straight out.”
“What?” I stiffened and rolled my eyes with exaggeration for effect. “Don’t kid yourself.”
He chuckled and bumped his shoulder against mine. “I saw the way you’ve checked me out today. Your hitched breathing when we’re close, the extra skip of your pulse whenever I touch you.”
And that was why being with shifters made hiding anything close to impossible. “You’re mistaking my reaction as an attraction, when in fact, it’s the opposite.” I offered him a curt grin and drove my hands into my pockets.
“Ouch.” He placed both palms over his heart and pouted. Always the flirt.
Except what was I doing? Did I want to lead him on and make him believe something between us was possible? Yesterday I wouldn’t have given him a second thought. But now being near him, I remembered why I enjoyed his company, why he made me laugh, why flirting came natural near him. Ryder was like chocolate. When I had it in the house, I couldn’t stop at one bite because I’d eat the entire damn box. And now with him back, I couldn’t concentrate beyond being with him. But then what? Doubt everything he ever does? Hell, why couldn’t it be simpler? Why couldn’t everyone only tell the truth and be loyal?
Halfway down the street, a young woman in a sandy-colored dress stepped out of a trailer and halted when she spotted us. She hugged her stomach and her eyes grew wide.
“Hello,” Ryder called out as he waved his hand in the air. “Do you know where we can find the head of Leafside?”
A leader was appointed to care for each shifters settlement and establish rules, such as contributing money to pay for amenities or offering different services, like medical or food gathering. Most trailers around us had solar panels angled on top of the roofs to collect energy, so they’d set themselves up since the cops had torn through here two months ago looking for Dana’s killer. Part of me wanted to apologize for the treatment they’d received. Did I mention I loathed the division in our city?
The woman lifted her chin and smelled the air, and her petite nose twitched, reminding me of a rabbit. Her gaze honed in on Ryder, her attention sliding up and down his body. I guessed she liked his scent, but when she stared at me, her soft expression morphed into a wry grin. Okay, no surprise that humans weren’t greeted with the red-carpet treatment.
She pointed to an oversized, brown trailer at the end of the road. “You’ll find him in there.” With that, she offered Ryder one flirtier look and vanished between two trailers, probably heading into the woods to gather food.
“Why didn’t you ask her if she saw a naked girl?” I asked.
“Rule number one of entering a settlement. Always seek permission from the leader first.”
I nodded. “I’m guessing there are a bunch more rules too?”
“Something like that. Now just follow me and let me do the talking.”
Sure, why would I complain if I intended to avoid getting tossed out or my ass kicked by a pack of whatever type of shifters lived here? Maybe bunnies because then I wouldn’t be so worried.
Ryder knocked on the door.
“Yeah!” a man answered from inside.
Ryder opened the door to the trailer for me, and I stepped into a dim room, the brown decor continuing inside. There was wooden paneling everywhere—the walls, the floor, and even across the counter. Alcohol filled the cabinets behind the bar, and my attention already landed on a bottle of golden whiskey.
To my left, I found five men sitting around a table, all eyes on the newcomers. Yay for us.
A man with a bushy beard and no hair stood up and sauntered behind the bar. He was about six-foot and built, and I suspected he had no problems fighting. “First drink’s on the house. What will you have?” He addressed Ryder, ignoring me completely.
“Glass of your finest whiskey for the lady, and for me, I’m looking for the town leader.”
Baldy’s gaze rolled toward me, his nostrils flaring, as a horse might do. But without a word, he poured a drink and placed it on the bar in front of Ryder. “We don’t serve humans or witches.”
Okay, so they smelled magic on me, many shifters did, but I was no witch. Yet that wasn’t a debate I was going to get into with these men.
“Hi, I’m Sephy,” I responded, offering my most beaming grin. “All we want is information, please.”
“Have you seen a young girl running through the woods, or perhaps someone took her in? She’s about eleven and yea-high.” Ryder placed his open palm next to his chest. “Long brown hair, and she was last seen naked.”
The man’s eyebrows climbed his forehead, and I butted in before he got the wrong impression. “She’s in trouble and possessed. We need to find her before she harms anyone or herself.”
“Possessed, you say?” He stroked his beard, and I picked up the drink, sipping the refreshing taste. The barman watched me but didn’t say a word. “And why would you think she’s in my home? Because apparently, we’re monsters?” He eyed my T-shirt printed with the words, Monsters are real and they look like people. I cringed at my terrible choice in tops today and resisted the urge to fold my arms over my T-shirt.
“Oh. I-I think you got my T-shirt message wrong,” I began and ran a palm across my chest to flatten out the wording, then realized both guys stared at me with starved eyes. I should have blushed but fuck them. I rubbed a palm over my breasts a few more times for luck and hoped the bastards would tell us what we needed to know. “Actually, it implies humans are the monsters.” I smirked, but he didn’t return the gesture, and Ryder was shaking his head, giving me a look that screamed, Shut the hell up, Sephy.
The man leaned over the bar, his arms folded in front of him. “So, lion-boy, you bring a human into my home and she insults me, yet you stand there, having forgotten your roots.” His voice darkened, yet his expression remained calm like he spoke about his favorite drink.
“Evidently—” I started
Ryder squeezed my arm, and I lost my words. “Sephy, how about you wait for me in the car?”
“Yes, a good idea!” Baldy added, and I stood there like a child who’d been reprimanded, anger boiling through my veins.
Ryder’s hand slid to mine and forced my fist to uncoil. “Sephy. Do this for me.” It wasn’t a question but a demand and reminded me of the times we got into arguments because he told me what to do rather than suggest
ed or asked. But despite gritting my teeth, I wouldn’t achieve anything by digging my heels in here, and if Ryder could extract information I couldn’t, then shit yeah, I’d swallow my pride and choose my battles.
I bowed my head and turned around. Another man moved to the door and opened it. I hopped outside into the hot sun. Strolling down the long street, I stared back and found the guard still studying me. Goddamn asses, but then again, they dealt with this shit all their lives. So who was I to demand equality?
A cluster of voices reached me from my right. Exactly where that bunny woman had vanished. Curiosity poked a hole through me, so I looked over my shoulder. The door to the bar was shut.
In haste, I darted between two trailers. Someone gasped from behind a trailer I passed, and now I had to know what was going on.
But the moment I pushed my way past a clothesline lined with bedsheets, my breath caught in my chest.
A vegetable garden sat to my left and animal hatches to my right, but in the middle was a chicken slaughterhouse. Five butchered birds lay in a circle, joined by a line of blood. Their necks had been torn open, and I froze at first, unable to believe what I was looking at.
“A blood ritual,” I whispered, but the three women ahead of me snapped around in my direction in unison, startled.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?” A woman who had to be in her forties frowned. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun at the back of her head.
Another with a blue dress stepped forward. “She’s here with a lion shifter, so the leader must have approved their stay.”
Not exactly, but considering no one had asked me that question, I kept my mouth shut on the topic.
“Did you create this blood circle?” I asked.
The older woman shook her head. “Why would we destroy our food source, stupid girl. Why are you trespassing on our land?”
Okay, someone had issues. “We’re here searching for a missing girl.”
The trio exchanged worried glances, and that told me everything. “Please. Where did you see her? How long ago? Is she still here?” I closed the distance between us and reached for the older woman’s hand, but she recoiled.
