“Some stories aren’t mine to tell.” Mrs. Peterson avoided my eyes.
“None of that. I need to know.”
“It doesn’t concern you directly, so you don’t need to know.”
“My mother, who never leaves town, just happened to leave town now?”
“You know the timing wasn’t random.”
“Jonovan.” I was hit by a pang of guilt. And then a bigger thought hit me. “This all connects. Claire told me as much. The bears who wanted Mara were sending a warning. I need to question Willem.”
“I thought he skipped town.”
“I have an idea of where to find him. If Noah comes back, have him call me.” I headed toward the door. “Thanks for the help, Mrs. P.”
“My door is always open to you.”
“Thanks.” I headed out to my truck and pulled out of the driveway headed toward Green Acres.
3
Mara
Someone was in the room. I’d finally succumbed to sleep and must have missed the door unlocking, but I was awake now and knew I wasn’t alone.
I debated staying quiet versus calling the intruder out. In theory staying quiet might help me escape, so I went that route to start. I slowed my breathing and moved as slowly as possible toward the side of the bed.
I heard nothing, so I continued moving until I reached the very end of the bed. I slipped one foot out, and it landed on the cool wood floor.
At the same second I felt a sharp sting in my arm.
“Thanks for making that so easy for me, hun.” Bryant’s voice came from right beside my ear.
“What was in that?” I asked as a haze set in.
“Something to make you sleep better.” His arm came around me, and he scooted me back on the bed.
“I was sleeping just fine.”
“Not well enough for our trip. With your threat to fight me and all that.”
“I thought we weren’t leaving.” The world started to spin, and my eyes shut against my will.
“We were always going to leave.”
“I hate you.” My words came out in all one long slur.
“I am glad you have such strong feelings for me.”
I struggled to find an appropriate reply, when exhaustion fully took over, and I faded into sleep.
I woke up with a start. I opened my eyes, unsurprised to find myself in a dark room. The pounding headache did come as a surprise though.
I closed my eyes again and tried to fight through the pain in my head.
“These will help.”
I groaned as I heard Bryant’s voice. “What do you care? You’re the one who gave me the headache.” Everything came back to me. The sting of the needle. “You drugged me.”
“I did.” He flipped on the light.
I closed my eyes against the harsh light before I was brave enough to blink a few times and open my eyes again. “That doesn’t help at all.”
“But these will.” He held out his hands. One had two pills and the other a bottle of water.
“You think I’m going to trust you enough to take those?”
“It’s Tylenol.”
“Yeah, right.” I rolled my eyes.
“I already drugged you. This is to help you function.”
“I’d prefer to keep the headache.”
“Suit yourself.” He tossed the pills into a garbage can. “No complaining though. You can’t have it both ways.”
“I can and will complain all I want.”
He laughed. “Technically you can, but it doesn’t mean anyone is going to listen.”
“If it annoys you, it’s completely worth it.”
“It doesn’t annoy me. You’d be wasting your breath.”
“You’re playing mind games with me again. That seems to be your favorite activity.”
“Not my favorite, but a good one.” He stepped even closer to the bed.
“You’re infuriating.”
“So are you.” He shrugged. “I offer you the chance to harness your incredible power, yet you’re too afraid. It’s pathetic really.”
“This has nothing to do with fear.”
“Of course it does. You’re afraid of what it will do to you, and maybe even more afraid of what it will say about you that you want to embrace it.”
“Because I’m not evil.”
“We all are a little bit evil.” He smirked.
“But you are a lot more than a little.” I pulled myself to sitting. I could fight off the headache. Then I needed to figure out where we were.
“Yes, I am.” He smiled broadly. “Want some breakfast?”
“You’re offering me food?” I pulled my knees up to my chest.
“You’ll need your strength. You start working today.”
“Where’s the other guy?”
“He’s waiting for you in another room. I didn’t want him to invade your privacy.”
“You’re already invading my privacy. You’ve been invading my privacy since we met.” He’d interrupted a kiss to kidnap me after all.
“But we know each other now. It doesn’t bother you.”
“Everything about you bothers me. Don’t get confused about that.”
“You should probably take a shower.”
“Yeah, not happening.” I shook my head.
“I wasn’t implying you take one with me.” Bryant rubbed the back of his neck. “Not that I couldn’t help if necessary, but I wouldn’t want to make things awkward between us.”
“I’m not taking a shower.” And things were already plenty awkward between us.
“You smell.”
“I don’t smell.” I scowled.
“You do. And your hair is a bird’s nest.”
I resisted the urge to smooth out my hair. I wouldn’t let him think he was getting to me. “Are you done insulting me?”
“Are you against good hygiene?”
“When I’m kidnapped, I’m against anything that doesn’t involve me breaking free.”
“You’re taking a shower.”
I gritted my teeth. “No.”
“Then I’ll help you take one.”
“Why do you care?” I jumped to my feet, ignoring the aches and pains running through my body.
“Because you said no to the drugs. You feel like crap. I can tell. A hot shower can do wonders. It will wake you up. Of course if you prefer I can retrieve the pills from the trash.”
“But I thought I smelled? How will the pills help that?”
“It won’t but at least you’d be worth something to me.”
“Fine. I’ll shower.” Maybe I’d get lucky and find a window. If not, waking myself up was still in my best interest.
“I’ll be back in twenty-minutes. I’d get moving.”
“Great.” I headed toward the door that had to be a bathroom.
“Don’t take too long.”
“Just leave.” I let out a deep breath, trying to prevent myself from doing something stupid. I’d never met someone so infuriating in my life—and I’d met my share of jerks.
“I’m leaving.” He closed the door, and I waited until I heard the tell-tale sound of him locking it. I waited a second before trying the knob.
“Get in the shower, Mara.” Bryant called through the door.
“Ugh!” Of course he’d locked it, but I had to try. The guy had drugged me. That brought things to a whole new level of messed up. I wondered if the other Séancer existed, or if that was all part of Bryant’s mind games too.
After a moment of deliberation I walked into the bathroom and locked the door. Unsurprisingly there was no window, but there was a shower, and after a quick investigation, hot water too.
I stripped down quickly and stepped in. I enjoyed the warm water spilling over me. I knew it was the only enjoyment I would get until I found a way out.
4
Ian
Green Acres wasn’t my favorite place: it was one of my least. Not formally claimed by any pack, it was overrun by landless bea
rs and other shifters looking to stir up trouble. The human law-enforcement was a mix of clueless people and those on the take. Both groups were annoying in their own way, and it was often difficult to separate the two until it was too late.
I’d barely made it halfway down the road when I noticed a bear running along side the truck.
I slowed down the truck recognizing Tyler immediately.
He glanced around to make sure we were unnoticed before shifting into his human form. He jumped up into the cab and got dressed. “Did you really think we were going to let you go alone?”
“How do you know where I’m going?” I pulled back out onto the road.
“You need to find Willem—where else would you go?” He slipped into his boots—the same pair he’d been wearing for years. Tyler would be wearing them until they fell apart.
“Did you find anything else out about him?” Tyler had been focused on Willem, while Noah and I worried about the Pteron.
“There isn’t much before he got here. It’s strange. As if he’d spent his life hiding out or something.”
“This whole thing is strange. And annoying as all hell.” There couldn’t be that many shifters living off the grid who decided to show up here at the same time. The timing wasn’t random at all—and it all somehow tied into Mara.
“We’ll get her back, bro. You need to remember that.”
“I know I’m going to get her back.” Or I’d die trying. I needed her—both sides of me did. I’d let her down once, and that would never happen again.
“Then you have to relax a little.”
“Relax?” I laughed dryly. “My mate has been kidnapped by a Pteron and taken who the hell knows where, and I should relax?”
“She’s not your mate.” He paused. “Yet.”
I readied my fist to punch him.
“Watch the road!” Tyler yelled. I stepped on the breaks in time to avoid running over a cheetah. An annoying cheetah named Claire. She shifted into her human form, walked over to the passenger side, and pulled open the door. “Mind giving me a lift, boys?” She batted her eyelashes at Tyler.
“Put some clothes on, Claire.” Tyler growled.
“What? Is your big brother rubbing off on you now.” She climbed over his lap and took a spot in the middle of the bench.
“Put some clothes on now.” I echoed Tyler.
“Or what?” Her voice lilted. “What are you going to do to me?” She put her hand to her chest.
“Or I toss you out of this truck.”
“You wouldn’t do that. I’m here to help.”
“Put on clothes, Claire. I don’t care what you’re here for, we don’t need to get arrested right now.”
“Fine.” She pulled on what I initially figured was a shirt but turned out to be a dress. A short dress.
“Is that better?” She purred.
“Yes. Why are you here? I don’t actually believe you want to help.”
She crossed her arms. “What do I have to do to make you trust me?”
“There’s nothing you can do.”
“Is this still about Noah?” Claire put a hand on my leg.
I pushed her hand off. “No.” It was, at least partially, but I didn’t want to waste time going down that road.
“It has to do with you being a bitch, but you already know that.” Tyler scooted as far away from her as possible.
“What happened to you, Ty? You used to be so much fun.” She ran a finger down his arm.
“I’m still fun.” Tyler pulled his arm away. “But not around you.”
“Enough. We have a lot going on, either help us or get out.” I slowed down the truck, fully prepared to kick her out.
“I already told you I was here to help.”
“How are you going to help?” I wasn’t revealing anything until she gave me something.
“You need information. I can help you get it.”
“How much is this going to cost me?”
“Nothing.” She ran a hand through her long hair.
“Bull shit.”
“Maybe I feel bad about how things went down.”
“Went down which time? You’ve screwed us over more times than I can count.” Tyler huffed.
“I’ve never screwed you.” She waited several beats for continuing. “Over.”
“Talk, Claire, or I will throw you out of this truck.” I tapped my window to emphasize my point. “I’m not in the mood for any games.”
“Fine.” She sighed. “Such rude men. And to think your mama is so sweet. I don’t see where she went wrong.”
“Don’t bring my mom into this.” Claire knew how to piss me off. She was one of the best at it.
“Where is your mom, anyway?” Claire asked all innocently.
“Why does it matter?”
“Just seems a little strange that she’s missing during your time of need.” Claire clasped her hands together and rested them in her lap.
“There’s nothing strange about it.” I swallowed down my own concerns about her whereabouts.
“Fine.” Claire sighed again. “Listen, I know where you’re headed.”
“Oh yeah?” Tyler turned to her. “What gave us away?”
Sometimes my little brother could be cooler than I gave him credit for. At least he could see Claire for what she was. He’d seen it before I could, when I was too blind to see beyond the sex. Claire was very good at making a man feel special.
“I may be helpful in you getting information.”
“Or in getting us killed.” Tyler spoke the words on the tip of my tongue. “You’re good at making trouble where it doesn’t need to be.”
“But this time you’re in trouble already. I’m great at getting out of trouble.”
She crossed her legs, making her dress ride up. “Just because you’re no longer interested doesn’t mean others aren’t.”
“You’re already sleeping with them?” She’d implied that much.
She shook her head. “No. I’m not.”
“Then why did you make me think you were?”
“I was angry.”
“And you aren’t angry now?”
“Not at you.” She slumped down in her seat.
“What happened? You have to have your own role in this.”
“It’s Trina.” Her voice was softer.
“Trina’s in trouble?” Tyler asked suddenly interested.
“Yeah, she got messed up with one of those guys, and now she can’t get out of it.”
“Trina’s practically a kid.” She’d just turned eighteen a few months before.
“She’s young, but old enough to get herself in more trouble than I ever did.”
“I trust you more now that I know you have an actual vested interest in this.” Trina was one of the few people Claire actually cared about.
“Whatever the reason, we both need to infiltrate this group.”
“I’m not infiltrating. I’m smashing heads.” I tightened my grip on the wheel.
“Brute force isn’t always the best option.”
“I want to smash heads.”
Claire laughed. “No, you want the girl back. You want to smash heads as a surrogate for dealing with your feelings on the matter.”
“No. I want to smash heads.” And I would. I would get my revenge.
“Save that for the guy who actually took her.”
“But the ones that made that possible are also to blame.” I gripped the wheel so tight my knuckles went white.
Claire patted one of my hands. “Fine, you do your thing. I’ll do mine. Stop here and drop me off. I shouldn’t be seen walking in with you.”
I took the hint and loosened my grip. “You going to walk the rest of the way yourself?”
“Aw, you worried about me, Ian?”
“No.” I slowed down and got a good look at a car going in the other direction. Crestview rarely got any new traffic.
“You are, but that’s ok if you aren’t willing to admit it.”
> I pulled over to the side once the car was far out of view. “I’m guessing you’re shifting?”
“Yes. It would take forever to walk there as a human.” She pulled off the dress and climbed over my lap.
“Did you have to get naked before you did that?” I called down when she jumped down into the dirt on the side.
“Yes. I should get something out of this ride.” She winked before disappearing into the night.
“That girl is crazy.” Tyler watched the spot she’d disappeared from.
“Very.”
“But she may be able to help. As much as I can’t stand her, she does have certain assets that may come in handy.”
“Assets?” I pulled back onto the road.
“I get what you saw in her.”
“I don’t.”
“Yeah you do. She’s sexy, and she’s good at making a man feel important. With the way Jonovan treated you, you needed that. She chose you instead of him.”
“We both know that isn’t true. There’s no way she didn’t try to dig her claws into him first.”
“And she probably succeeded, but Jonovan had no attention span.” He’d never had one when it came to women.
“Nope.” It was still strange to talk about Jonovan in the past tense. My relationship with my older brother had been strained, but he’d still been my brother. That kind of bond isn’t easily broken.
“They killed him.” Tyler’s hand fisted. “The same people who took Mara.”
“They had something to do with it. Claire said they were sending me a warning, but that makes no sense. He was the Alpha. Why not kill me and send him the signal?”
“Maybe they wanted you as Alpha for some reason?”
“And that’s not a good thing.” They’d only want that because they thought they could use it to their advantage.
“No.” Tyler nodded. “But my guess is they didn’t realize your strength. You’ve always been the strong one.”
“I wasn’t stronger than Jonovan.” Even though I wanted to be. I worked twice as hard to make sure I was always at my strongest.
“Yeah you were. You just let him win because you had to.” Tyler watched me.
“Drop this conversation.”
“Sure. Doesn’t matter now anyway.” He turned back toward the front.
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