She smelled someone nearby. Female bear. Well, that was good news, right? What were the odds that a female would try to mug her?
Then again, this was the Badlands. Anything was possible. She’d have to be ready to run for it.
She shifted and changed into her clothing and shoes from yesterday, and walked out the back door into an alley. A teenaged female bear shifter, in human form, was rummaging through a trash pile.
“Hey,” Flora called out. “I’ve got twenty bucks, if you need money for breakfast.”
The bear girl let out a startled shriek and jumped about a foot. Then she quickly snatched up a canvas bag that had been lying on the ground, and clutched it to her chest. The bag was filled with some kind of aromatic weeds that spilled out of the top.
She looked as if she’d be really pretty if she just took a bath – which she obviously hadn’t for some time now. Her dishwater-blonde hair looked greasy and unwashed. There was visible grime all over her face and on her baggy gray sweatshirt. There were holes in her jeans, and she wore a necklace with a big red “R” dangling from it.
She backed away. “I wasn’t stealing anything!” she cried, eyes wide with panic.
“Of course you weren’t,” Flora said soothingly. “That’s a giant pile of garbage. I’m sure you can just help yourself to it. Seriously, I’ve got enough money for breakfast if you want. My name is Flora, by the way.”
The girl fished in her pocket and pulled out a knife.
“I’ll cut you,” she said, jabbing in the air at Flora.
“Well, you’re a bear. Wouldn’t it make more sense to shift and rip me open with your claws?” Flora suggested helpfully.
The girl looked at her suspiciously and tucked the knife back in her pocket. “Why would you say that?”
“It has been suggested that I am often too helpful for my own good,” Flora conceded.
“And you just told me how much cash you have on you, and you offered to buy me breakfast when you don’t even know me, and I’m a bear and you’re a lynx. I’m pretty sure you’re crazy.”
Flora nodded. “That has also been suggested to me. More than once.”
Of course, it had mostly been in the context of, “You think you’re too good for Loren Haig? You think you’re too good for any man, for that matter? A fat nerd like you, whose own family threw her away? You’re crazy.”
“I’m Flora,” she added.
“I’m Madison,” the girl said cautiously.
Flora glanced at the bag of weeds the girl was carrying.
“I paid for that,” the girl said defensively.
Flora shrugged. “Really, not my business.”
Madison took a slow step backwards, watching Flora as if she were about to lunge for her throat. Which was just silly. Had Flora done anything to warrant this level of suspicion? She thought not.
As Madison took another step back, they heard loud male voices off in the distance. Madison stifled a squeak of fright and clapped a hand over her mouth. Flora sniffed the air. Lions. But not Finn, she realized with a stab of disappointment. There were maybe half a dozen of them, a block or two away. They were talking loudly. They passed by and were gone.
Madison looked at her curiously and seemed to relax a little. “You didn’t rat me out.”
“Why would I do that?”
Instead of answering, Madison walked up to her, still clutching the bag of weeds. “You’re not from around here, are you?”
“New in town,” Flora said.
The girl glanced around. “Would you mind walking me back to my territory, in case we run into any of the Hudson patrol? I mean, don’t come in, of course. Just ’til we get to the border.”
Border? What border?
“Sure, why not?” Flora said, and followed Madison out of the alley and down the street, looking cautiously around as they walked. It was still early, and Flora could feel the morning chill right through her clothing, which was just how she liked it. Canadian lynxes preferred it cold.
The scent in the air, however, was far less pleasant. She wrinkled her nose in dismay. Was that rotting garbage smell everywhere in this city?
“Yeah, it stinks here. No Man’s Land,” Madison said as they walked. “Just a big trash dump for both sides. Nobody maintains it.”
They walked about five blocks, and then Madison stopped at a street corner and glanced around. “Okay, this is it,” she said. Flora didn’t see anything different. No signs or fences that would indicate a change of territory. They were at the intersection of 21st Avenue and Monroe Street.
No, wait, there was a big red “R” spray-painted on the 21st Avenue sign across the street, and a big “H” on the Monroe Street sign that they were standing under.
Several teenaged female bear shifters stepped out of a doorway across the street, quickly heading their way. They’d probably smelled Madison coming; bear shifters had the best scenting ability of all shifter species.
As they approached, Flora saw that there were actually three girls and a tall, skinny male teenager. All of them as dirty and disheveled as Madison. Their B.O. said they hadn’t showered recently, and their clothes were baggy and stained. They all wore necklaces like Madison’s, with big “R”s dangling around their necks.
They stared at Flora curiously. She was starting to feel as if there were a giant blinking neon sign hanging over her head which read “Does Not Belong Here”.
Madison hugged the boy, and then stepped back and looked at him critically. His face was pale and he had circles under his eyes. “Sam, you shouldn’t have come,” she chided him. “This is too close to the border.” She glanced at one of the girls. “Sarah, you shouldn’t have let him come.”
“Wanted to make sure you were okay,” Sam muttered, taking the bag of weeds from her. “You were taking too long. I started to get worried.”
Madison, hands shoved in her pockets, turned her attention back to Flora.
“Look, you seem nice, for a crazy person anyway, so I’m going to give you some advice. Go pay your protection money to the Hudsons and start wearing their mark, before you get murdered. Don’t tell people that you have money on you, and don’t offer to help strangers. And stay away from bear territory. Anywhere that’s marked with an “R” is under Ruben’s protection, and only bears live here.”
Well. Life in Darwin was certainly more complicated than she could have anticipated. “Duly noted. Why did you come into Hudson territory today, then?”
Madison glanced at her brother. “I needed those plants. Starweed. It’s a treatment for a blood disorder that only affects male bear shifters, and my brother has to have it every week. You guys grow it in your community gardens. I didn’t really buy it – I snuck into one of the gardens and grabbed some.”
“You don’t have it in your own territory?”
Madison sighed and tucked a greasy strand of hair behind her ear. “We do, but Ruben charges an outrageous price for it. And with him raising protection to seventy percent, we can’t afford medicine. We can barely afford food.”
“Why did you guys come to the Badlands in the first place?” Flora asked.
Madison glanced at her brother, who was standing a little distance away with Sarah, and lowered her voice. “My stepfather. He wouldn’t stop coming into my room at night. My mother didn’t care, and he was a judge, so nobody would have believed me. And he used to beat Sam up pretty bad. And Sarah ran away from a group home.”
“Oh. I’m sorry about that. And now it sounds like you’ve traded one terrible situation for another.”
“Yeah, well, the Hudson family are no saints,” Madison said resentfully. “Starweed doesn’t even cure anything for cat shifters, it’s just something they sell at the grocery shops to put on salads. Liam Hudson, he’s the one who runs the show – him and his muscle-head brothers. He just won’t share the Starweed with us, out of spite.”
Flora felt a flash of anger. Why would anybody deny medicine to those who needed it?
“That’s terrible,” she said. “I didn’t realize things were in such a state here.”
Madison gave her a rueful smile. “In fairness to the Hudsons, they may give us bears a lot of grief, but at least they treat their own people well. As long as they pay protection. They only charge thirty percent, and they give medicine for free to anyone who needs it. And Liam doesn’t force women to be his girlfriend.”
At Flora’s shocked look, Madison gestured at herself. “Why do you think me and my friends look so gross and dirty? It’s so Ruben won’t notice us. If Ruben likes a girl, he takes her. He’s got like a harem. He moves them into his house and they have to do whatever he wants. Be with him, be with his friends… If they don’t, they either have mysterious accidents, or their friends and family start having accidents.” She gave a worried glance at her brother and friends.
Then she glanced down at her stained, shapeless clothing with a wry smile. “I used to love dressing up nice. Before I came here.”
“Good God, Madison, that’s horrifying. Why can’t you guys come live in the Hudson territory and pay protection to them instead?” Maybe she could find Finn and talk him into accepting Madison and her friends. Or maybe Krystle could help.
Madison stared at Flora as if she’d sprouted a third eye. “We’re bears. You guys take cats and dogs. No bears.”
Flora reached into her pocket and pulled out the twenty dollar bill she’d tucked into her wallet. “Take this and buy food,” she said.
Madison stared at the money, then hesitated. “If that’s all your money, and you’re new here, I shouldn’t take it. You’ll need to pay protection.”
“Take it,” Flora insisted. “I can take care of myself.”
Sarah snatched the money from Flora’s hand. “For God’s sake, I’ll take it,” she said irritably. “I haven’t eaten anything but rat for a week, and those are getting pretty scarce.”
Then Madison froze and held up her hand, and sniffed the air. She and Sarah exchanged glances of alarm.
“Ruben’s patrol,” Madison said to Flora in a low voice. “About ten blocks south, but heading towards us – the smell is getting stronger. We’re technically in neutral territory, but they won’t care. It’s close enough that they might grab you and hold you for ransom. Go!”
She couldn’t just leave these girls to their fate. “Listen, I’ll try to get some Starweed for you and meet you back at the spot I met you yesterday…let’s say day after tomorrow, ten a.m.,” Flora said. As she hurried off, she heard Sam saying to Madison, “I bet you five rats that she won’t even come.”
Chapter Five
The evening was cold and clear. Three blocks away from the Lion’s Den, Finn stood in the middle of the street, towering over the prone body of a curled up, wheezing coyote shifter who’d tried to rob a local shopkeeper. Big mistake. The shopkeeper was under the protection of the Hudson pack.
The coyote shifter made a desperate gurgling sound and crawled towards the sidewalk. Finn had no sympathy. The coyote was a car mechanic – he had a good job that paid well. He also had a drug habit that ate up his paycheck, which was why he’d tried to rob the shop.
Finn kicked him in the leg and held up the necklace with the letter “H” which he’d yanked from the coyote’s neck.
“Come near our territory again, and I’ll make you into a fur coat,” he snarled as the coyote scrambled to his feet and limped off, whimpering with each step.
He didn’t really mean it.
The coyote’s drug habit had left him with dull, mangy fur; he’d make a hideous coat.
Jose strode up to Finn, who scraped his boot on the ground to wipe the blood off it.
“Hey, bro,” he said to Jose. “Just cleaning up the trash.”
“Righteous,” Jose said. “So, remember that Canadian lynx who’s not your girlfriend?”
Finn felt his heart speed up, and an unwelcome rush of blood to his groin. Yeah, he remembered her, all right. He’d barely slept last night as visions of her had drifted through his mind. And all day long she’d popped into his head at odd moments. Why couldn’t he stop thinking about her?
He struggled to keep his tone casual. “Kinda. I guess. Sorta rings a bell. What about her?”
“She’s at the club. Came to leave a message for Krystle, and one of the managers gave her dinner. Blair – you know she’s always a soft touch. Anyways. Now there’s three of Ruben’s patrol standing out front, demanding to be let in. They claim she’s theirs.”
A black tide of fury roared through Finn, and his fangs shot from his gums. He let out a growl of rage.
Theirs? Hell no.
Finn hurried to the club with Jose right behind him. The bears were pacing around out front, scowling at the bouncers.
“Hey, Hudson! Let us in the damn club. She came into our territory. We scented her there. She’s ours!” one of them growled at him.
“Like hell,” Finn snarled, pushing past them and storming inside. There were a couple of dozen patrons there already, some clustered around the bar, some in the play area.
His gaze swept the room until he spotted Flora. She was sitting at a table at the back of the room, eating a sandwich, still wearing the same clothes as yesterday.
Finn heard a commotion behind him as the bears barreled through the front door.
His mind was racing. He barely knew this woman, but he knew that she was in over her head. She was a nice person. Far too nice to be here in Darwin, but it was too late for that now; she was already here and there was no way he was letting Ruben’s men get their filthy paws on her.
The last time he’d tried to protect a good woman, he’d failed. Failed so badly…
For a moment, he felt desert heat and dust choking him again, and he heard the screams of his squad. He saw Marybeth lying in the sand, the light fading from her eyes.
And then he forced himself back to the present.
He wouldn’t fail. Not again.
Quickly, he crossed the club until he was standing next to Flora, who stuffed the last of the sandwich in her mouth and looked up at him in surprise.
“Listen up!” Finn roared at the top of his lungs. Everyone stopped what they were doing. A lion stood frozen by a whipping post, bullwhip thrown back. Patrons paused with their drinks at their lips.
“I claim this woman! She is mine! Anyone who tries to touch her goes through me!”
“Excuse me,” Flora said politely. “Actually, as far as me being yours—”
Finn nodded at the bears. She turned and noticed them for the first time, and went pale.
The bears stormed through the crowd, and one of them walked right up to Finn. They called him Kraken. He was as big as Finn was, and the scars on his face spoke of a lifetime of brutal, bloody one-on-one fights.
“She came into our territory today without permission,” Kraken said accusingly. “So she belongs to Ruben.”
“I beg your pardon, I do think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding,” Flora piped up helpfully. “I was just on the other side of the border. I was in Hudson territory.”
“Liar,” the bear snapped.
“Say that again,” Finn growled, staring him down. Kraken swallowed hard and looked away. “Ruben sent us to claim her,” the bear muttered, but he sounded a little less sure now.
“You actually think you can take my property from me?” Finn growled at him.
One of the other bears muscled up to them and cast a skeptical glance at Flora. “Your property? I don’t see a collar.”
Finn bared a grin. “I’m getting a special one made for her.”
The bear looked her up and down. “She isn’t wearing your mark. If she were really yours, you’d punish her for running around town without wearing your mark.”
The bar patrons glanced at one another and nodded. There was a murmur of assent.
A chant started somewhere in the crowd and grew louder and louder. “Punish her! Punish her!”
Finn grabbed Flora’s arm and pulled
her to her feet. “Quiet! I need to talk to my property,” he called out, and hustled her to a quiet corner of the club.
“What was all that about?” she demanded, glancing nervously at the bears. “I really wasn’t in their territory. Why did they come after me? Do they normally do things like this?”
“Nope. I mean, you’re new in town and everybody knows when new people arrive, but I’ve never seen them do this before. Then again, their leader’s been getting more aggressive lately,” Finn growled, directing a threatening glare at Kraken. “He’s probably hoping this will push us to declare a turf war.”
“What does it mean that you claimed me?” Flora asked.
“Exactly what it sounds like. That’s how things work in Darwin. Any man who wants a woman, he’s got to be strong enough to fight for her.”
“But what does it mean for me?” she persisted. “And you?”
He looked down at her, struggling to control the desire burning through him. “You’ve got to understand, I suck at relationships.” Which wasn’t really an answer. It was an excuse. An attempt at putting up barriers between them even as he pulled her in close.
“Why did you claim me, then?”
“It was the only way to keep you safe.”
“Oh.” She bit her lip, and the sight of it sent a lightning bolt of arousal sizzling through him. “Thank you.” Then she looked up at him again. “So…what’s this about punishment?”
The last thing he wanted to do was push her into something she wasn’t ready for. “We could go up to my apartment and pretend that I’m punishing you, and then I’ll come back down and tell them the deed is done.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “What’s the alternative?”
“I could take you out into the club and spank you in front of everyone.” His fingers trailed down the side of her face and her breath caught in her throat. “Claim you as mine. Publicly. But we don’t have to.”
She surprised him by meeting his gaze with an unexpected boldness.
Badlands: The Lion's Den Page 3
