by Martha Woods
Dozens of other shifters went with them, thinking if they increased the number of people searching for the scent, they might find it under all the perfumed eucalyptus.
* * *
The shifters returned hours later, empty-handed. They had scoured the woods around the pack grounds but found nothing, not a scent, and not a trace of anything that might lead them to Lucas or who took him.
Leah had fallen asleep, and Skylar had stayed by her bedside, holding her hand. Liam came into the cabin and draped his coat over the peg by the door, taking a seat next to Skylar and putting his arm over her shoulder.
They sat together silently for a moment, then Liam put his head against hers and said, “I think we should move in here, at least for a little while. You were right… after this, I don’t think I want to leave mom here by herself. Or any of the others, for that matter.”
“Okay,” Skylar said, nodding and letting her head fall against his. “Leah said we could use the guest room in the back.”
Liam put the back of his hand on his mother’s cheek for a moment, feeling the heat of their skin together. When he was little, he had lived in this house. All of them – their parents, Liam, Lucas, and Michael were crammed into the place. There were so many times it had felt too small when Liam wanted his privacy or felt he should have to share anything.
But now the cabin felt unbelievably big. His mother, alone and breathing shallowly on the bed, made Liam feel the vastness of the empty space. Without his father, and the children living there, his mother, Leah must have felt so alone.
Liam let his head fall into his hands and remembered a time when he, Lucas, and Michael had all played in the yard, tumbling around like they were puppies. Lucas had always been rougher than Liam and Michael, but growing up, they would work together to keep Lucas off their tails.
They really loved each other back then. And even with everything Lucas had done, going after Skylar and constantly doubting Liam’s leadership, Liam couldn’t deny that fact that he still loved him.
Liam stood up and ushered for Skylar to follow him to the guestroom. Liam had learned to hunt next to Lucas, he had learned to dodge hunters next to him, and he had learned that his mother was dying with Lucas by his side, whether he liked it or not.
Liam looked back at his mother, whose face was pale but splotched with red, her cheeks stained with tears. Normally when she slept, she looked peaceful, but now she looked pained, as though she remembered what was going on even as she slept.
Liam put his hand over his mother’s. She had lost so much – her health, her husband, and now it was a real possibility that she had lost her son. Liam tried not to think about what might happen if any more of them got hurt, and how his mother would hold up. The stress that was on her now was too much, any more and Liam wasn’t sure she would even manage the few months they had given her.
Chapter 3
“Aidez moi, Skylar,” Farah’s face was tear-stained, her eyes wide and desperate. She was bound somewhere, her hands and feet tied down.
Skylar didn’t know where Farah was, nor did she know where she was. It was like she was floating, and all she could make out was Farah’s face in the darkness. Farah went quiet, as a gag was forced into her mouth, effectively stopping her speech.
It was another few paralyzing moments before Farah’s face faded into the darkness, and Skylar screamed, trying to keep her close. Flailing her arms, Skylar screamed again, barely managing to shape the syllables of Farah’s name.
“Skylar,” someone said, pulling her close and cradling her. The familiar scent of Liam swarmed around her and she relaxed a bit, though her heart was still racing. “Skylar, it’s okay, calm down.”
Skylar was shaking as she woke up, her scream dying on her lips. She took slow deep breaths and tried to calm herself down as Liam rocked her back and forth.
“Shh Skylar, is everything okay? What were you dreaming about?”
“It was nothing,” Skylar said, pushing her sweaty hair away from her forehead and leaning into Liam’s touch. “Just some silly nightmare.”
“It didn’t sound silly,” Liam whispered, kissing her hair gently. His arms were still around her, his hard chest firm against her side. “It sounded terrible. Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Yeah,” Skylar said, nodding her head and pushing away from him just a bit. “Let’s just go back to sleep okay?”
Liam was hesitant, but nodded, pulling her down to the bed and closer to him.
“Okay,” he said, softly, kissing her temple and wrapping his arms around her. “Sweet dreams, Skylar.”
Skylar nodded, though she didn’t close her eyes again that night.
* * *
“You look tired,” Leah said, appraising Skylar as she stepped into the living room. Skylar was carrying a bowl of soup for Liam’s mother, and she had to blink rapidly to keep her eyes open. Her normally bright skin wasn’t glowing, and Leah couldn’t help but notice.
“I could say the same to you,” Skylar commented, hoping to steer the woman’s thoughts away from why she was sleep deprived. Leah shook her head and accepted the soup, her old gray eyes settling on Skylar as she sat down at the bedside.
“I couldn’t sleep,” Leah said, finally. “With everything that’s going on, how could I fall asleep knowing something could be happening to the pack right outside this door and I wouldn’t know?”
“I get the feeling,” Skylar muttered, taking a sip of the coffee she had made for herself. Liam came out of their room and she stood, offering him the mug she had made for him. He took it gratefully and took a long sip, apparently not caring that it was steaming hot.
“Everything okay?” Liam asked, his face serious. Skylar looked down at her feet, knowing he was referring to the night before and the nightmare that had woken them both up. Skylar stole a glance at Leah, wondering if she had heard Skylar’s desperate screaming too.
“Yeah,” Skylar said, wrapping her arms around Liam and burying her head in his chest. “With everything that happened it was just bound to happen that I would have a bad dream, don’t you think?”
Liam studied her carefully – through the whole time that her father had been missing and she had been paying ransom for him, she had never had a bad dream. Then again, that situation hadn’t involved near as much blood and destruction. Liam had bad dreams all the time, that things were chasing him and he couldn’t get away, but his dreams were nothing like what Skylar had had.
“Right,” Liam said, pulling her closer and setting his chin on her head. “What do you say we go get some breakfast?”
Skylar nodded and let Liam lead her to his car, where she climbed in and stared out the window at the peaceful settlement. The pack had worked together to clean up and repair Lucas’s cabin in the hopes that he would be coming back. It was strange to see a place that had been in such disrepair so clean and orderly the next day.
As Liam drove, he nodded his head to the music and leaned over slowly, his hand finding Skylar’s. She leaned into him as well, letting the sound of his heartbeat calm her nerves. No matter what it was trying to get them, who it was hurting people, Liam wouldn’t let anything happen to her.
They pulled up outside a little diner and climbed out, taking a seat and ordering. Liam went for a meaty omelet and Skylar opted for some French toast. The waitress smiled at them and bustled away, winking once at Skylar as if to say you really know how to pick ‘em.
“There are a few things I want to talk to you about,” Liam said, and Skylar watched him carefully, noting the dark circles around his eyes. He may have been putting on a brave face, but he was just as tired as she was.
“We’re going to need a place to stay, once this all blows over,” Liam said, “and as much as I love my mother and my pack, there is no way I can live in that damn cabin for the rest of my life.”
“Too used to the lap of luxury?” Skylar asked, trying to keep the amusement from her voice.
Liam smiled briefly and leveled h
is gaze, “Very funny, but actually… it’s not that. I just have some bad memories there and I would like to wake up every morning without them in my face, you know?”
“Oh,” Skylar said, giving his hands a squeeze, “I understand.”
Skylar couldn’t help thinking about Liam’s dad, how set in his ways the shifter had been. There was no doubt in her mind the bad memories Liam spoke about had to do with him.
“So, I had those people up to look at the old place and they said it’s just not salvageable. Which is for the best, I guess. Bad memories there too.”
Skylar nodded, her mind readily playing images of the time Lucas had come after her there, and the state that it had been in when they returned home. The pain of realizing Farah had been missing when they arrived.
Then she remembered the time she had come home from seeing Cayden, the hunter, and Liam had been so wild with jealousy he had taken her right there, in his office. She had never felt anything like it, and it was when she had lost her virginity. Liam had been gentle with her until she had begged for more. Skylar shuddered at the thought and looked up at Liam, whose eyes were beginning to darken with lust. She wondered if he was thinking the same thing.
“Some good memories too,” Skylar whispered, giving Liam a gentle smile.
“Right,” Liam coughed, shifting in his seat. He averted his eyes from her for a moment before looking back at her. “Anyway, I’m going to have to spend more time with the pack until all of this gets sorted out. And I was thinking of building a new house, higher up in the woods. I just won’t have time to oversee it and make the decisions that need to be made. The details don’t really matter to me, anyway. I was hoping you would agree to take over this part of the workload for me. Of course, I’ll pay you.”
Skylar was shaking her head. “You’re paying me to build me my house?”
“Hey,” Liam said, his eyes playful, “who said it was your house? I reserve full rights to decorating. I’m going to get some chartreuse throw pillows and some magenta accents,” he teased.
“That would be hideous,” Skylar laughed, pulling her hands from his as the waitress set down the trays of food in front of them. For a few moments, they were silent eating their food, then Liam looked up again.
“And as much as I know I need to be spending time with the pack, I also need to get back to spending time on my company. I knew going into this that I wasn’t going to be full time Alpha, and Michael knew it too. So, starting Monday I’m going to head into the city and work from one of the offices there. I’m having them set up an executive office until the house is finished.”
“Well, that should take quite a while, shouldn’t it? Building a house?” Skylar asked, reaching for the syrup.
“Not with what I’m paying these people,” Liam grumbled. “I expect them to have it done within the month, even if they have to work around the clock.”
Liam watched Skylar as she ate her pancakes, knowing the dream she had had the night before was not nothing, like she had been trying to convince him. He could feel her worry and anxiety coming off of her in waves, and he hoped getting her to work on the housing project would at least somewhat distract her from Farah’s disappearance.
He sighed, eating the last piece of his omelet. He just hoped he could find something to distract himself.
* * *
Michael and Liam got out of Michael’s truck and walked toward the crumbling house. The cabin was standing wearily at the top of the hill, its façade clearly showing holes where the fire had eaten through the wood and the windows had been busted in. The construction workers that had come up had tried to put plastic up over the windows to keep the animals out, but it hadn’t done much good.
It reminded Liam something of a house out of a movie, its ghastly atmosphere haunting in the daylight, let alone at night. It was a mere skeleton of the place Liam and Skylar had lived together.
“Jesus Liam,” Michael said, shaking his head at the wreckage. “Who knew someone hated you this much?”
Liam gave his brother a pointed look, then turned to go in the house. “Come on, let’s just go in and get all of Skylar’s things that we can. We’re going to have to go shopping to replace everything we’ve lost, but until then Skylar will need something to wear.”
“Well…” Michael started, a grin on his face, but Liam turned and growled at him softly, threatening him carefully.
“Be careful about what you plan to say, brother,” Liam warned, his canines lengthening.
“Calm down, bro,” Michael said, putting his hands up. “I swear everything has you on edge these days.” They passed through the door to the house and the disaster inside was even worse than when Liam and Skylar had first seen it. “Not that you don’t have reason to be,” Michael said under his breath, running his fingers over what had once been a beautiful marble counter.
The two shifters were just about to head up the steps when they both froze, smelling the same scent. They made eye contact and nodded, seamlessly knowing their plan. The smell of humans was heavy in the air, and it got stronger as Liam turned and crept toward the back door, his wolf scratching at the surface, ready to pounce.
Michael had disappeared out the front door, and when Liam stepped out onto the back porch, hidden in the shadows, he saw figures moving near the tree line. It wasn’t long before he’d shifted, his clothes tearing and sticking to his fur as he launched toward the humans.
The first one to see him screamed and tried to run, but he was too fast for him. Before he knew what was happening, the human’s entrails were all over the forest floor and the body was lying limply on the bush.
Michael came up next to him, dropping an unconscious human to the ground with a thud. They were silent for a moment, listening and waiting when they heard the quiet roll of a car being pushed into neutral.
They both took off toward the white van on the road outside the forest, and when the driver saw them in the rearview mirror, he started the car, leaving the two men who had been pushing in the dust. The man revved the van’s engine, attempting to get away from the two raging wolves charging toward him, but it was too late.
They barreled into the side of the van, tipping it over and making the humans inside spill around. Liam slashed the side of the van door and then ripped it off, leaning his head in and sniffing the humans, who were cowering and screaming in fear. There was a loud bang, and Liam felt a sudden searing pain in his shoulder. He turned and looked at the man who was holding a smoking gun, his arms shaking as he realized he hadn’t killed the wolf.
It was then that Liam realized who the man was—be it from intuition or smell. He grabbed the man by his coat and whipped him once to knock him unconscious before turning and running away from the wreck.
Michael caught up to him shortly later, when Liam dropped the man heavily in the wreckage of his old house. Michael shifted back, his muscular form bare naked in the filtered light of the house.
“God,” Liam said, shifting back as well, popping his neck and back, “put some clothes on.”
Michael shook his head and bounded up the stairs, returning later dressed in some of Liam’s clothes that hadn’t been destroyed in the fire. Michael tossed a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt at Liam then leaned down and sniffed the unconscious man. Then he looked up at Liam.
“Why him?”
“Do you remember the time those mob people tried to kidnap Skylar and we had to stop them?”
“Of course,” Michael said, frowning, “you were so pissed off that day, you murdered a human.”
“Several,” Liam whispered, “but that’s not the point. This man is Mr. Sarconi, the leader. He’s the one who ordered them to go after Sky. If his men are sneaking around my house, he’s the one who’s going to tell me why.”
Michael cleared his throat and nodded, stepping back as the man groaned and his head lolled to the side. Michael disappeared for a moment, then returned with some cord he had found in the garage. Working together, the two men hois
ted him up and managed to tie him to a chair that was so rickety, it was barely standing.
He didn’t need to be tied up – Michael or Liam could have taken the man on their own, easily, but it didn’t hurt for him to be restrained and afraid.
His eyes opened and he groaned again. Liam looked at the sorry human, his shining bald head and the gold chain around his neck. This man did terrible things to people, believing he wouldn’t ever feel the repercussions.
Well, it was time to feel them.
Liam kicked the man’s chair, making it hit the wall. Sarconi jumped awake, gasping and letting out a high-pitched shriek at the sight of Liam and Michael, both tall and imposing.
“Whatever you want,” Sarconi started, “I’ll give it to ya’-”
“Shut up,” Liam said, backhanding Sarconi so hard he bounced back against the chair. “Listen to me, and listen well. I want you to tell me what the fuck your people are doing out here. Was this you? Coming back to the scene of the crime?”
“What?” Sarconi looked shocked like he couldn’t believe someone would suggest it. “No, Mr. Conway, we didn’t touch your house. I just had my men out here today to keep tabs on the place, see if the girl’s father-”
Sarconi seemed to realize too late that mentioning Skylar was a grave mistake. Liam picked him up, chair and all, and threw him against the wall. The chair shattered and the ropes loosened as Sarconi slid down, tattered and bleeding.
Liam roared. “Tell me the truth, you bastard!”
Sarconi’s eyes were wide with fear as he looked up at a man who was clearly coming undone.
“I’m telling you, we didn’t do anything to your house!”
Michael hit the man across the head again and wiped the blood off of his hand distastefully. Sarconi slumped forward, going silent for a moment.
