by Amelia Jade
His eyes were drawn to a red stain on the kitchen floor. He knelt close, breathing a sigh of relief when he realized it wasn’t human blood. The scent was slightly different—shifter blood having a higher concentration of metals in it. He next saw the large cutting knife covered in dried blood, but it belonged to the same owner. Karri had managed to cut him open. The pools of blood said she’d actually gotten him good too.
He looked around the kitchen, trying to piece together what had happened. He reconstructed the table, seeing the shifter use it as a shield, tossing it aside as he reached Karri. He put the pieces of it back together, only then noticing that there was an entire leg missing. Standing up, he turned slowly until he spotted it at the back door.
That made sense, he thought. Karri cuts him with a knife, manages to get free. Runs for the door, he takes her out with the table leg. Moving to the door he saw some blood running down the dark wood of it. This was definitely human, and though it wasn’t anywhere enough to be serious, she’d probably caught her head and split part of it open as she fell into the door. It made his blood boil.
When he caught up with whoever did this, he was going to kill them. Plain and simple. There was something else in the air too. Something that reeked of chemicals. Andrew had never experienced it before, but he could make an assumption that it was something used to perhaps knock Karri out. There was a cloth on the ground nearby. He picked it up, noting it to be the source of the scent. A closer sniff sent him stumbling backward, the world spinning around him dizzily.
“Fuck me,” he muttered, steadying himself by leaning over the counter, taking in several deep breaths of clean air. His shifter system went to work purging whatever it was, and a few seconds later he felt fine once more. “That shit is powerful.”
Tracking the most recent scent, he went back outside. Karri’s car was still in the driveway, broken window and all. He winced at the damage to the side paneling that the shotgun blast had done, but quickly put it out of his mind. He had bigger worries right then. There was the scent of exhaust from another vehicle. Karri’s was electric, which meant that the shifter had come by car. Andrew would never be able to track it through the city.
Without anything else to go by at her house, Andrew was stuck. The only thing that kept him from flying off the handle was the knowledge that Al had ordered Karri be taken to get to him. That meant they weren’t going to kill her.
My best bet is to go back to the embassy. They’ll contact me there. I want to be there for that. Besides, there’s a few things I can do to help move this along while I’m there anyway.
Angry at his current impotence, Andrew ran through the city. He decided not to shift, having already broken the rules twice. He doubted he’d get away from that unscathed, but he could run pretty fast when he wanted to. His legs began to churn, taking him down the drive and into the streets. He ran down them, easily matching many of the cars, and outpacing some of the slower ones as he dodged through traffic, leapt over busy intersections, and generally ignored anything that might slow him down.
He took the stairs to the embassy in one flying leap, shouldering the doors open so hard the glass in one of them shattered. Andrew didn’t care; they could take the cost out of his paycheck.
“Any word?” he asked Gray who was standing in the lobby, having stood up at the sudden arrival of his boss.
“No, nothing yet,” his friend and captain of the guard told him. “Are you expecting anything?”
“Yes. Keep a watchful eye. Don’t do anything stupid,” he ordered, striding into the back to his office, ignoring the confusion etched on Gray’s face.
He slammed his door closed, picked up the phone on his desk, and dialed the only number he’d ever bothered to memorize. Andrew hated technology, but he wasn’t a technophobe. He knew that it could benefit him, and he’d made an effort to understand it, even if he refused to use it unless absolutely necessary. Like now.
“Hello?” A friendly yet professional voice picked up.
“This is Andrew Raskell. I need to report a human kidnapping at the hands of a known Cadian shifter.”
The other voice instantly became cool, but still maintained its professionalism. He wasn’t well liked at Guardian Headquarters back in Cadia.
“Go ahead,” the voice said.
“Gryphon shifter. Name, Myles Vorre. Please send someone out to his place of residence to locate his immediate whereabouts.”
“You have proof of this?” the voice asked.
“Yes. A human female is missing from her home. Signs of a fight. His blood and scent are all over the place. Either he did it, or someone is framing him for it. Either way, we need to locate him.” Andrew hated giving anything that might prevent them from assuming that Myles had been the kidnapper, but if he didn’t include the caveat about the other shifter being framed, it was likely they wouldn’t investigate.
“Very well. We’ll look into it.” The phone clicked immediately.
Andrew sighed, the sound a mixture of anger, frustration, and exasperation. He’d rarely used that line before, and never to report a human kidnapping. There was every reason for them to believe him, but unfortunately his reputation was so poisoned back home that he couldn’t even count on them to go track down a single shifter for him unless he gave them a solid reason. If it wasn’t for a missing human presumed to have been taken by a shifter they probably would have just ignored him.
The Guardians of Cadia were the multiracial organization that oversaw all military, peacekeeping, and police efforts within the shifter territory. They patrolled the borders and dealt with troublemakers alike. He’d been on his way to becoming a Guardian himself, until he’d flown the coop, so to speak, to participate in the Cadian war. Just another thing he’d lost out on to come do the right thing.
“Boss.” Gray’s voice echoed down the hallway.
Before the bear shifter had even finished speaking Andrew was out the door, angry strides carrying him into the lobby, where he saw a human standing halfway between the door and the reception desk. Gray stood in front of him, while the other two guards stood on either side, all three bear shifters bristling.
“What do you want?” he asked.
“I have a message for you.” The man smiled evilly.
Andrew wished he could just walk up to the man and snap his neck, but unfortunately that wouldn’t help anything out. He would have to hear the man talk, to listen to whatever he had to say.
“Speak then.”
“Resign, and she’ll go unharmed.”
He waited, but the human didn’t seem like he was going to say anything more. The short wiry man with greasy black hair just stood there silently.
“Is that it?” he asked, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Yes.”
“I’m not just going to resign without proof that you haven’t killed her. Surely your bosses aren’t that stu…” The word died on his lips as the human held out a phone.
It was ringing.
Andrew shot across the floor, snatching it up quickly. It rang several more times before it was answered.
“Hello? Karri? Are you there?” he asked.
“Andrew? Andrew is that you?” he heard her voice.
“Karri, listen to me very carefully,” he said. “Are you hurt? Have they harmed you?”
“No, not really,” she said. “Bit of a lump on my forehead, but that’s all. Andrew…I’m scared.”
“It’ll be okay,” he promised her, hoping that he could make good on it. “They can’t harm you if they expect me to do what they want.” He hesitated over his next words. “Karri, I need to know where you are.”
“I’m in a big house, really nice!” she shouted. “The sun is setting out the front door! Andrew I—”
He heard her cry out, and then another voice spoke. “That was unwise.”
“Myles,” he said flatly. “I thought I smelled your stench.”
“Hello, Andrew. Long time no talk.”
�
�Not long enough,” he shot back immediately. “I could have gone the rest of my long life without ever having to deal with you again.”
“Well, surprise,” Myles taunted. “Now you know the drill. Resign your position. Name Al as your successor, and we’ll release the girl. Simple as that.”
“Since when did you become a lackey of Al’s?” he asked, trying to puzzle out that connection. “I didn’t realize you enjoyed serving under a wolf.”
Myles just laughed. “The clock is ticking, Andrew. The clock is ticking.”
The line went dead.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Karri
She came to slowly, in fits and spurts, until finally she was awake enough to make sense of what she was seeing, her brain finally becoming receptive to what her eyes were showing it. A moment later the connection with her mind followed, and she remembered everything that had led up to that point. The intruder, the fight through her house, and being hit in the back with a table leg. Even now her back still ached, fighting with her head to see which hurt worse.
Bringing her hand up to her face, she felt along her forehead. “Ow,” she winced, finding a bump over her right eye. “That’s gonna leave a mark.”
Wait. I can use my hands. That means I’m not restrained. Karri tested her legs, finding that they moved freely as well. She sat up, looking around her cell.
“It’s a bedroom.”
Her eyes narrowed in suspicious confusion. It was a nice bedroom at that. White linens on the bed where she’d lain, curtains fluttering in the breeze from a large open window. Thick, plush beige carpet underneath tickled at her toes as she stood up, sinking into the rich material just enough to make her feel comfortable.
Built-in bookshelves lined the walls, filled with knickknacks and tchotchkes and the like. The whitewashed shelves contained no books. The door to the room was open, so she moved out into the hallway, exploring her surroundings.
“This is weird. Why kidnap me just to let me roam around freely?”
Karri poked her head into all the other rooms, looking out through one window and realizing that she was on the second floor. Turning a corner, she saw one last room and the stairs. Finishing her search, she confirmed that there was no one on the upper floor with her.
“Well, I guess I may as well go downstairs.”
Now I’m talking to myself.
With a shrug she descended the steps slowly, keeping her ears open for the sounds of anyone else in the house. But all that greeted her was silence. She explored the downstairs, noticing the opulent furniture and decorations, the expensive appliances in the kitchen. Wherever she was, it was really, really nice. There weren’t all that many places like this in Cloud Lake; it was much more of a working person’s town.
Outside the sun dipped low enough that it began to beam directly through the front of the house, spilling light onto the floor. Curiously she pulled open the fridge. It was stocked full with fruit, vegetables, drinks, and anything else she could conceivably need.
“This is getting weird.”
“There’s nothing to be weirded out over,” a voice assured her.
Karri spun to see the shifter who had invaded her house coming through the front door. He’d entered so silently she’d never heard the door open.
“Yeah, sorry, not buying into that. You came, kidnapped me, and are keeping me here. Why should I not be weirded out over the fact that you’re giving me an entire house as a prison cell?”
“It’s really quite simple, you know. We want to make your stay as comfortable as possible. We’re not out to hurt you. We don’t give a shit about you, to be completely honest. You’re simply a means to an end.” He shrugged, moving into the house fully, closing and locking the door behind him.
Karri noticed the long red line on his right palm as he took off his jacket, smiling to herself in satisfaction at his injury. That had to have hurt.
“Why do you have me?” she asked, fishing for information, even though Andrew had already explained to her the likely reason behind their interest in her.
“You know why. We need him to resign and nominate Al as his successor. He wasn’t going to do that willingly, so we simply acquired the necessary…leverage, I suppose you might say, to ensure that he does.”
“That doesn’t make sense though. You sent him out here to get rid of him. This position was basically seen as exile, no? Why the sudden change of heart?”
There had to be a reason behind their desire for Andrew’s position. Whatever it was, he hadn’t really known why, but maybe she could get this guy to spill some beans. It sure beat sitting around helplessly, that was for sure.
“We all make mistakes,” he said conversationally. “That was one of ours. We underestimated how lucrative the position could be given the right person at the helm. It was an error, but one that shall soon be corrected.”
Karri laughed, drawing a look from her captor. “Sometimes we’re not so different, you and I,” she said. “Greed infects us all. Neither human nor shifter is immune to it apparently.”
“Is it greed if we’re collecting our just dues?” he asked calmly.
“Oh boy. Greed and delusion. Now we’re getting somewhere!” she barked.
The man’s expression darkened, but he didn’t reply to her taunt.
“So, are you one of the big wusses that wouldn’t fight in the war?” she asked. “You must be. One of those that Andrew made look really bad by coming to do the right thing even though your leaders backed out like a bunch of wimps? I hadn’t realized there were so many cowards among you.”
The shifter looked like he was about ready to kill her, but his phone began to buzz inside his jacket pocket. Karri looked at him for a long moment, feeling confident that they weren’t going to harm her in the end. “You going to answer that?” she asked, rolling her eyes and lifting a hand to point at his breast pocket.
Without taking his eyes off of her he stuck a hand into his jacket, pulled the phone out, and answered it. After listening for a moment the phone was shoved over to her.
“Don’t say anything stupid,” he threatened.
Karri took the phone.
“Hello? Karri? Are you there?” It was Andrew’s voice! Her heart soared as she realized he was looking for her.
“Andrew? Andrew is that you?” she asked, seeking confirmation that she wasn’t dreaming.
“Karri, listen to me very carefully,” he said. “Are you hurt? Have they harmed you?”
“No, not really,” she said. “Bit of a lump on my forehead, but that’s all. Andrew…I’m scared.” It was the truth. She was feeling confident that they weren’t going to kill her, but she was trapped alone in the house with a powerful shifter. If she hadn’t been afraid she would have questioned her sanity.
“It’ll be okay,” he promised her. “They can’t harm you if they expect me to do what they want.” He hesitated over his next words. “Karri, I need to know where you are.”
She thought rapidly on how to respond. What details could she give him to help him track her down? Her eyes roamed the house for a moment, and then she got it.
“I’m in a big house, really nice!” she shouted. “The sun is setting out the front door! Andrew I—”
The shifter’s hand came up and hit her in the head, spilling her to the floor. Somehow at the same time she managed to hold onto the phone. Through the ringing in her skull she heard him speaking. Karri thought she heard him say Andrew’s name, but the rest was hard to make out.
“Get up,” he ordered, reaching down and hauling her to her feet when she didn’t immediately do as commanded.
“Fuck you,” she spat, shaking off his arm and ignoring the pounding in her head where he’d hit her. “I’m never going to let him resign. You won’t get what you want.”
The shifter rolled his eyes. “You seriously think he’ll defy us while we have his mate? Are you stupid?”
Karri narrowed her eyes, looking at him. “His what?”
&nb
sp; The shifter furrowed his eyebrows. Then they shot upward. “Oh. Oh he hasn’t told you? Ha! Hahaha. That is just too rich.” His booming laughter filled the house, assaulting her ears.
“What the hell are you talking about?” she snapped, trying not to let her temper get the best of her.
“You are his mate. His life partner. The person he will spend the rest of his life with. You do not know this?”
Karri breathed in and out deeply, trying to keep calm. “Obviously not, or I wouldn’t be asking you about it,” she said.
“You know…I am not an overtly cruel person by nature. Let me think on whether I wish to tell you this, or if I should just let you stew over it for a while, wondering what it means, and more importantly, why he hasn’t told you?” The shifter moved off into the house, still chuckling to himself.
“So what happens when he resigns?” she asked, changing subjects once more. “Do you kill me then?”
His head popped back around the corner down the hallway he’d taken. “What? No no. Don’t be absurd. Always about the killing and the death with you humans. Why would we do that?”
She snorted. “Because your type of shifters kill a lot?”
He paused to reflect. “True. But not in this case. Killing humans is just not a smart idea from our viewpoint. Anyway, there is food in the fridge, and drink as well. If you wish to order something, like pizza say, simply let me know and I’ll arrange it.”
“So gracious,” she muttered, looking around the huge estate once more.
Emerging from the kitchen he smiled, the look giving her shivers. “Otherwise, enjoy your stay.” Tossing an apple up and down in one hand he moved past her and then exited the house, locking the door behind him. Karri wasn’t sure why, since she could open it from the inside, but it mattered not.
Something weird was going on, but she couldn’t figure out just what it was. She was missing something, something big. This was the worst kidnapping job she’d ever read about. Who the hell gave someone the run of a house like this? That was just asking for them to escape. Andrew would come for her, she was positive. He’d be able to track her down and then he’d save her.
