by Morgan Rae
Holly stared at the image of Scott Westmore…Jacob’s father. God, he’s a spitting image, Holly thought. Strong shoulders, that cocky grin, handsome even in a smudged black-and-white photograph.
She kept scrolling. Then, in a 1976 issue of Eyes on Etna, she found an article that slowed the turn of her wrist. Esteemed Hunter Robin Hoyte Cleans Up Bear Problem, the headline read. Beside the article was a black-and-white image of a hunter standing next to a bear carcass, grinning at his prize kill. The sight chilled Holly’s bones, but she forced herself to keep looking. The man looked like a regular hunter, a woodsman complete with the round face and a curly beard that framed his chin. But there was something about him…Holly zoomed in. Around Robin Hoyte’s neck hung a six-pointed star. There was something in it too…it was hard to make out in the pixelated image. A gem? It was an odd talisman for a burly hunter to be wearing, no doubt. Holly sat back, examining the image, and then took a screenshot and printed it out.
Chapter 32
The fluorescent lights buzzed above as Holly bounced around the From Heart to Home store.
“You get three things,” Jacob said as he pushed the shopping cart beside her.
“Only three?” Holly drew her prettiest smile.
He snorted a laugh. Amused, at least. “Three that I get no veto on. We can negotiate the rest.”
In effort to make his house more their house, Jacob had taken Holly to a home goods store so she could pick out a few of her own decorations to add that woman’s touch. And three things that Jacob had no say in? This could get interesting fast.
Holly lifted up a fuzzy pink throw pillow. “What do you think?” she said, totally straight-faced.
Jacob’s expression fell. But, to his credit, he bit his tongue. “Looks…furry,” he forced out, even though she could tell he was already regretting his decision.
Holly couldn’t help it; she laughed. “Relax. I’m not that mean.” She dropped the pillow and began pacing down the aisle. Her eyes landed on an item that she thought was a good blend of the both of them—a small embroidered Winnie the Pooh pillow. Literature and bear all in one happy pillow. She lifted the pillow to her chest and tapped it. “What about this one?”
If anything, Jacob’s expression dropped more than it had with the pink pillow. However, he saved it with a poker face and said, “Sure.”
What was that? It hit her then. Maybe he didn’t want any more bears in the house. After all, his own was literally haunting him, making him jolt awake in the middle of the night with fever-sweats.
Holly was good at reading people—and thank God for that. It was like prying teeth to get anything out of Jacob. She toyed with the fray at the edges of the pillow and then said, “You know, I heard you wake up again last night.” Her eyes met his. “Do you want to talk about it?”
His gaze sharpened. “I’m fine.”
No, you’re not. Holly pressed her lips together and then added, “Do you know Robin Hoyte?”
“Who?”
“Robin Hoyte. I was doing some research and his name came up—”
The cart came to a sudden stop. “What do you mean, research?”
Holly blinked. What part of that was vague? “I mean…I went to the school library and looked into the local archives. I thought there might be something to explain your…” What did he call it? “Moon sickness.”
Jacob’s playful warmth had completely frozen over. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
Was he kidding? This was starting to sound like a bad Nancy Drew novel. “What…is there something you don’t want me to find?”
“No…no,” he said empathically, and then caught himself. “Listen, princess…I just don’t want you getting your hands dirty with this. It’s not your problem.”
Not my problem? My husband wakes up with night terrors. That’s my problem. Instead of giving Jacob a well-earned lecture, she just said, pleadingly, “Jacob…”
“Don’t go looking into this. I can solve it. On my own.”
“But—”
“That’s an order.”
She set her jaw. He’d pulled the Alpha card. He was in a state now and she knew arguing with him was only going to inflame the matter. “Yes,” she said as she dropped the Winnie the Pooh pillow in the cart. “Of course.”
Chapter 33
“Yes, of course,” my ass. Holly went back to the library the very next day, digging through the archives once more. She found a couple more sidebar articles about the bear problem and Robin Hoyte and snapped screenshots before hitting the print button.
Holly got up and her heels sank soundlessly into the soft carpet as she made her way over to the printer. Her thoughts were interrupted by a girl’s soft giggles drifting out of one of the aisles. Holly thought nothing of it until the giggles were silenced and turned into quiet gasps and moans.
Holly felt a prickle run up the back of her neck. Not in my library. She ripped her printout from the printer and stalked over to the aisle, following the muffled sounds. Sure enough, in aisle E—the travel section—she found a boy and a girl tangled up in the back. She was contorted around him and their hands dipped under each other’s clothes. She could see his wrist worked rapidly inside her jeans as she moaned while he kissed and nibbled her neck.
He wore a shock of blond hair and a tan Abercrombie and Fitch hoodie. Holly recognized him instantly.
“Cayden,” Holly said sharply, and the two jolted apart as though they’d been electrocuted. Cayden, the troublemaker from her class that she’d spotted on day one, the lone wolf and ladies’ man who spent more time whispering to his fellow students than he did taking notes.
“Dr. Westmore,” the girl stammered, flushed, and Holly recognized her, too, from her lecture. “We were just…um…”
“Going somewhere?” Holly questioned, arching her eyebrows towards the travel books.
“We were,” Cayden said pointedly, and flashed her a shark’s smile. For a second, Holly thought she saw a shimmer of gold in his eyes and a lethal point to his teeth.
Holly blinked and the images were gone. She was seeing shifters everywhere. She was going crazy.
The girl pulled herself together and grabbed her backpack, slinging it over her shoulder. “I should go,” she said and quickly darted out the aisle.
“I’ll see you on Thursday,” Holly called back as the girl vanished from sight.
Cayden was in a little less of a hurry to get up and languidly got to his feet, zipping up his sweater. “You always this much of a killjoy, Dr. Westmore?”
“In my office, please,” Holly said.
Chapter 34
The clock ticked behind Cayden’s head and the young man couldn’t seem to stop fidgeting. His eyes darted between Holly and the door, he picked at a loose thread on his hoodie, and he bounced his leg on the balls of his foot as the seconds dragged on.
“Are you alright, Cayden?” Holly asked, breaking the silence.
“No offense, professor, but I was having a much better time in the library,” he said.
“Listen,” Holly said, “I’ve just noticed a…reoccurring pattern with you. While college is the time to experiment and learn more about yourself, I worry that maybe there’s something going on underneath the surface. You don’t have to talk about it with me, but I’d recommend you talk about it with someone. I can give you a note for the counselor, if you’d like.”
“Uh-huh,” Cayden said, distracted. Truth be told, Holly was only half-worried about Cayden. Did he not get enough attention when he was younger? Latent mommy issues? It wasn’t her business. Her concern was mainly for the women he toyed with, as though they were playthings. Young girls deserve to know they’re more than inanimate objects, she thought to herself.
“What was college like for you?” Cayden said, turning his eyes on her. They were sharp blue and penetrating, she’d give him that. “What was that—the seventies? Lots of drugs, sex, and rock ’n’ roll?”
Holly wore a weathered smile. “Believe
it or not, some people go to college to learn.” Which was only mostly the truth. She’d met Chris in her freshman year and they were nearly inseparable for her full college term.
“My way is better,” Cayden said, all inflated ego now. “I get my crazy years out now, maybe I won’t become some old spinster who looks for excitement in all the wrong places.”
The boldness of his statement threw Holly through a loop. “Excuse me?”
“You jealous, teach?” His smile was wide with perfect white teeth, yet Holly sensed the danger there. “If you want some of this, all you have to do is ask.”
Instead of the rampant, no-holds-barred arousal that must have swept through all of her female students when he said those words, Holly felt a chill run through her. She couldn’t place what it was, exactly, but in the words of Miss Claval, something was just not right with this young man.
“Can we hurry this up?” Cayden said, damaging Holly’s line of thought. “I’ve got someone waiting on me outside.”
Another girlfriend, probably. “I’ll walk you out,” Holly said with a smile. She got up and led Cayden out of her office, towards the parking lot. As she went, she added, “My door is always open if you need to talk.” Talking, at least, might be better than shoving your tongue down the nearest girl’s throat.
“Yeah,” he said, dismissive, but she hoped that, underneath that cold façade, he was really thinking about it. They walked to the parking lot, where Cayden nodded to a white BMW. “That’s me.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Holly said and was about to turn around when—
“Holly?” Holly lifted her gaze and—to her surprise—saw Miranda step out of the car. The mature bombshell wore a thigh-length dress Holly could never get away with and a surprised smile as she removed her Ray-Bans from her face.
“Miranda.” Holly was tongue-tied, a deer in headlights in front of the Red Moon Ranch’s horse trainer. She fumbled for words as Cayden left her wing and lumbered lankily over to Miranda. “Is this your—?”
“My son, yes.” Miranda smiled sharply. Now Holly recognized that smile, the same toothy grin Cayden wore. Teeth…oh. So she hadn’t been seeing things in the library after all. Cayden was different. He was one of them. A were-cougar, like his mother. The sudden revelation made Holly dizzy. No matter what, she couldn’t get away from animals nipping at her heels.
“So you’re the new professor,” Miranda said, slipping her hand to the back of her son’s neck and squeezing. They were perfect carbon copies of each other—plastic smiles hiding a layer of viciousness underneath. “Cayden doesn’t tell me much about what’s going on at school anymore, I’m afraid.”
Cayden—like every other normal, angsty young adult—shrugged out from under his mother’s hawk-like grip and glared at her.
“I hope he’s not giving you too much trouble, are you, Cayden?” his mother said, turning to the boy.
He glowered, but then shot Holly a pleading look. A don’t rat on me look. What was Holly going to say, anyway? Your son has been going all “mating season” on my lecture class? Miranda made Holly uncomfortable, ever since that night in the Weeping Willow Tavern when she’d caught Holly and Jacob tangled together on the back porch. That look in her eyes…it was the look of a woman who had lost the battle but not the war. And Holly was afraid what lengths she might go to in order to get what she wanted.
Determined to not be any more on the other woman’s shit list than she already was, Holly pressed her lips in a smile and said, “No. No trouble at all.”
“Good,” Miranda said, practiced grin intact. “Let’s make sure it stays that way.”
Was she talking to Holly or Cayden? Holly couldn’t tell.
“How are my babies?” Miranda asked, casual small talk.
Holly shrugged. “Casanova is getting used to me,” she said, referring to the black stallion Miranda trained. She figured that, at the very least, they could talk about horses amicably.
“As long as he doesn’t forget whom he belongs to,” Miranda said with a wink in a way that made Holly’s blood boil. He’s a strong horse. He doesn’t belong to you. He doesn’t belong to anyone but himself.
Of course, Jacob was in the forefront of her mind.
“I’ll see you around, Miranda,” Holly said coolly. She wasn’t about to be dragged into the other woman’s drama, especially not on campus. Holly had made this place hers, her own piece of quiet, and she would be damned if she was going to let a couple cougars disturb that.
(Maybe she had spent too much time with bears. She was getting positively territorial.)
“I’m sure,” Miranda said and then slipped back into the car. “Cayden, move your feet,” she hissed and Cayden—like one of her well-trained horses—jumped to attention and got in the car. Was there nothing Miranda couldn’t control with a strong fist?
Yes. Holly. She wasn’t going to fall prey to the spell the other woman seemed to cast on everyone around her. Holly tugged her cardigan tighter around her shoulders and felt the printout crinkle in her pocket. She had far more important things than (literally) catty mama-drama to worry about.
Chapter 35
Miranda pushed the car into drive and sped off. She gritted her teeth and tried not to let it show just how shaken she was. Cayden was her own worst-kept secret—everyone knew about him, but everyone also knew not to get involved with her son’s business, least they face the wrath of a cougar mother. He was the bastard son of a wayward father, and she didn’t like the idea of Holly being within arm’s reach of him.
“Why didn’t you tell me your teacher was a Westmore?” she snapped.
Cayden shrugged. Looked out the window. “Didn’t seem like a big deal.”
“Didn’t it?” she asked, voice more bitter than sweet. “We’re trying to knock the Westmore clan off the map and it didn’t occur to you to mention that you’ve got one in your classroom?”
“Whatever,” he said. Pouting. Spoiled brat.
“Don’t whatever me, honey,” Miranda said and picked up her Bluetooth, shoving it around her ear. “Call Brent Westmore,” she ordered and her car stereo began to ring.
“’Lo?” Brent. Sweet Brent. Always sounded like he’d woken up from a hangover.
“Brent,” she said, her voice curt, all business. “It’s time to act. I’m tired of waiting for you to make up your mind. Are you in or out?”
A brief silence from Brent before he said, begrudgingly, “Jacob is my Alpha—”
“And your brother,” Miranda interrupted. “Don’t you owe it to your brother to take care of him? Even if that means taking his crown?” She made a sharp turn with her BMW, taking over the road and getting a curt honk from behind. She flipped them the finger. “If he stays Alpha, he’s going to turn one day and never turn back. You know it. I know it. If you want to help your brother, you’ll do exactly as I say.”
Another hesitation from him. His long pauses made her impatience burn. He had been more malleable the other night, with her lips around his cock, but now in the sober light of day he was questioning all of his bad decisions. Typical man.
“What d’you want, Miranda?” he finally said, stonily.
Compliance was good, even if he wasn’t happy about it. “Drive him up the Siskiyou Mountain. We’ll meet you halfway up.”
“You ain’t gonna hurt him, are you?”
“I just want to talk to him,” Miranda lied.
“On the mountain?”
“We need privacy,” she said. “Do you want to help him or don’t you?”
Another infuriating languid pause from him before, “We’ll be there.”
“Six o’clock. Don’t be late.” With that, she clicked a button on her steering wheel and hung up the phone. She glanced over at her son—quietly brooding in the passenger seat—and said, “How would you like to play a little game of cat-and-bear tonight?”
Finally, Cayden smiled. Children are so hard to please, Miranda thought as she turned down the road.
&
nbsp; Chapter 36
Brent was met with a dial tone when Miranda cut the call short. He swore under his breath and pulled the phone away from his ear.
“Everything alright?” Brent glanced up quickly and saw Jacob standing at the other end of the truck.
Brent nodded and swallowed back his guilt. He glanced down at his phone and tucked it away. “Yeah. Just the usual. Needy bitches who want what they want when they want it.”
Jacob chuckled and yanked himself into the driver’s seat. “You need to find yourself an honest woman,” Jacob said. “Does wonders for the sanity.”
“See, that’s where you’re wrong, boss,” Brent said. “Respectfully, I think it’d make me fucking crazy.” Brent looked over at Jacob as he revved up the engine. “I’m guessing all’s well in paradise with you two lovebirds.”
“Yeah. It’s great, actually.”
Brent asked cautiously, “And the bear?”
Jacob shrugged. “Never better.” But Brent could read the tight-jawed lie in his brother’s face.
Goddammit, Jacob. If the other man weren’t so damn proud, maybe they could’ve actually solved this civilly. “Where to?” Jacob asked.
Any hesitation left Brent’s voice. “We got a job up the mountain. Folks complaining about a leaky roof. Y’wanna check it out?”
“Mountain, huh?” Jacob looked down at his watch.
“Y’got somewhere to be?”
Jacob hesitated, then shook his head. “Let’s just make this quick. I wanna get home before nightfall.”
That’s the idea, Brent thought to himself, but said instead, “You got it, boss.” Jacob put the truck into gear, taking off towards the mountain looming ahead of them.
Chapter 37
It was slow going up the mountain and the roads twisted in a serpentine pattern up the curves of Siskiyou. Jacob had climbed these mountains plenty of times, but rarely for a job. The mountain was covered in acres and acres of red firs and bubbling creeks and it was the perfect place to let the Beast loose without worrying about any collateral damage. Of course, that was back in the day when Jacob could let the Beast run free whenever he wanted. Before he had to keep it locked up inside of him, terrified that any transformation could be his last.
