Frost Security: The Complete 5 Books Series

by Glenna Sinclair

  Chapter Forty-four – Jake

  The Moon sisters came out of the house together. One look at Elise’s face told me they’d been up to no good. She was way too happy for our dire circumstances.

  She bounced up to me, threw herself into my arms, and gave me a kiss.

  “What was that for?” I asked as I held her close, still savoring the feel of her soft lips on mine. “Not that I’m complaining or anything.”

  “Can I not want to kiss a handsome man when I see him?”

  “Sure you can,” I said, then returned the kiss. Soft, sweet, wonderful. “Why so bubbly all of a sudden, though?”

  “I think,” she said, pausing to look around, “I have a plan.”

  My heart sank a little, like there was a well in my chest and it was floating to the bottom. “Elise, I’ve been thinking. I don’t know about this. These all seem like nice people. Crazy, but nice. I don’t think I can rob them, or hurt anyone. It’s just—it’s not in me.”

  Elise pulled back a little. “Don’t worry, we’re not going to steal anything. We’re going to get them to give it to us.”

  “Wait, what?” I asked in confusion, looking to Eve.

  Elise’s sister shrugged. “I dunno, either, so don’t ask me. She keeps saying you’re our secret weapon.”

  I sucked in a breath and gave Elise the eye. “You didn’t tell her, did you?” I asked quietly.

  “No, of course I didn’t say anything. I’m not going to do that.”

  “Thank God.”

  “You get to.”

  “Dammit, Elise!”

  “Tell me what?”

  I sighed. “Not here. We have to go somewhere private where no one will see or hear us.”

  “Besides,” Elise added, “you won’t believe either of us unless you see it for yourself. It’s too amazing for just words.”

  Eve gave us both a look like she’d smelled some beef that had gone off. “You two are serious, aren’t you? What do you have to show me?”

  “Don’t worry,” I grumbled. “You’ll see.”

  Not ten minutes later, we were back in the storage unit we’d been in earlier. This time, the door was barred from the inside so no one would walk in, and I was ducked behind a well-packed shelf that obscured the sisters’ views as they stood in the middle of the room.

  “What’s he doing back there?” Eve asked, shuffling her feet a little like she was impatient.

  “Getting ready to show you something.”

  “Ew. But he’s dating you.”

  “Shut up, Eve! Get your mind out of the gutter.”

  Eve would’ve screamed as soon as I padded around the corner on all four paws, but she was too breathless to muster much of one. Instead, she just grabbed Elise’s hand and gripped it tightly. “Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God!”

  “See?” Elise said to her. “This is how we’re going to just ask for it.”

  “My God, they’re real. They’re really real?”

  “Shifters,” Elise said, putting an arm around her sister’s shoulders. “He’s called a shifter.”

  Eve looked back and forth between me and Elise, wide-eyed. “Shifters? More like spirits! Reverend Fenris has talked about them! About how they’re emissaries from the Great Alpha! I thought it was all bullshit, b-b-but you’re fucking dating one!”

  I looked back and forth between them, my ears perked up, my mouth hanging open.

  “Can I rub his tummy?” Eve asked, half afraid and half amazed.

  Not again. I sighed a wolfish sigh and turned back around, returning to my spot behind the shelf to slowly change back.

  There was a loud thud like a sack of potatoes dropping as Eve sat on the floor. “Oh. My. God. I can’t believe this shit.”

  “Eve, get up. He’s a special guy and all, and he can turn into a wolf, but he’s still practically human. He’s not an angel or some mystical being.”

  “If he’s not some kind of spiritual being, like Coyote for the Navajo, why can he change like that?”

  “Have to ask him,” Elise replied. “I just found out about this last night.”

  “And you haven’t told anyone?”

  “What? No, of course not. They’d think I was fucking crazy. Crazy and, you know, they’d bug him. If anyone finds out about this, they’d try and put him in a government facility or something, Eve. You can’t whisper a word of this to anyone, I’m serious.”

  “But, Elise, I mean…”

  “No. No, Eve. This has to stay secret.”

  Still behind the shelf, I cleared my throat as I stood and began to pull my clothes back on. “Now that my little circus monkey trick is finished, what do you think?”

  “What do I think?” she asked. “I think it’s amazing!”

  “That’s not what he meant, Sis,” Elise said as I, still buttoning my flannel back up, went around the corner and rejoined them. “He means, do you think they’ll give the offering to him?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t see why not. I mean, what Lupo Congregation member wouldn’t? They’d probably want you to stick around and get worshipped or something.”

  “Yeah, that ain’t gonna happen. I’m not much for being the center of attention.”

  Eve looked up at me, her eyes sparkling with delight and wonder. It was like she was seeing Johnny Depp or Beyoncé on the street.

  I fought the urge to snap my fingers in front of her face, just to try and bring her back to reality. “What?”

  “You’re really, really real. And my sister is totally dating you. You know how cool that is?”

  “Sort of? I know how cool it is that I’m dating your sister. That count?”

  She broke into a grin as Elise helped her up from the floor. “Now,” she said, clapping her hands together, “this is how things are going to work. The meeting starts up in just a few hours, and that means we’ve got to get you a robe, Elise.”

  “What? Why the hell do I have to get a robe?”

  “Because they won’t let you come to the ceremony without one.”

  Chapter Forty-five – Elise

  “And you’re certain, my child, that you truly wish to join our congregation?”

  I so wasn’t. I nodded to Reverend Fenris. “Uh-huh. Sure am.”

  The reverend and I sat in his little library on the ground floor of the ranch house where Eve had been staying. All prospective members of the cult had to interview with him first, to see if they were committed. She’d assured me that there wouldn’t be any kind of weird perversion or hanky panky, and I believed her. But still, I was uneasy with being alone with him. There was something about his piercing eyes. They seemed to peer into your soul, to pull back the onion layers of your being and lay them bare in front of the universe. He was unnerving.

  “And you are prepared to give up your worldly bonds? Worldly bonds that keep you chained to this earth?”

  “Yep.”

  “What do you wish to give up?”

  I chewed the inside of my mouth. I’d thought as hard as I could about this. Eve told me it had to be something that I really cared about, something that meant the world to me. The only problem, though, was that I hadn’t brought much on the trip. The only thing with me that really mattered was Jake. I reached into my back pocket and pulled out the postcard Eve had sent me all those months ago, the one with the picture of the mountains and Colorado typed out on the front.

  “This,” I said, holding it up for him to see.

  “A postcard?”

  “This was…for the longest time, this was on my fridge at home, back at my parent’s place. When my sister left, this was the only thing my Pops and I got from her for a long time. It’s the only thing I have anymore of any value, sentimental or otherwise.”

  He sat there, pensive, his lips pressed firmly together into a thin line, those eyes of his burning into my soul. After a moment, though, he nodded. “I sense something special about you, Elise Moon.” He smiled. “But perhaps it’s just your last name?”

 
I smiled a little and gave him a shrug. “Maybe? I just feel like this place is wondrous. I think I can find peace here, especially after my parents died. I didn’t think I’d be able to find anything like that, ever again.”

  “But your boyfriend, Jake, the man I saw you with earlier? He’s chosen not to join us?”

  I sighed. “Unfortunately, it’s not his cup of tea. He wants to go join the Breatharians instead.”

  “Ah, yes, the Inediasts. An older group for sure, but many of their tenants fall outside our purview. We, of course, believe that meat is a sacred thing, and that to be more like the Great Alpha, we need to consume more of what he consumes.”

  I twisted my mouth to the side a little and gave the reverend a nod. “Right. Yeah, that. He’s a big guy, but he’s a, uh, vegetarian. The whole meat-centric diet wasn’t his bag. Lots of tofu for that one.”

  “Will you miss him, though?”

  I shrugged again, frowning a little for the effect. “You know, if he’s holding me back, he’s holding me back.”

  “Yes, I understand. Seldom are we given an opportunity to reach for spiritual fulfillment. This is your time, Elise. This is your time to begin your journey self-actualization.”

  I smiled a little. “My thoughts exactly, Reverend. So, when do we do this initiation thing? Right now?”

  He shook his head. “No, it’s always a time of joy and celebration when we welcome a new member into the pack. We’ll perform the ceremony tonight, in front of the whole congregation.”

  I swallowed hard, already feeling like a deer in the spotlight. “Uh, I always got stage fright when I was a kid. Any chance we could just, you know, do it now? Like right now?”

  He laughed for the first time. “Oh, child, there’s no reason to be frightened. You just have to get up on the dais and repeat after me. Then we mark you with the resinous herbs, and you’ll be a full member of the Lupo Congregation.”

  “Mark me? With the herbs?”

  “Just a combination we burn during our times. Wolfsbane, sage, some others like the bluebonnet. Harmless, completely harmless.”

  I tried to force a smile, but my mouth was dry with performance anxiety. “If you say so.”

  “You’ll be amongst friends. I promise.”

  “Yeah,” I squeaked. “Sure.”

  Chapter Forty-six – Jake

  I parked the pickup on a back road that looked practically deserted. Only grass and the sound of the whistling wind surrounded me as I sat there in the cab, drumming my fingers on the steering wheel.

  I checked the time. Four hours till meeting time. Sixteen till Trigger.

  I wiped a hand down my face and shook my head. I still couldn’t believe I’d let the sisters talk me into this. But they were right, in a sense. The Lupo people were trying to literally give it away. Still, the idea of handing the drugs over to Trigger just lodged uncomfortably in my throat.

  What else was I going to do, though? Kill the guy?

  I shook my head. No. I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t just take justice into my own hands, even if I was sure he deserved it. I used to be a cop. Not a judge, jury, or executioner.

  And how could I look Elise in the eye if I murdered a man in cold blood like that? If I thought myself so far above the law that I just killed to see my version of justice delivered? No matter how you looked at it, I wasn’t that kind of man. I wasn’t that kind of loathsome person.

  At the same time, though, there was no way I could force Elise to live on the run just because she decided to try and find Eve. One decision, a decision born out of love and caring, shouldn’t lead to that kind of fate.

  I sighed again and looked out to the grasslands of Wyoming, to an eagle circling high in the air as it soared on a current of cold wind. Listening to its instinct. Looking for its prey. Watching. Waiting.

  That was another thing I was worried about. I’d never been around a group of defenseless humans when I was in my wolf form. I didn’t know how I’d react. I didn’t know if my wolf mind would take some kind of action as aggressive.

  The other night when I’d gone for my run from the cabin, I’d tried to stop myself from hurting that rabbit. I’d tried to control my instincts, but had failed. I could almost still feel the cold snow on my skin, an icy memory of what happened when I gave myself over to the wolf inside me, lost control of my passions.

  What if I did something to Elise while I was out there? Or Eve? Or some other innocent person?

  “No,” I said aloud, taking a deep breath. “You can handle this, Jake. You went through war, you served as a cop. This is just you walking through a crowd. No big deal, man. No big deal at all.”

  I winced a little even as I sat there, though, torn.

  But what other option did I have? What else could we do besides this? Rob them outright? No. No, it had to be this. We had to do it Elise’s way or it wasn’t going to work.

  I set the alarm on my phone and tried to lie back in the seat as comfortably as possible. One thing my time in the Marines had conditioned me for was to sleep. Sleep when, and wherever, you can. I figured I could catch at least twenty winks. Tonight was going to be one hell of a long night, and I’d need my rest.

  Chapter Forty-seven – Elise

  The people spread out all around us. All two hundred of the Lupo Congregation members were in attendance, the smell of open fire pits taking me back to my childhood in New Mexico. Pops would always burn pinon logs as he sat outside during even the coldest months, smoking his cigarettes. He’d been straightedge all his life, ever since he was a teenager, and had allowed only that one vice to creep in. Well, that and coffee. Coffee didn’t kill him, but I was pretty sure those smokes hadn’t helped his health.

  Eve stood next to me as my sponsor, her hand gripped firmly in mine, our fingers intertwined. She looked at me lovingly, with a bright, wonderful smile full of life and happiness. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d even seen that look on her face without a shot in her hand or a guy she was hanging off of.

  “I still don’t know why I need to be up here,” I said to her out of the corner of mouth. “This doesn’t have to be part of the plan.”

  Eve squeezed my hand tight. “Because I’m not going with you.”

  “Eve?”

  “Elm,” she reminded me. “I’m Elm now, Sis.”

  “Shhhhh,” Sister Veronica nearly hissed as she shushed me. “It’s starting.”

  I squeezed her hand as tight as I could, trying to voice my displeasure with my actions.

  Sister Veronica prodded us along. “Come on, sisters, time to go.”

  “First tell me why,” I said to Eve in a low voice.

  “Because they’re real, Sis. Well, kind of. And I’m happy here.” Eve nodded and began to move forward, practically dragging me alongside her as she went down the main aisle through the crowd of white-robed, ecstatic-faced cultists. Breath plumed in front of their faces, and they smiled wider and wider as they turned to watch me, like a crowd turning to watch the bride coming down the aisle. Which, I guess, was kind of accurate. They thought they were marrying me to the cult’s ideology.

  Maybe it was the cold wind coming in off the plains and going right up my robe, but a shiver went down my spine.

  This wasn’t right. This wasn’t what I’d signed on for. If I’d known Eve was going to stay here, was going to join this weirdo lifestyle for sure, I would’ve just have hopped on the road and pulled her along with me no matter how loudly she screamed.

  “Eve,” I protested.

  Sister Veronica shushed me from behind. “Do we need to turn this procession around?”

  “No,” Eve said, pulling me onward. “We’re fine. Come on, Elise.”

  Ahead of us loomed the wooden stage, with the steps leading up to the top, the torches flanking either side. We walked in measured lockstep, and I prayed, really prayed, that Jake would remember what part to step in on.

  We mounted the steps, my brain screaming at me how stupid of an idea this was. That
as soon as everything began to happen, there was no way we were going to know how everything would play out.

  Eve squeezed my hand as we made it on top of the stage. The fires burning around, the people looking up with out of the shadows with those same joyful faces. Their idea of the Great Alpha, a great wolf god in the sky, just another weird delusion in a world that was bigger and weirder than I’d ever imagined just a few days ago. And there, in the center of the stage, was the pile of earthly and temporal shackles. The items which had held men and women of the congregation back.

  The drugs, the cases of the alcohol, the piles of pornography, the money. All meant to be an offering for the Great Alpha, should he ever arrive.

  Boy, were they in for a show tonight.

  My heart raced faster and harder as I felt the cultists’ eyes land on me. Fake-smiling so hard my face hurt, we moved to the center of the stage as Eve turned me around to face the whole crowd.

  “I don’t feel right doing this,” I muttered to my sister.

  “Fake it till you make it, Elise,” she replied as she raised her hand, taking mine with it. “Fake it till you make it.”

  Why had I thought this was a good plan? How had I ever even considered that this was going to work?

  “My children, my pack,” Reverend Fenris called out over the crowd. “Welcome to you all!”

  And then they all fucking howled. Threw their heads back, their mouths perfect circles, and they began to howl. I heard it right beside me, and I turned and saw Eve join in with the other loonies. Her blonde head tilted back, her eyes pinched closed, and her face tilted up to the sky.

  “Welcome!” they all yelled back in unison like some kind of weird tent revival. “Welcome!”

  My chest tightened more, my breath coming faster and faster. I could feel their eyes on me. I could feel everyone staring at me. Fuck, what had I gotten myself into?

  “Tonight,” the reverend called, “we welcome a new pup into the pack! We welcome Elise Moon to our fold and bring her in, initiate her to the world of the Lupo Congregation!”