Lana’s breath caught in her throat and for a moment she couldn’t breathe. It was as if someone had kicked her in the gut and taken the air from her lungs. This piece of garbage knew where Kiki was. If they did as he asked, she might finally get the answers she needed.
But in the process, she would betray everything Kiki believed in.
“Yes. Hello. Police, please. I’d like to report an attempted kidnapping.”
Lana turned her back on the man who she believed hurt her daughter and held the key to where she was. As her heart broke into a million pieces, she drew on the strength her daughter had displayed every day when she went out to help those less fortunate than herself.
And hoped Kiki would be proud.
Chapter Twenty-Three – Jake
Jake wanted to snap Elliot’s neck. Right here, right now. But that wouldn’t happen. It couldn’t happen.
You’ll get nothing out of a dead man. So let’s just tear an arm or two off instead, his bear said helpfully.
“The police are on their way.” Lana ended the call and put the phone back in her pocket. “I’ll go get Amber and Charlotte and make sure they’re safe. Are you okay keeping the scumbag here?”
“I am,” Jake affirmed, his fingers digging deeper into Elliot’s shoulders.
“Ouch, man, you’re hurting me.” He wriggled in his seat as if trying to shrug Jake off.
A wave of static electricity caressed Jake’s skin and the tiny hairs on the back of his hands stood on end as the air shimmered around Elliot. Jake’s fingers bit deep into the guy, but as they did, Elliot disappeared, leaving Jake holding onto to nothing but thin air.
Jake relaxed his mind and allowed his bear to come forth. Older, faster, his bear was standing fully formed on four paws by the time the sly mountain lion emerged. Jake’s bear swiped his massive paw at the lion’s head, knocking him to the floor. However, the mountain lion bounced back up to land on four paws, his predatory eyes fixed on Jake as his tail twitched from side to side.
I should have hit him harder, Jake’s bear exclaimed. Without blinking, Jake’s bear watched the lion’s body language for signs of an attack. Having spent years fighting with his brothers, mostly sparring since they rarely argued for real, Jake was ready when the lion pounced.
End it, Jake told his bear, who met the head-on pounce with a curled paw that smashed into Elliot’s lion’s skull like a jackhammer. The lion crashed to the floor and lay unconscious.
Jake quickly shifted back to his human form and ran to the bedroom. “Everyone okay?”
“Yes.” Lana nodded as she cast a worried glance toward the living room.
“Is he dead?” Amber asked guardedly.
“No, just out cold. Which gives us a new predicament. With the police on their way, we are stuck with a mountain lion in your living room and too many questions to answer.” Jake turned around and went back to crouch down next to the lion. “He needs to shift back before any officers arrive.”
“It’s a mountain lion!” Amber exclaimed, her hand covering her mouth while her free arm clasped tightly around Charlotte.
“You didn’t know?” Lana asked in surprise. “Aren’t you his mate?”
“Do I look like a mate of a lion?” Amber’s face paled as the mountain lion twitched. “Did he eat Lenny?”
“No, he is Lenny. Lenny is a shifter. He can change from a man to a mountain lion.” Lana glanced at Jake but didn’t tell Amber that he was also a shifter.
“He’s a what now?” Amber asked as she reached for her phone to take a photograph. “My dad can print this in his magazine. This is the biggest reveal ever.” Like father, like daughter, only interested in the big story, not how the story might impact other people’s lives.
“No!” Lana jumped forward and put her hand over Amber’s phone. “You don’t want to do that.”
“Why? This is huge!” Amber tried to dodge past Lana.
Lana lowered her voice and asked, “Is this definitely Charlotte’s dad?”
“Yes. But this will get the piece of crap away from us. When the police arrive, they will take him away and lock him up.” Amber glanced at Lana with annoyance. “Let me take the photo.”
“Shifters carry a gene that enables them to shift.” Lana glanced down at Charlotte and then back to Amber. “They pass it on to their offspring.”
Amber’s hand, which held her phone, dropped to her side. “What are you saying?”
“That you might want to think about your daughter before you go spreading the word about shifters.” Lana placed her hand on Charlotte’s shoulder. “Go back home and don’t tell anyone else about this. Not even your father.”
“Charlotte will….” Amber nodded at the mountain lion who was lifting his head before flopping back down.
“No word of this,” Jake warned as he lifted his head and listened. “The police are on their way.”
“They are going to see him.” Amber hissed. “Get him to change back.”
“Elliot.” Jake held the lion’s head between his large hands. “You need to shift back to your human form before the police come in here. If they see you, they’ll call animal control.”
The lion looked up at Jake with dazed eyes before they slid closed again.
Damn it, I’m certain he could shift if he wanted to. He’s playing us, his bear said. I didn’t hit him that hard. His bear snarled and snapped in frustration.
This guy is an idiot who needs to be taught a lesson. Jake got up and went to the apartment door leading into the hallway. The police were in the elevator. He could stall them. Or he could get Lana to say she made a mistake, but those options left them exposed to Elliot’s blackmail attempts. They could not back down.
Jake went back into the apartment and slapped the lion shifter across the face, just hard enough to get his attention. “Do you want to spend the rest of your life in a zoo or being prodded by a scientist in some warehouse facility?”
The lion’s mouth twisted into a smirk. That was exactly what he wanted. Or maybe he figured he could escape easier if he was a mountain lion. He could no doubt bide his time and then shift into his human form and slip out.
And if we tell the police he’s a shifter and Elliot doesn’t shift, they’ll think we’re crazy or wasting police time.
“Jake, we have to do something.” Lana shook her head, taking the blame for what happened on her own shoulders. “Jake, the elevator just pinged.”
Jake got to his feet and headed to the doorway. He didn’t trust Elliot not to pull something, but they were out of options, he’d have to stall the police officer. “Hi there. Thanks for coming.” He raised his hand and waved.
“Hello, sir. We received a call about an attempted kidnapping.” The police officer looked at the broken door of the apartment before leaning forward a little and inhaling deeply. “Shall we go inside and talk?”
Jake glanced at the policeman’s partner who stood a few feet behind him, eyeing Jake up with some suspicion. Then he inhaled the first police officer’s scent. Shifter. He was sure of it.
“Do you know what you’re going to find in there?” Jake asked as the sound of furniture moving reached him. “Damn it!”
Jake moved fast, the mountain lion was very awake and very conscious and trying to get to Charlotte, but Lana and Amber had pushed her back into the bedroom and barred her way.
“You’re not getting her, you son-of-a-bitch!” Amber yelled. “You freak!”
“Elliot, you need to calm down,” Jake told the mountain lion who swung around to face Jake and the two police officers.
“Wow, I haven’t seen a mountain lion in a while,” the first policeman said as he drew his taser from his belt. “Good kitty.” He held out his hand to soothe the big cat, but the mountain lion simply took a swipe at it. “So you want to play rough, do you?”
The policeman circled the mountain lion, while his partner stood in the doorway with a look of shock on his face. Despite his badge and his uniform, he looked as if he
was about to run.
Maybe he didn’t expect to walk into an apartment this morning and come face to face with a mountain lion, his bear said uneasily. This might not end well.
If we have to shift to take him down again, we will, Jake said. Even if it cost them their freedom, he would do it to protect Lana.
“Here, kitty, kitty,” the first police officer said soothingly as he aimed his taser at the mountain lion. In response, the mountain lion shifted his weight, preparing to strike. “You really need to calm down.”
“I don’t think he will,” Jake said warily. “Can’t you just use that thing?”
“Nope.” The police officer took a quick step forward and the mountain lion was knocked off balance. Which gave the second police officer a chance to draw his taser and take the creature down. “That will teach you to be a naughty kitty.”
“Was he like this when you called it in?” the second police officer asked as he went to the mountain lion and checked him over.
“Nope.” Jake scented the air.
“It’s a good thing you got us,” the first officer said.
“I know this might come as a shock…” the second officer began.
“It’s okay, officers, we all know what happened here,” Jake cut off their explanation.
“What happens next?” Lana asked quickly. “Do you carry him out like this?”
“Most of the time when they come around, they shift back into their human forms.” Both police officers looked down at the mountain lion.
“This time it might not be so easy,” Lana told them. “He has the information we need.”
“Information.” The first officer looked at them suspiciously. “What kind of information?”
Lana glanced quickly at Jake who nodded. What did they have to lose?
“My daughter is missing. We believe this man was the last person to see her alive.” Lana pointed to the unconscious lion on the floor.
“Was your daughter reported as a missing person?” the officer asked.
Lana’s jaw tightened and she clasped her hands together in front of her body. “I tried. But since she was twenty-two and left of her own accord…”
“Lana’s been searching for her ever since. And today was her first lead. We believe this man hurt her.” Jake didn’t look at Lana as he added, “We don’t know if he killed her.”
The second officer took in a deep breath. “We’ll try to get him to shift. If not, we’ll call in backup.”
“Wait.” The first officer held up his hand. “I’m Officer Hargreaves. This is my partner, Officer Waits.”
“Jake Harrison.” Jake nodded.
“Lana Ross. And there is also a mother and child in the bedroom, Amber Jefferson and her daughter, Charlotte.” Lana fought to compose herself, but her voice shook as she explained, “This man is named Lenny. We knew him as Elliot. He came here for his child.”
“Is Amber his mate?” Officer Hargreaves asked.
“No, we believe he just wants his child. Amber is the mother of his child.” Lana lowered her voice and stepped forward. “Until ten minutes ago, Amber had no idea shifters existed. I think she’s coming to terms with the possibility her daughter will be a shifter.”
The two policemen nodded as the mountain lion stirred and flexed his paws. “We might have to taser him again and get backup in. So I suggest you stand back or vacate the room,” Officer Waits said.
“Hold on.” Officer Hargreaves held up his hand. “Do you have a picture of your daughter?”
Lana suddenly became alert, her attention laser-focused on Officer Hargreaves. “Sure?”
She slipped her hand in her pocket and pulled out her phone. With trembling fingers, she scrolled through to her photo gallery and then tapped the screen before turning it toward the police officer.
His breath puffed out of his lungs as he shook his head. “Alice. That’s my Alice.”
“Your Alice?” Jake asked. “She’s your mate?”
Officer Hargreaves nodded, his eyes misted with tears as he took the phone from Lana and looked at it closer. “She has a child.” His finger touched the screen. “She used to cry at night because she said she’d lost her little she-bear and couldn’t find her.”
“Is she okay?” Lana croaked as tears washed down her face.
“Yeah. I keep asking her to marry me, but she keeps turning me down. She says how can she get married when she doesn’t know who she is.” He handed the phone back to Lana.
“And you never connected it to the missing person’s report?” Jake asked.
“No.” He shook his head. “See, she didn’t think she was missing.”
“What?” Lana asked.
“She lived with her aunt on the other side of town when I met her. Her parents died in a car accident a few years back and Alice hit her head. Lost all her memories…” His face paled. “None of that was true?”
“If your Alice and my Kiki are the same person, then no. None of that is true.” The world swam a little in front of Lana and Jake reached out, cradling her against him, willing this to be the breakthrough they needed to finally reunite Kiki with her family.
So they could all move on and heal.
Chapter Twenty-Four – Lana
“What if it’s not her? What if Alice is not Kiki?” Lana stood next to Jake as the car drove toward them. They’d come home, back to Jake’s house, while Officer Harry Hargreaves went home to Alice and suggested a day trip to Bear Creek.
Today was the day of the day trip. Today was the day when they would find out if Alice was definitely Kiki and if she would remember her family at all.
“Then we visit for the day and then we keep looking.” Jake reached out for Lana’s hand and closed his fingers around hers. “But I know it’s her.”
“How do you know?” Lana asked. She half-turned to look at him. “You know something I don’t?”
“All I know is that fate is this crazy thing that holds us all bound together by the threads of our lives. And the threads of our lives have untangled, and this is the last little knot that needs undoing.” He squeezed her hand as the car drew to a stop.
“You mean because Amber and Charlotte are back with their family and are starting a new life together free of fear. And we have found each other, and Harry wants to marry my daughter?” Lana let hope into her heart. The same hope she’d abandoned before she came here to Bear Creek.
“And because Elliot…Lenny, is in jail for assault and attempted kidnapping. If Kiki gets her memories back and can give evidence as to what happened that night, then he will go to prison for a very long time. Although, Harry told me they have linked Lenny to a series of assaults which should keep him incarcerated for a very long time.” A small smile of satisfaction spread across Jake’s face.
“What?” Lana’s eyes narrowed as she studied the man she loved. What a crazy adventure the last couple of days had been. It excited her that this was only the beginning of their life together. But as Harry switched off the engine and the car doors opened, to Lana the present was all that mattered.
“I’m just thinking how everything turned out okay. When it could have gone so very wrong.” He swung his head around and kissed Lana’s cheek.
Lana inhaled deeply. “I’m so nervous.”
“It’ll be fine. I promise.”
“Oh, do you? I thought you never made a promise you couldn’t keep.” Lana’s words were met with an arched eyebrow.
“Ready?” Jake asked as they stepped down off the porch and walked toward the car, where Harry was helping Alice out.
“Kiki.” She kept her voice low but there was no doubt in her mind that the beautiful young woman in front of Lana was her daughter.
“Remember, we have to let her get there on her own,” Jake warned Lana.
“I know.” She nodded but found it impossible to wipe the smile off her face. “I look like the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland.”
Kiki looked up at the sound of Lana’s voice. “M
y aunt told me I was named after Alice in Wonderland. She always thought it was appropriate since I fell down a rabbit hole and left my memories there.” A sad smile passed over her face.
Lana’s heart ached, she wanted to pull her daughter into her arms and hold her close. She longed to tell her everything was going to be okay. But Lana was a stranger to her own daughter. Her hope that when Kiki met the woman who had given birth to her and raised her alone, her memories would come flooding back lay in tatters.
“This is a beautiful place. I didn’t realize you were so close to the mountains.” Harry looked past the house toward the mountains in the distance.
“Maybe we could go and take a run later,” Jake suggested. “It’s such a beautiful day.”
“Isn’t it?” Kiki tilted her head back and raised her face to the sun.
Lana watched. Stared. Jake squeezed her hand to remind her to act natural. “Why don’t you come inside? I’ve made some fresh coffee and cookies. We could maybe go and sit in the back yard.”
This was their plan. All Lana’s hope rested on Kiki recognizing her daughter, who would be playing with the other children next to the barn. Kiki would see Ursula, but Ursula would not see Kiki. Not yet.
“Coffee sounds good.” Kiki looked to Harry for reassurance. “Have I been here before?”
“Do you remember being here before?” Harry asked.
“No, but there is something familiar. A memory keeps brushing against my mind. I’m sure of it, but I can’t grasp it and hold onto it.” Frustration sounded in Kiki’s voice and hope surged in Lana’s heart.
Surely this was a good sign. Perhaps just one more nudge and Kiki might open the barrier between herself and her old memories, her old life, and remember everything.
“Hi, Dad.” Lana forced a smile onto her face as they entered the kitchen where Donald was seated at the table, drinking coffee and reading the local newspaper. Rosemary was by his side, as she had been every waking minute since she’d returned from her vacation. It was Rosemary who reached a hand out to Donald and offered him comfort when his bony hands trembled as he looked at his long-lost granddaughter.
Jake Page 18
