by Maia Starr
“Since the kidnappings started?” Tiffany asked with a raised brow.
Amanda chuckled nervously and scratched her head. “Uh, yeah, about that...you wouldn’t believe how many people are scared off because of those rumors.”
“So they are just rumors?” Tiffany asked, her gaze drifting over the rustic curtains that remained drawn back, allowing squares of natural light to pour in and brighten the room.
“Well, sort of. There have been kidnappings before, but not as much as the rumors may suggest,” Amanda said, motioning for Tiffany to follow her behind the counter. Tiffany smiled to herself. I knew it. “But there haven’t been any recently, so there’s nothing for you to worry about?”
“I don’t worry over rumors, Amanda,” Tiffany said, stopping next to her new boss and gazing into the kitchen beyond.
“And that’s where the other half of the magic happens! We have a cook, but he often disappears on me when he isn’t getting orders.” Squinting into the back, Amanda cupped her hands around her mouth. “Hello? Edward? You back there?”
After a moment of rustling from what sounded like pans and stacks of papers, a large burly man in a chef’s outfit stepped out from a nook in the kitchen. The man was wide and almost too tall not to hit his head on something. Tiffany was in disbelief at how nimbly the man squeezed through the narrow passages and trotted up to the counter. He leaned down to peer through, allowing Tiffany to get a whiff of his musty aroma.
“What's up, chief?” Edward said.
“Just wanted you to say hi to our new coworker! Tiff, this is Edward. Edward, this is Tiff.” Amanda said as she motioned to Tiffany.
Yet Tiffany was barely paying attention as Edward’s smell began to overwhelm her senses, forcing her to turn away and wrinkle her nose. “Ah, sorry! But why do you smell like a grizzly bear?” she asked.
Edward shrugged while Amanda laughed at Tiffany’s comment. “Bold of you to point out, Tiff! Are you always so blunt?”
“Occasionally,” she said as she pinched her nose.
“You get used to the smell,” Amanda said. Edward nodded his agreement as if it were natural to smell like a bear.
“You wouldn’t happen to be one of those shapeshifters Salem’s rumors speak about, right?” Tiffany asked jokingly to lighten the mood.
Edward, still as a statue, blinked dully at her. “No…”
“Interested in those rumors too, huh?” Amanda said, spinning back to face Tiffany fully. “Yeah, there’s been a lot of talk of werewolves and the like lately, hasn’t there?” Amanda raised her hand, counting off from her fingers as she called out the different types. “People who can morph into bears. People who can morph into wolves. People who can morph into dragons...yeah, we’ve got all kinds here apparently. Not that I’ve ever seen someone suddenly shapeshift into an animal. Have you seen any, Edward?”
Shrugging, Edward turned and walked away. “If it’s all good with you two, I’m going to resume my nap. Wake me up when we get a customer, Amanda.”
Amanda laughed as she watched the burly man vanish into his nook. “Man, I love that guy. A man of few words.”
But Tiffany wasn’t listening as her thoughts drifted away once again, something that had been happening a lot recently. The rumors weren’t true, obviously, yet a part of her began to imagine what it would be like to meet a shapeshifter. Maybe a wolf would prowl up to her one night and shift to reveal a gorgeous man beneath all the fur. Or maybe a dragon would swoop down from the sky and change into a young guy with rippling muscles and a heart-stopping smile, picking her up to go to wherever he called home for some fun. She sighed at the fantasies beginning to take root in her mind. As if anything like that would ever happen. Still, it was fun to imagine.
“So you’re interested in shifters, are you?” a croaking voice said behind her.
Stunned, Tiffany spun to lock eyes with one of the elderly men playing cards at the counter. One watched her with a grin; the other continued to play their card game as if the other hadn’t stopped.
“Um, well, sort of. It’s a fun thought if we’re speaking honestly,” Tiffany replied.
Amanda clamped a hand down on Tiffany’s shoulder, threw up a thumb, and winked. “I know exactly what you mean.”
Tiffany’s cheeks burned red as she turned back to the elderly man. “Who started those rumors anyway?” she asked impatiently. “I mean it’s certainly one way to curb tourism if people think werewolves and dragons are kidnapping innocent women.”
“They aren’t just rumors, my dear,” the old man said, laying his cards down on the counter. The other tried reaching across to take a peek at the first’s cards, but the first old man slapped the second’s hand away. “There are real shapeshifters in this town. They’re everywhere, always on the prowl. I’ve seen more than one shift right in front of my eyes.”
“Please,” Tiffany said.
“It’s true, I tell you!” the old man said. “I swear there’s a group of bear shifters in the woods to the north of here. Wolves to the south. I’ve seen them with my own eyes, girl. And the kidnappings, I’ve seen them happen too, though no one believes a word out of an old coot like me…”
“Especially with no evidence, Barny,” Amanda said, shaking her head. “It’s like you’re the boy who cried wolf, except there ain’t no wolf at all.”
Barny scowled and muttered something under his breath, picking his cards and slapping his friend’s hand away again. Tiffany mimicked Barny’s scowl, unable to shake the unease that rode Barny’s words.
Turning back to Tiffany, Amanda winked. “Don’t let Barny get you riled up. He’s a regular here and has all sorts of tales in that supposed wisdom of his. The police have never found any evidence of Barny’s stories.” Suddenly she clapped her hands together. “Now, enough about Herbert’s; don’t you want to go see your new house? I’ve got the keys to the place myself since I used to live there. Come on, let’s go! I can show you everything you need to know about the place, yeah?”
Taking Tiffany’s hand, Amanda pulled her away from Barny and his friend. Sighing, Tiffany let Amanda lead her outside and down the street. If there really were any shapeshifter kidnappers in Salem, whatever they truly were, then Tiffany simply hoped they weren’t out to get her too.
Chapter Four
Kyle
“Emily!” Kyle called as he jogged to catch up to the woman. She had been ignoring him ever since they both left the clearing where Kyle was named alpha. “Emily, wait! Damn you; I said wait!” When that didn’t work, Kyle puffed up his chest and stopped in front of her. Her eyes glittered something fierce, and the five-year-old hid behind his mother’s legs, a terrified look etched into his boyish features...into Alexander’s features.
Kyle grimaced and clenched his fists. “I’m alpha now, Emily. I can’t have you openly defying me like that.”
Emily snorted and skirted Kyle once again, forcing the large man to spin and match her short gait. “I’m going to defy you until the day I die, Kyle. You don’t deserve to lead this whole clan. You aren’t fit.”
“I thought the duel just proved that,” Kyle growled.
“You shifters are all the same,” she continued. “Just because you punched another of your kind means your suddenly our leader? To hell with that!”
“You’ve never complained before,” Kyle said. “If that’s what you have thought all along, then why did you become Alexander’s mate?”
As soon as he uttered Alexander’s name, Kyle knew it had been a mistake. Emily rounded on him, he teeth flashing and her face twisted in ire. It was as if she were assaulting him with pure anger. A shiver crept up his spine. “Don’t speak his name, you jerk! Alex is dead because of you...so don’t you dare ever talk to me about him. You don’t have a right to. He was the alpha! Not you, and yet now you’re trying to act like you are?” The five-year-old jerked at his mother’s outburst, clinging to his mother’s dress even harder than before. Kyle could see the kid trembling under the pressure of
this argument.
Fury enveloped Kyle, as well as sorrow and remorse, adding a strange twist to his voice. “I’ve told you before, Emily. I’m sorry for what happened. Alex was my best friend...if I could have prevented his death, I would have.”
“But you didn’t, because you were too drunk like always.” Emily was on the verge of tears now, her eyes glistening as she picked up her pace through the forest path they both walked on. “Those wolves mauled Alex, and they would have killed you too! Yet he saved you, didn’t he? Rolled you under some mossy log, led the wolves away from you.” Now Emily was breaking down, her expression loose and damp. Forced to stop on the path, Emily remained crying, rocking her one year old and seeming to forget Kyle was even next to her. Silently watching her, Kyle’s guilt boiled to the surface, as did the memories of that fatal night.
It was true; Kyle had been plastered, so out of his mind that, just like most nights, Alexander had come to make sure Kyle didn’t wander off and drown in a river while he was out of it. It had been just like any other night...except Alexander had heard something, said something to Kyle. And that’s when everything went black. The next thing Kyle knew, he was waking up under a log, clawing his way out only to see a trail of blood on the forest floor. The first thing he heard was Emily’s wailing. Following the sounds of her grief, he came upon the spot Alexander had died, his lifeless corpse an image etched into his memory forever more.
It had been a year since then, and Kyle had done everything in his power to live up to Alexander’s memory. He stopped drinking, until his insanity began to seep in after being unable to find a mate; those beer cans and bottles became his new best friends, replacing the hole Alexander had left.
And now? Now, Kyle was the alpha, a role that had been left vacant a month prior after a renegade pack of wolf shifters murdered the Woodland Bear Clan’s leader, just like they had done to Alexander. Yet he didn’t truly feel like an alpha just yet.
Through Emily’s crying, her nose sniffed. “You reek of alcohol…you drank before the duel, didn’t you? Do you even care about trying to change? What happens if you, our glorious alpha, falls unconscious when other shifters try to attack us? What then? Will you be proud of yourself? Will Alexander be proud of you?”
Kyle’s gaze darkened and he swung his eyes to the forest floor as his thoughts raced. “What do you want me to do, Emily? How do I regain your trust? If Alexander isn’t here, then you’re under my wing, but I can’t protect you or help you if you’re unwilling to let me.”
Emily opened her mouth to say something, then closed her lips tight and looked away, her head cocking. She was deep in thought, a trait Kyle had grown to notice over the years. How would Alexander react right now?
“Prove to me…” she muttered.
“What?” Kyle asked.
Taking a deep breath, Emily swung her gaze back to Kyle. “Prove to me you aren’t the same shifter that let my husband die for nothing. Prove to me you really are fit to take my husband’s place in leading this clan. Prove it...in whatever way you can. Then, and only then, will I accept you as our alpha.”
Kyle mused on her suggestion for a moment and then nodded. “How about I hunt down the dogs that killed him?”
“That would do. And stay sober.”
He nodded. “I can do that.”
“Good...now leave me alone, Kyle,” Emily said, resuming her walk. Looking back, she frowned. “And put some damn clothes on. All you shifters are the same, honestly!”
Chapter Five
Tiffany
Amanda took Tiffany to her new house at the edge of town in a clunky, run-down car. The vehicle jutted and groaned when the pair first climbed in, and by the time they had pulled out onto the street, the car had begun a steady clicking noise that rubbed Tiffany the wrong way the entire journey, even if the trip was only a few minutes.
Not long after leaving the very edge of downtown Salem, Amanda pulled onto a side street that saw them drive past several single-storied houses, painted all sorts of colors to stand out against the damp mist. As they pulled by one red house in particular, Tiffany thought she saw a group of wolves loping parallel to their car, each matching their speed, and most of their deadly gazes locked on hers. Stunned, Tiffany shook her head and did a double-take, and the wolves were gone.
“Something the matter?” Amanda said, cutting off her humming to swing her wide-eyed, happy gaze to Tiffany.
“It’s nothing,” Tiffany said, her eyes lingering on the forest beyond her passenger window. It was another minute before Tiffany drew her furrowed look from the window and glanced over at her new boss. “I’m guessing we’re almost there?”
“Almost!” Amanda said. “I’m telling you, this place is beautiful! If you like that nature-ish charm. It’s one-storied, like all the rest you’ve seen, but that just means its cozy! You don’t mind bears wandering in and looking through your trash every once in a while, do you?” Amanda’s lips tightened. “That happens.”
Shrugging was Tiffany’s only response. Bears? They didn’t seem so bad if they just wanted to look through trash...yet Tiffany didn’t want to be picking up in bear’s wake. She began to ponder survival tactics if a grizzly suddenly began knocking on her door. If one were to wander up to her front door… “I’d guess I’d charge it with a broomstick.”
“You’d charge what with a what now?” Amanda asked, sudden horror etched into the woman’s pretty face.
“Ah, sorry, didn’t mean for that to slip through.”
“So you’d be willing to charge a bear?”
“If I absolutely had to, I guess I would.”
Amanda began to tap her other foot on the car floor incessantly. “Is that even what you’re supposed to do when faced with one of those grizzly bears?”
Tiffany smiled. “I’m no expert, Amanda. Just willing to try.”
The next moment, Amanda was turning into a narrow driveway, and Tiffany got the first glimpse of her new home, at least for the time being. Like Amanda had described, it was a one-storied, green-colored wooden house with a brick chimney that jutted up from a triangular roof. Climbing out of the car and getting a closer look, Tiffany noticed a layer of dust on the windows and a number of upturned stones that were supposed to be part of a luxurious path leading up to the front door. It was charming, to be sure, and it really did scream natural to Tiffany. There was just something about it that drew her in, and before she knew it, Tiffany was at the front door, trying the locked doorknob.
“Ah, hold on!” Amanda said, running up behind Tiffany with her hand shoved into her pocket. Pulling out a single key, Tiffany stepped aside to let her boss open the door with a rusty click. “Sorry, forgot to give you the key.”
“No worries,” Tiffany said with a small smile. “This place seems so peaceful...it’s hard to imagine how Salem got wrapped up in those nasty rumors.”
Amanda shrugged and nudged Tiffany through the doorway first, allowing the new woman to plunge right into her home base.
Right away, a waft of the scent of wood carried to her, nearly overpowering her senses. It was also cool inside, with the entryway somehow colder than the slight breezes that often whistled by on the outside. But that didn’t stop Tiffany from trudging further inside, listening to the creak of the floorboards, noticing the dust as she dragged her fingers over hand-carved tables and cabinets. Despite the uncleanliness, Tiffany was already at home, and she spun, twirling in the living room, just beyond the front entryway, and she smiled to herself, and sighed.
She stopped to spy Amanda leaning against the door frame, the woman’s arms crossed. “Not too shabby, huh? I mean, it ain’t perfect, but it’s something—”
“It is perfect,” Tiffany said, taking a few steps forward and crouching down to gaze into the dark fireplace, devoid of logs. “It’s so different from what I used to live in...I feel right at home already.”
“Good! But I should still show you some of the less desirable parts of this place, just so you know what y
ou have to deal with while you’re here.” Motioning with her head, Amanda turned to led Tiffany throughout the house.
Like Amanda had said, the house by no means was perfect. The toilet, for one, often clogged after successive flushes. The guest bedroom’s floorboards were slightly rotted, which bummed Tiffany, as she had planned on turning it into her own little office. The house didn’t come with any pots or pans, meaning if Tiffany wanted to cook, she’d need to go out to the nearest store to buy pretty much everything she needed. In between Amanda’s warnings about the house, her new boss took her on a fun little tour, letting Tiffany’s mind wander while they talked and chatted about all the little details of the house. By the time they walked back to the front door, Tiffany couldn’t stop picturing how much Jack would have loved the place.
“Well, I’m off!” Amanda said, turning to push open the front door, only to swivel on her heel and drop another set of keys into Tiffany’s palm. “Almost forgot! Here’s the key for that old clunker outside. It’s yours now, since you don’t seem to have a car at the moment.”
“Amanda, thank you, but I don’t—”
Holding up her hand, Amanda pretended to scowl, her voice playfully imitating the kind of boss Amanda might have expected from a major corporation. “Not another word! You’ll take the car, and you’ll like it! Understand?”
“Yes, sir!” Tiffany said, playing along.
“Okay, good! Listen, Tiff, the dinner rush will probably start in another hour or so. If you feel up to it, can you start tonight? It’ll be pretty easy work. But, of course, you don't have to. Old Herbert’s can wait another day!”
