Moonlit Feathers (10 page)

The door had been broken open, but the lock was still intact, so she hadn't even locked the door when the attacker had come inside. I ran my hand through my hair, self-loathing washing over me like an ice bath. Inside, it looked like a bomb had gone off in the entryway and living room. She wasn't a big girl, so I couldn't imagine how she'd been able to fend off her kidnapper for so long.

I found myself trying to get a whiff of her scent lingering in the air. A few strands of her hair, a small blood splatter, and an indentation on the wall told me that she’d defended herself despite everything. My coyote gave a small grin, which I let out to play on my lips. The trivial amount of blood meant that she was most likely alive. Arterial blood sprays were the same regardless of the prey, and they were rarely contained in small areas. No rich, deep bloody scents filled in the air. Instead it was awash with sweat and testosterone. My nose was assaulted by a barrage of unfamiliar smells, but I could pick out a few things that surprised me. One, whoever had been here had been afraid. Their anxiety was obvious in their sweat, which carried an acrid tinge of desperation. Secondly, there was the smell of someone who lingered around magic, and that slight sharpness of tin that older warehouses carried with them. I took a gander around the place and headed for the obvious target, her notes.

People rarely got kidnapped 'just because.' There was always a reason. Usually, someone the victim once worked or socialized with was involved in some fashion. While I hated violating her workspace, it was one of the better clues I had right now. My coyote wasn’t too happy about it, either. His nose was turned away from the entire process, as if he was trying to avoid a future conflict.
Suit yourself. I don't have that luxury
. Her notes on the job at hand were the same as what she’d shared with me earlier, with a few details added in. None of it seemed a strong enough motive for kidnapping.

Taking in my surroundings, I turned my gaze toward the next obvious target—her computer. I wasn't familiar with all the latest and greatest in software, but the basics were the same. My skills would do, because the other option was just unacceptable. I stopped myself in the moment and realized what I was feeling. My coyote had noticed it too. I wasn't just helping someone I was interested in anymore. Instead, my intentions were those of someone protecting a person they cared about.

With a long shrug, I powered on the computer, ignoring the sense that I was violating yet another aspect of her privacy. If it would help me find her, it didn't matter. The computer had password protection enabled, and I sighed. All computers had their weaknesses, and I knew a few of them, a side benefit of playing pranks on others in the tribe. I rebooted it, and waiting patiently for a moment before I switched to booting from a secondary partition, intended for backups. A few key presses in the right place gave me a command-line terminal to the computer. There’s no need for a password if what you load has none. Within a few minutes, I had complete access to her hard drive, and her files.

It didn't take long to find her e-mails. Sorting them by most recent, I started to go through the ones that stood out, and the ones she’d replied to. Nothing seemed to be relevant, until I reached an e-mail from a ‘Mr. McGuire.’ After reading it, the gears in my head began to turn. What was going on here?

Chapter Seventeen

Morgana

My jaw ached from being overpowered by the man who’d attacked me. I hadn't had a chance to see his face, and all I could smell from him was desperation and some kind of musky cologne. I jerked, trying to move my arms, but it was no use—someone who knew what they were doing had tied them behind my back. A silky cloth covered my eyes. It seemed as if someone had gone to a BDSM store to purchase the tools to keep me bound and blindfolded.

I cocked my head to the side, relying on my remaining senses to examine my surroundings. To my right, something smelled sweetly metallic—the scent of blood, easy to detect, especially as a Raven shifter. I'd hunted enough to know it well. While my mundane brethren were omnivorous carrion-eaters, Raven shifters were carnivores, due to the extra energy needed to shift from human form to raven.

Drip, drip, drip.
The sound came from my left, breaking through my thoughts, and I honed in it. I had to figure out where I was, using any clues I could. No obvious scent came from that direction. Could it be water? The loud plops came in a steady pattern, a few seconds between each drip.

My nerves frayed at the edges like rope coming undone, and I squirmed against my bindings, doing my best to break free. If that sound was water, it could be someone trying to clean up the blood before he left the scene. He'd probably use me for his purposes and kill me as well.
Danger.
If I didn't get out of here, I might be lying in my own pool of blood soon.

"Ah shit, it's still not coming clean. This is what I get for hiring slobs." The man's voice raised in pitch a little, belying his bravado, laying out his fear for my sensitive ears. "Stop moving around so much, girlie. Don't think I've forgotten about you, especially not after you've disrespected me." His voice deepened, and the fear disappeared, replaced by anger. "Wipe that smug look off your face, before I do it for you." He stomped in my direction.

I quickly adjusted my expression, even though it was hard. Maybe I was crazy for finding this whole situation funny, but if I didn't laugh, I’d just curl into a ball and cry uncontrollably. The smile crept back onto my lips. I tried to force it into a neutral frown, but I wasn't quick enough. The blow to my face knocked me off-balance, throwing me hard to the ground, and I lay there gasping in pain at the force behind his punch. He was human, but more than that...a wizard.
Ugh.
I could tell by the tangy scent of magic that clung to him. Plus, he was pretty damn strong.

"What do you want?" I growled between gritted teeth, hoping they were all still in my head after the blow. I remained where I was, more out of fear that he'd knock me back down than anything. My agility was beyond most, so I knew I'd be able to get up, even with my hands and arms tied behind my back as they were.

"Now you're interested." He didn't sound much older than I was, which meant he could've been a college grad with dreams far beyond his grasp. But how would he have gotten my information? "I would've thought our previous emails would strike your fancy, but I guess not. You know what to look for to get me out of my current mess. You'll give me what I've always hoped for, or you'll die trying."

Even as he spoke, I tried to remember the voice from the phone call earlier. This had to be James McGuire. Shivers of fear trailed along my spine like a cool fingertip. "If I'm going to find anything for you, you'll need to give me more information than this." I had a feeling I knew what he wanted.

"You're right. Coming to your senses. Good, I'm glad. I wouldn't want to hurt you any further than you've already forced me to." After a moment, the dripping water increased to a full-on spray.

The faint trickling sound of a small stream of water ran toward me, and I sat up, sliding away from it. The closer it got, the more I could smell the blood lacing it. I bit my lip to hold in my discomfort at the thought of sitting in someone else's blood.

The man's musky cologne closed in on me again, and I almost jerked away when he pulled both the blindfold and a few strands of hair from my head. He grabbed me by the upper arm and yanked me to my feet with such force that I nearly tripped over my own legs. I couldn’t let myself underestimate him. He was stronger than I’d expected wizards could be, and I had to get over that. "Now, you'll do as I say if you don't want to get hurt."

I glanced down at his other hand and saw a long yellow garden hose traveling back toward the wall of a cabin’s large shed, its walls lined with aluminum siding. Near the path to my left was a chair that he must've set the hose on while he'd gone off somewhere. That explained the dripping sound. My gaze swept to the right, and my heart dropped into the pit of my stomach.

While I'd smelled the sweet coppery scent of blood, I couldn't have imagined this view: a young woman lay on the ground in a pool of her own blood. Her hair color and style, in fact her appearance in general, was the same as mine. I bit my lip hard, but couldn’t suppress a muffled scream.

He punched me again, and this time, I fell to the ground right next to the corpse. My instinct to get out of here and fly away overwhelmed me, until I felt myself beginning to change. If the shift happened, I’d be vulnerable between forms. Wizards had been known to trap shifters before they could finish the change. Looking up at him, I had a feeling that he'd do whatever it took to get what he wanted.

"Just untie me and tell me what you want." My voice trembled a little. From the corner of my eye, I saw a couple of men walking toward us. They’d come out of the cabin’s side door, and they looked just as bulky and strong as the man standing before me.

"I wouldn't be that stupid. I know what you are. You're not going to get away that easily, little bird." He grabbed me by the hair and pulled me into a sitting position, making me moan in pain. "Rudy, she's seen enough. Take her upstairs. Jasper, you're cleaning this up."

I climbed to my feet before Rudy could pull me up like the first guy did. He advanced on me and I backed away a little, keeping just out of reach. "Don't touch me, Rudy. I can walk without your hands on me."

He lunged forward, but I dodged out of the way, sweeping his foot out from under him in the process. He tumbled to the floor with a loud crash, like a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound bag of potatoes.

Jasper sized me up again, as if he'd thought I was just some stupid young girl, and I’d unexpectedly impressed him. "Come on, girl. I won't touch unless you get out of line." He waved a hand out in front of him toward where I was supposed to go. "I'll fill her in and set her free like you want, Mr. McGuire."

I shuddered, anxious to get away from them. Would they actually let me go? Guess there was only one way to find out.

Chapter Eighteen

Morgana

Jasper had been true to his word—he’d told me my job and let me walk out of the cabin—but I felt hollow and empty. The men inside were more powerful than I could fight alone. Hell, just one of them had managed to lay me out flat, so I couldn't even imagine taking them all on. If I wanted to live, and if I wanted those close to me to be safe, I needed to buck up and accept what they wanted. I couldn't really have a relationship with anyone, anyway—my work was too dangerous, and this just went to prove it. I couldn't get involved.

I kept walking until I reached the road, then walked some more. I didn't know where I was, and frankly I didn't care. If someone drove by and hit me with their car, it would've been fine. At least it would put me out of my misery. Life just wasn't pleasant for me, and it never would be. I understood that now.

Sighing, I glanced over at a group of tall trees near the side of the road. I changed direction, my raven feeling the need to spread her wings. I needed that too. Maybe it was finally time for me to gain my taste of freedom. The power that people crave. Maybe I could actually put that into reality. The idea of flying away and leaving all that I knew behind was more tempting than it should've been, but I knew that was just fantasy. I couldn't take off like that. Cody might wonder where I was, if he still cared. But what he needed most from me was to find his family's magical talisman. I’d agreed to help him, so I couldn't just turn my back on him now. However, I knew now that we couldn't be in a relationship, and I truly, truly hated that after we'd gotten so close.

I stripped out of my clothes and left them under the bushes. I didn’t have anything in my pockets, so it wasn't like I really cared if I ever saw that outfit again. My raven form slid over me, and I leapt into the air, shouting out a loud
kraa
as I did so. We flew higher and higher, until we could see the town's lights in the distance. I soared toward them, knowing exactly what I needed to do. My heart wept with emotion, and the closer I got to town, the more unsteady I felt. My body exploded out of raven form, and the ground rushed up to me. I wasn't invincible—I'd die on impact, falling from such a height. Just as I got close enough to see the many cracks in the pavement, my raven form washed over me again in a flurry of feathers. Our feet tapped the ground and we pushed up into the air again, escaping near-death from emotional instability yet again.

I lifted my beak and
krawed,
slamming down the wall around my heart. If I just didn't feel, that would be better than letting myself get hurt like this. But to feel was to be human. If I tried to shut down and keep away from everyone, then I wasn't living, just surviving. Life was too damn complicated.

My home passed beneath me, and I circled to get a look at it, considering going down before I headed into town to take care of something I should've avoided to begin with. To my surprise, Cody was walking out of my front door. He shut it behind him, looking like he had to get it just right for it to fit back on the doorframe properly.

My moment of truth. I didn't want to do this, but it was the right thing to do. The only thing to do. Almost anyone in my position would, yet it felt like it could be the biggest mistake of my life. I didn't want Cody to be the one that got away—or more accurately, the one I really liked but pushed away. But that was how it had to go. I couldn't be responsible for him getting hurt or killed. I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Maybe at that point, I would fly into the sky and just let myself fall.