Stalked (Rogues Shifter #2) (13 page)

“We have to leave now, but if you can find out what that kid who’s talking to your dad wants, that would be great.”
I suggested.

“He wants to join the pack. I heard him talking to another were about it earlier.”

“Thanks, Bridgett. We’ll see you tomorrow.” Ethan scribbled our address on a napkin and we left. As we were pulling out of the lot, another SUV pulled up and four wolves got out.  Ethan and I were quiet on the ride home.

Chapter Twelve

After arriving back
at the house, we ate and rested, knowing that we had a lot to take care of in a very short amount of time. I fed Samson, then let him out while Ethan put in calls to Rob, Sinc and Kyle to keep them in the loop. Sinc said we’d have a land line in an hour and that she’d bring over the phone when she came to get Ethan. Ethan would be back by dawn when Garrett left for the day. Then Kyle would bring over the new weapon he’d developed around noon tomorrow.

When Garrett arrived at midnight we both sat down with him and told him everything that had happened that day, and also what I’d left out about my weakness after the bowling tournament. He sat silently for a few moments and then asked some questions.

“Did Bridgett’s father seem suspicious?”

“No, but he was hard to read. Bridgett is nervous around him.”

“I’d be really cautious about what you tell her. Don’t trust her just because she seems to be a victim herself. Help her if you can, but don’t get her involved with the Brina situation or any of our team business. Her dad could force her to talk.”

We agreed and then Ethan asked, “Do you know this Angel guy?”

“Yes, he won’t be a problem.” Garrett smiled crookedly. “I’ll have a talk with him.” I raised my eyebrows with a questioning look. “No, I’m not going to threaten him. I just want him to know that I’m watching the situation closely. If he finds Brina and can convince her to return to her family, then that’s fine with me: as long as she gets back safely.”

He looked serious when he turned to Ethan, “I’m not going to tell you how to run your team, Ethan, but I’d stay out of “The Wild” and away from the Brownlow weres as much as possible.”

“He wanted to leave at first.” I defended him.

Ethan shook his head. “It was my decision so I'm the one responsible for putting us both in a dangerous situation.”

“But we met Angel and we got a lot of information.” I crossed my arms and lifted my chin. Garrett must know that we were right to go into the club.

Garre
tt gave me a wry smile, then spoke to Ethan.“Don’t let her sway you against your instincts. Female shifters are extremely persuasive. They can make it very hard to say no.”

“Ya think?” They both laughed at the shared joke and I glared, thinking that this male bonding moment had gone on long enough.

Sinc knocked at the door, which apparently made the moment even funnier—at least to them. She’d parked her car down the road so we hadn’t heard her approach the house. One of Sinc’s strengths was her ability to move silently when she wanted to. Ethan jumped up and opened the door. She was carrying a large shopping bag, which didn’t stop her from jumping on him and kissing him enthusiastically.

"Get a room, guys." I teased as they pulled apart, not embarrassed in the least. Garrett and I were happy for them. They'd both been through some tough crap in their lives and they seemed to balance eac
h other in exactly the way the fae had sung about at their celebration. Garrett and I were more alike, maybe because we were both cheetahs, but Ethan and Sinc could have a great future if they decided to commit to each other.

The bag turned out to contain three landline phones, so Sinc and Ethan put one in my bedroom, one in Ethan’s and one in the kitchen since there were lines already set up in those rooms. We added the number to our cell phone contacts and then Sinc sat d
own with us for a few minutes.

“So tell me about Angel, Jackie. What did he look like? He’s Latino, right? I’ve heard that he’s handsome.” She gave Ethan a wink. Sinc loved to gossip so I told her about our experience with Angel, and what my impressions were. “I hear that Ethan got you out on the dance floor. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that ten minutes.”

“He did? You didn’t mention that to me.” Garrett was smiling, knowing that I really didn’t like dancing much.

“She did very well, for the first lesson.”

“First lesson?  I don’t think we’ll be dancing again anytime soon.”

“Oh I don’t know, I think I’ll just have to keep after you. You’re graceful, you’re a freakin’ cheetah. You can’t help it.”

“Then why do I trip over my own feet?”

“You get nervous. The more you dance, the more confident you’ll be.”

Garrett grinned. “So who’s up for a hunt? I think we could all use a little fun and we probably won’t have a chance to do this again for a while. That is if you’re not too tired from all that dancing…”

I grinned as I playfully pushed Garrett’s shoulder. “Just try and catch me tonight, slowpoke.”

We perked right up at the idea of hunting together. Sinc called Kyle who said that he and his mate Peter would meet us at the usual spot. Garrett put in a call to Rob, who unfortunately couldn’t join us, and then to Lord Caelen so we’d have some fae backup in case Kennett showed up. The four of us drove up into the mountains chatting excitedly. There was nothing like a hunt in animal form to put you back in the game.

I suppose that if a group of humans saw us jump out of the car in the middle of the woods and start to peel off all of our clothes, they’d think they’d stumbled in on some kind of kinky nature orgy. The basic fact was that shapeshifters and werewolves couldn’t shift in their clothing unless they wanted to end up with a pile of ruined shredded clothes and nothing to put on when they transitioned back to human. If we didn’t take the clothes off now, we’d all be driving back in the car stark naked, which would be pretty uncomfortable if we were pulled over by a cop.

The actual shift was excruciating but mercifully quick. We’d done it enough times to know that relaxing into the pain made it happen faster and in the end didn’t deplete your energy the way it did if you fought against the change.

Most of our bones needed to break and reattach and reform
, some gaining or losing mass. Muscles stretched to unbelievable lengths or contracted to accommodate smaller appendages. Erupting with fur and even whiskers, our skin became an inferno of agony and we cried out with mouths that jutted forward and sprouted canines that could rip the throats of our enemies with a single clench of our jaws. Because Garrett and I were able to pull up large amounts of magic we were able to cut our transition time in half, to only about 30 seconds, one of many perks that came with our cheetah status.

The night was mild with a gentle breeze that teased us with the spicy scent of prey: perfect for a hunt and some free time with the team. Ethan’s
handsome cougar prowled past me. He growled, stretched out his long front legs, swished his tail at me and then pounced, leaping gracefully over my head and landing in perfect feline form. He glanced back as if to say
psych
, only to be bowled over by Sinc, whose gorgeous snow leopard had snuck up on him silently. They rubbed their faces together, marking each other with their scents, then took off, bounding happily through the trees.

Kyle and Peter, both in leopard form, waded and fished for trout in the nearby stream, all the while splashing each other and trying to dunk the other one under the water. Peter’s leopard was slightly larger, but Kyle took him down easily when they wrestled on the slippery rocks. After sharing a few fish, they took off for larger game.

Garrett and I had our own hunting style which suited our cheetahs perfectly. We’d find a perch on a large boulder or on the side of a hill, stretch out next to each other and wait for a few minutes, ears alert, scanning with extra sharp eyes and taking in all the scents around us. There was the raccoon digging behind the downed tree trunk, squirrels fighting over territory, the owl diving for the terrified field mouse and so much more. The forest buzzed with magical energy igniting our senses and making our mouths water in anticipation. Still we waited.

Suddenly we were up and stalking silently northwest toward the delicious smell of elk. A young male, outside the herd but not yet bold enough to claim a mate from an older more powerful male, was moving toward more tender grasslands. He wouldn’t complete his journey, but would still serve a useful purpose in nourishing our team and sharing his strength. Unlike humans, we never killed for sport. We ate what we killed, never causing our prey to suffer unnecessarily, and therefore respecting his ultimate gift to us. As the fae would say, this was all part of the Balance that kept the universe whole.

I ran ahead, appearing suddenly in front of him causing him to huff and skid to a stop and then turn around to head off the way he’d come. Garrett was waiting there, so he rose up on his hind legs to protect himself, striking out with his sharp hoofs.  While he was off balance and vulnerable, Garrett leaped onto a nearby boulder and then onto his back, biting down viciously through the flesh on the side of his neck to crush his windpipe, while I tripped him and ripped into his flank, our combined weight bringing him down to the ground. Garrett ended it by bringing on suffocation and finally death.

We both chirred out a signal to the rest of the team, (come and get it cheetah style), but dug into the prime flesh before they arrived. Cheetahs
were built for speed, not fighting which was why we always chose to fight our supernatural enemies in human form. When the three bulkier leopards and the very large cougar came up behind us and growled, we lifted our heads and hissed at them. Hey, we’d done the work, they could just wait their turn.

In the end, sated and content, we all played together in the stream, managing to wash off the worst of the blood and gore. Garrett and I had to be careful because our claws didn’t retract like the other big cats, so when I cuffed Kyle, who kept pushing me under when I was trying to get out of the water, he bled. Peter licked the wound and then nipp
ed him on the neck as if to say,
you had it coming
.

I stretched out next to Garrett on the cool grass along the stream. “
Feel good
?” I asked. Our mind speech was simple in cheetah form but we still managed to communicate.

“Yes, you?”

“Fat lazy”
I chirped and nipped at his jaw
.

“Me?”
He sat up.

“No me”

“Oh, okay then.”
He stretched out again
.

“Funny cat. Bite you.”

“Promise?”
I hissed at him but he moved closer and gently butted my head and licked my face. It was hard to stay annoyed with him.

When we got home from our hunt
,
Garrett got the fire going so we could cuddle together on the couch for the last hour before the coming dawn lightened the sky and sent him home again. He sighed and pulled me against him, leaning his chin on top of my head while I nestled against his chest. I knew what was coming before he started to speak. “Why didn’t you tell me that you felt Kennet’s power again after the bowling alley? You only told me that you were weak from exhaustion.”

I sighed and pushed away from him, leaning back against the arm rest and curling my legs under me. Although our team
's hunting expedition had been amazing, I was still stressed. I had one more day, and then the summer class started and I’d have to be on my guard every minute. I closed my eyes and thought about how to answer him.

“I don’t want you going after him yourself. He could kill you.”

Garrett stayed where he was and spoke softly, letting me know that he took my concerns seriously. “Kennet
is
more powerful than I am. But he’s arrogant and ignorant when it comes to the non fae races. He underestimates us all. If we have proof of a direct attack, then Lord Caelen and his people will take care of Kennet. Jackie, please look at me.” I did, reluctantly. “I promise you that I won’t fight against him alone unless there’s no other choice. Kennet is not Eleanor.”

“But if it’s just you and me somewhere, and he comes for me, you’
ll fight him, and you’ll die.” My expression must have reflected my fear because he reached for my hand to reassure me.

“I would fight him.
But it will never come to that.” His eyes shined with confidence. I so wanted to believe that we had nothing to fear from Kennet.

“Is this all happening because of what I said to him at the meeting in Faerie?”

“This isn’t your fault. We all saw you kill Antoine .You were an avenging angel, mon amour, as magnificent as Jeanne d’Arc.”

I shook my head and turned my mouth down in a frown. “I was bleeding and terrified.”

“You found the strength to keep fighting and to kill him. Kennet saw it all and wants to possess the powerful, beautiful shifter. The Fae love their power games. Levels of magical power are like currency in their culture. The Elders in the Sidhe hold the most power and it’s passed on down their line where possible, but there are several lords and ladies that are always trying to position themselves to step in and overthrow one of the ruling Elders and their family. Kennet is one of them. He sees possessing you as another step toward gaining his goal.”