He nodded. “It is of the utmost importance.”
“I will. I promise.”
“And I prefer Abernathy alive, for many reasons. My bounty on him is far more considerable for his delivery to me, alive and in relatively good condition. Understood?”
“Yes.”
He nodded and walked off, his smooth, feline gait unmistakable to her lupine eye.
She left her meeting with him feeling slightly flustered, definitely not an emotion she was used to. So much so that she almost forgot why she’d gone to the lodge in the first place.
After lunch, she took a few moments to walk out to the boardwalk and observe the Old Faithful geyser basin. She took a deep breath as she stared out over the geyser basin. Crisp, cool, pine-scented air, overlain with the odor of brimstone.
A smile curled her lips. And I have the Devil himself chained up in my basement. How apropos.
While her reservation was for the entire long weekend, she had considered leaving early, upon successfully making contact with Ortega Montalvo.
Now that she’d accomplished that, however, she saw no need to rush.
She sat down on one of the benches. Apparently the geyser had blown not too terribly long ago, so she had no company on the boardwalk.
She laid a hand on her belly. A girl. She’d hoped for a girl, and she had no reason to doubt the Seer’s words.
A chance to set right the wrongs of long ago.
Not that she’d ever admit it to Marston, but all Abernathy had to do way back when was either leave her mother in peace, or, better, recognize her as his biological child.
I would have settled for that.
She’d been denied the chance to be raised by her mother. Instead, her brothers had taken over. With an adult’s hindsight, yes, she saw how selfish, self-centered, and vicious the men were.
Still, they’d raised her. They’d taken out a nest of cockatrice who’d wanted to kill her.
She wasn’t so naive she didn’t know part of their plan, besides trying to recoup the ancestral cockatrice power from the dragons, was to use her to get to Rodolfo Abernathy and try to take some—or all—of his personal power and fortune from him.
Still, they’d been her big brothers. They’d paid for her education. Up until just before their plans went to shit, she hadn’t seen them face-to-face in a couple of years, although they had talked by phone fairly often. Once Edgar had settled in Florida, she’d even visited him a couple of times. She knew what their plans were in regards to the dragons.
They’d also never invited her to participate in them, although she had given them her opinion when they shared their plans with her.
She thought they were stupid to try to take on the dragons by themselves. Lenny even more so than Edgar.
Then again, Lenny was an idiot.
She took another breath, her palm still pressed flat against her belly. Would she have Marston’s eyes? Would she be blessedly free of the cockatrice stink?
Would she be able to shift into a wolf?
Will she be happy?
She wasn’t quite ready to turn Abernathy over yet. She still had things to finish setting up. Much of his personal fortune, what she could extract from him, had already been shuffled away into overseas accounts, untouchable.
Before she finally shuffled her jackass of a sperm donor off to the jaguars, she needed to finish amassing her fortune, money that should have been rightfully hers to start with, and a poor restitution for her mother’s murder.
Likewise, she wanted to film him confessing. Confessing to having fathered her, giving her legitimacy amongst his own kind at the same time bringing shame upon himself.
Might not ever be seen by anyone but her and Marston, but she’d enjoy watching it over and over…
And over…
She stood and stretched. Nope, she would stay for the rest of the weekend. When she returned to Maine, she had a shit-ton of things to finish, as well as a baby to prepare for. And, no doubt, Marston would be eager for her return.
There was a mixed bag. She’d never anticipated feeling genuine emotions of love and affection for the wolf. But there it was. In all honesty, her original plan had been to arrange an accident for him once she knew she was pregnant.
Now…
Even if she hadn’t developed feelings for him, it wouldn’t be fair to do that. Not to her little girl.
He might not be the noblest father in the world, but then again, I’m no great catch, either. Still, she deserves to have two parents.
With that thought firmly in her head, she headed back to her cabin. She didn’t make it there, however. As she walked down the driveway circling through the cabin area, she thought the heard the mournful, tiny howling of a young…
Wolf?
Normally, she would have ignored it. Maybe it was her hormones running crazy, but something about the tiny howl sounded heartbreaking and tugged irresistibly at her. She slowed and stopped outside a cabin three down from hers, like hers with several rooms inside one cabin.
Listening carefully, she walked around the back side and stepped up to the door of the room where the howl originated. She knocked on the screen door’s frame.
The howling paused just long enough for the tiny voice to start barking.
“Hello?” Mercedes called out.
More frantic barking, and what sounded like tiny feet scratching against the inside of the door. Mercedes opened the screen door and knocked on the heavy wooden door.
No response except for the little barker.
She tried the knob and it turned. Pushing it open just a crack, a tiny nose tried to shove itself through, the barking now replaced by frantic sniffing.
Mercedes reached down and caught the wolf puppy’s pink harness in her hand, then the leash, as she pushed the door open all the way. “Hey, you. Who left you in here all alone?”
She picked up the puppy, who squirmed, trying to get down. “Hold on, kiddo.” She looked at her closely and realized it was a shifter puppy. A little girl, with brilliant green eyes.
A cold feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. She thought maybe she’d seen this puppy with a triad, two men and a woman. She thought one of the men was human…
Fuck.
The other was a Lyall cousin. Mated to the coyote who…
She let out a laugh as the knowledge clicked into place. “Hello, niece. Or cousin. Or whatever that makes you.”
She wasn’t sure what had happened to the girl’s adult supervision, but even she wasn’t heartless enough to just lock her back in the cabin alone. If she wasn’t mistaken, this was the little girl shifter who’d confounded all the elders by being both able to shift while only a couple of months old, and being born with Down syndrome.
“Well, little girl. Let’s go to the lodge and find someone who belongs to you.”
Mercedes closed the cabin door behind her and took a few wraps of the leash around her hand in case the puppy managed to squirm out of her arms. Hurrying, she returned to the big lodge and was relieved to spot Daniel Blackstone talking with a group of wolves, including Jocko Connelly.
She walked up to them. “Um, excuse me, I hate to interrupt, but I think this is important.”
Everyone swiveled to look at her. One of the men turned out to be one of the Lyalls, but she wasn’t sure which one. His grey eyes narrowed as he reached for the puppy, his manner brooking no hesitation in handing her over to him.
“No offense,” the Lyall said, “but who are you, and what are you doing with BettLynn?”
“I was walking back to my cabin. I heard her howling in a cabin a few down from mine. I checked, and she was alone, the door unlocked. I’m sorry if I just did something breaching some sort of protocol, but she sounded pitiful. I didn’t feel right ignoring her. Especially when I realized she was by herself and how young she is. I’ve never known kids could shift this young.”
Jocko laid a hand on the man’s arm. “Ain, it’s all right. I know her, lad. She’s a wolf.
I invited her to the Gathering.”
The puppy licked at the man’s jaw, but his expression had turned hard and cold. He spoke to Blackestone even as he tucked the puppy close to his chest, both arms protectively wrapped around her. “We have to find Micah, Jim, and Mai right now,” he said.
Everyone except Jocko went racing off in multiple directions. Jocko gave her a grim smile. “Stay close, Mercedes. I’m sure they’ll want to ask ye a few more questions.”
“Is everything okay? I don’t want to make the Maine wolves mad at me.”
“No, ye likely just put them in yer debt.”
Sure enough, less than a minute later, Blackestone and the Lyall man came racing up with two others, a man and a woman. The woman now carried the puppy cradled against her chest.
Mercedes repeated the story for them as more shifters congregated in the lodge’s huge main room.
“Take us back there, please,” Blackestone said.
She quickly led the group, now comprised of over twenty shifters, back to the cabin. Mai, who did in fact turn out to be the puppy’s mother, looked frantic.
“Jim was bringing her back here to feed her and put her down for a nap. He would never leave her by herself. Never!”
Blackestone pointed to one of the communal bathrooms that some of the cabins without toilets and showers had to share. “Go search them. Maybe he went over there.”
“We have a bathroom in our room,” Micah growled. “Something happened.”
They kept Mai back as the men searched the cabin.
“I’m sorry,” Mercedes said, not knowing what else to say to the frantic mother.
“Did you see anything? Anyone around the cabin?” Mai asked her.
She shook her head. “I didn’t realize she was a shifter puppy, at first. How old is she?”
“Barely four months,” she softly said. “No one knows why she can shift. The only thing anyone can think of is that she shifts to mitigate aspects of her Down syndrome.”
“Wow.”
The men emerged from the cabin, looking grim. “Nothing. Someone get Brodey. We’ll need his tracking skills.” One of the men ran back toward the main lodge.
“Do you think it was one of Abernathy’s men?” Mai asked Blackestone.
“Doubtful.” But his expression told Mercedes the possibility had already crossed his mind.
She struggled not to crack a smile at that. She couldn’t admit what she knew in that regard. “I can track,” she offered before thinking about it. Something in the forlorn look on the young mother’s face ripped at her. She placed a hand on her own belly and knew she couldn’t just turn her back on them. She had no beef with any of the Maine wolves.
And especially since she knew Mai’s baby was Paul Abernathy’s biological child.
She couldn’t in good conscience stand by and not do something to help them.
Blackestone gave her a look filled with uncertainty. She sensed what he was about to say. “I’m not so pregnant I can’t help,” she told him. “Let me help find him. Tracking is something I’m good at.”
He nodded. “We’ll definitely need the help. Thank you.” He turned to one of the other men. “Get Jan, Rick, Kael, any of the other dragons who can fly. We can use them for air support.”
“I’ll get ready,” Mercedes said. She jogged back to her own cabin, grabbed her backpack, which she could wear shifted because it also had a waist strap, and changed into shorts and a T-shirt. After considering it for a second, she added a survival knife she’d brought in her checked luggage.
As a cockatrice, she could fight with claws as formidable as any grizzly bear. But she sure didn’t want to shift into that form around these people. Not when Jocko had helped her, as had Lacey.
Barefoot, she returned to the other cabin where Brodey Lyall had just arrived. Mai had apparently been sent back to the main lodge for her safety, because she wasn’t there. Brodey Lyall was quickly stripping and shoving his clothes at his mate, Elain.
“Why can’t I help track, too?” Elain asked.
“Because,” Ain told her as he looked on, “you’ve never tracked before. I need you here, helping with security.” He turned and placed his hands on his shoulders. “Please, don’t make me edict you. We really do need you here.”
She frowned as she stared up at him. “You’re not just saying that because you want me to stay here and safe, are you? Jim’s family. I want to help.”
He glanced around and lowered his voice. “Paul Abernathy,” he whispered to her.
Mercedes watched as Elain’s face reddened. “You saying I’m dangerous?”
“Yes. In the good way. I know if anyone tries to hurt the others and you’re here, you’ll stop them.”
The younger wolf swallowed hard, but nodded.
He pulled her in for a hug that made Mercedes briefly long to have Marston there with her.
“Thanks, babe.” He nuzzled Elain’s hair briefly before releasing her. “You take Mai back to the main lodge and stay there with her and the babies.”
Callie came running up. “What are we doing?” she asked Blackestone.
He pointed at Elain. “You and Elain are staying at the lodge with the others. Guard the babies and Mai. The rest of us are going to look for Jim.”
Callie’s jaw dropped. “You can’t be serious, Sir!”
“I am. Lina’s following us with Ain and others. Having you and Elain here is like having five or more regular shifters.” His gaze narrowed. “You will stay here and guard them.”
Mercedes heard the edict in his voice. “Yes, Sir,” Callie said. Elain slung an arm around her shoulders, and together they headed for the lodge.
Brodey Lyall was completely naked. “I’m going to start. Catch up with me.” He shifted and started sniffing around.
Blackestone and Micah Donovan started stripping. “We’ll be right on your heels,” Blackestone said. He looked at Mercedes. “You want front or back line?”
“My guess is whoever did it, they came in two cars.” She held up her rental keys. “I’ll suss it out here, and catch up with you on four wheels. I’m fast, but not as fast as a car.”
He nodded. “Good plan.” He laid his clothes on the stoop and shifted, as did Micah Donovan. Brodey was the first one to take off down the driveway, the other two in pursuit.
“He smells a car,” Ain said. “Looks like you were right. I need to go wrangle the others.” Ain, Lina, and the other shifters bolted for the lodge to gather more searchers.
Mercedes quickly stripped, stuffed her keys and clothes into the backpack, and put it on, tightly cinching the waist strap. Then she shifted and began sniffing.
As she suspected, she detected the distinct, albeit faint, odor of cockatrice near the cabin. She was about to follow the scent into the woods when Callie came running up to her, an envelope in her hand.
“Did everyone leave already?”
Mercedes shifted back. “Yeah. Why?”
“Dammit.” Her face hardened. “The bastards left a note back at the lodge. No one saw who did it. It’s the cockatrice. They’re demanding we turn over Kitty in exchange for Jim.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Callie knew she couldn’t dawdle. She didn’t care who saw her as she popped back to the main parking lot outside the lodge and found Ain and Lina rounding up shifters.
“You have to see this,” she said, handing it over to Ain. “Cockatrice.”
Kitty and Wally ran up as Ain was reading the note, Lina reading it over his shoulder.
Both of them looked grim as they stared at Kitty.
“What?” Kitty asked.
Ain handed it to her rather than say it aloud.
“Those goddamn fuckers,” she growled, passing the note to Wally. “We need to find Blackie and tell him.” Wally passed the note back to Ain after they finished with it.
“He already headed off with Brodey and Micah and the others,” Callie told her.
“Okay,” Ain said. “We’ll catc
h up with him. Wally, you find Oscar and Doug. The three of you stay here for now at the lodge. Ask Wyatt Belaforte to stay with you, too. The rest of us will take vehicles.” He turned to Lina. “Or would you rather…you know. Do your thing.”
The goddess shook her head. “I’m so upset and angry right now I don’t trust myself not to blow up the whole damn park in the process. I’ll ride with you.”
Everyone bolted for several vehicles. Ain turned to Callie. “Thanks, Callie. Blackie’s right. I feel better with you being here, too.”
She nodded and watched them peel out of the parking lot before heading back inside the lodge, Wally following her, on his cell phone and trying to contact the alligator and two big cat shifters despite the wonky cell reception in the park.
Elain sat on a sofa, comforting Mai, who held on to BettLynn’s leash. The puppy was curled up on the comforter, between the Beasts, who looked like they were about to fall asleep again.
Zack, also standing watch, looked morose. Callie walked over to his side. “They’ll get him back,” she softly said, mindful of Mai sitting just a few yards away.
“What was in the envelope?” he asked.
She grabbed his arm and gently steered him out of the lodge and onto the porch, where she sat him down and told him.
“Fuck.” He rested his head in his hands. “Those goddamned bastards are like cockroaches.”
“Don’t worry.”
“You did not just say that.”
“I did.” She squeezed his arm. “I have faith. And I have a good feeling about this.”
“I’m glad you do.”
She walked back into the lodge. He returned a little while later, but paced, miserable, until he finally stepped outside again. Callie went to the windows to make sure he was okay and saw he’d sat down on the lodge porch steps.
At least he was safe there.
After an hour with no word, she went out to check on him. She plopped down on the stoop next to Zack, on his right. “Hey.”
He nodded. “Hey.”
“You all right?”
He looked off into the distance, over the geyser basin. “Other than feeling pretty damn helpless and worried to death, sure. I’m just fucking peachy.”