When the air in the car grew stale, I eased the window down a few inches. Everything remained quiet, inside and out. Bethi and Gabby slept against their Mates while Grey and I kept watch.
The trailer several lots down from where we were parked didn’t look like much. Not the type of place most humans would want to live, anyway. I already knew my Mate wasn’t most humans, though.
Before falling asleep, Gabby confirmed the girl had settled in one spot. I itched to get out and move around. To scent her. To see her again.
I’m glad you found someone, Grey sent me. I never wanted you to be an Elder.
I pulled my attention from her trailer to meet his gaze.
I didn’t want you to give up on a chance for a family. Having one taken from you was enough. I’ve always wanted to see you with cubs of your own one day.
What will the Elders do now?
Grey smiled. There’s still Jim.
I went back to my study of the trailer. Jim seemed an irresponsible goof, but he was more like Grey than anyone gave him credit for. He would do what he needed to do to protect our race. Not many were willing to make that sacrifice.
He’ll be a good Elder if he can be serious long enough to take the oath, I sent back.
Grey chuckled.
Just before dawn, the door to the trailer opened, and the girl stepped out. My chest ached as I watched her close her eyes and take a deep breath. In the dim light, her face was shadowed and harder to see, but she looked okay. No dark bruises or swelling. I hadn’t let myself feel the worry that was there behind my mental wall, and I didn’t let myself feel the relief, either. But I knew both emotions were there.
When she opened her eyes, she set out at a jog in the opposite direction.
I reached for the door handle.
I don’t think that’s a good idea, son, Grey sent me as I watched my Mate disappear down the sidewalk. Then, he spoke softly to Clay.
“Clay, I think we should wake Gabby.”
Clay opened his eyes and gently nudged Gabby, which jostled Bethi.
“Stop moving,” Bethi mumbled.
“The girl just left,” Grey said.
Bethi sat upright and looked around with bloodshot eyes.
“What? Why didn’t you stop her?” she asked, her thinking finally matching mine.
“She looked like she’s just going for a jog,” Grey said.
Bethi nudged Gabby again. “Can you see her?”
Gabby rubbed her eyes and pulled away from Clay.
“Yep. She’s not moving fast. There’s no Urbat around her.”
“Should someone follow her?” I asked Bethi. I didn’t like the girl jogging in this kind of neighborhood.
Bethi chewed her lip as she looked around. “That might not be a bad idea. Not you, though, or Luke. I don’t trust you, and Luke would stand out the way he’s dressed. Are you willing, Clay?”
I looked at the quiet Forlorn’s worn jeans and flannel shirt and knew she was right about him blending better.
He nodded and got out of the car. Gabby and I watched him jog away. He wasn’t Mated, but close enough that I had no concern about his keeping an eye on the girl.
“He’ll stay in contact with me so you can tell him where to go, Gabby,” Grey said.
As Gabby started directing him, Bethi curled up against Luke again.
“I hate sleeping in cars,” she said, closing her eyes. Luke kissed her forehead and wrapped an arm around her.
I didn’t envy their relationship. Luke continued to struggle with how to help with her dreams. Clay and Gabby seemed well adjusted, but I knew he worried about how little rest she got because of our need for her to watch for the Urbat. The lingering fear Michelle still carried, because of Blake, ate at Emmitt. Although Charlene and Thomas had years to adjust to their lives together, I was sure there were still areas that troubled Thomas. What would it be like with one of those gifted women? What struggles or troubles would my Mate have? Would I be able to help her? Would she be able to help me?
The sky began to lighten, and my mind didn’t stop chewing on those thoughts until Grey spoke.
“Clay says fighting seems to be her thing. She stopped to pick a fight with some young men a few blocks away. He’s watching and will intervene if it looks like she needs his help.”
“Yep,” Bethi said. “She’s been a fighter in every life. My skills are because of her.”
A heavy feeling settled over me. A fighter? No. Not in this life. There were enough of us to protect all of them so they wouldn’t need to fight anymore.
Grey glanced at me with a frown.
She took a hit. Clay was about to step in, but she finished the fight and is on her way back. He wants you to know he’s sorry he didn’t step in sooner.
Is she hurt?
He doesn’t think so. She laughed at the one who hit her. But he thinks she’ll have a bruise based on what he saw.
I didn’t blame Clay for not keeping her safe. It should have been me out there. My lack of control last night kept me from her. I wouldn’t make that mistake again.
Less than fifteen minutes later, she jogged into sight. I watched her stop in the junk-filled front yard. She eased her arms over her head, then slowly bent forward, stretching. Just as she was stretching her legs, the front door opened behind her. A man stood in the doorway, watching her. A shiver ran over my skin as I fought back the urge to shift.
With the window partially opened, Grey and I easily heard their conversation.
“Good run?” the man asked.
“The best. I may have convinced a few wannabe thugs to go to school today.” The faint huskiness of her voice made my gut clench.
The sound of the man’s answering laugh as he offered her the cup of coffee he held ruined the feeling.
“So, what will the unemployed do today?” he asked.
“What are you going to do?” she asked instead of answering.
“I have to go clean up.”
“No.”
The man frowned at her panicked reply, and any confusion quickly died with her next words.
“You can’t go back there. Not yet.”
Did she think we would still be there, at the club? I watched her impatiently brush some loose hair back from her sweaty face.
“What choice do I have?” he said. “One of us needs a job.”
She tilted her head to study him. I did the same. Who was he to her?
“I need to show you something.”
As they went inside, Clay opened the back door and got in.
“Good. We need to move now. And we need to be smarter this time,” Bethi said, giving me a flat look.
“I’ll be fine,” I said, refusing to acknowledge I wasn’t.
“You better be. Luke and Clay should go around to the back in case she tries to run again. Gabby and I will go to the door. Carlos and Grey can be close, but out of sight. Talking to us without any of you hulking around will be a lot easier on her.”
Luke started shaking his head.
“I don’t like this. You just told us she’s a fighter, and you want to go knock on her door? We just took stitches out of you. I don’t want to see you with more.”
“Don’t be silly. Did you see her carrying a knife? If she’s going to do anything, she’ll hit us. We’ll be fine.”
I could smell Gabby and Clay’s growing concern.
“We won’t let anything happen to either of you,” Grey said, scenting the same thing.
“Seriously. We’re gambling with time here,” Bethi said, shoving at Luke. “Open the door and get out.”
He grabbed the back of her head and kissed her hard.
“Behave,” he said when he pulled away. Without waiting for her acknowledgement, he opened the door. Grey and I did the same. When I stepped out, the stink of the neighborhood curled around me. Rotten trash and stale smoke. It was perfect camouflage for her scent.
“Remember, her name is Isabelle,” Bethi said, climbing out. “And we want her to like us.”
Isabelle. Her name blanketed me in comfort. I’d forgotten that Bethi knew a lot about her because of her dreams.
Clay and Luke went around the trailer while Gabby and Bethi approached the door. Grey and I hung back and off to the side.
“They’re in place,” Grey said softly.
Bethi nodded and knocked. A minute later, a shadow fell across the smoke-stained diamond of glass that decorated the front door. The girls took a step back as the door opened inward.
I couldn’t see who stood in the opening.
“Hi,” Bethi said. “Is Isabelle—?”
There was a long moment of silence before I heard her.
“Who are you?” she asked.
Bethi moved forward and slapped a hand on the door that had started to close.
“Look, shutting the door in my face won’t answer the questions you must have. How about letting us in so we can talk?”
Gabby nudged Bethi, and I knew I wasn’t the only one who thought Bethi sounded confrontational.
“My name’s Gabby. This is Bethi. We’ve been driving for a week just to find you—”
The door slammed shut so abruptly that Bethi stumbled back with an outraged squeal. Gabby caught her and looked at us.
“She’s running,” she said loud enough for Clay and Luke to hear.
I took a step but Grey stopped me.
“Wait. They might try to come back out the front after they see Clay and Luke.”
Bethi straightened and stepped off the front step, picking her away through the trash littered yard to go around the side of the trailer. Gabby followed her.
From around the back, I could hear Luke.
“We just want to talk,” he said.
“No,” the girl answered.
A soft thud reached us.
“She hit Luke,” Grey said softly.
“Stop!” Bethi yelled.
Several more thuds followed, then a pained grunt.
“She’s still hitting Luke,” Grey said, beside me.
“Clay, don’t laugh,” Gabby said. “Help him.”
I glanced at Grey.
“You know they won’t hit her. They’ll be careful.”
“Ethan, run,” Isabelle said. I frowned, wanting to move to where we could see. Grey didn’t move though, so neither did I.
The hitting stopped.
“Isabelle, enough,” Bethi said. “You’re only going to hurt yourself.”
“I don’t think so.” Isabelle’s voice sounded cold and angry.
Grey took a step forward then hesitated.
“What is it?” I asked, ready to move.
“She’s doing something to them. Bethi wants us to stay here. She’s telling Luke they’ll be okay. Luke says they are all on the ground, that it felt like he’d been drained of everything, even the will to stay standing. He and Clay can’t move. Isabelle is helping her friend to his feet. Whatever she’s done affected him too. He can barely walk.”
Grey watched the side of the trailer.
“She’s bringing her human this way.” He stepped back so he was behind me. “She’ll feel the pull. Maybe it will distract her.”
It hadn’t last night. Then again, I’d been in my fur. A scary first meeting for a human. Frowning, I loosely tucked my hands into my pockets, trying for unintimidating. Even without my fur, I doubted I would pull that off. Michelle, Emmitt’s Mate, had once compared me to a bear. I was close. Big and brown with brown eyes. I was much cleaner, though.
Isabelle’s voice came from around the trailer.
“Come on. Do you have your keys?”
There were a few shuffling sounds beside the trailer and then I saw her. Light bruising colored her cheek where the man had hit her last night, and the skin around one eye looked a little red. Instead of resting and recovering, she was half-dragging a human male. He didn’t look like her; although I’d seen families where siblings looked nothing alike. Something about the way they held each other set my teeth on edge, and in my gut, I knew they weren’t family. Jealousy built behind my wall.
She saw me and hesitated. The way her eyes skimmed over my arms, shoulders, and neck felt like a caress. She glanced at Grey uncertainly before meeting my gaze. I pointedly looked at the hand she held, and she stepped protectively in front of the man. I didn’t like it.
“Isabelle,” I said, “let the boy go.”
“Ethan,” she said without taking her gaze from mine, “this time listen.”
She released his hand and gave him a nudge before running at me. My heart thudded in anticipation. It was crazy to want her to hit me, but I would willingly take any form of contact. Instead of lifting her arms, she agilely dropped to the ground and with a twist of her leg, hooked the back of my knee and brought me down. She used her momentum to lift herself up again, moving and twisting like a cat.
With my fingers braced on the dry grass, I paused in my three-point stance and breathed in her wood and salt scent. It brought me back to that time I was in the burrow under the tree, my tears wetting my fur. It was a scent that reminded me of my family. Good and bad.
She twisted away from me and grabbed a piece of metal to swing at my head. Her fight enlivened and amused me. I turned, caught her wrist, and tugged her forward. Imbalanced, she landed on my knee.
The man she’d told to run tried to step forward, but the rest of the group had joined us and Luke set a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Good. I didn’t want him to distract her.
The copper tang of her blood clouded her scent as her gaze locked with mine.
“You’re bleeding,” I said.
Confusion flooded her scent. I set my free hand on her waist and stood, helping her up. She swung out with her left arm, and I caught that wrist too.
Her gaze narrowed, and she breathed in deeply.
She’s doing it again, Grey sent me.
I frowned and watched the growing anger on her face as she continued to breathe in and out in a steady rhythm.
With a quick twist, she freed her right hand. Then she stomped on my foot. I flinched and waited for what she’d try next. She didn’t leave me waiting long. She pulled her other hand free and hit me. I tried to move with the blow, to soften the impact, but still felt her wrist crunch. When she took another swing, I blocked it with an open palm then gently curled my fingers around hers. She pulled back and tried again.
I knew she wanted to hit me, but she was human and too fragile for that kind of play. So I blocked her strikes and moved fluidly to absorb as much of the impact as I could. Her anger slowly began to fade, contentment and even a hint of joy replacing it.
Then she smiled. A small curve to her lips.
Rational thought fled. I caught her next swing and pulled her toward me. Pressed against my chest, her breath warmed my skin through my shirt. Too much temptation. I wrapped my arms around her and buried my nose in the curve of her neck. With a deep inhale, I pulled her scent in. Need coursed through me. It took everything to control what I felt behind that wall, to control what I wanted to do about it.
Her sweet curves begged exploration. Before I could loosen my hold and slide a hand down her waist, her steely fingers clamped down on my ear and pulled hard.
Shocked, I did nothing as she slipped out of my arms. Our gazes locked for half a second. Then, she slapped me. The sting didn’t bother me. The fresh scent of blood and the cool wetness on my skin, did.
Slowly, I reached up to touch my cheek. I stared at the blood on my fingers. Her blood. She’d hurt herself because of me.
She started to back away.
I’d made my Mate bleed. Although the anger I felt stayed behind the wall, the control on my shift began to slip. Tremors shook my arms as I continued to stare at my Mate’s blood.
Beside me, Grey sighed.
“Carlos…” he said.
I looked up at her when she took another step back. The hand at her side dripped with blood.
“Isabelle, stop,” Bethi said.
Isabelle rolled her shoulders and glowered at me.
“Isabelle, I promise, we’re not here to hurt you,” Bethi said.
“The world is full of promises waiting to be broken,” Isabelle said.
“The more you pull, the tighter you feel on the inside,” Bethi said. I saw the shock on Isabelle’s face before she masked it and turned to face Bethi.
“Fighting helps.” Bethi stepped closer. “But if you pull too much in, your nose starts to bleed.”
Panic pierced the scent of Isabelle’s anger.
“No.” Her denial echoed off the houses.
She breathed deeply, and I watch Bethi, Gabby, Luke, and Clay collapse. Beside me, Grey slowly fell to one knee. She was doing this. My Mate. Whatever her ability, it could bring anyone to their knees. Anyone but me and perhaps her human, who was slowly walking toward the car. Each step looked harder than the last.
Bethi says she’ll hurt herself. You need to let her go, Grey sent me. The message felt strained.
I stepped toward Isabelle and lifted my hand.
She breathed in again.
“Stop… Isabelle… you’ll hurt…” Bethi’s head hit the dead grass, and her eyes rolled back.
Bethi had tried to warn her not to continue to use her power, but she wasn’t listening. I gently touched Isabelle’s cheek, then wiped the blood from her upper lip. She jerked back from my touch and saw the blood. She sniffled, her eyes growing wide.
Hating that I’d failed her again, I stepped aside and went to pick up Bethi. When Isabelle had been in the back of the trailer, Grey had been fine. I hoped that moving Bethi away from Isabelle would help. I needed her awake to tell us what we needed to do next because her first plan hadn’t gone well.
Isabelle hadn’t listened to a word.