Betrayed: Days of the Rogue (2 page)

Finally, the lights of civilization
began to glimmer ahead. Only then did he lessen his pace. His sides
heaved as his lungs sought to pull in oxygen to feed his starving
system. Heavy pants escaped his muzzle, his throat was parched and
the need for water was strong. But even more powerful was the pull
of his heart. It ached as if a chunk had been ripped out, the flesh
still quivering and dripping blood.

There was something here that he
needed. It had him veering off the road and trotting towards a
small group of houses, instinctively turning corners, left then
right, then left again.

He paused near the base of a large
tree. It was an unusually still evening for a suburban
neighbourhood; no chirping crickets or distant drone of traffic
broke the almost sepulchre silence. A quick glance about revealed
that the nearby streetlamp was burnt out, and the surrounding
houses were dark as well. It was as if he were the only creature
left on the planet.

Before him a vacant lot was eerily
illuminated by the cool glow of the moon. A few straggly shrubs
graced the perimeter while overgrown grass encircled what had once
been a house, though that was difficult to see given what remained:
bits of twisted metal, a few stalwart struts, the concrete outline
of a basement. Seeing them made his chest tighten but he forced
himself to keep looking. There were the charred remnants of a stove
and fridge, a set of coils from a mattress...

A vision flashed before his eyes. A
young woman laughing as she stood by the stove preparing a meal;
the same woman lying on the bed, her eyes filled with passion. His
heart began to pound heavily and he walked forward, not seeing the
dew that sparkled like diamonds in the moonlight as if nature was
trying to hide the grimness of the scene Step by step he moved
closer to the remains of what had once been a home...his home. His
vision blurred and he blinked, fighting back tears.

Tentatively, he stretched out his
neck and nudged a charred bit of wood with his muzzle. It teetered,
precariously balanced on a cement block. He held his breath, his
gaze fixed on the wooden scrap somehow feeling that the outcome of
its battle with gravity was a reflection of his own life. Even as
he willed it not to fall, it gave in to the inevitable. The chunk
of wood toppled over and struck the ground, crumbling into tiny
splitters surrounded by a small poof of dust, all traces of its
existence forever erased.

He jerked his head back. Memories
assaulted him like shrapnel pummelling his very being. His body
began to shake as mental anguish wracked him.

No.

He didn’t want to remember this,
couldn’t bear to recall what had once been here. This had been his
home, the life he’d been building with his mate and unborn child.
Now, all that had made life worth living lay in the ashes before
him. Had they even found her body?

Throwing back his head, he prepared
to howl his misery only to stop at the sound of an approaching
car.

Headlights cut a swath across the
lot and briefly illuminated him in a blue tinged light. He froze
until the sound of screeching tires had him pivoting on his hind
legs and sprinting across the yard.

“There he is!”

“Stop!” A familiar voice had him
faltering. “Damien, stop!”

“I’ll get him, sir.” Another voice
spoke and was immediately followed by the sound of gun fire.

A bullet ripped into the ground to
his left and Damien jerked aside as bits of dirt and grass exploded
into the air, stinging his flank and spurring him into even faster
movement.

“What the hell did you do that
for?”

“He’s a rogue, Reno. Regulations
state—”

“Fuck regulations!”

Behind him there was more swearing,
the sound of flesh hitting flesh, a grunt of pain, but he didn’t
stop. In survival mode he fled the scene, running down alleyways,
zigzagging through the sleeping town.

Directly ahead of him a train was
blocking his path. It was just leaving the station, barely moving
as the engines strained to pull the heavy load. A cunning, more
human than animal, had him leaping into the open doors of a box car
and crouching in the shadows. As the train began to pick up speed,
he peered out watching the streetlights and houses flash by. There
was a tugging in the region of his heart, a sense of loss and pain,
as if he was leaving something important behind, but he pushed such
thoughts away.

His human half sighed. Tired and
broken, the will to be in control faded. All his life he’d battled
to keep the animal in control but now...now he conceded. Without
regret he allowed his wolf to push to the foreground, and his
humanity subsided into unconsciousness.

Chapter 1

Eighteen months later…

A twig snapped behind her and Eve
spun around, heart pounding, muscles tensed ready to defend
herself. She narrowed her eyes, her gaze darting left to right,
searching among the greyish brown tree trunks for whatever had
caused the twig to break. There was no sign of movement, though. In
fact, the woods were unusually still and silent, only the sound of
her own harsh breathing filling her ears.

She waited a beat before
straightening from the half crouch she’d instinctively gone into.
Blowing out a long slow breath, she wiped her sweaty palms on her
jeans and rolled her tense shoulders. For the last half hour she’d
had the uncomfortable feeling that she was being followed. It was
nonsense, of course, the season being too early and the location
too remote for tourists. The local population wouldn’t be hiking
this area either, since it was private property. No, the chances of
someone being here were slim.

Yet, if that was the case, why were
the hairs on the back of her neck prickling?

She forced herself to think
rationally. There were a number of sensible explanations for her
jitters. The mystery movie she’d watched, the fact that she’d
stayed up too late reading. Things like that could play on a
person’s mind, right?

With one last look around, she
resumed her journey, though her pace was slightly brisker than
normal. An afternoon walk had become a habit this past month, but
this was the first time she’d ever felt nervous about being alone
in the woods.

Maybe it was the sweep of dark
shadows over the land that was making her skittish. It had been
sunny when she’d set out an hour ago but now large clouds raced
across the sky, obscuring the sun while thunder rumbled ominously
in the distance. A cool wind began to blow and she hunched her
shoulders against the chill, keeping her eyes focussed on the path.
Absently, she noted landmarks that told her she still had some
distance to travel before she reached the small fishing cabin she
was renting. Would she make it back before the storm struck?

She picked up her pace even more,
breaking into a slow jog. Pebbles skittered and leaves crunched as
her feet rhythmically pounded down the path. The trail she
habitually followed wound through the trees, but today she took no
notice of the scenic beauty. Unfurling ferns and small spring
flowers held no interest for her. Instead, she anxiously approached
each twist and turn wondering what potential danger hid just beyond
her view.

Were there bears in the area?
Coyotes? Cougars? Strange how she’d never worried about that
before, but it was possible that predators from the nearby Rocky
Mountain wilderness could wander into the foothills. Eve wasn’t
sure if she preferred being stalked by a hungry beast or a human,
but at least she could eliminate one possibility. Pausing to catch
her breath, she braced herself against a tree and reluctantly
stretched out her mind letting “The Gift” free. If another human
was in the area, she’d be able to sense their emotional
presence.

Even as she searched, she assured
herself there was nothing to encounter. She was alone in the woods,
and this would prove it. In fact, she actually began to relax when
no human mind touched hers. See? An overactive imagination was the
source of her fear. No one was out there except…

She frowned. Something wasn’t
right. Emotions were present, but it wasn’t what she’d usually
sense from a person. In fact, the feelings didn’t resemble human
ones at all. They were more primitive, raw and shocking in their
baseness. An instinctive fear of the unknown curled inside her and
she pulled back, mentally closing herself off from the source.

Another twig snapped and she
pressed her spine against the tree trunk, fists clenched, ready to
fight whatever danger was there. The rising wind whipped her hair
across her face and into her eyes. Impatiently, she brushed the
locks aside and scanned the forest, looking for a sign that
something was hiding behind the gnarled trunks. Seconds ticked by
as she searched for even a hint of movement, but everything was
still except for the branches swaying in the now gusting wind.

She licked her lips and swallowed
hard. Vague recollections of news reports were coming to mind;
hikers who’d disappeared without a trace, only to have their
mangled decomposing bodies found months later. The incidents had
occurred several hundred kilometres away so there was no reason to
be thinking along those lines...was there?

A trickle of sweat slipped down the
centre of her back and she twitched her shoulders at the feeling.
Her nervousness was making the hooded sweatshirt she was wearing
feel too warm despite the early spring temperatures. Yet she didn’t
dare pull it over her head and blind herself even for a fraction of
a second.

Dammit, where was this…this…thing
that was following her?

Steeling her nerve, she once again
opened her mind to seek out who—or what—might be present. If she
could pinpoint an exact location, she’d be better able to defend
herself. Forcing her mind to relax, she released the firm control
she always maintained over her sixth sense and let the web of
awareness spread around her. Seeking, testing, searching for subtle
clues…

Oddly enough, she came up empty.
She tried again, pushing the limits of her meagre powers, but there
wasn’t even a wisp of emotion left in the area save her own. How
could that be? There was usually some latent trace, especially if
strong feelings were present.

She rubbed her nose and tried to
think logically. Something had definitely been there, and now
wasn’t. It couldn’t have been an animal she’d been sensing; all her
research on empathic abilities indicated that only human emotions
were accessible. Maybe she’d been mistaken. After all, she was new
to this whole Fae-empathic-mindreading-thing. Perhaps the
approaching storm was causing a glitch in her radar. That could
happen, couldn’t it? Damn, she wished she understood her own powers
better. Not that it was her fault, of course. If no one told you
about something, you could hardly be blamed for your ignorance,
right?

Forcing her tense muscles to relax,
she stepped away from the tree. Cowering was pointless. Lifting her
chin, she made herself stand tall and widened her stance. She’d
continue her walk, but on her own terms.

With one last look around, she
turned only to let out a gasp. Something dropped right in front of
her, and she jumped back barely maintaining her balance. A
scrambling sound had her looking up to find a pair of bright eyes
staring down at her.

A raccoon!

Eve sagged in relief then glared at
the masked assailant.

“Have you been following me?” She
scolded the creature, bending down to pick up the pinecone that it
had lobbed at her.

The animal didn’t answer, of
course, but she did get a vague sense of annoyance emanating from
it. It made a few indistinct muttering sounds before scampering
higher up the tree and disappearing into a hole in the trunk.

“Crazy beast,” she muttered,
tossing the pinecone to the side. “What are you doing up during the
day? Aren’t you supposed to be nocturnal?”

Feeling more at ease, Eve finished
her walk chuckling over how she could have allowed herself to
become spooked by a mere raccoon and an approaching storm.

A bright flash of lightning
followed by a loud crack of thunder accompanied her arrival home,
and she hurried across the small clearing and up the steps, eager
to be inside before the rain started. Envisioning a cup of tea and
curling up in a chair to read while the storm vented its fury, she
reached for the door handle only to freeze in place. Her skin began
to prickle again, and the odd feeling of being watched returned
with a greater intensity than before.

Her heart began to pound as a sense
of danger welled within her. There was something dark and angry,
something filled with rage, just behind her. Somehow she knew if
she turned to look it would be fatal. Sweat sprang up on her skin
and her slippery fingers fumbled with the latch.

As soon as the handle turned, she
yanked the door open and ran inside. Slamming it shut, she slid the
deadbolt into place. She leaned against the wooden surface,
paralyzed with fear as a sense of evil swirled around her, hovered
and then slowly faded leaving her feeling weak and exhausted.

Her knees gave out and she slid to
the floor, resting her head against the door. Brushing her hair
from her face, she willed her heart to stop racing and the queasy
feeling in her stomach to settle. It had to be the storm, the
electricity in the air that was causing these feelings. It was
preposterous to think otherwise. If there was someone out there,
she’d have sensed an actual person. A mischievous raccoon was
nothing to be upset about. She repeated the fact to herself several
times, willing herself to believe it.

When her heart finally quit
pounding like she’d just finished a race, she kicked off her shoes
and pulled the too-warm sweatshirt over her head. Hugging the soft
material to her chest, she looked around the open-concept cabin and
let the cosy atmosphere soothe her spirit. Simple braided rugs,
warm pine panelling, and a stack of unread books by the comfortable
but sagging sofa. Her makeshift art studio stood in a corner of the
room, unfinished projects awaiting her return.