Forbidden (37 page)

“Damn it!” He let her go so abruptly that she fell back a step. She barely noticed. Skew just turned around and started to wipe down the counter with a white cloth smelling of bleach.

She threw up her hands. “Thanks a lot, Alek! I was getting somewhere with her.”

“I'm sorry. It's just so frustrating! I didn't understand what you were talking about and I just jumped in.”

“I didn't have a chance to tell you a bunch of stuff. If you could please just give me a few minutes to explain what's been happening?”

He sighed, sat down on one of the round stools padded with white vinyl, and held his arms out, palms up. “I'm sorry. Please. Tell me so we can decide what to do next.”

She did. It was fast and at times, he had to hold out his hand to ask questions to understand, but after a few minutes, he just began to nod as she explained. “So now what?” he asked. “People are busy dealing with all the alarms, but that won't last. How do we take advantage of it?” It seemed like he was asking not only her, but Amber, who was hopefully listening in.

Start searching. Look where you first found Darrell. He couldn't have run far from wherever he was being held. Let me see if I can help you get there faster than running.

That was actually a good suggestion. Alek must have heard it too. He reached out and pressed some buttons on the alarm keypad. At her questioning look, he explained. “Changing the alarm code. It'll take longer to shut off.” Then he put the radio on the counter and pulled the alarm again. “Let them wonder for a bit. At least someone will find Skew.”

It would be better if nobody could track them, but she couldn't figure out how to manage that. The answer came from the air. She looked up to see two great horned owls circling the shop like tan vultures. They smelled like the Kragans, like fish, rodents, and salt marsh—a surprise, since Rachel had said the triplets were snowy owls.

“I hear you need a lift,” Claude said, circling lower and opening his talons, offering them for her to grab. “Noses can't track what doesn't touch the ground.”

Alek said, “Is that you, Egan? You seem to be feeling better.”

The other owl let out a few hoots of laughter. “Haven't felt this good in years. Saddle up, youngster.”

Claire took Claude's talons and Alek took Egan's and the wolf shifters were smoothly lifted a dozen feet off the ground. Claire tried not to look down as the massive bird soared on the currents, rising and dropping ten or twenty feet at a time, as he used the wind to help carry her.

“Can you put us over there, near the tree line?” The owl looked down at her with large amber eyes and then looked where she was pointing before nodding.

It wasn't more than a few minutes before they were passing over the meadow where Alek had met her after she'd thrown Darrell out of the dark. She tugged on one talon to get Claude's attention and he slowly lowered her. She let go a few feet above the ground, landing on all fours. Actually, that wasn't a bad idea. “We should shift. We'll cover more ground in wolf form.”

Alek hit the ground beside her and nodded. “But let's leave our clothes somewhere. I'm tired of showing up places naked.”

She agreed. Turning her back, she started to strip. It wasn't until she was down to her underwear that she felt Alek's eyes on her. She turned her head and he was staring at her, so hard that his gaze felt like hands flowing across her skin. “We have kids to find.”

He closed his eyes, clenched his hands into fists, and nodded, backing away a few steps. “Yeah. We do.” He shifted and raced into the forest. She could feel his arousal and frustration beat against her like twin clubs, making her want to chase after him and tackle him to the ground.

With a sigh of frustration of her own, she picked up their clothes, folded the garments, and hid them under a bush, heavily weighted down with snow, but dry underneath. Shifting, she ran through the woods, soon passing Alek. She'd found Darrell. She knew where to go.

The trees closed around them and the temperature dropped a dozen degrees though there was no snow on the ground under the thick forest canopy. The scent of ice and pine filled her nose and made it difficult to find the scents she was looking for. Clay, metal, probably urine or feces. The cave didn't have to be in the mountainside. It could be under a tree or rock. “How far did you guys search up this way?”

Alek shook his shaggy head. “Never made it up here. The thinking was they were playing at the lake and fell in. Someone found a fishing pole, but as far as I know nobody identified it. We dragged the water, though, and searched for tire tracks. I searched up and down the main road and in the park. I presumed others were looking in other places.”

Claire turned around in a circle, trying to get her bearings. Looking back the way they came, she thought they were pretty close. “This is about where the Darkness was holding him.”

“Was it in human or animal form?”

“Human, definitely.” She turned toward the mountainside. “He was big. If it wasn't the police chief, the man was of similar size. Maybe even taller.”

Lowering her nose to the ground, she started snuffling in the leaves, trying to pick up a scent. Before the light had disappeared, the boy had been pulling to get away. “Look for a struggle in the leaves.”

Alek moved away from her, head lowered, eyes moving from side to side.

Long minutes passed with neither speaking a word. Claire concentrated her whole attention on sniffing and looking. Unfortunately, she wasn't finding anything. Nothing here looked like it had been touched for years. No broken branches, no disturbed leaves or pine cones. The farther she walked, the less she found. Maybe this wasn't the spot after all.

“I'm not seeing anything unusual, Claire. Are you sure we're in the right place?”

She sat down on her haunches. She was exhausted and getting more thirsty and hungry by the second. Even the pine bark was looking edible. “No, I guess I'm not. Maybe I ran farther than I thought after I got Darrell out. But I could swear we're close.” She yawned so wide she felt her ears pop. “I'm getting too tired to see anything right now.”

It's been a long day,
came Amber's voice in her head, causing a shock of pain that made her eyes throb.
Get some food and rest. We'll start up again tomorrow
.

“Tomorrow? I thought we were going to finish this today. What do we do about the chief? I'm honestly surprised he wasn't on the doorstep at the Williamses' waiting for us to beat us senseless.” She was asking both Amber and Alek.

Alek nodded. “Yeah, me too. I've been waiting for the other boot to drop all day.”

Amber's voice eased into her thoughts again, more gently this time.
I can't give you a good answer for that. You'll likely have to take a beating until I can get some Council members together to review the evidence. They're scattered all over the world right now. It'll be a few days.

A few days. Great. She'd just have to do her best not to get killed while getting the Omega work done and searching for the kids. “I need to visit the school tomorrow if we can. Maybe the kids know something they don't realize they know.”

Alek let out a frustrated breath. “Why don't we just march over there and confront him? Tie him up and interrogate him until he cracks.”

While it sounded like a great idea to Claire, Amber's voice was quick and firm, feeling like a sledgehammer against her brain, so strong that she had to lay down on the ground to keep from falling.
Absolutely not! He has the whole town linked, except for the few I've disconnected. He can draw power from every person in town to fuel a battle. He would bleed them virtually to death. I don't have the power to separate everyone at once. Even the few I've done have been tough. Fortunately, he'd already disconnected the Kragans since they're elderly. I imagine they were drawing on him, so he cut them loose. I was able to heal them without being noticed.

The little omega owl was beneath his notice, so he'll never miss her. I'm a little worried about severing Danielle. She was middle of the pack, but he'd severed her enough to go to college, so I'm hoping she'll slip by without notice. But anyone else will raise alarm bells and we'll have a war—one we might not win without help.

“Well, shit.” Alek's frustrated swear matched what she was thinking. “I guess we're back to being the Omegas. The plan failed.”

“I guess so.”

Amber disagreed.
It didn't fail. We separated several people from him. It will lessen his power. The Kragans will work on bringing more in to their own group. This isn't a war. Not yet. Today's battle was won.

It was a good point. Claire started back toward where they'd left their clothes, Alek trotting beside her. “We should probably go back by different routes. Make sure you pick up the radio and turn off the alarm at the ice cream shop if nobody's been there yet. We'll meet up there tomorrow after dark and see if we can get any more information out of Skew before we start to search again.”

“Works for me.”

Once he had his clothes back in his teeth, he sprinted off into the brush, leaving her alone to dress and get back to the house.

She was not looking forward to tomorrow. But there was no helping what had to happen.

 

CHAPTER 25

Alek woke in the darkness with a sense of foreboding pressing against his chest and head. The phone rang. He grabbed it quickly.

“I have her,” a deep bass voice said. It was a voice he'd never heard. “And you're next.” The phone went dead and then to a dial tone. There was no caller ID on the display and the last-number-called function didn't dial a number.

Panic began to fill him as he put on his boots. He wasn't sure who'd called or who the “her” was that he “had” but it was real and it drove him to move faster and faster. He'd just put his keys in his pocket, ready to leave, when searing pain raked down his face from temple to chin. It felt like someone was dragging a hot poker through his flesh. It happened so suddenly that he didn't have time to react, to prepare. He fell, screaming. The pain was breathtaking, so intense he threw up bile on the floor.

He reached up to touch his face. The skin was smooth and his fingers came away clean, but in his mind, he saw blood.

More pain now, doubling him over as his chest and ribs exploded in agony. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think. He choked again and expected to spit up blood. But he didn't. What the hell was happening?

Light exploded in his vision, as though it was projecting onto the backs of his eyeballs. He felt choking pain again and realized it wasn't his—it was Claire's! But where was she?

Amber! You have to wake up! Claire's in danger!
There was no response.

Alek dragged himself to his feet, trying to ignore the blinding pain, and opened the door, breathing hard. Moving on sheer willpower he went out into the snow, hoping against hope she was at the police station. That she was being punished and he was along for the ride.

Snow was falling again. The flakes melted against skin that felt superheated. His breath came out in a thick fog of white that enveloped his head and made it hard to see. There were no lights on in the police station but it felt like that was where she was.

Pain drew him forward. He felt himself kicking in a door he couldn't see. Despite the barrier Amber had set in his mind, he tried to push power toward Claire's pain, tried to find a way to help. Racing through the station, he slammed into the door to the basement. To his surprise, it wasn't locked.

He walked downstairs cautiously, aware that there was movement in the darkness. Flicking the switch brought no light. Whether the power was out or the bulb had been removed, he didn't know. He felt his way forward. Only when he was tapping on the handrail, trying to find the end, did he realize this was no ordinary darkness.
It
was here, and it had Claire!

“Claire!” he called, but did not hear himself. In his mind, she was screaming. Pain lashed across his body. His leg, an arm, his face again.

Checking each room brought no answer. She had to be here, but she wasn't.

Where are you?!
He shouted it in his head as loud as he could, hoping she would hear.

A spark. The faintest green sparkle behind his eyes.
Alek!
It was a call, a scream, and prayer and his heart raced.
Secret … room. Behind the stairs.

He shifted forms to have better use of teeth and claws and slammed his shoulder into the wall behind the staircase. It was solid as stone. He hit another spot and felt the answering pain sing through his shoulder and chest.

Close!
came the pained gasp. He moved and hit the wall again. This time, it gave, so slightly that he almost wasn't sure it had moved at all. He slammed the spot over and over and felt the stone shifting; the door opened so fast he fell into the room, struggling to keep his footing. The Darkness pushed him farther into the room and pulled the door closed with an ominous thud.

*   *   *

Claire struggled to think past the pain. She'd expected to be disciplined—had even known that taking a strip of hide was a possibility. But it was always done on a leg or arm, a major muscle so it would be a painful reminder but allow the person to keep working for the pack. She had never anticipated anything like this.

How could she have been so stupid? She knew people in town were connected, but she hadn't expected the people where she lived to betray her. But it was a glazed-eyed Asylin who had been holding the two-by-four that clubbed her over the head. Just before she blacked out, she saw the Darkness descend. And then the pain began.

The Darkness had taken great pains to shackle her with silver irons, bringing back the worst memories of her time with the snakes. She couldn't move, couldn't see or hear or smell a thing.