Luna's Sokjan (Book one) (7 page)

Normal shape-shifters can
only take one animal form but my ability to change in to many more
forms, came from my mother. She had been a tremendously talented
witch, and before she died, she taught me everything she
knew.

Running through the forest
made me feel as if a considerable weight had been lifted off of me.
I even chased a rabbit before I made it back to where I had parked
my car several days ago. Shifting back to my human form, I headed
back to the car. Placing one hand on the back door, I pushed a
small bit of power.

“Open.” I commanded and
heard the locks open.

Magic can be a valuable
talent to have, provided you know how to use it. Opening the back
door, I climbed in. Pulling of clothes out of the old back pack I
always kept in the back. Chuckling to myself, I dress quickly and
headed home.

It was noon when I awoke
later the next day. Standing in the kitchen, I drank coffee as I
watched my neighbors cut their lawns and work in their flower
gardens. Their children played ball or rode bikes up and down the
road. It was just another quiet day in the suburbs.

I had lived in the
two-story grey brick house for over two years. The house had three
bedrooms, three baths, two up, and one down, and a sizeable office.
I had the downstairs remodeled after I bought the house making it
bigger and more open.

I played my role,
extremely well here, a quite enjoyable young woman who kept odd
hours with no boyfriend. I paid a lawn company to care for my lawn,
and the paper was delivered every day. I parked my black SUV in
front of my two car garage, just like everybody else.

So when my neighbors asked
what I did for a living, I told them. I find missing people, which
is partly true I can be called on to find a missing loved one, find
an enemy, or kill a monster.

I mostly liked living
alone, but lately I had become anxious, and wanted more human
contact. I guess it was my human-side coming out. Whatever it was,
I had decided that this was as pleasant a place as any to call
home. So while, my human neighbors slept snug in their nice, warm
beds. I made sure no one came a calling. I claimed five square
blocks as my territory and guarded it carefully.

Listening to the answering
machine was one of my least favorite things to do, and there were a
lot of messages. When I’d gotten home from Germantown I kept seeing
Meg’s big brown eyes, doe eyes my mother had called them. I kept
wondering when money had become more important than the life of a
child. It wasn’t the first time I’d tracked down a missing child or
even found one dead. It was the waste of life, but maybe it was
better for the little girl with big brown eyes.

I half listened to the
messages from people trying to sell me stuff I didn’t want or need.
Then the message from some guy I didn’t know or care about, who was
running for some kind of office. He wanted my vote on Tuesday,
making a better tomorrow, because he was in office, and not the
other guy, whatever.

Then a message caught my
attention, and I eyed the little black box suspiciously.

A deep timber voice full
of power and commanding obedience filled the room, “McKenna, I am
Gabriel Garrison. I heard that you are the best at finding missing
people, and I have need of your services. Please meet with me
tonight at Crazy Joe’s around eight. It’s a biker bar just outside
of town. If this time doesn’t work for you. Please call me, and we
will reschedule. I am looking forward to meeting you.” He listed
his contact numbers before he ended the call.

I had felt the urge to
stop everything I was doing and go to him. His power had moved over
my skin like a warm breeze. I tasted his power and I knew who this
man was. He was the Alpha of Castilian Springs, the local wolf
pack, and he was exceedingly strong indeed if he could compel
people over the phone.

Hmmm, now why would he
call me himself? Usually the Alpha’s had someone else to do their
dirty work.

His command wouldn’t work
on me. Oh, sure I’d felt the command, and experienced the need to
go to him. It would take a whole lot more than that a little push
to make me obey. Growing up with a strong Alpha father, and years
of training with Angus, had given me an advantage.

I should call him back
right now, and tell him I am not available for any work at the
moment. On top of the usual blah, blah, just finished a hard case
and needed some down time. Was the fact, that I had just saved his
life and the lives of five of his packmates from a forest troll,
and let us not forget, that I just escaped from his den of hell.
Nope, I was definitely not available to work for him.

Taking my coffee with me,
I headed for the back yard.

Luna has a terribly wicked
sense of humor sometimes. While practicing sword forms in the
backyard, she decided that I hadn’t done enough for the
supernatural community as of late, and summoned me. No, I didn’t
fly away to the moon or reappear in some holy mystical chamber. No,
I didn’t hear a spectral voice in my head and no, she didn’t appear
before me in a flowing shimmering robe of moon beams. Any of that
would have been nice.

The pain that raced
through my whole body dropped me to my knees. My body arched back,
and I cried out as hot brands ignited all my marks at the same
time. Flashes of different young women screaming in terror filled
my mind and echoed in my ears.

“Yes, Great Mother I will
go.” I gasped out the words.

All the pain and burning
stopped as soon as the last word left my mouth. I just lay in the
grass covered in sweat, and trembled trying to remember how to
breathe. I didn’t know what would happen if I didn’t agree to go,
but one thing was absolute, I would never find out. I would agree
to go to a summons with broken bones and life-threatening injuries.
At times my life truly did suck.

Chapter 5

It was nearly eight when I
parked my SUV in Crazy Joe’s parking lot. I usually dressed in
jeans and t-shirts with my hair in a ponytail or braided. My simple
entire gave me freedom to move. If I got dirty or too bloody, all I
had to do was wash my clothes or throw them away. Tonight I had
dressed in all black, fitted jeans, short sleeve shirt, docker
boots, and a leather jacket.

You could see the tattoo
on the back of my hands. The magic of the tattoo came from an
ancient spell, I’d talked, an old Celtic witch woman into teaching
me. The tattoo could heal wounds, and it also provided me with an
endless source of blades. The only unpleasant thing about the spell
was if I used a lot of power at one time or got hurt, the tattoo
would move. I never fully understood why, but then again I didn’t
care. If moving would be the only down fall for having extra
healing and endless supply of weapons, so be it.

Sitting in the SUV, I
stared at the bar. It was pretty busy for a week night and the
early hour. I studied the four men sitting on bikes near the
door.

Scouts maybe?

With a sigh, I got out of
the SUV and headed for the door. I had tapped down all of my power,
confining it behind shields. I didn’t want the Alpha wolf feeling
he had to prove something. If I had to fight tonight, I would start
out with fists, feet, and blades. The men looked me over as I
approached the door and to my surprise. They let me enter without a
word. Now, normally when an attractive single woman enters a bar,
someone will whistle and call out rude suggestive comments, but
none for me.

Hmmm, I must have put too
much bad-ass in my walk.

It was like any other
biker bar I’ve ever been in. It was loud dark and smelled of wolf.
I oozed ‘bitch walking’ as I walked through the bar. I didn’t want
anybody to get the wrong impression.

The bartender was a fifty
something male, with brown hair, brown eyes, and a face that had
seen a lot of fighting. He had a muscular build and looked as if he
would give as good, as he got in a fight. I took his measure, and
he took mine, smart man. If a fight did break out, I would take him
out first.

I leaned across the bar
and asked him, “Are you Crazy Joe?”

Without so much as a
smile, he picked up the phone beside him.

“She is here.” That was
all he said, before he hung it up.

“What do you want to
drink?” he asked in a voice that was just as hard as he
looked.

“Water thanks.” I answered
him.

Turning slightly, I gazed
around the bar. It was dark and loud. Sport programs played on the
large screen TV’s, pool tables, and dart boards’ littered one side
of the bar. A full dance floor was on the other side. I did note
that if I had to make a run for it. I would have to wade through a
lot of wolves and all of them looked ready for a fight. I figured I
could take half of them out, before they took me down. I liked this
place, it offered me a challenge.

I turned back to the
bartender when he brushed my arm, letting me know my drink was on
the bar. I nodded to him and reached in my jacket for some money.
He just waved me off.

Just as, I reached for the
glass, a pretty young woman walked up. About five foot with lovely
coloring, brown hair, and a body that drew every male eye in the
place. I wondered if she worked out or was she one of the naturally
thin people, probably the latter. I caught her scent as she leaned
towards me, she smelled like wild roses. I held her gaze for a
moment, before she dropped her eyes. She was weak, a follower, if a
fight broke out she would hide.

“Come with me.” she said,
in a pouty voice.

I nodded and followed
her.

As we walked through the
bar, I felt every eye watching me.

It’s alright little
wolves, I’m just going to talk to your Alpha, and I swear I won’t
kill him.

Missy, her name tagged
said, opened the manager’s door and waved me in.

A handsome man with short
black hair, amber eyes and the powerful build of a professional
body builder, sat behind the large oak desk. This could only be
Gabriel. His dark skin spoke of a person who spent a great deal of
time outside. He stood up.

Wow, he was six feet six
inches tall. I was usually the tallest person in the room. I had to
look up to meet his eyes as he approached me. I reached out and
shook his offered hand. The moment our hands touched I forgot to
breathe. His power flowed over me, and I fought to control my own
power from answering back. A tingle moved from my hand to my arm
and down my spine, before settling in my toes. I jerked my hand
away. Okay, this could turn bad fast.

Ah, the Alpha wants to
play.

“Mr. Garrison, it’s nice
to meet you.” I said, and resisted the urge to wipe my hand off on
my jeans.

It still tingled. Now
wasn’t that strange.

“McKenna, I am glad you
came,” he said to me, “Thank you Missy, you may go now.” He told
Missy in a gentle voice.

Oh, goody just me and the
Alpha. Nothing good can come out of this.

“Please, won’t you sit
down,” He said motioning to the chair in front of the desk. “Would
you like something to drink?”

He moved towards a table
against the far wall, it held various drinks and
glasses.

Nothing, I want to
leave.

“Water, please.” I
replied.

Watching every move he
made, I wiped my hand on the side of my jeans, as I walked to the
chair. My hand had finally stopped tingling.

“You’re nothing like what
I was expecting,” he said softly as he brought me a glass of
water.

I met his amber eyes for
just a moment. I arched my eyebrow, before dropping my gaze to the
top of the desk.

No Alpha baiting. Just get
the facts and leave.

“And what exactly we’re
you expecting?” I asked and peered at him through my
eyelashes.

His fingers brushed mine
when I took the glass from him, making my hand tingle again. When I
got out of here, I was going to take a shower and give this strange
reaction to him some serious thought.

“I thought the Sōkjan
would be a man.” He said and grinned at me.

And not the crazy bitch
tiger that saved my ass?

“I get that a lot.” I said
as I placed the glass on the desk. “So what can I do for you Mr.
Garrison?”

“Gabriel, please.” He said
as he leaned back against the desk and crossed his brawny arms over
his chest. “We have a young girl missing, and I need your help to
find her.”

“When did she go missing?”
I asked him.

I relaxed back against the
chair gazing at the wall behind him.

“Four days ago. She makes
the third girl from the pack, and from what, Tiberius, the Alpha of
the Watauga cat clan, says he has three girls missing
also.”

I knew about the one girl,
Adam had told me about her, before I left for German town. Now, why
would the dumb-ass Alphas not ask for my help before now? I
considered what I would say and weighed my words
carefully.

“A total of six missing
girls and you’re just now come to me? Why the fuck did you wait so
long?” I snarled out.