Wolf Rock Shifters Books 1-5: Five BBW Paranormal Romance Standalone Novels (34 page)

As they sat in one of the new buildings, talking, Conner looked Zoe in the eye. His voice changed as it sometimes did, from the little boy innocence to something filled with the wisdom of an aged person.

“Someone is watching,” he said, leaning in and lowering his voice.

“Watching what?” asked Zoe, who found herself looking around at the rest of the students, most of whom were simply playing games with one another or drawing pictures.

“There is someone outside. He’s looking for you.”

Zoe’s heart was in her throat now. “Conner, you’re not playing with me, are you?”

“No, I’m afraid I’m not. I would like to help. I don’t think he’s a very nice man.”

“You can’t help, sweetheart,” said Zoe, resigned to what was about to happen. “Stay here, okay?”

Conner’s voice and face changed again, and he picked up a pencil crayon and began to draw.

“Okay,” he said.

Zoe rose and walked to the door, her hand shaking as she reached for its handle. She pushed it open and stepped into the cold.

“Hello, Annette,” said a man’s voice.

A pale, scrawny figure stepped out from beside the building. It was the same man that Zoe had seen the previous day in the clothing shop. He was dressed in loose clothing and had no doubt shown up in his ferret form.

“I’m afraid my name’s not Annette,” said Zoe, attempting to sound confident. “It’s Zoe.”

“You’re a lot of people and things, from what I hear. So let’s keep this simple, shall we?”

“What do you want from me?”

“Well, it’s not what I want so much as what my client wants. There’s a little matter of ten thousand dollars. But it’s fair to say that he would also like an explanation.”

Zoe snorted. “An explanation? For what? For why I dug my claws into him? For why I left? How about that he tried to kill me? And that was only after working pretty damn hard to break my spirit for months.”

“That’s between the two of you,” said the man, who sniffled, his nose wrinkling and his beady eyes watering in the cold. He really was a very unattractive specimen.

“So you’ve come to take me away.”

“Mr. Simmons hired me. I work as a private detective,” he said. “And he’s paying me handsomely to return you to him.”

“How did you find me?”

“A man in a cell phone shop told me about a redhead called Zoe who could shift into other human forms. He was very helpful, that one.”

Zoe thought of the poor guy she’d slighted. But she was certain this wasn’t some act of revenge; he probably simply didn’t know any better.

“What’s he paying you? I’ll double it if you fuck off and tell him you haven’t found me.”

“I’m afraid that my staunch ethics dictate that I can’t do that, Zoe,” he said, his voice annoyingly calm.

“Well, I’m not going anywhere. It’s typical Drake to send someone else to do his dirty work. So I’ll just say good-bye to you and…”

With that, the man extracted a small piece of paper from a small bag which hung from his neck, and handed it to Zoe.

She studied the paper, which was simply a photo of a small, round woman.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“That is Colson Danforth’s mother. She lives quite far away, but not out of our reach. Drake wishes to inform you that even now she’s being watched, and if you don’t return to Terrence immediately he’ll have her severely injured.”

“What? You can’t...”

“I assure you that we can,” said the man.

“So your code of ethics covers duty to your client but not basic human kindness.” Zoe was filled with rage now, her inner cat wanting to rear its head and take this man’s smug face off.

“Let’s just say,” said the detective, smiling, his crooked yellow teeth on vile display, “that it’s all part of the job.”

“I need to get some things,” Zoe said. “And say good-bye to people.”

“You are not to say good-bye to anyone. If you need to fetch anything, I will accompany you to your house.”

“What about work? I need to deal with the children.”

“Tell your boss that you’re not feeling well and that you’re going home,” the ferret shifter said. “And then you leave for Terrence.”

Zoe found Kyla, who greeted her with a concerned expression. Her eyes darted to the detective, who in all likelihood didn’t know of her skills.

“I’m not feeling well,” said Zoe, “and need to go home to bed.”

“Okay, honey,” said Kyla, putting a hand on Zoe’s shoulder. “You let me know as soon as you feel better. Understand?”

“I understand.”

With that, Zoe and the detective left to head back to her house in the trees.

When she’d arrived at the house, supervised by the rodent-like man who seemed unwilling to let her out of his sight, Zoe pulled her lightest dress out of the top drawer of a dresser that her mate had built just a week earlier, and folded into a small square. She inserted it into a small cotton bag which she’d been using recently as a purse. It was light and could be concealed under clothing, but more to the point, it would be easy to transport in any form. This and the money were all she’d be able to carry.

When she was sure that she had all that she could take from her home, she climbed the tree to her knotty hiding spot, which she hadn’t done in some time. It had been some time since she’d checked to make sure that her plastic bag was still tidily stashed in the hidden opening, and she found it exactly where she’d left it, complete with its stack of bills. She removed the bag from the tree and squeezed it in next to the dress which now occupied her purse.

“I’m ready,” she said, turning to the detective. “I’ll head for Terrence.”

“Fine. I’ll await confirmation that you’ve arrived. And remember—a word to anyone and your boyfriend’s mother will be in for a world of pain.”

With that, the man shifted and crept back down the tree. Zoe grabbed a pen and a scrap of paper on which she scrawled a note, which she laid on Colson’s pillow. She slid a hand over the bed, tears welling in her eyes as she thought of all of the moments they’d shared, which were now at an end.

Zoe knew that her panther would not suffice for today; on this day she’d have to fly to reach her destination. Leaving behind a trail which would lead anyone with a good nose to her wasn’t wise. And she needed to make sure that Colson would be safe, which meant keeping him away.

Zoe put the thin strap of the bag around her neck, wrapping its length a few times around before she shifted into the form of a golden eagle.

The bag hanging inches below her body, she took off and headed east, leaving the snowy peaks of Wolf Rock behind her. She didn’t have the courage to turn her head and look at the sight for fear that she would lose her strength and her will. Instead, she looked ahead, towards her destination and resigned to whatever fate now lay ahead.

A
round two p.m
. Colson’s cell phone rang. His hands were covered in engine oil, and after he’d wiped them with a damp cloth he grabbed the phone off a nearby counter.

“Hello?” he said.

“Colson. It’s Kyla. Have you seen Zoe?”

“Yeah, I saw her this morning. I left her at the treehouse. She was getting ready for work.”

“She went home sick. Colson, she was with someone. A strange man. I didn’t like the vibe I got from him.”

“Who was he?”

“She didn’t say. She didn’t say much of anything, really. All I know is that I’m worried.”

“You don’t think it was her ex, do you?”

“No. Months ago, I had a vision of a man. But this wasn’t the same guy. This is someone else. I don’t have a clear idea of who he is, but I think she’s in danger. Colson…how much do you know about her ex?”

“I know that he was pretty awful to her. I’m glad she got out of there.”

“But you probably don’t know that she took a significant amount of money from him. And I imagine that he wants it back.”

“Oh, shit. What should I do?” asked Colson, pacing around the garage. “I need to find her.”

“If I were you I’d go to your house and look for any sort of a clue as to where she’s gone. Who knows? Maybe she’s still there.”

“Maybe.” Colson hung up the phone and tore off his coverall. He dashed out of the garage, his baffled cousin yelling his name. He got into his truck and whipped across town as fast as he could and then, not even removing his clothes, shifted into his bear form and sprinted through the woods to the house.

When he arrived he was relieved only to smell the woods, himself and Zoe. There was no sign of anyone else.

Few people knew about their house in the woods; only Kyla and Maddox, and a few other pack members who’d been helpful at offering supplies and furniture. But Colson trusted them not to tell anyone. They knew that Zoe was on the run and to conceal her from anyone asking about her.

Colson climbed the tree and looked around the house, which was much as he’d left it. Zoe’s clothes seemed to have been left untouched, which was a good sign. But where was she?

He sat down on the bed and pondered his next move. Perhaps he could sniff her out; follow her trail. He decided to aim for that goal, as nothing else offered any hope.

As he got up from the bed, something fell gently to the ground at his feet. It was a piece of paper, folded in half. Colson reached down and picked it up.

All it said was:

I
’m sorry
, Colson. I love you. Remember that.

C
olson sat
with Zoe’s note in his hand, pondering its meaning. She had left, clearly, but for where? What was her plan and why? If this man, this former boyfriend, was looking for her, perhaps she was trying to pull him off her trail. That was the only possible answer.

He dialed his cell again.

“Kyla,” he said when she answered. “She’s gone. She’s left town.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.”

“Do you know where she’s headed?”

“Colson, I wish I did. I’ve tried to access it, over and over again. I can’t. I don’t know why…it’s like there’s interference, as though something else is getting in the way. But I was about to call you. There have been multiple sightings of a strange ferret this morning in town. He was asking questions about a woman, a changer…called Annette Barber.”

W
hen he hung up
, Colson picked up a scent nearby. Zoe had been in the house, but someone had been there with her, and he meant to find this man who’d taken his mate from him. Never in his life had he moved so fast. He shifted and, in bear form, made his way down the tree in the direction of town, following the scent.

When he drew close to the edge of the forest, he saw it: a ferret, scurrying ahead of him through the woods.

The small animal was quick, but didn’t know the territory as well as Colson did. The bear quickly caught up, a large paw coming down on the creature’s tail in an attempt to slow it down. But just as he tried to throw his weight forward to incapacitate the small shifter, the animal found a way to squirm out of his grasp and it dashed up a narrow tree.

This one was too thin and weak for either a bear or a man to climb, and so Colson stood watching, helpless, as the animal began to bound from tree to tree. Colson ran after it, eyes skyward, and thought at last that he’d found a way to corner it as it came to a tree whose limbs seemed too far out of reach of those around it. It sprinted to the end of a long branch and leapt off it, aiming for the closest branch on another tree, and managed to grasp it and pull itself up.

Colson stood below, defeated, watching the animal move into the distance.

He chose to hunt it. His head to the ground, he sniffed his way along, tracking the irregular trail of the rodent, which seemed finally to have left the treetops and run along the ground into town. This was good, Colson thought, as others would be sure to have spotted him.

As the trail led him to the Main Street, the large spirit bear looked around, eyeing the wandering locals. He sniffed the air, looking to pick up the scent of the ferret who by then may well have shifted.

A clothing rack sat outside a store and Colson shifted, grabbing a large pashmina scarf and wrapping it around his waist. It wasn’t unusual to see men dressed like this in town, though in February it wasn’t the most practical attire.

The large man walked with a determined stride down the street, his eyes, ears and nose on constant lookout. It didn’t take long to pick up the scent of his prey, who’d entered a ski shop.

The cashier was talking to a tall, thin man with greasy hair. The stranger wore a scarf much like Colson’s, wrapped around his gangly form.

“I need a coat,” he was saying to the cashier.

“We’ve got some lovely sale items on the rack behind you,” said the store’s employee.

The scrawny man who looked as though he’d be incapable of hurting an ant, reached over the counter and grabbed the cashier by the front of her shirt.

“I need a fucking coat right now,” he hissed. “Just give me one and I’ll be on my way.”

The young woman didn’t have time to reply. A six-foot-four man with long fangs was pulling the stranger off of him, a strong arm wrapped around the man’s throat.

“Who the hell are you and what are you doing in Wolf Rock?” Colson growled, holding the man hostage under the strength of his forearm.

“Let go of me or I’ll press charges,” said the man.

“Fine,” said Colson, letting him go and shoving him forwards. The ferret shifter turned and looked at him. His face was gaunt, his nose too large for his head. His eyes were dark, beady and almost comically close together.

The man looked at Colson for a moment, appearing to be on the verge of making a statement, and then he dashed for the exit. But this time Colson was faster than he was. He grabbed him by the arms and pulled them back, which made the shifter let out a sort of high-pitched shriek.

Colson pinned his arms upwards, knowing how painful it would be, and held him in place.

“If you don’t tell me what you’re doing here, I’m going to rip your arms off. You can press all the charges you want after that, but good luck dialing a fucking phone.”

The man remained silent, so Colson pulled up and back again, hard, which resulted in another shriek.

“Jesus. Okay, I’ll talk. Stop doing that,” said the man.

“Talk then. Now.”

“A man hired me and sent me here to find someone. I owed him a favour.”

“I don’t give a shit if you owed him anything. Who is he?”

“His name is Drake Simmons. He lives in Terrence. He was looking for his girlfriend. I suppose more accurate would be to call her his ex-girlfriend.”

“And why would he want to find her? Doesn’t it occur to him that maybe she doesn’t want to be found?”

“She stole his money and left him for dead. Essentially she’s trash.”

Colson pulled up again, and this time the man screamed.

“Maybe,” said the bear shifter, “a man who sends a fucking ferret to sniff out his girlfriend is trash. Did you find her?”

“Yes.”

“So why are you still here?”

“I didn’t trust her to bring him what she owed him. I was looking around to make sure she hasn’t stashed it anywhere.”

“What have you done with her? And where is the bastard Drake?”

“He’s in Terrence. And she’s…”

“Where the fuck is she?”

“On her way there.”

“Jesus Christ. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” said Colson.

“I’ve simply followed orders and done my job.”

“You’ve ruined several people’s lives. And you’re lucky if I don’t kill you.”

Z
oe knew
that it was only a matter of time before she saw him. A man she’d never wanted to see again in her life. But had she stayed in Wolf Rock, she would have endangered Colson’s mother, and possibly Colson as well. Drake wasn’t the most intelligent person in the world but he was an angry one, and a mean one. Better to confront him head-on.

The ferret shifter had called Drake hours before. He’d told the hyena shifter to meet her at his place.

Zoe sat on the porch of her former lover’s house, in her redheaded form. It was no use; she refused to run or to hide anymore. If she’d learned one thing from her new life it was to be herself and to live in her own body. She’d never been so happy in her life as she’d been as this plump, flawed woman who showed her emotions and her vulnerabilities. She’d allowed Colson into her mind and her heart, and he had accepted her completely. In fact, she thought, he even loved her.

The first thing she’d done upon her arrival was to find a nook between two bricks on the chimney of Drake’s house and to stash the money there. The deal was that Zoe was to show up in Terrence and Colson’s mother would be safe. There was no agreement with regards to the cash.

Though the ferret had called ahead of time to tell Drake she was coming, he took his sweet time in getting there. It was a full hour before he arrived at his house. This was a typical power play on his part; he would know that he was making Zoe sweat and that he was in control of the moment. She knew this, though, and rather than become nervous or agitated she simply found that a quiet rage built within her. That man, she thought, has no real idea what he’s dealing with.

At last he arrived, driving what Zoe had referred to as his “penis car;” an old souped-up muscle car meant to compensate for the man’s lack of virility. Only in Drake’s case it wasn’t so much an under-endowment between his legs as between his ears. He was the sort of shifter who resented his form; he hated that he’d been born a hyena, and particularly despised that his girlfriend’s form was physical superior to him. This made her more powerful than he was, and Drake’s whole life had been spent trying to ensure that the world saw him as the strongest shifter around. He was her alpha, he’d said, and she the beta.

Only she’d always known it to be false. Deep down, she knew now, she’d always controlled the situation.

She saw him studying her as he left the vehicle; he’d never seen this version of her and yet she knew that he would immediately recognize her for the woman she was.

“So,” he said as he approached, “This is…Zoe, is it?”

“Zoe. Yes. That’s my proper name.” She stood, her back bristling. Had she fur at the moment it would have stood on end; such was the revulsion that she felt.

“And this is your proper body?”

Why, she wondered, had she never noticed how beady his eyes were or how his nose ended in a strange little bump at the tip? How had she ever been physically attracted to him, let alone enthralled by his personality?

“This is my ‘proper’ body, if that’s what you want to call it. I call it my body.”

“You should’ve stuck with the other one. This one makes you look like you live on cheesecake and beer.”

Zoe wanted to strike him then. Not because she believed him; she didn’t, in fact, care what he thought. But because he thought he had the power to bring her down again and that power had long since been taken from him. She was loved now, and she loved herself as well. This jackass of a man couldn’t make her feel wretched.

“I need you to tell your ferret friend that I’m here,” she said calmly. “Now.”

“Very well.” Drake pulled out his cell phone and dialed. Moments later he said simply, “She’s here. Your payment will arrive shortly. No need to take further action.”

He hung up the phone and put it in his pocket.

“What is it that you want, Drake? Why did you send that asshole detective to Wolf Rock?”

He was right in front of her now; he’d walked up the steps and was standing over her, breathing on her face. More than anything she wanted to shift into her panther and stalk away, or perhaps strike him down. But she controlled her urge and stood her ground.

“I want what’s mine,” he said, grabbing her wrist.

“And you think I’m your fucking property, is that it?”

“I don’t give a shit about you, Annette or Zoe or whatever the fuck your name is. I want my damn money.”

Zoe now felt more strongly than ever as though she wanted to keep the cash.

“Oh, that’s too bad. It’s gone,” she said. “Spent.”

“On what? Your monkey house in the treetops?” laughed Drake. “Yeah, our mutual friend found it. Surely that didn’t cost you ten grand. Then again if it did, maybe my friends ought to tear it down and sell the parts.”

“No, not on the house. I gave it away.”

Drake pulled his right hand back and looked as though he intended to slap her on the face with it. But instead he opened the front door.

“Go in,” he commanded.

Zoe entered the house, her breath going short as she felt the prison close in around her.

“So then, what are we going to do about this little problem of ours?” Drake asked, closing the door behind him and locking it.

“I don’t know,” said Zoe, turning to him. A defiant look was setting in on her face and she could see that it made him nervous. Last time she’d defied him, things had gone poorly for his chest.

“Maybe,” said Drake, picking up the phone off the table next to him, “I should just call the cops and have you arrested.”

“Fine. Be my guest. It would be better than spending time with you.”

This seemed to light a fuse within the hyena shifter and Zoe saw his body tense. It was, she thought, the ultimate insult to imply that he was awful to be around. But it was the truth.

“I think spending time with me is exactly what needs to be done,” he said, approaching her now. He put a hand on her cheek. “It’s going to take a long time to make up for ten grand.”

With that, he leaned in to kiss her, his hand sliding down to her breast.

So many times in her other form, Zoe had kissed this man. Made love to him, even. But somehow that woman whom she had created purely to satisfy such a man was someone else, someone distant and unattached to who she now was. She was acting, she told herself, the entire time that she was Annette, and so his presence hadn’t been a violation. But this, now, was
her
body. This was the physical representation of her soul, and the only man who’d ever been allowed near it was Colson.

“No,” she said, pushing him away.

“What did you just say to me?”

“I said no.” I’m not your lover. I’m not your fucking slave. If you want to call the police, you do that. But there is no way in Hell that I’ll ever let you touch me again.”

With that, Drake’s eyes narrowed. Zoe didn’t have to guess at how hard he was fighting his inner animal. She suspected that he wanted nothing more than to attack her and to hurt her, and badly. But she didn’t care. She’d done what she needed to; she’d left Wolf Rock and Colson, and the man and town she loved were safe.

“If you want me to stay here, Drake, I will,” she said. “But that’s it. You have no claim over me.”

“My claim is ten thousand dollars,” he yelled, lunging at her now. He tore at her dress, which came away in front, revealing more than Zoe would have liked him to see. When Drake’s eyes settled on her plentiful breasts he became an animal in human form, pulling at her and trying to get his hands and mouth on her.

In one swift motion Zoe shifted. This time it wasn’t into the tiger who’d injured this awful man months earlier. It was into her panther form, which backed away, out of her dress, and laid its ears flat back on its head, snarling.

Drake followed suit and in an instant his hyena stood opposite. It began to pace back and forth across the narrow hallway in which they stood, waiting for a chance to leap at the panther.

Hyenas, Zoe knew, played dirty. She’d watched Drake in action with other shifters and she knew that he didn’t have a kind bone in his body when in his shifted form; he was even more cruel than in human form.

She didn’t wait. She leapt at him, coming down at his body from overhead and digging her sharp claws into his flesh, pushing him to the ground. Her teeth sank into the back of his neck and she felt the salty blood begin to trickle as the hyena let out a yelp.

But Drake was quick too.

He twisted around, loosing Zoe’s grip on his flesh, and managed somehow to get under her, biting at her with razor-sharp teeth. They sunk into her left front leg, causing her to lose her balance and to come crashing down so that he could then get on top of her. This time he bit her shoulder and neck, seemingly trying to get a firm grip on her, to control her.

Streams of pain shot through her entire body as the teeth seemed to hit nerves; causing her to writhe in agony. She tried to twist and to turn; to gain the upper hand, but he was stronger than she knew, and he was determined.