Cyrus (7 page)

He shook his head. “No one but Doucet, and he’s a little busy today.”

The pounding in my head intensified, and nausea took over. “What have you done?”

“Don’t worry about that now.” He moved forward and pushed a blanket through the bars. “Wrap up. The chills will start soon.”

“Chills?” I ignored his offering, refusing to accept anything from him but answers.

“It’s the withdrawals. Don’t worry. It’ll only last a day or two. Then we can pick up where we left off.” Shaking his head, he dropped the blanket just inside the cell. “You’re going to want this before too long.”

“What in the world are you talking about?”

“It gets cold in here at night,” he said and shrugged. “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

I let out a cry of frustration and winced at the spike trying to split my head in two. “What did you do to me? What do you mean withdrawals?”

He narrowed his gaze and stared at me with judgment swimming in his eyes. “You mated with Doucet. I can smell the fever on you. I can’t claim you when you’re like this. You’ve been injected with a cleansing potion. It’s why you have that terrible headache. But after a few days, you’ll have him out of your system and then we can start fresh.”

“Start fresh?” I gasped out and tightened my fists around the bars. “Cleansing potion? Who the hell do you think you are? Let me out of here right now. I do not belong to you. We will never be together. Got that?”

He shook his head and moved toward a thick wooden door. “You’ll see reason after you’ve flushed
him
out of your system.”

“Vince!” I cried, as he disappeared through the door, leaving me very much alone in the dank room. Forcing myself to ignore my mounting body aches and the pounding in my head, I ran my hands over the bars, testing for any way out. The cage was solid.

My heart sank, and I lowered myself to the floor, leaning my back against the bars. Everything hurt; my head, my limbs, my eyes, and even my skin. What exactly had he given me? Poison? I’d never heard of any kind of mating fever cleansing potion. He’d gone insane. That was the only explanation. And if I couldn’t figure out how to get out of there, I was certain I’d never see Cyrus, my dad, or any of my friends ever again. If Vince actually thought it was a good idea to abduct me, this wasn’t about the clan. He’d gone straight off the reservation.

I glanced at the blanket still lying beside me and shook my head. No. I wouldn’t curl up like a frightened little girl. I was going to fight, and I’d do it in the fiercest way I knew how.

Without hesitation, I stripped my clothes off and got down on my hands and knees. The cold air seeped straight into my bones as sweat dripped from my face. My thoughts jumbled, and darkness once again swam in my vision. But I gritted my teeth against the confusion and focused, envisioning myself in my bear form, solid, fierce, ready.

A spark of magic ignited in my gut, forming an electric current that slowly, painfully worked its way through my body. My muscles cramped and my stomach rolled.

The shift was on me, my bones breaking, shrinking, and elongating at a glacial pace.

A roar ripped from my lungs as I fought through the madness, completely giving myself over to the shift.

That electric current burst within, and a second later, I was resting on all fours, warm in my bear skin and panting from the exertion. But the aches were gone and so was the chill. Whatever Vince had given me, had not survived the shift.

My triumphant roar filled the room as I rose up on my back legs, gripping the cage with my claws. Narrowing my vision on the one door in the room, I let my beast take over and unleashed my fury. Within seconds, the bars of my cell began to separate.

M
y eyes were crossing from studying the security footage. The intruder’s vehicle had been caught on camera, but I only had the make and model; a black Ford Focus. Hunting that down would be damned near impossible. They were everywhere in our neck of the woods. With that small piece of information, I’d gone back over the previous days, looking for any sign of that car.

It was tedious, to say the least. Hours and hours of footage had to be studied.

My one saving grace was that Melinda and Katrina had retreated to the other side of the house, leaving me in peace.

I’d worked my way through four days of footage when my phone buzzed.

“Chase?”

“Yeah. It’s not Katrina’s ex. He was arrested three days ago for assaulting a police officer after a routine traffic stop. Since then he’s been brought up on charges for distributing illegal steroids. Seems he’s going to be locked up for quite some time. Whoever tried to break into Melinda’s last night, I don’t think their motive has anything to do with Katrina.”

“Doesn’t sound like it.” I made a note in my file. “Are you headed back? Cole is here working on the security lines, and I’m searching through camera footage for anything useful.”

“No. I’ve got another job I have to check in on. But call me if you need anything.”

“Will do.”

I went back to the video footage and in the next frame, the black Ford Focus showed up, right there in the driveway. “What the..?” I pulled up the image we’d captured from the earlier break-in and compared the two shots. Everything was the same, right down to the tires. Only there weren’t any specific identifying marks. Frustrated, I got up intending to go find Melinda. Maybe she knew who it belonged to.

But before I made it out of the study, there was a loud knock at the front door. Not waiting for Melinda, I strode over to answer it.

“Elder Greyson,” I said, opening the door to let her in.

“We have a problem.” She strode past me and sailed into the study. She stood in the middle of the room, pulling her prim, white gloves off.

“Mother?” Melinda asked, poking her head into the room. “You didn’t have to come all the way over here just to check up on me.”

“I didn’t, dear. I’m here to speak to Mr. Doucet. But I am glad to see you looking well after your ordeal.”

Melinda sat in the chair at the desk and crossed her arms over her chest, clearly intending to stay for the conversation.

I sat on the edge of the desk. “If this is about the security issues, I can assure you that my brothers and I are working on it. Cole is outside fixing the lines and—”

“I’m not referring to Melinda’s troubles,” she said, cutting me off. “I appreciate your effort, but there’s something else. I understand you’re dating Claire Erickson.”

I stiffened. There was no time to be dealing with the elder’s bullshit of who Claire should be dating. “That’s right. I am. But I’m not sure that’s any of your concern. If this is about Crane, I want to be clear that there’s no way that’s happening. Claire and I are together. End of story.”

“Claire Erickson?” Melinda frowned. “I thought Mathew’s friend Vince was supposed to marry her before he was accepted back into the clan.”

“Mathew’s friend? Your fiancé is friends with Crane?”

She nodded. “Sure. They met last year sometime at a dinner party for Vince’s mom and Elder Beauxbridge. They’ve been friends ever since.”

Alarm bells went off in my head. Mathew and Vince were friends? I’d been under the impression Mathew was a respected business man, ready to start a family. But if he was hanging around with the likes of Vince Crane, it was more likely he was only following clan orders for show, while spending his spare time in strip clubs and partaking in any combination of recreational drugs. Just like Crane.

“None of that matters now,” Greyson said. “Listen, I think Claire’s in danger.”

I froze. “What do you mean, danger? I just saw her a few hours ago. She was fine.”

There was a slight hesitation then she said, “I sent Claire on an errand for Melinda’s wedding this morning. And about an hour ago, I got a call from Claire’s cell number. Only when I answered, all I heard was screaming and some sort of struggle. Since then she hasn’t answered any of her phones. Not her cell or her house number. I’m worried something’s happened.”

“An hour ago?” I barked and yanked my phone out of my pocket. Her name was the first one on my speed dial. I’d put it there the day before, right after we’d decided I’d pose as her boyfriend. The phone went straight to voicemail.

Son of a...

“Where did you send her?” I asked Greyson.

“Basin Bayou Printers. I called Magnolia. She said Claire had been in and out already. Her car isn’t in the parking lot.”

My chest tightened, and I found it hard to breathe. If Claire really was in danger, we virtually had nothing to go on.

“I’m sure she’s on her way home,” Melinda said, appearing unconcerned.

I spun. “Didn’t you hear your mother? She said there was a struggle.”

“You know how bears get when they’re possessive.” She averted her eyes and moved the mouse on the security computer. The screensaver disappeared, revealing the black car in both pictures. “Why do you have a picture of Mathew’s car up on this computer?”

“What?” I shook my head, focusing on her earlier comment. “What do you mean about bears being possessive? Who are you talking about?”

She glanced up, frowned, and then said, “Oh. That. When I talked to Mathew this morning about the invitations, I told him Claire was handling it. He said something about letting Vince know where to find her so they could talk. But I’m sure there’s nothing wrong. All he wanted to do was talk to her. I mean, the clan did direct him to mate with her. Mathew was just trying to help.”

“Crane was with Mathew this morning?” I asked, pieces of a puzzle starting to form in my mind.

“I think so. Mathew said they were having breakfast before a business meeting.”

Elder Greyson frowned. “I thought Mathew was in Atlanta?”

So had I.

Melinda shook her head. “No, they were over in New Orleans last night for a business meeting. He’ll be home soon.”

New Orleans was only an hour to the east of us. Plenty of time for one or both of them to pop back into town.

I turned to Melinda. “Where can I find Crane?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Mathew said something about him living just south of town, but I don’t have any idea where.”

“I have his number,” Greyson said. “But he’s not picking up either.”

“Fuck!” I said and let out a growl, not caring in the least when Melinda gasped. “I have to go.”

“But what about—”

“Katrina’s husband is in jail. He won’t be bothering you. And that car on that screen? You said it was your fiancé’s. It’s the one that was used in last night’s break-in. I have no idea why, but at this point, I don’t care. I have to find Claire.”

Melinda stood. “What are you talking about? Mathew—”

I strode out of the study, leaving them both behind. I’d had just about enough of the Greyson family. “Cole,” I called as I rounded the corner of the house.

My youngest brother was gathering tools into his toolbox. “This is all taken care of. Do you need anything else?”

“Yeah. We have to find Claire.” I quickly filled him in.

“Christ. Where are we going to start?” he asked.

“Property records. We’re looking for anything in Crane’s name or Beauxbridge’s; a place south of the city. That’s all I have to go on. Call me as soon as you find anything.”

“I’m on it.”

“Thanks, man.” I jumped into my Jeep, slammed it into gear, and took off for the print shop. It sounded like a dead lead, but I couldn’t sit around and do nothing, waiting for whatever information Cole dug up.

As suspected, Magnolia didn’t have any information. But back in the parking lot I did find a shattered smart phone and one dirty invitation; Melinda and Mathew’s. There was no doubt in my mind the phone belonged to Claire, and that this was where Crane had taken her.

T
he cage stood empty as I paced in front of it, frustrated. I’d managed to get out, but hadn’t been able to open the heavy wooden door. Not for a lack of trying, though. Deep scratches scored the wood where I’d tried and failed to pry it open.

It must’ve been barred from the other side. And the only window was a tiny one high on the wall. Even if I shifted back to human form, there was no hope of me using it as an escape. Instead I waited. And planned.

When Vince finally came back for me, he was a dead bear. One swipe of my paw, and I’d lay him out flat. All I needed was an opening.

Still in bear form, I rested against the cement wall, listening. All I heard was the faint rumble of a television, and occasionally, light footsteps, but no voices and no conversation.

It didn’t appear anyone was around except Crane. That was good. Now all I needed was for him to open the door.

I curled up and waited.

Finally, after what felt like hours, heavy footsteps, followed by a loud thump, roused me from my doze. I lifted my head and then tensed as the door creaked open.

“Claire?” Vince said, peering into the room.

I let out a low snarl and prowled out from behind the door. Then I froze. Jesus. He was holding a doubled barrel shotgun.

“Easy there, girl,” Vince said, aiming right at me. “There’s no need to get cranky. All I want to do is talk to you.”

I took one step forward, testing him and was gratified when all he did was step back. He was not prepared to shoot me. That much was clear.

“Listen. You know I don’t care about what happened in the past. We were young and stupid, but I do know you loved me. And all I want to do is get back to that. It can’t be that hard, can it? Now that you have Doucet out of your system.”

I wanted to laugh. Was he insane? I hated this man. And I highly doubted I’d ever actually loved him. Not at seventeen years of age. Back then it was more likely I’d been in love with being in love. As far as his claims about Cyrus, he was delusional. Nothing had changed. Whatever bullshit elixir or poison he’d given me hadn’t done anything but make me sick and piss me off.

He lowered the gun and tentatively put his hand out, intending to pet me.

Oh, hell no. He would not touch me ever again. I took a step back and growled.

“Sorry,” he said, holding his hands up. “Too soon. I know this looks bad, me kidnapping you. But it was for your own good. Don’t you see that?”