Katlyn (M/F/M red-hot menage shifter romance) Standalone (Shadow Creek Shifters Book 1) (13 page)

“If you could direct me toward the ranch hands that were out there that day, it might be useful.”

“I could, but I’m so bad at names.”

Clayton downed his tea and nodded. “I think I have everything I need for now, but if those sheep were killed by a mountain lion, I expect your full cooperation with hunting him down.” He walked to the door and asked, “I’d sure love to buy you a drink at the saloon sometime, Paige.”

“Sounds great, but I’m pretty busy this week.”

“Another time, perhaps. I’ll give you a call sometime, if that’s okay.”

“Please do, Clayton.”

When the sound of Clayton and his men’s vehicles rumbled out the drive, Brendan jumped up, towering well above Paige. “Why on earth did you give Clayton your permission to start poking around?”

“I hardly had a choice. You know as well as I do that refusing to go along with Clayton’s investigation would look bad for all of us.”

“I could have at least have made sure there weren’t any tracks out there. Now Clayton is insistent that I know more than I’m saying.”

“Stop being such a worrywart. His investigation will go nowhere since a mountain lion didn’t kill those sheep.”

“No, you did that,” Katlyn said frankly. “Now it seems like you put us in quite the predicament.”

“Us?”

“Katlyn’s our mate,” Brendan explained. “And she has a right to be concerned. Especially since Clayton sounds like he wants a mountain lion to fall for the missing sheep.”

Paige sat down again. “Katlyn, I never killed those sheep. They were already dead when I found them. There was no sense in letting good blood go to waste so I brought them back here. I discarded their carcasses.”

“So now we’ll never know what killed the sheep,” Brendan said.

“It wasn’t a mountain lion the way those sheep were mutilated, but whatever killed them didn’t stick around to drink their blood or eat their flesh. Strange, really.”

“How soon after they were killed did you come upon their carcasses?” Katlyn asked.

“A few minutes. I might have scared whatever kind of animal it was off, but I never saw it.”

“And it didn’t try to attack you either. Strange,” Chase said.

Katlyn’s heart pounded as she asked, “Can I see Tessa, please. I need to see firsthand if she’s okay.”

“Very well, but you might not like what you see.”

Paige led the way upstairs and down a darkened hallway with dim lights about every ten feet. The walls were painted red and it was surprisingly cold and drafty for Wyoming. She then pulled a skeleton key from her pocket and unlocked the door. Upon entering, Katlyn choked back a scream. Tessa was lying motionless in bed wearing a white silky nightgown, IV tubing affixed to her hand that was dripping blood from a bag hooked to a pole.

“What on earth are you doing to Tessa?” Katlyn made a move to rip the needle out of Tessa’s hand.

“I wouldn’t do that. She really needs the nourishment during this phase.” Paige sat on a chair near Tessa. “She should be up and about in a few days.”

“Paige medicated her for her own safety,” Brendan said. “I know it’s hard, but that’s why we didn’t want you to see Tessa until she’s back to her old self.”

“I-Is she a v—”

Paige nodded sadly. “I had hoped that wasn’t going to be the case, but there’s no going back now. I’m so sorry, Katlyn. I really never meant for this to happen.”

Katlyn’s anger returned full force. “Back to her old self? She’s never going to be her old self again, because of
you
.”

“I promise it’s not as dire as it seems,” Paige assured Katlyn. “She’ll adjust to her new life and I have a friend who’ll be able to supply her with blood.”

“You’ve turned my friend into a blood-sucking monster and nothing you can say will make me think otherwise.”

Katlyn raced from the room, tears blurring her vision. Paige seemed sincere, but it was hard to deal with knowing that Tessa was now a vampire. How could she not blame Paige for her part in Tessa’s condition?

Angus caught her just as she ran outside.

“Hold on, now. What’s going on?”

“Tessa ... she’s really ill and it’s all my fault for leaving her alone with Paige, and now Tessa’s a vampire.”

Angus squeezed Katlyn’s shoulder. “I’m really sorry about that, too, but Tessa will recover soon.”

“And then what?”

“Haven’t you asked Paige about how it will work?”

“No, I’m just so angry right now.”

“That wouldn’t be good for you or Tessa. Her survival hinges on Paige whether you like it or not, but we have bigger things brewing here at the ranch. I’ll walk you back to the cabin. It’s going to be an eventful night.”

Brendan said, “Stay with her, Angus. I’m counting on you to protect Katlyn tonight.”

“Protect me from what, exactly?”

“The sheep attacks couldn’t have happened by anyone from this ranch and Chase and I will be out in full force tonight.”

Chase strode out of the house. “The Shifter Committee scheduled a meeting in a half-hour.”

“I expected as much,” Brendan muttered. “Watch over Katlyn until we get back.”

“Not happening. I’m coming with you,” Katlyn insisted.

“You can’t. You’re not a shifter.”

“It didn’t matter earlier, and I teach shifter children. It’s not like I’m clueless about the goings on around here.”

Brendan sighed. “Fine, but remember you’re only going as an observer.”

* * *

A half-hour later, Brendan pulled into the drive of the Shady Creek Ranch, stopping at a large barn. When they walked inside, Katlyn was overcome with the shine of the mahogany floor. This barn didn’t house animals of any sort, other than the half-animal shifters who were packed in the room.

Paige was also along for the ride, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, her body completely covered in a long-sleeved shirt, slacks, and gloves on her hands. This gave Katlyn some hope. If Paige was able to go out during the daylight hours, perhaps Tessa would be able to do that when she recovered. She was told that Angus was watching over Tessa, which relaxed her since she had the feeling that he cared for Tessa. Katlyn tried her best to do as Brendan had suggested and just observe. There was a bar on the right and a bartender began to set drinks down that were picked up by a group of large men standing there.

Katlyn walked nearer to Brendan and Chase as the men stared at her. Annabelle waltzed into the room and behind a podium, dressed in a blue business suit. She slammed the gavel against the wood of the platform and announced, “Grab a drink and sit down. We have business to attend to of great importance.”

Brendan and Chase sat down with Katlyn in the middle, forgoing the drinks, but Paige shot over to the bar in a hurry, coming back with a glass of red wine. She sat opposite Katlyn, who averted her eyes. She knew she’d need to get over her anger eventually, but nothing close to that would be possible until she knew Tessa would be all right.

When the table was packed with men and women, Annabelle stared right at Katlyn. “What’s the meaning of this, Brendan? Why is the schoolteacher here?”

“She’s part of the Shadow Creek ranch now and deserves to know what
really is going on
.”

“What is really going on, Brendan?”

“Clayton is investigating, and after preliminary tests, he’ll be sanctioning a hunt.”

“A few of our neighbor’s sheep have disappeared with a blood trail leading on our property,” Chase explained. “There were also mountain lion tracks.”

“That makes sense since you’re mountain lion shifters.”

“Except that we haven’t been near the north fence in animal form and we have a few calves missing ourselves.”

“So what kind of evidence did he find?”

“A pool of blood. Whatever killed those sheep didn’t stick around to eat them, just drag them on our property.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t your vampire?”

Paige stood at that insult. “I found them, alright, but they were already dead.”

Annabelle leaned over the podium. “I’ve yet to remember any vampire that could be trusted. Word is that you turned a human on your ranch.”

Paige dropped back to her seat. “I’m not sure where you heard that
rumor
from, but what are we here to discuss? I’m quite sure it’s not me.”

“Well, it seems someone is going to the trouble of making Shadow Creek look suspect.”

“I’ve given that some thought,” Brendan said. “But I’m really surprised about all of this. I’ve never had any trouble with Jonathan outside of suspecting his sheep were grazing on our property. Someone had to have tampered with our fence, but Clayton won’t be put off for long. If he sanctions a hunt, we’ll be expected to cooperate in the form of turning up a dead mountain lion.”

“Unless you can find your missing calves also dead, then Clayton might look elsewhere.”

Nate stood. “If anyone here is responsible for the death of those sheep, speak up now.”

A burly man choked out, “Well, it’s not us werebears. We don’t like lamb near as well as trout, or an occasional deer.”

“That damn Jonathan was over to Silver Creek to throw his weight around. That’s one human that is a real nuisance,” Nate added.

“He needs to go,” one shifter said.

“It’s too late for that now,” Brendan said. “If he disappears or winds up dead now, we’ll be the first ones they blame.”

“It’s apparent someone is trying to make Shadow Creek look bad, but why? What would Jonathan hope to gain by making you look bad?” Annabelle asked.

“I’m at a loss, but Chase and I plan to be on the prowl tonight.”

“I’ll be happy to help you,” Nate said. “If Jonathan is involved, I’ll be first in line to rip his throat out.”

“What did he really do at your ranch last night?” Katlyn asked.

Nate sat down. “That bastard grabbed my son is what, and held a gun to his head.”

Gasps were heard all around. “Why didn’t you kill him?” a burly man asked.

“Why didn’t you say that earlier?” Katlyn said. “Poor Maxwell.”

“He’s got some nerve threatening a cripple,” the burly man went on to say.

“He’s not a cripple,” Katlyn said. “I might be just a human, but even I want to rip the man limb from limb.”

“For the time being, we’d better play along,” Annabelle said. “If it comes to hunting mountain lions, Brendan, you’ll just have to kill one to present it to Clayton.”

Brendan fell silent and Katlyn felt that it was something that he just didn’t want to do, like he felt a certain kinship with mountain lions even though they weren’t half human.

“Is that why you really called us here today?” Chase asked. “Or is there something bigger going on?”

Annabelle took a sip from her beer mug and said, “What do you know about the Shifter Patrol?”

“That they’re a vigilante group in the east.”

Annabelle motioned to a man who began to pass out a paper to the shifters. “Well, word has it that they’re pushing west.”

Katlyn’s heart thumped loudly. “Are they part of the government or sanctioned by them?”

“That’s the thing. Nobody knows for sure, but if they show up here, we’re not going to stand by and see our numbers reduced. We need to band together and push them back.”

“How close do you think they are now?” Chase asked.

“I can’t be positive. They might be here in weeks or days and nobody seems to have enough nerve to stand up to them.”

“Perhaps someone needs to talk to the press and tell the public what the patrol is really doing,” Katlyn suggested.

“If only that could happen.”

Brendan shook his head at Katlyn, silencing her.

“They don’t care enough about shifters,” Annabelle said. “We’ve been under fire for years now. We’re just not sure what has escalated the violence.”

Katlyn wasn’t sure either, but she’d witnessed it firsthand. She had to go public somehow, but right now might not be the best time. Right now the ranch was under fire.

“The werewolves are prepared to fight,” Nate said. “How about the werebears, Cody?”

“We’re ready when you are.”

“I’ll do what needs to be done,” Brendan said, rising. “But right now we need to get back to the ranch and see what we turn up tonight.

“I’ll help,” Nate said.

Before they left, werewolves, werebears, and mountain lions agreed to scout tonight at Shadow Creek. Katlyn was nervous now. What if Brendan and Chase ran into trouble? With the patrol not far away now, it would only be a matter of time before they showed up, and it might very well be with guns blazing. Was Katlyn the only hope for the shifter population?

Chapter Twelve

When they came back to the ranch, Paige was dropped off and Brendan and Chase stopped back at her cabin, following her inside. She hadn’t gone more than a few steps when she felt hands on her, undoing the buttons of her shirt, tugging her jeans down over her hips until she was quite naked. She wanted to protest because there was so much that would be happening tonight, but she lost all reserve when hands found her breasts. Katlyn concentrated on the feel of Brendan squeezing her breasts with a glint in his eye as Chase rubbed his erection through his jeans on her ass. It felt rough through the material, but Katlyn didn’t mind so much, for now.

She reached out and worked the buttons of Brendan’s shirt, but he yanked it open enough so that she could run her hands up his smooth chest. Katlyn stared at Brendan’s cock that pressed against his jeans and she moved her hands to free it until it bounced upward. Her hand found him then and she rubbed the head, coating it with his pre-come as he groaned, “You drive me crazy, woman.”

Katlyn smiled at him, taking the same finger and sucking it into her mouth, working it in and out of her mouth in a suggestive movement. She went down to her knees as he took a hand behind her head, and guided her toward his cock until she buried it between her lips. She heard the sound of a zipper moved downward and Katlyn knew Chase wasn’t far away. From the corner of her eye, she saw Chase now standing next to Brendan and she grabbed his rod, working on it as she bobbed her head on Brendan’s cock. She moved, then, and began sucking Chase, taking him in deeper than she ever had a man before. She spent the next ten minutes, sucking, licking, switching positions and moving her lips slowly first over Chase and then Brendan. Each man tasted musky, yet different, and she loved how it felt to have such power over these two shifters as they groaned in encouragement.