The Finding (25 page)

She left the
room and hurried to her own, a sense of urgency coming over her.
There was danger coming, she just knew it and they needed to leave
quickly. All but running into her room, she pulled a small carryall
from her closet and moved to the dresser. A movement near the door
caught her attention. Kellen was standing there.

Cassie smiled
at him brightly, trying to hide her exasperation. Why wasn’t he
cooperating? “Are you packed already?”

“Um...Sandy,”

A corner of her
mind noted that Kellen seemed to find saying her name awkward. That
was strange...

“I need to talk
to you.” Kellen looked sober, like there was bad news in the
offing. A sinking feeling formed in her stomach. She tried to push
it away and began shoving underwear into her bag.

“We can talk on
the plane, now go pack—”

Kellen stepped
into the room and grabbed her wrist, pulling her around to face
him. She froze, a handful of lacy bras dangling between them.

“Kellen?” His
face was unreadable, but she sensed something was seriously wrong.
Damn and double damn. They didn’t have time for this right now.

“Sandy, you
need to stop and listen to me. I...” He paused and flattened his
lips, his eyes appearing tormented with some inner struggle. “Tell
me about your life before we met.”

The question
shocked her and she blinked at him, not sure what to say. In all
their time together, he’d never asked. It was like an unwritten
rule between them. They didn’t delve into each other’s past. Here
and now was what mattered.

“Why do you
want to know that now?” She kept her voice light and tried to pull
away from him, but he tightened his grip on her wrist.

“I was just
wondering. I know that you said things ended badly, but before
that... Were you happy? Was it a good life?”

His question
unsettled her. She didn’t think about her life with her uncle
anymore. It was too painful. Twisting her arm, she managed to break
free and dropped the bras in her bag. “Maybe. I don’t think about
it a lot. Does it really matter?” Cassie turned her back and picked
up some items off the top of her dresser.

Behind her she
could hear a paper rattling. “Yeah, it matters. I wouldn’t want you
to be unhappy.”

“That’s silly.
How could I be unhappy? We’re leaving on a vacation any minute.
That is, if you get your act together and start packing.” She
turned, a teasing smile pasted firmly on her face.

Kellen wasn’t
looking at her. He was staring at a piece of paper again. Curiosity
won out and she stepped closer to see what he was looking it.

Her breath
caught in her throat as she saw a picture of herself. It had been
taken about four years ago when she’d gotten her driver’s license.
She recalled the moment clearly. Her uncle had presented her with a
sensible little car. It was bright red and he’d had a large white
bow tied around it. Franklin had led her outside, her eyes
blindfolded and then her uncle had given the order for her to
finally look. Excitement had welled inside her and she’d been
grinning happily. Cook—Mrs. Teasdale—had been there as well and
snapped a picture of the event. Her uncle had seldom allowed
pictures of her to be taken. A wave of sadness washed over her as
she wondered what had become of Franklin and Cook; they’d always
seemed old to her. Were they even still alive? Or had the werewolf
attacked them as well?

Not for the
first time was she filled with guilt. Why had she only thought of
herself? Why hadn’t she taken Franklin and Cook with her? If the
werewolf had killed them, it was her fault. Instead of warning them
of the danger that was lurking in the woods, she’d just fled.
There’d been no mention of their fate in the papers. She’d checked
the obituaries, but would anyone have even bothered to write one
for them? Their fate was a mystery to her, yet she’d never dared
make inquiries for fear of her own location being discovered.

The memories
brought a wave of pain as she recalled all she’d lost; her uncle,
the two servants who’d been more like family to her... “Where did
you get this?” Her voice sounded harsher than she intended, but she
didn’t apologize.

“I found it
posted on a wall along with a lot of other advertisements.
Sandy...er...Cassandra—I guess that’s your real name—you’re an
heiress. You’re probably worth millions of dollars!”

She blinked. On
some level she supposed she’d always known her uncle was rich, but
she’d never really thought of what had happened to the money once
he died. Her eyes drifted to the flier in Kellen’s hand. It called
her an heiress. Apparently her uncle left at least some of his
money to her.

A short, dark
laugh escaped her. All these years of struggling to make ends meet
and she was rich. Not that she cared. The money meant nothing.
She’d much rather have her uncle back and be free of the threat of
werewolves.

Werewolves.
That brought her up short. Bryan had to be conscious by now and was
probably on his way here at this very moment. She returned to
packing, talking to Kellen over her shoulder.

“I’d never
thought about it, but yeah, I guess I am worth a bit of money. Not
that it matters. I don’t want to go back to that life.” She
compressed her lips and blinked back tears thinking of how empty
all the fine homes around the world would be without her uncle,
Franklin and Cook. “Look, we’ll talk about it later. Right now, we
need to get packed and get out of here before it’s too late.”

“But—”

His protest was
cut off by a knock on the door. A feeling of horror washed over
her. They were too late. Bryan was already here. She turned towards
Kellen who was looking at her with an equally stricken look about
him, though she wasn’t sure why.

“Don’t answer
the door!’ They both said simultaneously.

Chapter
11

Kellen gulped
as a knock sounded on the front door again. For some reason
Sandy...er...Cassandra—he’d have trouble calling her that after all
this time—looked frightened as well. He wondered why, but didn’t
have time to ponder the fact as the sound of cracking wood came
from the general area of the front door.

“Damn!” He spat
the word out angrily. The goon from Dollar Niche was early and
obviously not feeling patient; the strength of his knocking was
splintering their old front door. He turned to go head the fellow
off, not wanting Hugh to get a glimpse of Sandy; the guy had
slimeball written all over him. Kellen didn’t trust the man to
behave himself.

“Sandy, you
stay here. I’ll see what’s going on.” He didn’t even manage to take
one step, when she grabbed his arm and tried to thrust herself in
front of him.

“No. It’s too
dangerous. You don’t know what you’re dealing with!”

Her fingers
clutched his arm tightly and her obvious concern warmed him. It was
good to know she still cared.

“Anderson! Get
your ass out here.” A deep voice called from the living room;
obviously the door hadn’t been latched or perhaps it had given way.
Kellen winced. Hugh appeared to be in a bad mood.

“I’ll be fine.”
He pried her fingers from his arm. They weren’t as tight as they
had been and she looked rather surprised as if she’d expected to
hear someone else. He didn’t have time to consider the point
though. “Stay here. I’ll deal with the guy in the other room.”

Kellen took a
deep breath and walked to meet the beefy blond giant he knew was
waiting for him.

“Anderson.”
Hugh nodded at him as he stepped into the room. “Eddie sent me to
make sure the money is delivered on time.”

“You’re early.
It’s not due for a few more hours.”

Hugh grinned
and cracked his knuckles. “I’m just here to help you get it and to
make sure you don’t skip town.”

Kellen laughed,
all the while thinking that Cassie was busy packing her bags in the
next room. He hoped Hugh didn’t take it into his head to go
snooping through the house. “Me? Leave town? I wouldn’t think of
it.” He leaned casually against the wall and crossed his legs.

“You wouldn’t
be the first guy to try and get out of paying up. Not that I’d mind
exactly. Tracking you down and reminding you of your obligations
would be kind of fun. I haven’t broken any kneecaps in ages.”

Taking in the
guy’s thick arms, broken nose and scarred knuckles, Kellen could
only imagine the kind of fun he was referring to and gulped. The
paper in his hand crinkled as his fingers twitched—he’d forgotten
he was still holding it.

Damn! He bit
his lip wondering what to do. The reward money for revealing where
Sandy was would pay off his debt to Dollar Niche and there’d be a
tidy sum left over. But Sandy hadn’t seemed overly happy when
talking about her former life. He wished he’d had more time to
discuss this with her, to see if she wanted to go back. This had
seemed like such a good idea at two in the morning, but now...?
Maybe he shouldn’t...

Hugh settled
his large body in a chair and folded his hands behind his head. His
legs stuck out halfway across the small room. Shifting into a more
comfortable position, the furniture creaked under the man’s weight.
“So where’s all this money suddenly coming from?”

Kellen frowned.
Suddenly Hugh seemed a lot more intelligent than he had a few
minutes ago. There was a calculating gleam in his eye. Was the
‘tough guy act’ just that? An act to throw him off? But if so,
why?

“Er...about
that—” He wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but a voice behind
him made it a moot point anyway.

“Money? What
money?” Sandy’s voice suddenly spoke from behind him and Kellen
swore under his breath.

“I thought I
told you to stay in the bedroom.” He whispered harshly, glaring at
her and trying to block her entrance into the room. Of course, it
had no effect. Sandy could be quite headstrong when she had a bee
in her bonnet.

“What money is
he talking about Kellen?” She stepped into the room, a strained
look about her face and her voice seemed higher pitched than
normal. A knot formed in Kellen’s stomach knowing Sandy must be
drawing some of her own conclusions. She wasn’t slow. She’d have
seen the reward printed on the flier and connected it to Hugh’s
talk of sudden money.

Hugh took
Sandy’s appearance in the room in his stride, answering her
question before Kellen could think of what to say. “Your friend
here claims to have some quick cash coming his way. Lucky thing too
since Eddie wants to make an example of someone and Anderson here
was his first pick.”

Sandy looked at
Hugh and then back at Kellen, anger sparking in her eyes. “Kellen.
Explain.”

“It’s not what
you think—”

“Not what I
think? How can it not be? You start asking me about my past for the
first time in three years. Then you have this poster, saying
there’s a reward for information about me.” She pulled the paper
from his hand and jabbed at it with her finger. “Then lunk-head
over there says you’re talking about coming into a large sum of
money. How can it not be what I think?” Her voice rose in volume as
she spoke and she waved her arm wildly. Kellen winced, knowing it
looked bad.

Hugh had stood
up as she was talking and wandered over to where they were. “Don’t
call me lunk-head, kid.” He glowered at Sandy who merely looked at
him in annoyance, most likely too perturbed to perceive the threat
Hugh imposed.

Kellen watched
in dread as Hugh plucked the paper from Sandy’s hand. He tried to
snatch it back, but Hugh held it out of reach, his gaze shifting
from the picture to Sandy then back before understanding dawned.
“Hey! You’re the girl in this picture.” A grin spread over the
man’s broad face and he reached out and punched Kellen in the arm.
“You did good, boy. She’s worth a hundred grand at least. Maybe
even more. I’ve got to tell Eddie about this.”

Kellen made
another grab for the paper, but Hugh was already moving away,
pulling out his cell phone. When he would have followed, Sandy
grabbed at him. “And where do you think you’re going? We need to
talk about this!”

“Sandy, I—” He
cast an agonized look at her and then at Hugh who was already
talking to someone, no doubt Eddie. His gaze swung back to Sandy
who was looking hurt, angry, betrayed...

She poked him
in the chest with her finger. “You were basically going to sell me
out, weren’t you? You were gambling again, ended up in debt, and
decided I was your cash cow.”

“No! I wasn’t
going to... I mean at first maybe the idea crossed my mind, but
then I decided—” He sputtered, trying to explain that he’d been
having second thoughts, but she wasn’t listening.

“God, and to
think I was worried about saving you from the—” She suddenly
stopped and clamped her lips tightly shut.

“Saving me from
what?” What was Sandy talking about? Surely she hadn’t known that
Eddie Perini was threatening him with bodily harm?

“Nothing,
I—”

“Hey,
Anderson!” Hugh’s booming voice cut into their conversation. “Eddie
says to bring her over to Dollar Niche. We’ll split the reward
money and he’ll cancel out your debt.”

Shock washed
over Sandy’s face and he was sure it was mirrored in his own as he
protested the plan. “No! That wasn’t part of the deal.”

Hugh laughed
derisively. “You guys always think you have more options. Sorry.
New deal. Eddie’s in charge of this now. Behave before he cuts you
out completely.”

The giant of a
man grabbed Sandy’s arm and she yelped in protest before starting
to struggle. Kellen stepped forward and gripped Hugh’s other
arm.

“Let her
go!”

With a simple
shrug, Hugh shook him loose, and Kellen stumbled backwards, hitting
the wall. “Come on. We’re all going to visit Eddie.”

Sandy reacted
wildly, kicking and yelling as Hugh began to drag her towards the
door.