The Protector (7 page)

He
pounded again, but still nothing moved in the house. His hearing would have
even picked up slight movement. “Blair, you have two seconds to open up the
door or I will kick in your pretty door. You know the one you made me paint
these fucking flowers on.”

Nothing
came out through the small opening allowed by the chain on the door. Not even a
whisper of a sound. “Ok, don’t complain to me about your
goddessdamn
door when you see my footprint on it.”
 
He picked up his leg and kicked the door hard several times. It was a
solid door, and did not show any signs of giving. The door frame was the weak
part of her door. It splintered, and the door banged inward.
 
Cole had his gun out and all his senses on
alert, just in case something was wrong. He walked into the house, carefully
searching the main living areas of the house. There were no lights on, and no
sign of Blair.

He
cleared every room before he made his way to the garage. Opening the garage
door, he saw the final blow. Her car was gone. She had run from him. He should
have known she would not submit as easily as it had seemed. That was ok. He had
an entire department of
cholan
at his disposal, and
when he found her, she would learn what happened when a little wisp of a fox
ran from him.
 
He stood on the porch
looking up and down the street. It was quiet with most of the residents at
work.
 
He thought about what he would do
now. Blair knew how to cover her tracks well, and she would not be foolish
enough to leave him a trail. He needed to talk to Michael. Michael knew Blair
well, and he would be able to get the word out to watch for her. She would not
go far with her business here.

It
was a beautiful day, so Cole decided to walk to Michael’s office. Not only did
he need the fresh air, but he could look for clues, maybe see one of Blair’s
neighbors out that had seen where she went. He spotted a troll he didn’t
recognize walking along the grass.
 
He
didn’t look quite as grumpy as their resident trolls. They tended to be quite
angry little critters, which gave them such a nasty reputation in fairytales.

Before
getting to city hall, he stopped in the coffee shop. Mandy saw him and turned
to make a coffee for Mitch. Mandy handed over Mitch’s coffee,
then
turned to Cole. “What can I do for you?”

Cole
gave Mandy the look he used when asking questions. “Where is Blair?”

 
“I don’t know. She said she needed me to work
some overtime, so I did it.”

Cole
could tell she was not being truthful with him. He would find Blair eventually,
and he would deal with her hiding. Michael would deal with Mandy helping her
hide.

“Did
she say where she was going?”

Mandy’s
eyes were wide and full of innocence. “No, Cole. She didn’t tell me where she
was going. Maybe she went on vacation.”

Even
without his truth sensing, Cole knew she was lying. She had that little smile
on her face that she used when she lied. The trouble was
,
he didn’t have the heart to really interrogate her. He knew Blair was
disobeying her judgment from Michael, and Mandy was helping. “I will check back
in a while. We aren’t done here.”

“Ok,”
Mandy said softly.

Right
before he turned away from her he saw her cringe. She knew where Blair was all
right, and that she would have to face Michael for helping Blair disobey.
 
She must be close, or Mandy would not worry.
He pushed open the door and walked back out into the Colorado Mountain
sunshine. He hoped Michael would have some clues.

****

Cole
made it to the city hall where Michael’s office was located. Michael’s official
title for the records, and his paycheck, was the mayor of the town. For shifter
records, he was the guardian of the territory. The most respected part of his
position was being
Ilithyia’s
hand of justice.
Whether a human, shifter, or magical being threatened shifters or their
territory, Michael judged them. Their Goddess,
Ilithyia
,
either accepted his judgment, or made her own, but her decision was final, and
shifters accepted it without question.
 
The less than grand part of his job description was being a mediator.
When shifters had a disagreement they couldn’t solve themselves, they came to
Michael. With the gifts
Ilithyia
had given Michael,
he was able to understand both sides of a conflict and rule based on facts
rather than emotion.

Cole
walked up the walkway to the main doors. He wondered what Blair would do if she
knew the real reason Michael had given her this punishment. He had a feeling
Blair would be furious if she knew Michael had been waiting a while for a
chance to hand down this judgment to her. Movement caught Cole’s eye. He bent
his head and saw two fairies playing in the flowers, bouncing on them and doing
flips in the gentle wind. They were better than bees at spreading pollen. It
was a good thing shifters knew to leave bits of fruit and vegetable under the
plants for the fairies to eat. It kept them coming back to play in their
flowers, which was not only adorable, but was good for the flowers.

Cole
walked into Michael’s office and sank into the chair in front of Michael’s
desk. He had looked carefully the entire way, but she had hidden her tracks
well. Mandy had not said a word, and he knew why. She was a sweet and loyal
friend to Blair, even though she was getting herself into trouble with Michael.
Cole couldn’t bring himself to interrogate her. He would not force Mandy to
break Blair’s trust. He
could
make
her talk. Not only his gifts as
Kelach
, but also his
training in interrogation would easily break Mandy. He would never do it to her
though.

Michael
stared at him for a moment, in that creepy way he used when he was “reading”
someone. “Well? How is it going?”

“It’s
not. She ran.” Cole crossed his arms across his chest.

“Shit,
she actually ran?” Michael’s face showed his shock.

Cole his hands through his hair in frustration.
“I
just went to her house, and she is gone. No one knows where she is. Mandy is
helping her hide.”

Michael’s
face darkened. “I will have a talk with Mandy and make sure this is dealt
with.” Michael stared at the ceiling for a moment
.“
Blair
called wanting out of the judgment I gave her. I told her no, but it isn’t a
punishment. I didn’t think she would run, or I would have sent someone to watch
her. Both of you need to resolve this once and for all. I believe you two love
each other, but you are both too stubborn to admit it.”

Cole
looked down at his hands. He knew this was entirely his fault. He had let Blair
down and caused all this. Michael stopped talking making Cole look up.

Michael
was staring at Cole like he did when he was questioning someone and trying to
ascertain the truth. “Whatever mistakes you made, you are a good wolf.” He
placed his hands on his desk. “Blair wanted to see Cassie, so perhaps she is
there. I will talk to Mandy, and she will tell me what she knows.”

Cole
put his hand over his eyes. He didn’t want Mandy dragged into this, but then
she did that to herself when she didn’t cooperate with him. “No, Blair isn’t there.
Doctor Trask said she came by, but Cassie was sleeping, so he didn’t let her
in.” He looked out the window. “Mandy knows, but she won’t tell me.”

Michael
shook his head. “I envy your truth sensing. I can truth sense, but not near as
easily as you can.”

Cole
shrugged.
“One of the perks of being a wolf and
Kelach
.
I would not make a very good
Kelach
if I never knew when someone was lying to me.”

“Thank
you for coming and talking to me. I will deal with Mandy.” Michael’s stare
turned a little icy. “She will tell me what she knows.” Michael gave Cole a
deadpan stare. “I have told you how to deal with Blair, and arranged for you
and Blair to have this time. I spoke to the Guardian in France to make sure my
assumptions about her were correct. She hasn’t changed in the years she was
there.”

Cole
held up his hands defensively. “Thanks, but really, I can handle it. I don’t
need your Guardian mojo.” He appreciated Michael’s concern, but he really
didn’t need help in dealing with his mate, and she was his. She could deny it,
run away, and even sneak out of bed before the sun rose. It didn’t change the
fact that she was his.

“I
thought you came for my Guardian mojo as well as my knowledge?” Michael looked
at him with a smile and one eyebrow raised.

Cole
let out an exasperated breath. “I did. Fuck, I’m just stressed.”

Michael
nodded. “I will talk to Mandy and hold Blair if I see her.”

****

Blair
found the key over his door just where he always left the thing. Some things
never changed. She kicked off her shoes, picked them up and inserted the key in
the lock. She opened the door and stepped inside. The wooden floors were smooth
on her bare feet. She had been in here just last night, but she hadn’t taken
the time to look around at all. Nothing had changed in the years since they had
broken up.

She
heard a car pull up and glanced out the window. One of the deputies, Harley,
was putting his patrol car in park. He was talking on his cell phone as he
stepped out of the car. He jogged to the door.

Blair
ducked into the closet and watched as Harley opened the front door. “Tell the
boss I am at his house getting the pizza.” Harley walked straight to the
kitchen and opened the fridge. “Goddess, Ash, I love Cole’s kitchen.”

Blair
could hear Harley hitting the buttons on the oven. She rolled her eyes.
Is Harley really going to reheat that pizza
here? If I’d known Harley was coming by, I would have waited.

Harley
sighed.
“Fine.
I will bring it back to the office.
I know, you like cold pizza.
I am on my way now, baby. I
love you, too. I will be there in a minute.” He was silent a moment while he
moved around in the kitchen. “Yeah, I will get you some Coke, too. I love you.”
Harley hit another button on the oven,
then
moved back
to the front door, and Blair heard it open and close

Blair
grinned hearing Harley. He and Ashley were seeing one another, but both of them
were very private people. To hear Harley talking so sweetly to her was nice.

I wonder what Cole has been up
to?
She decided to walk around to find any evidence that he had taken another
shifter woman to bed. She knew he must have at some time as Cole was a sexy,
sought after shifter. She was sure he had looked for a better suited mate in
their five year break up. Myra and Julie were adamant that Cole had been
completely celibate in all that time, but Blair had always found that difficult
to believe. Before she went poking around Cole’s house, she needed to cover her
scent, and that would mean some torture for her. She would have to wear his
cologne and his shirt. It would mask her scent enough so he would think it was
just her scent lingering.

She
walked into the master bedroom and found his favorite cologne on the dresser.
She poured some in her hand and rubbed it on herself, then went to his closet
to get a t-shirt.
 
Once she had his shirt
on the memories she’d rather not remember surfaced. She tried to shove them
away, but the scent was a powerful reminder. Cole was a dominating wolf, very
alpha, and he loved to punish, or “
funish
” like she
thought of it. Cole never did anything to her she didn’t crave. He was always
tender and loving with her, even while spanking her ass. The happiest times of
her life had been while she was with Cole.

She
wandered over to his bedside table. He still had the hand carved frame he made.
It held the picture of her that he loved. She remembered the day he took this picture.
They had spent the day shopping in Colorado Springs, and had gone to Palmer
Park to enjoy the sunset. Cole loved taking pictures, especially of her. When
he downloaded it to his computer, she was stunned. The beautiful sunset brought
out the red in her hair and caused it to shine a beautiful fiery color. She saw
the happiness in her eyes while she looked at the camera. She had been looking
at him when had taken it.
He kept my
picture. Maybe he
— Blair shook her head to get that thought out of her head.
She had to stay strong.

Her
stomach rumbled drawing her attention away from the picture. She wondered if
Cole was still a pure bachelor, and that was exactly what she found. She walked
to the kitchen and opened the door. Sure enough, he had beer and hot dogs. It
should be a crime for a man to have such a high end refrigerator hold beer and
hot dogs.

The
memory hit her. He had gotten that refrigerator for her and her passion for
cooking. Hoping he had something more inspiring in his freezer, she opened the
bottom drawer.
Aha!
He had more pizza
here. Finding the jackpot, she pulled out the triple meat rising crust pizza
and started the oven. Even this pizza brought back memories of the times they
would be hungry, but wanting to go home. The only pizza they both liked was the
triple meat. Cole called her when he was lonely and tempted her to come over
for some triple meat pizza and hot loving. The hot loving alone worked, but
triple meat pizza made his invitation irresistible.