The Protector (9 page)

So
far they had held off the press showing up. Only a few local newspapers and a
station in Colorado Springs had called, and so far they were happy with
telephone interviews. It could blow up though, and fast, if someone made the
connection. That would be a fucking nightmare. The thought of reporters
descending on their town to follow them around made the urgency to find this
girl even stronger.

The
parents had nothing to do with law enforcement or shifters, but still they were
living every parent’s worst nightmare. Cole understood now that terrible things
happened sometimes. There was no way to keep loved ones completely safe from
harm, or heartbreak.

He
watched a min-min light fairy fluttering around a bush. They were fairies that
let off a glow at night. If only he could talk to the magic folk, but if they
did speak in their language, it was too high and fast for shifters to
understand.

 
He was busy watching the fairy and never heard
anything before a hand landed on his shoulder. His hand went instinctively to
his gun before he saw it was Lucas. “You’re getting soft, Cole. Had I meant to
kill you, you never would have been able to save yourself,” Lucas said in a hard
tone.

“I
was busy trying to think of what we are missing.”

“That
guy they are looking for in Colorado Springs, taking kids, is here. The girl
will be somewhere, isolated where he can do as he pleases, and no one will hear
her scream.”

Cole
felt chills running down his spine. Lucas was a unique shifter. He was a
Goddess-damn good Guardian, before a woman experimenting on shifters had murdered
his family. Lucas had declared his own war on the woman, and any human who he
thought meant harm to shifters, which had gotten him banished for a time.
Michael nearly executed him when he killed a woman vacationing in the mountains,
but it turned out Lucas had thought he was killing the woman that murdered his
pregnant mate, but it was her twin sister, Marcy, Cassie's friend.
 

Learning
he had killed an innocent woman had changed Lucas even more. He was more quiet
and withdrawn, and he no longer trusted his own Guardian senses that helped him
decipher innocence from guilt. Michael told Cole that he’d had to harass Lucas a
bit before he finally agreed to help. Lucas was not only a hermit now, but he
disliked humans even more. They were frail, and he couldn’t tell the evil from
the innocent ones, he claimed. It was the only explanation, but Lucas was
adamant that his senses had left him, and he wanted to be left to grieve for
his lost family, alone.

“Shit.
Are you sure it’s the perp from Colorado Springs?” Cole now hoped that Lucas’s
senses were off. Having a kidnapper and child murderer here was the nightmare
Cole feared.

Lucas
pulled a cigarette out of his pack and lit it. “Yep, for some reason my wolf
senses are working today. I can scent the girl’s terror in the area. He took
her in a truck and planned to take her off road judging by the tire tread. It is
meant for rough terrain.”

Cole
felt his hope that Lucas was wrong fade. “Shit.” His earpiece crackled to life.

“We
lost the scent. Whoever took her, put her in a pickup truck, and drove off on
the highway.”

“Fuck,”
Cole swore under his breath. He had really hoped Lucas had not been right. It
seemed Lucas’s senses were coming back, confirming Michael's theory that Lucas
had somehow had his senses dulled and someone had set him up to kill humans.

Cole
looked over at Lucas. He was not sure how much to tell him. Lucas was still
unstable, and no one trusted him. The only reason Lucas was alive after he
killed Cassie’s friend was their Goddess
Ilithyia
had
intervened before Michael could kill him. “They lost her scent.”

“The
scent is off. I didn’t scent a shifter, but there are a lot of shifter drugs in
his blood. Something is weird.”

Cole
straightened and gave Lucas his full attention. “Off, what do you mean off?”

“I
am not sure. I just know it isn’t a normal scent. I hope you find the girl. I
have a feeling she doesn’t have long.”

Many
would say Lucas would know all about killing, since he had done so much. Lucas
felt all of his killing was justified, except one, Marcy. Lucas still deeply
disliked humans, and he was watched carefully. No one was sure he would not go
back to his old way of killing. Cole was confident Lucas was safe now as he was
a very different shifter from the angry, bitter man he was just a few months
ago. Cole's only fear was something would provoke him enough to start killing
again.

****

Blair
had returned home and hurried through her shower. All this sneaking around was
getting old a lot quicker than she thought it would. She had to figure out what
she was going to do, and soon. She didn’t want to get anyone into trouble. Cole
could be intimidating. Even though Myra mostly thought of him as a big brother,
Mandy was shy and easily intimidated. When Michael or Cole really questioned
her, she would tell them what they wanted to know.

Blair
cleaned the fog off the mirror and picked up her hairbrush. She stroked the
brush through her hair as she tried to picture what Cole had gone through. Myra
had told her how Warren had held her while she cried, and Cole watched the
children. He would have seen the children reacting as well. The entire time she
was gone she had tried not to think about Cole much, but now she was imagining
what it must have been like for him. Her heart softened even more towards him.
She felt terrible for running away instead of staying. Cole was hurting and
lashed out at her. She should have held him instead of running to her parents.

She
looked at herself in the mirror and knew what she would do. She would listen to
her heart and go after Cole. She wouldn’t be stubborn like her mother, or
punish him like Myra said she was. She would do everything in her power to make
things right with him.

****

Silas
leaned against the sheriff’s SUV, smoking a cigarette. It was easy to stay
hidden in the dark. Some blonde teenager looked like she was getting ready to
close the place. Silas ran his hand on his crotch and felt his dick growing
hard. He liked young girls. She looked like a good little schoolgirl, which
would mean she was tight.
 
He would love
to go and have some fun now, but he wasn’t sure where the sheriff went off to.
He didn’t want to be just starting to have his fun and have a gun shoved in his
face. That dude was fucking huge, and looked like he could handle that gun he
carried. He would hate to end up like Levi.

Silas
watched a blond-haired man walking with a red haired chick. He wondered if it
was true that these people turned into animals. His brother was an avid hunter
and always wanting to find challenging prey. The temptation of intelligent
animals to hunt would have had Levi up here like a shot.

He
pushed off the SUV to walk away before he attracted any unwanted attention.
This seemed like one of those towns that would notice someone new around. He
smiled. It was just in time, and the sheriff walked out of the coffee shop, got
in his SUV, and backed out of the parking space.

Chapter
Four

Blair
pulled into the parking place next to Mandy’s little Ford Escort.
 
Her phone rang, and she glanced at the screen
and saw Myra’s name. She hit the green phone.
“Hi, Myra.”

“Hi
yourself,” Myra said sounding stern.

Blair
knew she deserved that. Cole probably talked to Myra, so she knew what went on.

“Where
are you?”

“I
am at work checking on things before I go and talk to Cole.”

“You
better, or I will hunt you down myself. Cole is worried about you.”

“He
has no need to be. I was at his house.”

Blair
could almost see Myra closing her eyes as she whispered, “Oh good lord, Blair.”

Blair
looked out the dark window. “I promise I am going back and talking to him
though.”

“Good.”

“Myra,”
Blair said turning to look at the time on her clock. “You were right. I was
punishing Cole. He hurt me. I didn’t set out to punish him, but when I thought
about what you
said,
I realized that is what I am
doing.”

Myra
didn’t make a sound for a moment, and Blair checked her phone to make sure it
hadn’t disconnected. “Then you know what you need to do.”

“What?”

 
“Stop it.
Stop being afraid.
Life is scary. Falling in love is scary as well. You can get hurt, but if you
miss all the mess, you miss all the beauty, too.”

“Thank
you,” Blair whispered. “I will. I need to go now. I will call you tomorrow and
let you know how the talk went.”

 
Blair shoved her phone in her purse and got
out of the car. She was shocked to see Mandy still here. The shop had closed
hours ago, so she should have long gone home. Blair had told her she would do
the cleanup. Mandy was eighteen and had her own life she wanted to live. Blair
was going to call Cole so they could talk while she cleaned. She felt stupid
for running from Cole in the first place, like a scared little girl. She
remembered her grandmother’s note. Blair knew she could call it needing to
think all she liked, but the hard truth hit her
. Yeah, stubborn, that is what I am
.

A
fairy was fluttering in a tree next to the building. Blair stared at it for a
moment. Fairies were usually asleep by now as they hated the dark. She wondered
if some kids had come through here and woken it up.

She
pushed on the door, but it was locked. Was Mandy suddenly scared about being
alone? Normally she left the doors unlocked until she left. Blair was starting
to get that feeling in the back of her neck that something was wrong. Her hands
shook a little as she fumbled with her purse to find the zipper.

She
dug into her purse for her keys wondering why Mandy would lock the back door.
Was there an imp in the area? An imp would wake up a fairy just for the hell of
it, and cause enough trouble so Mandy would lock the door. Blair looked around,
but didn’t see an imp anywhere. They didn’t hide well because they wanted
everyone to know they were about to cause mischief. They were sneaky little
bastards that loved to annoy everyone.
  

She
turned the lock, to find the back store room dark. Her senses were instantly on
alert. She could scent someone in here that didn’t belong. There was no magical
scent at all, so whatever had scared Mandy was not an imp as they carried a
strong scent of magic with them. Blair concentrated on listening for anything
out of the ordinary in her shop.

She
heard muffled crying.
Mandy
.
She could hear her. She ran into the kitchen and stopped in her tracks. A man
had Mandy pinned on the chopping block island in the middle of the kitchen. She
could see duct tape over Mandy’s mouth, and her hands were tied over her head
to one of the iron posts that held the pot rack over the chopping block. He had
a knife out and was drawing the point down her bare skin. Mandy was screaming
under the duct tape gag and thrashing around.

“I
am going to fuck you all night long, bitch. When I am done with you, you will
never screw another man without thinking about my dick inside of you.”

The
man’s voice was sinister, giving Blair a chill. His hand stroked his cock, which
was out of his unbuttoned jeans.

Seeing
him stroke his erection shook Blair out of her stunned shock. “Get the fuck off
of her,” Blair screamed, horrified at the scene.

Mandy
looked at Blair with her eyes pleading for help while she screamed through the tape
once more.

The
man turned with the knife in his hand and looked at her. He had a mask over his
face, but she could see he had ice blue eyes. The hatred she saw in them as
they stared at her was chilling.

Blair
was shifting before she even realized it. She didn’t even feel the familiar
falling sensation she normally felt. One minute she was yelling at the man, and
the next she was snarling in her fox form. She kicked free of her clothing and
leapt at the man.

He
yelled and slashed at her with the knife. She bit the hand holding the knife,
making him scream. She thrashed her head while she kept her sharp teeth
embedded in the man’s skin as she let her fury take over. She let go and went
for his neck. She had an overwhelming desire to rip the man’s throat out.
 
The more she thought about his plans, knowing
he would have raped Mandy had she not arrived, made her bloodlust grow.

She
bit down into his neck while he yelled and thrashed around, trying to throw her
off of him. Blair had no plans of letting go, but the man had managed to rip
her off of him. He grabbed her by the scruff of the neck,
then
threw her hard, making her crash into the pans on the shelf. The clatter of
metal and glass baking pans was almost enough to make her ears ring. Blair
quickly got to her feet, fearing the man would harm Mandy. She caught a flash
of movement just as he ran out towards the back door. The fucking coward was
running.

Blair
chased him to the door before she remembered Mandy. She skidded to a halt, and
turned around. She embraced her human form, shifting mid run. “Mandy. Oh
Goddess, Mandy,” Blair cried frantically. Mandy was struggling, trying to get
her hands free of the tightrope. Her hands had turned a light blue color from
the circulation being cut off.

 
“Hold still, sweetie. I need to cut the rope.”
Blair picked up her knife out of the wooden block and sliced through the nylon
rope.

As
soon as her hands were free Mandy sat up and grabbed Blair in a tight hug.

Blair
held her close. “It’s ok, you’re safe now, honey.” Blair reached over and
pulled the tape off of Mandy’s face gently. She didn’t want to rip the skin off
of Mandy’s face or lips.

Once
the tape was off, Mandy held her tighter. “Thank you for saving me. Thank you,
thank you. He was going to rape me. He told me he was going to do it all night
long. I was so scared.”

“You’re
safe now.” Blair’s stomach churned at the thought of what that monster wanted
to do to Mandy. He had threatened to rape her all night long. If Blair hadn’t stepped
in, he would have. Mandy was such a sensitive girl. Blair had no doubt
something like that would have broken her. “Mandy, sweetie, I need my phone. I
have to call Cole.”

Mandy
shook her head. “No, you can’t call him. Please. He’ll know what happened to
me. I don’t want anyone knowing.”

Blair
took Mandy’s face in her hands.
“Mandy, listen to me.
You have nothing to be scared about, and Cole will not be angry with you at all.
You know that, right?”

Mandy
nodded. “Yes, I know. I just don’t want everyone looking at me like this. My clothes
are all cut up.”

Blair
understood. Mandy might live around shifters, but she wasn’t a shifter. She had
not grown up with people being nude after shifting, or stripping to shift. She
would be embarrassed when Cole and the others showed up and she had no clothes
on. “It’s ok, I keep spare clothing here. I have shifted and run to work more
than once.”
 
Blair went over to the
closet and found a shirt and pants that would fit Mandy.

“Here
are some clothes for you. I need to go call Cole now.” When Mandy’s eyes teared
up, Blair added, “Cole will be angry you were harmed.” Blair could see the ugly
bruises on Mandy’s face as well as the welts and bruises forming on her arms.
That asshole had worked Mandy over before she had come in.

“I
know, I’m just scared,” Mandy whispered.

“I
know you are, but I am going to make sure your parents are called, and that you
are not left alone, ok?”

Mandy
finally nodded and let Blair go. Blair walked over to her purse and pulled her
cell phone out, and dialed Cole’s personal number. She closed her eyes already
imagining how furious he would be. A human had attacked Mandy and had seen Blair
shift. He would need to be tracked down and dealt with. True, it was a harsh
reality that he would be killed without a trial or due process, but the asshole
should have thought of that before attacking a teenage girl alone at work. If
Blair had been here and shot him, she would have had the legal right, even in
human courts.

The
phone rang once, and then Cole answered. “
Goddessdammit
,
Blair, where the hell are you?”

“I’m
at work.” She let out a cry from the trauma settling on her, as well as the
fear of the man returning before Cole could get here.

“What’s
wrong?” Cole asked, sounding alarmed.

“Cole,
I need you. Mandy was attacked. A man was in here trying to rape her.” Blair
could feel herself losing control. She knew she had to keep it together for
Mandy. She wished Cole was here to be strong for her right now. Cole had always
been her strength when she couldn’t be.

“Son of a fucking bitch.
Are
the doors locked? Are you armed?” Cole asked, raising his voice like he did
when he was worried. Blair could hear his sirens turning on and his engine
revving as he sped up.

“No,
I will go and lock them now. You still have a key?” Blair walked towards the
back and picked up her clothes on the way. Her bra dropped, but she was in too
much of a hurry to stop to pick it up. She felt her resolve crumbling, and
tears started to fall as she began to cry.

“Yes,
get those fucking doors locked, and get your biggest fucking knife and kill
anyone that tries to come through there. I will stay on the phone with you. If
it isn’t me at the door, kill the fucker.”

“Ok,”
she said crying a bit harder. Cole’s obvious worry only heightened
her own
fear. Hearing the anger and fear in his tone made it
all the more real that she was in a lot of danger at the moment.

“Baby,
I know you’re scared. I am almost there. I’m coming.” Cole sounded so soft and
caring towards her.

“I
know you are. I’m trying to stay calm.” Blair flipped the lock on the door,
then
quickly put her clothes back on. She could hear Mandy
crying in the kitchen. “He really banged Mandy up,” she whispered into the
phone.

“I
will take care of everything once I get there. I am just outside of town right
now. I was working on another case.”

“Ok.”
Blair hated feeling so needy, and like she was using Cole. She was so far over
her head with this though, that she felt like she was drowning.

She
held the knife tight in her hand and walked back to Mandy. She had moved to the
corner of the kitchen and was huddling on the floor, with her arms wrapped
tightly around her knees. Blair could see the bruises were getting darker. She
cringed at the dark bruising around her neck. She sat down on the floor next to
her. “It’s ok, Mandy. I am on the phone with Cole. He’s on his way.”

Mandy
nodded. “Can I just go home?”

“No,”
Cole said sternly through the phone. “Both of you are to stay there. I am just
a couple of blocks away. I have texted several
cholan
trackers that will meet me there.”

Mandy
looked up worriedly. “No. I don’t want anyone else to know.”

Blair
held her closer. “It’s ok.” She could hear Cole’s siren outside and then the
screech of his brakes as he came to a stop outside.

“Cole’s
here, sweetie. That man can’t hurt you at all now.”

They
looked towards the door when it opened. Blair’s heart sped up when she saw him.
His gun was out, and he held it ready to fire as he swept the building. His
collar length black hair, olive complexion, and brown eyes had never looked so
good to her before.

He
swept in like walking vengeance, looking at Mandy, then her. She didn’t think
it was possible, but his look grew darker. His eyes moved past them to the
kitchen, and took in the damage from Mandy fighting to get away from the man
who attacked her. As he was finishing his sweep of the coffee shop, Aaron
Thomson and Brad Embers arrived. They walked over talking to Cole, but
frequently looked at Blair and Mandy.

Blair
kept her eyes on Cole, but felt Mandy shrink a little bit. Mandy had always
been a shy girl, and Blair knew having this attention on her was hard for her.