Touchdown Daddy (20 page)

Andre Mitchel glared at Peter Locke. "How long ago was her Wolf purged?"

"Two days."

Andre paced from one end of the barn to the other. It was nearly empty with piles of hay swept against the walls and tools sitting neatly on the shelves that lined the wall. The door lead into a muddy yard. He glared at the two Wolves that sat on a hay bale watching him. Peter's wiry frame was slumped, defeated, while his sister Julia twisted her hands in her lap.

With a grunt, Andre strode towards them. Both tensed and Julia yelped. The Bear thrust the rifle he had taken from Peter into her hands.

"Does that make you feel better?" he demanded.

Julia's pale features reddened. "You have no right to be angry at me for being frightened of you! It's only been a few months since you tried to kill me!"

Andre flinched. Some of his anger trickled away. "I'm sorry. I know that isn't enough, but I truly am sorry."

He didn't feel like justifying his actions. At the time of the attack, her father had burned down his house and slaughtered his flock of sheep, leaving their bodies as a reminder of how he had slaughtered Andre's wife and daughter. A frenzy of hate had consumed him.

His eyes flickered to Peter. His Bear rose, snarling, wanting to crush the life from the man, but he forced his rage down. He had lost Mary to his desire for revenge once already. He would not make the same mistake again.

"You should go," Peter said. "If anybody else finds you here, you'll be killed."

"Where was Mary sent after her Wolf was purged?"

"What does it matter? Her memories are gone. She won't remember you."

"I don't care!" Andre roared, advancing. Both Wolves flinched and he retreated again, chest heaving as he fought to control himself. "Are you stinking animals still hunting me? Is that why you won't tell me where she is? You think that I'll be putting her in danger?"

"Bears are dangerous." Peter's voice was cold. "Even if you aren't being hunted, how can you say that you can protect her? She told me about the Bears that captured the two of you while you were on the run. This Grant Easton that she talked about. The one that was going to kill you both because our father killed one of his she-Bears. Can you say that if you went back to her, he wouldn't come after you again?"

Andre stopped his pacing. He sucked in a deep breath, letting the scent of alfalfa hay itch his nose. The scent was calming. It reminded him of his childhood on a farm in North Quebec, and of his own little farm where he had lived with his late wife and daughter for many years.

"Easton isn't interested in me or Mary," he said. "He's interested in
this
community."

Julia paled. "Why?"

"Because your father was a murderer," Andre snarled at her. "He killed more than just my wife and daughter. The whole Locke family has a reputation as killers. Wolves from this community always flit off around the world, murdering other Shifters. Children! Do you know how many children your father killed?"

Julia stared, eyes wide. She shook her head rapidly, the rifle shaking in her hands. "No. No, Father was a good man."

"He was a bastard." Peter's voice was low. He stared at the floor, a muscle twitching in his jaw. "He deserved what he got."

"Peter!"

The Wolf got to his feet. "If Easton is interested in the community, he used Mary to find out where we are, didn't he?"

Andre hesitated a moment but nodded. A huge part of him just wanted to find out where Mary was and leave, but he knew he couldn't. There was innocence among these Wolves and it deserved protection. "Yes. He's planning an attack. He'll find out how all your children are born with Wolves, then kill everybody over the age of six."

Peter swayed on the spot. "Julia, go to the house. Put ghost town into effect. Phone the Millers and Greenes."

Julia skirted past Andre and ran. He was left staring at the Wolf that had helped to kill his wife and daughter. It would be so easy to embrace his Bear to attack. Rip him to shreds. There was nobody to stop him. He longed for revenge so badly he could already taste the blood on his tongue.

But Peter Locke was his only chance of finding Mary.

"Where is she?"

"I don't know."

Andre roared, leaping forward. His Bear started to push out and his fingers turned to claws as they wrapped around Peter's throat. "Tell me where she is or I'll rip your head off!"

"I don't know!" Peter choked out. His fingers grappled with Andre's grip, but the Bear just squeezed harder. "They were afraid I'd try to help her get her memories back. They wouldn't tell me where she went!"

Andre tightened his grip until Peter's face was blue and his limbs began to go limp. With another roar he dropped the Wolf and walked away, digging his hands into his hair.
Stay calm. Stay calm.

Peter coughed on his hands and knees, drawing in wheezing breaths. Eventually, he looked up at Andre. "If I knew where she was, I'd tell you. She doesn't deserve to be punished like this for defending herself."

The Bear closed his eyes, pulling in a deep, calming breath before speaking. He had to remain clear-headed for Mary's sake. He would not be able to look her in the eye when he found her if he had killed her brother, despite everything he had done. It was clear that Mary cared for him. His death would be so much harder on her than her father's had been.

"Why did you let it happen if you didn't think she deserved it?"

Peter rubbed his throat and stumbled to his feet. He leaned against the wall of hay bales, still gasping. "If I had let her escape, her punishment would have been transferred to me. I need the land and reputation my father left me in order to get the rest of my sisters and brothers out of this hellhole. It's what Mary wanted."

Andre's chest heaved, but the words rang true. Mary did want to prevent her sisters from being treated the way she had been. "And how do you plan to do that?"

"By starting a new community that encourages interaction with the world, instead of isolating everybody from it. By bringing change to our social structures. By sending our children to university, instead of cutting them off halfway through high school." Peter rubbed his throat. "How much time until the other Bears get here?"

"I don't know." Andre felt a shiver of trepidation run down his spine. If Mary was here, she would want him to help her siblings escape. "I have a car. I can drive some of your siblings away from here."

Peter's eyes narrowed, but he nodded. "Thank you."

***

In the end, the eight youngest of Mary's twelve siblings were piled into his car. The four oldest, all boys, stayed behind to help with the evacuation of the community. Andre pulled away from the Locke farm, his head was swimming. Less than a year ago, he had been planning on attacking the Wolf community, just like Easton was, though he had no intention of killing the women and children.

I was still going to kill men who weren't involved in any deaths as far as I knew.
Would children have been caught in the fight?
If it wasn't for Mary, would he be just as bad as Easton?

The little ones wailed and the older ones tried to comfort them. Julia, the oldest of the bunch at sixteen, directed Andre where to go. They went from the majestic scenes of the Rocky Mountains to the flat, dry land of the prairies.

Dawn was rising on the fourth day when Julia finally told Andre they'd arrived. They were well off the beaten path, in a little town that looked deserted.

He pulled into the parking lot of an old inn, next to a couple of mopeds. The building was shabby but not falling apart, and the grounds had the look of recently being tended to.

As they all piled from the car, a heavily pregnant woman stepped out of the inn.

"They took him!" she sobbed, running to Julia.

Andre watched the Wolves, feeling uncertain. His Bear grumbled in his chest, but it was angry with him and no amount of coaxing would draw it forward. He felt alone and vulnerable. Yes, he'd helped Mary's siblings get away from the massacre, but where was Mary? He had wasted so much time!

Not wasted
. Julia had been able to overhear where Mary was being sent. He had a starting location, at least.

"Took who?" Julia asked as Andre turned back to his car.

"Peter."

Andre stopped. The Bears had taken him? He couldn't deny that he approved. Perhaps if Easton had the murderers in his custody, he would let the rest of them go.

The pregnant woman sobbed. "Philip, John, and Thomas arrived just before you did. Peter turned himself over to those
Bears
. He said something about facing justice. What am I supposed to do?" She wailed. "How can I go on without him?"

Andre turned his back on the Wolves. They were no longer his concern. He slid into the car and headed back for the highway. He had to find Mary.

Andre prowled the streets of the stinking city, hands shoved into his pockets to avoid punching a wall as his frustration continued to build.

Julia swore that Mary had been sent to somewhere in Chicago, but he had been in the city for two months now and hadn't seen any sign of her. It was a big place, though. All he could do was walk around and hope he would run into her.

He had risked embracing his Bear a couple of times while searching for her scent, but grizzlies were not a welcome sight in the city. The second time the police had been called on him, he knew he couldn't continue to take such risky ventures.

He slipped into a café, ordering a cup of coffee and took a spot near the window to glare out it. His face was half-reflected back at him, but he tried to focus past it to the hot, humid day outside. Trees lined the street in this section, and their bright green leaves were a relief against the brilliant sun reflected off the tall glass buildings.

His cell phone rang. Andre ignored it for a moment, grunting as he spun it around the table. It was probably Julia again. She called him constantly.

It might be an actual emergency this time. "Hello?"

"Have you found her?"

Andre bit back a grunt. "If I had, I would have told you."

"You haven't called in two days! We thought that you had found her and run off without telling her about us." The accusation didn't cover the pouting tone of her voice. "And we're out of milk."

Lord help me.
Andre closed his eyes. He understood why Mary had chosen to leave when she had–her siblings were so
needy
! Julia acted as though he was meant to take care of every detail of their lives, or that she needed his permission to do anything that wasn't daily routine.
I suppose that is the way Paul Locke ran his family.

It was still very annoying.

"If you need milk, buy milk. You have a car, you have money, I am not coming back just to bring you groceries! I will call when—"

"When you bring Mary back, you're going to go save Peter, aren't you?"

Andre held his breath a moment.
He's already dead.
"Don't call me again. If I have news, I'll call you. Got it?"

He hung up before she could utter another word. The sharp, bitter scent of coffee helped to override some of the burnt air smell that always permeated cities, but it did nothing to improve his mood. He returned his gaze to the window, his eyes tracing the bass clef scar on his reflected face. He had deliberately made that scar, as a reminder of his need for revenge.

Now it was just a reminder that he had failed once again to protect the woman he loved.

"Can I get a cup of coffee to go?"

Andre's heart suddenly thumped twice as fast, but he sat frozen. That voice! He tried to stop himself from hoping. He had thought he had heard her voice so many times, but every time it ended up breaking his heart a little more when he found that it wasn't her.

His lungs had difficulty drawing in air as he forced himself to look, expecting a woman he didn't know.

His heartbeat increased.

Her long, black hair had been cut to shoulder-length and dyed a dark auburn. Her skin was the same smooth alabaster, though she wore makeup now, darkening her eyes and brightening her lips. But it was her. Sharp green eyes. Rosebud mouth. Small nose. Hourglass curves, round and delicious on her beautiful, voluptuous body.

"Mary!"

She turned as the barista handed her a drink. Andre's heart leaped to his throat and he froze, uncertain what to say or do now. Did he fall to his knees and beg her to forgive him? Was he meant to take her in his arms and thank her and kiss her until neither of them could breathe?

A puzzled look crossed Mary's face. She hesitated a moment, then walked over to him. "Do I know you?"

Andre's heart died. He had known. He had been warned. He had been bracing himself. But none of that mattered. Somewhere in his heart, he thought she would instantly remember him - that all of her memories would come rushing back the moment their eyes locked. As if they were part of some sort of sappy romantic comedy, where everything would end with a happily ever after.

"I…"

Mary tilted her head to one side, her brow furrowed. "You look really familiar."

Andre couldn't breathe again. His brain seemed to be made of mush.

"I was in an accident recently," Mary continued. "I, uh… Well. I hit my head or something and got amnesia. So when I ask if we know each other, I'm being genuine. If we do know each other, I won't remember you."

He remembered how to breathe again and let out a slow breath. Amnesia. Of course, that would be how they would explain it. He could work with that. He could help her remember. If she never did… Mary had said more than once that he was her soulmate. Feelings that deep could not just disappear, could they?

"Would you like to sit with me for a while?" his voice was hoarse, as though he had been eating sandpaper.

Mary's brows rose.

Andre cleared his throat. "I mean, we both have coffee. Maybe we could sit and talk for a while, see if anything comes back to you?"

"So we do know each other?"

"You could say that, yes."

Mary cocked her head, studying him. "I don't really have time right now, but if you want, we can meet up at some other time. I work at the library over on, uh…" She waved her hand vaguely. "I can't remember the street name. But it's the one closest to here. If you want, we can meet up for lunch after I'm done tomorrow."

Andre nodded, not daring to speak in case he blurted out everything and scared her away.

"Tomorrow then?" Mary started to turn.

His heart ached to think of her walking away and reached for her arm though he stopped himself from actually touching her. "Wait. Maybe we can just talk for five minutes?"

"I'm sorry, I can't." She gave him a regretful smile. "My husband is waiting for me at home."

Husband?

Andre nodded numbly. He sank back down as she walked away, not watching her go this time. When they first met she told him she wasn't married. So why did she have a husband now? Was it part of the story the Wolves told her after they erased her memories? Or had she not told him her whole story when they met?

Husband.

***

Mary didn't realize she hadn't even tasted her coffee until she was at her apartment. It was cold by that time. She dumped it down the sink and threw out the cup as she entered.

'Apartment' might actually be too strong a word for this place
, she mused. When coming in from the hallway, she entered directly into the kitchen, which consisted of two cupboards for food, a hotplate for a stove, a sink, and a shoe rack on the other side where they stored the pots and pans.

"I'm home," she called, stepping into the single room that was their den and bedroom.

She kicked off her shoes and sank onto the hide-a-bed couch, sighing. It was nice to get off her feet! She had apparently just been hired for the library job before her accident, but she dreaded going to work every day. It just wasn't her. She loved reading, but just because she was at a library didn't mean she had any time to
actually
read.

Her husband, David, stepped from the bathroom. "How was work?"

"It was good." She plastered a smile on her face as she stared hard at the stranger she shared her life with. She wanted to remember him, but there was no flicker of recognition in her mind.

Not like the beautiful man who she had seen in the coffee shop. She let her mind drift back to him. His tanned skin with muscles taut against his button-up shirt. He made her feel slightly dizzy. She liked the way he did his brown hair - long, pulled up into a bun at the back of his head. It was a look she generally didn't like on men, but on that particular man, it looked… right.

She suddenly realized she hadn't asked his name.

"Well, Mrs. Monroe?" David sank onto the couch next to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "What do you say to a nice romantic dinner tonight?"

He leaned in to kiss her.

Mary shifted, pulling herself away from her husband. She shook her head. "I'm really tired," she lied. "I think I'm just going to take a bath."

David frowned as Mary slipped into the bathroom. The tub wasn't really big enough for a good soak, but she needed some space between her and David. He was being very patient with her, even though she rarely let him kiss her since the accident. It just wasn't something she wanted to do. She did not want to engage in physical intimacy, at least until she remembered her feelings for him.

As she sank into the bath, her mind turned from David. It was almost against her will. The face of the stranger from the coffee shop floated before her eyes. He looked so familiar. Especially that curious bass clef shaped scar on his cheek.
How had I known him? Was he a friend? Or… a lover?