I smelled him. In my sleep the putrid scent of rogues had permeated my nostrils and I’d awakened. He’d come for me and for Zoe because somehow he’d known she was here. I wouldn’t let him have her, but me, hell yeah, he could go against me all he wanted.
The second I stepped into the living room I’d known he was in cat form, I’d seen his green eyes. I hadn’t hesitated, hadn’t thought for one moment that Zoe wouldn’t listen to what I told her, so I shifted. And we fought, until the death. And when I went back to the bathroom, when the human form had once again pushed the cat away, Zoe was gone, and I felt like the air had been sucked right out of me. I’d only been able to do two other things since that moment—put on my jeans and call Aidan.
I’d called the only people I knew in this world, the only ones that knew all the dark recesses of my life. I don’t know why I called them because I could have just left. I could have packed up my shit and hit the road, the way I’d been doing since I left the Sanchezes when I’d turned eighteen. They hadn’t fought me, had respected my decision and told me they loved me, just like real parents would do, I guess. Only they weren’t my real parents and they never would be.
Footsteps sounded but I didn’t move, didn’t see the need to. I knew who was here.
“Caleb?” Brayden called to me the second he stepped through the front door.
I counted his steps, knew by now he was standing over the dead carcass of Dex’s cat. A hand touched my shoulder and I knew it was Aidan.
“We’ll take care of the body. You get your stuff so we’ll be ready to leave,” the oldest of the Sanchez boys said.
I didn’t move, didn’t even look up at him before the words fell from my lips, “She’s gone.”
“Who’s gone?” Brayden asked.
He stood in front of me now, I could tell by how close his voice sounded. Slowly, as if it weighed far too much to do so with any type of speed, I lifted my head. I looked at the two guys, the two shifters, that I’d run through the jungle with, first drank liquor with, talked about losing my virginity with and I repeated, “She’s gone.”
“There was someone else here,” Aidan said. “And she’s gone.”
I nodded.
“Goddammit!” Brayden swore. “Did she see anything?”
“Yes,” I replied because there was no way she couldn’t have, and there was no other reason she would have left. “I scared her away.”
“You protected her,” Aidan said as if now he knew exactly what had happened, which was impossible because all I’d said on the phone was that I needed help.
“We have to find her,” Brayden announced. “After we get rid of this body. I’m calling for backup.”
Because Brayden always did what was right. He’d pulled out his cell phone and walked away from me and Aidan. It hadn’t mattered, I knew he was calling the Faction Leader to report what had happened. In minutes my apartment would be filled with shifter guards who would pack the cat carcass into a specially made body bag. From here it would go back to Havenway, the headquarters that the East Coast Faction Leader had constructed. They had crematories on premises for situations just like this, where shifter bodies were disposed of. They could not be buried for fear of someone, for whatever reason, exhuming the body and finding out it was not completely human.
“Who is she?”
Aidan’s question rang in my ears like an accusation and I was immediately on guard.
“Can’t I have someone in my life? Can’t I do something that isn’t entwined with all this bullshit?”
I’d stood to confront him but Aidan didn’t flinch. He was a couple inches taller than my six-foot-one stature. On his feet were black boots and he wore loose-fitting jeans with a black T-shirt beneath a dark denim jacket. His face was clean shaven, his hair shorter than mine. He did his fair share of working out and most likely training as evidenced by his broad shoulders and muscled upper body. In fact, he looked like he could probably kick my ass into next week—if I were drunk and blind in one eye.
“Whoa, take it down a notch, bro. I’m not saying any of that,” Brayden insisted. “I was asking who she was to find out her connection to you. I think you’ve already given me that answer.”
Running my hands down my face I exhaled deeply, trying to get it together. Emotion was never good, I knew that and that’s why I’d always been so careful to keep a tight lid on whatever I was really feeling. Tonight, I’d let that barrier down, I’d opened the door just a crack and look what the hell had happened in response.
“She’s important,” I admitted finally. That didn’t sound like enough of an explanation and it didn’t seem to accurately describe what Zoe was or what she’d come to be in my life, but it was the best I could do.
Aidan nodded. “And she’s human.”
I gave him a nod in return as I met his gaze. “Yes. She’s human.”
“Then we’ve got to find her and make sure she doesn’t tell anyone what she saw,” Brayden said, coming back over to join us. “X is on his way with a crew. He’s not going to be happy to learn of exposure issues. It’d be better if we could tell him and the FL that we’ve taken care of it.”
Aidan never even looked at Brayden, he kept staring at me. “I don’t think it’s going to be that simple,” he said.
“It has to be,” Brayden insisted. “After your issues in Virginia and mine and Lidia’s in Pacifica, we’re batting two for three. We cannot afford to have the FL on our asses about another exposure issue. He’s going to kick all of us out of the training.”
“I don’t give a shit about any training or the FL’s opinion of me!” I yelled. “That’s your shit to deal with, not mine.”
Brayden stepped closer to me. “We’re family, bro. We’re a team. We always have been. The Assembly has been waiting for us to get through the training so we could use everything we’ve learned and seen over the years to join forces with them. Letting them down is not an option!”
I moved in closer so that Brayden and I were now nose to nose. “Those are your fuckin’ options! I walk my own path, I do my own thing. Always have and always will.”
“To hell with the people who care about you,” Brayden continued. “To hell with Mom and Dad.”
I shook my head. “This doesn’t involve them! My choices are not their burdens.”
“But your disappointing acts might just be the death of them, at least for Mom.”
Brayden’s voice had grown a little quieter then and I was immediately concerned. I looked to Aidan who was now frowning at Brayden.
“What’s he talking about?” I asked, not liking the scent I was picking up from these two.
“Mom’s sick,” Aidan told me frankly. “Nick’s mate has gone down to Florida to take a look at her, but we’re not sure what it is.”
So many thoughts rolled through my mind in the last ten seconds, my stomach twisted and I actually thought I might hurl.
“What do you mean we’re not sure what it is? Has she been to a hospital?”
“Ary is with her now,” Brayden said.
“Who the hell is Ary and why is she not at a hospital?” I yelled.
Aidan grabbed my arm this time, clenched his fingers with enough force that my mind focused on that instead of the rage that was about to break through.
“Ary is Lead Enforcer Nick Delgado’s mate. She’s also a curandero and will find out what is going on with Mom,” he said slowly, solemnly.
“She’s a tribe healer, not a doctor,” I told him, shaking my head.
“Would you rather she go to a human hospital and find out that her problem is shifter related?” Brayden asked. “You always act first and think about the consequences, the questions, and repercussions later. It’s time to grow up, Caleb. To be who it is you were meant to be and to stop blaming everybody for the crappy way you choose to live your life.”