Chapter One
In fox form, Rin should have had the advantage of speed, but the mud sucking at her paws didn’t allow for proper traction. They were going to catch her, and when they did, they were going to kill her. They were going to shoot her, stuff her, and place her body on display as a trophy. She needed to find a place to hide, wait them out. Once full dark came, the hunt would end and she would be free.
The hounds would present a problem. They’d be able to sniff out any hole she burrowed into, leaving her trapped and easy prey. Lifting her head, she scanned the trees, many of them barren of leaves, unable to offer proper concealment.
Her ears pricked. She heard the long baying sound of the hounds to signal their masters that they had caught her scent. No time. She had no time. She needed to run. In a panic she zigzagged through the trees, keeping her body low and praying that the hounds had as much difficulty in the mud as she.
They didn’t. They were so fast, too fast. She could scent them now, hear their pants as they closed the distance. Any moment now and they’d be flanking her, steering her in a direction she didn’t want to go. She didn’t want to die.
With the hounds practically nipping at her hindquarters, Rin leapt for a tree branch and scrambled up the trunk, her muddy claws scratching frantically for purchase. Higher and higher she climbed, the hounds below, standing on their hind legs at the base of the trunk, barking to announce her hiding place.
When she discovered the hollow section of the tree, she nearly whimpered in relief. A place to hide if she could squeeze her body in. Surely the hunters wouldn’t climb the tree after her. She’d wait them out, the sun was already setting. A little more time was all she needed.
It was a tight squeeze, but once through the hole, Rin was able to curl up in a ball. She held her breath and prayed. As she waited, her stomach clenched in fear of discovery, she could barely hear anything beyond her panting breaths and the mad beat of her racing heart.
Finally, in the pitch black of her tiny hole, Rin heard the carrying voices of the hunters offering praise to their hounds, condolences to each other, and wishes for better luck next time. She’d done it! She’d beaten them! Rin Hayashi would be the first Kitsune to have ever survived and won her freedom from the fur trader’s fox hunt.
Still she waited, not quite trusting that the hunters and their hounds were gone until her ears picked up the sounds of night creatures moving about in the woods. It was the signal she had needed to hear to finally poke her head out of the hole. Scanning the darkness of the forest, she sniffed the reassuring scents of pine, dead leaves, and the utter absence of humans. Squeezing back out of the hole, she made her way down the tree.
She still needed to get off of this property and as far away from the Brooks compound as her feet could carry her. With a much lighter heart, Rin took off in a burst of speed, her feet now flying over the mud and fallen leaves as she navigated through the trees.
She scented the danger mere seconds before it struck. Not enough time to alter her course. A huge hand gripped the scruff of her neck and she was lifted off the ground. Rin let out a yelp of pain and fear as she dangled helpless from that hand. Bear shifter. His ugly, smug face level with her own as he sneered, “Gotcha.”
Rin awoke with a little gasp, her heart pounding in her chest. Taking a quick inventory, her panicked brain made the connection. She was safe. She was in her bed at The Cedars in Malsum Pass. She had been rescued. It was just a bad dream.
Running a trembling hand over her face, Rin sat up, then stood up. She knew full well there would be no going back to sleep tonight, not with that face fresh in her memory, his scent, produced purely by her mind, still lingering in her nostrils. If she never smelled another bear shifter in her life, she’d be happy.
Wrapping her robe around her, Rin moved quietly through the halls of the bed and breakfast, down the stairs to the cold, dark, kitchen. A cup of tea would soothe her, just as it had soothed her on so many nights since she had been rescued. Though she did have to admit that the nights between nightmares were becoming much more frequent.
With a steaming cup in hand, Rin went out to the front porch and sat down on the swing welcoming the bite of winter chill. Taking in a deep breath of bracing air, she felt her tense muscles relax, soothed further by that first sip of hot tea. This was one of her favorite spots. Sitting here in the quiet, she could think.
Rin hadn’t bothered to check the time, but judging by the bright moon above that illuminated the snowy ground to glittering perfecting, it was quite late. The entire town was probably tucked into bed, sweet, worry free dreams filling their heads.
Rin didn’t want to think about her dreams. She needed to make a decision. Stay or go? It had been weeks since her rescue. She couldn’t remain in this limbo. She needed to make her choice. Stay here in Malsum Pass where she knew she was safe despite being Kitsune and therefore an outsider within the pack… or return to her old life in New York and pick up the pieces.
Pushing the toe of her slipper against the porch, she set the swing in motion. She hated upheaval. She really did; and maybe that was why she was having such a tough time making this decision. Because whatever she decided, it would mean change. Another big moment. Most people liked big moments – the exceptional times that truly stand out in your memory – but Rin preferred the small moments, the simple times with little drama and little fanfare. Mostly, because in the past, all of her big moments had been followed by disaster. And this new decision, whatever she chose, could definitely be classified as a big moment. Would this one bring happiness only to see it come crashing down around her?
Just in the last year alone she’d had more than her fair share of heartbreak. She’d graduated university with a Bachelor of Science in business administration, specializing in accounting. She’d stood tall (or as tall as she could at her diminutive height) in her cap and gown while her parents had looked on proudly. Pictures of smiling faces had been taken to commemorate the moment; the last pictures that would ever be taken of them as a family. One week later, her father passed away in his sleep. It was the first time Rin had known true sorrow, only to have her mother follow her mate into the next life less than a month later.
Rin had felt lost. For the first month or so, even simple things like a shower or cooking a meal seemed like too much effort. If it hadn’t been for her neighbor who had threatened to break down the door if Rin didn’t answer, she may never have gotten her motivation back. Mrs. DeMarco had used a blend of guilt and logic as she had clucked her tongue and pointed out that Rin had that shiny new degree that her parent’s had been so proud of, she should be putting it to good use.
Sending off her resume to Brooks Financial had been a bit of a lark. They were the company to work for, but Rin knew she had absolutely no chance of getting an interview. The company hired seasoned professionals, not fresh-faced graduates with zero real-world experience. So imagine Rin’s surprise when they contacted her to set up a phone interview and then after that, a meeting with the man himself: Benedict Brooks, a financial legend. Talk about a huge moment. She had been so excited, that for a minute, maybe even an hour, she’d felt like everything was falling into place.
She hadn’t gotten the job. What she had gotten, was kidnapped by a bear shifter in Benedict Brooks’ employ as soon as she’d left the swanky, high-rise in Manhattan. Who would have guessed that Brooks, a wolf shifter, an alpha, would be in bed with a group as despicable as the fur traders?
Rin had heard stories of the traders growing up. They were a group of humans who had once been friends with shifters but had turned on them for profit; stealing shifter children and raising them to sell to the highest bidder as personal security, spies, and assassins. Rin’s grandparents had lived in a small village in Japan that offered tribute to the fur traders to keep them from decimating the town and taking all of the children. Every five or ten years, a male youth would be given as payment.
It was upon the birth of Rin’s uncle, her mother’s brother, that’s Rin’s grandparents chose to flee Japan and come to America with their two small children rather than see their son earmarked as tribute. They had settled in New York – Astoria to be more specific – a city where the fur traders would never dream to infiltrate. But times had since changed. Fur traders had upgraded their business plan. They no longer went after male children to train, but focused on women to breed. Women in big cities that were too congested to notice and too crime riddled to care about females of age who, as the overworked police force explained it, most likely had simply run off.
But Rin hadn’t been taken to breed. No, she had been taken to be the star attraction of an old-fashioned fox hunt for the investors. Was it any wonder she was still having nightmares about it despite the fact that it had never happened? She had been rescued by a fellow captive who had been crafty enough to escape and caring enough to come back for Rin. A female wolf shifter named Constance Tully. It was how Rin ended up here in the mountains of Vermont.
It was a pretty town. Picture postcard perfect with its clapboard houses and cute brick buildings, all nicely spaced so as not to look cluttered. Flower boxes beneath windows, currently sleeping under a blanket of snow just waiting for spring when they’d once again be filled with colorful blooms.
There were no streetlights here to draw the eye, no distracting billboards, and any horns blaring here were usually a result of a favorite team winning a sporting even rather than an impatient motorist. Here in the fold of a wolf pack in Malsum Pass where the sky was clear and one could see the stars at night. Where the quiet was like a comforting blanket that wrapped around you. A place where the snow stayed white instead of slushy gray and where a body could take a deep breath, even when the air was cold, and feel the crisp oxygen rejuvenate their lungs instead of being choked by exhaust fumes. A town where a Kitsune could shift and run for miles without fear. Where one felt like they could heal and once again become whole.
It was so tempting to stay, but was it the right choice? She needed to figure out what she was going to do with her life. So many variables to consider. The thought came that perhaps she should contact her uncle, but it was fleeting and just as quickly she discarded the notion. The male may technically be family, but they had never been close. He hadn’t even bothered to show up to either of the funerals. His business proved more important than his own sister. He had sent flowers instead, or rather, his assistant had sent flowers for him, his name scratched on a pre-written sympathy card. No, her uncle would not welcome her into his life, and Rin didn’t think she could ever forgive him for such disrespect shown to her parents.
Rin was scowling at the thought when David Tully, who, along with his wife Margaret, ran the bed and breakfast, came out and dropped a blanket around her shoulders. With a little shiver, he sat beside her carefully so as not to jostle the swing with his added weight, and blew into his cupped hands. “Can’t sleep?”
Rin shook her head, and took a sip of her rapidly cooling tea. “You?”
“Had to stay up and finish the novel I was reading, see if I guessed right who the killer was.”
Rin laughed, “Did you?”
“Nope.” Mr. Tully let out a bark of laughter but then shivered. “Brr. It’s cold out here. You want to come inside? I’ll make you some of my famous hot cider.”
Rin grinned. “It’s famous?”
Mr. Tully’s chest puffed out. “Absolutely. The guests rave about it.”
Rin let out a little chuckle but shook her head. “Maybe another time. I like to see the sky when I’m thinking.”
Mr. Tully nodded, and tipped his head toward the sky as well. Several moments passed in companionable silence before he spoke, his voice thoughtful. “You know there’s no hurry, right? Don’t rush into a decision you’ll regret. You can stay here as long as you want. A week, a month, or forever. You’re welcome here, Rin.”
The older male gave her a small smile and laid a heavy hand on her shoulder in encouragement before standing to go back inside and leave Rin to her thoughts. Turning her face back up to the sky she watched as one of the stars seemed to wink at her. Maybe it was foolish to think that twinkle was her parents sending her a message, but Rin felt it in her heart, as warmth seemed to suffuse her body despite the cold temperatures. Perhaps she was giving the universe another opportunity to slap her down, but she made her decision. She would stay here in Malsum Pass, and she would rebuild her life. She would find happiness again.