Chapter One

Saffron stood outside the door shivering. She knew better than to enter the room wearing her fear like a red flag enticing the bull to come closer. Richard would be sitting at the head of the table with that sly smile on his face that made her think of snakes encircling a larger animal for the kill.

She pulled herself together refusing to think of the cold shadow that hovered against the back wall. No one seemed to see it, or maybe they all ignored it, but she saw it, and it saw her.

‘Keep your eyes on the prize.’ She whispered the words to herself before knocking on the door.

“Come in.”

The room was empty of any of his cronies. After the defeats, he suffered. She wasn’t surprised to find it empty.

“Saffron, I’ve been waiting for you, take a seat.”

His eyes strolled over her body. Goosebumps took over her arms and she wanted to flinch from the feeling of insects crawling over her.

“Thank you.” She pulled out a chair and took a seat at the executive conference table that held twelve. “You wanted to see me?”

Of course, he wanted to see her. It wasn’t like she would walk into this room willingly.

“Beautiful Saffron. I had such brilliant plans for you and me. The wonderful things I imagined you accomplishing. All we needed was the door, but that fool Jim, you remember him. He screwed the whole thing up. All he had to do was stick one knife in her heart and the other in her gut. The doorway would have opened wreaking vengeance on the Earth, the likes of something never seen before.

“But it wasn’t over; I still had hope. He survived his first botched attempt. He was in the hospital; I was already planning his escape. Then we would recapture the doorway, and he would live to do his part before I severed his stupid head from his body.”

Richard stood up. He paced behind his chair while the shadow on the wall undulated as if in pain.

“Do you know how long it took me to find him and the doorway? He was so stupid, Koyzal warned him. He thought he was invincible. Did you know there are very few people who can unlock the door?”

Saffron wanted to coil up on the chair, but she refused to show Richard fear. He was the type that pounced on the slightest hint of it and exploited it until you were a puddle around his feet.

What were a door and key? Whenever she was forced to spend time with him, she walked away thinking he was insane. The realization he should be in a straitjacket offered her no comfort.

“Everything was in order. We planned Jim’s rescue for that night. When we went for him, he was already dead. The doctors were calling it natural causes. Natural causes my ass. They killed him. That god-forsaken group of beings that were never intended to breathe. They killed him!” He screamed, his pale face became ruddy in anger as his eyes blazed with hatred.

“Now we have a doorway running around but no one to kill her. You don’t care about that, you only care about yourself. You’re the key did you know that? No? I never shared that with you. Here’s the problem. I can’t afford to have a doorway and a key running around. If I can’t control you, then no one will.”

He took out a gun and shot her before she could stand. Saffron slumped in the chair, and he shot her again.

“Come dispose of the body.” A second door opened, and two males walked out. “Don’t worry Saffron. I’ll find another way, but sadly you won’t get to grace my bed.”

She stared at him as the men came taking her by the arms and dragging her across the room. He was crazy. How had her life come to this? As if she would ever sleep with him. Richard was one of those men who wore his years well it was hard to pinpoint his exact age. She figured he was between forty and fifty, but he wasn’t attractive, not to her.

“Wait.”

The men dragging her let her hit the floor, her head slammed hard increasing the pain she was already feeling to increase.

“I must apologize to you. I promised you something special, but you’ll never see it now.”

“Feed her to the Gators.”

“It’s Pittsburgh there are no Gators here.”

“Just get rid of her. I don’t want to see her body on the news, or they’ll be looking for the two of you.”

The shadow was creeping towards her, and suddenly she’d rather be dead than in that room one minute longer.

She passed out as they started dragging her by the arms. Saffron was floating in a sea of memories that were slowly going black. This was the end of her life, and she couldn’t even muster up the will to say something about her own passing. All she could do was smile at the baby, she was so pretty. She was beautiful and white. Why wasn’t she smiling at a black baby? The baby whoever she was, wasn’t her. She was also bald.

They dropped her bringing her out of her lovely daydream of white babies with beautiful eyes.

“What are we going to do with her?”

“How should I know? I think she’s already dead. Why don’t we weigh her down with rocks and throw her in the river? The city has three of them, there’s no telling where she will end up at.”

“Why don’t we forget the rocks and just throw her in?”

“Because our lives depend on her not being found.”

“Oh, yeah.”

They started looking for rocks when the first dog barked.

“Shit we’re in trouble.”

“No, we’re not. We’ll leave her here and came back later.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

She heard the footsteps retreat before she tried to claw her way from the river side. She slumped death would find her soon.

*~*~*~*

Xander’s growl shook the compound. Sage huddled into herself never seeing him act like that. He was in his werewolf form so fast she had to blink. Caden stood up and roared meeting him as they attacked each other in the middle of the living room.

“Xander? Caden? What’s happening? Why are you doing this?” They ignored her like she wasn’t present, but she could feel Caden’s mind checking to make sure his brother hadn’t hurt her.

“Stop baby he’s not trying to hurt me.”

“He changed in front of you. Then he came at you.”

“I’m sure he was going to the door ask him.”

“I can’t get past the red haze of pain in his mind.”

“See he doesn’t want me something happened to hurt him.”

Nothing she said would help. Xander’s pain was feeding Caden’s fear of losing her. There was only one thing to do. She waited until they moved apart and threw herself in the middle hoping to come out on the other side alive.

They ran at each other. The only thing that stopped them was the feel her shoulders pressed against their abdomen. She fell to the floor clutching her gut.

“Save her, we have to save her.”

Xander changed back so fast that once again she couldn’t see the transformation.

“You feel it to sister?”

“The need to save someone?”

“Yes.”

She nodded her head while she looked for the blood that should be running over her fingers.

“She’s dying.”

“I know.” Xander hit his brother. “Stop playing let’s go.”

Caden switched back mumbling about brothers and mates. He grabbed his keys, picked up Sage, and ran for his Jeep. He got her into the front seat before getting in.

“Someone tell me where we are going.” They passed the barrier before Xander gave him directions. Turn here, make the light. Turn left, no your other left. Which was his right. He would be having words with his brother if the pain he was feeling wasn't soul deep, it mirrored Sage’s pain. Although they seemed to feel it from different perspectives.

“Alpha, both Sage, and Xander are experiencing pain, but it is not their own. I believe we will find someone dying, have Tristan and Cait ready. We will be coming in hot.”

“They will be ready be careful.”

“Always.”

“Stop here.”

He brought the car to a screeching halt. Xander opened the door and fell out. He made it to his feet and stumbled as he walked looking for whoever was calling to him.

Caden got Sage from front seat and carried her as he ran after his brother. He stopped when he caught up with Xander. He was on his knees in front of a mound of dirt.

“Help her.”

He put Sage down and went to Xander. There was a female who must have been crawling from the river’s edge. She was filthy, covered in dirt, and her wounds had dirt and debris ground into them.

“Can you carry her or do you want me to?” Caden spoke carefully because he could feel Xander’s possessiveness.

A sharp shake of his head said it all.

“I’ll get Sage.”

They walked back to the Jeep slowly because Xander was having trouble staying on his feet. It was as if he were dying like the female in his arms.

“Alpha, Xander needs help too.”

Sage was staring at the female. “I think I know her, but there is too much dirt to be sure.”

“We’ll know soon enough.” Caden placed her in the Jeep and waited for Xander to finish and climb in.

“Alpha will have Cait and Tristan waiting. Don’t worry we will get there in time.” He went faster than the speed limit just to be sure.

Saffron smelled something. Was it a combination of sweat and cologne? Whatever it was it made her feel safe.

“Am I dying?” Look at that she had a voice.

“No.”

“Liar. I know I’m dying but thanks for trying.”

“I won’t let you die.”

She liked that, if she could smile, she would. Her lips tried to lift, but she couldn’t feel her face. Now that she thought of it, she couldn’t feel most of her body, but she could feel the cold.

“He killed me because I’m no longer useful. Tell the cops. I hate him; I always hated him.”

“What’s his name?”

“Richard.” She coughed, was that blood trying to seep out of her mouth? It didn’t matter at least they knew who killed her.

“We will kill him after you are well.”

She closed her eyes on that one. It was a dream that she would be with the male who was holding her in his arms, and they would run up on Richard and kill him like he tried to do to her.

The surrounding voices were hushed as she drifted in and out of consciousness. When she was semi-lucid, she couldn’t decide who to focus on. The male was calling to her enticing her to believe she had a future, they had a future. The female, on the other hand, was subtle, but she was calling he name too.

She would whisper the word remember to her but when she asked what she was supposed to be remembering she would get quiet. So, she hung on drifting into dreams of being loved and cherished until she remembered.

The shadow had touched her before she was pulled out the room. It wrapped its hand around her ankle making sure it clasped her skin. The images it showed her sprang to mind. She screamed and fought and hollered some more before her heart stopped unable to process the horror.