Chapter Two
Haven was still shaking off snow as she entered the forest filled with huge coniferous trees. She tromped her boots in anger finding little satisfaction in her petulant display of fury, no one else noticed or cared. Ice chunks fell to the ground when she banged her mitts together then yanked them on. She didn’t mind the cold; she wasn’t concerned about the wet. Haven was apprehensive. What was she going to say to her sister about her boyfriend Jeff? Her insides twisted. All Haven wanted was a bit of solitude before returning to tell her sister there was no news. Why was there no news? People didn’t simply disappear, something happened to Jeff. Haven knew he loved Orion and nothing short of death would keep him from her. The idea made her swallow hard.
She clomped through the forest with her head lowered and her thoughts sheltered. She heard the giggling and snickering of the two boys she encountered earlier. Her thoughts grumbled in annoyance. Snow assassins. Punks. Demonic spawn. She avoided the little monsters. Straightening her shoulders, she pressed her lips together. Haven didn’t have time to play victim to unruly brats who could use a smack on the ass. As she put a little distance between them, her thoughts were already returning to Orion until at a strangled scream she spun.
A huge man was holding up the two boys by the front of their jackets. A fist wrapped in each one’s coat near the throat, and the boys were off the ground, eye level with a powerhouse. Haven wondered if he was the man she ran into back at Gunner’s office. She at first thought she ran into a wall, but he was warm. She’d only seen his black runners. Haven gave him a second glance now. He looked ridiculous in a black leather jacket, opened, dark sunglasses and hip-hugging black jeans. His feet must be frozen as he stood over ankle deep in the snow. He definitely was out of his element. She almost glanced around looking for the Harley she knew he must have ridden up on.
The man’s lips were moving, and she saw the boys pale, eyes wide, their breath haloed their little demon heads. For a split second, she wished a good spanking on them. Haven sighed. As pissed as she was for the snow dunking, they were kids. The man holding them was easily twice her size. Powerfully built, he was scary, and she couldn’t even hear what was being said. One of the boys was snuffling.
“Put them down,” she demanded.
Harley-man gazed at her. Haven felt a shiver of fear, but she stood her ground. He seemed to dismiss her, lifted the boys a little higher as their jackets were slipping. He was talking again. One boy nodded immediately, tears streaming down his face. The other, apparently not fast enough to comply with some demand, was given a sound shake, his one boot slipped to the ground. The man growled sending shivers down her spine and barked a demand. The boy cried out, and Haven started towards them. Both boys centered their gaze onto her and howled they were sorry for dumping snow on her. They were dropped, both landing in a heap and scrambling to their feet to race off. The single boot remained. Harley-man picked it up and pitched it over the boys’ heads; it landed in a snowbank. The boot was grabbed as they fled faster; a ‘thank you’ was screamed.
“They’re only children,” Haven said.
“They aren’t five. They’re almost teenagers and have now learned some manners.”
“You can’t frighten children into learning respect.”
“Maybe I should have spanked them?”
Heat washed up her throat, burning her face and she knew she was a lively shade of red to match her hair. Harley-man lifted his sunglasses and winked at her.
“I don’t spank little boys.” His suggestive grin made her blush further and sent a shiver down her spine. She noted they were all alone, the idea of his huge hand on her ass…
“Unless you’re cold-blooded, you should wear proper clothes,” she said.
Neron laughed. “If you only knew. But you will.”
“I don’t have time to spar with you. My sister and I are dealing with a tragedy.”
“I heard. Your sister’s boyfriend went missing. The Ranger called in the big guns. Me.”
“Well, Big Guns, get some boots and a proper coat and gloves and get to work. We need some answers.” She turned to go, but he grabbed the material of her coat sleeve. She gazed up at him and raised her eyebrows. He released her.
“You shouldn’t be out here alone in the woods.”
“I have wildlife to keep me company.” I also have a dark wolf in a thin black leather jacket. Bet his nuts are frozen.
Haven started off again and heard him trudging after her. With the boys gone and no one to defend, her bravado shriveled. Her emotional protective adrenalin cooled. Every fiber of her being urged her to run. Her heart began palpitating. In her many layers, she was sweating. She would have liked to remove her coat but kept it on as a barrier. Soon Harley-man, Big Guns, wolf was walking beside her.
“Neron.”
“Pardon?” she asked somewhat startled.
“My name is Neron.”
“Mine is; I’m Running Out Of Patience. Why are you following me? I didn’t take away Orion’s boyfriend.”
“I’m seeing you safely to your destination, Haven. Can we walk faster? It’s colder than Frosty’s balls out here.”
She shivered the way he said her name. How did he know her name? Gunner’s office. “When would you have been fondling a snowman?”
“I didn’t. I happened to rip them off a delinquent’s snowman. I’m guessing it belonged to the two brats who need a spanking.”
Haven stopped and eyed him with suspicion. “You didn’t happen to mention that to the boys did you?”
“What? That their gender art was offensive to younger children.”
She was pretty certain she knew what Neron mentioned to the boys. Disconcerted, she pointed a finger and motioned with an unsteady hand.
“I’m leaving. I’m going that way. You are not coming with me. Goodbye.” Haven began to trudge off, with him following. She stopped and faced him. “Are you some kind of stalker?”
He laughed as he tilted his head, the shades falling low on his nose, but the shadowy amusement in his dark deep eyes sent a trickle of fear down her spine.
“I’m some kind of stalker all right.” He winked again before removing his shades.
Haven gazed up at him. If he wanted to spar, then fine. She plastered on her no-nonsense scowl. The smile immediately left his face, and Haven gasped as he narrowed his eyes. He looked like death, no, he looked like something death would fear. For a second, she was ready to bolt. Then Haven heard a terrible squeal. The godawful noise was coming from everywhere. Goose bumps dotted her arms while she sweated in her jacket; she felt them rise. She made a tight circle, standing closer to Neron. The snow from a few coniferous branches fell to the ground in fast succession in a path around them, trapping them. An invisible man on the prowl? Her gaze moved with the phenomenon, her breath alternately held and expelled in a whoosh. She was certain she saw something, then not.
Who moves like that? What moves like that?
“I’ve heard that sound before,” Haven whispered. “Before Orion’s boyfriend went missing. We were camping in an igloo we made. Jeff left to go back to the car for our things and never came back. Orion and I heard the squeal, and we went running to find him. All of his belongings were gone, we had ours and the car was there. There were no footprints. It’s as though the ground swallowed him. Orion and I moved everything to a cabin, fast.”
Haven wanted to run. Her boots blocks of ice half buried in snow, she froze. The forest was eerily silent; the snow from branches stopped falling. Nothing moved, and she hardly breathed. Her lips quivered. A snowflake could have shattered the tension. She screamed when Neron grabbed her up off her feet in an arm around her waist. Seconds later zipping spines hit the tree to her left in a perfectly straight line. Zap, zap, zap. The two-inch pointy shards were deadly in appearance.
“Not this female, Manni,” Neron bellowed.
His thundering words rumbled his chest, a chest she was pushed against. His warmth flooded the cheek she had pressed to his T-shirt. Her mitten hand clutched his open jacket. There was a scuffling sound, and Haven thought she saw the ass of a lion and a dragon tail. She swallowed hard and blinked, disbelieving her eyes. She tilted her head up to gaze at Neron. Haven almost wished she hadn’t. He might have saved her life, but his deadly features and rock hard body made her shiver harder. She couldn’t release him; his steel arm was a band around her back. His white, even teeth were visible under a growl.
“Do you know who’s out there?” she asked, unable to keep a tremble from her tone.
“I know what’s out there. I also know it’s not after me.” His features hardened further, his words sent icy shivers down her spine.
“Me?” Haven squeaked the word. “It’s after me? Why?”
“Damned snow,” Neron grumbled. He then gazed at her. “I need to hunt. Go back to Gunner. Now. Wait for me, and I mean it. Don’t make me come looking for you, or you’ll be sorry, my little snowflake.” He released his death grip on her and took a single step back, keeping a hand on her jacket.
She scowled at his order and severe demanding tone, about to offer a protest. The terrible noise came again making her slap cold mitten hands to her ears and clamp her jaw closed. Haven didn’t know who to be afraid of. The crazy in the woods or the weirdo holding her. Would a weirdo steer her back to safety?
Not likely.
“Git,” he yelled.
When Neron let her go, she took off. Her heavy boots clunked too slow for her taste. Haven glanced back over her shoulder once, and for the life of her, she thought she saw a huge tail disappear behind a bush. Haven kept on running, white clouds of air puffs trailing in her wake. Only she didn’t head for Gunner, she went to find Orion. There was something out there, and she needed to make certain her sister was safe. No one was more important to Haven than Orion. Her little sister and best friend was all she had left.
Jeff hadn’t taken off like the authorities would have liked them to believe. It was all lies and a cover-up. Haven began wondering about the death of their parents a few months previous. There was no way her father had lost control of their car and crashed over a cliff. That fateful day there were clear skies and no snow. Alcohol hadn’t played a factor.
Something occurred, or someone, in the demise of her parents. Now Jeff was gone. Whatever was out there, Haven had a sinking feeling she was on its hit list. If something made her disappear, Orion would be left all alone. She had to get to her. Haven ran faster wishing she were on skis. Who was this Neron, and what kind of a big gun was he?