Chapter Four
Haven had been kidnapped and dragged to a mall. Gunner was useless when it came to her stalker. It was obvious the ranger was terrified of Neron. She shouldn’t blame the ranger, Neron’s touch was discombobulating. Her body strained toward him in the cabin, confusion ran amok. What the hell was going on? Why did he make her feel so strange? Her muddled mind overwhelmed her. Even more disturbing, Neron seemed to take a serious interest in Orion…in a creepy way. Gunner noticed and, though afraid, he placed himself between Orion and Neron leaving Haven to fend for herself. Both men were agitated and jumpy. Neron was a manic delight.
What is going on?
“Don’t they have any decent boots here?” Neron was snapping and snarling and had chased the salesgirls away in a second store. Leaving one obviously gay man to deal with his Majestic Nightmare.
“Try these.”
The man held out a pair of rugged black boots. They were army boots, insulated, not great in deep snow, but for the moment Neron was satisfied. It appeared warm garments were fine only if they suited his badass MO. A black thick leather jacket was brought out next followed by thick black gloves. Neron scowled at the black toque.
“Don’t give me that look,” the salesman said. “Even a hothead can freeze.”
Neron stood, towering over the other slender man who smiled without a hint of fear. He grabbed the hat and placed everything in a pile on the counter. Haven didn’t say a word, letting her gaze go to the ceiling, while the salesman added black fleece long underwear and a pair of black jeans a size larger, finishing with a black hoodie. Neron glared at him, eyeing the long johns, the salesman merely grinned.
“I told you, even a hot head can freeze.”
Haven supressed a laugh as Neron’s look darkened on the cheeky salesman. He paid in cash, grabbed the bag and dragged Haven out to the food court where her sister and Gunner waited. She wondered if Neron thought being in the open was a better idea. Haven did. Her immediate threat was Neron. When he touched her bells and whistles went off making her alternate between sweating and cold chills. Neron strode to Gunner.
“We need to leave. Manni could show up any second,” Neron said.
“Would he do something out in the open?” Haven asked. She was stunned.
Neron’s lips twitched. “In the open is no safer for you or your sister. It puts others in danger. I can’t protect everyone at once.”
That statement surprised her. He looked more than capable of being his own army. He gripped her arm tighter, and at a fast walk they were at the ranger’s jeep.
“You should have dressed in the men’s washroom,” Haven said. “Since it’s too late for that, you can change at the cabin and then leave.”
“I’m already fucking frozen,” he replied.
To make matters worse, he stepped into a slush pile beside the car. Haven skirted it when getting out before. No one laughed when he glared at all of them and slid into the back. Orion hustled into the front with Gunner, abandoning Haven to the backseat with a growling and soaked Neron who tossed out every expletive known to mankind. Haven wondered why he wasn’t riding up with Gunner, until Neron dressed in the warmer clothes in the back of the vehicle. Haven averted her eyes, or tried to, when everything came off then went back on again. It was apparent the man had no shame or he was happy to have Haven check him out. He was huge everywhere. When his naked flesh ‘accidently’ touched her hand she quivered. She never met a man who could pull off Greek god status in long johns. The material caressed his ass. Fully dressed, he sent her a knowing grin and heat flooded her face. He knew she checked him out.
“Well, now Gunner can drop Orion and me back at the cabin, alone,” Haven mentioned.
“Not bloody likely,” Neron said in a tone that gave her goosebumps.
The vehicle was filled with uncomfortable silence. Neron glared out the window. His narrowed gaze assassinating banks of the pure white fluffy substance. The snow was beginning to fall before they hit the side road to the cabin. The flakes were thick and Haven knew there would be a blizzard soon.
“Damn, it’s going to be a bad one,” Gunner said voicing her concern.
Neron’s scowl deepened. Before long Gunner was having a problem with visibility. The jeep slowed to a creep. The windshield wipers were zipping back and forth while Gunner sat as far forward as possible. The headlights were useless as their glare was tossed back at the glass.
Haven heard Neron swear under his breath. “More snow,” he stormed aloud with the blizzard. “That’s fucking great. Crank the heat, fur ball.”
Orion scowled at him but Gunner merely sighed and a blast of heat followed. The jeep was already too warm for Haven with the heated glares from Neron. Haven studied Neron, never coming across anyone who hated the cold as much. He seemed to have zero tolerance.
“Have you ever been in a snowstorm?” Haven asked.
“Hell no. I have more sense than to stay anywhere that this white shit is, or the cold,” was Neron’s growled reply.
“Why did you come if you can’t stand snow? Of course it’s cold, it’s, wait for it, snow,” Haven said.
“You should be grateful it was me who was sent to find Manni. I’m grateful, to a degree, that I was the one sent, except for the fucking snow part.”
“That wasn’t my question. If you hate the snow, why are we here, and why did you drag us shopping if you want to leave? It’s obvious you plan on staying. Is it just Manni, or is there something else?”
Neron remained silent, but his intense expression softened. He wasn’t wearing gloves, and he lifted a hand to cup her face. Haven moved back but didn’t stop him. The confusion of skin on skin made her heart hammer and she scowled. She’d been touched by men before. Never in her life had any man caused her blood to race. He was so warm. His dark eyes were ebony pools of tar pits, keeping her in place, trapped, and unable to move. Her belly flip flopped. There was something about him drawing her closer. Inside her almost unbearably hot jacket goosebumps rose. The pad of his thumb rubbed her cheek bone. He leaned forward and his breath bathed her face in warmth. He was beautiful in a badass, sexy-as-hell way.
“Who are you?” Haven whispered.
“You know me. You just don’t realize how much.”
“We only met today.”
“You have been mine since you were created.”
That wasn’t creepy at all.
A heavy thump to the jeep’s side startled Haven, and Orion screamed as they skidded sideways. Haven was released by Neron. The wheel spun under Gunner’s hands as he battled for control. Haven was pressed to the door, her seatbelt torturing her outraged flesh. A loud ear-shattering squeal came from outside. Neron swore.
“Neron,” Gunner bellowed.
“I know, it’s Manni.”
More goosebumps rose on Haven’s skin at Neron’s declaration. The hairs on the back of her nape stood tall. Whoever, whatever it was wanted her desperate enough to brave a blinding snowstorm. Whoever Manni is he was capable of knocking a jeep sideways. What does that? Is he in a car? Were they rammed by another vehicle? When she hazarded a glance at Neron, his expression was death. Every fiber of her being screamed the man wasn’t a mere stalker or simple gun for hire.
Sparks flew at the side of the jeep as a hideous scratch slid down the metal. The sparks penetrated the blizzard as the headlights never could. Orion cried out again. Glowing yellow eyes peered through the window while the jeep crashed through a snowbank. Haven’s eyes widened. No, they hadn’t been smashed into by a car. Something was out there. A very large and dangerous something. An icy finger slid down her spine. The police mentioned claw marks on her parents’ car after the accident but decided it must have been branches of trees. There was no other possible explanation.
Now there was clarification, her father was forced to lose control as Gunner was. Haven saw a mouth with rows of sharp teeth on the other side of the glass near Orion. The creature opened its mouth wider exposing sharp spines down its throat. This was after her. This. Her heart skipped a beat, and her hair stood on end. She couldn’t be seeing this. A creature? A monster or demon? It couldn’t be real. But whatever was out there it was pushing the vehicle and it was strong. A sharp rap by a heavy arm, or claw, struck down in an arc.
Glass shattered and the car toppled sideways. Haven cried out but was in the arms of a death grip. Neron had her pressed to his chest, doubled over her. Somehow he removed her restraint, and his feet were braced. An unstoppable seatbelt. He suddenly gripped her face in the palms of his hands after the vehicle stopped sliding. The intense sensations his flesh provoked weakened her knees. She again wondered why his touch rocked her to the core.
“This isn’t how I wanted to show you,” he said with hurry. “Try not to freak out. I need to go to work.”
“What on earth is your job?” It wasn’t the best time for the question, Haven knew.
“Death.”
The blood drained from Haven’s face leaving her colder. More icy fingers snaked down her spine. She knew it. Somehow she knew Neron wasn’t lying. Neron smacked Gunner on the shoulder.
“I’m going after Manni. Keep my mate safe.”
Mate?
What did Neron mean? The window was down on Neron’s side, a blast of cold air invaded her lungs. Haven was horrified as his clothes slipped from his body and he bailed out the window. She sat stupidly, eyes wide, panting, gazing up, as the car rested on its side. She was holding his new winter jacket. Long johns fluttered over her head. She ducked as heavy boots fell to the floor as the rest of him vanished. His toes were gone and she was certain a stub slipped out the rest of the way.
“He’ll freeze to death,” Haven mumbled, her thoughts numb as she held a pile of clothes. Why am I holding his clothes? “He hates the snow. Why is he naked in a blizzard? Who the heck does that?”
“Come on,” Gunner yelled.
The ranger heaved himself up through his window and, standing on the car, reached for Orion. When he had her, Haven came next, snaking through the seats, carrying Neron’s clothes. The three jumped to the ground. Haven’s face was assaulted by stunning pelts of frozen snowflakes. Ninja drops of nature. Biting wind invaded her clothes. She tossed on Neron’s jacket, hat and gloves.
“Gunner, he’s naked out there,” Haven cried over the building blizzard.
“There’s nothing we can do for him. Only he can take on someone like Manni. I hope.”
“He’ll die, and soon. My skis. My skis are still in the jeep from when you took me back to the cabin a few days ago, before Jeff disappeared. I can get a helmet light and go after him,” Haven said. “He can’t go far naked. I’ve got to get him his clothes. He hates the cold, chances are he won’t know what to do in a snowstorm, and he doesn’t know his way around. He admitted as much when we went shopping.”
“You don’t understand what he went after,” Gunner yelled.
“Then tell me.” She stood staring him down. A man was in the blinding blizzard freezing to death and they were standing almost equally freezing while arguing. What could Neron battle when naked?
“We’re all going to freeze to death,” Orion bellowed, wrapping her arms around her chest.
“You need to come with me. There’s a small cave where we can wait this out,” Gunner said.
“It’s too cold,” Orion shouted. “The car is the only buffer from the high wind. We should push it over and wait inside. At least try to start it again.”
“The car won’t start,” Haven shouted. “It went dead before it flipped. I heard Gunner trying to turn it over after it was hit. We can’t stay here, that thing knows we’re here. It knows you’re here.”
“What do we do?” Orion shouted. “We can’t stand here yelling over the wind at each other, my lips are cold. Haven, you can’t go out there after someone who is obviously crazy. You don’t owe him a damned thing. Gunner the blizzard is too bad; you won’t find a cave in this. We can’t see a foot in front of us.”
“I can find the cave without a problem.” Both Haven and Orion turned to face him. Haven wondered how he could be so sure.
“We can’t see farther than a foot,” Haven yelled.
Gunner stared at them both for a second, his look was grim. Haven started shaking when Gunner changed. His clothing ripped to shreds and before them stood the biggest, shaggiest, grizzly Haven had ever seen. A shifter. Haven’s mother was right. She warned her of shifters when she was a child. Tales of how her mother’s sister, Ellen, fell in love with a stranger declaring they were born to be together. After that her young aunt disappeared never to be heard from again. Leaving her mother devastated. Ellen was adopted, so was Orion. Haven knew Orion wasn’t a shifter. Was Aunt Ellen a shifter? If Gunner was a shifter then Neron must be. But what kind of shifter? Mother said shifters were bad news. Dangerous to humans and each other. If Neron couldn’t stand the cold, she doubted he was anything furry. She was doubly worried. Haven understood Neron was there to save her life. That’s why he wouldn’t leave. Why was she so important to him?
Another thought occurred to Haven. Something she found unbelievable and astounding, something Neron said before leaving.
“Gunner is my mate out there?” Haven bellowed.
“Yes,” he yelled back. The words he next spoke were difficult to understand with his bear accent but she pieced them together. “But there’s something you need to know. Orion is in as much danger from Neron as she would be from Manni. Her shifter mate is a demon and can’t be allowed to breed. It’s Neron’s job to stop him, to kill him. There’s also…”
“What?” Orion yelled, her features filled with horror. Their mother had warned both girls about shifters. “I have a demon shifter for a mate? My family were shifters? Holy shit, adoption workers really need to do a better background check.”
“Mom and daddy loved you. So do I, no matter your background,” Haven shouted. “And I’m not adopted, and I have a shifter mate, so it seems.”
“All this is my fault.” Orion crushed Haven to her. “We’re going to die out here because of me. Haven, I love you. Gunner, you are a good friend. I’m sorry this is happening.”
“The fates sometimes pair shifter mates, human shifters for support. There is no rhyme or reason. Not all shifters are demonic killers. I’m not,” Gunner shouted. “I can keep you both warm in the cave. Neron needs to do his job.” Gunner grabbed Orion into his mighty paws. Haven backed away.
“Keep my sister safe.”
Haven snatched up her skies from the rolled jeep. She fit a helmet with a light onto her head over Neron’s hat. She bundled up the rest of Neron’s clothes into her backpack, also left in the jeep, and went after him. She turned to look back once. The jeep was already gone from sight, so were her sister and Gunner. It was dangerous to ski in a blizzard, but Haven was careful. She needed to find Neron. She had to know why Gunner believed her sister was in danger from him. She had to know why he thought she was his mate. Haven wasn’t a shifter. Nothing made any sense to her.
The wind whipping and snow falling should have obscured the tracks of the shifter. Not so. It looked like a snow plow had been through the trail she followed. Whatever Neron was, he was big. Figures. Another disturbing thought crossed her mind; Gunner was afraid of Neron. A huge-ass grizzly. Haven knew she could be going after one of the world’s most deadly creatures. No bunny shifter for me.
* * * *
Neron could feel his lungs constricting. Snow flew up his nose and down his throat. The Komodo in him was going crazy. Never before had Neron encountered the likes of a blizzard, blinding ice and sleet. His parents vacationed in the tropics sensitive to Neron and his father’s needs. Once, his mother took his siblings to Canada on a trip to ski. They returned bright eyed having loved every second of the trip. They explained snow in great detail. Red frozen fingers, snowmen wearing clothes, skating on ice with razors under your feet. As a young boy, to Neron it sounded disturbing.
Neron was right—snow was horrifying. All he could taste on his tongue was wetness shivering him to the bone. The winds were punishing, pushing him back. His body was slowing. Everywhere he looked there was nothing except more falling snow. Neron wasn’t ready for the sudden attack, Manni was on the defensive and came at him from behind. Both went crashing into a snowbank. Manni had the warmth of fur on his side. Neron sank his teeth into a leg and heard a scream. The spines, when they struck Neron’s thighs and calves, stung. The bacteria in his system would keep him alive if they were death spines, but the numbing paralyses already began. Neron couldn’t feel his feet. The weather could kill him first if he didn’t move to find shelter.
Weakened by the severe storm, Neron watched as Manni slunk off to lick his wounds. The shifter in Neron had enough. His body began to change into human form leaving him more vulnerable. Naked, he lay in a forming drift quivering. Ice pelts stung his flesh, his ass began a series of pin and needle pain before going numb.
“I can’t die,” he muttered under his breath. “My mate…”
Neron tried to reach for the spines in his legs but his hands wouldn’t work. Haven’s face flashed within his thoughts. Her beauty and spirit were a light. His little mate was perfect. She was delicate in all the right places. Her flesh soft and smooth, sweet. He pictured his lips over her rosy mounds and thoughts of her heated him. The harder he imagined her here with him the faster his blood flowed.
His hands twitched. Neron smiled, snowflakes brushed against his teeth. Teeth he wanted to nip her ass with. Teeth that would make her receptive to his blood with a single bite. Haven was saving his life with mere thoughts of her. Her skin would dance under his hands. A clenched fist lowered to pull a single spine from his leg. The action exhausted him, but Neron was far from finished.
* * * *
The helmet light cast eerie shadows. Her nerves frazzled, Haven was certain she’d come across two forty-foot-high fire-breathing shifter dragons fighting. She needed to get her wits together. Darkness gave Haven a different perspective of the massive trees she veered around. One false move and she would need a rescue team. Not that any would be coming.
Wind howled with a vengeance. Heavy flakes determined to blind her slapped her frozen face. Her teeth chattered. If Neron was alive in this mess, he wouldn’t be for long. Haven imagined even shifters could get hypothermia. The crumpled body in the snow came on her so fast she almost ran him over. Neron was shivering, naked. Haven would have to help him dress; he seemed paralyzed in certain areas. From cold she thought, until she saw strange spines sticking from certain places. Haven yanked them out. They needed shelter. Neron tried to talk as she struggled out of his coat and wrapped it around his shoulders. She fumbled in the backpack and yanked his clothes on article by article. His flesh was ice. Neron could barely move.
Haven used his boot laces to tie long branches to the skis. She rolled him onto her make-shift sleigh and used the rope in her pack tied around the branches and her waist. Haven was on the move. She knew this area. The snow was deep, but Haven pulled Neron’s weight along. The small cabin that came into view was for snowmobilers needing to warm themselves or meet up. She had to throw her body against the icy door to open it. Inside the darkness was the stale smell of cold, a heaviness that hung in the air and crept down her throat into her lungs. Her helmet light shining, scanning the inside of the cabin, she spied an old ripped mattress in a corner and Haven, grunting and groaning, dragged Neron to it. She flew to the small, black, pot-bellied stove and found matches, tinder and larger pieces of wood.
Hands shaking, she started a fire, feeding it with small pieces of kindling and old leaves blown into a corner pile, until larger wood could be added. Snow was as dangerous as it was fun. Blizzards blew up unexpected, hypothermia was deadly. Haven spent a lot of time outside. She had a waterproof bag containing a silver blanket, sugar packs and tea in her backpack. The mug was a device an old boyfriend made, it was collapsible and when formed would hold hot water. Haven filled it with snow from outside the door and sat it on the old stove. She went to Neron and covered him with her blanket. He was watching her as she strode to the stove.
The snow was melting fast as the cup heated. Moments later she approached him and helped him sip the warm sugary liquid.
“Your badass is now a cold ass,” she said.
“I’m going to kill Gunner.”
“Ah, yes, you mentioned you were death.”
“I am.”
“We had an interesting day, Orion and I. Our long-time friend turned into a grizzly and whisked my sister away into a cave to keep her warm. See me shaking? I’m not cold. I’ve been shaking like this since he shifted. I know you’re a shifter. Gunner informed me he thinks you’re my mate. I also learned my sister should never be allowed near you. Why is that?”
“Manni is a demon shifter. A freak of nature. He can’t be allowed to create more.”
“So, Death, kill him.”
“That’s the plan. I got a good bite into him before he spit at me. Half of me can’t move.”
“Seriously, you bit him, he spit at you. Do you both shift into two year olds?”
“I shift into a Komodo dragon.”
Haven was shaking harder. No wonder he hated snow. She couldn’t be the mate of someone so opposite her. He hated snow, she loved it, she was human, and he was a dragon. Those creatures were badass and scary as all crap.
“What does Manni shift into?”
“Are you sure you want to know? You look like jello in a paint mixing machine.”
“I saw yellow eyes and rows of fangs. Do you know how terrifying a Komodo dragon is? Of course you do, you’re Death.”
“You missed mentioning the ratty wings, dragon tail and mangy lion ass.”
“Not looking forward to being an aunt.”
“Don’t be. Manni wants you dead. He wants Orion to himself. If you haven’t guessed, you belong to me.”
“No thanks. You want to kill my sister.”
“I don’t want to.” His lips were blue and his teeth chattering he almost seemed, human. “If she draws shifter demons to her, she is a danger to you and everyone else. I’m hoping with Manni’s death another shifter will show himself, a normal one.”
“What the hell is normal about shifting into a Komodo dragon?” she shrieked.
Neron slumped and groaned. “I feel like frozen wet crap. I can’t warm up. The dragon in me is flipping its shit.”
She should watch him die, she should, but she wouldn’t. Haven took off her coat and got under the blanket with him. He was ice. Neron was watching her. His flesh quivered when she picked up his hand and brought it to her cheek. So cold. His fingers were popsicles and a thought struck her. She sucked on his fingers, one by one and tried working the circulation back into them. Haven’s hot breath bathed his palms. The intimacy of her actions made her breath catch. Instead she moved to his frozen feet and, using her thumbs, rubbed in a circular motion. She was thinking as she warmed him. The intimate contact drew her breath away. After a while it was he who heated her. How is that possible?
“I don’t belong to you,” she said, more to convince herself.
“A shifter knows his mate.”
“I’m not a shifter.”
“I know. You have to feel something when we touch. You don’t seem as freaked out as I thought you’d be.”
“My mother insisted shifters were real. Maybe she saw Manni. Maybe the accident that took hers and daddy’s life wasn’t an accident at all.”
“I’m guessing not.”
Haven moved to his feet and took off his loose boots. “All I have is my sister. You’re going to swear on your life you won’t hurt her.”
“If she attracts demon shifters…”
“Then you can kill them. That’s what you do right? Death? Why not make it easy and have them come to you?”
“I don’t want them near my mate. Or my offspring.”
“Excuse me, when did we have kids?”
“I won’t allow you to be in danger.”
Haven sat back letting his foot go. She got up and put her coat on. She began fiddling with his boot laces to release her skis.
“Where are you going?”
“To find my sister.”
“In a blizzard?”
“I found you didn’t I?” she retorted.
His leg shot out and she toppled onto him. Neron flipped her beneath him, pinning her. Haven’s breath expelled in a whoosh.