Chapter Sixteen
Jill woke groggily, her head pounding. She tried to roll over but something caught her wrist. Her eyes fluttered open, blinking against the darkness. She attempted to move again and realized her wrists and ankles were bound.
She was tied to a bed.
"Hello?" she yelled.
There was no answer, but she could sense someone. Another heartbeat and the sound of deep breathing close by.
"Help! Is someone there?"
Out of the shadows to her right stepped a large man, the moonlight coming through the only window gleaming off his bald head. He stared at her from the end of the bed, one massive hand curled over the bedpost. He appeared to be in his early twenties, and his height and breadth made her near hysterical. It was one thing to take on an assailant when she was loose, but tied up?
"Who are you?" she asked.
He came around the left side and she shrank as far as she could away from him. He leaned over her, and she smelled it.
Musk.
"It's you. You're the shifter who's been following me."
He nodded, almost shyly. His demeanor was far from threatening, but that didn't make the situation any less terrifying.
"Did you kill my friend?"
His expression clouded. "No. He's tied up in the other room."
Relief swept through her. Ace was alive. Maybe he could get loose. "Why are you doing this?"
The bear ran his hand along her arm, his fingers rough. There was nothing sexual in the gesture, more like reverence.
"Lonely."
Her brow knitted in confusion. "You were lonely? You abducted me because you were lonely?"
He tilted his head, seeming confused by her disbelief. As if she was the one who wasn't making sense. "Yes."
A door in the other room slammed and a man shouted, "What the fuck is this?"
The bear jumped to his feet as a shadow filled the open bedroom doorway. The light flicked on and a dirty, bearded man stood over Jill, his green eyes blazing with fury. He focused all that anger on the shifter, and she was surprised to see the bear curl over himself in fear.
"What did you do?"
The waft of an unwashed body filled the room and Jill gagged. The hunter and the bear were together, but she sensed that only one of them was truly dangerous.
The one who obviously didn't know how a shower worked.
"You're the one killing shifters."
The two men ignored her as the bear straightened up, defiance flashing across his face.
"You said I could have her."
The hunter threw up his hands, cursing furiously. "When I was done! Now you're going to bring all her shifter pals down on us, you fucking idiot."
Big guy deflated before her eyes, pleading, "We can leave tonight. They'll never find us."
"They'll come for her! I told you she saved that wolf I shot. That he was sniffing around her once he was vertical again." The man grabbed her roughly by the hair, turning her head. He huffed. "Look at her neck? She's been marked."
Jill grit her teeth against the pain of his grasp, several hairs pulling loose from her scalp as he tightened his grip.
"Which means her mate is going to track her scent no matter where we go."
"I'm sorry, Pa. I thought she was alone. I didn't know the other man was following her."
Jill jerked against the dirty man's hold on her, but it only made it worse. "Who are you? And why are you killing people?"
The hunter leaned over her, his rancid breath like a warm cloud of sulfur gas. "They ain't people. They're monsters."
She pointed a finger at the bear. "What about him? He's a shifter too."
The hunter's face darkened under all the dirt. "It ain't his fault. He wasn't born into it. He was bit." He finally released her, and stared at his son, a faraway look in his eye. "We were out hunting Grizzly in Wyoming. Didn't even hear the bastard before he threw me into a tree. Knocked me out good. I woke up and my Gunner had been ripped up something awful. I dragged him halfway down the mountain before I realized his wounds were healing. That's when I knew that all that talk about monsters in the media wasn't just bullshit."
"So, you decided to hunt them? You didn't want to, I don't know, learn more to help your son transition?"
"I'm doing a public service. My boy was born human. Just because he's got a sickness inside him doesn't mean he can't do what's right."
Nothing about his reasoning made sense, but at least if she kept him talking, it would buy Ace some time. "Why only the men? Female shifters can turn people just as easily."
He squatted down on his haunches, his lips twisted into a sneer beneath his greasy mustache. "See, I figure your kind is a lot like your animal counterparts. Your males are more aggressive, more likely to spread his shit around. You take out the strongest in the packs and then you pick off the weak."
"You're insane."
"No." He stood up. "It's about the natural order of things. Besides, you'd be surprised how much wereskins go for on the dark web."
When she lunged up at him, he threw his head back with a cackle, showing off several missing teeth. The bonds on her wrists and ankles snapped her back, and she screamed at him.
"Whooeee, you picked a firebrand, son. You sure you can handle this pussycat?"
Gunner looked away when his father made a disgusting gesture.
"Fuck you, pig," Jill snarled.
The old man put a hand on her stomach and she tried to buck off his touch. "If you weren't spoiled goods, I might, but I don't want to spend the rest of my life as an unnatural creature." His hand fell away from her body, thank God. "No offense, son."
Ignoring her once more, the hunter addressed Gunner. "Now, what are we going to do about the fella trussed up in the living room?"
"He didn't turn when I shot him, but he heals fast," Gunner said.
"How fast?"
"Gutshot healed in five minutes."
The old man whistled. "Hey, pussycat. What kind of critter is your friend?"
She stared at him mutinously, and he drew his hand back, slapping her with tremendous force across the face.
"What is he?"
Jill spat in his face. "Go to hell."
The violent rage on the hunter's face turned her blood to ice.
“Maybe I will teach you a lesson." The dirty gnarled hands went for his belt and she screamed in earnest.
"Shut up, bitch!" The old man slapped her again and again. Her lip split open and the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.
Gunner came around the bed, and pushed his father away from her.
"You leave her be."
The old man glared up at his towering son. "She's going to learn where she fits in this family, or I'm going to sell her pelt to the highest bidder."
When the hunter tried to move around him, a blast of power filled the room. Gunner grabbed his father's arm and Jill could tell he was hurting him by the way the old man's eyes flared.
"I said you leave her be."
As father and son squared off, Jill concentrated on her hands, imagining her nails lengthening. She'd been practicing selective transformation for a while, and hoped that her fear wouldn't mess her up.
Keep calm and control on.
The hunter jerked his arm from his son's grasp. "Are you protecting this little bitch over me? I'm your father!"
"I don't care. I won't let you hurt her."
Her nails lengthened into curved claws and she curled her fingers, carefully sawing at the ropes on her wrists.
"You ungrateful little shit! I kept you alive after your mama left us. I didn't put a bullet in your brain when that shifter turned you. You owe me your very life and at the very least some God damn loyalty." The old man pulled his belt from his pants and snapped it in front of him. "Seems like you and this bitch could both use a lesson in manners."
"No!" Gunner roared and shoved his father through the open doorway. "You're the monster."
Gunner disappeared around the corner and Jill couldn't see them anymore, just the sounds of breaking glass and crashing. An Earth-shaking roar filled the cabin and Jill realized Gunner had shifted.
The first layer of rope snapped under her nails and she pulled against them. Her wrists came free and she sat up, cutting the ropes from her ankles with one precise swipe.
Jill's claws retreated as she jumped up from the bed. She knew she could fit through the small bedroom window, but she couldn't leave without Ace.
Jill saw a body fly through the air and stepped through the doorway as the hunter hit the wall on the opposite end of the cabin. He lay on the floor in a crumpled heap, his chest still, his gaze sightless.
She spotted Ace by the front door, hanging from a hook in the ceiling by his feet. He was awake, his wide eyes watching her. His mouth was covered with a dirty bandana.
To her left was a huge Grizzly bear, his cinnamon brown hackles raised along his shoulders and back. His mouth opened, revealing sharp, curved canines, and lines of drool dripped from his jaw.
Jill knew how the power of the shift could overwhelm you. Sometimes, if emotions were running high, the animal could take over, especially with new shifters. She needed to reach Gunner on an emotional level.
"Gunner. It's okay. You're safe now. Your father can't hurt you anymore."
The bear's breathing slowed, his dark gaze staring at the body of his pa. Slowly, his fur retracted, and his bones twisted, revealing a naked Gunner, kneeling on the floor.
"I killed him," Gunner whispered.
He stared at his hands in disbelief and for a moment, Jill felt for him. From the short interlude with his father, she could imagine what Gunner had dealt with growing up. The belt. The anger and resentment. The put-downs.
Things had probably been worse for him after he'd been turned and she almost didn't blame him for taking her.
Almost.
Cautiously, she made her way over to him, ignoring Ace's grunts of protest.
"Gunner?"
He glanced up at her, his dark eyes bulging. "I'm a monster."
"No, no you aren't. You didn't hurt anyone, did you?"
"I shot your friend."
"Because he surprised you. Isn't that right?"
Gunner nodded.
"See?" She took one of his massive hands between hers. "You aren't a monster. You were raised by one. You didn't kill those shifters."
Gunner's eyes filled with tears and he fell to his knees like a grown child. He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in her stomach.
"I'm sorry," he sobbed.
"Shhh, it's okay. You saved me, Gunner. You saved a lot of people your dad would have hurt. This isn't your fault."
Jill continued to stroke her hand over his head, her heart hammering. One wrong word or move and Gunner could turn on her, no matter how innocent he might seem.
"Gunner, can I let my friend down? He looks uncomfortable."
Gunner shook his head. "He'll kill me."
"No, he won't."
"Yes, he will. I shot him and kicked him. And I saw what's inside his duffle bag."
If she wasn't in such a tense situation, she might have laughed. When this was all over, she was going to make Ace show her what was in that thing.
"I promise, I'll keep you safe Gunner. Can you trust me?"
Gunner tilted his head back and gazed up at her. He was so childlike, it was actually kind of sweet. "Yes."
"Fine. Then let's get Ace down and go home."
"Home?"
Jill knew she was going to have a hard time convincing Ace to go along with another one of her plans, but it was the right thing to do.
"Yeah, Gunner. You're going home."