RILEY
Two days passed without any new information on the hunters. Riley was lost in thought over what she’d learned about Gabe and Troy, not paying attention to what she was supposed to be doing. She was also cranky and on her period.
They had made a bad decision, and, while it wasn’t their ‘fault’, it had still ended in the death of the girl they loved. She could see it in their eyes how it followed them through life, how Troy and Gabe’s attitudes were marked by tragedy and pain. They were still fun and wild, but they were also driven by guilt to keep her safe. Her argument with Troy the morning after she shot two hunters at the diner made so much more sense.
They avoided her. She wanted to tell them it was okay, but it wasn’t. It was stupid and dangerous. They had made a mistake. She had meant what she said in the den, but she couldn’t help but think they were also a little to blame. Brenton later told her that some officers had wanted to charge Gabe with manslaughter, but the accident wasn’t their fault, so Gabe got only a DUI. He didn’t have drugs on him, so they couldn’t get him with any more.
Gabe had stayed a free man and had locked himself in his own prison of guilt and drugs, instead. Troy had done the same with alcohol.
She was doing the painting of the black leopard while she thought about it. She was finishing the paintings quickly because she had nothing else to do over the lockdown. She worked on one in the morning and another in the afternoon. Brenton and Zachary were done, safe on her canvas rack. Andrew was the morning painting, and Gabe was her afternoon painting.
Then the alarm started going off. A sharp beeping sounded, and Riley threw down her paintbrush and ran to her closet. Star dove in and hid in the back, freaked out by the noise. Riley was glad the cat stayed near her and in their room. It meant the cat would be safe unless Riley went down.
The closet was where Zachary had decided her gun safe should go. She unlocked it quickly and pulled out her gun. Next, she threw on a Kevlar vest and moved to her bedroom door.
Her phone dinged. It was a group text to the entire pride.
Gabe: 8 in the back. 5 out front. All armed. Hold locations. Kill on sight. They will make it into the house.
The alarm sound cut off, but the flashing light remained, showing that the house was still under attack.
“Oh fuck.” Riley just stared down at the text. Gabe was in the security room, locked in, as he’d been for two days. He must have seen them on the camera feeds. Troy was with him. Zachary would be locked down in Brenton’s office He had been doing some paperwork. Andrew and Brenton were out dealing with insurance and other nonsense for the diner.
Riley was the only person in her section of the house. She locked her door and went behind her bed to use it for cover. She had to be patient. If they couldn’t find anyone, maybe they would leave.
Brenton: Heading back with Andrew and Sheriff. ETA 20min. Be safe. Don’t make any aggressive moves until we’re there to back you up.
She hissed at the text and put her phone on the bed, so she could keep an eye on it while she held her gun.
Footsteps in the halls. Doors opened.
“Clear!” Male voice.
“Clear here!” A different man.
“These fucking animals live like kings.” Three guys so far.
“Yeah, and they even have their own bitch to keep them entertained.” Four. “But it’s human money. Animals shouldn’t own fucking property like this. Want to bet they stole all their cash and shit?”
“They are fucking CEOs and shit,” back to voice two. Damn right, Riley thought, we are fucking CEOs and shit.
“Doesn’t matter. They die today. They’re monsters, and they need to be put down.” Jeff.
“Yeah, time to get revenge for your sister,” One again. He didn’t sound like he really cared though.
Riley’s heart pounded as more doors opened and never closed. They were checking all the bedrooms. She never heard a sixth voice, but she didn’t discount the idea of another there being who just wasn’t feeling talkative.
Her doorknob was jiggled.
“This one is locked.” Voice one. “We need to kick it down.”
“I can,” voice three. Wait… was that one of Sheriff’s deputies? Riley blinked at that, recognizing it from the diner fire. Holy shit, his friends burned down the diner, and he just stood there. They nearly killed innocent people, and he didn’t say anything. He was trying to murder them, and he was supposed to uphold the law. He worked for a fucking shifter.
This guy was a monster, and she was about to have the chance to shoot his ass for it.
A loud kick hit her door, but it only cracked. It must have been a strong kick, but the deputy would have had training in it.
It had only been ten minutes since Brenton’s ETA text. She had ten minutes to fight them off on her own if they got through the door.
They did. The deputy got it on the third kick, and it swung open. He had his firearm raised but she was already aimed at the door. She fired once (boom! headshot, fucker), let him fall and fired another into the forehead of the next guy.
“Walk in this room and you die, mother fuckers,” She roared violently. “I’ve got more than enough ammo and skill to give you a bad fucking day.”
“Riley?” Jeff called out. “Riley, we’re not here for you.”
“Jeff, you might have an easier time convincing me that you own fucking Buckingham Palace.” Riley growled, not moving from her position. “I might believe you if I hadn’t had to kill two of your buddies at the diner a couple weeks ago. Or if you and your friends didn’t burn it the fuck down.”
“Steve and John?” Voice four. “We were told they might have gone missing in the woods.”
“Everyone here knows that isn’t what happened. What? Were you supposed to pick them up after they killed me in cold blood? They were dumb enough not to wear their Kevlar, you know.” Riley yelled back.
“You fucking cunt,” Two snarled. “They were good fucking guys,”
Good guys? Was he fucking serious? Riley hissed at the thought.
“Good guys don’t try to shoot women who are just going about their own fucking business, ass hat.” Riley watched one try to peek in and took a shot. She missed. Her Glock 17 held a nice number of seventeen rounds. She could afford to miss, if it meant they stayed out there. She was down four, so thirteen left. She had to keep track.
“Animals,” one of them hissed. “You are fucking animals. Not men and women. You are wildlife from the fucking discovery channel who steal and-”
“Animals can’t talk, stupid. And I’m pretty sure turning into an animal doesn’t make me a brainless monster,” Riley was taunting now. God, these fuckers were set in their damn ways. “And animals are generally nicer than human beings.”
“Can we shoot this bitch yet?” Another growled. Voice two. So, she must have killed voice one with the deputy, who was three.
“No,” Jeff snapped. “I made a promise we would let her leave if she wanted to walk away.” He had lowered his voice, but she still heard him loud and clear. “We haven’t been able to confirm if she’s one of them.”
“To who, Jeff? Your wife who dumped me since I wouldn’t be a mindless sheep and follow her orders?” She snarled with pure, unadulterated anger. “Or maybe you just want to convince me to come out, so you can get revenge for Caroline. I get it, Jeff. I fucking do. But they were teenagers and tragedies happen. Do you think she would want you hunting them down?”
“You don’t know anything, bitch!” Jeff roared.
Gun fire was happening in other areas of the house now. She held her position and made herself believe it wasn’t one of her guys receiving those rounds.
“Hear that, Riley?” Jeff called in. “The plague of freaks is dying as we speak. We don’t know if you really are one of them or maybe you just enjoy a nice life here and don’t care. But they are going to die and if you side with them… so will you.”
“People have tried to kill me before. Stronger people, Jeff.” Riley sounded bitter to her own ears. “So, fucking try me.”
“Damn it, come to our fucking side, Riley! Haley doesn’t want you to die.” Someone, probably Jeff, hit the wall.
“I would believe you, Jeff, if you guys hadn’t already tried to kill me.” She held on. She had to, she had to keep them out of the room. She couldn’t break down and think her guys were hurt or dead.
“I say we rush her,” two whispered. She could just pick him up thanks to her extraordinary hearing.
Great. She had such good luck. There were still three of them. She knew she could take down one, maybe two but the third was the biggest problem. They also knew she was here where the other two hadn’t. She had dropped them before they even knew she was waiting.
Her phone dinged but she didn’t try to look at it. It was too hot. Gun fire had ended in other parts of the house. She hoped the text was a good sign.
A roar rocked the house. It was not feline. Sheriff was here. A second roar, from Brenton made her heart swell.
“What the fuck?” Jeff yelled. “Let’s go!”
They stormed the room. She fired off two rounds, hitting a guy in the chest but the second was able to get a couple shots off. One went wide while the second sliced her arm. Too fucking close.
She fired two more, but her aim was off, going high as the two hunters aimed on her. She ducked behind the bed as bullets flew. She snuck around to the side of the bed and took a shot at a leg, hitting it and making Jeff go down to his ass. She tried to press the advantage, but the second hunter was on top of her at this point. He grabbed her up and fired a round. It grazed the left side of her ribs, near her armpit where the Kevlar had a gap. She brought her gun up and blew his head open, splattering brain matter everywhere.
She was dropped, and she scrambled to stand. Jeff had dropped his weapon to put pressure on his wound. She kicked the gun away and held hers with one hand aimed at his head.
“This isn’t over, bitch,” Jeff groaned, trying to scoot away from her.
“Jeff, where’s Haley?” Riley asked quietly. Was she going to have to shoot her previous best friend?
“Living with her cousins near Denver,” Jeff growled. “We weren’t going to stick around a town that supported these things.”
“I’m one of those things,” Riley hissed. “You didn’t hate me when I was your wife’s best friend.”
“Doesn’t matter anymore,” Jeff mumbled.
A bear ran in but didn’t attack the injured human. Brenton followed with all the guys right behind him. The guys in animal forms prowled into the room. Brenton roared at Jeff and every shifter knew when Jeff pissed himself. Zachary was holding an assault rifle, training it at the back of Jeff’s head.
“Someone is going to get you fuckers one day.” Jeff groaned. “One fucking day, if not the local Chapter then someone. I fucking promise you.”
“I got you a prisoner,” Riley tried to sound funny, but it didn’t work. Gabe ran to her and pulled her close. Troy followed. None of them looked injured at all, which did something to lighten her heart a little. “Did we win?”
“Yup, we got them all, gorgeous,” Gabe kissed her forehead. “You hurt?”
“One on the arm, and one on my left side, both grazes. Sting but nothing awful…”
“I can treat them here then,” Troy mumbled. He was the family medic for small injuries. He was alright at it. The grazes would probably scar though.
Brenton shifted back into a human, and so did Sheriff. Jeff lost his mind.
“Sheriff! What the fuck, you too? You’re one of these fucking monsters?”
“I’m a fucking Kodiak bear. So, unless you’re afraid of bears, no I’m not a monster,” Sheriff snarled down at him. “Now, you and your other friends who are still alive are going to go to the station. You invaded a home with the intent to kill innocent people. There isn’t a jury in the state that will save you or believe that you came to save humanity. Though, you could try an insanity plea.”
“State troopers on our side are on their way. We are leaving once the questioning is done,” Brenton told her, standing in all his nude glory. “Then, we are going to Denver while this is cleaned up. We are going to stay in the condo.”
“Sheriff, are you okay?” Riley bit her bottom lip. She’d taken down one of his deputies, one of his most trusted men. “I’m sorry about…” She motioned to the dead deputy.
“Ah, kitten,” Sheriff looked to her with a sad smile, “I’m fine. You did what you had to do, Riley. I… I’m fine. Someone get her out of here.”
Gabe moved Riley out of the room. She sighed. This was a nightmare. She stopped, ran back and grabbed her phone. Once she got back to Gabe and Troy, she didn’t check the text. It didn’t seem important.
“I think I just want to lay down for a minute,” Riley groaned.
“We know, the state troopers will be here in about thirty minutes. Sheriff is going to get them to release us pretty quickly.” Troy rubbed her shoulders and then sat her down on the kitchen counter. It was too clean. Her apartment at the Dump had been wrecked but the hunters were focused. They didn’t waste time with destroying their property.
Troy pulled a medical bag out and began cleaning her up. She hissed when he rubbed the grazes and then bandaged them.
“Neither of these need stitches, pretty girl,” he kissed her forehead. She wondered if nearly getting killed meant they were done avoiding her.
“Are we good, Troy?” She stopped him from walking away. He looked like a wreck, but he smiled at her wearily. He looked like he didn’t even get into a fight though. He was just worn out and stressed.
“Yeah, we’re good.” He kissed her and left the room. Gabe was standing on the other side of the kitchen, staring at her, his green eyes haunted by the past and what had happened today.
“Come here, Gabe,” she waved him over and he came to stand in front of her. “You can’t carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. Don’t blame yourself.”
“It’s hard but I’ll try,” Gabe mumbled. She pulled him in for a kiss. “It’s just so hard… You were hurt and…”
“Gabe,” she kissed him again until he joined in, his tongue opening her mouth and dancing with her own. He played with her piercings, running his hands through her hair.
Someone coughed, and they broke apart.
“Am I interrupting something?” A man Riley didn’t know was standing there and she blushed. Gabe stayed in front of her and gave a small growl, looking over his shoulder. The man was in a uniform and had a badge. Colorado State Patrol was here.
“Yes,” Gabe growled softly. Riley jumped off the counter, thankful she’d decided to put on clothes today before everything happened.
“Where’s Brenton?” He looked a bit sheepish as he watched Riley. He was attracted to her, she could tell, so she stayed next to Gabe.
“He was upstairs, last we saw him. We’ve got four dead there and one alive. Another four knocked out with gas and locked in the garage. Three dead down the main hallway.” Gabe spoke quickly, gesturing to different areas as he spoke.
“Okay. My group is going to be asking a lot of questions. We’re a special task force, so don’t be afraid to tell us anything about… your world.”
“We have special task forces?” Riley looked up at Gabe, who shrugged.
“Several governments know about us, since we are fairly powerful world players and have messes that need to be cleaned up. It keeps us from being exposed to the public and helps us get justice when things like this happen.” Gabe swung another kiss on her forehead. “I’ll show you where to go.”
“I’ve already got the four in the garage secured, take me to Brenton and the last one.” They walked out, and Riley huffed in exhaustion. She turned back to the counter, placed both of her hands on it and leaned over.
She’d killed six fucking people in self-defense in the last couple weeks. Too much, too fast. She took a deep breath and tried to stop the shaking in her hands as the adrenaline left her system. She did what they had trained her to do, and she wouldn’t feel guilty over it. She just thought this was too damn much sometimes.
She could smell the other officers coming before they entered the kitchen. She turned, jumped, and sat back on the counter, ignoring the sting in her ribs and arm. They both stopped at the sight of her, one of them dropping his jaw.
“We were only told the Kingson Pride was here.” He was shocked by her. “Do you need to call someone for a ride home? Are you injured?”
“I’m a member of the Kingson Pride. I live here. And I have a couple of scratches, but they’ve already been bandaged up.” She tried to smile at the guy but ended up just frowning.
“We… we didn’t know a girl was in the pride,” the second one held out his hand. “Officer Ferrin, and this is Officer Roban.”
She shook the hand when he came close enough for her to do so. She didn’t want to jump down from the counter.
“Riley Stern.” She pulled open the cabinet a foot away. Yes, it was her snacks cabinet. She grabbed the chocolate chip cookies and dropped them on the counter next to her. She ignored the officers standing awkwardly in front of her.
“So, what are you?” Officer Ferrin seemed excited to meet a female shifter. Awkward.
“A feline shifter who will not be telling you what her secondary form is,” Riley did smile then, grabbing a cookie and taking a bite. “Don’t you have important questions to ask?”
“Oh yeah, you must be the person we’re supposed to interview. We’re new to the task force and haven’t seen anything like this yet.” Officer Roban chuckled and pulled out a notepad. “I’m sorry, we should be more serious, this looks really bad. How are you?”
“I’ve been better, but I’ve also been worse,” Riley shrugged. She didn’t like talking to these guys. “Shouldn’t I have a lawyer or something?”
“Yes, or one of us.” Andrew walked in and went to stand beside her. He glared at the cookies but didn’t take them away. ”You men can continue now.” He hated when she ate really garbage stuff, but it wasn’t like she was getting fat or anything.
“Ah, okay,” Officer Ferrin tapped his pen on his notepad, looking at the arm Andrew had thrown around her waist. “Can you tell me what happened. Don’t leave out any details you can remember.”
She ran them through it, taking nearly twenty minutes to explain. They were probably going to see it on security tapes if Brenton decided they should have them.
When she was done, they were looking at her differently. She had killed four heavily armed guys with her Glock 17. They actually used the same firearm. The officers took a step back from her.
“Something wrong?” She asked, tilting her head to the side. “Am I suddenly scary because I did what I needed to in order to live another day?”
“No, ma’am…” Officer Roben was eyeing her warily. “I heard shifters were… well bad asses but…”
“You saw little ‘ole me and thought ‘she hid in the closet the entire time’, right?”
“Yeah, actually,” Officer Ferrin mumbled.
“She wouldn’t be a member of the Kingson Pride if she wasn’t capable.” Andrew smiled ruefully at her, kissing her cheek. “Though, I think I’m a little tired of this, darling.”
“You and me both,” she chuckled darkly. “Denver?”
“We leave as soon as the officers let us,” He kissed her again, and she turned her head to get him on the lips.
“Brenton, can we get security tapes?” The first officer was coming down the stairs beside Brenton, and they all looked at the two men walking into the room. Brenton’s eyes immediately fell on her, molten gold heat making her a little nervous.
“Do you need them? They invaded our home. We handled them. Our girl was trapped in her room. She did what she needed to. Zachary was trapped in my office and had to fight those fuckers in close quarters. The scenes speak for themselves.”
Their girl. Her heart skipped a beat as he crossed the room, and Andrew leaned back for him. Brenton bent down and kissed her.
“I haven’t been able to see how you're doing yet,” his deep voice was husky.
“I’m fine, or I will be.” She smiled at him. “Though we might be freaking out all the officers. Between the three of them, they’ve now seen me kissing three of you.” She twitched her nose at him, and he kissed the tip.
“Fuck them, I could have lost all of you today,” Brenton growled. He finally raised back up to his full height and looked back to the officer. “Are we done here?”
“I could get a warrant, Brenton.” The officer looked annoyed.
“I’ll give you the tapes but there won’t be any audio, how’s that?”
“Officer Weis,” Sheriff walked in, “leave it. These boys are doing nothing but telling you the truth.”
“Fine,” he shrugged. “I’ll take silent tapes.”
“Good.” Brenton growled, lifting Riley off the counter and making her squeak. He wrapped her legs around his waist. “We’re leaving. We’ll be in Denver, but don’t be afraid to give us a call. Gabe will have the tapes sent to you tomorrow. Sheriff, don’t let them destroy my house.”
“My cookies! Andrew, grab them!” She pointed from over Brenton’s shoulder. He was nice enough to grab them, even though he thought they were trash and bad for her.
Brenton carried her out to the wide-eyed stares of every police officer in the room, including Sheriff. He put her in the passenger seat of his personal SUV and just watched her for a moment before taking the back of her head by the hair and pulling her close for a long, hard kiss.
“This needs to stop,” he growled. “Not us, the rest. The hunters, the guns. We’re going to Denver. We’re going to throw a fucking party and be regular fucking twenty-somethings. Zachary and Troy are inviting every shifter in the city. Tomorrow night.”
She just nodded. Wow, Brenton was losing it. Not in a bad way though. She hadn’t partied in months and the idea of letting loose sounded fucking fantastic after this.
He left her to get the other guys, and she finally checked her phone. Holy shit.
Haley: I’m so sorry. You were a good friend.
Riley texted back quickly, glaring at the phone.
Riley: You weren’t.
She waited for a moment and then turned the phone off. Fuck Haley. Fuck Jeff. Fuck all of them. If she needed to kill every hunter in the state to keep her pride alive, she would fucking do it.
Brenton got back, throwing bags into the trunks with Zachary. She saw Andrew, Troy and Gabe doing the same thing. Thank God, they all remembered to pack since she hadn’t been given the chance to.
Zachary also had one very special package. Star in her carrier, meowing at them. Riley turned and watched her cat do circles in the carrier until she laid down to sleep.
“Let’s roll out,” Brenton snarled. “And I’m not liking what Jeff has to say, but now the government is in charge.”
“What’s he saying?” Riley looked to Brenton and pulled her knees up.
“There are nearly a hundred members in his Chapter of SHS. Being in SHS is actually not illegal, but murdering a shifter is since the government classified us as humans and ignores that we aren’t.” Brenton sighed as they pulled on the road at the end of the driveway. There were two trucks being examined by officers. “The state might cut a deal to release those alive if the Chapter leaves us alone. There are eight dead hunters in the house, and if they try to come at us this hard again, then they will all be going to prison for a long time. It’s politics.”
“And you want to avoid those right now,” she smiled, and he nodded.
“Damn right, I do.” he pulled them onto the highway, with the other guys close behind.
After an hour, she turned her phone back on.
Haley: You shot my fucking husband! Over those freaks! You think you’ll get away with this? You would defend those murderers over doing what’s right?
She didn’t have much of a response for that. One, she didn’t think anyone in her pride was a murderer. She damn sure wasn’t. She’d defended herself and that was that. Gabe and Troy didn’t cause the accident, even if they did do something incredibly stupid. The trucker fell asleep and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
“Haley is pretty upset,” she told Brenton softly.
“She and Jeff made their beds,” he glared at the road. “She knew you were living with us. The entire town knows.”
“Jeff said she’s staying near Denver now.”
“It’s over now,” he sighed. “Forget about her and the rest of them. The state troopers will square them all away. Gabe is going to tie up some loose ends and then life continues on.”
“I hope so.” Riley looked out her window. “I’m not sure I can do another day like this one.”
“I don’t think any of us can,” Zachary growled from the back. His growl made Star yowl, upset with his noise. “Quiet, Star. I’m not in the mood for you yelling at me.”
She yowled again, and Riley couldn’t stop the grin, and heard Brenton snort. No matter what, they could still smile at Zachary’s awful relationship with her cat.