Casey
Lowering his lion’s nose to the ground, Casey sniffed around in the dead grass and fallen branches that ringed the outermost eastern paddocks of the ranch.
Nothing.
Well – that wasn’t quite true. There had been something here, up until about twenty minutes ago: a small group of shifters in their animal forms. A stag, a boar, and a coyote, from what Casey could smell. Nothing that could have taken a lion on in a fight.
Huffing and twitching his tail, Casey looked over to where his brother’s massive alpha lion form was sniffing against a tree. Joe bared his teeth, growling at the unfamiliar scents, but he had evidently come to the same conclusion: whoever had been here had gone now.
Shifting, Casey stood up, hands on hips.
“They’re not here,” he said, shaking his head as Joe shifted into his human form. “Cowards – as soon as they realized we were coming they ran away. Pathetic.”
Joe frowned, skeptical. “Don’t be so sure,” he said slowly. “They may have just been testing us – see how quickly we’d react if they pushed us. This could have been nothing. They may have found out exactly what they wanted.”
“Yeah – they found out they’ll get an ass-kicking if they mess with us,” Casey snarled. “They better stay gone, or else I’ll –”
“All right, Casey,” Joe said mildly, his frown still in place. He looked out into the heavily treed landscape that ringed their ranch.
“You don’t think they’re really gone,” Casey said, following his brother’s gaze.
“It’s not that,” Joe said after a moment’s thought. “It’s just that… something doesn’t feel right.”
Casey frowned, unsure. As alpha, Joe’s senses were sharper than his, and he was more connected to the pridelands. But Casey could still sense when there was danger or intruders, and right now, there was neither. Just the fading scent of shifters who were now long gone.
He shook his head. “I don’t know what you –”
Just as he began to speak, a sudden shard of ice seemed to pierce his heart, freezing his blood in his veins and his breath in his lungs.
Danger!
His lion roared, suddenly frantic. It reared up, baring all its teeth, eyes blazing with a wild fire.
Danger! Danger to your mate!
“Casey, what’s wrong?” Joe was by his side in a moment, his hand on Casey’s shoulder.
“It’s Natalie,” he gasped, blinded by the horrifying sensation in his chest. “She’s in danger – something’s happened –”
“Back at the house?” Joe was on the alert immediately. Glancing up at him, Casey could see him straining to detect any danger to his own mate, Sasha, or their cub.
“I can’t sense anything –” he started to say, but Casey cut him off with a shake of his head.
“I felt it,” Casey shouted, knocking his brother’s hand away. “I know what I felt –”
“I’m not doubting you,” Joe said calmly, holding his hands up. “But there’s no shifters on the pridelands. There’s no danger at the house.”
“I felt it,” Casey repeated stubbornly. He closed his eyes, allowing his lion to come forward, growling, muzzle crinkled with fury.
Your mate. She’s in danger. Go to her! Go now!
His lion roared as Casey shifted, his four massive paws hitting the ground running. Behind him, he sensed Joe taking on his lion’s form once again too, following him as he bounded across the paddocks.
The closer they got to the house, the closer the feeling of urgency became.
Something’s wrong. Something’s happened.
It was the same feeling as when he had found Pritchard threatening Natalie in the school parking lot – the same cold, dark feeling that made his lion fold its ears down and bare its teeth. The same desperate need to find Natalie and protect her.
That’s what a lion does. He protects his mate. If anything has happened to her…
He hoped against hope that Joe was right, and they would return to the house to find he’d been mistaken, and there was nothing amiss after all. But his lion’s instinct that something terrible had happened only grew more insistent the closer they got.
At last, the ranch house came into view – and Casey experienced one moment of wild relief, before realization hit him.
The house was fine. There was nobody there – his senses probed the area, and found no evidence of intruders.
But a moment later, he began to notice other, smaller things that were amiss.
His truck was gone. He had parked it in its usual place yesterday afternoon when they’d all arrived back from the B&B, but now there was no sign of it.
A chill swept through him.
Could Natalie have decided she didn’t want to stay here with me? That the danger was too great, and she needed to run?
Even as the thought entered his mind, Casey fought against it.
It would be more dangerous for Natalie to be on her own than here in the pridelands, with her mate to protect her.
But she had only just learned about shifters this week – perhaps it was all too strange and different for her to understand, or to want in her and her son’s lives.
His lion whined in pain, heart clenched in fear.
She wouldn’t do that, he argued with himself. She’d talk to me first. She’d tell me to my face.
His lion’s paws scrabbled against the loose earth and gravel that lined the car parking area as he made his way up the slope.
His truck was definitely gone – and recently too, if the scent of exhaust fumes still lingering in the air was anything to go by. Casey laid his lion’s nose to the ground, sniffing, trying to make sense of what had happened. Behind him, he could hear Joe doing the same, putting all his lion’s senses to work to figure out what had happened here.
Exhaust fumes.
Natalie – her scent. I’d know it anywhere.
But then, other things began to filter through to him.
Unfamiliar humans. Two men. Danger.
A growl rose deep in his chest.
And beneath the scent of the two men who smelled of danger, there was something else again – something sickly sweet and chemical. Something unnatural, that didn’t belong.
Raising his head, Casey scanned the area. His lion had a poor sense of sight, relying instead on its smell and hearing. But over short distances, its sight was fine – and even it could see the small shape lying on its side in the driveway, just next to where his car had been.
Shifting, Casey ran over to where it lay in the dirt, and picked it up.
It was Micah’s little stegosaurus toy – the one he’d been clutching in his arms the first day that he and Natalie had arrived here. Casey had been able to tell that the toy meant the world to him – it was well-worn, and well-loved.
There was no way he would have left it lying here in the dirt – and no way Natalie would have discarded it so easily, knowing how attached her son was to it.
They’ve taken her.
The knowledge hit him like a sledgehammer.
The unfamiliar two men he had smelled – they must have taken her.
And Micah – is he –
Casey closed his eyes, pushing his senses to their limits. But everything told him that Micah was safe – he could detect him inside the ranch house, unaware that anything was wrong.
But Natalie… Natalie is –
“Casey.”
He turned at the sound of his brother’s voice behind him. One look at his face told Casey that he too had put together the pieces of this puzzle – that he too had realized what had happened here.
“I have to go after her,” Casey said, fear and rage boiling in his chest. “I have to –”
Joe nodded, fury simmering in his eyes. “Of course you do. And you know I’m with you – I’ll come too, if you want me to.”
Casey closed his eyes, trying to think clearly through the unfathomable anger in his chest. Then, he shook his head.
“No,” he said, his voice coming out as little more than a growl. “No – she’s my mate. This is my responsibility. I should have known – I should have been here –”
Joe shook his head. “It was a trap. You’re not to blame. These people are mate-stealers. They lured us away, then sent humans to do their dirty work. This is foul.”
Joe got angry so rarely that to see him so furious now, even in these circumstances, sent a chill through Casey’s veins. But it was justified: mate-stealing was the worst of crimes. Anyone who would disrespect the mated bond deserved nothing but the harshest of punishments.
Kill them! his lion bellowed, its claws and teeth glinting. Kill the ones who took our mate! Make them suffer for what they’ve done.
I will, Casey promised it.
“I need to do this,” he said through gritted teeth. “I thought Pritchard would at least respect shifter law – but it seems he doesn’t give a shit about it after all, unless it suits him. But I’ll show him how things are done. I’ll go after her myself.”
Joe looked into his eyes for a long moment, his lips pressed into a thin, tight line. Casey thought he was about to argue with him, but then, he simply nodded.
“It’s the right thing to do, Casey. Do this the right way. The shifter way.” He pressed his lips together. “Someone should stay at the house, anyway. This might be another trap. I don’t like to split up, even for tradition’s sake, but we don’t really have a choice. Someone needs to make sure they’re safe.”
Casey drew in a deep breath. He knew his brother would understand.
“You go back to the house,” Casey said. “I don’t want to worry Micah – just tell him I’m with his mom, and we’ll be back soon. Promise him that.”
Again, Joe nodded. “I will.”
Clenching his fists, Casey turned away from him. Anger pounded through his veins – both at Pritchard and at himself.
I let her be taken. I should have protected her, and I failed.
“I’ll be back,” he muttered. “Soon.”
He shifted before Joe could respond, allowing his furious, raging lion to come forward and take over his senses. The idea that his mate was alone, frightened, and waiting for him filled it with rage.
Does she know I’m coming for her? Casey thought as he took off across the fields, following the scent of exhaust fumes – of Natalie and the men who had taken her. Does she know she’ll be safe soon – that I won’t let her come to any harm?
Power surged through him. His lion bounded over the fence that followed the road bordering their pridelands.
He would find Natalie, and he would bring her home.
And he would make the ones who had taken her pay for what they’d done.