Seven Years (13 page)

Austin hung up and cursed. “He never carries his damn phone when I ask him to.”

“Hurry, hurry, hurry,” I started chanting as we approached a yellow light. It flipped to red, but Austin gunned it and we sailed through the intersection. Thank God a cop car wasn’t around, but Austin knew how to weave around cars like a stuntman. The way he handled that Challenger was heroic.

We came to a hard stop and I was out the door and running toward the house.

“Lexi, wait!” he yelled out, but I was already on the porch. Worst of all, I didn’t have the spare key with me. I tossed the mat and tipped over the flowerpot. I pounded on the door and desperately rang the doorbell.

“Maizy! Maizy! Open up, it’s Lexi,” I shouted. Locked from the inside was a good sign; it meant someone was home.

Austin’s boots crunched on the patio and I glanced up at him, shaking.

He backed up a step, eyed the door, and kicked it in. It took two solid kicks, but the flimsy door cracked and flew open. It was an old house, and thank God for that.

Austin held out his arm to keep me back. “Stay close,” he said. “Someone could still be inside the house. If something happens, take off and I’ll handle it.”

The sliding back door was left wide open, and the wind had lifted the curtains and pulled them onto the patio.

“Maizy hides,” I whispered. “Please find her, Austin.”

He did a quick scan of the rooms to make sure no one else was in the house. Then it was my turn. I looked in the closets, beneath the beds, and in her favorite hiding spot behind the pantry door. Austin walked around the perimeter of the yard.

Mom’s purse was still on her dresser, and nothing looked disturbed.

I went into the kitchen and stopped at the table. Maizy’s little juice glass with the frog on the side was half-filled with milk, and an uneaten cookie sat on a paper napkin beside it.

I doubled over and threw up on the kitchen floor. Austin came running in and God, how embarrassing was that?

Everything blurred through my teary eyes, and Austin helped me up and walked me to the guest bedroom that used to be mine. It was cheery and bright with yellow paint and white furniture. I sat on the edge of the bed and watched him peel off his shirt, using it to wipe my tears and mouth.

“Don’t worry. I’ll find her, Lexi. My brother’s on his way and we’re going to track them down.”

Just then, a loud motor shut off outside and there was a ruckus at the front door.

“Stay here and rest for a minute while I talk to him,” he said.

After Austin left, I wept so hard that my chest began to ache with fear. I needed to become emotionally spent before I lost control and went on a rampage through the neighborhood.

I walked into the living room and Austin folded his arms, staring at a man who favored him a little in the face, except his handsome features were stern. He matched Austin’s height, but not his style. It was at least eighty degrees outside and he wore a long-sleeved black shirt with matching pants and shades, like he was ready to join a SWAT team.

Austin closed the distance between us and lifted my eyelid, treating me as if I were a patient. I jerked my head away.

“Just need to make sure you’re not going to shift on me,” he said in a low voice.

“Who’s that?”

Austin approached the formidable man. “Lexi, this is my brother, Reno. This is Wes’s little sister.”

I was starting to notice that was how Austin was introducing me to everyone.

Reno removed his shades, tucked them in the collar of his shirt, and studied me with narrowed eyes. His brown hair was neatly styled with short sideburns and a little length on top, but not much. Chocolate-brown eyes, tough features, and he looked like a guy you just didn’t want to mess around with. Deep lines were carved in his cheeks and around the corners of his eyes—the kind that are etched into your face from smiling hard. But Reno didn’t look like the smiling type. He wore a gun holster strapped to his left arm as if he didn’t have a care in the world if a cop pulled him over. We had a concealed handgun law in our state, but I didn’t have a clue if that meant you actually had to conceal it. Truthfully, I never imagined I’d even be asking myself these questions. Reno might as well have put glitter on the handle and drawn a red arrow across his shirt to the holster.

“Are you going to find my mom and sister?”

His serious eyes flicked back to Austin. “You wanna search, or me?”

Austin looked between us. “I’ll shift. Call up Denver and give him her address. I want him to pick up the tape on her machine, trace her calls, and set up a hidden camera outside her door. Keep an eye on Lexi, and don’t let her out of your sight. She’s one of us,” Austin said in a deep, smooth voice.

Reno’s eyes cut to mine and he sized me up. “No shit. I thought Denver was pulling my leg,” he remarked, pinching his stubbly chin.

Austin handed Reno his wallet and keys. “Scan the house; do your thing. If I’m not back in an hour, take her to our place.”

“Wait—” I started to say, but Austin interrupted in his take-charge voice.

“You do as I say.”

How could I argue? I hardly had a plan of my own, and these guys didn’t want to call the cops. Not that the cops would do anything except speculate my mom took off with Maizy.

Austin kept talking to Reno. “Tell Denver to sit tight and I’ll be joining him. It’s been a while since this happened; the milk on the table is warm and so is the house. The thermostat is set to seventy-two,” he added. “If I pick up a trail then I’ll stay on it, but I got a feeling they’re long gone. Maybe the kid wandered off to a friend’s house or something. I’ll mark the yard in case one of ours was involved; then they’ll know who the fuck they’re dealing with.”

I watched him storm out the back door and out of sight.

“Mark?” I asked.

Reno straightened a picture on the wall and glanced around. “Leave our scent. He’s marking territory. We might get some help this way.”

“Someone is going to smell Austin’s pee and help?” I threw my hands up. “This is ridiculous!”

“You don’t know pack rules, do you?”

And I didn’t care. I just wanted my family found safe. I called April and explained I’d had a personal emergency. Then I called Naya, because I’m sure she was going to immediately notice a hot guy outside my apartment rigging up a camera. She was at work on her cell, so I just told her I planned to stay away for a day or so and not to worry.

Naturally, she worried. Naya knew I wasn’t a “stay away from home” kind of girl.

Reno was a hard man to warm up to, but I had to give it to him, he was effective at distracting me.
He gave me a brief lesson about Shifter rules and how things worked, and I wasn’t sure if he was doing it for my benefit (being that I was completely ignorant of their culture), or his own so he wouldn’t have to deal with watching me cry.

Men avoid women when the waterworks turn on the way a mouse avoids a rattlesnake. I could tell he wasn’t much of a social talker since he kept the conversation strictly about
pack
this and
pack
that.

He made a few calls and reassured me they had everything under control. Denver would drive my car to their house for safekeeping, and they’d have surveillance on my apartment at all times, including when I finally went home.

Which was a strange feeling. I didn’t even know these men and they were stepping in and taking over like I meant something to them.

But then again, maybe I did. We didn’t know about Austin’s family, but they knew everything about ours. They supported Austin’s need to form his own “practice pack,” as Reno put it.

We arrived at Austin’s house in the afternoon, and despite the fact there were people inside I’d never met, I went straight to the bedroom and shut the door.

First I paced. Then I got mad and threw things around—including a silver clock, which I smashed to pieces against the wall. It quieted in the other room during my meltdown, but no one came in to disturb me. Once I released the anger, I gave in to the sorrow and cried.

Cried myself right to sleep.

I awoke, unable to move. A crescent moon shone through the window on the left, casting a buttery glow in the dark bedroom. A heavy arm wrapped securely around my waist, and the solid press of a man’s body warmed my back.

I tried to get up and the arm tightened, restricting me from moving away.

“Don’t move,” Austin mumbled against my left shoulder. “Just go back to sleep.”

I struggled. “What did you find out?”

He finally let go and I sat up to face him. Austin wearily rubbed his face, still in his jeans and one of those wife-beater shirts. It made his tattoos soften in the moonlight, like ancient shadows carved on his arms.

“I lost the scent by the street. I’m not so sure your sister ran away. Her scent is in the yard—front and back—but it didn’t go any farther. I tracked an unfamiliar scent outside the house and if I smell that sonofabitch again in wolf form, I’ll know it.”

“You can’t smell him like you are now?”

“No,” he said. “No more than you can.”

“So you found nothing?” My voice broke. I must have looked like a mess with puffy eyes and tangled hair. Not that I cared, but the thought crossed my mind. A woman could be stranded on a deserted island with no sign of life for thousands of miles, and as soon as a rescue ship comes her way, she’ll be combing her hair with sticks and squashing berries to rub on her cheeks.

“I’ve got two of my brothers searching the house and making sure nothing was missed. We’ve put out an alert to all the packs and offered up a reward. That’ll motivate the ones we don’t usually deal with.”

“Oh.”

“I have a question, Lexi.”

“Yeah?”

He sat up and drew his brows together. I got nervous and felt my cheeks flush from the intensity of his luminous eyes.

“Why is Lorenzo Church calling on you?”

Ah, he must have listened to the messages on my machine. “Lorenzo was one of the people interested in my car and then he asked me out. Or, he’s trying to ask me out. I don’t know; he seems nice. I might,” I said with a weary voice. “Do you know him or something?”

Austin’s voice dropped an octave. “You
do
know he’s a Shifter, right?”

I hesitated. “So?”

“I got bad blood with him, and I don’t want Church sniffing around my pack.”

“Austin, I don’t think I’m mentally capable of arguing right now, but let me put this to bed for you. Whatever I do in my life is my choice, and I’m not making those decisions based on whatever personal issues you have with someone. He seemed like a nice guy, and…”

The thought fell away, because I remembered my mom and little sister were missing.

“We’ll talk about it later,” Austin said, getting up off the bed. I watched him walk to the door and run his fingers through his messy hair. “You hungry?”

I shook my head.

“Feed your wolf, Lexi, or—”

We both widened our eyes at the sound of the doorbell.

“Austin!” a voice boomed.

He flew out of the room and I followed closely behind him. We hurried toward the front door where Denver stood beside a guy who was wearing a red tank top and long shorts.

We walked past them and when I looked at the man in the doorway, I frantically reached out.

“Maizy!”

Wrapped in the arms of a tall man with a defined jawline was my little sister. He glanced down at me with one sapphire eye and one brown, his dark hair pulled back tightly into a ponytail. Maizy slept soundly in his arms, dressed in her favorite pink skirt, white leggings, and princess shirt.

I scooped her up and smelled her hair, overwhelmed and sobbing like a baby. She stirred a bit and looked up. “Hi, Lexi,” she said sleepily.

“Hi, Maze. How’s my girl?”

She peered up at the man and back at me, whispering. Little did she know how loud her whispers were. “He’s my prince.” Then, after a few heavy blinks, she fell asleep.

“Thank you,” I said in a broken voice.

Austin stepped forward and introduced himself, quickly explaining he was the leader of a newly formed pack in the territory. The man watched him cautiously and I realized it was because he was a Shifter. Probably a well-known one in the area by the way Austin was speaking respectfully to him. Even I could sense his power.

“I’ll take her,” Denver said over my shoulder. My hands tightened. “Let me put her to bed so you three can talk,” he insisted. “I’ll guard her window and make sure she isn’t disturbed.”

Maizy needed sleep and I had to find out what was happening, so I capitulated, kissing her cheek.

“Wait,” the man at the door said. He reached around and pulled something from his back pocket, handing it to me with an uncomfortable expression. It was her princess wand. Just a small thing Maizy liked to carry around the house because she thought she could tap it on things and make magic happen.

“She kept hitting me over the head with it,” he said with a lazy grin. Sure enough, there were red marks across his forehead.

Denver took Maizy and the wand to bed.

“Come in,” Austin said. “My home is open to you.”

Maizy’s savior glanced down at the mountain of shoes by the door.

“No need,” Austin said. “Let me get you a beer.”

“Sounds good,” he rumbled in a loud voice. He wasn’t yelling; he just spoke at a volume that demanded your attention.

They walked a few paces to the right until they reached the bar just inside the living room. It was simple and seated three, with a black granite countertop and a canister of cashews. I glanced over at Austin’s brothers who were watching with interest. Two I didn’t recognize, but I could see they were identical twins.

Almost.

Austin strolled around the bar and pulled a few cold ones from a short fridge.

“Can we have privacy?” the man requested.

“Boys, out!” Austin bellowed. “You too, Lexi.”

“Uh-uh,” I protested. “Sorry, Austin, but this is my sister and mom we’re talking about. You’ll have to wrestle me off this stool if you want me out of here. No offense, mister,” I said, taking the seat to the man’s right.

He chuckled warmly. “She can stay.”

“I’m Alexia Knight,” I said, offering my hand for him to shake. He looked at it and Austin shrugged, setting the beer in front of him.

“My name is Prince,” he replied, lightly shaking my hand.

“Prince? As in the artist formerly known as?”

“That’s my name.”

“Oh,” I said with a growing smile, “I bet Maizy just
loved
that.”

I wanted to ask if his last name was Charming but decided my humor might not be well received.

Austin popped the caps off the bottles and they clicked across the polished surface of the bar. He sat on a stool across from us, offering our guest a look of gratitude. “I appreciate you bringing us the girl. Where did you find her?”

Prince leaned on his forearms and tilted the green bottle. “She was wandering around on the side of the highway, dangerously close to the shoulder. A truck ahead of me nearly clipped her, so I pulled over. She refused to go with me because I wasn’t in a uniform. My apologies,” he said, looking at me. “I had to pick her up and put her in the car by force. It was the only way to get her off the road. She finally told me her name, so I made a few calls. That’s when I got wind she was on the bulletin. Didn’t find the woman. Didn’t look.” He took a long sip of the frosty beer, appreciating the import with a glance at the label.

“Did Maizy say how she got there or who took her?” I asked.

He shook his head. “All the little one said was that her mother left the house with a man and then they came back for her. They argued in the car and then the man pulled over, walked her to a sign, and forced her mother back in the car before they drove off.”

I covered my face. “Oh my God.”

“What kind of sick animal would do a thing like that?” Austin growled, pushing away from the bar.

Prince shrugged. “Sounds domestic to me. No signs of a struggle in the house and she didn’t mention seeing a weapon.”

“Did she say what he looked like?” I pressed.

He traced his finger over his left eyebrow. “Charlie Brown.”

All the blood rushed from my head and I became dizzy, blinking a few times.

“Lexi?” Austin rose from his stool and touched my arm.

I looked up and drew in a deep breath. “What if it was my dad? He’s bald. Maizy doesn’t remember him, and Mom stuffed all his photos in an old shoebox. She wouldn’t have recognized him.”

“Why would your father leave his little girl on the side of the road?”

“I don’t know!” I said louder than I should have. “He left
all
of us, and I still can’t explain that. Apparently, there are a lot of things about that man I’ll never understand. Who else would be kidnapping my mother, Austin? She works a part-time job and stays home with Maizy almost all the time. She doesn’t have a computer, so it’s not like she’s hooking up with strangers online. This just isn’t happening.”

Austin leaned forward on his elbows, staring at his hands pensively. “I picked up your father’s scent in the house but I didn’t make the connection. I was so focused on the unfamiliar scent that I tuned out all the ones I recognized.
Damn.
”

“People are asking why you’re protecting humans,” Prince inquired in a private voice.

“They’re part of my pack,” Austin countered. “I grew up with them and anyone who fucks with them… fucks with me,” he said in stone-cold words.

Prince looked at me and dragged his eyes back to Austin, nodding slowly. “I respect that, but
she’s
not human.”

“How do you know?” I asked. This whole Shifter thing didn’t make sense. First they couldn’t tell, now they could. What was I to believe?

“Because I’m an alpha, and I can smell a bitch about to go into heat.”

His words weren’t meant to be rude, and when I noticed Austin walking around the bar to confront him, I hopped off the stool and wedged between them.

“Don’t, Austin. Let it go. He saved Maizy and we owe him.”

Fire blazed in his eyes as he stared at Prince, who rose from his chair.

“Didn’t mean to step on your territory, friend. If she’s yours, I’m not staking claim.”

“It’s not that,” I said, turning around. “I have a thing about being called a bitch and he’s just sticking up for me.”