Nothing.
I yawned dramatically. “Well, this is boring.”
“Keep talking,” she said shortly. “I haven’t gagged you yet, but I’m certainly not opposed to it.”
I’m not too proud to admit that shut me up. Instead of antagonizing my captor, I turned my attention out the window opposite me. I didn’t recognize the surroundings, but the view of a gently rippling lake surrounded by low brush and large boulders was gorgeous. It was bordered by a smattering of Aspen trees, their leaves sparkling gold and red in the autumn sun.
As I watched the slender branches dance in the light breeze, another movement caught my attention but it was deep enough in the shadows that I almost thought I’d imagined it. I focused on the large boulder and was finally rewarded with another glimpse of movement. This time I was able to make out the shape moving from behind the boulder to an evergreen bush slightly closer to the house.
A dog? It was possible but seemed unlikely with the remote location. Besides, it was skulking around, trying to stay out of sight which isn’t typical behavior for a healthy dog. It could be hurt, but I hadn’t noticed any limping or hesitation as it slipped through the shadows.
A coyote was a possibility but it seemed unlikely. The animal appeared again, slipping from the bush to lean against a small copse of seedling trees. I barely managed to hold back my startled gasp as I realized I was looking at a wolf.
“What are you staring at?” My mother snapped, turning her head to follow my line of sight.
I froze, unsure if I was better off admitting there was an animal there or if I should lie and hope she didn’t see it. I ended up not having to respond at all when she huffed and turned back to the paper she was reading, apparently not having seen anything.
I let my eyes drift back over the trees and was amazed to see that the animal’s coat blended in perfectly with the black streaked cream and white bark of the trees. If I hadn’t known the wolf was there, I wouldn’t have seen it, either.
I was staring so intently at the camouflaged wolf that I nearly missed the massive bear that lumbered out from the woods a dozen or so yards from where the wolf sat. Unlike the wolf, the bear didn’t bother to hide its presence. It simply ambled up the path that wound along the lake, stopping every so often to snuffle in the leaf litter or turn over a log or stone in search of grubs.
The bear stopped and rose to its hind legs, raking its claws down the trunk of a tree as it turned its head to study the building. Brown fur shot through with red in the sun, one hind leg that appeared less developed than the other, a small white spot between eyes that shone red even from a distance.
That was a bear that I knew.
And if Dane was there to rescue me, it wasn’t a coincidence that there was a white wolf in the woods, as well. In fact, from the stories that Clark and Jackson had told me after I was rescued, I had to assume that there was a motley assortment of shifters outside. All I had to do was bide my time and hopefully not give away the fact that we had company.
Pulling my gaze away from the window, I leaned my head back and let my eyes drift closed. If I wasn’t watching them, they were much less likely to be seen before they were ready to be.
“Are we boring you again?” My mother’s hostile tone had me grinding my teeth.
“My head hurts,” I said calmly. “Tasers have that effect.”
She gave an inelegant snort. “You always were so dramatic. It’s a stun gun, not a taser.”
Really? She had her only child trussed up like a turkey after sending a potentially lethal dose of electricity shooting through his body and the name of the weapon was the hill she was willing to die on?
Whatever.
I kept my mouth shut and my head tipped back. If her eyes were on me, the rescue crew was that much safer. Or so I thought until the front door slammed and Steve’s grating voice called out from the other room.
“Got us an intruder!”
Fuck.
I raised my head back up but the buff, dark-haired man shuffling into the room at gunpoint with a panicked look on his face was a complete stranger.
“I told you I just need to use a phone,” he was insisting. “My car broke down and my phone doesn’t have a signal!”
Steve ordered him into the chair next to me, the revolver shaking in his hands as my mother removed several zip ties from the pack on the table and silently began to bind the new hostage.
The stranger caught my eye and smirked, twisting his arm just enough as he moved his wrists behind his back to show me the small tattoo on his inner wrist.
A compass.
The sign of the Böxenwolf Brigade, the most elite military team in Shifter society.
The same militia group that had helped to rescue Clark and Jackson from the traffickers known as the Alpha Zoo. Some of the tension drained out of my body and I exhaled softly. Everything was going to be okay.
