Chasing Seth (11 page)

A thrill raced down Seth’s spine as he suddenly found the most interesting crack in the bottom step. What he wouldn’t give to turn back time and know this man before all of it. He sipped at his coffee contemplatively. “So… dinner at your parents’?”

“They aren’t going to bite you, Seth,” Kasey chided gently. “My dad wants to talk to you, and Mom wants to meet my mate.”

Seth gritted his teeth at Kasey’s words. “What am I? Something to be shown off? Like a prize, or what?”

Sighing, Kasey set his coffee cup aside and placed his hand on Seth’s knee. “No. It’s nothing like that. I told you already when one of our kind finds their true mate, it’s a special event in their life. My mother is my father’s mate even though she is human. It is something to be celebrated in our world. And I want you to be a part of our world, my world. You’ll see we aren’t monsters, Seth.”

“I… I’m just not comfortable being around a lot of… of our kind,” he muttered, shifting restlessly.

Kasey squeezed Seth’s knee reassuringly. “It’ll just be the two of us and my parents, I promise. We’ll go straight into the house. You won’t have to see or talk to anyone else, all right?”

Seth’s eyes locked on the large, tanned hand resting on his knee. Kasey seemed like such a touchy person. It was almost as if he couldn’t
not
touch him. Whenever they were close to one another, Kasey had to touch him. Even last night on the couch, Kasey had rested a hand on one of his feet. And even though it frightened him in some ways, it also left him feeling somewhat… protected. Giving a resigned look, he said, “Fine. But if I get uncomfortable, I want to leave.”

“The instant you feel like you need to go, we’ll go. I’ll take you home or wherever you want to go, pup. I promise,” Kasey swore fervently.

After letting Bullet into the bed of the truck, Kasey started it up, and they were on their way to the clinic. It wasn’t but a few minutes until they were pulling up in front. That was when Seth thought maybe he’d been wrong about not having a nightmare, because the worst one was right in front of him. Chessie stood on the sidewalk in front of the clinic talking to another Cheyenne in uniform. Seth felt as though his whole world could implode in a split second. His breathing went ragged as he looked at the state of his clinic. “No,” he whispered brokenly.

Chapter Six

Kasey
swore and hopped out of the cab of the truck. He shouted for his deputy. “Julian!”

What a disaster! The windows had been smashed out, possibly with rocks or maybe even something bigger. The front door hung on its hinges, and Seth could only imagine what the interior looked like. He slowly lowered himself from the truck and, putting one foot carefully in front of the other, walked toward the entrance. His entire future rested on this clinic. Every penny he’d had was invested in it. He’d never be able to afford to fix it. Horrified, he took in the mess before him. Chessie’s file cabinets were tipped over, all of the papers scattered everywhere. Chairs and tables had been overturned, while the light fixtures were barely hanging by wires.

Seth’s heart broke as he realized the depth of the destruction. “Why?” he moaned, bending over to pick up the frame his license was in. The shattered glass tinkled to the floor as the wooden frame fell apart, splintered in several places.

The walk to his office felt like it took forever, but when he finally pushed open the door, it took only one look to bring him to his knees. “No!” he screamed. “No… oh God, please no.”

Ginger, the dog who had been hit by the car, had been brutally gutted. Her blood and innards were smeared everywhere. Seth’s nostrils flared at the strong, sweet smell, causing his stomach to churn with nausea. Her head rested right in front of his chair on his desk. From where he knelt, he could see a piece of white sticking out of her mouth. But he couldn’t move. His eyes wouldn’t look away from the mutilated dog.

“Seth? Seth! What’s wrong?”

Strong hands gripped Seth’s shoulders just as Kasey saw the gory display inside his office. “Holy shit,” he breathed, briefly lost in the horrifying scene that held Seth spellbound. He snapped out of it quickly, though. “Seth? Come on, you shouldn’t be here.”

Seth didn’t respond. He couldn’t do anything but stare. His very livelihood was gone. Right then he wanted to just say to hell with it. To hell with living and the pain that always, always came with it. What had he done so wrong that he could never be happy? “Why?” he finally choked out.

Kasey felt helpless at watching his mate suffer. Rage exploded inside him, and his teeth extended while his eyes blended into his canine pupils. “I don’t know, pup, but I swear to you, as your mate, we will find whoever did this, and I’ll rip them limb from limb. You hear me? It’s a promise.” He pulled Seth close to him and turned his head away, pressing Seth’s face into his broad shoulder.

He felt a shudder wind its way through Seth, and then those slender arms gripped at him tightly. Great, gulping sobs racked Seth’s body as he grieved for the animal, for himself, and for the loss of his clinic.

Kasey saw Chessie standing at the end of the hallway, staring at them curiously but sadly. Instead of commenting, she merely retreated back out of the clinic to wait outside.

Julian came down the hallway a short time later. Seth had managed to calm down by then and just lay there weakly in Kasey’s arms. “No one saw or heard anything last night, Kase. We’ll dust for fingerprints, but with the amount of people that have been through this clinic, it’s going to be almost impossible to pinpoint exactly who did this.”

“What about Seth’s office?” Kasey demanded. “It’s usually just him and me in there. Try there first. And check the cages in the back. The dog came out of one of them.”

Julian nodded before going back to get the kit.

Kasey brushed his fingers through Seth’s hair soothingly. “Come on, Seth. I’ll take you home.”

“No,” Seth protested vehemently. He extricated himself from Kasey and stood, brushing off his slacks. Anger slammed through him, not just at the person who’d done this but at himself. Instead of standing tall and bearing it like he’d been trained to do, he’d allowed his grief to take over. He felt even angrier for believing that if he found a nice, quiet town, then maybe he could have a good life… but he’d been an idiot to even think for a minute he could have peace. Because of his blindness, an innocent animal had paid the price. “I have to call Mr. Sheffield. He has to know the truth.”

Kasey felt bereft when Seth pulled away, but he reluctantly let him. “Seth, I have to be the one to take care of notifying Mr. Sheffield. And you shouldn’t be here until this mess is cleaned up.”

“It’s my clinic,” Seth said, glaring at him. “I have a right to be here.”

A sigh broke from Kasey, but he didn’t argue further. Stubbornly, Seth intended to stay. “Fine, but at least leave this mess to me.”

He’d barely finished speaking when Seth strode forward and snatched the piece of white from the dog’s mouth. It was a folded piece of paper. Kasey frowned. “Seth, don’t. There could be fingerprints on that!”

Seth ignored him and almost tore it opening it. After that, everything became a blur. The paper fell to the floor. Seth felt as if the ground beneath him had become a deep, gaping chasm ready to swallow him up.
No. It couldn’t be.
Seth wanted to howl, to rail at his fate, but even now, after two years, he hadn’t escaped it. It had just followed him everywhere he’d gone. His eyes were empty, frozen, lifeless when they looked up at Kasey. “Don’t bother with the fingerprints. You won’t find any,” he stated in a flat, emotionless tone.

“What? How do you know that?” Kasey strode forward and snatched up the paper, but there were no words on it. Just a symbol: black paint smudged into a shape similar to a wolf decorated one side. He looked up at Seth. “What is this? How do you know there won’t be any fingerprints?”

“I just do. It doesn’t matter now. I have no choice but to leave. My clinic is destroyed. I can’t afford to repair the extent of the damages. All of my money was tied up in this place. The insurance paperwork hasn’t even been filed yet. I’ve been too busy with everything else to get the forms completed and filed.” Outside, Seth showed no emotion, but panic roiled beneath the surface of his calm exterior. His demons were coming for him, and he didn’t know if he could stop them this time.

“You can’t leave,” Kasey said heatedly. “I’ll help you fix it, Seth. Don’t talk like that.”

Seth shook his head. “No. It will cost too much money.”

Kasey kept insisting, but Seth refused. It wouldn’t be right to take money from him. And besides, if he didn’t leave this place, he’d wind up dead. Either by his own hand or that of the Triad, the group of wolves led by Taggart. The ones who’d made his life a living nightmare for months. 

Maybe if they hadn’t been so busy arguing, they would have noticed the man standing in the doorway, but Seth denied Kasey at every turn. “Damn it, Seth. You’re my mate!” Kasey shouted.

“It sounds to me like he doesn’t think so, Sheriff,” a deep, Scotch-roughened voice interjected from the doorway.

Eyes widening, Seth whipped around to find his best friend standing in the doorway. “Nick!” he cried and rushed to him, throwing his arms around him and hugging him tightly. He pulled back to gaze up at the one man who’d always been there for him. “You’re earlier than I expected.”

Nick shrugged one lean, elegant shoulder. “The flight from Japan was only nine hours. I stopped to catch some sleep when I landed in California and then headed straight here on the next flight out.”

With an assessing look on his face, Nick studied the dark-haired Cheyenne still standing at the desk with the paper in between his fingers. Kasey stared back, taking in the man who’d earned Seth’s trust so completely. Nick wasn’t nearly as tall as himself, maybe three or four inches shorter. His body had a lean, wiry build to it but an undeniable strength in the muscles beneath. His nose was wide, not handsome but elegant. A scar sliced through the left eyebrow above those eyes that shimmered the deep green of emeralds. Dark-blond hair was cut short in a neat style that suited his features, outlining his sharp face perfectly. Just then, a familiar yet strange scent assaulted Kasey’s senses. His lips parted as if he were about to say something, but Nick gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head, silencing him more effectively than a shout.

“Want to tell me what happened here?” Nick lifted his hand to wave it uncaringly at the mess decorating Seth’s office.

Seth stiffened and pulled away from Nick, wrapping his arms around his own waist. His eyes had a hunted look in them, a look that spoke of a fear so deeply ingrained that it would never be banished. “Just a cruel joke,” he replied flatly.

Kasey could sense an underlying tension in his mate. He knew Seth wasn’t telling him the whole story. The instant he had a chance to speak with Nick alone, he would demand some kind of answer. He held up the paper for the blond to see it. “They left a calling card.”

Nick’s eyes widened, and he swore softly and dangerously. His hand settled on Seth’s shoulder. “It was always a possibility, Seth.”

“No,” Seth denied, shaking his head furiously. “He’s dead, Nick. I refuse to believe he’s still alive.” He hunched in on himself, trying to keep from dropping into a hysterical ball.

Nick sighed and squeezed Seth’s shoulder. “Why don’t you go check on that cute nurse of yours? She looked pretty shaken up.”

Seth gritted his teeth, glaring at Nick. “Don’t.”

Kasey could see some kind of silent war between them. It left him feeling very anxious and angry. His inner wolf sensed competition where his mate was concerned. It took all of his patience, which was very little, mind you, to keep a leash on his canine side. His mate couldn’t sense what he’d picked up on the instant Nick had entered the room. Nick wasn’t human, as Seth believed. Nick was wolf.

“Please don’t,” Seth begged Nick, disturbing Kasey from his thoughts.

“You know I would never hurt you, Seth,” Nick said quietly. “But the sheriff needs to know what’s in his territory and, if he’s telling the truth, the danger to his mate. You know if Taggart’s still alive, the sheriff might be the only one who can protect you from him.”

A wet shine came over Seth’s deep-blue eyes, so turbulent they were almost a stormy gray. Kasey instinctively let out a growl, moving closer to his mate. He hovered protectively around the smaller man, practically crowding Nick out.

Kasey’s stomach wrenched with emotion when Seth unconsciously huddled closer to him. Dark eyes challenged Nick viciously. “Tell me,” he demanded gently.

Something akin to relief flashed through the emerald gaze, and Nick physically relaxed. His shoulders eased down from their tenseness, as if he’d suddenly received an answer he’d been looking for. “Seth, I think you should go check on your nurse, okay?” Nick looked at his friend. “Go.”

Kasey didn’t want to let Seth leave his sight, but somehow he knew whatever Nick was about to tell him would send his mate into the same hysterics as before, or worse. He nudged Seth gently, his hand on his lower back. “I’m sure Chessie could use some reassurance, Seth. We won’t be long.”