Kodiak's Claim (18 page)

Head throbbing, mind groggy, when Tammy next opened her eyes, it took her a moment to orient herself. Last thing she remembered, she and Jan were heading for a tree. She even vaguely recalled the crunch of impact.
I survived.
And she was no longer in the truck.

She’d traded her front row seat for a prone one. Strapped to a gurney, an IV feeding into her arm, Tammy struggled to understand what was happening because, despite the tube and hospital type bed with its metal rails, she wasn’t recovering in a medical facility. Not unless Alaska kept patients in metal hangars with high arched, ribbed ceilings where hanging fluorescent lights highlighted the fact several vehicles were parked alongside her. She was pretty sure even the most remote location would frown on that. So if she wasn’t in a hospital, where was she?

“The human awakes. About time. I was beginning to think my little plan killed you.” That didn’t sound good. The mocking voice came from a spot to her left, and she tilted her head in an attempt to locate the speaker.

The bleak illumination helped her see that many men milled around, all warmly dressed, despite what appeared to be several propane heaters, their red elements glowing as tubing for ventilation ran from them. How reassuring. She wouldn’t die of carbon monoxide poisoning, but given someone was pumping her veins full of some dark substance, she wouldn’t count herself quite lucky yet.

“Who are you? Where am I?” she asked, her words sluggish and thick as she struggled to speak through the fog still permeating her thoughts and muscles.

“I am a ghost of the past, the scourge of the present and the new leader of the future,” announced the large man. And she meant large. Sporting a military-short cut of shocking white hair, the massive fellow grinned at her, teeth white and straight, eyes a mismatched green and blue. A scar ran from his temple to his chin, an angry purple-red line that made his genial smile all the scarier.

Tammy tried to quell the fear icing her veins, or was it whatever they were injecting in her that caused the chilling sensation? “What do you want with me? And where’s Jan?”

“The blonde? She’s slipped our grasp for the moment. Wily creatures, those foxes. Never fear, though, I’ve got men looking for her.”

Despite her predicament, Tammy offered up a quick prayer they wouldn’t find Jan. At this point, Tammy didn’t think an extra prayer for herself would do much good. The term ‘royally fucked’ came to mind.

“Why do you want her, and me for that matter? We’ve not done anything to you.”

“No, you haven’t, but you both have men who would die to see you again.”

“You mean Reid?”

“Among others. Way I hear it, the Kodiak has become quite attached to his little human from the city. Why, there are rumors swirling he might even claim you.”

“How can there be rumors? I’ve only been here a few days.”

“This isn’t the dark ages, dear girl. There is a thing called the internet and texting. Of course, the picture I posted of your last smooch with the bear didn’t require any caption.”

“You’ve been spying on us?”

“Spying. Observing. Tattle-telling. Or as I like to call it, stirring up trouble. As a shifter, who is of course concerned about the leadership in Kodiak Point, it was my duty to report the behavior of the clan’s alpha. Basically his unseemly relationship with a human. It’s got some of the other groups in quite the uproar. See, there’s many a mama and a poppa hoping their little shifter darling would catch that big bear’s eye. They aren’t too happy Reid might spoil future generations by mixing his blood with a human.”

“They don’t have to worry. Reid’s already made it clear that I have no place in his future.”

“Giving up so easily?” The scary stranger’s brows rose high with false incredulity. His feral smile widened. “We can’t have that. I like it when the clans are grumbling. I like it when Reid is scrambling. I especially enjoy seeing him suffer.”

“Why?” Tammy uttered the single word query automatically, hearing the anger in the white-haired man’s tone while seeing the madness in his eyes.

“You don’t really expect me to spill my secrets so soon and so easily, do you? Suffice it to say that I’ve got a plan. A many tiered one to bring him down while I watch and cheer.”

“If you hate him so much, why play games? Why not confront him?”

“A fight is too easy. Too quick. I need Reid to suffer. I want him to watch, helpless, as everything he loves crumbles around him.”

“You’re nuts.”

“Crazy? Me?” He laughed, a chilling sound, colder than the cavernous room around them. “Most assuredly and it’s all his fault. Him and his cronies. Never fear, I have plans for them too.”

“I still don’t understand what this has to do with me. Like I said, Reid and I might have hooked up a few times, but it never went any further. I was on my way back home.”

“In the wrong direction. Or did you think I didn’t notice your turning around? You should have kept going. I was thinking of letting you go and just going after the fox, but the opportunity was just too good.”

“You orchestrated our accident?”

“Just call me maestro.”

A sharp cramp went through her, a slicing agony that forced a gasp from her lips.

The man’s eyes narrowed and his lips thinned into a tight smile. “I see you’re starting to feel the effects.”

“What are you doing to me?” Tammy pulled at the straps binding her to the bed. The leather cuffs didn’t loosen one bit, but the cramping in her body increased.

“Doing? Why, what your beloved Kodiak would never do. What most shifters fear to do because the mortality rate is so high. I’m giving you a chance to become one of us.”

“Why would you want that?”

“Because if you survive, and I return you to him, then every time he looks at you, I want him to think of me. To know a part of me runs in your veins.”

“You’re giving me blood?”

“Blood and what makes me special.”

“What do you mean?”

“Did your precious bear not explain the possibility? Not all shifters are born. Some are created. All it takes is blood, a lot of it, and a strong specimen. You should thank me for granting you this gift. As a human, you are frankly, quite unsuitable for an alpha leader. But as one of us…” He smiled wide, his pointed canines glinting. “As one of us, there is no reason you should be apart. If you survive the change that is, which according to the latest statistics compiled, is one out of every thirteen.”

“But I don’t want to be a shifter.”

“Then maybe you’ll be one of the dozen who die.”

Before she could argue that choice, pain swept through her, stealing her breath and her voice. It stole everything from her, including all thoughts but one.

Someone help me.

It took Reid a moment to breathe and think coherently when he caught up to Boris and the site of the crashed SUV; crumpled metal, deflated airbags, the strong stench of wolf, bear, fox, and a myriad other creatures. Some of the scents came from his own clan members who combed the wreckage and nearby wooded ravine, their paws and, in some cases, still-human steps marring the pristine whiteness of the snow. Other odors, though, he didn’t recognize.

Traces of blood, a familiar metallic scent, made him growl as his bear reacted to the violence, a growl that turned into a roar as he noted the blown-out tire.

This was no accident.

“Where are the women?” he shouted, seething with anger—but also cold with fear because it didn’t take much to connect the dots. Someone had shot at Jan’s truck, sent it, along with its occupants, careening off the road, and then … what? Absconded with Jan and his city girl? Killed them?

Another roar erupted, and those around him spared him a wary glance, but none dared speak to him. None but Boris. The big man approached, implacable as ever. Did nothing ever shake the rugged moose?

Or was the stony façade just a front? Reid noted Boris’ clenched fists, and the dark ice in his eyes. Only someone close to him, someone like Reid, who’d been through hell and back with the man, would recognize the signs of the moose teetering on the edge of control. If Boris snapped … blood would flow.

“Are you done roaring?” Boris asked dryly.

“I’ll roar if and when I damn well like,” Reid snapped.

“What the fuck happened here?”

“Some idiots fucked with the wrong guys. They’ll pay for what they’ve done,” Boris said with grim promise.

Of course they’d pay. As if Reid would allow this type of attack to go unpunished. “Any clues on who did this? I want the one responsible so we can tear them limb from limb.”

“All I can really tell you is this wasn’t the work of one man. By my count as least six, possibly up to eight people, were involved. Four snowmobiles in total.”

“Did they take the women with them?” Unvoiced was the true question: were they alive? “What about their trail? They must have left one since they came in on machines.”

“If I’m reading the signs correctly, Jan shifted and took off on foot, but her trail gets murky at one point, not far from here. The other signs point to your woman being taken. As to her state of being…” Boris shrugged. “She’s human. Fragile. Who knows if she survived the impact or not, although I would imagine they wouldn’t bother to cart around a corpse.”

Small consolation, but Reid would take it.
She’s not dead. She can’t be.
He’d know it if she were. Feel it. Of that, he, and his bear, were certain. “What were you saying about Jan? How did she end up running from them?”

His stoic expression turned grim. “Her situation I’m less sure of. Looks like she flipped into her fox. I followed her tracks a distance, but her dad taught her well. I lost her trail.”

If the situation weren’t so dire, Reid might have laughed at Boris’ dour statement. “Outfoxed by a woman, imagine that.”

“Stubborn chit should have never been out here in the first place,” Boris grumbled. “But no, you had to forbid the insurance broad from leaving, and Jan just had to flout the rules, as usual, and take matters into her own hands.”

“Maybe if she had a man to keep her in line—” Reid caught the elbow before it jabbed him in the stomach. “Someone’s testy. Got a problem with the idea of Jan pairing up with someone else?”

“Why would I care what that woman does? I was just testing your reflexes. You’re going to need them if you’re going after the human. At least I assume you’re going after her?”

As if there was any doubt. “Fucking right I am. And am I correct in assuming that you’ll be hunting down our resident fox?”

“Someone’s got to get that girl out of trouble,” Boris grumbled, but Reid could sense the man’s anxiety. Much as Boris might grumble and grouse, he felt something for Jan. He just wouldn’t admit it.

Kind of like Reid had refused to recognize what was right under his nose.

“How many men do you want with you?” Reid asked.

“None. They’ll just get in my way. Besides, by the looks of it, you’ll need them more than me.”

Probably, if Boris’ estimate was correct. Reid also had to figure that wherever they’d taken Tammy might also have more men. Possibly armed ones. He’d need all the warm bodies he could muster.

Guilt over sending Boris off alone without backup never crossed his mind. If anyone was capable of taking care of his own ass and tracking a fox who’d gone into hiding, then it was the man who’d emerged from a nasty war and made it home more or less in one piece. Although, Brody often teased him about having left his sense of humor, along with his girly locks, behind. The short buzz cut was definitely a far cry from Boris’ rocker-long hair of his teens.

“Good luck,” Reid said, slapping the moose on the back. “And keep in touch.”

Boris just grunted in reply as he straddled his snowmobile and gunned off, a man on a mission, one Reid could almost pity. If Boris did find Jan, the only thing he probably needed to fear was a woman scorned and himself. Boris became his own worst enemy when it came to a certain blonde.

As the rumble of his engine faded, Reid readied himself for departure. He stuck a few fingers in his mouth and blew. His strident whistle brought his clansmen, some shifted, others not, to gather around.

He didn’t waste time launching into a speech. Simple was best. “Follow the tracks to the bastards who did this. And then, tear them apart.” Forget fancy words or mercy.

You touched what was mine. Now you die.

Whoever caused the crash hadn’t felt a strong need to cover their tracks. Almost as if they wanted to be found. Lucky in one respect, as it meant he and his guys could make good time following on their sleds, but worrisome as it meant he probably headed into a trap.

He didn’t care. Tammy still lived. His enemy had her. By the rules of any game, it meant he had to go, fight, and end, once and for all, the deadly games his invisible opponent wanted to play.

They rode for less than two hours before they came across signs of civilization. Not civilization in the form of houses and stores, but tamped trails, a myriad of scents, and smoke drifting on a light breeze.

They ditched their snowmobiles and, in some of his men’s cases, their clothes as they headed the rest of the way on foot.

Nothing but the soft crunch of snow and ice marred the quiet serenity of the early dark. As for their goal, it loomed ahead of them, a metal hangar, ribbed and windowless. Around it was scattered smaller buildings, sheds really. While the ground bore signs of recent vehicular activity, not a truck or car or anything was parked in sight.

But Reid wasn’t fooled by the seemingly abandoned nature of the place. He didn’t need his bear’s agitated pacing inside his mind to sense the danger. Menace existed and watched. The hairs on his body, even under the many layers, tingled as he felt eyes on him.

Not one to sneak like a coward, Reid halted and planted his hands on his hips. He bellowed, “Come out, you fucking pansy-assed coward, and fight me.”

He didn’t expect his faceless adversary would, but to his surprise, a mocking answer arrived. A gravelly voice said, “Look who’s calling me a coward. How ironic. Let’s see just how brave you are. Why don’t you come inside? I’ve got a
warm
welcome for you.”