Wayward Secrets: The Raven Brothers of Fallen Mountain Read online

  And now the trouble's landed at our door. That and Lacey's not around to talk to about it or make her deal with the problem she's created. I sigh in frustration and Beau raises an eyebrow at me as he brushes past me into the cabin, his arms filled with a four stack of soda-can flats. His muscles bulge through his flannel shirt and he hulks into the main room and sets them by the kitchen's fridge.

  I turn back to where Kyron's loading in the last of the supplies.

  "Yeah, you sure got everything on the list," he growls at me, grumbling as he passes me a double box of crackers. "The summer season is over, why the hell do we need this much food?"

  "Because I don't like the roads in winter." It's snowy as anything out once November sets in, and I'm not into it.

  "You could just run it," Kyron points out. "No chance of you slipping that way."

  "I can't exactly haul this much crap with me on my back."

  "That's what the sled is for," Beau says from the kitchen at the far end of the room. He reaches into the fridge and grabs a beer, cracking it, and leaning against the island, staring at me. "You smell…"

  "Right? I said it too," Kyron explains, throwing his arms up. "He fed me some bullshit line about the city." Beau's eyes narrow.

  "Like the sea," he says and I give him a blank look, my heart humming in my chest.

  "Weird flex, but okay." He's always doing that. Beau's the best tracker of us, his sense of scent heightened, and he's always rubbing it in. "Drink your damn beer, we have a problem."

  I've been avoiding thinking about it. Her. The girl, no, woman. She's not a girl, her scent thick and heady, surrounding me. I can't let the guys into my truck for at least a week, maybe longer. I'll have to go crack the windows too to get rid of her scent. I know exactly what Beau's talking about though. I'm just surprised that he can smell it on me- she does smell like sea-salt, it's baked into the strands of her hair, savory and… delicious. I couldn't have rolled on by her on the side of the road if I'd wanted to. No, the smell of it came through the vents of my truck, overwhelming me as soon as I slowed down by that asshole's car where I picked her up. She's not like us, but she is… different. Something about her scent makes me want to dive right in, pull her into bed with me, pin her down by the wrists and lap at her neck. Heh, and other places too. I'm going to have to find out where she lived in Twocities. Some people say they're from the big city, but in reality they live right on the edge of the Nowhere, the sea's deep, briny waters marking its residents like a scentable brand.

  The guys were looking at me, waiting for me to explain.

  "We had a problem three days ago when Lacey went missing," Kyron says slowly, grabbing his own beer from the fridge, pointing the bottle at me. "You saying there's been another disappearance?"

  Beau's eyes darken at the mention of Lacey. That's where he'd been. Searching the forests for her. Annoying, bubbly, nosey Lacey. Very missing, very likely dead, Lacey. She'd moved into town maybe six months back, looking for the authentic 'back to nature' experience, and proceeded to try to digitize every single business in Fallen Mountain. Websites for everyone, to help our flagging tourism trade.

  She had no idea we'd been actively trying to discourage tourists since people, mostly women, had begun disappearing a few years ago. Why Beau had given in and let her do us a website was beyond me. I'd never looked at the thing, and neither had he. And now we had a big problem on our hands that was Lacey-made.

  I hope I have the opportunity to tell her annoyed I am, in person. Because that will mean she's still alive.

  "Woman came into town today," I say, and Kyron's interest perks. He smirks.

  "Good looking?" He asks. Beau scoffs and stares at me.

  "So?" He's deadpan.

  "She accepted our employment for rent offer," I say, and enjoy the confusion on both their faces for a hot minute. "I guess Lacey thought our business would pick up if we had a receptionist here part-time to help customers, and the tourists that book with us."

  Kyron waves a hand around the room.

  "All three of the people we've had in for tours in the last month?"

  "I think that was her point," I say flatly. "And you're missing my point. She rented out the guest cabin to some woman from the city, and the lady was supposed to be here right now, but I dropped her off at the Gato instead. You're welcome in advance, for buying us time."

  Beau's face flashes with impatience and then anger.

  "What do you mean, you dropped her off?" His head ticks to the side, eyes narrowing. His hot temper coils right below the surface, and I know I better explain. I'm about three short seconds away from him shifting right in the middle of the room and launching himself at me, claws and fangs-first.

  "I'm not the one who fell for Lacey's eyelash batting and didn't check the website for what it said," I let my irritation slip out before yanking it back in. Beau snarls and takes a step toward me. Kyron grabs the beer from his hand before it goes flying.

  "That's not fair," Kyron says, "it was nothing to do with that. Beau was just being neighborly. We all were. I mean, as much as Beau's neighborly. Lacey's a kid."

  "Well, whatever, but we have some woman staying in town with Lena and Val, thinking that she'll be here tomorrow night, getting cozy in the guest cabin, and it's officially not my problem anymore." I look at Beau straight on, challenge in my expression. "You fucked up. You didn't check in on what Lacey was up to. This is your mess. You clean it up."

  Beau's lips twitch, like he's about to swear at me. Then he glances away, surprising me as he exhales hard, settling himself. Kyron gives him a wary look, before giving me a casual middle finger.

  "You mad that you had to go into the city for supplies? Stirring shit just because you drew the short straw this time?" He asks, but we both know that I don't mind the drive. My senses aren't quite as heightened as either of theirs, so the city noise and smell doesn't bother me like it does them.

  But then I've only been shifting for a decade. They've had their whole lives.

  "You know as well as I do that we can't have a woman staying long-term on the property," I say to Beau, "it's one thing to have guests come stay for a few days, but they're never here long enough to see anything we don't want them to." My passion isn't in it though. I'm saying the words, but they're wooden and meaningless in my mouth. Cause I'm already stupid over her face, that's why, and it's been an age since I've been with a woman that I cared to look at more than twice. I have needs, like anyone does, but I'm not picky when the moon's full. A willing body, who's mature enough to say yes and mean it, is all I've wanted in the past. Nobody who'll stick around for a second night, that's for sure. One and down. Thank you, Ma'am. I'm polite, sure, and generous in bed, but that's where it ends. I don't keep them around long enough for them to learn my name well.

  Beau's face is thoughtful, and he walks to the front windows, pulling aside the plaid-check curtains to look out in the yard.

  "You don't sound like you don't want her here," he says, and I try not to visibly flinch.

  He knows. And he's right. She smelled so good. I might just slip into my truck tonight after the guys are asleep and inhale it, let the salt burn on the back of my tongue. Even before the shadow of unexplained disappearances fell over Fallen Mountain, I avoided women mostly.

  We don't make for great boyfriends and husbands, us werewolves. Always traveling. Never settling down in one place for too long. Pack first, above anything else. Plus the urge to bite is too strong during sex. I won't do to someone else what was done to me. Kyron and Beau were born into this life, but me, I was changed.

  I'll never forget my first shift, the ripping pain as my muscles and bones popped, shattering inside my flesh, reforming and stretching, fur growing through my skin like tens of thousands of needles.

  The sound of my anguished scream turning into a howl will shudder through my memories until I die. I'm not ever doing that to someone I love, or even like enough to sleep with. Never.

  "You say that Beau
here's the one waylaid by a pretty face, but what about you?" Kyron asks with a grin, like this is all a big joke. I swallow, the thickness of my mixed up feelings stuck in the back of my throat.

  "Well… it seems like she gave up her entire life and just moved here. She's got no place to go if we don't let her stay here." And she was helpless when I found her. That was... a problem for me. That bone-deep need to fix what was wrong had already started up inside me as soon as I pulled to a stop on the road in front of her.

  "The Gato's fine-" Beau starts.

  "The Gato's one hundred and fifty a night," I finish it for him, my own feelings flip-flopping so hard they're a fish out of water. "She didn't look that flush with cash that she can afford it long term. And we don't have anyone staying in the guest cabin right now. We have the room." We've been quietly refusing longer bookings for months. Now with Lacey, the eighth woman to disappear, I'm not keen on letting anyone come stay who already isn't here.

  And that's the rub. Cordelia is already here. She's not going anywhere, and from the look on her face when I left her at the Gato, she's stubborn to boot. She's not going to let this go without a fight. The last thing we need is extra scrutiny from the townsfolk. In a place as weird as Fallen Mountain, we still stick out as weird. Three guys, living in the woods, off the beaten path of a place off the beaten path?

  Yeah, I've heard more than one person say we're just a group of gay guys having hot steamy sex in the trees. And as much as I like Kyron and Beau as friends… yeah, no. I mean, given that line of thinking, maybe having a woman around wouldn't be that bad. It would dispel some of the rumors anyway. I could pretend like she's my girlfriend.

  I yank myself right out of the line of that thought freight-train.

  "You're pulling hard for someone you barely know," Beau says quietly, walking toward me. His dark eyes are serious, and I meet them head-on.

  "I'm a little back and forth," I admit.

  "Must be that salt-air," he says, only two feet from me. For a split second his nostrils flare. He can smell her on me. His throat tightens in a hard swallow, and he looks away. "Nobody stays here that isn't pack," he says. "I don't care who she is and what she smells like."

  "She's gonna phone," I say as Beau turns away from me. Kyron passes him the forgotten beer, and Beau swigs it, drinking for a moment too long.

  "Then don't answer." Beau stalks toward the door, setting his now-empty beer bottle on the table by it. He sure downed that fast.

  "She'll show up." I add. She's determined. I could tell that much. And the look on her face when she first saw Fallen Mountain said everything to me. She was in love with the place at first blush. She's not leaving without a fight. Beau's just got to get used to some people being as stubborn and idiotic as him.

  The slamming of the door is Beau's answer and Kyron coughs.

  "So, she hot?" He asks. I roll my eyes at him.

  "I'm gonna be useful and put away food," I say, heading into the kitchen area and grabbing the first paper bag full of groceries. Kyron watches me and then smirks, pushing himself up onto the counter, sitting there with that smug-ass expression on his face. "I got no problem with punching you into next week," I warn him. Kyron rakes his hand through his hair, and shakes his head.

  "So tell me what's got you so bothered," he says, his voice going conciliatory. I know he's just being back-handed crafty and trying to get more info out of me. I pause with a bottle of ketchup in my hands.

  "I swear she was about to start something when I found her," I say, "she'd been driven right up to where the turn-off is-"

  "Mmm," Kyron intones, helpful with his observations as always.

  "Anyway, her driver was a creep-"

  "You eat him?" Kyron asks.

  "Can you let me fuckin' finish?" I pull up straight and glare at him. Kyron laughs, hiding his mouth behind his beer as he takes a drink. "No. He got in his car and made tracks. He ditched her there, on the edge of the woods, right as the sun was setting."

  Kyron's face falls, expression serious and even a bit angry.

  "Well that's shit. Wish I knew who the townie was, I'd show him a few things about being abandoned in the woods."

  "We've had enough people go missing lately. You don't need to add to the number." I finish emptying the bag, my stomach rumbling. It's been a long day. Kyron looks a bit mutinous.

  "I'll murder whoever I want," he says, "if they're not doing right by a woman like that."

  "Well you might have to murder Beau then. He's not going to let her stay here, no matter what I say, and from what I got out of her, she's not going back to the city." I lean against the fridge.

  "She isn't our problem," Kyron says without humor, "but I get you're all weird about her, but still. A lost damsel in distress isn't our problem."

  "She might be," I say, "if she goes missing too, like Lacey."

  Kyron's eyes close and he sighs, before he slides off the counter.

  "I'm going out," he says, setting his beer down. "Don't wait up."

  "You're not going to find Lacey," I call after him as he goes to the door, the curtains on its window fluttering as he opens it.

  "You don't know that for sure," he hollers back, as the door slams shut behind him.

  Except I do.

  We both do.

  None of the missing women have shown up. Eight in all, all gone, without a single track we can trace. Before now, we were worried and searching, but it wasn't so personal. But Lacey is our friend. Annoying girl, but still, friendly. And now she's gone.

  Now? Now it's personal.

  And that Cordelia woman showing up when we're still grieving Lacey's loss is just another kick in the gut while we're down. Because even though I know Lacey's not coming back, we're all holding out hope like if we run the woods far enough, we'll find her. And we can't do that if we have a guest staying in the spare cabin, watching our every move. I stand there for a few minutes, before the gnawing desire to shift and follow them both consumes me. With a curse, I go to the door, stepping outside into the forest air. I inhale it deep and close my eyes.

  We have one more night, witness-free, to search for Lacey. I'll run my legs to exhaustion and wear my paws down to the pulp looking for her. It's the least I can do.

  4

  Cordelia

  Chirping birds wake me up, and I open my eyes, staring up at the ornate ceiling medallion that, like everything else at the Gray Gato, is thick with white paint. There's a fireplace in the corner. I somehow missed it last night after going to bed, dazed from a hot bath and a solid food coma. That's where the bird noises are coming from, the fireplace, and I slip out from beneath the luxurious, plush sheets and comforter to walk over to the mantel. It's half-hidden behind a small folding screen painted over with a Damascus design.

  Chirp. Chirrrup.

  I bend down. There's a bird in the chimney, or maybe at the top of it, nesting. I'll need to tell Lena or Val. I don't want them renting this room out to someone else, and having them light the fire only to end up with roast pigeon.

  THUNK!

  The picture window shudders at the impact, and I scream, jumping backwards and falling over the footboard of the bed. Staring at the window, I look for the source of the sound.

  On the other side of the glass sits Gato, glaring at me, his squishy face spouting more whiskers than I've ever seen, his eyes narrowed in hate.

  I can practically hear his low growling mrooooooooooooow through the pane. Edging toward the window, I yank the curtains loose and pull them across.

  Grooooooouuuuuu.

  He's on the other side of the window, not able to see me, and still mad as hell. Well, if he's out back, then it won't be an issue when I go out the front and grab a cab, or whatever passes for a cab here in Fallen Mountain, to go to Raven Brothers.

  Val is in the sitting room toward the front of the house when I emerge, dressed and ready for adventure. Lacey hasn't emailed me back, and calls to their office there go right to voice mail. My only opti
on is to head out and actually talk to people in person, and ask Grady why he ditched me here if he could have taken me right away. I wonder if he'll be surprised I've found out his top secret identity.

  Val uncurls from the chair she's in, cup of tea beside her and book in her lap.

  "Sleep alright?" She asks. "I made breakfast, but you slept right through…"

  "I'm okay, thank you. I'm not usually hungry in the morning. I was hoping to head out towards Raven Brothers, do you know a good way to get there?"

  "There's one cab driver in town," she says with a smile as she gets up. "But you're going to be better off riding a bike, if you're comfy on one."

  My chest hurts at the thought and she must see the discomfort on my face, because she smiles.

  "We have electric bikes too. It does get a bit hilly, especially out toward where the boys live." She gets to her feet. "You can borrow one of ours. Just tell Grady to bring it back in the bed of his truck, or I won't bake him any blackberry pies next summer."

  "Thank you," I say in relief. "Is it easy to find?"

  "Mm, mostly. You head back out of town, and the first left onto the dirt road will take you toward their place." She walks toward the kitchen. "You can't miss it, really, they've got a great big wooden sign hanging from one of the cedar trees. I'll pack you a lunch for when you get there. They'll probably forget to offer you anything, silly boys."

  A few minutes later, armed with a bag lunch, a helmet, and wheeling Val's e-bike out of the front yard, I stop and try to take in as deep a breath as I can. The air is so crisp it hurts my lungs, and they stutter at the light chill. We're not in the shadow of the mountain, not this early in the day, but I can't imagine that winters are warm here, and I'm sure the fall promises to bring frost early.