Page 23 of Conquered Betrayal
But she wore the necklace I made her.
Why? Why would she have kept it if it had meant nothing? When I thought of the lengths I’d gone to have it made—I’d ripped out one of my own claws to have it transformed into jewelry for her, so she could have a piece of me wherever she went. Of course, the next time I’d shifted it regrew, but now I kicked myself for the morbid sentimentality of it—melodramatic at the minimum. It had been my way, my first step, in telling her who and what I was. Back then, I’d seen a future together. She’d been it for me, a life partner until the day we died.
Ever since I’d known Jolyn as a kid, my bear had liked her. Maybe a little too much. Even when I knew she had a crush on Kane, my bear had wanted to lay claim to her. I’d only been twelve at the time, she was ten. It was at that point I knew my bear was completely ridiculous. What weirdo laid claim to a ten-year-old?
I pressed my fingernails into my knees, a technique I used to bring my bear to heel. He was in as much turmoil as I since we’d seen her in front of the MBI building. On top of that, he needed to run. If I shifted, then I could heal this god-awful burning in my shoulder. But I wouldn’t risk even a partial shift until I was completely alone. I required a safe, private location. Something told me to heed Jolyn’s warning about not returning to my original hotel. Which meant I needed to get Kane and Brooke out of there as well.
When I’d arrived in Detroit, it was already overdue time for my bear to have free rein. And since I’d been unwillingly sedated for days, he clawed to be let out. I’d never liked that side of me, kept a tight leash on it, but never ignored it either. I’d coined it “shifter maintenance” in my head. Living in a big city like Vancouver, I’d learned to listen when he told me he needed to run. Once a month, I’d either drive out into the middle of nowhere north of the city, or take a trip to my cabin on Vancouver Island. Either way, I let my bear do its thing, then I would return to work right as rain.
It was the opposite of what Kane went through with the animal inside him. During his shifts, he lost his whole sense of self. His grandfather and father had been the same way. It was why Kane moved to the wilderness to live alone, away from people, and why we’d developed the collars that could stop a shift. In the end it hadn’t mattered. Brooke had stumbled onto the life he had built for himself in northern Saskatchewan, and now he was tentatively returning to society with her at his side.
Shit, I needed to call them. They were going to be so worried, especially with Walker and Brooke’s sister missing for over two weeks. And since Jolyn wasn’t willing to help, we’d need to find them on our own.
Ahead, a cell phone store caught my eye. “Pull over here,” I said to the cab driver, an Italian man with a thick salt-and-pepper mustache. I slid him a twenty from my wallet. “I’ll just be a moment.” I didn’t know what else Jolyn and her friends had done to my phone, and I didn’t trust them not to have put some sort of spying software on it, especially after thinking there was a reason to wipe it in the first place.
It took a bit longer than I would have thought, but with my new phone in hand, I jumped back into the cab. I named a boutique hotel I’d heard of yesterday, different from the one Kane, Brooke, and I had already checked into. With a nod, the driver rolled away from the curb.
As soon as my new number connected with my old cloud, notifications started popping up. Text after text, message after message. I’d been unconscious for two days and it looked like anyone who cared about me started to freak out. There was just one call from my mother, but speaking with her only once a week wasn’t out of character.
Relief spread through me when recent messages from Walker came through. He was alive. He was okay. But none of his messages told me anything. They were all: “Call me back, bro” and “Where the fuck are you?” then a few “WTF” texts, and “I’m going to beat the shit out of you if you’ve gone to an all-inclusive and turned off your phone.”
The cab pulled up to the hotel as I was about to call Walker. Before I could press the green icon, a call came through with an unknown caller ID.
I answered. “Hello?” My phone tucked between my shoulder and my ear, I paid for my fare, including an extra tip, and hopped out of the cab.
“Landon!” Brooke’s voice rang over the line. “Thank God you’re okay. We were so worried. What happened?”
“Uh,” I squinted up at the ten-story building, and strode toward the glass doors. “I had a bit of an altercation and just got a new phone.”
“It’s been days—hold on a sec. I’ll put you on speakerphone. I have Kane here—and your car has been parked the entire time. We thought you were abducted like Walker. We were about to call the police, and then—” Her voice paused. “Kane wants to know where you are.”
“A new hotel,” I said, stepping through the glass doors. “We need to switch ours.”
After a beat of silence, Brooke asked, “Why?”
“It’s a bit complicated—for security reasons.” I rubbed my face, moving away from the check-in counter to the posh lobby on the right. Tall windows were flanked with velvet drapes, lush sofas creating three independent conversation areas. I scanned the few patrons sitting there. If our first hotel was being watched, how could I get Kane and Brooke here without anyone noticing? A resigned puff of breath escaped me. Now I was sounding as paranoid as Jolyn.
Brooke’s next words stumbled me into an emerald green sofa. “But Walker and Sabrina were checking in.”
I straightened. “Walker is here in Detroit?”
“Yes!” Her enthusiastic voice shot over the line. “Good news! We found my sister. Or I guess she found us. And Walker. They’re together. Like,togethertogether. They’re mated.”
“What?” My head spun.
“I know. Weird, right. I guess no less strange than Kane and I, but still strange.” There was a moment of silence, then she said, “Kane wants to know if you found what you were looking for at the MBI building.”
“Yeah, then some.” I paced behind the sofa watching a couple cut through the lobby to the restaurant behind. “Is Walker with you now? I need to speak with him.” He’d know how to get everyone here with minimal fuss.
“They’re downstairs. Should be returning soon. What’s going on, Landon?” Worry edged her tone.
I didn’t want to get her worked up. She’d been through enough. “Just,” I rubbed my newly pounding temple. I required a shift ASAP. “I need to talk to Walker first, then he’ll fill you in, all right?”
From Brooke’s protest, it wasn’t all right, but I hung up anyway. Letting out a breath, I called the number Walker had left me. He was safe like Jolyn had predicted.
It rang three times before he picked up. “Hayles,” he said after a beat.
“It’s Landon.”
