Chapter 28

With furniture placed, dinner in the works, Blair stood and looked out the living room window at the rain coming down. Mika hadn’t returned. Both Torrey and Kobie had assured him that was normal, and she was fine. He only knew of one other cat that loved runs in the rain, Gage, but he’d never worried about him like this.

“You’re going to give yourself wrinkles.” Kobie came up beside him.

“That obvious, huh?” He glanced down at her before looking through the rain-streaked glass again.

“It’s not a bad thing that you care.”

“No? I’d just like—” he stopped and looked down at her. At some point, she’d pulled her hair up into that tight ponytail she wore too often. He debated for a second on pulling it free to watch her hair surround her face again. “After dinner, once the storm has passed, I’d like to take you to the lookout.”

“Where’s the lookout?”

At least she hadn’t said no. “Off to the one side of Ed’s property, it drops off over the river, the view goes on for miles and miles…”

“I’d like that.” She glanced over her shoulder, “think we can sneak out without being followed or before something else happens?”

Blair grinned, “I like your style. Sneaking out it is.” He reached over to pull her closer as Cale burst into the room.

“Mika just came back, says there’s a scent she can’t place.”

“A person or shifter?”

Cale shrugged, “she used the word peculiar, like chemical.”

“Shit.” He started for the door, then stopped and lifted Kobie’s chin. “To be continued.” He kissed her hard on the mouth and released her.

“Jake and Noah are still here.”

Blair nodded, “Get them, Calum too.”

Cale nodded and lit out of the room at a run.

“Can I come?”

Blair paused in the doorway. “I need you to stay here.”

She looked like she was going to object.

“I have no idea what we’re going to find, but I trust you to get the girls to safety if needed.” He held her look and waited for her to say something.

“Okay. I’ll get the run packs ready in case we need them.”

He nodded. “Toss a backpack in my truck, if you have to, you haul the whole group over to Ed’s in my truck.”

She glanced at Jay’s room.

“Call Gage and tell him what’s happening. If we’re not back in forty-five minutes you get the girls out.”

She nodded again and then came over and kissed him quickly. “You better come back. We have a date.”

Blair grinned, “I won’t miss it.”

Calum came running into the room, he tossed Blair’s pack at him. “Let’s go.” He glanced at Kobie.

“Go.” She said, “we’ve got it here.”

Kobie called for the girls to come downstairs. She stood at the window and watched as the men left. The white tiger and black jag were side by side, followed by two large orange tigers.

“What’s happening?” Torrey asked, walking into the room.

“I picked up some kind of strange scent out there.” Mika came from the kitchen, water dripping off her.

“Like what?” Torrey glanced at Cortney as she came down the stairs.

“I’m not sure, like chemical, strange.”

“Who went to look?” Cortney wrapped her arms around her waist.

“Blair, Calum, Noah, and Jake,” Kobie said quietly, turning from the window.

“Kobie.”

Everyone turned to look toward Jay’s room.

Kobie went and opened the door and peeked in.

Jay motioned to the wheelchair, he had yet to be in. “Get me in that. If you have to run, it will be easier to load me up in a chair.”

She gnawed on her lip, then nodded. “Okay.” Looking back out the door, she motioned to Torrey and Cortney, “help me get Jay up and into the chair.” They both jolted and came toward her. Kobie glanced at Mika, “get the packs ready and a backpack, toss them all in Blair’s truck.”

Mika nodded and ran up the stairs.

Jay only sounded like he was going to scream a few times as they got him upright, bent, and into the chair. He was pale but insisted he was all right.

“Oh,” Shaelan came into the room, “I was just coming to do that.”

Kobie motioned to the chair, “I have to call Gage, maybe you could make sure we didn’t do too much damage.”

Shaelan nodded. “Did Blair give us a time limit?”

“Forty-five minutes.”

“Okay, I’ll get a go-bag ready for Jay, his meds, and things.”

Kobie pulled out her phone and went to the kitchen. She kept going and opened the door and stood in it. Before she dialed, she inhaled slowly, trying to see if she could pick up what Mika had scented. With the heavy rain, there were too many smells out there. Dialing Gage, she held the phone to her ear and waited.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Gage, it’s Kobie.”

“Hey, what’s up?”

Kobie glanced in the direction the men had gone. “Mika picked up a strange, possibly chemical smell on a run…”

“Do you need us over there?” His jovial tone was gone.

“I’m not sure. Blair, Calum, and two of your guys went out to look.”

“Okay, Gary and I are heading over. You have packs ready?”

She nodded and then remembered she was on the phone. “We’re working on it. Blair said if they’re not back in forty-five minutes to go over to your place.”

“We have more security over here now.” He spoke to someone quietly. “We’ll be there in five.”

“Okay, thank you.” She hung up and noted the time. It had only been eight minutes. Blowing out a breath, she tucked the phone in her pocket and looked to the back again. The rain stopped so suddenly it was silent.

The evening sun made everything sparkle in its bright light. Kobie gnawed on her lip where she stood in the middle of the yard, watching the trees. She heard a vehicle and knew it was most likely Gage and Gary racing here.

Walking past the house, she inhaled slowly now, without the rain. She couldn’t even smell the men out there. What could make a chemical smell? Chemicals, clearly, but what kind and what were they for?

She heard a truck door slamming and then turned. It wasn’t Gage, it was Beth. She gave Kobie a half-hearted smile. “I thought I’d pick up the young ones and take them over to our house.”

Kobie breathed a quick sigh. Not having to worry about them was welcome right now. “Take Annamarie and Nichelle as well.”

“Will do.” She paused at the door. “My boys will find it.” She gave her a look of encouragement and then went inside.

Shaelan came out and toward her. “I have everything Jay could need ready.”

Kobie nodded and looked back toward the trees.

The fifteen-minute mark passed, and then a half-hour. Kobie was having to work hard to not go find them herself. Each time she considered it, she remembered Blair was trusting her to look after the others. She smiled, even if it was to herself. None of the other males in her life had ever given her that kind of trust. Ever.

“How long now?” Shaelan was standing in the doorway.

Kobie glanced at her phone she clutched in her hand. “Almost forty.”

“I’ll go get everyone ready,” Cortney said softly.

Kobie nodded but didn’t look away from the direction Blair would come when he got back.

“Kobie.”

She glanced over at Gage and the urgent look he was giving her. She nodded, “I know. Just a few more minutes.” She took a few steps, so she was away from the others and took a deep breath. Closing her eyes, she filtered through the scents. Her eyes popped open. “I can smell them.” She said loud enough the others would hear her.

Gage was beside her now and took a long breath. He looked over at Gary, “she’s right, they’re close but something is…”

“Not right.” She finished for him and rushed toward the trees.

Before she could reach the trees, Calum as his cat came running out. He bound past her and right to Shaelan and then turned around and ran back again.

“Get everyone in the house,” Gage called out and took off jogging in that direction.

Shaelan ran alongside Kobie.

Kobie’s heart was hammering in her chest. Blair had to be all right. The others too, but if anything happened to Blair…

Out of the trees came Blair and Noah, in undone jeans and bare feet. Between them, they half carried, half dragged Jake. They tied a shirt around his waist and his head hung down. They both stopped and lowered Jake toward the ground where he started throwing up violently.

Shaelan stopped and looked at Gage. “Run back, grab water, and…” she looked at Jake again, “milk.”

Gage didn’t question her, just turned and ran back.

Kobie reached them and quickly assessed that Blair was intact, then dropped to her knees beside Shaelan to where they gently set Jake.

“I don’t know what it is, but he stuck his face right into it and then started heaving.”

Gage was back and holding out what Shaelan had asked for.

She leaned down and inhaled close to Jake’s face. Lifting her head, she turned his face and looked at it. “It’s not a contact. He had to have inhaled it.” She was murmuring to herself. Leaning down again, she opened his mouth and looked in it. “He didn’t ingest any of it. Let’s get him in a steamy shower. Sweat it out of him until I know more.” She opened the bottle of water and poured it on the ground, then turned to her mate, who was still on four paws. “I need a sample. When you find it,” Calum came over to her, she put the empty bottle in his run pack, “shift, cover your mouth and nose and bring back as much as you can.”

He nudged her with his head. Then looked at Blair.

Blair motioned to the trees. “The fewer of us out there, the better.”

Calum needed no more words; he took off into the trees.

Gage watched Noah and Gary lift, Jake, up and start toward the house. Shaelan was right behind them. “Is it a spill or something the rain-washed on the lot?”

Blair shook his head. “No. We did the outside perimeter first. This was in the middle of the bush.” Blair grabbed Kobie’s hand as he passed her. “It was done purposely. My guess is they planned to grab someone when they were too sick to do anything about it.”

“Fuck.” Gage growled. “I’ll call Dev. We need people here that are trained to deal with this shit.”

Blair nodded. “How the hell are they getting on the property without us knowing?”

Kobie moved closer to him. Her cat wasn’t happy how upset he was. “In the morning when things have dried up a bit, I’d like to go look around the outside of the property.” She motioned with her hand, “on the other side of the fence.” Blair gave her a look of doubt. She shrugged, “I spent half my life figuring out ways around the permitted areas,” she gave him a hesitant look, “maybe I can figure out what Devin’s team missed.”

Blair looked over at Gage, who was handing Jake off to Gary to be carried through the door. “Okay. Calum and I will come with you and see if we can figure it out.” Blair looked at the trees. “Until someone comes that can clean it up, runs will have to be on Ed’s land.”

Kobie nodded. “Beth came and got the girls when I called Gage.”

“Good. I don’t want them to see Jake like this.”

He squeezed her hand. “I thought Gage was going to load me into the truck.” She confessed.

Blair smirked, “you were waiting until the last second, huh?”

“Yes. I knew you’d be back.”

“We ran dragging Jake between us, afraid to breathe the air.” He squeezed her hand. “I’m glad you waited. Three naked half-naked men with a big black jag in the back of the truck tearing down the road could have presented a problem if we’d had to get over to Ed’s.”

She couldn’t help smiling at that description. “I guess we cancel our date?”

“To be determined.” He answered, then lifted their hands and kissed the back of hers. “Shae will tell us more when she knows.”

Kobie nodded and continued the walk bedside him in silence. Her cat still wasn’t happy that Blair had placed himself at risk, but she wasn’t about to voice that out loud.