Chapter 67: Inseparable

Daphne

A shifter with no scent. A goth-girl punk with a scarred face.

A homicidal bear on the loose.

I knew who she was. I’d heard my sister-in-law describe her in perfect detail. She was the assassin-werebear who had tried to murder Bella nearly two years ago. I bolted from the table, my food forgotten, as I dashed out to the hall, skidded slightly as I made the corner and ran for the parking lot. My head swiveled right and left, but I didn’t see any sign of the blue-haired woman.

I had my cell phone out, dialing my brothers as I ran for the car. Wyatt didn’t pick up the call, so I swore and dialed again to get Byron. “Hey, Daffy, we’re a bit busy here–”

“Never mind whatever you're busy with!” I growled as I started the car. “It’s that bear-shifter, the one that took Bella. She’s here. I think… I think she might be the one murdering students on campus.”

“What? The bear? Dammit, I knew we should have killed her when we had the chance.” Byron growled.

“That doesn’t make sense,” I could hear Bella faintly in the background until Byron switched his phone to speaker. “Cody was an assassin for hire. She couldn’t possibly have a bunch of contracts on random college kids.”

“I don’t like this,” Byron said, I could practically see him pacing. “I think you better come home, Daf, lay low.”

“It might be too late for that,” I said shortly, turning my car onto the street that led to Bleakley house. “She’s already figured me out. Well, I don’t think she knows that I’m your sister, but she knows what I am, knows I’m on campus. She sat down across from me and told me the place was hers, and I needed to stay out of her way.”

“That’s not good,” Bella murmured.

“Not good at all. Sounds like the b.itch is marking her territory.” Byron agreed.

“Cody,” Bella said the name softly, like she was chastising Byron for calling her inappropriate names. “Her name is Cody.”

“Why would she do that?” I asked, slamming on the brakes as I pulled up in front of the old house. I quickly identified the vehicles parked in the driveway and on the street. Most of my housemates were home for the day, but Nate’s Jeep was conspicuously absent. It was too early for him to have left for his work shift.

If he even had a work shift.

I’d been so worried about him asking me questions about what I was doing out in the woods, that I had completely forgotten that he had never explained why he was out on a trail, on a back road, far from town, in the middle of the night.

His presence in the woods was just as suspicious and unexplainable as mine. I suppose it was possible that he’d just been casually driving along, spotted my car, and decided to investigate. Then again he did seem to have a habit of following me around. Like the day he’d followed me into the woods when I went to investigate the murder scene.

I pulled back out onto the road, and headed toward the trail head, back toward the caves where I had found the stash of water and snacks. I’d told him about the caves, maybe he’d decided to go back and scrutinize the area himself. Although why he was so interested in a series of bear attacks was a little bizarre.

There was so much about Nathan Straight that I still didn’t know, didn’t understand. “Daphne, are you listening to me?” I’d almost forgotten about the call that was still connected. “You need to come home! It’s not safe for you there. Come home for a few days, Wyatt and I will come and check things out, bring in a team, if we need to.”

“You can’t do that,” I said, as I bumped off the pavement onto the rough, dirt road. “The university is in no-man's-land,” I reminded him. The small city of Rutberg and its immediate surroundings were neutral territory, by mutual agreement of all the packs in the area. It was a human habitation, and so Wyatt and Byron, even though they were powerful Alphas, had no real authority there. “Besides, I don’t think she’s after me.”

“Still, you could be compromised, exposed,” Byron huffed. “I don’t like it. We’re coming to get you.”

“No you aren’t. You are going to stay there and look after your beautiful mate and keep things running like a well-oiled machine at Valiant Mountain. I promise to keep a low profile, but B… I can’t let her keep picking off students.”

“Daphne–”

“I’ll call you later if I learn anything new.” I interrupted him and cut the call. I pulled up to the trailhead to the lookout, but the parking area was empty. “Where are you, Nate?”

Maybe I had it all wrong. Maybe he wasn’t out looking for bears after all. He’d probably just headed out in search of something for dinner. He liked fast food, right? He’d probably just hit the Burger Joint or one of the pizza places in town, maybe the Diner.

I tapped my fingers on the dash and considered the possibilities. I should probably just go back to Bleakley house and wait for him there. And then tell him what? That there was a supernatural serial killer on the loose? How the hell was I going to explain that? What’s more, how the hell was I going to explain how I knew who and what she was.

“Where have you gone, Cody?” I asked no one. The sun was already setting and the soft orange glow of twilight colored the sky a soft peach.

She was a bear. Bears had dens. Where would a shifter bear make a den in these mountains? Assuming she had chosen to stay out in the woods. For all I knew she could have a condo on the mountain with a hot-tub and full access to the tennis courts. I pictured her sitting across from me at the table, eyeing my plate of food with distaste.

“Nah,” I said, putting the car back in gear. “She’s out here somewhere. She’s holed up in a cave somewhere.”

There was only one other cave I knew of that was in close proximity to the college. The old Devil’s Den. It wasn’t much of a cave, more like an accidental crevice in a rock, and as I recalled, it was a wet and drippy place. If I was a bear, I wouldn’t make my home there. But for lack of any better ideas, I pulled the car back onto the road and headed toward the state forest block where the cave was located.

The temperature was dropping. It might even fall below freezing that high up the mountain. The roads were probably impassible. In fact, when I came up to the access road, the way was still blocked by a concrete barrier.

I would just shift, and have a quick look around, I thought, as I parked my car. I jumped down, checked my surroundings, and then stripped out of my clothes. This time I would leave them safely stowed in my car. I shivered, but only for a moment. Once I slipped into my wolf, my thick fur coat blanketed me against the damp chill wind. In fact, the cold felt comfortable and invigorating. I started to run around the barrier but paused, my head lowered as I sniffed the mud at the edge of the road.

Two deep wheel ruts were cut into the mud, down into the ditch and up the opposite side. A vehicle had snuck around the barrier not long ago. There were tracks heading in, but no set headed out. The road dead-ended at a picnic area a few miles further ahead. There was no way out unless they backtracked.

Someone was still in there.

And I bet I knew who it was.