Stalked (Rogues Shifter #2) (8 page)

“That doesn’t stop
me
from killing him with iron. I’m sure that Kyle can come up with something strong enough.” Ethan’s voice was tense.  Ever since we’d met on the island and trained with Rob, Ethan had been extremely protective toward me. He was my best friend and I loved him like a big brother, although he was barely a year older than me. I glanced Sinc's way and saw her smiling at him. She probably thought his protective streak toward me was sweet.

Rob said,
“Ethan, you can’t kill him because you represent the team. The team has to uphold any alliances that Garrett has in place." He glanced at Kyle. "I suggest you come up with something that won't kill him but would distract him long enough so she can get away. A defensive device made of iron. Then after the attack we could call Lord Caelen to take care of him.”

“That sounds perfect, but what?” I turned to look at Kyle who was nodding his head.

“I’m actually working on something right now. It’s not iron, it’s silver, but I can develop an iron version. I should have it ready in two days for a test.”

“I won’t carry it in the house around Liam.” Liam would be very sensitive to any iron weapon, even a defensive one.

Garrett turned to me. “I’ll have my friend ward the house and the yard against all fae except the Elders and their family members. That’ll keep Kennet or his cronies out.”

“Elizabeth?” She was a witch who I’d m
et before my duel with Antoine.

“Yes, she’s
adept at spells of this type.”

Rob spoke up, “I think we can move on to the subject of Brina. Ethan, Jackie, are you agreeable to taking a summer class at the High School in Gasquet?”

I looked at Ethan and laughed. “As long as he doesn’t make up horrible stories about his twin sister and all the dumb things I did growing up.”

“Well, there was the time…”

“I’m warning you now,
brother
, don’t mess with me.”

“Ok, fine.
You’re no fun.” I threw a grape tomato at him and he caught it gracefully in his mouth making the rest of the group laugh.

Rob continued. “
Sinc, when you’ve worked out the phony names, ID’s, transcripts, birth certificates, social security numbers and whatever else they need, you’ll call me and I’ll register them. Sorry, but you only have three days.

“I got it covered.” To an outsider, Sinc
can appear arrogant, but we knew she was a genius with anything of this nature and that those documents would be ready and perfect in
two
days. It wasn't her work of choice, however. With a Masters Degree in forensic science, she’d hoped to eventually be able to do more work for the team in that area rather than just computer generated forgeries, research and security.

“Kyle, you need to make sure that whatever we give Jackie as protection will be easily conce
aled. The High School may have metal detectors.”

“Sure Rob, no problem.” I could see Kyle’s wheels turning behind his dar
k eyes. He loved this kind of challenge. His often immature behavior could sometimes make you forget that he was a weapons expert and had invented quite a few extremely high tech devices that even the military might be interested in. Of course, as shifters, we had no desire to get involved with human politics.

Rob continued
, look at me and Ethan. “I'm renting you a house just outside of town and getting you an old car. You'll say you live with an uncle who's out of town on business. You two need to sit down and come up with a plan. You might want to go into Gasquet tomorrow and hang out at the local dives, just so you’re seen together.”

“I
already have some ideas." Ethan, our team strategist, was not just another pretty face.

“Come over around noon tomorrow, bro, and we’ll put our heads together.” He nodded and laughed.

Garrett leaned forward. “Rob and I are stepping back as far as Brina is concerned, but I'd like to remind you of a few things. She's the daughter of a fae Elder and therefore very powerful. Don't try to fight her. You'll lose. You're there to get information. We need to know where she is, the reason she's there, and if she's responsible for Drew’s death. We’ll tell Liam or Lord Caelen as soon as we have any information at all. We can’t violate the alliance."

His expression turned serious and he glanced in my direction.
“Rob and I will be working on finding Kennet. He's left Faerie. You'll call us immediately if you see him or even suspect he's near.“

"Sure Garrett." Ethan answered for all of us.

Garrett relaxed and cracked a smile. “As far as Brina is concerned, we’re here if you need us, for advice or for backup. You all know what you have to do and we trust that you’ll be able to handle this.”

The four of us looked at each other and grinned.  This was going to be so cool.

Chapter Seven

The next day at noon on the dot, Ethan and I sat at my kitchen table eating boxed mac and cheese, both of us missing Liam's cooking. I'd made a salad and some iced tea but it was still kind of a sad offering. Ethan, being a good sport about the food, had just finished telling me about the latest zombie movie he’d seen with Sinc a few days ago. It sounded like something Garrett and I might have a few laughs over. Hollywood was hopeless when it came to anything realistic regarding supernaturals, but we were always up for a couple of hours of good natured ridiculing. We particularly loved renting movies about werewolves or vampires and getting the gang together to scream, howl and hiss in all the appropriate spots.

For our current mission,
Ethan and I had decided on the names Sam and Melanie Gray; generic and unremarkable, exactly what we were hoping our classmates would think of us. In order to get information, we’d need to blend in and not attract attention. I took a look at Ethan and sighed. Well,
I’d
blend in well enough. I was dressed in my usual jeans and a light blue tank top. He was wearing dark jeans and a dark red tee shirt that fit snugly over his muscular chest, not leaving much to the imagination. His chocolate brown hair always seemed to send out scouts to hang over his golden brown eyes, and his smile was always warm and infectious. Ethan would stand out in a stadium of people.

He spoke excitedly.
“So I was thinking—how about we take a drive to Gasquet and then grab a soda somewhere and just kind of hang out in town for awhile? We could check out the school and maybe the local fast food joints.

"Sure. Maybe we can get something better to eat." I pushed my plate away. "Sorry."

"It's fine. I'll eat anything. You know that." He shrugged. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Sinc is coming over in a few minutes to dye your hair. She’s also bringing our new drivers licenses and she’ll have the rest of the documents tomorrow. Then Rob can register us at school.”

“You didn’t just say that Sinc i
s coming to dye my hair did you? Because if you did, then I’m checking you for drugs.”

“Sinc is more in tune with what people are talking about and she thinks there’s still too much info out about the blonde cheetah shifter living in the area
who killed the vampire. She thinks it’s the smart move and so do I. You can wear a wig, but they get really uncomfortable if you have to wear it for a long time.”

“C’mon, Ethan. I’d rather not dye my hair.“ I whined.

Ethan’s usual warm expression turned serious. “Are you part of the team or not, Jackie?”

“You know that’s not fair!” I was pissed. “I don’t see you or Sinc dying your hair.”

“Sinc is more suited to work behind the scenes or as backup when necessary, which makes you the one female we have to be out in the field. Someone will recognize you, and then the whole plan goes down the crapper.”

I rolled my eyes.
Ethan was back in ‘Team Leader’ mode. I admit, I sometimes took issue with following orders that I disagreed with. But Ethan was a patient guy who understood the best way to deal with each of us, so he leaned back in the chair and waited quietly for my response. He probably knew what I’d say before I did, but he always allowed me the time to work it out for myself.

I took in a deep breath and tried to calm my initial angry reaction. What he’d said was true. Gasquet wasn’t far from Crescent City and yes, someone
could
recognize me. As far as my hair was concerned, it was just a dye job. I could color it back to my normal blonde as soon as we found Brina, so what was I
really
upset about? 

Ethan was our acknowledged leader and there would be plenty of times when I’d have to follow instructions instantly whether I agreed with them or not.  Still, I didn’t like not being asked first. I wondered if Garrett would mind
if I dyed my hair, then shook off that thought. Deep down I was still a tiny bit insecure about my relationship with Garrett. I mean you only had to take one look at him to wonder why he chose
me
. But those doubts were few and far between and they always dissolved into dust with the first kiss of the day.

Knowing Garrett, h
e'd probably care more that I hadn't instantly followed Ethan's orders.

“Ok.”

“That’s it? Ok?” He looked unsure.

“Yes, that’s it, unless you’d like to argue some more.”

“No, I’m good.” Ethan said, holding up both hands. As we heard a car drive up, Ethan barked out a laugh, probably because of the timing. Sinc had arrived with hair color in hand. Oh Joy. He let her in, giving her a hug and a kiss before bringing her into the kitchen.

She was dressed in casual haute couture: looking like she hung out with the Kardashians. As usual, she got right down to business
, taking the boxes of color out of the drugstore bag and plunking them in front of me on the table. “So I got two different shades because I want to look at your skin tone again.  Ethan’s much darker than you, but I think we can do a really dark red or a russet brown. What do you think”? She didn’t wait for my answer. “I brought brown contacts too. Green eyes are uncommon.”

“I said ok to the hair, but I’d rather not wear contacts if I don’t have to.” I looked at Ethan who didn’t need to say a word. I sighed
and slumped in the chair. “Do your worst.” Sinc’s eyes actually glittered with excitement as she jumped up and dragged me into the bathroom.

45 minutes later, I emerged as Sinc’s latest masterpiece. She’d gone with the dark red hair color and light brown contacts, similar to Ethan’s eye color. She’d trimmed my hair, under protest of course, and gave me some cool layers which brought out my natural waves. Standing side by side with Ethan in front of the mirror you could almost imagine a resemblance, which would definitely help cement
our twin story.

“You guys go to Gasquet and have fun.” She walked over to Ethan and leaned in for a kiss. “I’ll see
you
later.” She turned and swayed her way to the door twisting around to wave one more time before leaving the house.

I nodded my head and chuckled, looking down at the outfit she’d brought for me to wear: denim shorts and a purple lace edged tank top.  “She’s like a force of nature; a ts
unami that sweeps in and leaves—a makeover in its wake.”

“Tell me about it.” Ethan
chuckled and looked me over. “You look great. Are you ready to hit Gasquet, Mel?” He took out a pair of cool looking glasses. I screwed up my mouth and shook my head. That was the extent of
his
makeover, I guessed. Life is so unfair sometimes.

“Sure Sammy, let’s go.”

Chapter Eight

It didn’t take us long to get there since Ethan drove like a typical eighteen year old guy, making me laugh the whole way with funny stories that Sinc had told him about her training with Kyle. We pulled up in front of the local pizza joint. There were eight or nine cars parked outside so we decided to grab a slice and a soda and keep our eyes open.

A few different groups of high school students occupied some of the booths along the wall, so we sat in one of the tables near the
m. We talked quietly about the zombie movie while I very cautiously sent out a few mental feelers. I’d be able to recognize the aura of a fae, but I had to be careful that she didn’t feel me nudging her. After a few minutes I deduced that this group was all shifters, wolves and humans, no fae in the bunch.

I found it interesting that the humans and shifters were friends but the weres stayed apart in their own clique. I remembered Rob telling me that the two groups of weres that caused the
Crescent City shifters so much trouble had pack lands in the Gasquet area. The Brownlow and Pine Ridge packs were rumored to be allies. It would be really unfortunate if any of them knew who we were. They’d love to take some revenge out of our hides after what we did to the Pine Ridge pack leader and his cohorts after they’d kidnapped Garrett with the help of the witch. Drew had been a member of the Brownlow pack and his friend George probably still was.

Ethan indicated that we should leave
, since we didn’t want to spend too long in just one place. The plan was to hit some of the local spots, just so we were seen around town before class started.  Which reminded me…