Chapter 15 #2
“Asleep. As in nothing.” No roar. No fury. No hunger. Oh shit, shit, shit, shit—a silent thrum of panic. And simultaneously, why the panic? This was great, wasn’t it? Shit, shit, shit.
Carl grabbed his wrist. “Could you shift?”
Mark tried to grab at his bear, but ended up clutching random ridiculous thoughts.
Honey. Coffee. Breeze. Tablet. Julie. Julie!
“No,” he snapped. And damn it, he felt completely out of control like this.
Like without his bear to focus him, he was spinning wildly, which left him vulnerable and Julie lost. How he’d prayed for a few moments respite from his grizzly, but now that it was silent, he was insane with panic.
Tonya and Carl exchanged glances, but didn’t say anything. Meanwhile, Mark queued up the next camera feed and started running through it, pretending to a focus he didn’t have.
Meanwhile, Carl started barking orders. “I want an analysis of those darts immediately.”
“Yeah, I guessed,” Tonya said as the paramedic handed the things over. “You’ll want blood work and stuff, too,” she said as they looked at Mark.
Camera showed squirrels. Leaves. Rocks. No Julie. No help. Get it together.
“Mark, we need you to go to the hospital.”
“No.”
Someone touched his arm, and he flinched. He had to watch the video feed. He had to find Julie.
“Mark, think. Your bear is quiet.”
He was thinking too damned much! “I know—” He was so absorbed in watching footage that he didn’t process the words for a moment.
But then the significance hit him. Some drug had quieted the grizzly to the point of absolute silence.
And, yeah, it knocked the man out, but the grizzly was staying down while he was up and thinking.
Granted, it was out-of-control thoughts, but still.
This is was important if he could just focus.
Never since he was a teenager had the man been alone in his brain.
And if this were possible—if there was a medication or something—that could do this without knocking him unconscious for hours on end?
Well, that was good, right? Not only could it be a temporary staying measure for himself and all ferals, but the break it would give to teenage shifters was enormous.
With all those hormones zipping around in an adolescent’s body, even a temporary pause from the demands of the animal inside would be a godsend.
But…Julie!
He swallowed and held out his arm to the paramedic. “Start drawing my blood.”
“What?”
“Do it,” Carl ordered.
And while the woman leapt to follow the command in the alpha’s voice, Mark finally hit pay dirt. “There!” he said, stabbing his finger at the tablet. Three guys tromping through the woods. One carried Julie. Bulky muscles straining. They’d get footprints for sure. Won’t help much.
“What’s that?” He fumbled to pause the screen.
Why did his muscles feel thick and slow?
Everyone peered around his finger. The smallest and youngest of the bastards.
The guy had tossed his hoodie back to reveal a baseball cap turned backward on his head.
The emblem on it showed up clear as day.
“It’s an A,” he said, trying to figure out what the stylized letter meant. It had triangles down the left edge.
“Diamondbacks,” Carl said. “Phoenix baseball team.”
Mark frowned, his mind spinning through sports images. Who the hell rooted for an Arizona team in Michigan?
“That’s not much to go on,” Tonya said. “But it’s more than we had a minute ago.”
Meanwhile, the paramedic was drawing his blood. She’d muttered something about it not being her specialty, but he hardly cared. And just when he was about to snap at her for the painful stab at the crook of his elbow, something else flashed on the screen.
With one arm restrained by the paramedic, he couldn’t manage the video. Thankfully Tonya was there before him, steadying the tablet and the image. And there, slinking through the shadows, was a woman with short, sandy hair, long legs, and a grim expression.
Sour. Middle-aged. Bitter. Smooth carriage. Bitch. Shifter. “Who the hell is that?”
“Want to bet it’s Theo’s Crazy Cat Lady?” Tonya asked.
Carl rubbed his thumb down the screen. “Maybe. But I know her. I just can’t remember where.”
Mark jerked. “Figure it out!”
The explosion was meant for himself, not his alpha. Too much brain work. Too many thoughts. And zero control of the mental whirlwind. Thankfully, Carl didn’t snap back at him. Meanwhile, the paramedic jerked Mark back to face her. For a little thing, she sure had some strength.
“Unless you want me to snap this needle off in your arm, you’ll stay still.”
“Who the hell are you?” he asked. Damn his grizzly nose for being off-line right now. He couldn’t smell anything.
“Friend of Bryn’s,” Carl answered without really paying attention. His gaze was still on the screen.
Mark frowned at the woman. She was a wolf?
Or just a normal in on the shifter secret?
And why the hell did he care when Julie was with those bastards?
Part of his brain was busy ticking off the seconds, counting up all the things those assholes could do while he was standing here with his thumb up his ass.
It wasn’t helpful and it sure as hell wasn’t what he wanted to do.
But at the moment, he was completely useless with his brain out of control.
And in the middle of his frustration, a female voice interrupted his mental screaming.
It was Julie’s mother, her face tight with suppressed panic.
“Will someone please tell me what is going on? Where is Julie?”
Tonya moved smoothly to take hold of the woman’s arm. Her voice was surprisingly gentle as she spoke. “I know this is upsetting, but please try to remain calm.”
“Calm my ass!” snapped the professor as he pushed unsteadily to his feet. “I demand to know what the hell is going on. Where is my daughter?”
Tonya took a deep breath and began to explain things in an edited fashion. In the blink of an eye, she went from irritated no-nonsense police officer to sympathetic, calming influence. The tiny part of Mark’s brain that was paying attention was impressed.
“She’s a cat woman.” Carl speaking. Who the hell was a cat? “Was she one of the cougars? From the wolf–cougar war?”
Oh. Bitch woman. Were the others cats? He hated the smell of cats. Made his nose twitch. They had Julie? Why?
Carl kept talking, his words slow as he searched through his memories. “Not one of the primaries, I think. Maybe support staff?”
Mark ground his back molars together. He wanted to bellow and yet no sound came out.
He just hadn’t the strength. Not with everything in his brain spinning at random.
Another car coming up the lane. Police cruiser with the forensics guy Joey in the back.
Everyone called him Mr. Science. Except his hair was more movie-star flowy.
Where the hell was Julie? Gladwin wasn’t large enough to have a full team.
Mr. Science was shared with neighboring counties.
Joey might find something they couldn’t.
Julie!
“Mark! Go to the hospital,” Carl snapped. An order. “There’s nothing you can do here and a ton that can be figured out there.”
Spinning out of control and so weak. Mark didn’t have the focus to argue.
Carl gestured at the paramedic. “Make sure he gets full blood panels and the like.”
She snorted. “Like anyone’s going to listen to me.”
He glared at her. “Use your nose. Figure out who’s a shifter and tell them I said to do it. And if they need confirmation, then call me!”
She swallowed. “Got it, sir.” Then she looked at Mark. “Please come with us.”
Us? He frowned and looked around. There. Middle-aged partner leaning casually against the ambulance. Move! he ordered himself. Quit being a lazy shit! The man looked bored and a little bit pissed off.
“Ready for my help now?” the partner drawled.
“Chill,” Mark snarled. Not a snarl. A weak almost-whisper.
He recognized the guy as a longtime townie.
He wasn’t exactly in on the shifter secret, but he also wasn’t completely ignorant.
He probably knew that sometimes he just had to back away and not get involved.
But that probably pissed him off. Why his mind was focused here was anybody’s guess.
But he took the moment of lucidity to grabbed for a joke rather than shove magic in the man’s face.
“I like pretty girls better than your ugly face.”
The man grunted. “Same here.” Then he opened the back door and gave a courtly gesture to invite Mark inside.
So weak. Useless! How the hell was he going to help Julie? “Carl…” he managed.
“Get your shit taken care of while I focus on mine,” the alpha snapped. “I’ll let you know as soon as we find an answer.”
He had no excuse to argue, so he forced himself to nod. “Do it fast,” he said, because…Julie! Because…no focus. Because…what?
Then he was inside the ambulance with the doors slamming shut. Trapped inside. Mind spinning. Where was Julie? What clue had he missed? Why the hell hadn’t he saved her?