Breaking Out (3 page)

“Ha.” He didn’t sound too confident. We sat
on the scrolled bench near the fountain and he handed me the note.
Mom
was scrawled on the envelope in Charlie’s large
handwriting. I stared at it, my heart pounding in my chest. This
wasn’t good.

Mom,

Jay and I are traveling around California.
Neither one of us has seen much of the state: me even less than
Jay. Sinlae told me to take Samson, so I did. I hope that’s okay.
I’m sure he’ll enjoy the change of scenery. I’ll keep him well fed
and healthy. Jay and I are always hungry so don’t worry about us
eating enough.

I feel a little guilty about sneaking away
like this, but I didn’t want to argue with you. I’m an adult now,
responsible for my own actions, yet I’ve never been anywhere
without a guard or a parent or a trainer nearby. California is more
foreign to me than Faerie or the DR and that shouldn’t be the
case.

We’ll be safe. I promise. If you think about
our combined abilities, we’re a pretty awesome team.

You’ll be glad to know that Sinlae and Dad
both laid down the law about me calling home and I will as soon as
I can. We’ll be hiking in the mountains for a while and it may not
be possible right away.

I’m sorry if my leaving upsets you. That’s
the last thing I want to do. I love you. You’ve always been the
perfect mom. I’ll miss you, too.

Love,

Charlie

PS Dad: Thanks for your trust. I love you,
too.

I handed Garrett the note. When he’d finished
reading, he was smiling. I asked, “When did you know?”

He winced, already expecting me to hit the
ceiling, or maybe his jaw. “Before I was kidnapped. Kyle came to me
and mentioned that he’d overheard Jay and Charlie talking. We were
going to confront them about it, but then I was taken and that idea
went up the chimney. When we all came home safely, he was acting
normally so I thought he’d dropped the idea. But one evening he
asked me to get something out of his closet for him and I saw the
backpack, fully packed with clothes and equipment. I talked to Kyle
and we…” He paused.

“You what?”

“We decided it was time.”

“You and Kyle decided?”

“And Peter.”

“Of course. Let’s not forget Peter.” The hurt
in my tone was clear. Garrett must have heard it too, because he
leaned forward and took hold of my hand.

“Be honest, mon ange. If he’d come to you,
you would have said no.”

I stood because I needed some space. My heart
was beating double time, my mind spinning in a million directions.
Walking to the fountain, I sat on the edge, dipping my hand in the
water, remembering the countless times I’d told Charlie to be
careful not to fall in. How many times had I told him not to leave
the property? How many times had I held him back?

Sensing my pain, Garrett was beside me,
stroking my back. He kissed my cheek. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.
I should have.”

I didn’t deserve his tender care. “No. It
kills me to say it, but you and Kyle and Peter did the right
thing.” I moved away again, keeping my back to him. “You want
honesty? I would have
screamed
no, maybe even called in the
big guns. I might have sent him back to Isaiah.”

“Jackie, don’t…”

I started to pace. “I would have driven a
steel wedge between Charlie and me. Hell, there’s probably one
there already. Perfect mother, my ass.”

“Your ass is delightful,” he teased, but I
wasn’t in the mood. Garrett sighed, running a hand through his
hair. “You’ve done your best under difficult circumstances.”

“Charlie shouldn’t be afraid to tell me
things. I did that to him.”

“He’s your only child. It’s natural to be
afraid for his safety.”

“He’s yours, too, but you didn’t hold him
back.”

“We behaved as responsible parents. He
understands that.”

“Does he?” He waved the note in the air.
“I’ve always been proud of him. I should have told him that. I
should have…” I wiped away the first of many tears with my
sleeve.

“You have been a fine mother, Lady
Jacqueline. He could not have had a better one.” My sweet demi-fey
companion had arrived as she usually did when she felt my
distress.

Garrett laughed. “Even Sinlae agrees.”

“He was not ready to take this journey until
this moment. Do you believe I would have allowed him to leave if he
was not prepared?” She flew to me, hovering only a few inches from
my face. “You must let him go and discover who he is.” She caught
one of my tears in her palm and drank from it. “It tastes of
sadness and worry, but also of pride and love.”

“I miss him already.”

“I have made him swear on his blood to call
you. He will not renege.”

“Thank you, Sinlae.”

“My lady.” She bowed and flew off, one of her
males, Aymis, was there to catch her in a hug and take her inside
the tree they’d made their home. She’d miss Charlie too.

Strong arms circled my waist, pulling me
against his firm body. “Forgive me.” Garrett’s sweet breath warmed
my hair. He kissed my neck, waiting for my response.

I twisted in his arms, facing him now,
nestling my forehead against his shoulder. “I should be
furious.”

“Mm.” He kissed my hair, the vibration of his
voice sending tremors over my scalp. “He’s ready, my love.”

“He’s ready,” I echoed, hoping that saying
the words would make it true.

“We’ll tell the others?” He had this wary
look, as if he expected me to do a 180 and punch him.

“I think an evening with Sash, Rick and Elle
would be perfect. You can call Aaron and the team. Finvarra and
Isaiah can wait for the news.” I knew the fae and demon contingent
would be the ones to complain the most.

“Shall we?” He held out his arm and I placed
my hand in the crook of his elbow. “I’ve sent a message ahead.
Rick’s ordering your favorite pizza.”

“Yum. Pizza is always a good first step
toward forgiveness,” I teased.

Garrett kissed my cheek, whispering in my
ear, “It will be my pleasure to spoil you daily in the hopes that
you may one day find it in your heart…”

I pulled him down and kissed him. It was a
very nice kiss, sweet and spicy. “Enough pathetic pleading. You’re
forgiven.” We strolled through the garden, both of us laughing as
we rounded the bend to see our friends waiting for us on the
porch.

CHAPTER FOUR

The bear
stalked us, relentless, his six hundred pounds of muscle, fur and
bone padding through the forest growth with no more noise than a
vampire on the hunt. My cheetah eyesight and hearing were superior
to the bear’s but his sense of smell had him steadily narrowing the
gap. In this form I was fast, faster than my counterpart, the
single-natured creature found on the African plains. But the wooded
geography hindered my speed, where the bear was in his element.
Even though we were doing our best to throw him off track by
scooting across streams and rolling in mud to hide our scents, he’d
almost caught up.

I stopped in my tracks. Now the bear was only
fifty yards behind us. Samson turned and barked, wagging his
tail.

I held up my hands in defeat. “Okay, you
win.” I’d already shifted back to my human form, walking toward the
river to wash off some of the mud. It was making my skin itch.
“From now on we rely on your nose when we need to track.” The
grizzly rose up on his hind legs, becoming a ten-foot wall of
growling and snarling beast, showing a lot of sharp teeth, dripping
saliva down his chest and all over his rear paws. “Yeah, yeah,
great show. But you might want to wash off that spit. Yuck.” Even
Samson looked disgusted, and he licked his butt everyday.

My rottweiler and I splashed around in the
stream while Jay transitioned back to human. Samson whined in
sympathy when we heard Jay moan. Transitioning back was tough when
you didn’t have a connection to the ley lines.

“I could help, ya know,” I called out, but
all I got in return was a vicious snarl. Once, when we’d been in a
hurry, I’d pulled on the lines to help him transition back faster.
He’d almost killed me afterward, saying it was like being turned
inside out and then stuck with needles. Ouch.

He joined us in the water, diving under and
coming up gripping two trout. Even in human form Jay’s hunting
skills were crazy. We’d have another few fish in no time.

Jay shook his head, his dark blonde mane
spraying me with water. “When are we heading for civilization? I’m
pretty much over all this spectacular scenery.” So far he’d been
agreeable to following my plans, but he was getting bored. A bored
bear was an annoying bear.

“What kind of shifter are you?” I asked. “We
shifters live to fill our lungs with pine-fresh air, to walk the
ancient paths trod by dinosaurs and…”

My head was suddenly under water, held there
by a bear’s enormous paw. Jay was pretty good at partial shifts,
which was tough when you were the one being mauled. Samson was
barking but he knew my pal was kidding around; otherwise Jay
would’ve lost that paw. Samson had his own magic and it came out
during battle, red eyes, longer fangs and all. I sputtered when Jay
let me up again, smiling when I saw his ear-to ear-grin.

“Real funny.” I shook out my hair, tilted my
head and whacked the side, trying to get the water out of the other
ear.

“I could go for a good meal, Cuvier.”

“Don’t call me that, remember? And what? You
didn’t enjoy last night’s elk?”

“The elk was the bomb, especially since I
took it down, but I haven’t seen a female or a ball game in two
weeks.”

We crawled up on a couple of boulders,
stretching out to catch some rays. Samson laid his head on my ankle
and dozed off. He thought the elk was the bomb too.

“All this time I thought food was your
primary concern.” I said, leaning back and closing my eyes.

Jay huffed in annoyance. “Sometimes I think
you’re some old guy who took over my friend’s body. There’s only
one true priority.”

I laughed, batting away a mosquito. “And
that’s why you want to go back to civilization, huh?”

“One look at our tanned, fit bodies and
females will be tearing off their clothes.” Jay stated with
certainty, swatting away the mosquito’s two buddies.

“More likely tearing out their hair.” The
softer voice of a stranger had Samson instantly on his feet,
barking and growling.

On the far bank, a female fae held the reins
of her horse as it drank from the river, stroking its neck and
giving the two of us a long leisurely look. Jay and I were butt
naked, spread out on our respective rocks like appetizers for our
enemies. This was embarrassing.

She was tall like all pureblood fae, her dark
hair pulled off her face into a ponytail, not the common style for
a lady of Faerie. Her eyes were blue, not purple like most fae, but
from this distance I couldn’t tell whether she’d changed them with
magic, a rare and difficult skill, or was using contacts. There was
always the slim chance that she was half-blood, like me, but even
then the fae genes won out over the other species’. When I was in
faerie, I fit right in.

I wasn’t worried about being identified as
Charlie Cuvier. We carried fake IDs I’d purchased anonymously
online, the site recommended by a couple of werewolves who were
friends of my cousin Sammy. Mine was under Charles Crawford, my
mom’s maiden name and Jay’s was Jason Daro, Kyle’s last name. Jay
usually went by Jason Bain. Hopefully our safety shouldn’t be an
issue since Finvarra, the ruler of all of Faerie, was my
grandfather. Unless this fae female was crazy or had a death wish,
she wouldn’t try to hurt us.

What shocked the hell out of me was that she
was dressed as a park ranger. She had the usual tan short-sleeved
shirt, green pants, and Smokey the Bear hat. Probably not her best
look.

“Why hello, Miss Ranger, what can we do for
you?” Jay stood on his rock and faced her. He was in full flirt
mode, not an embarrassed bone in his body. He had no clue she was
fae, although it probably wouldn’t have made any difference to Jay.
Female was female.

Her expression was amused. “I could fine you
boys for public nudity.”

“I don’t see any public around, do you?” He
turned in place, pretending to search, giving her another good
view.

She didn’t seem too impressed with either of
us, but then I’d never been great at reading females. “You
boys
seen a grizzly around here?’

“Why as a matter of fact, we have not.” Jay
answered, not taking her sarcastic crack seriously. He was a guy
who saw the glass as half full, especially when it came to girls.
Until they slapped him or threw a glass of liquid in his face, he
was still hopeful.

“The ranger removed her overly large hat,
hanging it on the saddle and smoothing down her hair “That so?
There are tourists, hikers and photographers around every bend. One
of them thought he saw a grizzly take down a large elk last night.
You shifters should be more careful.

Jay frowned. “How’d ya know?”

“No clothes. No gear. And grizzlies are not
common in these parts.”

“Oh.”

She surveyed the clearing. “Where did you
leave your gear?”

“About five miles up that path.” Jay
pointed.

“That’s a steep trek in human form. You doing
it naked?” She lifted her eyebrows, obviously enjoying herself.

“We’re going to shift again.” I said. I’d
actually planned on taking us back through the lines. A shifter
wouldn’t be able to pull off a trip through the ley lines. She’d
know right away I was part fae if I mentioned it.

“You’re not shifting again. You’re walking
back in human form. I can’t have a panic starting.”

Jay smiled, all teeth and shining eyes. “You
wanna watch?”

“Not particularly, but I don’t have a choice.
Those photographers are still out looking for the bear. You don’t
want to be on social media in your animal form, scaring all the
tourists do you? Good thing no one can hunt in this area. You’d
make a lovely rug, boy.”