Capitol Kidnap: Urban Werewolf Book 1 (3 page)

"I– Um, I'm sensitive to silver."
 

"No silver, got it." He tossed a shiny little piece of metal back into the basket and held up a leather headband with a small crystal in the middle of it. Naomi smiled and nodded, even though was a bit flashy for her, but her mom had taught her to always smile for gifts. "Now, this necklace should help, too. See the round spiderweb it's? It's kind of like a dream catcher, except he catches dark magic and not bad dreams. And of course, I'll give you a little bit of my special protection. Stand up for me, that's right and spread out your arms." Naomi stood.
 

"Mac, I'm serious. No pranks. Give her the good stuff."
 

"Of course. No jokes. This is serious stuff, I'm sure. I know there's a lot more going on than I've been told. I know about the disappearances."

"Disappearances?" Naomi asked.

"In the last two months, at least three elves, one leprechaun, two changelings, and three vampire fledglings have all disappeared. They aren't dead."

"If my brother's disappearance is related, it will end Monday at nine. They said they would kill him at the Capitol."

"I see. I don't know what to tell you. If I were you, I'd go home, and put my head to sleep for a few hours. You have till Monday, and it will help the wards I've given you time to settle in before you start again tomorrow."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. I get to do what it will take to protect you. Breathe deep, feel the breath in your belly, and don't stop breathing. That is unless your creatures such as that don't really need to breathe."

"I resent that," Mindy said.

"Mindy, darling, you're lovely. You are." He lifted Naomi's arms out so that she stood like a child pretending to be a plane. "Now, darling, about this aura of yours, I'm going to have to touch it. I want you relaxed. Stand straight for me and breathe deep."

Naomi fought the urge to roll her eyes at the aura nonsense.
 

"Close your eyes," he said and grabbed her shoulder. "Okay, you're ready to go now, just relax.Somewhere above Naomi's head his hand plunged into her. It was an invasion. Naomi gasped.
 

"Relax and breathe deep," he said again. She focused on breathing deep into her belly like in yoga class. She could feel something, she didn't know what, her very soul? her aura? being moved around. He was forming her aura like a patty, then he ran his hands over the surface again and again. Each time she felt lighter and more energized. Suddenly strength started pouring into her, like cool water being dumped onto her head, but flowing into her and revitalizing her even more. Then the hands were gone. She was standing in his living room, pulse hammering in her throat.
 

"You're done," he said. "You'll be safe now."

"T
HANKS
M
INDY
," N
AOMI
SAID
AS
the bug pulled up to her driveway. "I appreciate you driving me around."

"Not a problem. Hate missing out on tips, but I learned more than I expected going to Mac's." Mindy turned off the key, but the engine kept making noise as it cooled.

"Just–why did they call me and not one of the other victims' families or friends?"

"What makes you think they haven't? Could be they're trying to add you to their collection, too. Maybe they thought that they could get a hold of you if you tried to rescue him on your own."

"Well…"

"I know you're smart enough to not go out there alone, but think about it, Naomi, we don't network. Not really. How many people like us do you know in town? I know a few because I learned to have connections the hard way. It saved my ass more than once, but here's the thing, most of us don't network."

"I have my whole family, my mother–"
 

Mindy shook her head, cutting her off. "They knew you're enough of an alpha to come to the city on your own."

"I'm not that far."

"You disobeyed your alpha by coming here. Your brother followed you to school."

"That's crazy."

"They knew you wouldn't call in your pack until it was too late. They thought you'd try to handle this on your own, just like you're doing. So make sure to use your network here and keep your head on straight." A bird started to sing and Mindy glanced up at the horizon. "I got to get going. I'm taking your car. Sun'll be up soon and I'm not risking it on foot with all this weird stuff going on. They could be coming after me next, now that they got me in their sights."

"They won't come after you." Naomi shook her head, Mindy was too powerful for them to come after her, Naomi was sure of it.

"They could." Mindy didn't show any sign of emotion.

"Could you sleep here?" Naomi said feeling guilty. "I mean, I don't know if I have any rooms that are blacked out–"

"No. I have this feeling like someone's been watching us all night. You be careful. Text me a warning if you call your mom, that way I can get my happy ass out of town." Naomi nodded vaguely as Mindy drove off in her bug. Was Mindy right about why she hadn't called her mom? Could she be becoming an alpha? No, impossible. Naomi was still part of her mom's pack. She'd call her in the morning, Mom would be hunting now.

N
AOMI
RAN
THROUGH
THE
TALL
wheat grass on all fours, trying to evade death–rotting death. The scent mingled with cinnamon and roses. The scent of Bryan's fear flooded her nose. His panic only fueled her own. She couldn't even find shelter to hide and barricade herself into. She glanced back, but could see nothing of her pursuer.

A woman giggled as she ran.

Naomi could almost recognize the sickly sweet rose smell. That laugh. She ran, furrowing the dry grass behind her.

 
The doorbell rang.
 

She dove into a warren, burrowing deep. The woman laughed again. The warren opened into her office. Naomi crouched low under her chair as the woman's steps approached.

The doorbell rang again.

Light flashed into her eyes. The woman was coming to get Naomi like she had Bryan.

The front door swung open hitting the wall with the bang. Birds chirped outside. Naomi shielded her eyes from the sun.

"Good morning sweetie!" her mother called out. Naomi groaned as she pulled herself up. "I decided to take you up on your offer!" Naomi stumbled to the living room to find her mother and three young weres she'd never seen before.
 

"What are you doing here so early?"

"Early? What are you talking about? It's nearly ten." Naomi rolled her eyes. Mom had no idea. "I figured if Mohammed wouldn't come to the mountain, I could bring the mountain to Mohammed. Now, you just look like death warmed over."

"Mom–"

"I should get to making breakfast. That'll help you get going," her mother said, interrupting her.

"Mom."

"There's eggs and cheese in the fridge, right?"

"MOM, I have some bad news. I don't want to tell them–"

"Just spit it out. We're all family here. It must be related to work," she said turning to the men. "These boys are just visiting from Klamath. You remember my second cousin Betty and her family?" Naomi suddenly realize the reason she hadn't told mom was that she was afraid of her reaction. Mom had always been the disciplinarian. She was all claws and teeth and cruel tongue. Before Naomi could squeeze in another word her mother took over the kitchen. "Before your bad news, we'd better get some breakfast into all of you." She pulled a pan out from under the sink. "First things first. You boys should introduce yourselves while I get cooking. Then, when I'm ready we'll get to the serious business."

"Mom," Naomi said, trying to interrupt. Talking to her mother was like talking to a brick wall.

"These boys are only in town for a couple of weeks. You will talk to them and keep them entertained. Especially since there's no man in your life."

"Mom!"

"There comes a time in every woman's life–"
 

Naomi flushed. "Mom. I get it. I've been to sex ed. I went to college."

"But you need a wolf, not a human male." She leaned in close to Naomi and whispered, "A human boy won't satisfy you the way that your mate will."
 

"Mom!"

"Just go meet the boys, nothing has to happen. Now darling, I need a bowl to mix eggs in." Naomi fished a bowl out of the cabinet hoping she could get a word in. "Go and talk to those boys. They're nice boys, and now go." She shoved Naomi towards the living room. Stunned and feeling even more exhausted, Naomi collapsed into her dealing-with-Mom chair. Her living room looked tiny with the three overgrown male wolves in it. The tall blonde had taken over her couch. He was too much of a pretty boy. A dark skinny man seriously studied her bookshelf. The other armchair had been taken over by a farm boy in a plaid shirt. His nose looked crooked, probably from too many dominance fights with his brothers. He must have been self-conscious of her eyes on him because he was the first to talk with an awkward hi.

"So… Are you guys brothers?" Naomi asked. She really wanted to get her mom alone to tell her about Bryan, but it didn't look like that was going to happen for a while.

"First cousins actually," the tall blonde said from the couch.

"From Betty's pack up in Klamath?"

"Aunt Megan said you work for some kind of environmental firm?" nosy bookcase guy asked. Naomi nodded. "What's that like? Is that what the bad news is?

""Well, uh…" Naomi's voice caught, realizing she didn't know what to call him or any of them. "Can we start with names?"

"Sorry, I'm Jeff," he said.

"Ian," said the farm boy.

"Marcus." Pretty boy's voice was so deep it sent a thrill through her.

"Great and I'm Naomi. This is my house."

"You want to show us around?" Jeff asked.

"You guys want the official grand tour?" Naomi bit back a sigh. No wonder Mom had been pushing and pushing for her to come home this weekend. She had been trying to set Naomi up with one of these 'boys.'
 

"Sure. Why not?" answered Ian the farm boy.
 

"You'll have to forgive the mess. I didn't know anyone was coming over. " Naomi gestured to the couch and the lone coffee table. "So you've all seen the living room."
 

"No TV?" Marcus asked. Of course the pretty boy would want TV.

"Yeah, well, I usually have better things to do with my time. Like enjoy that river out my back door. I'd rather go out there and enjoy all the smells than the junk on TV." Naomi realized that she'd been a little harsh."You know, compared with the trashy romance novels that I usually read on the light rail." She pointed towards the kitchen where her mom was clearly frustrated with the lack of space. "Mom's taken over the kitchen or I'd show you all the great view out the kitchen sink. Now it's only a two-bedroom house, so we might be rolling out the air mattress in pulling out the hide-a-bed from the couch to make you guys comfortable."

"I think were okay sleeping on the floor. Don't worry about us," Jeff, the skinny guy, said.

"Okay, well thanks Jeff. This is the guest bedroom–or the yoga studio."

"Yoga?" Ian, the farm boy, asked.

"Yeah, you know, stretching and relaxing," Naomi said.
 

"I know what it is, that is not something old women and hippies do?" Farm-boy was really starting to annoy her. Naomi needed her yoga to deal.

"Ian. Don't you think that's a little rude?" Marcus said. "Sorry about him. Let's get on with the tour."

"Here's the hall bathroom. Extra TP under the sink. Towels here in the hall closet. Extra blankets out here in the hall, too."

"What's that one?" Ian asked. Naomi was starting to not like these men her mom had brought.

"That's my bedroom and you better stay out of it." Naomi cringed at the thought of dirty clothes, bras, and underwear piled everywhere. That door was staying shut while they were here. Suddenly, Naomi was very grateful that Mindy had decided that her own apartment would be safer.

As if you were reading her thoughts, just suddenly asked, "Why did your front step smell like vampire?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Tour is over," Naomi snapped. "So, what do you all do for a living?" She herded them back towards the living room. She might only rent, but everything she had she had earned on her own. She doubted if any of them could say the same.

"I work on the family's ranch," Ian said. Typical. She expected the rest of them to answer the same. If any of them had gone to any kind of school after high school, it was probably an associates in agricultural engineering or something similar.

 
"Well, I just got my AA, I'm looking to get on somewhere and I just rolled with the University of Phoenix to get my bachelors," Marcus said. Bingo, but at least he was trying to get on with someone outside the family. Werewolves couldn't stay in their insulated little bubble forever.

"Jeff, what about you?" she asked the nosy book case guy.
 

"Naomi! Breakfast is ready!" her mother hollered from the dining room.

"Let's go get some eggs," pretty-boy Marcus said. Mom had found her stash of chorizo, not just the bacon. The delicious smell of the sausage filled her nostrils with the spicy kick.

"Now, what was your all-important bad news? It wasn't hurt by waiting."

"Mom, I'd rather only tell you."

"Don't be stupid. We're all wolves here. You can tell them anything." Naomi hesitated. Her mother frowned. "Out with it now."

"Fine." If Mom wanted the truth in front of everybody, Naomi would give it to her. "I got a strange phone call yesterday. I thought maybe George or someone playing a joke… It wasn't. Bryan's missing. The people who called me, they said they had kidnapped him, that they would make an transform at the Capitol and kill him Monday at nine."

"What!" Mom immediately started pacing. "This is bad news. We have to find your brother immediately."