VEX: Valley Enforcers, #1 (3 page)

My eyebrows raised in surprise. “Your property? Huh. I didn’t see any signs marking it off. I was just hiking. You know, the whole
animal lover
thing.” He hadn’t said it in a judging tone or offensively, as most people did, but it didn’t keep me from putting a little bit of venom in my voice. “The Taser is for my protection. Have you ever watched a horror movie? The woods are crawling with weirdos trying to infect you with a disease, tie you to a tree and have their way with you, or chop you up into pieces and put you in a stew. Oh, let’s not forget the sacrificial murder thing either.”

The smile was back. “How could you forget that one? It’s all we specialize in out here. I think a gun would be a better form of protection. Maybe holy water.”

“I’m not legally permitted to have a gun,” I rattled off, cocking my hip to the side. Before he could ask any questions, I rushed to follow my admission with another truth. “And I have holy water in my sac. Do you think I’m an amateur?” 

“Definitely not,” He muttered under his breath, probably more to himself than to me.

“Look, can you just point me in a direction that isn’t your property? Or better yet, show me where your den is? Nobody in town is talking –”

He erupted in a whispered scream, “You talked to more people in the Valley? Jesus, Acacia! I told you to leave. It isn’t safe for you here.”

“And I told you I’m not leaving,” I stressed. I lifted my chin and met his eyes. They swirled with energy. “This is important to me. Call me crazy. Call the government. Hell, call your leader because I know you’re a werebear –”

He interrupted me with another shushed remark, “They’re called shifters, dammit!
Shifters
. Not werebears. Shifters. And you don’t know anything, so stop acting like you do.”

I was a little embarrassed, a little angry, and hell of a lot intrigued. With lips pursed, I watched as he undid his hair and ran his fingers through it. My stomach did summersaults and my heartbeat sped up. It was almost as if he forgot I was standing there. I was too stunned by his outburst and calendar boy display to speak up. He paced in a tiny circle muttering under his breath about something, all while weaving his fingers through his hair and tugging at his scalp. When he finally stopped and turned his attention towards me I made a choking noise that was a mix between surprise and amusement.

“I’ll make a deal with you. I will tell you everything you want to know about shifters if you agree to leave the town alone. Don’t post any flyers. Don’t ask people if they know about shifters. Don’t
accuse
people of being bears.”

My breath caught and I rushed to agree. “Deal.”

“And I retain the right to keep information from you.”

“No deal.”

His eyes turned to thin slits. “I can’t tell you everything. It’s dangerous for me to tell you anything in the first place. I want you to find the answers you’re looking for, but I want to keep you safe even more. Do you understand, Acacia?”

I knew he didn’t mean it the way I took it, but each time he claimed he wanted to protect me or keep me safe my heart sang and warm tingly butterflies tickled my insides. I learned a long time ago to take care of myself and not rely on anyone else, but every now and then I liked to dream about being cared for – being loved and protected by someone who understood me.

I didn’t even know my stranger’s name and I was entertaining idea of him galloping in on a dark steed and saving the day. My past experiences proved that men were more like the Headless Horseman and their trusty steeds were rusted Ford Pintos. I wasn’t in Sleepy Hollow, though, and my stranger had the potential to be Ichabod Crane.

“I understand,” I agreed softly.

“Where are you staying?”

“I’ve been parking my RV in the grocery store’s lot. I haven’t been ticked or towed yet, so I’m going to stay there until they tell me to move.”

He nodded his head. “I’ll come to you tomorrow sometime after five. You have to leave now. If anyone else stops you tell them you were lost.”

I pulled my bag around and tucked my Taser away, exchanging it for my cellphone and folded map. “Yeah, yeah. Wouldn’t be my first time I’ve had to lie my way out of trespassing.”

His gaze was intense and sent shivers down my spine. I tried not to pay any attention to his presence as I pulled open my routing app and set my destination back to the side of the road where I parked.

“I still don’t know your name.”

He reached up and scratched his face and a hesitant look crossed his face. After a few seconds of silence I realized I probably wouldn’t get his name and took my cue to leave. Hoisting the bag over my shoulder, I rolled my eyes and turned to head back to the road. My app calculated that it would take me almost three hours get there. My feet were already achy, and despite caking on the bug spray my skin itched under my clothes. Trudging along, I kept my eyes on the screen of my hand me down iPhone.

“Vex. My name is Vex.”

I was glad my back was turned towards him so he didn’t have to see the cheesy grin on my face or the way my eyes lit up at the sound of his voice. I paused and once I calmed down enough, I looked over my shoulder.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Vex.”

Now that I knew his name I didn’t run the risk of slipping up and calling him Mr. Tall, Dark and Sexy by accident. When he would frequent my dreams – something that admittedly had happened every night since I met him – there would be a name to put with the face of my hero. Vex. It was as mysterious and strange as the man himself and entirely fitting. Even if he was only talking to me to get me out of town quicker, Vex was already the best thing to happen to me since I got out of Waseca… but all good things eventually end and the luster buffs away revealing nothing but broken promises and shattered hearts.

Vex

I turned around three times on my way to the Valley before slamming my fists on the wheel and whipping my car around and pointing it in the direction of town again. I parked at the high school and walked the three blocks to the grocery store with my hood pulled over my head. I was terrified that someone from the clan would recognize me and even more terrified that they would put two and two together and think that I was helping Acacia uncover the truth about our community.

I was crazy. It was crazy. No,
I
was crazy. It was the only logical way I could think of to keep her from putting her nose is clan business and getting herself killed. I weighed the pros and cons a dozen times before deciding I would rather be exiled or taken out by the council than let anything bad happen to Acacia. It wasn’t as if I photocopied the pages of the clan history book to give her. I was going to keep it to the basics. She was hell bent on getting some sort of answer and I was only going to give her a broad generalization about shifters. No harm, no foul.

I approached a vintage looking RV in the parking lot of the grocery store. The lights were on behind the black curtains that hung, and I could hear fast paced rock music playing inside. I took a breath and knocked three times. There was a little crash on the other side, a swear, and then the music turned down. A few seconds later the door swung open revealing a red faced Acacia with her hand on her hip.

She was wearing another pair of tight black jeans. Her feet were bare, revealing painted black toes and bold ink. One tattoo was of a pumpkin and the other looked to be some type of sugar skull. The two times we had met she was wearing a jacket, so I didn’t get a chance to see the art that marked her skin. Her arms were decorated almost completely with traditional styled tattoos. The one that caught my eye the most was a bear on her inner forearm. It was almost like fate.

“You have tattoos.”

She smiled at me. “Hello to you, too. I thought you ditched me.”

“I stayed over at work. To be fair, I did say after five,” I reminded her. She had a right to think I was putting her off. It was after eight. I
had
stayed longer at the post than I should have to avoid meeting up with her, and I
had
nearly turned around a handful of times… but she didn’t need to know that.

“You have a job?” She asked sounding completely shocked. She blushed and stammered a little. “I mean, uh, I didn’t think that you –”

I raised my hand and laughed a little. “I work security. Can you let me in now?”

“Right. Welcome to my humble abode. The love shack on wheels – minus the lovin’ – and a place where I store all the bodies of the hitchhikers I pick up on the side of the road.”

She walked back up into the RV and I followed. The outside of the RV was a blast from the past, but the inside was a completely different story. Most of the seating inside the vehicle had been removed. There were still the two seats up front for the driver and passenger. Aside from that there was only a lone bench couch and the dining table – with seating only on one side. There was a white slip cover over the bench, but the couch was covered with throw pillows. One pillow was covered with kitschy little skeletons and two more featured Frankenstein and his Bride. The dining bench looked reupholstered with a black and white polka dotted fabric. A black cloth lined the table, and sitting on that seemed to be a stack of DVDs, a few notebooks, and a book about… serial killers? Behind the dining area was a large draped tapestry with mandalas popping in purples and blues. Much of the wallpaper was covered by posters and scanned photos of cryptids. What looked like black curtains from the outside were actually curtains made from the same skeleton fabric from the throw pillow. The cabinets above the sink were hollow and a small flat screen television was anchored inside. The kitchen area was a blend of white laminate and wood cabinets, but all of the hardware for the cabinets had been changed out for various knobs and handles of different colors and sizes. White Christmas lights seemed to line the entire interior of the RV. The space was much larger than it looked from the outside and every part of it screamed Acacia.

“I hope they taste good. I’m starving,” I joked, finally remembering what she said when I walked into the place. I hadn’t examined the area for too long, but there had still been a lapse of silence as I took everything in.

“I didn’t know I was supposed to have food for you.” She frowned and opened the refrigerator door.

“I wasn’t being serious.”

“It’s okay. I mean, I don’t have any hitchhikers. I heard they taste like escargot anyway. I do have some leftover spaghetti and two stuffed peppers if you’re hungry. There’s probably like four boxes of cereal in the cupboard.”

“I thought you were a vegetarian.”

“Because of the no hunting thing? Yeah, I get that a lot. My issue is with the mistreatment of animals. They can’t stand up for themselves, so someone else has to. Just because they’re not human doesn’t mean they can’t feel. Did you know foxes are killed by anal electrocution so their fur isn’t damaged? Or that dairy cows are impregnated using things called ‘rape racks’ so they’ll continue to lactate and provide milk? Or millions of animals are poisoned and crudely killed in tests developed to make sure a product or drug won’t harm humans? These animals bleed from their genitals, noses, and mouths while seizing and going through excruciating pain so we can make sure our fucking laundry detergent won’t leave a rash.” She stopped abruptly and sighed, shaking her head. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to get on my high horse about it. It’s just something I’m passionate about. I get a lot of shit from other activists because I still eat meat and dairy products, but I make sure to buy organic and local. I learned a long time ago that it’s about the animals, not about me.”

My chest was warm and I was overwhelmed with a fierce sense of pride for my mate.
My mate
. I tried not to call her that. Somehow I thought that if I didn’t acknowledge that she was mine that it would make my feelings for her disappear. In the end it only made things worse. She visited me in my dreams. My bear was agitated. Hell, I was agitated. Everyone thought I was snappy and upset about Hakeem leaving, which I was, but the bulk of my irritation sourced back to Acacia.

It wasn’t just the passion that flickered over her face or the hard set of determination as she spoke. Though she could probably talk about the blueberry muffins or the stock market with the same gusto and get me just as excited. No, Acacia was talking about animals. About protecting animals. I could see the depths of her passion in her eyes when she spoke. I already knew she would accept my bear. She had, after all, accused me of being a
werebear
the first time we spoke. Even if she had no idea about the supernatural world I knew she wouldn’t be afraid of me.

I wasn’t sure what to say so I nodded slowly. “It’s okay. I don’t mind. I come from a family of animal lovers, so I get it.”

“Because you’re bears,” She stated, motioning for me to sit down. “Or are you talking about your pack? Is everyone in your family a bear?”

“Because we understand that animals are just as important as humans and appreciate nature.” I moved around the throw pillows and sat on the couch. I tried to approach the topic at hand without giving away too much information. “They’re called clans, by the way. Not packs. Wolves have packs. Bears have clans.”

She grabbed two cans of Coors Light and passed one to me before sliding into the bucket seat behind the table. “So werewolves are real? I’m sorry, I mean wolf shifters. Are there other kinds out there, too? Like are there duck shifters?”

“Shifters are apex predators.”

“Lions and tigers, and bears, oh my!” She smiled over the top of her can. “You never answered my question. Are you the only bear in your family?”

I tried to direct the conversation away from me. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“That wasn’t even smooth, Vex. If you’re going to dodge my question at least make it believable. I have two sisters and a brother. My younger sister goes to Montana State for exercise science. My brother lives with his partner in DC and is interning at the Smithsonian while he’s going through graduate school. And my older sister followed in our mom’s footsteps and teaches preschool. She is married and has two kids. My niece is five and my nephew is two.  They’re wonderful.”

“My niece will be four this summer. My sister lives in Idaho, so I don’t get to see her a lot. It’s hard to maneuver around my work schedule but I try to visit a few times a year. It’s a fun age. Ronnie, my sister, will call me on Skype every once and a while. Willa loves it.”

Acacia turned her head and smiled sadly. “I wasn’t around for a few years, so they’re both still adjusting to me.” Before I could question her cryptic admission, she plastered on a fake smile and perked up. “Anyway. So you have a sister and a niece. Also bears?”

As much as I wanted to ask her why she wasn’t around I didn’t want her to kick me out. Even if I was tip toeing around sensitive information and possibly condemning myself, I really enjoyed spending time with Acacia. She was fun to be around. Relaxing, even. She always followed her question with another question and sometimes she forgot to breathe, but her curious nature was one of the things that I liked the most about her. I hated the circumstances, but I loved talking to her. She always had something to say.

“By answering that I would have to admit to being a bear, wouldn’t I?”

“That’s why you’re here isn’t it? To tell me about bear shifters? Answer all my questions so I’ll leave you alone?”

I swallowed the last swig of beer and met her gaze. “The last thing I want is for you to leave me alone, Acacia.” The expression on her face morphed into something I couldn’t recognize completely. It was almost as if she was looking at me longingly, but I didn’t smell arousal. The air smelled distinctly like her citrus blend. It was clean and pure. There were no traces of a sexual need in either her eyes or her scent. “Why are you here? Why do you care so much about shifters?”

“That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it?” She asked meekly. Reaching up, she rubbed a hand along her neck before continuing. “My dad is an environmental planner. He used to specialize in wildlife habitats, but now he just travels around Montana and helps companies with projects and makes sure there is a minimal impact on the environment. If you haven’t noticed yet, I’m pretty inquisitive. I followed my dad around like a lost puppy, but he didn’t seem to care. I was a daddy’s girl. We went on all these camping trips and he always taught me about the different animals and the environment when we were hiking or before I fell asleep.

“I was eleven when we planned this two week long trip to Bighorn. My dad had a two day conference just outside of Sheridan. I stayed in our hotel bored out of my mind while he went to all these meetings. By the time we packed up and drove to the National Forest I was stir crazy. I was like a loose cannon. My dad was exhausted but I wanted to go hiking. It was too late to go on a big venture, but there was a pretty basic trail near our campsite so he agreed to take me out for an hour or two until it started to get dark.

“We weren’t even a half mile up the trail when my dad put his arm out to stop me. He was staring into the trees and told me to get the bells and pepper spray from his pack. I didn’t see anything in the forest but I knew it had to be serious, so I slowly unzipped his bag. His strap with bells on it and the pepper spray weren’t there. I was so eager to hike before the sun went down that I rushed him and he forgot to pack them. I looked up to tell him they weren’t there when I spotted it... them. Two mountain lions were circling towards us. Cougars hunt alone and never go out in the daylight, so I don’t know why they were there. Doesn’t matter why just that they
were
, I guess.

“My dad taught me what to do if we were ever attack by an animal but I completely shut down. I told him that we didn’t pack the bells or the spray and started crying. There was no way we were going to survive an attack by two cougars. He turned so we were back to back and started waving his arms around and making a ton of noise, but the lions didn’t back off. They both pounced. I heard the impact when one hit my dad, but the other one never made it to me. I heard a roar and then a giant grizzly came out of nowhere and attacked the second cougar. I was frozen. To my right my dad was fending off a mountain lion and to my left a bear was attacking the other. When the one attacking my dad realized what was happening it turned to attack the bear. My dad was on the ground covered in blood, and even though I was fucking terrified I ran over to him and tried to help him stand up. I thought we could run away while the bear and cougars were distracted. And then my body was on fire.”

She stopped abruptly and slid to her feet. She turned and tugged at her shirt, lifting the back far enough up that the hem passed the thick strap of her bra. Though her back was a colorful portrait of medusa, I spotted the scars instantly. The snakes sprouting from the head of the beautiful woman wove expertly around the marks. Two painful looking scars ran horizontally down her right side.

“I thought I was going to die, but I didn’t feel anything else. The weight was ripped off of me. I rolled just as the bear was fighting the mountain lion. The first one was lying on the ground. I couldn’t even see its fur because it was covered in blood. My dad wasn’t moving. I didn’t know how bad my cuts were, but I was going into shock. I just laid there and watched the grizzly snap the neck of the cougar and toss it aside. When it turned to us I started crying again because I knew it was going to kill us. Instead of charging us the bear stopped a few feet away and changed into a man. That’s when I passed out.”