“What is it?” Easton asked as both Louis and Ismael looked over at Yuri.

  Yuri pulled a piece of paper out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Easton. “My guard took down that license number from a black SUV that appeared to be watching Joseph’s home. It drove by three times through the course of the night.” Easton took the paper and started working, bringing up the records from the DMV.

  “It’s a rental,” Ismael stated. “Signature is John Smith. Not very creative.”

  Louis picked up the phone, and everyone gave him their attention. “Eddie, would you meet me in Easton’s office as soon as possible?” He then closed the call and sat back in his seat.

  “Joe tells Eddie everything.” He said and then added. “If Joe has concerns about that SUV, Eddie will know it.” Yuri noticed a look that passed between Louis and Ismael that made him wonder what was really going on here.

  Eddie arrived within minutes with Robert at his side. The situation was explained, and the video of the SUV with the two men was shown to Eddie. “Has Joe mentioned anything about trouble with these men,” Louis asked.

  “He said they came into the station yesterday looking like a couple of covert ops wannabees acting all strange. One of them asked him if he knew the deputy patrolling Highway 48 because he smelled like him. Joe was really creeped out.” Eddie relayed the conversation he just had with Joe.

  With just a look from Master DuCane, Robert quickly escorted his beloved from the room and shut the door. “Call your guard and tell him to bring Joe here immediately,” Louis spoke to Yuri, and without question sensing the urgency, he pulled out his phone while staring at Louis. Yuri felt his heart slam into his throat, and his vampire surge to the surface when there was no answer.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Joe kept checking his watch every few minutes, wishing the time to go faster. It was just a little passed one, and he was on duty until six. It was going to kill him having to work till six. He missed Yuri so damn much, and there were few customers today, making the time drag even slower.

  Joe was mopping the floor by the drink dispenser after a customer had a bad experience with a slushy when he noticed Baylen come from behind him with a weapon drawn. He hadn’t even realized Baylen was inside the station; he thought he was outside or in his car. He kept moving towards him and, without a word, stepped in front of Joe and started moving him backward towards the back of the station while keeping his eyes and his gun on the front of the place.

  Joe stayed quiet and moved with Baylen; the tension in the air was so strong it smelled acrid. Joe stayed quiet and did not question he knew something was happening and Baylen was attempting to get him out of there.

  Unfortunately, before they made it to the back door, two men, the men from yesterday, started shooting. Baylen, although getting several shots off and clearly hitting them, was also wounded. The backdoor was blocked; they couldn’t get out through there.

  He kept Joe tucked behind him and moved towards the backroom. He probably knew there was an emergency exit off the backroom. Baylen was bleeding, but he didn’t even seem to notice as he kept his concentration on the movements of the two men in the station. But it wasn’t just two men. Others had joined, at least three more, and they were moving to contain.

  The next few seconds were a complete blur as something exploded. It was a light, a white light, that blasted down the aisle and hit Baylen square in the chest and threw him backward, landing on top of Joe as they both hit the floor hard. The air was sizzling around them; the shock had knocked the air from Joe’s lungs, and he gasped for breath. He desperately reached out and held onto Baylen, pulling him up against him while anxiously trying to wake him. The front of Baylen’s jacket was black, and his face was burned.

  Three men rushed them, grabbing Baylen and tossing him to the side as Joe tried to hold onto him. “He’s hurt, stop,” Joe yelled. He felt his animal begin to stir, and panic gripped him as one of the men took him by the arm and jerked him off the floor and tossed him to the larger of the three.

  “Get him in the car before we have company.” He barked at the man and started trashing the station. “Make it look like a robbery and disable the cameras.” He spoke to someone, but Joe couldn’t see who because he was being blindfolded and manhandled into their car. His heart went out to Baylen, for Joe wasn’t sure if he were alive or dead.

  “Why did you hurt him like that?” Joe spoke to no one specifically.

  “He deserved what he got. He bloodied two of my friends, but he paid for it, didn’t he.” Came a gruff response. “And you’re going to get the same you filthy fucking shifter.” Joe was viciously backhanded, knocking his head against the seat. He felt blood running down his chin from his now split lip.

  “Shifters are always fucking up the lives of good people.” Joe did not speak again but focused on sending a distress call to his Yuri. They were bonded, and although it was fresh, he was hopeful that his message would travel and be received in time. This was so not fair just when his life was getting good, he was going to die, fuck.

  …

  “He’s not answering.” Yuri was heading towards the door when Louis spoke, and he turned to regard him.

  “The deputy they spoke of was a wolf shifter, and his body was found about an hour ago not far from here on Highway 48. He was killed by hunters.” Yuri raced from the room.

  “Call the authorities they can get there sooner than Yuri,” Louis instructed. “Tap into the gas station cameras in real-time.” He told Easton who attempted, but the cameras were disabled. They sent a team to follow-up for assistance and, clean up.

  “I hate filthy fucking hunters.” Ismael spat.

  …

  The sensation of sheer panic hit him as they raced towards town. Why did he allow his beloved to go to that place he could have pressed and convinced Joseph to just quit? He hadn’t wanted to put undue influence upon his beloved. He shouldn’t have let Joseph out of his sight, and he cursed his stupidity for letting him go.

  He tried the station phone and no answer, and then Joe’s phone and again no answer. The sensations swamping him were fear and panic. Joe was in danger, and he was hurt, Yuri could feel the bite of pain.

  They pulled into the station, and Yuri was jumping out before the car stopped and ran inside. There he found several deputies and Baylen on the floor unconscious. He rushed over and knelt by his guard, placing his hands on Baylen’s heart and on his head. “Wake up, Baylen.” He demanded, and with a sudden jerk, Baylen grabbed a ragged breath and opened his eyes.

  He looked bad he was bloody and covered in burns, but he was awake. “Is he safe, sir?” he choked out the words as he coughed.

  “No, where is he Baylen?” Yuri was growing desperate.

  “Hunters, sir, they must have taken him. I’m sorry.” Baylen was trying to get up, but Yuri made him stay.

  “Heal yourself, Baylen.” He said and then stood and confronted the deputies. They were two vampires and a wolf shifter.

  “What have you determined?” He demanded.

  “Hunters, black SUV, five of them all human. Also, they have some deadly firepower. It was some kind of power blaster that took down your man. It has to be significant to knock out a vampire the size and strength of that one. Your man injured them because, as you can tell, there is a combination of three different blood types in the air.” Yuri was leaving when the wolf shifter called to him, and he turned around.

  “Joe must have been alive when they took him. There is no evidence here that he wasn’t.” Yuri knew his beloved was still alive. He could feel Joseph. He could feel the depth of his terror and the pain of his sorrow. Joseph worried about Baylen, and he grieved for their bond. Joseph was a very special man, and these hunters will curse the day they touched him. They were about to feel the vengeance of a Master Vampire.

  …

  Joe was still blindfolded, but he’d hunted the lands around Mt. Pleasant all his life, and he knew where he was by the sounds and the smells. This was Federal land North of town about eight miles from the DuCane compound. They were in a privately owned cabin on leased land.

  A lot of locals had small hunting cabins in the woods, and this one belonged to Darren White, an insurance guy from town. Joe had used this small cabin a few times, with Darren’s permission. He recognized the heavy cedar and smelled the old wool rugs. This place had a distinctive scent.

  They threw him into one of Darren’s grandma’s wooden straight back chairs and tied him to it. They also kept his blindfold on, but he’d seen everyone, so it was a mystery as to why they kept it on.

  As he sat there listening to them grumble and discuss his outcome, he reached out again to Yuri. This time he tried to temper his terror, but it was hard since they could easily kill him at any given moment. He let his mind search, and then he felt it, a soft reassurance and the peace that came with it when Yuri responded.

  Joe visualized and pushed out the scene of this area of the forest and the memory of the sign indicating the Federal land. He also visualized the cabin and the sign over the door, which read Darren’s retreat.

  Yuri was coming, these men would not succeed. He held onto his beloved and took the calming strength that he was sending. His beloved was so strong and so handsome, and they would have many years of hot and kinky sex. These men were not going to take that from him. It wasn’t going to end here, not today, and Joe grasped that assurance and held on.

  One of the men came over to Joe and crouched down, getting into his face. Even though Joe could not see him, he could feel and scent his malicious intent. “We’re not going to kill you yet.” He spat. “We’re going to use you to get us into the Coven. Yeah, we know that Louis DuCane is a lot more than meets the eye, and I can’t wait to kill that fucker. We know he and his followers are vampires. We also know that you are the only one who can enter without being searched. You just get waved in every time.” The man straightened and took a few steps back and then struck Joe across the face and laughed.

  “Damn, I wish I could just kill you now.” He barked, and someone else spoke up.

  “Leave him be, if he’s too bruised and beaten, they might stop him. We can’t have him look suspicious.”

  “Alright, but when this is over, I get to finish this one.”

  “Whatever.”

  …

  Yuri was met out front by Louis and his driver Ira Shaw. He was grateful to see him there because Louis knew this land better than anyone, and he would know where they were holding his beloved. They had already been informed and knew that Joseph had been abducted by the hunters. Yuri saw Louis people swarming the station, making sure the details were hidden, and their paranormal secret was safe.

  “Joseph sent me a vision of a forest, Federal land near your compound, and a cabin with the name Darren’s Retreat over the door.” He said as he continued over to his vehicle. “Do you know the place? Do you know where it is?”

  “Yes, follow us.” Louis returned to his car, and they quickly took off with Andre and Yuri close behind. They drove north of town until the asphalt gave way to a dirt road, which gave way to a two-track where they parked and got out. They moved through the dense forest swiftly and silently. Yuri and Louis in the lead and Andre and Ira on the flanks.

  The hunters were easy to scent and, therefore, easy to follow since Joseph was with them, and his scent was piercing through any cloaking they had attempted. Five had entered the gas station, but seven were in the forest. Seven hunters who would not live another day to wreak havoc on the paranormal world.

  As they approached the cabin, two men stood outside with weapons ready, apparently on patrol. The two humans didn’t stand a chance against Andre and Ira, who took them out easily, slicing their throats before they even knew someone was near. It was lethal and silent, and the two men were stacked on the ground in front of the door so as to slow them down if someone decided to make a run for it out of the cabin. The cabin was a simple one-room structure with one door and two windows.

  Louis placed his hand on Yuri’s arm when Yuri was about to just slam through the door and take what was his. Louis nodded to the side window, and Yuri understood without words. The window was large, too large for such a small cabin but also large enough to get through easily. Always better to surprise, the front door would be expected the side window, not so much. Surprise was paramount because they didn’t want to give the group time hurt Joseph. He could feel his beloved, so clearly, his pain and his fear were swamping Yuri and turning him inside out, filling him with the urgency of rage and the deadliness of fury.

  Andre and Ira stood at the door while Yuri and Louis stood on either side of the window. From inside, they could hear the boasting of their plans to infiltrate the Coven and confront Louis DuCane. Yuri glanced at Louis and saw the darkest of grins spread across his face, and blood fill his eyes as he pulled a short sword from his jacket. It was a medieval weapon beautifully balanced with deadly precision. Yuri had seen him use it in the past on marauders and knights of the old world, and it never missed its mark.

  Yuri doubted such a weapon was necessary with this group, but Louis was a purist when it came to war, and he always liked to leave a lasting impression. Louis was not a man to take threats lightly. These men had called down the thunder, and now they were going to answer for it.

  “Louis DuCane is mine.” One of them shouted. “When we take the coven, that fucker belongs to me.”

  “Sure Craig, he’s all yours.” Another one stated, and that was the moment Yuri burst through the window and gutted the first man to confront him while rushing to his beloved. The others scattered two ran for the front door but were met by their dead comrades and Andre and Ira. They did not survive the confrontation.

  That left, the braggart, who was being held by the throat against a wall well off his feet by Master Louis DuCane. The other stood in front of Joe with a gun pointed to his head.

  “Yuri,” Joseph spoke softly fearfully but with hope.

  “Yes, I’m here.”

  “Stay back, or he gets it. I got nothing to lose.” The man was shaking, and his eyes kept darting around the room, obviously traumatized by the blood and death all around him.

  “I will kill you slowly over several days, or I can kill you quick and painless. The choice is yours, and those are your only choices.” Yuri told him and watched as he continued to frantically look around for other choices.

  “Kill him.” The man pinned to the wall croaked out until Louis squeezed a little tighter and cut off his air.

  “Hello, Craig,” Louis said while staring into the dying man’s eyes. “My name is Louis DuCane. I understand you wished to meet me.” Louis smiled and ran the man through with his short sword laying him open from stem to stern. He let the man hang there for a moment just for effect to throw off his companion and then dropped him to the floor.

  The man threatening Joseph swung his weapon away from Joseph and took a couple of poorly aimed shots at Yuri. The man was flustered and losing his nerve. Yuri’s concentration suddenly moved to Joseph. He felt it before he saw it. The air moved with the power of a first shift, and it was an amazing thing to behold.

  He watched in awe as Joseph shifted into his lynx in mere seconds, unheard of for a first shift. He tore from his clothing and the binds that held him to leap onto the back of the man with the gun and sink his long fangs into the man’s neck and his claws into the flesh of his back and shoulders and held on. Joseph was a large cat, sleek and powerful. The man dropped to his knees, screaming in pain and trying to dislodge Joseph from his back.

  Yuri observed for a few moments letting his beloved get his revenge before walking over, and with a gentle grip on the back of his neck, he lifted him off the hunter. Joe was a large lynx, but Yuri held him easily. With his lover in one arm, Yuri bent and took the hunter by the hair of his head, twisting him around, so they were eye to eye.

  “Are you going to drink me dry vampire?” The man snarled.

  “I don’t drink swill,” Yuri said and, with a twist of his wrist, removed the man’s head and tossed it against the far wall. Now he clutched his beloved to his chest with both hands and walked out of the cabin into the fresh air of the forest. He ran his fingers through Joseph’s soft fur and kissed the side of his nose. He was a gorgeous cat with all the colors of autumn in his lush coat and eyes, honey-colored deep and intense. The lynx was making sure their mate was well and safe.

  Louis came out of the cabin wiping his hands on a white handkerchief and glancing around the area. “You can go ahead and take your beloved home and see to his care. We’ll clean this up.” He said, and he winked at Joe. “You’re a very fine-looking lynx, Joe.”

  “Thank you, Louis.” Yuri wasted no time getting them both to the car carrying Joseph snug in his arms. The lynx was quite subdued after the ordeal he’d gone through. Yuri was anxious to get back to Joseph’s place and help him shift back to the gorgeous young man who holds Yuri’s heart and his very life in his hands.

  Andre stood guard as Yuri carried his beloved inside. Sitting down on the small love seat in the living room, he held the wonderous cat on his lap, petting his coat and speaking sweet assurances of love and safety to him. He needed to calm and satisfy the cat before the shift would come. It was just a matter of comfort at this point, and gradually as he continued his soft-spoken words, the lynx retreated, and soon a naked and beautiful Joseph lay in his lap. He stared up at Yuri with excited wonder and smiled. “That was so easy.” He declared. He stretched and cuddled close to Yuri laying his head on Yuri’s chest.

  “You are a stunning lynx, my love.” Yuri kissed him softly but thoroughly on the lips. “So strong and masterful.” He added. “You shifted to protect me, and I do appreciate it, but in the future, I would prefer you never put yourself in such danger again.”

  “He was trying to shoot you, Yuri. I couldn’t see with that blindfold, and I was going out of my mind.” Joseph suddenly sat up when he remembered Baylen.

  “Is Baylen okay, he has to be okay. Tell me he’s okay.” Joseph rattled off in quick succession.