Chapter Four

Arlin Landry shook his head at the two women who seemed clueless as they walked down the dirt road, blindly going about their business, lost in whatever conversation had them so absorbed that they couldn’t even pay attention to the vehicle coming down the road right at them. He sighed as they turned the corner down the dirt road just before his brother’s cabin and finally out of his way. He wasn’t sure if it was because they were female or the fact that they lived in this backwoods community that had them so negligent about their surroundings, but it would frustrate him to no end if everyone in Bull Creek were the same way. Draven Falls may not be a metropolitan, but people paid attention to what they did and where they walked. He blew out a breath, trying to calm his nerves. Relax, Arlin old boy. This is precisely why Jed Hawkins sent you out here, to chill your over-stressed emotions.

He pulled into the dirt drive of his brother’s cabin with a shake of his head. He knew he needed solitude, but when Nathan said Bull Creek was a quiet, out-of-the-way community, he had definitely kept to himself the full extent of just how quiet and out-of-the-way it was. Arlin sighed as he shifted his car into park and stared at the front of the cabin, taking in the overgrown weeds that lined the front porch and the sides of the structure. Nathan hadn’t been to the cabin in months, and it showed. Well, Arlin wanted solitude after all, and by the looks of it, he would get it. Besides, the manual labor of pulling weeds and cleaning up the place may be just what the doctor ordered, if he had seen a doctor, that is.

Turning the ignition off, he opened the driver’s door and stepped out into the Florida humidity, taking a deep breath as the wave of heat hit him. Arlin, you’re not in Kansas anymore. Or Draven Falls for that matter. As much as he needed a vacation from working at Shades, when Jed suggested Arlin use his younger brother’s cabin in Bull Creek, Arlin knew he should have asked for more details. If Nathan Landry hadn’t made the place his homestead, there had to be a reason, and Arlin wished he knew what it was. A little forewarning might keep what happened in Draven Falls from happening here as well. Arlin did not need a repeat of his loss of control, the bloodlust of his tiger consuming him once again. No one needed that.

He closed his eyes as he recalled the last night he worked the door at Shades, the drunks who ventured in desperate to stir up trouble. Damn hyenas. They managed to get more than they bargained for that night, and it almost cost one of them his life. Arlin took a deep breath, turning his gaze to the sky full of clouds in an attempt to calm his nerves. There was a special place in Hell for men who preyed on women, trying to bully the females into the backseats of their cars, and Arlin did his best to send one of those men there that night. Only Drey Hawkins’ interference kept Arlin from crossing a line from which he would never recover. Of course, now he was on vacation until the heat died down. It was worth it.

He locked his car after popping the trunk lever, walked around to the back, and pulled his duffel bag out of the trunk. Might as well get settled. He was here now and would make the best of it, whatever that turned out to be, as long as wandering pedestrians paid better attention to moving cars, that is.

The interior of the cabin was musty from where it had been closed up for several months, a fine layer of dust coating everything. Before he could use anything in the cabin, he would need to spend some time cleaning up the place. As it was, he couldn’t even sit on the furniture. He needed to teach his brother how to cover things with old sheets before leaving the cabin. Some proactive measures would have made the clean up a little easier. At least, Arlin would have been able to sit down as soon as he walked into the place after such a long drive. Of course, his younger brother was never one for much forethought in things, preferring to rush out and deal with everything later. Arlin should be happy Nathan at least closed the door and locked the place up.

He chuckled to himself as he dropped his duffel bag on the floor just inside the front door. With a deep breath, hands on his hips, he shook his head. Hopefully, Nathan kept some cleaning supplies here.

Luckily, Arlin discovered bottles of cleaning fluids and old rags under the kitchen sink. He had just pulled everything out and filled an old mop bucket he found in the back room with water when he heard sirens breaking the natural peacefulness of Bull Creek. He turned his attention to the front windows as he finished filling up the bucket. Now, I bet that’s unusual for around here. Turning off the water and dropping the rag in the sudsy bucket, he decided to check it out and see what constituted a nine-one-one call around such an isolated community.

Blue and red lights bounced off the giant oaks and pines that filled the wooded area around the cabins, guiding him to where a sheriff’s car was parked in a dirt driveway down the street that he witnessed those ladies turning down earlier. One of them probably walked right out in front of a passing car. He gave another shake of his head as he turned down the road to see how bad it was.

He was pleased—surprised, but pleased—to see that neither of the women he passed earlier had wound up being struck by a passing motorist. However, he was shocked at what he did find in what he assumed was such a peaceful community. The flashing lights of a sheriff’s car ricocheted off a cabin that had been vandalized severely. Windows were smashed, plants destroyed and scattered everywhere, and in dark red paint over the front of the cabin were the words, There is no escape. With a cock of his head, he stared at the words, wondering, Escape from what? Nathan had obviously left out the dramatic aspects of his home away from home at Bull Creek.

Arlin glanced around at those gathered in front of the cabin, and his nose twitched at the mixture of shifter scents he sensed mixed in with humans, and…he took another deep breath….witches and vampires. He gave an appreciative nod. Jed did tell him the place was a diversity of paranormal personalities. Arlin just didn’t expect it to be a melting pot.

Next to the sheriff’s car stood a portly elderly man in uniform along with a female deputy and a muscular man with shaggy, tawny hair, his arms crossed over his chest as he listened to the sheriff speaking. Near the front of the porch, stood three women, two of them were the ladies he saw on the road earlier, and the third was a smaller woman with dark hair and a powerful stance. The shortest of the three, with sandy hair and a knife hanging at her waist, attempted to get past the other two ladies and into the cabin, but was blocked every time. Must be her cabin. I’d want inside as well to see what else the asshole who did this destroyed. Probably some teens thinking they found an easy score out here in no man’s land.

Walking over to where the sheriffs stood with the other man, Arlin slid his hands in his back pockets to make himself appear less of a threat. With the damage to the cabin and him being a stranger, he didn’t want any misunderstandings that would cause his tiger to bust loose and get him in trouble again. He’d filled out enough police reports over the past couple of days to know he didn’t want to go through that again.

The man not in uniform turned his attention to Arlin as he approached, an eyebrow arched over narrowed eyes as he watched the newcomer. Arlin just nodded once, doing his best to appear charming and not threatening. He cleared his throat, gaining the sheriff’s attention, and all conversation stopped. “Pardon the intrusion,” Arlin said. “I heard the sirens and noticed the lights down the street. I passed the ladies walking just a bit ago, and they weren’t really paying attention to where they were walking, so I wanted to make sure nothing happened to them. I’m glad to see they’re all right.” He pulled a hand from his back pocket and gestured to the cabin. “Although, this is far from all right, I know.”

Arlin thought for sure the sheriff would be the one to speak first, but instead, the civilian took the lead. “And you are?” He crossed his arms over his chest, definitely doing his best to appear intimidating.

Arlin slid his hand back into his pocket, leaving himself open, remaining as calm as possible. He was the stranger after all, suddenly here during a crisis. “Arlin Landry. My brother, Nathan, owns the cabin up the road. I’m staying here for a bit of a vacation.”

The tawny-headed man nodded, uncrossing his arms and letting his hands discover his own pockets. “Jed Hawkins told me you were coming.” He pulled a hand out of his pocket, reaching out to shake Arlin’s. “I’m Dimitri Everest, kind of the overseer of Bull Creek.” He then gestured to the other two. “This is Sheriff Chet Einstein, and my sister, Deputy Lainie Everest.”

“You didn’t happen to see anyone else on the road as you were driving, did you?” the sheriff asked.

Arlin shook his head. “No, just the two ladies. As I said, they were so lost in whatever they were talking about that they didn’t even notice me behind them. I could tell by the way they meandered over the road as they walked.”

“I don’t meander.”

Arlin turned and noticed the other three women approaching. The shorter one with the sandy hair practically snarling at him.

“And for the record, I did notice you. I just didn’t care. I would assume if you had a license, then you knew how to avoid people walking on the side of the road.”

Arlin arched an eyebrow at the small woman, small but apparently formidable. His tiger growled within, as well, wanting to pounce the little spitfire in front of him, and Arlin felt his cock twitch inside his pants, stirring to life. His heart beat faster as his breath caught in his throat. Why the hell did Jed send me to Bull Creek? “Since I was the one behind you, I’m pretty sure I know how you were walking,” Arlin said. “You were meandering.” Then he shrugged. “I didn’t say it was a bad thing. Why would you be worried about cars running you over in this area, after all? I mean, you were only walking in the middle of the road.”

“The middle….” The woman took a step forward, her hand dropping to the hilt of the knife at her waist. Arlin’s tiger purred inside, instead of growled, and Arlin knew he was in even more trouble than he first thought. “I was walking on the side of the road, thank you, and that heap you were driving wasn’t exactly quiet, you know. I’m sure they heard you in St. Cloud with that clunker.”

“Clunker?” Arlin slid his hands out of his back pockets and crossed his arms, ignoring the looks the others gave him. While the sheriff had a confused expression, the others just stood there grinning. Probably all shifters, Arlin assumed. Then he detected the scent of the witch next to the robust redhead. Yet, she grinned as well. All of them knew what his tiger had just detected, all of them except the short, sandy-haired piece of sass in front of him, that is. He did not come to Bull Creek to find his mate, but it appeared his mate had just found him. So much for a vacation of peace and quiet. “My car is not a clunker, thank you. It’s a classic.”

The short woman laughed. “Classic? That’s what they call something that’s old and worn out, right? Something that has a musty odor? I bet the music you listened to as a child is a classic, as well, being played on one of those oldie stations with a DJ born while 8-tracks were popular. Who the hell are you again and why are you even here?”

Arlin sighed. It looks like I’m here to find out who trashed your cabin, my vivacious vixen. Yet, he knew now was not the time to bring that up, not with the first impression he had just made. His tiger growled, wanting to claim the lady in front of him right there and didn’t care if he did it in front of everyone else, and the awkward part was that at least four of the others knew it as well. Me and my big mouth.