Page 71 of Shifter Marked and Claimed

She handed him over to me and went to the kitchen. I checked the peephole then opened the door.

“You better come back,” I whispered before setting him down.

He raced off in the direction of the neighbor’s lawn, peed, and left a scarily large load.

I grinned at him.

“You are a good boy. I hope he steps in that.”

Sir Cuddles yipped and raced toward the neighbor’s house. I swore under my breath, checked that Zoe wasn’t watching, and hurried to the living room window. From there, I watched Sir Cuddles scratch our neighbor’s front door. I almost had a heart attack when it opened. Instead of kicking the puppy though, he bent down and patted its head. Then he stared at it for a long moment before suddenly looking up at me. Our gazes locked. Mine went wide, and he slowly smiled.

Then he went right back inside and shut the door on Sir Cuddles. I reached our open door at the same time Sir Cuddles trotted back inside. He went straight into the kitchen where Zoe, oblivious to the close call, gave him all the hugs and kisses a puppy-rock could want.

“I’m going to take a shower,” I called, knowing that Sir Cuddles would keep her distracted for a while.

I grabbed a fresh set of yoga pants and a t-shirt and headed for the bathroom. The blinking notification light on my phone caught my eye as I passed the nightstand. I’d gotten out of the habit of checking a phone for a message and hadn’t thought to check mine when I’d gotten out of bed.

Hoping it was Chloe and not another text from Uttira’s Council about staying indoors, I picked up the phone. When I opened the message, a picture of Chloe filled the screen. She was tied to a chair, tears streaming down her bruised face, and a gag in her mouth.

Chloe: Looks like I finally got lucky. Time to come home.

I couldn’t breathe. Clutching the phone, I stared at Chloe’s tear-streaked face and tried to think. Joey couldn’t get us here. The same barrier that kept unmarked creatures from roaming in the human world kept uninvited humans out. The Council would know if a human crossed that boundary. It would protect us. But what about Chloe and her family? How could I help her? Could I forward this picture to someone?

While I stood there, a new message appeared. Another picture. Only this one wasn’t of Chloe. It was me standing in my tank top and sleep pants just inside our front door.

Chloe: Knock, knock.

No. He couldn’t be here. He was human. I was sure of it. Only creatures with the mark of Mantirum, a trinity knot interwoven with a circle, could come and go through the barrier as they pleased. Yet, the picture of me was irrefutable. Somehow, Joey had gotten inside of Uttira.

I dropped everything and bolted for the front of the house without saying a word. Zoe’s eyes rounded as I raced into the kitchen, grabbed her arm, and covered her mouth.

She nodded, not needing any further prompting to be quiet. Someone knocked loudly on the front door. Creatures couldn’t get past the wards on the house, but Joey could.

Pulling Zoe with me, I hurried to the master bedroom and grabbed a pair of new shoes from the closet.

“It’s Joey. We need to run.”

“But what about everything else out there?”

“Stay in here and let Joey get us or take our chances out there? I’d rather try to get away from what Joey has planned for us.”

She nodded and yanked on shoes as I pulled back the curtains to reveal a set of sliding doors to the backyard. She was right on my heels as I stepped outside.

We’d barely made more than three sprinting steps before fingers curled in my hair, and I was jerked to a painful stop.

“Two for the price of one,” a man said.

My eyes watered, and I clawed at the hands in my hair. Nearby, Zoe squealed, and Sir Cuddles started making a racket. I twisted around, sacrificing some hair to see who had me. It wasn’t Joey or human. He was huge and ugly, towering over me a good two feet. His right hand gripped my hair while his left held Zoe’s. The tattoo of a trinity knot peeked out from under his sleeve.

“He said you would make it easy,” another man said, coming around the side of the house. He kicked Sir Cuddles, who turned into a rock at the last second. The new guy swore and limped as his gaze flicked from us to the man holding our hair. “You got them both?”

“Yeah. No problem.”

“Good. Don’t drop them. The buyer wants them undamaged.”

Buyer? Panic exploded inside of me, and I kicked out, planting my foot right between the giant’s legs.

He made a choked sound, but his hold remained firm. I kicked him again as his partner yelled at me to stop. Athletic shoes were built for ball contact, though, and I proved that a third time.

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