Page 1 of Coerced

1. Forbearance

KerryHarker

“Uh-oh.” Jax Kosta jerked his chin toward the other side of the cafeteria. “That doesn’t look good.”

“The fat’s in the fire now, y’all,” murmured Bridget Carnahan.

The unscarred side of my mouth jerked up. Gigi’s Tennessee accent and funny little sayings always amused me. I started to ask what she meant, but a soft hand tightened around my fingers - and all my attention went to my girl as the rest of the world faded to white noise.

“What’s going on?” Gemma Shepherd blinked her big green eyes at me. “Can you see?”

She had her pretty red hair up in two knots, one on either side of her head, and she was so cute, I could hardly look away. I did what she asked, though, and took a quick glance.

“Some dude is ready to throw down with some other dude.” I shrugged.

She didn’t say anything, but I got a bad feeling that my breakfast was about to be interrupted.

“That’s for sure.” Gigi half-stood to see the drama better. “Some fur is going to fly now!”

Not caring about a translation anymore, I shifted in front of Gemma in case the fur flew inourdirection.

The school, like most of the Sanctuary, had become a minefield in the past four months. Rumors fueled the panic, mainly because the only thing anyone knew was that teams were disappearing during missions. Two teams from our senior class and three of college freshmen - five wardens and twenty-nine students in all - had gone missing since November.

Then just last week, the Council of Wardens released a statement that pretty much said they had no evidence to investigate, no clues to follow, and no explanation for how the teams had disappeared off the face of the Earth. That bothered me. Why would you announce that unless you were fishing? And why would you be fishing at the Sanctuary unless you suspected someone here?

No one at the high school or college had signed up for missions lately, not even those who needed the credits to graduate, and some of the younger wardens were flat-out refusing to accept outside patrols. Couldn’t say I blamed them.

My warden, Hank Bishop, was shaken by the loss of Asif al-Abdullah, who’d been shepherding one of the missing college teams. According to Hank, al-Abdullah was a level eight warrior with a century of experience in the Real World. He was thelastwarden anyone would have worried about sending into the field with a newbie team.

Yesterday, Hank had told me that two pro teams hadn’t met their check-ins.

“They’re not in the top one hundred, but both are well-seasoned.” He’d shaken his head. “I hesitate to say it, but this is looking more and more like someone is targeting nephilim. We don’t just ‘lose’ teams like this, and certainly not so many in under three months.”

I’d suggested he talk to the other Sanctuaries and see what the international folks had to say. He’d agreed, but the worry lines stayed on his face.

“The ranter is Cole Fanishell, and the one just trying to eat his bacon and eggs is Matt Farley.” Jax’s voice pulled me back to the moment. “The girl with the Rangers’ jersey is Matt’s girl, Joss Dumar.”

“Cole Fanishell?” Gemma squeaked. “The same jerk who was bullying Chessie in the fall?”

Oh.Thatguy. I’d had a run in with him after he hurt Chessie at school one day. I’d given him a warning, and Gemma had convinced Chessie to tell the principal that he was harassing her. After investigating, Ms. Chapman had sent him to the Sanctuary’s off-site therapy program for a few months.

Guess he’s back,I thought to myself.It don’t sound like Happy Camp made much of a difference, though.

“The same jerk, all right,” Jax confirmed. “Looks like he found a new target. I suppose he’s reminding Matt that Joss is only a Fourth, and Matt’s not the kind to let that slide.”

“Those First Firsters.” Gigi made a disgusted sound. “They say Firsts shouldn’t intermingle with diluted bloodlines.”

“Unfortunately, someone must be listening to them.” Jax took her hand and rubbed the back of it with his thumb. “Now that Fanishell’s leading the group, with Noah Farley as his lieutenant, they’ve been painting that stupid symbol of theirs everywhere.”

My eyes went from Jax to Gigi and back again. Gigi was a Third, meaning she was three generations from an ancestor having a child with a Fallen. Jax, on the other hand, was a First. He was much more powerful than she was, plus he would live some two hundred years longer. Neither of them cared about the first part, but Jax once told me the second part preyed on his mind. He kept it hidden from Gigi, though.

“Why distress her with something neither of us can do anything about?” he’d said. “I’d rather have three centuries with her than five without her. Besides, that’s a long, long time from now.”

Gemma nudged my arm with her elbow.

“Remember Noah Farley? He tried to get me to go to one of their meetings when I first came here.”

Oh, yeah, I remembered him. He’d given her a hard time because of me. I’d dealt with him, and he hadn’t bothered us since.

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