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“I’m fine, thanks,” Charlie said. She didn’t know what was happening, but she did somehow know that Buck was bad, bad news.
He shrugged, his smile finally fading. “Suit yourself, then, and don’t say I didn’t try.”
Then he looked at Daniel and Kade in turn. He held up the strange plastic bag that he’d brought, and Charlie leaned forward, trying to see what it was.
All the color drained from Kade’s face. He snatched the baggie away from Buck, tore it open, and pressed it to his nose.
Then he crushed it in his face, and Charlie could see him start to shake with rage.
“WHERE IS SHE?” he roared.
Daniel grabbed the bag and smelled it as well. Charlie rubbed her eyes, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Was there some kind of drug in the bag that made bear shifters absolutely lose their minds?
“You’re scum,” Daniel said, his quiet voice low and dangerous. “You’re unbelievable. I wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire.”
In a flash, Kade had one hand around Buck’s throat and he was lifting the other man, holding him up against the wall just inside the cabin.
“Tell me where she is right now,” he said. “Or I swear to God I’ll slit your throat and then I’ll gut you—”
“Kade,” said Daniel.
“—And I’ll rip out your heart—”
“Don’t kill him!” Charlie shouted, her heart in her throat. Not another one, she thought.
“Kade!”
Kade stopped talking but didn’t put Buck down.
“What do you think is going to happen to her if you kill him?” Daniel’s voice had an edge to it, a slight waver, like he was also having trouble controlling himself. Kade was breathing hard, his chest expanding and contracting so forcefully he looked like a bellows.
“If you’ve hurt her,” he said, then swallowed.
“Put him down, he can’t talk,” Daniel said.
Slowly, Kade let Buck slide down the wall until his feet hit the floor. When he took his hand off the other man’s beck, it was bright red and bruising already.
His eyes looked like they were flashing, yellow one second and gray the next. Standing behind everyone in a bathrobe, Charlie shuddered, wishing that she could do anything besides stand there and hope for the best.
“I’m here to propose a trade,” the man said. His voice still had that twang, but the glib, folksy quality was gone, replaced by hard steel. “Olivia for Charlotte.”
Kade punched the wall right next to Buck’s head, sending his fist through the wood.
Buck didn’t flinch.
Who’s Olivia?Charlie thought. Her head spun as she tried to make sense of this information. She still had no idea what was in the bag and she didn’t quite understand what Buck was proposing.
“Fuck you,” Kade said. His voice had gone dangerously quiet, and his face was inches away from Buck’s.
“Is that a no?”
“Get out of my house.”
“I know you’ve been looking for her for years, Kade.”
Kade picked up the plastic bag from where it had fallen and threw it at Buck.
“She’s just some human,” Buck said, tilting his head toward Charlie.
