Heart's Redemption (MxM)

Chapter 18 ~ Sam

"Inez is my sister," Maria explains as she leads us towards one of the larger cabins. "Jack and Elliot are her boys."

"How long has she been missing?" Ian asks. The three of us—he, Carlos, and I—are sticking close to one another. We're all still a little rattled after having guns pulled on us and Ian being forced to Shift. It can't have been good for his injured shoulder, and from the tightness around his mouth right now, I'm guessing it hurts.

"It's been six days," Maria answers. "She was going to the airport to meet the man who flies in supplies for us from time to time, and she never came back."

"What about these other deaths?"

Maria stops in front of the cabin and turns towards us. The lines around her eyes seem to deepen as her expression grows grim.

"There've been four so far—all in the past two months, all suicides, and all bear-folk. In themselves, they don't seem that unusual, but the number and the closeness is raising suspicion."

She pauses and looks out towards the lake.

"Folk give in to despair—no denying that—and sometimes where one goes, others follow. This seems different, though. None of them ever gave a hint they were thinking to do such a thing, and I know that's the way of it sometimes—but four? In the space of eight weeks? Not to mention them all being Shifters. It's got some people—Jack and Elliot among 'em—thinking there might be a hunter on the loose.

"A hunter?" I ask. "Like one of your guests?"

Ian looks over at me with a frown. "No. She means a hunter, as in a witch-hunter. Someone who thinks that anyone who isn't quite human enough for their liking doesn't deserve to live. But I thought there weren't any hunters left," he adds, turning back to Maria.

She tosses her long, gray braid over her shoulder and folds her arms. "As did we, and there's no proof yet that it isn't just a bad spate of catching despair. If Inez weren't missing, I'd say that's all it was."

"I'm sorry," Ian says. "It seems I've come at a bad time."

She shakes her head. "No, you're welcome here—your friends, too, long as they abide our rules. And maybe some fresh sets of eyes is just what we need. Sometimes when you're too close to a thing, you can't see it for what it is."

"I'd be glad to help in whatever way I can," Ian says. "That's why I'm here, matter of fact—to find out whether I can do some good in this world, and how."

I take a step closer to him. "I'm with Ian," I say. "I'll help if I can."

"Me, too," Carlos offers, ignoring my glare.

He's obviously attracted to Ian, and seems to have some sort of hero-worship thing going on. The man gave him a ride in his truck, for fuck's sake, and he acts like he's indebted to him for life.

"Good," Maria says, giving us a genuine, if weary, smile. "We've been searching for Inez in shifts. My daughters are out now. Perhaps you can go with Jack and Elliot when it's their turn. For now, I'll let you make yourselves at home. Dinner is at seven in the main lodge."

She returns the way we'd come, and the three of us go inside to explore the accommodations.

I'm severely disappointed.

I was imagining a king-sized bed, covered in a rustic, home-made quilt and piles of goose-down pillows, and maybe a little cot or something in the corner for Carlos. Instead, it's clearly a hunting cabin, intended for dudes who come here to kill things and not to make out with one another.