The Falcon Ridge Series Book 4: Art of a Girl

(Chapter song ‘Smooth Criminal’ by Alien Ant Farm)

BASTIAN

With Alexi riding shotgun and Luke on his bike, we pull into the tiny, hamlet town of Bellington.

Tiny really is an understatement. There are probably only 20 houses here. All of them are small, humble looking homes. There's a diner, a small church and a few other buildings. This town makes Black Rock look like New York.

I park the car on the side of the street and Luke pulls up behind me. We get out, join Luke on the sidewalk, and look up and down the main street.

"So, where do we start?" I glance at both of them.

Alexi scans the buildings. "That restaurant looks like as good a place as any." She motions across the street.

We cross the street and walk through the open door of the eatery. It has soft lighting, save for the large front window letting in more light. It's filled with square, dark wood tables and there's maybe 5 people in it.

There's a big, overweight guy behind the counter wearing a tight t-shirt and an apron. He eyes us as we walk in. "You folks lost?" He arches a brow as he wipes the counter.

The others at the tables turn and scan us suspiciously. I meet their staring eyes, give a little wave saying 'Hi' quietly, and flash my best neighborly smile. I don't want to be making the locals angry.

We take three seats at the counter. "I hope not." I point to the maker behind him. "I'll take a coffee."

The man turns to Alexi. "What will you have, gorgeous."

“Easy with the compliments, bud.” Luke narrows his eyes and places his arm around Alexis waist.

Alexi glances at Luke. “Stop it.” Luke removes his arm sheepishly, then she turns to the man. "Um, I'll have a cheeseburger with the works and 3 strips of bacon."

“Yeah, that sounds good. Make it two.” Luke grins and holds up two fingers.

The man nods. "Coming right up."

I lean to Alexi. "You've been hanging around Luke too long." I chuckle.

“I heard that.” Luke growls and I smirk at him.

He drops my coffee on the counter. "What you folks doing around here?" He leans his elbows on the counter.

Alexi mirrors him. "We're hoping to get some information about someone who used to live here around 20 years ago."

His brow went up. "Oh yeah? Who?"

I throw a spoon in my coffee and stir it. "Dinah Everett."

"Now, what could you possibly need her for?" He stands straight up and crosses his arms.

Alexi stares at him with a straight face. "She was with my father before she died and we were hoping that if she had family here, we could talk to them."

"She's not dead. You can talk to her herself. She's in the back on break." He thumbs over his shoulder then pulls his towel off his shoulder to wipe his hands.

I look at Alexi with surprise then turn back to the man. "She's not dead? Can we go talk to her now?" I point to the back door.

"Please. It's gravely important." Alexi begs.

He ticks his head. "Go ahead. She has a few minutes before her breaks over."

Alexi and I get up, and the man leads us through the small commercial kitchen to the backdoor.

Luke stops in front of him. “We'll take those burgers to go.”

He smiles. “Sure thing, buddy.”

“Sweet.” Luke grins then follows us out the back door.

As the man steps out behind us, a woman having a smoke, turns to the door. "Dinah, some folks here to see you."

Alexi steps out into the side alley and I follow with Luke behind me.

The woman is thin, brown-haired and leaning on the brick wall of the building.

She puffs her cigarette and doesn’t look surprised to see us at all. Her hair is graying and she looks beaten by a hard life. The man goes back into the restaurant and the door clicks shut, giving us privacy.

I slowly approach the woman. "Dinah Everett?"

"Yeah. That’s me." She sighs.

"We're..." I was about to introduce us, but she cuts me off.

"I know you're shifters." She throws her cigarette butt on the ground and steps on it. She turns, leaning her shoulder on the wall. "I smelled you guys before you walked in."

"You scented us." Alexi says.

"Yeah. A little gift from an ex." She gives a half smile while she taps the side of her nose. "I can smell anything from half a block away."

"An ex?" I arch a brow.

"Yep. Stranger rolled into town about 20 years back. Shifter. Like you." She turns to Alexi. "You kind of look like him."

"That's because that stranger was my father." Alexi supplies.

She snorts. "Figures the asshole would up and leave me for another woman."

“That asshole did a lot of things.” Luke growls and stuff his hands in his pockets as Dinah raises a brow at him.

"My mother was his fated." Alexi retorts.

"Whatever that means." Dinah takes out another cigarette and lights it.

"Dinah. We’ve come to ask you what happened." I step closer to her.

"Not much. I found Draco just outside of town, all busted up. Like he was in a bar fight or something only he was naked. I took him home, nursed him back to health and we fell in love. It wasn't until a few months later, I caught him. He shifted right in front of me." She looked to the ground as she said it.

She leans her back on the wall and takes a drag. She blows it out and rolls an eye to us. "That's when I found out you people existed. I was so absorbed in him. He was so mysterious and powerful. When he asked if I wanted to be with him. One of him. I couldn't say no. He told me it had to be done on this one certain night. When that night came, he did it. He bit me. Right here." She moved her shirt to reveal the twisted, deformed marking of an Alpha. I look it over and cringe a bit. It looks painful and shouldn’t be there if Draco broke it, but it scarred bad.

"What happened?" Alexi asks, glancing at the mark.

She shrugs. "Don't know. Supposedly, I was dead. I woke up in the county morgue a day and a half later." She takes a puff and blows it out in the air.

My brows tick up. "That must have been a shock." I can only imagine what that scene must have looked like.

Dinah gave a half smile. "You should have seen the doc’s face. They chalked it up to hypothermia from being out in the woods so long. When I woke up, I could smell things far away. For a time, I could hear a pin drop a mile away. See things farther than ever. But all of it except for the scenting, went away. It went to my boy."

I put my hand up. "You're boy. You were pregnant when he bit you?"

Dinah nod. "I was 3 months pregnant with his child. He shouldn't have survived. It was violent as fuck. I remember his bite. It burned so much. I felt sicker than I've ever felt. It felt like my heart was in vice. I fell to the ground. I remember having seizures. Like I said, the boy shouldn't have lived." She took a big draw from her cigarette. “Draco left me for dead in the woods after telling me he loved me. So, trust me when I say, the only tears I shed when I heard he died, were tears of laughter.” She tick her head at us.

“We all did.” Luke agrees. “So, babe. Does that mean there’s two of you?”

"It seems so.” She turns to Dinah. “You were his first fated.” Alexi raises a brow. “My mother was his second chance.” Alexi strides up to Dinah. “Where’s your son now?”

She puffs her smoke. Don’t know. Don’t care. He took off at 15 and didn’t come back.”

I pinch my brow. “You didn’t look for him. Weren’t you worried?”

She huffs a laugh. “The last thing I’m doing is worrying about that ungrateful kid. He turned out to be just as bad as his worthless father." She threw her second butt on the ground and stepped on it. "He's just as much an asshole as Draco was. Even more so. Once he found out who he was, all he wanted was his damn father. He fought me tooth and nail when I told him Draco was no good. He didn’t care. And he did weird things. Things I can’t explain."

“Like what?” Luke asks.

“It was like he could get into my mind. It’s how he found out Draco was his dad. He pulled it out of my head.” She answers.

“Yeah. That’s weird.” Luke furrows his brow.

“Into your head. Telepathy?” I ask.

“I don’t know what it was.” She says.

“Why did he leave?” Alexi asks.

Dinah scowls. “He tried to kill me when I tried to stop him from looking for Draco. I told him Draco was an evil son of bitch who deserved to be strung up for what he did. That’s when the little bastard turned his wolf on me. Tore me up. I was in the hospital for weeks." She lifts the sleeve of her shirt to reveal deep, nasty scars up and down her arm. Claw and teeth marks.

"Your child did that?" Alexi says with shock.

"Oh, yeah. He said I was weak. He said he was ashamed to be my son and that his father would accept him for what he was." She crosses her arms and eyes us all. “If he did find Draco, he's most likely in hell with him.” She sneers.

It's incredibly disturbing to hear a mother talk about her child that way, but knowing the Torrent gene, I almost sympathize with her for having to deal with his shit.

"Do you know if he found him? His father." I ask.

Dinah shook her head. "Like I said. I haven't seen him in years."

"What's his name?" Alexi asks.

"Chase." Dinah supplies.

I turn to Alexi then back at Dinah "Chase Rennet?"

"Rennet?" Dinah looks curious.

I nod. "Yeah. I know a doctor named Chase Rennet."

Dinah huffs. "Figures. Rennet was an old boyfriend I had when Chase was young. The two of them made my life hell until I kicked the cheater out."

“Do you have a picture?” I hold a hand out.

“The only thing I have is a mugshot from when he was 14. He got arrested for assault at school and it was with the court documents they sent me.” She pulls out her phone, finds the picture and holds it up. “Here.”

I stare at the boy with Draco’s features and black hair. As I study it, I realize he looks an awful lot like the man in Sam's painting. Even more bone chilling is he bears a striking resemblance to the man that was in my dream about Sam in my closet. Still. He’s not who I thought it was which means there’s someone else. “No. That’s Not Rennet.” I turn to Dinah. “Thank you for your time. It was…”

“Wait a minute.” Luke takes the phone from her and studies the picture.

“Hey, buddy.” Dinah narrows her eyes.

He holds a hand up to her. “Dude!” He turns the picture to me as his brows go up. “Add 20 years, 20 pounds, blue contacts, bad hair dye, and four eyes.”

I take the phone from him and look the boy over. As I fill in what’s missing, my world crashes. “Oh…my…god.”

My face falls as the connections are made. This is so much worse than I thought and it was under my nose the whole time.

"Alexi. Chase Rennet is your brother!" Luke grabs her arm.

"Clearly. And from the sounds of it, he admired my father like I once did." Alexi scowls, then floats her eyes around to all of us.

I turned back to Dinah. "This is extremely important. A friend's life in in danger. Can you think of anywhere Chase might be right now?"

Dinah thought. "The only place I remember is a city Draco always talked about. Aurora. He wanted to overrun it and make a city of shifters. Chase was so obsessed, if he’s anywhere, I bet he's there.”

"Aurora. I've never heard of it." I tilt my head in confusion.

"You wouldn't. It's one of those cities that you won't find on any map. They've always been private and don’t like outsiders.” She supplies. “We've always been told not to go there.”

Alexi interrupts. "This city. Does it have a castle on a hill?"

"From what I remember Draco telling me, yes." Dinah says.

Alexi turns to me. "My father often spoke of a castle on a hill being the shining beacon for the Dragon Empire. If Chase is mirroring my father, he most likely will be there trying to revive the Dragons. His bloodline would make him the true Alpha. The crowned prince, as it were.”

“Well, fuck.” Luke blows out a breath and rubs his nape.

"Can you give us directions?" I ask.

Dinah pushes off the wall. "Sure, sweet thing. I'll give you anything you want." She shoots me a sly smile which makes me feel a little uncomfortable, but I smile back.

She pulls out her waitress pad and writes down the directions. “Follow this. You can’t miss it.”

"Thank you. We need to get to this city." I say as I take the paper and turn to Alexi and Luke.

We say our goodbyes to Dinah and walk up the alley way.

"We should call the others to meet up outside of Aurora and bring everything. If this is what I think it is, we're going to need everyone on this.” I say as we leave Luke to his bike and get in the car. I pull out and leave the town.

"What do you think it is?" She glances at me as I make my way onto the highway.

"I think it’s a safe haven. A city of Dragons.” I mutter.

“If true, then Sam is in bigger trouble than we thought.” She says.

“What do you mean?” I glance at her.

“If Chase is following my father’s footsteps and behaviors, he’ll be wanting a Luna for this city he built.” She raises a brow.

“No. He can’t.” I turn my eyes to her.

“He can. Especially if her wolf allows it to happen.” She informs. “Dragons don’t run on ceremony.”

Damn it.

“Yeah, well. The last thing that dragon asshole is doing is taking what’s mine.” I growl as I hit the gas and race my car through the traffic.

I better be able to get to her in time and her damn wolf better let me fix her.

If she's with them, who knows what's happening to her. What she's become, at this point, makes me doubt if I'll be able to get close enough to her. If Rennet fucked with her head, there’s no telling how much damage Sammy has. Fuck! How could I be so stupid?

I need to be positive. I just need a small touch. A single moment in time to feel her soft skin. Feel her inside. I need to feel her being pulled back. If her wolf has locked her up, I need to get past her to get to Sam.

I'll also have to be ready for the very real fact that I might have to hurt her to save her if this all goes sideways. I may have to be the one to hurt my beautiful artist.

I just hope I have the strength to pull the trigger because the way I feel about Sam, I certainly don't have the heart to do it.