Page 51 of Fight (Kitsune #2)

I turned back to the SUV and saw that Ridges and his enforcer Bennett were climbing out. But they weren't alone, Detective Bolser was with them. I frowned slightly wondering why he was here ,but Morgan getting out of the smaller car distracted me.

We gathered in front of the vehicles, near the tree line. As Alexis suggested, I took charge. She'd said it would do me good, especially since I would be doing most of the arrangements on these things from now on.

"Is everyone here?" I asked cheerfully.

Ridges glanced around. "I think so."

"Good." I turned so I could address both Ridges and Reese. "Mr. Ridges, this is Reese Donovan. Reese, Mr. Ridges, he's the local Anikitos. To the right is Bennett, his enforcer and Detective Bolser. Don't worry, he's pack too. On the left is Morgan, he's one of the pack healers."

They shook hands and exchanged greetings. I waited until everyone had quieted again before continuing.

"Does everyone understand what we're doing today?" I looked around, making sure there were no questions.

"Do you mind if I watch? It's not really why I'm here, but I'd like to watch if you don't mind." Morgan asked.

I glanced at Alexis and Reese, they both shook their heads, they had no problems with it.

"It's fine." I replied and turned back to Reese.

"If we're successful, we'll shred any clothing you have on.

So strip down as far as you're comfortable.

After the shift, I'll let you run for a while," I looked at Ridges for approval, he nodded silently.

"Before we make sure you can shift back.

You should be able to do that on your own.

From what I've been told, it's generally the first shift that's the hardest. Any questions? " I looked around again.

"Are you planning to run too?" Detective Bolser asked.

"I don't need to, if you want to talk." I gave a slight shake of my head.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to have a few minutes with you then." He said.

"I don't see any reason why not." I glanced around the group for more questions before looking back to Reese. "Why don't you go get ready? I'll wait for you here." Reese quietly went to his truck and took off most of his clothes, moments later he came back wearing nothing but a pair of boxers.

"I think you'll find it's easier if you bend down, as if you were going to shift on your own. And after all the anticipation, you'll be glad to know it will be over with rather quickly."

Reese nodded. "All right." He bent down on one knee, in front of me but instead of bowing his back so he could put his hands on the ground like I do when I'm shifting, he sat with his back straight. The position reminded me of someone about to be knighted, without the bowed head.

I glanced at Alexis making sure she was ready.

She nodded and I held my hand in Reese's direction but I was standing too far away to touch him, even if I wanted to.

I closed my eyes and unfolded the part of me that could sense Reese's wolf.

I pushed the power into him, reaching for his wolf.

I had to reach deep to find where Reese's wolf had retreated to, where he had hidden, for years.

I visualized myself reaching out to the wolf, coaxing him toward the surface.

After so many years in hiding, he was reluctant and it took me several tries to get him to move closer to the surface.

I opened my eyes and met Alexis gaze. I raised both eyebrows and mentally asked Is it done?

She nodded once. Quickly, before Reese or his wolf could guess what I was doing, I used the power filling me to grab hold of Reese's wolf.

Once I had a firm grip, I pulled sharply, dragging him to the surface.

Reese's body blurred with the shift, and he screamed at the shocking pain of the shift I was forcing onto him.

In seconds, Reese stood in front of us in his wolf form. He was a nearly snow white wolf a little longer than Reese's six foot height. He panted as he glared at me accusingly.

"I'm sorry. You're wolf was so reluctant to follow me that I wasn't sure I could get him to surface if I gave him the choice. I knew it would hurt, and I'm sorry for that, but look at yourself, it worked." I said meeting his amber eyes. "Go run. I'll be here when you're ready to change back."

He gave me a long look before turning and taking off through the forest, stumbling a little at first, but soon racing through the forest as if he'd been doing it for years.

I turned back to the rest of the group. "Impressed?" I asked flippantly.

"Very nice." Ridges said.

"Interesting." Morgan put in. "Were you aware of pulling energy from Devon while you worked?"

"No." I shook my head.

"Not just you," Morgan said. "it was slight but your Harmonia pulled from him too."

I looked at him, confused, before turning to Alexis. "Do you know anything about this?"

"Not off hand. Give me a few minutes with Morgan and we'll see if we can figure it out." She said.

"All right." I nodded, trusting her to figure out what was going on. "I'll see what Detective Bolser wanted while you do that."

She nodded and I turned and went back to the Detective, Devon right beside me.

"You wanted to talk?" I asked approaching the man who was only a couple inches taller than me.

"I did." He glanced at Devon. "We think we have the rest of your kidnappers in custody and they're talking."

"What are they telling you?"

"That they were hired to take you. They don't have a name, just a picture and the hotel's address, the man who hired them gave them the drugs they darted you with."

"Do you have a description of the guy who hired them?"

"I can do you one better than that, one of them sat with a sketch artist."

"Can I see if I recognize him?"

"Sure." He pulled his PCD from a jacket pocket and tapped the screen a few times before turning it.. "Do know him?"

I made a face and glanced at Devon with an unhappy look. Reaching back into the hip pocket of my jeans I pulled out my own PCD and navigated through some old pictures. When I found the one of Brandon from not long before I first shifted I turned it to face the detective.

"I don't know, you tell me."

He turned his own device so that he could compare the two pictures. "Looks like the same guy to me. Who is it?"

"His name is Brandon Stone. I grew up with him. He was my best friend for years. He changed after I shifted."

"I take it he's Kitsune?" He didn't sound happy.

I nodded. "He started causing trouble for me and Devon. It got to the point that our Anikitos banished him. He's the only one we could think of who might be behind the kidnapping."

"Do you know where he went after he was banished?"

I shook my head. "Not exactly, Alexis said our Anikitos checked into it.

He was supposed to go stay with some family in California.

When Bill contacted them, he discovered that he had been there, but only briefly.

Brandon had told them he was there for a visit, he was just passing through before he left. No one knows where he's been since."

"Obviously he's been in touch with someone. Someone had to have told him we are here and our hotel." Devon put in. "but we don't know who...yet."

The detective nodded unhappily. "Do you know why he'd try to kidnap you?"

"I can only guess. It's likely more of what he was doing that got him banished.

He seems determined that I'm his mate, that Devon has stolen me from him, and that he can convince me that we belong together, if only he had a chance.

" I rolled my eyes as I repeated Brandon's reasoning, letting the detective know what I thought.

Bolser looked from me to Devon and back again. "The two of you are mated, right?"

"Not exactly, at least, not yet." I said.

"She means we haven't sealed our mating yet. We've both had a lot of changes lately and we just want to be sure."

I nodded, agreeing with Devon.

"I'll start looking into this Brandon Stone, but without bringing you in to identify the picture I don't know how much we can do.

Without a victim, the department's hands are tied.

I mean we've got the humans. They'll be charged with murder since any death occurring during the commission of a felony is automatically murder for everyone involved, it doesn't matter who dies.

They've already admitted to the attempted kidnapping, so they won't be going anywhere soon. "

"I have someone looking for Brandon." I said. "I don't know what we're going to do exactly, but I'm pretty sure we'll find him. Eventually."

"Our Anikitos isn't happy about this. I'm sure he'll hire someone if he has to." Devon added.

The detective nodded. "I wanted to let you know what we knew and what we could do about it. I'm sorry it's not more."

"No, you've helped a lot. Now we know for sure that Brandon's behind it."

The detective nodded and wandered away, seeming to be lost in thought.

I stood for a moment, watching the people around us.

Detective Bolser had gone back to Ridges and seemed to be filling him in, while Bennett stood nearby seeming oblivious to whatever was being said as he watched everyone and everything for any threat to his Anikitos.

Alexis and Morgan were still deep in conversation, Caden hovering nearby, his attention seemed to alternate between the conversation and protecting our Harmonia.

I took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.

"On the bright side, it worked." Devon said, still standing next to me. "Reese can shift now."

I nodded, distracted. My mind was still spinning from the knowledge that it was Brandon behind my abduction, I couldn't even claim reasonable doubt anymore.

Alexis turned away from Morgan and headed in my direction. I shook my head hard and pulled myself together in order to find out what she and Morgan had determined.

"Hey." She smiled as she approached. "I think we might have figured it out."

"So what is going on?" I asked.

"I need to ask some questions before I know for sure."