Page 36 of Squatch Out!

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

SEAN

I watch through slitted eyes as Olivia slides out of my bed.

My girl is a lot of things, but graceful isn’t one of them. She’s trying so hard not to wake me, she ends up nearly falling over the edge and manages to catch herself just in time. Meanwhile, I’m trying my best to pretend I’m still asleep, but I’m fighting to hide my grin.

I barely slept all night. Each time I’d drift off, I’d startle myself awake again, scared she was a dream or that I imagined she came back to me.

In the soft, early morning light, I watch her pick up one of my flannels, and my heart warms when she puts it on and brings the collar to her nose before she makes her way down the hall. A few moments later, I hear her in the kitchen, followed by the robust smell of brewing coffee.

I roll to my back and tuck an arm behind my head.

I should join her, but I’m enjoying listening to her moving around the kitchen as I try to imagine what she’s doing.

The clink of the coffee carafe against the mug.

The soft sound of the glass door opening, followed by a contented sigh before she steps outside.

Did she really mean what she said last night?

About wanting to be here? I’ve spent my whole life watching people come and go, so I just always assumed you had to be born here to really appreciate this area.

But the more I think back on the time I spent with Olivia, the more I realize she might be the exception.

I’m lying on my back listening to the sounds of the early morning bird songs, when suddenly everything goes quiet.

It happens fast and feels too sudden to be a natural lull in their song.

I’m already kicking the blankets away when I hear Olivia’s sharp inhale.

The sheets somehow wind around my feet, and the harder I struggle to get free of them, the tighter they wrap around my legs until I end up rolling over the side of the bed.

I land with a grunt, and I’m finally able to free myself just in time to hear the sound of her coffee mug skittering across the deck.

With my heart up in my throat, I scramble across the room and rebound off the doorjamb before sprinting down the hallway.

I don’t care that I’m only wearing a pair of boxers as I skid through the kitchen then out the glass door and onto the deck.

It’s still eerily silent, and the only sign of Olivia is her discarded mug still spinning beside the house.

Tilting my chin up, I breathe deep to scent the air. Olivia’s sweet honey and peaches scent mingles with the crisp early morning dew. But then my heart lurches, and wrinkle my nose when I also pick up on the foul scent of unwashed man and desperation.

My skin starts to itch as I step off the porch.

Not yet, I grit as I breathe deeply, trying to keep myself calm so I don’t squatch out.

The trail they left through the forest is easy to follow.

Just inside the tree line, I crouch down to examine the marks left by Olivia’s bare feet next to a boot print.

The prints are deep and large. The tread of his boot is worn, and his stride is uneven beside the marks left by Olivia, telling me he didn’t take my girl willingly.

I close my eyes and strain my ears to listen.

The birds have begun to sing again, but the rest of the forest is still eerily silent. They haven’t gone far.

My squatch is pushing for control. He wants to raze the forest until we find Olivia, but I hold him back.

There is something familiar about the males scent.

Something that tells me he is using her as bait to bring me out.

There is only one person I can think of who would do such a thing.

I should have followed up on Darren after he was released from custody.

Made sure he left the area. But in my grief at losing Olivia, I didn’t think about him once.

Glancing at the house, I consider going back for my sat phone.

I should let Owen know what’s going on, but that will just take more time away from finding my girl.

If it is Darren, there is no telling what he might do to her.

Unwanted images of him holding a knife to her throat has my squatch pushing harder to come forward, but I hold him back.

Using my nose to guide me, I follow Olivia’s sweet scent deeper into the woods.

I use every bit of stealth I’ve learned over the years as I tread carefully through the trees and bushes, until I catch sight of her.

Her arms are curled around the narrow trunk of a cedar, so it looks like she’s hugging it, and her wrists are tied with rope.

Darren is nowhere in sight, but his stench is all around me.

He’s close by. Probably has eyes on her. And me.

Olivia is muttering under her breath as she presses her cheek to the flaky bark. And I have to strain my ears to catch what she’s saying.

“Don’t come. Don’t come. Don’t come,” she repeats over and over. “It’s a trap. Darren is waiting for you.”

My smart girl knows I have good hearing, and I wonder how long she’s been whispering those words. As much as I long to charge through the trees and free her, to claw through the rope holding her so I can lift her into my arms and run back to the house. I stay where I am as I come up with a plan.

“Don’t, Sean. Please don’t,” she whispers, rocking her forehead back and forth against the tree.

Gritting my teeth, I slip back into the forest and leave her.

My squatch is howling his fury as I focus on Darren’s putrid scent that crisscrosses through the trees for hundreds of yards, making it difficult to tell which trail leads to where he’s hiding.

Is it on purpose, to make it harder to track him?

I hate to give him that much credit, but when I circle a third time and come up with nothing, I have to assume he has more training than I originally thought.

I count dozens of trails and wonder how long he’s been out here. Likely since he was released by the authorities. It unnerves me that he could have been watching me this whole time, and I was so distracted with feeling sorry for myself that I had no idea.

Olivia’s soft gasp snaps my attention away from my self-chastising, and I’m racing back to her. My feet slide to a stop behind the prickly branches of a Douglas fir.

Darren has come out of his hiding spot and is standing behind her, with her hair fisted in his hand. He pulls her head back and hisses against the side of her face. “I told you to scream.”

Olivia clamps her lips together, but she can’t hold back a whimper when he gives her head a shake. There is a click, and then Darren presses the barrel of a gun to the side of her head.

“Do it! Call for him!”

My girl only squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head.

Stupid… stubborn… amazing brave woman!

Before Darren can threaten her again, I step out into the open. “Let her go.”

A sick smile spreads across his face, revealing yellowed teeth. “There you are.”

“Let her go, and you can do whatever you want with me.” I stare at Olivia when I say it, willing her to trust me because I know she’s going to fight. And sure enough, she starts twisting against the ropes holding her to the tree.

“Sean, don’t!”

Darren pulls the gun away from her head, and I relax. But then he slowly points the gun at me. “Come closer. But if you change, I’m going to shoot you.”

My squatch is writhing beneath my skin as I slowly step toward him, keeping my eyes on the finger resting on the trigger. I’m faster than a human, but I don’t think I’m faster than a bullet, especially this close. But maybe I can move enough to make sure a hit won’t be fatal.

Olivia is cussing up a storm as she fights against the ropes. I glance between her and Darren, trying to silently tell her it’ll be alright. I need her to trust me, because I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe.

“Let her go, Darren,” I repeat as I slowly close the distance between us. “If you hurt her, I won’t be able to keep my squatch from coming for you, and you won’t win that fight.”

“Your squatch might be strong, but it’s no match for a bullet,” Darren scoffs as he waves the gun at me recklessly. His finger is still resting on the trigger, which is making me nervous as hell. The way he’s acting, this idiot is going to shoot me without even meaning to.

“Let her go, and you and I can talk about this.”

“Darren,” Olivia pleads, trying to talk some sense into him. “Put the gun down before you hurt someone.”

He turns to her with a snarl, “Shut up. I’m not going to–”

The second he takes his eyes off me, I make my move.

My squatch rushes to the surface, and I reach him in two quick steps.

Wrapping my large hairy hand around his wrist, I manage to push the gun to the side, and away from Olivia before he squeezes off a shot.

The discharge is sharp and loud and makes my sensitive ears ring.

With an angry growl, I shove him into another tree and pound his hand against the trunk until the gun falls harmlessly to the ground. As soon as he’s unarmed, I grab him by the front of his shirt and lift him off his feet so we’re nose to nose. Then I roar directly into his face.

The sound echoes through the trees, silencing the sounds of nature. Darren blinks at me, then all the blood blanches from his face, and his eyes roll back in his head.

I let his limp, unconscious body drop to the ground at my feet, and then I use my claws to shred the ropes holding Olivia to the tree.

The moment she’s free, I pull her into my arms and turn to get her away from this place.

I need to take her somewhere safe so I can examine her for injury.

I need to get her as far away from Darren as possible.

“Sean, wait,” she says quietly when I turn to run. “We can’t leave him here. He’ll only come after us again.”

I hate it, but she’s right.

Olivia pushes herself out of my arms and reaches down for the rope. “Help me hold him while I tie his arms and legs, then we should take him back to your place so we can call the police.”

Again. Her reasoning is sound, but all I want is to get her away from the enemy, not bring him closer to her.

Still, I can’t refuse her. Putting a knee to his stomach, I hold his arms together so Olivia can wrap the rope around his wrists, much like he did to her.

Next, she ties his ankles and stands up, dusting off her hands.

“That should hold him. Can you carry him back to the house?”

Of course I can. But I don’t.

I scoop Olivia up and set her against my side. Darren lets out a low moan when I grab him by his tied ankles and start dragging him across the ground. Making sure to aim for every rock and root along the way.

“I can walk,” she argues, although she isn’t fighting me.

Her bare feet must be sore, and she weighs nothing. So, with her in one arm, and Darren being dragged behind us with the other, we make our way back to my house.

As soon as we reach the porch, Olivia slides down my side and hurries off to call Owen. I stay outside with Darren, who is beginning to wake up as I return to my human self.

When Owen arrives, I switch places with him so Olivia and I can get dressed before the police come. This time, she agrees to press charges for his kidnapping attempt, and, thanks to his insistence that I’m a bigfoot, he’ll end up on a psych hold.

“I feel kind of bad,” Olivia’s head rests against my shoulder as we watch the police cruiser drive out of sight with Darren secured in the backseat, “since he’s not really crazy.”

“Oh, he’s crazy.” I press a kiss to the top of her head. “It just happens that his hallucinations are real. But no one sane behaves that way.”

She lets out a soft sigh. “You have a point. Still, I hope they’ll help him.”

I nod. I hope so too.

Owen leaves shortly afterward but not before he gushes all over Olivia. He tells her how happy he is that she came back and invites us to dinner later so we can all catch up.

Before I can open my mouth to turn him down, Olivia happily agrees, then reminds me that my kitchen is empty. “Besides, we have lots of time to spend together. Since I’m not going anywhere.” She pats my chest and grins up at me in that way that I can’t say no. Not that I want to.

With my arm curled around her waist, I lead her back into the house. It’s hours still until we need to go to Owen’s. After I close the door behind us, I reach for her hand and thread my fingers through hers before pulling her down the hallway.

“Where are you going? I was going to make us some lunch.” She tugs back on my hand, but I don’t relent.

“I’m out of food, remember? Besides, I’m only hungry for one thing right now, and it’s not in the kitchen.”

When I look back at her, her pupils are dilated, and her cheeks have turned a soft pink. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” I lick my lips, scoop her up into my arms, and race down the hall while she squeals with excitement. I don’t plan on letting her out of my bed until I’ve made up for every single day I missed while she was gone.