Blackstone Ranger Rogue: Blackstone Rangers Book 4 Read online

  Her heart pounded in her chest as she scampered back to her car, her stiletto heels clicking across the concrete. She dug through her purse, cursing herself for not taking her keys out first before leaving the restaurant. Living in Blackstone had made her feel too safe. Finally, she found them in her purse and clicked the unlock button, but as she reached for the handle, she froze when she heard someone’s voice behind her.

  “You look nice.”

  What the hell?

  She sucked in a breath. Her skin tingled—this time for a different reason. Though she had only heard that low baritone once, she instantly recognized it. Her stomach flipped, and her swan twittered excitedly.

  Mine. Mine. Mine.

  Gritting her teeth, she turned around slowly. The impact of his presence made her traitorous little heart nearly burst out of her chest. “W-what are you doing here?”

  Anders’s golden eyes flashed, and his lips curled up into a smile. “What, I can’t have dinner out on Main Street? I’ve lived in Blackstone all my life, darling. Can’t say the same for you.”

  Her nostrils flared. “I live here now, too, and last I heard, it’s a free country. Goodnight.” She turned back to her car and opened the door. However, a hand reached out over her shoulder and slammed it shut. The warmth of his body, so close to hers but not quite touching, made her knees wobble. “What the hell are you doing?” She hadn’t meant for that to come out so breathy and sensual.

  “Why’d you leave your date inside? You guys seemed like you were having a good time. Didn’t see his face, though. Who is he?”

  Jesus, was he following her? All this time? Was that why she felt like she was being watched?

  Her instinct—and her swan, too—was telling her it couldn’t be him making her feel unsafe. If anything, his presence now made that initial fear melt away.

  Stop it! That’s Old Darcey talking.

  “Why are you following me?” she said. “Have you been watching me on all my dates?”

  He huffed, sending the warm puff of his breath across the skin of her neck. “All your dates? So, this isn’t the first one? Exactly how many guys have you been dating? Have you fucked any of them and—”

  “Screw you, Anders!” She whirled around and planted her palms on his broad chest, pushing him away with a strength she didn’t know she had. He staggered back, a shocked look on his face because obviously, he didn’t know she had it in her either. “Y-you told me to stay away from you, and that’s what I’ve been doing. So if you could please do me the courtesy of doing the same, I’d appreciate it.”

  “You’ve been staying away from me?” he scoffed. “How the fuck is being on my Goddamn commute every day, fifty-feet tall, and staring down at me with your tits hanging out ‘staying away’? Or when you’re on every fucking locker at HQ. My piece of shit coworkers are probably jerking off to—”

  “What’s going on here?”

  Cam! “N-nothing,” she stammered, taking a step away from Anders. “I thought you were sorting out your card.”

  Cam stood behind Anders, the bouquet of flowers in his hand. “I was, but you forgot these.”

  Anders’s face turned red as he slowly pivoted on his heel. “Jesus fucking Christ, you were on a date with this guy?”

  Cam’s eyes glowed like twin blue-violet fires, magnified by the glass in front of them. “Something the matter, Stevens?”

  Anders’s mouth opened, but he shut it quickly. “Nothing. At all.” He snorted and waved his hand dismissively, then stormed off into the street, melting into the darkness.

  “Are you all right?” Cam asked, his voice soothing like ice on a burn.

  “I-I’m fine,” she stammered. “Thanks. Sorry I forgot about the roses.” As she took the flowers from him, she could see that he was hesitating, like he wanted to ask about Anders. And to be honest she wanted him to, so she could confess to him what she’d been keeping close to her chest. Maybe even get some sympathy.

  But no, that layer of cool aloofness came over Cam, and he gave her a nod. “Goodnight then. I’ll speak with you soon.”

  “Goodnight, Cam,” she called softly as he walked away. Getting into her car, she placed the flowers on the passenger seat and shut her door.

  Now that she was alone, Anders’s words came back to her. They had hit her, deep. So, he’d seen the billboard. Of course he had. Frankly, he was the last person on her mind when she’d agreed to do that photoshoot. In fact, she didn’t even expect him to react, much less seek her out to berate her.

  She reached up to cover her face with her hands, but then pulled them away. “I will not be slut-shamed.” Especially not by that man-whoring asshole. With a determined grunt, she started the engine, vowing to put Anders behind her. Checking her rearview mirror, she looked up at her own reflection.

  “You’re the New Darcey now,” she reminded herself. And the New Darcey would be here to stay.

  Darcey stretched her arms over her head and closed her tired, dry eyes. When she opened them again, she glanced at the clock on her computer screen. It was almost ten o’clock in the evening. She had closed up the boutique at six thirty, took a short dinner break, and went into the back office, which meant she’d been hunched over the computer for over three hours non-stop.

  There was a ton of work to be done which was why she elected to stay late and have Sarah go home and make dinner for Adam. Retail work was not just about selling and being with customers, but there was a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes, especially now that she was actually part owner. Inventory, accounting, payroll, marketing, advertising—there were many hats she had to wear now. Though she hated this part of the work, she was glad as it served as a good distraction for her.

  It had been a few days since that night when Anders had popped out of nowhere, and her emotions were still a mess, swinging from elation from actually seeing him again to anger at his audacity. Did he really follow her around, just to berate her for that billboard? Was he actually jealous? Of the guys seeing her and of Cam?

  She glanced guiltily at her phone which was on the desk beside her placed in silent mode. When she saw Cam’s name pop up, she let it go to voicemail. She couldn’t bring herself to call him back yet. He would probably ask her out again, but she didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t that she didn’t like him, it was just … she didn’t feel anything for him at all. And it annoyed the heck out of her that here was this gorgeous, single man asking her out, yet she was focused on some asshole who didn’t even want her.

  Her swan huffed and hung its neck down.

  “Whatever.” Pushing her chair back, she got up, turned the computer off, then grabbed her phone and purse. Time to go home. Sarah had messaged earlier saying that Daniel had to stay late because of an emergency at work. If he wasn’t home yet, then maybe she and Sarah could have a glass of wine and have some girl time. Or they could coax Adam into watching a movie with them, after all, it had been a while since just the three of them hung out.

  As she walked out into the darkened boutique, she stopped short. The sound of glass breaking made her heart stop, and her swan suddenly went on alert, letting out a loud hiss and raising its wings.

  A scream ripped from her mouth as something slammed against her, throwing her down to the floor. She tried to scream again, but a hand covered her mouth. Someone large and heavy was pinning her down, pushing her head to the side. Her skin crawled as she felt her attacker press his nose to her neck and inhale deeply.

  Tears pricked at her eyes as she was hauled up to her feet, then dragged across the carpeted floor of the shop toward the exit. Her swan honked angrily, flapping its wings as if saying, fight, damn you.

  With a sharp cry, Darcey yanked her wrists back. It must have surprised her attacker because he shouted and let go. Hope soared in her, but he recovered quickly, making a grab for her. He managed to grab her shirt and haul her forward, slamming a palm into her face.

  Her swan squawked in fury as pain exploded in her cheek. Her skin p
rickled as she felt the sharp needles of her wings pushing through her arms. Oh no! She was going to shift.

  Reaching out with her hands, she managed to claw at him, but he pulled hard, spun them around and sent them sailing forward. Glass shattered around them as they went through the window and landed outside the shop.

  “Help!” Darcey cried as she rolled away from her attacker, not caring that bits of glass dug into her face and sliced her skin. Something behind her shuffled, and she heard the sound of footsteps racing away from her. Gingerly, she turned her head.

  He was gone.

  Her swan retreated, and the skin on her arms returned to normal as the tips of her feathers retracted. Unfortunately, that left her vulnerable, and more glass cut into her. She winced in pain as she got up, carefully brushing the debris from her hair and clothes, pulling out the larger pieces lodged in her skin. Her shoulder felt like it was on fire, but she managed to stand up straight.

  Footsteps coming toward her made her go on alert again, but she relaxed when she recognized the barista from the cafe a few doors down.

  “Miss!” the young woman shouted. “Are you all right? What happened?”

  “I … I …” She bit her lip to keep from crying. “Someone … someone broke in.” She nodded at what was left of the window. The glass door, too, had been shattered. Probably how he got inside.

  “I’ll call the police,” the barista said. “Do you want to call someone? Family? You can wait in the cafe if you want.”

  She nodded and bent down to reach for her purse which had fallen off her shoulder. Reaching inside, she grabbed her phone and dialed Sarah’s number with shaky hands. Busy. Right. She said she was going to be on a long conference call with a new supplier from Taiwan. But who else could she call? Not Adam. Who else—

  She worried at her lip and scrolled through her contacts, tapping the name she had been searching for. The only other person she trusted in this town. He picked up on the first ring.

  “Darcey?” Daniel asked.

  Relief made tears spring to her eyes. “Daniel,” she sobbed. “Can you come to the shop? Something’s happened.”

  Chapter Four

  Most evenings working the night shift were pretty boring, which was one of the reasons Anders worked it as much as he could. There were other reasons, too, reasons he would never tell anyone, but if any of his coworkers ever found out the truth well … well, he would rather walk over hot nails and coal than have them find out about his daytime “activities.”

  But other times, the evening shift could be exciting. And tonight, well, it was a clusterfuck. Exciting, but a clusterfuck nonetheless. Anders had barely gotten through the door to start his shift when all-hands-on-deck were called up in sector 5-H. Apparently, a couple of juvenile bear shifters had run into a bunch of smaller shifters burrowing around a clearing. The teens thought it would be a great idea to scare the living shit out of them by charging in, but they didn’t realize that they were about to tangle with a company of honey badger shifters.

  Though the bears were much larger, the mature honey badgers didn’t back down and well … everyone ended up scratched and wounded, and two of the teens had to be airlifted down to Blackstone Hospital.

  And here they were, the six rangers idiotic enough to get in the middle of a fight where honey badgers were involved, worse for wear, squeezed into the truck bed of the transport truck. They were headed back to HQ so they could debrief with the chief. They were bumping along down the road that led there, when Anders decided to break the silence.

  “So, honey badgers really don’t give a shit, amiright?”

  Everyone in the truck looked at each other’s bruised and scratched faces, then laughed. Well, everyone except for one person—Daniel Rogers, sitting near the edge. His jaw set and his eyes turned to steel before they turned away, looking out into the darkness.

  “Can’t win ’em all,” Anders muttered. But then again, Rogers had been giving him the cold shoulder for days now.

  He shrugged. It really shouldn’t bother him. Rogers had always been the good guy, the one everyone could depend on. Sure, he was quiet and never said a bad word or acted self-righteous, but sometimes, he just rubbed Anders the wrong way. So, when the truck stopped and Rogers hopped out of the truck, Anders decided he wasn’t going to stand back anymore.

  “Yo, Rogers, you got a problem with me or something?” he said as he caught up to the other man, using his speed to get in front of him.

  The bear shifter sent him a glare then sidestepped. But Anders wasn’t going to let him get away that easy. He blocked him again. “Look, if you got a problem with me, then be a man and say it to my face. Stop acting like some girl on her period, giving me the stink eye from afar.”

  Daniel let out a huff. “Just leave me alone, okay, Stevens?”

  Anders grit his teeth. “Not when you’re treating me like I got the plague and you’re acting like a jerk.”

  Daniel’s eyes blazed. “Me? I’m the jerk?” he growled. “Get your head out of your ass and look in the mirror.”

  Anders could feel the other man’s animal roar at him. His tiger didn’t back down, however, as it rolled its shoulders, twisted its ears, and lashed its tail. “Just tell me what the fuck is going on with you.” The truth was, though Anders did his best not to get close to anyone, he kinda thought he and Daniel were, well, friends. The two of them, along with Damon, Gabriel, and Krieger had gone through the rangers training together five years ago, and though they weren’t all the best of buds, that kind of thing was enough to forge a bond.

  “God, you don’t even know. Don’t even care.” Daniel’s lips twisted.

  “About what?”

  The bear shifter’s eyes glowed briefly. “Darcey.”

  Anders sucked in a breath. “You know.” Of course he did. “What do you care anyway?” he huffed. “Aren’t you already happily married? Or is your Mrs. already old news and you’re looking to stray—”

  “Fuck you!” Daniel grabbed him by the collar. “You selfish asshole! Why the hell would I even think of my sister-in-law that way?”

  Jesus. “Sister-in-law?”

  “Yeah. She’s Sarah’s sister.”

  “Sister?” he repeated. Geez, he was starting to sound like a parrot. “I thought Sarah’s last name was Mendez?” He remembered reading about it in the newspapers when it was first discovered she and Daniel had been married all along.

  “She’s adopted. They all are,” Daniel groused. “Which means Darcey’s happiness is my business. She’s my family. Under my protection.”

  His tiger did not like that last part at all and let out a protesting roar. Mine. “You—”

  A ringing sound interrupted them, making Daniel let go and reach into his uniform breast pocket for his phone. Glancing at the screen, he frowned and picked up. “Darcey?”

  Anders’s tiger perked up at the sound of the name, and he couldn’t stop his heart from skipping a beat. But why would she be calling Daniel? As the expression on the other man’s face darkened, a pit began to form in his stomach.

  “Stay there,” Daniel murmured, though the grip on his phone tightened, as evidenced by the way his knuckles turned white. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Putting his phone away, he turned on his heel and strode away.

  “Hey!” Anders called. “That was Darcey? What did she want?”

  “Fuck off, Stevens,” Daniel growled. “This is none of your business.”

  “If this is about Darcey, then—”

  “I said, it’s none of your business!” Daniel bared his teeth, the incisors enlarging as he let out an inhuman roar. His eyes blazed with fury, but before he could act on it, he strode off.

  Anders stood there, stunned. Slowly, though, a feeling of dread came over him. Something was wrong. And Darcey was somehow caught in it.

  Without thinking, he dashed after Daniel. He saw him get into his truck, so Anders did the same, bolting toward his own pickup to chase after Daniel.

&
nbsp; There was only one road down the mountains, so it wasn’t hard to keep up with the bear shifter. It was, however, a long ride, even longer than the usual forty-five minutes as various scenarios came up in his head of what could have happened. Was she hurt? Or in trouble? Was she safe?

  He forced himself to calm down. It was probably Sarah. While he didn’t wish Daniel’s mate harm, he could only imagine that the reason Daniel would go tearing down the mountain like this was because of her.

  As they reached the town, Daniel made a left turn on Main Street, which meant he was heading toward South Blackstone. Where could he be going? Minutes later, he got his answer as Daniel parked in front of the row of retail shops and restaurants in the trendy entertainment district. Anders stopped his truck behind him and followed as he headed toward the shops.

  At this time of night, it should have been dark and quiet, but the flashing lights of a parked cop car projected blue and red across the unlit row of buildings. Beside the police vehicle, the EMT med-van made the scene even more ominous.

  Ignoring the ice building in his stomach, he walked onward keeping his eye on Daniel as he ran down a row of shops. He stopped for a second in front of one of the stores, let out a curse before continuing onwards. When Anders caught up, he saw what had made Daniel swear aloud.

  One of the shops had broken glass in front of it. It looked like the entire front window had been smashed. As he took a sniff, the smell of blood and something familiar tickled his nose. Feathers.

  Fury boiled inside him. That was Darcey’s blood. His tiger raged, slamming its head against his ribcage, roaring to get out. Frankly, he would have let it—except he had to know where the hell Darcey was, find out what happened, and kill the bastard who made her bleed.

  Carefully stepping over the broken glass, he walked toward where Daniel had stalked off to. The only place open was a cafe, so he pushed the door open and checked inside.

  “… look at what he did to her!” Sarah Mendez cried. “Daniel—”