Caged Read online

  “Solid original preternatural mythology, a nice sensibility of the weres’ canine natures, and stimulating sex scenes between Ethan and Shelley...”

  — Publishers Weekly

  Praise for Blue Moon, Book II of The Holloway Pack

  “I’m also pretty sure J.A. Belfield is an evil temptress. She will bewitch you, lure you into her story, and then twist your mind up with jaw dropping twists and heartbreak. She will keep you guessing until the very end and leave you begging for more.”

  — At Random

  “Blue Moon was absolutely fantastic; so fantastic I finished it in one sitting! J.A. Belfield dives back into the lives of the Holloway pack with fierce emotions and tests on the bonds within the pack.”

  — Lovey Dovey Books

  “...if you were looking for a recent werewolf book with holiday spirit this would be the one. And don’t get me started on werewolves.”

  — Rabid Reads

  “Blue Moon was fantastic! As always, J.A. Belfield’s writing captured me and kept me enthralled until the very last page...and I’ll be waiting for the next Holloway Pack story anxiously and excitedly!!!”

  — Burning Impossibly Bright

  Caged

  J.A. Belfield

  J. Taylor Publishing

  CAGED

  Published by J. Taylor Publishing

  www.jtaylorpublishing.com

  Copyright © 2013 Julie Anne Belfield

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, events, locations, or any other element is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN 978-1-937744-26-7 (EPUB)

  ISBN 978-1-937744-26-7 (Paperback)

  First Printing: August 2013

  For ... you.

  1

  “… from the Shropshire area. Following Carly McDowd’s disappearance on the fourth, and Andrew Doherty’s on the seventh, this is the third incident this month …”

  I turned from the square-jawed newswoman on TV to Dad, where he sat in his corner armchair.

  His attention remained on the screen, a frown across his brow.

  “… the duo of friends were first reported missing late last night by their parents, after they discovered neither of the teenagers …” The newscaster’s voice infiltrated once more.

  Images of a couple of lads flashed side by side on the screen. The one on the left had the appearance of any late teen, with shaggy overgrown hair and the twinkle of mischief in his expression.

  From the other image, brilliant blue eyes stared out at me from beneath a shock of pale blond curls.

  “Oh, shit!” I pushed to my feet, took a step forward. “That’s …”

  “Nineteen year old Gabriel Lewis was believed by his mother to be staying at Colum Delaney’s since Friday evening, whilst Colum’s parents …”

  Dad stood, his fingers retracting his mobile from his jeans pocket as I worked my own out. He paused, nodded to me. “Go on. You make the call, Ethan.”

  Shelley Lewis’s number had been saved in my phone book since the beginning of the year, right after we met for the first time. I hit dial and paced to the window. September sunshine, of the early morning variety, blinded me as my phone rang.

  It took only a few trills for her to answer. “Ethan?” Her voice held hope, as well as a heavy weariness and the thickness of tears.

  “Is it true?” I’d promised to support her—a lone parent, a female no less, raising a werewolf son with no guidance. So far, I’d delivered on that promise.

  The sob hitting my ear gave confirmation enough. “Oh, Ethan.”

  “Hold tight, Shelley. I’m on my way.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Dad said, as I hung up and spun to him. “Shout Sean, too—in case we need to do any scouting. I think I heard him stir upstairs.”

  “What about Connor’s lot?” The Larsen’s made up the other half of our eight-wolf pack, but lived separately to us on the south side of the forest.

  Dad shook his head. “I’ll update Connor whilst you deal with Sean—”

  “And Jem?” I asked with a lifted eyebrow.

  Dad’s lips twitched, but he continued as though he hadn’t noticed my reference to his buck-passing. “Just the three of us will go. Connor and his boys can spend the morning here and stay close to Jem and your mother unless we need them.”

  • • •

  “Oh, come on.” Jem waddled after us down the driveway to the truck, her outstretched arms doing a crazy windmill dance. “Let me come.” She turned to Sean, my brother—her mate. “Baby, let me—”

  “No, Jem.” He stepped forward, sweeping a hand across her swollen mound of a stomach. “Gabe is the seventh werewolf to go missing since middle July. Seven in seven weeks. You expect me to allow you out in public whilst this is happening?”

  “Jem?” Mum called from the doorstep. “Let them go.”

  The set of Jem’s jaw clammed her lips together as she turned. “You’re not helping, Beth.”

  “That’s because I agree with them.” Mum descended the steps. “And don’t think I won’t be keeping a close watch on you this time.” The previous time Jem had been left in Mum’s care, she’d snuck out to come find us; Mum had not been amused. She linked her arm through Jem’s. “Let them go.”

  Jem’s mouth opened and closed. She went back to Sean and tugged on his arm. “Don’t be long, okay?” The resignation of losing the battle showed in her tone.

  “I won’t be.” Something stirred within me as Sean squatted down and placed a kiss against her navel. “Take care of our boy.”

  “Or girl,” Jem murmured.

  Sean smiled. “Our bambino.”

  • • •

  We arrived at Shelley’s just before nine a.m.. Like she’d been looking out for us, the front door to her house opened the moment the truck drew to a stop. I didn’t have to get close to see the panic in her eyes and the deep blush of unrelenting emotions in her face.

  The slam of my door drowned out her delicate steps along the path to greet us. Her hands reached out, as if she considered us her lifeline, before she pressed her fingers against her lips. “I can’t thank you enough for coming.” A shiver jerked her tiny shoulders as she spoke; three singular tears rolled down cheeks still red, probably from an earlier batch.

  “Come on.” I slid my arm around her and drew her to my side. “Let’s go in.”

  Her crown barely reached my armpit as she leaned into me and allowed me to guide her toward the house. Behind us, Sean and Dad’s feet hit the path.

  The brightness of the day gleamed through the window, bathing Shelley’s magnolia-coloured home in warmth and light. Four dirty mugs sat beside her mobile and house phones on the coffee table. A burgundy throw, which matched the deep shade of her hair, lay scrunched into a heap on the sofa as though Shelley had spent the night there on constant vigil.

  I walked her across the room and sat her down, but she pushed back up.

  “Please don’t make me sit.” She worried at the nail on her thumb. “I’m so sick of sitting and waiting for eve
ryone else to do their job.” Her gaze met mine. “Do you think it’s like those others?”

  “When did you last see him, Shel?” I asked.

  “Friday.” Her fidgeting feet brushed over the carpet as the two armchairs creaked beneath Sean and Dad’s weight. “Friday dinnertime. Is it like the other disappearances?”

  I frowned. “Friday was four days ago.”

  “He was staying at his friend’s. He wants more independence—doesn’t like me hassling him all the time. I thought he’d be okay.” Her eyes beseeched me as she tilted up. “He promised they’d be indoors before dark. Col’s parents were away the weekend—”

  “Colum Delaney?” The other kid from the news.

  Shelley nodded.

  “Is he …” Rubbing a hand across the crick forming in my neck, I lowered myself onto the sofa and took Shelley’s arm to draw her down with me. “Is Colum a wolf, too?”

  Her head shook as she balanced on the cushion’s edge.

  “Human?” Brow lifted, I angled toward Dad, who frowned, and turned back to Shelley. “And there’s no sign of him either?”

  “No. Dave and Lisa … Col’s parents—they came back last night from their break. That’s why Gabe stayed over—they had the house to themselves, had plans to … I don’t … but Dave said they came home to the back door wide open, the coffee table smashed, take out trashed on the carpet …” She sucked in a deep shuddering breath, wringing her hands together.

  “So they rang the police.” My jaw tightened as the scenario formed in my mind. “Figures they would. Why didn’t you call us?”

  “I hoped they’d show up, I think. It all seemed so definite when the police knocked on my door and made the report. I was about to call you this morning … then … on the news …” The panic cleared from her eyes a little as her gaze bored into me. “Is it like the others? Tell me the truth, Ethan. Is it the same as the other disappearances you warned me about?”

  As much as I wanted to lie and ease the blow, I couldn’t. “Except for the missing human?” I gave a small nod. “It looks that way.”

  “The others haven’t been found, have they?” she asked. “They haven’t shown up—”

  “Yet,” Dad cut in. “Doesn’t mean they won’t.”

  Shelley turned to each of us. “How much do you know about the disappearances?”

  “Nowhere near enough,” Dad said.

  “You must know something, or you wouldn’t have called me last week to keep a close watch on Gabe.”

  Dad’s gaze met mine—Sean’s, too. The worry over how much to tell her seemed to cross all of our minds.

  “You’re not going to tell me, are you?” she asked.

  We all faced Shelley.

  “I get it,” she said with a small nod. “I’m not part of your pack, so why—”

  “I was contacted”—Dad leaned forward—“the evening before Ethan called you, by Jack Brosen—he’s the Alpha of a pack who runs here, in Shropshire—to find out if I’d followed the news, and to ask for the favour that if I knew anything, I share it.”

  Lines creased Shelley’s brow, but she didn’t say anything.

  “His son has gone missing—just like Gabe,” Dad continued. “But he kept it off the radar. The ones on the news are the ones officially reported. We have no idea how many more have been taken. Just as we have no idea where they’re going, or who’s taking them, or why. Jack’s also worried it’s more than just werewolves that have gone missing.”

  Shelley pushed out her fringe of blonde-streaked red. “What do you mean, Nathan?”

  “Five of the reported disappearances have been female,” Dad said. “If there were that many female werewolves nearby?” His shoulders lifted with his shrug. “Trust me, I’d have heard about it.”

  “So … so, they are taking humans, too?” Her brows rose higher with each word.

  Dad shook his head. “I don’t think they’re human either.”

  2

  Shelley’s tiny hands clasped mine. “Thank you so much.” Even with the doorstep allowing her a five-inch advantage, she still had to tilt up to meet my eyes.

  “You sure you’re going to be okay, on your own?”

  The small nod she gave contradicted the hesitant glance over her shoulder toward the empty house. “Gabe might come back, right?”

  My head cocked to the side as I fought the urge to shrug. “Right.”

  “Someone should stay here … just in case.” She sounded more like she needed to convince herself than me.

  “Yes.” I didn’t need persuading. Someone should stay, for that very reason.

  “Okay.” She released my hands. “Okay.”

  I turned to leave and found Dad and Sean’s attention on our exchange from inside the pickup.

  “Promise you’ll ring,” she said, “if you hear anything.”

  “Sure,” I said over my shoulder, before striding off down the path.

  Sean and Dad tracked my route, my climb into the truck, and my reach to insert the key in the ignition.

  “You two got something going on?” Sean asked from the rear seat.

  I flicked my wrist, and the engine grumbled alive. “Nope.”

  “But you like her.”

  I stared straight ahead, rolling my shoulders. “Where to now?”

  “Just drive,” Dad said. “I have a phone call to make.”

  After sending Shelley a quick smile of assurance, I pulled away from the kerb.

  “You been getting jiggy with Shelley when you visit?” Sean asked, as Dad fiddled with his phone.

  “Nope.” I shifted from second to third gear.

  A ringtone echoed from the passenger seat. I glanced across as Dad lifted his hand to his ear.

  “I don’t believe you,” Sean said.

  I shrugged. “I don’t care.”

  “I thought your visits were to support Gabe, not his mum.”

  I blanked him as Dad’s phone call connected, and a deep bass of a voice answered, “Yes,” the word reaching my enhanced hearing with ease.

  “Jack?” Dad said. “Nathan Holloway.”

  “You have news for me?” Jack asked.

  Dad gestured for me to take a left. “Nothing good.”

  I flicked the indicator up, swung the wheel hard enough to tip Sean over, and chuckled when his head hit Dad’s seat.

  Dad glared at me as he gripped the dashboard, but I pretended I hadn’t noticed. “Can we meet?” he asked into the phone. In answer to Jack’s ‘when’, he added, “Now. We’re already in Shrewsbury.”

  A pause followed as though our proximity caught him off guard. “You know the Battlegrounds?”

  Dad turned to me, but I shook my head. “You have an address, Jack?”

  “You’ll get to it from the A49. I’ll meet you outside the coffee shop. Twenty minutes.”

  • • •

  Trees hugged the uneven car park on three sides, blossoms dying on the cracked tarmac below them. Four cars dotted the unmarked spaces, but none of them as large as the X5 in the far left corner.

  Genetically big creatures by nature, werewolves tended to opt for the bulkier vehicles, if only for space comfort; Sean’s girlie Porsche made him an exception to the rule.

  Guessing the sleek grey wheels belonged to the other pack, I parked as far from it as possible.

  All three of us inhaled upon stepping from the truck. A host of scents greeted me. Dissecting the wildlife from the flora and cooling engines, I discovered four two-legged mammals carrying the underlying scent of wolf.

  Four against three. “You sure this is kosher, Dad?”

  “I made the request,” he said. “So I’m sticking to the arrangement.”

  A path wound up and behind a line of tree
s. Dad headed that way, Sean and I falling into step at his shoulders. The higher up the incline we walked, the stronger the other pack’s scents grew.

  Low brick columns supported the entrance. Beyond those, the man I presumed to be Jack Brosen sat on a far wall as though enjoying the morning’s rays.

  Only someone looking for it would spot the tightness of his jaw, the tension in his body language. Just as only one who expected to see it would notice the weariness in his expression—caused, I presumed, by his missing son.

  He nodded to us as we passed the entrance but made no effort to approach. A few metres to his right, a second male leaned against the exterior of the coffee shop. Behind the wall Jack occupied, a third and fourth skulked about in the trees.

  Had an outside pack asked for a meet on my territory, I’d have brought adequate backup, too.

  When we neared, the two tree-huggers rounded the wall and flanked Jack. As the other one pushed up from his casual stance and took a few steps closer, my gaze shifted to keep watch on him. If he’d stayed that close to begin, he must have had a higher priority than the other two in keeping the head of the pack protected. Another son? His hair, what I’d tag as nondescript brown, matched that of the mature wolf.

  Dad halted a few feet before Jack, yet neither offered a hand in greeting. “Thanks for meeting with us.”

  “There’s been another?” Jack asked.

  Dad nodded.

  Jack’s eyes seemed to retract at the knowledge. “The kids on the news?”

  The hairs on my arm bristled as nondescript-brown came too close for comfort. I glanced at his flared nostrils and lifted an eyebrow. “Personal space. You ever heard of it?”

  “Kid,” Dad said. “His friend’s human.”

  “Aw, shit,” Jack said.

  I turned back from the werewolf’s smirk.

  “It’s escalating,” Dad said.

  Jack’s stare hardened. “It escalated weeks ago.”

  I shifted forward. “What do you mean?”