Free Skin Walkers: Taken by Susan Bliler Page B

breasts were full, her hips and ass rounded in just the right places. 
    She’d come rushing from one of the dilapidated buildings that mirrored several of the other structures in what was left of the ghosted-out mining town.  Dozens of these old, forgotten towns peppered the state.  This particular building held the scent of Walkers, Keepers, humans, and Megalya.
    Once the door slammed behind the female she’d thrown herself back against it as a sob wrenched from her throat.  She was staring up at the sky, her breath leaving her in harsh pants that exploded in little cloud bursts in the frigid air.   
    Studying her, Bellis felt an odd sensation he chalked up to disgust.  Even from this distance he could scent her regret and…Walker blood!  It had to be her, the one Monroe had sent him for.  This female was the traitor.  Monroe hadn’t said the traitor would be female, and Bellis wondered at that.  His first instinct was to seek out a male.  Hmph!   You never knew what to expect when dealing with Monroe StoneCrow.
    Dipping his head, frowning as he watched the female, he let his nostrils flare as he drank in her scent.  He didn’t want to forget it, to lose it.  If something happened and he couldn’t get to her now, he wanted to have her so firmly imprinted on his memory that he’d know her anywhere.  Her scent, covered in the blood of his people, had his inner beasts stirring.
    The Dominant Skin Walker’s mate—or Angel as Walkers called them—had been injured.  In the Dominant’s stead his second, King Mulholland, had sent his best teams in search of the missing.  Word had been sent to the Keepers that their services were not needed, but Bellis knew they’d ignored the directive.  He’d watched as Keepers covertly deployed from StoneCrow, following the Sentry teams who were seeking out those who’d been taken.   Waiting on specific Intel about the traitor, Bellis had been the last to leave.  
    Monroe was distracted with the injuries his mate had sustained, leaving Bellis with only one clear directive.  Bring the traitor to the Dominant. 
    Delayed, he’d followed Fatal’s Keepers Hero, Battle, and Valor as they ghosted the Walker teams.  He’d heard the Keepers discussing the traitor, and wondered where they’d gleaned that highly confidential detail.  Truly, Bellis didn’t care.  His job was to bring the traitor in, and no Keeper could, or would, stop him. 
    Canting his head, he balled his large hands into fists, watching the female.   Someone would pay for the breach at StoneCrow, for the injured and the dead.  His eyes narrowed on the female as he watched her drop to her knees in the snow and frantically scrub her hands with fistfuls of snow.  She would pay for what had been done at StoneCrow.  She would pay for any injury sustained by the missing Keeper, Walkers, and human staff who had been taken.
    Decided, Bellis was about to take a step when he suddenly tensed.  Out of the corner of his eye, he caught movement.  He didn’t look in that direction, didn’t even move.  Just his eyes flicked in that direction before cutting back to the woman.  She was still panting in the snow, trying to scrub herself clean, oblivious to the fact that now two predators were hunting her.
    ***
    Hero held up a hand, halting his fellow Keepers.  Rohmulus was close, he could sense it, but he had another objective as well.  Monroe’s men were seeking a traitor, but Fatal wanted him first.  When the female rushed from the building, scenting of blood and regret, he knew they’d found the one they were seeking. A woman! His gut instinct was to rush her and take her into custody, but something held him in place.  He could sense another presence. He slowly scanned the forest, startling when inky-black eyes opened up in a dark recess.  Then the shadow moved, and he realized the eyes were part of it.  There wasn’t a man in the shadows, the man was the shadow.  Demon?   The creature