No Place to Hyde

Chapter One JOSH RAYBURN WIPED the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand as he stood, placing his other hand in the middle of his lower back and bending backward to stretch the muscles. It definitely felt like a Monday to him. This was not what he intended to do today. Hell, it’s not what he intended to do on any day. Why he let Dimitri talk him into this was beyond him. “You finished staring at the sky?” Ezra asked as he tossed another log onto the pile in the back of Dimitri’s truck. “We still need to get the rest of those branches cut away from the house. They’re almost touching the roof.” Josh glared over at him. “You told me this was a small tree.” He pointed up at the massive oak, sighing. Dale Robinson offered Dimitri the wood once the tree branches were cut, and of course, Dimitri offered Josh’s help to cut it down. The Alpha, however, was too busy to lend a hand. Josh growled. “This is not a small f*****g tree. There’s no way we can get this down in one day.” “Not with you standing there doing some old man yoga,” Ezra said, chuckling. “Besides, we’re not taking it down, just doing a massive trim job on it.” He c****d his head to the side slightly. “You sure you’re up for this?” “I brought some water,” Dale Robinson said as he emerged from his cabin carrying three bottles of water. “I appreciate you guys showing up like this. Walt Egerton was supposed to help, but I haven’t seen him in a few days. I think he took off to visit family.” “Did he have family?” Josh asked, reaching out and taking one of the offered bottles. “I was under the impression he was mostly a loner.” Dale shrugged as he handed Ezra one of the other bottles. “I have no idea to be honest. I just assumed.” He swiped his dark bangs out of his eyes before he opened his water and took a long swig. When he finished, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “It’s hard to know anything about anyone in this community. Most of us are here to avoid the outside world, which means we don’t even want our family to know where we are unless we brought them with us.” Josh nodded, placing a hand on his hip while holding his water with the other. Dale Robinson moved to Bull Creek just over a year ago, a bear shifter on the run from something, and that’s all Josh knew about the man. “Yeah, that whole everyone keeps their own secrets rule kind of keeps us from knowing what we probably need to know about everyone to make sure they’re all right.” Ezra shrugged. “It’s a Catch-22. We need to sacrifice privacy for safety, but in doing so, we surrender even more of our freedom. We simply have to decide what we want more. All roads have their issues. The question is what can we live with in order to find that balance.” Josh stared over at his friend, one brow c****d. “And when did Ezra Havlin become so philosophical?” Ezra laughed as he bent over, placing his bottle on the ground, and grabbed another of the thick branches they cut a short time ago. “I’ve been on plenty of stakeouts,” he said. “Left me plenty of time to think about things that made my head hurt.” Dale laughed, shaking his head. “Hell, just trying to figure out what you said made my head hurt.” “How about you?” Josh asked as he dropped his bottle to the ground and followed Ezra in stacking the logs into the back of Dimitri’s truck. “Do you have family that don’t know you’re here?” Ezra laughed as he tossed a log in with the others. “So much for people keeping their secrets.” “What?” Josh asked, ruffled at what his friend insinuated. “That rule doesn’t mean I can’t ask questions, just that he doesn’t have to answer them if he doesn’t want to. I mean, some things are just normal conversation, don’t you think? Like what do you do for a living? Where are you from? Do you like football? The color purple? How are we to get to know people if we don’t talk to them and learn about each other?” Dale chuckled, reaching down and snatching a log off the ground. “It’s all good,” he said. “I agree. You can’t truly know people if you don’t ask questions, and people can’t know you if you don’t answer them.” He turned to Josh, shrugging. “But no, I don’t have any family to speak of. I grew up with this curse with all the headaches that go along with it. I didn’t want to pass it on to my kids. The only way to avoid that was not to get married and have children.” Josh nodded but said nothing. Growing up in Draven Falls, he hadn’t had to deal with too much of the animosity that went with being a paranormal. While it wasn’t out there for the whole world to see, the paranormals outnumbered the humans so that the prejudice of the world didn’t affect him, or anyone else for that matter, all that much. Still, he knew it wasn’t like that everywhere, and in some places, if you were outed, it could lead to life-threatening situations. Most of the residents of Bull Creek were out here to avoid that part of humanity’s personality. A bird cried out overhead, drawing everyone’s attention up to the sky, hands covering their eyes. The others went back to work, but Josh stood there, staring after the bird, watching as it glided across the wide blueness of the sky. There were places in Bull Creek where you could stand and stare out at nothing but sky for miles, especially if you stood at the edge of one of the many pockets of water that dabbled the land. You couldn’t do that back in Draven Falls with the surrounding mountains. At least, you couldn’t see where the sky met the horizon as you could in Florida. Of course, it wasn’t as hot in North Carolina either. For over two years, Josh had sweated his ass off, and he hated almost every minute of it. The only thing that made living in Florida bearable for him was Alanna Bradbury. However, she was also the one thing that drove him absolutely f*****g crazy, as well. “That’s the last of it,” Ezra said, as he tossed another branch in the back of Dimitri’s truck. “Let’s go drop it off, and then we can go get a beer or something.” Josh turned around and glanced up at the tree they had spent the day trimming. “You know, you could make this your business. Tree trimming. I’m sure there are a lot of people out here who could use your help with stuff like this.” “I’m quite content helping Julian out,” Ezra said as he moved to the passenger seat of the truck. “He gives me enough work to keep me busy, and I can do it in the air conditioning. Hell, I can do it at Everglades.” Dale slid into the backseat, as Josh slid behind the steering wheel of Dimitri’s truck. Letting them use his truck was the least he could do since he wasn’t there to help them do the work and he was getting all the wood. At least, that’s the way Josh had rationalized borrowing the truck. They would drop the wood off at Dimitri’s designated spot for his weekly bonfires, something Josh never understood. Even in October, Florida was in the upper eighties as far as temps went, and the idea of huddling around a fire simply made him nauseous. “And you don’t have to leave home unless you wanted to,” Josh said as he pulled out onto the gravel road. “Or wear pants for that matter.” “Winnie loves that part,” Ezra said as he glanced over at Josh, winking. Dale simply shook his head, laughing. “Must be nice. I take it Julian is with that Para-Force unit you used to work for. Or, I guess, still work for.” Ezra nodded. “Yeah. He’s hired me out to do some odd and end research whenever the team gets too busy and Tyra gets a little overwhelmed with things. It’s not what I was trained for, but it keeps me busy and helps me pay the bills.” “I heard Winnie plans on opening one of those witchy type of stores,” Josh said. “Any truth to that?” “She’s working with Adira and Dimitri picking out a place in Holopaw,” Ezra told them. “Adira seems excited. She’s missed it since she left Draven Falls.” The truck rocked as they made their way to the clearing. The gravel roads needed filling once more after the last storm that whipped through the area, washing most of the dirt away. “From what I hear, Dimitri wants to bring some smaller businesses closer,” Josh said as he turned the corner. “Nothing major, but things like a coffee shop or a bakery or something like that, I think. Simple things that we might not want to drive forty-five minutes to enjoy.” “Makes sense,” Dale said. “You can only drink so much of Gracie’s coffee before you forget what good coffee tastes like.” The others laughed. “Better not let her hear you say that,” Josh said, still chuckling. “Or you’ll never get another cup of coffee, good or bad.” “You say that like it’s a punishment,” Dale said, feigning shock. Josh pulled into the clearing, and everyone slid out of the truck, Ezra rubbing his ass from all the bumping the vehicle did. “Hey, look over there,” Dale whispered, as he pointed off to the other side of the road. The others glanced to where he indicated just as a small doe slid from between a clump of small bushes, turning her head to stare at them. Josh felt his panther hiss within, wanting to chase after the animal, and he clamped down on the sudden urge to shift. The doe stared at them for a moment, and then turned and hopped back into the woods and out of sight. “That’s one of the reasons I love living here,” Dale said, his voice holding the awe of the moment. “You just don’t see things like that in the city.” He turned back to the others, shrugging. “I much prefer wildlife as neighbors to teenagers blaring their music from their cars.” Josh laughed as he moved around to the back of the truck. “I agree with you there. Draven Falls wasn’t huge, but we still had our fair share of idiots. You had to venture out to the edge of town to see anything like a doe watching you. Here, they’ll come right up to your back door.” “Nothing like food delivered,” Dale said, chuckling as he reached for a couple of the branches. “Under the tree as usual, I assume.” “Yeah, that’ll be fine,” Josh said. “Dimitri didn’t say to do anything different.” “Works for me,” Dale said as he walked over and tossed the limbs he carried onto a small pile already there. It took them less than thirty minutes to empty out the back of Dimitri’s truck, stacking the wood in as neat of a pile as possible. By the time they finished, sweat soaking into his shirt, Josh knew he needed a shower before hitting Everglades for a beer. “Thanks again,” Dale said once they were done. He leaned on the truck by his forearms as he stared over at the others. “I needed that done at the beginning of hurricane season. I waited too long as it was. Luckily, we didn’t get any storms this year.” “I’ve had enough to last for a while,” Ezra said. “Just give me a good old thunderstorm and leave the hundred-mile-per hour winds out of it.” “But what’s the fun in that?” Josh asked, laughing as he patted the truck. “Come on, I’ll give everyone a ride back.” “Thanks, but I think I want to wander for a while,” Dale said. “It’s been some time since I allowed my bear to roam. He’s getting antsy.” “I can relate,” Ezra said, nodding. “I might have to do that, as well, soon.” “All right,” Josh said as he pushed away from the truck and headed for the driver’s door. “We’ll be at Everglades in about an hour if you want to join us for drinks.” “I’ll do that,” Dale said. “I owe you each a round for helping out last minute.” Josh and Ezra opened their doors, saying they’d look for him at the bar just before they slid into their seats. Of course, when they drove off, they never saw the giant shadow that slid out of the woods and struck Dale across the back of the head.