Without a Trace

  

  Fever's Edge 1

  Without a Trace

  [Siren Publishing: The Lynn Hagen ManLove Collection: Erotic Romance, Contemporary, Alternative, Western, Shape-shifters, Paranormal, MM, HEA]

  Redford Cohen had been stabbed and then shot twice, but managed to crawl his way out and survive. Now he is living on a ranch over a thousand miles away from where his attack had happened. But Red is keeping a low profile, refusing to go into town, and refusing to give in to his desires where his boss is concerned. Lincoln keeps dropping hints that he wants Red, but Red is keeping his distance, no matter how hard it is to stay away from the stud.

  Lincoln knows something is going on with his ranch worker. Red is withdrawn, quiet, and keeps dodging Lincoln whenever they are near each other. Lincoln isn’t giving up. Not when Red is his mate. Not when those haunting eyes keep Lincoln up at night, wondering why Red acts the way he does. When his stables catch fire and one of his workers is attacked, Lincoln goes on alert, especially when Red goes missing, and it’s up to Lincoln to save him.

  Length: 30,000 words

  WITHOUT A TRACE

  Fever's Edge 1

  Lynn Hagen

  

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  Without a Trace

  Copyright © 2020 by Lynn Hagen

  ISBN: 978-1-64637-225-6

  First Publication: August 2020

  Cover design by Emma Nicole

  All art and logo copyright © 2020 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book or print book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at legal@sirenbookstrand.com

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Lynn Hagen loves writing about the somewhat flawed, but lovable. She also loves a hero who can see past all the rough edges to find the shining diamond of a beautiful heart.

  You can find her on any given day curled up with her laptop and a cup of hot java, letting the next set of characters tell their story.

  For all titles by Lynn Hagen, please visit

  www.bookstrand.com/lynn-hagen

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  WITHOUT A TRACE

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  WITHOUT A TRACE

  Fever's Edge 1

  LYNN HAGEN

  Copyright © 2020

  Chapter One

  “I swear I’m going to throw this damn thing out the window.” Lincoln Wheeler banged the side of his fist against the monitor. He’d never gotten along with technology, and the frozen screen only proved he should’ve stuck with his spreadsheets.

  “Did you say something?” Mercy stuck his head into Lincoln’s office, and then his stepbrother’s eyes widened when Lincoln struck the monitor again.

  “I’m certain that’s not how you fix things.” Mercy held up his hands and waved them back and forth. “Just hold on and I’ll get Red. He seems to know a bit about computers. He fixed my laptop when it was on the fritz.”

  “You better hurry up before I throw this thing into my trashcan.” Lincoln dropped into his seat, cursing. Not because his computer was for shit but because Redford Wailing would be in his office.

  Lincoln’s mate.

  He’d discovered that fact when Red had stepped onto his ranch a month ago, and Lincoln had been ready to claim the human, but Red always seemed to run from him.

  Lincoln’s Bengal tiger had been pissy since then, always wanting to hunt Red down and solder their souls together. Too bad Red never stuck around long enough for Lincoln to have a personal conversation with him.

  He walked to the window and rested an arm on the frame, looking out over his ranch, wondering how much longer he had to keep his distance. Red was skittish and always backed away whenever Lincoln got close.

  Time. That was all his mate needed. Something had obviously happened to him, though you couldn’t tell by his carefree spirit. But it was in Red’s eyes, the expression he tried so hard to hide. Some kind of pain and suffering he’d gone through.

  “You wanted to see me?” Red rapped his knuckles on Lincoln’s open door.

  Lincoln turned and groaned. Fuck. Every time he laid eyes on Red, his heart started thundering like wild horses. The human was tall, with a slight build and brownish-red hair, though his nickname didn’t come from the color of his hair. It was a shortened version of his name. He also had stunning green eyes.

  Lincoln’s Bengal tiger purred at the sight of the man. All he wanted to do was sweep Red into his arms and kiss the living daylights out of him.

  He wanted to do other things to Red, as well. Every time he laid eyes on him or if he just thought about his mate, Lincoln got a hard-on.

  Lincoln waved at his desk. “My computer is acting up.”

  Red’s smile was sweeter than honeydew. “What’s going on with it?”

  He still hadn’t come any closer. Red lingered at the door, smiling, but looking uncertain.

  “He’s been beating on it,” Mercy said from beside Red, and Lincoln noticed how Red didn’t shy away from Mercy.

  Then again, Lincoln’s stepbrother was slight in stature. Mercy was about as intimidating as a baby bird. His entire life Lincoln had looked out his for stepbrother, always making sure he wasn’t picked on. But he hadn’t always been there for Mercy, not every second, and now the guy was only half the man he used to be.

  Lincoln was half-tempted to hunt Lloyd down and beat the daylights out of him. He would’ve done that already if Mercy hadn’t begged him to stay out of it.

  Thank fuck Mercy’s ex-boyfriend had fled town or the temptation might have been too much to resist.

  “I think if you got closer you might be able to see what’s wrong with it,” Mercy said to Red. “I promise, Lincoln doesn’t bite. He growls a lot, sometimes he purrs, but he would never show you his teeth.”

  Talk about letting the kitty out of the bag without letting the kitty out of the bag. Lincoln gave his brother a look that told him to shut up. Red didn’t need to know that Lincoln was a shifter. Not yet, anyway. Not until he’d gotten his mate’s story and found out what the man was hiding.

  “Mercy,” Lincoln said in warning. He loved the guy, but damn could Mercy talk.

  A lot of times at the most inappropriate moments. Like now.

  Lincoln moved farther away from the desk so Red could approach. His mate gave a tight smile, as if trying to appear friendly, but Lincoln couldn’t get over the mistrust in Red’s eyes.

  Lincoln crossed his arms and tried to keep a good distance as he watched Red take a seat and stare at the screen. Then he started typing, his fingers moving so fast that Lincoln’s head spun. Red murmured to himself, and even though Lincoln had superior hearing, he couldn’t make out what his mate was saying.
<
br />   Red furrowed his brows and looked at Lincoln. “When was the last time you updated?”

  “Updated?”

  Red tapped the screen. “You have twenty-five updates waiting to be installed. You shouldn’t have that on manual. It should be on the automatic setting.”

  Lincoln glanced at Mercy because he hadn’t the faintest idea what his mate was talking about.

  His brother held up his hands. “Don’t look at me. I understand what he’s saying about as much I understand your foreman.”

  Adam Perry had gotten his jaw broken more than once in his life, and now he mumbled everything. Even Lincoln had a hard time understanding the guy.

  Red went back to looking at the screen. “You’re also running Windows XP when you should be running Windows 10, but I prefer Linux. And you’ve got an outdated motherboard and processor.”

  Lincoln didn’t understand a word Red was saying.

  Mercy snorted. “Can you at least pretend you’ve had sex?”

  Red jerked back then chuckled. “I have had sex. And I’m sorry. I tend to forget not everyone is computer literate. What I’m saying is you need something that wasn’t invented in the Stone Age. Buying a new computer wouldn’t hurt, or Quicken. It would help you keep better records, though I’ve never used that program, so that’ll be a learning curve.”

  Lincoln didn’t need to hear about Red’s past lovers. He felt his canines trying to descend, and he wanted to kill every last one of them. Even though they hadn’t even kissed yet, let alone had sex, Lincoln was as possessive as any other nonhuman when it came to his or her mate.

  “Wow.” Mercy gave a low whistle. “You’re being wasted as a hired hand. How did you learn so much about this kind of stuff?”

  Lincoln saw Red shut down. The light in his eyes faded as he shrugged. “Picked up a trick here and there.”

  The guy was definitely hiding something, and as badly as Lincoln wanted to help, he couldn’t do anything if his mate kept running from him.

  “That’s pretty much all I know.” Red scooted back from the desk and walked to the door. “I really need to get back to work.”

  “You should tell him,” Mercy said when Red was gone. “Clearly he’s hiding something, and you need to find out what that something is.”

  “The guy runs from me like a scared colt. I just need to earn his trust first.”

  “From the way Red acts, you might earn it in about a hundred years. What you need to do is—”

  “Don’t even go there,” Lincoln growled. “You let me handle this situation with my mate while you go handle Adam. He needs the new schedule.”

  “Fine, be stubborn. It’s not as if Red might need a friend.” Mercy spun on his heel and walked out.

  Lincoln knew exactly what he was doing. He didn’t need Mercy to tell him a damn thing. Red needed space, and that was exactly what Lincoln was giving him.

  Even if that space was killing him.

  He looked at his computer and curled his lip, so over today that he wanted to go back to bed. But he had a ranch to run and a mate to keep an eye on.

  Lincoln grabbed his Stetson and walked out of his office. The paperwork could wait. He was almost out the front door of his house when Mercy stepped out of the kitchen. “Okay. I’ve got my grocery list ready.”

  Lincoln dug out his wallet and handed his stepbrother the business credit card. “Have fun running your errands.”

  After walking out onto the front porch, Lincoln sucked in a lungful of fresh air. His tiger was restless, eager to get to Red, but Lincoln didn’t want to frighten the human.

  He’d already invited his mate to dinner, and Red turned him down. He asked if Red wanted to go into town for drinks and tacos, and his mate had said no. Lincoln didn’t want to push too hard and drive a deeper wedge between them.

  Maybe Mercy had been on to something. Lincoln didn’t know a damn thing about computer entry. His last guy up and quit, and Lincoln had just started trying to do it himself a week ago. Already he was fed up with it. If Red agreed, his mate could use some of his time doing the data entry.

  That could be Lincoln’s way in with his mate. Lord knew he’d tried everything else. He’d go to the bunkhouse later tonight and see if Red was up for it.

  And it would also give him a chance to see his mate again. Until then, he had a brand-new horse to break in and a trip to town afterward.

  Lincoln walked from the shade of the trees that littered the front yard to the corral where Ladybug had been tethered. The sun was bright and hot, and Lincoln would rather go for a swim than work today.

  There was a lake on the other side of his property, and it was tempting to just take a day off. But Lincoln knew he wouldn’t do that. He was a hard worker, and he had a business to run.

  As he walked, Lincoln caught sight of Red carrying a wheelbarrow to the barn. The guy’s arms wobbled, and the wheelbarrow kept tilting from side to side.

  Lincoln suspected his mate wasn’t used to manual labor. He seemed more brains than brawn. There was nothing wrong with that, and now Lincoln was thinking of putting Red in charge of the books instead of out there struggling to get things done on a daily basis.

  It was food for thought as Lincoln let himself into the corral and focused on Ladybug, for now, putting Red out of his mind.

  * * * *

  What in the fuck am I doing here? That was a loaded question that Red didn’t have an answer for. He knew nothing about ranching. Red should be hiding on some remote island after what had happened to him several months ago.

  What had changed his life forever.

  After cleaning out the stalls, he lingered inside the stable. Rhinestone was an old workhorse that Wheeler Ranch had retired, and now he spent his days in the pasture. Red loved petting him, spending time with him, and feeding him the occasional apple. Today Rhinestone was inside, and Red grabbed a brush.

  “When was the last time you got the spa treatment?” Red smiled. “A little TLC can go a long way.”

  That made Red think of Lincoln. The guy had tried his hardest to get Red’s attention, but Red dodged him at every turn. It wasn’t the fact that Lincoln was ugly. Far from it. In fact, he was the hottest guy Red had ever met.

  But Red was still trying to put his life back together, while still hiding from that life, and just wanted to be left alone. He wasn’t even sure if he was safe. The Davila case had long been over.

  He’d heard about James Koehler coming after that undercover cop and his boyfriend in Maple Grove. That alone convinced Red that disappearing without a trace had been a good call. Davila had many men who wanted revenge for their boss being locked up, for exposing them and their heinous acts. Red didn’t think anyone was after him, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

  “You hiding out in here?” Mercy entered the stables and walked over to Red. The guy was sweet, with black hair and pretty blue eyes. Red didn’t mind being around Mercy, because the guy didn’t hit on him like Lincoln and some the ranch workers had already done.

  “Just giving Rhinestone some loving.” Red came out of the stall, set the brush aside, and closed the door. “Did you need me to do something?”

  “Let me see your hands.”

  It was an odd request, but Red showed them to Mercy.

  “Just what I thought,” Mercy said. “You don’t have any calluses. Your hands are baby-soft.” He let them go.

  “What does that mean?” Red’s heart started racing, even though he had no clue what Mercy was up to. He didn’t want his past exposed, didn’t want anyone discovering who he truly was, what he used to do, and how he was supposed to be dead.

  It was better that way. If none of Davila’s men knew he was alive, Red would be safe. For a moment Red let his memories wander back to that fateful day when he’d flown to Maple Grove to help out a friend.

  He’d been trying to crack the password on the USB when some nasty men had shown up. Men who had worked for Davila. They’d used Red as a pawn to get Arturo to show himse
lf.

  He shivered as he shoved those memories back down, unwilling to think about them any longer.

  Mercy clucked his tongue. “It just means you’re not used to hard work.” He leaned against the stall and crossed his arms. “Where’re you from, Red? What did you do before you wandered onto this ranch?”

  “I was a used car salesman.” Red walked away, heading out of the stables. He thought he could keep his anonymity here, but it seemed Mercy wanted to uncover him.

  “Wait!” Mercy ran to catch up to him. “I’m sorry. That was very nosy of me. I don’t care where you’re from or what you did, just as long as you’re not a serial killer. Don’t make me sleep with one eye open.”

  Red stopped and stared at the guy. “I can assure you I have no intention of killing anyone.”

  Pain lacerated Red’s chest. He pressed a hand against it as images of him sitting on that chair in the kitchen, getting stabbed, then shot twice, pierced his mind. The agony, the smell of his own blood, crawling out the back door unsure if he would be caught and finished off.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Mercy laid a hand on Red’s arm.

  Red lashed out, snarling at Mercy as he shoved the guy away. “Don’t touch me!”

  “I’m not touching you.” Mercy’s voice was just above a whisper. “Not anymore. Just tell me what you need me to do, Red.”

  There wasn’t anything Mercy could do. Red had been dealing with the nightmares for months now, and clearly, those haunting images were now creeping into his mind during the day. “I just need fresh air.”

  “Red, you’re standing outside,” Mercy pointed out. “I don’t think it can get any fresher than this.”

  That got a smile out of Red. He silently cursed and scrubbed a hand over his face, sighing. “I’m sorry, Mercy. I didn’t mean to shout at you.”

  “No, no.” Mercy shook his head. “You’re fine. I’m used to guys being growly. Look who I’m related to. I just want to help in any way I can.”