Destined Shadows

by Tessa Cole

  Marcus leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed. The heat of his attraction wasn’t strong, and there was something in his eyes I couldn’t recognize. What the hell did that mean?

  “I was afraid we wouldn’t be a good match before.”

  “And now?” My pulse stuttered. Did he think we were a good match? As partners or something more? His attraction right now suggested just work partners, but the memory of the heat from before at the station made me flush.

  “I think you’re becoming a decent cop,” he said.

  “Decent. Gee, thanks.” But that was high praise, coming from him.

  “I mean it. You should sign up for the advanced combat training with me.”

  Fear flash-froze my desire. No way in hell. I wasn’t going to be surrounded by cops being reminded about what a super was and how to recognize one.

  I pushed past him and headed to my boots by the front door. “I’m a rookie. They won’t take me.”

  “You mean you’re too afraid of supers to even try.”

  I was too afraid of being discovered. “I like walking the beat.”

  “You’ll still walk the beat.” He glared down at me as I crouched and tied my boots.

  “But I’ll also get put on special units.” Units that might have to interact with JP agents, the very people I’d spent my whole life running from. Just the idea of being close to a JP agent, let alone an angel, made my pulse race.

  “Not all supers are monsters.” He crossed his arms as if daring me to argue with him. “The only true monsters are nephilim and the JP has captured all of them.”

  And by captured he meant killed. Unless the Joined Parliament had a secret prison filled with nephilim, there wasn’t a single one in prison. They’d either died fighting or committed suicide before their magic could be contained. No way in hell was I going to become the only nephilim in captivity. Especially since I’d had nothing to do with the war. I was — for all intents and purposes — a powerless, naturally born nephilim. Impossible and defenseless.

  I straightened and opened my front door so Marcus could leave and I could lock up. “We should search for this girl.”

  “You’re going to end up dealing with supers whether you want to or not.” He strode into the hall. “Why not be fully prepared?”

  “You honestly think anything they could teach us would give us a fighting chance against a super?” I locked my front door and we took the stairs up to the first floor.

  “Of course. The program was designed by the military, based on their experience fighting nephilim.”

  He wasn’t going to give up on this. Which, if I was being honest, thrilled me. Marcus liked working with me and wanted to stay partners.

  God damn it. “Okay. I’ll think about it.”

  He flashed me a brilliant smile that made my pulse trip. The temperature rose a few degrees, but it didn’t feel as if it was because of his desire — more like his joy.

  Maybe I could get through the training without being noticed.

  Of course, that still didn’t address the issue of being assigned to teams that worked directly with Union City’s JP team. But maybe if the JP agents were focused on a supernatural criminal, they wouldn’t give me a second glance. I really didn’t want to give up being Marcus’s partner, even if at times it was difficult not to fantasize about him.

  We got in the cruiser and I looked at our assignment on my phone. “We’re to start at the west end of Birch Hill.”

  “Birch Hill is a large area with a lot of abandoned buildings.” Marcus started the engine and pulled onto the street. “Anyone else with us?”

  “No. Ariel Cromer was abducted by two men in a black van that was last spotted on Monroe, heading to the border between Birch Hill and Northvale.”

  “And Northvale has more abandoned buildings, most of them multi-story apartments that are in better shape. If I was the sergeant, I’d start at the border and fan out.”

  “Which means we’re not going to get much help,” I said, since our assignment started us on the far side of Birch Hill moving in toward Northvale. And while there were fewer squatters in Birch Hill, so fewer people to notice the kidnappers, that was because the buildings and the roads were in worse shape. More than one adventurous teen had ended up in the hospital after exploring the ruins of Birch Hill, and anyone who knew the city knew there were safer places to explore or squat.

  Marcus crossed Foley, the unofficial border marking the livable part of town and the unlivable part. More than half the streetlights were without power and only one out of every six buildings still stood. He slowed at an intersection with a dead stoplight, glanced both ways down the abandoned cross street, and pulled through to park at the corner under a working streetlight.

  “Ariel Cromer is five, straight black hair, last seen wearing a pink party dress with a pink bow in her hair.” I showed Marcus the picture of the kid with her sweet, innocent smile. It made me want to scream. If she’d been taken for money or leverage, she had to be terrified. If she’d been taken for anything else, she was either suffering in ways I didn’t want to think about or dead.

  We got out of the cruiser. I pocketed my phone, drew my sidearm, and pulled out my flashlight. The first three streetlights down the street worked, but the next dozen were out, throwing the ruins ahead of us into deep shadow. In daylight, it looked like a war zone, because it had been a war zone. I didn’t know why Michael had chosen Birch Hill as a battleground, but he had and his army had killed hundreds and destroyed buildings, as if a tornado and dozens of bombs had been dropped on the neighborhood at once — which, given that nephilim possessed magic like angels, was entirely possible.

  The three three-story apartment buildings beside me, those within the working streetlight radius, still stood. The ones across the street had been leveled. Marcus shone his flashlight into the lot between the first and second building, over the shells of cars that had long ago been stripped of anything of value.

  No sign of a black van.

  I shone my light through the building’s missing front door onto the floor of the entranceway. Dirt and debris littered the area, but none of the scuffed footprints looked fresh. Which, of course, didn’t mean anything. The kidnappers could have entered the building from a back door or one of the broken windows or even a fire escape at the side… if there was a fire escape at the side.

  This was going to be a long night. And just that thought filled me with frustration. There wasn’t a fast way to do this search, and yet I knew every second counted.

  Down the street, something heavy thumped, and a wolf howled.

  “Was that—?”

  I jerked my gaze to Marcus’s. Shifters weren’t known to hang out in Birch Hill, they had a number of large forests in the Supers’ Quarter that appealed to their feral natures more than urban ruins, but that had sounded close.

  Another thump. Something crashed against something else with a loud boom, and someone started yelling… at someone? I couldn’t tell. All I could tell was that they weren’t yelling for help.

  “It’s this way,” Marcus said.

  I tightened my grip on my flashlight. I doubted it was the kidnappers, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t shifters who’d lost their common sense because of the full moon. And that worried me more.

  “It’s not like the movies,” Marcus said, his voice low. “The odds of being infected are almost negligible.”

  “I know that.” Except even knowing it didn’t make me feel better. I’d never encountered a shifter during a full moon, but I’d talked to enough people and watched enough news reports to know that even if it wasn’t like the movies, it wasn’t pleasant.

  We passed a small church, only the brick arch of the front door remained standing. The streetlight in front flickered on for a second then went out.

  The wolf howled again, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Not like the movies. Not like the movies.

  Whoever was yelling stopped, and the street fell i
nto an eerie silence. My pulse pounded in my ears and I sucked in a steadying breath. This might be my first time in a situation like this, but I could handle it. I had my training and I had Marcus. We’d approach whoever was yelling, find out what the problem was, and move on.

  “I think it came from there.” Marcus jerked his chin toward a set of eight townhouses beside the church. The first two in the row were mostly destroyed, but the ones in the middle had somehow managed to avoid most of the destruction, kind of like that one house still in perfect condition in the middle of a tornado’s path of destruction. From the weak glimmer of moonlight, it even looked like some of the middle townhouses still had a few intact windows.

  The streetlight flickered back on for a second and my gaze jumped to a bright pink something in front of the doorless entranceway of the fifth townhouse down before everything plunged back into shadows.

  “Is that—?”

  I hurried toward the doorway, scanning the area around me, looking for the wolf or whoever had been yelling. This townhouse looked the best of the whole row, with its bay window still intact.

  My flashlight hit the pink thing, and my stomach lurched. It was a pink bow hairclip. We might have found Ariel.

  The streetlight flickered back on, and a massive man walked past the partially open curtains in the bay window. I didn’t think I’d ever seen anyone so big before, and there was a ferocity in his expression that scared the crap out of me.

  Marcus grabbed my arm and yanked me down. We pressed our bodies tight to the front of the house, and I flicked off my flashlight, my pulse pounding.

  “Is he a shifter?” He couldn’t have been the howling wolf because he was still in his human form, but that only meant there was at least one shifter still in the area.

  “I didn’t get a good enough look.”

  The guy turned his back to the window and said something, his rough voice too quiet for me to make out the words.

  “They’re all over the neighborhood,” a reedy masculine voice said in response, his volume rising with each word.

  “Not this neighborhood,” Rough Voice snapped, matching Reedy’s volume. “So keep your shit together.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do,” Reedy snarled.

  I inched closer to the window and peeked inside. Rough Voice still stood with his back to the window, barely visible with the streetlight the only source of illumination. His body was tense and his hands didn’t look right, his fingers too long and pointy at the end. The guy he was talking to paced back and forth between two pale couches, raking his hands through dark hair that hung loose to his shoulders.

  “We should just kill the brat and run,” Reedy said.

  “Not until we have our money.” Rough flexed his hands and my pulse skipped a beat. His fingers extended into claws.

  “Shifters,” I gasped.

  Then the biggest wolf I’d ever seen prowled in between Reedy and Rough and snarled at the both of them, and a young high-pitched voice started to cry. My pulse froze, and I jerked my attention past the guys to a small figure huddled in the corner at the back of the room, the streetlight catching on her shiny pink clothes.

  “Shut the kid up,” Rough barked.

  “Shut up,” Reedy yelled.

  The wolf snapped at Reedy, who punched it in the head. “Fuck off.”

  I glanced back at Marcus, my stomach churning. “They have Ariel.”

  “Are you sure?” he whispered.

  “Even if they don’t, there’s a terrified kid in there.” I wrenched my attention back to the window. My breath came too fast, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t control it. There was a kid in there, and we were going to have to face at least two shifters. “We can’t just leave her in there.”

  “You want to fuck with me?” Reedy growled and grabbed the wolf around the neck and punched it in the head.

  The wolf dug its claws into his gut, making him howl with laugher, as a fourth guy slunk out of the shadows at the back of the room and grabbed the girl by the arm. Her screams turned to frantic shrieks and the temperature plummeted around me, her fear so strong it swept past the confines of the house.

  “Shut that bitch up,” Rough said. He jerked toward the window, and I wrenched back down against the rough brick wall beside Marcus. Rough’s jaw was elongated, inhuman, his lips curled back revealing long canines, and a vicious wildness filled his eyes. He was barely holding onto his humanity.

  We had to get the kid out of there. But there were at least two shifters, and it was a full moon. I couldn’t catch my breath. Frost crept over the back of my hands, the kid’s fear fueling my own. We didn’t stand a chance, but I couldn’t just watch them hurt her.

  Chapter 5

  “We have to do something,” I said, my voice cracking with desperation. I couldn’t just sit there and watch them hurt her.

  “Take a breath, Essie,” Marcus said, his voice low and calm, but I could see the worry in his slightly too-wide eyes. “Two Charlie Eight requesting backup at—” He glanced at the house behind him.

  I followed his gaze to the numbers beside the door.

  “—Eighty-two Brosville Street. We have a juvenile being held by four men. At least two are shifters.”

  The kid’s screams grew louder, tearing at my nerves, at my whole being.

  Do something. Do something. God, just do something. But protocol was clear. Two officers didn’t confront more than one shifter, not unless we were trained to deal with multiple shifters at the same time. We were supposed to wait.

  How the hell was I supposed to wait?

  “Shut. Her. Up.” Rough Voice jerked away from the window and stepped deeper into the room. “I don’t care how.”

  Reedy jerked his head up, his wicked glee making bile burn my throat. “She’s mine. Give her to me.”

  “Come and take her,” the up-until-now silent guy said, his voice dark and dangerous.

  I jerked up, but Marcus grabbed my arm and yanked me back down. “Wait for backup.”

  The wolf lunged at Reedy’s back, while the no-longer-silent guy yanked the kid through a doorway and out of sight.

  “We can’t just sit here.” My pulse roared, my emotions in churning turmoil. I couldn’t let them hurt this kid because of protocol.

  The kid shrieked, and I lurched to my feet.

  “Essie, stop. We’re no good to anyone if we’re dead.” Marcus grabbed for my arm, but I jerked out of the way and rushed through the doorway into a narrow hall.

  My Glock shook because my hands shook, hell, my whole body shook. It didn’t occur to me to turn my flashlight back on. If I’d been thinking straight, I would have. But I wasn’t. All I could think about was the screaming need to save that little girl. This was the dumbest thing I’d ever done and probably ever would do, since these shifters were going to kill me. But every fiber of my being howled at me. I couldn’t just sit there and listen to them hurt and kill her. I had to do something. Even if it was to sacrifice myself to buy time for backup to arrive.

  “Stop,” Marcus hissed. “Wait for backup.”

  I reached the opening from the hall to the living room and three sets of wild eyes turned to me. I could only assume the quiet one was with the crying kid in the next room, and I could only hope my arrival was enough of a distraction to draw him away from her.

  “UCPD,” I said, pointing my Glock at Rough, the biggest guy in the room.

  Reedy charged at me, and I wrenched my aim to him and fired.

  Holy shit, I fired my gun. I’d never shot at anyone before. I’d had to change my clothes while on duty more times than I’d drawn my weapon on someone, let alone fired it.

  The gunshot roared around me, making every muscle in my body clench. This wasn’t like shooting in the target range at all. I shook with adrenaline and icy fear.

  I hit Reedy twice in the chest.

  He howled in pain but didn’t drop.

  Oh God oh God oh God.

  He heaved closer, his fingers turning into
claws, and swiped at me. I fired again. Two more shots. His body slammed into me, knocking me back into the hall wall, but he sagged to the floor instead of clawing me to death.

  My throat tightened, cutting off my air, and I couldn’t rip my gaze away from him. His blood rushed into the thick dust on the floor, and he didn’t move, didn’t even draw breath. I’d killed him. Oh, God, I killed him.

  The wolf snarled, and I wrenched my gaze up, but it wasn’t the wolf who lunged at me, it was Rough. I yanked my weapon up to fire, but wasn’t fast enough. His claws sliced into my forearm, drawing fiery agony, and he rammed his shoulder into me, his weight crushing me against the wall, stealing my breath.

  “UCPD,” Marcus yelled.

  Rough jerked toward him. I squirmed against Rough’s weight, trying to bring my weapon up to get any kind of shot.

  “Release the officer,” Marcus said.

  Rough curled his lips back, baring his teeth. “Sure.” He grabbed my vest and tossed me into the living room.

  I tumbled across the floor and crashed into the couch, sending sparks dancing across my vision. My Glock flew out of my hand, and the wolf pounced at me. I flung myself out of the way, scrambling to grab my weapon.

  Two gunshots exploded and blood and brains sprayed me and the couch. The wolf dropped onto my legs, pinning me with its massive weight, and I wrenched my gaze to Marcus, time frozen for a split second. He stood in the hall, his eyes wide, his breath fast. His fear swept frost up my arms and across my cheeks.

  Then Rough swiped his sharp wolf claws at him, and Marcus wrenched out of the way and out of sight into the hall.

  I shoved the wolf off me and turned to grab my gun, but strong hands seized my ankle and jerked me back.

  “You killed Lars,” the quiet dangerous one said, the look in his eyes pure animal ferocity. He drove his claws into my thigh and wrenched me closer, dragging my body through the wolf’s blood.

  I kicked at him with my free leg, but he twisted his claws in my thigh, sending agony screaming through me, and yanked me under him, pinning me with his body.