“Not to mention the shifters who lose the fights. What if he’s right about Nik, and you can get proof? Then what?”
“I don’t know.”
“Would you really want someone involved in murder—even murder of a Kindred—to go free? What if Nik killed me?”
That would be a nightmare she didn’t want to contemplate.
Just then, her cell phone rang. A reprieve.
Pulling it from her pocket, she checked the caller ID. “Nuala?” What did she want? “Hang on,” she told Shade. “Let me take this.”
“Nuala, what’s going on?”
“Skye, I’m so glad I got y-you.”
Nuala’s voice was shaky. Had someone been on her case about the baby again?
“It’s Luc. He’s in trouble, and I can’t find Nik anywhere.”
Her stomach lurched. She put the call on speakerphone so Shade could hear. “What do you mean in trouble?”
“He was in the habitat running. He’d already shifted and had been running like his life depended on it. I don’t know what happened, but something must have upset him. He was finished, but before he could shift back to himself, they got him.”
“I don’t understand,” Skye said. “Got him? Who got him?”
“I-I don’t know. I didn’t recognize them. Two Kindred. They darted him the same way they did me. Then they restrained him. I tuned in to their thoughts. They were talking about taking him to the arena and that the fight was fixed.”
“A shifter fight?” she cried, her heart in her throat.
Shade and she locked gazes. Someone was going to make Luc fight?
“Yes, but I don’t know where. And I don’t understand why Nik won’t answer my calls. Maybe they have him, too.”
Or maybe Nik had Luc. She prayed not. If Luc didn’t die in the fight, knowing his brother was responsible would kill him.
What about Cezar? Shade asked.
Nodding, she tried to keep the panic out of her voice. “What about your father?” Surely Cezar would be able to find his sons.
“I can’t get him, either. No one knows where he is, and he’s not answering his cell. I don’t know what to do.”
Call Ethan.
She nodded again. “Calm down. All of the shifter fights were in properties owned by one man. Shade’s partner Ethan put a list together. He’ll help me figure out where Luc was taken and we’ll go get him.”
“Thank you, but be careful.”
“I promise.” She clicked off and looked to Shade.
“Ethan will figure it out,” Shade said.
“I pray he does.” She called Ethan immediately and told him what I’d learned. “We need to get to Luc before he’s killed. Those properties owned by Fauna—were any not used yet?”
“A couple,” he said. “Let me get the list.”
She was already headed out of the apartment.
“Wait a minute!” Shade yelled. “You can’t go alone. I’ll get Boomer and we’ll come with you.”
“Sorry, Shade. I have to do this without you.”
Fearing what might happen to him if he melded with Boomer again and then one of those wild animals got hold of the dog... She slammed the door in his face. If Boomer died out there, killed by a descendant of the Nephilim, not only might her brother be lost to her forever, but maybe to the hereafter as well.
She traded the building for the dark street. The wind had picked up. The trees overhead soughed as if in mourning. Nearby bushes chattered and discarded flyers and fast-food wrappers swirled down the sidewalk. The strange wind made her spine crawl. She couldn’t get to her car fast enough, and she was glad when Ethan got back to her.
“One of those properties is an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the Stockyards Industrial Park on the south side,” he said. “The other is a piece of land on the west side between the expressway and Roosevelt Road.”
“We can’t go together to both,” she said, getting into her car. “If we pick the wrong one first, we may not make it in time to save Luc. Where exactly is the one in the industrial park?” When he gave her the cross streets, she repeated them mentally so she wouldn’t forget. Then she said, “I’ll go south. You go west.”
“Skye, you’re not going alone.”
“I’m already on my way.”
She clicked off. This time, Ethan didn’t bother calling her back to try to change her mind.
Within minutes, she was on the expressway, speeding south. The wind blew debris against the windshield. Dry lightning split the sky ahead, as if signaling her that she was headed in the right direction. If only she could think of the place and be there the way Luc could. She couldn’t believe that he, of all his father’s people, had been taken.
She couldn’t believe she’d run from him, either.
That was the last memory he’d had of her before entering the habitat. Undoubtedly the reason he had gone there, to run off his disappointment. Her fault he’d been off guard and had been taken.
When he’d shifted in front of her, she should have stood her ground.
Why had she been so terrified when she knew the kind of man Luc was? Phoebe had been right when she’d told her to trust herself; that she would know what was true and what wasn’t. Luc’s panther wouldn’t have hurt her. Now that she’d had time to calm down, she was as sure of that as she was of anything. Despite what Luc had shown her, despite her own panic, she knew who he was. It had taken her a while to figure him out because he hid himself so well.
Now he had her heart and she would do anything to save him.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Noises filtered through Luc’s subconscious, a crack of thunder finally waking him. He opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw were bars. Caged. Screaming voices echoing around him made his gut clench and the fur along his spine stand straight up.
Knowing they’d taken him to fight, he made an attempt to get to his feet. Barely halfway up, his shaky legs gave out on him.
He was a dead man. Or a dead panther. Even if the drugs wore off completely by the time they put him in the arena, he had little chance of making it out alive. He had nothing left in him. He’d run himself to exhaustion in the habitat.
He’d known sadness in life. Disappointment. He hadn’t actually known a heart could break. He’d pushed Skye to her emotional limit, and she’d run from him, and it was over. He couldn’t blame her for not loving him the way he did her. What an idiot he’d been to test her like that.
Without her, his future had no meaning.
He had no reason to fight for one.
“You’d better get on your paws and walk it off, man,” a voice came from the other side of the bars. “Or your brother will end you.”
Doyle. Since when do you care what happens to me?
Don’t... happens to... Though Doyle was trying to tell Luc something, the drugs in his system must have affected his ability to hear the man’s thoughts clearly.
What? Can’t understand you.
Moving in closer to the cage, Doyle spoke aloud, his voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t care what happens to you. I care what happens to me. If you die in this stinking hole, Cezar will destroy everyone he thinks helped Nik.”
Nik did this to me?
Doyle shrugged. “I tried to keep him from going so far, but he wouldn’t listen. I can’t believe he’s so foolish to take you of all people.”
Luc felt as if all the air had been sucked out of him. He’d been correct about his brother, then. Nik has been behind the shifter fights all along.
“Corrupting souls is his addiction. Takes after Cezar. Getting rid of his enemies at the same time is an added bonus. I don’t want to go down for your death, so get up, damn you! Walk off those drugs so you have a chance of staying alive.”
Before Luc could question him further, Doyle was gone.
Luc tried to tune in to the other shifters nearby. He got drifts of their thoughts, no more. The tranquilizer had done a number on his ability to read oth
ers.
His brother wanted Luc dead. The knowledge sickened him. He couldn’t give up. Couldn’t let such evil win.
Using every reserve he could muster, Luc forced himself to his feet. His legs were shaking and he carried the dead weight of exhaustion throughout his panther, but at least he was standing on all four legs.
A couple of Kindred were coming for him, carrying chains. They were going to take him into the arena.
He hadn’t had enough time to walk off the drugs.
How would he be able to fight?
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Skye had no trouble finding the abandoned building in the middle of the industrial complex. It was the only one with a parking lot half-full at this time of night. Lightning hovered overhead, crackling like an electrical current, as if signaling this was the place. She left her car and realized she was alone. The spectators were already inside. The wind beat against her. Taking a deep breath, she smelled blood in the air. The stockyards had been closed for decades. It was said that, on windy nights, one could still smell the blood of slaughtered animals.
Or perhaps the animals inside were being slaughtered now. Luc! Dear Lord, don’t let me be too late.
Thunder rumbled as she pulled out her cell and called Ethan while heading for the entrance. “Found the place. Get backup.”
“I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
As she ran, she turned up her extrasensory abilities, but all she tuned in to were excited voices. Shouts. Screams.
Luc, I’m here. Where are you?
No answer that she could tell.
And yet, concentrating, she felt Luc as she never had before. Rather never had until she’d felt him shift in front of her. Then she’d felt his pain as his limbs had taken new shapes. Now she swore she experienced his confusion. Exhaustion. Downright fear.
“That’ll be twenty bucks,” the sleazy-looking guy at the door said.
Skye wanted to argue, but in the end, she pulled out her wallet and slapped a bill in his hand, then moved into the abandoned warehouse even as the spectators roared in approval. The walls of the building rose to twenty feet. Flickers of electrical activity outside lit the narrow windows ringing the arena. The floor had been pitched so the inside of the warehouse was shaped like a bowl, angled downward toward the fighting area itself. No chairs for the audience here. People of every age were on their feet, kids on their fathers’ shoulders. Everyone seemed to be shouting or screaming at once.
Standing at the back of the crowd, she saw the reason for their excitement. At one end of the arena, handlers were leading in a black panther. It was weaving, seemingly held up on its feet by the handlers’ chains.
Luc, is that you? she silently asked.
As if he heard her, the panther raised his head and looked her way.
Dear Lord, it was Luc! What could she do to help him all by herself?
Elbowing her way through the crowd, she spotted a table where a skinny, bald guy was speaking into a microphone. “Place your bets. You have three minutes to place your bets.”
Three minutes? Knowing Ethan couldn’t get here that fast, she tried not to panic.
A second, dark-haired man sat at the table making notes in a ledger from pieces of paper that men were bringing to him. Getting the feeling that he was in charge of the betting, at least, she shoved her way closer and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Excuse me. Sir, this fight can’t go on.”
He didn’t even look her way. “Who’s gonna stop it? You?” He laughed and went back to what he was doing.
“If you let this fight go on, you’ll answer to Cezar Lazare.”
The man whipped his head around to her. His eyes glowed black and the bones of his face shifted slightly before settling back in place. “How do you know Mr. Lazare?”
“Two minutes,” the bald man with the microphone announced. “Two minutes to place your bets.”
“I’m a friend of his son. Cezar Lazare will have your souls for this.”
The man started as if shocked someone other than a Kindred knew about the soul exchange. Then he said, “Lazare knows about the fights, honey.”
She’d been afraid of that. “Does he know you have his son?” she pointed to the panther.
He took a long look as if unsure, then shook his head. “You’re full of it. Nik Lazare’s panther has a scarred shoulder.”
“Not Nik!” she cried.
“One minute to place your bets.”
“That’s Luc Lazare,” she informed him.
The man stared at her for a moment, then motioned to someone behind her. Before she could turn to see who, both of her arms were grabbed in what felt like vises.
Get the bitch away from me, but don’t let her go.
“Who are you calling bitch?” she asked.
The man’s eyes narrowed on her. “What are you?”
Skye finally knew the answer. “I’m the one who’s going to end this atrocity for good.”
Two men dragged her away. She struggled but couldn’t get her arms loose.
Just then, the bell clanged to cut off betting and lights aimed at the ring clicked on. The men towing her stopped at the edge of the crowd to watch. Spectators roared when they got a clear look at the opponents being held at the scratch lines. At the far end of the arena, a wild dog was bristling and practically foaming at the mouth. She shuddered when she thought about Luc being exhausted while having to face such a dangerous beast.
Whatever happened to him in that arena would be her fault. She never should have run from him.
She felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket. “My cell is ringing,” she told the thugs restraining her. She assumed Ethan was calling to update her. “I need to take this call.”
They didn’t so much as acknowledge her. Of course not. Great.
The bell clanged again, jump-starting her heart.
The handlers freed the shifters. Her pulse pounded as they closed in on each other. The wild dog advanced fast, growling and snapping, while Luc’s panther paced a careful, steady line toward his opponent.
Looking around the ring, she searched for an escape Luc could take but saw none. Kindred stood guard everywhere. She spotted Nik through the crowd on the other side of the arena, but he disappeared. What? Now that he had his brother where he wanted him, he didn’t want to watch?
Both dog and panther suddenly charged, getting her full attention. They flew in the air and met in a writhing, screeching tangle, then dropped to the floor together.
Fight, Luc, fight for your life. You can do it!
They were rolling on the ground, struggling so fast and furious she could hardly tell one from the other. The wild dog snapped at the panther, and the heat of intense pain seared her shoulder. Skye gasped and got her breath even as the big cat struck out with a mighty paw. Blood spurted over them both, and the wild dog scrambled away from the panther.
Luc was holding his own.
And then she saw them. Two additional wild dogs were let into the arena. They joined the first, forming a small pack. The spectators grew excited. Wild shouts and cheers filled the space, sickening her. Somehow, she had to help Luc.
“I call upon all the Protectresses that have come before me. Help me, please.” Within seconds, the answer came to her. Why hadn’t she thought of this before?
He said to release me. She looked from one Kindred thug to the other.
Who said? one of them asked.
Skye formed an image in her mind of Cezar glaring at the two thugs and of them letting go. The boss said to release me. You heard him, right?
Right, the second guard said, dropping her arm. Let her go.
Even as she was freed, she looked to the arena as the three wild dogs moved for the panther as one unit, the original shifter in the lead. She plunged through the few people in front of her and jumped onto the arena floor as Luc was pinned to the ground.
“Get away from him!” she cried, running straight for the pack leader. “Those who
came before me, lend me your strength.”
Skye hit the wild dog running. It was jolted by an electrical charge that made him howl and jerk into her. She stumbled and he snapped at her before charging at Luc again.
And now the other two pack dogs were circling her.
She visualized the wild dogs running from the arena, but either the shifters were immune to her in their animal form, or her emotions were too scattered for her vision to work on them. One of the dogs lunged at her. Before she could react, it tore into her upper arm, shook her, and threw her. An explosion of pain muted the sounds of the arena as she flew for several yards before collapsing in a heap. Her flesh was torn and blood dripped down her arm.
A few of the spectators screamed in horror, but to her dismay, many more cheered. No doubt violence was their way of life.
Though she covered the wound with her free hand, blood oozed warm through her fingers, as she’d readied herself to try again. If only she could get up. She saw Luc’s panther shake off the leader and get to its feet. The pack regrouped. Then a second panther, this one with a scar on its shoulder, entered the arena and charged the dogs.
The pack leader went for the panther again, but as if energized by the presence of the other panther, Luc met the wild dog head-on and, this time, grabbed it by the throat, tossing it down on the ground without letting go. The dog writhed and bucked but it couldn’t get away. Luc’s panther was suffocating the dog by pressing its windpipe closed. The dog’s limbs shook for a moment, slowed to a tremble, and then stopped altogether.
The second panther had clamped its jaws around another wild dog’s nose and mouth and was suffocating it in what was referred to as “the kiss of death.”
The third dog ran for cover.
Still stunned, fighting the pain, Skye somehow stumbled to her feet. Flashing blue lights coming from the windows told her backup had arrived. A roar set up through the building, and the panicked crowd tried to flee. Too late. Police blocked every exit.
“You’re not going anywhere but into the paddy wagons.”
Animal Instincts (Kindred Souls Book 1) Page 20
