A chain of uniformed cops moved inside and herded the spectators into a single line and started moving them out immediately. Some of the Kindred were rounded up, while others disappeared, as if by magic.
Skye turned back to the shifters as the two panthers slunk out of the arena. Her arm was hurting less now, and she realized the blood flow had slowed to a trickle, so she followed them to a private area in back where she watched them shift into their human forms. She was glad to see that while Luc had cuts and contusions, they weren’t as bad as she had feared. And then she looked to the man who had come to his rescue—Nik, the brother who seemed to hate Luc.
“I thought it was you running the fights,” Luc admitted. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”
That Nik’s visage didn’t show any emotion didn’t surprise her. If she had been waiting for him to clasp his brother in his arms and say he was glad that Luc had survived, she would have been disappointed.
Instead, he glowered and said, “Pop told me to find the source and stop the fights. Bad for business if they were connected back to the casino. I started my own investigation. I have Kindred who are loyal to me.”
“You knew it was Doyle?” Luc asked.
“He was trying to frame me. Thought he could get rid of both of us, get Pop to make him his right-hand man. He had plans for the future that included taking over The Company with a human partner. Someone with political influence who’d been giving him information about the fight venues he could buy for back taxes.”
With that—in the blink of an eye—Nik vanished.
Luc turned to her. “How badly are you hurt?”
“I can move my arm now.”
He took a closer look. “You’re healing already. Good.”
Indeed, the edges of the wound seemed to be tightening, closing. His cuts and bruises were looking less ominous as well. Not knowing how this was happening, she didn’t question it, but threw her good arm around Luc, who clutched her to him as if he would never let her go.
“You’re the craziest, bravest, most foolish woman I’ve ever met.”
“I couldn’t let him kill you. It’s my fault you were taken.”
“If anything had happened to you, it would be my fault,” Luc countered. “I’m sorry I handled things so badly.” And he leaned down to kiss her.
There was something desperate and wild and off somehow about the kiss. It felt strained. Distant. Conflicted. And it ended far too quickly. She was going to ask what was wrong when she realized that Luc was looking over her shoulder.
“Your brother’s partner.”
Ethan was stooping over Doyle’s body. The two dead wild dogs had shifted back to their human forms. She had to wonder if Ethan or any of the other cops had seen it happen, or if the arrests being made had kept everyone too occupied to notice.
“I wonder why Doyle took the chance of fighting you directly. He must have believed he could kill you.”
“With help,” Luc said. “He wasn’t counting on Nik coming to my rescue. He’s hated me for years. He was one of those bullies I told you about. When Nik changed, I had to protect myself. I used Doyle as an example and humiliated him before the other Kindred. Something he never forgot.”
Taking Luc’s hand, Skye pulled him back into the arena.
Ethan glanced their way. His gaze flashed from her to Luc. “You’re still alive. Who are the dead guys?”
“That one’s the man running the shifter fights,” she said.
“Doyle Craven,” Luc added. “He’s responsible for the deaths you’ve been investigating. If you can’t get that from the handlers you arrested, I’ll get the proof somehow.”
She pulled away from him to take a closer look at the second dead shifter and noted the scar along his cheek. “This is the guy who broke into Shade’s apartment.”
“He’s familiar, but I don’t know his name,” Luc said.
“He’s the connection,” she said. “He links the fights and Doyle to my brother’s murder. Maybe we’ll never know if Doyle killed Shade himself or if he sent one of his men to do it for him.”
If she had thought Shade’s killer dying would satisfy her, she would have been wrong. She felt some relief that a murderer hadn’t lived to kill again, but that wouldn’t bring her brother back. At least she could be thankful that Luc had survived.
Ethan stood and gazed directly at Luc. “This isn’t the end of my investigation.”
“It ought to be. You know there’s nothing more you can prove.”
“This Doyle Craven may have killed Shade because he got too close, but I want to be sure I know who pulled the trigger before I close the case.”
She didn’t think he would find out anything else, but she was glad he was being thorough.
Paramedics arrived to take the bodies away. One of them said, “Sergeant Halderson is asking for you, Detective.”
“Right.” Ethan turned to Luc and her. “I’ll need your statements first thing in the morning.” Then, lowering his voice, “Just make it believable.”
Ethan headed for the exit, and the paramedics zipped up the first bag and carried off the body.
Leaving her alone with Luc.
“Let’s get out of here.” She touched his arm, her heartbeat fluttering with relief and gratitude that he hadn’t been badly hurt. “My car’s in the lot.”
“You should leave.”
“We should leave. Together.”
“There’s no together for us,” Luc said. “You should see that by now.”
“I freaked out this afternoon. I got over it.”
“But I didn’t. When I saw that shifter grab you and tear open your arm, I realized what could happen to you to if we continue to be together.”
“The wound is almost healed.” Because it had been a shifter that bit her or because of her own bloodline?
“There are worse things that can happen to you. I can’t put you at risk.”
Before she could argue that she was willing to chance it, he vanished right before her eyes.
Heartbroken and hollow without Luc, Skye stumbled out of the warehouse. People were screaming and kids were crying as they were rounded up and forced into wagons.
“Where do you think you’re going?” A uniformed cop grabbed her by the arm and swung her in line behind a beefy man covered with tattoos.
Stunned, she didn’t even fight him. At the moment she didn’t care what happened to her. She would have climbed into the vehicle and allowed herself to be arrested if not for Ethan appearing out of the crowd.
“Let her go,” Ethan told the man. “She’s the one who called this in. That’s Detective Shade Cross’s sister.”
“Sorry, ma’am.” The uniform tipped his hat in respect. “I thought a lot of your brother. I was at the funeral. Sorry I didn’t recognize you.”
“No problem.” Not with him, anyway.
Head down against the wind, she started for her car and found Ethan at her side.
“Hey, are you okay?” he asked.
“We stopped the man who was running the fights. I’m okay with that.”
A flicker of lightning seemed to punctuate her statement.
She wasn’t okay with Luc leaving her like this. Why couldn’t he have more faith in them? But what had she expected? He cared about her but apparently not enough.
“You look exhausted,” Ethan said. “I’ll have someone drive you home.”
“I’d have to come back to get my car. I need the drive alone to figure out what I’m going to say in my statement,” she told him.
“If you’re sure you’re okay.”
“Positive.”
Thunder rumbled in the distance as Ethan wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “You did good. Shade would be proud of you.”
“He’ll be thrilled. I’ll tell him all about it once I’m home.”
“Oh. Right.” He let go of her and pulled something out of his pocket. “Shade’s cell. I can’t use the footage as part of the case for obvious reason
s, so I’m returning it to you.”
She took it from him. “Did you delete the video?”
“No. Maybe you’d better. You don’t want to watch it.”
Knowing she really didn’t but that she should anyway, Skye swallowed hard. “Thanks for tonight. I knew I could count on you.”
“You know you can always count on me.” Ethan gave her a quick hug. “Drive safe.”
She drove safe for as long as she knew he could see her. And then she let her anger at Luc take over, speeding off until she found a convenient place where she could pull over for a few minutes.
As much as she didn’t want to see what her brother had recorded, she pulled out Shade’s cell and found the video app. Maybe if she looked at what he’d recorded, it would convince her Luc was right about them not being together and she wouldn’t be so angry with him. There were several numbered files, and she had no idea which was which, so she swallowed hard and chose one. It was almost a relief that it wasn’t the video of Jez being killed.
Shade had swept his camera around the audience. Disgusted by the number of excited kids with their parents and young teens in groups, she watched with her heart tightening. The expressions on the spectators’ faces—the anticipation of violence—made her more determined than ever to stop this kind of thing from happening again.
About to start another video, she realized that looking at the footage of Jez being ripped apart would be a mistake. She’d seen more than enough violence tonight in person and didn’t need to see more. It wouldn’t make her any less angry with Luc. Wouldn’t make her love him any less, either.
Turning off the cell, she replaced it in her pocket and pulled away from the curb. Something about what she’d seen bothered her on a level she couldn’t quite reach. It would come to her, she was certain.
Once on the expressway, she floored the accelerator. Told herself not to cry. Luc didn’t think she was worth the fight. She was so angry she could punch him. Great. She was trying to stop violence, not promote it.
And punching him wouldn’t mend her broken heart.
Thankful they’d put an end to a horrible practice for now, she had no illusions. Doyle might have run the fights, but other Kindred had done the grunt work and one of them could take his place. In the meantime, they had stopped the man responsible for all those deaths. Knowing Ethan, she was sure he would find proof that Doyle had either killed Shade or had gotten one of his men to do it.
But her brother still didn’t have his soul.
Without it, he was stuck here forever, unable to move on, unable to interact with this world unless he was melded with Boomer. As much as she didn’t want to say her last good-bye to Shade, his remaining here would be wrong.
She had to get his soul back to him somehow. Cezar had said she could work for it like everyone else. The thought of corrupting other humans made her stomach churn. She couldn’t do it, not even for her brother. There had to be another way. Cezar had wanted Nik to stop the shifter fights. Would her involvement in doing so constitute work that would allow her to buy Shade’s soul back? She doubted Cezar would be so generous. That meant Shade’s soul was lost forever, unless...
Coming to an intersection of highways, she switched to the one going east and headed for The Ark.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Luc was desolate at leaving Skye, but he was trying not to show it when he reported to his father’s office. She wasn’t done with the Kindred yet and wouldn’t be until her brother’s soul was restored. He had to make sure she stayed safe. He closed the door behind him, cutting off the noise of the casino. Pop was on the computer embedded into the sea glass desk. Counting souls? Luc wondered as his father glanced up.
“Luc. Come in. Come in.”
Moving away from the door, Luc said, “Pop, there was a shifter fight tonight and—”
“Nik already enlightened me.” His father rose from his chair and walked around the desk. “Good thing Doyle Craven is already dead or I would find a much worse way to punish him before ending his puny life. He wasn’t working alone, though.” Pop looked thoughtful. “I saw him with Max Haider the other day, and the moment Craven saw me, he scurried away.”
“You think Haider was in on the shifter fights?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. I’ll have my eye on him after this.” Pop clapped both of Luc’s shoulders with his meaty hands, his way of showing affection. “No one had better dare touch my children again!”
“Nuala and I both came out alive.”
“Something to be thankful for. Everything is solved now? Cross’s sister won’t be causing any more trouble?”
It hadn’t been Skye causing the trouble, but Luc knew better than to argue the point. “Don’t worry, I made sure she won’t be back.”
“You sound smitten with her.” His father grinned and leaned back against his desk. At his touch, the embedded souls blinked as if in response to him before dimming to a more subtle green. “If you want her, she’ll have my protection.”
“She holds The Book of Powers.”
His father’s face went florid and his congenial attitude turned on a dime. “I knew she was trouble. I didn’t realize how much. If she does come back, I’ll—”
“You’ll do something to her? No, you won’t, Pop. That’s why I’m here. To tell you she’s under my protection.”
His father gaped at him for a moment before his eyes went dead. “So, it’s like that.”
“It is. Unless you want to lose me forever, you’ll leave her be.”
The old man didn’t argue, for which Luc was grateful. That meant no matter how he felt, he accepted Luc’s vow of protection.
“Then you finally know who you are.”
“I think I’ve known all along.”
“Then why did you send her away?”
“Because I love her.”
His father didn’t have a comeback, and a hint of sorrow flicked through his expression. Luc knew Pop was thinking of the woman he loved, the woman who’d given him a son, the woman who couldn’t be in his life. Luc knew he understood.
He started for the door. “If we’re done here, I’m going to find Nuala and ease her mind.”
“Your sister seems to be a little high-strung lately.”
Luc hesitated. “She loved Shade Cross, every bit as much as I love his sister.”
He loved Skye enough to let her go. They unfortunately had been born to two opposing birthrights. He wouldn’t ask her to give hers up—he couldn’t give up the family he loved—and he wouldn’t put her in more danger. He suspected Doyle hadn’t been the only one with a grudge against him, and what better way to get to him than through the people he cared about?
“Well, Cross is gone,” Pop said, “and Nuala better get over it and get back to business.”
Luc didn’t say anything in response, just nodded to his father and left his office. Apparently, his father still didn’t know about the baby. Pop would love the fact that one of his children was breeding, Luc was certain. Family was everything to Pop, and he was ready for grandchildren. How he would take the news that the baby’s father was the late detective who would have brought down his operation if he hadn’t been killed—and a descendant of the Protectress, no less—was another question. One of life’s little ironies.
He thought about Pop’s offer of protection for Skye, until he had been faced with Skye’s inheritance. If only that hadn’t mattered to Pop. If only Luc could be with the one woman who could make him happy. He already ached for Skye. Thinking about how he couldn’t have her would only drive him mad.
As he entered the casino, the vivid sights and sharp sounds of his father’s world intruded on his thoughts. On his way to the elevator and Nuala’s quarters so he could reassure his sister he was all right, Luc was just wondering if there was a magic spell that would make him forget Skye when he saw her cutting across the casino floor.
Someone screamed and then a cheer went up on the other side of the room, drawing his atte
ntion until he realized the response was merely to a big win at one of the tables. Luc went after Skye, and her destination became clear when she left the casino proper for a hallway that went to only one place.
The high roller room.
A group of giggling young women got in his way, and by the time he got around them, Skye was already talking to Nik, who stood sentry at the doorway. To Luc’s distress, Nik gave Skye access and then came down the hallway toward Luc.
“What are you thinking? Why did you let Skye in there?”
“She talked me into it. Said she was doing this for her brother. I would think you of all people would understand.”
A flash of something that reminded Luc of regret flickered over his brother’s face.
Luc realized he hadn’t actually thanked Nik for coming to his rescue. This was the first time in two decades Nik had shown himself as someone Luc would be proud to call brother.
“Thanks for standing up for me tonight,” he told Nik. “I owe you.”
Nik didn’t make any protestations at the “owe you” part. Then he didn’t agree, either. Once more, he was glaring at Luc.
“Yeah, okay.” Shaking off his brotherly feelings, Luc started for the entry. “I have to stop Skye from doing something she’ll regret for the rest of her life.”
“You’re too late,” Nik warned him.
Luc’s gut tightened when he entered the room and saw that Skye was the lone gambler at the blackjack table, two cards already in front of her. There was only one bet she could make that would be accepted in this game.
Her soul.
It didn’t take a genius to know why she was here. If she won, she would demand Shade’s soul be returned to her brother.
But this wasn’t the way.
If she lost the game, she lost her soul.
Chapter Forty
The muted sounds of the casino were the only noise in the shadowy room that suggested danger hid in every corner. Skye was staring at her cards, a king and an eight. Eighteen. She couldn’t take another card, though with a nine and a three, the dealer would. She was trying to decide what she could do to make sure she would win anyway when she heard Luc’s voice.
Animal Instincts (Kindred Souls Book 1) Page 21
