Southern Shifters: Bad Moon Rising (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Carter, Mina

  “You have it?” The shifter’s eyes gleamed, a pulse of power in the air rippling against all of Beth’s protection spells. If that was his animal massing under the surface of the skin, then he was as powerful as all hell.

  “Yes.” She didn’t waste time on small talk and simply opened her pack. With the precise nature of the instructions, they couldn’t be anything else other than the buyer’s men…err, wolves…whatever.

  Both of their eyes shone as she pulled the small velvet-wrapped bundle from the depths of the bag. Slowly, she unwrapped the edge, just enough to show the tip of the claw. Only a bit of it, and definitely none of the ancient, papery skin. The less she had to see the ugly-ass thing the better.

  “That’s it,” Mobster one said, holding out his hand.

  “Be my guest,” she replied, handing the thing over and managing to suppress a shudder. She couldn’t rid her mind of the thought that there had been a wolf with paws that size, but more than that, that something had ripped a fucking finger off the thing.

  “My god, it’s real…here.” The guy on the right spoke for the first time, reaching a reverent hand out to hover over the wrapped object. His gaze flicked to hers and hardened. Every survival instinct she had flared to life.

  “Unbelievers should not touch the claw.”

  Both shifter’s looked at her, dangerous rumbles spilling from their throats. The sound swelled and grew louder, as though it were all around her. A slight noise behind her caught her attention, a small crunch like the sound a nose made when flattened with a fist. She’d broken enough in her time to recognize it. The problem was there shouldn’t be anyone behind her, and the only time shifters made that noise was when they were about to change form.

  And from there, things took a sharp left turn and a nose dive into FUBAR territory. She turned her head to see several large forms emerge out of the darkness. Her eyes widened. How the fuck had they managed to get past the perimeter wards without them going off like a Fourth of July parade?

  The moonlight glittered off medallions on furry chests and she had her answer. They were spelled up, unusual for wolves. Typically they eschewed all forms of magic.

  “Unbelievers who touch the claw must die.” The raspy voice came from in front of her. She snapped her head around to see the mafia brothers start to shift. She didn’t wait around for them to burst out of their clothing—once you’d seen one wolf change, you’d seen them all—and no way was she waiting for those behind her to reach her.

  Yelling a wordless battle cry, she cast and threw fireballs in the same movement, yanking power from the air around her. Because they were on the fly, they weren’t as powerful as she was capable of. Still, they were plenty powerful enough to set emerging fur on fire as they splashed across the chests of the two wolves in front of the SUV.

  Kicking the bike into gear, she twisted the throttle with a savage yank and hauled the thing around. The back tire kicked a spray of dirt and stones up into the faces of three wolves closing in on her left. They snarled and leapt after her but the tires bit down and got traction, shooting her forward. Her lips didn’t stop moving as she cast again and again, throwing spells around her in a scatter pattern as wolves came out of nowhere. They ran at the bike, one getting through her spell array. She screamed the words of another incantation as it leapt over her, gutting it in the air even as a claw raked across her side.

  Fire and pain stole her breath as her skin parted, but somehow she stayed on the bike. Gunning the engine, she burst free of the circle of wolves, picking up speed and leaving them in the darkness behind her.

  She rode and rode, not daring to stop in case she passed out, or worse, the wolves caught up with her. How long it took her to get home she didn’t know. The journey passed in a haze of darkened scenery and rushing roads until she found herself in her garage slumped over the bike’s gas tank.

  “Uhhh,” she managed, heaving herself off the machine and staggering toward the basement steps. She needed to cast a circle and some heavy-fucking-duty healing spells. Make up a poultice of wolfsbane to stop the lycan infection setting in.

  The doorway loomed ahead of her and she aimed herself toward it with faltering footsteps. She just had to hang on a little while longer… One foot in front of the other. She could do this, just like when she was eleven.

  She was already a dead woman, and the dead couldn’t die twice.

  Right?

  * * *

  “Shit, shit, shit. Too late,” Sully muttered to himself as he slid the big SUV around the corner and got eyes on the parking lot beyond. The place looked like it had been ground zero for a fight between the special effects department from a horror film and the magical equivalent of Genghis Khan.

  Wolves in half-shift staggered about, the humanoid form making him curl his lip back. All shifters could go halfway, but generally only wolf-kind bothered. That was wolves though, all bluster and bullshit, they were more concerned with appearances and what looked cool than what was efficient.

  He pulled the vehicle to a stop beside the guy he recognized from the file as their leader. Juris Virsnieks. A nasty POS, the agency had a file on him that was a mile long.

  Rolling the window down, Sully caught the guy’s gaze and nodded in acknowledgment. Juris excused himself from his conversation and walked over.

  “Lion,” he nodded, his heavily accented voice grating right on Sully’s last nerve.

  He had no idea why the guy insisted on calling him by his animal type, and the urge to beat some respect into the man rolled through his blood. But, since he was still on the museum’s payroll, and therefore technically that of the Latvarian Collective, he had to play nice.

  For now.

  “Virsnieks,” he nodded back and looked around. “Seems like you’ve had a little trouble here.”

  Sully studied the scene, reading it with ease. It didn’t take much to work out that the Collective had underestimated their quarry. Blast marks drew magical symbols over the ground and nearby walls, visual graffiti that left clues as to the magic that had been used. Three wolves were down, two in human form, which meant they’d had time to revert before they’d died. But there was one, massive, furry corpse lying on its side. A length of grey and red rope drew a trail a good few feet away from the body.

  He whistled softly to himself. For a shifter to stay in animal form after death was rare. Really rare. It meant that it had died too quickly or painfully for the change to kick in. It didn’t surprise him. From what he’d seen back at the museum, his girl packed a hell of a magical punch.

  “Nothink ve can’t handle,” the wolf sniffed. “Ve have recovered the claw…von of our agents was able to deal with the traitor who wished it for himself and all that remains now is to sacrifice the unbeliever who dared to defile it vith her touch.”

  “Wait, what?” Sully blinked in surprise, pinning the other shifter with a hard look. “So one of your own hired her to steal the damn thing? You got your claw back. What more do you want?”

  Juris looked at him as though he were one sandwich short of a picnic. “Exactly vot I said. Only our high priests may touch the claw so the woman needs to die. I have sent for Ksenija, one of our best trackers.”

  The world froze around Sully, time slowing until he heard his own lungs creak as he drew a sharp breath in.

  Everyone in the dark belly of the paranormal underworld knew the name Ksenija. Known as the White Wolf for her coat, she was a tracker and assassin for the wolf clans. Utterly ruthless, she was said to be impossible to escape. If they put Ksenija on the Cat’s tail, then time was running out. Fast.

  “Seems like you have everything in hand then.” He indicated the carnage in the parking lot. “Do you need agency help to clear this lot up? We have a police cordon around the entire block but we are going to need to give access to these businesses before too long.”

  Even as the last words left his mouth, three black vans turned the corner and split up. One pulled up by the furry body and a team of four m
en, wolves obviously, jumped out. As Sully watched, they set about wrapping the corpse in plastic and hefting it onto the back of the van.

  “No,” Juris’ voice was clipped and business-like. “Ve have everything under control. Thank you for your assistance. Ve can take it from here. Your help is no longer required.”

  The hell it wasn’t.

  Sully bit back his snarl and kept his comment to himself. Instead, he plastered a bored look over his face and nodded. “Cool beans, I’ll get out of your hair then. As always, a pleasure doing business with you.”

  Without waiting for the man’s answer, he put the vehicle in reverse and backed up. When he reached the road, he swung the SUV in a hard arc and set off. He kept his expression level as he passed the police cordon. The humans manning it had no idea what was going on streets away, hidden by buildings.

  Less than a hundred meters away, he turned onto a side street and pulled up. Yanking his cell from his pocket, he pulled up his contact list and punched the number for the head office, flicking it to speakerphone.

  “Ris’ office. How may I help you?” The cool, calm and collected voice of Mandy, the receptionist, filled the air in the vehicle.

  “Mand, it’s Sully…put me through to Ris, would you?” he asked, ducking his head to watch the cars pass by on the road behind him through the rear-view mirror. Three big black vans were followed by the other SUVs belonging to the Collective. Huh, they were efficient. He’d give them that.

  “Hold please.”

  Within a few seconds, he heard a click and a male voice answered. “Sul, how you doing? About that game…I can’t make it I’m afraid, bud, got plans that night.”

  Sully sighed and rubbed at his eyes. Ris was a seer. A good one. His predictions were almost ninety-nine percent accurate. Unfortunately, like most seers, he wasn’t always in the same timeline as everyone else.

  “You’re ahead again, man. I haven’t asked you about a game yet…but I was planning to ask if you wanted to catch the one at the end of the month. Since you can see into the damn future, surely you could ensure you’re going to be free that day?”

  “Yeah…yeah… you wanna go and tell the yeti that’s gonn—”

  “Not listening!” Sully shoved his fingers in his ears. “La la la, la la la la…”

  After a moment, he cautiously unplugged them, relieved to discover that Ris had stopped talking. “You know you’re not supposed to tell us stuff like that.”

  “Ugh, I know.” The Seer sighed. “I forget. Whatcha need?”

  “The Cat case just got a shitload heavier.” Sully reached up and scrubbed a hand through his close-cropped hair. Military before he’d joined the agency, he kept it short for convenience. Most Lions preferred to let it grow. He wasn’t most lions, though. “The Latvarians called in Ksenija.”

  Ris whistled. “Fuck me, they’re not pulling punches, are they? What happened at the drop?”

  Paper rustled, indicating he was going through files. “I’ve not looked at this case much but isn’t the Cat supposed to be straight down the line…always delivers?”

  “She does. She did. They still want her dead for touching it.”

  “Crap.”

  Sully snorted a laugh, but couldn’t conceal the edge of a growl. “Yeah, that about covers it. I need you to pull something special for me. We need to find her before Ksenija does…because you know as well as I do, there’s no getting away from that bitch.”

  There was thoughtful silence on the other end of the line. Then Ris spoke, his voice careful. “So the problem there is? Seems like Ksenija would be doing our job for us. The Cat won’t be stealing any more artifacts. The paranormal antiquities world will be safe.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Sully growled. “Yeah, she’s a thief and breaking the law, but that doesn’t mean she deserves the White Wolf on her tail. Check out her file on the system. See what she does to her victims…”

  There were a few seconds of concerted key-tapping and then another, more telling silence.

  “Shit, you’re right.” Ris’ voice echoed with the same concern that rolled through Sully himself. Gone was the laid-back joking attitude as he cleared his throat. “Okay, grab a coffee and let me see what I can do. There are a few favors I can call in.”

  “Thanks man, I appreciate it.”

  Cutting the connection, he leaned his head back and went over everything he knew. The Cat was small physically, no bigger than five three or four, and an adult. She had to be. The curves he’d seen a glimpse of encased in the black-on-black clothes were all woman. Her eyes were brown and her lips were so soft and kissable…

  His lion roared, the need to burst from the car and change form to chase her down making his skin itch and his fangs, buried in his gums, ache. He needed to find her, now, before the White Wolf did. Because once that bitch had her trail, it was all over.

  The cell rang and he burst into movement, almost putting his finger through the screen to hit the answer button. Shifters went through a lot of cell phones. So much so, they were kept in stock at the office. Claws and touch-screens didn’t play well together.

  “What you got for me?” He knew it was Ris, so no need for small talk.

  The seer’s voice was strained when he replied. “Meredith James. She’s renting a property in a town not far from where you are now. Deal’s Gap. Sending the address to your cell.”

  Eyes narrowing, Sully punched the location into the car’s sat nav. It wasn’t far. He could be there in an hour or two.

  “Got it. Thanks, man. I hope you didn’t have to jump through too many hoops to get this.”

  Ris was one of the agency’s…odder operatives…and for an organization that counted all sorts of weird paranormal shit, that was saying a lot. As a rule, Ris rarely headed out into the field, even though he was rated for it, and preferred to support ops from the control rooms back at the offices.

  His official record listed him as a seer, but everyone knew he was far more than that. Most seers were hit or miss at the best of times, but Ris? He knew things. Things the others didn’t and sometimes when he spoke, his voice resonated in a way an ordinary person’s just didn’t. It made Sully’s lion whine and cover its ears.

  “Nothing I can’t handle. You go get your girl.” The seer’s reply was terse, which made Sully feel like even more of a shit. Whatever favor the guy had had to pull, it was obviously going to cost him dearly. Then Ris chuckled, “If I’m sacrificing myself on the altar of knowledge here, you’d better make it fucking count.”

  “Are you sure?” Sully’s eyebrow winged up at the change in tone. Whatever Ris had to do, he was still joking, so it couldn’t be that bad…surely? “I mean, I didn’t want to get you into serious shit over this. If you’re in trouble, I’m there, man.”

  A deep laugh from the other end of the line filled the car as Sully put it in gear and pulled off. “Thanks for the offer, bro, but I got this one. Let’s just say there was a price for the info…and we aren’t talking monetarily. What can I say? I’m irresistible. There’s a certain…shall we call her a lady for want of a better term…whose price for what you needed was a bit of what she needed, beneath the sh—”

  “Yeah, yeah. I got it. I don’t need you to paint me a picture.” Sully barked a laugh. Un—fucking—believable. The guy got to get laid to pay for intel from a grass. Why couldn’t he get jobs like that?

  As soon as the thought crossed his mind, his lion snarled. It didn’t want them sleeping with random women, just one. The Cat. Meredith James, he corrected. Lovely name, could be shortened to Merry. Somehow, though, it didn’t feel right. Didn’t ring true. Could it be a false name?

  “Right, I’m on it. You enjoy your…evening.” With a chuckle, Sully cut the connection. Putting his foot down, he turned onto the interstate.

  The clock was ticking and he needed to find Meredith James as soon as possible, if not sooner.

  4

  Deal’s Gap was…nice. For a paranormal town.

&
nbsp; Recognizing the name, Sully had done a little research on the drive over. He’d been right. Deal’s Gap was a sanctuary town. Home to the weird and wonderful of the primarily shifter world, it also welcomed other types of paranormals. As long as everyone played nice, and from the rumors about the town, there were more than enough measures in place to ensure everyone did.

  Would they welcome a warlock as well, he mused? Because if Meredith James wasn’t one, he’d eat his hat. Turning the wheel, he pulled the big SUV into a small residential street off one of the main roads. It was a dead end, which meant the house he needed was one of the ones along…he narrowed his eyes, focusing on a smaller property in the centre of a group of three. That one.

  Slowing the vehicle, he took his time approaching, all his senses on alert. The house was two stories and brick clad with a sweeping alpine style roof. Red curtains and cream blinds decorated the windows. The garden was neat, the block paving of the driveway that led up to a double garage well maintained. Huh, he hadn’t seen the Cat as much of a gardener.

  No vehicles. Nothing seemed out of place. Hope started to wind through him. Perhaps he’d gotten here before the White Wolf… It was possible. Meredith had fled the scene on a motorcycle, and it would take more than even preternatural senses to follow a trail that quickly. No way could even the White Wolf track her prey as swiftly.

  Pulling to a stop, Sully cut the engine and got out. Just a guy checking on a friend, he told himself. No need to check in with the local authorities, even though protocol said he should. In a town like this, he doubted there were any human authorities and he sure as shit didn’t want to tangle with any shifter politics without a backup team.

  His lion growled softly as he walked up the driveway to the front door, the creature on alert for any change in their environment that might indicate danger. The door was closed, no signs of damage or forced entry. Two small planters either side of it sat innocently. Nothing doing here.