by Dannika Dark
The radio wasn’t too loud. Crush liked to hear himself think at work, and he also liked to shoot the breeze with his workers. I listened to their banter and the clinking of tools as I sat on the tailgate, swinging my legs and watching his coworkers replacing a part on one of the vehicles. He employed three men, and even though those guys could have taken over all the labor, Crush wasn’t the kind of guy to sit at a desk. He liked to get his hands dirty, and people trusted him.
I snapped a thread loose from my cutoff jeans and wound it around my finger. “What ever happened to Mr. Bojangles?”
Crush wiped his dirty hands on his blue coveralls and strode out to meet me. “That old mutt that used to hang around here and piss on my tires? Why the hell did you give him that name?”
“Because he could dance.”
“He could also take a piss on my tires.”
I laughed. “Don’t act like you didn’t care. I saw the food you left by the gate each night when we went home.”
“Well, I couldn’t have a dog dropping dead from starvation outside my shop. Bad for business.” Crush took off his cap and wiped his sweaty brow with the back of his arm. “I don’t know what happened to that dog. He just quit coming around.”
I looked away, guilty that I had quit coming around just like that old dog.
“You thinking of getting a job as a hood ornament?” he asked.
I swung my legs and grinned. “I’m just bringing in business with my stunning good looks.”
He mashed his lips together and scrutinized me as if I were speaking truth and not horsing around. He’d had a steady stream of visitors lately, a lot of them giving me long looks. Those who hadn’t attended his party probably wanted to stop by and check out this Mage daughter of his. But I didn’t mind. It provided a much-needed distraction. My father was entrenched in the Breed world, and I wanted to meet his people and find out what kind of loyalty they had to him, if any.
“I feel like you’re my guard dog sometimes.” He put his cap back on and gave me a stern look. “You can go off and do girly things, you know. You don’t have to watch me every minute.”
“I like hanging out with my daddy. Something wrong with that?”
He leaned in and sniffed. “I smell bullshit.”
I hopped off the tailgate and straightened out my T-shirt. “Maybe I can help you.”
He barked out a laugh, sunlight glinting off his silver tooth. “What do you know about cars?”
“I can learn. Teach me something easy to start.”
He got all squinty-eyed and dipped his chin. “You already have a job.”
I pushed up on my toes. “Maybe I want to try something new.”
Crush cocked his head to the side. “And maybe I can’t see the allure of working in a dirty garage and getting shit wages.”
“I’ll second that,” Red yelled out.
Crush lifted his head. “Keep it up, Red. You’re up for a raise next week, so don’t piss me off.”
Red looked like he wanted to say something but kept his mouth shut.
I looked at Crush. “Why do they call him Red if he’s bald?”
Crush tugged on his goatee, which was long enough that he sometimes bound it with a rubber band while working. “Red’s a Shifter, so my guess is he lost that red hair about a hundred years ago. Some nicknames stick.”
“How come if he’s that old he’s working for you? Doesn’t he have enough money to retire by now?”
Crush scratched his nose, leaving a dark smudge. “Shifters had it rough back in the day. Some were slaves; some lived as rogues, hiding in caves; some traveled to escape extermination. Most of these guys are tradesmen for lack of options. They don’t have a lot of money or power, but they have something other immortals don’t have: land. After their emancipation, a lot of it was set aside for Shifter groups, and they get dibs on the larger properties. But not everyone can join a pack and have that security. Guys like Red slip through the cracks and struggle to make ends meet. It’s not my place to judge a man. Red’s a good mechanic, and I pay him what I can afford to.”
It was interesting to see this angle of Shifter life. Not knowing a lot about it, I’d just assumed that rogues didn’t want to live by the rules. But this visit was teaching me that sometimes they weren’t picked. Maybe it had to do with their past or maybe slots were so limited that favoritism played a role. In any case, these men and women still had bills to pay.
My thoughts drifted to Switch. Dammit. I still felt shitty about how we’d left things. I hadn’t seen or spoken to him since the party, mostly because I thought he’d eventually stop by to explain why he’d taken off so abruptly.
A sharp cry sounded from above, and we looked skyward. I squinted at a large bird circling overhead. It suddenly dove in our direction, and we recoiled as it swooped in and landed on the edge of my truck.
“Blue,” I said, recognizing the peregrine falcon and her mystical blue eyes. She was a gorgeous creature, steel grey on top and a white underbelly with dark horizontal stripes. As tempting as it was to stroke her soft feathers, that would be too weird since we knew each other.
Crush pointed. “You know that turkey?”
Blue cocked her head to the side and cast a sharp gaze at him.
“Ignore him,” I said to her. “He thinks he’s funny.”
She lifted her foot and drew my attention to the long tube hanging from her neck. I pulled the cord off so she wouldn’t strangle herself shifting back. Inside was a rolled-up piece of paper.
Crush leaned in. “Is that for me?”
“No,” I murmured, reading the short note. It had an address and time, along with a message at the bottom that said: “Be there.” Signed by Viktor. “I have to go out tonight. Boss’s orders.”
“Why didn’t he call?”
I smiled sheepishly. “I left my phone on the kitchen table?”
Crush’s eyebrows sank lower. “Sounds like you’re avoiding something.”
“Can we talk about that later?” I steered my attention back to Blue. “I’d invite you to shift so we can catch up, but it’s too early in the day for my father to be exposed to a naked woman.”
“Christ, Raven,” Crush grumbled, stalking back to the garage.
I threaded my fingers through my hair. “I hope everyone’s okay at the mansion, but I guess I’ll find out tonight. Is this something I have to dress up for?”
I had to laugh at my question since I didn’t speak falcon. Blue kicked away from the truck and took off. I watched her briefly circle the blue sky before turning east and flying away.
The address was definitely in the Breed district and in a wealthy area of town. Odds were this was a party, and that meant something more formal than jeans. I didn’t have much time left in the day to buy a dress and get myself ready. And I definitely didn’t want to attend this party alone, which meant there was one more thing I had to do first.
Grovel.
CRUSH DIDN’T HESITATE GIVING me Switch’s address after I explained that I wanted to apologize for a misunderstanding we’d had at the party. Crush didn’t ask for details because he knew how important it was for people to bury the axe. It didn’t feel right ending it like that, and I wanted Switch to tell his own side of the story.
When I pulled up to the Cherrywood Apartments, I was surprised to see what a dump it was. The neglected complex looked more like a cheap motel. There were long walkways on the first and second floors, green doors, and forget about landscaping. Even the garbage bin in the parking lot was overflowing.
While walking down a pathway that led to the building, I spied Switch sitting in the pool area. I opened the wrought iron gate, then dodged a low branch from an oversized bush and cruised over to the lounge chairs.
“It’s warm, but it’s not that warm,” I said.
Switch lifted his shades and squinted. Wearing nothing but a pair of black swim trunks, he looked like a man on vacation as he relaxed on the chaise. “If you sit in the sun long enough, it feels hot.”
I sat on the edge of the chair next to him and laced up one of my sneakers that had come untied. “I’m sorry about what I said at the party. I didn’t know the whole story.”
He let his black shades drop back over his eyes and turned his head away. “And now you do?”
“People talk. You know that as well as I do. And they have a lot of good things to say about you, Switch. Believe it or not, you and I have something in common.”
“And what’s that?”
“We ignore the rules. That asshole deserved what he got. You know it, I know it, and everyone else knows it.”
He stroked the scruff on his chin. “Doesn’t really matter much. People are more concerned about who gets dibs on a sex offender than they are about justice being served. I can’t join a good pack. Did they tell you that part?”
“I doubt that’s true.”
He slowly turned his head to look at me. “I got a few offers, but they were low-ranking packs, Raven. The kind you take when there’s nothing left. The good Packmasters won’t touch me with a ten-foot pole. No matter how much people respect me for standing up for that kid, they won’t fully trust me as a packmate.”
“It’s not like he was your Packmaster.”
Switch shook his head, his lips thinning. “You don’t get it. That’s not the way it works with wolves. There are certain rules you abide by. Maybe the Packmaster was pissed off because I made him look incompetent for not having noticed a pedophile right beneath his nose. I don’t know. But the way other alphas see it, I’m a maverick who doesn’t respect a Packmaster’s authority. I don’t regret what I did. There’s an old saying by Edmund Burke: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. But what he never mentions is how doing the right thing comes with sacrifice.” Switch gazed at the sunlight glimmering on the surface of the water. “And then to see that look in your eye, you questioning if I was one of those creeps. Goddammit.”
Switch snatched his shirt off the chair and stalked off. He flung open a rear gate as he exited the pool area.
“Wait!” I jogged after him and grasped his arm. “How was I supposed to know?”
He wrenched away, his pace quickening.
“You won’t even give me a chance to say I’m sorry? Dammit, Switch! I was drunk, and I didn’t realize—”
The toe of my shoe caught on a shallow step, and I stumbled, my right knee breaking the fall. I rolled over and sat up on the step, my hands covering the spot where I felt stinging pain. Blood trickled from a scrape on my knee, and I heaved a sigh.
Switch appeared in front of me and slid his shades on top of his head. “Come inside. I think I might have some bandages.”
“Don’t bother.”
I reached out until my fingers found a patch of sun. The light warmed my fingertips, the heat increasing exponentially as I extracted healing light with careful precision. Once it was absorbed in my body and fused with my core light, the wound sealed up, leaving behind streaks of bright blood and grit from the concrete.
Switch sat next to me. “That’s some gift you’ve got. A Mage, huh? Tell me, what’s it like to have all that power?”
“Confusing. Badass. Frustrating. Powerful. I only recently learned how to flash and heal myself, so I guess I’m still a work in progress. I don’t know how I survived all those years on the streets.”
He dipped his chin and frowned. “You lived on the streets? For years?”
“I had nowhere else to go. Anyhow, I learned how to take care of myself. And I learned that sometimes you have to do things for the greater good even if it doesn’t benefit you in any way. So I get your story, and I respect you for it. I’m just sorry the Packmasters won’t give you a second chance.”
He shrugged and swept his hair back. “They’re right not to. Alphas protect the pack. Sometimes they have to kick out a packmate because they don’t trust the woman or man they decided to mate. Joining a pack isn’t a job application—it’s a family application. Strong packs are obedient to the rules.”
It made me think of the way Viktor ran Keystone and some of the choices he’d made. It wasn’t entirely dissimilar, and maybe that was part of his pack upbringing. But it sounded like an actual pack was more rigid, and that made sense since they weren’t just coworkers like Keystone but family.
“At least I have steady work,” he said. “They still trust me with their kids, if not more. The larger packs in the territory still won’t hire me though. That was good money.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the apartments. “Do they pay you in beer? You can do better than this.”
“News flash—some people actually save their money. Do you think I want to waste it on some fancy apartment? All I need is my bike and a roof over my head. That money’s for my future, and a smart man lives conservatively.”
“Well, at least you have a pool.”
He smiled handsomely. His full lips and broad mouth made me feel at ease with him, like he was a man I could trust.
“I could have run off to another city. Started over with a new identity. It would have been impossible to get in with a pack; they do thorough background checks. But at least with a new name, I wouldn’t get the look that people around here sometimes give me. Staying was the hardest fucking decision I ever made, but it was the right one. I’m not a wolf who tucks his tail between his legs. I still have to work closely with the packs so they don’t consider me a threat.”
“Will you forgive me?” I asked.
“Nothing to forgive. You didn’t know, and I haven’t talked about it in a while, so I reacted. I just didn’t expect a remark like that from someone I used to crush on.”
I jerked my head back. “Excuse me?”
He stirred with laughter. “Don’t look so surprised. Why do you think I jumped at the chance to take you to that school dance thing?”
“Because your dad forced you?”
“Well, that too.” He gazed off toward the pool and pinched his chin.
“So why didn’t you ever ask me out later? Is it because I was human?”
“No. It’s because you were fifteen. I still thought you were a pretty girl with the coolest eyes. Not to mention you were outspoken, and we wolves like that kind of thing,” he said with a wink. “Anyhow, you were a child. Not to mention Crush’s little girl. I didn’t feel like signing my death warrant.”
“Just as well. I didn’t really start getting serious with guys until after I left home anyhow.”
“Good.”
“What do you mean good?”
Switch scooted to face me and used his wadded-up shirt to clean the blood and dirt off my knee. He smelled musky from sitting out in the sun. “Because a kid should be a kid for as long as they can.”
I couldn’t stop staring at his pecs as he wiped my knee. Switch didn’t have any tattoos aside from the one on his left arm, at least none that I could see, and usually guys who started young accumulated more over time. Maybe he wanted everyone to admire his body instead of his ink, and there was much to admire.
“Well, Switch, since you never got around to asking me out on a date, I want to ask you.”
He dragged his eyes up to mine. “On a date?”
“Sort of. Not a real date. I know how you Shifters don’t like to see people outside of your Breed, but there’s a thing I have to go to tonight, and I really don’t want to go alone. There’s someone there, and I’m afraid it’ll be awkward.”
He twirled the dirty T-shirt in a circle until it wrapped into a ball in his hand. “So you need a buffer.”
I cringed at the word. The last thing I wanted to do was piss him off again. “Not a buffer. I need an escort. A little moral support wouldn’t hurt, but I’m in a bind. There isn’t much time left before I go, and Crush didn’t want me going alone. He know
s I’m Breed, but I guess he still wants to be a good parent and look out for me. He won’t go to a formal party, and if you don’t, he’ll probably set me up with one of his biker buddies. As long as I’m staying under his roof, I have to abide by his rules—even if it is just a visit.”
Switch stood up. “Tell Crush I’ll do it for him.”
I gave him a look of reproach. “But not for me?”
“You just asked me to be a buffer.” He regarded me for a moment and canted his head to the side. “Who’s the guy? Is he the one who gave you that necklace?”
I glanced down at the ruby. “What makes you say that?”
“Because a girl doesn’t wear a heart around her neck unless it means something.”
It did mean something, and I was afraid that tonight I was going to find out exactly what that was.
CHAPTER 8
I dismounted from Switch’s motorcycle and removed my helmet, my black hair spilling past my shoulders in tangled waves. “We could have taken my truck.”
He stayed seated on his bike and lifted his face shield. “What kind of man would I be if I let you drive?”
“I don’t know, but I’d be a hell of a lot warmer.”
Switch glanced down at my long legs and my short black dress. “I’d say you were plenty warm by the way you were riding my back.”
I shivered, unable to banter with him as my teeth were chattering.
The valet approached Switch and reached for the grip on the bike. “I’ll take it from here, sir.”
“I got it.” Switch gave me a curt nod before speeding away to park his own bike.
The night air carried a trace of perfume and cologne from the guests inside. Through the tall windows, I noticed the long gowns and usual archaic attire. At least it wasn’t a costume party.
I shoved the helmet into the valet’s hands and fluffed my wild hair. My black ankle boots complemented my dress, but the leather jacket was overkill. Crossing the threshold, I handed it over to the man at the door collecting coats and gaped at the room. Everything dripped gold, and the lights gleamed off the marble floor. Even the doors weren’t regular size but rather giant swinging doors with ornate handles and etched glass. There wasn’t a lot of furniture I could see, just a domed ceiling in a circular room. The dome had patterns etched in the glass, but it was difficult to observe the level of detail at night. It must have been a magnificent display in the daytime.
