by A. C. Arthur
Jax was with Rome. This shifter’s human half hadn’t always been a law-abiding citizen, so X assumed he’d probably done the actual breaking-and-entering part. Should anything ever be revealed about their existence, Rome, as an FL and the Assembly leader, would be protected at all costs—even if that meant another shadow took the fall for him. One of the new standards implemented and voted on by the Stateside Assembly—which consisted of each of the Faction Leaders and two officers from their Zone—was that the Assembly leader and the First Female were to be protected to the fullest extent.
X, Zach, and two of the other guards all used the penlights from their utility belts to search their surroundings while X waited to hear from Nick.
“We’re in,” Nick finally reported.
With that, X motioned for his team to follow him through two large areas that looked like they were used for storage. They were taking the stairs up to the next level when loud popping sounds ripped through the com link. X and the others all stopped on the stairs the moment they heard it.
“Shots fired!” Jax yelled through the link. “Second floor! Second floor!”
* * *
Thunder had kicked the door in on Sabar’s orders.
“I want these fuckers to know who they’re dealing with,” he’d said.
Darel knew exactly who they were dealing with and where this deal was heading. He’d shrugged, letting Thunder know from this point on it was his call.
Thunder, who didn’t mind making noise and getting things started, had lifted his size-twelve foot and kicked the door with the entire force of his three-hundred-pound body behind it. The wood squealed with displeasure as it cracked under the pressure and swung open, dangling off its hinges.
They walked in like characters from one of those old mobster movies, four big-ass shifters, two strapped and one drugged almost out of his mind. The other moved with a slow swagger because he knew exactly how this episode would end.
“Took you long enough,” Kensington said. He was the first to move toward the center of the room where Sabar had stopped walking.
“I’m here, now where’s my shit?” Sabar asked, his voice slurring on that last word.
Kensington’s head tilted as if he, too, were questioning Sabar’s stability. Darel knew Sabar was wondering what the hell was going on, had been for the last few days. He’d found a good bit of humor in the turn of circumstances himself.
“You okay?” was Kensington’s question.
Sabar went to take a step forward, probably thinking to get in Kensington’s face, maybe threaten the guy again, possibly scare him a little.
Not.
Tonight was definitely not Sabar’s night. Inside Darel there was a flicker of regret for what he knew was about to come. On the outside there was a smile, like a dying ember in Darel’s dark cavernous form.
“I’m fuckin’ … fuck … I’m fine. Where’s my shit?” This time when Sabar went to take a step his legs gave out.
Before he could hit the ground, Palermo was behind him, catching Sabar in his arms. When Sabar looked up it was into Palermo’s face. Darel knew the moment recognition hit Sabar.
“This guy’s a joke, man. Get him out of here,” Sidney said. “I’m not doing business with no druggie.”
“You’re doing this deal,” Kensington said, using both his hands to push Sidney back as the younger man had already started for the door. “Part of that money’s mine and I’m not letting it walk away just because this fool decided to get high before he got here. You got the money?” he asked Darel over his shoulder.
Darel put down the briefcases he carried. He lay them both flat on the floor, flicking the clips that held them closed and pushing the tops open one at a time.
“What the fuck?” Kensington said the moment he saw what was inside.
“I told you! I told you!” Sidney yelled, breaking away from Kensington and rushing toward the door.
“Let him go. I’ll need him later,” Darel said with a look to Palermo.
“Crates are already in the truck,” Palermo, the Rogue shifter, told him.
“Good. Tie him up,” Darel told Black. “And kill him,” he told Palermo, nodding toward Sabar.
The shifter smiled, an evil grin spanning the width of his face. “With pleasure.”
“You … you sonofabitch…,” Sabar whispered. “All of you fucking basta…” The words were lost as he began to choke. It looked like on his own vomit.
“What the hell is going on here?” Kensington asked as his arms were pulled behind his back.
“I’ve got a message for Slakeman and anybody else who wants to know who’s running things around here,” Darel said, setting the timer on each of the briefcases in front of him.
“Wait! Wait!” Kensington argued. “We can work something out. I don’t have to report this to Slakeman. We can fix this! I can work it out!”
“You can die like the lying piece of shit you are,” Darel spat. He was about to turn and leave the room when Sabar shifted, his cat jumping immediately onto four legs. It lunged for Darel, who didn’t hesitate to shift himself. Now the two beasts faced each other, finally. This little standoff had been brewing with them for a few weeks now, ever since they’d fought the Faction Leader and his COs, when Sabar had basically ordered Darel to die while waiting for medical treatment. The arrival of Bianca and Sabar’s immediate fixation and shift of loyalty to her was the last straw. From that moment on Darel had known the two of them would never be the same again. Only one of them could walk out of this warehouse breathing tonight. And it wasn’t going to be Sabar.
When Sabar’s cat came up on its hind legs to swipe at Darel, shots rang out. Sabar’s cat took two in the upper quadrant and fell on its front paws with a thump. Two more bullets went into its flanks from one side, one gun. On the other side, another gun fired off two more rounds into the cat, until it lay still on the floor, blood quickly forming in a pool beneath it.
Darel watched the slow, labored heaving of the cat he’d once followed, the man he’d thought could bring him the salvation he wanted. He should have listened to his mother’s warnings. She’d said to never put your faith in a man, to not idolize a man as his god. Darel should have never idolized Sabar, should have never followed him blindly. But he had, because Sabar had been the only one there for him when he needed it most. Life changed, people changed, shifters turned, and women, like Bianca, who knew their worth always played the odds.
“Holy shit!” Kensington gasped.
The breathy words caught everyone’s attention.
Darel was still in cat form, Black and Thunder stood on either side of Sabar, while Palermo looked down on the cat, his gun still in hand. All three guns were instantly aimed at Kensington who, because he hadn’t been completely tied up before Sabar’s strike, had drawn his own weapon and was now pointing it directly at Sabar.
Thunder fired off one round, the bullet piercing through the wrist that held the gun. It clattered to the floor as Kensington grabbed his wrist, howling and screaming like a newborn baby. Darel jumped at that moment, catching the man completely off guard, knocking his large frame off balance. When they hit the floor Kensington tried to squirm away, but it was futile. Darel’s teeth were already digging into the man’s skin, clamping down at the base of his neck. He held on for endless seconds then finally pulled away, letting the blood drip from his teeth as he moved back over to the briefcases. Through the cat’s eyes it saw the red blur of numbers, heard a chirping.
“Yeah, we should get the hell out of here now,” Black said to him.
Palermo, the shifter that had come to him on loan from Bianca, looked down at his cat. “Let’s go. I’ve got an unmarked truck downstairs with all the ammo in it.”
Darel’s cat head moved, a chuffing sound slipping from its mouth. He was just about to shift back into human form when there was a loud roar and two cats came running into the room.
Chapter 29
At the sound of gunshots, X had taken the s
tairs two at a time. He was just pulling open the door to the second floor when he saw a cat charging down the hallway. Behind him were two shadow guards, guns aimed at the cat, bullets flying.
He instantly put an arm back behind him to block Caprise but she wasn’t there. As he looked back trying to see past the guards on his team, he didn’t glimpse her.
“There!” Zach yelled, pointing past X’s shoulder.
Caprise had already shifted and was chasing after the cat that had disappeared into one of the open doorways.
“Fuck!” X yelled, taking off behind her.
Inside the room a window was open, a thick stifling breeze mixing with the stale smell of carpet and air-conditioning. There was no one there. No cat. No Caprise.
Rome and his team came rushing in behind him. “Two down in the other room. Two on foot, they may have shifted by now.”
“Caprise went after the cat,” X said, his chest heaving as he inhaled and exhaled deeply. “They went that way.”
There was a smaller door that looked like it linked the two suites. X took off through the door, heard the growling, and shifted without another thought. Rome had yelled his name but X was too far gone. His mate was in here fighting another cat, hell if he was going to stay in human form and hope for the best.
The moment he entered the other room he saw them, near a window in what looked like a standoff. Caprise’s cat was sleek, her perfectly honed muscles bunching with each step she took. In the dark room her eyes looked like melted honey. Her opponent was a slim cat with a yellow coat and large distinctive rosettes. He watched Caprise carefully, moving only slightly to one side. Caprise followed suit. The male came closer to the window, its nose scenting the air.
He was searching for someone, waiting for his getaway. Caprise watched him carefully, stepping each step with him. So when he jumped at her, X thought he would catch Caprise off guard. He charged in only to witness Caprise come up on her hind legs and ward off the male’s instant attack. Teeth bared, she swiped with vicious strength at the cat until it was falling back on its haunches. X was still going in; he wanted this cat dead, this fight over. Caprise turned to him then with a roar, one that reached beyond his usual instincts, shooting straight to his heart. This was her kill, that’s what she was trying to tell him. For whatever reason, it was hers alone.
His cat stopped, even if the human inside wanted to push her back and finish this off. It paced in a semicircle, never once taking its eyes off her. She jumped through the air in one fluid movement that was picture-perfect, landing on the other cat’s back and sinking her teeth into its neck. With all her strength she shook her head until the action broke the other cat’s neck.
At that moment sirens blared and bright light speared in through the windows from a helicopter flying overhead.
“Company’s coming,” Nick said through the com link. “We need to move!”
“X,” Rome called to his longtime friend as he watched his mate making what was most likely her first kill.
X moved to Caprise as she finally dislodged her teeth from the male cat. She looked up at him with another roar, a territorial one. X continued closer, butting his head against her flanks.
“We need to move now!” Rome yelled to X. Then he turned to Eli and the rest of his team. “Four of you go get that Rogue body out of the other room. The rest of you head down to the basement and find the truck. X?” he called to his friend again.
With a deafening roar X stood over the body.
“We’ll take care of the body. You and Caprise need to go now! Get to the truck before they come in,” Rome told them.
Police were coming in, there was no stopping that. All Rome could do now was as much damage control as possible.
* * *
They took the same steps they’d used to get to the second floor, Caprise in front and X right behind her. Funny how the positions had changed.
When they arrived at the basement door, X shifted. He instantly held up a hand. “No, not you. Not yet,” he told her. “I’ll get to the truck and find you something to put on first.”
If she were human she would have said something, probably something sarcastic. But as a cat she simply eyed him like she’d rather have his ass for dinner. To that he laughed, then slipped through the door.
He was back in minutes. One of the other guards had already made it down here. The SUV they rode in was backed up to this door as close as they could get it. Rome was coming down right behind them. Nick and his team had already announced they were in their vehicle. Caprise shifted the moment he came through the door. X handed her the sweats and waited while she hurriedly slipped them on.
“See you covered yourself as well,” she said, moving past him through the door.
“Don’t want to give these cops a free show,” he told her, his voice sounding a lot lighter than he actually felt.
It wasn’t until they were in the back of the truck, sirens growing closer, that X was able to marginally relax. He reached for her hand and was pleased to find it right there, ready and waiting.
“I’m fine,” she told him.
He could only nod, still holding on to her hand tightly.
The minute Rome was back in the truck they took off, the truck driving through a back gate that was already open. At that Rome gave X a knowing look. But X didn’t say a word, just sat back in the seat and held on to Caprise.
Saturday, 2:35 AM
They were in the dining hall this time. Rome, X, Nick, and their mates at their usual table in the front of the room with the guards seated at two of the long tables, which were pulled closer to the front for the purpose of this meeting. There were too many of them to hold the debriefing in Rome’s suite, and he really didn’t want them in there. This had been a long night; when he retired to his suite, he wanted to be alone with his wife. Rome stood and they all looked to him with deference and respect. He was happy he could look to his side and see Kalina. Having a mate really had completed him.
“Somebody wanted us there tonight. I don’t know who but I think I might know why. One of the cats we brought back with us was Sabar Tavares. At least that’s Ary’s preliminary finding. She was able to identify him in cat form from a photo that had been passed out in the Gungi when Sabar left. There’s probably no way to trace his DNA,” he said with a sigh. “One of the things I plan to propose to the Assembly is blood samples from each shifter to go into our growing database. In the future, if one of us is killed in cat form, identification will be made a lot easier.”
X nodded in agreement. “I can coordinate that effort, once the Assembly has voted.”
“Good. The one that Caprise killed, we don’t have an identity for. When we entered the second-floor hallway, we scented already shifted cats; their angry roars were heard just before the gunshots. Once we got down to the room there were only two cats—one dead and the one that escaped us and Caprise eventually took down. The window was opened and Ralph Kensington was on the floor bleeding.”
“It was Lazarus,” Caprise put in. “The one I killed. I remember him from the time I was in the Gungi. I saw him meeting with Rolando and then I saw him shift. I remembered his cat because I was amazed by how bright its fur was. And when I saw him again the scent was the same.”
“Rolando was the Lormenia shifter that X took out in the city?” Nick asked, looking at his sister.
She nodded. “Yes. He is the shifter that I met in the Gungi and who tracked me here.”
Caprise didn’t say anything else, and that was just fine. X had filled Rome in on the specifics of the kill and Caprise’s involvement. Caprise indicated she wanted to tell Nick herself. Rome didn’t see any problem with that.
“So if Rolando is gone, then what was Lazarus doing in that building?” Nick asked.
“Working for Sabar is my guess,” X said.
Rome nodded. “Kensington was there, so this must have been some type of meeting with the Rogues.”
“You think Kensington knew about the sh
adows?” Zach asked.
Nick nodded. “Melanie Keys was having an affair with Kensington. She hooked him up with Sabar. And we know he doesn’t give a crap about who knows he’s a shifter or not. So it’s a good chance he did.”
“So it’s a good thing he’s dead,” Rome added.
“What I’d like to know is who called you down there and why?” Kalina asked.
“I’ve got the number that called Rome. I’ll trace it and get back to you later,” X said.
“Ary and Papplin are in the crematory preparing to get rid of the cat bodies,” Rome said, finishing up his briefing. It had been Papplin’s idea to build ovens, similar to the ones found in funeral homes, to dispense of bodies; burning was the only way to keep their secret safe. A shifter body could be dissected, researched, and basically discovered. That was one of Rome’s biggest fears.
“So for now Athena’s is shut down and Sabar is presumed dead,” Nick said.
Rome inhaled slowly. “Yes. That’s what it appears. But we’re still going to keep our eyes open. Somebody definitely got out of that warehouse just like we did, because that back gate shouldn’t have been open.”
“None of those gates should have been open,” Eli added. “That place should have been locked up tighter than Fort Knox.”
Ezra nodded. “You’re right. I think it was a setup.”
“But who would want us there? Who would know to call Rome and tell him about Sabar?” Zach asked.
“Inside job,” X said. “Sabar had to have pissed somebody off. Kensington probably didn’t know about the connection or I’m not sure he would have proceeded with this deal. He’s not too keen on Rome since the law firm declined to donate to his campaign.”
“At least we’ve confirmed that Kensington was brokering deals for Slakeman,” Nick said.
“But did Slakeman know what type of people or non-humans he was dealing with?” Rome asked. “Either way, I don’t think we’re completely out of the dark. There’s something else going on; we just have to figure out what it is before it’s too late.”
