by Meg Ripley
That was the worst thought of all. He’d brought her there, knowing there was a possibility of danger, knowing just what they were to each other. She had to know it, too, but that was beside the point. Without discussing it, Hudson knew it was his job to keep her safe. Even if you took the whole fated part out of the equation, he was the one who had experience with the Force.
As he’d checked the basement, the backyard, and the bedrooms, his blood had raced through his body with such force, it made him dizzy. He felt the shiver of fur that burst through his skin on the back of his neck, a sign of his other form as it demanded to come through and take care of this.
Fortunately, he’d finally found reason and logic again when he’d sat down to listen to the neighborhood and located her just down the street. No matter how many times he’d told himself that it was all right, that knowledge hadn’t taken away the anger that had come along with his dismay at finding her gone.
He’d hardly seen her at all after that, even though they were supposed to be working together. He imagined that she was off hiding and pouting instead of just acting like a mature adult, but he knew he was doing the same thing.
As if his thoughts had summoned her, the door to the bedroom opened. Leona leaned against the doorway, her face a mask. “I ordered some pizza. Should be here in about half an hour, and I thought I should give you a heads up.”
He took off one side of his headphones and considered asking her if that was a dig at him, but he let it go. “Sounds good. I’ll be out in a minute. Hold on.” Hudson slapped the headphones back on, listening intently.
“We’re meeting down by the river. He says he’s got a small boat.”
Hudson worked quickly at his monitor, pinpointing the voice as coming from Kevin and Kim’s house. But he’d already known that. He recognized Kevin’s voice right away. It figured that the cleanest, nicest people in the area would be the culprits. He gestured for Leona to pick up the other set of headphones.
“You sure about this?” the other voice asked. It was another man, one Hudson didn’t recognize as readily. “I mean, it’s one thing to just hand over a few guns out of the back of a van, but—”
“Hey, I said I would get all our money back, didn’t I?” Kevin demanded.
Hudson knew from experience that the man probably wasn’t angry as much as anxious. People got themselves into these situations and didn’t know how to get back out, and that was how one small opportunity turned into a lifetime of crime.
“Yeah,” the second voice sighed. “I don’t like it, though. It sounds dangerous.”
“It’s no more dangerous than everything else we’ve been doing. Just make sure you keep your fucking mouth shut. We might be making good money for the pride, but I don’t want some loudmouth to expose us. Here’s what we’re going to do…”
Hudson and Leona were perfectly still as they listened. The equipment was automatically recording it all for them, and they could review it as many times as they needed to. When the second man left Kevin’s house and the conversation turned to what Kim was going to fix for dinner and when the boys had their next baseball game, Hudson finally took off his headphones. “I guess we’ve got our first lead.”
Leona smiled, a beautiful look on her that he didn’t see often enough. “I think this is what we needed. And I can’t say I’m surprised. Kevin seems like the type, and so does Sean.”
“Ah, you’ve got a good ear. I knew I’d heard the voice, but I hadn’t recognized it.” He’d met Sean at the block party, a highway engineer who was quiet and reserved. Definitely the nerdy type. These guys were in over their heads.
“He doesn’t talk much, but he has a very distinct accent when he does. Like he’s lived here for a long time, but he’s originally from a different area.” Her eyes shone with intrigue as she spoke, a reflection of how excited she got simply by doing her job.
“Well, you’re definitely right that this is what we needed. It’s difficult sitting behind enemy lines without doing anything. Now, let’s see. They’re meeting up at midnight. That gives me plenty of time to prepare. I’ll take a minimal amount of equipment, basically just enough to record everything that happens. I don’t plan to intercept anything at this time, and—”
“Hold on a second.” The smile had been wiped clean from her face. “I don’t like the way this sounds.”
“What do you mean?” He didn’t want to deal with female drama again. He had important work to do, and he could tell by the look on her face that she was more concerned about arguing with him again.
“You’re talking like you’re going to do this on your own,” she replied, her eyes narrowing.
Damn her, she was sexy even when she was angry with him. He cleared his throat. “Yes. I am. There’s no point in the two of us going when it’s a one-man job.”
“Somehow, I have a feeling that’s not quite the case.” She’d sat down to listen to the conversation, but she stood up again now, folding her arms in front of her chest. “I’m going with you.”
His mind flashed through all the possibilities, fueled by his terror when he’d found her missing the previous day. There were so many things that could happen. What if they were caught? What if they were found out and the enemy captured her? Flint and Garrison were still in D.C., and Drake had probably returned to California by now. It would take far too long to get any backup there, and he couldn’t risk it. “It’s a smarter idea for you to stay here. You’re less experienced, and—”
“Don’t feed me that bullshit,” she snapped. “I’ve got plenty of experience under my belt, or else you and the others never would’ve let me on the Force. You don’t just recruit people off the street, or really even at all. You’ve seen my service record, and it doesn’t even list the details of the work I did.”
Hudson pulled in a deep breath, trying to keep his patience. “That may be true, but you and I both know this is a completely different situation than when you were actively in the service. I shouldn’t have to remind you that you nearly gave yourself away yesterday.”
“I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration. I messed up, but I never said anything about who we really are or what we’re here for. We.” She emphasized the last word just as a spark of anger flashed in her eyes.
He couldn’t really blame her for being angry, but that didn’t make him feel any better about the situation. He wanted to kick himself for thinking she was any less capable of this. It made him look like such a sexist ass, even though her gender had absolutely nothing to do with his decision. Hudson bit the inside of his cheek, fighting the urge to stand up, pin her against the wall, and tell her exactly who was in charge. That wasn’t going to improve their working conditions, though. “Yeah. You’re right.”
She nodded, looking a little surprised at changing his mind so quickly. “Good. Let’s eat some pizza, and then we can come up with a plan.”
Hudson followed her out of the room, having been so engrossed in his thoughts that he’d nearly missed the sound of the delivery car pulling up the driveway.
Hudson crouched on the hill that lead down to the river, where a small boat bobbed in the water at anchor. One light on the bow indicated its presence and that someone occupied it, otherwise it might’ve gone completely unseen in the night.
Kevin and Sean had done their best to go unnoticed as they made their way to the meeting spot. They’d left their homes at different times and had taken different routes down to the waterfront. Anyone else might not have noticed them or thought anything about their little trip, but Hudson and Leona knew exactly what they were up to. They’d ensconced themselves not far from the riverbank just inside the tree line.
“Looks like Sean is backing up his van,” Leona whispered, a pair of binoculars pressed to her face. “They’ve got crates back there. Let’s see if they open them up.” She sounded just as excited to be out in the field for this mission as he was.
Hudson had to admit it was a nice break from being cooped up in the house. Pl
us, this felt like they were actually making progress. He hadn’t yet had proof that the trafficking was interfering with another pride as had been claimed, but they knew for sure now that their time in Illinois wasn’t being wasted. “I’ve got the mics and cameras ready for recording. With just a little bit of luck, we’re going to have a great lead on this in just a few minutes.”
He felt Leona’s body tense beside him. “You know, there are just the three of them.” She continued to watch through the lenses, her front teeth grabbing her lower lip.
“And?”
“And?” She dropped the binoculars and gave him a mischievous glance. “And it wouldn’t take any effort for us to just take them down.”
“That’s not what we’re here to do, Leona.”
She sighed and shifted slightly in the grass. “C’mon, don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it. Let’s say we went down there in human form. You’ve got two soldiers against a couple of suburban dads and whoever their buyer is.”
“That’s just the thing. We haven’t even seen the buyer yet. We don’t even know for sure how many people are on that boat.” Granted, unless they were packed in there like sardines, there couldn’t be very many.
“Fair enough, but what if we went down there in a different guise? There’s no question of just how much damage we could do.” Her voice was deep and sexy as she spoke, and she nudged her body a little closer to Hudson’s. “You must’ve been thinking about it. I know I have.”
There was nothing more he would’ve liked than to shift into his other form, to let his muscles lengthen and strengthen, to feel the wind through his mane. Actually, there was one thing he would like more, and that would be to do that with Leona. Hudson could easily imagine himself barreling down the hill alongside her, their claws digging into the ground for traction as they built up speed, their spines stretching as they made the jump from the small dock to the boat, their teeth sinking into flesh as they tore apart the enemy.
And he would love to see how she looked in that form again. Their entire relationship up until this point had been careful and programmed, the two of them walking in slow circles as they sized each other up. He knew that a glorious lioness was within her—he had seen evidence of it in the flash of her eyes and the flick of animal instinct in her shoulder. He could easily remember what she’d looked like in the firelight on that night they’d accepted her into the Force, but that didn’t mean he’d mind a refresher.
Hudson shook his head, pissed that he’d allowed himself to get distracted. “We can’t do that. We’ve got to gather all the information we can before we act, and you know that.”
“I do, but I’m bored,” she admitted with a smile.
Okay, good. At least they were back on good terms with each other. That was something. “Listen,” he whispered as someone came out of the boat’s cabin.
He was a heavy man, and a swarthy one, even in the darkness. He spoke with an accent that Hudson recognized. The humid air had created a thin slick of sweat over the surface of his skin, but it felt frozen as soon as he’d heard that voice. Either Leona recognized the accent as well, or she’d just finally decided to take this task seriously, because she was quiet and still as a stone.
“My friends!” the buyer said, spreading his arms wide. “You’re just on time. Let’s see what you’ve brought me.” He stepped off the boat and up to the back of Sean’s van, nodding as the man opened one of the small crates. “Wonderful. Just wonderful.”
“We thought you’d be pleased,” Kevin said with a boyish grin. “Now there’s a matter of the payment.”
“Of course.” The buyer returned to his boat and came back with a small briefcase. “Let’s get these unloaded.”
“Hang on.” Kevin stepped between the man and the goods. “I’d like some time to count this first.”
“You don’t trust me, my friend?” The jovial tone of the buyer’s voice had reduced somewhat.
Hudson swallowed, understanding that this deal was about to go south. “You might get your wish after all. We’ll have to get them out of there if they do something stupid.”
She nodded but didn’t answer, her eyes still glued on the exchange.
“Come on, Husam. We can all be reasonable here.” Kevin opened the briefcase.
Hudson tensed, waiting for things to go haywire. It made sense that Kevin would want to count the money, just as this Husam guy would probably want to check the inventory that was being given to him. But it was clear neither side trusted each other, and he wouldn’t have been surprised if the buyer took that pistol tucked in the back of his pants and blew the suburbanite away.
Instead, he shrugged impatiently as Kevin counted the money and began pulling the small crates from the back of the van. “I don’t have time to wait for you to count your pennies.”
It wasn’t as though Hudson hadn’t seen plenty of people killing each other, but he was still relieved to know this was just the typical tension involved with an illegal exchange. As far as Hudson knew, the transaction had nothing to do with other clans in the area, but he could run all the information through the computer once they got back home and go from there. He had pictures, video, and audio recordings of all parties involved. That was what he needed.
Leona’s hand clamped down on his wrist. He looked up to see that she’d put the binoculars down, her eyes glistening in the starlight as she looked over Hudson’s shoulder, further down the bank.
He dared to swing his head, and he now saw what she saw. The buyer was the only one on the boat. They’d been right about that guess. But he wasn’t the only one in the area. Other men had moved in, creeping stealthily through the woods along the river to watch the interchange just as he and Leona had. They’d come armed to the teeth, their automatic rifles held at the ready, and there were plenty of them.
Fuck! Hudson glanced back down at the river, where Kevin had finished fiddling with the cash and was now helping Sean load all the boxes on the boat’s deck. Things were going smoothly down there, for now. What did the buyer have planned? Were these forces simply an extra precaution against a seller they were unused to dealing with? Or were they there to recover the money once the weapons were safely loaded, ensuring they and their boss didn’t lose out on this deal?
He signaled to Leona, and the two of them began working quickly to put their equipment away. They had what they needed, and so far, they hadn’t been seen. Hudson had counted at least a dozen of them, far more than the two of them could take on alone. He had little confidence that Kevin and Sean could or would help them. They’d have to get out of there.
The dark figures were gliding their way. There was no telling yet if this was simply their plan or if they’d spotted the infiltrators, but either way, it wasn’t good.
Leona cinched her bag shut and touched his arm once again. She leaned back into the shadows, her form changing from a compact human one to a sleek feline one. Her black clothing melted away into that pale golden fur, which took on the bluish hue of the starlight. Her eyes had changed to those of her lioness, but they kept their gaze on him as she grabbed her bag in her teeth.
They didn’t need to speak to understand each other, and she was right. They stood no chance against these men. He didn’t like to leave anyone to their own devices if he could help it, but their job right now was to make sure the intelligence they’d gathered made it back to the Force for processing. They had a much greater chance of doing so if they left on four feet instead of two.
Hudson did the same. It was easy to shift even with so many enemies surrounding them, because he’d always felt more comfortable and powerful when he knew he could rely on his own natural weapons. He followed Leona back through the trees.
Think we should drop off the equipment and get back there? she asked.
It was the first time they’d communicated that way since the ceremony, and it startled Hudson to hear her voice in his head like that. He wasn’t used to it. He hesitated for a moment before answering. If
he’d been out here with his men, he wouldn’t have hesitated. They were used to fighting side by side. They knew the risks and they were willing to accept them. Technically, that was true for Leona as well, but once again, everything was different with her. He’d come to realize just how much he needed her and worried for her. He wanted to protect her with everything he had, to literally put his body in the way of anything that might harm her.
No. I don’t think they’re in any more danger than they would’ve been if we hadn’t shown up. Those guys are just backup in case things go badly. Let’s get out of here and go home.
9
“I don’t like this. It’s not a good idea.”
Leona tipped her chin up to look at Hudson. He was supposed to be her partner out there on this mission, but he was proving to be more of a hindrance than anything. It’d been less than a day since they’d returned from their spy mission down by the river, a task which she’d thought had gone fairly well, and yet he was back to being stubborn and overly cautious. “I do think it’s a good idea. I know how you feel, Hudson, but we can’t let feelings get in the way of what we’re trying to do.”
His eyes grazed over her hair, which she’d pulled back in a similar style to what she’d done for the block party. She’d told herself as she’d looked in the mirror that she’d only done it because it would help her blend in, and not because he’d liked it.
