by A. C. Arthur
Kalina cursed. “We need to figure out who this bastard is.”
“And take his ass down, now!” Caprise completed. “Are you off your house arrest?” she asked, looking over to where Nivea stood.
She couldn’t help it, Nivea gave the female a warning glare, which resulted in Caprise’s impulsive laughter.
“I’d say her shoulder looks pretty healed to me,” Kalina added. “Besides, it’s gonna have to be the two of you on the outside. Ever since Rome found out I was pregnant, I’ve been living under a microscope. I’m actually surprised he hasn’t sent Jax to come in here and haul me back into our room and into that bed that I’m thoroughly sick of lying in.”
“What?” Nivea asked, coming closer. “Wait, you’re pregnant?”
“I am,” Kalina said with a proud grin, her palm going immediately to her stomach.
Caprise shook her head. “All this domestication around here is really cramping my style.”
“Ah, congratulations,” Nivea finally managed after she tore her gaze from Kalina’s stomach and her mind from the loud scream of disappointment.
Ary and Nick were mated and they had a child.
Ezra and Dawn were mated and could barely keep their hands off each other. Bas and Priya were talking about a huge wedding. And Caprise, she was so in love with X she didn’t know what to do with herself, despite her bravado.
“Thanks,” Kalina replied. “But I’m not an invalid.”
“Yeah, I’ll send that memo to the Assembly Leader right away,” Caprise chirped. “You might as well give it up, he’s never going to let you out to look for Wilson, or a rogue killer for that matter.”
“Me, on the other hand,” Nivea added. “I’ve already been assigned to Wilson. So I can dig a little deeper. Find his next of kin and pay them a visit.”
Caprise pointed in her direction. “Good thinking. I’ll get into X’s database and start searching the rogues.”
“Search all tribes,” Kalina added. “Bianca the Bitch said they were all in on this—cougars, cheetahs, tigers, and lions. We should consider any of them the enemy.”
“Don’t I know about enemies,” Nivea said out loud and instinctively knew it had been a mistake.
Kalina took a couple of steps until she was standing right beside Nivea. “I don’t know the specifics of what went on with you and your father, but I know it was bad enough to have Eli roaring in anger. I heard him all the way in my room. Rome said they have Richard Cannon locked up tight but I don’t get the sense that you’re afraid of him.”
She’d thought this was the last subject she wanted to broach with these women, or with anyone for that matter. But Nivea’s response came surprisingly easy.
“I’ve never been afraid of him. Disgusted by what he did to me, maybe. Terrified that he would turn his attentions to my sisters, yes, but never afraid of him. He’s a spineless coward, always has been.”
“And now he’s either going to grow some balls and do what’s right or rot in that holding tank for the rest of his life,” Caprise added. “Don’t think about him or what he did. Your life is your own now.”
Nivea nodded. Caprise had endured her share of pain at the hands of a man she once loved so Nivea could relate to her sincere words. As for Kalina, she’d grown up an orphan and had met Rome for the first time after she was sexually assaulted. None of them had been blessed with an easy life, but here they all stood now, united and ready to do whatever was necessary to keep their secret and their species safe. Nivea took pride in that fact and nodded to them both.
“Let’s get started,” she told them.
* * *
Eli hadn’t seen Nivea all day. After meeting with Rome in the morning and learning that the Assembly Leader planned to stay around Havenway for the remainder of the day, he’d decided to go and check on the barbershop. There was no doubt his staff had questions. Malik had already sent him numerous text messages. In addition, he had the sinking suspicion that the rogue that had taken care of Rimas would also take a personal interest in the barbershop with hopes of drawing Eli out.
Never being one to run from a threat, Eli had gone alone, stepping out of his SUV and moving slowly toward his shop. He scented the air as he moved, his cat’s eyes protected from public view by his sunglasses, surveying his surroundings. All looked to be in order.
He entered the barbershop, standing in the doorway for a few more minutes, surveying, scenting. The rogue had definitely been here.
“Hey, man, glad you decided to stop by,” Malik said, approaching him.
Eli extended his arm, shaking the man’s hand and appreciating the eye contact. Sometimes people who had battled with addiction and such needed a helping hand and could feel a little embarrassed by that fact. Malik Drake did not.
Eli and Nivea had rescued Malik from rogues that were probably also drug dealers. The rogues had kidnapped him in an effort to get Priya, Malik’s sister, to report on the existence of cat people. Of course, that never happened and now Priya worked for the Assembly. As a way of helping Priya to rest easily about her brother’s well-being—and to ensure she was no longer vulnerable in this area of her life—Eli had offered Malik a job at the barbershop as long as he maintained his sobriety and attended the outpatient rehab facility. So far, all had been working out well.
“Got a little caught up yesterday,” Eli replied.
Malik nodded. “I bet you did. All you missed was the press camped out here like they expected another fight to break out.” Malik gave a wry chuckle as he walked toward the back of the shop.
Eli followed him, nodding to the barbers and customers as he moved through the room. As always, he admired how his staff kept a clean and pleasant atmosphere. The walls had been painted a warm green, the floors black marble that matched the chairs and stations. He’d considered adding a couple of stylists to at least one of the shops, but figured he liked the mostly male clientele much more. His thoughts momentarily ventured to Nivea and all the conflict he was having with regard to her being in his life—or, more like his bed—now.
“Got a package back here for you,” Malik was saying when Eli snapped out of his Nivea-reverie. “Came early this morning. I was going to call you but then it got busy and I figured I’d get ahold of you later in the day.”
“No problem,” Eli said as they moved through the hallway.
The last door to the left was the business office. It had only been in the last couple of weeks that Eli had given Malik more responsibility around the shop. The added duties had seemed to work well to boost Malik’s confidence and Eli was proud of the way the man had stepped up to the plate.
“Here you go,” he said once they were in the office. He tapped his hands on the top of a white box sitting on the edge of a table across from the desk.
It was a medium-sized box and when Eli moved closer to examine it, the first thing he noted was the lack of a return address.
“How was this delivered?” he asked Malik.
“It was on the steps when I came in this morning. I got here around six because we have a few customers that come in right at seven and I wanted to make sure the floor and booths were clean before everybody started to arrive.”
Eli nodded. He slid a finger along the length of the box and down the sides, all the while his senses going into overdrive at how strong the rogue scent was at this moment.
“I’ll take it with me,” he said finally, lifting the box and moving over to the desk to act like he was looking at other mail that had accumulated.
“Heard that guy that was in here died at the hospital,” Malik said and Eli’s head shot up to look at him.
“Somebody else killed him there,” he stated coolly.
Malik nodded. “Long as the deed got done,” was his reply. “You pull a knife on a man, you better be prepared to kill or be killed. That’s what my pops told me before he split.”
The last was said with a careless chuckle that Eli suspected held more emotion than anything the man had ever
said to him before. A few minutes later Eli and Malik had walked out to the front of the shop again and he’d bid him farewell, telling Malik how proud he was of his progress.
For the next few hours Eli had driven around town, that box sitting in the passenger seat of his SUV. Finally, he’d pulled to the side of I-66 in the building rush-hour traffic and opened the box.
His chest constricted, his fingers tightening on the box as he stared down at its contents.
“Fuck!” he yelled in the interior of the car.
* * *
Later that evening, Eli sat at the table behind the one that Rome, Kalina, Nick, Ary, X, and Caprise occupied. He and Ezra sometimes sat at the table with them, but tonight Ezra and Dawn had gone out to dinner and Eli had no desire to feel like the odd man out. He hadn’t wanted to consider why he gave a damn about that either.
“Let’s go for a walk,” he heard a voice behind him say.
He knew that voice, just as he knew how being alone with her would turn out. Considering the way his afternoon had gone, that probably wasn’t the best idea.
“No, thanks,” was his chilly reply.
She didn’t speak for a second or so but she didn’t leave either.
“So, what, I’ll see you if I come to your room tonight and then you’ll leave before I wake up in the morning?” Nivea inquired, her tone as chilly as his had just been.
“Don’t do this, Cannon. Not right now.” If he’d been thinking straight Eli would have known immediately that wasn’t the right thing to say to her.
She came around to the other side of him, standing so close Eli had no choice but to stare up at her. She wore pants that looked like the ones she did her training in and a white T-shirt that was long enough to cover the majority of her curves but just sheer enough to give a good indication that there was much more to see. His teeth clenched so hard they ached.
“Don’t do what, exactly? Call you out on how ridiculous you’re acting?”
“No,” he replied slowly. “Don’t make a scene. There’s a good reason I do not want to go for a walk right now and if you’d just relax and move on I can continue trying to figure out how I plan on dealing with it.”
“What happened?” she asked immediately. “Is it the rogues? Did you find him?”
Eli’s eyes narrowed.
“Did I find who?”
Nivea didn’t reply. In fact, her lips had clamped closed so tightly they thinned and Eli was instantly concerned.
“Who do you think I should be looking for, Nivea?”
She shook her head. “Nobody. I mean, I know that Rome questioned my father today and I thought maybe he’d given you a name of someone to look out for.”
She wasn’t being completely truthful with him, Eli could tell by the way her shoulders tensed, her scent wavering between that of a lie and then of anxiety.
“Do you know who your father was working with? Is there someone else we should have in custody?”
She’d been shaking her head before his question could be completed.
“No. I was just wondering.”
It was more likely she was just lying, but Eli truly did not think he could deal with her tonight. He couldn’t take her somewhere private where he could ask the questions he wanted and possibly get the answers, or get a lot of pleasure from being alone with her instead.
“Well, stop wondering. And in answer to your question, you do not have to come to my room tonight.” Eli stood and walked away from her, feeling her angry glare against his back in sharp painful pricks. He’d hurt her and he hadn’t meant to. Yet, he’d known he eventually would.
Damn his dysfunctional makeup and all the bullshit he’d allowed into his life that made him more fucked up. With purposeful strides he walked out of the dining hall, intent on locking himself in his room until he could figure out what the hell was going on and how to stop it before everyone he cared about ended up a victim.
Before he’d even realized it, Eli had slammed into Baxter. The older man moved throughout Havenway with such quiet accuracy it was never really a surprise to see where he’d turn up. Except Eli hadn’t been expecting to see him, or rather, bump into him right at this moment. His intention had been to get far away from people for a while, but it seemed as if that was not going to happen.
Baxter’s weathered hands reached up to Eli’s shoulders, just as Eli mumbled, “Pardon me.”
“No pardon necessary,” Baxter said, his voice slow, steady, and wise.
Baxter had been with Rome’s family since before he was born. Just a few months ago they’d all learned that the butler’s service to the Shadow Shifters went well beyond cleaning up their houses and washing their dirty clothes. Baxter was an Overseer. His job, as a human, was to watch, to teach, to preserve the legacy of the Shadow Shifters. He was the only human Overseer and had worked very closely with Elder Alamar as the Stateside Assembly had been constructed.
For that reason, and because Eli had been brought up to do nothing less, he’d always afforded Baxter a great amount of respect.
“I was actually looking for you,” Baxter continued.
Eli took a step back, not only feeling leery at Baxter’s words, but also uncomfortable by the way the man was looking at him.
“Is this about Rome? Is something wrong?” Eli asked, his muscles already tensing.
“Relax, shifter. I know that we are all a bit on edge these days. But what I have to say I think will bring some relief to you.”
To the contrary, his cryptic words had Eli’s jaw clenching so hard he could have cracked a tooth. “What is it?” he asked without further preamble.
“I know what happened to you and your brother in Sierra Leone,” Baxter began.
Eli sighed, truly sick of thinking and hearing about this subject. “Look, I don’t have time for this,” he said. “I’m busy right now. Please excuse me.” Eli turned to walk away before Baxter could reply, only to be stopped by the man’s hand on his arm.
“You need to listen to what I have to tell you, son.”
Eli looked down at Baxter’s hand, then back up at the older man. “I’m not your son.”
Baxter released his hold on Eli, giving a slight nod of his head as he pushed his wire-framed glasses up higher on his nose.
“In some ways that is exactly what you are now,” Baxter replied.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“It starts in your temples,” Baxter began. “The pain from seeing so much in so short an amount of time. It bothers you, I know because I’ve watched you in the meetings. You don’t want to believe it, cannot think that you have changed. But at the same time you cannot deny what you are experiencing.”
Eli shook his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” But as if on command, his temples had begun to throb the moment Baxter spoke of them. At his sides his hands clenched as if that action could dispute the pain somehow.
“Your brother’s reaction to the damiana-laced shaman’s treatment has been different than yours. His mate’s DNA contributed to his healing from the poison. Once he completely embraced her, he was able to fully take hold of the powerful shifter that he had become.”
“I’m. Not. Ezra,” Eli told him through gritted teeth.
He was angry with Baxter, but didn’t actually know why. Sure, the man had halted his search for solitude but there was something else, something that had Eli’s heart beating rapidly.
“Your reaction to the smoke has only started the inevitable.”
Eli did not respond this time. He was almost afraid to. Not wanting to hear what the man was going to say next, while at the same time, on some distant level, already knowing exactly what his words would be.
“They’ve already begun, Eli,” Baxter continued, clasping his hands in front of him.
The man spoke with an air of old wisdom so much that sometimes Eli thought he should be wearing a long belted robe, like most of the Elders did, instead of regular everyday clothes like the rest of
them.
“With all due respect, Baxter,” Eli began, then stopped as the man only nodded at him.
“You have seen the visions. They’ve come while you are awake as well as when you are asleep. They are of the past and of the future, sometimes of the right now. You wonder how or why, but think if you do not speak of it, they will cease to exist.” The older man shook his head.
“You are wrong. The visions will get stronger, clearer. They will come more frequently and eventually at your command. Your senses will return to one hundred percent, possibly even stronger. That is how it is for Seers.”
Eli listened to his every word, felt something warm spreading throughout his body, a familiar sense of knowing and still replied, “I am not a Seer. I am too young to be one and there is no lineage throughout my family.”
“You are correct,” Baxter told him. “You are very young to come into your power. It usually does not present itself until forty or forty-five years into a shifter’s life. You can thank the damiana in that shaman’s smoke for bringing it to the surface so soon. As for the family lineage, the bloodlines have been so diluted after the tribes began to migrate from the Gungi, there is no perfect familial trace on the Seer power now.”
“No,” Eli said, shaking his head and closing his eyes. Lifting his hands he cupped them to his ears. It was foolish he knew, but what else could he do? He couldn’t take anymore. Not one more goddamned thing. From Acacia and all the drama and death that followed, to Leanne and her tragic end, and now Nivea and the problems the shifters as a whole were facing. Eli felt like he was on an emotional roller coaster and about to explode with anger at any moment.
Then Baxter touched Eli’s right hand with his left, placing his full palm over the guard’s with a touch that was both warm and light. The pain vibrating from Eli’s temples down to his shoulders and resting in the pit of his stomach ceased, a shiver moving down his spine.
“You know this to be true. It is the answer that you have both sought and struggled with. Your time in Sierra Leone changed you. How you decide to embrace your destiny is the only thing in your control. You are a Seer; that will not go away. To fight against it or continue to deny it is futile. It is who you are.”
