by Selina Woods
“You do the books,” I replied, picking up the box. “You have some of it coming, too.”
“See you tomorrow.”
I let myself out the back as Derek would finish counting the day’s take, tally it into the books, and order supplies if we needed them. He was better at that than I was, so he naturally took control of it when we started the business. As I trusted him completely, I never worried about being cheated.
It was fully dark by the time I returned to the small house, and, as most houses in town, no lights showed behind the tightly drawn curtains. Considering people wouldn’t open their doors after night had fallen, I wondered how I could let them know it was me. As I pondered my dilemma, it was solved for me when I heard the soft scrape of shoes on concrete behind me.
Though I turned, I saw nothing in the dark. As my instincts for trouble stayed quiet, I assumed Kiana saw the hulking person on her doorstep and had gone to ground.
“Kiana,” I called softly. “It’s me. Logan.”
I heard her sharp gust of breath, and her shadow rose from the shrubs to my left. “That’s a good way to get attacked, Logan,” she snapped, stepping toward me. “I’m rather protective of my brothers.”
“Worth the risk,” I said cheerfully as she came closer. “I brought you stuff.”
Even in the dark, I saw her eyes widen as she gazed at the box in my hands. “What stuff?” I heard the suspicion in her tone.
“Look,” I said, my voice quiet. “I want to help out. Your brothers are hungry. I bet you are, too.”
She held up the bags in her hands, and I scented cold hamburgers and what might be coleslaw. “Is it better than this shit?”
Chuckling, I said, “Take it and find out.”
“As long as you’re here, you may as well come in.”
Kiana opened the door, and we both slipped in quickly, enabling her to lock it again. Tony and Albert sat on a worn couch in the front room, playing an old board game, and looked at us with surprise.
“We didn’t leave the house, Kiana,” Tony protested, staring at me wide-eyed.
“Chill out,” Kiana said, dropping the sacks of cold burgers on a table. “Logan brought us what I think might be some real food.”
“Can you cook?” I asked, setting the box down on the same table.
Both boys eagerly unpacked the box. “Hamburger, ribs, bread, potatoes, eggs, apples—look!”
Tony held up the candy, grinning. “You really brought us these?”
I scowled. “Just as a way to keep you from robbing me blind.”
“Yes,” Albert hissed with a triumphant fist pump. “Crime does pay.”
“Hardly,” Kiana snapped. “Take it all into the kitchen and put it where it belongs.”
The two put most of the food back in the box, leaving out the candy and fruit, arguing about what they wanted for dinner that night. Kiana smiled as they went, then up at me. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure.”
She tapped my chest with her finger. “Just as you know, this won’t get you into my pants.”
I grinned. “Well, the thought did cross my mind.”
Turning, she followed the kids and spoke over her shoulder. “It’ll get you an invitation to eat with us.”
“I’ll take it.”
Tony and Albert had decided that dinner would be fried hamburger and eggs, with boiled potatoes and warmed bread on the side. Kiana gestured for me to seat myself at the tiny table while she directed operations. Yet she left most of the work to the boys, who dove into the act of cooking with enthusiasm.
“We don’t get fresh meals often these days,” she told me, sitting down at the table while still keeping a watchful eye on her brothers.
“I suspected as much,” I answered.
“If you’re not trying to get into my pants,” she asked, “then why?”
“I know what it is to be hungry,” I murmured. “The orphanage fed us what they could scrounge; much of what we youngsters ate was nearly rotten.”
“How long were you in there?”
“I left when I was about their age,” I replied, my eyes on the kids. “Was a street rat for a while, then earned a big wad of cash in a card game. Instead of blowing it, I put it into the store with Derek, my partner.”
“Very smart.”
I glanced back at her. “I do only want to help. No strings.”
I thought I saw the shine of tears in her eyes before she blinked and turned away. “Not many people do that.”
“No. They may want to but can’t. I’m fortunate enough that I can.”
The dinner Tony and Albert fixed was far better than I feared it would be: hot and tasty. They ate as only hungry boys could, and talked almost nonstop about their lives, and their hopes of a future in a free city.
“I want to live where I don’t have to be afraid all the time,” Tony stated, his mouth full. “It’s not fair that only the bad guys get everything.”
“I hope you will keep that sort of thoughts to yourself,” Kiana said sharply. “Duke and his goons will kill even you, as young as you are, for talk like that.”
“That’s why we need to get out,” Albert told her. “I bet you can say anything you want in a free city.”
“Probably,” I told them. “But getting to one can be more dangerous than staying here.”
“I heard there’s an old trail that leads through the swamps and the alligators,” Tony added.
Both mine and Kiana’s stares sharpened on him. “Where’d you hear that?” I asked.
“We overheard some deer shifters talking about it,” he replied. “Other folks have escaped using it.”
“We think those deer did it,” Albert continued eagerly. “We ain’t seen them since.”
“They also could have been killed,” Kiana commented, her voice harsher than I thought it should be. She’s scared they might push her into it.
“We’re lions, Kiana,” Tony told her with a frown. “We can survive out there until we get to a safe city.”
“Do you know how to hunt?” she snapped, her fear clear. “To take down a wild animal? To fight something you can’t see? You reach the edge of a river to get a drink, and an alligator lunges up to grab a hold of you and drag you under the water?”
Tony stared at his plate. “There has to be a way,” he muttered.
“We already lost Mom and Dad,” Kiana said softly. “We can’t lose each other. Not now.”
Chapter Three
“We got trouble,” Derek said the next morning.
I hesitated in the act of closing the rear door I had just come through, staring at him. “What kind?”
“Kell was found dead not far from here.”
I finished closing the door and locked it. “We can’t be held accountable for that,” I said slowly. “We didn’t do it.”
“But word has gotten around that we said harsh things to him yesterday,” Derek replied, heading into the front to start the day’s business. “Rumors are running faster than a panicked gazelle.”
“He has to have made more enemies than just us,” I protested, following him. “If he’s tried to extort more than he should, maybe Duke had him killed.”
“Duke would have killed him publicly as an example,” Derek reminded me. “He wouldn’t have left him in an alley with his throat chewed open.”
“Then maybe a night hunter did it.”
Derek eyed me bleakly. “Word has it he wasn’t sodomized.”
“He had no sex appeal.”
“I wish that were the case, old son,” Derek said, putting a little cash in the till. “But you know as well as I do that if there’s a hole for the night hunters’ peckers, it goes in.”
I ran my hands through my shaggy black mane. “Even so, there’s not enough to hang his death on us.”
“Let’s hope Duke sees it that way,” he said as he went to open the front door. “Or doesn’t give a shit.”
The news made me more nervous than I cared to admit. I jump
ed whenever the door opened and caught Derek doing the same. Exchanging rueful glances, we worked selling our goods to the neighborhood residents, who seemed just as nervous and harried as we were. If an ordinary citizen got murdered, there might be a half-assed investigation. But when an enforcer got killed, his fellow goons went on a rampage to find his killer.
Thus, when three goons walked flat-eyed into the market, neither of us were surprised. Worried, yes, but hardly surprised.
“You heard about Kell?” a goon named Wilson asked.
“Yeah,” I replied. “We heard.”
“There was some trouble between you and him?” Wilson and his pals stepped closer to the counter.
Shoppers wanted no part of what might come. Baskets clattered to the floor as they hustled, skittering aside before escaping into the street. Derek watched them go and scowled.
“Look, you’re bad for business. We didn’t kill that greedy idiot.”
Wilson tilted his head. “Greedy idiot?”
“Yeah,” I snapped, now more annoyed than nervous. “He knew damn well we pay regularly, and tried to hit us up for his own pockets. We called him on it. He left.”
He nodded. “We’d heard that from others. But even if Duke would have hanged him for it, you know how it is. No one kills Duke’s people except Duke.”
“Then go hassle someone else,” Derek demanded. “We didn’t do it.”
“You boys need to convince Duke of that,” Wilson said calmly. “Let’s go.”
“What about running our business?” I growled. “Duke takes so much of our cut, we need to stay open. He might be unhappy with you if we can’t pay because you forced us to shut down.”
“Then you come,” Wilson stated, glaring at me, then gestured toward Derek. “He stays to run your store. But if Duke finds one guilty, he finds both of you guilty, and you both die. Understand?”
“This ain’t right,” I snapped, coming around the counter. “We didn’t kill him.”
“Then you’ll be back here in a few hours. Let’s go.”
I sent a sour glance toward Derek, then followed Wilson out of the store and onto the sidewalk. A four-door truck sat at the curb, and one of the goons opened it. I got in as Wilson walked around the front to climb behind the wheel. One goon sat in front while the other got in next to me.
The drive to Duke’s posh residence took about thirty minutes as he lived in a tall building on the beach. It was in an undamaged high rise among several like it, but I’d heard he permitted no one to live in the others. Too much of a security risk.
Guards lounged in front with big rifles cradled in their arms, and there were more inside. Though I didn’t know what species they were, I suspected most were lion or tiger shifters. I knew Duke was a tiger, even though I’d never met him before, as that knowledge was not kept secret. In fact, I’d heard he flaunted being the toughest tiger in the city.
The guards watched me curiously, and I supposed their non-reaction meant many were brought into Duke’s exalted presence. As Wilson and the other two enforcers escorted me to the elevators, I wondered how many left as corpses. Wilson hit the button for the penthouse, and up we went.
There were no guards when the elevator doors opened with a faint hiss and a ding. I walked out, and found I walked out alone. His expression neutral, Wilson punched the button again, and the doors hissed closed. The lights above showed the car descending. I reckon Duke feels he needs no guards up here, as he’s the toughest in the city.
I stepped further into the vast suite, tastefully decorated as far as I could tell. My small apartment had only the basic furnishings: no oil paintings on the walls, and no statues carved from wood. I trod on thick, ice-blue carpeting, and the place smelled faintly of incense. But I saw no sign of my host.
“Greetings,” came a deep resonate voice from the main room. “Please join me.”
I followed the voice into what looked like an impressive sitting room, more paintings on the walls and with comfortable furniture, sideboards that I thought might be antiques, and decanters of booze on trays. I felt as though I just walked into the chambers of an ancient movie mogul.
Duke sat in a huge armchair watching me with pale amber eyes, almost the color of raw honey. He had blond, faintly orange hair, a strong nose and chin, and perfect teeth I witnessed when he smiled. He wore an absurd-looking robe that reminded me of the garb the ancient folks of East Asia wore thousands of years ago.
“Your name, please?”
“Logan,” I replied, wondering if he thought I’d bow to him.
“Care for a drink, Logan?”
“Sure,” I answered, and his graceful gesture pointed me to the decanters.
After I poured myself a whiskey, Duke waved me to a short but comfortable sofa opposite him. If his eyes had a warm color, there was nothing truly warm about them. They were icy, calculating, and utterly devoid of mercy or a soul. Now I wished I had concealed a weapon under my clothes, despite the risk of being killed just for having it.
“You have information regarding the death of Kell?” he asked, taking a sip of his tumbler of a golden liquid.
“Sorry, no,” I answered. “Neither I nor my partner killed him, though we did have words with him. Kell tried to extort more payment from us when we have an agreement with you to pay twice monthly.”
“I’d have killed him myself for that, had I known.”
I grinned without humor. “I do recall mentioning that to Kell.”
Those pale eyes didn’t smile even if his lips did. “Do you have an inkling as to who did kill him? I merely ask as I wish to reward that individual.”
“Again, sorry. I went to the market this morning and was told he was killed. That’s all I know.”
Taking a sip of the whiskey, I discovered it tasted richer and was more flavorful of most of the stuff in the bars around town. “This is good.”
“Thank you.”
A weird silence descended between us where he stared at me, and I drank the whiskey. I had no idea what more he might want, if he suspected me of lying or if he simply wanted the company for a while. Or maybe he was trying to find a way of dismissing me. I refused to squirm, or avoid his steady gaze, or even permit myself to feel nervous. He might be a tough tiger, but I was a pretty tough lion if he wanted a fight.
I finished my whiskey and declined to ask for a refill. Thus, I waited, wondering what his game was. At last, I found out.
“You appear to be a very strong lion,” Duke said casually, as though remarking on the weather.
“I suppose.”
“Ever kill anyone?”
“Nope.”
“Care to try your hand with me?”
“Nope.”
That answer seemed to surprise him, for his brows lifted by a hair, and his lips thinned for a moment. “I like to test myself against strong shifters,” he continued. “A fight, you see. Primitive, yes, but oh so exciting.”
“I suspect that you haven’t lost a fight yet.”
“I have not.”
“And the losers? They’re dead?”
“Yes.”
I quirked my own brow sardonically. “I reckon I’m not permitted to say no?”
“Oh, now where would be the fun in that?” he asked, then laughed. “You kill me, and all this is yours. Only the strongest fighter can succeed me.”
“I don’t want it.”
“Come now,” he purred. “Every hunter craves to be at the top of the food chain. You best me, you are the new Duke: the king of all you survey.”
“And if I kill you,” I said, “your goons will gun me down despite all this fancy talk of me taking your place. Right?”
For the first time, Duke looked pissed. His eyes flattened, and his lips slid back from his teeth. “Never dare question my honor.”
I grinned at him. “Then I want it in writing,” I said softly. “In writing, and your lieutenant hearing it from your own mouth. He will stay and witness our fight, and if I win, by killing you, h
e has no choice but to serve me.”
“I should kill you right now.”
Shrugging, I stood up. “You can try. Either you’re too cowardly to give me what I ask, or I’m walking out of here.”
Duke stood up, his lips curled in a soundless snarl. Whipping a piece of paper from the sideboard he wrote on it and thrust the paper at me. I eyed it.
“Sign it.”
He bent again, scribbled his signature, then hit a button. “Ramsey, get up here.”
I gazed around at the luxurious furnishings. “Be a shame to get bloodstains on all this nice stuff.”
He grinned tightly. “I have a room especially set aside for fighting.”
“Ah. That would keep things neat and tidy.”
The elevator pinged, and, a moment later, a tall shifter with a scar down his left cheek entered. He glanced at me without batting an eye, then faced Duke. “Are you planning another fight?”
Duke waved at me. “This one wants a witness.”
“Tell him.”
Growing angry at being bossed about, Duke scowled dangerously, but said to the lieutenant, “If he wins by successfully killing me, there will be no retribution against him, and you all will give him your complete loyalty as you gave me.”
“Understood.”
Ramsey’s blue eyes flicked to me, then back to his master, clearly dismissing my ability to kill Duke. I myself had no idea if I could. But as I wasn’t leaving the penthouse without first fighting this lunatic, I might as well try. I had only my life to lose. I briefly thought of Kiana and the boys, but quickly got her out of my mind.
Duke gestured, untying his colorful robe. “The room is this way.”
Deciding he wouldn’t cheat by attacking me while my back was turned, I followed his terse instructions to walk down a short hallway to a closed door. I opened it upon a bare room with only a large mat on the floor. It scented faintly of blood, and I absently wondered how many had died in here.
Ramsey closed it behind him and leaned against the heavy wood. “Only one of you leaves the room alive.”
I glanced at Duke to find him clad in only a loincloth. If he intended to impress me with his array of muscles that rippled under his skin as he walked, I wasn’t. In a possibly immature gesture of my own, as we certainly wouldn’t be fighting as humans, I stripped off my shirt to display my broad shoulders and muscles.
