Kenny (Shifter Football League Book 2)

by Becca Fanning

  “Uh, Jules. I wasn’t expecting you.”

  “I promised I was all yours today, remember?”

  “Oh, yeah. I totally forgot.”

  “I hope you didn’t make other plans.”

  “I—uh.”

  “Kaylee, who’s there?”

  “It’s Jules,” she called over her shoulder.

  A moment later Kaylee’s mom appeared in the door. “What brings you around?” she said. She at least was smiling.

  “Oh, I happen to have four tickets to the movies in my pocket, and thought that Kaylee and her younger brother and sister might want to join me.”

  “Not me?” Cora appeared in the crowded doorway. She was wearing something snug and short.

  “I didn’t think you’d be interested,” Jules said. “But you can have my ticket.”

  “Naw, it’s okay. I have plans anyways. I’ll see you later Mom.”

  “Have fun,” Frannie said.

  Kaylee watched Jules. Jules watched Kaylee. And not once did his gaze move to follow Cora’s exit. Points to him.

  “It’s okay with me if June and Tony go,” Frannie said. “If they want to. I’ll go talk to them.”

  “What are you doing?” Kaylee said quietly.

  “Something fun,” he said. “You seemed upset with me this week, so I thought showing up here for a romantic date might get me slapped. But I promised to be here so here I am.”

  “We’re going to a movie?” June said. Her eyes were wide and bright. “I love the theatre.”

  “I guess we’re in,” Kaylee said. “Give us a second to grab our shoes.”

  After the movie, Kaylee gave June and Tony a few bucks and told them to get a snack from the food court and then come back to the couches the mall provided near the entrance of the theatre. They took off grinning.

  Jules had his arm draped over the back of the couch, but it didn’t seem like he was trying the arm drape trick, so Kaylee leaned back and sighed. “That was fun, thank you.”

  “You’re very welcome. They’re great kids.”

  “Yeah, now. They were brats when we were all younger. The age gap didn’t help.”

  “I was the youngest,” he said. “And my half-sisters hated me.”

  “Jules, you confuse me.”

  “Is that why you were upset all week?”

  “No. I was upset about the text message from Jane. What did you forget at her place?”

  “Nothing. I’ve never been to her place. And it’s been months since I’ve been in her car. She found my jacket when she went back to clean up after the meeting.”

  “So, she was at this meeting?”

  “Yes. Kaylee. I am not in love with Jane, and I am not sleeping with Jane. If you met, her you’d understand.”

  “What would I understand? Is she ugly?”

  “That’s a trick question,” he said. “And it’s not the reason. If I tried to put the moves on her she’d punch me, and she’d probably knock me on my ass. I’ve known her about eight years now, and the only things I know about her are that she comes from Canada and she likes her personal space—a lot.”

  “Well, that does make me feel better. A little bit. What was the meeting for?”

  “It’s a support group.”

  She stiffened.

  “Not drugs, Kaylee. I’ve never done anything more serious than pot and only when I was younger. It’s for the anxiety attacks.” It was the best explanation he could offer under the circumstances. The middle of the mall was not where he wanted to come clean about his secret.

  She nodded. “Okay.

  June and Tony bounded up with sodas and fries. They were still grinning.

  “Let’s go window shopping,” June said. “I want to look at all the dresses.”

  “Boring,” Tony said.

  “There’s a book shop and a video game store,” Jules said. “We can do our own window shopping.”

  “Not boring,” Tony said. “Let’s go.”

  Sunday. It had been seven days since Jules had received the third blackmail demand. He had three days to come up with the money and make the payment before the video would go live. He was pacing in front of Remy and Brock in the warehouse, wringing his hands.

  “The money isn’t the issue,” Brock said. “I can pay it. He has to know that you’re connected to me and that sooner or later you’ll come to me for money. The demands will get larger and closer together to ensure that. He’s probably counting on me wanting to protect you so he can get a bigger payout.”

  “And you’ve found nothing?” Jules said.

  Remy shook his head. “This guy either works for the cops or the airport. That’s the only explanation for how he got the video in the first place. And both the police and the airport have very high-end cyber security measures in place. For me to hack into that would be hard—and very illegal. Not the sort of illegal that Brock can protect me from.”

  “Because trying to stop something illegal is no excuse for doing something illegal,” Brock said. “Which puts us at a serious disadvantage.”

  “What about a physical drop?” Remy said. “Could we lure this guy out with the promise of hard cash?”

  “He’s insisted on e-transfers the last two times,” Jules said. “Why would he agree to a physical drop now? If I was borrowing money from Brock, wouldn’t he just transfer the money into my account? How do we rationalize this?”

  “You didn’t get it from me,” Brock said. “You borrowed it from your mom and she doesn’t use electronic money transfers yet. And with the deposit delay in the banking system, you can’t get it into the bank in time to make the transfer. Three hundred in ATM twenties. I’m transferring the money to your mom’s account now.” He pulled his phone out.

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re going to set up the drop near the bank. You and your mom will go to the bank and she will pull the money out. You’ll put the money in an envelope and leave it in a secure, agreed upon location near the back. Remy and Jane will be our undercover. I can’t do that part because I’m the mayor and everyone knows I’m a werebear.”

  Jules took a deep breath. “Okay. That might work. But what kind of secure location could we use?”

  “A briefcase,” Remy said. “One with a number code on it. You send him the location and the code in the email, and he can watch you take the money out, put it in the briefcase, and leave the briefcase, so he knows you’re on the up and up with him. When he grabs the case, we’ll scoop him up and get some answers.”

  “Transfer is done. Call your mom and then send the email.”

  “I’ll call Jane,” Remy said. “We do this Wednesday right after work.”

  “You look nervous.”

  Jules smiled down at his mother. “I am nervous. Should I look calmer? I thought nervous would be a natural thing given the situation.”

  “Sure, but you’re making me nervous.” The ATM beeped, and a moment later the money appeared. “Okay, here you go.”

  He leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Thanks Mom. Now go home, please.”

  “Don’t need to ask me twice. Good luck dear.” She patted his arm and hurried in the direction of the bus stop.

  He shoved the money in his pocket and went to the bench under the tree in front of the bank. He opened the briefcase and pulled out the envelope. The money went in the envelope and the envelope went back in the case. He closed the case and double checked that it was locked. He took the case and went half a block up to the little park area where many of the business people in the area came to eat their lunch or went jogging after work. He passed Remy, who was leaned against a light pole scrolling through something on his phone. Remy didn’t look up.

  The drop spot was just off the jogging track, a young forked maple tree growing in the middle of a leafy bush. He looked around to make sure there were no well-meaning joggers or dog walkers who might try to return his ‘forgotten’ case to him and then nestled the case in the bush and walked away. He got in his car and
drove in the direction of the warehouse. Brock was waiting there, and Remy would meet them there with the blackmailer as soon as the pickup took place.

  Remy was only a few minutes behind Jules, but it was still a tense wait. Remy had the briefcase in hand, and Jane was dragging a skinny blindfolded man out of the car. They sat him down in one of the chairs and pulled the blindfold off.

  He blinked at them. “Don’t hurt me. I picked up the case, just like you asked. I never looked, I swear it.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The case. You hired me to pick up the case and bring it to the second drop site.”

  “Shit. He’s a middle man,” Remy said.

  Jules went white. “Kaylee.” He headed for the door in long strides.

  “Jules! Where are you going?”

  “To Kaylee’s! Brock, call Freddie, tell him I quit. Tell him I’m finally taking you up on that job offer. Tell him to hire Kaylee in my place, she knows all the work we’re doing.” And then he was out the door.

  It was rush hour and traffic was working against him. He swore and pushed the car into every available opening, straining against his own rising sense of panic. He finally made it out of the business area and onto quieter side streets. Mindful of kids playing on their lawns, he didn’t speed too much. He slammed the car into park and scrambled out, bounding up the walk to Kaylee’s house.

  He rang the doorbell and waited. It was Tony who came to the door. He grinned up at Jules. “Hiya, Jules. Are we going to the movies again?”

  “Sorry, Tony, not today. But I hope we can do that again soon. Look, is Kaylee home?”

  “Naw, not yet. She had an errand to run after work. She should be on the bus back by now. Want to come in and wait?”

  “Who else is home?”

  “Me and June.”

  “I’ll wait on the porch,” he said. “It’s not raining and I need to clear my head.”

  Tony shrugged. “Sure, whatever. I’ll text Kaylee and tell her you’re here.”

  He couldn’t protest without raising suspicions so he smiled and let Tony close the door again. There was a single chair just off to the side of the door and Jules dropped into it.

  A large group of people got off at the next stop, and Kaylee gratefully sank into one of the newly vacated chairs. She was only a few minutes from home, but she had a heavy bag on her arm—a birthday gift from her and her mother to Tony who would be thirteen in a week. She pulled out her phone. There was a text message from Tony: ‘Jules is waiting on the porch for you.’

  She laughed under her breath and texted back: ‘He probably wanted to surprise me.’

  A moment later one word showed up on the screen. ‘SURPRISE!’

  Now she laughed out loud and shook her head. The boy was sharp, she had to give him that.

  “Oh, my God, look at this,” someone said behind her.

  “It’s the video, from the airport, I’ve seen it a hundred times.”

  “No, look. It’s longer this time. It actually shows him changing. Look.”

  Curious, Kaylee searched ‘New Orleans airport bear’ and sure enough a video popped up with the title “NEW! WHO IS THE AIRPORT WEREBEAR?” She clicked the video and saw the usual clip of the bear charging security personnel. Then the clip froze and rewound, this time rewinding past the beginning of the clip. When it started playing again there was no bear, just a man talking to security. He was becoming very animated and then he bent double and began to change. Kaylee put a hand over her mouth as she watched. It looked grotesque and it looked painful. Finally, the bear stood up and the video froze again, going back to moments before the change. Now it zoomed in, showing an enlarged still of the werebear’s human face.

  Jules.

  Jules didn’t have a lot of friends or a large family. The only humans who knew were his mother, his father’s family, Gia, and Brock’s house staff. More importantly he’d never had to tell anyone his secret before. Brock had. Brock had told a previous girlfriend, Stephanie. That later came back to haunt him, but Jules wasn’t thinking about The Human Order right now. He was thinking about a younger Brock describing the way Stephanie had taken a physical and emotional step back from him for weeks after finding out.

  Now, as Kaylee climbed the steps of the porch, Jules saw the distance in her eyes and the way she hung back near the steps, near the escape route.

  “You saw it,” he said.

  She nodded.

  “Shit. I wanted to tell you. I didn’t want you to find out this way.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “I didn’t think a crowded shopping mall food court was the right place, and we’ve been so busy at work lately. It just didn’t feel like the right time. Anything would have been better than this.”

  “Why don’t you tell me anyway? Pretend I don’t know and tell me.”

  He took a deep breath and stayed in the chair. He was less intimidating when he was sitting down, and he didn’t want to scare her any further. “Kaylee, I have to tell you something important. I really care about you, so you have a right to know. I’m a werebear. It’s not contagious at all, I promise. You can’t become a werebear, you have to be born this way.”

  “So… the meetings?”

  “The full moon,” he said. “I was meeting the clan. We shift in a safe place so people don’t get hurt. We’re real bears when we shift, so it’s not always safe for us to be around humans. We don’t make good tourist attractions.”

  “The anxiety attacks were a lie then?”

  “No. When I get overly stressed or anxious, my bear gets restless. That’s what happened that day. I was being drugged by The Human Order, and it made my anxiety so bad I shifted in public. When the bear gets restless I go to the safe house and shift. But our clan leader doesn’t like us going alone, in case something goes wrong. That’s why I kept calling Jane. She’s a werebear too. She’s a member of my clan. She was meeting me to keep me safe, to keep the people around me safe. That’s all.”

  She took a deep breath. “Okay. So far I understand. It’s genetic?”

  “Yes. But it’s not one hundred percent certain that a child will inherit the bear genes. Brock and my clan chief both have two parents who were shifters so they both were. Only one of my parents was a shifter.”

  “Your mother? That’s why your father rejected you two?”

  He shook his head.

  Her eyes went wide. “Your father was a shifter?”

  “Yeah. He hung around a bit when I was really young, but then his wife put a stop to that, said his ‘real’ children needed him more than I did. When I first shifted, my mom freaked out and called my dad. The first shift is so strong it happens every night for a few nights around the time of the full moon, so luckily my father wasn’t a bear in a warehouse somewhere and actually answered his phone. He and the clan chief at the time came and picked me up. After that I only saw my father at the full moon.”

  “What about your half siblings?”

  He shook his head. “Human. Both of them. I think my father was upset that only his bastard inherited his gift. And female shifters are becoming rare. His daughters would have been treated like princesses if they had been shifters, at least that’s what he thought. There were three other young shifters in the clan, a little older than me. Guess he thought they’d be interested in his daughters, strengthen the bloodlines or something. Didn’t work out that way.”