Chapter Twelve
Adam started out holding Sakura’s hand across the divider as they drove to Deveron’s, but as the minutes passed, the more he fidgeted. She chatted nonstop as if she did so to distract herself from the coming meeting or from thinking of her mother. He found annoyance pinched the muscles at his nape and across his back, but rolling his shoulders did not bring relief. Sakura asked him questions, but he provided only a grunt here and there.
From the corner of his eye, he saw how she pierced him with a glare, and then she tugged her hand away. “Well, Adam?” she insisted. “Do you think it’s possible or not?”
He had no idea what she referred to. The rumbling bear in his gut seemed to want out, and his control had begun to slip. On top of that, whatever patience he maintained had snapped a few blocks back. “What?”
She rolled her eyes. “Are you even listening to me?”
“No, Sakura, I’m not,” he grunted, and her eyes widened. When the eyebrows furrowed above brown eyes snapping with fire, he knew he’d done it. “Lo siento. I don’t know what my problem is right now. I can’t keep this damn bear down.”
No sympathy came his way. “You better figure it out, because I don’t appreciate being yelled at.”
“I did not yell.” He ground his teeth, but when a Walgreen’s came into view, he made a beeline for the parking lot and threw the car in park. “I think it’s hunger. Hold on. I’m going to grab a snack.”
As he strode away, despite the door being closed and the window raised to conserve A/C, he distinctly heard her say, “Is this what I have to look forward to from now on?” He almost grinned, but hunger stirred in his stomach along with an odd itching in his scalp. Is this what I have to live with?
Opening the door to the convenience store, he hoped the itching had nothing to do with a transformation, or there were about to be a small crowd of people screaming and running for their lives. Cramped aisles displayed items he had no interest in. He came upon a shelf displaying pastries and spotted honey buns. Was there honey in them? Ignoring the nutrition facts, he glanced around and gave one of the packages a sniff. Very little, to his disappointment, and he confirmed by reading the package that they contained less than two percent dried honey. His ire rose.
What am I doing? I’m human. Grab chips, a soda, and a package of cookies and get out of here.
He gathered the items he had listed in his head and approached the counter, and then held up a finger to the cashier and returned for the buns. Couldn’t hurt anything. Before he reached the car, he devoured two of the buns and was about to tear into the sour cream and onion potato chips. The acrid stench of fear overpowered the snack, and he glanced up from them to scan the area. He spotted Sakura, standing beside the car rather than in it, and a man stood beside her watching him.
Adam had seconds to take in the fact that the fear came off this person and that he couldn’t see where he had put his left hand—before he blanked. One minute he stood closer to the convenience store than to the car. The next instant, he bore down on the man, sure he had begun to turn. The metallic taste of blood coated his tongue when his canines thickened, elongated, and sharpened to points. Shirtsleeves ripped as his biceps expanded. He curled clawed fingers, ready to rip his enemy to ribbons and opened his mouth to let out a growl fit to make the man piss himself.
Adam raised a hand, seeing the destroyed face already in his mind.
“Adam, no!”
How the hell did he form words? They would not come, but Sakura’s warning stopped him cold. He stared at the two of them, from her to the man and back again. Another try produced, “He touched you.”
“Only my hair, baby. Not a big deal, okay? We don’t want to do this here.” The soothing quality to her voice was not her. He didn’t like it. She should have already stomped this human into the ground. Adam didn’t know he took another, threatening step until she spoke again, trying to get him to calm down.
“W-what is he?” the man stuttered.
“You shut up,” Sakura ordered.
The man laughed. “I think you forgot who has the gun, Sakura.”
At first, Adam didn’t know why, but when the man called her Sakura, it calmed him down. The bear stirred but just a little. His teeth returned to normal, and so did his claws, but he kept his gaze on the man. Once his mind cleared, he figured it out. This was no random mugging. The human targeted Sakura. He knew who she was, but by his stance, the scent of fear, and the way he held his weapon, Adam concluded the man did not work for Sakura’s dad. He must have come to kill or retrieve the daughter who had been foolish enough to become one of the enemy.
For a heartbeat, Adam flipped his gaze to Sakura. Her slight nod told him she had come to the same conclusion, and she wanted to see where this led, maybe get a bit more information, like who sent this idiota. The second man did not catch Adam unaware. He smelled and heard him coming, but he waited for contact. When the point of a knife touched him mid-back, he stiffened.
“Okay, we’re going for a little ride,” came the heavily accented English. Adam recognized the Mexican accent. Although the knife cut into his skin, he refused to budge until Sakura got into the car with her assailant in the back seat, still holding onto her hair and pointing the gun at her.
Adam ground his teeth. “I’m going to take the arm in payment.”
The man sneered, revealing a garish grill. “Qué?”
“You heard me.” Adam walked around the car and slid behind the wheel. The second man sat behind him and directed him to start the car. “Where?” Adam demanded.
“Just drive,” was the reply. “Southwest One Eighty Fourth.”
Adam tightened his hands on the steering wheel. He could guess the next direction. Eventually, they would arrive at the Everglades. Miles and miles to do whatever they wanted under cover of night—well, as long as no one happened upon them before they were done with their business. He knew authorities patrolled as much of the area as possible, but that didn’t stop incidents from happening. Adam didn’t care. He didn’t need long. When he was done, he would feed these men to a croc, and there would be no evidence left.
Adam stopped the car on a lonely stretch of road with only the moonlight and stars to illuminate the night. The man behind him directed him to turn off the headlights. “We don’t want anyone seeing what we’re up to.”
The other man laughed as he exited the vehicle. “These some nice wheels you have here. I’ll be happy to take the car off your hands after we kill you.”
A bit of gravel or a rock caught under his foot, and he tripped. With a hold still on Sakura’s hair, he gave it a yank as he stumbled, and Sakura cried out, raising her hands to her head.
“You dumbass,” Sakura shrieked. “Don’t you know how to walk?”
The words were the last Adam heard. A roar split the night air, and it took a moment or two to realize the sound came from his mouth. He launched onto the man before anyone could react, including Sakura. He held a scrawny wrist between his jaws and crunched down. The howl of pain only fueled his rage. Adam reared back on two legs and swiped long claws across the man’s chest. The jacket, shirt under it, and flesh, all shredded, and the scent of blood filled Adam’s nostrils. The man fell down dead on the ground, and Adam swung toward his next prey. The man who’d just finished threatening to kill them squealed like a girl, backing away until he fell on his ass. He scooted along the road whimpering and begging for his life. Adam stalked closer, but Sakura moved in front of Adam and grabbed hold of one of his ears.
“I think you better start talking before I let him kill you,” she told the man. “You’ve already seen what he did to your friend.”
The man babbled. Adam gave a half growl and wagged his head, but Sakura held on, giving his ear a rough squeeze that stung. He nosed her leg, but she seemed unimpressed.
“Well?” she demanded, hand on her hip. “Who hired you?”
“No sé nada, hombre,” he whined.
“Oh, you don�
�t know anything, huh? Nothing?” She released Adam, and he sprang forward. The man’s voice vibrated on Adam’s eardrums. He raised a paw. The man shrank in on himself.
“Okay, okay. I’ll talk!”
Sakura appeared beside Adam and, without fear, curled fingers over his claws. Adam huffed, and she patted his head. He ducked away but stayed alert. The man stared at him wide-eyed and licking dry lips.
“Go ahead,” she prompted.
The man’s gaze never left Adam’s. “I don’t know who she was but—”
“She?” Sakura interrupted.
“Si, a woman. She said she would pay us good money to get rid of you two.” He pointed to Sakura, but when he started to point to Adam, Adam growled, and the man bit his finger as if that would undo the insult. “You and your boyfriend.”
“What makes you so sure you had the right target?”
The man dug in the back of his ratty jeans pocket and removed crinkled paper. Sakura unfolded it. She studied the sheet and then held it in line with Adam’s vision.
“He even understand?” A nod at Adam.
“Of course.”
Sakura refolded the sheet with a picture of herself and Adam, a print-off of a scanned photo, one he knew Sakura kept in her drawer at home. She had never told him about it, but he had stumbled onto it while searching for a sex toy he had brought over for her previously. At the time, the picture confirmed his suspicions of her feelings for him, and he had never told her about seeing it. Whoever entered her house must have known how to disarm the alarm. He knew for a fact her dad had the code.
“So how did this woman contact you? In person?”
“No.”
“Phone? Email?”
The man rubbed the back of his head, hesitant. “A friend of mine did some work for her about five years ago. I guess she still had his number. He said she suddenly called and wanted to hire a couple of guys for a job. We were it.”
“F-five years ago?” Sakura sagged into Adam’s side, and he easily supported her weight. “A woman. What was her name? Give me something!”
He shook his head. “I swear, man. I don’t know nothing else.”
“Your friend, then.”
The head kept swinging side to side. “No way. I can’t roll over on him. You’re going to have to kill me.”
Sakura blinked at him. “Are you sure about that?”
He shut his eyes, bracing himself. “Yeah.”
“One last question,” Sakura whispered. “What kind of job did your friend do or hired someone else to do for this woman five years ago?”
“Dumped a body. Muerto.”
“Dead,” Sakura repeated. “A woman’s body?”
“No, a man.”
Adam flattened his prey and took his life in one bite.
* * * *
“I could have beaten more out of him,” Sakura said as she drove.
“I was hungry,” Adam said.
She screwed up her pretty nose at him in the rearview mirror. He scooted down a little lower on the seat as not to alarm anyone who might happen to glance over and spot a naked man riding around in public. “You didn’t eat him, Adam.”
“I meant I’d only eaten a couple buns. The bear wanted to kill something. I couldn’t stop him.”
“You say that like you’re two different people.”
He sighed, still irritable. “Not people. Anyway, I’m sorry, and you don’t seem that upset that I ruined your chance.”
“No, I guess because I’m sure the friend didn’t dump my mother’s body.”
“Of course not. There was a closed casket, but she was shipped back to San Diego.”
Their gazes met. She shook her head. “I can’t speculate about that. I was wondering if you’re sure those men aren’t going to come back as shifters.”
He frowned. “You mean zombie bears?”
“Ugh, sounds like a bad B movie.”
He managed to chuckle. “No, dead means dead, shifter or not.”
After Sakura retrieved clothes for him from his hotel room, she dumped them in his lap and kept watch while he dressed. He stepped from the car and drew her into his arms, breathing deep to take her in. Her hair tickled his nose, and he remembered that asshole tugging it.
“You’re okay?” he asked.
“Yes, for the millionth time, Mr. Obsessive. You actually hulked out just because I had my hair pulled.”
“I did not hulk out, whatever that is.”
She wiggled out of his arms and walked around the car to the passenger side. “You tore out of your clothes until just threads hung from your massive body. You, sir, hulked out.”
“Well, you weren’t afraid of me.”
“Boy, please, I have my knife right here if I need it. I could have gutted you in a heartbeat.”
He eyed her, and she laughed.
“Okay, I saw that you recognized me right away, and I sensed you wouldn’t hurt me. What did I have to be scared of?”
“Don’t grab my claws like that again. They’re pretty sharp.”
“Si, papi,” she teased, and his cock swelled in his jeans.
What he hadn’t counted on was the furnace flaming to life inside him, which Sakura matched. The two of them had enjoyed an hours-long sex session earlier, yet even now as he scented her in his nostrils, it made him hungry for more. Her beauty tantalized him and tortured him, and while taking her slaked his desire, it left him parched as well. Did she realize her power? He didn’t think she knew the depths of his need for her, but he intended them to explore together, forever.
With no more delays or interruptions, they arrived at Deveron’s company. Tonight, if the lead fox shifter didn’t tell them what they wanted to know, he had every intention of beating the truth from the man, and if need be, doing to him what he’d done to the hired thugs earlier. Anything to give Sakura closure and peace.
He pulled up to the guard’s box and prepared to explain to the guard why he needed to raise the barrier for his own good, but it turned out to be unnecessary. The man pressed a button to do just that and waved them on. Adam found parking outside the entrance, and together he and Sakura strode inside. Unlike the last time he was there, the place seemed to be a hive of activity, and Adam smelled humans. He eyed Sakura, but she cast him a look that said she had no clue what was going on either.
Deveron appeared from around the corner. “Friends, it’s good to see you again.”
“When did we become friends?” Adam snapped.
Deveron flashed a bright smile. “We will be. Give it time.”
“Don’t think I will. Thanks.” Adam approached him, wary. “What you’re going to do, Deveron, is tell us everything you know.”
“Let’s find somewhere private, shall we?” Deveron dropped his voice low. “Overtime tonight. Humans.”
They were shown into an office this time, and Deveron shut the door behind them. Adam took in the décor. The dark cherry wood furniture and paneling didn’t appeal, so he dismissed it all and turned back to Deveron, folding his arms over his chest. “Don’t you want your bodyguards with you?”
Deveron waved a hand and took the seat behind the desk. “I don’t need them.”
“You will if you had anything to do with killing Sakura’s mother.”
For the first time since they arrived, Deveron sobered. “I’m prepared to tell you everything I know—well, almost everything.”
Adam flared his nostrils. “Everything.”
“You’ll be satisfied with what I share. I promise.”
Sakura stepped forward, sat down, and crossed one leg over the other. “I’ll be the judge of that. We know you and your people were in the hotel room where my mother died. I’m thinking you were there that very night.”
“I could have come to do my own investigation,” he suggested.
“Did you?” Adam demanded.
Deveron steepled his fingers on the desk, and before he lowered his gaze, Adam thought he saw frustration, anger, maybe anguish in
the depths. “No, we were there the night it happened, but I wasn’t there to kill her. I went there to kill your father.”
Sakura gaped. “You’re crazy if you thought that would happen.”
He shrugged. “I was more full of myself back then. I—for lack of a more accurate word—ruled Miami when it came to shifters. With my intelligence. I got full of myself. I had intel that your father came to town, and I intended to be the one to take him down by my own hands.”
“And what happened?” Adam asked.
“We were slaughtered. I was down to a few men, but at last I broke through his defense to where my information said he was. What I found…”
“What did you find?” Sakura insisted, leaning forward. Her pallor seemed too pale to Adam, but he knew to try to get her to calm down now would be futile. Besides, she wasn’t so fragile, and if she fell, he would catch her. He took a few steps closer to her and stood guard behind her chair.
“My friend,” Deveron said, and Adam heard raw pain. He drew a deep breath and blew it out. His gaze glassed over, and he spun to stare out the window, but Adam doubted he saw anything. Not because of the night, but because he recalled the past. “The humans were all drugged, asleep—the owner, her husband, a few guests. There weren’t many. However, the shifters—my people—were dead, their bodies yet to be cleaned up.
“Your father came out of the room on the second level, wild-eyed, manic. I didn’t stand a chance. If the two men I had left hadn’t come along to create a diversion, I would have died that day. As it was, I got away with my arms, legs, and my stomach cut. I think he got some kind of sick pleasure in slicing me with a sword.”
Sakura shut her eyes, head bowed. “A katana. Mama had a thing for all things Japanese for a while. Dad must have used her weapon.”
Deveron banged the desktop, and Sakura jumped, opening her eyes to look at him. Adam snarled, daring him with a look to try anything, but he settled back, his shoulders stooped. “I knew I had one friend left other than the two who helped me, but he was dying. I hid and waited. From my vantage point, I witnessed your father shout orders to others and call someone on the phone.”
Miami Heat Page 11
