“Fight clubs are illegal,” Kendrick said. “Both by human law and Shifter. Shifter leaders look the other way but humans shut them down.”
“Who’s this we who will go to the fight club?” Ben asked him. “You, my friend Kendrick, are distinctive. You might have been able to skulk in the corner at bars for a while, but among all those Shifters, someone’s going to spot you. You’ve also become known as Dylan’s man.” He looked thoughtful. “So have I, for that matter.”
“My trackers,” Kendrick said. “They won’t know who is loyal to whom anymore—Seamus has taken a fake Collar and is living with a former Shifter groupie. Dimitri and Jaycee have always been a little bit wild. Others might buy that the two of them have turned on me.”
“Or you could send me,” Addison said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Both Kendrick and Ben glared at Addie and said, “No!” at the same time. Tiger was silent, his yellow gaze on her.
Addie raised her hands, her heart beating faster under their stares. “I’m not volunteering because I’m stupidly brave or anything. I’m saying I should go because none of Kendrick’s Shifters have ever seen me before. At most, the ones who survived the diner caught sight of me diving for the floor in a waitress uniform. I can watch who you tell me to watch and report.” Addie lowered her hands, meeting their eyes, though it wasn’t easy. The thought of coming across one of the Shifters who’d shot up the diner was not pleasant, but the truth was, she was an unknown entity in this situation.
Kendrick rose, fists balled. “If they catch you, they will kill you, Addison. No.”
Addie looked up at him, holding her ground. “You can make sure some of the Shifters you trust are also there, just not obviously with me. You keep talking about this Dylan. Apparently he’s pretty mean stuff? You could ask him to keep the bad Shifters away from me.”
Kendrick still scowled, although Ben looked as though he was starting to see her point. “You’d have to get close enough to hear what they say,” Ben said. “And remember it. I might be able to fix you up with a listening device, but that’s dangerous. If you’re caught with a bug, even the law-abiding Shifters might try to take you out—they’d think you were spying for the humans.”
Addie flushed, but sent Ben and Kendrick a triumphant grin. “Well, you’re in luck. I have a terrific memory.”
Both men looked dubious, and Tiger fixed his full attention on her, frowning.
“Go on,” Addie said. “Ask me what meals I served the last day at the diner.”
Kendrick said nothing, but Ben put his elbows on the table and said, “Tell me, what meals did you serve the last day at the diner?”
“I went in just before lunch,” Addie answered, the images coming to her. “Right side, booth one—woman with bouffant hairdo had a Monte Cristo with a salad instead of fries; her friend with short blond hair had the soup of the day, which was chicken with rice. Left a tip of five dollars. Booth two, burger and fries, no lettuce, onion or pickle—he was one of the sheriffs’ deputies—not one who arrested me. Booth three . . .” She went on, describing meals and what they’d tipped, while Ben listened with interest, and Kendrick retained his frown.
“Last customer had a grilled cheese with tomato,” Addie concluded. “The cook was pissed off because he’d wanted to shut the grill down early, which he did right after he made the sandwich, and disappeared home. Then Kendrick and the cubs came in. Kendrick wanted apple pie with streusel and the cubs went for banana cream. But that wasn’t hard to remember—they asked for the same thing every night.”
“And it was good!” Brett said loudly.
“Impressive.” Ben lifted his coffee and took a noisy sip. “Can you do that with anything?”
“No.” Addie shrugged, a bit breathless from the recitation. “Not with math or science or anything that might get me a high-paying job. But I learned to notice things about people and couple it with what they say and do. I can’t remember every meal I ever served, but definitely the last few days.”
“I take back my original objection,” Ben said. “I say, send her.”
“My mate,” Kendrick said, a growl in his voice. “Send my mate into the fight club, which is dangerous at the best of times, to get close to Shifters who are into shooting and stabbing other Shifters? It’s a bad, bad, bad idea.”
“She could go with Seamus’s mate,” Tiger said.
Kendrick’s gaze snapped to him. Tiger had been so silent that his abrupt statement was jarring. “What?”
“Seamus’s mate,” Tiger repeated. “She used to be a Shifter groupie. She would know how to make Addie look the same.”
Kendrick curled his fist on the table. “A Shifter groupie. Women who will do anything to have sex with a Shifter—you want Addie to go in looking like a groupie to a place full of Shifters who are happy to oblige?”
Tiger shrugged. “Seamus’s mate has a brother. A soldier. He could protect them.”
“Shit,” Kendrick said. “No, Addison. It’s a stupid idea.”
“I know that,” Addie said. “But I want to help you, Kendrick. I’m not happy that I was in the line of fire when these people came after you. They need to be stopped. I’m protecting myself as much as you. And the cubs. If I can do this, then why not?”
“I would protect her too,” Tiger said. “I am always at the fight club. And Spike, Ellison, Ronan, Broderick . . . all the trackers.”
“And me.” A voice rose from the couch. Zander lowered his arm from his eyes, looking wide-awake. “I always like a good fight club. A tip—bet everything on me. I always win.”
* * *
In the end, Kendrick decided to concede—sort of. He would send his trackers to covertly watch over her. Addison and Seamus’s mate would go in separately and make no indication that they knew Kendrick’s Shifters. Ben assured Kendrick that he had a spell that could remove Kendrick’s scent from Addison so she wouldn’t be announcing she was Kendrick’s as soon as she walked into the arena.
The idea that a spell could do that unnerved Kendrick. Scent was important to Shifters—he didn’t like to think someone could arbitrarily confuse the hell of out them by removing Shifter scent. He didn’t like the idea of Addison not being protected by his scent either, but he couldn’t have it both ways.
Kendrick would go as well. He didn’t mention this, but he laid his plans. No way was he going to let Addison walk into a space full of adrenaline-hyped Shifters who’d be in animal form or naked as humans, willing to relieve their pent-up emotions with sex instead of fighting if the opportunity presented itself. Casual encounters were not forbidden to Shifters as long as they didn’t poach someone else’s mate. And with his scent off her, they would consider Addison fair game.
Addison would go with Seamus’s mate, Bree, and her brother, with Seamus watching from the sidelines. Zander would go with Tiger—he’d been seen by the Austin Shifters before. Dimitri and Jaycee could slide in on their own. Shifters came from all over the state to the fight clubs, so it wouldn’t be odd if they weren’t well-known by the locals.
Once the plans were made, Kendrick removed himself from the house.
A run as tiger didn’t help his pent-up impatience, anger, and need. He was sending Addison into danger. He’d mate-claimed her. Kendrick’s first instinct was to carry Addison straight to the bedroom and bury himself inside her. But that would scent-mark her, and he couldn’t risk that Ben’s spell wouldn’t erase the distinctive odor of a Shifter who’d gone mate-frenzied with her.
Kendrick’s instincts to take her right away might get her killed. Addison’s only hope at remaining unnoticed was for him to keep away from her until afterward.
Part of him whispered that if he did the scent-marking and let his mating frenzy go, he could keep her home and out of danger.
Probably not the best way to start a mating, he told himself dryly. And as much as Kendrick
did not want to admit it, the others were right—Addison as an unknown had the best chance to get close to the Shifters Ben had overheard and see what the hell they were up to.
A leopard sprang out of a wash and loped along beside him, sending him a challenging look. Kendrick quickened his pace, then broke into a run, letting the impromptu race drag him from his thoughts.
Jaycee was fast, and she could outrun even Kendrick. She sprinted past him, then spun around in the dirt and met him face-to-face.
Kendrick stopped, dust flying up from under his paws. He growled at her, and Jaycee snarled back. Then Jaycee dropped down and rolled onto her back, showing submission. Kendrick brushed his breath over her, acknowledging, and gave the top of her head a nuzzle.
Jaycee stretched up and started licking his face. Kendrick backed a step but she kept it up. The tiger in him liked it—she was being affectionate as well as indicating her loyalty to him.
Kendrick shifted to human. Usually Jaycee would stop her licking when he did that, but today, she kept on, her tongue like sandpaper on his skin.
“Cease,” Kendrick growled. She’d take off a layer if she didn’t stop.
Jaycee shifted to her human form, coming to her feet with her arms around Kendrick, the licking turning to kissing.
She prodded at his mouth with hers, darting her tongue between his lips. She gave one swipe into his mouth before Kendrick could push her away.
“No,” he said.
The hurt in Jaycee’s eyes pained him, but Kendrick had never felt for her what she wanted him to.
Jaycee hung on to him. “If your scent is all over me and mine all over you, no one will pay attention to Addie. You know this.”
Kendrick took Jaycee by the shoulders and pressed her gently aside. “Not the point.”
“Kendrick, I love you.”
“No.” Kendrick shook his head. He brushed her cheek, his task as leader to reassure her even as he pushed her away. “I’m your leader. It’s natural. I love you in return. But not as mate.”
“I know.” Jaycee’s mouth firmed. “It’s painfully obvious you don’t want me that way. I’ve been true to you for years, was there for you when Eileen died, loved you through everything. Now, you see a cute human woman, and all that’s for nothing. I don’t understand. You hate humans.”
“I can’t explain it.” Kendrick thought of Addison’s ready smile, her sassy mouth, the softness of her when she held him.
Addison expected nothing from him, Kendrick realized. Demanded nothing. She looked at Kendrick as an equal, as a partner. But she stood on her own.
Jaycee would always demand. She was that kind of person. Everything given was payment for something she wanted in return. Addison gave without hope of reward.
Kendrick had watched Jaycee since she’d passed her Transition. She was courageous, dedicated, and loyal, fiercely so. He’d hoped she’d find happiness with Dimitri, who’d been friends with her since cubhood, but the two had never paired up. He suspected they’d had sex together, though he wasn’t certain, but their relationship had never cemented.
Kendrick felt sorry for Jaycee, but at the same time his impatience returned. She’d expected him to devote himself to her after Eileen’s death, when he’d been barely able to breathe. Jaycee had not hidden her anger when he hadn’t reciprocated her desire.
Kendrick caressed Jaycee’s cheek again. “Addison is my mate. When I first saw her, something inside me knew.”
Jaycee jerked away. “Don’t rub it in. But don’t worry—I’ll make sure nothing happens to her at the fight club. I’m not that much of a bitch.”
“I trust you.”
Jaycee heaved a sigh, the anguish in her eyes receding the smallest amount. “I guess I’ll have to be fine with that.”
She swung away, started to run, shifted to her leopard, and sprinted for the horizon.
* * *
Fight clubs didn’t meet every night, according to Kendrick, but most nights there was a fight club somewhere. Shifters couldn’t stay penned up for long, even voluntarily.
Addie knew Kendrick was furious about her involvement, but she was going nonetheless.
She would go with Seamus to the house where his mate and her brother lived with their mother, and they’d leave from there for the fight club. Seamus and Bree were well-known at the fight clubs already, and there wouldn’t be much surprise to see them there tonight. Addie’s presence would be explained as being a friend of Bree’s.
The others had already dispersed before Addie departed Charlie’s, except for Ben, who’d go with her and perform the spell after she’d changed her clothes. Ben lingered as though in no hurry, lounging on the sofa while the cubs played at his feet.
Kendrick barred Addie’s exit as she tried to follow Seamus out. His eyes held fire.
“Goddess go with you, Addison,” he said in his deep voice. “Come back to me safe.”
Addie’s words got lost in her throat. She lunged at him, wound her arms around his neck, and kissed him.
Kendrick caught her against him, the strength of his embrace telling her how much he didn’t want to let her go. It told her also that if he decided to insist she stayed, she couldn’t fight him.
The force with which he kissed her back left her breathless. But Kendrick slowly released her, standing her away from him, holding her only with his gaze.
“Goddess go with you,” Addie said softly.
Kendrick cupped her cheek with one hand, his eyes flaring heat, then he gave her a nod, stepped back, and let her go to where Seamus and Ben waited at the bottom of the steps.
* * *
Seamus drove Addie and Ben away from Charlie’s ranch in a pickup that hummed smoothly beneath them. Ben rode in the bed, saying he wanted to enjoy being out in the air and alive.
“You have nothing to worry about,” Seamus said as Addie watched the flat Texas landscape be swallowed up by late twilight. “I won’t let one hair on your head be touched tonight. I love my mate, and I don’t want to die.”
“Kendrick won’t kill you,” Addie said with conviction. “I won’t let him.”
“Hunh.” Seamus said skeptically, his eyes on the road. “You never know what Kendrick will do. When his mate died bringing in Zane, he went a little crazy. We were sure he’d die too, and he’s the Guardian. Only a Guardian can send another Guardian to dust, and that was going to be a problem. And anyway, I love the guy. I hurt for him.”
“All of you are devoted to him,” Addie said, curious. “Why? I mean, I like him—he’s compelling, and . . .” Hot as a box of rocks on a summer afternoon.
What do you mean, you “like” him? Addie told herself. You’ve been jonesing for him from the minute he walked into the diner.
Seamus glanced at her, amusement in his tawny eyes. “Kendrick’s amazing. He held us together, protecting us, when we might have exploded from within. Shifters living together in close quarters—all different species—could have ended in a bloodbath or most of us going feral. He wouldn’t let us. He’s got an iron will, Kendrick does. I’ve never seen him as easygoing as I’ve seen him with you.”
“Easygoing?” Addie asked in astonishment. “That’s easygoing?”
“Believe it or not.” Seamus nodded. “Even with his old mate, he wasn’t tender. She was as hard-ass as he was, not a gentle woman. But they loved each other pretty intensely. With you, he’s . . . different.”
“He’s lonely,” Addie said. “I am too, and he recognized that in me. I saw his face when he found you and Jaycee and Dimitri. He missed you like crazy. I’m guessing the whole mate-claim thing will dry up once he’s back to leading you.”
Addie did not like the empty feeling she got when she said the words. Easy to pretend that once Kendrick had resettled himself, she could walk away and return to her old life without a problem.
Not true. Kendrick had
changed her, and not simply because she’d learned about Shifters. She’d seen him as worried father, caring friend, helpful to the weak, raw with emotion and need and fearing that state.
“I’m not so sure,” Seamus said. “When I met Bree, I had this idea we’d never stick together once I figured out what was going on with me or found Kendrick. It doesn’t work that way—I’m not leaving Bree, no matter what.”
Seamus, though, wasn’t a father, leader of Shifters, and a Guardian, with all the hang-ups that went with it. Kendrick, as he’d said himself, had issues.
Addie had supposed they’d go to a Shiftertown, but Seamus took her to a house that lay about forty miles south of Austin, in an area between housing developments. The house was old, had been there long before the walled communities in the distance had sprung up, with tall trees, a white picket fence, the whole works.
Floodlights blasted on when Seamus stopped the truck in the front drive, and a woman in a muumuu came out onto the porch.
“’Bout time you got here,” the woman called down to them. “Bree’s getting worried, and Lord, can that girl fuss when she’s worried.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“This is going to be so much fun,” Bree Fayette said as she put makeup on Addie in the downstairs bathroom. “I haven’t costumed in a long time. I gave it up for a man.”
Bree, with her short honey-colored hair and blue eyes, her Feline makeup already in place, laughed out loud as Seamus looked across the living room through the bathroom’s open door. With his Shifter hearing, he’d follow every word, and Bree would know that.
“Hold still, sweetie.” Bree’s brow furrowed as she drew whiskers around Addie’s nose.
Addie had never known there were such things as Shifter groupies. Apparently women put on fake ears and sometimes tails, made up their faces to look like cats or wolves, slid on provocative clothing, and chased after Shifters.
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