Stalking His Mate: League Of Gallize Shifters
Page 9
Tess and Eli were thought to be Gallize descendants, but Eli happened to also be born into a shifter family. She changed into a grolar, part grizzly and part polar bear, which had nothing to do with being a Gallize.
When the door opened next, a striking woman with a head of black hair and an air of confident control walked in on spike heels. Tess wore a navy skirt suit and white silk blouse like a Manhattan businesswoman with the backbone of a Navy SEAL.
When Rory had ended up captured with her, he’d been present to witness that strength in action. She’d been the only person capable of saving Cole as the wolf shifter fell victim to the mating curse.
Cole died and Tess brought him back.
That had been an unbelievable feat and a powerful example of the strength of Gallize bonding.
Cole’s business demeanor softened as soon as he laid eyes on his mate. He stood up and gifted her with a smile of welcome as she walked around the table to stand with him. She matched his smile and sent it around the room as a hello to everyone.
Tess announced, “Scarlett said she shouldn’t have to meet with you after you didn’t get the name of the person running the bounty hunters ... ”
Justin said, “Are you kidding me?”
Cole snarled, “Give her a chance to finish.”
Tess continued, “Scarlett didn’t want to come here today, but she wants to thank you in person for saving the captives.”
Looking chagrined, Justin said, “Sorry.”
All was forgiven, because Cole’s mate smiled again and added, “I’m only willing to accept your apology if you give Scarlett a chance without blowing up at her. I don’t know if she’ll continue to work with us or not.” When her eyes moved to Rory, she said, “Sorry about what happened to your leg.”
“Thanks, but I’m good.” He nodded at the Guardian. “He used his double-whammy healing.” That had been the first time he’d made full eye contact with her. He asked, “What’s up with your eye color?”
She blushed. “Uhm, I think, uh ... ”
The Guardian zeroed in on her as soon as Rory asked the question. Their boss broke out a rare smile and said, “Congratulations. I’m extremely pleased at this news.”
Cole put his arm around her. “Thank you.”
Rory asked, “What news?”
Tess found her voice. “We’re expecting. We guessed that my eyes changing from blue to lavender had to do with the baby.”
Watching the happy couple, Rory envied Cole for the life he had ahead of him and the woman who would share that life, but the moment passed. He reminded himself that he did not want what they had.
He ignored how, for the first time, that reminder had a hollow and insincere feel.
Ferrell gave a deep groan and said one word with deep longing. Mate.
Rory didn’t acknowledge Ferrell. Instead, he said, “Way to go, you two. Congratulations.”
“Thanks.”
Justin groaned. “Eli wants one, too.”
Tess laughed. “Then get busy.”
“I have been, when I get a chance to be home.”
The Guardian angled his head in the odd way he did sometimes. “You’ve been working very hard, Justin. We have new personnel back from overseas. You should take some time off.”
“Thank you, sir, but we have a lot going on in the southeast. While our guys are all top notch, I know how they need time to adjust when they come back to the States. I’ll ask for time soon.” Grinning at Tess, Justin said, “The good news is you’ll have a babysitter any time you need it. Happy for both of you. Bet you catch hell at work for that eye color, though,” he teased.
She waved it off. “I’m telling everyone it’s contacts and a new look I’m trying out.” Tess snapped around at the Guardian. “Speaking of eyes, Scarlett will be here soon. Do you plan to stay for this meeting, sir?”
“I do.”
“Well, uhm, she might notice your eyes.” Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment as if she’d criticized his eyes.
The Guardian took no offense. “I realize that and appreciate your concern, Tess, but I plan to be more involved as we slowly reveal the Gallize presence on a limited basis. I trust your judgment on allowing Scarlett to meet my shifters and I have no problem with her seeing my eyes, but for now I would prefer to not tell her about the Gallize. One step at a time.”
Nodding, Tess said, “Got it. And, yes, I do trust her. She maintains autonomy from all as an independent contractor for SCIS.”
Rory had a love-hate attitude about SCIS, which captured criminal shifters and sometimes shifters they just tagged as criminals. Not everyone in SCIS had a moral code like Tess. She enforced an iron rule about treating everyone fairly, regardless of whether they were human or not.
The door opened and Hawk said, “Scarlett Sullivan is here.” He backed away as a woman entered. She had brunette hair braided in some complicated style that left some woven strands falling past her shoulders—how’d women do that stuff?—and eyes a deep forest green. At first, her expression had been hard and irritated, but with one inhale and slow look around the room, those eyes revealed a hint of concern.
He couldn’t blame her.
She hid a cat of some type. He was certain of that now. But she’d just walked into a room filled with apex predators. Her cat felt powerful, but her hind sense had to be warning her to back out slowly and vanish.
The Guardian stood and stepped forward. “Very nice to meet you in person, Ms. Sullivan. Tess speaks highly of you and your skills. You’re welcome here and I guarantee your safety.”
Scarlett raised her gaze to the Guardian. The quick lift of her eyebrows was the only indication she’d noticed either his eyes or the power that rushed out with his vow of safety.
“Nice to meet you,” Scarlett said with more professional tone than sincerity. Her gaze moved to Tess, who gave Scarlett an encouraging look and nodded as if to say, “He is the baddest predator in the room.”
Being the only other cat shifter present, Rory decided to break the ice. “Thanks for your intel. You were spot-on about the bounty hunters. They just didn’t have Jugo Loco.”
“Good.” That drew her attention to Rory. She inhaled in his direction. When he canted his head at her in a nod of acknowledgement, she simply said, “Yes, I’m a cat.”
The Guardian remained patient as they all waited to see if she’d stay. He suggested, “Would you like to sit down? We’d appreciate a moment of your time.”
Turning to the Guardian, Scarlett said, “I accept your assurance of safety, because Tess would not walk me into a trap, but I do have one question. What the hell is this? A meeting of ... alphas?”
A rumble of quiet laughter circled the room and even the Guardian smiled.
Justin cleared his throat and said, “You’re close. We’re not alphas of any group or clan, but he is the one we consider our alpha.” Justin nodded at the Guardian. “Any more than that, he’ll have to share.”
Tess stepped around Cole and took a seat on Rory’s side of the table. Scarlett walked around and sat between Tess and Rory.”
Once she was settled, the Guardian explained, “These are unusual shifters. Every one is as powerful as an alpha who can draw on a pack’s power, possibly stronger. Just as you have secrets, we do as well. We will share what we can when it’s necessary, but we would prefer to show mutual respect by agreeing that any question may be asked, but that doesn’t mean every question will be answered.”
Scarlett lifted her chin. “I’m good with that.” Propping an elbow on the table, she said, “Now that introductions are out of the way, thank you for saving the females and their children, but what happened yesterday?”
Rory could feel tension roll off Justin and figured he’d help his buddy out by answering first. “We showed up expecting to find pallets of Jugo Loco. We discovered the captives and called for backup to safely extract them. At that point, we believed we still had a shot at gaining the intel we originally planned to deliver. Then we fo
und out someone was expected to arrive soon to take part of the group before our additional people would arrive. If we’d allowed them to separate the captives, we couldn’t have saved all of them. We had to shift our entire plan from an intel gathering operation to a rescue mission on the spot.”
Justin picked up the thread, saying, “We still had a plan to get your intel, which was to allow one of the bounty hunters to go free and track him.”
Frowning now, Scarlett asked, “That didn’t work?”
Justin’s tension had settled. “Two of us could have taken down the six shifters guarding the cages, but when Vic and I went down there, two more were hiding and they were jacked up on Jugo Loco. One wolf was a behemoth. So oversized he had to be amped up with some kind of steroid drug for shifters.”
“Shit,” Scarlett cursed softly.
“Exactly,” Justin said. “At the same time we were fighting those six, Rory had taken the lead to insert into the woods so he could track the runner. Instead, he ended up facing the steroid wolf shifter and his sidekick at the same time. He almost lost his leg in that fight.”
Rory didn’t correct Justin’s edited version, which didn’t mention the two jackals he’d told Justin about during the debriefing. That was unnecessary information at this meeting.
Scarlett turned to Rory. “Sorry about your leg.”
He nodded in reply.
Then addressing the room, she said, “Saving those shifters is absolutely more important than any intel—”
Justin leaned back. “Good.”
“—but I still want what I expected from our agreement.”
Justin sent a glare to Cole, which Rory read as, “What’s with this ballbuster?”
Cole lifted a hand, silently asking Justin to be patient.
As normal, the Guardian listened to everyone before he gave his thoughts on any situation. “You have a valid point, Ms. Sullivan, but you’re concerned only with this one time.”
“You can call me Scarlett and what are you talking about? We’ve had only one deal.”
“I would like to propose that with a little patience and cooperation on both sides, that you would gain far more than a single name by forming a working association. If you were to agree to consider an ongoing relationship with our organization, you would be able to ask for aid when needed in exchange for sharing intel with my people as well.”
Leaning back, Scarlett lifted a finger to poke her cheek. “I get the feeling you probably have an impressive intelligence network.”
“Yes, we do.”
“Then what could you possibly want from me?”
Standing with one hand in the pocket of his suit pants, in something Rory had come to think of as a practiced, human-like move to appear relaxed, the Guardian replied, “My people have worked on large scale operations for a long time, which often involved conflicts between countries. The ultimate goals have been peace and the protection of innocents.” He extended his free hand to encompass the people around the table. “These teams here are now tasked with more complex situations. We’re finding our network is not as effective at the ground level, where you seem to be deeply enmeshed in the everyday shifter world.”
She tapped her cheek, as she seemed to ponder his words. “When you say innocents, are you talking about humans only?”
“Absolutely not. We will always protect preternatural beings, just as we did on this last mission.”
“Maybe not a Power Baron,” Justin muttered.
The Guardian merely lifted an eyebrow and Justin fell quiet.
“I get what you’re saying,” Scarlett said. “If I agree to this, is there any limitation on what I can ask for?”
The Guardian qualified, “Only if it is outside my ability to grant your request or would put my people in an unreasonable level of danger.”
Rory wanted to chuckle. He couldn’t recall anyone every saying a mission was too dangerous, but the Guardian would never send his people in when there was no hope for survival.
Sitting forward, Scarlett dropped her hand to the table. “I’m willing to give this a try.”
Giving her as pleasant a look as someone with ancient eagle eyes could, the Guardian said, “Thank you. We shall also give it a try.”
Scarlett smirked at the counter to her comment. “Back to the bounty hunters.”
Justin groaned.
She snarled.
Tess told Justin, “Don’t forget your apology.”
Scarlett asked, “What apology?”
Waving her hand for Scarlett to continue, Tess said, “It’s a personal thing. Go ahead with what you were saying.”
“I do want to find the person running the bounty hunter groups. They’re dealing Jugo Loco, but as you saw, they’re also trafficking innocent shifters who only want to live in peace. I went to the Friends Of Shifters shelter to check on the captives you brought in.”
Cole interjected, “I didn’t think they’d allow anyone inside the FOS shelters without getting clearance, which normally takes a few days and a lot of red tape.”
“That’s true. As one of the founding members, I helped craft that waiting period, but I have constant access.”
Rory grew respect for Scarlett in that moment. There were groups of humans who actively targeted anyone who helped shifters. Scarlett had just shown a return of trust for meeting the Guardian and his shifters by revealing her strong association with FOS.
Tess asked, “Are they okay?”
“Yes,” Scarlett said with a heavy sigh. “The children are still terrified and the women are wary, but some asked me to tell the team that they’re sorry for yelling at you for not releasing them from the cages. They didn’t know who you were.”
Running a hand over his tawny hair, Justin said, “Tell ’em it’s fine. We get yelled at from time to time.” He smiled, the earlier tension abated.
Scarlett paused then said, “But one is missing.”
Rory did his best not to react. He forced his breathing to stay calm or every shifter in the room would focus on him. His damn jaguar brought up the image of the nymph waving goodbye and running into the woods.
That was a first. No gory or insulting image.
Justin’s forehead scrunched up. “Who?”
Rory wouldn’t look at Justin. He’d told him about the female he’d saved from the jackals, so Justin was fishing for what Scarlett knew.
“Said her name was Jane, but the shifter didn’t believe that. This woman is not a shifter.” Scarlett drummed her fingers on the table. “I hate to start off our new association by burning a request for a nonshifter, but this woman helped a shifter female and her son. Because of being with them, she got caught in the bounty hunters’ dragnet. They said two jackal guards took the woman away and never returned.”
The Guardian asked, “What exactly are you requesting?”
“I’d like you to find her and bring her back safely,” Scarlett said without hesitation. “I don’t want to leave her to all the predators who might be after her once they catch her scent at the site where you killed the bounty hunters. Once she’s safe, I’d also like a chance to question her to see if she has any additional information on the bounty hunters.”
After a moment of silence when no one dared speak before the boss, the Guardian said, “She clearly escaped. Do you have any idea where she might have been heading?”
“I have more than that. I know where she is right now.”
Rory sat forward before he realized he’d moved. She knew what happened to his nymph? “Where is she?”
Scarlett stared at him. “You saw her, didn’t you?”
“I attacked two jackals who had a woman pinned down. She ran and I had two wolves on me next.” He kept it vague, because Scarlett didn’t need to know he’d held the woman. Prickly as Scarlett was, she might get her hackles up over that. He said, “Between getting the place locked down and caring for the captives, plus my leg dangling loose, we had no one to go after her. You say you found her?”
“Was she injured?” Rory prodded. He could feel eyes on him due to his immediate interest, but he didn’t care. He had a burning drive to find her again. He’d worry about why later.
“Yes and no,” Scarlett hedged. “She stepped in front of a slow-moving car that knocked her out. She wasn’t physically harmed, but bystanders claimed she was acting strangely and waving her hands wildly at something no one else could see. They thought she was off her rocker and sent her to a mental hospital. Pennsylvania has a provision for sending someone to be observed for a limited time.”
That woman hadn’t seemed the least bit crazy when Rory spoke to her.
The Guardian announced, “We will help you locate this woman and bring her back, but I also have a request.”
“Fair enough. What is it?”
“I’m looking for a tiger shifter on his own in this country. Before you ask why, I am concerned about his health.”
Scarlett said, “Those are fairly rare. You have any idea where he is?”
“We have some possible places to start looking, which I’ll share, but for now I’d like you to put it out on your network and see if anything pops up.”
“I can do that,” Scarlett agreed.
Rory’s heart thumped harder and harder. He’d spent the long, miserable night thinking about his nymph and how his body had healed right after she touched him. Now he could find her.
Justin asked, “What does this woman look like?”
Rory caught himself before he blurted out the answer.
Scarlett said, “I have a sketch I’ll send Tess. She’s in her twenties, average height and size, has white hair to her shoulders. One brown eye and one blue.”
Shit. Rory never saw her eyes.
With her power, she might be a Gallize female.
He had no business going after a woman he had no intention of mating, not when one of his Gallize brothers needed a mate.