Sugar, Spice, and Shifters: A Touch of Holiday Magic

by Élianne Adams

  Laken gave him a nod, then walked over, leaving Cadence alone. “What time?”

  Ky looked at Isaac for an answer.

  “Eleven.”

  “Is this…”

  “Police business.” Isaac left it at that.

  — — —

  Cade watched Isaac. His hands were in his pockets and he leaned forward, the fabric straining against the muscles of his back. His ass was perfect, the kind she’d seen on calendars when she was in college. The kind that made it onto those birthday cards in the special area of the card section.

  “What was that about?” she asked Laken. Because if it involved Isaac, she wanted to know—for more reasons than one.

  Cade kept her gaze glued on Isaac. He turned her way, locking eyes with her, as if he knew she’d been watching him and was letting her know he knew. Excitement flowed throughout her body at the directness of his gaze.

  “Guess it’s not going to be a late night. Isaac has to go to work, and Ky’s going with him.”

  A shiver of the totally horrible kind started at the base of her spine and traveled the length of her back. “What kind of work?”

  “Police business. That’s all Isaac said, but if I had to make a guess, I’d say it was that cat burglar case that’s been plaguing him.”

  Her earlier excitement was replaced with dread. “Why does it bother him so much?” When Laken gave her a look, Cade tried to dig herself out. “I mean… I get that he’s a cop and that’s his job and all, but the whole ‘plaguing’ thing, isn’t that carrying it too far?”

  “Pretty sure the fact he suspects it’s one of our kind is what gets to him.”

  Why can’t he leave well enough alone?

  And tonight of all nights, a night she planned to do a job. She knew exactly where a nice amount of cash would be located. Two more good jobs like the one she planned tonight and she’d be done. She’d have reached her goal.

  Then I’ll put the cat burglar gig away for good.

  She had to; it was killing her ability to look the man she was attracted to in the eye, the man her panther insisted was her fated mate.

  Just a couple more times to fully fund a home for children in abusive situations. Just a couple more jobs would provide for the place that could assist little ones. No child should have to deal with the things she’d seen little Ignacio go through before he was killed.

  Pinpricks tormented her eyelids, threatening to yield to a gush of tears. She swallowed them back.

  “I can’t stay late tonight either.”

  Laken gave her a weird look. “Last month you were frustrated that you don’t get to see me enough, and now I’m in town and you can’t stay late.”

  “I’m sorry.” Cade wrapped her arms around her sister and hugged her.

  Would Laken understand if she told her about Ignacio? And why she was leaving early? And what she did?

  If she tried, then Laken would want to know how Cade had come to be what she was, how she’d become a thief.

  No, she wasn’t ready to share her life with her sister.

  SEVEN

  Isaac was aware of Cade’s presence during dinner like one is aware they’re in a tornado. He couldn’t push the influence of her from his mind or his body. And his bear sure as hell wouldn’t let Isaac push the effect away.

  The bastard.

  Isaac and his bear hadn’t had an easy time of it. Their relationship had been strained when he was growing up. They always seemed to be at odds, and more often than not, Isaac pushed his bear aside and silenced him.

  His brother Ky had an easier time with his bear. They’d always been close; they’d been best friends and inseparable, always in each other’s heads. Ky’s bear guided him throughout life. Which wasn’t to say everything was easy for Ky; Isaac knew it wasn’t. His time in the Middle East had taken its toll on Ky.

  Isaac didn’t care much for his bear until he’d turned twenty. Even then, it was a grudgingly given compromise that characterized their relationship.

  Probably both of us are too damned hardheaded, Isaac mused.

  Next to him, Cade took a bite, her arm brushing against his. Electric currents raced through his veins, leaving him charged. He took a bite of the salmon, knowing it tasted good, but he couldn’t tell for his senses were centered on her.

  His bear was practically purring in his mind, content to be near her.

  What the fuck? Bears don’t purr.

  “Aunt Miriam’s expecting us at eleven on Christmas day,” Laken was saying.

  Isaac forced himself to pay attention, noting that Laken called her Aunt Miriam, glad that she’d fit into the Romanoff clan as easily as she had. They weren’t always an easy bunch to get along with, he was the first to admit. Not with their characteristic bullheadedness. His last two girlfriends could bear witness to that. Of course, Aunt Miriam argued, they had never deserved him.

  She spent so much time making Isaac, Ky, and Jonah feel like her own kids, taking the three rambunctious boys on after their parents had gone.

  “I’ll be there,” Isaac said. He turned toward Cadence. “You’re going, right?”

  Cade wouldn’t look at him. She didn’t answer right away.

  “Of course, she is.” Laken shot him a glance, as if that was a stupid question. “Are you done with your Christmas shopping?” she asked him.

  “It looks like I’m not. I don’t have anything for Cadence or Carina.”

  “You don’t need to worry about me. I have everything I need,” Cade responded.

  “Don’t be such a Scrooge.” Laken harrumphed and gave her a dirty look. “You know what you should do? Go Christmas shopping together tomorrow. That way, you can help Isaac pick up something for Carina, too. And you can tell him what you want, since you have everything you need.”

  — — —

  The look in Laken’s eyes screamed manipulation and matchmaking.

  I’m going to kill my sister.

  Cade worked a tight smile to her lips. “Sure.” She knew she probably sounded petulant.

  He only wants to put me in jail for a very long time. Why don’t I hang out with him and give him the evidence to do so?

  Another dirty look from Laken. Cade couldn’t blame her sister, but Laken just didn’t get it.

  The rest of the dinner was a hushed affair for Cade. Except that although she was silent, her panther wasn’t, turning tight circles filled with frustration in Cade’s mind. Snarling every so often, and roaring once or twice.

  Her panther wasn’t the only thing that distracted Cade. Every damned time she raised her fork to take a bite, her arm nudged Isaac’s.

  Why couldn’t we flip spots? Having a left-handed and a right-handed person in this arrangement led to nothing but murmured apologies.

  Every brush against each other, no matter how incidental, created a blizzard of sensations in Cade. Shivers left goose bump trails on her spine, while neutrons, protons, and electrons ran amok, bouncing around her body, sending signals she wished she could put a damper on.

  No such luck. There was no controlling the vibrations that ran rampant.

  When the night was over, and the cleanup was done, she breathed a sigh of relief as Isaac and Ky left for their “police business.”

  Fifteen minutes after the men had said their goodbyes, Cade hugged her sister and told her she’d see her tomorrow, then headed down to the parking garage.

  EIGHT

  Isaac and Ky were hidden on the rooftop they’d set up as a surveillance post.

  Isaac was confident the thief would jump from one of the two adjacent buildings, taking the leap to the building he’d set up surveillance from. They’d changed into black, foregoing any bulletproofing because that would kill some of their running speed if there was a foot chase.

  Plus, Isaac felt confident this criminal did not resort to violence. He didn’t want to admire the thief, but he did feel a grudging sense of respect. The criminal was clean and neat, only robbed the rich, and never hurt anyone.<
br />
  What the hell is wrong with me? He’s a damned criminal. I don’t feel respect for perps.

  They’d been here almost two hours. The hour that the thief usually hit was coming up.

  Isaac scratched his unshaved scruff. He felt Ky’s eyes on him. “Go ahead, say what’s on your mind.”

  “We’ve been here for a couple of hours. You sure he’ll show?”

  “I set bait out, planted the right info with the right people. The thing I don’t get is, no one will flip on him. Not one single person will admit to knowing him. Why not?”

  Ky’s expression didn’t sit well with Isaac.

  “Say what you’re thinking.”

  “I’m wondering if you’re a little…” Ky let a heavy breath out, as if he was carrying a huge burden. “Obsessed, maybe. If not, then tell me why you don’t have a team out here. Or backup.”

  “I don’t have to. I told you that.”

  “Yeah, I know, but common sense would dictate you’d have some. Unless you don’t want them to know how much effort you’re plugging into this.”

  Isaac shook his head—except he wasn’t just shaking it at Ky. He was shaking it at his bear too, who wouldn’t shut the hell up about Cade.

  “If you really need to talk, let’s shift and sync.”

  Isaac shifted into his bear so Ky would too. After Ky shifted, he sent a signal that bumped into Isaac’s mind, trying to establish a link. They couldn’t communicate unless both shifted creatures enabled the link.

  Isaac looked around carefully and inhaled deeply to be sure there were no onlookers. The last thing he needed was some human to witness two large polar bears on a rooftop in New York City. That would get ugly.

  Happy now? Ky asked him silently.

  I don’t want this jeopardized. I’d like to close this case. If I do, then I’m a shoe-in for a spot with InterForce. I’d like to be in a paranormal unit there. Like you were, in Sigma Eps.

  Ky had served in Sigma Eps, a military unit composed of paranormal individuals. Humans didn’t know the unit wasn’t simply human. That wasn’t discussed, but within the Sigma Eps, nearly impossible missions were brought to a successful end.

  Have you talked to Jonah? He’d help you.

  Their brother Jonah was in Unit 13, the paranormal unit in InterForce. In this case too, the humans in InterForce had no idea the unit was paranormal.

  I didn’t want to make it on his coattails. I want to make it based on my achievements.

  For fuck’s sake, Isaac. You’re plenty decorated and you’ve got a killer resume. You wouldn’t be getting it because of Jonah.

  I’d rather do it my way.

  Suit yourself. So what are you going to do about Cade?

  What do you want me to do? Hit her on the head with a club? Drag her by the hair to the nearest cave and take her?

  Except for the hitting part, what’s wrong with the rest of it? Ky laughed, the sound reverberating in Isaac’s head.

  As soon as Ky stopped laughing, Isaac gave him his opinion. I don’t think that will work for her.

  A sound caught Isaac’s attention. The tiniest of clicks. Did you hear that?

  Ky glanced around. No.

  NINE

  Another day at work. A dozen and a half bundles of energy had pushed her to near exhaustion.

  Cade glanced at the phone. She was in the alley behind the targeted home.

  Almost two o’clock. Almost go time.

  Clothing: All black.

  Hunter’s block: In effect.

  Backpack with lock picking kit: packed.

  Change of clothing: Check.

  She’d really misspent her youth; she knew that. After their parents had died, Laken, Cadence, and Carina had been split up. No relative volunteered to take all three girls, so they’d gone to different relatives’ homes, not reuniting until they’d grown.

  Laken had gone to one set of grandparents, Carina to the other set.

  Cadence was left with her father’s younger brother, who had found her to be an adorable decoy while he plied and plowed his way through rich widows and bored housewives. After a few years, Cade wasn’t the cute little decoy anymore.

  It was time for Uncle Ramon to include her in a completely different enterprise. She had a new place in her uncle’s plans.

  Accessory.

  She learned the ins and outs of lock picking, alarm disengagement, scaling buildings, and safe cracking. It didn’t hurt that she, like her uncle, was a black panther shifter. Scaling buildings was easy to manage when a single leap could take her to the second-story balcony. It also didn’t hurt that she could jump building to building, so even if she was pursued, it was a matter of a leap humans couldn’t handle that could put her out of reach of the cops.

  And then one day, Uncle Ramon vanished. Poof. Gone. Sixteen-year-old Cade was left to fend for herself. And fend for herself she did.

  She didn’t put the knowledge her uncle had given her to use. He’d stashed plenty of money, artifacts, and jewelry in a storage unit. She knew his contacts and had no problem fencing items to live. So she finished high school, forging his signature when a guardian’s signature was required.

  She kept contact with her sisters, but they’d been raised in other areas and had “normal” family lives, so she didn’t let them know her situation. They’d email and call, and she’d pretend everything was as it should be.

  Then came college. She had no clue what she wanted to do until she spent a summer working as a camp counselor at the Y. Teaching. That was what she wanted.

  A few years later, she was doing just that: teaching kindergarten in one of the more underserved, financially deprived areas in the city.

  She thought she loved the job until she saw little Ignacio and his daily bruises. She looked into it, tried to find his home. He was classified as homeless, with no address in the system. A temporary situation, the school told her, a situation that would be rectified when the boy and his mother were reunited with his father. But still she worried, and she wanted to follow him, to use her panther scenting to track him at night, but…

  Time wasn’t on her side.

  One day, Ignacio quit coming to school.

  Two days later, she found out he was being buried that Saturday. She went to the funeral. His mother’s silent tears didn’t move Cade any more than his mother had been moved to protect Ignacio when he needed her. The boy’s stepfather was standing by her side, his face stoic. Cade didn’t need anyone to tell her he was the cause of Ignacio’s death.

  The father appeared at the funeral too. A long distance truck driver, he’d been out of town. Word had it he was trying to find a way to gain custody of his son, and the reasons he didn’t were plentiful and understandable: his job, no one at home to watch the child, no stable home environment…

  The reasons weren’t as heartbreaking as the final result.

  When the father appeared at the gravesite, he lunged for the stepfather, screaming accusations of abuse. The stepfather’s friends stepped up, and the father was unconscious and being kicked repeatedly before anyone could react.

  Cade left the cemetery that afternoon with two goals. The first was immediate. She took care of that matter within a few days, after Ignacio’s father had left town on his next long-distance haul. She wanted him long gone, with a solid alibi.

  The stepfather’s disappearance remained a mystery.

  The second goal was taking longer, much longer, but the special home she wanted to fund, Ignacio’s Place, was to be more than a dream soon. She was so close to meeting the goal, she could taste it.

  Slow down, she cautioned herself, because she knew if she rushed, she’d leave herself open to errors. Like Uncle Ramon had taught her, she’d be careful and methodical.

  She glanced at the burner phone. Straight up two o’clock. She took a deep breath, powered down the phone.

  Cade made her way across the building’s roof until she found the perfect hiding place for her phone. She set her it in a crac
k between two cinderblocks next to a large condensing unit.

  Though the phone was powered down, she still didn’t want to risk it falling into the wrong hands. Somehow, they’d figure out it was hers, and there would be no talking her way out of anything if her phone was found at the crime scene.

  She kept the backpack light, because although her clothes shifted with her, the backpack never did. After she shifted, she carried the backpack in her powerful panther jaws. God knew she’d tried to figure out how to get the backpack to shift when she did her. No luck.

  If I could figure out the mechanics of shifting while carrying stuff, I’d have a leg up on this.

  She slipped out of the stairwell and onto the roof of the building that was next to her targeted building. She’d shift into her panther skin and leap across, then she’d leap from balcony to balcony for fourteen stories.

  If she was lucky, the balcony door would be open. Why would they feel the need to lock it, forty-four flights up? If she wasn’t that lucky, she’d pick the lock and disarm the alarm. She knew the model they used, thanks to a handy, nicely compensated hacker who’d cracked into the databases of several alarm companies.

  Thanks to the same guy, she also knew where the control panel had been placed. Too bad the passwords weren’t kept online. That would save her a few seconds, though she wasn’t particularly worried about time, since the homeowners were said to be wintering in Florida.

  A few paces from the rooftop’s edge, she slipped behind another unit, took off her backpack, and shifted into her panther.

  Ready? she asked her panther. The feline chuffed, eager to get started.

  She picked up the backpack between sharp canines, made sure her grip was tight, then crept toward the very edge of the roof, the city’s lights twinkling in the background.

  She lowered her powerful body, backing to get short running distance, muscles bunching in preparation. She catapulted herself forward, not looking down at what would be certain death.