by A. C. Arthur
“What are the odds of Sabar getting this new drug made without Ary’s help?” Rome asked Nick.
Nick didn’t know the answer. “He wanted her specifically, so I’ve got to believe there’s something she knows that another chemist doesn’t.”
“Find out what that is,” Rome told Nick. “X, you use your FBI intel to figure out where new drugs are being sold. Get one of the guards to go undercover if you need to, but I’ve got a feeling that if we follow the drugs, we’ll find Sabar.”
“You’re probably right,” Jace agreed.
“Where do we stand with the Assembly? Did you get a chance to meet with them while you were in the Gungi?” Cole asked Rome.
“I did. Neutralizing Sabar is a priority. But we’re still going to start the process of appointing leaders of the Stateside Assembly. I figured it would be good to start with finding a central location for us to use. In the Gungi the Elders have their Grounds. I’d like for us to have something like that here.”
“I think you should head up the Stateside Assembly, Rome,” Jace suggested.
Jace was the wild card in the group of FLs. His reputation among humans was of a brash and opinionated talent agent in Los Angeles who was the go-to man for all the A-list actors. With the shifters, he was one hell of a fine specimen that could kill with the same cutthroat viciousness he used to negotiate a contract for his clients.
Still, it didn’t take long for everyone to agree with him on this point. Rome was a born leader. He was an excellent warrior, and he was the only one of the Faction Leaders that had mated. That gave him a look of stability and commitment to the tribes that was undeniable. So he was the obvious choice.
With mild reluctance Rome accepted the duty.
“In that case, I’ll have Kalina start to look into establishing a headquarters for us.”
“She probably has some street contacts we can also use to track the drug,” X added.
Rome looked at X. It wasn’t a pleasant look. “I don’t want her on another undercover operation.”
X shook his head. “I’m just talking about her calling a few people, putting her ear to the street to see what she comes up with. She’s probably going to pull more info locally than I will going through the federal database. Hell, Rome, she’s your mate. I’m not going to let anything happen to her.”
Nick wanted to agree with X, but a huge part of him was siding with Rome. Putting Kalina back into the drug investigation game was dangerous. Nick didn’t even want to think about Ary being in that type of danger.
“We’ll talk about it later” was Rome’s terse reply.
“So the curandero is with you?” Cole asked.
Even though the question hadn’t been specifically aimed at anyone in particular, all eyes in the room fell on Nick.
He cleared his throat. “Yes. She’s staying with me.”
Silence.
Ezra was the first to speak up. “We should put a guard on her. Sabar doesn’t give up easily.”
“I agree. She’s with Kalina now, and Jax is permanently assigned to Kalina, so they’re safe for the moment. Ezra, let me know who you assign to Ary. I want that done within the hour,” Rome said.
“I’ll be with her tonight so there’s no need to rush,” Nick said. He regretted it the moment he did.
“Then she’ll definitely be in good hands.”
This and the first line of chuckles came from Bas. The Faction Leader had started his own hotel and resort chain and was now working at his newest resort in Sedona. He ran a tight ship of shifters in the Mountain Faction, focusing most of their efforts on training new shifters for service. He was also heavily against the mating ritual. Most likely because his parents’ union hadn’t ended well. Still, Nick wasn’t in the mood for his wisecracks.
X tried to cover his grin, but Eli and Ezra openly guffawed at the remark.
“Very funny,” Nick said snidely. “She’ll be safe is what I’m saying.”
“Who’s going to protect her from you, Delgado?” Cole joked.
Cole was an investment broker living in Dallas, surrounded by his matchmaking sisters. Nick felt this might make him more amenable to finding a mate, but the brother didn’t seem in any hurry. His focus was on making sure the stateside shifters were financially stable.
“I’m betting the same person who’s protecting you from the ass kicking I’ve got reserved for you,” Nick retorted.
Nick eventually broke into a grin. These guys were his family. They knew a lot about him. Not everything, but a lot. And for the most part Nick trusted them all. Just not with what was going on between him and Ary.
Because truth be told, Nick didn’t have a definitive answer on that topic himself.
Chapter 15
Slipping his phone back into its case, Nick verified the reservation he’d hurriedly made earlier at Fogo de Chao. He wasn’t sure if Ary would like the Brazilian restaurant, but was hoping so.
Nick hadn’t seen her since she’d left the condo earlier today with Kalina, but not a minute had gone by that he hadn’t thought of her. If he was being perfectly honest, he’d say that was nothing new. Ary had occupied the majority of his thoughts since he’d left her. He’d always wondered what had happened to her, if she thought of him, if she’d even cared that he’d left. Of course, Caprise would say he was too damn stubborn or proud, or some sickly combination of the two, to ever find out. That assessment would have been true. He’d never tried to contact her, never tried to find out if she was even still in the Gungi. He’d simply walked away and never looked back.
Through some great divine intervention he’d been granted a second chance, and he didn’t want to mess it up. Stepping out of his gray metallic Porsche 911 Carrera 4S, he grabbed the bouquet of flowers from his passenger seat, tucking them under his arm as he closed the door and activated the alarm. His footsteps echoed through the parking garage as he crossed the concrete toward the elevators.
A few minutes later when the elevator doors opened Nick stepped in, thinking more about tonight and spending time with Ary. Of course, that meant his thoughts circled back to the morning tryst they’d had. Nick’s body hardened. He wanted her again and he wasn’t surprised by that fact. There was a hunger there that he feared would never be sated. Ary, thankfully, seemed up to the challenge. More than. Closing his eyes to that thought, he was vaguely aware of the elevator stopping on another floor. It was a female, he knew, because he heard her shoes on the floor and smelled her perfume. Even though he’d opened his eyes Nick didn’t pay too much attention to her. She moved to the very back of the elevator car. He just waited to finally get to his floor.
In his wildest dreams, or in any of the escapades he’d ever had with a female, Nick could have never predicted what happened next.
“Remember me?” a definitely female voice cooed.
A hand reached around him and long red nails ran along the line of his zipper, pulling downward immediately.
Nick had about ten seconds to turn around, register the voice and the face, and flip through his mental Rolodex to see who the hell this chick was. By that time she had his pants unzipped and was pulling his hard length through the slit of his boxers until cool air hit the tip. Her fingers wrapped around him and his dick hardened even more, because yeah, what the hell else was it going to do?
“Whoa,” he warned. He had to place his hand on her shoulders as she’d already began lowering herself to her knees. “Stand up,” he told her and took a step back, bumping right into the door of the elevator.
She gripped his dick and held on tight. Nick wasn’t taking another step.
“You’re all ready for me, baby. I want to taste you so bad,” she told him. Her voice was sultry, her breath hot as she breathed over him, prepared to do much more.
“No!” Nick yelled and tripped, moving backward as the elevator dinged and the door opened.
“Yes.” She followed him off, crawling on her knees, her tongue flicking out just in time to lick the tip of
his dick.
The flowers he had for Ary dropped from under his arm and he grabbed the woman by her shoulders roughly then and lifted her upward, until he knew her feet weren’t even touching the floor. “I said no!”
“You didn’t say that before,” she frowned, her bottom lip poking out much farther than the top so she looked like a BBJ—Bad Botox Job.
Nick didn’t know who this woman was, even though she was talking to him as if he should. A minute wave of guilt and disgust flowed through him when he realized he didn’t remember half the women he’d slept with. But this one looked older, or more weathered, than the women he usually went for.
“Look, I don’t know who you are or what you want. But I’m not interested,” he told her adamantly. Nick had a feeling that wasn’t going to do the trick.
She shook her head. “You don’t remember me? Well, let me show you.” She touched his arms, rubbing along them. “I remember every hot delicious inch of you.”
Nick lowered the woman to her feet and took two steps back. He bent down and picked up his flowers, then held another hand out to keep her away. “I don’t remember and I don’t want any reminders. So you can just leave now.” Of course she didn’t; that would have been too easy.
She licked her overinflated, very red glossed lips. There was nothing sultry about that movement. Not only because Nick had absolutely no interest in this woman, but because it just looked weird, like it wasn’t normal. She took another step toward him, and he noticed she sort of limped.
Now, that was a sight. A woman who might be in her late forties, with hair she’d obviously purchased from a store flowing down her back in blond waves. She wore a skirt so short he knew instinctively she had no underwear on beneath because what would be the point. Her breasts were huge, too big for her slim frame. And she didn’t look right at all.
“This is a private building. I suggest you leave before security catches up with you.” Nick turned away from her after speaking because he didn’t really like looking at her. Besides that, he didn’t want to believe he’d actually slept with a woman who looked the way she did. He couldn’t believe it.
“You don’t want this, baby?”
He heard her talking, her voice a little more slurred now than it had been before. Nick knew he should have kept walking, knew with every gut instinct of the lawyer in him as well as the jaguar, that he should just get away from her as fast as possible.
But he turned to face her again.
She’d ditched the skirt so that her bushy vagina was visible. Her shirt was unbuttoned, those huge breasts hanging from her like overfilled balloons.
“What the fu—” Nick started but didn’t have the chance to finish the sentence.
The woman suddenly collapsed to the ground. Her entire body just went limp. He dropped the flowers again and knelt down beside her. Nick reached out, brushing the fake hair aside so he could check her neck for a pulse. But the second he touched her sweaty skin the woman’s head jerked and she snapped long, sharp teeth at him.
Nick jumped back, staring into a face that had shifted to something grotesque, half female, half creature. She snapped again and slid her body along the concrete like a slug. He stood then, looking down at her wondering what the hell was going on.
Reaching into his pocket he hurriedly pulled out his phone to snap a picture. Then he pressed a speed dial number.
“You and Ezra get to my place right now. I’m on the tenth-floor parking garage. And call Rome to tell him we’ve got some serious shit going on down here.”
* * *
Fifteen minutes later six shifters were lined up in the parking garage of the Allegro Apartments. Nick had just finished explaining what had happened to X, who was looking at him like he’d lost his everlasting mind.
“Are you serious?” X asked.
Nick rubbed a hand down his face. “Man, I couldn’t make shit like this up. She just came at me, pulling at my pants, coming out of her clothes. I didn’t know what the hell to think.”
“And you’re sure you don’t know her?”
“Does that look like something I’d sleep with, X?” he asked, extending an arm to the body one of the shifters had rolled into a garbage bag and was now lifting into the back of Ezra’s SUV.
X could only shake his head. “This is weird.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Rome’s going to freak when he hears about this,” X told him.
“I told Eli to call him,” Nick said.
“He’s out with Kalina tonight.”
At X’s words Nick cursed.
“What now?”
“I was supposed to take Ary out to dinner.” Turning his wrist he looked at his watch. “Shit! We missed our reservation.”
It was almost seven thirty. Nick couldn’t believe he’d been in this garage for two hours.
“Calm down, I’m sure she’ll understand. You know, once you go up and give her your winning smile, slap some of that Delgado charm on her. She’ll be putty in your hands.”
All Nick could think of when X said “putty” was the way that woman had crumpled to the ground. “Shut up and take care of this. I’ve gotta go.”
X nodded. “Go ahead. I’ve got this.”
Nick had turned to walk back toward the elevators even though he wasn’t sure he wanted to go back into that enclosed space again. Flashbacks of the creature-woman were sure to come to mind. Then he had a thought and looked back. “Where are you taking her?”
X shrugged. “I guess this is why we need a headquarters. I need to find a shifter doctor who can look at her and figure out what the hell happened. Hey, you think Ary might know?”
Nick shook his head. “I’m taking her to dinner, not asking her to look at Miss Gruesome in that truck. Find somebody else.”
“You and Rome and these companheiros you have to protect. This shit is getting contagious.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ve been vaccinated. No companheiros for the big bad FBI shifter,” Nick quipped then moved on to the elevator.
X stood there a minute longer watching his friend go, then walked to his F-150 SVT Raptor and opened the door. Stepping up into the driver’s seat, he tried not to let what Nick had said get to him.
He didn’t have a mate.
He wouldn’t have a mate.
Ever.
Why?
Because he was a deranged sonofabitch that no woman in her right mind was going to want.
That was a good answer, he figured, sticking the key into the ignition and starting the truck. The engine had a vicious roar that X loved because it rubbed along the skin of his inner beast, made the rugged animal in him feel like he wasn’t really as alone as he appeared.
As he maneuvered his way around the garage, X leaned forward and pulled his laptop from beneath the passenger seat. With one hand on the wheel, he slid the other fluidly over the keys, booting up the computer until he came to the database he’d started keeping on East Coast shifters. The way he figured it, they were only as strong as the shifters who stood with them. So they’d better have a damn good idea which shifters were walking around in their backyard, and what side in this impending war they were on. The fiasco with the shifter who had been working for Rome and Nick without either of them knowing was a mistake X did not want to confront again.
So far he had about six hundred shifters listed in his database. He knew where they lived, if they were mated and to whom, kids, jobs, salaries, hobbies; everything the FBI had on them as humans, X had on them as shifters. They were all jaguars, which was another concern of X’s. There were other species of shifters in this world, but so far they didn’t know where any of them were. The cheetah that had shown up a couple months back with Sabar’s crew was an anomaly to them all. Cheetahs did not normally run with jaguars.
Still, there were new developments every day. Like whatever it was that Ezra was carrying in his truck. They needed to find out what it was and where it came from, and heaven forbid if there we
re any more. Driving through DC streets wasn’t easy on a good day. At almost eight o’clock in the evening, while his attention was divided between his laptop and the traffic, it was damn hectic. But X wasn’t intimidated. He was the one who did the intimidating. Always.
When he found a name he thought was a good match, he picked up his cell and dialed the number. Frank Papplin was an internist at George Washington Hospital. He was mated and had two children whom X had already tagged as up-and-coming shifters to watch.
“Dr. Papplin,” he said when the man answered his cell phone. “This is Xavier Santos-Markland. We need your help.”
Dr. Papplin’s response to the situation was exactly what X had expected. He was a jaguar shifter with a history of returning to the Gungi to help the family he still had there.
“Bring her to the morgue. I’ll come down and sign the body in myself,” he’d told X.
In the next few minutes, X emailed the info to Ezra, and they headed to the hospital.
He didn’t give another thought to not having a mate—or the urge to fuck the first woman he saw, either.
Chapter 16
“If you didn’t want to take me out that’s all you had to say” were the words that greeted Nick the second he walked into his home.
His temples throbbed from the scene he’d just left, and guilt pressed heavily against his chest. “Something happened,” he said, immediately moving into the living room where he could fix himself a drink.
“What happened?” Ary asked, following behind him. “Is it Sabar again?”
Nick stopped, glass in one hand, bottle of Hennessy in the other. “Why would you think it concerned Sabar?”
He hadn’t really looked at her when he came in; his mind was already screaming that it needed a drink with every step he took from the garage. Now he could see that her hair was pulled up high in twirly curls that draped down to brush lightly over her neck. The dress she wore had his dick twitching without a doubt. It was black and had straps that wrapped in an intriguing maze all around her, leaving as much skin bare as it did covered. She looked fine as hell. But she’d asked about Sabar as if she knew something was going to happen with him. Nick was curious about that.
