Moving in closer to the cage, Doyle spoke aloud, his voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t care what happens to you. I care what happens to me. If you die in this stinking hole, Cezar will destroy everyone he thinks helped Nik.”
Nik did this to me?
Doyle shrugged. “I tried to keep him from going so far, but he wouldn’t listen. I can’t believe he’s so foolish to take you of all people.”
Luc felt as if all the air had been sucked out of him. He’d been correct about his brother, then. Nik has been behind the shifter fights all along.
“Corrupting souls is his addiction. Takes after Cezar. Getting rid of his enemies at the same time is an added bonus. I don’t want to go down for your death, so get up, damn you! Walk off those drugs so you have a chance of staying alive.”
Before Luc could question him further, Doyle was gone.
Luc tried to tune in to the other shifters nearby. He got drifts of their thoughts, no more. That tranquilizer had done a number on his ability to read others.
His own brother wanted him dead. The knowledge sickened him. He couldn’t give up. Couldn’t let such evil win.
Using every reserve he could muster, Luc forced himself to his feet. His legs were shaking and he carried the dead weight of exhaustion throughout his panther, but at least he was standing on all four legs.
He saw a couple of Kindred coming for him, carrying chains. They were going to take him into the arena.
He hadn’t had enough time to walk off the drugs.
How would he be able to fight?
…
I had no trouble finding the abandoned building in the middle of the industrial complex. It was the only one with a parking lot half-full at this time of night. Lightning hovered overhead, crackling like an electrical current, as if signaling that this was the place. I left my car and realized I was alone. The spectators were already inside. The wind beat against me. I took a deep breath and smelled blood in the air. The stockyards had been closed for decades. It was said that, on windy nights, you could still smell the blood of slaughtered animals.
Or perhaps the animals inside were being slaughtered now. Luc! Dear Lord, don’t let me be too late.
Thunder rumbled as I pulled out my cell and called Ethan while heading for the entrance. “Found the place. Get backup.”
“I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
As I ran, I turned up my extrasensory abilities, but all I tuned in to were excited voices. Shouts. Screams.
Luc, I’m here. Where are you?
No answer that I could tell.
And yet, concentrating, I felt Luc as I never had before. Rather never had until I’d felt him shift in front of me. Then I’d felt his pain as his limbs had taken new shapes. Now I swore I experienced his confusion. Exhaustion. Downright fear.
“That’ll be twenty bucks,” the sleazy-looking guy at the door said.
I wanted to argue, but in the end I pulled out my wallet and slapped a bill in his hand. I moved into the abandoned warehouse even as the spectators roared in approval. The walls of the building rose to twenty feet. Flickers of electrical activity outside lit the narrow windows ringing the arena. The floor had been pitched so the inside of the warehouse was shaped like a bowl, angled downward toward the fighting area itself. No chairs for the audience here. People of every age were on their feet, kids on their fathers’ shoulders. Everyone seemed to be shouting or screaming at once.
Standing at the back of the crowd, I could see the reason for their excitement. At one end of the arena, handlers were leading in a black panther. It was weaving, seemingly held up on its feet by the handlers’ chains.
Luc, is that you? I silently asked.
As if he heard me, the panther raised his head and looked my way.
Dear Lord, it was Luc! What could I do to help him all by myself?
Elbowing my way through the crowd, I spotted a table where a skinny, bald guy was speaking into a microphone. “Place your bets. You have three minutes to place your bets.”
Three minutes? Knowing Ethan couldn’t get here that fast, I tried not to panic.
A second, dark-haired man sat at the table making notes in a ledger from pieces of paper that men were bringing to him. Getting the feeling that he was in charge of the betting, at least, I shoved my way closer and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Excuse me. Sir, this fight can’t go on.”
He didn’t even look my way. “Who’s gonna stop it? You?” He laughed and went back to what he was doing.
“If you let this fight go on, you’ll answer to Cezar Lazare.”
The man whipped his head around to me. His eyes glowed black and the bones of his face shifted slightly before settling back in place. “How do you know Mr. Lazare?”
“Two minutes,” the bald man with the microphone announced. “Two minutes to place your bets.”
“I’m a friend of his son. Cezar Lazare will have your souls for this.”
The man started as if shocked that someone other than a Kindred knew about the soul exchange. Then he said, “Lazare knows about the fights, honey.”
I’d been afraid of that. “Does he know you have his son?” I pointed to the panther.
He took a long look as if unsure, then shook his head. “You’re full of it. Nik Lazare’s panther has a scarred shoulder.”
“Not Nik!” I cried.
“One minute to place your bets.”
“That’s Luc Lazare,” I informed him.
The man stared at me for a moment, then motioned to someone behind me. Before I could turn to see who, both of my arms were grabbed in what felt like vises.
Get the bitch away from me, but don’t let her go.
“Who are you calling bitch?” I asked.
The man’s eyes narrowed on me. “What are you?”
I finally knew the answer. “I’m the one who’s going to end this atrocity for good.” I didn’t know how yet, but I knew I was right.
I was dragged away from him by two men. I struggled but couldn’t get my arms loose.
Just then, the bell clanged to cut off betting and lights aimed at the ring clicked on. The men towing me stopped at the edge of the crowd to watch. Spectators roared when they got a clear look at the opponents being held at the scratch lines. At the far end of the arena, a wild dog was bristling and practically foaming at the mouth. I shuddered when I thought about Luc being exhausted while having to face such a dangerous beast.
Whatever happened to him in that arena would be my fault. I never should have run from him.
I felt my cell phone vibrate in my pocket. “My cell is ringing,” I told the thugs restraining me. I assumed Ethan was calling to update me. “I need to take this call.”
They didn’t so much as acknowledge me. Of course not. Great.
The bell clanged again, jump-starting my heart.
The handlers freed the shifters. I could feel my pulse pounding as they closed in on each other. The wild dog advanced fast, growling and snapping, while Luc’s panther paced a careful, steady line toward his opponent.
I looked around the ring, searching for an escape Luc could take and seeing none. Kindred stood guard everywhere. I spotted Nik through the crowd on the other side of the arena, but he disappeared. What? Now that he had his brother where he wanted him, he didn’t want to watch?
Both dog and panther suddenly charged, getting my full attention. They flew in the air and met in a writhing, screeching tangle.
I stopped breathing as they dropped to the floor together.
Fight, Luc, fight for your life. You can do it, I called to him.
They were rolling on the ground, struggling so fast and furious that I could hardly tell one from the other. The wild dog snapped at the panther, and the heat of intense pain seared my shoulder. I gasped and got my breath even as the big cat struck out with a mighty paw. Blood spurted over them both, and the wild dog scrambled away from the panther.
Luc was holding his own.
&nb
sp; And then I saw them. Two additional wild dogs were let into the arena. They joined the first, forming a small pack. The spectators grew excited. Wild shouts and cheers filled the space, sickening me. Somehow I had to help Luc.
I whispered, “I call upon all the Protectresses that have come before me. Help me, please.” Within seconds, the answer came to me. Why hadn’t I thought of this before?
He said to release me. I looked from one Kindred thug to the other.
Who said? one of them asked.
I formed an image in my mind of Cezar glaring at the two thugs and of them letting go. The Boss said to release me. You heard him, right?
Right, the second guard said, dropping my arm. Let her go.
Even as I was freed, I looked to the arena as the three wild dogs moved for the panther as one unit, the original shifter in the lead. I plunged through the few people in front of me and jumped onto the arena floor as Luc was pinned to the ground.
Fury blinded me to danger.
“Get away from him!” I cried, running straight for the pack leader. “Those who came before me, lend me your strength.”
I hit the wild dog running and was jolted by an electrical charge that made him howl and jerk into me. I stumbled and he snapped at me before charging at Luc again.
And now the other two pack dogs were circling me.
I visualized the wild dogs running from the arena, but either the shifters were immune to me in their animal form, or my emotions were too scattered for my vision to work on them. One of the dogs lunged at me. Before I could react, it tore into my upper arm, shook me, and threw me. An explosion of pain muted the sounds of the arena as I flew for several yards before collapsing in a heap. My flesh was torn and blood dripped down my arm.
A few of the spectators screamed in horror, but to my dismay, many more cheered. I could only think that violence was their way of life.
I covered the wound with my free hand. Blood oozed warm through my fingers, but I was ready to try again. If only I could get up. I saw Luc’s panther shake off the leader and get to its feet. The pack regrouped. Then a second panther, this one with a scar on its shoulder, entered the arena and charged the dogs.
The pack leader went for the panther again, but as if energized by the presence of the other panther, Luc met the wild dog head-on and, this time, grabbed it by the throat, tossing it down on the ground without letting go. The dog writhed and bucked but it couldn’t get away. Luc’s panther was suffocating the dog by pressing its windpipe closed. The dog’s limbs shook for a moment, slowed to a tremble, and then stopped altogether.
The second panther had clamped its jaws around another wild dog’s nose and mouth and was suffocating it in what was referred to as “the kiss of death.”
The third dog ran for cover.
Still stunned, fighting the pain, I somehow stumbled to my feet. Flashing blue lights coming from the windows told me backup had arrived. A roar set up through the building, and the panicked crowd tried to flee. Too late. Police blocked every exit.
“You’re not going anywhere but into the paddy wagons.”
A chain of uniformed coppers moved inside and herded the spectators into a single line and started moving them out immediately. Some of the Kindred were rounded up, while others seemed to disappear, as if by magic.
I turned back to the shifters as the two panthers slunk out of the arena. My arm was hurting less now, and I realized the blood flow had slowed to a trickle, so I followed them to a private area in back where I watched them shift into their human forms. I was glad to see that while Luc had cuts and contusions, they weren’t as bad as I had feared. And then I looked to the man who had come to his rescue—Nik, the brother who seemed to hate Luc.
“I thought it was you running the fights,” Luc admitted. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”
That Nik’s visage didn’t show any emotion didn’t surprise me. If I had been waiting for him to clasp his brother in his arms and say he was glad that Luc had survived, I would have been disappointed.
Instead, he glowered and said, “Pop told me to find the source and stop the fights. Bad for business if they were connected back to the casino. So I started my own investigation. I have Kindred who are loyal to me.”
“So you knew it was Doyle?” Luc asked.
“He was trying to frame me. Thought he could get rid of both of us, get Pop to make him his right-hand man. He had plans for the future that included taking over The Company with a human partner. Someone with political influence who’d been giving him information about the fight venues he could buy for back taxes.”
With that—in the blink of an eye—he vanished.
Luc turned to me. “How badly are you hurt?”
“I can move my arm now.”
He took a closer look. “You’re healing already. Good.”
Indeed, the edges of the wound seemed to be tightening, closing. His cuts and bruises were looking less ominous as well. Not knowing how this was happening, I didn’t question it, but threw my good arm around Luc, who clutched me to him as if he would never let me go.
“You’re the craziest, bravest, most foolish woman I’ve ever met.”
“I couldn’t let him kill you. It’s my fault you were taken.”
“If anything had happened to you, it would be my fault,” Luc countered. “I’m sorry I handled things so badly.” And he leaned down to kiss me.
There was something desperate and wild and off somehow about the kiss. It felt strained. Distant. Conflicted. And it ended far too quickly. I was going to ask what was wrong when I realized that Luc was looking over my shoulder.
“Your brother’s partner.”
I turned to see Ethan stooping over Doyle’s body. The two dead wild dogs had shifted back to their human forms. I had to wonder if Ethan or any of the other coppers had seen it happen, or if the arrests being made had kept everyone too occupied to notice.
“I wonder why Doyle took the chance of fighting you directly. He must have believed he could kill you.”
“With help,” Luc said. “He wasn’t counting on Nik coming to my rescue. He’s hated me for years. He was one of those bullies I told you about. When Nik changed, I had to protect myself. I used Doyle as an example and humiliated him before the other Kindred. Something he never forgot.”
I took Luc’s hand and pulled him back into the arena.
Ethan glanced our way. His gaze flashed from me to Luc. “You’re still alive. Who are the dead guys?”
“That one’s the man running the shifter fights,” I said.
“Doyle Craven,” Luc added. “He’s responsible for the deaths you’ve been investigating. If you can’t get that from the handlers you arrested, I’ll get the proof somehow.”
I pulled away from him to take a closer look at the second dead shifter and noted the scar along his cheek. “This is the guy who broke into Shade’s apartment.”
“He’s familiar, but I don’t know his name,” Luc said.
“He’s the connection,” I said. “He links the fights and Doyle to my brother’s murder. Maybe we’ll never know if Doyle killed Shade himself or if he sent one of his men to do it for him.”
If I had thought Shade’s killer’s dying would satisfy me, I would have been wrong. I felt some relief that a murderer hadn’t lived to kill again, but that wouldn’t bring my brother back. At least I could be thankful that Luc had survived.
Ethan stood and gazed directly at Luc. “This isn’t the end of my investigation.”
“It ought to be. You know there’s nothing more you can prove.”
“This Doyle Craven may have killed Shade because he got too close, but I want to be sure I know who pulled the trigger before I close the case.”
I didn’t think he would find out anything else, but I was glad he was being thorough.
Paramedics arrived to take the bodies away. One of them said, “Sergeant Halderson is asking for you, Detective.”
“Right.” Ethan turned to Luc and me. �
�I’ll need your statements first thing in the morning.” Then, lowering his voice, “Just make it believable.”
Ethan headed for the exit, and the paramedics zipped up the first bag and carried off the body.
Leaving me alone with Luc.
“Let’s get out of here.” I touched his arm, my heartbeat fluttering with relief and gratitude that he hadn’t been badly hurt. “My car’s in the lot.”
“You should leave.”
“We should leave. Together.”
“There’s no together for us,” Luc said. “You should see that by now.”
“So I freaked out this afternoon. I got over it.”
“But I didn’t. When I saw that shifter grab you and tear open your arm, I realized what could happen to you to if we continue to be together.”
I looked at my arm. “The wound is almost healed.” Because it had been a shifter that bit me or because of my own bloodline?
“There are worse things that can happen to you. I can’t put you at risk.”
Before I could argue that I was willing to chance it, he vanished right before my eyes.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Heartbroken and hollow without Luc, I stumbled out of the warehouse. People were screaming and kids were crying as they were rounded up and forced into wagons.
“Where do you think you’re going?” A uniformed cop grabbed me by the arm and swung me in line behind a beefy man covered with tattoos.
Stunned, I didn’t even fight him. At the moment I didn’t care what happened to me. I would have climbed into the vehicle and allowed myself to be arrested if not for Ethan appearing out of the crowd.
“Let her go,” Ethan told the man. “She’s the one who called this in. That’s Detective Shade Cross’s sister.”
“Sorry, ma’am.” The uniform tipped his hat in respect. “I thought a lot of your brother. I was at the funeral. Sorry I didn’t recognize you.”
“No problem.” Not with him, anyway.
I skirted another lineup. Head down against the wind, I started for my car and found Ethan at my side.
Animal Instincts (Entangled Ignite) Page 20
