by Diana Seere
Whenever Asher was in Boston, he spent his days with other shifters in the Novo, their local safe house. He enjoyed the lack of subterfuge, the peace, the old-fashioned decor, the classical library, and the expensive scotch. Because it was modeled after gentlemen’s clubs in Britain, and therefore favored the snobbish and the masculine, Sophia liked the Novo much less than her brothers. A woman seeking pleasure in all classes and species would find richer pickings upstairs—and anywhere else in the world, actually. She only went to the Novo on business.
Like today.
“Good day, Miss Sophia.” Morgan stood in front of the elevator doors as they opened. A smallish man, Morgan was more than a butler, and had provided the Stantons with priceless service that crossed generations. At the Novo, he wore a white serving jacket, a black bow tie, and had slicked back his elegant, wavy white hair. After he helped her off with her coat, he asked, “Shall I fetch you an orange juice?”
Now how the hell did he know I was craving orange juice? Sophia stared at him a moment and then nodded. Morgan had his mysteries.
“No ice,” she said.
“Of course.” Morgan bowed. As he began to turn away, he added, “Mr. Asher Stanton is in the green library.”
“Alone?” she asked.
“Quite.”
Sophia heard a note of sadness in Morgan’s tone. He’d known Asher as a boy and would remember what he’d been like before Claire’s death.
“I’ll go see him now,” she said. “You can bring me the juice there.”
“Very good, Miss Sophia.”
She strode deeper into the club, scanning the leather chairs for occupants. It was quiet, and she only saw two elderly men, werewolf cousins from Maine, fast asleep with newspapers in their laps.
When she walked into the room, Asher looked up from his seat in the far corner and frowned. “What are you doing out of your apartment?”
“Excuse me?”
Asher jumped to his feet. “You may not care for your well-being, but as your brother and the eldest member of our family, I have a responsibility to help keep you alive.” He flung the old book he’d been reading on the table. “I’ll escort you to safety myself. And I’ll hear an explanation from Manny of why you were able to travel here in the first place.”
Morgan appeared at her elbow and silently handed her the juice before disappearing.
Sophia’s temper flared to life. Did everyone know she was pregnant? “I am perfectly capable of caring for myself, Asher! I’m having a baby, not dying.”
Her eldest brother stared at her, the blood draining out of his face. “What did you say?” he asked finally, his voice hoarse.
Sophia belatedly realized she may have misunderstood him. “You—you didn’t know?”
He sank into the chair behind him, his face a blank mask. Then he shook his head.
“Then why were you so worried?” she asked.
“Have you forgotten we have a homicidal madman on the loose?” Asher made a dismissive gesture with his long, elegant hand. “But perhaps you have. My God, Sophia, of all the irresponsible, selfish steps you’ve ever taken, this one takes the cake.”
“Excuse me?” How dare he judge her? She hadn’t asked for this. She hadn’t asked for the Beat, for a baby, for Zach. He might as well blame her for being struck by lightning in church.
Asher, apparently recovered from his shock, leaned back in his chair and regarded her over steepled fingers. His voice, although quiet, was shaking with anger. “Tomas Nagy. Remember him?”
“Don’t insult me. That’s why I’m here. He cannot be allowed to continue threatening us.”
“How nice you haven’t forgotten. Your personal choices have made me wonder if you had.”
Sophia clenched her teeth. “Where is he?”
“In Boston. He would like nothing better than to get you or Sa—that is, Dr. Baird—alone, defenseless, vulnerable to whatever evil he has planned for us. I shudder to imagine what that might be.”
“I can take care of myself,” she said.
Dismissively, he got to his feet. “If he has any idea you’re not only single and vulnerable but with child… My God, Sophia. You can’t go back to that apartment. You have to stay here until we can arrange a security detail to remove you to the ranch.” He stepped past her, lifting his phone to his mouth as he headed for the doorway. “I’ll have Manny—”
Sophia strode after him and snatched the phone out his hands. “Is that all you’re going to say?” She moved to block his exit, make him meet her eyes. “Did you hear me? I’m having a baby. Zach’s baby.”
“Yes, your news and its repercussions could hardly have escaped my notice. As you can see, I’m attempting to take steps to curtail the damage as soon as possible. Now if you would please get out of my way—”
She jabbed him in the chest with her index finger. “I will not allow you to shove me aside on this, Asher. I won’t be kept in the dark. I’m not going to hide while we fight this menace. I’m not any more at risk than you, Derry, Gavin, or Edward. In fact, I’d argue that your life, Asher, is in the greatest danger. What a coup it would be for Tomas to take you under his power, hold you hostage, make demands. Perhaps you should be the one imprisoned at home with an army of bodyguards around you.”
Asher frowned at her finger on his chest. “Tomas has shown his modus operandi, and that is to hurt us through our women. He won’t go after me. He’ll go after you or—others we associate with, such as Dr. Baird, who appear single and vulnerable. It is not to be considered what he would do to you now that you’re carrying his creation’s child. The sperm, like its host, contains unmeasured powers and risks.” Asher’s eyes blazed. “Do you have any idea what danger you’ve put us all in? The organism in your womb that you were so careless as to acquire—”
She drew back her hand and slapped him. Heart pounding, limbs shaking, she staggered back a step. “That organism is a baby. And his father is a man. Don’t make the same mistake as Tomas, treating life as an object to be manipulated, used, destroyed. Everything has changed for me, brother. I will do anything to protect my baby. Anything. Whatever you know about Tomas’ location at this very moment, tell me. I deserve to know. I demand to know. I won’t be swept aside. I won’t.”
Asher stared at her, not condescending to lift a hand to his cheek, which now flamed red where she’d struck it. “If you care at all for your… baby… you’ll allow our strongest and most trusted men to escort you to safety—and keep you there. Updates on what we know of Tomas’ movements can be provided once you have shown yourself to be logical and calm about the dangers we face. The man responsible for that baby inside you was reasonable. You must be too.”
The man responsible… was reasonable…? With a sickening feeling, Sophia put a hand on her belly. “What do you mean?” she asked softly. “Do you mean Zach?”
Asher slowly, calmly, took his phone out of Sophia’s hand. “I suppose we could blame Tomas, ultimately, for what has happened to you. But yes, it was Zachary Hayden to whom I referred. When I informed him of the risks of your association, he agreed to keep his distance. Although it did take some aggressive persuading. He had become, like so many of your partners, rather infatuated with you.”
A rage greater than any she’d ever known flamed to life inside her. “You what?” Again she lifted her hand, trembling with the urge to strike him a second time, this time with a fist. “How dare you. When? When was this?”
Asher lifted his chin, but she could see a shadow of uncertainty cloud his eyes. “After you left him in Montana. Which I took to be a wise action in some ways, as it separated you from his company, but foolish because of Tomas. To my relief, you kept to the Platinum Club and your own home where I saw to it you were well guarded at all times.”
“And you never lowered yourself to talk to me about this directly?” She hurled each word like a weapon.
“Your priorities obviously lie elsewhere,” he said. “I heard of your attempts to seek sexual
partners and then your obsessive fascination with frozen desserts—please calm yourself, I mean no offense—and I assumed you were taken with the annual burdens of hibernation that seem to always strike you and your brother at this season.”
His words hit home. If she were honest with herself, she would have to admit she’d been completely preoccupied with her own troubles, her own needs, pushing thoughts of Tomas Nagy out of her mind. Having responsible, hardworking Asher as the head of their family gave her the luxury of doing that.
But he’d gone way over the line with Zach. “You had no right to tell any man to stay away from me. Or woman, for that matter. Human or shifter. Hell, a unicorn! It’s never been your business, and it isn’t now.”
“Of course it’s my business! Our family and entire way of life are at risk.”
“But not from Zach. He’s just a guy who got thrown into this against his will. He was working for Gavin. He—”
“He is the first of Tomas’ army of hybrid shifters with the power to destroy us,” Asher said.
“What are you talking about? That’s insane. You just can’t forgive him for not being born a shifter. Like you can’t forgive Lilah, Jess, or Molly. You think you have to drive away anyone who was born a human because you’re afraid we’ll mate with them and then end up like you, childless, alone, broken—”
The stricken expression on Asher’s face, which he quickly erased, made her stop, ashamed of herself. She put a hand over her mouth and turned away.
After a long, tense moment, with his voice in complete control, Asher said, “Since we both agree my fate is not to be envied, I hope you will now see the sense in returning to Montana with Manny and his security team. Your safety and that of the child you already seem to love will be ensured. I’ve already convinced Dr. Baird to return as well, which, under the circumstances, is especially vital. She will monitor your health and provide whatever help she can to prevent disaster. Zachary Hayden’s child is a complete unknown. It will need every safeguard we can come up with, and the ranch is the only place I can provide it.”
The thought of being held prisoner at the ranch, like a lab experiment, filled her with horror. For the first time, she completely understood what Zach must have felt.
It humbled her.
And hardened her resolve.
“I won’t be shut away,” she said. “If I want to see Zach, I will. I’m here, fighting with the rest of my family and my kind to protect me and my child. I am strong, Asher. Stronger than you realize.”
He smiled faintly. “Oh, I realize. But your condition—”
“My condition means I have no choice.”
“You don’t realize what you’re saying,” Asher said. “You’re uninformed of the details of the current situation.”
“Then tell me!”
Asher exhaled impatiently through his nose. “Fine. But you won’t like it.”
“I don’t care. I need to know.”
“So do I, which is precisely why I have three of my best men shadowing him every moment.”
Sophia gaped at him. “If you know where Tomas is and what he’s doing, then why don’t you capture him?”
Rather than answer her question, Asher turned to the shelf of books behind his chair and slowly ran a finger over the spines. “We don’t want to fight him until we’re ready. At this time, the most prudent action is inaction. We watch and wait.”
“You’re spying on him?”
“You have a gift for making sensible action sound nefarious,” he said. “We don’t know if we can ‘capture’ him, as you put it. His power has grown. He eluded us in Europe, why not here? We need to know who he’s working with. And who might be working with him in the future. In the meantime, the most vulnerable among us—such as yourself, Sophia—would do everyone a great service by staying out of sight and out of reach.”
“You can’t believe any shifter in Boston would work with him after what he did to you and our family,” she said.
“Perhaps not,” he said. And then after a long pause, “We believe Tomas will attempt to bring Zachary to his side. We expect him to make his move any day now.”
“Oh my God,” Sophia said. “You’re using Zach as bait.”
“We must. Until we know we can trust Zachary Hayden—who, thanks to Tomas, grows more powerful and unpredictable every day—we cannot be sure the threat ends with Tomas. We must see how Zachary acts when he is on his own, free to take up Tomas’ cause and seek revenge of his own. He is resentful of what Gavin’s genetic serum has done to him. He is angry with me for driving him away from you. And he is perhaps also hurt about your abandonment in Montana. We must know where his loyalties lie. We must test him. Will he hurt us if given the chance? Will he hurt you?”
Suddenly dizzy, she reached out to a bookcase for support. Had she truly abandoned him? Was that how he saw it? She’d demanded more than he could give, more than he was ready for, and she’d walked away. And now…
“You’ve put him in the path of a murderer,” she said.
“For your protection as much as his, we watch his every move,” Asher said. “I heard he visited you last night. Did he learn of the—”
“You spy on me and then demand what few secrets I have left?”
“Surely you can see now that it was necessary.” His phone chimed, and he lifted it to his ear and listened for several long moments. Sophia could tell it was bad news by the way his expression became even more severe. He barked a few general commands—“When? Where?”—and then demanded immediate updates before stabbing the screen with disgust.
Sophia waited for him to explain, but being Asher, of course he did not. Finally she said, “Tell me. For God’s sake, what’s happened?”
“They’ve lost him. I need more men. I need more guards. This is absurd.”
“Lost who? Zach?” A wordless terror spiked through her body. “Does Tomas have him?”
Asher’s bleak eyes met hers as he reluctantly admitted, “I do not know.”
The man laughed.
Laughed.
Blood ran in a single crooked line out of Tomas Nagy’s nose, curling up and over the line of his full upper lip as he stared Zach in the eye and didn’t bother to punch back.
“Cute. You’re in love with Sophia. I’m not surprised.” Tomas reached inside his suit jacket and pulled out a neatly folded handkerchief, dabbing the blood as if it were a stray drop of water. He caught Zach’s hard stare and gave it right back as one corner of his mouth quirked up in an evil smirk. “She’s quite enchanting, isn’t she? You’re not the first to discover that, my friend.”
Zach charged him.
The power of his anger pushed both their bodies back, his awareness of the window coming a split second too late until shattered glass and the rough scratch of the wood and metal frame came to his attention. Arms wrapped around Tomas’ ribs, Zach found himself flying fast through midair, the sky a blur, the cars below them moving slowly in city traffic.
And then he was holding fur.
Animal teeth grazed his neck as Tomas’ suit jacket melted off him in shreds, Zach’s human mind barely aware of the man’s shift and his own, coming slivers of seconds later, Tomas a sleek black panther while still in midair, breath hot and feral, the rank stink of musk and blood strong. Time moved both at the speed of light and so slowly Zach seemed to swim through stone, body working hard to orient, trying to keep mind and movement in sync.
By the time Zach crashed to the ground, glass raining down on him, paws barely in place for a less bone-crushing landing in half-human, half-wolf form, Tomas was already gone.
Cursing his inexperience with shifting from one form to another, he needed two seconds for the shift to fully sink in, his fur in place, paws all there, but the full bone structure popping and stretching to give him balance—which was regrettable in light of the traffic jam on the street, for people began honking and screaming.
At him.
Reorienting, he followed instinct, tracking Tom
as’ scent, racing around a corner as he simultaneously shook off the glass shards and pieces of broken wood, a small strip of window screen on his back peeling off as he made a sharp turn into an alley.
Ignoring all scents but Tomas’, he tracked him block by block, coming out from alleys onto streets, screams and honks following him.
Then a loud, piercing emergency siren began. Another. Yet another, red lights blaring in a pattern behind him.
Danger set his skin on fire, his fur rising, a growl forming in his throat.
Tomas’ scent drifted, mingling with gasoline, then nothing.
Gone.
He was gone.
Chapter 20
“Find out, Asher! You’ve got to find out!” Sophia put her hands to her belly and turned. She had to go and find Zach herself. Her fingertips began to tingle the way they did before a shift, as nails turned into claws. Muscles strained against the silk suit that trapped her body.
And then she felt the Beat. A roar, a pounding, a pulse in her soul. And then a cry of pain. The twisting crunch of broken bone. Bruising flesh.
Zach! He’s hurt!
“I’ve got to find him.” She ran out of the library, down the hallway, and around the napping elderly men in the main lounge.
Asher shouted behind her. “Sophia! Wait!”
Ignoring him, she slapped her hand on the elevator plate. I’m coming, Zach! I’m coming!
“Miss Sophia?” It was Morgan. He had appeared at her side like a mist.
“I can’t talk now. I have to go,” she gasped. “I have to hurry!”
“Morgan, stop her!” Asher shouted.
Suddenly, as if her spinal cord had been severed, Sophia lost control of her body below her neck as Morgan touched her. Her legs, her knees, her hands and arms, all went numb. Before she could hit the floor, Morgan caught her in his arms and held her, as limp and weightless as the finest silk stockings, until Asher appeared in her line of vision.
“Bring her to one of the bedroom suites,” Asher said. “How long will the paralysis last, Morgan?”
