Deadly Call

by Martha Bourke

  Half an hour later, he was dressed and on his way up to grab a bagel and coffee before gleaming to the Boston Public Library. Strictly speaking, you weren’t supposed to have food in there except in the café, but whatever. He materialized in the back of the Social Sciences section and walked under the clock archway. Man, his boy was gonna have a major problem on his hands if he showed up late. He picked up on the brother as he came in the front door of the building, one floor down. X leaned against a table and popped the rest of his bagel into his mouth.

  Troy approached him, hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans. “Hey, bro.”

  “You are so lucky you’re on time, you dig?”

  “I know. I wasn’t gonna leave ya hangin’. It’s not like I don’t get you’re doin’ me a favah.”

  When the brother dropped the ‘r’ in favor, X just smiled. The only reason he’d wanted to leave Brooklyn to come to Boston was to attend MIT. Period. That was thirteen years ago. He was the last shifter on the planet he would have suspected to become a permanent Boston transplant. He was thirty when he went through his transition, and he was still living there when it hit.

  “Do we need to go over how completely stupid this whole thing is again? If you were a shifter civilian, it’d still be dumb. But a human, Troy? You’re a New Breed.”

  “Look, I get you think this whole thing is mental. We’ve been through this a hundred times. I just want to make sure she’s okay.”

  X started to follow Troy out of the library. “I get it, Romeo. You’re in love with her. But this won’t end well. At some point, she’s gonna settle down. Dig?”

  “Then she’ll have somebody else watching out for her. Right now, she doesn’t.”

  “You really think you’re gonna feel that way about it?”

  Troy lit a cig as he walked. “I have no idea, but I’m bankin’ on it.”

  “Alright. Let’s just get this done. How much cash do you need?”

  “I’ve got five grand. I just need you to spot me the other half for a couple weeks.”

  “It’s a good thing Dimitri gives us cash.” He glanced at his boy’s cig. “Although, quittin’ those things would help fund your little hobby, too.”

  “Fuck you. Listen, thanks for doin’ this, X. I know you don’t exactly approve.”

  X barked a laugh. “It’s not your work with the youth center I have the problem with. It’s the reason. And that’s only because I don’t want to see you get hurt. Or her.”

  “Her? How’s Evy gonna get hurt by this? You know I would never do anything to put her in danger. Ever.”

  “Not on purpose. But, dude, things are different now. You’ve already seen what happened with Helen. Don’t keep pushing your luck.”

  X startled himself by stopping dead on the sidewalk. He didn’t usually ride Troy’s ass about Evelyn. He knew better by now. But things really had changed. They’d seen it for themselves. Associating with shifters and humans outside the Order could lead to a shitstorm of nasty consequences. For everyone.

  Troy stopped in front of him and looked him in the eye. “I want you to know, I hear what you’re sayin’. But she and I have no direct contact, and all the money donated to the center is in cash. You and I and Chris are the only ones who even know about it. There’s no trail. Trust me. That’s why I’m doin’ this the way I am.”

  “I know that’s what you’re telling yourself, bro, but that’s not the part that worries me. You’re still spending time around her. Even if it’s without her knowledge, what happens if someone else finds out?”

  Troy started moving forward again and X took up an easy stride next to him. “Like who? Them?”

  “Who else?”

  He ran his hand through his light brown hair. “Jesus, X, I’m not even in public when I’m around her. Now you’re worryin’ too much.”

  Xavier looked across at the Old South Church. If he were the praying kind, he would have said one right then. But he had the uneasy feeling his boy was going to need more than a Hail Mary before this was over.

  “Are you too cold on the desk?”

  Ana laughed. The only light in the room came from the gold reflection of their eyes. “I’m not on the desk, my male. I’m on you. You’re on the desk.”

  “Good point. Here, put my T-shirt on anyway.”

  She slid on his huge shirt and then lay back down along his body, chest to chest. She let her long legs intertwine with his. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Anything.”

  “Do you want to be Maya’s legal guardians in case something happens to Richard and Adriana?”

  “Do you?”

  She shook her head. “I asked you first.”

  “The decision is really up to them. I would never deny them something like that, as long as you’re okay with it.”

  “I’m fine with it, but…” She took her hands and laid them on the sides of her male’s face. “What happened with Cesar is not your fault, SE.”

  He took her hands from his face and held them in one of his. “You’re sweet to say that, ihkweea. And so are they. But I’m the one who did it, and that makes it my fault.”

  “When someone is depressed, do you say it’s that person’s fault? Because you were, SE.”

  “There’s no way you could possibly know that—”

  “I was there, remember?”

  “You were just a kid. You were ten years old. How could you?”

  Ana got up, pulled on her shorts, and gleamed upstairs. SE was ten seconds behind her.

  “You don’t remember it, because you weren’t well. Don’t you think you tried to be okay? Every day you spent time with him, no matter how much it drained you. I saw it. We all did. After a while, you just couldn’t do it anymore. You were so depressed you couldn’t get out of bed, much less take care of a child. They didn’t want to tell you not to go flying. It was the only relief you had.”

  SE shook his head. “How could you remember all this?”

  “I was a spy, SE. I was trained to see and hear everything. Everything.”

  He sat down on the edge of the bed and his eyes took on a faraway look. “After a while I…I don’t know, it just got harder and harder to phase back. I remember I used to come back in the morning after flying all night and land on the windowsill. There’d be these flowers, sometimes white, sometimes pink. They’d be there waiting, every day.”

  “Plumeria.”

  “What?”

  “They were from the plumeria trees. Adriana had them in her garden. They were my favorites.”

  “Ihkweea, you? But, why?”

  Ana walked over and kneeled in front of him. “Because you were sick, SE. And that’s what you do when someone’s sick. I was just a kid, but I knew that much.” She put her hand on his cheek. “You have to forgive yourself, my male. You have to let it go.”

  He crumpled forward into her arms and cried. As she held her mate while he wept, she suddenly understood that only together were they strong enough to leave their pasts behind. She would need him, too, when it came time to rip her mother from the world forever.

  Helen paced back and forth in her room. God, she felt like she was going insane. It wasn’t just that she felt so damned cooped up in the mansion, although she did. Everyone was making a tremendous effort to help her feel at home—Diesel especially, but the females, too. Adriana and Ana had invited her upstairs to lunch that afternoon, in fact. Of course she missed surgery, the hustle and bustle of the hospital, her…life. It was like her whole identity had been taken away from her after so many years. But there was something else brewing in her head that wanted to come out. She just couldn’t seem to get ahold of it. It was driving her nuts.

  The lights flickered and she smiled. Richard was working with James again. What a remarkable kid. Thank God Ana had found him when she had or he surely would have been given the serum. The serum…

  “That’s it!” she said to the walls.

  She flew out of her room, ran two doors down the
compound hallway and stopped at Diesel’s door. It was slightly ajar. As she stood there, she heard an acoustic guitar being played. Then she heard Diesel begin to sing in such a crisp tone, it totally took her aback. She put her hand on the door, nudged it a little, and poked her head in. What was he singing about?

  Something to do with panic or paranoia? My God, he could sing.

  The music stopped abruptly and startled her out of her own head. “Oh, Diesel, I’m sorry. The door was open and…” she fumbled. “You play really well.”

  He chuckled. “If you can call it that. What’s up, Doc?”

  “Okay. This may sound totally crazy. I have no idea if I can pull this off. I mean, we may not even be able to get what I’d need to do it. If this is ridiculous, promise you’ll just tell me.”

  Diesel pivoted the desk chair and sat down on it backward. “I promise to tell you if you’re losing your mind. Sit down before you fall down, Doc.”

  Helen sat down on the bed across from the male. She took a deep breath and let it out. “I want to start work on a cure for the mutant serum. What if it’s possible to make these kids well, to give them their lives back?”

  She could practically see the wheels turning in Diesel’s head, but was he thinking about the viability of her idea or the state of her mental health?

  “It’s a fucking awesome idea. Hey, you’ll never believe this. I think we have a sample of the actual serum and the scientist’s notes that were used to create it.”

  Helen’s heart started to pound. “What?”

  “Yeah, the guy’s actually the father of the shifter who brought about the Transition last December. That’s gotta be useful, right?”

  “Useful? That’s incredible, Diesel!” The energy surging through her was something she hadn’t felt since she’d been away from her work. “Oh, God, but the cost of setting up a lab.”

  “Don’t even worry about it. Dimitri is gonna flip when he hears this. Hey, I even know the perfect room you can use down here.”

  “We can use, right? I’m hoping you’ll help me.”

  He nodded. “Of course. Come on. Let me show you what I have in mind.”

  She watched as he gently laid his guitar in its case on the bed. “Hey, Dies? I’m really glad I came here.”

  He turned his head and gave her a huge smile. “Me too, Doc.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  James focused on the mansion’s power grid and continued to feel his way through it. Man, the high school had been one thing, but Diesel and X really knew what they were doing. This place was like Fort Knox.

  “Don’t blow anything important. I’ll have two seriously pissed New Breeds ready to take a piece out of me,” Richard said.

  “I’m just trying to get a sense of it. It’s really complex.”

  Richard smiled. “Yeah, sounds like them. Why don’t you take a break? You’ve been at it for a while.”

  He took the bottle of water the brother offered and downed half of it. “Is there other stuff I’ll be learning before my transition?”

  He nodded. “You’ll learn some things earlier. Hand to hand combat techniques, proper use of firearms, target practice. Pax will start with you in a couple of days.”

  “Pax?” Oh, God. Why the hell did he just say that?

  “Yeah, I assigned him as your camzah, your official mentor. Is that okay? If you’d like someone else, I’m sure Dimitri would be happy to do it.”

  “Oh, no, Pax is fine.” Okay, Pax was so not fine. Sure, James had played Varsity basketball at school, but he had zero strength compared to Pax unless he was in his second form. Man, that was funny. He realized he hadn’t thought about basketball in days. It used to be all he thought about. His best friend, Seth, was captain. They had really bonded, being the only shifters on the team. Their teammates had never really held it against them, which was a fucking miracle. On the court, James had always felt right at home, like he belonged there. He was made to play hoops.

  It was different here. He felt safe, sure. But he was going to look like a pansy-ass little kid in front of Pax. Yup. He was going to make a total ass of himself in front of the male. Of course, he had no idea why that mattered. Well, maybe he had some idea. Pax kicked ass. He had saved him from being turned into a hellion. He was exactly who he wanted to be like, after his second transition. So maybe it was really a good thing to have him as his mentor then. Man, he was giving himself a migraine. Okay, just deal with it. Eighteen was way too old for hero worship.

  Richard’s voice broke into his thoughts. “James? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, just thinking about that power grid.”

  The male chuckled. “Okay. Let’s get back to it then. I have about twenty more minutes before my female starts hunting me down.”

  Diesel stood against the side of a trashed old Victorian in Southie. As he cast out his senses, he swept the area for k’ul. Got ‘em. He glanced at Pax who stood next to him. His bro nodded. There was a Toltec shifter across the street, one building down and, if his instincts were right, there was a hellion with him. Well, son of a bitch. Their first husband and wife tag team. They were out for some civilian’s nagual and he was damned if they were going to get it. He pulled his Beretta, nodded to Pax, and gleamed to the roof of the building.

  He materialized on the slanted rooftop on his knees and looked below him. Sure as shit, they were standing on the side of the house. He felt the presence of one shifter inside the home and heard the front door open. He smelled the air. The civilian was a male and he was definitely alone. This would be what he and Pax called a prank and gank. It was fast and efficient and usually required no use of firearms, which was better in a sitch like this one. No need scaring the crap out of that civilian.

  Right on cue, Pax materialized directly in front of the shifter. “Boo, cocksucker!”

  Before the startled shifter could respond, Pax hit the male so hard Diesel heard the crunch of his jaw. His turn. He unsheathed one of his daggers, gleamed behind the confused hellion, and decapitated it in one clean cut. Pax slit the shifter’s throat and pulled his vial from his neck.

  Diesel watched the civilian drive off in his car and looked down at the dead male. “Goddamn Toltec shifters. I’m gonna get real sick of disposing of bodies. The Goddess really needs to come up with a way to bring these fuckers home.”

  Pax wiped his blade on his pants. “No shit. It’s already two o’clock. Let’s ditch this douche and hit Anarchy.”

  Moments later, they walked into the club and headed directly for the back. Troy and X were sitting in a booth with a couple of beers.

  Diesel sat down. “Out for a cold one on your night off, I see.”

  “Man, every night’s a night off these days. I’m already over this shit,” X said.

  Pax nodded. “Yeah, we were just saying the same thing. It’s too hard to find those assholes in a city this size. We’re taking out one or two couples and that’s supposed to be a night’s work? And we’re doing it at the expense of looking for mutant dens.”

  Troy signaled the waitress. “Maybe we need to work both at the same time. Two and two.”

  X rubbed his goatee. “We need to change something. This is ineffective as hell.”

  Diesel ordered three shots of Everclear. He looked at Pax and ignored the what the fuck? look the brother was giving him from across the table. “I’m sure Reyn will talk about it at the meeting tomorrow night.”

  Troy bumped Pax and he slid over. “I’m out. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  X got up. “Hold up. I’ll come with.”

  When they were gone, Pax didn’t waste any time. “What’s up with you?”

  “What?”

  “You know what. You’re drinking more; you’re taking on more duties. I don’t like these extremes, man.”

  “Would you quit worryin’? Jesus, Pax.”

  Pax took a drink and watched as his buddy flashed those pale green eyes and long, dark lashes at a human female a couple of tables away. He was beyond irr
itated. He finished his drink and stood up. “I’m gonna head out.”

  Diesel’s brows went up. “You’re leaving?”

  “I’m not in the mood for this tonight.”

  “There’s a first. Fine, let’s go.”

  Pax led the way to the back door of the club and walked out into the alley. “Honestly, I don’t know why this shit even interests you anymore, anyway.”

  Diesel fell into stride alongside him. “What do you mean?”

  “With Helen now and whatever.” Hello? He was gay, not dead. He had eyes for Chrissake.

  “Huh?”

  “Come on, Dies. You know you wanna tap that.”

  Pax’s head hit the brick wall of the club so hard, his vision actually blurred out for a second. Diesel’s body was crushed against him, his face so close he could feel his breath.

  “What did you just say to me?”

  “Nothing. Forget it.”

  “That’s what I thought. You know, I’ll take all the shit the brothers throw at me about the females. They don’t know how dirty it makes me feel. They don’t know how many showers I take when I get back. They don’t know that I do it to control my adrenaline, so I’m not some ticking time bomb out in the field. But not from you, Pax. And another thing. You ever disrespect Helen like that again, I will end you. Got it, brother?”

  Pax couldn’t speak. He just nodded.

  The male let go of him and strutted back up the alley and into the club.

  Pax just stood there. He was so shocked he literally couldn’t move. He had never seen Diesel behave that way. Ever. Fuck. His boy was either really into Helen or his moods were seriously out of whack. But if he liked Helen so much, why the hell had he just gone back into the club? He knew casual sex was different for Diesel than it was for himself. He could take it or leave it. Diesel used it the same way he used alcohol—to keep his anxiety in check. But this was…. He brushed himself off, started walking toward the street, and gleamed out mid-stride.