by A. C. Arthur
“Really? You and Ms. Harper spend a lot of time together?” he asked, looking up at her. She was a pretty enough woman with shoulder-length red hair and green eyes. Her smile was always ready and she was very efficient according to Rome, but she was definitely looking for some information from Nick. He just hadn’t figured out what yet.
Melanie shrugged. “She’s new, just thought I’d show her around a bit. Anyway, she left my place without saying a word so I was surprised not to see her this morning. And I keep calling her and calling her.”
Nick nodded as he finished signing the letters and handed them to Melanie. “I’m sure she’s just fine.”
She took the letters from his hand but continued to stand there staring at him. “You’re sure?” she asked.
Nick looked her right in those sea-green eyes. “I’m sure.”
Later, after he’d received an urgent text message from X to meet him at Rome’s place, Nick would think the entire exchange with Melanie was beyond strange and not coincidental. By then it would be too late.
* * *
He braced himself, held his shoulders squared in the fading sunlight of the afternoon. Rome left his suit jacket in the car as he walked through the solemn cemetery. Their burial plots were near the east entrance, right beside a biblical statue and a running fountain. The plots were just a front; his parents’ bodies were not here. The Ética prevented formal burials, allowing only cremation for their kind.
It was peaceful here, the last resting place of loved ones. Even the birds above flew by in silence. Cars didn’t seem to drive as fast when they passed the cemetery; the air around the entire place felt still.
But Rome heard thumping. It was loud and echoed with every footstep he took. Now that he was standing still the sound reverberated off every headstone in the vicinity. He didn’t read the names, never read them as he walked through. He didn’t know them and they didn’t know him.
Only these two he knew.
He loved.
One three-foot-high stone marked the final resting place of Vance and Loren Reynolds. Just above the names was the tribal insignia of the Topètenia—a paw print with claws that dripped into a swirling circular collage. He saw that insignia every day—it hung in brass form in Rome’s study. Looking at it made him straighten further, a sign of respect, allegiance to his lineage.
But as his gaze dropped to the names, rested on his father’s, that allegiance wavered.
His father was a traitor. Rome still couldn’t believe it, didn’t want to begin to accept that the man he’d loved and respected had told their secret to a human. The journal entries on that disk outlined meetings, some here in DC, others across the States. He’d been meeting with a man who was promising to help regulate the shifters, to bring them into the fold with the human world.
His father had always wanted them to blend in, to be accepted among the humans. Rome, on the other hand, knew their differences and didn’t argue them. He didn’t flaunt them or begrudge the humans his personal DNA, but he knew that his kind would never be considered equal. That’s why it was so imperative to govern themselves.
Vance thought differently. With the Rogues beginning their rebellion and the Assembly uncertain of what should be done, Vance had turned to someone he trusted, someone he thought could help.
Now it was up to Rome to find out if that trust was in vain. Everything inside him said it was. In the last days of his father’s life he’d transferred large sums of money to an account in Cartagena. That account had long since been closed, but Bingham had finally given him a name—Raul Cortez.
Rome’s chest constricted as he slipped his hands into his pockets. Words floated through his mind, questions he wanted answers to but from a man who could never provide them. He’d driven for hours after he’d left his office via the same secret exit he’d sent Kalina through.
Rome remembered this morning with a warmth through his body. He remembered her scent, her touch, her eyes. His forehead furrowed as he struggled with what was and what he didn’t want to be.
Kalina was a shifter, and if this morning was any indication she was entering her acordado. In the next few days everything about her would change. Her senses would develop and magnify; her eyesight would sharpen, with night vision becoming acute; she would hear things from blocks away, scent lies as easily as she scented enemies. Her body would ripen, craving the touch of a male. Her scent would permeate the air, enticing any male in her proximity. His body hardened with the thought, while his mind warred with what all this meant for him.
It meant Alamar had been right. She was his companheiro. His mate.
His responsibility.
The question was, could he handle it? Could he handle what this would mean to him? More important, how would she react to finding out that everything she thought she’d known about herself had been a lie?
Questions formed a lingering line in his mind. His gaze stayed focused on the headstone just about a foot in front of him.
His cell phone rang and he reached to his hip to answer it.
“Reynolds,” he said in a dour tone.
“We need to talk. Now.”
X sounded serious. Rome knew not to question him. “Meet me at my house in half an hour.”
“Later,” X agreed and disconnected the line.
Rome put the phone back in its holster and inhaled deeply. The air was ripe with pollution, thick with the stench of death. It was all around him, coming on the stifling hot breeze, and soon it would knock on his door again. Rome knew this without a doubt.
But this time, he vowed to be ready.
Chapter 19
“Where’s the Rogue?” Rome asked the moment he walked into his study and headed straight for the bar. Pulling a glass from the shelf, he poured himself a drink and gulped it down. He was carrying the weight of his world and then some on his shoulders. Liquor probably wasn’t going to soothe it, but it would have to do for now.
X stood by the window. He turned when Rome entered the room and simply stared at him.
Nick was near the fireplace, standing right beneath the brass sculpture of the Topètenia insignia. The one that had Rome gripping his glass like a lifeline.
“He’s locked down tight. Still not talking. Well, that’s not true: He said that whoever he works for is going to feed us our nuts for breakfast. Then he shut up. Think his lip might have been too swollen to continue.”
Rome frowned. “His boss isn’t looking for him. Gotta wonder why.”
X shrugged. “Collateral damage. There’s always a percentage when you walk into a war.”
“Then they’d better start keeping count, because if he doesn’t talk soon his ass is a statistic,” Nick quipped.
“But there’s something bigger going on,” X said.
Rome looked at him. “What’s up?”
“It’s about Kalina.”
His already throbbing temples pulsated faster as Rome released the glass and flattened his palms on the cool surface of the bar. “What about her?”
“She’s safe. Ezra’s parked in front of her place as we speak,” Nick said, knowing the worried look on Rome’s face.
“She’s a cop,” X announced and was greeted by total silence throughout the room. He took a deep breath and continued. “She’s been employed by the Metropolitan Police Department for eight years, becoming an integral part of the narcotics division. Working directly on the streets, she’s nabbed a good number of criminals in her tenure.
“Three weeks ago she was given a new assignment, a task force being headed up by the DEA. Her target is Reynolds and Delgado LLC, specifically you,” he said, looking at Rome.
“Fuck!” Nick cursed, rubbing a hand over his chin. “She’s been at the firm spying on us? For what? What could they possibly think? That Rome’s a drug dealer?”
“The assignment is to investigate Rome and his finances, figure out where his money’s going. Specifically figure out which drug cartel in Brazil Rome’s funding.”
He was. Even without him answering the question Rome knew that every word X had just said was serious and most likely true. It explained so much, even as those same words traveled through his system like a burning infection. He didn’t cringe outwardly; he refused to look as if this revelation bothered him on the level it really did. He was their leader. How would it look for him to crumble under this new development? He’d slept with the woman who was out to get him, so to speak. He’d thought he was falling in love with her … dammit!
“She was trying to get into my computer,” he said aloud even though he’d thought the words were his alone.
“When?” X asked.
“Last week. The same day she came into the office with us, Nick. That evening I caught her trying to break into my computer.”
“And you didn’t have her arrested? You didn’t think there was anything weird about that?”
Rome held up a hand. “Calm down, Nick. I did think something was going on. I questioned her and I believed she was lying to me. I didn’t think it would be this, that’s for sure. But I took precautions, reset passwords and made sure the firewalls and encryption devices were in place.”
“You just neglected to tell me and to kick her sneaky ass out on the streets.”
“No,” Rome said with quiet insistence. “Kicking her out was never an option.”
Nick and X stared at him for a second.
“Because you think she’s your mate? You’ve thought that from the beginning, haven’t you?”
This was X, the investigator, the one who was always full of questions. Nick was the action guy, ready to react.
Slowly Rome lifted the glass to his lips, taking a measured sip. He had to take it slow; gulping it would surely feel good, but getting pissy drunk wasn’t going to make this day go any better.
“Whatever or whoever she is, she needs to be neutralized. Now, before it’s too late!” Nick roared.
Rome was across the room in seconds, pouncing as if he’d scented his prey and caught it. “You are not to touch her! Ever!”
His fists had clenched in Nick’s dress shirt, his friend’s tie twining around his arms. Nick looked him right in the eye.
“She’s going to find out what we are and she’s going to tell. You of all of us should know how badly that’s going to end. The only way she might keep quiet is if she’s a shifter, too, but we don’t know that for sure. Our situation is much bigger than her, Rome. Much more important.”
“No!” Rome pushed his longtime friend away from him, hating that he’d put his hands on him in rage in the first place but bubbling with so many emotions he could barely think straight. “It’s not bigger than her.” He sighed and turned from both of them.
“It’s about her,” X stated quietly. “The Rogues want her and so do you. This fight is about a woman.”
“It’s about boundaries,” Rome answered. “The Rogues don’t want to accept them and we want to create them.”
“Then where does Kalina fit in?” Nick asked.
“He wants her for himself,” Baxter said in his even tone.
Again the man had entered the room without any of them hearing, and again he was as much in tune with the conversation as if he’d been here all along.
“What are you talking about?” Rome asked what the others were definitely thinking. “And how do you know about this?”
Moving to the bar, Baxter emptied the glass Rome had left and put away the bottle of brandy. With all eyes on him, the man moved as if he were simply a butler. Rome wanted to yell the roof off this house. He wanted answers, he wanted to change, he wanted things not to have gotten so far. But it seemed all he was going to get was more bad news.
“It is simple. The two strongest of the species, the leaders of the pack, so to speak, are fighting over a girl. I think that’s quite poetic, don’t you?”
“I think I want to know what the hell you’re talking about. Who else wants Kalina?” Because it was painfully obvious that Rome did—even knowing she was a cop investigating him. A small part of him would wonder if everything she’d said and done had been a part of her job. Then he remembered her scent, the feel of being inside her, the look on her face when he was inside her, the look in her eyes when they’d both reached their pleasure. That wasn’t faked. No matter how decorated a cop she may be, she wasn’t that good.
“He is leading them but he needs her, he needs a mate to fulfill his own prophecy.”
“Oh God, he’s been talking to Alamar.”
“And if you do not wish for the Elder to be in on this conversation, you should all keep your voices down. He’s not happy that you walked out on him this morning and even less pleased that you, the Faction Leader, are doubting the legends.”
Rubbing a hand down his face, Rome signaled just how impatient he was becoming with this situation. “Baxter, I’m going to ask a question and you’re going to answer. It’s that simple, ask and answer. Okay?”
Baxter raised one thick brow then nodded his compliance.
“Who is leading the Rogues?”
“Alamar believes it is Sabar, one of two jaguar brothers raised by Boden in the Gungi.”
“Boden the sadistic cat that raped and butchered villagers and tribal females until he was finally beheaded fifteen years ago?” Nick asked.
Baxter looked at Nick and nodded. “That’s the one.” His gaze shifted back to Rome, whom he asked, “I am allowed to answer his questions as well?”
Rome decided to ignore the butler’s sarcastic question and proceeded. “What does he want with Kalina?”
“Alamar thinks she may be of a pure bloodline, possibly a former Elder.”
That wasn’t necessarily the answer he expected to hear. “Why didn’t he say that earlier?”
As if this were the last place he wanted to be and the imaginary speck of lint on the lapel of his black jacket was as important as the next presidential election, Baxter replied, “How would you have heard him? You stormed down the hall like a spoiled brat afraid to hear the truth.”
Rome frowned at his words. “I’m not afraid of anything.”
Baxter sighed, letting his arms fall to his sides and standing at complete attention. “That is correct, Mr. Roman. You are not afraid of anything. You are also not willing to accept everything that is. Since you were a young boy you’ve rebelled against what will be.”
“Rebelled against what must be?” It was Rome’s turn to roar now as he turned to his butler with an incredulous glare. “I’ve done nothing in these past years but work for this tribe, do what was best for this tribe! I don’t have a life because I’m more focused on what’s going on in the damn jungle then I am with what’s happening right in my own firm. Hell, I didn’t even know a cop was hired to investigate me!”
“She was meant for you. Take a minute and think about that. Accept that first and you will be able to continue with your duty.”
“Right about now I don’t give a damn about duty!” Rome yelled. “You’re telling me she’s trying to find information to have me sent to jail,” he said to X. “And you”—he whirled to face Nick—“you want to kill her and everybody else who breathes the wrong way. Now you.” He was back to Baxter again. “You want me to just man up and save the day for the shifters.”
Silence fell over the room again. Rome felt like everything around him was spinning out of control.
“And what do you want, Mr. Roman?” Baxter asked.
“I want what I’ve always wanted,” he answered.
“To find your parents’ murderers and kill them?”
There were a couple of ways Rome could have answered these questions, but he just didn’t feel like being politically correct at the moment. “That’s exactly right.”
“A good ruler must learn to act in the best interest of those he leads.”
“My personal battle does not endanger any shifters but myself.”
“Your split a
llegiance endangers us all,” Baxter corrected.
X interrupted. “There’s something else we need to consider here. In addition to finding out that Kalina is a cop, I got a call from my contact in Arizona. The Comastaz lab Sebastian mentioned at our last meeting is working on a new pet project, and it’s top secret.”
“What does that have to do with us?” Nick asked.
“Somebody out there, a human, knows about us.”
Nick cursed again, but Rome and Baxter remained perfectly still.
“You already knew, didn’t you?” X asked Rome. “You knew and you didn’t tell us?”
“It didn’t concern you—” Rome began.
“Bullshit! Rome, that’s pure bullshit! If we’re about to be ratted out to the world, it concerns all of us,” Nick roared.
He was shaking his head. “No. It concerns me. It’s my job, remember, to protect the secret, to protect the shifters.”
“It’s not your job alone, man,” Nick said. “We’ve always been right beside you in everything. You can’t think that would stop now.”
“You don’t understand.”
“What is there to understand? You know we’re about to be found out. For all we know this female might be out to expose us, too.” X’s tone was somber.
Rome walked away from all of them. He went to stand near the window, looking out into the sky. Day was turning into night; the sun was settling, casting the sky in an array of golds and deep oranges. Outside the world went on while inside, inside the world he’d known was being tested, everything he’d been taught and aspired to was being pushed to the brink.
“You don’t understand what it’s like to find out that someone you loved may have been responsible for leaking the secret. How do I punish a dead man for betraying us?” he asked in a soft tone. “How do I hold my own father accountable for the ultimate betrayal?”
