Shadow Soldier

by Kali Argent

  “Don’t fucking start,” Cade warned when she turned on him. “I’m never going to be president of his fan club, but on this, we agree.”

  “What?” She swept past him to the door and held it open. “I didn’t say anything.”

  She and Cade had been watching each other’s backs long before they’d arrived in Trinity Grove, and she trusted him with her life. While she could be obstinate, she wasn’t stupid, and she agreed that safety lied in numbers. A purely sentimental part of her even found Deke’s extreme measures endearing. However, she didn’t appreciate him assigning her bodyguards without giving her a say in the matter.

  “Besides,” she added sweetly when Cade motioned for her to enter the office first, “you just wanted an excuse to spend the day with Barbie.”

  Abby rounded her desk to greet them when they entered the office, bestowing a brilliant smile on Cade. “Is that so, Mr. Novak?”

  “Don’t listen to her.” His nostrils flared, and his upper lip curled when he turned to look at Roux. “She just likes to hear herself talk.”

  And the rest of the day continued in pretty much the same vein. Little work actually took place, and Cade spent most of his time staring at Abby when he thought no one was watching him. Sergeant Gabriel Riccelli arrived mid-morning, right on schedule, and Brody had joined them just after noon with three enormous pizza’s from Moon Pie for lunch.

  Just before the end of the workday, Roux received an unexpected visitor as well. While on the run, hiding out in abandon buildings, and eating next to nothing, her body had reacted to the stress and decreasing body fat by disrupting her monthly cycle. Hell, she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d had her period, and it wasn’t like she’d missed it. With proper nourishment and an added twenty pounds to her five-foot-four frame, her body had apparently decided it would be a good time to betray her.

  Worse, she felt like a teenager again, embarrassed to tell her “bodyguards” that she needed to leave the office to buy tampons. She did find one in the bathroom cabinet beneath the sink—likely Abby’s—but she still needed to make a trip to the pharmacy. Unfortunately, subtly didn’t really work on men.

  “Where are you going?” Cade demanded when she started toward the front door.

  “To the pharmacy.”

  “Why?” Brody asked, tilting his head to the side. “Are you sick?”

  “You’re bleeding,” Gabriel announced to the room as he lifted his nose to sniff at the air. “Where are you hurt?”

  He marched across the office lobby, but before he could reach her, Roux threw her hands up and took a deliberate step back. Her face burned so hot she feared her flesh would melt, and she could only imagine what she looked like.

  “I just need to go to the pharmacy.”

  “Did you cut yourself?” Gabriel reached for her hand, his eyes raking over her in a purely clinical way. “Do you need to go to the infirmary?”

  Roux had never been so humiliated in her life, and she prayed for the ground to open up and swallow her whole. Abby had clearly caught on to why she needed to make the trip down the street, but a fat lot of help she was. The tiny blonde sat behind her desk, both hands covering her face, while her shoulders shook with silent laughter.

  “Roux.” Cade stood and crossed his arms over his chest. “Just tell us what happened.”

  “Nothing happened!”

  “You’re bleeding,” Gabriel repeated, his eyebrows drawing together to form a crease at the bridge of his nose.

  Of course, Deke chose that moment to enter the office—a full twenty minutes early—and Roux thought she would die.

  “What happened?” he demanded, stomping across the room to grab her shoulders. “Are you hurt?” He lifted her arms one by one and turned her in a circle, sniffing as he inspected her for injuries. “Where are you bleeding?” Before giving her a chance to answer he turned on the other men in the room. “Who did this?” he growled.

  Abby lost it, falling across her desk in a fit of unrestrained laughter, tears streaming down her face as she clutched at her midsection.

  Roux shot her a scathing glare before refocusing on Deke. “No one hurt me. I’m fine. Can we please just go home?”

  “You’re bleeding,” he insisted, sniffing at her again. “Did you pull your stitches?” Grabbing her knee, he lifted her leg up to examine the nearly healed wound on her calf.”

  “Damn it!” She slapped at his chest and pulled her leg away. “Stop that.” Thanks to whatever was in the booster shot they’d given her, she no longer had to worry about illnesses, not even a cold, and she healed almost three times as fast as she would have normally. “The stitches have already dissolved, and you know it.”

  “She wants to go to the pharmacy,” Gabriel informed the captain.

  “Why?”

  “Oh, sweet baby Jesus.” Dropping her burning face into her hands, Roux groaned. Then she took a deep breath and looked up to meet each man’s gaze. “I got my period okay? I need to go to the pharmacy to buy tampons. Is everyone happy now?”

  Brody’s mouth hung open, and Cade’s eyes widen almost comically. Gabriel’s cheeks blazed scarlet, and he actually took a step away from her, his head down and his eyes averted. At her desk, Abby still shook with mirth, and she’d crammed half her fist into her mouth in an attempt to muffle her giggles.

  “Okay.” After clearing his throat and nodding a couple of times, Deke stared down at the floor and sighed. “Who’s going to the pharmacy?”

  “Not it.” Brody threw his hands up, palms facing outward, and moved around Roux’s desk to claim her unoccupied chair.

  “Not even if you paid me,” Cade seconded with a stubborn shake of his head.

  Gabriel said nothing, probably hoping Deke would forget he existed. Roux almost felt sorry for them. Almost.

  “What about you?” she asked her mate, batting her lashes innocently. “You could take me.”

  “I could.” He said it in such a way that implied he’d rather chew off his own foot. “I’m here to take you home, and then I have to get back to patrol.” His gaze turned on Gabriel. “Get whatever she needs and bring it by my place.” When the sergeant didn’t move, Deke growled. “Now.”

  “Yes, Captain.” He made it to the exit, but stopped and rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh, what exactly am I supposed to get?”

  “Kotex tampons.” Once Roux realized the men were even more uncomfortable with the situation than she was, it eased a little of her embarrassment, and she actually enjoyed watching them squirm. “Any other kind makes my vagina hurt.”

  Brody started to cough, and he eventually had to leave the room, disappearing through the door that led to their makeshift clinic. As stoic as ever, Cade glared at her, completely silent. Abby—the traitor—fell into another fit of giggles, and even Deke looked a bit paler than usual.

  “Kotex,” Gabriel muttered under his breath, his face so red he looked in danger of stroking out at any second. “Got it.” Without further prodding, he pushed open the glass door and ducked out onto the sidewalk.

  “And a heating pad!” Roux called. “Oh, and Midol, if you can find it!”

  The werewolf kept his head down but raised a hand in the air to acknowledge her request.

  “Shoot. I forgot to ask for chocolate.”

  Chuckling, Deke wound his arm protectively around her waist, but he didn’t squeeze her as tightly as he normally did. “Would chocolate brownies suffice, kitten?”

  Her face lit up, and she pushed up on her toes to kiss him. “Yes, please.” The smile faded, and she arched a questioning brow at him. “You have time for brownies, but not to take me to the pharmacy?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  Once she’d composed herself, Abby rose from her chair and brushed the wrinkles from her charcoal-gray pencil skirt. “I just need to shut down the computers and lock up the office. Can you let Peter know, I’ll be ready in ten minutes?”

&n
bsp; “I’ll tell him.” Brody reappeared in the room and rubbed his hands together. “Denny’s making spaghetti for dinner, and he asked if I could pick up some kind of bread.”

  “Breadsticks?” Roux asked, a smirk tilting the corner of her lips.

  Brody shrugged. “Sure.”

  Deke didn’t smile, and worry clouded his eyes when he looked at Abby. “You shouldn’t stay here alone.”

  “I’ll stay with her,” Cade offered without prompting. “I can walk her across the street when she’s finished.”

  Roux wished good things for all of her friends, but Cade, more than anyone, deserved to find a little happiness. If Abby could give him peace and even a sliver of joy, Roux wanted that for him. Still, she worried. All day, she’d watched Cade cast sideways glances at Abby, but not once had she witnessed his covert looks returned. Either the miniature Barbie was oblivious to his interest, or she didn’t feel the same way. Maybe both.

  Since she made it a point not to meddle in other people’s lives, Roux bit her lip and followed Deke through the exit, Brody trailing right behind her. The two would work it out or they wouldn’t, but sticking her nose where it didn’t belong wouldn’t change anything.

  The scent of freshly baked bread wafted through the air of the bakery when they entered the shop, and Roux groaned when her stomach twisted with hunger. Peter rounded the front counter to greet them with a bright smile, his reddish orange hair dripping with water. Darker blue spots dotted his faded T-shirt, and his white tennis shoes squeaked against the linoleum when he moved.

  “Pipe in the kitchen burst,” he said with a laugh in answer to Roux’s unspoken question. “I fought the good fight, but I’m afraid to say I lost.”

  “I can take a look at it.” At Peter’s agreement, Brody started toward the swinging metal doors behind the counter. “Oh, and I need bread. Whatever goes with spaghetti.”

  “Well, I have Italian breadsticks, or I just pulled some French bread out of the oven…” Peter trailed off when Brody disappeared into the kitchen without a word.

  “Don’t mind him.” Still staring at the double doors, Roux shook her head. “Breadsticks are fine. They’re not picky.”

  The front door banged open again, and a woman with defined muscles and black hair cut into a severe bob staggered into the bakery. Blood covered her face and ran in rivulets down her naked body. She looked paler than the last time Roux had seen her, sickly so, but she had no trouble recognizing the Warden’s spy.

  “Nevah!” Rushing across the room, Roux caught the woman in her arms when she began to sway, but Nevah’s weight toppled them both to the ground. “Deke! Help me!”

  Peter and Deke hurried to her side, both kneeling while Deke examined Nevah and cursed.

  “Ravagers?” Roux whispered.

  Deke shook his head minutely. “See her neck?”

  An involuntary gasp escaped Roux’s mouth, and her hands shook as she stroked the woman’s hair away from her eyes. “Vampires?”

  “Go,” Nevah gurgled. “They’re coming.”

  Her lashes fluttered, and she released a last wheezing breath before slumping lifelessly into Roux’s arms.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  More people disappeared over the next week, probably more than Deke even realized. The guards had found another female dead near the edge of the woods outside of the Bastille with the same bite marks on her neck. He couldn’t launch a full-scale investigation into the deaths, not without invoking the wrath of the Diavolos family, but he’d made some carefully inquiries around town. No one he’d spoken to knew anything helpful—or they’d been too afraid to talk.

  Nevah’s last words worried him, but no one had come for them. Neither the royal family nor their battalion of Wardens had waged an official attack on the residents of Trinity Grove. It seemed unlikely that she would know about the Revenant, but he couldn’t rule out the possibility that she had meant the warning for him specifically. If true, everyone close to him was in danger, and he couldn’t do a damn thing to protect them.

  On the following Friday, when Denny and Zerrik vanished right from the streets, Deke knew he had to make a decision. He could keep Roux close, watch her day and night, do everything in his power to safeguard her, and he might still lose her. Or he could do what he should have done in the beginning, and let her go.

  So, on Saturday morning, he called a meeting in his living room with Roux, Cade, and Brody. Roux sat in her usual corner of the sofa with her knees tucked up under her chin. Tear tracks stained her cheeks, and red rings lined her puffy eyes. Denny had been like a father to her, and his disappearance had hit her hard. For most of the evening, Deke had cradled her in his lap, rocking her gently while she cried, and he’d made himself a vow to never see her hurt like that again.

  Brody sat on the edge of one of the armchairs, his elbows resting on his thighs, his hands clasped together between his knees. He hadn’t said a word since he’d arrived, but his somber expression spoke volumes.

  Near the entertainment center, Cade stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his booted feet planted shoulder-width apart. His accusatory gaze seared into Deke, his hatred emanating from his very pores. He hadn’t spoken, either, not even to Roux, but a storm brewed beneath the placid surface, a time bomb waiting for the right trigger to detonate.

  “Tomorrow night, there will an SUV waiting at the edge of town, behind the grocer where we first picked you up,” Deke told the group. “There’ll be enough supplies in the back to last for a week, and you’ll find a map in the glove compartment.” He settled down on the sofa beside Roux and took her hand. “Wait until sundown, then go out the back and cut across to Trinity Woods. Thea will meet you there.”

  “What?” Roux gripped his fingers tighter and shook her head. “I’m not leaving. Greg, Denny, Zerrik, they could still be out there, still be alive.”

  “Roux, be smart,” Cade interjected. “Greg has been missing for almost two weeks. He’s not coming back. Neither is Denny.”

  “You don’t know that,” she argued, though her tone lacked conviction.

  “More people are disappearing every day.” Sitting up straighter, Brody dragged his fingers through his dark, shaggy hair. “Do you want to wait around to be next?”

  Roux’s glare moved between her two friends, and she released her hold on Deke’s hands. “You’re just going to leave everyone to die? What about Abby?” she said in challenge to Cade. “Don’t deny it. I see how you look at her.”

  “Peter will protect her.”

  “So, that’s it? You’re just going to tuck your tails and run?” Her nose wrinkled, and her upper lip curled over her teeth. “Cowards,” she spat. “You’re both fucking cowards.”

  “Roux.” Reaching for her hand again, Deke spoke calmly, comforting. “Just listen.”

  “Don’t!” she snapped, jerking away from him. “I’m not leaving.”

  “It’s just for a little while, kitten. I’ll meet you in a couple of months.” Ignoring her protests, he slid closer, cupping her cheeks in both hands. “I’ll find you. I promise.”

  Tears spilled down her cheeks, but her gaze didn’t waver. “Come with me.”

  Goddess, the female was breaking his heart. “You know why I can’t.” Too many people depended on him, and he couldn’t leave them to the mercy of the Coalition. “You’re strong. You can do this.”

  He had to believe it, had to trust that the others—Cade, Brody, and even Thea—would watch over her. Otherwise, he’d never be able to let her walk out the door.

  “This isn’t our fight, Roux,” Brody tried to reason.

  “Then whose fight is it?” Jumping to her feet, Roux pulled her shoulders back, squaring off with each of them. “The last I checked, Denny and Greg weren’t Gemini. They took Zerrik because he’s part of the Revenant, I know it, but everyone else—”

  “What the fuck is the Revenant?” Pushing away from the shelf he’d been leaning against, Cade ad
vanced toward the center of the room. “What aren’t you telling us?”

  It surprised Deke that Roux hadn’t confided in her friends, but he appreciated her discretion. The time for secrets, however, was long past. So, as quickly but as thoroughly as he could, he recounted the conversation he’d once had with Roux. He explained about the Purge, the feral wolves, and the role of the Revenant. He told them about the underground quarters beneath the basement of the Bastille and the haven in the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula.

  When he’d finished, he’d expected some sort of argument from Cade, or maybe even angry disbelief. He’d anticipated a hundred questions from Brody, because the man never made a decision without first having all the details. As the silence stretched on, and both men continued to stare at him, Deke didn’t know what to think, and it made him twitchy as fuck.

  “Do you see why we can’t go?” Roux insisted. “We can help these people. We can be part of something bigger than ourselves. Cade, don’t you want to make a difference?”

  Deke loved her courage and persistence, but he wouldn’t allow her to risk her life when the odds were stacked against them.

  “We’ll talk tonight,” Cade said after another long stretch of silence. “I need to think.”

  Both men left without further comment, leaving Deke alone with his mate. “Kitten, you can’t stay.”

  “And you can’t make me go.”

  “I can,” he argued, “and I will. It’s too dangerous. Please understand this.”

  “I know exactly how dangerous it is, and that’s why you need me. I can fight, Deke. I’m smart and I’m fast. People are scared. They want help, but they don’t know who to trust.” She jabbed a thumb at her own chest. “They’ll trust me.”

  “I’ve known these people a lot longer than you have. What makes you think they don’t trust me?”

  The smile she gave him bordered on sad as she shook her head. “Some might, because they don’t know anything but this.” She held her hands out to the sides in an all-encompassing gesture. “At the end of the day, though, you’re still a shifter, and the world beyond the city limits is filled with monsters that look just like you.”