After an ice age, the professor looked up from the report. "Your mother is very thorough in her investigations for contracts on who is or is not a suitable associate for her company," she said to Darcy. "She follows every little gossip lead."
"She spends a lot of time networking at parties and business dinners."
"Is there anything useful in there?" Joe's voice was tight.
"Your mother's family would have been a desirable match if they hadn't disowned her for 'fraternizing with the enemy.' An old and pure bloodline, wealthy but reclusive, not much else known about them." She switched sheets. "Your father's family was also wealthy purebloods; however, their reputation and business dealings are volatile and deeply illegal. High risk."
Corra's face burned at the reduced description of her parents' families. She looked at Caleb. Despite his masked expression, his ears were tipped pink. She didn't dare look at Darcy. She couldn't handle the judgment right then.
"You're both from a long line of purebloods," Darcy said.
"Doesn't matter when you look at how rough our family is."
Bryah looked at Corra with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "You're a diamond in the ruff." The last word punctuated in a bark.
Corra exploded with laughter. "Bree!"
Darcy groaned.
"I can't believe you went there," Caleb said, bemused.
"Couldn't help it." Bryah smiled.
Darcy's phone buzzed, and he picked it up. "Willoughby? What? Slow down. What's going on?"
All eyes turned to his ashen face.
"Katz? No, she didn't come back with me."
They could all hear the frantic voice buzzing through the phone.
Corra's gut twisted.
"Okay, call her friends and get back to me."
"Is Katz okay?" Corra asked, moving closer to Darcy. He paced, running a tense hand through his curls.
"She hasn't been seen since just after we left for the airport."
"Should I make some calls?" Suricatta asked Darcy.
"Yes…No." He sighed. "She does occasionally like to take off and disappear to annoy my parents. My brother is pretty freaked out, but they usually find her within a few hours." He looked at the investigations instructor. "I'll give it a little longer, just in case."
Corra put a hand on Darcy's arm. To Suricatta, she said, "My gut says to send up a flare. That shady guy followed us all over the place while we were in Orange County. We can't be too sure he wouldn't go after someone in Darcy's family."
"I'll put some feelers out. Why don't you lot got blow off some steam while you wait? Keep your phones on."
“Corra.” Joe’s voice stopped her before she crossed the threshold of the boardroom.
She hung back, and he approached her, hand deep in his pocket, digging around. When he extracted it, he held two small devices. She recognized the multi-use earpieces from communications class.
“Can never be too prepared. One never knows when shit will happen.” He said, offering them to her.
“Thank you, Sir.” She plucked them from his palm with a smile.
20
Zeek sat in the car watching patrons stream in and out the front door of the Hub like worker ants. Hands clenched on the steering wheel, he waited for the right figures to show up. He'd been waiting and watching for several days now. As much as he hated it, it was necessary. He glanced at his father, silent in the passenger seat, eyes following each person that came and went with a strange intensity.
"How long have you been doing this?" he asked him.
Without turning, he said, "I've been working for the family since long before you were born. That's how I met your mother."
Zeek caught the usual bitterness on the last word.
"I met her after one of the fights, a few years after I started throwing fists on their behalf. Fresh back from college. Defiant and independent." He smirked. "She knew her parents wouldn't like it, so we had a real good time for a few weeks, till it got old." He held up a finger, shaking it at Zeek. "That was my in. She got knocked up, so I married her, which sealed the deal for me as a member of the family and not just an employee."
"Never were the sentimental type, were you?" Zeek snorted.
"Who the fuck’s got time for that shit? Do what you gotta do to make your situation better and move on." Bringing his abnormally large hands together, he cracked the misshapen knuckles. "Jimmy and I made names for ourselves in those rings, especially when we moved up here. New market on the down-low; the family had a monopoly.”
Zeek's perspective was very different from his one-track-mind father.
Growing up, he'd never been fully accepted.
His father had secured his position as enforcer of the family's goals. He handled things for the kingpin and his kennel. You were in the orbit of the family. Their word was your law. And his father was in the kingpin's confidence. Their grandfather. He handled things, knew what was going on.
Zeek wanted that. He was tired of being told what to do without any information. He wanted to be an important part of the family's future.
Too bad if Caleb couldn't see how solid they were. Uncle Jimmy had sheltered Caleb somewhat, so Caleb didn't realize that he should have been groomed to take over. With Zeek at Caleb's side, they could have really achieved a lot. Changed things if they wanted to.
Zeek wasn't canine. Would they ever consider grooming him? He didn't think so; they were very particular about their lineage.
A thought he'd never considered before occurred to him. Why hadn't his mother had any more pups with someone else? That might have secured her own position rather than being shunned.
He shrugged. Family politics.
He turned his attention back to the Hub, as Caleb's familiar form appeared among a small group he recognized from the last time he'd been here. "There they are." His eyes found Corra's blonde head as she walked next to the cat, who stopped before entering the building. He glanced up and down the street as though he expected someone else to be there.
That asshole was going to make it difficult to get close to Corra long enough to convince her to meet with their grandfather.
He drew in a deep breath and opened the car door.
His father's fist gripped his forearm before he got out. "Don't fuck this up again."
Zeek pulled his arm away. "I won't. And I didn't come back empty-handed last time either, did I?"
"Leverage isn't a completed job."
Leverage? Negotiations, more like. Whatever, man.
Slamming the door shut, Zeek strode toward the Hub, opening the door of the bar and stepping into a scene of barely controlled chaos.
He sidled along the shadow of the wall, out of sight, to get a sense of what was going on. His gaze quickly swept the room. The TV blared another goddamned hockey game. God, he wished they'd put a fucking football game on now and then in this mountain-hick town. Some patrons just sat at their tables sipping their beers, while some watched the game and others monitored the commotion coming from the backroom.
The little bartender was trying her best to calm an argument between a couple clutching pool cues.
He sniffed and carefully moved closer. He recognized the scents of Caleb and Corra and the damned cat. The latter two seemed to be in the midst of an argument.
"You goddamned cheating tomcat!" Cheeks flushed, she snarled up into his face.
Lovers' quarrel already? It was only a matter of time. Cats and dogs just didn't mix well.
The feline bent over Zeek’s smaller cousin. "What are you accusing me of, b—"
Corra's finger shot up into his face, her nail a hair’s breadth from the tip of his nose. "Don't you dare say it."
Backing away from her finger, he threw the cue stick down on the pool table with a bounce and clatter. "This is ridiculous." He growled, straightened his expensive jacket, and brushed right past where Zeek was lingering, without the slightest twitch of his nose acknowledging Zeek’s presence.
Zeek watched as th
e door slammed closed behind the cat, then pivoted his attention back to Corra, who had now rounded on her brother.
"And you! How could you support that arrogant prick?"
Frowning, he opened his mouth to speak, seeming at a loss.
"Don't bother trying to make excuses for him."
His mouth snapped shut again.
Bryah touched Corra's shoulder. "Corra, what's gotten into you?"
Corra brushed the hand away. "Nothing's gotten into me. I'm sick of this dumpy little place on the edge of nowhere. His arrogant attitude"—nodding toward the door where the cat had gone—"and everyone else around here. I don't fit in like you do. Besides, with all of this and the two of you together now, there's no room for me. I don't belong here. I never will. It was a joke for me to ever think that I would."
"Corra, that's not true."
"It is. Like I've told you before, I'll always just be a mangy street mutt. You've got something good here now. It's time for me to move on."
The smaller woman looked up at her with unshed tears. "What are you saying? You have one little hiccup, and that's it? You're quitting?"
"Bryah, it's not just one. It's all the time. I feel how the others look at me. I don't belong," She said again. "You've got Caleb now. And you have Bear, which is so amazing. You've got your real family."
She turned to Caleb, who'd abandoned the pool table, his face crestfallen.
Zeek ducked deeper into the shadows so his cousin wouldn't see him. Caleb was so distracted he obviously hadn't smelled him yet.
"What about you and Darcy?"
"Tomcats don't want puppy-dog eyes cramping their strutting style." Bitterness dripped from her voice.
"Bryah, she's done with us."
"But—"
"Let her go if she wants to."
"How can you say that? Maybe you were never interested in having a sister. She's definitely mine."
"That's not what I said. She clearly wants to go." He turned his attention to Corra. "I'll always have your back. Anything you need, just call."
Corra nodded and hugged Caleb.
"What's happening?" Bryah said, her voice strained. "Everything is happening so fast."
"It's been building, honey. It's time for me to go," Corra said.
Bryah's lower lip quivered, and Zeek felt sorry for her.
Corra approached Bryah, lowering her voice as she hugged her. Zeek was able to hear her despite the noise from the television and patrons.
"You're a tough little nut. You'll be just fine. Stick close to Caleb."
Bryah flung her arms around Corra in a death grip that seemed to last forever, until Corra gently pried her way free then walked out the door. When he looked back at his cousin, he was busy consoling his girlfriend in the privacy of the back room.
Zeek went outside.
Now was his chance.
He'd gotten a bit of whiplash after all that. They'd all looked fine on their way into the bar. Whatever had happened before he went in must have been combustible.
Outside, he glanced briefly at his car, parked down the road, where his father waited. Then up the other direction. Where had she gone? He should still be able to see her. Trundling down the steps, he stood looking and listening in all directions, scenting the air for canine shifter.
"What do you want?" Corra stepped out of the shadows at the edge of the building.
Suppressing his surprise, he relaxed. "Just came to talk."
She must have caught his scent on her way out.
"Then talk."
"Your grandfather wants to meet you."
A deep V formed between her delicate brows. "What does he want?"
He shrugged.
"Really? You just play fetch for him?"
Zeek frowned. "Basically, yeah."
She eyed him warily. "Why should I trust you?"
"Why would I do anything to harm you? We're cousins. Besides,"—he grinned—"Caleb would try to kick my ass, and I have better things to do."
"Like play fetch. Let's go then."
And everyone always says I have bad manners, Zeek thought.
Corra prayed Zeek couldn't hear her heart hammering in her chest as she tried to control the fear that kept trying to worm its way into her.
Never let anyone smell your fear, her mother had said. She'd spent a lifetime learning how to control her fear in difficult situations. Most recently, in her role as kidnappee with Len's goons.
She thumbed the pendant that Sylla Columba had given her for reassurance.
Darcy’s keen sight in dim light had allowed him to spot Zeek and an obscured partner parked down the street as they’d made their way into the Hub.
An opportunity. Decisions had to be made in a flash. She prayed it didn’t go sideways as she followed Zeek down the street toward his car, listening to her instincts very carefully.
"So, what are you anyway?" she asked as a self-distraction.
He stumbled and turned to look at her. "You're really lacking in manners, aren't you?"
She eyed her big—much bigger than herself—cousin and shrugged.
"Hominid."
"Is that some kind of monkey?"
Resuming his lead, he grunted, "Gorilla."
She snickered, picturing his knuckles dragging on the sidewalk.
"What's so funny, little puppy?" He rounded on her, face close to hers.
"Not a thing," she said. Shooting her mouth off at Arnold during the Len incident had gotten her knocked senseless. She'd better learn from past mistakes and zip it.
He stopped at an old sedan and opened the back door for her. Someone already occupied the front. It was hard to see through the window clearly with the street lamp reflecting off the glass. Whoever it was filled the space.
Glancing back up the street toward the Hub, she drew a deep breath and got into the car, knowing she was staring at the back of Zeek's father's head. Zeek closed the car door, and as Rollo turned to look at her, her heart stalled in her chest.
She couldn't stop the fear leaching out of her pores as she stared at the face from her nightmares.
His smile chilled her. "You look just like your mother."
Zeek started the car and pulled away from the curb. She clenched the pendant in her fist so hard the edge bit into her fingers.
God, I hope I don't die. That would really suck.
21
Tomcat.
Darcy scowled. As much as he tried to dismiss it, it still smarted like she'd slapped his ego upside the head. Hard.
Behind the wheel of his car parked in the deep shadow beneath a burned-out streetlight, he watched Corra leave the Hub and slide around the corner. Zeek's big form passed by the neon light as he paused to look up and down the street for her.
He held his breath as she stepped out to confront the bigger man then walked away with him.
He didn't like this. Not at all.
He had Katz to think about. A quick glance at his phone told him there were no more updates in the last five minutes. He hoped she was just taking another secret vacation. He prayed she really did find herself a local to have a sex-fling with and had been hiding in his—or her—bedroom for the last few days.
Moments later, old Carl, who worked in the lobby of the motel behind the bar, scuffled along the parking lot and up the stairs to the Hub. Then Bryah and Caleb emerged, rushing toward Darcy's car.
"Carl's good to cover me for the evening," Bryah said, sliding into the backseat.
"I can't believe that performance you gave back there, Bryah," Caleb said, buckling his seatbelt as Darcy started the car.
"I know, right! I knew all those years of soap operas would be useful for something. The Academy role-play classes are awesome."
"Yeah, well, I didn't know Corra was such an actress, too."
"She's not." Bryah's tone dropped.
Caleb glanced at Darcy in the darkness of the car. "She sounded like she meant every word."
"I think she did. So, Darcy, you'd better
tell me you know exactly where she is right now."
A pit opened in his gut. "Uhm, yeah, they're in that car that just pulled out down there." Throwing his Audi into gear, he stomped the accelerator and followed them. "Do you know where they'd go?" he said to Caleb.
"If Zeek is taking her to meet the family, then yes. It's about an hour's drive from here."
"I'll text Joe Suricatta," Bryah said.
"Is she in danger?" Darcy asked Caleb. He remembered the day he’d first met Corra, when they went in to rescue her and Bryah from Len and his goons. Worry filled the widening pit in his gut.
"It depends on if she gives them what they want."
They still didn't know what that was.
Caleb went on. "If she cooperates, they'll have no reason to be forceful." And Darcy hadn’t missed the note of doubt in Caleb’s voice.
Memories of the fight in the clearing where they'd found her tied to a tree filled his head. She'd been beaten, and the second Bryah had chewed her ropes, she'd launched into the fight.
He really didn't think she'd go meekly through a situation she didn't like. His foot lowered the accelerator closer to the floor.
"Darcy, we can't let them know we're following," Bryah said, laying a hand on his shoulder.
His foot eased. He knew more than anyone else that she'd want to see her friend returned safely.
"Caleb, check my phone for updates on Katz."
"Nothing yet," he said, lighting up the screen. "You know Joe is contacting all the right people."
"I know, I know."
His concerns were torn between Katz's and Corra's immediate safety.
Corra was headed straight for the very people her mother seemed to have desperately tried to hide her from.
She'd also walked headlong into his mother's den, head high and unflinching.
If Katz were in any danger, his family would already have their nets cast, overlapping Joe's.
Corra resisted the overpowering urge to curl up into the corner of the backseat or shift and hide on the floor out of his reach. Instead, she sat back straight, head level, eyes boring into the back of the mass of black hair covering Rolland LeBrute's head.
Diamond in the Ruff (Pedigree) Page 13
