Sniffing the air as soon as he was in his leopard form, he glanced around once more, ensuring privacy before he darted off, making his way into the tree line after he assured himself that no one happened to be looking out a window in the direction he was heading. Once safely surrounded by foliage, he slowed, letting his senses spread out further.
In leopard form, his hearing, sight, and smell were more advanced, allowing him to search far beyond the location he was at without needing to travel much. It came in handy more often than not. As he turned to get a good 360 degree vantage point, he froze. Shifters. The trail was older, likely a few weeks, but at some point, they'd been here. Now, if the Mayor had nothing to do with the women going missing, why would the rogue pack be sniffing around his residence?
More determined to do a deeper inspection, he returned to the house, shifting on the balcony once more. He'd learned to materialize clothing after he'd shifted by manipulating the atoms around himself, but anything extra needed to be portable. That meant he had to be able to put it on the necklace, usually. Since metal didn't shift, if he wore the necklace when he shifted, the leopard wore it as well. When he shifted back into human form, whatever he needed was still firmly affixed to his person.
Unlocking the doors, he slipped inside, closing them behind him once more. Grabbing his cell phone, he carefully made his way into the hallway before he paused, listening to the ambient noises in the home. Once assured that everyone appeared to be sleeping, he headed to the office he'd been ushered into earlier. It was the most logical place for doctored books or any kind of evidence of wrongdoing, the one place in the house the Mayor likely considered his personal domain. He'd start there.
Of course, he didn't expect anything incriminating to be out in plain view. Unless the idiot was far fucking dumber than he looked. He'd learned from the Mayor that his daughter did all the accounting and paperwork. If the daughter wasn't dirty, which Thian wasn't discounting just yet, then it'd make sense that the Mayor would have a separate set of books somewhere out of her normal reach.
Thankfully, while the daughter seemed more tech savvy, he'd noticed earlier the Mayor seemed to prefer pen and paper. There hadn't even been a computer in the room, which meant the daughter likely brought her own laptop in. That made things easier. Searching for paper copies was infinitely easier than searching for digital tracks. He could do it, of course, it would just waste precious time.
Scanning the room, he began with the file cabinets, checking for hidden panels and envelopes taped to the underside of drawers. Low-tech, but hey, sometimes the easy option was the simplest and what most chose to do. When that didn't provide anything, he went over the rest of the room quickly. Nothing stood out. Nothing caught his attention.
Each cat tended to have a special talent the others didn't. Call it supernatural, call it extrasensory, call it whatever you like. Most found them by accident. He'd realized his when he'd been locked out of his apartment. Trying to figure out how to break into his own damn residence with as little damage as possible, he'd been focusing on the windows when he'd realized he could feel... something.
A tiny electrical current running along the frame, zinging up his arms. Not knowing what the hell he was doing, he mentally probed at it, with the encouragement of his cat, trying to figure out what it was. Somehow, his poking snapped the line. Right after that, he realized the current was gone.
He'd disarmed the security system on the window, and it hadn't gone off. No one was any the wiser. He'd tested it again, this time envisioning reconnecting it. The current came back online again, without a single noise. No alarm, nothing.
After some research, he'd learned it was called electrokinesis... the ability to manipulate electrical currents and pulses with your mind. As he'd fine-tuned it with practice, it'd come in handy on some of their less than legal jobs they did. No more hacking, no more fighting to find weak spots and hoping they didn't get caught.
When they thought security was enabled, Thian went in first and disabled shit, the rest followed and no one sensed a thing. Tonight, it was going to prove its worth again. Moving his hand over the assorted shelves and pictures in frames, he grinned when he caught the pulse hidden behind one of the larger photos. And there it was.
Chapter Five
Turned out, tech-adverse dad was only pretending to keep from arousing suspicion. Once he'd unlocked the electronic safe behind the photo, he'd found paperwork for mobile banks under a separate name. Large deposits had been made frequently, but he couldn't be sure if the dates matched up with the disappearances. He'd bet his Night Rod they would, though. Taking photos of each sheet and sending it on to the crew, he carefully stashed them back in the order he'd found them in, then re-engaged the alarm.
Slipping from the room, he was heading back to his own when the click of a door unlocking stopped him in his tracks. Going still for a moment, he moved into the shadows by the wall, careful to avoid making a sound. The housekeeper left after dinner. The wife had passed years ago.
It was just father and daughter in the home now, and he wasn't ready to take bets yet on who'd been sneaking out. Either way, they'd soon regret it. He wasn't going to fail at the job he'd been hired for because they were too fucking dumb to follow simple damn directions.
As the footsteps moved closer, he felt his cat stirring. No, stirring was the wrong word for it. Spazzing the fuck out. He'd never felt his cat this riled up over anything. As the interloper came into view and he caught her scent, he sucked in a breath. The punch of lust hit straight in the gut, the cat wanting to crawl out of its skin to emerge, to claim.
She was stunning in the moonlight filtering in from the tall windows. Perfectly curvy, with tousled blonde curls down her back, she had on a form-fitting white dress with a purple colored jacket over it. He didn't know what she was doing coming in so late, but every instinct from man and beast was screaming to protect her at all costs.
He'd been planning on confronting her about not taking her safety seriously, but with the way his body and cat were reacting to her presence, he realized he needed to retreat to get a handle on things before he formally introduced himself and laid down the new rules she'd be abiding by.
He'd heard the stories of this. Rationally, he knew what it was. Emotionally? He wasn't fucking ready. When other shifters found their mates, they lost their goddamn minds until they were able to claim them, to bring them under their protection. Their mates were all they could think about, all they could focus on until the mating was finished and the cat was pacified. He didn't have time for that shit.
Most of all? He didn't need a mate that could potentially be involved in this mess. Nor did he need to be sniffing around the Mayor's daughter, especially when he was being paid to protect her. He couldn't imagine daddy would be pleased if he pushed himself on his precious little girl.
This situation was filled with landmines, and he swore he could already smell the singed fur. Waiting until he heard a door closing softly somewhere upstairs, he moved to his room once more, settling onto the bed again, this time for the night.
Only once he'd laid down did he realize her room must be directly above his. He could hear her moving around as she was getting ready for bed, the way she was humming softly to herself while going from one area to another. Her scent teased his senses, his cock hardening to an almost painful degree. He felt like a damned teenager.
He couldn't sleep. Knowing she was so close, and yet so far away, tormented him. He wanted nothing more than to stride upstairs, break down the door separating them, and ease the ache he couldn't slake. His cat was in full agreement with this plan, except Thian knew he couldn't do it. He wasn't a goddamn animal, a slave to his feral urges. He'd been raised better than that. Not by his parents, mind you, but by his uncle. By Knox. He knew better.
Didn't help to calm his hormones, though. He'd ended up taking matters into his own hands, so to speak, to get some kind of rest. The cat paced in his mind, frantic and angry at being denied the op
portunity to take its mate when she was right above them. Ignoring it, Thian punched his pillow down into a more comfortable shape, falling into a fitful sleep.
When he woke, it was to a blinding morning, making him hiss and recoil back into the covers as the bright light hit his face. A woman's voice chided him, telling him breakfast would be served downstairs in twenty minutes. Hiding the snarl on his face, he peeked out hesitantly, recognizing the elderly woman from yesterday as she puttered around the room, refilling the vase of flowers he hadn't noticed and fluffing cushions. Well, at least she seemed more pleasant today, knowing he was a guest of the Mayor's.
He'd have to let them know he didn't need turndown service. While it was appreciated, he couldn't risk her coming in and finding him in leopard form, or worse, in the midst of a change that he couldn't explain. It was best that she simply left his room alone, he'd clean up after himself. He didn't need fucking flowers, anyway, he was here for security.
Only the knowledge that he'd be meeting the Mayor's daughter today got him up and moving despite the woman still in his room. Hearing her gasp of shock, he inwardly shrugged. You come into a leopard's den, you dealt with the consequences. He hadn't bothered wearing anything to bed after he'd taken care of what he'd needed to handle, and didn't have much modesty left, at any rate.
As expected, she hurried from the room, scandalized. His chuckle followed her as he pulled on his jeans, the black t-shirt he'd worn yesterday, and his boots. Unless he was planning on riding that day, he generally didn't bring his leathers with him, so he left the jacket in the room. He didn't need the patches to denote his membership if required, anyway. If there were humans around him, they were warned away from him by his demeanor and generally didn't get too close. If there were shifters? They already knew who the fuck he was. Approaching without respect wouldn't be tolerated.
He already had their scents, at least some of them, from the woods surrounding the property. He'd be able to pick them out of a crowd if he had to. Something told him, if the paperwork he'd sent to the club turned out to be anything of interest, he may end up needing to. Between that and knowing shifters had been on the property, shit didn't add up.
Rogues had no morals, no scruples, but they were easy to understand. They were only out for themselves, damn the rest. If it made them money, got them food, or got them laid, they paid attention. Anything else, rogues didn't consider it any of their business. Live and let die, basically. There'd be no reason for them to be here on the Mayor's property unless they had a vested reason to be.
Thian wanted to know what the hell that reason was, because it boded well for no one, least of all his newfound mate if she was caught in the cross-fire. Leaving his room, he made his way into the formal dining room they'd passed on their way to the Mayor's office yesterday.
The Mayor was already seated, reading the newspaper with a coffee mug beside him. He glanced up, acknowledging Thian's presence with a nod before he returned to whatever he was reading.
Accepting the offer of a coffee mug for himself by the housekeeper, Thian took the seat at the other end of the large table, glancing around in interest. The daughter wasn't here yet. He wanted to ask about her, but refrained. It wouldn't do to seem too interested in her before he'd even met her. That might rouse suspicions.
Instead, he sipped his black coffee casually, mind going over the security changes he needed to make in order to keep the house somewhat protected. He'd already demanded curtains or something to cover the windows, and no free access to the pool. Those two things would go a long way in restricting access to anyone with a grudge.
The house was set far enough back that someone would have to be fairly determined to get here in order to travel out this way. Once here, they'd need to find a vantage point, figure out their line of attack. Make sure they had an escape route, especially if their goal involved kidnapping.
With the windows blocked and the pool off-limits, that would cut out most plans they may have already had if they'd plotted something around the house's remote location. They would have been good plans, sure. Thian was just better at his job, paid to think like them, and then outsmart them.
The biggest challenge was going to be the charity event. It was too open, too public. He couldn't personally validate everyone who was going to be there. As the daughter would be the guest of honor, people would be coming up to her throughout the night, many who only had a fleeting connection to the charity itself. They wouldn't be able to be vouched for ahead of time.
If Thian was planning on hurting someone, he'd choose a public event like this to do so. Get in, wait for a quiet moment when they were alone, then get out before anyone caught a decent look at him. Hell, he'd planned and executed missions similar to it before. He knew how this shit went.
It was going to be a massive fucking headache, now made worse because he knew she was his mate. His cat would be clawing at his insides, determined to break free whenever another male approached her, touched her, not knowing if this was the one they needed to kill. This shit was going to drive him to drink. Well, more than he already did.
Hearing footsteps on the stairs, he froze, glancing upward to watch as she hurried down the stairs. Dressed in a pair of jeans and a soft, silky looking shirt this time, she was still stunning, even this ungodly early in the morning.
Her hair was pulled back from her face, a dainty charm necklace glinting from her throat. Thian barely resisted licking his lips at the thought of tracing the line of the gold chain, following it down into the swell of her breasts. She was the type of woman he'd always gone after, the type with soft, lush curves a man could fucking drown in. He wanted to dive in and never come up for air.
As she reached the dining room, he stood, waiting until she'd seated herself before he sat back down. He hadn't meant to do it, as his displays of respect toward the women in his life didn't generally reach quite that far, but it was as if the cat was controlling his body somewhat. You stood when your mate entered the room as a sign of deference. Or some shit. He needed to get his damn cat under control. Unfortunately, he was too new to compromising with his feral half, he didn't know how to do that. Bribe it? With fucking what?
Once she'd joined them, the Mayor sat aside the paper as breakfast was served. Over the food, he made introductions. Her name was Adele, and she was 27 years old. She also appeared not all that impressed with Thian and his presence in their home, especially once he'd made it known that he was aware she'd come in late last night, and it wouldn't be happening again while he was charged with their protection. She'd visibly bristled, lips thinning, before she relaxed, returning to eating her pancakes. He recognized that look. That was the look of a female who had decided she wasn't doing a damn thing any male had stated she'd be doing and had simply set whatever fool notions the man had laid out aside after the momentary flush of anger.
That boded well for no one, least of all him. Once breakfast was finished, he excused himself and followed her into the hall, intent on making her aware that he'd been hired for a reason. To his surprise, she was waiting for him, green eyes bright with ire. She was quite a bit shorter than him, but still poked a finger into his chest, cheeks pink.
“I don't care what he hired you for. This is not the 40s where women are meant to stay home pregnant and barefoot. Despite what my father believes, I have an actual job outside of this house, and I will not be kept captive here because he's worried about his constituents in something that has nothing to do with me. You can take your rules and shove them. I have work that needs done, and I will not be coddled and prevented from honoring my commitments.”
He'd be damn amused if the situation wasn't so fraught with potential danger from vastly different directions.
Glancing at the finger poking at him, he managed to keep a grin from his face at the sheer audacity of his woman. She didn't know him, but she surely knew of him. Their reputation preceded them. The spitfire had no fear, which... in the present situation, he wasn't sure whether it was a
positive or a negative. Thian's gaze lifted to meet hers once more as he caught her hand in his, hold slightly tighter than necessary.
“Let's try that again, shall we? I have been hired to ensure your safety after a death threat, Miss Adele. A threat that included you, specifically. We take those types of things seriously, as should you. This isn't about your father's constituents, it's about keeping your ass alive to honor these commitments you seem to hold so highly. If you do not want to follow the rules, then I will enforce them how I see fit. I assure you, it will not go well for you.”
Mate or not, he wasn't one to be trifled with when he decided someone was under his protection. Especially if it was a job for the Club. He took his duties seriously. Letting down Knox wasn't something he was willing to entertain. She would either get in line willingly, or he'd force the issue. Either way, she'd survive whatever her fucking father had gotten them into. She could be pissed off all she wanted, he didn't mind her anger in the slightest.
It turned out, the feisty female was more than a handful. They were at an impasse and had been for days. She attempted to sneak out, he caught her, slinging her over his shoulder and depositing her right back into her room. When she left for work, he followed right behind, to her complete displeasure. The curtains had been fitted in the house, but it didn't help when she'd protested the lack of natural light and kept opening the damn things.
At more than one point, he'd threatened to take her over his knee and spank her. He'd sworn he'd seen a spark of interest flare in her eyes, but that had to have been a trick of the light. Or his horny ass cat seeing things. The little minx was impossible. It was taking all of his energy just to keep up with her, to ensure her protection when she so frequently seemed to run on everlasting batteries.
Chapter Six
Wayward Son (The Wayward Trilogy Book 1) Page 3
