“Skye.”
Set free from whatever spell she’d been under, she pushed past Shade and started back toward the arena. “One of the animals in the fight escaped. I was trying to find it. It’s still out here somewhere. It was a coyote, not a dog.”
He didn’t sound surprised. “So you got out here and what?”
“The coyote was gone. But there were other animals. A wolf, a lion, and a hyena.”
Shade believed her. He knew something, but he was blocking her from finding out what exactly that might be. They were usually on the same wavelength psychically, but not tonight. Tonight, he was holding secrets from her. It was as if he’d created an invisible wall to lock her out.
“What’s going on here? Explain.”
“Go home,” he told her, “where you belong.”
Skye tried to read him, but she couldn’t sense him the way she normally could. The same thing had happened the other day. Weird.
“I am where I belong,” she argued. “You’re the one who is out of his element. Unless you’ve quit homicide for animal control.”
“Why I’m here doesn’t concern you. And for God’s sake, don’t tell anyone about what you saw.”
When he got like this, there was nothing she could do. “You can be such a jerk. Leave me alone.”
Irritated, she stalked away. He was directly behind her as she passed the arena, but when she stopped to unlock her car door and glanced back, he was standing some distance away watching her. Obviously, he wasn’t going to tell her what he knew.
And what about the mysterious stranger? He seemed to have power to control the predators.
But most importantly...
Why did he think he had the power to control her?
Chapter Two
The mechanical music of the slot machines jarred Luc Lazare’s nerves the following night as he moved down the stairs and along the tunnel, closing in on the lower-level “invitation only” part of the casino. His father had won the permit to build the first casino boat in Chicago, though the permit for The Ark hadn’t included the several lower decks cloaked by magic where only the invited were permitted to play. The year before, when the secret complex had first opened, Luc had taken the job of security director to please Pop. Most nights, the cacophony quickly faded into the background like white noise.
Not tonight.
Tonight, with the spectacle of last night’s shifter fight still clear in his mind, Luc felt everything here as if it was inside his skin—the scream of an excited gambler, the roar of a lion, the squawks of the caged parrots overhead, the blasting dance music from the bar.
He’d recognized Skye Cross immediately. She had the same mahogany hair as her brother, the same green eyes. Those luminous eyes had pinned him in place while he’d failed to control her. That was what made him want to know her better. He didn’t like being thwarted. He was used to having control, especially over humans.
The heart of The Ark’s cloaked decks was the casino, surrounded by entertainment venues. Pop’s magic stretched the perimeter far beyond the size of a normal boat. Off to the back, a live band played in the bar, as one did in the legal casino above. The most noticeable difference on this level was the animal habitats. Big cats, wolves, bears, hawks, alligators, and other carnivores were on display for their guests. As happened once a night, a caretaker was introducing prey for the predators. Even well fed, the meat eaters couldn’t resist the instinct to chase and kill.
On the other side of the closest habitat’s glass front, a rabbit whipped by him. Luc’s gut tightened and his gaze narrowed on the ragged prey. He had to restrain himself. His heart sped up, pumping hard. For a moment he was mesmerized, his appetites engaged. Wanting to shift and go after the prey, he had to force himself to look away, to take a deep breath, and get a hold of himself.
Guests lined up along the glass cages to watch. Did they feel their hearts fluttering? Their primal instincts humming? They spoke in undertones, some laughing nervously, as if they were embarrassed when they actually enjoyed watching. For some reason, humans always felt the need to appear more noble and caring on the surface than they were inside.
Luc stopped in front of Jez’s area. As a big black panther, she was sleek and muscular. As a woman, she was all soft curves. His childhood friend, she was the only shifter other than his sister, Nuala, who stood with him against his brother, Nik. But tonight, she wasn’t in her usual spot. Later. Though instead of lush dark hair, he thought of mahogany. Instead of golden eyes, he imagined green.
He couldn’t put Skye Cross out of his mind. Her image had been haunting him since the night before.
He’d known many human women. His mother, who’d raised him, was human. But no other human woman had ever captured his interest in quite the same way Skye had, perhaps because she’d heard his silent commands. How intriguing. He wanted to know exactly how she’d done that. He wanted to know her. Knew he couldn’t. Or at least he shouldn’t.
At the memory of Skye challenging him, his pulse began to race and his gut tightened, the sensation not unlike what he experienced when he was after prey.
Not that Skye was prey.
Moving on, Luc passed guests familiar to him—people invited because they had something his father wanted. He forced his mind away from Skye Cross and onto business.
“Alderman Bakula, good to see you,” he greeted the politician. “Leaving so early?”
“Already shot my wad, son. Another time.”
“We’ll be looking forward to it,” Luc said, moving along, greeting a wealthy socialite at one bank of slots and a man who worked in airport security at another.
Pop wanted ears to the ground at every level, his entry point to taking over the city. If Pop succeeded—and odds were that he would—he wouldn’t stop at Chicago. Being immortal, Pop had all the time in the world and filled his days and nights by figuring out ways of gaining more power. He was already making deals with Kindred scattered around the globe. Eventually, they would work under him. Pop had big plans for the world. That was the thing that tested Luc’s love of being Kindred. How Pop would do this offended his human side.
Luc waved to his people in the security office via one of the cameras suspended near high windows that let in the light of early evening. As always, flashes of silver circled the boat. Fish were drawn to the lights of sea glass. Odd how they were so aware of the lower deck casino when people weren’t due to Pop’s cloaking spell.
Then again, the humans in this casino weren’t aware of the potential consequences of their gaming. They thought the dealers in tiger-striped vests and the waitresses in leopard-print sarongs were like them.
If their luck didn’t hold, which was inevitable, they would face the truth soon enough.
What if Skye Cross figured it out? Just as her brother had obviously done.
As if his thoughts had conjured Shade, Luc saw him with Nuala. Again. The man had been after his sister for weeks, no doubt as part of his investigation. Luc hoped Nuala had been careful with what she’d told him. Even now, Shade was gazing around the casino as if trying to find some way to bring The Company down. The man was trouble, first appearing at the shifter fight, now here.
Stalking him, Luc wondered what Shade was saying to his sister. Normally an expert at hiding what she was feeling, Nuala hadn’t been herself lately, and right now, Luc could tell she was struggling to contain her emotions.
She looked his way and her expression closed. “Luc.”
He put his arm around his sister’s shoulders, and in a low voice asked, “What are you doing back here, detective?”
“You know I have a standing invitation.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to use it.”
Nuala moaned. “Luc, please—”
“What is it you really want?” he asked Shade.
Though after the raid the previous night, Luc thought he knew. And, like his sister, Shade couldn’t be influenced, as Luc had learned over the past weeks.
; “I want a lot of things, Lazare.” He stepped closer, pushing his face into Luc’s. “Number one, stay away from my sister.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Stop it, both of you, before you cause a scene.” Nuala seemed in charge of herself again.
“Do you want her to leave?” Shade asked her.
Nuala sighed. “No, but I think it would be best for everyone.”
Luc narrowed his gaze on his sister. Did she have real feelings for this human, who could bring trouble down on them? How could she get herself involved with a cop?
“All right, then, if that’s what you want,” Shade said. “But you’ll see me again soon.”
He turned to go, but Luc grabbed Shade’s arm. “One more thing. I hear you’ve been to see my mother.” Who had always stayed away from his father’s world.
“Gracious woman.” Shade pulled his arm free. “How she got mixed up in all this...” He shrugged.
“You’d damn well better stay away from her.”
Shade echoed Luc. “And if I don’t?”
Blood coursed through Luc. He tensed his muscles so he didn’t do something he would regret. He locked gazes with the cop, who had no idea of what he was risking personally with his investigation of The Company. Luc sensed he wouldn’t stop, though.
Shade backed off and made for the exit.
Only when Luc was sure the other man was gone did Luc relax and face Nuala. “What were the two of you talking about before I interrupted?”
“Nothing you would want to hear.”
Before she, too, stalked off, Luc noticed the sea glass pendant she usually wore was missing.
Luc was still thinking about that later, when he had time to wind down.
As he approached the habitats, he looked for Jez again, but still she was nowhere to be seen, so he went inside and entered her favorite area, where a stream cut through woods. He couldn’t find her, so he signaled Clarke, a hawk who wheeled overhead and cut down through the trees.
Jez?
Haven’t seen her, not tonight.
No way could Clarke have missed her.
Odd. It wasn’t like Jez to skip a shift.
Which made Luc wonder if he should be worried.
She was as sweet as they came around here, and for their kind, a little naive. Though he’d told her things could get dangerous for her because of her association with him, Jez had simply shrugged off the warning.
Now Luc was having a hard time shrugging off the suspicion that sent a ripple down his spine.
Something was wrong.
Chapter Three
Running the fights in secret from anyone who would stop him, he’d kidnapped Jez the night before, after the police had raided them. “Take the punishment you deserve with some dignity.”
By the time anyone who cared found out where she was it would be too late. As the fight controller, he’d been following her, looking for a reason to take her. In reality, he wanted to make her pay for allying herself with Luc. He’d been waiting to get even with Cezar’s bastard son, and her death was the first step in his plan.
“This isn’t fair.” Tears spilled from Jez’s dark eyes as one of the guards pulled her into the preparation area, an office tucked inside the abandoned warehouse. Her waist-length black hair spilled over a bared shoulder. “Please, let me pay some other way.” She moved into him, palming his chest, her hand trembling. “You know I haven’t been properly trained for this, so please, please don’t send me out there to die.”
Quickening because her touch was apprehensive—he loved the taste of fear—he was tempted to let her seduce him, to allow her to think she could gain her freedom.
Tick-tock. The bettors would get violently restless if he delayed the fight for some physical gratification. Besides, Jez wasn’t the one he wanted. He ripped her hand away.
“You shouldn’t have broken the rules by shifting in front of a human.”
“Please! I was startled by that huge dog. I didn’t do it on purpose, I swear. It was animal instinct.”
Knowing Jez feared dogs—wild dogs were the panther’s natural enemy and Jez was a weak disgrace to her kind—he smirked. He’d heard it all before. The begging. The pleading. The promises. “Out there you have a chance. In here, no chance at all. Are we clear?”
Sobbing, she nodded and the bones in her face began to quiver and stretch.
Not wanting to watch her shift, he left the airless room for the big empty warehouse. This area of the city was virtually abandoned at night. The fight venue constantly changed, and they had picked the perfect location tonight.
The spectators had already gathered, and the doors were closed. On one side of the arena, a young woman was exchanging money for a plastic bag filled with white powder. In another corner, a teenager furtively checked over a handgun before slipping it into his waistband. The heavens rumbled thunder in disapproval. Tough. Drug and weapons deals had always been a staple of dogfights. It wasn’t any different here, where the contestants were a bit more unusual than dogs.
The crowds were getting bigger with each bout. And younger. He smiled. Corrupt them young, that was the boss’s motto. The young were malleable. They could go in any direction. He’d allowed kids to come for free and their parents had willingly brought them. Knowing he was sending these annoying little humans in a direction that could ruin them for the rest of their pitiful lives, he took his seat. Handlers led the combatants out to the arena surrounded by three-foot plywood walls.
A small child screaming, “Doggie!” made him smirk. The doggie was a wild dog, another shapeshifter who would enjoy punishing Jez for him.
“What is that?” someone behind him asked. “The other animal. It looks like something else. A big black cat.”
The area was still dark except for occasional strikes of lightning, so it was hard to tell for certain unless one was up close. A murmur went up through the crowd as more than a few spectators saw enough to excite them.
“This is what I been waiting to see,” Lieutenant Ryan Connelly, a burly man with sandy hair, told his pretty blond companion.
The cop’s corruption warmed the fight controller’s insides, made him salivate with anticipation.
“Won’t you get in trouble if your captain finds out you’re doing something illegal?” the blonde asked.
Connelly grabbed the blonde by the arm and twisted so hard it made her squeal. “Can it, bitch!”
“Final bets,” came over the loudspeaker. “Three minutes.”
People frantically waved over the bookies.
A sweep of the crowd revealed a few shifters in the audience, including new recruit Max Haider. The lion shifter was possibly more powerful than anyone else in The Company, making him wonder if he could enlist Haider to be part of his secret gang.
“Two minutes!”
Glancing over the crowd one last time, the controller started when a lightning strike revealed another familiar face. Another cop. Detective Shade Cross, cell phone in hand. What the hades was he doing here? He’d been taken care of at the casino days ago so he’d turn a blind eye to anything illicit—hadn’t he?
“One minute.”
When Jez’s black pelt quivered, the taste of her fear slid deliciously through him.
And then the bell clanged to cut off betting and portable lights aimed at the ring clicked on. Spectators gasped when they got a good look at Jez’s sleek black coat.
The controller’s pulse raced, and his senses sharpened as they always did when a fight was about to begin. The money was good, but money didn’t motivate him.
Another bell. Another bombshell-loud complaint from the clouds.
The combatants being held back at the scratch lines were let loose and the animals charged each other. At the wild dog’s first bite, Jez screeched. Bleeding, she tried to run from her opponent.
“Turn!” Jez’s handler yelled.
The other handler grabbed the wild dog, and both shapeshifters were returned to the scratch line to
start over.
The controller had known Jez would try to back out and he’d told her handler to threaten her to make her fight. Whatever was necessary. The handler was doing it now, telling her if she didn’t hold her own out there, he would take great pleasure in skinning her.
Hatred focused him. He couldn’t wait to see Luc’s reaction. He’d been humiliated because of the bastard, and it was time for payback, and Jez’s death would be a start.
The fight resumed, and this time, Jez tore into the wild dog as the dog’s teeth tore into her. The heavens rumbled as, within seconds, she lost the use of a hind leg. She might be a bit bigger than the wild dog, but she was inexperienced. He could feel her desperation as she lunged forward, swatting hard with sharp claws. Atmospheric electricity surrounded the combatants, illuminating streams of blood spurting from the wounded animals. Spectators screamed and a few even left. Jez did an impressive job of holding her own but, of course, she hadn’t been trained. That was the point. That was her punishment. Her jaw already hung crookedly, and her howls pierced the din.
Someone in the crowd screamed, and a thrill shot through him, awakening his appetites. He glanced back to the arena. As wave after wave of pain and fear and excitement of the audience washed over him, he gorged on the human bloodlust.
Glancing to where Shade Cross sat, the controller watched the cop use his smartphone to capture Jez’s death. Then he pocketed his phone, got up, and left. Damn it! What the hell was Cross up to now?
Chapter Four
Shade went straight from the shifter fight to Elizabeth Reyes’s home. It was more estate than home, as were several other mansions surrounded by black iron fencing in the Buena Park neighborhood nestled close to the lake. Lit by streetlights as well as post lights on the property, the historic brick-and-limestone building was three stories high and certainly more than five thousand square feet. All for one person. Or maybe two, if her son still lived here—Shade hadn’t been able to find out.
Animal Instincts (Kindred Souls Book 1) Page 2