“You’re not going to dish?” Phoebe asked.
Skye gave her a pained look.
Phoebe sighed. “Okay.” And didn’t hide her disappointment.
Still wondering how she’d gotten out of that habitat alive, she wanted to tell Phoebe everything, but that would mean involving her. If she believed her. No, she had to keep her out of it. Keep her safe.
Opening the cabinet, she pulled out a packet of coffee. “I thought you told me to take as much time as I needed.”
“Yeah, and I meant it.” Phoebe plopped herself down in a chair at the kitchen table. “But when you didn’t answer your phone, I figured I’d better come over here to see what happened to you for myself.”
With Phantom twirling around her ankles and Peach sitting at the bowls complaining loudly, Skye set up her coffeemaker. “Nothing happened to me. I needed the extra sleep.”
Normally she didn’t lie. As a matter of fact, she hated lies. Telling lies. Being told lies. But this wasn’t normally. Suddenly nothing about her life was normal. She couldn’t be truthful with someone in whom she usually confided everything. The dog was sniffing Phoebe as though she was a tempting cookie fresh-baked out of the oven. With an excited bark, he jumped up, paws landing in her lap. Phoebe shrieked in surprise.
“Boomer, stop that!” she said.
“Oh, wow. He’s never been so interested in me before.”
“He had Shade before.”
Skye emphasized the name in case her brother forgot she knew he was in that doggy body. He had the good grace to appear shamefaced. Well, for a minute. Then he set his butt down on Phoebe’s foot and leaned against her leg. She reached down and patted his head, then made little stand-up tufts with his wiry fur.
Giving him a warning look, she set out food for him and the cats.
Pouring two mugs of coffee a few minutes later, she said, “I need to throw on some clothes and get Boomer outside.”
“You want me to let the dog out? I’ll walk him in the alley while you shower.”
Shade simply whined through Boomer’s nose and sat at attention.
“Deal,” she said, fetching a leash and a plastic bag for Phoebe. While Skye loved dogs, she’d quickly come to learn that taking care of one dog was a lot more work than taking care of three cats. “Thanks.”
Once in the shower, she scrubbed her hair and skin as if she could wash away the responsibility pressing down on her. As if it could help her forget last night. Nothing could make her feel better about what was ahead of her. Well, one thing. The baby. Shade hadn’t been around when she’d stumbled in the night before, and truthfully, it would have been the wrong time to tell him.
When would be the right time? Shade didn’t even remember Nuala. But a child—he had to know. Maybe just not now.
She turned off the water. Dreamer was sitting on the toilet, watching as she wrapped one towel around her hair and dried herself with another.
“So, when do I tell him?” she asked the cat, as if he had the answers.
Staring at herself in the bathroom mirror, she touched the sea glass pendant Shade had given her. The light deep inside seemed to wink at her. She hadn’t ever removed it, because it would be like removing Shade from her life for good, and she wasn’t ready for that.
Then again, she wasn’t ready for any of this.
Not for the responsibility. Not for the guilt.
Seeing Hank in human form ripped apart was like a photograph that was freeze-framed in her mind. She would never forget it, not until the day she died, and maybe not even then. Not knowing if anything was going to be done about it, whether or not Hank’s death would be covered up to protect the Kindred, made her feel hollow and helpless. Security guards had taken the wolf shifter away. What would they do to him?
She hadn’t asked.
Luc’s sense of justice and mine were at odds, so what had she expected? That he would call the CPD?
Then again, would she have? As much as she wanted to bring down the entire operation—both the shifter fights and the casino—she now had Shade’s child to consider, had to protect him or her. Nuala might be better off away from the casino, but Skye wouldn’t bet she would want to leave her family, leave the only world she had ever known. Skye didn’t want Nuala to be forced to do so.
Maybe Luc’s definition of justice and hers had just gotten closer.
Hearing the downstairs back door slam, she dressed quickly, pulled the towel off her hair, and started untangling it as the dog burst in the apartment. Dreamer jumped off the toilet seat to greet him. Or to see that the dog didn’t eat the leftover cat food, a thought that actually made her smile a little.
Phoebe stopped in the hallway outside the bathroom. “Wow, that was fast. You look better.”
“Good.” If only she felt better. Skye moved to the doorway and let a bit of doubt show on her face. “Still...”
“What?”
“I think it’s best if I take a couple more days off from the store.”
“Sure. Of course.”
“You don’t mind if I play it by ear?”
“Whatever you need. I’m good with it.”
Phoebe hugged her and Skye hugged her back, wishing like crazy she could tell her best friend the truth, knowing she had to keep Phoebe out of this to keep her safe.
Chapter Thirty-One
“Nuala is all over the place emotionally,” Luc told his mother.
He’d come by to check on her and see what he could find out about Shade’s missing cell phone. She, of course, had insisted he have a piece of her freshly made peach pie. Her wounded arm was out of the sling, but she was still careful about how much she used it.
“Your sister must feel the way I did when I was pregnant with you.”
She set a dish in front of him and he took a big bite. “Great as always, Mom.”
“I made it because I know it’s your favorite.” She frowned. “How is your father taking the news about your sister?”
“He doesn’t know yet. Or at least Nuala doesn’t think so. Though if Doyle knows, there’s no telling who he’s told.”
“Perhaps I should call Cezar,” she said worriedly.
About to take another bite, he set down his fork. “Stay away from Pop. You promised.”
She couldn’t meet his gaze as she sat across from him. “I thought he might need someone to talk to.”
“He has a wife,” he reminded her. “Nuala’s mother.” His mother still loved Pop, she always would. While she’d tried staying away from the man, she had her weak moments. Apparently, this was one of them. “You were almost killed a week ago. Don’t go looking for trouble.”
“All right.”
He ate the rest of the pie on his dish and let his mother cool off.
When he finished the last bite, Luc said, “So tell me again about that night.” He’d waited until the right moment since he didn’t want her to think he’d come by to drill her for information.
“I’ve already told you,” she said, her tone odd. “Hot pain ripped through my arm, and then Shade pushed me out of the way to save my life. And died for his kindness.”
“But what exactly did Shade want from you coming here so late at night?”
“As I told you before, to find out what I knew about your father’s business.”
She was lying. Or at least avoiding. Undoubtedly that was information Shade had wanted, but there was something else, something she wasn’t telling him. Normally he could read her, but she’d long ago developed skills dealing with a child who could get inside her head. She’d learned how to keep him out when she wanted to keep something from him.
“What is it, Mom? What don’t you want me to know?”
She shook her head.
“I need to know everything. You’re a target. And Skye has made herself one, too. I wish I could keep her out of this, but I can’t. I fear for her safety, too.”
His mother gazed at him intently. “You have feelings for the sister.”
“It doesn’t matter. She’s on the other team, so to speak.” He couldn’t forget The Book of Powers was in her keeping and what that meant. “I can’t be with her.”
“You’re not your father. You can be with whomever you want.”
His mother thought so highly of him because he’d never told her what he’d done in Iraq. She thought she knew him, but she didn’t. No one did. No one who was still alive.
“I don’t want anyone else to die because of me.”
“You weren’t the cause of her brother’s death. I was.”
“You’re wrong. It all has to be connected, all needs a common reason. The fights, Jez, you. Now Nuala. That’s three people who mean something to me. If there’s a common denominator, and I believe there has to be, I’m it.”
His mother went pale and slumped in her chair. “I don’t know anything that will help you.”
“What do you know? Please. If only I can figure out who’s running the damn shifter fights. Shade was investigating them.” Finally, watching his mother closely, he put what he was looking for out there. “His cell phone is missing.”
“Cell phone?”
“The police couldn’t find the phone. Not on him, nor in his car or apartment.”
“He had it that night.”
Luc started. “You saw it?”
“Unfortunately. He showed me. Oh, it was terrible. Terrible.”
A-ha, the thing she’d been holding back from him. “Mom, what did you see that was so terrible?”
“I saw Jez—” Her voice caught and her eyes filled with tears.
His voice catching, Luc asked, “Saw Jez what?”
“Being ripped apart.” She quietly sobbed.
Luc felt as if he’d been punched in the gut. Though Jez had spent enough time with him at his home when they were kids for his mother to know her pretty well, he asked, “You’re certain it was Jez?”
She squeezed her eyes shut and tears slid down her cheeks.
“The cell phone. Do you have it?”
“No.” She blinked more tears away. “I’d just seen Jez all bloody when the first shot rang out. Shade shoved her down out of the way. I was so horrified and stunned and consumed by pain that I simply don’t remember anything but some shouts from far away. And then the sirens and flashing lights when the police arrived.”
“Shade was on the porch when he showed you what he’d recorded on his cell phone.”
“Yes.”
“But you didn’t tell anyone about it?”
“How could I with that footage of her death? Of her returning to human form? Who would understand? Besides, I wanted to forget about it.”
Luc wasted no time. “I’m going to search up front. Unless the shooter came back for it, it’s out there somewhere.”
He sifted to the front porch.
He stood there for a moment and tuned in to his surroundings. Tall, thick bushes with big white flowers surrounded the porch on both sides. A breeze blew across the yard, and he tuned in to the minute sounds a normal person couldn’t hear.
An insect scurrying.
A leaf tumbling.
Something metal rubbing, but from where?
Sensing his mother, he turned. She stood in the doorway, but she didn’t seem anxious to join him outside. He noted the security guard stationed at the house was looking out a nearby window from the living room.
Luc asked, “Mom, where were you exactly when Shade showed you his cell?”
“Right where you’re standing. Shade was just off the steps.”
Luc moved in that direction, then turned back to her. “Which hand did he use to hold the cell? Left or right?”
She thought for a moment and said, “Right.”
“How did he push you down? Which way?”
She pointed.
“If the phone flew out of his hand...”
He descended the stairs two at a time and started looking through the bushes that would have been to Shade’s right. The canes were thick with greenery and heavy with large blossoms. They tried Luc’s patience as he parted them to search the ground and got whipped in the face for his efforts. Pulling back, he sorted through the canes more carefully, pulling one aside at a time. That odd rustling sound made him stop to listen intently. He lifted his gaze from the ground and shifted his search to where the canes crossed.
“There.”
If he hadn’t heard the subtle noise, he might have missed the smartphone caught a few feet off the ground and camouflaged by leaves.
Plucking it free, he tried to turn it on. “Out of juice,” he told his mother.
“Maybe you can use my charger.”
He shook his head. “I have a charger in my car. Mom, I have to leave.”
“Luc, be careful.”
“Always,” he said to soothe her fears as usual.
He signaled the guard at the window. The man immediately appeared behind his mother, urging her inside before closing the front door.
Luc raced to his Jaguar. Once inside, he attached the charger to the phone and plugged it in. Though he was anxious to see what exactly Shade had shown his mother, he feared it. He wouldn’t watch his friend die with anyone watching. And his mother was standing at a window now.
He drove away, waited until he got a few blocks south before pulling over.
With the smartphone still charging, he turned it on and in less than a minute found the app that would take him to the recorded video. He clicked on the app and saw more than a dozen frames. He went to the last few and played them, clenching his jaw hard against the sting of his eyes as he watched his good friend being killed. His blood rushed through him and he fought the urge to shift, not prompted by the violence, but by a need for revenge.
When he learned the bastard’s identity, there would be no help for whoever did this to Jez.
In the meantime, what could he do?
His mother had been correct that no one would have understood if she’d told them about the video. Seeing that footage would have confounded the police, especially when the body they found was human.
Skye would understand. Not that he wanted her to see this.
But she could take him to someone who should.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Turn here,” Skye said, eyeing Shade’s cell, still on the console, charging off the adapter. “The Area North offices are ahead.”
She felt as if she’d swallowed something made of lead ever since Luc had told her what he’d found on her brother’s cell. He hadn’t offered to show the footage to her, and she hadn’t asked. Seeing Hank had been bad enough. She didn’t want to watch Luc’s friend being ripped apart.
Skye could hardly believe how subdued Luc was. He hadn’t even made an attempt to fluster her and, for once, she could completely concentrate without being distracted by a physical pull. It was as if the fascination he normally exuded had shut down. Purposely? Then again, she imagined the horror of his watching someone he cared about die so violently could cut him off from his normal state.
That she would have to watch the video when he showed it to Ethan filled her with dread.
If Luc hadn’t intervened the night before, she could have died in the habitat. That somehow, she’d repelled the shifter when it had first attacked her was still a puzzle she hadn’t solved. Had she gained some kind of magic by signing The Book of Powers? More reading was in order.
Luc pulled the Jaguar into the visitor parking area, unhooked the cell phone, and asked, “You’re sure about this?”
“What choice do we have? If we want to shut down the operation, we need someone in the police department on our side. I promise we can trust Ethan.”
“I’m counting on that.”
So was she.
They left the car. When they walked into the Area North offices, Skye was relieved Dad wasn’t there. She waved to a couple of officers she knew and hotfooted it to Ethan’s desk.
He looked up as they approached. “Skye, what are you doing here?
And with him?”
She sensed Luc stiffening, but she put a hand on his arm without taking her eyes from Ethan. “You wanted proof. We have it.” Realizing there were too many detectives and uniforms around for her comfort, she asked, “Can we go somewhere private?”
Still giving Luc a wary expression, Ethan rose. “Sure. We can go to one of the empty interview rooms.”
She felt like all eyes were on them as they crossed through the room into the hallway. Luc went into the interview room first, followed by Ethan. Before she could join them, she heard her name.
“Skye.”
Her father was walking from the other end of the hall toward her. “Dad, hey.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Talking to Ethan.” she half closed the door so he couldn’t see who else was inside. “Yeah, getting an update.”
“You shouldn’t be here.” He sounded testier than usual.
If she didn’t do something quickly, he would see Luc with Ethan and ask questions she didn’t want to answer.
Skye put out her hand as if to stop him. “Hang on a minute, Dad.”
Poking her head in the room, she saw Luc had Shade’s cell phone in hand and was about to bring up the footage for Ethan.
Glad to have an excuse not to have to watch the video with them, she whispered to Ethan, “I’ll keep Dad busy while you take a look.”
Not having waited, of course, Dad was right behind her as she closed the door. Her pulse skipped and she said, “Let’s get some coffee.”
“What about Ethan?”
“He’s busy with someone on a cell right now, so I have a few minutes.” True, if not exactly accurate.
“Okay, I suppose I can take a break.”
What would they talk about? Dad had always been difficult, especially with her. He’d related to Shade because they’d both been cops.
Animal Instincts (Kindred Souls Book 1) Page 17