by Lisa Kessler
Deacon and I left Vance and Kaya with Asher and Naomi and headed out into the darkness. His bike was parked next to my truck. He picked up his helmet from the seat and met my eyes. “I get that we don’t want the humans to find out shifters are real, but there’s something more going on here. How did you know she got arrested?”
“She sent me a text that the police were after her.”
He raised a brow. “How did she get your number?”
I kicked at the dirt. “I might’ve agreed to help her kill the judge.”
“Are you shitting me?” He lowered his voice. “Asher wanted to keep us out of it. What the fuck were you thinking?”
I lifted my gaze to his face. “I think she’s right about the judge unraveling. I get why Asher said no. He’s got a wife and kids and the pack all depending on him, but I…don’t.” I leaned against the bed of truck. “If something went wrong, the pack would go on without me.”
Deacon set his helmet down and shoved my shoulder. “Are you saying no one would miss you? Is that seriously what you think?” He narrowed his eyes, deep lines forming on his brow. “Just for the record, I would fucking miss you, you self-centered asshole. Do not go into this like your life is expendable.”
My chest ached at the pain in his eyes. How could I make him understand? I didn’t have hope like he did. He had faith his mate was out there, that they’d meet when the time was right, but for me, the future loomed ahead like a long, empty corridor. If I could make my life count for something, I was going to, even if it meant my future would be shorter.
“I’ll be fine. The judge isn’t going to get the proof he needs to expose us, and we’ll be back here having a beer before the night’s over. You’ll see.”
He studied me for a moment as the frustration faded from his features. “Call me once you know where they’re keeping her. I’ll meet you at the warehouse.”
“Sounds good.” I pulled him into a tight hug. “I love you, Deacon.”
He clapped my back and pulled away. “See you tomorrow, Dex.”
Inside my truck, I gripped the steering wheel tighter. This new moon was going to be a turning point one way or another.
CHAPTER 5
Natasha
A guard approached the door to my cell. “Sokolov. You’ve got a visitor.”
I blinked. Who would come visit me? I couldn’t think of a single person, but I got up and walked to the door anyway. Normally I’d be cataloging every officer’s position and the locations of the doors, but I didn’t bother today. All my energy was focused on how I could end my life before I demonstrated to the world that shifters were real. I slid my hands through the slot in the bars, and the guard secured the handcuffs before sliding the door open.
It wouldn’t take much effort to knock him to his knees and choke him out from behind with my cuffs, but I didn’t. There wasn’t any point. Even if I took his key card and managed to get out of the cellblock, I’d run into more officers. Even if I had a gun, they’d have more.
But if they killed me, I wouldn’t have to worry about exposing shifters later tonight…
It was something to consider. Maybe after I found out about my visitor.
I had to admit, even in my dark headspace, my curiosity was piqued as to who might be waiting to talk to me. Dex was the only person who knew I’d been hauled in last night, but I couldn’t see him showing up here.
Unless he had a cyanide capsule for me.
My chest constricted. It would be the right thing to do, but I wasn’t ready to die. I had more living to do. This fear was a new sensation for me, and I lifted my chin, struggling to calm the flutters in my stomach. This wasn’t the ending I wanted, but I’d been trained for this day if it ever came. I knew what was at stake.
The officer buzzed us through another door, and there was Dex sitting on the other side of the plexiglass wall. He stood as I walked in, his gaze locked on mine. A surprising flush of heat shot through my bloodstream. He was probably just here to slip me the poison, but part of my heart, a part I’d thought died years ago, started pounding. No one had cared what happened to me since my parents had been murdered over twenty years ago.
No. He didn’t care. He was just doing what I asked.
I picked up the phone handset, put it to my ear, and whispered, “Did you bring the capsule?”
His brow furrowed. “No.” He scanned the room, eyeing the security cameras before focusing on me again. His whisper was a husky growl that made my heart race again. “I came to find out where they’re keeping you.”
It took a second for me to understand what he was saying. Was he planning to break me out of here? I had to be misunderstanding. “South block. Why?”
His eyes shifted to the camera hanging in the corner of the visiting area and back to me. “Just curious.”
“How did you get in here?”
He smirked. “I’m your boyfriend, and I’m bailing you out on Monday.”
Obviously, I hadn’t had a date recently because hearing him call himself my boyfriend had my skin warming. I knew it wasn’t true, of course. Yesterday he was telling me to get the fuck off his Alpha’s property. But another, unrealistic part of me was already envisioning what my life would be like if I weren’t a jaguar-shifting assassin stuck in a jail cell. I wanted another shot at freedom. I’d do better next time.
“Thank you,” I whispered into the phone. And I meant it. He was a member of a wolf pack and probably had no idea what it was like to be a lone gun. I’d never had anyone in my corner before, someone willing to put themselves in harm’s way to protect me.
He shook his head. “I’m just trying to keep my pack safe.”
Ah, reality check. “I still appreciate it.” I glanced at the officer back by the door. “I wasn’t looking forward to hanging myself with my shoestrings tonight.”
He raised a brow, looking up at the security cameras. “You think they’d let you?”
I shrugged. “They could try to stop me.”
He put his big hand up to the plexiglass and whispered, “We deal with the judge together. No giving up.”
I’d never worked with a partner before. I wet my lips and lifted my cuffed hands, pressing one against the glass, suddenly wishing I could touch him as our gazes locked. “Deal.”
His nostrils flared slightly, and the intensity in his eyes swept through me like a forest fire. “Stay safe.”
I nodded as I hung up the phone. The officer came over from the other side of the room and pulled me up from the stool, but my attention was still on Dex. I craned my neck as the officer led me back to the door. And the werewolf’s gaze never left me.
My skin was still flushed as the lock engaged on my cell door. The officer removed the cuffs and walked away. Once I was alone, I moved over to the thin cot and sat on the edge, trying to remind myself that Dex was only helping me to protect his pack and keep the judge from gaining the evidence he needed to prove the existence of shifters. It had nothing to do with me or my well-being.
But the intensity in his eyes as we parted sure seemed like it had something to do with me. I mean, he could’ve brought me poison, and instead, he was going to break me out of jail somehow. I wished I had more details, but that had been impossible. They had been monitoring us. I would have to wait until tonight.
I got up and paced the cell. The jaguar inside my soul twitched its tail, agitated by our small cage. I’d have to fight the shift for as long as I could tonight. Back at the Nero Organization compound, Antonio Severino had developed his own training program for his shifter assassins. I was one of only two bitten females. Sasha had escaped Antonio’s clutches, marrying a werewolf from the pack in Reno, Nevada, but I hadn’t been as determined as she was to escape, even though I was two years older than her. She’d already had a life as a police detective before she had been bitten. There was a future for her that she wanted back. But I’d been indoctrinated and groomed for a life with Severino since I’d been in elementary school.
I
rubbed the tattoo on the inside of my wrist. There had been a time when I’d taken pride in that lion’s head, when I’d thought it meant I’d been chosen. But it all had been a bunch of lies. I’d been a possession, nothing more. And by the time I’d realized it, I couldn’t see any escape.
Tonight, there would be a literal escape, and then what? I’d work with Dex to end the judge, and after that, I would need to get to my safe-deposit box. I had a new identity waiting for me in case of an emergency like this one. Then I’d have to get as far away from Arizona as possible. Whatever bogus charges the judge had cooked up, breaking out of jail would only add to them.
And then…
I had no idea.
But I’d figure it out.
Dex’s unique eyes filled my head, but I shoved the thought away. There was no future with him. But there was a tiny part of me that kept replaying the moment he’d called himself my boyfriend. I tried to remind myself we barely knew each other and that he was only helping me in order to protect his pack. But there was no snuffing out the tiny flame of hope that someone might actually care about me.
I rolled my eyes. I’d thought that dream had died twenty years ago.
Apparently, it was almost as hard to kill as I was.
CHAPTER 6
Dex
I parked my truck a mile away from the jail and looked over at Deacon. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” He got out and grabbed a duffel bag from the bed of the truck.
I pulled my holster out from under the seat and hooked it around my waist. After checking the clip of my Glock, I jammed the gun into the holster and tugged my shirt down over it. I looked over at my brother. “You’ve got the charges?”
“Yeah.” He held up the bag. “You have the detonators and the remote?”
I reached into the cab and picked up a small leather pouch. “Yep.”
Deacon clenched his jaw and nodded. “Let’s do this.”
I sent a text to Vance to let him know we were walking to the jail. He planned to loop the feeds for the security cameras to keep anyone from investigating. Once the charges blew, all bets were off. The explosion would be impossible to hide. We’d have to be fast, but if everything went according to plan, we’d be back at the truck before nine o’clock. Hopefully Natasha could hold off her shift long enough or this was all for nothing.
The streetlights flickered to life, and I flinched.
Deacon chuckled. “Wound a little tight?”
I rolled my eyes and punched his shoulder. “I’m alert. Big difference.”
Even with all that was on the line, Deacon could make me smile. He was the perfect partner in crime because, although he was razzing me about flinching, he’d be all business when it came time to place the blocks of C-4. We’d never used our demolitions for anything other than construction projects, but tonight, there was a chance people could be hurt. It raised the stakes substantially.
We stopped outside the chain-link fencing around the compound, and I fired off another text to Vance to be sure no one would see us on the cameras.
My phone buzzed with his response. All clear, mate.
“That’s our cue.” I looked over at Deacon. “Let’s get this done.”
He set the duffel down and took wire cutters out of his tool belt. I scanned the area for any guards or onlookers, but it was dark in the back corner behind the jail. We were safe for now.
Deacon pulled the fencing open, and I bent down and squeezed through. He followed me inside the yard, and we ran toward the south side of the building, being careful to stick to the shadows. Earlier today I studied the floorplans for the Maricopa County Jail from the city records online. The cellblocks were each in their own building that surrounded the main administration offices. There was no way to know how many guards were posted in Natasha’s block. Based on the floorplans, there wasn’t a cell on the southernmost wall. That location would give us the best chance of not injuring anyone. Once we were inside, I had a tiny C-4 charge to blow out the lock on her cell.
Natasha’s face filled my mind. I knew she was no friend to the pack, but there was something in her dark-green eyes that called to me, a loneliness that made me ache. It made no sense, but I couldn’t seem to get her out of my head.
When we got to the building, we pressed our backs against the wall. I held my breath, listening for footsteps or shouting, maybe the slide of a gun, but the only noise was coming from street traffic.
Deacon looked over at me. “All clear.”
I nodded. “Looks like it. Let’s get moving.”
Deacon placed the squares of C-4 along the seams of the cinder block wall in a pattern that should create a hole instead of causing the entire wall to collapse. I followed him, sliding the detonators into the putty of the C-4. Usually, we’d have more time to plan the placement and order of detonation for a demolition project. Today, I’d be detonating all of them at once. It would be messy, but it would get the job done.
Once we had the charges and detonators set, I took out the remote. There was none of the thrill I’d usually get a few seconds before I pressed the red button. Not tonight. My pulse raced with adrenaline as Deacon and I took cover behind the corner of the building a few yards away.
“Ready?” I asked.
He nodded. “You have the extra charge for the lock?”
“Yeah.” I patted my pocket. I sucked in a breath. “Let’s rock and roll.”
I pressed the remote. The blast made the ground shake as a dust cloud erupted. We ran for the building. The wall had a new ten-foot by ten-foot hole at the bottom. As much as I would have liked to, there wasn’t time to inspect the stability of the roof or the remaining walls. Alarms were already piercing my ears, and a giant searchlight came to life, circling the jail.
I moved some of the rubble and climbed through into the cellblock. Natasha gripped the bars of her cell at the other end, and I raced toward her. I reached into my pocket for the C-4.
She shook her head as I approached. “We need to hurry.”
“Well aware,” I growled as I stuffed the small wad of C-4 into the lock. I dipped my fingers back into my pocket for the pouch with the detonator and…it was gone. “Fuck.” I patted my other pocket.
Deacon stopped beside me. “What’s going on?”
“The pouch with the last detonator must’ve fallen out of my pocket.” I grabbed the bars next to the lock. “We’re going to have to break it.”
Deacon gripped the bars next to me. “On three.”
We counted down and pulled. We were stronger than humans, and while the iron lock groaned, it didn’t break free. Natasha grabbed the bars from the inside and shoved forward while we pulled one more time. That was the last push we needed. The lock snapped, and the door swung open.
I reached out and caught her wrist, and the fucking Earth tilted. My vision blurred, and deep in the shadows of my soul, my wolf howled.
What the hell?
She jerked free of my grasp. “We need to get out of here.”
A door opened at the other end of the cell block, and footsteps echoed as guards ran down the hallway.
“Stop right there!” someone yelled, but we didn’t bother to look back.
I sprinted after Natasha toward the hole in the wall, Deacon close behind. Natasha dove through like an acrobat, tucking and rolling and coming up on her feet, then continued to run on the other side. I wasn’t as graceful. Chunks of cement rained on me as I scrambled through. The wall gave an eerie whine. Fuck. The whole thing was going to fall.
I turned around to warn Deacon, but he vanished behind a massive plume of dust followed by a solid thump that made my ears ring.
“Deacon!” I shouted, racing back to the jail. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I swiped my arms through the dust cloud, trying to find my brother in the haze of broken blocks. He coughed.
Thank god.
I threw some chunks of cement aside and reached for him. Then came the sound of a gunshot, followed by a b
ullet whizzing past me.
“We need to go.” I bent down to scoop him up and carry him, but he grabbed my arm and pulled himself up out of the rubble.
He coughed again and winced. “I’m okay.”
Blood ran down his forehead, but another bullet hit the pile of concrete to our right before I could get a good look at his wound. We’d have to deal with it later. “Let’s get out of here.”
Deacon lumbered into the shadows, slow but vertical. I wrapped my arm around his waist, bearing some of his weight as we jogged toward the opening in the chain-link fence. Natasha waved for us to hurry.
Half of me was surprised she wasn’t already gone.
My wolf snarled at my lack of faith. He didn’t understand this woman was no friend to the pack. I could only handle one problem at a time. First, get out of here so Natasha could shift. Then have our pack doctor, Cole, check out my brother’s injured head. I could figure out what was going on with the wolf later.
We made it through the fence, and crossed another block closer to the truck when Deacon vomited. I frowned. “We need to get you to the ranch. I’ll text Cole.”
He held his side. “Took a few cement blocks to my gut, that’s all. I’m okay.”
I hoped that was all it was. I looked over at Natasha. “You should come with us, too. You can lie low there for a while.”
“Okay.” She sucked in a deep breath and nodded slowly. “Thanks.” She looked down at her orange jumpsuit. “I hope you’re parked close by. Someone’s going to spot me in this.”
I pulled off my shirt and handed it to her. “Maybe this will help. We’ve got a few blocks to go.”
She put it on, leaving her long braid inside the shirt. The hem hit her mid-thigh, and my imagination instantly conjured unwanted images of her wearing my shirt and nothing else. I shoved the image away as we headed for the truck, still supporting some of Deacon’s weight even though he claimed he didn’t need it.
We made it to the truck and got in. Sirens blared, but for now, we were out. I got behind the wheel and started the engine. Natasha sat between us in the middle of the bench seat, her hands trembling in her lap.