by Dannika Dark
I sat down and put my head in my hands, my hair falling in front of my face.
“Pay him,” Logan said in a flat voice.
“It won’t end once it begins,” Leo said. “Men like him don’t take a one-time withdrawal if they know the bank is always open. He might discover a way to blackmail us and this will never end.”
“We’re not giving Finn up,” I said. “He’s living under my roof now and I forbid it. Over my dead body will I hand him over…” My finger was pointing in anger but tears began to well in my eyes.
Logan rose from his seat and sat back down to my right, then rubbed the back of my neck. I leaned against him, feeding off his strength. Logan always managed to keep a level head where I would lose my emotional cool.
“We have other options,” Logan suggested in a dark voice.
Leo’s eyes sharpened. “I will not be a part of that. Murder is not an option.”
“I didn’t say you had to be a part of it.”
Leo leaned forward and his expression gave me goose bumps. “I’m a member of HALO, in case you’ve forgotten. If you suggest you’re going to carry out murder, then I’ll have no choice but to take you down. You’re my brother, but I have an obligation to uphold the laws.”
Logan sighed and lowered his head, studying his strong hands. “What else did he say?”
“That we had a few days to talk it over and get Finn’s belongings packed. That’s why I think Rupert’s giving us time—hoping we might care enough that we’ll pay him off. I don’t think he’s certain of our feelings for Finn as a brother. He knows Chitahs are loyal to family, but even Shifters rarely take in outsiders. I’m willing to bet he assumes we have an ulterior motive. Perhaps he thinks Finn has somehow acquired money and we’re using him, or grooming him to work as a spy.”
“That’s preposterous,” Logan snapped. “The boy doesn’t even know how to operate a vehicle, let alone work as a mole.”
“Shifters are prideful men. Rupert won’t back down; of this I’m certain.”
I lifted my eyes to Leo. “What if we lie and tell him Finn ran away? We live underground and I doubt Rupert knows where he lives. He’d have no proof.”
“It’s not advisable. He’ll eventually find out we lied and then his Packmaster will be out for blood. This is more than just a father staking claim on his son; if the pack gets involved, then we’re at a disadvantage. This is a tug-of-war, and Finnegan is the rope. The question is: who will let go?”
“His father,” I said through clenched teeth.
“This could turn political.”
“Why doesn’t anyone ask Finn’s permission?” I said, raising my voice. “I’m sure he could talk with those Packmasters and tell him where he wants to live.”
“Again,” Leo said in a rational tone, “they deem him incapable of making sound decisions since he’s living with us. If they question him, that could do more harm. They will discover how socially inept he is, not to mention that he’s suppressing his alpha instincts. That will offend them more than anything.”
“It’s because of the slavery Finn is like that, not us.”
“But their contention will be that we’re a hindrance—that living among Shifters is the only way he’ll overcome those issues and be whole again.”
“Maybe they’re right,” Logan conceded.
I turned a sharp glare his way. “Explain.”
His pensive gaze softened. “It’s the very reason I insist you live with Justus; you will never grow as a Mage if you don’t learn what you can from him. If I removed you from that environment, it would be detrimental to your growth. He’s teaching you what you’re capable of, educating you on your history and immersing you in his world so you know how to engage and interact with others of your kind. If I denied you this opportunity, it would make you a weak Mage. That would be a selfish act on my part.”
Leo rose from his chair and paused in front of the fireplace, watching the embers glowing in the soot. “It’s not unlike the story of King Solomon, who settled a dispute between two mothers, each claiming the same child was theirs. When the king offered to cut the child in half, the real mother gave up her claim so he would live. Love comes with sacrifice. Sometimes we must do what feels wrong because we know in our heart it’s the right thing to do.”
That hit home for me. But this felt so different, and I couldn’t let Finn go. Not to a man I knew nothing about, aside from the fact he didn’t love his son.
“Finn won’t want to go,” I pointed out.
“We’ll talk to him and see how he feels about this,” Logan said. “He has a right to know what’s going on and should make the decision himself. We’ll have to stand behind that choice, no matter what it is.”
Leo shook his head and folded his arms. “Finnegan is a cunning young man and I hope he might offer some insight. This is so unfortunate.” Leo excused himself and left the room.
Logan ran the pad of his thumb across my brow where a line deepened from my frown. “We’ll figure this out.”
“If we send him back and something happens to him, Logan, I’ll never forgive myself. If his father beats him, sells him, or murders him, that’ll stain your conscience for the rest of your life.”
His eyes slowly closed.
“I don’t care if this starts a political war,” I continued. “I’m not letting him go. Maybe you and Leo are more willing because that’s how the Breed world works, but family is family. If I send him back to the man he despises, it would be like erasing every time I told him I loved him. Like it never happened. Don’t let this be the deal breaker with us, Logan. I love you more than life, but if you send Finn to a man who will destroy his beautiful spirit, I will never forgive you.”
His eyes opened and he touched the sides of my cheeks, rubbing his nose against mine. “Talking about the options does not mean doing. But we must consider the consequences of every possible action. If he doesn’t want to return to his father, then I will stand by his side and fight to the death to protect him. Finn is a Cross now.”
I kissed Logan tenderly on the mouth. My fingers grazed across his smooth chin and I felt him grin against my lips.
“What’s so funny, Mr. Cross?”
“Someday I’ll tell you, Little Raven. Now give me your tongue.”
Chapter 14
On the drive home from Leo’s, I asked Logan to swing by Simon’s apartment. Logan volunteered to wait in the car and I didn’t blame him. Simon could run his mouth and loved to play mind games. He was a button pusher, and Logan was a man who didn’t like to be pushed.
After a long elevator ride up, I walked down a hallway and knocked on Simon’s door several times. Since I had a spare key because of game nights, I unlocked the door and eased it open.
“Simon?”
I heard laughter, chatter, and techno music at a low volume coming from the living room area. When I didn’t see anyone on the sofa or chairs, I glanced to the left toward his computer desk and my mouth swung wide open.
Spread across the floor was a giant plastic mat with colored circles. A girl with the straightest black hair I’d ever seen had her hands on the mat behind her and her legs spread wide. She looked like she was crab walking without a stitch of clothing on except a black G-string.
Simon had on his leather pants, no shirt, and was in such a precarious position that it led me to believe he was going to lose this game.
I cleared my throat loudly and irritably. Not because he was playing naked sex games with a girl behind closed doors—what Simon did on his own time was his business. But I had called him not ten minutes prior to announce I was on my way over. He’d made it sound like he was just hanging around watching TV.
“Hey, love. There’s room for one more.”
“Um, no,” I said, folding my arms. “Is this a bad time?”
He peered at me from beneath his armpit and grinned wickedly. “It’s a bloody fantastic time. You can keep your knickers on if you want.”
“Sim
on, I’m leaving.”
“Wait,” he said, hopping up and standing astride the woman whose legs muscles began to quiver. “How important is this?”
“Important enough I can’t discuss it in front of random, naked women?”
He offered his hand to the woman on the floor, who proceeded to lick her upper lip seductively. “Rain check.”
“But we’re not naked yet,” she protested in a breathy voice.
The dimple pressed deep in his cheek as his eyes slid down to her bare breasts. “Swing by tonight and I’ll rectify that.”
“I have to work tonight,” she complained, still positioned with her foot on green and hand on red.
Simon had the look of an impatient man. Women like her didn’t challenge his intellect—they were merely a recreational pastime.
“Then come by tomorrow in those lovely garters with the red bows.”
Her thin brows arched and she spoke like a viper hissing. “It’s my mother’s birthday.”
His face tightened and he pulled her up by force. “Then you can bugger off and have birthday cake with your mum instead of having me lick icing off your knockers.” He tossed a thin dress and a small red clutch at her. “Off you go.”
She flipped her hair over her shoulder, showing him her breasts. “You said we were going to screw, and I’ve wasted all this time playing your stupid games. What kind of man seduces a woman like this? You’re a royal asshole.”
“Maybe so. But I’m an asshole with a large cock and a hungry appetite, so put on your dress and piss off.”
“Simon,” I said, cautioning him in a low voice.
She slapped him in the face and he barely flinched. In fact, Simon tucked his thumbs in the belt of his leathers and tapped his bare foot, his cheek turning red.
“I want my money,” she demanded, slipping into her black dress and holding out her hand.
“Is she a hooker?” I asked in surprise.
The woman whipped around and carved me up with her beady little eyes. “You need to shut the hell up, skank.”
My jaw tensed and I saw Simon’s lips twitch.
“Maybe you need to just go home quietly,” I suggested in a cool voice, fighting back the urge to swing her around by her hair. Simon deserved better than a woman like her.
Her eyes scraped me up and down before turning back to Simon. “I’m telling my manager about you.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Go ahead and tell your pimp all about me. This was never agreed to as a business arrangement.”
“You missed out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’m the best for a reason. Enjoy your classless whorebag over there.”
Light flickered in his eyes and his face tensed. Simon cupped his hand around her arm and rushed her to the door. “Piss off, you nasty little strumpet. Insult my friend again with your crass assumptions and I’ll be sure to pass the word along to your pimp that you’re overcharging for your minky and stashing the profits. And don’t think I don’t know about it, because I do my background checks on the women I bring home. I thought you were a little more sophisticated than this. Now stop your mewling and bugger off!”
He shoved her into the hall and dramatically slammed the door. She yelled out a few nasty words, but Simon indifferently rubbed the back of his neck and lazily walked toward me as if this were an ordinary occurrence.
He widened his mouth in a yawn, stretching all the anger out of his face. “Someday I’ll play that game with someone I can truly enjoy it with. Now what’s this all about?”
“Novis told me you saved his life.”
His shoulders sagged. “I confirmed that the men who robbed the documents from his truck belonged to Nero, so I went to share the news. Whoever was running the experiments kept the documents and key employees separated to make it difficult to piece it all together. Right hand didn’t know what the left was doing and all that.”
Simon walked across the plastic mat to his computer desk, unscrewed the cap from a bottle of water, and took a long sip. Some of it dribbled down his chin and trailed across his chest. When half the bottle was gone, he sauntered across the apartment and led me to the kitchen.
“One of the men who hijacked the truck was captured and questioned. This buffoon didn’t know diddly outside of the heist. Well, I take that back. He knew of two homes where Nero resides, but I checked them out and they’re abandoned.”
Simon pulled out a blue container from the fridge and grabbed a fork, eating cold pasta right out of the bowl.
Few men could pull off leathers as sexily as he could. Simon was a few inches taller than me with a leaner build than Logan. Brown hair, caramel eyes, and lush lips were his trademark. Not many men had a mouth like his, and I already knew firsthand that he knew how to use that God-given instrument. Those lips were meant to be on a woman’s body. However, he suffered from irritable mouth syndrome, which inevitably put a damper on anything I’d felt for him sexually.
“Nero is an idiot,” I grumbled. “He’s wasting his time coming after me.”
“Maybe this is his form of recreation.”
“Maybe someone should buy him a hobby.”
Simon tossed his fork in the sink and shoved the bowl back in the fridge. “I received a peculiar call from your Ghuardian a little while ago.” The cold air made his nipples harden and he smirked when he caught me looking at the silver ring he had in one of them. “Care to show me yours?”
“What did Justus want?” I put my elbows on the counter behind me and leaned back.
“Something about Page being pregnant. Well, isn’t that a juicy bit of gossip I hadn’t heard about? And full term. Which means she was shagging Justus with a bun in the oven.”
“So the man playing naked Twister with a prostitute is one to judge?”
He stretched out his arms and made a growling kind of a sound. “I don’t judge people by their profession. She seemed like a nice girl when we talked last night, but games are no fun with those women because they don’t even try to win. I think it’s time for another game night. Bring your cat if you want.”
“Don’t call Logan my cat.”
“Would you rather I call him your pussy?”
I rolled my eyes and a hyena laugh pealed out of Simon. He moved across the floor to a small table in his kitchen, shuffling his feet the whole way. Simon lived simply, and half his décor looked like it was from the 1970s.
“Did Novis hire you to work on this case?”
He slipped into the chair and tapped his fingers on the table. “I can’t talk about who employs me and why, but you can be privy to information regarding Nero, as it is not confidential to those who already know.”
“I hope whoever hired you is also paying you to track Nero down and find out where he’s hiding.”
“We found two of his homes. The Enforcers have taken over and are fumbling about with their incompetent methods.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t torch the houses.”
“Not sure Nero is one to keep that many personal items which would link back to him,” Simon said. He began waving his hand as he spoke. “The thing about a man like Nero is he’s always got his lackeys doing his dirty work. He’s like the wizard behind the curtain, pulling all the strings, and he pays his men good money so they don’t mind if they’re caught. Of course, he also doesn’t like blabbers, which is why Ray ended up sleeping with the fishes.”
“And Ray seemed like a nice guy from what I remember.”
“Everyone has a price,” Simon said with a dramatic sigh.
“Finn’s real father is trying to claim him back.”
His eyes lit with interest. “That so? Bloody hell, what a mess. Shifters get territorial, and not just with property but with people. Pay him off.”
“What if he keeps coming back for more?”
“Then blackmail him. I’m sure I can help you dig something up. Piece of cake.”
“Will you? It would mean a lot to me, Simon. Everyone has their hands full with N
ero and I haven’t lived among the Breed long enough to know how to fight something like this.” I paced toward the kitchen table and twisted some of his tangled hair between my fingers. “I’ll pay you if it’s a lot of work.”
He winked and kissed my arm. “Haven’t you heard? When it comes to my friends, I do it for free.”
“That’s what she said.”
Simon’s building had a walkway that led to an indoor garage. It required an access code to get in, one I’d given to Logan so he could park and take a nap.
The garage had six levels of parking, so I sent a text message to Logan to come find me. As I walked toward the ramp, one of my sneakers squeaked on the smooth concrete.
Winter had started with a bang, but spring was waging war against the frigid temperatures and slowly winning. I stuffed my cold hands into the warm pockets of my bomber jacket. My jeans offered little protection from the cold, but they were warmer than a skirt would be. My mind began drifting to Logan. I sometimes wondered if he wanted me to dress more feminine, like some of the Chitah women who exemplified grace. He’d never mentioned a word about my style, and I never said anything about his. I preferred when he dressed up in slacks and a casual jacket, which wasn’t often because Logan enjoyed wearing cotton shirts and jeans. But man, did he look delicious in a blazer.
Even in his sneakers.
Perhaps it was his swagger and confident gaze, but I melted a little when I saw him decked out just for me. His eyes would glimmer if I wore a pretty dress or pinned my hair up. As I approached the ramp, I decided I was going to make an effort to look nice for Logan more often. I didn’t want to get too comfortable with him, and besides that, the wave of sexual energy that rolled over my body when he admired my low-cut blouse was totally worth it.
I chuckled softly and glanced up.
A lick of energy snapped at my skin as I felt the spark of another Mage.
“Who’s there?” I called out.