by E A Price
Primrose gave Sadie a kiss on her temple. “It’s okay, babe, everything’s going to be okay.” She strode to the door and looked back at Cutter and Lucie. “I better be able to trust you.”
“Same here,” grunted Cutter as she nodded and left.
Sadie seemed to have drifted off into a fretful sleep. Cutter grabbed Lucie and pulled her back to sit on his lap, ostensibly to comfort her, but really it was for his sake. There was a slim chance that a dozen agents would come bursting through the door any moment, and this could be his last chance to be near Lucie. He wanted to savor every moment.
*
Primrose returned with the medicine, and thankfully no tactical team came storming into the lockup like a bunch of Tarzans on speed. True to her word, Primrose didn’t tell anyone. She encountered no problems obtaining what she needed. No one even considered questioning her. They wouldn’t dare.
Lucie gave some pills to Sadie and within a couple of hours she was stable again. Lucie redressed the wound, and they were all relieved to note she had stopped bleeding and was starting to heal. Primrose held Sadie’s hand and intermittently stroked her cheek throughout.
“You better start giving us some answers,” rumbled Cutter.
“How did you find me here?”
“We followed you.”
Primrose groaned. “Please don’t tell me you were in that stupid ice cream truck.”
Lucie nodded sheepishly.
The hyena shifter let out a noise of disgust. “You know I saw it, and I thought it was weird, but I just assumed… I can’t believe how dumb I was.”
“Lucky we did,” growled Cutter, as his eyes dipped to Sadie’s sleeping form.
Primrose watched the gentle rise and fall of the bobcat’s body as she breathed. She turned her accusing eyes on Lucie. “Would you have refused to help her if I said I was going to turn Cutter in?”
“No,” admitted Lucie. “I could never do that.”
Cutter squeezed her shoulder, feeling inordinately proud of his selfless, little hedgehog.
“I believe you,” sighed Primrose.
“Now, what the fuck is going on? What happened to Sadie?” demanded Cutter. His beast was practically burning with eagerness.
“She was shot,” deadpanned Primrose.
“Why, though?” encouraged Lucie.
Primrose looked down at her girlfriend unhappily. “Sadie and I, we met when I was just starting at the agency. She worked at a coffee shop. We dated for a while and things, well, we were happy, and I thought she was my mate but… my parents are ultra-conservative; they couldn’t accept me being gay. I was ambitious, really ambitious when I was younger and kind of a bitch…”
Cutter snorted, and Lucie kicked him.
“I started to believe that being with Sadie would hold me back, so I broke it off. I made it easier, I acted like a screaming asshole so that she wouldn’t miss me. I moved away, accepting a job at another branch.”
Primrose paused as Sadie’s breathing hitched, but continued as she calmed. “It wasn’t until a few years later that I heard from her again. I moved back to Ursa with a promotion, and she called me out of the blue. She’d been hurt – badly - by a man but she didn’t dare go to the cops, she wanted my help…” Primrose couldn’t hide the bitterness from her tone.
Lucie placed a hand on the hyena shifter’s shoulder. She flinched a little at the contact but didn’t ask her to move away.
“What happened to her?” murmured Lucie.
“It was all Marie’s fault!” she snarled. “That fucking moron Marie and her shithead boyfriend owed money to Nicolas Maroni – lots of fucking money. The bastards stole a shipment of his drugs thinking they could sell them. Maroni found them high off their asses before they even had a chance to get out of the city. He was going to kill them, and since they didn’t have any money, and neither of them was in a fit state to earn it, Sadie stepped in and offered to work off the debt. I don’t think she realized how bad it would be at the time.”
She ran a finger down Sadie’s cheek, as angry tears threatened. “He had her work in one of his clubs, servicing his friends, letting them abuse her however their perverted minds wanted. The way they treated her…”
Primrose choked, caught between indignation and sadness. She allowed Lucie to give her a hug, and even nuzzled her neck.
“I knew I had to get her out of there, but I was so afraid of them hurting her even worse. Sadie told me that Maroni had someone on the inside of the SEA – you’d be amazed at the things she overheard. She didn’t know exactly who, but she was the one who persuaded your informant to speak to you. Sadie fed me as many tips as she could, and I did as much investigating as I could, tipping off the SEA anonymously…”
“All those tips - they were you?” interrupted Cutter, incredulously.
She nodded. “I did what I could, and I really thought that when you had all your evidence that it would all be at an end, and we’d be free. But then, all those agents died, they tortured you…” she trailed off gloomily. “At least Sadie was free. But I worried that the mole would come after her; you and Clayton didn’t know how much she actually knew about Maroni, but I wasn’t sure about anyone else. I got a transfer out of Ursa as soon as possible. I’ve been moving from branch to branch ever since, taking Sadie with me, but making sure I hide her. I always made sure people hated me enough never to ask about my private life. I was paranoid, and I didn’t risk us living together, but at least I was happy.” Primrose smiled slightly.
Cutter’s wolf prowled. Story time was all well and good, but didn't she forget a few things? “What about Clayton?”
Primrose grimaced. “The old eagle just suddenly showed up. He somehow found out where Sadie was and then he turned up at the diner where she was waitressing. He kept asking her all these questions about Maroni, about the men he made her…” She paused as an angry tremor coursed through her body. “Sadie just wanted to forget it ever happened, so she told him to get lost, but he was persistent, and after we argued about it, she agreed to meet him and talk. I was planning on going with her, but…”
“Clayton was killed,” supplied Cutter, grimly.
“Yes.”
“And then someone came after Sadie?”
“Yes. Her bitch little sister was in town, crashing on her sofa. Her asshole boyfriend got himself arrested, so the stupid girl went to a bar and brought home some random guy who offered her drugs. When he got to the apartment, he killed Marie and tried to kill Sadie. He shot her, but she managed to shift, jump out the window and run down the fire escape. She came to me, and I brought her here.”
Cutter felt a spark of almost excitement. They were getting closer to an answer; it was tantalizingly within reach. “Who was the guy?”
“One of Maroni’s old men, Sadie told me he looked different, his neck was covered in scars, and he could barely speak, but it was him. She isn’t sure of his name.”
“That doesn’t sound like any SEA agent I know,” said Lucie in disappointment.
Cutter tried to smile, but it must have come out as more of a scowl. He was half disappointed, but also half relieved.
“Does Sadie have any idea why Clayton suddenly looked for her?” he asked Primrose who shook her head in response.
“But at least we know it’s one of Maroni’s men doing this,” offered Lucie optimistically. “We just need to catch him, right?”
“I wouldn’t even begin to know where to look,” he started despondently. “I need to think about this.”
“You’re not going to tell anyone about Sadie,” barked Primrose. It was probably meant to be a question, but it came out as an order.
He opened his mouth to snarl at her but, much to his chagrin and his wolf’s fury, Lucie hugged her tighter.
“We won’t, of course we won’t,” his little hedgehog soothed. “Maybe the two of you should come home with us?”
Cutter gave her a cutting motion across his throat that just made her frown.
&n
bsp; “I appreciate the offer,” said Primrose, “but I’d rather stay here. I have portable heaters, and the bathroom is just down the way. The owner of this place is easily bribable; a number of married men end up living here after their wives kick them out,” she told them scornfully.
Primrose pressed herself against Lucie, enjoying the comfort the small shifter provided. Cutter stepped up to the intertwined women and forced them to pull apart. He put his arm around Lucie and tucked her into his side, placing his big body between the two women. What? Was he getting all jealous and territorial just because they were hugging? Nuh-uh, no way. His wolf howled – the beast was all for being jealous and territorial.
“Take care we’ll be back in the morning to check on her, right?” mumbled Lucie whose face was currently planted in his chest area.
Cutter gave her a sour look but agreed when she looked up and gave him the full force of her big baby blues. With that, he dragged her away before his little hedgehog decided that Primrose needed another hug.
*
“Well, at least we’re making progress,” offered Lucie as Cutter hauled her over the fence. He did consider just asking Primrose to give them the code to get out, but this was more fun. He cupped her ass cheeks, giving them a light squeeze that was totally necessary.
“Yeah, we eliminated our only suspect,” he replied gruffly as she scrambled onto the roof.
He clambered up the fence with ease, reveling in the impressed expression on her face and more than a little self-satisfied at the hint of arousal he scented.
“But we have this new suspect – the scarred man.”
Finally back in the ice cream truck, Lucie tried to inject him with some optimism. A lost cause as far as he was concerned.
“Yeah,” he muttered.
“You were hoping it was going to be the mole?”
Cutter sighed. “Yeah, there’re just too many things that don’t make sense, and I just… I don’t know how it all pieces together.”
“Let’s go home and get some rest, it’s been a long day already.” And it was still early afternoon. Lucie stared out the window, pensively.
“Sadie will be okay, thanks to you,” he murmured, guessing the direction of her thoughts.
“Primrose would have taken her to the hospital in time. I just can’t help but feel… anger at what happened to her.”
His wolf whimpered helplessly as Lucie shivered. “Maroni’s in prison.”
“Yet, she’s still in danger.”
Cutter pressed a chaste yet tender kiss to her temple, and she wiped away a tear.
He started driving home and after a couple of nose blows, she said, “I forgot to tell you Avery’s message. She wanted me to update you on the hedgehog’s murder.”
“Fuck, I’d forgotten all about that.”
Lucie proceeded to relate the progress Avery and Wayne had made, informing him about the DNA on the toothpick belonging to someone called Bruce Knightley.
Cutter pondered that name; it certainly sounded familiar.
Chapter Eighteen
Cutter and Lucie let themselves into her house through the garage, sneaking in like thieves in the night. Except they weren’t thieves, and it wasn’t night. Lucie laughed at acting so stealthily around her own house, but Cutter grunted and growled until she gave in.
As they approached the door to the kitchen, Cutter froze, and his wolf growled lowly. He scented unknown males. Lucie bumped into his back.
“Wha…”
Cutter spun and clamped a paw over her mouth. She peered at him wonderingly before the saucy minx kissed his palm.
Caught between a disapproving frown and slack-jawed lust, he snapped into action as he heard a crash in the kitchen. With a snarl telling her to stay where she was, he crashed through the door taking too preppy-looking male shifters by surprise.
The smaller male - a raven shifter - let out a yelp as Cutter threw him against the refrigerator. Multitudes of colorful fridge magnets scattered across the room.
“Eric!” roared the larger male – a fucking lion shifter Cutter noted before body slamming him.
Cutter was kneeling on the lion’s neck before he heard his hedgehog’s disgruntled squeak.
“Oh my god! Baby, no, that’s Xander.”
His wolf howled in outrage before, with renewed murder in his eyes and started applying more pressure.
“Cutter, stop!” she yelled.
With an enormous amount of regret, and a monumental effort to contain his wolf, Cutter backed off as Lucie and the raven shifter twittered over Xander. Fucking Xander. If he started telling Lucie to her face that he loved her, Cutter would fucking murder the cat!
Lucie, wisely, took a step away from the two males and placed a hand on Cutter’s trembling chest. Perhaps she sensed his displeasure, or it might be the constant, low rumble emanating from his mouth.
“What are you guys doing here?” she asked, training her eyes on Cutter.
The raven shifter inspected Xander’s neck. “Didn’t you get our message?”
She cocked her head to the side. “No, what message?”
“I left you a message on your answer machine telling you that we were coming by,” rasped Xander.
Lucie raised an eyebrow at Cutter and pouted her lips together. Yeah, she was mad but all he could think about was how kissable she looked at that moment.
“No, for some reason I didn’t get that message.”
The raven looked over Cutter appreciatively. “New boyfriend?”
“No,” blushed Lucie.
“What’s it to you?” demanded Cutter, clinging to his outraged beast.
The two males gave each other significant glances, and in unison they said, “New Boyfriend.”
Cutter bared his fangs. “Who the fuck are you?”
“Cutter!” Lucie gaped at him. “This is Xander, my ex-husband.”
She wiggled her eyebrows up and down. She might as well have said ‘hint, hint.’
“You better be as gay as she said you were!” ground out Cutter.
“Cutter!” Her voice went up about two octaves in shock. The two males just stared at him in surprise.
What? He wasn’t ripping them apart them apart for intruding or declaring their love for Lucie – even though his wolf wanted to. His mood was actually kind of mild. That was probably due to her hand still innocuously placed on his chest. Yep, it may be hard to believe, but this was a mellow kind of rage.
“I promise you I’m gay,” said Xander with only a hint of amusement. “I have a boyfriend and everything – this is Eric.”
The raven shifter pouted as he pulled Xander to his feet. “The boyfriend – but I prefer the term life partner.”
Xander snorted. “Yeah well I prefer you not bringing takeaway curries into the house, but we don’t all get our way.”
They smiled at Cutter, who seethed in return.
Lucie was chewing on her lip so hard it was almost raw red. “Umm, what brings you guys by? I thought you weren’t back until next week.”
Xander smiled. “We cut our visit to Eric’s parents short.”
Eric nodded. “My mom won a trip on a Caribbean cruise at bingo.”
“How lovely! Millie must have been thrilled,” gushed Lucie.
“So we came home early, and we thought we’d swing by to pick up Delmonte, regale you with our trip to Italy and treat you to dinner,” said Xander.
Eric grinned. “Of course, if we knew you had company…”
Lucie flushed a delightful shade of pink over her neck and face, and if they didn’t have intruders – or company, whatever - Cutter would have instantly delved into her shirt and investigated how far reaching the flush was. Fuckers, ruining his fun.
“Well,” she began, shyly, “we’re just going to get changed, how about we order some takeaway when we come down? Not Indian,” she added on seeing the moue of distaste on Xander’s face.
The other two men agreed and watched as Lucie tugged on Cutter’s hand,
leading him away from the kitchen.
Xander frowned as Cutter passed him. “Hey is that my sweater?” Cutter snarled. “Nope, never mind, my mistake.”
She didn’t speak a word as they walked upstairs; she didn’t utter a peep as she pulled him into the bathroom and not a syllable passed her lips as she started stripping out of her clothes. He expected recriminations for attacking and then snarling at her friends, but nothing came, and it made him extremely nervous.
“Aren’t you going to yell?”
Lucie slipped off her oversized t-shirt. “I’m sorry, I forgot they had a key.”
“What’s happening?”
Torturously slowly, she pushed her shorts down her legs and kicked them away. She bared her sweet mound to him, and he could see the glistening, pearly evidence of her arousal clinging to her curls. “I’m getting naked.”
“I can see that,” he replied, a little more hoarse than he would have liked. “You never told me your ex was a lion shifter.”
“Because it makes no difference.”
His wolf almost swooned as she unhooked her bra and let it flutter to the floor. Was there a lack of oxygen in that room? Because there felt like there was a lack of oxygen.
Lucie stepped into the shower and turned on the spray. She squirted some shower gel in her hands and, never breaking eye contact, she let them wander over her breasts.
Cutter swallowed as he watched her hypnotic movements. Just moments ago his wolf had been furious but the tension was almost fleeing his body; it was being replaced by a much more pressing and enjoyable feeling. “Wha… what are you doing?”
“Having a shower. Aren’t you going to join me?” She batted her eyelashes. Minx.
“Won’t they be waiting for us downstairs?”
“They’ll keep.”
One hand travelled down her stomach to tap her clit; she let out a breathy moan. Within seconds, he was pulling off his clothes and pinning her to the wall of the shower. He plunged two fingers into her tight sheath and she rippled around him.
“So wet, so ready,” he crooned against her mouth. “Ready for me.”