by Crissy Smith
She’d bet a month’s salary that Zak had also been the one to hit Luca. Fisting her hands, she tried to remain calm. She wouldn’t help matters by starting something with the shifter in the room with her.
“So what’s your animal?” she asked to distract herself.
“Falcon,” Cody said while he dragged a chair closer to her. “I know you’re a feline. My bird wants to remain as far from you as possible.”
“Yeah, you smell like dinner,” she teased. It wasn’t true, though.
Cody laughed. “Don’t let a human hear you say that. They’d probably freak out.”
“I know,” she agreed. One of the hardest issues for humans to get past was the fact that shifters had animal traits. Yes, she could call on her cheetah for superior qualities but she wasn’t all human or all shifter. The combination of what she was continued to be hard to explain to people. Actually, even different shifter species looked at their transformation differently to one another. So it was difficult to get humans to understand.
Abilene had been brought up by her human aunt. She hadn’t really started to explore her shifter side until she’d gotten into college. She’d always known that she wanted a career in law enforcement. She’d kept her nose clean and on the right path. That was how she’d found herself with the ATF, eventually.
During her time getting her degree in criminal justice and then in the police academy, Abilene had embraced her cheetah. The more time she spent in her other form, the more her connection to it seemed to strengthen. Even her abilities had grown. As she got older and learned how to balance her two parts, she grew in knowledge of how to use her cheetah traits in human form. Her eyesight was sharper. She moved quicker than others. Her cheetah was a part of her—like the other half of her soul.
That’s how she saw it anyway.
“Just don’t eat me. I don’t think my mate would be happy about that,” Cody joked.
“My cheetah is well behaved.”
“I haven’t actually met a cheetah before. A couple cougars, a jaguar and of course Zak.”
“Tiger, right?”
“Yes, how’d you know that? He always tells me it’s difficult to pin his animal,” Cody said, surprise evident.
“He told me,” she admitted. “I knew it was some kind of strong predator but not exactly what species.”
“Huh.” Cody continued to stare at her.
“What?”
“He just doesn’t usually tell people.”
She laughed quietly. Yeah, she got that impression. “I think I surprised him by asking him directly.” She wasn’t about to share the heat and attraction that had passed between the two of them.
Abilene had enough guilt when she remembered she’d been pleasuring herself just thinking about Zak when he was apparently trying to kill her partner.
At that moment Luca groaned softly.
“Hey, Luca.” She bent forward. “You’re okay. Everything is going to be fine.”
He blinked his eyes open. “Zak?”
Cody rushed to the bed. “Luca, my name is Cody Johnson. I’m an agent with the Shifter Coalition.”
“He told me to find the Coalition,” Luca whispered.
Cody visibly relaxed. “We found your partner instead.”
Luca tried to sit up.
Abilene jumped up from the bed to push on his good shoulder. “Stay down,” she ordered. “You lost a lot of blood.”
“I’m okay,” he assured her.
“Let me help,” Cody offered. “Your partner is right that you need to take it easy.”
Luca nodded. As Cody helped Luca scoot up, Abilene grabbed the pillows to put them against the headboard. Once she had the bed set, she hurried to the kitchenette for a bottle of water.
“I knew what I was doing,” Luca told her as she handed him the drink.
“What are you talking about?” she questioned.
“I told Zak to shoot me. He didn’t want to but I knew it was our only choice. He had a new guy with him—one I’d never seen before. He was inside the inner circle.”
“You told Zak to shoot you?” Cody asked.
“Yes. I knew what we needed to do.”
Abilene was shocked. “Are you fucking kidding me?” Her voice rose. “What were you thinking?”
“I was doing my job,” Luca told her. He held out a hand. “I was already busted, and Zak still has a chance.”
“How’d they find out about you?”
“We have a leak with the local sheriff’s department.”
“No.” She shook her head. “No way! We’ve worked with them in the past.”
“Logan—that’s the big guy that was ordering Zak around—told me that himself.”
Abilene exchanged a brief look with Cody before grabbing her phone.
“Let your office know,” Cody said. “I’ll call Jamie and warn him to be careful. Anyone could have seen us drive up.”
She paced away from the men in the room, mentally going through the list of who could have given them up. Her boss answered on the third ring.
She glanced at the clock. It was later than she’d thought. As she started to fill her boss in, Cody motioned to the door. A second later Jamie pushed it open, carrying two bags, three pizza boxes and a large bottle of Coke.
She turned away to listen to her boss. Otto was not happy about a leak. “How helpful is the Coalition being?” he asked.
“More than I expected,” she confessed.
“I know their commander. I wouldn’t put you with them if I didn’t truly believe they could help. With Luca injured, I want someone to have your back.”
“Understood, sir,” she said.
“Good. Now who the hell broke rank at the sheriff’s office?” Otto demanded.
“I wish I knew,” she said. “I’ve worked with them before. I can’t believe they would turn on us.”
“Look at shifter’s first. You think one of the Coalition could help with that?” Otto asked.
Abilene peered over at Jamie. He was big and scary looking. “Oh yeah,” she admitted.
“Use them. Report back to me ASAP. I want to know what is happening at all times. I’ll talk with Commander Green but I suspect we’ll be going in very soon.”
“Will do. I’ll let you know what else we come up with,” she promised.
Jamie introduced himself to Luca. Her partner’s eyes were huge as Jamie towered over him. Jamie was only offering him some pizza, but Abilene could see how in awe Luca was in Jamie’s presence.
“Everything go okay with your boss?” Cody questioned.
“He suggested a field trip,” she said. Turning to Jamie, she grinned. “Feel up to scaring a confession out of whoever gave up Luca?”
Jamie cracked his knuckles. “I’d love to.”
She nodded in agreement.
“Dinner first,” Cody told them.
Abilene settled next to Luca to help him eat. Her partner had regained some of his color. It really was unbelievable how well he was doing. They didn’t have magical healing powers like the movies alluded to but with his wound bandaged, he was going to be okay.
“What did the commander say?” Cody asked Jamie as he sat in the chair he’d brought over and Jamie settled on the carpet.
“We’re to set up the bust for first thing in the morning. The Coalition will provide a couple of teams but rely on the ATF for the majority of the muscle. All the suspects will be taken to the Coalition. Commander Green will orchestrate everything and we need to meet with him at the office at six tomorrow morning,” Jamie answered.
“What about Zak?” Luca questioned.
They all looked at Luca.
“He has a chance to get deeper inside,” Luca told them.
“We don’t need it if they ordered Zak to kill you. We have conspiracy, attempted murder, gunrunning and more. Add our intel with yours and we’ll put these guys away for a long time,” Cody answered.
“We can get more, though,” Luca pressed.
“With your cover blown, he’s concerned that Zak will be next. He wants to get him out safely while we still can,” Jamie said.
“I understand. Really I do. But we gave almost a year to this investigation. Ending now? Like this? It just doesn’t feel enough,” Luca explained.
“I know it’s hard to let go,” Cody told him.
“You didn’t see the things we did! We have to get them all!”
“We will,” Abilene assured him.
“And we’ll get Zak out safely,” Jamie added.
Looking around the room, Abilene could feel that each one of them believed Jamie’s words. Commander Green was right. They needed to move quickly before Zak got hurt.
Oh, she was still pissed at the tiger shifter but she could also understand why he’d gone through with Luca’s plan. She’d been partnered with him a long time. Out of all their assignments, they’d always gone together as a couple. That way they always had each other’s back. But this time she’d been left on the side. Had only been able to hope and pray that Luca would make it out safely.
Now, she could see that he’d at least had someone on his side. She knew she was waffling back and forth between killing Zak Lewis and jumping him. Luca peered over at her and although he couldn’t read her thoughts, her partner knew her well.
He would ask questions that she really didn’t want to answer.
“Eat your pizza,” she told him, bumping his good shoulder. “Then Jamie and I are going to find our mole while you and Cody plan tomorrow’s raid.”
Chapter Six
Zak packed the rest of his belongings into an old canvas bag before glancing around the small room to make sure he hadn’t left anything. It was the first time that he’d been alone since he’d been called to the main house and given his mission to kill Luca.
Logan had stuck by his side for the entire evening, sharing beer after beer with him. Any sympathy that Zak had had for the big guy when he’d shared his story about the cop he’d fallen for was long gone. The pure delight that Logan had showed over what Zak had supposedly done to Luca made Zak’s stomach roll. Zak wanted out. He knew that getting even deeper into the inner circle was key but he was also certain that murder would trump any other charges the Coalition could come up with.
Hopefully Luca had understood his message. If Luca could get to Cody and Jamie then Zak would finally be done with the entire operation. That was if Luca survived. Zak hated himself for going along with shooting his friend. If he’d had more time he would have done things much differently.
Sitting on the end of his narrow bed, he dropped his face into his hands. Luca had looked so adamant about Zak shooting him that he’d done it. They should have taken Logan out, gone back to the barbeque and called backup from the Coalition or the ATF. Instead, Zak had let his emotions get the best of him. He’d been angry—pissed at Luca for getting caught, mad about the circumstance he’d found himself in and just a little hurt that his two best friends hadn’t gotten him out yet. He wanted to go home, sit on his old couch and drink a beer—sleep in his own bed, maybe find someone to share it with him.
A knock on the door drew him out of his thoughts of ‘should have’ and ‘could have’. He stood and grunted for whoever it was to enter.
He was not surprised to see Logan in the hall.
“You about ready to go?” Logan asked, as he relaxed against the doorjamb.
“Where are we going?” he asked again. Logan still hadn’t told him.
“The group’s breaking up. The majority are heading to the other side of the country. They’re going to have some fun on Capitol Hill.”
“Washington D.C.?” That wouldn’t be good.
“Those assholes think they can suggest a shifter registration like we’re house pets and get away with it?” Logan scoffed.
“It didn’t pass,” Zak reminded him. It had been when Zak first had gone under that the vote whether or not to require shifters to register had been brought up for final tally. After every state had voted against it, the federal government had backed off.
“It shouldn’t have ever been an issue,” Logan shot back.
Nodding, he couldn’t really argue with the guy. Zak hadn’t liked it any more than him but that didn’t give shifters a right to bomb and kill humans. Most of the ones hurt weren’t even involved in the decision to have the shifter-registration program.
“Now that the heat is finally off and everything is settling down, it’s time to make our statement. We’re taking over this country,” Logan said.
Zak really didn’t think Logan, Mike Timmons or any of the other leaders had a full working brain. The United States government wasn’t going to be overthrown by a group of drunk, dirty and desperate men. “I don’t understand,” Zak hedged, hoping for more information.
Logan’s eyes brightened as he stepped closer. “You will. Now that you’re truly one of us, you’ll see the big picture.”
Making sure his expression was skeptical, Zak went to grab his bag.
Logan’s hand came down on his shoulder. “Trust me. After our little ragtag friends cause enough trouble, Mike is going to step in and calm everything down. Work his way inside where he’ll have first-hand knowledge of all the workings. When the time is right, he’ll run for office until he becomes our president.”
Out of all the many ways that Zak saw this going, he admitted that he hadn’t seen the big picture. Smiling, he sidestepped away from Logan before bending to pick up his bag. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Logan turned to lead the way.
“You still didn’t say where we’re going,” Zak pointed out.
Grinning, Logan lifted an eyebrow. “I didn’t, did I?”
Fuck. Zak really wanted to punch the guy. Instead, like a good little solider, he followed behind. Signs of the others were all around the first floor. Boxes, bags and backpacks lined the hallway.
Just as Zak stepped off the stairs, a few of the guys came around the corner.
“Hey!” Pete greeted.
“We’re finally getting in on the action!” Seth yelled.
“Hell yeah,” Zak agreed with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.
He high-fived the two men before catching Logan’s wave. “I gotta run.”
There was more noise coming from outside the old farmhouse. The morning light was soft as the sunrise hadn’t been too long ago but that didn’t stop the excited chatter. If Zak didn’t know that these men were stone-cold killers and dangerous, he would have laughed. Some of the younger men were actually bouncing around like they were headed off to summer camp or some shit like that.
“They needed the break but now that we have the Feds out of our hair, we can give them their duties. No one’s going to stop us now,” Logan said from his side.
I am. He would take them all down and make certain they never tasted the air of freedom again. Shifters didn’t do well in prison but if anyone deserved to suffer, it was this group. Zak tried to shake off his mood. In his line of work, he always met the worst sort of people and usually he would wrap up his case and move on. He wasn’t sure why this time was so different.
It could be the sad teenagers he’d run across that had only been looking for a place to belong or the humans that got caught in the middle of a human and shifter war that hadn’t even known. Now he had another reason to add to taking down the SIP. He would get back at them for Luca too.
Zak hadn’t had the time to go out into the field where he’d supposedly left Luca’s corpse. Logan hadn’t let him. Guilt still clawed at him. What if Luca hadn’t made his escape? Could he be dead? Or worse, lying in the grass bleeding to death?
Shivering, he stomped down the rickety stairs. He might not be able to run away from himself but he could get some distance from Logan.
He wanted to shift. For the first time in over ten years, Zak craved stripping off his clothes and letting the animal take over for him. He was just so damn tired. If he could let go, just for a little while, maybe he
could his head on straight.
Even knowing he wouldn’t, it did feel good to imagine letting his tiger play. He could shift and tear apart several of the men, including Logan, before anyone knew what had hit them. His tiger craved blood, and Zak actually found himself shaking with need.
The sound of sirens jerked him from his fantasy.
He dropped his bag before spinning around to see what was going on. Two big black SUVs were barreling down the dirt road at them.
“What the fuck?” Logan exclaimed, racing toward Zak. “We have to get out of here.”
Nodding, Zak scooped up his bag, but before he could move toward Logan, two sheriff’s vehicles came into view from behind them. They were being surrounded.
Barely able to contain his excitement, Zak glanced over at Logan.
Logan had an expression of pure rage on his face as he stared out the agents that had now reached them. There was yelling from the men around the yard, but Zak didn’t take his eyes off Logan. If anyone was going to resist, it would be Logan.
Meeting his gaze, Logan snarled. “Keep your mouth shut and don’t say a fucking word,” he ordered Zak.
Zak would keep his undercover status unless he had no other choice.
“This is the ATF and Shifter Coalition,” Cody yelled from where he’d popped open his driver’s side door. “Everyone in the yard, get down on the ground.”
The men looked around and at one another. Was anyone going to resist? Zak could see the question on their faces. Taking the lead, Zak dropped down to his knees before lying on his stomach.
“If you don’t comply with our demands, we will take that as a threat,” Cody hollered.
More of the guys started to follow the orders shouted at them. Logan remained standing, but Zak made sure that he was still close enough to stop Logan from attacking anyone.
“Please resist,” Jamie said close by. “I would love that.”
Logan looked ready to take Jamie on until the bear shifter got into Logan’s personal space.
“Come on. I dare you,” Jamie taunted.
“Fuck you,” Logan spat. He finally dropped to his knees.