She wrapped her arms around herself as the cold air hit her skin. He hadn’t thought about having a jacket picked up for her. He never felt the cold. Not since he was turned. “We have to make a pit stop before I take you to dinner.”
“I figured by your phone call.” She opened the car door and slid inside. He saw the hesitation crease her brow; she was probably calculating her chances of running.
He got in on the driver’s side. “I want you to stay in the car. I wouldn’t run because we’ll be deep in drug territory and there are men there that would tear you apart. Literally.” He glanced at her. “And there are things that they’d do to your pretty little body.”
“You act like I don’t know how dangerous the drug-ridden areas of town are.” She buckled up and leaned back in the leather seat. She looked more comfortable in his car than he was.
He started the engine. “Have you ever been in that part of town?”
“No.”
“Then you don’t understand the dangers.” His ears picked up the change in her heartbeat. Fear. She was scared, and that was good. It meant that she’d stay where she was supposed to. He sped down the highway, taking the exit into the downtown area. Closed down warehouses and businesses dotted the side of the road, providing more plywood windows than glass. As he drove through, dealers and prostitutes ducked back into the shadows, knowing who and what he was simply because of the fancy car he drove. He pulled into an abandoned lot and got out. He leaned his head in and looked at Skye. “Stay here. If someone tries to get in, yell for me.”
She nodded and reached up to double check that her door was locked. He locked his door before slamming it shut. He thought he was going to have to hunt the drug dealer down, but the man walked right into the abandoned lot.
“Figured you’d be looking for me.” He held his arms out. “I’ve got nothing to hide.”
Zeek shook his head. “Your drugs are killing the humans. What did you cut it with?”
“Nothing. It’s just the straight shit that was given to me to deal.”
“I haven’t sent out a new batch in a few weeks, and none of your other peers have killed anyone. Where did you get the batch, Anthony?”
The man’s pupils widened and the stupid shit darted away from him. Zeek transported himself right next to the shifter and slammed him into the wall. “When will you dumbasses learn that I’m stronger than you in every way? Where did you get the fucking batch?”
“I swear they were from you. The bag had your mark on it and everything. I paid them a grand for the shit.” He scrambled against the wall. “I swear I didn’t mean to get them killed.”
Zeek threw him away. “Do you still have the bag?”
“Yeah, yeah.” He nodded frantically and dug in his backpack. “I tried the product before I sold it. I swear it was legit.” He tossed a sack to Zeek.
So it was mixed specifically with humans in mind. That wasn’t something that he wanted on the streets. He looked at the bag and sure enough, embroidered in red was his signet. Since the vampires took over the drug lands, they’d tried to cut out all the bad batches and demanded that the dealers only buy from them. It seemed that the Agency had an idea of who was dealing already. Shit.
“You get offered another bag of this, you buy it and give it to me.” He flashed fangs at the man. The man nodded and shifted into a raccoon before running off.
Zeek turned back to the car and cursed. Skye was nowhere to be seen. He hadn’t heard the door open or shut, which meant that she had to have shifted. He glanced in the car and didn’t see her clothing. So he was wrong, she didn’t shift. She was on human feet and in the drug zone. She was going to get herself killed. Except his little fox would have been more than smart enough to shift if she was going to run away. Something else drew her away from the car.
CHAPTER FOUR
An ear-piercing scream cut through the night and he cursed. He followed the scream, transporting himself to find Skye. His gaze darted around, landing on a stranger who had a silver glove up against Skye’s throat. Zeek snarled at the stranger. Skye’s eyes were wide and her breathing was hitched. Of course, if someone had a silver glove wrapped around his neck he wouldn’t want to breathe either.
“I have your little whore, vampire.” He snarled, and Skye tried to shake her head but whimpered at the silver.
‘Stay still you stupid shifter.’ He met Skye’s eyes wishing she could read his mind. “She’s not my whore. She’s actually my hostage. So jokes on you.” He held his hands up. “I’m assuming you’re Agency?”
He nodded.
“Then the joke really is on you. You’re threatening one of your own.” He held his hands up. “So really, kill her. It’s no skin off my back. Though there might be a reward for her, so you just might want to keep her alive.”
“Reward?” Something lit up in the man’s eyes.
“She’s wanted by her boss.” He wasn’t sure if that was true, but he thought he’d take a stab at it. “Something about being a traitor.”
Skye’s eyes widened just a bit more as he fed lines to the agent behind her. The man shook Skye a little. “Is that true?”
“Yes.” She squeezed out. Zeek was grateful that she was in too much panic to show any signs of lying. All Zeek needed was a moment to take the agent out. But the agent was too close to Skye for her to not get hurt in the tumble.
The man behind her started laughing and took a few steps back, dragging her with him. Skye suddenly snapped her head back, her skull meeting with the man’s nose. He cursed and let go of her. Zeek charged the man and grabbed him by the neck. The agent shoved his hand against Zeek’s chest, and even through the clothing of his shirt, he felt the burn of the silver. He slammed the agent’s head into the wall, cracking his skull. Skye let out a terrified noise, but it didn’t matter. The man had to be dealt with.
Zeek reared back and struck the man’s neck with his fangs, drinking deeply. The sweet liquid coated his tongue and flowed down his throat, satisfying the hunger for blood. He continued to drink, losing himself to the blood. The pulse slowed from blood loss before disappearing completely, and Zeek dropped the body. He turned to Skye. Her erratic breathing forced her pulse to throb against the thin line of skin on her neck. He licked his lips wanting to taste the blood, to calm that throbbing, to claim her. His little fox.
He stopped at the thought; it was the second time his mind went to claiming her as his little fox. She took a few deep breaths trying to gain control of herself and her heartbeat slowed, pulling him further out of his daze.
“I thought I told you to stay in the car.”
She wrapped her arms around herself. “I was in the car. I cracked the door because it was getting stuffy. I had no intentions of running. He came out of nowhere and pulled me out.”
He must have been too distracted dealing with his employee. Too trusting that Skye wouldn’t have done anything stupid. “Why didn’t you scream?”
“I didn’t have a chance. One of his hands was over my mouth; the other was around my neck. It wasn’t until we were in the alleyway he let go of my mouth so I could answer questions.” She glanced at the body and then back to Zeek. “You killed him.”
“He shouldn’t have been in my territory threatening you.” Zeek reached out and touched the red, burnt skin in the shape of the man’s hand. “That glove was a high concentration of silver, higher than the collar or the cuffs. Barbaric, because it actually burns through a shifter, lycan, or vampire’s skin to cause true harm versus simple pain.”
She jerked away from him. “Funny that you’re speaking about that after you just murdered a man.”
“Would you rather I have let him keep you? Maybe turn you over to the Agency again?” He snapped and then turned away. “You’re safe, and that’s what matters. Come on.”
He glanced behind him to make sure she was following him. Despite the fear she had to have felt, she held herself tall. Her shoulders back, chin up, and determination set in her locked ja
w. She was a spitfire. It was going to make her hard to break.
Skye sat back in the leather seat of the car as Zeek drove out of the ghetto. She’d witnessed him throwing around the drug dealer and overheard the conversation about the bad batch of drugs. That’s when she was pulled out by the other man. Her fingers traced the edge of her burnt skin almost idly. She hadn’t been lying about how he’d pulled her out. She’d tried to fight him off, but he outweighed her and had more strength. Then Zeek had killed him.
Not only had the vampire killed him, Zeek had busted the guy’s head and then drained his blood. All because he’d been Agency. She looked out the window as the lights of the city came back into view. If he’d done that to him, what on earth was he going to do to her if she couldn’t provide him with any information?
“I’m sorry you had to see that. My job is not a pretty one.”
“You killed him,” she repeated a little harsher.
“Yes, but I can promise you that he had blood on his hands as well.”
She swallowed at the thought. “That doesn’t make it right.”
He growled. “Listen here, Fox. There is no right or wrong in this matter. Only gray. The choices we have to make are to control the drug rings and try to prevent as many human and paranormal deaths as we can. Or, we let the Agency have it and see an increase in their deaths.”
“The Agency protects both humans and paranormal creatures.” She responded without thinking.
He laughed. “Spoon fed lines. Why did you apply at the agency?”
“I told you, because I wanted to do something to help my kind.” She glanced at him, but he didn’t so much spare her a look.
“What made you suddenly switch jobs? Your application said personal reasons.”
She rolled her eyes at the amount of prying he’d done. “I’m surprised you don’t have the answer already.”
“I didn’t have a chance to hack into the company’s database. I was focused on the files you got from the Agency.”
“Why are you keeping me hostage? Certainly, you don’t think I can actually provide you with information on the Agency.” She wasn’t going to answer his questions. Maybe if he got that hint, he’d stop asking.
He pulled up to a restaurant. “You can hack their systems. You passed their entrance test with flying colors, hacking into the top secured government websites.”
“You’re just as capable of hacking into them.”
“But you know your way around better. Look how fast you found that file on the drug dealers. From an Agency computer, you were able to get information before tripping their alarms. Hacking them from their own network. You can help me get the information faster.”
“And if I don’t? Are you going to bash my head in like that agent?”
She didn’t miss the glint of moonlight off his fangs as he smiled. “I’ll turn you over to my boss, and you don’t want to know what he does to Agency members.”
No. She probably didn’t since he had been able to force her human form out. She stared at the brick building in front of them. “What made you become a vampire?”
He shook his head. “Not up for discussion.”
“You wanted to know something personal about me.” She raised a brow. “Not interesting in swapping personal stories?”
“You don’t get attached to your hostages.” He muttered.
Except he had just killed a drug dealer to protect her, of course maybe that was just business. “I can’t go in there with a burn on my throat.”
“Just pull your hair around, no one will notice.” He reached over and adjusted her hair. “Like this.”
Heat rose in her face with how gentle his touch was when he glided his fingers through her hair, adjusting the locks so that the curling tips covered over the burn. “Just don’t push it back.”
That was probably easier said than done. “I’ll try.” Her stomach grumbled. “I’m ready to eat.”
He chuckled. “I’m sorry to have made you wait this long.” He got out and came around the car to let her out. Her feet hesitated as she stepped out There was a fleeting moment where she debated on shifting and running, but Zeek grabbed her hand and tucked it into the crook of his arm. “Don’t. You have nowhere to go, remember? Travis is watching your house.”
Certainly, there was somewhere she could go. She wracked her brain and came up with nothing. Her family had moved back overseas after the paranormals had been revealed. They believed they might be more welcomed in the old country. Not Skye though, no, she wanted to stay here and work on her career. She glanced at Zeek; this wasn’t where she expected her career to take her.
He patted her hand. “Just relax and enjoy dinner, okay?”
“Will you be eating with me? Or are you just going to stare?”
“I’ll make sure to keep the staring down to a minimum. I was hoping we could talk more about the services you could provide me.”
She rolled her eyes. “Still on that are you?”
“You are my hostage, after all, maybe not by force right now, but by need. You step away from me; you’re at the mercy of the Agency.”
She hadn’t thought about it that way. “They wouldn’t hurt me.” But she didn’t really believe it. The burnt skin under her hair was a harsh reminder.
They walked in together. “The silver glove is just the start. I’ve seen some of our people return from their torture.”
“And you’re much better?” She shot back. “You threatened to give me to your boss, you threatened your own drug dealer, and you flat out murdered an Agency employee.” She kept her voice down as the hostess stepped up to greet them.
“Just the two of us,” Zeek said, ignoring Skye’s small outburst.
The hostess nodded, grabbed two menus, and led them further into the restaurant with a bounce to her step. Zeek didn’t let go of Skye’s arm until they sat down. The dimly lit dining area gave Skye a bit of comfort that her burn wouldn’t be noticed. The less outside evidence that she was a paranormal, the better. She twirled the tips of her hair in front of the burn mark and glanced around the empty dining area. “For a Friday, night this place is pretty slow.”
“It’s before their next rush. The humans’ dinner time has passed, so it’s just waiting for the rest of the paranormal world to wake up and come dine.”
“Not all of us are nocturnal creatures.” She looked at the menu. She craved something with red meat. A good steak, or two. Her stomach growled again. “I don’t think I ate dinner while I was at the office.”
“That’s a long time for a shifter to go without eating.” He let out a whistle. “Order what you want.”
The waitress came over, and Skye ordered the two steaks she was craving. Zeek settled back in the chair watching her. There was a hunger in his eyes as his gaze swept over her. Had this not been a forced situation she might have been able to enjoy dinner with a handsome man.
“What are you thinking about?”
She shook her head. “Nothing important.” There was no way she was going to share her little daydream with him.
“Those files…” He started after a little bit of silence.
So they were back to that.
Zeek continued. “I was able to get some information including the changelings that they’ve started using to infiltrate our drug territories.”
“The man you dealt with earlier, he was a shifter. I smelt it on him. Not a changeling.”
“I know, I think they are using both. But the file was incomplete. You need to get the rest of it so I can have a complete list.”
He went silent as the waitress came up and delivered her food. There was a small piece of paper folded under the plate. Dread filled Skye as she reached for it. “So you want me to give you the same information that the Agency was looking for from you.”
She pulled the piece of paper out from underneath and opened it.
‘Agency spotted outside.’
Her heart pounded and she looked up at Zeek. His brow cr
eased and he placed his hand over hers to take the note. “Be at ease.” He whispered.
She nodded slightly. Sliding her hand away from his, she went back to focusing on her food. Skye took her time cutting and eating the first steak while Zeek brought up the latest in computer news. They sat there like two normal people talking about a shared passion.
“The operating system on the netbook isn’t bad, but it requires a constant connection.”
“Which isn’t horrible as long as your connection is secure,” Skye said easily. “If not, then you’re leaving yourself open to a host of other problems, especially when dealing with confidential information.” She put her fork and knife down after finishing the steaks. “I’m ready.”
He nodded. “Follow my lead; I don’t know which one of us they are here for.”
She doubted it was her. They had no real way of figuring out where she was. She hadn’t told Travis any information that could have led him to her.
Zeek put some cash on the table before standing. “Unless I tell you to, don’t run. Don’t shift.”
“Shifting is the only defense I have.”
“Yes, which means they’ll see you as a threat. Just trust me.” Trusting him was going to take a lot of work. Of course, he had just saved her from the drug dealer. They walked out together, side by side with her hand tucked into his elbow again. Just a couple out on a date at the surface. Except they weren’t a couple and this wasn’t a date, just an odd hostage situation.
Something moved out of the corner of her eye and to her surprise, Zeek pulled out a gun from underneath his shirt. She tried not to show any panic, though she was familiar with guns, she wasn’t sure who or what his target was. He pulled her behind him.
She glanced around the parking lot. Only his car stood there. Nothing else moved in the shadows. Two steps toward the car and her skin stood up on the back of her neck. A man stepped out from behind a tall SUV and smiled. The moon caught his fangs.
Code Name: Fox / Mind Games (Syndicate Series Book 1) Page 4