Shifter Wars (Mind Sweeper Series Book 3)

by AE Jones

“If he can be trusted, yes. I was hoping to figure out his lineage first.”

  “How can you do that?” I pushed.

  “DNA.”

  “But wouldn’t you need a sample from him?”

  “Doctor Jensen collected a specimen from him when he stitched up his head.”

  “Jesus, Griffin. What gives you the right?”

  His jaw clenched. “If he is one of mine, I have every right. I need to protect him and my pack from harm.”

  “What if he doesn’t want to be part of your pack?”

  “It’s who he’s meant to be, Kyle. We’re his family.”

  “We need to tell him,”

  “Let’s wait until I can gather some more information about his background.”

  “He has a right to know.”

  “I agree. Give me a little more time, and we can tell him.”

  I looked down at my fists. At some point in time I had clenched them. “I want to talk to Trina.”

  Griffin must have seen something in my face that stopped him from asking why. He simply nodded and walked out of the room while I took calming breaths. A few minutes later, Trina came in, followed by Griffin. I had to be releasing a strong emotional scent since Trina walked over to me warily, as if trying not to startle me.

  I sat down on the coffee table and smiled. “It’s okay, Trina. I just need to ask you a couple of questions.” She nodded and I continued. “When you first met Jason, you asked me what he was, and I told you he was human. Do you remember?”

  “Yes.”

  “What did you think he was?”

  “He smelled like a human but also like a shifter.”

  “You can smell it on him?”

  “Not the same way I smell others, but yes.”

  I tried another tack. “The day you fell down the stairs, you said ‘I knew Jason would catch me’. How did you know?”

  She shrugged. “He’s shifter.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  She hesitated for a second. “Because he doesn’t know he’s different, and I didn’t want to scare him.”

  I looked up into Griffin’s face. “Fine, I’ll wait until we have more answers.”

  Chapter 29

  I hated waiting. But it was all I’d been doing for two days. Waiting for Bruce to hear from the poachers, waiting for Griffin to find out about Jason’s past. Finally, to avoid going bonkers from sitting around, I decided to take a field trip to visit Doyle.

  I parked in front of the Wee Bit o’ Ireland Pawnshop and stepped in. I looked around the shop in shock. The shelves were looking a bit bare. “Sale” signs littered the walls. Doyle never had sales. Taped to the front of the counter was a large “Going out of Business” sign.

  He stepped out of the back room, and I gaped at him. He had finally cut his comb-over off and looked like a new demon. “So you’re back in town.”

  “Yep.” I gestured around the shop. “What’s going on?”

  “We’re closing shop. Time to grow up.”

  “What are you going to do instead?”

  “I’m going to sell cars.”

  I smiled. “Of course you are.”

  “Coleen’s mother owns the Simpson dealerships.”

  I gaped again at him. “Your mother-in-law is Martha Simpson?”

  “Yes.”

  “She’s richer than God. Why do you need to work?”

  He huffed at me. “I can’t just sit around and do nothing.”

  I stifled a laugh. Wasn’t that the exact reason that had triggered my visit? “You are definitely a new demon.”

  Doyle smiled. “What about you?”

  My nerves tingled along my spine. “What about me?”

  “How are things going?”

  “I’m keeping busy.”

  Doyle stepped around the counter. “Shifters keeping you hopping?”

  I nodded. I wasn’t surprised he knew what I was working on.

  “Just so you know, I still hear chatter periodically about the Key everyone was looking for last year.”

  My nerves graduated from tingling to a full tango. “What kind of chatter?”

  He picked up a radio with a crack down the middle and pitched it into a large garbage can next to the counter. “Just general speculation. Does it actually exist? And if it does, what happened to it?”

  I shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  He looked at me for a second. “Right. Well, I’m glad to see you back, McKinley.”

  “Good to see you, too.” And I actually meant it. Who would have thought I would ever be happy to see Doyle?

  He hesitated for a moment before speaking. “Are you doing better now that you’re back home?”

  “Yes, running away wasn’t my smartest move.”

  He shrugged. “You’re human, you’re going to make mistakes, but you learn from them.”

  “Are you sure you shouldn’t be a shrink, Doyle?”

  He grinned. “I’ll think about it.”

  * * *

  On my way back to the office, Doc called. She had information about the energy balls that had been used on the limo, so I detoured over to the facility. When I walked into the lab, she sat at a table in the corner working on her laptop. She looked up and smiled. Once again I was bowled over by her beauty.

  “Woman, you should be declared illegal.”

  She laughed. “I actually was hunted for several centuries. It’s frowned upon to suck life energy out of people.”

  I almost made a flip remark, but the humor of her words didn’t reach her eyes. For a second they looked haunted.

  “And what have you found out about the energy balls?”

  “Misha was right. They were generated by Haltrap demons. Do you know much about them?”

  “Not too much, I had a run-in with one in Nevada. Had to shoot him when he wouldn’t listen to me.”

  “You’ll have to tell me that story some time.” She stood and walked over to another table to pour herself a cup of coffee. She held up the pot, and I shook my head before she set it down and continued. “Haltraps live in the Southwest since they hate cold and damp weather. The men in the clan are dominant. Haltraps are pretty powerful in the realm of demon. I would rate them a six or seven on a ten-point scale.”

  “What are their main powers?”

  “Energy balls, some telepathy, brute strength. They aren’t exactly the smartest demons on the block, so instead of running things, they’re usually demons-for-hire. They are highly materialistic.”

  “Yeah, it sounds like the one I dealt with.”

  “Don’t underestimate them, Kyle. They’re dangerous.”

  “Why would they come to Ohio in February?”

  “They would have to be highly motivated. Someone probably offered them a lot of money.”

  I walked over to the table. “This case is getting more confusing by the minute. I don’t see poachers hiring demons to attack Griffin.”

  “Maybe there are more players involved than we know,” Doc replied.

  “Can you email your findings to Misha?”

  “Already done.” She turned to me. “I could have sent this to you as well. You didn’t have to make a special trip.”

  I shrugged. “Maybe I missed you.”

  She grinned. “More like you’re stir crazy. You’re one of the least patient humans I know.”

  “But you still love me.”

  “Yes, but you’re high maintenance.”

  My mouth dropped open. “I’m not high maintenance.”

  Doc continued, “I don’t mean you want things. Emotionally you’re high-maintenance. How are things going with you and Griffin?”

  I glared at her for a moment. “We’re at a standstill. What about you and Jason?”

  “There is no me and Jason.”

  “So you’re dating someone else?”

  Doc crossed her arms. “No, I haven’t dated anyone in months.”

  “Months? Won’t you implode if you don’t hav
e sex?”

  She laughed. “No, I won’t implode. I’m old enough now to go for longer periods without sex. Didn’t Misha explain this to you when he described the demon clans?”

  “He didn’t spend too much time on Succubus demons. He said you are the only one he’s ever met.”

  “What would you like to know?”

  “Can you, in fact, kill someone when you have sex with them?”

  “Why am I not surprised you jumped right to the hard questions?”

  “Sorry…if you don’t want to talk about it.”

  “No, I’m fine with it. Yes, Succubi can kill through sex by absorbing too much life force from our partner. But we don’t have to. Once we understand how to control our hunger, the sexual act becomes an exchange of energies for us. I take energy from the humans I date, but I also give them something in return.”

  I swallowed. “So you don’t date supes?”

  “I can’t exchange energies with other demons unless they’re part of my clan, and those are few and far between. And, as you know, vampires and demons do not mix well.”

  “What about shifters?” I asked, and then held my breath.

  Doc’s face tightened. “Shifters are too much of a temptation. Their energy is pure and can be highly addictive. The risk is too high that I might take too much.”

  My chest tightened. I had to tell her about Jason. But was it right to tell her before I had even talked to him? I gritted my teeth. He deserved to know first. So my discussion with Sabrina would have to wait. Damn.

  Chapter 30

  “It’s time to tell Jason,” I announced when I walked into Griffin’s office. He was sitting behind his desk reviewing some paperwork. Luckily he was alone.

  He set his papers down. “Has something happened?”

  “Not yet, but he needs to know. What else have you found out?”

  “He does have shifter in his DNA makeup. Jensen is attempting to match it to our database, but it takes time.”

  I sat down in his guest chair. “I hate waiting.”

  “That is very apparent.”

  “I feel like a rat keeping it from him. Plus, if he asks me point-blank if something is wrong, he’ll know I’m lying.”

  Griffin sat quietly for a moment before responding. “When do you want to tell him?”

  “Tonight?”

  “Bring him to the house, and we’ll tell him together. How do you think he’ll take it?”

  “I honestly don’t know. Six months ago, he hated everything supernatural and now…” I hesitated.

  “Go on.”

  “Now he’s accepting of supes, but it doesn’t necessarily mean he wants to be one.”

  “So we need to be as gentle as possible.”

  I grimaced. “You may need to do the talking, then.” My phone rang before Griffin could respond. “It’s Jason. Do you think he knows we’re talking about him?”

  Griffin shook he head. “Shifters aren’t psychic, Kyle.”

  I answered the phone. “Hello.”

  “Hey, Bruce just called; we’re on for tonight with the poachers.”

  “Tonight? Why so soon?”

  “They mentioned the hunting was better at night.”

  “Bastards. Do we have the details about where he’s going?”

  “They wouldn’t give him the address. Gave him some BS about it being off the beaten track and they would pick him up at a truck stop in Ashtabula county.”

  “I’m not liking this at all.”

  “Me, neither,” Jason responded. “But it’s our best chance to catch them. We’re meeting at the office to prepare. Where are you?”

  “I’m at Griffin’s.” I stood. “I’ll be there in thirty.”

  Griffin pushed back his chair and stood as well. “We’ll be there in thirty.”

  Before I could open my mouth to argue, he plowed on.

  “I heard everything…you know, shifter ears? If you think I’m going to sit around and not be involved in this, you don’t know me well enough yet.”

  “They’re trying to kill you. Why would we take you into the middle of a war zone?”

  “How can I let others risk their lives if I won’t do it myself? You have a human going in undercover, and he doesn’t even know what he’s truly up against. I’m going.”

  My breath left me in a hard rush. “Your security will not allow it.”

  “Fine, I’ll bring my guard.”

  “You trust him?”

  “Implicitly.”

  “Don’t tell anyone else where you’re going. I still think you may have a traitor here somewhere.”

  His eyes narrowed on mine before he nodded. “Give me five minutes.”

  * * *

  Jean Luc, Jason, Griffin, and I sat in the SUV. Griffin’s guard, Nathan, stood outside with Misha, watching him set up the long-range night camera on a tripod and aim it down the hill. Bruce and the other hunters had arrived a little over twenty minutes earlier and started a campfire. We arrived minutes later, circled around their spot, and parked out of sight.

  Misha signaled Jason, who made adjustments to the computer until the camera images appeared on the screen. “Good to go.” He gave Misha the thumbs-up, and both men scrambled back inside.

  We turned to the screen and watched the scene below. Besides Bruce, who was conspicuously empty-handed, there were three men standing around with rifles. One was Ken, and the other two were the ones who had met Bruce at the Steak House. Their faces glowed eerily in the light of the campfire as they stood in a semicircle.

  I watched nervously. “Thank God they didn’t search Bruce. We took a big risk sending him in with a tracking beacon and microphone.”

  Jean Luc spoke up. “It would have been more risky if we had not had a way to follow him.”

  Bruce’s voice interrupted our conversation, coming through loud and clear over the microphone. “Okay, guys, when do we start?”

  Ken answered, “Soon. We have to wait for a few more, and then we’ll be set.”

  Bruce continued. “Deer season is over, what are we hunting?”

  The three men smirked, and the older one answered. “You’ll see soon enough.”

  Misha turned to look at us. “The one speaking is Tony DeMarco. I was able to ID him from the photos I took.”

  “What’s his background?” Griffin asked.

  “He’s an ex-cop. Based on my research, I’d say he’s dirty, but since the force couldn’t pin anything definitive on him, he was asked to take early retirement instead of facing prosecution. The other guy is Ronald Palmer. He’s a security guy who doesn’t hold his liquor very well.”

  Now I was even more confused. “This is the group who’s behind the attempt on Griffin? I don’t buy it.”

  Misha continued. “Every one of them is a member of the local gun club. I think it’s how they met. I also think Mark Brennan was the leader of the group until he was killed.”

  “Now who’s in charge?” I asked.

  Jason motioned to the screen. “We may find out shortly.”

  A dark van stopped near the campfire. Three men climbed out and walked over to the group.

  After a second, Griffin tensed. “We’re downwind from them, right?”

  “Yeah, why?” Misha answered.

  “Because there’s a shifter down there.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  “Yes. The tall one to the left is Simon Drummond, he’s a shifter. I’m not sure about the other two.”

  “Why would a shifter be helping poachers?” Jason asked.

  Griffin’s voice lowered. “He apparently has a death wish.”

  Before anyone could ask Griffin more questions, Simon yanked open the back doors to the van, and I gasped. Inside was a cowering, naked man in a cage.

  Bruce barked, “What the hell is going on?”

  Ken stepped toward him. “Don’t act so shocked, Bruce. You were Special Forces for years; you’ve killed before.”

  “Not an innocent man!”


  DeMarco spoke up. “What about a monster?”

  Bruce shook his head. “I don’t care what this guy did. You don’t cage him like an animal.”

  The men chuckled.

  Simon glanced around quickly at the rest of the men. “Do we have a problem?”

  Ken answered him. “No, we just need to show Bruce what we’re dealing with.”

  The shifter jerked his chin to the others and they opened the cage, yanking the crouching man out onto the ground and kicking him in the side. The strength of the kick forced him to roll over onto his back.

  Griffin sucked in his breath and reached for the door. “That’s Gil Turner, he’s part of my pack.”

  I grabbed his arm. “Wait. If you run down there, they might kill him before we can help.”

  Griffin growled, and I handed an earpiece to Jean Luc. “Get closer so you can intervene.” Jean Luc flashed out of the car.

  Griffin turned to his guard. “Go with him and stay downwind.”

  Nathan nodded and got out. When I glanced behind the car, he’d dropped out of sight, and seconds later, a large animal loped down the hill. “What is he?” I whispered.

  Jason had watched the transformation, and he answered me wide-eyed. “Panther.”

  I turned back to the computer screen. Gil tried to stand and spoke to the tall shifter in front of him. “Why are you doing this?”

  “Shut up!” Simon backhanded him, and he fell to his hands and knees. When Gil looked up again, his eyes were glowing light green.

  Bruce backed up a step. “Holy shit.”

  Ken laughed. “Not so sure of his innocence now, are you?”

  “What the hell is he?”

  DeMarco answered. “An abomination, and it’s our job to rid the world of him and his kind.” He took a step closer to Gil. “Change.”

  Gil shook his head. “No.”

  Simon smiled. “Just as well; we wanted to try the new stuff anyway. Hold him down.”

  Griffin reached for the door again and would have flung himself outside if Misha hadn’t sent the van tearing down the hill. I watched the scene unfold on the screen as we bounced over ruts and continued toward the group.

  Two men pushed Gil’s head to the ground and one of them produced a syringe and jammed it into the shifter’s thigh. Gil jerked in agony and started to change, his body actually rippling as if water flowed beneath the surface. Skin gave way to fur, and fingers sprouted claws. Within seconds, he had transformed into a leopard, but something was wrong. He couldn’t hold his shape. He shimmered between his human and animal self, an inhuman bellow ripping from his chest.