by Meg Ripley
Two men stood at the top of the hill, checking their watches and spatting impatiently.
“How long you reckon it’ll be?” This came from a short, skinny man with a shaved head Delilah had seen at the summit. Kelso had introduced him as Mark. He paced in a circle, puffing out his chest and slamming one fist into another.
“Shut up. It’s not like our job is all that hard. All we have to do is wait.” The woman was the complete opposite of her partner. She was tall and dark, with her hair in tiny braids that reached to her waist. She exuded strength and patience as she stood with one foot slightly forward, ready for action as she glared at Mark. Delilah thought the woman’s name was Edira.
“I don’t like waiting,” Mark replied with a pout. “I’m ready for some action.”
Edira placed her hands on her hips, looking every bit like a gymnast preparing for an Olympic run. She glanced down at the ground between them. “I think you’ve had enough for tonight.”
Delilah heard a low rumble as she spotted the limp form. It was President Whiteside. He still wore the same suit he’d had on during the summit, but it’d become rumpled, dirty, and torn during his abduction. A massive bruise showed darkly against his skin even in the dim light, and blood trickled down his temple. Delilah realized the low rumble was coming from her own throat.
The two enemy shifters swirled, caught unawares just as Vance had planned, and Delilah let her primal impulses take over. Her claws dug into the ground, giving her traction as she shot forward and leaped into the air. She barreled into Edira’s chest, sending her flying backward. Mark jumped ahead to protect her, but Vance was too fast. The male cougar was too heavy and strong for a human. He slashed his claws across the man’s throat, sending a dark spray out across the grass. Mark’s hands swiped uselessly through the air before he dropped to his knees, his eyes rolling back in his head.
Edira was still fighting with Delilah on top of her. She swung and kicked, her long legs landing several blows to the cougar’s back legs and flanks. Delilah liked to think she had the advantage, and she sank her teeth into the woman’s neck. The warm, salty jet of blood made her gag, but she glanced at Whiteside and bit down harder. If this bitch had allowed him to be harmed, then she didn’t deserve to live.
A set of thin fingers wrapped around Delilah’s ear and twisted. Howling in pain with her mouth full of flesh, Delilah refused to let go. She didn’t need to, as Vance appeared from his fight with Mark and sank his own teeth into the offending limb. Edira let go, and her body went limp.
Delilah backed away, angry and bloodthirsty, but there was no one else to fight. She flicked her tail in agitation as she turned in a slow circle waiting for the next adversary to show. Surely, they didn’t leave him out there with only two to guard him.
I’ll stand guard. You go to him.
Knowing Vance had her back allowed Delilah to focus her attention on Whiteside. Seeing him laying there like that drained the fight out of her and replaced it with pity and regret as she paced toward him. Her claws retracted as she reached out to touch him, the toes on her paws lengthening to fingers as she desperately hoped for some sign of life. Her tail reabsorbed into her body, and pain took over her joints as her human form adjusted to the trauma of the battle she’d just gone through. Sound popped and echoed in her ears as they returned to their rightful places, but she ignored it as she knelt next to the president.
Whiteside groaned and his body tensed. With his eyes still shut, he thought his attackers were still with him.
“It’s all right, Harris. It’s me. Delilah.” She touched his face, frowning at the wound on his temple. “Vance and I are both here. And we’re going to get you some help. I promise.”
He reached out blindly for her hand, and when she took it, he opened his eyes. “Delilah. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” she reprimanded gently. “None of this is your fault. We’ll go home and we’ll get an army together. We’ll defend our territory against these lunatics, and we won’t let them get away with this.”
A tear slid from the president’s eye and down his temple, lingering for a moment against his skin before it fell to the grass. “I’m sorry,” he repeated.
“Stop that,” she soothed. “Everything is going to be all right.”
Vance was behind her now, and even though she didn’t turn to look at him, she was aware he was in human form. She didn’t feel his presence in her head in the same way. “I can hear the chopper. Max can track my location, so he’ll be here any minute.”
“There, see?” Delilah said to Whiteside. “We’ll get you to the hospital and you’ll be fine.”
“No.” He shook his head slightly and winced from the pain. “You’ve got to find Rose.”
Her blood reversed in her veins. “What did you say?”
It took an eternity for Whiteside to speak again. He swallowed and panted, gripping her hand harder. “They didn’t just get me,” he muttered. “They wanted as much influence over you as possible, so you’d give in. I heard them. They went to get Rose.”
Vance was crouched next to her, rage rolling off him in waves. His voice was hoarse. “What did he just say?”
Delilah felt as though her jaws were glued together. Her eyes were aimed at a random spot on Whiteside’s chest, but she wasn’t seeing anything in front of her. She was three hours away, holding Rose in her arms and savoring the feeling of cradling her sweet baby. “No.”
Whiteside’s grip tightened on her hand, and his eyes opened further with great effort. “Don’t worry about me, Delilah. You’ve got to get her. For her sake and for the sake of the conclave.”
A blast of wind brought her back to the present as the chopper landed close by. She ground her teeth together as she and Vance carefully lifted the president and moved him into the aircraft.
“Sorry guys,” Max called over the whir of the blades. “Had some mechanical issues.”
“That’s okay.” Vance slid the door shut and clapped the pilot on the shoulder. “We’ve got a bigger problem on our hands.”
9
“I can’t believe we didn’t think about this.” Delilah sat in one of the mismatched chairs in the waiting room, her head on her hands. “Why didn’t we put her in the hands of someone more trained? Some sort of…bodyguard or something?”
She’d been sick and dizzy ever since Vance had called a sobbing Caroline and confirmed that someone had taken the baby. He felt the same way, but he couldn’t show it. Delilah needed him right now, and Rose needed both of them. “We had no way of knowing. We thought the trip to Austin was a political situation, not a hostage negotiation. It’s obvious Kelso is determined to get one over on the Dallas conclave one way or another, and he’ll do anything he can think of to make it happen.”
When she lifted her head, her red-rimmed eyes were full of hatred. “He’s going to fucking pay for this.”
He rested a hand on her shoulder, both proud of her and determined to protect her. “I know. He will.”
“So what do we do?” Delilah sniffed and wiped her face on a tissue. “We can’t just sit here.”
They’d remained at the hospital after getting Whiteside admitted. Delilah was ready to run right back out the door, but Vance knew that wasn’t going to do them much good at the moment. “We’ve got to wait for the intelligence reports to get back to us. It won’t help to run around like chickens with our heads cut off, darlin’. Have a little to eat and drink, and Max can get us anywhere we need to go just as soon as we’ve got word.” The pilot was on the roof of the hospital now, where he kept tools for working on the helicopter. Considering it was his mate who’d created the medical center, he had everything he needed.
“It just seems like we should be doing something.”
“I know, Delilah. I know.” His own heart twisted in his chest at the thought of his baby girl. Was she crying somewhere, scared at being with strangers? Did Kelso himself have her? What lengths might that crackpot have gone to
in order to get Whiteside and Delilah to cooperate? He didn’t want to know, not really.
His phone beeped, and he whipped it out of his pocket and to his ear in an instant. “Yeah?”
He expected Jack, or maybe even Hudson from the D.C. unit, but the voice on the other end made his skin crawl. “Mr. Morris, how quickly you answer your phone. It’s almost as though you expected my call.”
If he could’ve transformed into some creature that could leap through the phone and come out on the other end to rip out President Kelso’s throat, then he absolutely would have. “Where’s my daughter, Kelso?”
The breathy laugh made the skin around Vance’s ear crawl. “You think it’s all so simple as that? I tell you where we are, and then you show up and kill us all? Is that it? Just like you did when you ‘saved’ President Whiteside? Oh, no, my dear boy. There’s much more to it than that.”
He gritted his jaw. Vance had been through some training on hostage negotiation, but they never told him what to do if his own offspring were in danger. “It doesn’t have to be like this, Kelso. We can talk. Just tell me where to meet you.” And then I’ll rip your black heart right out of your fucking chest.
“Yes, talking is exactly what I’d like to do, but not with you. I need Delilah. She’s the one in charge of the conclave and thus in charge of your territory right now. She’s the one who can make me the deal I want.”
“Just say where.” He felt the resistance of his body against sending Delilah anywhere to talk to this man. Vance would just as soon keep her out of it if he could, but he knew it would never happen. She wanted to fight for Rose just as badly as he did, and for the moment, Kelso had the upper hand.
“Oh, not far from you, really. I didn’t want to wait around for you to get back to Austin, so we stayed in your area. I’ve got a nice little place by Lavon Lake. I’ll send you the address, but I’m very serious about how we do this. I want Delilah and only her. No SOS Force. No crazy tactics. You hear me?”
Vance turned away and pounded his fist against the wall. He knew Delilah was watching him, but it was hard to keep himself together. There was so much at stake. “This is my daughter we’re talking about.”
Kelso sighed audibly. “Fine. I knew you’d show up anyway, so I suppose we can make it a formal invitation. I’ll be here waiting for you.” The phone went dead.
Delilah was already on her feet when Vance turned back around. “Let’s go.”
The sedan bumped over the pitted gravel road. Vance had been expecting a place similar to the house in Austin where they’d initially met Kelso. After all, there were plenty of nice houses out in that area. He could even set aside the fact that anyone from the Austin conclave owned a piece of property in this territory for the moment, but it disturbed him deeply as he pulled up in front of the abandoned farmhouse.
Dark shadows of former flames licked around the windows on the second story, indicating a fire had run through the place at some point. An old sun porch on the east side was crumbling in on itself, and even the porch boards didn’t look safe enough to walk on. He shivered at the thought of his baby girl being in a place like this.
“Max and Jack are working their way here on foot,” he said to Delilah, who’d been gripping the oh-shit bar over the door for the entire drive. “Max wanted to drop us off in the chopper, but this was the safest way to make sure Kelso didn’t do anything drastic. They’ll keep an eye on things, and we’ll have them nearby just in case.”
She pulled in a shuddering breath. “I just hope Kelso doesn’t find out they’re there ahead of time. There’s no telling how many people he might’ve stationed around this place. With as many surprises as he’s already thrown us, I expect more.”
“I’d really like to disagree with you.” Vance unbuckled his seat belt and got out, waiting for Delilah to shut her door before he advanced on the house. “Remember what we went over. Just tell him whatever he wants to hear to get Rose back. Nobody is going to hold you to what you say to him under duress. You can promise him the whole Lone Star State if he asks it, and we’ll sort those details out later.”
Her fists were curled as she marched forward alongside him, her face hard and serious. Vance had thought she was rather severe when he’d first encountered her at the rodeo, but she’d been lighthearted compared to the way she was now. “If Kelso gets out of this alive, I’m going to destroy him.”
“I know.” And he did. Vance thought of himself as the trained killer, the one who’d gone overseas into enemy territory to fight for everything he was worth with the Green Berets. If he’d made a tally mark for every man who fell at his hands, it’d take too long to count them. Now, though, he started to wonder if the U.S. Army should’ve been sending angry mothers to the Middle East instead of young boys.
They stepped carefully up onto the porch, but there was no need to knock. A man with a scarred face swung the door open and held it wide, bidding them silently to enter. Vance wished for all the world that he could send Delilah away. She’d hate him for it, but at least he’d know she was safe.
They stepped into what had once been the living room of the place. Wooden floorboards warped and curled under the soles of his boots. Faded floral wallpaper hung in sagging strips, and the remains of the tumbledown fireplace hadn’t been used in decades. Someone had moved some old furniture into the place, but the scarred man remained standing near the door. Another man—this one with shaggy hair and his arms covered in tattoos—stood in the opposite corner.
Footsteps echoed and Kelso strode into the room. He’d taken off his suit jacket and wore his white button-down and trousers. What Vance noticed more than anything, however, was the bundle of pink blankets in his arms.
Delilah gasped, and Vance impulsively reached out to put his hand on her forearm. The last thing he needed was for her to dart forward, although he understood just how badly she wanted to do it. There was nothing more powerful than the pull of family, no matter how much he’d tried to deny that just a few months ago. Everything—his entire world—was there in that room, and he had to make sure he got them back out safely. He’d never forgive himself if he didn’t.
“Well, well. So nice of you to come,” Kelso said with a grin that tweaked the ends of his thick mustache upwards. “I’m afraid I’m a terrible host. I can’t even offer you a cup of tea.”
“Just tell us what you want,” Delilah demanded. “Let’s get this over with.”
Kelso raised his eyebrows in mock surprise. “Is that how you conduct business in your conclave, Ms. Henderson? I have to say, it’s not very polite. I thought perhaps we should chat a bit about what’s best for each of our territories and how we’ll get to that point. You know, the kind of conversation we should’ve been having at our little summit before your president began flinging accusations.”
“There was something being flung all right, and accusations were the least of it,” Delilah replied. Her feet had remained firmly rooted to her spot on the floor, but Vance could tell it was taking all her resolve to keep them there. He couldn’t blame her, considering he wanted nothing more than to tackle the man and take their child. They had to hold off for the most opportune time, and he hoped Delilah would remember that.
President Kelso shook his head. “You’ve got a bit of a temper. Let’s hope we can cool that down. Please, have a seat.” He gestured grandly at a battered sofa as though it were an antique Chesterfield.
The cushions sank underneath their weight, raising their knees toward their chests, and Vance narrowed his eyes at their opponent. Kelso was doing every tiny thing he could do make sure they were at a disadvantage, including keeping them from jumping up too quickly. Even more so than before, they’d have to make sure they waited for the right moment to act.
“All right,” Delilah said, crossing her legs at the knees and looking as proper as a vice president could in such conditions. “I’m listening.”
“You and your president, as I said, have made several accusations against me and m
y conclave.” As was apparently his habit, Kelso paced as he talked.
The motion pleased Rose as she slept in his arms, but it still made Vance’s skin crawl to see his child in that man’s grip.
“While I can’t say that we’ve always been perfect, I must point out that you don’t understand the deeper work we have going on. You see a man who’s knocking over convenience stores. I see a man who’s testing the waters, finding out where the faults are in our current systems. Just how governed are shifters these days? Do we truly have control over them? Are they getting everything they need out of our current—and very loose, I might add—system of government? Are we spending so much time hiding our identities from humans that we’re forgetting who we really are?”
Several lines appeared around the corners of Delilah’s mouth as she pursed her lips. “And what is it you’d like to do to change that?”
“I’m glad you asked!” His dark eyes saw a vision that existed only in his mind as he swept his free hand through the air and laid it all out for them. “You see, the humans of this country are kept apart by many things. City limits and state borders, political parties, even their favorite football teams. But they’re all Americans, and there is one person who is their leader, no matter who they’re cheering for or who they voted for.”
“The President of the United States,” Delilah said, playing along.
“Exactly!” Kelso held one finger in the air. “It might not always be the man or woman they chose, but that person is the leader of the free world. The president is revered in an extraordinary way, and despite the limits of checks and balances, he has an incredible amount of power. I think it’s about time we put that power in the hands of the shifters.”
“Wait a second.” Vance glanced at Delilah and then back at President Kelso. “Are you saying you want to run for president? As in, of the country?” It was ridiculous. Never had a shifter held that position in the history of the U.S., and for a very good reason. There were too many eyes watching such an important person, and the chances of their secret getting out would increase exponentially.