by A. C. Arthur
He grabbed his shirt pulling it from his pants and lifted it over his head. “If you say so.”
Bare chested Keller in the middle of a bedroom agreeing to get into a bed with her was a totally different story than how she’d perceived this night would end. She turned away quickly and went to her bag that he’d brought into the bedroom because a distraction was needed.
“I’m going to close and lock this door,” he said from behind her. “There’s a bathroom around that corner and nobody can see through these windows.”
She nodded and pulled out shorts and a nightshirt, debating whether she should be as bold as he was and change right in front of him. Tucking them beneath her arm she turned in the direction of the bathroom because she may have used her supply of bravado for the night. The persistent press of her cat had her pausing a few steps before turning the corner to the bathroom. She changed direction and went to the side of the bed instead.
Keller was pulling the belt through the loops on his pants and she dropped the night clothes onto the bed before taking a quick breath. Without another moment’s hesitation she lifted her shirt over her head. Because she’d worn no bra her nipples grew hard the moment cool air hit them, but she kept moving, leaning down to untie and take off her boots, before unbuttoning her pants and pushing them down her legs. She pulled on the shorts and nightshirt and then put her other clothes back into her bag before returning to the bed. When she looked up again, Keller was still standing in the same spot, one part of his belt in his hand, the other hanging down to the floor.
He watched her ease back the thick comforter and slip beneath it and the sheet. She felt naked beneath his gaze, although she was dressed and covered by bedding. His piercing stare went straight through her and the cat inside preened with desire.
“Do you sleep on the right side or the left?”
It was an oddly comfortable question to ask this shifter she’d known from a distance for three months and was now about to share a bed with.
“Either is fine.” The words were spoken tightly as he finally looked away from her and finished undressing.
It was her turn to watch him unbutton his pants then sit down on the bed to lean over and work on his boots. Muscles in his back bunched and she licked her lips at the thought of dropping open-mouth kisses down the line of his spine. The tattoo on his right shoulder caught her gaze before she could go into anymore salacious thoughts about jumping on him. Well, not exactly because in the next seconds she’d pushed the comforter and sheet back and was crawling across the expansive bed until she reached him. Her hand was moving, fingers shaking slightly as she touched the black ink etched into his skin.
The Bosinian insignia was different from the Topètenia one she’d seen on her father, mother and Nisa. He went still at her touch but did not tell her to stop. She continued her perusal, dragging her fingers along the outside circle made of three thin lines. Inside that circle was the profile of a cougar, its teeth bared in a ferocious growl. The tattoo was all black ink except for the eye of the cat, which was green, almost exactly like his. Around the circle were sharp-tipped tribal markings that formed an outer perimeter that marked the only resemblance to the Topètenia insignia. Each of the Shadow tribes had their own mark, but those particular etchings were a signature of the Gungi rainforest, their home.
“Show me yours,” he said without turning back to look at her.
Shya pulled her hand away from him quickly and sat back on her knees. When she didn’t respond he stood and removed his pants. He wore gray and white striped boxers that rode low on his hips so that now she could see even more of his olive-hued skin and magnificent muscles.
“I know you’re not shy.”
She shook her head and then cleared her throat. “Not really. I don’t have a tattoo.”
He frowned and she felt a quick stab in her chest. How was he going to react to this admission? She had no clue but she prayed it wasn’t pity, she couldn’t take any more of that tonight.
“My parents were afraid the ink might cause more damage to my already compromised health. So, when everyone else went through their acordado and had received their tattoo after that first shift, I didn’t.”
He continued to watch her, and she resisted the urge to clasp her hands.
“I spent most of my fourteenth year in the medical center being monitored by my mother and other curanderos until my shift finally came. They had me hooked up to so many machines by that point I thought I might kill myself by turning into a jaguar. Instead, my cat broke most of those annoying machines. I guess it knew how sick and tired I was of all the attention to my health.”
He folded his arms over his chest, an act that made those his biceps look bigger, stronger.
She’d never told this story before and wasn’t sure why she was doing so now, but figured it was going to be way more awkward to stop without finishing, so she continued.
“The cat destroyed a good portion of that room before it calmed down enough to lay down and rest. I could see through its eyes, the fear and concern on my parents faces. My mother had been there when it began but she’d had to call for my dad and when he came he’d looked terrified. I hated seeing them like that, but then again, I was used to it because whenever they looked at me, it was the same.” And so was the pain that came with that look. The hurt that was so deeply embedded in her that it was a part of her like another limb. Hurt because she was not what they expected and they didn’t believe she ever could be.
“My father almost shifted when one of the curanderos suggested they use a tranquilizer to sedate me. My mother was the one who calmed him, while Nisa came over to help me. She did that a lot and it made being different much easier.”
“But now she’s gone.”
His voice almost startled her even though she knew he was there. She’d just been so in to telling this part of her story that she’d felt as if she were talking to herself and not him.
“I changed before she left. I mean, I started to feel different about my life before she met Decan and moved away.” That was true enough, the more frequently the pain came, the more Shya knew she had to take her chance on living the life she wanted before it was too late.
She did look down at her hands then because emotion was starting to overwhelm her—fear of what living the life she wanted might bring, hurt because she knew her parents would be furious that she hadn’t shared the change in her physical condition with them, and worry because she really had no idea how all of this was going to turn out.
“Move over,” he said gruffly.
The change in his tone irritated her cat and she frowned at him before crawling back to her side of the bed and getting under the comforter and sheet again. This time she rolled onto her side and pulled them up to her neck, refusing to say another word or even look back at him. But she didn’t have to, because a few seconds later the light in the room went out and Keller came up behind her. Wrapping an arm around her waist he pulled her back against him.
That’s how they fell asleep—with him holding her close and her deciding to enjoy the moment and to think about the rest later.
He vaguely knew this place. Remnants of the buildings that used to stand tall and prestigious on this very street were abandoned and bleak. Everything down this street and wherever he went in this new world looked this way, it had for a very long time. All color had been washed away so that the sky appeared to be a dusky gray even during the daylight hours and at night grew to the most ominous black. Buildings, cars, roads, windows, everything looked ashen and rundown. That wasn’t how he remembered it, but it was the present.
His arms shook while his legs moved the rest of his body along as if it were in a trance. He’d found clothes by breaking through a store window and knocking down displays until his eyes could see something that might fit. This place had a better selection than those he’d encountered before, and now he walked the streets with jeans that fell over the top of boots he’d laced up tight. The shirt fit c
ompletely over his arms and did not split when he lifted them up into the air.
The cat hated clothes. It hated confinement. Hated walking upright. Hated this life it had been forced to live.
Until it picked up a scent.
Sweet, like peaches and cream and his body jerked with the flash of memory. He’d loved peaches and cream because it was soft and tasted so good when he touched and licked…it was everything pure and good…and honest. He stopped walking, needing to hold onto that scent for just a moment longer. Where was it coming from? Who did it belong to? He had no idea, but he needed to find out.
There was a car to his left, parked at the curb with nobody inside. He walked over to it and kicked in each window, sticking his head inside and inhaling deeply. The scent was still tickling his nostrils, but not from here. He turned to the right and looked up at the building. Half of it was gone, but the structure still stood. All those windows were already broken out so that a scent couldn’t hide inside, it would have to be released. He pushed through the door that was barely hanging onto its hinges. A few steps inside there were steps and he ran up them so fast that he never felt his feet touching the dilapidated wood. It wasn’t until he was five flights up that he stopped because the scent was strongest there. But this was where half the structure was missing so that the sky could be seen if he looked in one direction and a wall bubbled from fire in the other.
The scent was here, another deep inhale reinforced that fact and he walked across the broken floor without any thought to safety. He only needed to find the origination of the scent, to hold it again, touch it, whisper to it the way he used to. But there was nothing, not until he came to the very edge of the floor, where it dropped into nothing. The weakened planks whined beneath his weight but he didn’t back away. He couldn’t. It was too familiar, every inhale coming now too essential to walk away from.
He needed…and he’d never needed anything before.
He hungered…and starving had never been a problem for him before.
He tossed his head back and roared until he hoped the sound echoed from city to city. And then he fell.
The floor gave way and his body tumbled down with the wood and debris. The sensation of being adrift was new and he welcomed the promise of finding that scent if he just kept falling. Maybe it would be wherever he landed, then he could touch it again, stroke it, kiss it…because she would be there. She would be in his arms, belonging to him once again.
Chapter 8
Oasis
The Next Day
After Midnight
“Jace and Amelia will stay here while we go above ground. You and Bas make sure your Lead Enforcers have their assignments and check in with them regularly. Once the press conference is finished tomorrow, we’ll make contact and head to the cabin. Beginning next week, groups of one hundred will migrate above ground through each zone, every three days.” Rome stood at the head of the table in his private conference room a few minutes past midnight. For the last few months this had been the preferred meeting time for the Assembly leadership because it was when they achieved the most privacy.
“Send encrypted messages to Lead Enforcers only so that the moves can be organized and supervised. After the meeting earlier, talk will be spreading like wildfire throughout Oasis, we don’t want widespread panic so make sure that your Leads are giving correct and stabilizing information.”
Jace looked around the room, noting Eli and Ezra appearing more than eager to get above ground. Rome was taking them, along with Nick and X with him. Kalina, Ary and X’s mate Caprise would follow in a few days. Nivea and Ezra’s mate, Jewel, would lead the first group from the east coast back to their previous homes. Bas, Jace and Decan who Rome had not included in this meeting because he was still new to the position of FL, would stay in Oasis and coordinate with Rome regarding the moves. The Shadow Shifters were returning to the world to live alongside the humans, not beneath them as they’d been doing for the last twenty years.
But just as things had changed down here, Jace was certain they were different up there. He’d seen it for himself when he’d been looking for Cole. Everything had changed from the way things looked and operated to the government structure that they’d once known. Staying down here was never meant to last forever but going back too soon would have cost them too many lives. He hoped now wasn’t still too soon.
Beneath the table she touched a hand to his knee, somehow knowing what he was thinking. It was that way with Amelia, had been for a while now. Things left unspoken because there didn’t need to be any words. She knew how he governed the Pacific Zone and she worked alongside him as if she were meant to be there. Twenty years ago, that thought would have never crossed his mind and he wasn’t certain he wanted it there now.
“The Ruling Cabinet’s going to name their new leader on Thursday. There’s going to be some resistance. Rallies and protests have already started down in Miami.” Dorian Wilson with his now heavily salt and peppered hair and beard spoke from the other end of the table.
Dorian had formerly worked for the U.S. government agency called the Federal Bureau of Investigation. After the assassination of the president, that agency had been dismantled by the Ruling Cabinet and now a couple hundred who had been committed to their country and their job at the FBI, had formed a consulting firm in Washington D.C. which was a cover for their continued intel work. Dorian’s specialty there was the Shadow Shifters because he was closer to them than any other human at the firm would ever get.
“That’s why we’re keeping Mackey locked up tight down here,” X said.
“Wouldn’t it make more sense to take him with you?” Amelia asked. “Showing he’s alive would likely stop the naming of another psychopath and continue to halt the fanatical group’s movement.”
Jace was just as shocked as the rest of the shifters in the room that she’d spoken, but he didn’t show it. Instead, he waited for their reply.
“Or start an all-out war before we’re prepared to fight it,” Kalina replied, calmly.
The First Female’s cool gaze remained fixed on Amelia and Jace felt something savage stir inside of him.
“We’re going to take this in steps, just like we planned. Mackey’s going to stay here until we’re ready to play that card. We’ll have someone in place in Miami in time for their announcement, but it may not even be necessary since our press conference is scheduled for first thing tomorrow morning and Priya verified with some reporters she’s still in contact with that the Ruling Cabinet’s scheduled to make their announcement, the day after on Thursday, at five in the afternoon, “Rome stated firmly.
“What’s the significance of that time?” Jace asked because it had been gnawing at him since Rome had shared the information in a secured message on their comlink.
“For all we know there is none,” Priya stated. “My source only stated that the expected new leader, Tavarus Macombe, lives in Miami and that’s why the announcement is being held there.”
A fact which only made Jace more anxious.
“I think there’s more to it than that,” Amelia added. “They wouldn’t stage something like this in Miami just because the guy’s house is there.”
Jace agreed with her but from the looks the others were tossing his way they weren’t so sure. Either that or they were wondering why he’d brought his executive assistant to a private meeting in the first place. He was still trying to figure that one out. He’d already had sex with Amelia, more than once so he had to be keeping her around for work purposes. Right?
“We’re sending someone to Miami. They should be arriving tomorrow afternoon, so we’ll be covered down there if something jumps off,” Rome said, his gaze still on Jace. “Our agenda remains the same. We’re set to leave in six hours.”
Jace nodded and was about to stand from his seat when there was a quick knock at the door. With a nod from Rome, Ezra used the control panel to disengage the locks and seconds later the door flew open and Cam and Haven ran in.
“He’s dead!” Haven yelled.
“And Shya’s gone!” Cam added.
In that moment every bit of oxygen was sucked out of the room as Nick stood glaring at the young jaguars. “What. Did. You. Just. Say?”
The reinforced steel cell where Ewen Mackey had a cot, a table and one chair, all nailed to the cement floor, was filled with blood.
Splattered on the walls and in puddles on the floor. His body or what was left of it, had been removed by the curanderos half hour ago. Nick, Bas, Rome, Jace, X and Eli stood inside the room with the scent of putrid blood filling the space.
“Where the hell is she?”
Nick was almost whispering now. Ten minutes ago, he’d roared so loud he could probably be heard two bunkers away.
Eli stood beside the table, running the tips of his fingers over the cool steel top. “Cam and Haven said they saw her down here in the hallway earlier today.”
“Just before the meeting in the main hall,” X added.
Eli walked around the table, once and then again, his fingers still moving over the surface. “Zion said his last check on Mackey was at two-oh-five. Mackey was sitting at the table staring at the wall. He logged the time and findings into his board and checked the locks. He came up to the meeting and afterward went to his room where he stayed until dinner time. The next guard logged in his check time at four-fifteen, and again every hour until just forty-five minutes ago. Each time Mackey was alive.”
“Until this time when Cam and Haven went on duty and did their first check.” Bas stood with his legs spread hands fisted at his sides. “They’re normally on the perimeter checks at this time of night but they said they were re-assigned.”
X lifted his wrist and spoke into his comlink. “Get me the Enforcer on duty in sector twelve tonight.”