by A. C. Arthur
“You call this your house?” Blandings asked. “It looks more like warehouse or something that belongs in an industrial park. You just had this built in the last year, didn’t you? Why’d you go with this design in a residential area?”
“I like to be different,” Keller said and Shya could feel the moment the cat decided he was tired of the game.
“I’m planning to do all sorts of landscaping though. It’s going to be just as beautiful as the other palatial homes in this area. You’ll have to come back in about six months to see our progress, Sergeant Blandings.” She hoped her voice didn’t sound too over-the-top sugary sweet. She’d seen this done on a movie once and was giving it her best shot.
“If there are no more questions, officer, we’d like to get back inside. It’s a little chilly tonight,” Keller said tightly.
“That’s sergeant,” Blandings corrected and snapped the little black notebook he’d been holding, but not writing anything into, closed. “And tonight, is a breezy one. Guess that means the scent of dead bodies will travel.”
“Dead bodies? Oh my!” Shya fanned a hand in front of her face. “Who said anything about dead bodies?”
“I did,” Blandings snapped. “Because that’s way too much blood for someone to have just fallen off their bike and scraped their knee.”
Keller nodded. “Right, I see. That would make sense that the police were called for a suspicious amount of blood appearing on the sidewalk. Is that why all these cars rushed out here, to see where the blood came from?”
Blandings eyed them. “Like I said it’s too much blood and you two are new around here, but didn’t hear anything because you were ah, doing whatever it is you were doing in this big warehouse of yours.”
“Yes, we were,” Keller continued. “And if you don’t mind, we’d like to get back to what we were doing, Sergeant.”
He said the last in a tone that Shya was certain had irritated the cop. The red blotches immediately popping up on his face was proof of that. She stepped in front of Keller at that moment and lifted a hand to touch Blandings’ badge.
“What are you doing?” he asked in a huff.
“Just memorizing your badge number in case we need it in the future. Oh, and when you find out where all that blood came from, please let us know. If this isn’t a safe neighborhood, we might have to think about moving and I’d hate to get started with my landscaping just to pick up and go somewhere else.”
Blandings wrapped his fingers around her wrist and eased her hand away from him. Keller pushed her to the side before stepping into the guy’s face. “Don’t. Touch. Her.”
“Then keep your little toy on a leash,” Blandings shot back. “And don’t either of you worry, I’ll be back, sooner than you think.”
“And we’ll be here,” he shot back, the ammonia-like scent of his rage burning Shya’s nostrils.
The moment the door was closed he grabbed her by the arms pressing her back against it.
“Don’t ever do that again!”
“Do what? Help the situation by coming up with a clever ruse to throw the cops off the fact that we knew exactly what was going on a few feet from our house?”
“No!” he said lowering his face to hers. “Don’t ever tempt another man while you’re in front of me.”
Now that wasn’t what she’d expected to hear, especially since everything she’d done and said had been exactly what she’d just told him, a ruse. Yet, Keller was clearly seething with rage and a little something more that she’d never scented before.
“I was playing the part,” she said.
“You played it too well,” he replied, pressing his body against hers.
“And you were going to get us caught,” she countered before pushing him away from her. “His questions weren’t off the mark. It is insane that something happened right outside of this place and we didn’t hear anything. How could that be Keller?”
She walked across the empty space of the room because she needed to be away from him, to think straight for a moment. This night, these past few nights had been filled with so much up and down of emotions and thoughts that Shya wasn’t sure she could hold on much longer. A part of her was beginning to feel like maybe she’d bitten off more than she could chew. One minute she wanted to do something more, to know things that others didn’t want to tell her and to record those things on the off chance that they might mean something at some point. The next, she was on the conference room table all but begging Keller to take her virginity and now she was here, above ground seeing dead bodies, feeling the tension from four angry shifters and being treated to nice, caring Keller one minute and brooding, angry as hell Keller the next. She was bound to get whiplash from all the quick twists and turns going on in her life now.
“Because those people weren’t killed out front. Their throats weren’t yanked out here and just for the record, people don’t usually make a lot of noise when they no longer have a throat!”
She spun around because she didn’t like his sarcastic tone.
“No, they don’t but that only begs the question, why here? Why now? And who the hell would do something like this?”
The minute the question was out they both stopped.
“The Desert Cat,” she whispered.
“Cats don’t have red eyes,” he said. “I distinctly saw red eyes across the street. I chased it and saw red eyes again. I know I’m not mistaking that.”
“But Cole said it was killing indiscriminately. Why did he tell you that? What else do you know?”
She watched him pull back. A muscle in his jaw twitched and he clenched his fists before turning away and going to stand by a window.
“I’m going to go down and help them with the bodies. The police are pulling out now but they’ll be back and I’m certain Blandings is going to leave someone here to keep an eye on us.” He cursed. “So now that we’re gonna have an audience we have to be extra careful. I’m gonna have to call for another vehicle to be brought around to the back of the house.”
“And that’s it?” she asked folding her arms over her chest. “You get to keep all your secrets, but I’m supposed to spill my guts whenever you ask me a question. Is that how this works?”
“I don’t even know what “this” is!” he roared back in response before dragging his fingers through his hair.
Shya hadn’t physically jumped at the sound, but inside she’d startled. He was angry there was no doubt, but there was also pain, the eerie sour smell wafting through the air around him as he moved. The cinnamon scent she normally associated with Keller was now awash with these new scents, these different emotions that were now plaguing him and it both confused and intrigued her to the point she didn’t know what to do or say in response.
“Well, I don’t have any more answers for you either, Keller. You go and do what you need to do, and I’ll stay out of your way.” Of course, that was easier said than done especially since she was no longer in the place she’d called home and there was no one here on her side, no one who would understand what she was going through, especially not after all she’d done.
But no matter how confused and disenchanted she felt at this very moment, Shya was not a quitter, nor was she inclined to beg to be let into Keller’s life any more so than she’d already infiltrated it. She walked away first, heading directly to the elevators and praying that he didn’t follow her. Once she was upstairs in the room she prayed again, this time that what she was about to do was the right decision for her and for all the shifters it would impact. Without waiting for an answer to that prayer, or any other divine guidance, Shya pulled out her board and prepared to send a message. Before she could do that, she paused, because the moment she switched it on, there was a purple light blinking on her board signaling she had a message.
There should have been no messages to her because nobody knew she had this board. She’d made sure to take an unassigned board and she’d even gone into the system to erase the product number from their invent
ory. Her fingers shook as she positioned them over the keys and pressed the appropriate ones to open the message. There was a burning sensation in her chest.
Where the hell are you? Your father is going crazy!
Chapter 12
Washington D.C.
The Next Day
“Whoa, you called for the jet? We haven’t used the Assembly private jet in years,” Bas said coming to a stand and blocking Nick’s path.
“Get out of my way, Bas! We’re leaving this hotel in twenty minutes and boarding that jet.” When Bas didn’t move quick enough, Nick pushed past him.
That resulted in Bas grabbing hold of Nick’s shoulders to hold him still. It didn’t work. Nick bared his sharp as hell jaguar teeth and roared into Bas’s face with the fury of a thousand wounded animals. To his credit, Bas stood his ground, but it took Ary to come up behind her mate and touch his back to end what could have been a brutal battle between two awesome cats.
“Nobody’s saying you can’t go,” Bas said after X had stepped up to stand in front of him in case Nick decided calm wasn’t his thing and charged after Bas again. “We just want to make smart moves now, especially after the press conference went off without a hitch.”
“I don’t give a damn about that press conference! I need to find my daughter!” Nick yelled before pulling away from Ary’s touch and stalking over to the window where he stood with his back facing the group of them who had come to his room to check on him.
The original plan had been adjusted—Jace and Bas came above ground to keep an eye on Nick when Rome decided Nick was just too volatile to stand at the podium with him at the press conference. Ary, who was also supposed to stay in Oasis for a little longer but had traveled with her mate, agreed with Rome. They were both worried about Shya. All of them were and they didn’t even know everything that Jace and Eli had uncovered.
“I think what he’s trying to say is we shouldn’t go off half-cocked right now. You’re angry and if you come across anyone who makes you angrier, there’s no telling what might happen,” X said. “We cannot afford to be the first to violate the treaty, Nick. You know that.”
Nick shook his head but did not turn around. “What I know is that my daughter is missing. She could be somewhere dying. We all know her condition.”
“The transfusion from Ezra healed her,” Jace spoke up from the chair he was sitting in on the other side of the room.
Ary spoke then, shaking her head as she looked at Jace. “There were side effects from that too. We’ve developed a way to minimize them, but she’ll never be the same. That’s why we need to find her to make sure she has her medication and that she’s alright.”
“And we will find her, Ary,” X told her. “None of us in this room want to turn away from that. Shya is our family too. So, if Nick knows where she is and he wants to go get her, then I’m going with him. But running off in a rage by yourself is not an option, man. I’m not gonna let you do that to yourself or to all that we’ve worked for.”
“He’s right, Nick and you know it. We can do this together, it’s better that way,” Bas said.
Ary cleared her throat and smoothed the hands she’d been holding tightly together down the front of her blouse. “I called Nisa last night to see if she’d heard anything from Shya. She said she hadn’t, but I found that hard to believe. Those two were always thick as thieves. There’s no way Shya would make a move without Nisa knowing.”
Unless, it wasn’t Shya’s decision to make this move.
Jace was smart enough not to say that. Eli was down the hall in the other suite with Rome and Ezra. Jace would convey whatever they found out to him later. Right now, it was his assignment to keep a close eye on Nick and Ary.
“Yeah, that doesn’t make sense. Those two were inseparable,” X said.
“Right,” Ary continued. “So, I called back to ask her again and Nisa was nervous. I could hear it in her voice, but she still said she had no idea where Shya was. I asked if she had some way of contacting her because I know they used to have some sort of code, or way they would get messages to each other any time they were punished or forced to be a part because of Nisa’s training. She told me no again, but she was lying. I know with everything in my soul, Nisa lied to me.”
“So, I put a track on her.” Nick came away from the window to add to the conversation. “I’ve been tracking Nisa’s comlink, her board and the Tracer she drives.”
Jace stood then. He couldn’t have heard what he thought he did. “You’re tracking Rome’s daughter?”
Nick shot him a heated glare. “I’m tracking the one shifter in this whole world who would know where my daughter is! If that happens to be Rome’s daughter—” Nick’s words trailed off.
The room went silent as if they could still somehow hear the words Nick didn’t say.
Seconds later, Bas spoke again. “What did you find out?”
“Nisa’s on the move. She sent a message to an unassigned board last night and hours later her comlink and board began to move,” Nick said. “It stopped above ground, in Miami.”
Bas glanced at X who’d looked away from Nick momentarily to meet Bas’s gaze. Jace looked at Nick, who was staring at him as if waiting for Jace to say something.
“I guess we’re all going to Miami,” X said. “I’ll go let Rome know. Somebody should stay here to carry out the next phases of the plan.”
“I’ll get ready to go,” Bas said and then stopped just as he was heading toward the door. “Ary, did you get the daily update on Cole’s condition today? That cougar’s still assigned to watch him, right?”
“Oh my, in the midst of all that’s been going on, I hadn’t thought to check. I’ll do that now while Nick gets the rest of our things together,” she said and went to the table to retrieve her board.
“Let’s meet downstairs in fifteen minutes,” Nick told them. “Ary can brief us on Cole’s condition on the jet.”
“Sounds good,” Bas said with a nod.
He walked out the door behind X. Jace followed them out, closing the door to the suite slowly. X and Bas went down the hall in different directions. Rome had reserved the entire floor for them, with guards at the stairway, elevators and in the lobby as an extra precaution. Jace used the key card to enter his room and immediately dialed a number on his comlink.
“I think we’ve got a bigger problem. Check the status of Keller Cross. If he’s missing, Shya’s missing and Mackey’s dead, Rome is going to lose his fuckin’ mind.”
Eli answered from the other end of the comlink. “And after what we saw on the tape of the cougar and Shya in that conference room, if he’s the one who took Shya out of Oasis Nick’s gonna make Keller Cross regret the day he ever set foot in Headquarters.”
Miami
3 p.m.
“Are you out of your fuckin’ mind?” Decan all but roared at Keller the moment he closed the door to the room Keller was using as an office.
Gold sat in a folding chair that they both prayed would not collapse under his bulky build, but no furniture had been delivered for this room yet.
“Not any more than you were when you brought Rome’s daughter to my bunker and was almost attacked by rogues when you were trying to fuck her during an unapproved above ground excursion,” Keller snapped back.
Decan fumed, his lips were drawn in a tight line, fists balled at his sides as he glared at Keller.
Keller wouldn’t say Decan’s fury was unmitigated, but the guy really was in no position to judge him considering all the things he’d done just three months ago with the Assembly Leader’s daughter.
“We had a plan, Kel. Bringing Shya Delgado into this was not something we discussed.”
“I wasn’t aware that we were discussing our personal lives now.”
“Our personal lives are what got us to this point,” Decan countered. “I was out to get Mackey for what he did to me in the SICs. You wanted his blood because of the way he caused you to lose part of your fortune. Gold wants any of t
he Ruling Cabinet because he blames them for having to move to Oasis after attacking that cop. This is personal for all of us!”
“And yet, you went and found yourself a mate and didn’t give a damn how that would affect me or Gold.” When Decan didn’t immediately respond, Keller continued. “So, don’t come up in my house now, Decan, with your high and mighty FL badge and think you’re gonna tell me how to run this show. That announcement’s going down in two hours and we’re gonna be there to do exactly what we planned.”
Decan turned away. He walked across the floor and slammed a fist into the wall before circling back to where Keller stood.
“Mackey’s dead.”
Keller heard the words but couldn’t speak.
“What do you mean he’s dead? I thought he was in the Oasis prison,” Gold said as if this was now the part of the conversation where he could join in.
Decan scrubbed his hands down his face. “Yeah, he was. But apparently just before Rome and his crew came above ground, they found Mackey’s body, or rather pieces of it, in the room where he was being held.”
Keller stared at Decan. “The locked and heavily guarded room.”
“Yeah, Nisa and I thought the same thing when we heard. The security tapes have been removed from the Holodeck so we couldn’t view them to see just who was doing the heavily guarding. At any rate, that tosses a wrench in our plans.” Decan sighed heavily.
Keller shook his head. “No. Tavarus and the Ruling Cabinet had no idea where Mackey was, or if he was even still alive. That’s why they’re moving to replace him today. And there’s no way they’re going to find out he’s dead unless one of us tells him, which we are not.”
“I see what you’re saying, and I thought that at first too, but what if that idiot Lial that we killed months ago wasn’t the only shifter on Mackey’s payroll. What if there’s someone else who was working from the inside to betray us?” Decan asked.