by C. C. Hunter
“Are you going to check on Perry?” Miranda asked. She didn’t like Perry doing this alone.
“I’m hoping to,” Burnett answered and left.
Holiday, her aura suddenly going murky, looked at Della. “Can you give us a few minutes?”
“What’s wrong?” Miranda asked when Della walked out.
“I heard from Ms. Wales. She thinks we might be on to something with you being related. She suggested that you do a DNA test to confirm it. Burnett agreed to run it through the agency and get it done quickly.”
Why was that bad news? “Did she find the Evans name in her family tree?”
“Not exactly.” Holiday’s aura turned a little murkier. “The story isn’t pretty.”
“Okay…,” Miranda said. “Tell me.”
Holiday picked up a pencil. “Ms. Wales was told that her grandmother Evelyn Bradley was born out of wedlock. Evelyn’s mom, Mildred Bradley, was supposedly raped. After Evelyn was born, Mildred killed the man who’d raped her. She was tried by the courts and executed for the murder. Mildred’s sister raised the baby. Ms. Wales has the old newspaper article that states Mildred Bradley was hung for the crime of killing an aristocrat named Rudolf Evans.”
Miranda sank deeper into the chair. “So you’re saying I come from a line of murderers and rapists.” She suddenly laughed. “Nothing like coming from good stock.”
Holiday appeared concerned at Miranda’s reaction. “You know that doesn’t affect who you are.”
“I know.” And she believed it.
“But this could mean that you actually come from a lineage of mystic witches. And … it might explain Tabitha’s text. She heard you worrying.”
Della popped in from the other room as if eavesdropping wasn’t rude. “And you were talking about her just a few minutes before you got the text.”
“Really?” Holiday asked.
Miranda nodded then shook her head. “I’m not even good with my normal powers. I’m dyslexic and—”
“So is Ms. Wales. Now she’s wondering if the tattoo isn’t somehow connected with the dyslexia. Her grandmother never learned to read, which means she could have been dyslexic. Ms. Wales’s mother wasn’t dyslexic and she didn’t have the tattoo. And while her mom was mystic, Ms. Wales says her mom claimed she didn’t have near the powers of her mom.”
“But if I’m a mystic then it means Tabitha should be.”
“Not really,” Holiday said. “Remember Ms. Wales saying that it wasn’t known to be hereditary? And your sister isn’t dyslexic.”
* * *
At three p.m., Perry stood outside the same diner to meet his parents.
Before walking in, he gave himself a second to remember how great it had been to hold Miranda all night, hoping that joy would help ward off the feeling that swallowed him up when he was close to his mom.
He walked in and finally spotted his dad’s blond hair at a back booth.
Walking over, he noted only one plate on the table. She hadn’t come. Perry smiled without meaning to.
“Hey.” Perry dropped into the other side of the booth.
His father looked up as if happy to see him. “Did you have a good time with your girl?”
Perry nodded. “Yeah.”
A waitress dropped off a glass of water. “Need a menu?”
“No, thank you,” Perry said.
His dad moved his fork around his empty plate. “Are you ever gonna introduce us?”
Only when hell freezes over and Satan starts selling snow cones. “Maybe. Where’s Mom?” He hated calling her that, but his dad had insisted.
His father dropped his fork. “She’s not coming. I actually got to eat all my lunch for a change.” He laughed as if it was funny.
Perry didn’t laugh. He sipped his water.
His dad made a funny face. “She’s embarrassed. She woke up this morning with pimples. Lots of them. Big ones, too.”
Perry nearly choked on his water. The laugh slipped out before he could stop it. Had Miranda even known she’d done it? Oh, man, he was going to kiss her for this.
“It’s not funny,” his dad said, but he almost smiled.
His father dropped some bills on the table. “We should probably head out.”
“I thought he lived around the corner.” Perry hoped he sounded casual as he slid out of the booth.
“He sold that place.”
“In one day?” Perry walked with his father.
“He normally doesn’t trust anyone. But he’s worse now. I don’t know if it’s Caleb that he’s worried about or the FRU looking into that waitress’s murder. But he’s evaded trouble with the FRU for years so far, so he might be onto something.”
“Do you think Caleb would go after him?” Perry asked.
“Hell, yeah. Caleb has a mean streak in him. I’m watching my back, and so should you. He liked you less than he did me. Before Jax kicked Caleb’s ass out, he was chatting with your mom about you being dirty. He was trying to dig something up on you. It’s the way he makes himself look good. By making others look bad. The day you left Dallas and I told him it was because you wanted to see your girlfriend, he shot out of there like a bat out of hell to find you. He obviously didn’t, because he came back pretty quickly. But now he’s even more pissed.”
“Thanks for the warning.” And Perry took that seriously, too.
“Your mom’s right, though. Chances are Jax is gonna take care of him. Whatever you do, don’t get on Jax’s bad side.”
That was gonna be hard not to do.
Ten minutes later, they were falcons flying across downtown. Perry tilted his head to the side. He realized right away that they were being followed by one, maybe two shifters. The bird in the distance didn’t appear to be the same red-chested duck as before, but good shifters could morph while flying. He could do it himself.
He looked right and the same falcon trailed at about a hundred feet behind. A thought hit. Had Burnett gone against his word and sent backup?
“It’s Jax’s man.” His father’s words were snatched by the wind. “Jax’s paranoid.”
Perry continued to fly. Was he right that the other bird was a shifter? If so, were both Jax’s men?
Later in the flight, he checked the bird on his left. Now the bird following was an eagle, but it hung about the same distance away. Definitely a shifter. A powerful one.
When his father descended, the falcon on his right did the same. The now pelican on his left kept flying, but Perry saw his speed slow down and then the bird lapped back. He didn’t think the FRU had shape-shifter agents good enough to shift while flying. Perry recalled his dad saying that Caleb had bragged he could do it.
They landed in a fenced-in property out by the gulf. Galveston, he thought. Not on the beach, but close enough to taste the salty breeze.
Perry took care not to morph too quickly. No need showing Jax’s guard what he could do. Right before he started his shift, he spotted a crow flying toward the back of the large white house that looked older than the palm trees surrounding it. Was it Caleb? It had to be, didn’t it?
When he completed his shift, an older Italian-looking guy stood fully shifted. Forty maybe, barrel chested and looked like one of the stars that played in The Godfather movie.
“I was told you were good,” he snickered.
Perry shrugged and noted the manicured lawn.
They walked around to the front of the three-storied house. Another guard stood at the front door that seemed built for a giant. He studied Perry oddly and then let them in.
In a room to their right were several guys holding court. There was more tension in the room than furniture. Perry couldn’t help but search for his brother, hoping he couldn’t recognize him. Hoping not to feel linked to him in any way.
Disappointment hit when his eyes landed on the youngest man in the room. Blond hair, blue eyes. Their body shape was slightly different, Perry was taller, buffer, but their facial features were damn near identical.
&nbs
p; That hurt. Hurt because here was this person he should feel connected to. Hurt because he’d seen how Miranda felt about her sister. Hurt because he already knew this guy was only a step from being a monster.
Jax’s gaze met Perry’s. And locked.
“Eerie, isn’t it?” the guard who let them in said.
Jax didn’t answer. He focused back on the three men standing in front of him. Perry checked their patterns.
Two of them were warlocks. The biggest of them was vampire and looked more like a bodyguard.
Flanking his brother were two other guard-looking guys. One part shifter and vampire, one part were and shifter. At least his half sibling wasn’t prejudiced.
“Look,” Jax spoke to the warlock in the middle. “As you can see, I need to wrap this up. I have fifty percent of what you wanted in a secure location. As soon as I get fifty percent of what’s owed me, I’ll tell you where to pick it up.”
Perry didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. His brother seemed purposely vague. But his thoughts went to Tabitha being missing and he couldn’t help but worry.
“That wasn’t the deal. We wanted both,” the dark-headed warlock said.
“And when things calm down here, I’ll get the other half,” his brother answered.
Both? Perry mulled it over.
“That wasn’t the deal.” The warlock’s face grew red.
“Sometimes you don’t get what you want. Do you need to learn that lesson?”
The threat was issued as easily as one might offer someone a glass of sweet tea.
One of the men standing beside his brother took a menacing step forward.
The warlock held out his hand. “How long before you’ll finish the job?”
“A week, maybe two.”
Perry stared off, pretending not to listen, but memorizing every word.
“Now, leave.” His brother waved toward the door. “I have other business.”
The three guys walked out. Jaxon faced Perry. “Who’d’ve guessed there was someone almost as good-looking as myself in the world? I’m not sure how that makes me feel.”
Perry lifted his chin and spoke in the same condescending tone. “I was thinking the exact same thing.”
Jax continued to stare and Perry felt the man do a complete assessment. Did it piss him off that Perry had him by a few inches and pounds?
“Caleb didn’t trust you.” Jax moved over and poured himself a drink from a bottle of whiskey. The man’s bodyguards stood tense as if on full alert.
“Caleb was an idiot,” his father spoke up. “He—”
“I got this.” Perry glanced back at his half brother. “And I hear you didn’t like Caleb. Odd you’d take his word.”
“I didn’t like his temper. He caused messes. It doesn’t mean I didn’t trust his judgment.”
Perry moved in another foot. “You trust him enough for him to know where you live? Or is that the reason you moved?”
“What’s that mean?” Jax’s blue eyes brightened to gold.
“I can’t swear it was Caleb, but some shifter, a powerful one, followed us here.”
The mafia-looking bodyguard who’d followed them here let go with a laugh. “That was me.”
“Not you,” Perry said. “Someone with the ability to shift while flying. He was a falcon, an eagle, a pelican, then something else. He’s good, whoever he was. He landed at the back of your property.”
Jax’s face hardened and he turned to the Italian bouncer. “And you didn’t catch this?”
“He’s making that up,” the man said.
“Find out!” Jax said, looking at his two goons standing beside him. “Meter the area.” He looked at the Italian-looking guy. “I warned you that I don’t tolerate mistakes. If that meter reads positive, get the hell off my property. And don’t stop looking over your shoulder.”
“But boss, I—”
“Go!”
Footsteps thundered through the room as the three men walked out. Jaxon stood there, clenching and unclenching his fist.
They had meters? Perry thought the FRU were the only ones who had those. But they obviously didn’t have the technology to build them into the security system.
Jax’s cold blue eyes then focused on Perry’s father.
“How about you help them, old man,” Jax said. “Let me visit with my baby brother.” The sinister way he said it had Perry’s blood fizzing with the need to protect himself.
Chapter Twenty-eight
In an instant, Perry realized he hadn’t considered Jax’s motivation for allowing this meeting to happen.
What the hell did Jax want with him?
“Don’t worry,” Jax told Perry’s father. “I’m not gonna hurt your boy. We’re brothers.”
Perry’s father’s blue eyes met Perry’s, almost as if he didn’t want to abandon him.
Had his father hesitated at all when he’d left him at the mall fifteen years ago?
“How endearing,” Jax said after his father finally left. “I thought the only thing he loved was our mother. You’ve seen how whipped he is, haven’t you?”
“It’s just his guilt talking.” The moment Perry said it, he realized how right that might be. His father might not care, guilt made people act certain ways.
“He really just left you at a mall, didn’t he?” Jax laughed. Their gazes locked again. Blue on blue.
“Care for a drink?” Jax asked.
“No.”
Jax walked over to the sole table in the room and poured himself a shot of the amber-colored liquid from the decanter. He put the glass to his lips and downed it in one gulp. Swallowing, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. The oddity of seeing someone who looked so much like him was unnerving. Like watching a mirror while your reflection was doing something different.
“So tell me, brother. Why did you hunt down your parents after all these years?”
“Curiosity,” Perry answered.
“You sure you weren’t just needing your mama?”
“I’d be in bad shape if I was,” he said without emotion.
Jax laughed again. “She is a loveless bitch, isn’t she?”
His brother walked over to the table and refilled his glass again. “And I thought I had it bad.” He downed the shot. “I saw you once. I was like three, you were just born. My dad took me over for a visit. He said I should know my brother.”
“A shame I don’t remember,” Perry said.
“Mom said you were raised in foster care?”
Perry nodded.
Jax looked down at his empty glass, when he looked up suspicion lifted his brow. “Isn’t that run by the FRU?”
Make it convincing, Perry told himself. “I think their name is stamped on it somewhere. But it’s just a money scheme. The FRU pockets half of the funds and places unwanted kids in homes where people don’t give a shit.”
Perry’s words rang true, because most of it was. The system was broken, something Burnett was trying to work on as an agent. He’d made some changes, but there was a hell of a lot to do.
“Ahh, poor brother,” Jax said.
“Don’t pity me. I’m sure you learned just like I did. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
“Which brings up a really good question,” Jax said. “How strong are you?”
The door swung open. The bodyguards, minus Mr. Italian, walked back in. His dad followed.
“So?” Jax snapped.
“The meter read high levels of frequency in the back of the property.” The man held what looked like a cell phone in his hand.
“And Ricky?” Jax asked, his eyes almost red.
The guard smiled. “He left.”
“Add the name Ricky Raco to my game list.” He sounded excited.
“How much?” the guard asked.
“A hundred thousand.”
Perry didn’t know this game. But it seemed damn clear. Perry had pretty much signed that man’s death certificate.
“Good j
ob,” Jax said to Perry.
Perry’s conscience took a direct hit. It took work to hide the guilt on his face.
Jax looked at his father again. “What all have you told your boy about our operation?”
“Only what you allowed me to,” his father said.
And that annoyed the hell out of Perry.
Jax met Perry’s gaze as if still debating. He finally nodded. “Why don’t we go into the study and I’ll give you the facts.”
* * *
It was nine that night when Perry spotted the large gray building that housed the Fallen FRU agency. He’d taken twice as long to fly here. Taking all different routes just to make sure he wasn’t followed. He hadn’t been. That said, he couldn’t stop worrying that, until now, he hadn’t been all that careful. What if Caleb had followed him to Shadow Falls earlier?
One more thing he needed to tell Burnett. But holy hell, he was the bearer of all kinds of bad news tonight.
Landing on the steps, he walked into the office. He’d been coming anyway, so finding Burnett’s text summoning him didn’t annoy Perry.
“My favorite person in the world.” Mrs. Conner’s voice boomed. She stood and moved toward him. Her arms opened for a grandmotherly hug. Today she wore red and really looked like Mrs. Claus.
He obliged her with a hug, even though his heart wasn’t in it.
“You should see the spoon you gave me now hanging on the wall. As a matter of fact, I insist you come see it. Wednesday you are coming to my house for dinner. I’m cooking meatballs and spaghetti. Mr. Conner’s been asking about you.”
Perry shrugged. “I’d love to, but my schedule is up in the air.”
“Nonsense. You can and you will.” She shook her chubby finger at him. “Now, go see Burnett, before he yells at me. He’s in one of his moods.”
And I’m about to make it worse.
Burnett was on the phone when Perry walked into his office. The vampire motioned to the chair. “Well, keep looking. We don’t know he’s dead. You’re jumping the gun.”
The words sank into Perry like nails. How’d Burnett do this? Deal with scum, people who didn’t value life. Deal with death. Perry felt dirty, tainted, just from being in the room with Jax.