Master of the Hunt
Page 3
“Drawn to me?”
She kept her eyes closed. “Yes.”
Roland eyed her and Aeson considered killing him just because.
“We should head to our room. Let me open your mind,” Roland said.
Shelby gasped.
Fear struck Aeson full on and it took him a moment to realize it was radiating from Shelby. She let on no outward signs. If anything, she seemed to relax more, as if compensating. She stood and Aeson and Roland mirrored her actions.
She swayed, her gaze moving towards a coming waitress with a tray full of beverages. Timing it, she waited and then turned tto o Roland as she pressed a chaste kiss to the man’s lips. The waitress collided with him, the drinks spilling everywhere.
Roland twisted and snarled at the waitress, bringing his hand back. Shelby grabbed it and tugged gently. “It’s okay. Just go wipe up in the restroom and you’ll be fine. No harm, no foul.”
He dipped his head more, his mouth capturing hers. The growl that sprung free of Aeson was unavoidable.
“I’m so sorry,” the waitress said. She looked towards Aeson as if waiting for him to tell her what to do.
He inclined his head. “All is well. You may go.” He focused on Roland. “I will watch over her. Go,” he said, adding a push to his voice humans found difficult to resist.
Roland went.
The minute Roland was out of sight Shelby grabbed his arm. Heat flared instantly between them.
“Phone,” she blurted. “I need a phone. And please don’t leave me alone with him, and whatever you do, do not let him get you alone either.”
He stared at her hand on his arm for what felt like forever, committing to memory the feel of her touch, before nodding and motioning in the other direction. No words were spoken as he led her deeper into the club.
Chapter Four
Shelby put her hand in Aeson’s no longer caring that he was some sort of sex god among these people. He was safe and she needed safe. He didn’t object, moving through the crowd with ease.
Someone grabbed hold of her arm and spun her around. She brought up her other hand and struck out, palm first, hitting the person in the face.
“Ouch! Son-of-a-bitch, Shelby, it’s me!”
“Panos?” It took her a moment to believe it was really him because he wasn’t in his normal attire. In fact, he looked nothing like a detective. He looked like someone who was thoroughly submersed in the BDSM subculture.
He rubbed his jaw. “That hurt.”
“What are you doing here and why are you dressed like… ohmygod, do not tell me you’re into—”
A feminine laugh came from behind her. “Uh, no. Panos still blushes when he spots my cleavage while we’re on a stakeout. It took some major arm twisting to get him in that outfit.”
Shelby drew in a sharp breath as she spotted her longtime friend all done up as well. “Kim?”
Without waiting for an explanation, Shelby tossed her arms around her friend’s neck and hugged her. “I was coming to call you and Shelton. He’s here. It’s him. The man you’ve been searching for. The Bondage Butcher. I didn’t know at first. I couldn’t see it but I feel it now and the things he’s said they’re—”
Kim held her out at arm’s length. “Shelby, I need for you to take a deep breath. This place is crawling with our people and your brother is being restrained outside in a surveillance van.”
“Sparrow is going to fucking kill me for this,” Panos said. “He’s been against this plan from day one.”
“Sparrow?” Aeson questioned. “What is this of a sparrow?”
“Plan?” Shelby echoed Kim, ignoring Aeson a moment.
Aeson stepped closer to her and she instinctively moved towards him. Her palm went to his chest and his hand came to a rest on the small of her back. The act felt natural. He felt safe.
Panos was the first to speak, “Shelby, when you called Kim and told her the dreams stopped in the blink of an eye, she got a little concerned, especially with the number of threats this guy has leveled against you over the past eight months. Sparrow’s done his best to explain how it is what you do works—that it doesn’t work for you personally, that you can’t read yourself or anything directly influencing your personal future.”
“What is this talk of a sparrow?” demanded Aeson.
Shelby caressed his chest. “My last name is Sparrows. People call my brother Sparrow.”
He gasped and jerked her against him. “You are her.”
Kim locked gazes with Shelby. “You stopped having any kind of visions about the killings the very same day Roland bumped into you at the coffee shop and sweet talked you into your number. It bothered me. He bothered me. I’m sorry that I went to your brother about it, but my gut said it was the right thing to do.”
“Her gut was correct,” Panos said. “I put a detail on the guy and he’s certainly suspicious.” He cleared his throat. “He’s been watching you for eight months. Learning your routine. He’s got, umm, well—”
Kim rolled her eyes. “Sweetheart, he’s got pictures of you through your bedroom window and the things he’s done to the pictures would make you vomit. We were going to move on him last week, but nothing we had could hold up in court. The bastard has raped and killed seven women that we know of. We can’t just let him walk.”
“So you what?” questioned Shelby, sliding against Aeson more. “Decided to use me as bait?”
Panos closed his eyes briefly. “Shelby, you’ve been his next target for eight months now. He set his sights on you when the media reported you were assisting on the case. He fixated on what you can do. You know this guy better than any of us ever will. You’ve seen into his head. When he sets his mind to something, I think you know there is nothing that will stop him. I refused to risk moving on him without enough evidence because I won’t watch that fucker walk out of the courthouse and then come for you like he’s been planning all along.”
“As much as Sparrow hates this, he knows Panos is right,” Kim added. “Roland will walk right now if we move on him and he will come at you when we’re not all there, watching over you from outside your place. We haven’t let you be alone with him yet. One of us is always close, always watching. We knew he was planning this. It’s why we’re here. The owner of this place had some red flags shoot up and he didn’t hesitate to call Panos. You think Panos wears a dog collar for just anyone? He loves you like a little sister and doesn’t want you hurt.”
“He’s almost done washing off his shirt,” Shelby said with conviction. No one questioned how she knew. “Don’t ask me to touch him again. He put his tongue in my mouth and I almost threw up. I’ve seen what he does to women. I’ve gone on dates with this man. I’ve sat across from him laughing at his jokes and… oh God, I invited him into my home! Don’t ask me—”
“We just need for you to let him take you to the room he prepared here. We won’t let anything happen to you.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “O-okay.”
“Sweetie, don’t cry. He can’t know you’re onto him.”
Aeson wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. “No.”
“No what?” Panos asked, arching a brow.
“No. She will not do as you ask. If he comes near her again, I will rip his head from his shoulders and deliver it to you personally, but she will not be the bait you seek.”
Shocked, Shelby looked up at him, still pressed close to his body.
“Excuse me but who the hell are you to tell us what she’s going to do?” Panos crossed his arms over his chest. “You want arrested for obstructing justice?”
Aeson merely grinned as if being arrested by Panos was the most amusing thing he’d heard all day. “You could try.”
“Why you—”
Kim intervened, moving between Panos and Aeson. “Shelby, I wasn’t aware you knew anyone that hung out in places like this. Can you get your special friend there to back down?”
“Oh, no. I don’t know him,” she protested.
Realizing her friend was right, Shelby released Aeson and took a giant step from him. She was about to head away, fearing Roland would get suspicious when the overwhelming feeling that someone she loved was in danger came over her.
She swayed and reached out, needing to steady herself as her vision blurred and her mind fogged, filling quickly with details of events she should, by rights, have no knowledge of.
Aeson was there, taking her arm, keeping her upright.
She opened her eyes and looked toward Panos. “Shelton. Something’s wrong.”
“He’s being held back by three of our men but they’d never really hurt him, Shelby. Sparrow’s a legend among guys at the station. They all look up to him.”
Pinching in her temple caused her to wince in pain. “Shelton.”
“Shit, Shelby,” Kim said, grabbing for her. “Sweetie, take a deep breath and I’ll find you some aspirin.”
“He’s so tired,” she whispered. “Long day. Longer night.”
Panos grunted. “She can’t do that whack job shit in here.”
Kim slapped her partner. “That whack job shit has never steered us wrong yet and don’t you dare take that tone about it or her. She’s not crazy and the visions hurt her so shut the hell up.”
“Tired,” she repeated. “Big load to drop off. Just another forty miles and he’s there.”
“The highway,” Kim said. “A trucker. Is that what you’re seeing, Shelby? A trucker? Panos, Sparrow is in the van near the edge of the parking lot. Right by the bend in the highway and the edge, before the cliffs.”
“It’s hard to keep his eyes open. Just a second. Just one tiny wink of sleep.”
The music in the club was loud. The sound of metal on metal and brakes from a semi-truck was louder. Without thought, Shelby cupped her mouth and ran for the door, slamming into people and not caring. She burst through the doors and watched in horror as a huge tractor trailer truck flipped onto its side, jackknifing as it careened into the parked black van. It and the van went barreling towards the guard rail and the cliff. A ball of flames engulfed the van and truck cab.
Vaguely, she heard someone screaming and realized it was her. She ran directly at it all, yelling for her brother the entire way. Strong arms lifted her, keeping her from getting closer and another boom went off, rocking the entire parking lot.
She kicked and tried to break free of the iron-clad hold but it was pointless. Kim and Panos ran towards it all. Additional men joined them, trying and failing to get closer to the wreckage. People from the club poured out and into the parking lot, leather-clad and trying to help as well.
There was movement to the far left of the wreckage area. The others were focused on the main portion. The figure was as massive as Aeson and was dragging something.
Two somethings to be exact. One in each hand.
Turning, she stared up into Aeson’s face. When she realized it couldn’t be him, she gasped. “Shelton!”
Aeson held her tight.
“It’s him. It’s Shelton. Look!” She pointed and Aeson set her down gently.
Shelby took off in a full run. It wasn’t exactly easy to do in heels but she did it all the same. Her brother was shirtless, wearing a pair of soot covered jeans that looked as if they’d been through a war. The men he was dragging appeared to be alive but out cold. He set them down, his gaze finding hers.
She leapt at him and he caught her, hugging her close as she plastered his face with kisses. He chuckled. “Peep,” he said, using his nickname for her. “I’m all right. You can stop crying now.”
She held him tight, nearly strangling him. He had to pry her off his neck before setting her down. One of the men moaned and looked up, his eyes only partially opened.
Just then, the others all seemed to swarm in on them at once. Panos was there, checking the men on the ground. Kim was doing the same and then joining in to hug Shelton quickly before turning to find another man rushing at them, the zipper to his pants undone.
“I was takin’ a piss and—”
“Louis is over here going on about Sparrow having wings.” As Panos said it, Shelby tensed, refusing to let go of her brother.
He kissed her cheek and winked, holding her out a bit and looking towards Panos. “I yanked their sorry asses away from the edge,” he said.
She heard it then, the semi-conscious detective mumbling about wings. Giving everyone a shit-assed grin, her brother turned, putting his back to them. Huge black wings that spanned the entire width and length of his back were tattooed there. “Yep. I got ‘em. You just missed me flying. I looked like Superman or something. I’m awesome like that.”
She made a point to not flinch at his wording.
Kim stood back as the paramedics and firemen arrived. She shook her head. “Where the hell is your shirt, Sparrow?”
Shelton motioned to the cliff. “It caught fire. I ripped it off.”
Kim shook her head. “Luckiest bastard known to man. When your sister flipped in there and I heard the crash, I thought for sure I was coming out here to hold Shelby back from watching your dead ass get pulled from the mess.”
She tensed.
“Yeah, well, you’d have had stiff competition in the holding her back department,” Panos said, pointing to something behind Shelby.
She turned and found Aeson there. She smiled and went at him, hugging him too as if she’d known him a lifetime. “He’s safe.”
“So I see,” said Aeson, returning her embrace.
“Who the hell is this douche and why is he touching my baby sister?”
With a sigh, Shelby pulled away from Aeson and looked at her brother. “You were first by like five minutes so stop acting like years separate us.”
“You are twins?” Aeson questioned, his accent thickening.
She patted his muscular chest and nodded. “Yes, it’s clear to see he took up more room in the uterus though.”
Her brother chuckled softly.
Unable to stop herself, she began to cry again.
Shelton tipped his head back, composed himself and then came for her. He had to bend to meet her eye to eye. “Peep, look at me.”
She did.
“I made you a promise and I intend to keep it,” he stressed. “Didn’t I say I’d always be here for you?”
She nodded. “I couldn’t see anything past the bad,” she whispered, losing her composure again. “I tried but I couldn’t see. I should have seen this before. I should have known. I should have told you.”
“Peep, you’ve been under so much stress and I don’t expect you to play oracle to me.” He looked past her at Aeson. “Hint at all that she’s a whack job and I’ll shoot you here and now. Understood?”
“Understood,” Aeson said calmly.
Shelton took his sister’s hand. “Hey, stop. No crying or I’ll do stupid things to try to stop it. Remember the time you cried when I fell out of that tree? I ended up singing the theme to the Love Boat to you for an hour just because it made you laugh.”
She swallowed hard, nodding. She did remember all the times in their life he’d tried to get her to smile. Shelby tried and failed to control her whirling emotions. She reacted, kicking her brother in the shin as hard as she could.
“Shelby?”
“You big, stupid, idiot! This is all your fault.”
He blinked in surprise. “How is this my fault?”
“None of us would be here now if you’d have told me I was dating a sociopath. Shelton Christopher Sparrows, I’m so telling Dad on you.”
“What?” he asked, sounding like a child instead of the twenty-seven year old man he was. “Like I wanted that fucker near you? Panos locked me in a cell for the first forty-eight hours of us f
iguring out who that dick might be. That’s two days, Shelby.” He put up his fingers for emphasis. “Two days of needing to keep me locked up because I was going to find Roland and kill him.”
“So,” she put a hand on her hip, “you weren’t planning to warn me then? Just off him?”
He tossed his hands in the air. “I surrender. There is no winning with you. Ever. I am the world’s worst brother. I get it.”
She cried more. “Shelton.”
“Yes?”
“I love you even though you’re an idiot.”
His voice trembled as he spoke, “I had to sit in that damn van and watch you walk into what I was sure was going to be your death. I don’t care how many men we have on this, he’s sick and he’s smart.”
“He’s also missing,” Kim added from the side. “My guess, he spotted you and realized this had been a trap.”
Shelton grabbed for Shelby but looked at his colleagues. “If he knows this was a trap, he won’t bother keeping up pretenses for the sake of the thrill kill. He’ll go at Shelby full force and when we’re least expecting it.”
The paramedics tried to get to her brother, wanting to check him over. He waved them away and shook his head. Panos tried to force him to be checked. With a flip of his middle finger, her brother glared at his longtime friend. “Fuck off. I’m fine. Banged up but alive and well. Louis and Phanes are shaken but fine too. Jeps was takin’ a piss so he’s untouched. The truck driver, he didn’t fare as well. Go mommy him. I’m fine. Right now, I’m gonna take my baby sister to my place and refuse to take my eyes off her until that sick son-of-a-bitch is caught.”
“I’m not going home with you. You’re a slob.”
Her brother grinned. “Fine. I’ll call Dad. I’ll explain everything to him. You can go stay with him. Better yet, he’ll come stay with you.”
She gasped. “You wouldn’t.”
“I would.”
She cringed. “I’d rather take my chances with a serial killer. Dad will end up taking me and locking me in a tower that no person on Earth can get to.”
Shelton laughed, getting the inside joke.