“Don’t fucking scratch it, or I’ll gut you,” he snarled. The valet extended his hand to help Ella out of the car, and the rumble in Drake’s throat deepened. “Unless you want to lose that hand, I’d suggest you back up.”
“Yes sir, sorry sir.”
The valet backed away from Ella and rounded the car, his face expressionless. Ella felt bad for the man. She hoped for his sake he didn’t mar the fancy sports car.
“Right this way Mr. Drake,” a man said as he opened the doors on the mansion.
Drake tugged Ella to his side and ushered her into the enormous Tuscan villa. They followed the attendant through a posh sitting room, featuring a glossy black grand piano. He continued out, to an Italian garden with a large oyster shell fountain at its center. They approached a patio table where two other men were already seated. They stood when they saw them approach.
“Drake, I didn’t know you were bringing a guest.”
The tall man with mottled blonde hair motioned to someone hidden on the perimeter of the garden. Instantly a place was set for Ella at the table.
Drake shrugged, obviously uncaring that he’d inconvenienced their host.
“This is Miss Ella Roulant.”
“A pleasure to meet you Miss Roulant. I am Bastian,” the man introduced himself.
“And Coso.” A tan man, with long black hair, held out his hand.
Before Ella could shake it, Drake pushed her toward the chair. The man’s brows rose at the gesture.
Yeah, he’s a rude dick, but you probably know that better than I do.
Ella considered the two men, wondering what kind of shifters they were. Both men were big guys, and appeared to be at the height of their prime. Would Coso, or Bastian, be able to help her? Would they even bother, since she wasn’t like them?
Bastian must be the king of this castle, since the staff defer to him.
Ella tilted her head as the thought crossed her mind. With Bastian’s mottled hair, and the iconic MGM lion, Ella wondered if the man was a big cat in disguise.
And I thought Vegas was run by the mob, not the animal kingdom, Ella thought incredulously.
Coso was the man Drake wanted to lose, along with himself. Ella didn’t know if that meant Drake was allied with the man or the exact opposite.
“What are you drinking, Miss Roulant?” Bastian inquired, as a butler stood ready and waiting.
“Any dry red you have will be fine.”
“And you, Drake, Scotch?”
“Yes.”
“I thought so. Coso and I were sharing a Glenfarclas 55,” he gestured to a side table. “Jefferey another glass and a glass of the Sassicaia Cabernet for the lady,” Bastian requested.
“Yes sir,” the butler replied before leaving.
Ella looked around at the glass domed garden, as she surreptitiously listened to the men converse. Shortly after her wine arrived, they broke out the cards and started playing poker with their pocket change, which amounted to a hell of a lot.
“Should I deal you in?” Bastian asked.
“No. I’m no good at the game.”
Ella sipped her cabernet and watched the game.
How am I going to rig this? Ella racked her brain. I am so screwed. I’m going to have to take a chance. Ella concentrated on the cards Bastian held, and formed a picture in her mind. Please work.
10 Into the Desert
Wolf
Wolf arrived at the Palazzo hotel shortly before midnight and wandered toward the desk. He stopped short when he caught scent of a breed he hadn’t smelled in a few years.
“Jackals,” he murmured.
He turned to see one of the security guards eyeing him, so he casually continued to the desk. Jackals weren’t a common breed of Shifter, they stuck to the desert regions. Where most of the breeds had learned to get along, the Jackals were an anathema. The breed tended to have their own agenda and didn’t care how they attained it. Wolf wasn’t surprised to find them holed up in Vegas, with all its vices.
“Hello sir. Welcome to the Palazzo.”
“Thank you. I am meeting my girlfriend here, but I think her cell phone died. Can you let me know what room Bella Roulant is in?” Wolf gave the woman behind the desk his best smile, the one that usually got him whatever he wanted.
The woman smiled back as she typed on her keyboard. She then frowned.
“I’m sorry sir. It appears she checked out three days ago.”
Shit. Wolf’s worry instantly spiked.
“Is it possible for me to check the room she was in? She hasn’t contacted me to tell me if she went to another hotel. And there’s been no other charges on our account. I’m concerned something has happened to her.” Wolf attempted to get the woman to sympathize with him.
“I’m sorry, sir. There are other guests in that room now, and we have no record of her leaving any belongings behind,” the woman said with a frown.
“Thank you.”
Wolf headed to the casino, since that’s where he assumed Ella went last. From the corner of his eye he noticed the jackal guard approach and converse with the desk attendant. On his way to the casino he scented several more of the breed.
“This place is lousy with the bastards,” he growled under his breath.
Wolf toured the casino. He could tell Ella had been in the casino, but her scent was old. Wolf spun around when the scent of jackal doubled.
“Sir, we suggest that you find another establishment. Perhaps the reservation casino would be more to your taste,” the jackal on the right suggested.
“Look, we both know who we are. I’m not here to cause trouble. I’m looking for my girlfriend, who went missing.”
“The desk informed us, but she is no longer here. We suggest you leave,” the male repeated.
Several more jackals arrived, making it six against one. Wolf wasn’t looking to start a fight, but he wasn’t about to just leave with no answers. Before Wolf could reply he was tackled from behind.
“Is this fucking necessary,” Wolf snarled, as his arms were wrenched behind his back and he was marched to a rear exit.
He would’ve fought back, but he couldn’t hunt for Ella if he was locked in jail for the night. Wolf expected to be tossed out, not thrown in a van, and knocked out.
Bastian
Bastian took a giant swig from his tumbler of scotch, blinked a few times, then picked up his cards and stared at them again. His hand started as a flush. Now the ink on the ten of spades looked like it had been smeared. H-E-L-P was scrawled across it, in wavering letters. Bastian placed his cards back down on the table, and finished off his scotch. He grabbed the bottle and refilled his glass.
“So, what have you got?” Coso asked.
Bastian took another large swallow. He stared at Coso, Drake, and Ella, then hesitantly grabbed his cards and flipped them over. Bastian’s eyes widened when he saw the ten of spades was back to normal.
“A flush. Nice hand,” Coso commented.
Drake pushed the pile of cash toward Bastian. He sighed and shoved the cards to the middle of the table.
I’m losing it.
“Excuse me,” Drake said when his phone rang. The jackal stepped away and answered his cell.
“It may be time to call it an evening,” Bastian said with a shake of his head.
Maybe someone had laced his scotch with something. He reached toward his glass of water, and there it was again, H-E-L-P. This time the word was scrawled in the condensation on the glass.
Miss Roulant coughed, and he glanced up at her. Her face was passive, but she looked pointedly from him to his glass. She instantly looked away when Drake approached the table again.
What the fuck?
“I have a situation to attend to. Gentleman,” Drake bid them goodnight with a nod.
The jackal gripped the little brunette beneath her arm and escorted her from the table. Miss Roulant cast Bastian a quick glance as she was led from the garden. He couldn’t wrap his head around the conclusion he was
coming to, regarding the odd plea for help, and where it came from.
Something fucking insane is going on. He picked up his cell and sent a text to his enforcer, AJ. Follow Drake.
Bastian didn’t know if he should mention this to Coso. The three heads of the local Shifter breeds had a tentative alliance. Bastian was sure that he and Coso were on solid ground, but Drake was a different matter. Bastian and Drake didn’t quite see eye to eye. Drake did things that brought them perilously close to being discovered, not to mention being an all-around prick.
What Bastian didn’t know, was if Coso felt the same about the jackal. Coso, the Nevada wolf pack alpha, was also a Paiute elder. His people treated the jackals like the misbehaving little brothers, their creation story portrayed them to be.
It’s probably best to not strain things with the wolf pack, till I know what the hell Drake is up to.
“Well like you said, it’s probably a good time to call it an evening,” Coso said as he stood.
Bastian nodded and walked with Coso back to his car, then watched the wolf take off. He then headed to the garage, and located the black sedan he drove when he wasn’t in the mood to be noticed.
“What’s the status?” Bastian asked when AJ, his enforcer, answered his cell.
“On One-Fifty-Nine, heading toward Red Rock Canyon.”
“I’m following you. Keep an eye on the female with Drake.”
“Yes sir.”
AJ texted Bastian directions, until the enforcer was forced to abandon his car and follow Drake on foot. Once Bastian dumped his sedan on the canyon access road, he tracked AJ’s phone through the White Rock Hills.
“What’s going on?” Bastian asked, when he finally caught up with his enforcer.
“It took me a minute to circle around down wind, but the jackal alpha and the female should be over that ridge.”
“What the hell is Drake doing out here?”
“This is his dump site,” AJ replied.
“It was a rhetorical question.” Bastian knew full well this was where Drake dropped his little problems. It was the strange female that made the situation weird. “We gotta get over there before Drake does something to that female. I think she was trying to get me to help her at the casino.” Bastian shook his head. He wasn’t about to admit how he thought she asked him for help.
Bastian and AJ had Drake’s car in their sights, and were working their way closer, when a second pair of headlights flashed, casting shadows off the surrounding hills. The duo paused as a cargo van pulled up behind Drake’s silver Trevita.
Who the fuck brings a car like that out on this shitty road?
Drake exited his car, as four of his men hauled a struggling guy from the van. Bastian was too far away to hear what was being said, but the headlights showed him all he needed to know.
“This can’t be good.” Bastian thought it was the girl who was in danger, but apparently, he was wrong.
The passenger side of Drake’s sports car flew open and Ella rushed out. Drake grabbed her before she made it to the van. A dozen shots rang out, striking the struggling man in the chest, and he dropped to the desert floor.
Ella’s blood curdling scream echoed off the hills, making Bastian’s hair stand on end, as the desperate wail pierced him. He felt a second of horror and awe, as the air warbled around Ella. An instant later everything erupted. The shockwave, riddled with debris, hit Bastian and AJ, knocking them backwards.
“What the hell?” AJ groaned.
“That’s what I’ve been saying all night.” Bastian sat up and attempted to shake off the stars swirling before his eyes.
When the dust settled, the scene of carnage that greeted him was impressive. The Trevita lay several yards away, having taken the brunt of the blast. The van wasn’t much better. The rear was caved in and it lay on its side. Bastian wasn’t surprised when the four jackals and Drake picked themselves up from where they’d been tossed by the blast. They looked like hell, bloody and tattered, but it took an awful lot to kill a Shifter.
What did surprise Bastian was the female, who lay unmoving in the center of a crater. What he’d witnessed was unbelievable. The Outsider had been at the epicenter of the blast, as if she were the bomb itself. And yet she lay there whole and unscathed.
There’s something unreal about that woman. Bastian wouldn’t have believed any of this, if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes.
Drake gestured wildly toward his sports car, as he barked something unintelligible. The four underlings swiftly flipped the van back onto its chassis. The jackal alpha slung the unconscious woman over his shoulder, then got into the beat-up cargo van. Bastian was impressed when the thing actually started up. The jackals chained the mangled sports car to the tow hitch, then the whole pathetic outfit hobbled down the gravel road, disappearing into the hills.
“Good luck with that mess, Dick,” Bastian commented incredulously.
“What do you want to do about him?” AJ gestured to the body in the road.
“My night has been so fucked up, why not add body clean-up to the list,” Bastian replied, as he headed toward the road. When he reached the body of the black-haired male, he instantly scented wolf. “Ah shit. I better call Coso.”
“He’s not going to be happy.”
No kidding.
Bastian shook his head as he looked down at the wolf Shifter with blood covering his chest and stomach. Drake was walking on thin ice pulling a stunt like this. Bastian doubted Coso would be willing to overlook the murder of one of his own.
“He’s not our only problem. We need to do something about the woman.” Bastian was certain this mess centered around her.
Wolf
Unbelievable pain assailed Wolf. He attempted to surge forward, but couldn’t move, as agony ripped through his chest and gut. His torment swiftly took a backseat to a different form of terror, when the memory of Ella in the desert came flooding back.
The sight of Ella being manhandled by the mangy jackal gave Wolf the burst of energy he needed to break free of the bastards holding him. The sudden sharp pain in his chest and stomach, was nothing compared to Ella’s agonized scream. Wolf struggled to reach her, but his body refused to obey his command. As he dropped to the ground, his eyes were riveted to her distraught face. The ground began to vibrate as Ella’s power washed over him. All he saw was Ella as the world around him exploded, and everything went dark.
“Ella,” Wolf mumbled incoherently. “I need to reach Ella. They have her,” he tried to explain, but the Shifters he scented couldn’t possibly hear him over the droning voices.
Why are people praying?
Wolf cracked open his eyes to see the blurry form of a man leaning over him.
“He’s coming around again. Hold him still,” the figure spoke.
“His name is Wolf. He’s the Midwest alpha.”
Wolf heard his name and tried to focus on the other man. He thought he recognized the wolf Shifter, but couldn’t place him.
“I’m not sure how to explain this,” the first male spoke. “The bullets clearly struck several vital organs. But it looks like the tissue was knit back together, and the slugs were beginning to push back out.”
“He’s lucky we’re blessed with the ability to heal fast.”
“Not this fast, Coso. This level of damage should have killed him instantly. It’s almost as if the hand of Isa intervened.”
“The jackals have gone too far.” Coso shook his head grimly. “I’ll contact Bastian. He found a number he recognized in Wolf’s phone.”
Wolf felt himself teetering on the cusp of death. Ella was the only thing that kept him tethered to his battered body, as the male continued to dig the bullets out of his gut. But despite his attempt to fight it off, Wolf succumbed to the overwhelming pain, and again drifted into oblivion.
Bastian
Bastian recognized his cousin, Cain, as he pulled up to the airport. There was no missing the pack of bikers gathered on the curb. Bastian smiled as he wa
tched the other travelers avoid them like the plague. Bastian wore suits, where his cousin was more comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt. But they both had a love for bikes.
It must be a Shifter thing.
“That’s an awfully fancy cage, Cuz.” Cain gestured to the limo, as he gripped Bastian in a bear hug.
“It’s still going to be a tight fit with you overgrown bastards.”
“It’s been too long.” Trip clapped Bastian on the back.
“It has. It really has,” Bastian agreed with a nod. The three of them used to spend summers together when they were teens. “Life has gotten hectic.”
“You’re telling me,” Cain replied. “Meet Iris.” Cain wrapped his arm around a cute brunette Outsider with a belly as big as a watermelon.
“Hello. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Iris reached out her hand.
“It’s a pleasure. Cain, you have been busy.” Bastian gestured at Iris’ belly.
Cain wagged his brows as he gave Bastian a giant grin.
“And this is Marisol, and her grandmother, Abuela,” Trip introduced a little Latino Outsider and a sweet but gnarled looking elderly woman.
“Hola. It is nice to meet you.” Marisol hugged him, followed by the old woman.
Bastian was a bit shocked to see the two Shifters had settled down, and with Outsiders no less. The last time he visited the Reapers, Cain and Trip were drowning in more tail than a man could want. Bastian didn’t figure either of them planned on doing the family thing anytime soon. And when they did, Bastian was certain they would’ve landed on females who were a little rougher around the edges. Except Iris and Marisol hardly looked like club bunnies.
“They’re a little out of your league, aren’t they?” Bastian teased Cain and Trip.
“You have no fucking idea how right you are,” Cain chuckled.
As everyone loaded up their bags and got into the limo, Cain introduced Wolf’s sister and his pack.
“Thank you for rescuing my brother.” Char’s lip quivered.
“We are in your debt.” The wolf Shifter named Tony gave Bastian a firm hand shake.
“I’m just glad I was able to help. We’re heading straight to tribal lands. Coso said Wolf made it through surgery.”
Beautiful Moves: A Motorcycle Club, Shifter, Romance (Shifting Steel Book 3) Page 15