Justice for Violet

by Maia Dylan

  Once he had his equilibrium back and the shock and wonder of finding what few of their kind ever did eased, he saw their mate land a killing blow to the temple of the last man standing. His leopard growled in pleasure as they watched him drop to the ground like a proverbial rock. He didn’t get back up.

  The woman moved with fluid grace to face them, her body crouched in a fighting stance that told him their mate was well trained, batons at the ready, one above her head and one pointing in their direction. She looked up at him and Jacob, and Mason’s blood heated. She was stunning. She had a figure that a man could get lost in for hours and still not get enough of. Her lips were full, and her unusual almond shaped eyes were such a dark blue in color they were almost purple. If this was the woman Kieran sent them to find, then Mason was pretty sure he wouldn’t be letting her go any time soon.

  “Are you two friends with these assholes?” She pointed at the men at her feet. “If so, give me one minute and I’ll be sure to reunite you with them.”

  Jacob stepped forward, holding his hands out in a non-threatening manner. “No, ma’am, we would never be friends with the likes of those two.”

  The woman indicated to the side with a quick flick of her head. “Three. I tossed one of them in that dumpster for calling me the ‘c’ word. I can live with many insults, but that one really gets my blood boiling.” She relaxed out of the fighting stance she had been standing in, twirled the batons in the palms of her hands in an impressive show of expertise before she slid them into some kind of holster behind her. “Well, there is nothing left to see here. If you two aren’t with these corpses, then my job here is done.” She lifted her left foot and wiped her boot on the last man she’d dropped, then repeated the move with her other foot.

  “Nice boots,” Mason said with a grin, completely taken with the kickass woman in front of him. The fact that their mate grinned back and flicked him an air kiss in response told him that the Fates had definitely chosen well. Any woman destined to be mated to two feline shifters had to be strong, but one that was mated to protectors for their people, she needed to be able to kick ass and hold her own.

  Once she had finished she stepped over the two men and walked in their direction. As she neared, her eyes lightened dramatically in a way that would have normally suggested she was shifter, but neither he nor his cat scented an animal within her. He shared a quick confused glance with his brother. She stopped ten feet from them.

  “Well, now, this is a first for me,” their mate said in a tone filled with curiosity. “I know of your kind of course, I mean Kieran and the feline shifters here in Chicago are infamous on the grapevines of the underbelly, right? They battle against Santiago and his douchebags and bring justice to the streets, and I for one often wondered if Kieran and his men wore their underwear on the outside?” She glanced down, and if Mason wasn’t mistaken there was disappointment in her tone when she spoke again. “Alas, I see the superhero analogy dies tonight, and I do think there might be a movie deal in that story somewhere. But I have never had the pleasure of meeting a shifter in person. And now look at me, standing in an alley with not one, but two of them.”

  Mason tensed. “And how would you know of such things, little one?”

  Their mate smiled sweetly at them, but it never reached her eyes, eyes that had returned to all their natural beauty. “Let’s just say I know a lot about a lot of things, and a little about some, and mostly nothing about crap I don’t give a shit about. You are both feline, so it would stand to reason that you would be a part of Kieran’s what … crew? Pack? Herd? Whatever you want to call yourselves. Either way, I figure you take out the baddies, and I take out the baddies, so win-win and we are all on the same side. So,” Mason watched in amazement as she dropped into a bow, one leg straight in front of her, one bent behind, and used her hand to take off an imaginary cap and waved it around like something from The Musketeers, before standing tall once more. “I bid you gentlemen adieu and of course, good hunting.”

  She spun around and moved toward the back of the alley, and Mason shared another shocked look with his brother before he gathered enough of his wits to actually move forward. “Hey wait!”

  “No can do, kitty cat,” their mate called back with a wave, not even slowing her stride. “I got places to be and baddies to kill, and eventually, a piece of homemade lasagna waiting for me at home that I plan to match with a nice glass of Chianti.”

  Mason sped up, reaching for her arm to turn her around to face them, but he never made contact. She dropped down and out of his range before he made contact, and now she was crouched in front of them in a fighting stance once more, both fists held up in front of her. From the way her gaze flew between him and Jacob, Mason knew without a doubt that she was calculating her odds of taking them both, and no doubt planning the moves she would need to execute in order to make that happen.

  “Bad kitty,” she scolded, and Mason held his hands up in surrender. “You don’t get to touch me unless I invite you to. The last man who did that without my consent now finds it difficult to count to ten. He used to use all his fingers. He finds that hard to do with two fingers missing from each hand.”

  Mason looked over at his brother, hoping he might have an idea on how to defuse the situation. Their mate looked like she was seconds away from ripping out those batons of hers a second time, and he and Jacob would be locked firmly in her crosshairs.

  Jacob smiled warmly and pushed his hands into his jeans. Their mate’s eyes watched the move curiously, and Mason realized his brother was smarter than he had ever given him credit for. By putting his hands in his pockets, he was making himself vulnerable and giving her a tactical advantage.

  “Sounds like you taught that prick a lesson,” Jason said, his grin broadening. “Tell me, why only take two fingers? If I had been there and watched some fucker put his hands on you I probably would have taken his arms first, then used them to beat him death.”

  Their mate smiled approvingly and stood up gracefully from her crouch, but Mason noticed that she took two steps back to give her room to defend or attack if she needed to.

  “That would have worked for sure,” she said with a nod. “But I wanted to make a statement, so I took the same two fingers from both hands.”

  “Which fingers?” Mason asked, and taking a page from his brother’s play book he crossed his arms over his chest.

  Their mate smiled at them, and an ache settled in Mason’s chest.

  “I took the middle and ring finger from each hand.”

  Mason held out his hand, palm down and bent those fingers down. “Why those fingers in particular?”

  She laughed, and Mason had to bite back a groan of appreciation at the sound. “He was always quick to throw up the middle finger. He flipped everyone off, his boss, the public, me, and I have to say it pissed me off, so I figured by taking both, he would never be able to flip anyone the bird again.”

  “And his ring fingers?” Jacob asked the question that Mason had been about to.

  “Well, that was just a whimsical bit of fancy for me. From now on, the only hand gesture he can make is the American Sign Language sign for I love you.” She held her hand up, with the two aforementioned fingers down and Mason could clearly see the sign he had been taught at some point in his life. “Poetic justice really. Especially for a sadistic son of a bitch whose idea of a good time is to hurt, bleed, rape, or kill someone. He decided that I’d make a perfect rape victim for him, and I proved him wrong.”

  An ice cold rage flooded through him.

  “Where is he now?” Jacob asked calmly, but there was no mistaking his intent.

  Violet clasped her hands beneath her chin and batted her eyelids at them. “Aww, look at you, getting all protective. There’s no need. A few months later I encountered him again. He had this whole scene of vengeance planned out and everything. I had to disappoint him, and now he’s way too busy being dead to be a threat to anyone.”

  Mason dipped his head in her di
rection in acknowledgement. “That’s good to know, but I do see your point, and have taken note of your warning. I swear I was not trying to hold you against your will, and I eagerly await your consent to touch you in the near future.” Her eyes narrowed at his tongue in cheek answer, but he simply grinned back. “And knowing that you know what we are, let me complete the introductions. My name is Mason Williams, and this is my younger brother, Jacob. As you have quite rightly ascertained, we are indeed shifters. Leopards to be exact and we have pledged our fealty to Kieran and the Black Ridge pride.” He stressed the word and winked at her.

  “Huh, just like lions, I should have totally made that connection,” the beauty muttered to herself almost absently. “Thanks, I will remember that for next time. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really do have to go. This neighborhood is good at turning its back on violence within its borders, but someone might come looking for those three assholes, and I don’t plan to be anywhere near them when they do.”

  She moved back further into the alley. There was no exit in that direction, and the smallest building around them was three stories high. There were no fire exits to speak of, so he had no idea how their mate thought to leave in that direction.

  “Where are you going, beautiful?” Jacob called out, and she simply pointed up. Mason shrugged when Jacob looked back at him in question. He had no clue what she was going to. When she reached the back of the alley, she looked up then moved around until she was in whatever spot it was she was looking for.

  Mason stared up into the darkened sky, but couldn’t see what the hell she was lining herself up with. “Little one, I am not sure what the hell you are about to do, but I have a feeling you are going to disappear on us. We were sent by our Alpha to find you, something that we will forever be indebted to him for. Could you tell us your name?”

  She dropped her head so she could look at him for a moment, then flicked her gaze to his brother, and an assessing expression fell across her beautiful face.

  Jacob chuckled. “We know what you’re thinking. If you give us your name, we might be able to find you, and you are probably debating with yourself if that is something you actually want to happen. But the thing you need to understand about us, baby, is that we won’t stop looking for you. Not for any other reason, than we must. If you know what we are, then you must know what a mate is to our kind.”

  Her eyes widened with shock, and Mason heard her quick inhalation.

  “That’s what you are to us, little one. Our mate,” Mason said in a voice he hoped rang with the truth of his words. “As soon as we got close enough to you, and could scent you over the stench of this alley, we knew you were the one meant for us, whether you are the woman Kieran thinks you may be or not. And that means that we will be moving heaven and earth to convince you to take a chance on us. So please, before you somehow disappear into the night like a dream, could you please tell us your name.”

  She was still for a moment looking between him and Jacob, and Mason knew she was taking their measure. Would she trust them enough? God, he hoped so. Just when his nerves were about to snap she smiled sadly, and the hope that had begun to tentatively bloom within him, wilted.

  “I do know what a mate means to your kind,” she said in a shy voice that endeared her to him even further, “but I don’t think I am mate material. I have a lot to do before I can even contemplate being something more than what I am.” She drew a strange metal thing from behind her, and when she pressed a button it lengthened. It looked like the middle sections of a longbow.

  “And what is that?” Mason asked.

  She lifted the mechanism above her head, and did something that had two wires shooting out from the ends and slamming into the top of the two buildings on either side of her. From the way they locked into the side of the buildings, he knew there had to be some kind of anchor on the end of each wire.

  There was a sad look in her eye that had Mason wanting to hold her. “Just a granddaughter looking for some vengeance.”

  He reached out a hand in her direction just as she suddenly shot straight up. The mechanical whirr of the wires winding back into the piece of equipment she held in her hand sounded loud in the alley, before they heard her grunt as she reached the top.

  Mason’s heart leaped to his throat at the thought of the jolt causing her to lose her grip, and he and Jacob both ran forward as if to catch her if she fell. They should have had more faith. They could see the silhouette of their mate against the night sky as she began to slide down one side of the wire to the building beside them. Mason growled when she seemed to let go of the wire and flip herself up and onto the building’s roof. His leopard was prowling within him, demanding that he follow, but he had no idea how.

  “Well, shit, apparently our mate is fucking related to Batman,” Jacob said. The two of them stood there, hands on hips, frustration riding them both, staring up at their mate as she somehow released the hooks of the fancy thing she used to scale the building and the wires wound back into the mechanism.

  “Goddamn it!” Mason roared. Without a name or a place to start their mate was effectively in the wind. Short of walking around sniffing everything and everyone with the hope of stumbling across her scent, they didn’t have much to go on.

  “Violet.”

  Mason’s heart stuttered at the sound of her voice. If they were human they might not have heard it, but their shifter hearing made it easy to hear her.

  “My name is Violet.”

  Then he knew she was gone.

  “Violet,” Jacob whispered her name reverently. “Well, at least we have a name.”

  Mason nodded. He opened his mouth to say something, but a lump at the back of the alley caught his attention. He walked toward the back wall.

  “We have three things to use to find our mate. We have her name, we have this.” He picked up a heavy woolen jacket that had been on the ground, but her scent was strong on the material so he knew she had worn it. “And we have the fact that Kieran is convinced she can help us, and there are a lot of people out looking for her. We put all that together and we’ll find our mate.”

  Jacob grinned, determination shone in his eyes. “Then we will work on that whole getting her to accept us thing you were talking about. And no matter what her objections, we won’t give up.”

  Mason turned to walk out of the alleyway, ignoring the bodies his mate had left lying on the ground, and with an excitement for the future he had never had before. “Too damn right we won’t.”

  Chapter Three

  “Three of our men have been killed on the streets tonight, boss,” Matteo spoke from the door to his office, but Roberto Santiago didn’t even deign to look up from the report he was reading.

  He’d known Murphy would retaliate, and it was no surprise that he’d taken three lives in return for the two Santiago’s men had taken. But the difference between him and the shifter was that Roberto didn’t give a shit. He was completely unmoved by the deaths of three of his men. The creation of every empire that ever existed in the world came at a price. He considered the loss collateral damage on the path to fulfilling his destiny.

  “Do we know who killed them?” he asked the question, but the answer didn’t matter to him. Not really.

  “No, boss, but their injuries were not consistent with an animal attack. These were blunt force trauma from a cylindrical object.”

  Roberto nodded. “Then it was that vigilante red-headed woman again. God, spare me from people who think they can save the world.” He picked up a pen and began to take notes on the pad beside him. They had no real idea who she was. They had witness reports that mentioned long red curly hair, but nothing else. Not much to go on really. Roberto knew it was no coincidence that the CCV cameras were always out in the areas where she struck. He knew she was smart and had resources at her disposal, and Roberto didn’t know what he wanted more, her death or her loyalty. Conviction like that was hard to find nowadays.

  “Tell the boys I’ve added an incentive.
Fifty grand to the person who brings me proof they ended that bitch.” If she was that determined to save the world, turning her would be too damn difficult.

  “Will do, boss.” Matteo hesitated for a moment. “One more thing, our contact at the city council called.”

  Now this did have Roberto looking up. Matteo stood with one foot out the door, and if he was that nervous about this particular update then it did not bode well.

  “And what did they have to say?” Roberto kept his voice calm despite the fact rage was building within him at a phenomenal rate.

  “The contract has been awarded to IEH,” Matteo said quickly.

  “Figlio di puttana!” Roberto roared as he stood and swept the blotter and phone off his desk to the floor. “That fucking company is starting to piss me off! They write shit about me, and get it on every damn local media source in the city, they win contracts out from under me, and it feels like every time I turn around they are fucking me over. They have cost me millions, and no one can tell me who the fuck they are. Goddamn it!”

  A man in the shadows at the side of the room moved slightly into the light, but not enough to be completely visible, and a wave of unease skittered over Roberto’s skin. He may be the boss of one of the largest organized crime syndicates in the America, but even he answered to someone. And the man scared the shit out of him.

  “Do you have control of this city or not, Roberto?” The calm voice belied the reactions Santiago had witnessed from the man in the past. Vincent Caruso was the head of the Syndicate, whatever he said was gospel, and while it was an honor to have him here in Chicago, it was embarrassing that he was here to witness this failure firsthand.