Hunter of Shadows

by Nancy Gideon

  Max’s fingers were around the man’s throat instantly. “You tell Carmen that the only game I play better than cards is life-and-death. Ask him if he can afford to lose that one.”

  As Max shoved the gasping man away, his furious gaze caught on the sight of soot-smudged Nica Fraser, picking her way over the snaking fire hoses in the parking lot, carrying a child and a plastic hamster cage. She was kneeling down, comforting the little girl, so she didn’t notice his approach. But suddenly MacCreedy was in his path, presenting an immobile obstacle.

  “Back off, Savoie. She just helped save half your tenants.”

  “And I’ll be sure to thank her after I break her neck.”

  The palms braced against his chest sprouted claws, and Silas’s snarl displayed impressive fangs. “I’m not going to let that happen.”

  Max gripped his shoulders to fling him out of the way, but MacCreedy pushed back with a startling amount of power, his arm hooking about Savoie’s neck, taking him down to one knee and holding him there.

  No one was more surprised than Silas at the strength surging from a source he didn’t recognize. Then he felt Nica’s hands on his shoulders, and he knew: from her. From his bond with her.

  “Silas, don’t,” she cried softly. “Let him up.”

  The instant MacCreedy’s grip lessened, Max shook him off and was on his feet, braced and ready.

  Cee Cee stepped between them. “Both of you, stop.”

  Silas gave her a regretful glance, keeping Nica shielded behind him. “This is that time we were talking about. I can’t let him harm her.”

  Cee Cee looked to Max to petition quietly, “Max, they’re mated. They’re a bound pair. He’s not going to back down, and I don’t want you to kill him.”

  “Well, hell, I don’t want to kill him either, but she’s out of control. She’s dangerous and I can’t risk her attacking you. Give me an option. I’ll listen.”

  “Help me,” MacCreedy said. “Help me free her, and I’ll accept your offer. I’ll work for you and your clan. I’ll stand with you against any odds.”

  Max was silent for a moment, weighing MacCreedy’s value against Nica’s threat. But it was the expressive plea in his own mate’s eyes, as she stood with her hand resting upon MacCreedy’s shoulder, that decided it. “Work with me,” he amended, then sighed. “Bring her out to the house.”

  Silas nodded. “We have to make a couple of quick stops first.” Then he added, “Thank you.”

  Nica followed MacCreedy up the stairs to his apartment. He was worried about his family after his falling-out with Blutafino, and his first instinct was to gather them close.

  He stood in the center of the empty apartment, too dismayed to react.

  They were gone. All their clothes, their belongings, everything, without a note, without a word.

  The touch of Nica’s hand at the small of his back woke him from his stupor. He snatched out his phone, walking into the bedroom as he punched in the numbers. His voice was rough and shaky as he demanded, “Bree, where are you? Are you all right? The airport? No. No, Bree, don’t do that. Wait for me. Bree—

  “Kendra, what’s going on?” He started to pace, the movements quick with agitation. “Don’t. You don’t have to do that. Let me—Kenny, please, don’t do this. Just wait for me. I don’t want you to do this. Please. Not for me. Don’t—”

  He came to a stop, breathing hard, struggling for words. Nica had never felt so helpless, so excluded, when he whispered hoarsely, “I always will. You know that.”

  His eyes squeezed shut and then he continued more gruffly, “This is insanity, Brigit. What are you thinking? Stay here. I can—” He swallowed hard. “I love you, too. If you need me for anything, call me and I’ll be there. I don’t care about that. Yes. Yes, she’s here.” A ragged laugh. “I know. I will. You be careful. Don’t do anything—” Another laugh and a twitch of a smile. “Any more than usual. Call me. I’ll answer.”

  He stood for a moment, put the silent phone back in his pocket, then shoved open the window and stepped out onto the balcony.

  It was very dark, not yet three in the morning. Nica could only see him in shadow where he sat on the steps, elbows on knees, head in his hands. The snag of his breathing was breaking her heart.

  “Where are they going?”

  “Reno.”

  Back to the Terriots.

  “There’s still time. You can still go with them.” Her tone was level, but her insides trembled as she waited for his reply.

  He looked over his shoulder to where she sat on the the windowsill, his eyes glittered in the darkness. “My life is here. With you. I have to let them go.” He turned to stare out over the lights of the Quarter.

  Relief caused the firm set of her features to collapse. “Isn’t it dangerous for them to return to the Terriots? Should we stop them, Silas?”

  “We? You want to bring them back?”

  “They’re family. We can protect them—”

  He reached up for her, drawing her down beside him. Her arms banded about his middle as he held her head to his shoulder. “They’re safer where they’re going. She’s going to accept an offer from the Terriot heir. The mating will give her security and power, if nothing else.”

  “Brigit?”

  “No. Kendra. She’s going to bargain for Brigit’s protection from the Guedrys and for my freedom from their service.”

  Nica blinked in surprise and admiration. The kitten was a lioness after all.

  “Will they keep their promises?”

  MacCreedy shrugged. “Depends on how much Cale Terriot wants her. My guess is he’ll give her anything she asks for.”

  And they’d be out of reach of Hawthorne’s retribution.

  “They’ll be fine, Silas.”

  “I know.” He drew a heavy breath and let it out in a shaky gust. “I just wanted to see them before they left. I never seem to get the chance to say good-bye.”

  Before going to Max’s they returned to her apartment and showered together out of necessity, so weary they had to cling to each other for balance. MacCreedy cast a wistful look at the pillow-top bed as they dressed, longing to sink into it with his mate beside him. Soon, he told himself. Soon they could start the kind of life together that he’d only dared dream of. He sat on the edge of the mattress and tried to calm his thoughts by watching her.

  Nica was quiet as she braided her damp, heavy hair. She’d dressed simply in the skinny black jeans and white ribbed tank top. But instead of seeing a sleek, strong warrior readying for battle, he noted the slight tremble of her fingers and the unsteady shallowness of her respiration. She’d made herself vulnerable because of him—­because she loved and trusted him. To be worthy of the faith she’d placed in him, he had to keep his word to free her. A shadow of anxiety gnawed at his determination. If he failed . . .

  Nica caught his intense study, then stepped between his knees to cradle his face in her palms.

  “It doesn’t matter what happens,” she softly told him. “I never expected to have anything like this, ever. It’s scary and amazing and wonderful. If this is all we have, just this moment, I have no regrets. I want you to know that.”

  She bent to touch her lips to his.

  MacCreedy gripped her wrists, his eyes glacial gray, fierce, and full of cold fire. “Well, it’s not enough for me. I want every minute of the rest of our lives to be together. I’m going to have sex with you every night on this bed until we’re too exhausted to move, and wake up beside you the next morning. I’m going to drink your lousy coffee out there at that table while I watch the news before I go to work. I’m going to fill you with my children, and we’re going to get old together watching them grow up happy and free. I’ll be damned if I let anyone take a single second of that from us. I won’t let you down, Nica.”

  Nica’s eyes darkened with belief and desire. “I love you, Silas. Give me those things.”

  It was midmorning by the time Silas drove through the gates on River Road. The
mood was grim and tense between them when they climbed up onto the porch, Nica’s hand clasped firmly in his.

  Oscar fell eagerly in step with his uncle, filling them in on all the news of the fire. Arson was suspected, but miraculously there’d been no loss of life. Fire investigators were on the scene picking through the rubble. Max and Charlotte had gotten home only a few hours ago, detained by endless questioning.

  When the boy ran ahead to announce their arrival, Tina approached with a nervous smile. “I’ve given a lot of thought to what we talked about,” she told Silas. “New Orleans is Ozzy’s home. I spent my entire life on the move from one place to the next and I don’t want that for him. I want him to grow up with family around him, with a sense of permanence, if not the most ideal security. I hope you can understand that.”

  Silas put an arm about her shoulders and lightly kissed her brow. “I do. And I think it’s the right choice, if not the safest one. Nica and I are staying, too, so you can count on us for anything you need. I take family seriously.”

  She sighed in relief, leaning into him. “Thank you.”

  “And I still have hopes that your fool of a husband will grow a pair and a brain and take care of you the way he should.”

  Tina stepped back, her smile rueful. “We’ll see.”

  With Oscar leading the way, Max and Cee Cee came out to join their guests in the foyer. MacCreedy’s hand tightened about Nica’s as Max regarded her unwelcomingly.

  “Abuse my hospitality, assassin, and I’ll be taking you and MacCreedy on our next boat ride out into the bayou.”

  She showed her teeth. “I’ll be on my best behavior.” But her posturing faltered when Charlotte strode up to pull her into a fearless embrace.

  “Don’t worry about him, Nica. He has no social graces.”

  “Lottie,” she whispered, “it wasn’t personal.”

  “I know,” Cee Cee said as she stepped back. “If I thought it was, I’d be piloting that boat.” She grinned up at the glowering MacCreedy. “Let’s get to work. We’ve got to do some creative report writing to make sure all the necessary asses are covered.” She glanced back at Max. “Especially those I’m particularly fond of.”

  Max chuckled. “I always knew you were after me for my assets.”

  They set up shop in Jimmy Legere’s old office. Nica sat outside on the porch, where Silas could keep a watchful eye on her as she dozed in the sun.

  Seeing his attentive look, Cee Cee gave him a nudge. “Things okay between the two of you?”

  He smiled grimly. “I’ve promised her it will be.”

  “I’m familiar with those kinds of promises. The huge, grand gestures we make to those we love, without the slightest clue how to keep them.”

  “I have to keep this one.”

  “You two have good, powerful friends here, Mac. We’ll take care of you.”

  He stared at her as if confused by the offer, then his shoulders relaxed. “Okay. Good to know.”

  “It’s going to be a reciprocal arrangement, so don’t thank me yet. Wait until you hear about the mess you’re stepping into when you come on board with Max. He trusts you, and he doesn’t trust easily. Don’t fuck him over.”

  “I won’t.” A small, genuine smile. “So, what are we dealing with?”

  She laughed. “I don’t know where to start.” She smiled at him, thankful for his presence because it gave her an unbiased opening into Max’s business, where she’d formerly had only cursory access. MacCreedy’s involvement would bridge both worlds: hers of law enforcement and Max’s with the clans. He’d be the solid, dependable voice Max could rely on with knowledge and experience in both places. “I’m glad you’re here. I’m going to enjoy working with you.”

  MacCreedy’s grin was wry. “Just don’t try working me, Charlotte. I don’t like being fucked over, either.”

  She grinned. “We’re going to get along fine, smart guy.”

  Over chicory coffee and tasty crab salad sandwiches, they talked police and clan business. Silas brought Cee Cee up to speed on his dealings with Max, with how he’d met Nica, on Brigit’s ill-fated affair with Daniel Guedry, and then laid out what he’d learned working undercover with Manny Blu.

  She was stunned to hear of the commissioner’s involvement both currently and in the past, but she wasn’t surprised that Cummings wasn’t snow white.

  She filled him in on the bad blood between the mayoral hopeful and Max, and Max’s claim that Cummings had had dealings with Jimmy and his own father. She suspected that there was more Max wasn’t saying and seemed so unsettled by that, Silas decided to say nothing about Cummings’s questionable dealings with Babineau. He wanted to talk to Max and to Alain himself, verifying what the evidence was telling him, before going there with her.

  Regarding Carmen Blutafino, Max had taken the drugged Shifter females off his vessel so he’d have no ties to human trafficking. Giles had returned early that morning after putting Lena and her son safely on a train for Memphis, where she’d go into hiding.

  The fire was another matter. Arson was a given, but the potentially deadly code violations that had been exposed were quite another. Max, his attorney, and the site engineers would be pouring over the blueprints at his office in the City in an effort to escape hefty fines and even possible criminal charges. Cummings displayed horror and outrage at the news, carefully removing himself from any backlash.

  And then there was the matter of who had hired Nica to kill Cee Cee, and why. Those answers, MacCreedy hoped to have that evening.

  When Cee Cee received a call from Devlin Dovion Silas went outside to check on Nica, whom he found sleeping, her lunch untouched. He walked down the long porch, to check in with the lab about who had access to the DNA samples of Charlotte, Nica, and the kidnapped girls. And what he learned rocked him.

  Only two people had pulled the information on all the names given. Commissioner Warren Brady. And Detective Alain Babineau.

  Twenty-six

  Nica opened her eyes to see MacCreedy sitting on the foot of her chaise longue. He was looking out over the lawn, his expression pensive and faraway, probably in Reno by now. She watched him, her emotions thickening like a simmering roux.

  He’d stayed with her and was going to remain with her. And while that was the most beautiful, romantic thing she could imagine, it was also the most foolhardy. Chances were good that he was going to die tonight in a futile effort to save her, and there was nothing she could do to stop him. Chances were also good that she’d be the instrument of his death. She couldn’t stop that, either.

  There was nothing to do but trust him and whatever he was planning, but the uncertainty had her sick with dread. He’d told her nothing, afraid the information would leak to Hawthorne and give him warning. MacCreedy was a smart man. She’d placed her trust wisely.

  She rubbed her toe along his thigh so he’d turn and look at her. She loved his face, the strength in it, the way a smile curved the edges of his lips, the heat that thawed his steely gaze to a warm pewter. And his voice, that deep rumble that made her quiver in response.

  His hand settled on her leg, squeezing gently. “Hi. How are you feeling?”

  Everything about him was calm and confident. She wanted to fling herself into his arms and lose herself there forever. I’m feeling scared, she wanted to whimper so he would comfort her. I want you desperately, she wanted to growl so he’d take her upstairs and screw her blind. I want you to run while you can, to get on that plane to Reno, she wanted to wail, knowing he wouldn’t go.

  So she smiled at him and lied. “Fine.”

  She could see he didn’t believe her. He pointed to the plate of sandwiches. “You didn’t eat anything. You need to keep up your strength.”

  “You’re my strength. Besides, I didn’t think I’d be able to keep anything down.”

  He gestured with the curl of his fingers. “C’mere.”

  She scooted down to straddle his lap, clutching him tight with her knees and the fierce circle
of her arms, her head tucking under his chin.

  “Don’t be afraid. I won’t let anything harm you.”

  Didn’t he realize she wasn’t going to be the one who was harmed?

  “I’m not afraid,” she told him. “I’m terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought.”

  She felt his breath stir her hair as he whispered, “Me, too.” And her heart spasmed with her love of him, for his bravery, his sense of sacrifice and honor, his drive to protect her.

  She pushed back so she could openly adore him as she said, “What do you mean I make lousy coffee?”

  He blinked, then his grin broke wide. “It’s really awful, but if you make it, I’ll drink it.”

  Her eyes brimmed to overflowing. “My hero.”

  They shared an awkward meal in the dining room. Nica’s head pounded so furiously, just the idea of food had her nauseous. She sipped her water and held Silas’s hand tightly while Oscar cajoled him into telling stories about himself when he was his nephew’s age. They were adventurous, amusing tales, filled with the love of family and especially the adulation of a boy for his father. Tina dabbed discreetly at her eyes, while Cee Cee stoically studied her nearly untouched plate.

  And Nica smiled, imagining again the beautiful blond-haired child riding on Silas’s shoulders. Their son. Their future. The vision was shattered by a sudden stab of pain that made her knock her glass over, sending water and ice across the table.

  When she jumped to her feet, nearly blinded by the hammering behind her eyes, Silas pulled her down to his lap, holding her close as he continued his story as if nothing was wrong. He stroked her hair and rubbed her shoulders as her hands knotted in his T-shirt, twisting, then tearing.

  Tina started to get up. “I’m going to take Oscar upstairs.”

  “No,” MacCreedy interrupted. “Please let him stay. I need him to stay. Father Furness will be here in a minute.”

  “What’s he coming here for?” The harsh question came from Cee Cee.