by Helen Scott
As he sat down, he wiggled the mouse back and forth to wake the ancient thing up before looking around for clues as to what the man’s password might be. The blue screen stared at him, making him feel watched. When he opened the desk drawer, he found a small yellow post-it with a name on it.
This had to be it.
He typed it in quickly, and when it didn’t work, he wanted to growl in frustration, but that would probably attract attention, something he didn’t want. So instead, he breathed and focused on the task at hand. This had to be it, but what if he had entered it wrong? He tried all lowercase, this time typing more carefully just in case he had misspelled it last time. Then all uppercase, and finally capitalized. None of them worked.
Out of sheer frustration and a lack of any other ideas, he typed in password just in case the guy had never changed it. When the blue screen faded, he knew he’d either succeeded in locking himself out of the machine or it had worked. When a desktop covered in icons appeared, he almost wanted to whoop in excitement, but then he heard voices outside the hall.
He expected Valentina to be bringing Max back to his office, having cajoled him into showing her the security footage, but the timber of the voice was off. It wasn’t his jaguar’s; it was too high-pitched. Not that she is mine, he amended in his head.
The server’s voice was clear now. “Sir, I told you, you’ll have to come back later. I don’t know where Max is, and I don’t know where they went looking for him. All I said was that he might have been outside for a smoke.”
Something thumped, and he heard a pained feminine squeak.
“Sir, please. You can’t go in there,” she said as the door flew open, smacking against the wall. When she saw Elijah standing next to Max’s desk, her brows furrowed in confusion. “What are you doing in here? I told you he went outside.”
Before he could even process what was happening, the man who had burst in withdrew a gun from his trench coat and aimed it at Elijah. Everything happened so fast after that moment, but instead of everything blurring around him, it all became crystal clear. The edges of furniture and objects were more clearly defined than they had been seconds ago.
The server was screaming in the background while the man in the trench coat simply said, “What are you?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Elijah said as he put his hands up and took a step forward.
“Ah, ah, you stay right there. I don’t want to get any of your filth on me.”
He bowed his head as if he was going to comply with the man’s wishes, but instead, he launched himself at his attacker, pushing off from the desk and stretching through the air toward him. The flash of the muzzle and the excruciatingly loud crack let him know that his opponent hadn’t waited to fire the shot. A growl roared out of him, and suddenly, the attacker was turning away.
The panther within him was pushing to the surface, and Elijah wasn’t sure how long he could keep it at bay. When the sound of sobbing broke through his haze of anger, it was as if a bucket of ice-cold water had been thrown over him, and his panther retreated slightly. It still wanted to claw the man’s face off, but it knew that Elijah couldn’t shift in that moment without putting himself in more peril.
When he landed on the other man, they both fell to the floor and the gun slipped from his hand. Elijah swiped his arm at it, getting it as far away from the other man as possible. Before he could brace for it, his attacker rolled and flipped him over so that he was now straddling his chest and pinning his arms with his knees.
His fist connected with Elijah’s face over and over again while the screams of the waitress rang in his ears. There were other voices surrounding them now, but his eyes were beginning to swell shut and he couldn’t make out what was going on.
The weight of the man was suddenly gone, and Valentina was at his side. Her hands were warm on either side of his face. “Elijah, listen to me. You’ve been hurt pretty badly, so I’m going to take you to a hospital.” Her voice was oddly loud, and her eyes were wide from what he could see. “I need you to stand, though. Can you do that?”
He pushed himself up and clasped her hand as she pulled him completely upright. His head swam, and the world spun around him. Valentina braced him against her side and swung his right arm over her shoulder while she walked them out, supporting most of his weight as they went.
“You need some help?” a man’s voice sounded just in front of them.
Elijah’s lips pulled back on his face in a silent snarl.
“No, I’ve got him, but thanks.”
“You must be stronger than you look, then,” the young man said again, and if the world hadn’t been so topsy-turvy in that moment, he would have lunged at him, pinned him to the wall by the throat, and held him there until his point was made. The jaguar was his.
Valentina did an obvious fake laugh and just said, “Crossfit.”
“Shouldn’t we be calling the police or something?” another woman said from just behind them.
“I’ll call them on the way to the hospital. You guys just get back to your tables.”
“What about him?” another voice piped up behind them.
Elijah felt Valentina turn them more than he saw anything. “Leave him where he is. I’m sure he’ll be out a while yet, and the police will be here soon, anyway.”
Then, before anyone else could say anything, they were out the back door and moving down the alley toward the car. She shoved him into the back seat, and he felt the car take off. A ringing phone caught his attention, though he was struggling to stay awake.
“Services,” a gruff voice answered.
“This is Valentina, alpha of the Midnight pack. I need a cleaner and a police officer sent to the following address.” She rattled off the address and name of the bar they had just been in. “Reaper is on-site and currently unconscious. I would like to question him, if possible. Staff are expecting the police and may have called them themselves, but I don’t think so. When the cleaner goes for the security footage, I ask that he grab everything from the last couple weeks, as that is what we were there for in the first place.”
“Cleaner, security footage, and crowd control. Police, taking custody of the Reaper. We will call you with the location if we are able to secure the target. Anything else?”
“The Reaper is using silver laced with wolfsbane and possibly another toxin.”
“Chemical risk. Got it. Will report back shortly.”
The car fell silent then, and Elijah couldn’t help but wonder what kind of underground society the shifters had, because after that phone call, it was clear that it existed.
“You hanging in there?” Valentina asked as the car stopped for a red light.
Her voice danced along his skin and seemed to settle on his chest as it called to the beast within him. When he looked up at her, he saw a jaguar’s eyes staring back. Bright rings of gold were centered around her pupil before the color seemed to condense into a rich coppery-mustard color. The whites of her eyes were completely gone, and he knew if they were pulled over anytime soon, the cop would immediately know she wasn’t human. When a car horn sounded lightly behind them, she turned back around, and he felt the warmth of her gaze go with her. It seemed as if only a couple minutes had passed when they turned down an alley and the car stopped.
He tried to push himself up, but was too exhausted. When two hands that felt much too large to be Valentina’s grabbed him by the ankles and pulled, he tried to resist, thinking they were under attack once more, only to hear a man’s voice scold him.
“The alpha wants you in the basement, so that’s where I’m taking you. Clear, cat?”
The world swam around him when he lifted his head to see who was talking. He hadn’t seen the man before and could barely make out his features. All he got was the impression of long black hair; everything else was just too blurry.
When he next opened his eyes, he was on a cot of some kind and Valentina was squatting next to him. “I really hope thi
s shirt wasn’t a favorite of yours,” she muttered right before he heard scissors cutting through fabric. Pain lanced through him as she pulled the cotton of his T-shirt away from whatever wound was on his shoulder. She doused it with some kind of liquid, and it burned as if she’d just set fire to his skin. He felt something impale him then, and he was barely able to stifle a howl of pain. When she pulled back, he started to pant through the agony radiating outward from his shoulder. All she said was one word, and he was compelled to obey. “Shift.”
Elijah felt his cat come roaring to the surface, practically exploding out of him. The room shifted and the colors in his vision faded as his body changed into that of his animal.
Chapter 9
Valentina watched and waited to see what Elijah’s panther would do next. By the elders, he was a beautiful creature. Sleek muscles stood out under his velvety black fur as he paced back and forth in front of her. He needed to shift to start the healing process. The bullet hole in his shoulder was nasty, and the Reaper had laced his ammo with a wolfsbane and silver cocktail that would not only bring most shifters to their knees but could potentially kill a shifter as new as Elijah. He could not die on her watch, no way, no how. She would not have his death on her conscience, and she would not be going to the High Clan to explain what the hell had been happening in her territory. No, he needed to heal, and she needed to get control of the situation.
“Elijah, do you understand me?”
The large pale-green eyes of his cat locked onto her as his head dipped and rose. It was slow and purposeful, and she knew in that moment that he was the kind of alpha who could stay present throughout the shift if he wanted to. Most shifters, especially if they were shifting to heal, became completely animal. Usually some could retain control for a few minutes or hours, while others were able to stay in control the whole time, but if the human half was injured and needed to heal, the animal would often force them back so they weren’t draining the energy needed to heal by staying present.
“The Reaper shot you. I was able to remove the bullet, but he had covered it with wolfsbane, which is why it hurt more than it should. The shift will help kickstart your healing, and when you shift back, you should be as good as new, but you might have a small scar.”
A low growl rumbled through him at that.
“Look at it this way, you can use it to impress the ladies. Tell them how gallant you were defending the servers from a crazy man with a gun.” She laughed as she turned away from him, but it was hollow. Now that she had said it out loud, she realized how true the statement was. Not only had he tried to reason with the Reaper, according to the waitstaff, but he had kept the man’s attention focused on him and not the other people in the building. Even if she hadn’t shown up when she did, she had no doubt that he would have been able to kick the man’s ass, but he might have had a much larger scar and a much longer healing process. The man was going to be one hell of an alpha one day. Wherever he landed, the pack that he headed would be lucky to have him.
A low sound that was almost a purr came from right behind her, and when the panther’s large, blocky head pushed against her leg, she turned back to him. “I’m going to look at your wound, okay? I’m not trying to hurt you,” she said as she knelt next to him.
Her hand drifted along his silky fur, from his ear, down his neck, and across to his shoulder. As she moved, the cat’s eyes watched her with an intensity she wasn’t used to, almost as if he was trying to make her back down with just a stare. Those kinds of tactics didn’t play with her, though, and she was as stubborn as they came, so a staring contest wasn’t something she wanted to get into right now.
When her fingers found wet fur, she stopped and began to gently part the ebony strands to get a look at the wound underneath. It was still bleeding, but was significantly smaller than it had been when she had removed the bullet. She sighed with relief and moved back so she was sitting on the floor instead of squatting and could rest her back against the cinderblock wall. “I think this will be fine when you shift back.”
She rested her head against the wall, feeling the cool of the brick through her hair and the almost-damp cement smell permeating the air around them. Valentina knew she should get up, should be doing something while she was waiting for Elijah to shift back to human, but she was exhausted. The jaguar in her was fighting back, demanding that she sleep. The impulse was biologically built in since her cat was crepuscular and preferred to be active during dawn and dusk, which meant afternoon was prime napping time.
Before she even realized it, Elijah had curled up next to her on the cement floor. His large body pressed up against her own as he relaxed right along with her. His cat would be wanting a nap right about now, too. The human part of her wanted to get up and do something, figure out what was going on, but her limbs were heavy, and the only thoughts her brain would produce were about Elijah and how he was an alpha, quickly followed up by flashes of the kiss they’d shared in his apartment. Her body flushed at the thought of it, and though she tried to steer her mind elsewhere, it kept coming back to that moment and the simple fact that she regretted stopping him.
Of course, she knew it was the right thing to do, but couldn’t something be just for her for once? She loved her pack, her strange group of misfits, with all her heart, but sometimes being an alpha was tiring. They were each other’s chosen family, and she wouldn’t let anyone feel unwelcome or hurt by her choices, especially when she knew what the result would be—an alpha and an alpha didn’t mix.
She had seen as much with her own parents. A Brazilian alpha jaguar and an Irish alpha wolf? Her parents couldn’t have been more opposite, and the fights throughout her childhood were some of the tamer examples. They were both stubborn and quick to anger, but they also loved deeply and passionately. While she had no doubt that they had loved each other enough to bring her into the world, she had always wished they would have split up sooner.
When the door to the basement creaked, her eyes popped open and her body went into alert mode. Elijah must have sensed it, too, because he was tense even though he hadn’t visibly moved. She could feel his muscles coiled under his fur, ready to spring into action if needed.
The footfalls on the stairs were slow and seemed unsteady. Her heart pounded in her chest, and her breathing sped up, but neither of them moved as they waited to see who was intruding on their space.
Asher’s long black hair was the first thing she noticed as he rounded the corner from the stairs, and she breathed a sigh of relief. His steps had been unsteadying because he was carrying a giant tray of food. She could see steam rising from some of the plates, and his warm amber skin was flushed, so she knew the food was fresh. For a moment, she was reminded of her mother and the amber ring she wore that her father had given her. The woman had never taken it off, no matter how angry she was at him, and had worn it even as Valentina buried her. She shook the melancholy thought from her head and stood.
“Elijah,” she said, looking down at the panther, “this is Asher. He’s a packmate of mine, so be nice.”
A loud huff sounded from the cat before Valentina walked toward the delicious-smelling food.
Asher held his hands up and said, “I know we have family dinner to get to, but you guys have been down here for hours, and I figured whatever had happened must have made you hungry, so I brought a snack.”
“Hours?” Valentina’s eyes widened. She didn’t think they had slept, but they must have.
“Hours,” Asher confirmed as he started unloading the tray.
“Shit,” she whispered before looking over her shoulder to check on the panther, only to find a naked Elijah standing there, blinking as though he had just woken up.
At her jerk of movement, Asher looked up, and now it was his turn for his eyes to widen. After a second thought, Valentina stripped off her jacket, leaving just the tank top underneath, and threw it over her shoulder. “You might want to cover up.”
“Well, hello, sailor,” Asher muttered
as he gave Elijah a onceover.
Valentina leveled her gaze at the bear shifter, trying to suppress her smirk as she said, “You want me to tell Liam you were admiring the new guy?” They both knew that he was completely devoted to his mate and that her question was just playful teasing.
“Window shopping is fine. Besides, I don’t need to buy when I’ve got my doctor waiting for me at home.” He winked at her.
“And we all envy you for it.” She stuck her tongue out at him. While her statement was said in fun, it was also true. She knew a lot of the other members of the pack were jealous of what Liam and Asher had, and now what Domino and Harper had.
“I know. Now, have some food while I go find our young friend some clothes.”
“Thanks, Ash.” She smiled at him gratefully.
Elijah was next to her then with her jacket covering as much as it could. “Did I hear him say we’ve been down here for hours?”
“Yep. It’s not uncommon for shifters to sleep while they are healing, and now . . .” Her gaze focused on where the bullet had entered his shoulder. Without warning, her hand came up and she grazed her fingers over the slight scar on his skin. It was pale, as though it had been there for years instead of hours.
“Now?” Elijah said, his voice low and gravelly as it moved over her skin.
She cleared her throat and removed her hand. “Now, you’re all healed. Just a small scar. Not bad for being shot at almost point-blank range, huh?”
“Not at all. Where are we hiding out, by the way? Do you guys have safe houses all over the city or something?”
She laughed. “No. We own a few businesses within our territory. This happens to be one of them. All of them do have a private area where we can escape if we are being chased, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call them safe houses. It’s not like it would be even a short-term solution.”
“So . . .” Elijah waved his hand in the air and looked up at the ceiling as he chewed on the first bite of pizza.