The smoker was gone from her corner, leaving behind a large scattering of cigarette butts. Jules hurried to the edge of the building, pushing up on one foot to balance on the side. The cold wind hit her face. The temperature had dropped since she’d arrived. She’d changed her clothes, wearing jeans, t-shirt, and a light black jacket. She looked across, ready to leap when a figure caught her attention. Stewie stood on the opposite rooftop with that irritatingly leering smile of his.
Jules pushed back, turning even before her feet completely left the edge. Jose stood behind her. She screamed, flailing her arms to stop her descent toward the rooftop and into the goon’s arms, but she couldn’t fight gravity. Jose grabbed her, gripping her tight as he forcibly swung her around. She heard Stewie land behind them, cursing as his feet skidded. The unmistakable click of a cocking gun sounded over them.
“Are you finished with me?” The smoker stood near the doorway, wearing a wounded look on her face as she rubbed her upper arm.
“Get out of here,” Stewie ordered.
“What about my boyfriend’s debt?” the woman insisted.
“Tell him he’s got two months to come up with the cash,” Jose conceded, as he dragged Jules with him to the door. The woman ran ahead of them, the sound of her footfall hitting heavy on the stairwell before the door slammed shut.
“What? Your boss not man enough to come himself?” Jules struggled, kicking her heel back at Jose’s leg. Yelling up here would do no good. No one would hear her where they were.
“He doesn’t waste his time with the trash,” Stewie said. Jose’s grip tightened.
“So, what? That makes you his garbage man?” Jules asked. “You should try working for the city. At least you can respect those guys.”
“I have respect—” Stewie yelled, pointing a gun at her head. The hammer was pinned back, and all it needed to go off was the slight pull of the trigger. “Want me to show you—”
“She’s just trying to rile you,” Jose interrupted, only to growl in Jules’s ear, “Shut up, or I’ll shut you up. If you fall off the building, no one will think anything of it.”
“Try it, asshole.” Jules jerked against him. “I can just imagine how much your boss will like you coming back empty-handed.”
“Hector’s got some junk in the car. A quick shot of the good stuff will shut her up.” Stewie pulled the door open.
“I’ll scream the whole way down,” Jules said.
“We’ll burn down this building with everyone in it,” Stewie warned. By the look in his eyes, she knew he would, and he’d probably enjoy doing it. The grotesque mixture of pleasure and anticipation made her skin crawl.
Jules didn’t know what she should do next. She wanted to fight. She needed this to be over. Jose continued to haul her down the steps, but Jules was not going to make it easy for him. She dragged her feet and kept her body stiff. “Someone will see us.”
Jose threw her down the last five steps. Tripping, Jules’s body slammed hard into the wall. He grabbed her before she could right herself.
Stewie lifted his gun. “Shut up and walk.”
They led her down the empty hall of the top floor. Earlier, there had been music from a few of the apartments. Now, it was silent. Stewie went ahead to the elevator and pushed the button. Jules watched the double doors intently, hoping to see help revealed on the other side. Jose loosened his grip, but the hard press of a gun barrel to her back instantly replaced it. The elevators dinged. Jules tensed. The shiny metal doors slid apart, seeming to take an abnormally long time to disclose the inside box was empty.
“Alert anyone and we’ll shoot them.” Jose pushed her into the elevator.
Jules didn’t know what she should do. If she yelled for help on the street and these men opened fire on a crowd of innocent people, she’d never forgive herself. The problem with men like this is that they felt they could do anything without consequence. She chose to fight, to not be a victim, to be in that alley with a camcorder. The people on the street did not.
Feeling the press of metal deepen into her back, she glanced up. The elevator hit the ground floor and opened. A couple of people stood by the wall of mailboxes, flipping through envelopes. Outside, the traffic was heavy on the streets. A crowd walked by, not paying any attention to the trio coming to the front door. Jules kept her mouth shut and waited for her chance to escape.
Chapter 23
Sean cursed as he hurried through every room of Jules’s apartment. The modest place had a comfortable feel to it, but he couldn’t picture her there. No, the only place he could envision Jules was in his home. He refused to imagine her anywhere else.
Each room he searched added to the terrible ache in his chest. She wasn’t there. Stopping in her bedroom, he took a deep breath. The scent of her lingered and the clothes she’d borrowed from Myrna lay in a crumpled pile on her floor.
Feeling helpless, he hurried through the house. How long ago had she been there? Where would she go? To the police? Back to his home? Or would she run again?
“Jules,” he whispered, rushing to the door. He had to get to Brian. Together, they could search the whole building. As he hurried to the elevator, he pulled out his cellular and dialed. When he held it to his ear, he didn’t get a signal. Sean forcibly hit the button and glanced up. The elevator was going down, and it would be several moments before it came back depending on its stops. Unable to force himself to wait, he entered the stairwell and began the long journey down. Sensing he was alone in the stairwell, he risked shifting and jumped over the railings, falling down a level at a time. The natural armor covering his legs and ankles absorbed the hard landings.
As he reached the bottom floor, he hid his dragon from view. A light sheen of sweat beaded his brow. A couple near the mailboxes looked at him curiously, but Jules was nowhere to be seen. He kept going, scanning his surroundings as he rushed outside.
Cold air hit his face, and he took a deep breath. Redialing Brian’s number, he hurried down the sidewalk looking for Jules. Small clusters of people blocked his path, creating dense sections between open spaces. He held the phone to his ear, listening as it rang.
“Yeah?” Brian asked.
“She’s not there, but she was. Where are you?” Sean hurried past the pedestrians, barely giving them a second look. “I—”
Sean stopped walking. Across the street, he caught a glimpse of her. Jules’s blonde streaked hair blew around her face as Stewie pushed her down into the backseat of a dark blue sedan. Next to him, Hector gave orders. Jose stood on the far side of the car.
“Sean?” Brian demanded through the phone.
“They have her,” he whispered, compelled to act. He shut his phone, running into traffic. He pushed against the hood of a car and propelled his body forward. Horns honked and tires screeched. Reaching the other side, he yelled, “Jules!”
At the sound of her name, she shoved away from the open car to find him. Stewie turned, revealing the handgun he had trained on her. Jules’s wide fear-filled eyes met his. Her lips parted as if she would speak. Stewie didn’t hesitate. Sean responded, acting on instinct. He automatically began to shift. This is not where he wanted a fight to go down, but he had to protect her. Everything he was depended on it.
Hector took a few seconds longer, but he drew a gun. Sean lifted his fist, feeling the talons extending from his fingertips. Teeth elongated in his mouth.
“What the fuck?” Stewie charged forward and fired.
Screams erupted, the fervent sound of panic all around. Adrenaline coursed through Sean’s veins, pumped by a heart that hammered violently. He felt the bullet whiz past but didn’t stop. Stewie took a second to re-aim and fired. Sean leaped forward and slammed his palm into the center of the man’s chest. Stewie flew back, crashing into the car. Another bullet soared, this time from Hector’s weapon and Sean vaguely heard it strike metal behind him.
“I’m not scared by your parlor tricks.” Hector popped off several more rounds.
Sean
weaved, but he couldn’t dodge them all. Fire burned his arm as a bullet found its target. It didn’t matter. He had to get to Jules. Jules screamed, bringing her hand down on Hector’s arm to throw him off balance.
As Hector turned his weapon toward Jules, Sean reacted. He darted forward, shifting completely as he reached for the man’s throat. In seconds, it was over. Hector gurgled and slumped against the car.
Jules looked as if she might run to him, but her waist was pulled back into the car, keeping her halfway in and halfway out of the vehicle to serve as a human shield to the backseat. Someone had a hold of her. A gun appeared over her shoulder seconds before Jose peered out at him. Sean couldn’t stop. He couldn’t lose Jules. Not again. He couldn’t let anyone hurt her.
“What the fuck is that thing?” Jose demanded. “Get in the car, bitch.”
Sean yelled, letting all the frustration and panic he felt into the tortured sound. Jules flung her body, slamming into Jose’s arm. The gun fired close to her head, the bullet flying toward the sky. Jose dropped the weapon. Sean tried desperately to find an opening to strike, but with the way Jules jerked around in Jose’s embrace, he couldn’t risk hitting her.
To his relief, Sean saw Brian wielding his police issued handgun, creeping around the opposite side of the car. The backseat doors were both open, and Brian aimed inside, ordering, “Drop it now and let her go!”
“What the fuck is that thing?” Jose demanded in panic, more worried about Sean than Brian’s gun. Brian grabbed Jose from behind. Jules fell forward to her hands and knees.
Sean shifted back to his human form and reached to pull Jules into his arms.
“What thing?” Brian asked, pretending like he had seen nothing.
“But, but…” Jose mumbled in Spanish, clearly shaken up.
“You’re hallucinating. What did you take? It will be easier for you if you tell us what you’re on,” Brian answered.
Jules held onto Sean. An eerie silence surrounded them, punctured only by the soft hum of abandoned car motors. Drivers and passersby had run for cover when the shooting started.
“Sean,” Jules croaked. Now that the danger had passed, and she was safe, he let himself draw a calming breath. Brian had Jose against the car.
“Stay back,” Sean ordered. He let go of her to check Hector and Stewie for a pulse. Brian handcuffed Jose. As soon as they had the scene secured, Sean pulled Jules to him once more. It felt so right to hold her. He planned never to let go. Quietly, he whispered, “Damn it, Jules. Why didn’t you wait for me?”
“I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.” Jules trembled, feeling so delicate in his arms. “This is my mess.”
“When will you learn? I’m not letting you go. Your mess is my mess. I care for you. I love you. I have from that very first night here on Earth.” Fear of what might have happened still gripped him, but that’s not the only reason he confessed his feelings for her. They were as true now as at any other moment. “I will never stop loving you. The only thing that can truly hurt me is not being able to protect you.”
“Sean.” Dark blue eyes met his, piercing into him with the intensity of her emotions. “I—”
Police sirens echoed around them, but with traffic at a standstill, they couldn’t get too close.
“Don’t say a thing when the police get here,” Brian ordered. “I’ll take care of everything.”
Jules moved awkwardly against Sean and yet he wouldn’t let go. She reached into the front of her jacket to pull out a small camcorder. “Brian, you’re going to need this. It’s everything I have on Hector and Juanita. You’re the only people I know to trust with it.”
Brian took the device and slid it into his inside pocket. Uniformed police officers surrounded them, weapons were drawn as they tried to determine the situation. Jules was yanked from Sean’s arms as a cop moved to handcuff him. He wasn’t worried about being arrested, not with Brian flashing his badge. As an officer led Jules away from the scene, she glanced back at him.
“I love you, too,” she yelled, not seeming to care that everyone heard her. Brian’s eyes met his, and he gave a small, quick smirk before turning back to the other police to explain what was happening.
Sean grinned, even as the officer pushed the cuffs a little too tightly into his wrists. Jules loved him. Nothing else mattered.
Chapter 24
Jules wasn’t sure how she’d feel walking into a courtroom to face Juanita, but she knew when the time came, she would. It took hours for the police to sort through the chaos of her life. By the time the district attorney showed up at the station to talk to her, Jules had found an inner calm. One look at the attorney’s salivating expression as he watched the murder tape and Jules knew she was in a position of power.
“Let me make this simple,” she said before the man could even get started with his plans for her. They sat in one of the interrogation rooms. It was just like she’d seen in movies—a long mirror on one wall next to a door, and an old collapsible table with uncomfortable chairs. “I’ll testify about everything you see on that tape and more, but only if no harm comes to Sean Flaherty over today’s shooting. He saved my life.”
“I’m not sure I can—” the attorney began, swiping at his balding head.
“You can,” Jules assured him. “Because you need me to verify how that recording was made, and that it is real, and my testimony can bring down a crime family.”
“Let me make a call.” The man left the room. Jules looked at her clasped hands, trying to be patient as she waited for him to come back. She knew she wasn’t under arrest, but understood that it would be better for her, and for Sean if she didn’t get up and leave. When the door opened again, it was Brian.
“What’s happening with Sean?” she demanded, stiffening with worry. “Is he all right?”
“Funny, he keeps asking me the same thing about you. He sent me to check on you,” Brian said. “How are you holding up?”
“They’re not arresting him, are they? You told them that he shot in self-defense. Stewie fired first,” Jules said, before adding loudly toward the two-way mirror for the benefit of anyone listening. “He rescued me. He’s a hero.”
“No one is there,” Brian said. “And I told them. So did about fifteen witnesses.”
“Do they know about,” she finished her sentence by mouthing, “the dragon?”
“No. I think we’re good there. Everyone was running for cover,” Brian assured her. “And so far no one is asking too many questions about who he is.”
“Then what’s taking so long?”
“They’re just trying to sort out this whole ordeal,” Brian said. “They have two dead bodies and a gunfight in the middle of East Boston to account for. The Feds aren’t too pleased that Hector Velázquez is dead. And then there is the matter of your credibility.”
“My credibility is fine. I’ve never been convicted of anything,” Jules dismissed.
“There’s a lot of crime discussed on that recording.”
“You’re welcome,” Jules answered, knowing he wasn’t exactly thanking her with that observation.
“They’re going to want answers as to how and why you have it,” Brian insisted.
“And they’ll get them. They’ll offer me immunity for anything they think I might have done, and I’ll take it, and they’ll get their testimony. We both know any petty shit they think I did won’t add up to taking down Juanita Velázquez and her crew.”
“Damn, Jules. I don’t know if I’m more impressed by, or frightened of, your cunning right now.”
“I want to see Sean.” Jules knew the sinking feeling wouldn’t leave her until she saw him. When he said he loved her, she’d felt something she hadn’t for a long time—hope.
“You will. Soon.” Brian sat down at the table across from her. “They know Stewie’s reputation. Jose isn’t talking, but Myers is in there with him. He might be a lawyer, but the man can do his job. That prosecutor will have Jose begging for a deal by the time he’s don
e with him. With Jose’s testimony, your evidence, and the case files we already have on the Velázquez family, Juanita will be going away for a long time. Before now, they haven’t had enough hard evidence to put her behind bars. You’ve done a good thing, Jules. You helped a lot of people who couldn’t help themselves.”
The district attorney came back into the room. “You have yourself a deal, Ms. Dalton. We will not be pressing charges against Mr. Flaherty.”
“Good. Can I go now?” She made a move toward the door.
“It’s best if you wait here. Someone is going to come talk to you about temporary police protection until we can find a more permanent solution,” Myers said. “Things are going to be very dangerous and chaotic for while after we arrest Juanita. Hector being dead works in your favor. He can’t come after you. But the Velázquez family has connections.”
“I don’t want protection,” Jules stated.
“I don’t think you comprehend the severity of this Ms. Dalton,” Myers said. “It is my understanding that you live alone in East Boston.”
“I recorded the video. Believe me, I understand how severe this situation is,” Jules answered. “I won’t be staying in East Boston. I have some place I can go. Brian will know how to contact me.”
“She’ll be safe,” Brian assured the man when Myers glanced at him for confirmation.
The attorney looked as if he might protest, but in the end nodded in agreement. “Fine, but I want you to check in regularly. We’ll be talking to you soon.”
“Yes,” Jules said.
When they were again alone, Brian chuckled. “I don’t think he wanted to argue with you.” He stood, motioning for Jules to join him. “I can’t believe I’ve ever seen him speechless before.”
Hunted by the Dragon (Captured by a Dragon-Shifter Book 4) Page 11