by A. C. Arthur
“I’ve never had anyone. My parents didn’t want me and neither did most of the foster parents I lived with.”
He was moving closer and she knew she should retreat, protect herself from this bad situation growing worse. But she didn’t. Couldn’t. His gaze, his simple presence held her still.
“My parents died when I was young,” he said, coming to stand right in front of her, reaching down to take her hands in his.
“I know,” she said softly.
“I was so angry when they died and I felt so alone.”
Kalina shook her head. “But you weren’t alone. Your housekeeper took care of you.” When he looked a little stunned at her words, she shrugged. “I did a lot of research on you.”
He smiled. “We’re some pair, huh? You investigating me and me following you.”
“Not really a match made in heaven,” she added with a tentative smile of her own.
“But we’re a match,” Rome said, his warm breath whispering over her face as he moved in. “We belong together, Kalina. Without knowing the why or how, we belong together. I believe that.”
And God help her, so did she.
Closing her eyes as his lips touched hers, Kalina thought, We belong together.
* * *
Kalina’s cover was officially blown.
Rome didn’t want her back in the office, which was fine. She’d found about all she was going to find there. But she wasn’t finished investigating. There was still a reason why the DEA was looking at Rome in the first place and she wanted to know what it was. Pulling out her cell phone, she called Agent Dorian Wilson again, this time leaving him a message letting him know it was about the case and she had a new development. Then she’d tried to call her commanding officer at the precinct, only to be told that he was out investigating a new murder.
She was still at Rome’s house, in his room. He’d gone downstairs—to another meeting, he said. He seemed to have a lot of those. On the desk was a laptop, so she made her way over to turn it on. If she were at home she would have turned on her police scanner to find out what was going on that the top brass wasn’t in the precinct at near ten in the morning.
While she waited for the computer to boot up, she thought about last night. Of all the things she’d discovered and how they made her feel in the light of day. She felt rejuvenated, actually, like a new person in her old body. It was weird and almost too good to be true. But Rome wasn’t angry with her for betraying him, he still wanted her—a fact that thoroughly baffled her. She’d never been wanted before, never felt the completeness of a union of any kind. This morning she was thinking that maybe, just maybe, that was all changing.
Parts of her future were still uncertain—what she was going to do about her job for one. The fact that she hadn’t found anything incriminating against Rome—and not for lack of trying—was enough to raise a few eyebrows. That was one of the reasons she was so desperate to talk to Agent Wilson. The other was to report Ferrell and his strange and unprofessional behavior. Kalina was sure he’d been high on something yesterday when he’d come to see her. And just before Rome had come in, she’d thought she smelled a familiar scent. Which was strange in and of itself; scents weren’t usually what she remembered about people. Eye color, voice tone, a strange birthmark, and even an accent were usually the traits that stuck in her memory. Yet she was almost certain it was Ferrell’s scent that was ringing a bell in her head.
Noises from the laptop jolted her from her thoughts. She moved closer to the desk, fingers hovering over the keyboard in hopes of at least accessing the Internet.
She found the link to the local paper and read today’s headlines.
SAVAGE KILLINGS CONTINUE IN THE DC METRO AREA
She read down farther. The article cited the brutal slayings of Senator Baines and his daughter a few weeks ago. Ralph Kensington was being linked to Baines through their mutual political ties. Yet another murder—this must be the double homicide Reed was talking about the other day—involved two suspected prostitutes, brutally killed in the same vicious manner. What did all these killings mean? The press alleged a serial killer. The police declined comment. Words like Mafia, cartels, drug lords, retaliation, gang recruiting all circulated through the two-page article.
A feeling of dread washed over Kalina. She kept clicking to find more information. The screen blinked furiously with her clicking as her mind seemed to move faster than the speed of the Internet connection. Then she must have hit a wrong button with all her clicking, because the screen went black, then blinked on and off. When it came back on the background was black with white pages. The pages looked like they’d been scanned and had handwriting scrawled over them. Instinctively she began to read:
Joining forces … governing accordingly … accountability … discretion … and finally a name that stuck out as if it were printed in bold block letters, Cortez.
Kalina’s heart pounded as she read further. A lot of the writing she didn’t understand, or rather she couldn’t figure out what the writer was referring to. There were names she didn’t know, only Cortez striking a chord with her. But it sounded like the writer was planning something and that maybe he needed Cortez’s help.
Then a particular passage caught her attention. “My work is so that my son and those after him will know what it means to be a Shadow Shifter and to live freely with dignity among the humans. Roman will one day lead the shifters. The relationships that I form now will assist him. These human men are powerful and will be an asset to our cause.”
The writer was Rome’s father. Rome’s father knew Cortez.
Flipping through her mental database, she pulled up what she knew about Raul Cortez. He was only thirty-five years old, having just come into leadership of his father’s organization. These documents were written when Cortez would have been only eight years old. It didn’t make sense, unless … the writer was talking about Julio Cortez, the father of the Cortez Cartel.
She heard voices in the distance and hurriedly pushed buttons to clear the screen. The computer was still acting wacky, the screen changing colors then going back to the Internet page she’d been searching in the first place. When the voices grew closer, she simply hit ESCAPE and watched as the power died before closing the laptop.
Just as the door opened she stood. Rome walked in with two other men behind him, one his partner from the firm, Nick Delgado. She didn’t know the other man and felt wary because of that fact.
Rome’s gaze found hers. No matter where they were or who else was in the room with them, they found each other instantly. Moving from behind the desk, she tried for a smile but didn’t really know if it worked. Her mind was tossing with all the new information she had and she wasn’t quite sure how to act around Rome and his friends. Were they shifters, too?
“X thought it might be good to go over everything you know about the DEA’s investigation of me and the firm,” Rome said, still staring at her strangely but talking as if nothing was wrong.
She shrugged, not really comfortable telling them all she knew. Even though she didn’t think Rome was guilty, there was definitely a reason he was being investigated. Seeing the name Cortez in that file sealed that deal for her. “I don’t know much really. They just pulled me in, told me to trace the money and find out who he was dealing with.” She wondered if she’d said enough to get herself fired. Technically her job was already on the line if her superiors found out she was telling them anything.
“Who hired you?” the one who looked like a fullback said. He was a few inches taller than Rome with a much thicker build, bald head, and fierce-looking eyes.
“I work for the MPD,” she said straightening her back. No way was she letting them intimidate her.
“But the MPD aren’t the ones looking at us, are they?” This was from Nick, the too-handsome playboy with smiling eyes that held a hint of danger.
“The MPD and the DEA,” she offered. “I should be the one asking why. I mean, here I am trying to do my job
and you turn the tables by doing an investigation on me. Who are you people?” she asked and received the pleasure of three intense gazes drilling her at once. She felt like she was displayed for sale—and that really shouldn’t have made her hot.
“Nick and X are shifters, like me,” Rome said.
She swallowed and looked at each man, somehow knowing Rome’s words were true. They were all shifters, a species unlike any she’d ever known or read about. Now the differences were clear. The muscular builds didn’t look gym-made but naturally acquired. And their stance—it was predatory. They were ready for anything, always watching, always waiting. Suddenly Rome’s master suite felt just a little smaller.
“How many of you are here? In the States, I mean?”
“More than you can imagine” was Nick’s reply.
“But we don’t mean anybody any harm,” Rome added, quickly tossing Nick an annoyed glance.
And then as if what they were saying just clicked in her head, Kalina gasped.
“What is it?” Rome asked moving closer to her.
“The murders,” she said slowly. “Brutal murders, now four of them. It’s all over the news.”
Every step she took back he took one forward, coming closer to her until her back hit the wall.
“It’s not us, Kalina. We do not kill.”
“But you did,” she whispered. “That night in the alley you did. You killed that man. They thought I did it. I let them think that because I didn’t want to … to…”
“To what? Admit that you’d seen a man change into a cat? That’s what you saw that night. A man shifting into a cat and that cat protecting the woman that was being hurt. To protect you, Kalina, I’d kill any man or cat. Believe me when I say that.”
Oh, she did believe him. She looked into his eyes, saw the bunch of his shoulders, and knew he was perfectly capable of killing.
“Shadow Shifters do not kill needlessly. We are a peaceful species.”
Nick smirked. “Until you piss us off.”
“Think about it, Kalina,” Rome said, ignoring Nick’s comment and keeping his eyes on her. “Think about who I am, all that I’ve told you, and all that you’ve learned about me. Do you think I’m a killer?”
She didn’t know what to think. Her brain was on information overload and her stomach was twisting and churning at the sight of three live shifters in the room with her. What if they all shifted at this very moment? Would they attack her? Would they kill her?
Then Rome touched her. His hand lightly cupping her cheek.
“Trust me, Kalina,” Rome said.
He kept saying that, kept asking that of her. Why? How could she trust a man she barely knew? But she did know him, knew him in a way that wasn’t conventional, wasn’t scripted, and wasn’t actually explainable. But did she trust him?
“The police are linking the murders by the method of the killings. They believe the brutality spells serial killer. What do you know about them?” she asked Rome, searching his eyes, his facial features, for any semblance of untruth. There was none. And she was relieved.
“I know who might be responsible.”
“Like X said, Rogues,” Nick put in, reminding Kalina they weren’t alone, although Rome was still cupping her cheek and staring into her eyes as if they were.
A muscle clenched in his jaw and he turned from her. The loss of contact had her gasping again, and before she could stop herself she was leaning into him, her front touching his back.
“We need to pull everyone together while Elder Alamar is still here,” Rome said. “Nick, you call the Faction Leaders, see what their availability is. X, you find out from that bastard Rogue you’ve got locked up who his boss is, tell him I’m not bullshitting with him on this. He can talk or he can…” Rome’s words trailed off.
She heard him speaking, felt the rise in his body temperature, but couldn’t tell if it was because she was touching him or if it was a reaction to his own words.
“Right,” X said. “I’ll take care of it.”
“What about her?” Nick asked.
Kalina knew exactly what “her” he was talking about. Reluctantly breaking her contact with Rome, she stepped from behind him. “I have to go back to work.”
“No.”
All the men echoed in unison.
“I’m not just going to sit around here twiddling my thumbs. I still have a job.” At least she hoped she did.
“You cannot go back to the station. Your investigation is over.”
“Excuse me, but that’s not your decision to make,” she argued with Rome.
“Kalina,” he said, turning to look at her. “Do you think I’m funding a drug cartel?”
“No,” she answered without qualm. “But that’s not the point. There are drug cartels out there and if the FBI thought you were funding them, then somebody’s putting your name in the mix. Wouldn’t you rather I be the one to find that information?”
“She’s got a point, Rome,” X said.
Rome’s head snapped in the other man’s direction so fast Kalina thought he was going to attack him. “She’s not going to that office.”
“She doesn’t have to. She can set up an office and work from here,” X offered.
“That’s ridiculous. I need to get out into the field,” Kalina argued.
“You cannot take what you know now into the field,” Rome told her.
“I wasn’t planning to. I mean, I’m not going to talk about you and the others. I just want to find out who’s trying to frame you.”
“You think it’s someone other than Rogues?” Nick asked.
“Everything can’t be blamed on the Rogues, Nick,” Rome replied brusquely.
Kalina thought the connection was with Raul Cortez and now the papers she’d seen on Rome’s computer, but she wasn’t about to tell him that. Not yet.
He wanted her to trust him, and to an extent she did. But there was something else going on here, something she wasn’t even sure Rome and his cohorts knew about. So until then she would keep it under wraps.
“Who are the Rogues?” she asked, hoping to gain more info and steer them away from the part of the conversation that involved her staying in this house.
“Bad-ass shifters who think they’re taking over,” Nick said then cleared his throat. “They were born Shadow Shifters, but somewhere along the line thought they could do better on their own.”
X intervened. “We’re thinking they might be starting to make their move here in the States.”
“The three that approached you at that party were Rogues. They knew who you were and followed you home. When I was at your place yesterday, I picked up their scent. They’d been there.”
Putting a hand to her throat, Kalina refused to show the fear coursing through her body. “In my house? Why?” Then she remembered the pictures she’d found the night of Kensington’s banquet. The pictures that were in her house and she’d wondered how they got there.
“That’s what we’d like to know,” X stated.
They all looked at her now, but she had to admit that they weren’t looking at her like she was the enemy. More like she was the point of interest and they had to keep an eye on her if they wanted to get to the bottom of whatever was going on.
“I told Rome I didn’t know those guys.”
“Have you ever seen them before?”
She shook her head. Then paused, remembering the guy who’d delivered the pictures to her apartment. No, she would know that guy anywhere. At the memory a sliver of heat eased down her spine. “No. Never,” she said, clearing her throat.
“Get everyone together,” Rome told X. “Tell Eli I want him to stay here with Kalina.”
“Where are you going?” Nick asked Rome before Kalina could get the question out herself.
“I have something I want to check on myself.”
Something, Kalina thought, that she was thinking of checking on herself. She didn’t say anything, but her plan was simple. Wait until Rome left then foll
ow him.
Chapter 25
Three hours later Kalina found out that plan was a lot easier thought than done.
The man named Eli—or should she say the guard from Hell—kept so close an eye on her, all she could do was go to the bathroom alone. He sat right outside Rome’s bedroom door, but every time she moved he knocked and came in, like he was expecting to see her hanging over the balcony trying to escape. Which she’d thought of doing a couple times.
Ferrell was calling her cell phone like there was no other number in his phone’s memory, but she refused to answer. Whatever he wanted with her Kalina was going to feel a lot better if he went through Agent Wilson and the DEA to get. She didn’t want to deal with Ferrell on her own ever again.
But the next call that came in was one that startled and cheered her.
“Hey Mel,” she answered.
“Hi, Kalina! It’s so great to hear your voice. I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for days.”
Kalina sighed, guilt relaxing on her shoulders. “Yeah, I’ve been meaning to call you about the other night.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I just figured you’d had enough of Stephen. Anyway, it’s been a while since we’ve chatted. Want to have lunch?”
Kalina looked around the room. She didn’t actually want to have lunch with Mel, but she did want to get the hell out of here. She’d felt caged, trapped for the better part of the day.
“Ah, sure, that sounds like a good idea.”
“Great. I’m off today so I can pick you up in about an hour. I have one quick errand to run. Then we can get a bite to eat, do some shopping. You know, have a girls’ day.”
Mel sounded so excited, a little too excited for Kalina’s taste, but it was the excuse she was looking for to go against Rome’s wishes.
“Good plan,” she said then rattled off the address and disconnected the call.
It took Kalina about ten minutes after the call to realize she probably shouldn’t have told Mel to pick her up from Rome’s house. That would certainly generate more questions about her relationship with Rome, questions she definitely did not want to answer. But it seemed like her only way out and right now, getting out to learn what was going on with Rome was much more important than trying to figure out how to handle Mel’s inevitable questions about her love life.