Shifting Loyalty (District Shifters Book 2)

by Lola Gabriel

  Raina knew she had to act right now or miss her chance to do this without a fight. She stepped out from behind the trees. The men instantly turned in her direction. She saw their eyes flash for a second, but she didn’t let that scare her. Instead, she approached the men calmly.

  “So you’re the traitors then, huh?” she said, glad that the larger of the two men was the one with the most doubts about this. It made an attack that little bit less likely if she could use his fear against him.

  “Excuse me?” the smaller man said.

  “Oh, you’re deaf as well as disloyal?” Raina shook her head. “Make sure you listen carefully. Chester is not in the least bit impressed with you two trying to take his leads and muscle in on his territory. Consider this a friendly warning. Mind you, it could just as easily get unfriendly if I have to call the others out.”

  The two men looked around them nervously, as though they expected a full army to appear out of the trees. While they glanced around, Raina resisted the urge to smile. The mention of betraying Chester had made them paranoid enough, and now that they thought she had back up, they were almost comical in their fear.

  “No. Wait. You don’t understand. It’s not like that,” the larger man stuttered out.

  “It’s exactly like that,” Raina snorted. She watched as the girl passed the three of them by and went on her way. Whatever happened here, Raina had at the very least bought her some time. “I’m not here to listen to your pathetic excuses. I’m here to give you a message from Chester,” she said.

  “Look, we’re sorry, okay?” the larger man said. “We’ll hand her over.”

  Raina gave out a laugh that wasn’t in the least bit humorous.

  “Chester isn’t interested in getting a lead from traitors. Nor is he interested in dealing with either of you two again. Here’s the deal. Leave the city. Today. And don’t come back. And Chester will let you live. If he or any of his people see you in the city again after today…” She trailed off and motioned a slit throat.

  “Oh, and just so you know, Chester has people everywhere, and if he so much as hears a whisper that you guys are still working against him wherever you end up? Well, I think you know what will happen.”

  The two men were in a state of near panic now. The larger man had tears in his eyes, and his face was ghost white. The smaller man hid his fear slightly better, but Raina could smell it coming off him in waves. It disgusted her. How did they think the women they abducted felt, if they were this scared?

  It took a lot of willpower for Raina to keep her bear at bay and not hurt the men. That wouldn’t get her any closer to her real mission. She knew these two would never dare try Matchmaking again with the threat of Chester hanging over their heads. And she had done some good today and saved a woman from a terrible fate. That had to be enough. At least for now.

  The two men were still babbling apologies and promising to disappear. Raina held up her hand, and the two men instantly fell silent.

  “Enough. You have your orders. I suggest you follow them sooner rather later.” The two men both nodded and turned away. They almost ran down the dirt road and back towards the city. Raina smiled to herself as she turned her head and shouted, “Come on boys, we need to go and report back to Chester!” into the empty trees.

  It worked just as she had hoped it would, giving the men one last fright and turning their almost run into a full-on sprint.

  She hung back a little, giving them plenty of time to put some distance between them. If they saw her leaving the path alone now, the whole thing would blow up in her face. When she was confident they would be long gone, she stepped back off the dirt road and headed back towards her hotel.

  She was filled with conflicting emotions. She was pleased with herself for managing to save the girl and scatter the two low lives, ensuring they would never again pull this shit. But she also felt a rock of cold fear in the base of her stomach. The two men had been so afraid of what Chester might do to them that they hadn’t even questioned her credentials. For him to instill fear as absolute as that into two of his own workers, she dreaded to think what he might do to her if he found out she was hunting him.

  It was quickly becoming clear to Raina that he was even more dangerous than she had first thought. She still wasn’t going to give up, though. The fact that Chester was so feared meant that he would have no trouble getting the majority of the city’s immortals to go along with his schemes. He had to be ended as quickly as possible.

  6

  Logan sat in his hotel room. It had been hours since Raina had run out on him, and he still hadn’t managed to make sense of what had happened. He’d been sure she was into him, but when he’d leaned in to kiss her, she had pulled away. She’d done it in a way that saved face for him, though, and it left Logan sure she wanted him, but not in that moment. He had thought she was maybe shy and didn’t want their first kiss to be so public.

  But then she’d run out on him with no explanation, literally, almost causing a pile up through a parade in her hurry to get away from him. He couldn’t fathom what had gone wrong, but he didn’t think it was anything he had said or done. It seemed to be related to the phone call Raina had taken.

  He shook his head. None of it mattered. Whatever was going on with Raina, there was more to her than met the eye, more to her than she was letting on. She was involved in something that she didn’t want to discuss, and Logan would have been willing to bet every dollar he had on Raina being here for a lot more than the tourist scene.

  He had decided, on his lone walk back to the hotel, that he was done with her. He would wait for Brianna to be ready, complete the deal like he had planned to, and then go home and forget he had ever so much as heard of Raina Delaney. The last thing he needed was getting involved with someone shady, someone who was maybe even out to con him.

  Logan reached down to pick up the TV remote. He had lost track of the movie he was watching completely as he puzzled over Raina. He flicked through the channels for a while, finally settling on a documentary about bees. It wasn’t the most interesting choice, but he wasn’t really in the mood to concentrate. He picked up his bottle of beer from beside him and took a sip, wincing at the now warm beer.

  His cell phone began to vibrate on the desk beside the TV, and with a sigh, he got up. He would have liked to ignore the call; he really wasn’t in the mood for idle chatter. He couldn’t ignore the call, though. It could be Rory telling him about a problem with the pack. He wasn’t going through all of this to go home to a major revolt because he hadn’t answered a phone call. He glanced at the screen, and his irritation changed to hope when he saw Chester’s name on the screen. If Brianna was ready, he could organize a flight and be out of this stupid district and away from Raina and her secrets tomorrow.

  “Hello,” he said, taking the call.

  “How are you, Logan?” Chester asked. He didn’t give him a chance to reply before he continued talking. “I know you were a little worried about the timeline of our deal, so I’m just giving you a heads-up. Brianna will be ready for delivery within the next seventy-two hours.”

  Okay, so it didn’t mean he could leave tomorrow, but it gave him a timescale to work with, and it made him feel like he was in control. Logan didn’t like uncertainty, and the fact that he’d had no real delivery date from Chester had left him on edge. This was progress, and he instantly felt better.

  “That’s great, thanks for letting me know. Just give me a call the moment she’s ready,” Logan instructed.

  “Of course,” Chester assured him. “Have a good evening.” He hung up before Logan had a chance to ask him anything else.

  Logan put his cell phone back down and smiled to himself. It was almost over. He would be able to return home with a way to appease the pack and get back on track with his life, his legacy.

  Still, he found himself feeling restless. He sat down on the edge of the couch and stood up, deciding to go down to the bar. He sat back down again, this time on a chair. He didn
’t want to spend the evening drinking alone. But then, what did he want? He was filled with a nervous energy that refused to allow him to sit still.

  He knew exactly what was causing him to feel so disorientated and so full of energy, but he tried to tell himself it wasn’t Raina. As much as he had wanted to, he couldn’t get her out of his head. Even after today, every instinct in him still told him she was meant to be his mate. However, he wasn’t convinced she felt the same way, and the secrecy was a big deal breaker for him. But if she truly was meant to be his mate, wasn’t she worth fighting for? Wasn’t it worth trying to gain her trust and finding out exactly what she was hiding from him? Maybe she was in trouble, and he would be able to help her somehow.

  Logan had so many questions and no answers, but the one thing he was certain of was that if he didn’t at least give it one more shot with Raina, he would never forgive himself. He had to try and get through her walls, find out for sure if she felt the connection between them. And if she did, he had to convince her to open up to him. To let him help her. He didn’t have long. He couldn’t very well back out of the deal once Brianna was ready, and he had less than seventy-two hours to make a decision.

  He jumped up, and this time, he didn’t sit back down. He went to the bathroom, where he quickly showered and brushed his teeth. He came back into the bedroom and got dressed. He chose a pair of black jeans and a black button-down shirt. He sprayed cologne and looked at himself in the mirror. He was nervous, and it wasn’t a feeling he was used to. He was used to giving orders, to being obeyed, and the fact that Raina was a free spirit, someone he had to work to get to know, excited him.

  He grabbed his wallet, his cell phone, and his room key and hurried out of his room. He went downstairs and left the hotel, rushing across the street to a flower store. He debated what to buy. Raina didn’t seem like the type who would appreciate the traditional red roses. No, she seemed like someone who would like something unusual, something almost as beautiful as she was. Logan looked around and smiled to himself when he spotted a bunch of pretty blue orchids. He bought the flowers and went back to the hotel, heading to the reception desk.

  “I need to know which room Raina Delaney is staying in,” he requested.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Prince. We can’t give out that information,” the receptionist said, her cool, professional smile glued in place even as she talked.

  Logan had anticipated that much. He smiled his most charming smile, subtly reading the receptionist’s nametag. “Come on now, Suzy. You and I both know that rule is in place to stop dodgy people getting access to your guests. Do you think I’m dodgy?”

  “No, of course not,” Suzy said. “You’re one of our best customers.”

  “So, surely you can do me this one little favor?” he said.

  She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Mr. Prince. I really can’t give out guests’ room numbers.”

  “Okay, Suzy, I’m going to level with you here. Raina is my date this evening. I wanted to surprise her with these,” he said, indicating the bunch of orchids. “Now, let’s be honest, it’s not the best approach to say, ‘Surprise, now you have to trail all the way back to your room with these,’ is it?”

  “I guess not,” Suzy agreed. She was still smiling, but her smile looked real this time. A little sheepish that she had to deny Logan’s request, maybe. She was starting to come around, though. Logan could see her resolve slipping piece by piece, and he just had to give her one last push.

  “Look, I get that you can’t give me the information, and I don’t want to get you in trouble, but I think you can understand why I need the room number?”

  Suzy nodded, practically hanging off Logan’s words now.

  “So how about you go back into that little resource room of yours and grab me a leaflet about some local attractions and just forget to lock your computer screen?”

  “I… Yes, I can do that. Any particular attraction?”

  Logan gave her a genuine smile this time. “Whatever you recommend, Suzy.”

  She nodded and moved away, heading through a door behind reception. Logan didn’t waste any time. He took a quick look around and saw he wasn’t being watched. He turned Suzy’s computer to face him and scanned through the guest list. There she was. Raina Delaney. Room three hundred and seventy-nine.

  By the time Suzy returned, Logan had the computer screen turned back to face her instead of him. He took the leaflet she held out and thanked her. He headed for the elevators, pushing the leaflet into the trash can beside them without even looking at it. He stepped into the first car to arrive and pushed the button for the third floor. He found Raina’s room and took a moment to ask himself if this was a good idea. The truth was, he didn’t know if it was. All he knew was what his instincts were telling him, and he’d gone a long way listening to them. With that in mind, he knocked gently on the door, concealing the flowers behind his back.

  It was opened quickly, and Logan found himself face to face with Raina. He was reminded once more how incredibly beautiful she was. His bear growled with lust when his eyes moved over her body, and for a moment, he found himself unable to speak. She was his mate. He knew it as surely as he had ever known anything.

  “Logan? What are you doing here? How did you even find me?” Raina asked.

  It wasn’t the reaction Logan had anticipated or hoped for, but he was quickly learning that Raina was far from being predictable.

  “You’d be amazed what I can find out,” he answered. Raina frowned uncertainly at him, and he knew he had to come clean unless he wanted to look like a creep. “I sneaked a glance at the guest registry. I wanted to ask you to have dinner with me tonight, and I didn’t know how else to track you down,” he said, giving Raina a sheepish smile.

  Her frown faded slightly, but it didn’t disappear altogether.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Raina said.

  “I thought you might say that, and I hoped these might change your mind,” Logan said, pulling the orchids from behind his back and holding them out to Raina. Her expression changed, her face lighting up with a smile.

  “Oh, wow. They’re beautiful,” she breathed. She reached out to take them from his hands and moved into the room. She didn’t invite Logan in, but she didn’t close the door, so Logan took a chance and slipped in behind her. He left the door open, not wanting to make Raina feel uncomfortable.

  She stood in the middle of the room, glancing around thoughtfully. She spotted what she was looking for and grinned as she made her way to the desk. She emptied out a tall pot that held a selection of tea and coffee sachets and took it into the bathroom. Through the open door, Logan watched her fill the pot with water and unwrap the orchids to put the them into it. She smiled again and brought them back out of the bathroom, placing them on her desk beside her laptop. She turned to face Logan again.

  “I really do love them, thank you,” she said. “But I…”

  Logan knew she was about to say no to dinner, and he interrupted her, using the last thing he had to persuade her.

  “I just thought, after you ran out on me today and forced me to tour Madame Tussaud’s on my own, that you might want to make it up to me,” he said, giving Raina a cheeky smile.

  7

  Raina couldn’t help but smile when Logan presented her with the orchids. They were her favorites, and they showed her he wasn’t just about the cliché, that he had actually thought about what she might like. She had bustled around the room finding something to put them in straight away so that she could hide her face from Logan.

  She couldn’t let herself get too taken by him. He was a representation of everything she hated. Rich, powerful, she could live with that. But rich and powerful and therefore thinking it was okay to take an unwilling mate? That was something else.

  By the time she had finished with the flowers, she had reminded herself of all of this, and her smile was easier to control. She had to say no to Logan’s request for her to have dinner with him that evenin
g.

  “I really do love them,” she said, smiling in the direction of the orchids. “Thank you. But I…”

  Logan cut her off before she could tell him that she didn’t think dinner was a good idea for the second time. He smiled at her, a flirty smile that made her stomach flip.

  “I just thought, after you ran out on me today and forced me to tour Madame Tussaud’s on my own, that you might want to make it up to me,” he said.

  Raina opened her mouth to apologize and politely decline, but something stopped her. She told herself she could still maybe get some information out of Logan. That wasn’t the only reason she couldn’t quite bring herself to say no to dinner, though. The truth, if Raina allowed herself to admit it, was that she liked Logan, despite what he had told her about using the services of a Matchmaker. She found herself at odds with her own morality, and she didn’t like that part at all, but she knew she would regret it if she turned Logan down.

  “Okay, I’ll have dinner with you.”

  “I’ll take that as a, ‘Thank you, Logan, I’d love to.’” Logan grinned. Raina felt her cheeks flush slightly.

  “That’s obviously what I meant to say,” she said, looking down at the ground for a moment and then back up at Logan. His playful smile told her he was joking.

  Don’t relax too much, she reminded herself. You have work to do here, and you can’t let Logan’s charm reel you in and distract you. She grabbed her handbag and smiled at Logan.

  “Let’s go,” she said. She checked she had her room key, and when she found it in her handbag, she pulled the door to her room closed, and they walked along the corridor.

  “Would you like to eat in the restaurant here, or would you like to go into the city?” Logan asked.

  “Here is fine,” Raina said. She nodded down to the dress she had been wearing all day. “I’m not really dressed for anywhere else.”

  “Nonsense,” Logan said. “You look beautiful, Raina.” She looked at him, and she could see that he was genuine. He really thought she looked beautiful. She felt her cheeks flushing again. “We can still eat here if you’d prefer, though,” he said.