by E. A. Copen
Sal sighed. Bran chuckled and met Sal’s bet, adding, “Angel, have you met Judah Black before?” Bran asked and gestured to the woman behind him.
The woman, Angel, took a long pull from her beer and then gave me a sultry smirk. “I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure.”
I held my hand out to her for a friendly handshake, but she bypassed it and stepped way into my personal space. When she sniffed at me, I jerked back. She laughed. “Oh, sweetheart. You don’t have to play that game with me. I could eat you alive, and you’d love every minute of it.” Angel snapped her teeth at me and I flinched again. Her laugh vibrated through the room and several people looked up. “I’ll get you a refill, babe,” she said and walked off.
I frowned after her. “What’s her problem?”
“She likes you,” Sal said as if he barely noticed the exchange.
“She’s got a funny way of showing it.”
“Angel takes a little warming up to, but she’s worth getting to know.”
“Careful,” Bran said in a warning tone and lowered his cards to give Sal a slight smile. “That’s my wife you’re talking about there, brother.”
“Relax, brother, I know. Haven’t thought of Angel like that in a long time.”
Angel returned with two handfuls of beer bottles and leaned into Sal, purring next to his ear. “You can think of me like that anytime.” When she saw me scowling at her, she stood and threw an arm around me. “You too, sweetheart. I don’t mind a bit. It’s only fair. I think you’re worth remembering.” She kissed my cheek and walked away, laughing, to pass beers to everyone at the table.
Sal threw down his cards. “Well, now that Angel’s seen my hand, seems I’d better show you mine before she tells you to up the ante.”
“Three of a kind,” Bran said, nodding. “Not bad.”
“Unless you’ve got a full house over there like I think you do.”
Bran lowered his hand, revealing two eights and three twos with a big grin. “Still got a good nose, don’t you?”
“I can smell your bullshit a mile away, Bran.” Sal looked up at me while Bran collected his winnings.
I hadn’t stopped glaring at Angel, and the more I looked at her, the more irritated I got. I’d never considered myself a jealous woman. Then again, I’d never had much of an opportunity to be jealous. The night I’d spotted Sal and the other Kings in Aisling, Kandie had been all over him. I’d broken her nose as much for that as getting in my face and telling me to step off. That was the one and only time I could think of where I let my feelings for someone turn me to violence, and even then, Kandie had provoked me. Angel hadn’t really done anything to me, but inside I was simmering. Haven’t thought of her like that in a long time, Sal had said. They’d had a thing, and that bothered me.
“It was a long time ago,” Sal said quietly.
“Well, not that long,” Angel added. “After that Zoe bitch hung you out to dry. That was shit. Nobody here would deny that.” She put her bottle on the corner of the table and crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side. “You smoke?”
“No.”
“Course you don’t. Well, I’m going to step out front under the awning for a smoke in case you want to chat.” Angel bent down and gave Bran an open-mouthed kiss with plenty of tongue, then she walked past me toward the front door.
I moved to follow her. She hadn’t said it outright, but I was sure she either wanted to fight me or talk. Either way, I was game.
Sal caught my arm before I could step away. “Play nice,” he said and motioned to Bran with his head.
I looked back at Bran, who frowned and stared down at his hands as he shuffled the cards. “If she picks a fight, it’s not my fault,” I said and pulled away from Sal.
As I was walking away, I heard Sal mutter, “Women. God.”
“Deadliest in any species,” Bran replied.
I yanked open the front door. The rain was coming down gently while thunder rumbled and rolled over the open desert. Angel leaned against the porch wall, sucking on a cigarette. She glanced at me, her face expressionless. “For a minute, I thought you wouldn’t come. Takes guts for a human to come out here like that.”
“You’re not human?” I pushed the door closed behind me.
“Werewolf.” She plucked the cigarette from her mouth. “My husband turns into a bear, if you didn’t know.”
“I didn’t.” I put my hands in my pockets, musing, Werebears. What next? A long silence passed, and I fumbled to make small talk while she smoked. “How long have you and Bran been married?”
“A little over four years.”
More silence. I did the math in my head. Sal had only been divorced from Zoe about three years. I turned my head to study her.
She blew out a mouthful of smoke and smirked at me. “Did the math, huh?”
“You cheated on Bran?” I hissed quietly. Not that it was a secret. Bran seemed to know, and Sal hadn’t acted like it was a big deal.
Angel laughed. “It wasn’t like that, hon. It’s not cheating if they’re both in on it.”
I sighed. The last thing I needed to hear was her bragging about her past sexual conquests, especially when they involved Sal. “You clearly wanted me to come out here. Why? What do you want?”
“To clear the air, first of all.” She smirked. “I’ll be the first to admit, I’m a terrible flirt, but I do it ‘cause it’s fun to watch the boys squirm. Me and Sal had our fun, but that’s all it was, just a one-time thing. I ain’t interested in your man, Judah. Truth is, I was a hang-around for a while, which basically means I’ve fucked just about every one of the guys in there, your boyfriend included.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, folding my arms.
“Well, partly because you still like to think your boyfriend’s some kind of white knight. That just isn’t the case. You’re not doing him any favors, thinking like that. And also…” Angel plucked her cigarette from her mouth and stomped it out before she pointed to the patch on her chest that said property of. “See this? There’s a reason I wear it and none of those other bitches in there do. They can’t patch me in because I don’t have a dick, but I’ve got bigger balls than half of them. I know better than to shit where I eat. I don’t have no beef with you, and I don’t want you to have one with me.”
“And?”
“And,” Angel repeated, “as someone who’s been where you are, I don’t want you to have no illusions that you’re safe. Sal’s a good guy, better than most of them, and he won’t pass you around like Istaqua does to his women, but this life ain’t for everyone. You can’t be half in or half out. People die half in.”
I smiled and shook my head. “What? You think I should ditch my car for a bike and dress in leather?”
Angel threw her head back and laughed. “You ever want to go that route, you give me a call. You can pull off the look. But no, that ain’t what I’m saying.” She bent over, picked up the cigarette, and flicked it out into the desert. “Men are stupid. They think too much with their dicks and not enough with their heads when it comes to us. Sal’s got a long history of falling hard for women and letting that get him into trouble. Situations like what happened to you earlier are only going to get more frequent. With as much as Sal cares about you, Istaqua can back him into a corner. You know what I’m talking about.”
I did. Memories of another rainy day at Chanter’s home flashed through my mind. The last time Istaqua had manipulated Sal into killing two people. The men Sal killed deserved it for killing Chanter, but watching Sal pull the trigger and murder two men execution-style still gave me nightmares.
Angel kicked off the wall and stood in front of me. “Right now, you’ve got nothing, no status here. You might be sleeping with him, but in Istaqua’s eyes, you’re just another hang-around. You want to change that and fast because Istaqua doesn’t like you.”
“Sal wouldn’t let him touch me. I wouldn’t let him touch me.”
“There’s a lot worse t
hings that can happen to you here than getting raped, Judah. You got a boy to think about. Don’t give him the chance to push you.” Angel put a hand on my shoulder. “First chance you get, you need to establish your place here, and you’ll have to do more than break Kandie’s nose with a quick pop she never saw coming.”
I smiled to myself at the memory. She’d been all over Sal in Aisling, and I’d let my temper get the best of me. There were no regrets there. “How do I do that?”
“I’m sure you’ll get your chance.” She took her hand away and smiled. “So, are we good?”
I nodded. “We’re good.”
“You ever need backup, don’t be afraid to give me a call, especially if the assholes in the club give you trouble.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. I’d come out there expecting her to pick a fight with me, and instead, she seemed to be mostly on my side. “Thanks, I think.”
“Hey, anyone who beats the shit out of Kandie is a friend to me. I hate that Barbie doll wannabe. Us badass bitches got to stick together. I got your back.” She gave my shoulder what she must have perceived to be a gentle punch, but it actually hurt quite a bit. Then, she pulled open the door and stepped back inside.
I stayed outside, watching the rain fall, considering my life. I wondered if BSI counted on my meeting the Kings and helping them. Probably not, I decided. They seemed good at keeping what they did secret and staying under the radar. With Marcus Kelley backing them, it must have been easier.
That must have put him in a difficult position. Han worked in his lab, heading his research department at the hospital. It didn’t seem like Marcus knew about Han’s little experiment for BSI, which I hoped meant Marcus would fire him once we got the evidence to him. I’d asked Ed to bring the hard drive when he came, which I planned on handing off to Istaqua with the understanding that he’d take it directly to Marcus. At least that would be one less thing for me to do. Marcus would take care of Han while I arrested Hector and got a full confession. Once I had that, we could go public, expose what BSI was up to and maybe even stop them.
Or maybe exposing this would get me and everyone I loved killed.
Is this my future? I wondered. Constantly second-guessing every choice I make, wondering who I can and can’t trust because any one of them might be a spy for the government? I can’t live this way. I wish I’d never seen that recording. Maybe the illusion of choice is better than knowing you really have no choice at all.
The door opened, and Sal stepped out onto the porch with me. He lit up a cigarette and pocketed his lighter. “You and Angel work things out?”
“You still should have told me.”
Sal shook his head. “You want a list of every girl I ever spent the night with, I can draft you one, but it won’t make you feel better.”
“Just warn me whenever I’ve got to be in the same room with one of them.” I turned my head and looked up at him.
He sighed. “Guess that’s fair. To be honest, I didn’t even think about it.”
I closed my eyes and tried not to imagine the two of them together. It was harder than I thought it would be. “I might be out a little later. You think you can handle the kids by yourself? I think I’ll sleep a week once this is all over.”
“Yeah, no problem. Hunter’s got Mia tonight, and I asked Shauna to look in on them. Actually, I was thinking about crashing here tonight so I could clean up in the morning. I’ve probably had enough to drink, I shouldn’t drive anyway.” He gave me a serious look. “I don’t want you to think there’s anything between Angel and me or anybody else. That was a long time ago, and I was really messed up after Zoe. You going to hold it against me? I told you, I was fucked up.”
I was surprised how hard it was to keep from smiling at the way he shifted uncomfortably. In truth, I wasn’t mad. I wasn’t even upset. Hard to blame him for something that happened before I even knew him, but there was a part of me that enjoyed the apology in a sadistic sort of way. Watching him stutter through an uncomfortable conversation was a welcome change from the cool confidence he normally displayed.
“I don’t know if that apology’s good enough.” I let myself smile and offered him a wink. “I think maybe you can apologize better tomorrow night.”
Tires crunching on gravel and wipers squeaking against the windshield of a powder-blue Prius drew our attention to the driveway as Ed pulled in behind all the bikes.
Sal let out another frustrated sigh as he turned back to me. “You confuse the shit out of me, you know that?” He leaned in and kissed me. “Get you and Ed home safe, and then we’ll see about another apology.”
“Get a room,” said Ed after he’d run up the stairs to stand under the relative dryness of the awning.
Sal gave Ed a gentle shove back into the rain, where Ed unceremoniously flailed and tried to stay upright. Ed caught his balance, but only after getting wet. He yelped at the cold rain and scampered back under the awning against our laughter.
“You ready to hit the road, Ed?” I said once we’d calmed down. “We’re meeting Espinoza outside the compound. Remember, you’re just my ride tonight. This is police business.”
“Uh, yeah. I can hang back as long as you promise not to get into any trouble.” Ed pulled off his glasses and tried to clean the rain off them.
Sal said and leaned down to kiss me again. “Be safe. I love you.”
I flashed him back a smile. “I know.”
Ed and I jogged into the rain to his car and scrambled inside, soaking wet.
“So, what’s your plan if Hector doesn’t come quietly?” Ed asked, breathless from the run.
“I won’t give him a reason to resist. Once the rem plants are gone and he knows we know the truth, he’ll have no choice. BSI will do anything to cover this up, up to and including killing Hector.”
“I thought you said he was immortal?” Ed huffed as he pulled off his glasses, this time to clean the fog from his lenses.
“They can still die if you cut off their heads, bleed them dry, or burn them up. Not immortal, but they don’t age, and they’re hard to kill.”
Ed started the car and bobbed his head in agreement. “Like in Highlander.”
“What?” I turned my head to scrutinize him.
He slid his glasses back on and belted out in song, “We’re the princes of the universe!”
I struck my face with the palm of my hand so hard it made my head pound. Only Ed could reduce our current situation to lyrics from a Queen song.
Chapter Twenty-One
About a mile and a half from the compound, red and blue police lights lit up the rear-view mirror. Ed cursed, checked his speedometer, and pulled over. “Seriously?”
I smirked as the car pulled up behind us and Espinoza got out of the driver’s side. He was in uniform with a black bulletproof vest and dark sunglasses. Somehow, the functionality of his attire didn’t detract from the attractiveness.
He walked to the passenger side and rapped two knuckles on my window. When I rolled it down, he tipped the sunglasses down. “Looks like you don’t need a ticket, girl. You’ve got fine written all over you.”
I rolled my eyes and swatted away his hand when he put it on the door. “You can do better.”
He took a half step back to flex his arms. “Careful, ma’am. These guns are loaded.”
Ed put a hand over his mouth to stifle a chuckle.
Espinoza lifted his cap and brushed a hand through his hair. “So, I don’t suppose we’re going in with a warrant or any kind of legal documentation? Or are we just planning to stomp all over this asshole’s constitutional rights?”
“In the interest of national security, I can act without regard to that. I’d call this a matter of national security.”
Espinoza pursed his lips and nodded. “Patriot Act it is, then. Well, just remember my ass is on the line. I don’t get a free pass like you feds. You’re absolutely sure you can get a confession out of this guy? That didn’t go so well before.”
&
nbsp; “Before, I didn’t know who and what I was dealing with.” I turned my gaze forward, watching as a pair of headlights slid over the horizon and passed us by. “Espinoza, if we don’t get this guy, I’m pretty sure BSI is going to kill him. He has some damning testimony, but he’s going to be reluctant to sell out his employer. We might have to resort to less conventional methods to get that confession. If you’re not okay with that, now’s the time to make that known.”
He thought a long moment, placing his hands on his hips. “I’m game so long as we understand that there are some lines I’m not willing to cross. We’re still the good guys.”
I nodded. “All right then. Let’s go get him.”
Espinoza’s squad car switched on the sirens and lights as soon as we turned down the driveway and swerved into the grass to speed on past us. Ed kept up his leisurely pace and we pulled in behind the squad car, which had blocked off the driveway and parked. The front door opened, and Hector Demetrius stepped out in a plain gray button-down and jeans, too well dressed for this late.
“Stay here,” I said to Ed. “And at the first sign of trouble, you back up and get out. Promise me.”
Ed frowned at me. “Are you sure?”
“Promise me, Ed. Swear it.”
He let out a loud huff. “Fine. I promise.”
I grabbed the bag of gear Ed had brought for me and stepped out to scan the property, stopping when the door to one of the greenhouses opened and Mara stepped out. A cautious glance back at Ed told me he’d seen her too. His fingers tightened around the steering wheel and he lowered his head.
Instead of going forward to address Hector, I walked over to Mara. She bristled and raised her chin as I approached.
“Step aside, Mara. Please.”
Her eyebrows scrunched. “You don’t know what you’re doing. This isn’t what you think it is.”
“I know that’s rem in there, and I know Hector’s not human. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will remove you from my path if you don’t step aside.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. For a long moment, I thought she’d engage me. In a straight-out fight, I was pretty sure I could take Mara, especially since I’d been training with Creven. I still didn’t want to have to test that theory. She might have hated my guts, but I didn’t want to hurt her.