Phantom Wolf

Chapter 4

Shay jumped up, the beer bottle spilling. The lights flickered back on as suds spread over the table. Blood drained from her face, Kelly stuffed a fist in her mouth, staring at the bar.

She was okay. He ran to her, his fingers curling around her slender shoulders. “What is it?”

“I saw...” She closed her eyes and then opened them, the fear gone. “A Death Mask. The skull face of a Mage who’s slaughtered another Mage to gain his powers. The first step to becoming a Dark Lord.”

Conversation around them quieted. His teammates stared at him and then at Kelly. Someone muttered a curse.

“Impossible.” Tom shook his head.

“I know what I saw. He’s here. Or was.” Kelly craned her head to peer past Sam. “He’s gone now. Left when the lights went out.”

Silence draped the bar. Shay studied Kelly’s tight expression and could tell her pulse was galloping. She was scared but resolved. Her gaze scanned the room.

Tom spoke, his voice tight with anger and fear. “You’re lying. Get out of my bar.”

Unease rippled through the room. Two burly support staff from Team 21 cracked their knuckles and got off their stools.

Whispers and more stares. Shay glanced up and saw Renegade and the other SEALs tense. It was going to get ugly fast. Fear did crazy things to people, even paranorms. The crowd would fast turn into a mob if Kelly didn’t leave now.

She turned to him.

“Sam?” A shallow breath and whisper. “You believe me, don’t you?”

A razor’s edge of silence. He studied his former lover’s face, and then her hands. Steady and resolved. He drew on all his instincts and inhaled the air.

He smelled a tinge of something familiar...and foul, as if evil brushed the air and then fled.

“I believe something nasty was here.”

Turning, he glanced at his teammates, his friends and Tom. He’d known Tom for years.

“We don’t,” Tom said flatly. “She’s lying. Get out of my bar.”

Two lines furrowed Kelly’s brow. He recognized the look. It would take force to remove her. “I know what I saw. And I’m not leaving until I search every inch of this place and see where he went.”

He turned and saw his teammates maneuver around the bar, getting ready to intercept.

“Shay,” Sully said quietly. His teammate nodded toward the door.

Right. As Kelly slid out of the booth, Shay got out and scooped her over a shoulder as if she were a sack of flour. She let out a startled “Oomph.” He ignored it as he jogged toward the door Renegade held open.

As the heavy wood door banged behind him, Shay set her on her feet. He hated her stricken look, as if he’d killed her favorite kitten. A knot of barbed wire cinched his guts.

She was dangerous and outcast. He should send her far away before he got involved. Too late, he thought dimly.

“Sam, you have to let me back in there.”

Leaning against the door, he shook his head. “Kelly, I’ve had a bitch of a day. Watching you get your head torn apart by dozens of drunken vampires, werewolves and Mages is not how I want it to end.”

“He’s in there. I have to find him. Someone’s hiding him, Sam, and you’re not standing in my way.”

Her fingers flexed. He felt the quiet hum of power in the air. Behind him, the door rattled on its hinges. Sam’s own powers surged.

“Back off,” he said quietly.

She dropped her hands, her luscious pink mouth trembling. “So that’s it. Now what? Go to a motel? No one will rent me a room. My name’s been flashed across every television screen in America as a suspect in the kidnapping of Senator Rogers’s son. There are no flights until morning. Where am I supposed to go?”

“Home with me.”

This new steely, conservative Sam Shaymore still harbored a hint of wildness. It roared with the big, shiny chrome Harley he rode.

Clinging to his back, Kelly closed her eyes as the big bike rumbled beneath her. Wind slapped at her cheeks. The ride was exhilarating and one she’d have enjoyed—if not for the tense male driving.

She hooked her arms around his muscled waist. Sam had always been fit, but the navy had turned him into granite. As her thighs nestled against his long limbs, she felt a jolt of pure sexual awareness. The sharp leather scent of his jacket and his own masculine smell sent her female hormones surging.

Bad timing.

Sam turned a corner onto a quiet street lined with trees and trim, tidy homes. He pulled into a driveway before a two-story white house with green shutters and cut the engine.

Ever the gentleman, he helped her dismount. Kelly pulled off the helmet, smoothing down her tousled hair.

Sam quietly studied her, his full, sensual mouth drawn in a flat line. Unreadable, his expression shuttered.

“You don’t live on base?”

“Team 21 has off-base privileges. This is our street. I’d tell you who all my neighbors are, but it’s classified.”

“And you’d have to kill me,” she joked.

“No, the base security officers would.” His gaze was even and unblinking. As she gulped, the ghost of a smile touched his mouth. Sam touched her nose. “Gotcha.”

The tension between them eased. Kelly breathed a sigh of relief and followed him inside.

Sam had always had taste, but the modest living room surprised her with its plain but comfortable furniture. This was more a home suited for someone like her.

She trailed him into the kitchen, a more elegant room with gleaming granite countertops and stainless-steel appliances. Dumping her pack on the floor, Kelly sat on a stool at the breakfast bar. Sam needed time to download and process before she hit him with the heavy-duty artillery.

He grabbed two bottles of beer and offered her one. Kelly sipped as he hunted through the fridge, setting bread, deli turkey slices, lettuce and Swiss cheese on the countertop. He frowned and braced his hands on the counter, studying her a long minute.

“Do you have any memory of where you were two hours ago?”

Confused, she nodded. “At your base, SEAL Team 21’s compound. You’re all paranormals, aren’t you?”

“Curt didn’t take your memories right before you left the base,” Sam said softly. “I’ll be damned. Civilians aren’t allowed on our compound, and any who do have their memories erased. No one is supposed to know about our team. SOP.”

“Maybe your commanding officer has more faith in me than your standard operating procedure. He asked questions, but I didn’t answer them.”

Because I don’t trust him. I trust only you.

“Kelly, you’re in deep trouble. And these rumors about a Dark Lord aren’t helping your case.”

“I will discover the truth. I haven’t changed.”

But you have.

He cut the bread into four neat quarters. “Late-night snack?” she asked.

“It’s for you.” He slid the sandwich across the bar. “Turkey on whole wheat, lettuce, no tomato, lots of mayo and Swiss cheese.”

Emotion clogged her throat. After all these years, he’d remembered her favorite. Kelly nodded thanks as she devoured the sandwich. Sam remained standing, tipping back the bottle and drinking deeply. Muscles in his throat worked as he swallowed, and then he backhanded his mouth. Green flared in his eyes as he studied her mouth.

“You have mayo...here.”

He reached across the counter and touched the corner of her mouth with his thumb. Sam brought his thumb to his lips and licked it slowly, his intense gaze never leaving hers. Heat sizzled in the air. Her limbs felt loose and pliant, her nipples tight.

Hot, heavy need surged. She wanted him badly. Wanted to feel him naked against her hot skin, feel those hard muscles rub against her body. Fingertips ached with the need, the yearning to touch him, explore muscle and sinew.

Kelly quivered, her lips parting. The air grew heavy with expectancy, overlaid with sexual awareness.

She jerked her gaze away, staring at the counter. “I’m not here to rekindle anything, Sam. I followed you because I need your help.”

A douse of icy water on both of them. His mouth became a firm slash. He turned, jamming his hands into his faded jeans and presenting her with his rigid spine as he stared out the kitchen window. The moment had vanished.

But for an instant, she desperately wanted it back.

“Kelly, you don’t know what you’re up against. Rogers has a lot of influence and can convince the council to imprison you.”

She sighed. “I didn’t know he’d be that rigid and hateful. I’d heard he was more tolerant of Arcanes.”

“Yeah, Rogers surprised me. He never was that much of an asshole. Guess when his son got kidnapped, it sent him over the edge. So now the only fair shake you’d get is my uncle, and he’s out of the country. So if they wanted to bypass the rules and imprison you, they could.”

“Al is still on the council?”

“He’s only there because of me.” Sam turned, his jaw tightened. “He saved my ass once, and told me if anything ever happened to me, he’d resign. He’s not too fond of those stuffed shirts and their bureaucratic ways. Go home, lie low and wait for this to all die down.”

“You know I can’t do that,” she said.

“I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Against ordinary humans, even other Mages, yes. But not if the council wants your ass.”

“You always said it was a fine ass.”

Sam closed the distance between them. He stroked the side of her cheek with a single finger, the well-remembered gesture tender. She struggled with the urge to lean against him, absorb his strength.

“And I’d hate to see anything happen to it.”

“This is bigger than me, Sam. It’s a lot deeper than anyone realizes. I did see the Death Mask. I have the ability.”

He looked at her with the same wariness his teammates had shown. She pushed away. “I hate it, but it’s part of me and I’ve learned to accept it.”

Ever since childhood, Kelly knew she was different. She sensed things more than ordinary Arcanes could. Fearful of alarming her father, Kelly had set out to learn on her own. She studied ancient texts forbidden to Arcanes, stealing away minutes in the vast Shaymore library under the pretense of dusting the shelves.

And in the library, she’d discovered that a few, very few, special Mages had the ability to discern a Mage who killed another merely to siphon his power, the first stage of transforming into a Dark Lord. These Mages could see a shimmering Death Mask, a skull with glowing yellow eyes, superimposed over a normal-looking face.

Exactly what she’d witnessed at the bar.

“But I can’t accept someone is stealing Phantom Mage children to gain their power. An Arcane, organizing other Arcanes to gain magick for a bigger purpose.”

“What?”

She dragged in a deep breath. “To gain power, and exterminate your people. All of them. A genocide.”

The stunned look on his face would have been comical if the subject wasn’t so grim.

Kelly’s fingers curled around her bottle of beer. “Now will you listen, really listen to me?”

Eyes narrowed, he leaned on the counter. “Spill it. Everything.”

“A few weeks ago, Sight Finders received an anonymous tip about the bodies of two Elemental Phantom Mages reported as missing. It had been assumed the women, who had been divorcing their husbands, were out having a wild time.”

“I remember Uncle Al telling me about it. The council made sure the bodies were taken away before human authorities were notified. They didn’t want mortals asking questions. The council investigated, concluded the women were drunk and careless,” Sam said.

“They didn’t tell you what condition the bodies were found in.”

Kelly fished out her wallet and withdrew a small photo print of two shrunken corpses. “They were sucked dry of their magick. We believe this was a first attempt at gaining power from Elementals.”

Blood drained from his face. “Where the hell did you get these?”

“The anonymous tipster sent them, along with the location of Billy Rogers.”

A muscle ticked in his hard jaw. “Even if this is true, there’s no way Arcanes would get close enough to kill us all.”

“Not unless they assumed the identity of someone who’s trusted, say the son of a U.S. senator who also sits on the Council of Mages.”

Sam drew in a sharp breath. “You think that’s why they kidnapped Billy. By killing him and assuming his Phantom powers, an Arcane could duplicate him and move freely about.”

“Yes. The Arcane can even duplicate his aura. There is no way to tell them apart. These rogue Arcanes are targeting children to imitate them and assume their places. Then they’d kill their parents and from there...”

Kelly set down the beer. “We believe they’re smuggling the kids out of the country. Billy told me he remembers his nanny coming into his room. Then he was drugged. Later, when he woke up, the nanny shifted into a man he didn’t recognize.”

“The kidnapper’s real form,” he mused.

“We suspect both Arcanes killed the Phantom women, stole their powers and then used the magick to shape-shift into other forms, one being Billy’s nanny. The real nanny is probably dead.”

“And the Arcane imitating the nanny was the one we took out on the island. Which means the other who stole the Phantom’s powers may still be out there,” he mused.

Picking up the sharp knife, Sam began to twirl it like a baton. Kelly watched this new skill with wary eyes. Seeing her expression, he set it down.

“If Arcanes are planning a mass extermination, why didn’t you alert the council?”

“And give them an excuse to round up my people like cattle?” Sam never knew the humiliation of having to show an ID card simply to enter a Mage store to buy healing herbs. Or being physically searched by Mage authorities, laughing as they shoved their hands between the legs of her jeans.

“We can’t trust them.”

Sam narrowed his eyes. “You’re hiding something, Kel.”

He knew her too well. Kelly hesitated. “It’s more complicated than a single kidnapping. The rogue Arcanes have a base in Honduras and someone is leading them. A staff member in my nonprofit’s Honduran office found nine Elemental children hidden in Tegus. Shortly after, he was shot and left for dead. Fernando thinks the children were being held until the leader of the rogue Arcanes arrives. And then they will be killed, their powers drained and their magick used to imitate your people.”

She paused. “The email said they plan to create a Dark Lord to lead them in exterminating all Elementals. You’ve got to stop them.” She could see the doubt tightening his face. She had to convince him to help her.

“You have to stop this before it turns into war between our people, Sam. You’re the only Elemental I can trust. I know how much you care about children.”

His steady gaze met hers. So calm and capable, but she saw despair in his eyes. Bad of her to play the child card, reminding him of his beloved little brother, but she was desperate.

“Please believe me,” she whispered. “Not for me, Sam, but for those innocent kids. Please help me save them.”

Coiled with tension, he stared at the wall. She saw the hardened warrior unleashed, the Mage who would override everything to keep innocents safe.

“I believe you’re telling the truth, as far as you know it.”

It wasn’t enough. If she couldn’t convince Sam, how could she convince anyone else?

Trembling, she sagged onto the bar stool. So fatigued, she felt the floodgates open, her tightly held emotions finally cresting in a huge wave.

Kelly buried her head in her hands to hide their shaking. But it got worse as she rocked back and forth on the stool.

“Easy now, Kel.” Two hands on her shoulders, holding her steady. He’d always held her steady when she needed him.

“I can’t stop...”

She began to hyperventilate. Sam tipped her head up, locking his gaze to hers.

“Look at me. Look. Easy now. Breathe slowly, long, deep. That’s it,” he encouraged. “Inhale...exhale. Follow the sound of my breaths.”

She did as he commanded, matching her breathing to his calm, even inhalations and exhalations. They breathed together as one—just as they had after making love. It was naive and sweetly romantic...

After a minute, the shaking ceased. She flexed her fingers, embarrassed at the loss of composure.

“Sorry,” she muttered.

A real smile touched his mouth. He thumbed her chin. “A little shakiness is nothing to be ashamed of.”

The slow stroke of his thumb brought a different weakness. Tendrils of desire shot through her blood.

As his gaze zeroed in on her mouth, her lips instinctively parted. A seductive glint danced in his eyes. Those beautiful, sleepy hazel eyes could coax her into anything. He could lure her into his bedroom with a mere glance.

A slow exhale of breath as he stared at her mouth. The want intensified into aching need. Kelly moistened her mouth, aware of his smoldering hunger. She leaned forward, her mind clouded with erotic promise.

Lifting her chin, she parted her lips as he lowered his head toward her.

She wanted his touch badly, wanted his strong arms encircling her in a comforting embrace that promised all would be well.

“I want to kiss you again, just like before, when we made love until we were both sweaty and exhausted and spent, and then did it all over again,” he said hoarsely.

Her gaze lifted to the silky strands of his hair she’d loved to run her fingers through. Sam stroked a single finger down her right cheek. Holding her hands out like a shield, Kelly stepped back. This hurt so much. “I can’t, Sam. Please.” Her voice cracked. “Don’t do this. We have too much between us. Let me have the memories of how it was. They’re all I have left of us.”

The moment shattered. This man had the power to hurt her badly. She had none. And eventually he would hurt her, because they no longer were on the same side.

His broad shoulders stiffened as he turned away. “What the hell do you want from me, Kelly?”

“Take your teammates and find the missing children before the Arcanes kill them. Stop the slaughter before it starts. Not for me, but for the innocents who will get hurt if this goes down.”

“I’ll notify my superior. Curt’s cool. He’s Mage and I trust him.”

Not good enough. “I trust you, Sam. Not some military commander who’s bound by regulations. You have influence.”

“My life’s with the team now. It’s not just me, Kelly. It’s all of my team. I have to follow orders.” Cool, clipped words from a man who’d turned from fire into ice.

“You never did before. You were a maverick,” she whispered. “What happened?”

White bracketed the lines of his full mouth. “Your father.”

Silence draped between them. Kelly’s chest felt tight. “I can’t undo what happened, Sam. I wish I could. All I can do is go forward and try to eliminate future threats.”

Sam turned toward the window. “You have proof? The email?”

“It’s back at my office. All I have is my word. And what I know.” She touched her cheek, still warm from his touch.

“I’ll do what I can.”

The military had entrenched Sam in order and discipline. A knife twisted inside her heart. Her former lover was distant and aloof, as if they’d never known each other.

“Thank you,” she said quietly. “It’s a risk for you, and I appreciate it.”

Sam stared out the kitchen window. “If this is running as deep as you say, you’re walking into a minefield. They labeled you a child snatcher and broadcast your photo. Perfect fodder to draw away attention from the real threat. It’s standard battle strategy. Your enemy finds a weak spot and strikes.”

A terrible suspicion surfaced. “Can I use your computer?”

The paneled, elegant study featured an array of complicated electronic equipment. After Sam powered up the PC, Kelly pulled up the Facebook page for Sight Finders. Her throat went dry as sand. Sam bent over to see the screen and muttered a curse.

“They didn’t waste time.”

Postings on the wall included hateful messages claiming Kelly’s nonprofit was a front for child smuggling. She turned away, sucked in a trembling breath and fumbled for her cell.

Carl, her director, was brief. “Jesus, Kelly, they’ve launched a war against us. The whole damn government is seizing our files, taking our hard drives, saying we’re child traffickers.”

He lowered his voice. “They took your laptop. They claim our office in Honduras is a front for smuggling children and selling them.”

Her mouth dry, she managed to ask, “Did you get an IP address on the anonymous email?”

“Some internet café in D.C. I locked away the hard copy of the email. But what does it matter? No one will believe us.”

Heart pounding, she spat out the emergency phrase. “The wolf’s in the barn.”

Carl would alert the others, and they’d go deep underground.

She thumbed off the phone and looked at Sam. “Got a disposal in that nice kitchen of yours? I have to get rid of this phone before they use it to track me down.”

Sam took the cell, flipped it into the fireplace and flung out his hands. A burst of white energy shattered the phone and ignited the logs.

She gave a shaky grin. “A fire. Very cozy and romantic. Wish I could stay, but I’m afraid if they find me here, it’ll ruin the mood.”

Sam followed her into the kitchen as she grabbed her pack. “I’m the target of a witch hunt.”

“No, you’re the target of a Mage hunt.” He rubbed a hand over his chin, lines of tension bracketing his mouth. “Look, Kel, lie low. Stay out of sight.”

“I promised my team I’d get those kids out of Honduras. I won’t break a promise.”

Sam touched her cheek. “I don’t break promises, either. And I made one to you, long ago. I’ll do whatever I can to keep you safe, Kelly Denning. You know what they’ll do to you.”

His jaw tensed to granite.

She knew what he meant. The gray, lonely asylum where many Arcanes had been confined...those thought to be seditious and deemed a danger to Mage society. Locked away behind bars...

Never. I’ll die first.

“Your team can save them, Sam. Talk to your commander, have him send a team of SEALs to rescue the children.”

His expression shuttered. “He’d have to go through proper channels and first determine Elemental children are missing.”

Red tape, delays. “It would take too long.”

“There are rules. We have to work within the system.” Sam lightly gripped her shoulders. “I’m more concerned about you.”

She was alone. Kelly’s throat tightened.

“I don’t need you to take care of me. I need you to convince your superiors of the truth.”

Someone banged hard on the front door. Kelly jumped. Blue and red lights flashed outside, stroking over the bushes and the house next door. He muttered a curse.

“I knew Tom wouldn’t let this go.”

Another hard pounding. “Chief Shaymore, open up,” a deep voice called out. “I’m with the security division of the Council of Mages. We need to question you about Kelly Denning.”

Sam snagged a set of keys from a peg in the kitchen. “I’ll hold them off. Take the trail in the woods out back. It leads to a side road. We have a car stashed for emergencies. Get on the interstate and don’t stop. Stay at a friend’s house and stay low until the political burn wears off.”

She took the keys, her fingers brushing his. “Thanks, Sam. But you know I can’t stay low. If you won’t help me, I’ll go it alone to Honduras. If there’s a chance they’re still alive, I’ll take it.”

He turned away, his broad shoulders a brick wall. “Don’t leave the country, Kelly. Because if they send me after you, I will be forced to do what I must.”

A man filled with resolve, his deep voice stating every word with hard conviction. Kelly drew in a breath.

“Stay safe, Sam.” The knife in her heart twisted hard. “Don’t come after me unless you plan to help. Because I will be forced to do what I must.”

As he went to the front door, she slipped out the back, heading into the cover of night. Putting distance between the man she’d once loved fiercely, and feeling the aching regret that they’d lost something precious and wonderful. She wouldn’t make that mistake twice.

Never again.