Wild Cat

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Cassidy advanced again, unable to stop herself, the bare floor cool on her feet. “What are you talking about? You told me you needed his blood. And my blood. Nothing personal, you said.”

“Shifter blood, yes.” Reid’s face was pasty, his breathing shallow. “I was going to take an un-Collared Shifter. These hunters had bagged un-Collareds before, and I paid them to do so again. I told them to keep the Shifter alive. But when I got there… when I got there…” A shudder went through him. “They’d shot him and pulled off his Collar. Stupid. Stupid. And then, when I knew that I’d have used his blood anyway, if the police hadn’t come too soon… I knew then… what I’d become. What they’d made me become…”

Anguish flooded his voice as much as it flooded Cassidy’s. The man moaned, his head dropping back to the floor.

Cassidy could scent his fear, his despair, and over that, his vast shame. It wrenched at her heart; at the same time, she could find no forgiveness. Donovan was dead. That was all.

Eric and Jace twitched with the heightened emotion in the room, but Diego was coolness itself. He stuck to essentials.

“What who had made you become?” Diego asked.

“The hoch alfar,” Reid said. “The fucking hoch alfar, who do you think? They took me because I was a danger to them. They killed my family and put me in this place. This human place.”

Diego prodded Reid with the rifle. “A little bit more. If you’re one of these dark elves, how did you join the police force? How do you have a name, a home, a social security number?”

“I’ve been here a long time. So long. Fifty human years. They exiled me. And for what? So that my dokk alfar, who lived in the land the hoch alfar warrior wanted, wouldn’t get in his way. I fought him. I’m very strong, a damn better warrior than any of them. I led my people against them. But in the end, there were too many. They killed my family and friends most loyal to me. They took me-the one who dared rise against them-and they shoved me here. To die, they thought. Stupid hoch alfar, think dokk alfar can’t take iron. Hell, we invented iron.”

“So you found yourself here,” Diego said, still calm. “What did you do then?”

Reid shrugged, as much as he could while bound hand and foot. “The humans didn’t notice any difference in me from themselves. They don’t believe anything until it’s shoved under their noses. I blended in. I became Stuart Reid. Paperwork was easier to fake fifty years ago. I’ve been Stuart Reid for a long time, moving before people caught on that I age more slowly than humans do.”

“And you tried to go back?” Diego asked.

“I tried, I tried, and I couldn’t. It doesn’t work for me to go to the weak places on the ley lines-the stone circles and whatever-which is how the hoch alfar cross. It doesn’t always work for the dokk alfar. The magic is different. So I searched for humans who knew Fae lore, as I told you. The ritual I found in that grimoire used the blood of a Shifter, in a spell performed at the spring equinox. It’s supposed to open the gate.”

“Great,” Jace said softly.

“I’d already been a police officer for a while,” Reid said. “I was good at it. In my world, I was a warrior and an enforcer. I easily passed the tests to get into the police. Once I found the spell that used Shifters, I got myself transferred into Shifter Division. I figured it was just a matter of time before I found an un-Collared Shifter that I could use. When the hunting law changed, I saw a way to speed up the process. I found some hunters experienced in tracking down un-Collared Shifters and paid them to help me. Except, they were hot to kill any Shifter, Collared or otherwise. They shot Donovan Grady before I could stop them, then pulled off his Collar to try to fool the cops…”

The speech, delivered rapid-fire, faded.

In the silence that followed, Cassidy could hear Nell talking to Shane and Brody outside. Warm, family conversation, so different from the anger and fear in this room.

“Are you telling me you would have let Donovan live once they’d captured him?” Cassidy asked. “As desperate as you were?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why did you try to kill me? Not just any Shifter, but me in particular?”

Reid met her gaze with eyes like the black of space. “I knew you were his mate. I learned all about you and your family. I became an expert on you. I know that Shifters perform a ritual on the one-year anniversary of a death, and I knew you’d come out there again, right at the equinox. I told myself that you were so unhappy that it wouldn’t matter if the spell killed you. I justified it like that. But when I shot at you, I missed, and you ran. I chased you, so obsessed about doing the damn spell that I didn’t care about anything else. I realized, right then, that the hoch alfar had broken me. They’d made me become a dakhlar who’d sacrifice an innocent being for my own benefit. I’d grab you, use the spell, and deal with my guilt later.”

Cassidy put her bare foot on his thigh. “Why did you keep hunting me after I eluded you the first time? I went back to finish my ritual, but I brought plenty of guards, and we were alert for you. We almost got you that night. There must have been easier targets.”

Reid shook his head. “I told myself it had to be you, and you alone. To put you out of your misery, I reasoned. I thought you’d be happy to die.”

Cassidy rolled her foot on his thigh, increasing the pressure a little. He looked so pathetic, wrists and ankles bound with plastic ties, Diego with the barrel of the rifle in his stomach, Xavier watching with double weapons. Here was the man responsible for her mate’s death, at her feet, and now her victory tasted hollow.

Jace spoke behind her. “You’re talking as though the Fae have qualms about killing Shifters.”

Reid lifted himself halfway up. “No, no, the hoch alfar don’t care about killing Shifters. They’ll kill anything that gets in their way-they’ll do it for amusement. I know that, because I watched them do it to my mate and my children.”

Cassidy took her foot from him. “Diego, let him go.”

Diego shot her a surprised look. “He’ll vanish. We might never find him again.”

“Let him. I want him gone. I don’t want to look at him anymore.”

Eric’s voice rumbled. “He caused Donovan’s death, Cass. No matter how he tries to spin it, he’s guilty of that. It’s your right to do what you will with him.”

“I know.” Cassidy looked back at Eric, her heart bleak. “And I’m exercising my right.”

She’d wanted Reid to be gloating, rubbing his hands like a villain, so she’d feel triumph when she ripped out his throat. Instead she found a creature of shame, anger, and emptiness.

Diego held her gaze. “There’s nothing to say he won’t try to kill another Shifter if we let him go.”

“He won’t,” Cassidy said. “We’ll make sure of that.”

Diego’s eyes held compassion. Only last night, he’d dispatched one of his old enemies, one he’d grown to pity. Diego understood.

Cassidy and Diego looked at each other a moment longer, then Cassidy turned and walked out of the house. She didn’t bother with shoes; she walked barefoot outside to the swath of grass and brush down the common. She walked past houses of her friends and extended family, and Donovan’s friends and family. She walked all the way to the eight-foot-high cinderblock wall that marked the end of Shiftertown. Why humans had built the wall, she never understood-nothing but scorching desert lay beyond it.

Cassidy leaned on this wall, soaking the cool of it into her bones.

Donovan’s killer. Hers to kill, quickly or slowly. Her right as the mate whose mate bond had been broken by murder. Even Donovan’s mother didn’t have the bond that Cassidy had shared with Donovan. The vengeance kill belonged to the mate.

Cassidy knew that more lay behind her sudden despair besides Reid not being the evil killer she’d wanted him to be. Reid was responsible, but his finger hadn’t pulled the trigger. Those human hunters were still at large, still fair game, still hers.

She knew damn well that part of her grief was for the severing of one mate bond and the beginning of another.

How could this happen so quickly? Eric had lost his mate, Kirsten, when Jace had been born, and Eric had never shown any inclination to mate again. Having offspring lessened the mating instinct, that was true, but though Eric occasionally had casual relationships with females, he hadn’t made another mate-claim, hadn’t even voiced the inclination to.

Cassidy had thought she’d be like him, letting forty years go by before she even declared herself interested again.

Then she’d met Diego, a human who’d bound her and arrested her for little more than being Shifter. But he’d made Cassidy start erasing Donovan from her heart.

She couldn’t. She wouldn’t.

And yet, the mate bond sang.

Cassidy screamed to drown it out. She beat her fists on the wall, the cement grating her skin. She slapped her palms to the stone, over and over, her frustration, fear, and anguish boiling out of her.

“Stop.” Diego’s warm voice was in her ear, his strong hands closing over hers. He pulled her from the wall and gathered her into his arms. “Don’t, amada mia.”

Cassidy turned to the strength of his embrace. “I loved him. I loved him.”

“I know.”

“I don’t want that to go away.”

“Is that what you’re afraid of?” Diego asked.

She nodded, tears flooding her eyes. “Donovan deserves to be avenged. And I couldn’t do it.”

Diego pulled her close. “Don’t, mi ja. We think that if we keep hunting, keep trying to fix what hurt them, they’ll stay alive somehow. But that’s not what keeps them alive. It’s us, remembering the good of them.”

“Oh, Goddess, Diego, I don’t want to forget him.”

“You never have to.”

She looked up at him again. “I’m feeling the mate bond for you. It’s erasing the one I had for him. I don’t want that!”

“Mate bond?”

“It’s what Shifters feel for each other when the mating is right. It’s a magical thing-a Goddess thing.”

Diego’s black brown eyes were as dark as night. “And that’s what you feel for me?”

“Yes.”

Diego gazed down at her, his lips parted. Cassidy cursed herself for babbling it all out to him. He was human-how could he understand? Maybe the last thing he wanted was a Shifter woman confessing she considered herself emotionally bound to him.

The next thing she knew, Diego was crushing her into the wall, his body heat and scent all over her.

“Damn it, Cassidy,” he whispered.

She opened her mouth to explain and found Diego’s mouth silencing her with a strong, hot kiss. The cement wall scraped her back, but Diego was hard against her front, hemming her in, his body so damn hot.

Cassidy wanted him, and she didn’t care who knew it. Her hands went to his buttocks, and she pulled him against her.

Diego’s mouth was hot and hard, taking. Gentle fingers wiped away her tears while he kissed her like he couldn’t get enough of her.

He tugged the laces that held up her sweatpants. She wore nothing under them, so when he yanked them down, his fingers could sink right into her heat.

So erotic, to be against the wall while the hottest man she’d ever met started her toward ecstasy.

Cassidy tugged at his belt, then his zipper. Diego almost ripped his pants open, and then she was rising against the wall, Diego holding her firmly. Hard and blunt, he slid into her, high up inside.

As in the shower, he couldn’t move as much in this position, but he was inside her, holding her so tightly against him. The mate bond surged, its warmth starting in the place they joined and entwining her heart.

“Diego.”

He opened his eyes. They were dark, like starless night, and yet warmer than anything she’d ever seen in her life. Cassidy could see all the way inside him, she thought, and he was letting her.

Diego, I’m falling in love with you.

Diego’s head went back as he felt his pleasure, and his eyes closed, but that didn’t shut him off from her. He was giving her everything, all of him. She barely noticed the harsh wall at her back with Diego’s arms around her and his wild heat inside her.

His seed scalded her even as she hit her own climax. Diego opened his eyes again, cupping her face, the liquid sound of his voice pouring over her. He stared right into her heart, and Cassidy, much to her anguish, let him.

Damn, she was so beautiful. Diego eased off his climax by kissing Cassidy’s face, every inch of it. He could have lost her today.

He kissed her again, her lips and chin, while he slowly and reluctantly withdrew. “If this is the mate bond, I like it.”

“It’s more than that.” Cassidy sounded worried about it.

Diego stayed pressed against her, loving the heat of her against his groin. “No problem. We can go out to dinner sometimes too.”

“Diego.” The word ended on a sob.

Diego smoothed her hair, kissed it. He thought he understood what was up with her. Cassidy had lost her mate-her true love. She feared that falling in love again meant she’d not really loved Donovan.

Not true. The heart, the human one at least, could form strong bonds with many people. Diego loved his mother and his brother, and what he’d had with Jobe could be called love-not in a gay way, the macho side of his brain quickly added, but in a best-friend-a-guy-could-ever-have kind of way.

Affection and love. Diego would die for these people. He’d have preferred to die for Jobe instead of the other way around.

“Cass,” he said. “I’ve fixed on you. I don’t know if that’s the same as your mate bond, but I’m willing to believe it is.”

“I don’t know what it is.”

Cassidy had stopped crying, but she sounded confused.

“I’m willing to wait until you figure it out,” Diego said. “Hell, I’ll try to help you figure it out. And if we have to enjoy screwing each other every day until then, fine with me. I’ve got the strength.”

There it was, Cassidy’s smile, the spirit returning to her eyes. “You’re full of yourself, human.”

“You think I don’t have the stamina for a Shifter?”

She pretended to consider. “You’re not bad so far.”

“Not bad so far. Evil woman.” Diego moved his hips, enjoying the hot feel of her. “My life has been crazy since I met you, chiquita. I think I needed waking up.”

“You know your pants are down around your ankles, right?”

Diego grinned. “Yours flew off in the bushes somewhere.”

“Pants around your ankles looks funnier. Especially since you’re wearing socks.”

Diego let his gaze rove Cassidy in only a sweat jacket, her strong, slim legs bare. “You look better.” He let go of her long enough to pull up his jeans and fasten them. “Want to come home with me?”

She smiled, making his heart warm, then her smile faded. “Only if Reid is contained.”

Real-life problems came rushing back. “There’s still a lot of things I don’t get about him. Like what is so special about that rock cave? It’s not very big, it’s in the middle of nowhere, but he keeps going back to it.”

Cassidy broke from him to fetch her pants. Diego’s thoughts stumbled to a halt. Her hips moved in the most delectable way as she bent to slide the sweatpants over the sweetest ass he’d ever seen in his life.

“I can tell you’re a good detective,” Cassidy said, tugging the ties together. “You don’t close the case once you’ve beaten the suspect into submission.”

He forced his brain to start working again. “We shouldn’t let him go, Cass. Like I said, what’s to say he won’t get over his remorse and try to kill another Shifter?”

“I know, but…” Cassidy stopped, still holding on to the ties of her sweatpants. “I’ve wanted to kill him for a long time. But all of a sudden, it seems like the wrong solution.”

Diego’s thoughts switched to the dingy living room with Enrique, his state-of-the-art electronics surrounding a sofa that held thirty years of soil. Diego had wanted to kill Enrique so many times when Enrique had been a dangerous and deadly gang leader. Last night, Diego had held the power and strength, and Enrique had seemed pathetic, a waste of time.

Maybe Cassidy felt the same way about Reid. However, Diego still didn’t trust him. All this talk about hoch alfar and dokk alfar and gates to Faerie seemed like so much fanciful bullshit. Diego liked to deal in the concrete.

And he would, he thought as he slid his arms around Cassidy’s waist. Just as soon as he got done kissing Cassidy.

Reid was still in the living room when they got back. The man sat on the floor with his back to the wall, his runner’s legs drawn up under him. He looked at the carpet, as though not very interested in anything around him.

“He asked for my protection,” Eric said.

Cassidy looked amazed. “Did you grant it?”

“Haven’t decided yet.”

“What does that mean?” Diego asked.

Ever since Cassidy had sliced open her hand to pledge that she believed in Diego-and if she was wrong, Eric could kill her-Diego realized that Shifters took their oaths and promises seriously. Just saying, Sure, I’ll return your library book for you, might have dire consequences.

Eric lounged back on the couch, his feet up, as though the morning hadn’t been all that interesting. “If he were Shifter, and I granted my protection, that would mean I gave him the same status as someone in my pride. Meaning I protect him with all my strength. Meaning I expect him to show me the same loyalty I expect from those in my pride.”

“But because he’s not Shifter…”

“I haven’t decided. Plus there’s the whole fact that I still want to kill him.”

“If anyone kills him, it will be me,” Diego said. “Where’s Xav?”

“Next door. He’s talking to Shane.”

Reid lifted his head. “Escobar, I’ve never liked you, but you’re a good cop, and you’re trustworthy. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I’m asking a Shifter for protection. That’s my way of pledging I won’t try to hurt them anymore.”

Cassidy folded her arms. She’d shown compassion, but her compassion didn’t make her weak. “You told us you needed Shifter blood for a spell.”

“I’m willing to try to find another way, look for another grimoire and more spells. There has to be some way I can trick the hoch alfar and cross back into my world, without me having to be a monster to do it.”

Diego sank down on his heels to look Reid in the face. “You can vanish whenever you want. Why can’t you vanish back to your world?”

“Do you think I haven’t tried that? I can teleport, but only in this world. The funny thing is, when I was home, I couldn’t do it. Many dokk alfar can, but I never manifested the talent.”

Eric gazed down at them from the couch. “Interesting. Maybe that has something to do with why you can’t get back.”

“You know about these things?”

“Not really.” Eric yawned and stretched, like a lion preparing for his post-hunt nap. “But I know someone who knows someone who might know something. I’ll talk to them this afternoon.”

“You’ll give me your protection?” Reid’s voice was full of hope.

“For now.”

Cassidy relaxed. “Thank you, Eric.”

Eric lifted his head, still the lion who could come alert at any second. “It also means that if he breaks any part of his word, I get to rip his head off. Don’t worry, Diego, I’ll do it discreetly.”

Eric sank back down and put his arm over his eyes, finished with the business at hand.

“You see?” Reid said to Diego. “The Collars are useless when they really want to do something.”

“If you despise Shifters, why are you asking for Eric’s protection?” Diego asked.

“Because I’m not a fool. The Shifters here would kill me without it, and my greatest wish is to return home. I’m willing to do what it takes. I’m not a killer. I only want to go home.”

Whatever truth was in Reid, he at least believed what he said. Diego himself was not sure what to feel.

He rose to his feet. “If Reid is staying here, I want Cassidy with me.”

Eric moved his arm enough to peer at Diego around it. “You don’t have to ask my permission.”

“I just don’t want you talking about ripping my head off.”

“Cassidy’s a grown female. She can do as she pleases.”

“Cassidy’s standing right here,” Cassidy said, hands on hips. Dios mio, she was sexy when she did that.

Diego shot her a grin. “I asked you before, want to come home with me? Or better still, to my mom’s house? There’s some things I still need to take care of.”