Wild Cat

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“I remember me telling you not to go after those drug runners.” Captain Max was on his feet in his office, his face dark with rage. “Do you remember, Escobar? Do you know why I told you that?”

Diego had all kinds of answers, but he decided to keep quiet.

“Because the courts will have a field day, that’s why!” Captain Max finished for him. “Everyone knows you have a vendetta against this gang, that they killed your partner. And then I hear stories that you turned vigilante in Mexico, shot up a factory or something going after those guys. How is that going to look when you take the stand?”

“I won’t be taking the stand, sir,” Diego said, fixing his captain with an unblinking gaze. “I never made the bust.”

Captain Max stopped in mid-breath. “What the hell are you talking about? I have two men in my lockup looking scared to death, and their public defender’s not looking much better. Don’t bullshit me, Escobar.”

“No bullshit, sir. I didn’t arrest them. Lieutenant Reid did. He saw the two remaining gang members in a cantina while he was vacationing in Mexico, and he arrested them. I had nothing to do with it. It’s all in Reid’s report.”

The report lay on Captain Max’s desk, the file unopened. “I don’t know what the hell game you’re playing, Diego. I’ll bust you back down to uniform, I swear to God.”

“Reid made the arrest, sir. I promise you.”

Reid had arrested the men at the airfield while Diego and Xavier kept out of the way. They’d all agreed not to alert the Mexican police and to quietly fly the guys back to the States. Less paperwork, fewer questions, and they would have had to search awhile to find police out there anyway. The drug runners had capitulated easily enough, wanting to get out of there as fast as they could.

Once they’d landed back in Nevada, Reid had gotten stuck with the paperwork, and Diego had taken his brother to the hospital then gone to Shiftertown, found Cassidy, and… had a night he’d never forget.

“You know I’ll be questioning Reid pretty closely,” Captain Max said. “Your brother too.”

Diego nodded. “Reid is willing. Xavier wants to come back to work tomorrow, by the way. He’s feeling better and has energy to spare.”

“I’ll see.” Captain Max gave Diego a stern look. “If we get away with this, I might not kick your ass. But then again, I might. Remember that.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Don’t fuck with me, Diego.”

“No, sir.”

The captain scowled over the desk. “Aren’t you still on leave?”

“Yes, sir. I wanted to come in and write up the last of my notes on Jobe’s case. Finish it.”

Captain Max sighed, becoming human for a moment. “It’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it?”

“Yes, it has.”

“You talk to Jobe’s family yet?”

“Plan to do that tonight.” Diego would take Cassidy with him. That seemed right.

“All right,” Captain Max said. “Get out of here, Escobar.”

“Yes, sir.” Diego grinned at his captain and left him.

Stuart Reid hated Shifters, and now he was surrounded by them.

Hate was the wrong word, maybe. Uncomfortable, definitely. He’d grown up trained to believe certain things, most notably that dokk alfar were superior creatures, and that he was damn lucky to have been born one. Hoch alfar were evil and should be slain on sight.

The hoch alfar had hated Reid, not only because they’d wanted his lands deep in the mountains, but because Reid could manipulate iron. He could make iron behave how he wanted it to, and weren’t the hoch alfar afraid of that? That was another reason the hoch alfar had exiled Stuart to this overbright and overheated place, full of humans who constantly fought among themselves. The hoch alfar had fully believed they’d handed Reid a fate worse than death. And they weren’t far from wrong.

Another of Reid’s deep-seated beliefs was that Shifters, the fighting slaves of the hoch alfar, were not to be trusted. They were Fae bred, and though they’d had the cunning to break free of the Fae, Shifters had shunned Faerie and chosen to live solely in the human world. Anyone not wanting to live in Faerie had to be insane. The Shifters’ own fault they’d been dying out and had to accept human restrictions.

In his years in Shifter Division, Reid had learned much about Shifters-how they pretended to be pathetic captives but seemed to survive just fine on subsistence-level jobs. They had resources somewhere, he was certain of it, and they were gathering strength. Reid didn’t miss how Eric Warden manipulated the humans to remain top cat while seeming to give in to human demands.

The humans were fools if they thought they had Shifters under control. The only thing that stopped Shifters now were their Collars, and one day, Stuart was sure, they’d figure out a way to break that power.

Because of his ingrained mistrust of Shifters, Stuart had convinced himself that killing one un-Collared Shifter and taking its blood to get him back home would be justifiable. But when he’d seen Cassidy grieve, he’d realized what he’d done. I, who thought myself so superior to the hoch alfar, have become just like them. I thought nothing of taking Donovan Grady’s life-husband, brother, son, potential father. I did that. And I can never pay enough.

So, when Eric had gotten the call from Marlo that Cassidy was in trouble, Stuart had been the first one out the door. With his talent for teleporting-something he hadn’t been able to do in Faerie-he could get in and save her. He’d been happy to save Xavier too, while he was at it.

Helping Shifters and their friends maybe could atone for what Reid had done. His guilt had made him come over to Nell’s this morning to see if he could do anything further for the women and cubs they’d rescued.

Nell put him outside on the patio to watch the kids play and make sure they didn’t hurt themselves. The cubs, tiny things, not sure about their change in scene but more willing to accept it than the adults, ran about in wonder.

Nell, on the other hand, scared the hell out of Reid. She was crazy, that one, violence with a smile.

The younger woman who now wandered out the back door worried Stuart far less. She was the mate of the dead Miguel, and the look in her eyes was dead too.

Not dead, Reid thought as she sat down on the patio chair next to his. Empty. She was free and safe but had no idea what to do.

The Shifter looked over at Reid with dark blue eyes and sniffed. Her hands curled on her lap. “I thought I smelled Fae.”

“I’m dokk alfar,” Reid said. “Not the same as the bastards who made Shifters.”

A spark of curiosity touched her eyes. “Dokk alfar? What’s that?”

“Dokk alfar are the true, and first, Fae. We dwell in the deepest woods, in the earth itself. Our magic is the magic of nature. We don’t have to build glittery castles and hunt unicorns and all that shit.”

More curiosity. “So why are you here and not in the woods in Faerie?”

Bitterness lodged in his throat. “Because the hoch alfar decided to kill family and throw me out here. For fun. They thought I’d die in the human world, slowly and painfully. They’re idiots. But they made it so I couldn’t get back.”

“Oh.” The woman reached across the small space between their chairs with the Shifter instinct to touch. Her hand rested on Reid’s, her fingers warm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. No one’s even told me your name.”

“Stuart. Stuart Reid. That’s as close to my real name as I can manage here. Humans can’t pronounce anything.”

The corners of her mouth lifted the slightest bit. “Tell me about it.”

“Do you have name?”

“I used to. I haven’t heard it in a while.” She hesitated as though having to think hard to remember it. “Peigi. It’s Scottish.”

It was pretty. “How did you end up in Mexico with a bunch of un-Collared Shifters?” Reid asked her.

Peigi shrugged and withdrew her hand. “I believed in Miguel. I thought he was right when he refused the Collar and formed his own community of Collarless Shifters. I’d lost my family and no longer had a clan, so I decided to accept his mate-claim. I didn’t want the Collar either.” She touched her bare throat. “I guess I don’t have a choice now.”

The sad gesture stirred his sympathy. “So what happened? When did Miguel decide he’d take over the Mexican town and become an evil villain?”

“He went feral. I realize now that Miguel wasn’t the most stable of males to begin with, and then his beast took over. His idea of having his own Shiftertown, where Shifters ruled, made sense to me when we started. We’d be free of human restrictions but have the advantages that Shiftertowns are giving the Collared Shifters-peace, stability, a better chance of having cubs that survive. It worked at first, but then…” Peigi shrugged, looking tired. “It all fell apart. Lots of fighting between species, even within species, and Miguel decided that females should be sequestered. For their own safety.” Peigi’s smile was wry. “Really, so he could have first pick, and we couldn’t run away.”

Now Stuart felt disgust. He hoped Dylan Morrissey hunted down Miguel, if Miguel proved to be still alive, and ripped his head off. “Now you’re free of him. Are you all right?”

She shrugged. “I never formed the mate bond with Miguel. When I was young and silly, I believed it would form, but after I didn’t conceive any cubs, Miguel started taking additional mates, who did have cubs. I had to battle to keep my place in the hierarchy, or he would have thrown me to his men to see what they could get on me, or he’d have had me killed. It became a struggle to live, every day. The day I let my place slip as top mate was the day I died.” Peigi let out her breath. “Now it’s over.”

Stuart let her sit quietly for a moment. In his career as a cop, he’d seen the look Peigi now wore on the faces of women from abusive marriages, after their husbands had been killed or imprisoned with no hope of parole. The women didn’t dance around in elation; they sat quietly, stunned, confused, unsure of what to do or where to go. Realization that they were free would hit them later. Many of them had grown so used to being told what to do every second of their lives that they were terrified of going it alone.

“Eric said he’d release all of you once you were settled in,” Stuart said. “That he wouldn’t make you his mates.”

Peigi nodded. “That’s what Nell told me.”

“Would you want to stay with Eric?” Stuart asked.

Peigi’s eyes flashed, the first fire he’d seen in her. “I’m thinking I don’t want to be with anyone. At all. Ever again.”

She leapt from her chair so fiercely that the heavy thing fell back, then she stepped from the porch and moved across the yard in long-legged strides, not looking at the playing cubs. She wore borrowed jeans that hugged her legs, and her now-clean tail of black hair bounced against a white blouse.

Stuart watched her for a time, as her swift walk turned to a restless jog. She was a fine-looking woman-for someone who could turn into a bear. Stuart quietly rose, left the porch, and followed her.

Iona Duncan pulled into her driveway after work, looking forward to unkinking her body and unwinding with mindless TV, or maybe digging into a good novel.

What she really wanted to do wound its way through her mind. Her wildcat wanted to come out and play, to feel the forest floor underneath her paws, to taste the wind.

Iona suppressed the wildcat with effort. She couldn’t keep driving up into the mountains without people getting suspicious, wondering what the hell she did up there. Even her mother was getting worried, and her mother and sister were the only ones in the world who knew what Iona truly was.

The wildcat wanted to come out, though. As Iona tried to unlock her front door, her fingers turned to claws, and she dropped the keys.

“Damn it.”

She bent to pick them up and yelped when a strong hand scooped them up for her.

“Shit, Eric.”

He was standing way too close, his scent and body heat making her wildcat shiver. His Collar glinted in the evening light. Eric shoved the key into the lock and opened the door. He kept unlocking doors for her, damn him.

Without invitation, Eric walked into Iona’s house and looked around, Shifter-style, to make sure nothing waited for them inside. He looked back and gave her a nod that it was all right to enter.

Iona strode to him. “Eric, you cannot come into my house.”

“I’m already in. Shut the door before your neighbors see you with a Shifter.”

Iona slammed the door and dumped her purse on the table in the foyer. The mirror above the table showed her black hair mussed, her blue eyes wide.

Eric had already moved to the back, into the kitchen, to pull down the blinds in there. “Nice place,” he said. “You own this?”

“Of course I do,” Iona said, following him. “I bought it myself.”

His jade green eyes almost shone in the dim light. “Shifters aren’t allowed to own houses.”

“I know that. Why do you think I don’t want you going around telling people I’m half Shifter?”

Iona couldn’t have him here. Eric took up too much space, the tall, hard-bodied Shifter pushing her cozy kitchen into the background.

“What do you turn into?” he asked.

“What?”

“Your wildcat. What does it look like?”

The wildcat in question started to push its way out again. Iona fought it back. “Panther. Mostly.”

Now Eric was in front of her, hand scooping back her hair. “Black haired. With blue eyes?”

“Yes.”

“I’d like to see it.” Eric leaned closer and inhaled her scent. “I’d like to see you.”

“Why?”

A smile tugged the corners of his mouth. “I’d like to let my wildcat out to chase you, to tussle with you.” He nuzzled her. “Maybe more things, Iona.”

Heat swirled along every limb and settled low in her belly. “I don’t go wildcat in the house,” she said with difficulty. “I don’t want to break anything.”

“Where do you go, then?”

“Out in the mountains. I have a place.”

Eric’s nose touched her temple, followed by a brush of lips. “Next time, I’ll go with you.”

“No.”

“It’s too dangerous for you to go out alone. There are hunters looking for any excuse to shoot a Shifter. You need to stay safe.”

“I’d be safer if certain Felines didn’t come sniffing around my door.”

Another smile. Iona wished that Eric weren’t so tall. He enclosed her into his space, filled it with his warmth, his scent, his heat.

“I’m not sniffing at your door, sweetheart. I’m smelling the goodness of you.”

Iona made herself turn and walk away from him. She flipped on the kitchen light because her wildcat wanted too much to melt to him in the darkness.

“I should call the police,” she said. “Shifters aren’t supposed to harass humans.”

Eric looked pointedly at the phone on the wall, all the way across the room. “Why haven’t you, then?”

Because the human police would overreact, lock up Eric, maybe go after his family, and who knew what else. Eric didn’t scare her… exactly. He was a threat, yes-to her secrets and to her sanity.

But…

But what? Hell, she was confused every time she got around the man.

“I’m hoping you’ll leave me alone without me having to report you,” Iona said.

“You won’t report me.”

“What are you doing, trying to plant suggestions in my head? Not working, sorry.”

Eric laughed, a low-throated laugh. He braced himself on the counter.

“You have a sassy mouth,” he said. “It tastes even better with chocolate.”

Iona’s breath caught as she remembered the sensation of his dark kisses, Eric’s body caging her against the wall, the strength of his mouth, the fire of his tongue.

“You need to go,” she said. Before I drag you against that counter and start kissing you again.

“No, I don’t.” Eric straightened up and put his back to the counter exactly as Iona had been picturing. “I didn’t come here to tease you, though that’s always fun. I came because I need your help.”

“My help? With what?” The alpha Shiftertown leader, I’m such a badass I can keep anyone in line, was asking for help?

“Long story, but you have to promise me this goes no further than us.” Eric’s smile was gone, and he looked grim. “I have children to protect. Understand?”

“No, I don’t understand, but if you think I’ll harm children, you read me wrong.”

“I know you won’t harm cubs, Iona. That’s why I came here.”

Iona made a noise of exasperation. “Eric, you do know that you could drive someone insane, don’t you?”

“My sister says that. A lot. Come to think of it, my mate always did too.”

His mate. Iona had learned when she’d looked up background on Eric Warden that he’d been mated to a woman named Kirsten, who had died a long time ago.

“Your wife,” she said.

“No wives for Shifters, love. Only mates. Wife is a human term. Mate is so much more.”

Why did he look at her so intently when he said that? “I’m sorry,” Iona said. “About Kirsten.”

Eric gave her a slow nod, as though he took her words to heart. “She was a good person.” Another nod, compartmentalizing the pain and moving back to the question at hand.

“Five un-Collared Shifter females have come to Shiftertown,” he said. “I mate-claimed all of them, and unfortunately, I have to get Collars on them. They’re terrified, and I’m doing this under the radar. I’ll get them as many painkillers as I can, but…”

“And you want me to what? Get pain medications for you?”

“No.” Eric fixed her with his alpha Shifter stare. “I want you to let me bring you in. To lead the way, to show them that it’s all right. Become their alpha, and let me put a Collar on you first.”