Shadow Read online

  Beauty frowned. “His name is accurate?”

  “He’s your ‘Shadow’.” Destiny suddenly chuckled. “That was a good one, wasn’t it? He’s right next to you.”

  She smiled. “Thank you for caring for me.”

  Shadow growled again, drawing her gaze.

  “What?” She didn’t know why he looked angry.

  “It’s his job to treat you. I am taking care of you.”

  “Okay.” She began to wonder if Shadow was more hurt than he’d let on. He was unusually irritable and perhaps a bit irrational to make such a slight distinction. “Will you allow Destiny to look at your cuts? I’d feel better. You don’t want me to worry about you, do you? I will.”

  “I’m fine.” His stubborn streak reared its head. “None of my injuries require his assistance.”

  “He is fine,” Destiny agreed. “I’ve been eyeing his wounds and the way he’s moving. He’s got some bruising but the cuts aren’t bad. Just disinfect them the first chance you get and slap some bandages on the worst ones. We fight infection easily but why take the chance?” He turned, opened a cupboard and removed a small box. “Here. It’s a mini med kit. It’s got everything you’ll need.”

  “Thank you.”

  The door opened behind them and a human walked in. She remembered him from when she was rescued. Beauty tensed until Shadow stepped between them. His body completely shielded her from the sight of the other man.

  “I wanted you to know both suspects are being detained and Al is all over their bank accounts, phone records, and tracking their movements over the past twenty-four hours. We’ll figure out which one it is.”

  “Thank you, Tim.” Shadow softly growled. “I still want his head.”

  “I have a feeling there isn’t going to be much of this ass left by the time he’s taken apart by our team. He broke the code. Never screw over your brothers. We’re sending one of the helicopters back to Homeland. Justice called and wants you to escort the Gift back. She’s too exposed here and I have to agree. She needs tighter security.”

  “Understood.”

  “Blades up in twenty. I’ll have a few of the guys cover you there.”

  “I’ll have officers drive us.”

  The man hesitated. “Just because we had one bad apple doesn’t screw the entire pie, Shadow. I don’t want this to sour you on the task force.”

  “I trust the team but I know the officers wish to speak to me. It will give them the opportunity.”

  “Sure.”

  Shadow shook the man’s hand and Tim left. He grimly regarded her. “Let’s go. I have to give a debriefing before we meet that helicopter.”

  “So we are going back to Homeland.” She didn’t really need to say the words but it was better than what she really wanted to blurt out. What was that going to do to their budding relationship?

  “We are. You’re safer there. There’s too much open land here for them to breach and miles of walls that they obviously were able to sneak across.”

  A knock sounded at the door and it opened, admitting Jaded, the council member. He glanced at Beauty and jerked his thumb at Destiny to leave before addressing Shadow. “You look good after what you suffered.”

  Jaded kept by the door while he spoke, far from her. She did notice that Shadow didn’t step between them. He must trust him.

  “Thank you.”

  Bright-green, catlike eyes narrowed. “Great job. Breeze will be fine. The female is too stubborn to be harmed enough to keep her down for more than a few hours while she undergoes the cleaning of the wound and stitches. She’s already made one of the Drs. Harris threaten to quit.” He chuckled. “It was the younger one. He’ll learn to be as grouchy as his father when dealing with us. Self-defense.”

  “I’m glad to hear she will be well.”

  Beauty was too. She kept silent though, not comfortable with someone she didn’t know.

  “Justice wants a full report when you land at Homeland. You’re to take Beauty home. The task force is giving you a lift in about twenty minutes. They have both their helicopters here.”

  “Tim just told me.”

  Jaded hesitated, glanced at Beauty and cleared his throat. “Perhaps we should speak in the hall.”

  Shadow didn’t budge. “What is it? Do you no longer trust the team? I know those males. It would be rare for one to betray the others. My faith isn’t shaken.”

  “That’s not it.” Jaded lifted a hand and ran tan fingers through his short black hair. “We have a problem. Moon was hit by a sniper with a tranquilizer dart.”

  “Torrent informed me. I was with him when he got the call.”

  “We believed it was just a distraction to draw our officers toward the front gates so they could gain access to the Wild Zone. But he woke feral. It wasn’t a sleeping drug he was exposed to. I’m certain they shot him for that purpose but the result is much worse.”

  Beauty didn’t like the uncomfortable silence that suddenly blanketed the room. “What does that mean?”

  Jaded actually looked at her for more than a few seconds before glancing at Shadow. “Are you sure you don’t want to take this away from her? It might be upsetting.”

  “I’m not leaving her alone.” Shadow crossed his arms over his chest. “She’s stronger than you know. She was almost killed yet she’s calm.”

  “Understood.” Jaded stepped closer, lowering his voice. “Moon is completely feral. He doesn’t know us, won’t or can’t speak and is exhibiting violent behavior to the extreme. The older Dr. Harris ran blood tests after six of our males had to restrain Moon when he attempted to kill them. It will take time to get official results but some of our males sniffed the dart to compare against known drugs. Our senses are faster than running them through machines to identify. The drug is unknown to any of us.” His gaze drifted to Beauty, then back. “There’s a connection between Douglas Miller and Mercile. They may be working together on this. Who else could come up with a drug that could do something that would send one of ours into a murderous rage? Mercile is the only one who could pull this off with their knowledge of our biology. Moon is one of our most easygoing males. I know him well but that’s a stranger I faced inside his room. Complete and total personality reversal.”

  Shadow’s fists clenched at his side. “That would mean this was planned far in advance. They must have been working on a drug that would harm us.”

  “Or they already possessed it but none of our surviving people ever experienced it.”

  “There is a Mercile doctor involved in this.”

  “That’s what we’re assuming at this point. Douglas Miller may have been waiting for an opportunity. He has the money to support the employees still running from us. I pulled the file on Miller and while we were able to have his accounts frozen in this country, he had vast holdings outside the reach of the US justice department. The bastard even had a human working for him inside the task force headquarters to monitor all movement. Some humans are vindictive. He may have set this into motion as soon as he realized we’d taken back what he held. He finally saw his chance to retrieve…what he wants.”

  “Who is Douglas Miller?” Beauty was trying to follow their conversation. “What does he want? Is he one of the owners of Mercile?”

  Shadow turned and stepped closer, peering into her eyes. His hand was warm when he gently cupped her cheek on the side that wasn’t bruised. “Douglas Miller is the human who imprisoned you.”

  Master. It was an emotional slap but she kept her chin up, resisting curling into a ball to protect herself from the pain washing through her system. Not once had she asked to learn more about the human who’d reared and kept her. Getting beyond what had been done to her seemed more important than focusing on the details of who and why.

  The conversation between Shadow and the council member suddenly made horrifying sense. She was glad to be sitting down. Shadow softly growled, his thumb stroking her skin in comfort.

  “This isn’t your fault.”