Bite This! (10 page)

“What are you going to do now?” Kate asked her.

“You and Gloria will help Chance? Crews are scouring the mountains for Derek, right?” Darcy asked.

“Yes, and yes of course,” Kate replied. “We’ve got your brothers, honey. Luke is your priority now.”

Darcy turned to her mother, startled.

“You think I don’t see it?” Kate asked. “I know you down to your bones, baby. That boy means the world to you. It was no accident you found him. I only hope the answers you get for him will bring you peace, even if it means putting him back in another family’s arms.”

Darcy hugged her mother fiercely.

She needed to make a choice. Go back to the woods, and seal her bond with her wolf, or risk losing it by staying in the city and helping Luke.

Darcy let go of her mother and looked into her eyes, searching for an answer, but this decision was hers alone.

She grabbed her leather jacket off of the back of the dining room chair where she’d left it, and headed for the door.

“Where are you off to?” Kate asked.

“I’m going to start by having a little talk with my boss,” Darcy told her.

D
arcy blew
through the front doors of the casino. She wondered how fast they would recognize her without a chignon and a gown. Frankly, it felt good to come in here in her jeans - hair down, motorcycle boots on.

Mason was on duty in the main hall. He did a double take, then tried to wave her down.

She didn’t break her stride.

The metal doors to the stairs swung open with a satisfying bang.

She sprinted up the stairs two at a time, trying not to remember her last trip down these stairs with Finn. It had been days ago, but it felt like a lifetime. The time when the only side of Finn she’d known was the frivolous tip of a worthwhile iceberg.

She knocked open the door at the top of the stairs.

The cameras would have picked her up by this point. Panchenko would know she was coming.

Darcy didn’t care.

A wall of a man in a suit tailored almost well enough to hide his gun stood in front of the door. He certainly hadn’t been here on her last visit. The boss must have been feeling the need for some extra security. The man watched her approach, impassive as the stone lions flanking the doors.

“Sorry, Mr. Panchenko’s in an important meeting,” the giant said, the movement of his mouth bringing her attention to the hideous constellation of dots scarred above and below his lips.

Darcy didn’t even slow down.

The big guy’s eyebrows went up in surprise, but he didn’t move out of her way.

Too bad for him, she wasn’t taking no for an answer today.

She slammed into him with everything she had, and together they crashed through the door to Panchenko’s office.

Darcy rolled off the big man easily and marched up to the boss’s desk, then stopped short.

His big meeting wasn’t exactly what she had expected.

Sitting on the far side of his desk with him were two very young girls.

Normally she’d expect that kind of behavior from someone like him. But this was different.

And the girls looked like regular teenagers - neither had the kind of abused-woman-child expression you’d expect to see in this kind of fucked-up situation.

One was kind of Goth-looking, black hair in a pixie cut. The other had long red waves of hair and an expression of admiration.

“Darcy. How nice of you to stop by,” Panchenko said lightly.

The wall of muscle lumbered up, reaching inside his coat.

Panchenko gave him an almost imperceptible shake of his head.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Panchenko. I told her you were in a meeting. I didn’t expect her to, well…” the giant trailed off.

“It’s okay. I was expecting this visit. Call someone from maintenance to look at the door. Then call whoever installed the door and get them in here with a better one,” her boss, more accurately, her ex-boss, said wearily.

The mountain nodded and backed out of the room, closing the doors behind him.

“Please, have a seat, Darcy,” Panchenko offered with a smile.

“I’m not really in the mood to sit,” she spat.

“Dad?” Goth girl asked.

His daughter.

It made sense. The resemblance was there, now that she thought about it.

“Sorry, Ionna. We need to talk business,” he told her.

“Is this about those kids?” the girl demanded.

So she knew.

Panchenko’s face went dark.

“I told you, that’s none of your concern.”

The redhead leaned forward.

“Mr. P. We saw stuff like this in Glacier city. We might be able to help,” she said politely.

“This kind of thing is exactly why I left Glacier City,” Panchenko said.

“Dad,” Ionna said firmly.

It was clear that Panchenko was no match for his daughter.

“Fine,” he said with a sigh. “Follow me.”

His daughter waited for her friend to rise, which she did with a strange hissing sound. When they came out from behind the desk, Darcy could see that the girl’s legs were encased in some sort of metal braces that made a pneumatic sound as she walked.

“Everyone but Dad calls me Pan,” said Ionna, “this is my friend Jess, otherwise known as the Terminator.”

“Um, hi, I’m Darcy,” she ventured. She’d been more comfortable when the meeting was a little less friendly.

“Nice to meet you,” Jess said, then leaned in conspiratorially. “And sweet move on the door.”

“Thanks,” Darcy said.

“Be careful,” Pan warned, “she’ll try to recruit you to join her super-friends.”

Darcy didn’t know how to respond.

“I love your boots,” Jess said.

“Thanks,” Darcy said. “I love your…”

She glanced down, remembering the metal contraptions on the kid’s legs. Shit.

“Carbon fiber pneumatic actuated exoskeleton?” Jess offered. “Thanks. I got in a little deep at one of the poker tables downstairs. When I didn’t have the cash, the casino goons paid me a visit. Now I need these.”

She gestured down at her legs and shook her head sadly.

Dear god.

Everyone in the room froze in silence.

After a painfully uncomfortable few seconds, Panchenko’s daughter doubled over, snorting with laughter.

“Holy shit, Jess,” said the other girl, straightening up and wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. “I think she actually believed you. Priceless.”

Darcy couldn’t help but smile. Her foster siblings at Harkness Farms would love Jess.

“It’s okay,” Jess said with a smile of her own. “I was paralyzed in a car accident. My friend made these for me. They help me walk. It’s okay to check them out. They’re awesome.”

She did a little dance on the marble floor.

“Ladies?” said Panchenko from the doorway. “Are we going or not?”

O
ne harrowing elevator ride later
, Panchenko led them into a storage and shipping area in the basement level. The ceiling was about two stories high. The space was poorly lit and filled with wooden crates and forklifts.

“I was connected with Ms. Sharp through a business contact. She needed to ship some things. I was acting as a holding area until her cargo found a home,” Panchenko explained as they walked.

He opened a door at the very back corner of the enormous area and flicked a switch.

Fluorescent lights strobed on giving the white walls an unhealthy purplish glow.

It was completely empty.

Darcy was overwhelmed with the chemical smell of disinfectants, recently used.

But she could also smell the horrible things the disinfectants were meant to mask.

“If I’d had any idea what she was doing, I never would have let her into my establishment. But she’s gone, without a trace,” Panchenko said stiffly, as if it cost him greatly to admit he’d made a mistake.

“Gone where?” Darcy asked.

“My men are looking into that. I want to have words with her,” he said, a slightly ghoulish smile lifting the corners of his mouth slightly. “I’ve already had a forensics team in to sweep the place. I’d be more than happy to share the findings. I don’t like being made to look like a fool.”

Though she could question many things about Panchenko and the way he ran his business, Darcy believed him as far as Sharp was concerned. Besides, she could easily read his heartbeat and smell his sweat. He was telling the truth.

“I’ll put some of my people on it, too,” she said lightly.

“Good idea,” he replied. “See what they can sniff out.”

Sniff
out.

Was he messing with her? Did he know?

She studied his face, but his expression told her nothing.

“I look forward to your return to work,” he smiled.

That was about the last thing she’d expected.

“Thanks,” she said simply.

“And next time you feel like you need my attention, please, just give me a call.”

As if on cue, Darcy’s phone sounded the ping of an incoming text.

F
inn Butler
:

I need to see you. Now.

D
arcy jogged
down the plush carpet of the casino to the theatre. She rubbed her index finger against her phone case, wondering if there would be another message.

Something wasn’t right.

Finn had told her to meet him here at the theatre, and nothing more.

She opened the door gently but the sound reverberated through the huge empty space. Black leather stadium seats led down to the stage below. All of them sat empty.

On the stage, there was equipment that was in the middle of being set up - or maybe it was being broken down, it was hard to tell which. There were lights on the stage floor. Prop tables had been pulled out of the wings and were strewn with silks and assistant costumes.

Her stomach twisted as she realized that Finn had likely lost his job over helping her and Luke.

She finally reached the bottom, and spotted him, nearly at the back of the stage, standing in the shadows next to the Aztec Tomb. The enormous prop had been in his dressing room the last time she saw it and it had struck her as odd. It looked so old, so… authentic for a phony magic prop. She thought she remembered him saying he didn’t use it in his act.

Alarm bells started to go off in her mind.

Something wasn’t right.

She hopped onto the stage and the look on his face confirmed it.

“Finn?” she asked, hoping she was wrong.

He didn’t reply. But his hazel eyes observed her mournfully, as if his heart were breaking.

And then she heard the footsteps. There was someone in the wings. Darcy had been so focused on Finn she hadn’t allowed her wolf senses to come out.

Or maybe they were already fading to nothing. Maybe she was losing her wolf to the 300th moon.

She turned to the resounding thud of heavy boots on the stage floor, knowing already who it was. The blond hair and the eyepatch confirmed it.

Draven.

The big man’s face twisted in an evil smirk.

Her heart sank as she realized the truth. Finn must have sold her out.

She glared at Finn.

“I have five sisters, Darcy. What am I supposed to do?” Finn said, lifting his hands slightly as if to indicate he’d meant her no harm.

Fire surged in her chest at the idea that these monsters had threatened his family.

But hadn’t Finn told her he had
four
sisters?

“It’s not like I can just make this problem disappear,” Finn continued.

What?

Draven peeled off his suede jacket and threw it over a prop table.

Finn took advantage of the moment Draven wasn’t looking and winked magnificently at Darcy.

He wasn’t selling her out after all.

Her heart soared for an instant, before she realized the truth.

It was worse than that. He clearly had some crazy plan that would probably get them both killed.

Darcy felt a fleeting gratitude that Luke was safe with Kate.

Draven stretched his arms and cracked his knuckles as he slowly approached her. The tape was gone from his fingers. He must be feeling better. She wouldn’t be so kind next time she got ahold of him.

Darcy stood her ground, waiting for him to attack.

Instead, he stopped about twenty feet away from her.

A growl unleashed itself from deep in her chest.

“Nice to see you again, too,” Draven teased, one eyebrow raised.

“Go fuck yourself,” she told him.

“That’s not very ladylike. Where’s the kid?” he asked.

“Somewhere you’ll never find him,” she said.

“Somewhere like Harkness Farms?” he asked. A smug grin stretched his hideous face. His good eye sparkled with a sinister mischief.

Darcy took a step toward him, the growl building in her chest again.

In a fluid motion, Draven slid a gun out of his belt.

“I know what you’re thinking. But after our little run in the other night, I made sure to load up with silver. Your shifter healing won’t help you,” he chuckled.

“You said no one would get hurt,” Finn protested.

“Shifters aren’t people,” Draven said to Finn, never breaking eye contact with Darcy. “They’re just filthy animals that forgot their place. And when an animal bites, it gets put down.”

Darcy fought the anger that threatened to overwhelm her. There was no way she could cover the distance between them before he got at least one shot off.

No, he was very smart to stay back,

But maybe she could goad him into coming a little bit closer.

“That’s pretty funny coming from someone on a leash like Sharp has you on. Does she make you sleep on the floor, or does she let you in bed at night?” she teased.

She could hear his heartbeat increase. But he stood his ground and didn’t take the bait.

Shit.

“We gave you a chance. You could have just handed over the kid and walked away. But your kind is too stupid to know what’s good for you,” he told her with a sour smile.

“There’s nothing stupid about protecting family,” Darcy replied.

“The kid doesn’t have any family. He’s no kin to you.”

“Blood doesn’t make family. Luke is my family now, my pack. I won’t let you hurt him,” she said in a clear voice.

“You’re getting taken out of the game, little girl. You won’t be around to stop me from doing whatever I want to him. Or the rest of your little family of freaks.”

Draven laughed as he thumbed back the hammer of the revolver.

Darcy tensed her legs to leap. In joy, she felt her wolf pressing hard at the doors of her consciousness, ready to burst free. Not gone after all.

“Darcy,” Finn called.

The world went into slow motion.

Darcy watched the hammer fall.

She caught a glimpse of the flash of the muzzle.

Right before Finn threw himself between her and the gun.