Spotting His Leopard (Shifters, Inc.) (6 page)

                Gwenneth was backed up against the gnarled trunk of a banyan tree, bracing herself.  She’d been stupid to come; she couldn’t shift and defend herself, and Nadette was going to rip her face off, chew it up and swallow it.

                “Nadette, it wasn’t my fault!” she said desperately.

                “It never is, is it? I think I’ll rip your voicebox out first.”

                “Is that what you think? Because I think I’ll finally get to find out what hyena blood tastes like.” Tyler’s voice made Gwenneth start as he burst through the bushes.

                At the same time she heard footsteps thudding down the trail, and Corran came dashing up, out of breath, hair mussed, holding a knife in his hand.  Gwenneth sniffed; she could smell silver.  Well, he’d come prepared, all right.

                “I don’t know which one of you two bitches I should kill first,” he snapped, eyes blazing with rage, and then he spotted Tyler and froze where he stood.

                He glanced at Tyler and then at Gwenneth with a mingled look of fury and betrayal.

                “I’d suggest neither of them, if you want your heart to stay inside your ribcage,” Tyler said, moving protectively in front of Gwenneth.

               Corran looked at Tyler standing there growling and bristling, and then at Gwenneth. “Well, well. This explains so much, Ronny.” There was a world of bitterness behind his words.

                “It doesn’t explain a goddamn thing!” Nadette growled at Corran. “But it figures you’d be here to save your princess.”

                “She’s not my princess.” Corran gripped the handle of his knife tightly, avoiding Gwenneth’s eyes. “Get over yourself. We’ve been betrayed, and I came here to find out who set me up.”

                “What do you mean, who set you up? What happened?” Gwenneth demanded. Her heart was still racing, but she was paying close attention to the dynamics between Corran and Nadette. As far as she could tell, her sister had had a thing with Corran at some point and then dumped him. And Nadette still carried a torch for Corran that had never been extinguished.

                “We don’t know that we were set up. He wimped out and failed to go through with the job, just like you did,” Nadette said, shooting him a look of disgust.

                “No, I paid attention to my instincts, which are never wrong. Except in affairs of the heart,” he added with a bitter glance at Gwenneth. “I felt that something was off at the palace. They were searching all the visiting dignitaries far too thoroughly, to the point where a number of them got offended and stomped off. I heard the visitors shouting that nothing like this had ever happened before.”

              “That doesn’t mean anything,” Nadette grumbled.

              “They also ran everybody through metal detectors, which had never been done before. Fortunately all of my tools are plastic, but the level of security at the palace and the way the guards were looking at everybody…they were expecting something every specific.”

              “He didn’t even try to sabotage the power supply,” Nadette said with disgust. “If he had, I could have attempted to take the Eye myself.”

                “No,  because I could tell that somebody had told them about my specific plans. There was a doorway leading to the basement, where I needed to go to cut off the power supply.  It wasn’t guarded at all – all that security swarming everywhere, but they’d left the hallway, and that doorway, completely unguarded.  Open. It was like an invitation.”

                He looked at Gwenneth and Nadette. “So who knew about my specific plans? You two.”

                “I didn’t do it,” Nadette and Gwenneth said at the same time.

                “I nearly got killed by a police captain yesterday,” Gwenneth said. “I was at my friend’s hotel room, and someone apparently tipped him off that I was there.” She didn’t tell them it had been Tyler, because things were already complicated enough. “The police captain started screaming at me, hitting me in the face, asking me who sent me there…and then he shifted and he would have killed me if Tyler hadn’t burst in and killed him first.”

                “Wait, he killed a cop last night? Why hasn’t it been on the news?” Nadette said, while Corran directed a look of utter loathing at Tyler.

                “You know, what would help would be if we could find out who the client was who hired us,” Gwenneth said.

                Before she could continue, Tyler looked around and sniffed at the air.

                “Tana! I told you to stay out of the park!” he called.  Tana, looking sheepish, stepped through the bushes. 

                Nadette scowled. “I thought I smelled jaguar cub,” she said, looking at Tana with annoyance. “Who’s the brat?”

                Tana glared at Nadette and balled her fists, and Corran shoot her an irritated look. “Really, Nadette, that’s hardly necessary.”

                “Watch how you talk to her,” Gwenneth snapped. “Tana, I’m fine. I want you to go back now. I’ll be back soon.”

                Tana looked as if she were about to argue, but then she let out a sigh and turned and scampered back through the bushes.

                “Anyway. As we were saying. The client may know who wanted to set us up.  Nadette, can you find out from Henri?”

               She shrugged. “I can try.” She cast a glance in the direction that Tana had gone.

              “What does she know about us? Who is she?”

              “She’s Thieves Guild, so she’s not going to say a word, and she doesn’t know anything about what we’re doing here. Since when do Guild members tell each other what jobs they’re working?” Gwenneth said impatiently. “She’s just a street urchin from the Shantytown.”

                “I’ll make some inquiries about what’s going on at the palace,” Corran said. “I’ve got a few royal connections here. Very distant relations. I did notice something odd at the palace. The king didn’t come out himself. They said that he was too ill and he was saving his strength for the parade.  His wives were there.  And only a few of his older children. He’s got eleven children, and usually the whole family comes out to greet everybody. And his wives…odd thing. Wife number two seemed fine, but the number one wife seemed to be under a great deal of stress, and she had more guards hovering over her, as well.”

                “That doesn’t jibe with the report that there was an attempt on his life yesterday, does it?” Tyler mused. “He was too ill to come out, so he must have been surrounded by doctors, nurses, guards…how would anybody have gotten to him? And there was no detail at all about what kind of attempt it was.  Shooting? Bomb? Someone got past all his guards, with all that security swarming through the palace, and tried to stab him?”

                “It’s going to take me a couple of days to get any information,” Nadette said. She glanced at Corran and Tyler. “It would be safer if I met up with Gwenneth alone. The more of us there are, the more attention it will attract.”

                “Bullshit,” Corran growled. “I’m not turning my back on either of you.”

                “Agreed,” Tyler said coolly. “Let’s all meet up here in three days’ time, same time of day.”

                Corran and Nadette both backed away slowly, watching each other and Gwenneth and Tyler, and finally headed off in different directions.

                “Not a lot of trust among your little friends, is there?” Tyler said, quirking an eyebrow.

                She shrugged. “You know what they say. No honor among thieves.”

                “They think you’re Rhonwen. Why didn’t you tell them?”

                “For all you know, I could be Rhonwen,” she said defiantly.

                “Nah. But I’ve decided I’m going to call you Kitty until I find out your real name.”

                They were almost out of the park when he paused.

                “Soldiers,” he muttered. “Looking at us.” And before she knew it, he’d grabbed her and pushed her up against a tree.

                He tangled his fingers in her hair and kissed her hungrily. He tasted of coffee and sweet pastry and desire.  Her lips parted and she wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him tight up against her.

                His rock-hard body pressed against hers, and her thighs parted. He slid between her legs, and she felt the outline of his thick cock pressing against her stomach.  She kissed him back hard, eagerly, devouring him.

                Desire ran through her veins like liquid fire and she felt wetness seeping from her pussy. The kiss went on and on, his hands cradling her face. She moaned with pleasure and thrilled to his answering growl.

                Finally, after many minutes, she pulled back to gasp for breath.

                “Whoa,” he murmured.  She glanced around, dazed.

                “No soldiers,” she murmured.

                “I have a confession.”

                “There never were any soldiers?”

                “Oh, there were. But they left a long time ago.” He flashed her a rueful grin, and after a minute she grinned too, and then they were both laughing.

                “Sorry,” he added, not sounding sorry at all.

                “Thank you for saving me yet again,” Gwenneth said grudgingly.  She was sitting on a wooden box in their tiny hideaway, which was lit only by the flickering light of a kerosene lantern sitting on a barrel.  The air reeked of kerosene and the odors of garbage drifting in through the gaps in the walls.

                Tyler was pacing the plywood floor, uncomfortably close. Then again, for her, being in the same room with him was uncomfortably close. Every time he came near, she became shockingly aware of her own body. The beating of her heart.  The sudden sensitivity of her skin.  The wetness and aching need pulsing between her legs.

                “Oh, it was my pleasure. Really. It was loads of fun.” He swung around to scowl at her, and his tone was exasperated. “You know what would be even more fun? If you told me what the hell was really going on and let me help you.”

                “That’s your idea of fun?” She raised an eyebrow at him, flashing him an innocent look. “That’s not exactly my idea of fun. You know what’s fun? Roller coaster rides, especially the really scary ones where you go upside down and drop straight down. Do you like roller coasters?”

                He made a scoffing sound. “I like how swiftly and skilfully you changed the subject, causing me to forget what I was asking you.  Oh wait, you completely failed.”

                Tyler sat down on the box next to her and his knee brushed against hers.  A delicious sensation of heat washed over her, and she shivered.

                “Hey,” she protested weakly. “Personal space. You’re violating it.”

                “So move.” He smiled at her with a hint of roguishness.

                “No! I was here first.” And she didn’t want to move.  She wanted to stay close to him. In fact, she wanted to be even closer. It took all her willpower not to slide up against him, press up against his body…

                “Okay. So stay.” He shrugged as if it didn’t matter either way. She wanted it to matter.  “I think it would help if I knew your real name.”

                “Kathy works just fine.”

                He let out a sigh that indicated she was trying his patience. “Can you give me just a little help here? I saved you from the cop. I stopped your friends from killing you. I’ve got the entire Khaliji police force looking for me because I stuck my neck out for you, and I don’t know the first thing about you…except that you’ve got the face of a thief and a cold-blooded killer, but you’re not her.” He peered at her closely. “And I just saw you twitch when I said the words ‘cold-blooded killer’. So I’m guessing you don’t think Rhonwen committed those murders.”

                She looked away.

                “Her hairs were found clutched in the hand of one of her victims and on the body of one of her other victims. Pretty strong evidence,” he said.

                She glanced back at him, startled. Could that be true?

                “Okay,” she said carefully. “The person you are talking about is supposedly a master thief. Leaving behind evidence like that – does that sort of carelessness jibe with the kind of criminal mastermind you’re talking about?”

                He gave a slight inclination of his head. “Fair enough. It doesn’t.  But this past year, Rhonwen has been getting sloppier and sloppier with each job she’s done, and then she committed the murders. For instance, she set off an alarm at one job and barely escaped.  She snagged a piece of her clothing and left behind a patch of cloth at another job.  So it was a slow progression.  Something happened to her. Something changed.  Maybe she got addicted to drugs, maybe she got tired of the game, maybe she just got over-confident…”

                He was still watching her. “And I’m guessing you haven’t been in touch with her all this time, so you didn’t know about any of this and you don’t know for sure whether or not she killed those people.”   

                She pressed her lips together and didn’t answer.

                “Okay, then tell me about yourself. Anything. Here, I’ll start. I’ll share my deepest, darkest secret. If you ever tell my friends this, they’ll torture me with it forever. Are you ready?” His grin was so infectious, so roguish, that she couldn’t help but return it.

                In the back of her mind, she thought,
He thinks I’m going to meet his friends?

                “Go on.” She met his gaze with an amused smile. “Am I going to lose all respect for you?”

                “We’re about to find out exactly how open-minded you are.” He looked around the room and said in a lowered voice, “I was a huge New Kids on the Block fan when I was growing up, and I had an autographed poster of them on my wall.”

                “Shut the hell up! You did not!” She choked on her own laughter, and he said, in a mock-wounded tone, “I knew I shouldn’t have told you that.”

                “No, probably not. Oh, dear lord. I’m sorry, I can’t top that. Let’s see, the first time I ever rode a roller coaster, I’d eaten so many hot dogs right before that I barfed over the side and it splattered on the people underneath us and I was mortified. I almost never rode a roller coaster again, but my sister begged and begged, so I tried it one more time, on a crazy-scary ride called the Neckbreaker, and I was hooked.”

                And as soon as she said, that, she could have bitten her own tongue off. She’d just acknowledged that she had a sister and identified an actual place they’d both visited.  Of course they’d both used fake names, even back then, but still…

                If he’d noticed, he didn’t say anything about it.

                “So our first date should be a roller coaster ride, but I definitely, positively, will not buy you dinner until afterwards.” His lips tugged upwards in a smile. “Also, this is giving me some ideas for new nicknames for you, Miss Barfy the Vampire Slayer.”

                “Did I agree to a date with you? I did not. Especially not if you call me Barfy.”

                “No promises. Anyway. In all seriousness. I am asking you not to sneak off again, my mysterious cat woman. I might not get there in time to save your neck next time.”

                “And why exactly does that matter to you?”

                He frowned. “It just does.”

                “That’s not an answer.” She wanted him to say that she mattered to him. That he cared about her, that he didn’t want her to get hurt.

                “Well, aside from the fact that I was raised to be a decent person and I would never stand by while a woman’s in danger and not try to help…”

                She bit her lip and looked away.  He didn’t care about her specifically. He was just being a typical Boy Scout kinda guy.

                He reached out and trailed his fingers along her cheek and brushed a lock of hair from her face, and she stifled a gasp.

                “Aside from that, there’s…come on. You must have felt it too,” he said.  Her breath quickened, and she could feel her cheeks heating. 

                She struggled for words. She was tired of fighting this. There was no telling what tomorrow might bring, but here, now…why couldn’t they be together? After all, there might not even be a tomorrow.

                “Felt what?” she said. “You mean…this?”

                Boldly, she turned to face him, grabbed his hand and pressed it against her chest, right over her pounding heart.  She held her hand over his and looked up at him expectantly, waiting for him to make the next move. To claim her, to take her.

                He moved even closer, reached out for her, placed his hands on her shoulders, and  – hurled her across the tiny room.  She barely had time to gasp for breath before he landed on top of her, then a huge explosion rocked the room. Right before the explosion, she thought she heard the sound of Tana’s bird song.

                Her ears rang and she blinked hard. The room was spinning.  She felt Tyler move off her, then she heard clanging sounds as he kicked the tins sheet walls off them. 

                He grabbed her by the arm and they stumbled out into the hot, humid night. 

                She heard the bird call sound again, louder, insistent.

                Even though the room was spinning, she cupped her hands around her mouth and called back, letting out a trilling series of notes to let Tana know she’d heard her. A little late, but she’d heard her.

                Tyler hauled her along down narrow alleyways between the shanties.  Tana shot out from between two buildings and grabbed at her arm.  “Go,” she hissed. “Farruki has betrayed you.  We will distract the police. We are all moving to the Fallback. That’s where we’ll be waiting.”

                Before Gwenneth could say anything else, Tana ducked into a giant heap of broken plywood, and Tyler dragged her away from there, away from the too-close sound of angry men shouting.

                “Wait, wait, wait,” she begged, but he kept dragging her without stopping.   She wasn’t Rhonwen; she didn’t know where the Fallback was.  She needed to go after Tana and get directions.   Tyler kept dragging her behind him, ignoring her protests.  Her arm ached, and she tried to pull away from him, and then she had to be silent because the police were getting too close.  Her ears still rang from the explosion, and she gasped for breath and struggled not to fall as waves of dizziness washed over her.

                Tyler came to an abrupt stop, and she saw that he was carrying his knapsack and her purse.  He reached into his knapsack, knelt down, and unlocked the copper anklet.

                “We need to heal and we need to be able to move faster,” he said. She realized that blood was running from his nose and from cuts on his forehead. In her dazed state, she hadn’t noticed before.

                “Do not run off and leave me,” he added sternly.

                Then he shifted, his whole body rippling and melting into wolf form, and she shifted too, sinking down on to all fours. 

She briefly considered ignoring his orders and fleeing, but he seized both her knapsack and her purse in his mouth, and turned and ran.  She ran after him, loping in the dark, her night vision blazing.

                She could have left him then. She could have climbed the mountains of debris and vanished into the night and run away to freedom. But she didn’t want to be free, she realized.  Not free of him, anyway.

                Tyler kept running and running, and she followed him, wishing she was in human form so she  could speak.  Where the hell was he taking her? He led her out of the shanty town and towards the jungle.

                She followed him, growling in protest, but he ignored her.

                He led her to a ramshackle patchwork of wooden pallets and corrugated tin, and stopped in front, shifting into human form and dropping the purse and knapsack to the ground.  She shifted back into human form too, and they stood there, naked and sweating.

                “Damn it, I don’t know where the Fallback is,” she cried between gulps of breath. “I don’t know how to find the kids again.”

                “We can’t go near them anyway right now. We’re poison,” Tyler said. While he was in wolf form he’d healed. His nose had stopped bleeding and his cuts had vanished. “We’d just bring the soldiers down on their heads.”

                He was right, she realized unhappily. As long the police force was after her, she couldn’t help them.

                “Stay out here for just one minute,” he said. He grabbed her purse and his knapsack and knocked on the door. He didn’t trust her enough to leave her purse with her, she mused; well, that wasn’t surprising.

                The door swung open, and Maji stuck his head out.  He gave her a quick wave, and she waved back.  Tyler quickly slipped inside, shutting the door behind him.  She shifted back to leopard form and hurried over to the door, pressing her head against it. In leopard form her hearing was enhanced; she could hear Tyler saying something to Maji. It sounded something like, “So the sister was here on the island a year ago, with an Englishman. I’m pretty sure I know who that is. What else have you been able to find out?”

                She cursed silently to herself.
Bastard.
So all that time he’d been acting like he wanted to get to know her better, he’d really been trying to get to
her sister
.  Was there some kind of reward for catching Rhonwen? Probably. Or maybe it was just Brownie points for him, Mr. Law and Order. Hurt stabbed at her deeply. Why had she been stupid enough to think that he wanted to help her?

                “Nothing else, I am afraid. The woman came here to the shantytown and spent time with Tana and her friends off and on for many weeks, apparently.  Her English friend did not come here, so I am told. I was not living here then, so I don’t know what she did while she was here.”

                She felt fury blazing inside her, both at him and at herself and her naiveté.

                She backed slowly away from the door, desperately trying to think what she should do next. Should she run off without her purse and try to scrounge up some clothes and money somewhere on her own?