Lie Down with Dogs (17 page)

“Hey.” I narrowed my eyes. “You’re the one who made googly eyes at an underage cadet.”

The dimple in his cheek winked at me. “What you’re saying is my moral decline isn’t sudden. It was gradual and brought about by continual exposure...to
you
.” He stood and looped a towel around his neck and approached me. “Incubi don’t have strict age rules about feeding. Food is food. My brother never agreed with that stance. I don’t either. I never lost sleep over a missed opportunity until you.”

Seeing as how my sitting position put my eyes at crotch level with him, I clambered to my feet.

“The first time I saw you, you were terrified. Magic dripping from your fingertips. Your soul glowing with the lives you had taken. You were a scared kid who had made a terrible mistake. At thirteen, you should have been too young for me to notice. But I did. The incubus saw easy prey where I saw a child.” He clenched the towel in his hands. “If I had been a good man, I would have transferred to a different outpost first thing the next morning.”

Shaw was responsible for so much of my education, my self-worth, my restraint. No other creature could have understood the hunger coiled in my gut the way he did. Only someone as willing to fight their own nature as he was could have taught me where the line between black and white turned gray.

Unsure what else to say that wouldn’t crack open my heart, I said nothing at all.

T
wo hours later, Daddy Hayashi stepped out of a rented town car wearing a tailored suit that matched his sleek, black ride. As if familiar with the hotel’s layout, he took the stairs with a bounce in his step and walked straight to the room I shared with Mai. Two beefy guys kept a few steps behind him, their shoulders so wide they collided trying to take the stairs at the same time. The taller guy fell back and let the shorter one close the gap on Hayashi.

“Is that Mr. Hayashi?” Shaw’s voice drifted over my shoulder.

I was hiding out in his room since Mai felt it was best to keep her father and me separated. At the moment, I was kneeling on top of the boxy air-conditioning unit in front of the window, being careful to keep the curtains shut except for a slit.

“Yep.” I widened the gap. “Snazzy dresser, isn’t he?”

“He looks like a mob boss.”

Heat from Shaw’s body warmed my back where he leaned close. He had showered and dressed, but the scent of his damp skin filled the room and distracted me from my snooping.

“Mai says he watched
The Godfather
one too many times.” I glanced at Shaw over my shoulder and then back at the window. “Her dad is the reynard of one of the larger skulks in west Texas, maybe even the whole state. His kitsunes breed like bunnies.”

The Hayashis had money, but most of it was tied up in keeping so many tiny furry mouths fed.

“There are better ways to amass power that include changing fewer diapers.”

“Maybe, but they take too long.” I laughed under my breath. “He has gorgeous daughters, and I bet each of his ten eldest married into ruling families. His last kit who got hitched is the reason Mai and I ended up in Daytona. She married the reynard of a large central Florida skulk, who owns a condo.”

“Hmm.” He withdrew, taking his citrusy scent with him. “What about their tests?”

“All I can figure is the Hayashi girls fudged their answers.” I tugged on the coarse fabric of the curtains. “Otherwise, the odds of them all landing rich, influential
and
fated mates are pretty slim.” No family was that blessed. “Mr. Hayashi hasn’t pressured Mai—yet—but she’s his baby. He spoils her rotten. Makes her sisters crazy jealous.”

“I bet.” He lowered his voice. “No one wants to be forced into marriage. Mai’s lucky she’s avoided that fate.”

“So far,” I said.

“So far,” he agreed.

Afraid he might be wearing a tender expression to match his voice, I kept my back to him and avoided peeking at the sliver of his reflection in the glass.

Fifteen minutes later, Daddy Hayashi escorted Mai down the stairs to his waiting car. The taller guard slid behind the wheel. The other turned toward Mai’s coup with a grimace. It would be a long ride for a big guy like that. His legs would have to fold like origami to squeeze into the driver’s seat.

I jerked the curtains shut and spun around on the AC unit to hop off the edge. “And they’re off.”

“We should be leaving soon too.” He checked his cell. “We can’t wait much longer for Diode.”

“Give him a few more minutes.” I stretched out my back. “He’s been acting strange lately.”

“You’ve only known him a few weeks,” Shaw pointed out. “This might be normal for him.”

“I know that. It’s just...” I bit my thumbnail. “I feel connected to him somehow.”

“He was your father’s pet.” He shrugged. “It’s natural for you to want that connection.”

“He wasn’t Mac’s pet.” Diode would shred Shaw to ribbons for insinuating otherwise. “They were
associates
.”

He shot me an indulgent look. “That sounds like something a cat would say about his master.”

I laughed out loud because he was right, and because cat jokes never got old.

A burst of music from my pocket had me reaching for my phone. I checked the ID and rejected.

“Who was that?” Shaw asked oh so casually.

“A wrong number.”

“Don’t lie to me. You didn’t hesitate. You recognized the number.”

“Fine.” I warned him, “You aren’t going to like it.”

Explaining the odd calls made his face turn so red I expected smoke to come pouring out of his nostrils.

Oops.
Guess I had forgotten to mention those during my purge earlier.

After drawing a calming breath, he began pacing. “You have no idea who’s calling you?”

I bumped my cell against my lips. “None.”

His steps slowed. “This guy knew you were in Florida how?”

“No clue. Mable wouldn’t have told him or anyone else. If he showed up in person, someone might have told him I was on vacation or out of the office.” I doubted any of my coworkers would use the
S
word with a civilian. Gossip about a suspension could discredit a marshal in the eyes of the public. “How this guy connected
vacation
to
Florida
, I have no idea.”

“Did he mention Daytona?” He paused for my answer.

I thought about it. “No. He sounded confident he could find me, but he never got specific.”

Shaw rubbed his jaw. “Is it possible some crackpot with an ounce of psy magic got your number?”

“Anything is possible.” The calls didn’t feel random, though. “I do pass out my number sometimes.”

Shaw pulled up short, and a white sheen frosted his eyes. “Why?”

“Informants. Victims. Coworkers.” I smothered a grin. “Hot guys who dig chicks with badges.”

He growled in response.

Still fighting a smile, I waggled my cell at him. “How do you want to handle my gentleman caller?”

“You will stay in my sight.” He jabbed the air in my direction. “If your mystery caller does have a way of locating you, I want to be there when he shows up. Otherwise, we focus on Linen.”

The slow shake of his head when he said
Linen
this time made me blush. My habit of nicknaming people amused him. These days, he just went with it. To me,
Linen
rolled off the tongue smoother than
the guy who probably drugged Mai
or
freaky hotel guy
.

“There’s one more thing I should mention.” I scrunched up my face. “I’m pretty much broke.”

“Still paying your mother’s bills?”

The way he said it, calm and without inflection, I could have ignored him. He would have returned the favor if I had, but he knew me, and he knew I wouldn’t let a comment like that slide. Not about Mom.

“That’s low, Shaw.”

“What will she do if you go to Faerie? Are you going to warn her that the gravy train is ending? Or will she keep her seat until it smashes headfirst into a wall? Will you even tell her where you’re going?” With visible effort, he reined in his tirade. “All I’m saying is, you see her as a victim—as
your
victim. You think she sacrificed everything for you, and maybe she did, once, but you’re missing the big picture here. She’s your mom. You love her—”

“You think?”

His voice softened. “She was scared, of you, of me, of all the things she didn’t understand. She did good by you. She brought you to folks who could help. But she never bounced back. She never tried to. She lives in a bubble where she feels safe again, and you’re so damn scared of bursting it you’re tightrope walking over a bed of needles to support her.”

“She’s my mom.”

“And you’re her daughter.”

“It’s my fault—”

“No.” He cut me short. “She had a relationship with your father. You’re the product of that. The result can’t be the fault of the actions preceding it. It’s a calculated outcome, one she was well aware of when she chose to be with your father. You don’t owe her anything. She’s an adult. She made her own choices. You’ve paid her back a hundred times over. She needs to know the truth. All of it.”

My lips pressed together until they startled tingling.

“Say it.” He studied me. “Before your head explodes.”

“She didn’t know who Mac was—what he was.” My chest ached. “Their whole relationship was a lie because if she had known the truth, Mom never would have been with him. She would have...”

I couldn’t say it. It hurt too much to bend my lips around those words.

She would have stamped out the spark of my life before it ignited.

Shaw’s expression gentled. “How is it your fault he lied to her?”

“It’s not,” I snapped.

“Exactly.” He dropped a kiss on the top of my head. “Talk to your mother.”

He gathered our things and headed for his truck, tugging the door shut behind him.

Anger clamped me in a chokehold. Even if I had had a comeback ready, and I didn’t, I couldn’t loosen my fury to spit it out. After a full minute, I gasped for air and shouted,
“Armchair psychologist.”

––––––––

I
found Diode lounging on the shady limb of a bitternut hickory tree with branches overhanging the back half of the parking lot. His furry butt was exposed where anyone looking could see him. I walked under him and yanked on the end of his long tail.

Yowling ensued as Diode tested that whole cats-always-land-on-their-feet thing.

He did, by the way. Land on his feet, I mean.

Morale on the drive back to Daytona hit rock bottom. Forced to cram his long, lean body into the tight space behind our seats, Diode overflowed the extended cab compartment of Shaw’s truck. I let him get away with draping his right front paw and tail over the back of my seat because I figured Orlando had seen stranger and dealt with it just fine. From a distance, Diode could pass for a lifelike movie prop or a plush toy won at a carnie booth in any one of the theme parks. Not that I told him so.

Shaw coasted to a stop at an intersection packed with bikini-clad women carrying yoga mats rolled up under their arms. “Is that the right hotel?”

“Yep.” I hauled my messenger bag onto my lap and groped around the bottom. “That’s it.”

He leaned forward to appreciate its height. “How tight is security?”

“Think muumuu.” Loose was putting it nicely. “It’s a busy hotel in a beachfront town in summer.”

“New faces arriving daily.” He picked up my thought. “Hard to track who is and isn’t a guest.”

“The stock rotates and the pantry replenishes itself.” No two ways about it. “It’s an ideal hunting ground.”

“It’s early.” He spared a glance at Diode. “We need to get a room and stash the cat.”

For once, the cat didn’t argue. He did add, “I’m hungry. There’s nothing to hunt here.”

I twisted around to face him. “You should have mentioned it earlier.”

His claws flexed in and out. “You are traveling light. I don’t want to be a burden.”

“Light? I have you and two guards and... Oh.” I reached behind me to ruffle the fur on his head. “You heard me talking about money.” Apparently, when Mom was handing out life advice, I missed the part where you didn’t talk finances in front of your children
or
your pets.

“At home, I care for myself.” His chin jerked higher. “You shouldn’t be responsible for me.”

My mind jumped to Wink, but home to him meant Faerie.

“Rook agreed to let you come with me. He’s been here and knows the landscape. He knew there were no hunting grounds and that I would have to provide for you.” I popped his front paw before he sank claws into Shaw’s supple upholstery. “As far as I’m concerned, that makes your needs his concern.”

“Are you going to ask him for money?” The steering wheel groaned beneath Shaw’s hands.

“No.” Diode rumbled a laugh. “That pretender is living on the future queen’s coin. She is saying she will do for me what she would not do for herself. She will use Faerie gold to finance my needs.”

“Yeah, well, don’t let it go to your head.” I let him butt his huge furry face against mine. “This is probably the first time that gold has been used for good since it was minted.” I spat neon fur stuck in my lip balm. “I’ll talk to the guards when they arrive, then you three can hash out all the details.”

“Now that we have that settled,” Shaw said as his foot tapped the gas, “let’s find us a room.”

“Rooms,” I corrected.

“I thought you were broke.”

“I am.”

“I’m not exactly rolling in green here, either.”

I narrowed my eyes, not believing him for a minute. “Let me guess. You’re offering to share?”

“If you’re nice to me, I might request two beds instead of a king.”

“Hold that thought.” I palmed the phone I had unearthed from the depths of my bag, then called Mai. Eighteen minutes later, I hung up with an update on how she was feeling—better—and a reason to smile. “Well, that’s one less thing. We’ve got ourselves a room.” Shaw’s eyebrows lifted expectantly. “Mai was in no condition to check out yesterday, so as far as the hotel knows, she and I never left. She paid for the week online through one of those bargain travel websites, so the money is gone. At least if we stay, it won’t be wasted. Besides, we know that’s the area where Linen hunts.”