Shift Happens (A Carus Novel Book 1) (16 page)

“Well, am I right?”

Exasperated, I flung my hands up in the air and glared at him. “Wick, stop it! My cat potentially bonding with another isn’t the only thing that makes this a bad idea.” I waved my hand between me and him in case he misunderstood what ‘this’ was.

“Like what?”

“Like when I fail to find out who hired Landen in five days and Lucien orders you to deliver me to Clint. Or when Clint tires of me as his new pet and Lucien orders you to
dispose of me
. Are you strong enough to break his hold on you?” I jabbed a sharp finger into his chest. “Are you?”

“He might spare you if we were mated,” he said, not answering my question. His avoidance was answer enough.

“Really?” I sounded doubtful.

Wick looked away, giving another silent answer before a low growl escaped his lips. I stared at his mouth, mesmerized by the sound. Wick took advantage of my distraction to step in and envelope me in his arms before I had a chance to escape.

“We will be together,” he whispered into my ear. His breath blew my hair out of the way and sent tingles down my neck. “You will not scare me away so easily. When this situation with Lucien and Landen is done, you will have no more excuses. We will be together.”

Wick pulled back. His espresso eyes, flecked with gold told me more about how he felt than his words—he cared for me and he wanted me. The air tinged with the scent of his determination. I liked the woody undertones.

Before I had a chance to shake my head and utter more objections, he pressed his lips to mine. Soft as silk, and pliable. He moved them over my mouth as if savoring the taste, flicking his tongue out to stroke my own. Without meaning to, I leaned into his body in answer.

Gaining reassurance from my reaction, Wick’s kiss made a smooth transition from gentle and hesitant, to hot and heavy. His lips demanded a reaction and his tongue forced my mouth to open more, give more. Slipping a hand around my ass, he hoisted me up and pushed me against the wall. I wrapped one leg around him. His hard erection pressed against my core, sending shivers of pleasure racing up my body, flooding my mind. I couldn’t think. His other hand roamed up my body and whatever objections I had, fled with each stroke of Wick’s thumb against my nipple.

“Mine,” he said. A demand, statement and request all at once. Wick pulled back to search my face. Pleased with what he saw, he dipped back down and renewed his plight to make all my nerve endings sing. He hoisted me up farther. Wrapping my other leg around him, I straddled him with my back against the wall. His hands cupped my ass and he dropped his head down to rain kisses on my breasts. The skin on skin contact surprised me. What happened to my shirt? And my bra?

His mouth enclosed around my right nipple and any further questions flew from my mind, replaced with an emotion that needed no words, a feeling as primal as our natures. Wick moved us away from the wall and walked toward the stairs.

The decaying scent must’ve hit our noses at the same time. We flinched in unison. Wick dropped me and whirled around.

“Am I interrupting?” Allan’s smile spread wider. “This brings a whole new meaning to screwing the pooch.”

“How long have you been there?” Wick demanded. He turned to offer me a hand up, but I’d already clambered to my feet, knowing without Allan’s smug expression that he’d been there for a while and in our heads. My nails bit into my flesh as my hands clenched, not liking the idea at all that Allan had been privy to my thoughts at such an intimate and vulnerable time. I scanned the room, located my shirt and threw it on without a bra.

Allan chuckled and shoved off the wall to approach Wick. “Long enough to enjoy the show and know why you shielded so strongly before.” He paused to slide a slow evaluating look my way. “An interesting development, to say the least.”

Wick growled at Allan’s approach and positioned his body in front of mine. I pushed him aside and stood beside him. I was capable of defending myself. Wick shot an annoyed look in my direction, but didn’t go all alpha on me. Points for him.

“It makes me wonder what else you’ve been able to hide.” Allan stopped a few feet in front of us. “Is there anything more we need to know about our dear little Andrea?”

“No,” Wick bit out. His lie wrinkled my nose.

Allan examined his fingernails as if they were more important than the conversation. “I was curious how Andrea managed to rip out Clint’s throat
and
escape out of the top floor.” He looked up and gave me a piercing stare. “Not a Were. A Shifter. Not a normal Shifter. Something else. Something different. Something…” He paused to tilt his head, probably listening to our thoughts. “Special.”

Wick’s hands clenched into fists. I looked up to see sweat trickling down the side of his face. Whatever he was doing to shield Allan took a lot of effort.

Allan made a gasping sound that whipped my attention back to him. “Interesting indeed.” He reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved a handkerchief. He handed it to Wick. “Wick, your shielding skills won’t stop me.” The Vampire’s lips curled up as he turned to me. “And you have no idea what you are.”

“Do you?” I crossed my arms.

Allan dipped his chin, conceding my point. “No, but I may know someone who does.”

“Whatever,” I huffed. “Does it change anything?” It didn’t and I knew it.

Allan grinned, his fangs were out. “No, it doesn’t.”

“Why are you here?” Wick vibrated with rage.

“Ah, yes,” Allan snapped his fingers. “My apologies. I got distracted by the little show you put on.” He winked at me.

My lip curled up into a snarl.

Allan continued to observe me, long past the socially acceptable amount of time. “I’m here to remind you, Shifter, that you have five days.” He ran his tongue along his teeth. “Less than that. Closer to four now.”

Hopefully I conveyed my annoyance with the glare I cast his way. Surely Allan would know Lucien’s human servant had already passed along the reminder, unless…Unless his presence here had another purpose—to check up on me and spy on my thoughts, maybe? “Clint’s already been around to remind me. I can count to seven, you know.”

Allan laughed. “Well isn’t he an eager beaver? He must be impatient for his new toy.”

“Pet.” My face twisted in disgust. “He thinks I will be his pet.”

Allan shrugged, as if there was little difference. “Semantics. You will belong to him until he bores of you.”

“And then?”

Allan smiled, his teeth grew longer. “Then maybe I’ll claim you. Or maybe no one will. Then we will have no more use for you and you will be disposed of.” He paused to tap his cheek with his forefinger. “I might volunteer for the task. Disposals can be so fun…and filling.” He didn’t mean fulfilling either. Allan shifted his attention to Wick, who vibrated with anger. “Or maybe Lucien will command his dog to carry it out.”

Wick stepped forward, his gaze a mutinous yellow.

“Down boy,” Allan said. “I’m just having a little fun. You animals react in the most delicious ways.”

“Well, you’ve had
your fun
and you’ve delivered your message.” Wick crossed his arms and stared the Vampire down. “You can leave now.”

“Remember, Andy, you’re supposed to be out there doing the job Lucien gave you…not screwing the master’s dog.” Allan gave a mocking little bow and sauntered out of the room, taking his stench with him.

“Kind of ruins the mood, doesn’t he?” Wick asked when he turned to me. His control returning, espresso brown replacing the yellow.

I nodded and went to the living room. Good thing we got interrupted. Wick’s hot kisses seduced away my resolve to stay far, far away from him, but I couldn’t get involved now. Too complicated.

Remembering the feel of him, hot and hard, pressed against me, I closed my eyes. The warmth of him on my skin, the smell of his desire mingling in the air with my own and the taste of his tongue lingering in my mouth. I sat down in the nearest chair and crossed my legs.
No, no, no, no, no.
I squashed down the feelings threatening to boil over and reached for the remote control instead of the hot piece of ass sitting down beside me.

“What’s this about Clint?” Wick’s tone might’ve been calm, but his body remained tense.

“He paid me a visit while I was out running surveillance.” I flicked through the channels, not really paying attention to what was on, but it kept my hands busy and off of something, someone, else. My skin prickled under Wick’s glare, and after a few minutes of pretending not to notice, I gave in and turned to him. “What?”

“Could you elaborate?”

“On what?”

“Maybe on Clint’s visit with you? What did he want? What did he say? Or maybe elaborate on what surveillance you were running?”

“Apparently, I stayed in one place for too long and Clint worried he’d lost his toy before he had a chance to play with me.”

“He monitors your tracker that closely?”

“It would appear so.”

Wick grunted and looked away. “That’s not good.”

“I didn’t think so either.”

Wick stared.

“What?”

“And?” he asked.

“And what?” I stopped channel surfing, settling on a rerun of a cop drama I’d already seen more than once and hoped my fixed attention on the television screen would give Wick the hint the discussion was over.

“And the surveillance?” Annoyance seeped into his voice and his agitation filled the room, prickling my nose.

“None of your business.”

“Andy,” Wick exhaled a long breath. “I could help you.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

I turned the television off and turned to face him fully. “No offense, but I still don’t trust you. You’re under Lucien’s control.” I held up my hand to stop him from speaking. “I’m glad Allan interrupted us, because to be perfectly honest, I don’t trust myself around you.” My voice was final. That was all I would say on the matter.

Wick’s frown deepened as if my comments disappointed him—they probably did—but instead of pursuing the matter further, he leaned back into the couch and snatched the remote control from my hands. He searched the channels much like I had earlier, giving me a chance to study his profile. He was a beautiful man, and I needed to get far away from him fast. Every day, I struggled to keep myself distant. Without saying goodnight, I stood up and scurried up the stairs before I lost my resolve.

“You will,” Wick whispered. I don’t think he meant for me to hear him.

There has to be a joke in here somewhere
. I had been stalking the Wereleopard’s scent all morning. One trail led to the SRD headquarters, while the other led me on a wild goose chase all over town, branching off in many directions. The bitch backtracked multiple times. Good thing I wasn’t only a great tracker, but also determined. Failure wasn’t an option and as Clint and Allan had so eloquently reminded me, time was running out.

Angie had been careful. She didn’t want her scent followed, which meant I was at least on the right track.

With my wolf nose to the ground, I followed her trail all the way to downtown Vancouver where it abruptly ended. Sitting back on my haunches, I howled in frustration. How did Angie get on the SeaBus in Leopard form? Or did she shift and go naked?

Someone brought her clothes
.

That had to be it. But who?

Sniffing around the on-ramp, I ignored the stares and gasps of norms waiting for the next vessel to arrive, clad in their business attire, ready for another day in the office. There was no other scent I recognized aside from Angie’s. Other supes—Weres, Shifters, Vampires, a few Witches—had been here. But the area had a lot of traffic, so it meant little.

A snotty-looking middle-aged woman with perfectly applied make-up and an expensive haircut eyed me with apprehension. She pulled out her phone.

“Hello, Information? I would like the number for the SPCA.” Her crisp and curt voice screamed,
I’m a business woman, don’t mess with me
.

The SPCA, great. For norms the acronym stood for Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. For Supes, Weres and Shifters specifically, it meant confinement, trouble and too much time spent explaining why we ended up naked in one of their cages. Time to get out of here.

The woman ended her call with a terse goodbye and something resembling a thank you before rapidly punching in whatever number they gave her, all the while eyeing me with an equal dose of disgust and fear. Obviously a cat person.

I loped out of the SeaBus terminal and ambled down to the water. Hidden by a walkway, where people walked along the bay on their breaks. Garbage and human waste littered the shoreline and filled my nose, which wrinkled at the assault. Homeless took shelter underneath the walkway, invisible to the general public, forgotten or avoided.

Today, the area was vacant. I shifted to my falcon and flew the short distance between downtown Vancouver and the North Shore.

Finding a similar location on the other side, I shifted back to my wolf and found Angie’s scent immediately. Circling the area repeatedly, I sniffed the ground like a cocaine addict over spilt powder. There was no mistaking the mingling of Angie’s citrus scent with decaying matter.

This can’t be right
.

Angie had been picked up in a car from this location by Vampires and the thickness of it told me it happened on more than one occasion. I didn’t recognize this particular stench of decaying bloodsucker. They weren’t Lucien’s as far as I could tell and if they were, they hadn’t been in attendance to my little debut at his court. My nose had an excellent memory.

A car wasn’t just hard to track on a road; on the number 1 Trans-Canada Highway it was impossible. Why hadn’t Angie driven the whole distance?
Because that would make it too easy to follow her in a car.
Why couldn’t Angie be stupid? Good looks should come at a cost.

I huffed and sat down, unsure of how to proceed. The idea of becoming Highway 1’s next road kill victim was not pleasant or motivating and I still didn’t know if Angie and the Wereleopards were connected to Landen’s death or my orders, meaning I might be wasting my dwindling time and risking my life needlessly.