The Mercenary and the Shifters (The Turning Stone Chronicles) (6 page)

“What you are,” Mike said. “At least what Hugh said you are.”

Donaline slapped her hands on her generous hips. “It dinna sound like ye approve.” The words growled from her.

“I prefer my world black and white. Shape shifters aren’t. Besides, they’re responsible for the death of my friend Hugh. Enough said.”

“We’re not like the ones who hurt Hugh,” Alexi said softly. “We’re in a battle with them. Don’t judge what you don’t know, Mr. Corritore.”

Mary Kate shot him another fierce glare. So fierce he had to resist the urge to squirm under her Amazon scowl. She was one tough woman. He admired hard-assed women.

He stood and lifted his duffel onto his shoulder. “Thanks for the hospitality, but I’ve overstayed my welcome.” Nodding to Alexi, he said, “Take good care of her.”

“We will. Thank you for bringing her to us.”

LJ rose and hugged him. “Thanks, Mike. You’ve been a great friend to Hugh and me.” Then she kissed him on the cheek.

Mike made his escape before she went even more mushy on him. He’d delivered her to Eli McCraigen’s without incident. His debt was paid.

Chapter 9

Mike tossed his duffel into the back seat and started the vehicle, his conscience niggling at him. In spite of Alexi’s reassurance the three women could take care of themselves, leaving them seemed wrong. But he had a job to do. One not based on altruistic motives. One which, in the scheme of his world’s curse, was definitely safer.

He rolled down the window and let the sea air blow into the vehicle. A salty, damp smell rose on the breeze, as if rain approached. He’d read rains formed quickly in the Hebrides. On the horizon ahead of him he could see a storm front coming in off the water.

A mile after he entered the main road, he spotted a pack of about ten wolves running in the opposite direction. In the sky, in front of the pack, flew two large birds. Mike did a double-take.

Wolves on the Hebrides islands? The research he did on the way to Scotland didn’t mention wolves as part of the wildlife. He pulled to the side of the road and watched the animals in his mirror. The birds appeared to be leading the pack.

He wheeled around and followed. In the same spot where he’d turned off-road, the birds cawed loudly in the sky and banked to the left. The animals veered and loped across the rocky ground. The wolves
were
following the birds.

He remembered the eerie mood of the empty airport and the bird he’d seen in the air as they traveled to Eli’s.
Damn!
They weren’t wolves. They were shape shifters, and they were headed straight for McCraigen’s hideout.

Knots twisted in his gut. Every instinct urged him to follow the pack. But Alexi had assured him the three women could take care of themselves. His brain reminded him of what happened every time he barged into dangerous situations without being fully prepared. People died.

He wasted precious minutes while his logical self argued with his instinctual self.

They die when I help. They may die if I don’t help. Altruism always backfires on me. So call it a job.

His gut won. He floored the gas pedal and roared after the shifters. As he neared the lake they had passed earlier, the fog ahead of the front thickened. Mike flipped on the fog lights and slowed, pounding the steering wheel in frustration. Would the shifters’ sight be enhanced? Could they see where they were going? He sure as hell couldn’t.
If they plunged into the water they could swim across. The SUV would sink as fast as a boulder. He wouldn’t be much good to the women dead. He slowed to a crawl, searching for the beaten path he’d driven earlier.

As the ground sloped downward, he shoved the vehicle into park and got out, certain he was near the stream that fed the lake. Even at close range, the SUV resembled a misty lump in the fog. He searched the ground for tire tracks, counting his steps to the right and the left of the vehicle to keep from getting disoriented. Twenty steps to the left he found what he hunted. Returning to the vehicle, he cut the wheels to the left and inched over the ground, following the tracks. As he reached the bridge, the fog lifted enough so he could see more than a few inches in front of the hood.

When he reached the crest of the hill gunshots sounded, followed by howling. The pack had reached the house. Mike barreled down the slope and screeched to a stop. He grabbed his ammo bandolier, shotgun, and talwar sword and slipped them over his shoulder. As he reached the front door, he unsheathed his sword.

Chaos reigned inside the house. A giant grizzly bear tossed a wolf across the room with ease. A gray blur bounded toward the bear and Mike followed, slashing the wolf with his razor-sharp sword. The animal fell into two parts. The bear reeled around, paws raised to strike, but stopped when it spotted him.

“Duck, Mike!” screamed a woman’s voice.

He hit the ground and rolled across an open space as a bullet zinged overhead. Spinning around he saw Alexi, gun in hand. A wolf morphed into a man behind Alexi, then suddenly crumpled to the ground. LJ wielded a cast iron skillet, pounding the man’s skull like a crazy woman.

Mike crossed to LJ and yanked her aside. “Get down,” he commanded, “before you get killed.”

“Where’s Mary Kate?” He overturned the kitchen table and shoved LJ behind it.

“Upstairs. Protecting the babies.”

“Which way?” he asked.

LJ pointed toward a narrow hallway, and he dashed across the room. When he reached the stairs, he raced up them two at a time, following the sounds of fighting. One man lay against the hallway wall near the entrance to the room, a knife through his heart. In front of the crib, Mary Kate fended off two more men, spinning and kicking as they danced around her. The two babies stood bawling at the top of their lungs as the battle raged around them.

Mike yanked the knife from the dead man. In a split second while she was clear, Mike called out, “Mary Kate!” Then he tossed the knife to her. She caught it as easily as if he’d thrown a baseball.

At the sound of Mike’s voice, one of the men whirled away from Mary Kate. Mike slashed his chest. Then with one swift motion, he beheaded him. The head rolled across the floor. Mary Kate took down the other man. A third man crashed into the room. Mike leapt over the bleeding head and threw the new intruder out the window. Glass scattered everywhere.

The men dispatched, Mary Kate stepped away from the crib. “How did you know to come back?”

“Wolves aren’t native to the Hebrides. I saw the pack heading this way as I left.”

“We could have handled them ourselves, you know.”

“I know. But an extra hand doesn’t hurt.”

She acknowledged his truth with a slight nod. “Thanks.”

“Sounds like they need some help downstairs.”

“You go. I’ll guard the door to the nursery. Alexi and Rhys’ son is my responsibility. You keep anymore from getting up here.”

“Roger that.”

Mary Kate braced her feet shoulder width apart at the entrance to the door and wiped her bloody knife on the dead man at her feet.

Yeah, she was one hard-assed woman.

Mike rushed down the staircase. As he turned into the hallway, he spotted another man coming toward him. When the man saw Mike, he growled and leapt into the air. Midway through the jump, he changed from human to wolf. Mike raised his sword and pierced the animal. Twisting the blade, he slashed through the wolf’s chest. Man and animal fell to the floor. Mike scrambled to his feet and pulled out his weapon as the wolf shifted into a human. The sound of gunfire rang from the end of the hallway. Mike ran toward it.

In the great room, Alexi, the bear, and LJ stood over the dead bodies of five shifters, all human now. As his gaze roamed around the room, the bear shifted into Donaline. The heat of battle gone now, Mike stepped back as he watched her transformation, startled at seeing her become a woman.

Guess Alexi had told him the truth. The women were very capable of defending themselves. Still, had he not been there the three he killed might have tipped the scale against them. At least that’s what he told himself. He’d helped save them. Maybe his curse was broken.

“Where’s Mary Kate?” Alexi asked.

“Guarding the babies,” Mike said. “With the five I count here and the five she and I got, I think we’re all clear. I’ll get her and the babies.”

He turned and headed for the stairs, shouting Mary Kate’s name, but she didn’t answer. Fear gripped him. He stopped as he remembered there had been ten wolves and two birds. And the window upstairs was broken.

“Shit!” he yelled.

“What’s wrong?” Alexi asked as she, Donaline, and LJ burst into the hallway.

“There were two birds leading the wolves! We haven’t accounted for them. Stay here,” he commanded as he bounded up the stairs yelling, “Mary Kate!”

Leaping over the dead man at the nursery doorway, Mike found Mary Kate crumpled in a pile on the floor. Kneeling, he checked her pulse. Still alive. He searched the room.

The babies were gone as well as the curtains.

Mike rushed to the window as he heard an engine start. Two stories below, the curtains lay in a jumble. His gaze swung to his rented SUV in time to see a man jump in the back seat, a child hugged to his chest.

Spinning on his heel, Mike leapt down the stairs two at a time and headed for the front door, yelling, “They’ve got the kids!”

He reached the gravel drive just as Alexi shifted into a hawk. She flapped her wings furiously and rose a few feet. Then her left wing shuddered and folded against her body as she crashed to the ground.

LJ fell on the gravel screaming, “No!”

Alexi shifted into a human and Mike ran to her side. “Do you have another vehicle?”

“A motorcycle. In the garage. The key is in the ignition.”

Heart pounding, Mike ran for the garage. Two motorcycles sat in the building, their tires slashed. He kicked the bikes to the floor, and searched the garage for replacement tires. Nothing.

He leaned over, his hands on his knees, as nausea overcame him. Bolting from the garage, he rushed to the rear of the building and retched in the grass.

He’d saved the women, but lost the children.

When he came around to the front of the building, he found the women standing in the garage doorway staring at the destroyed tires.

“Can you fix them?” LJ asked.

“Not without tires and I couldn’t find any.”

“They’re under the trapdoor at the rear of the garage,” Alexi said, pointing. “Eli thought it would be safer to hide replacement parts, in case we were attacked.”

A weight lifted off Mike. He rushed in the direction she indicated, shoving things aside until he revealed a trap door. Inside lay two dusty motorcycle tires. Hauling them out, he said, “It will take a bit to change the tires, but as soon as I have, I’ll go after them.”

“Where would ye be going?” Donaline asked.

“To find Falhman. He was the one chasing LJ. He’s the logical culprit.”

“Or maybe they were after Baron all the time, and he used little Hugh as bait,” LJ said.

Mike shook his head. “Doesn’t make sense. There’s no way he would know Hugh would send you to Eli, or that Alexi’s child was here. They were after Hugh Jr.”

“Now they’ve got my baby.” Alexi hugged her left arm and grimaced. “Fix the bike, Mike. We’ll call Rhys and Eli and let them know what’s happened. As soon as you’re ready, you and I are going after them.”

“Ye canna go, lassie,” Donaline said. “Yer injured.” She examined Alexi’s arm. When she touched the elbow, Alexi yelped. “From the look o’ it, ye might have broken this arm. Ye are going nowhere until it’s examined properly.”

Mike grabbed a tire, then rummaged in a nearby toolbox for the tools he needed to change the tires. “She’s right. You can’t go.” He threw the tools and tire through the garage door then wheeled out one of the bikes.

“I’m going,” Alexi insisted. “You’ll need me to track them.”

Mike spun around and glared at her. “I forgot to include the birds in the shifter count. I should have stayed with the kids and Mary Kate. It’s my fault the babies are gone. I will rescue them.” When the women didn’t move, he barked, “Get into the house and let me work.”

Donaline eased Alexi away, clucking like a mother hen. “We havetae check on Mary Kate, dearie. Let’s leave the laddie to his job.”

Mike presented his back to the women, fighting the urge to run behind the garage and hurl again.

How the hell was he going to go up against a bunch of shape shifters all alone? His curse was not broken. Prepared for battle or not, his problems had just ratcheted higher.

Chapter 10

Fiona dropped her clutch on the sofa, kicked off her heels, and sank her toes into the thick carpet of Kyle’s living room. “I haven’t danced this much since senior prom.”

They had been the last to leave the cotillion. Determined to keep her by his side, Kyle insisted she would not run away from him like Cinderella had from Prince Charming, and he kept her into the morning hours.

She’d not been hard to convince. He was not only an assignment, but fun to be with. She hadn’t had much fun since her folks died. She’d finally talked him into leaving by promising to come to his home for a nightcap.

Kyle poured drinks at the bar cabinet tucked in the corner of the room. “You mean when you went with the captain of the football team? What was his name?”

“Jack.”

“He got drunk on the sly and dropped you in the fountain.”

“You knew? I didn’t know you were there.”

“Back then I was wallpaper. No one noticed me—us.”

Fiona clapped her hand on her forehead. “God, I was stupid. If I had it all to do over, I’d pay more attention to the nerds.”

“Because we’re the Steve Jobs of the world?”

“No, because most of you had better class than the snot snorting, spitting, jock jerks.”

“Snot-snorting jerks? Wow. Sounds as if your take on men has changed over the years.”

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have dumped on you. I think I’m tipsy. My internal editor is out of whack. They weren’t all jerks.”

“Just Jack?”

“Especially Jack. You, however, except for your attempted kiss so soon after we met, have been a perfect gentleman. So, yes, you are definitely in the group I should have paid attention to.” She leaned forward and held her hand out to him. “I’m sorry if I did anything stupid or unfeeling.”

He set the drinks on a side table and grasped her hand between his palms. “I don’t think it was intentional, but you didn’t see me. Didn’t see any of us. We were just smart, geeky guys who had nothing to offer hot girls.”

“You’re not now. I bet lots of hot girls go after you.”

“Are you?” he asked softly.

He gently stroked her fingers, his touch causing her hand to tingle. She raised her gaze to his. His face swam in front of her, and she suddenly saw Mike standing in his place.

“I am.” Jerking away, she stumbled backward. Kyle’s face righted. Good grief! She was more inebriated than she thought.

A sensuous smile crept across his face, and he moved into the space between them.

“Hot, that is,” she said, flapping her freed hand in front of her face. “Very hot. Is your air-conditioning off?”

“It’s April and probably forty degrees outside.” Kyle stepped back, the pleasure of the chase clearly showing on his face. “I can wait, as long as you’re willing to play the game.”

Willing? She stared at Kyle. Mike’s face floated into view again. She was willing, but apparently it wasn’t with Kyle. Her cell alarm rang. Grabbing her purse, she dug out the phone and thumbed it on. “Darn. I forgot I have a big meeting this morning.”

“You always set your alarms for two a.m.?” Kyle asked, quirking his eyebrows up.

“I need a lot of warning.” He handed her the drink, but she waved him off. “I need to take a rain check.”

“Dinner tonight, then?” Kyle asked.

Falhman’s words came back to her.
If we can tell OmniWorld he’s already falling for you, it might shift the balance your way.
She’d ignored Kyle in high school. She couldn’t afford to now.

“I’d love to.” She retrieved a business card from her purse and gave it to him. “Call later today and we’ll make plans.”

Kyle beamed and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “It’s a date.”

The bodyguard Mike hired opened the car door for her, then climbed into the front seat.

“Everything go okay, Ms. Kayler?” the bodyguard asked.

“Fine, George. Have you had any word from Mike?”

“Nothing yet. I figure they’re in Scotland by now. If everything goes okay he should be back sometime tonight.” George twisted in the seat. “You’re not unhappy with my service, are you, ma’am?”

“No. Everything’s fine. I was just wondering.”

The man’s gaze searched her face. “Yes, ma’am,” he said with a lopsided grin. “They all like Mike better.”

“What? No. I was just wondering.”

His grin broadened. “I can see that, ma’am.” He faced the windshield and started the engine.

Why had he insinuated she liked Mike? She’d just left another man’s house. For all he knew they’d been going at it. She leaned sideways until she could see her reflection in the rearview mirror. Did she look like some lovesick puppy?

Her gaze skimmed her reflection. Nothing appeared amiss. But George was right. She had felt safer with Mike. She leaned her head against the seat and closed her eyes. Visions of Mike and Kyle whirled behind her eyelids, and she popped her eyes open.

They were both business. Just business.

She was already in bed, figuratively, with one too many businesses. She couldn’t afford more bed partners—especially the literal ones.

Mike grunted as he turned the last bolt on the motorcycle wheel. The damp Highland air had rusted the metal. The job had taken nearly two hours. Way too long. The shifters would be on a plane and out of the country by now. The only good thing was they probably would use the same airport he’d come in through. They might be traceable if they did. If not . . .

The bolt came free. He threw the wrench on the ground, yanked the tire off, and shoved on the spare.

“Ye don’t have to take yer frustrations out on my bike,” said a woman’s voice.

He spun on the balls of his feet and saw Mary Kate towering over him. Rising, he wiped his hands on the towel slung over his shoulder.

“It’s a damn contrary machine,” he said. “What did you put on those bolts? Cement glue?”

“Highland mist and fairy dust,” she said with a straight face. “Ye should have called me to do it.”

“Last I heard, you were out cold. Which, by the way, I owe an apology for.”

“Why? Ye didn’t knock me over the head.”

“I misremembered how many rogues I’d seen. I should not have forgotten the birds.”

“Aye. That mighta been a help. But ye can’t blame yerself. It was my job to guard the baby. My job to protect little Baron, and I failed. It’s why I’m going with ye.”

“I don’t need a woman slowing me down. I work alone.”

“How do ye plan to find them?”

He’d been wondering the same thing, but he would not hook up with another shifter to find one. “There can’t be very many Falhmans in the Cleveland phone book. I’ll check each one out until I find the kids.”

“They’ll be teenagers before yer plan works. Ye need me, Mr. Corritore. I can find shifters. Ye can’t.”

“Tell me how to do it.”

“Magic,” she replied. “Shifter sensing magic. Magic ye don’t have.”

His lip curled into a sneer. What kind of screwy answer was that?

“Magic ye clearly don’t approve of.”

“Or want. So why would I let you come with me?”

“Because of guilt. I don’t think yer guilty, but ye think ye are. If I’m reading ye right, ye’d do anything to fix this. Including dancing with those ye think are the devil.”

“Are you?”

“The devil? No. But those who took the babies are, especially Falhman. Yer going to need all of us to find him and rescue the children.”

Mike scrubbed the nape of his neck. She was right. Although he knew about shape shifters, he didn’t know enough to go up against them. “Fine,” he said. “You can come.”

“I’m driving,” she said.

“No way. You could have a concussion.”

She jammed her hands on her hips and stared him down. He returned the glare, unblinking.

“Fine,” she finally said.

“We’re doing things my way. Got that?”

“I’ll pack my bag.”

Her non-answer irritated him. She was apparently as stubborn as she was beautiful. Just like someone else he knew in Cleveland.

Crap! Dealing with one gorgeous redhead was tricky enough. Now there were two.

“Rhys and Eli are on their way,” Alexi said when Mike entered the kitchen. “It will take them a day to get here.”

“And your arm?” he asked.

“One of our people is coming to take me to get it checked. We’ll follow you to Cleveland as soon as we can. In the meantime, Rhys and Eli think it would be best for you and Mary Kate to try and stay under Falhman’s radar. We don’t want him bolting before we get there.”

“I don’t think that’s wise,” Mary Kate said.

“I agree,” Mike said. “We need to find him before he leaves.”

Mary Kate shot him a surprised expression.

“Yeah, I know.” He was already agreeing with a shifter. Bolstered by Mary Kate’s support, he pressed the issue. “In fact, we need to know where to find this guy.”

“The two of you can’t take him. Homeland Security, the FBI, and the Cleveland Police Force have tried and failed.”

“Then we’ll tail him. I’ve got men in Cleveland who can start right now. He won’t have the kids yet. Maybe we can even catch him in the exchange with his rogues.”

“We need to consider it,” Mary Kate said. “The rogues won’t be able to sense the humans. They could help us with surveillance, at least until the rest of ye get there.”

Alexi tucked a strand of long, black hair behind her ear and studied the floor. After a couple of seconds, she stepped to the counter and wrote something on a piece of paper. “Okay. Here’s Falhman’s address. Have your people tail him. But don’t make contact.”

Mike took the paper and dialed his cell. The call went to George’s voicemail. Mike left instructions. “No answer,” he said as he pocketed the paper. “I’ll call when we get to the airport.”

“Be careful,” Alexi said. “Falhman is dangerous and he won’t hesitate to kill.”

“Neither will I,” Mike said.

“Just kill the right shifters,” Mary Kate said. “We’re not all Falhman.”

Mike’s gaze cut around the room at the three women he knew were shifters. They were not fully human either. He couldn’t shake the feeling knowing that gave him.

Mary Kate mounted the motorcycle and wrapped her arms around Mike. His muscles tensed and hardened at her touch.

He was strong. And sexy. And stubborn like her. Her heartbeat raced when he reared against her as the bike jolted forward. Unfortunately, he was human.

Eli frowned on human-shifter relationships. But if Mike proved himself helpful in rescuing Baron and Hugh Jr., Eli might make an exception, if she asked.

Earlier, during the fight, she had sensed something between them—a spark born of the camaraderie of the battle. But after the children had been taken, it disappeared, consumed, she supposed, under his raging guilt.

She noted how easily he handled her bike. The old girl was temperamental, and he had just the right touch. She tightened her embrace. His heart pounded beneath her fingertips. She’d never ridden this way before, hugging a male. Normally she controlled the wheel. Controlled how fast she went and where she went. The rumble of the bike beneath her and Mike’s strong body in her embrace exhilarated her, emotionally and physically.

When they turned on the carriageway, Mike’s voice buzzing by on the wind, pulled her from the sensual road she’d started down.

“You okay?”

“Fine,” she said. “Why?”

“You’re gripping me so hard I can hardly breathe. Am I going too fast for you?”

She whacked his back. He jerked and the bike rose on the rear tire. “Put the pedal to the medal, Yankee. Ye can’t go fast enough to frighten me.”

Mike gunned the engine. The bike jerked and the speedometer clicked upward.

“The faster we go, the sooner we’ll catch them,” she said.

He accelerated a couple more notches. “What’s the speed limit?”

“About ninety six kilometers per hour.”

“In American miles per hour?”

“How would I know, ye daft idiot. I’m Scottish.”

Mike laughed and gunned the motor again. Mary Kate peeked over his shoulder and watched as the speedometer climbed. When he reached 128 kph her breath caught. Thirty-two kph over the speed limit. She searched the narrow road ahead. Not a car in sight.

“Still doing okay?” Mike asked.

If he was trying to scare her, she wasn’t going to give in. “Yes,” she hollered over the sound of the wind rushing by.

Mike revved the bike to 145 kph. A rush of adrenaline surged through her.
Bloody hell!
The man was a speed demon. She hugged him tighter. A mass of white dots appeared on the horizon.

“Don’t hit the sheep!” she yelled.

Mike backed the accelerator off, coasting to a more reasonable speed, yelling like a banshee as they neared the sheep. The animals scattered off the road, and they cruised past them.

“You can quit squeezing the life out of me,” Mike said.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to. Ye might want to slow down a wee bit. Ye wouldn’t want one of the remote cameras to catch ye and get ye a speeding ticket.”

The speedometer dropped to 112 kph. “Couldn’t Eli fix it for me?”

“Aye. He could, but he wouldn’t.”