A. Arthur - Passion's Prey

“Look, you know how Nick is. And I know how you are. We’ve got some serious shit going on around us, so I’d like for you two to keep this personal thing on the down low while we figure out what to do about Sabar.”

X nodded, understanding that as the FL, Rome had priorities. “Diamond died at the hands of a Rogue. Probably someone close to Sabar’s camp because she had a lot of that savior drug in her system. She didn’t look like she was carrying the type of money needed to buy it. I’ll try to talk to those other females at the club.”

“No,” Rome said quickly. “You stay away from Athena’s. That’s just ammunition for Wilson to get that warrant for your arrest. I’ll have a couple of other guards start hanging around down there, see what they can find out.”

“And I’m supposed to do what? Sit around here and wait for Wilson to make his next move?” X asked, not liking the sound of that.

Rome nodded. “I’ve got a hearing at ten, then a meeting with a client this afternoon. You call Bas and find out if his captive has started talking yet.”

“I can do that,” X told him. He’d make the call to the Mountain Faction Leader, Sebastian Perry. Afterward he’d head out to Havenway because the answer to Rome’s question was—X hadn’t gotten his fill of Caprise Delgado.

The ride back to Havenway seemed ten times longer than it ever had before. Caprise sat in the back of Seth’s silver Jeep Wrangler, which had been redesigned and fitted with top-notch technology and weaponry on Nick’s orders. It wasn’t just for her safety; all the guards were now being given these vehicles complete with tracking devices and self-destruct commands in case any of the vehicles should ever fall into the wrong hands.

Nick was in charge of security for the East Coast Faction and because Rome was now the head of the Stateside Assembly, his ideas were usually implemented throughout the four zones. The Shadow Shifters were assuming a strategic role in the States, unbeknownst to the humans who believed they were the ruling species here.

Laying her head back on the seat, Caprise fought to push those thoughts from her mind. She didn’t give a damn what the shifters did. She wasn’t one of them. Or at least she’d never wanted to believe she was. It hurt too much to be different. Having your classmates hate you because you can outrun them in gym class, or because you could smell their backstabbing lies before they had a chance to catch you in their traitorous trap, wasn’t fun. The decision to stay to herself after tenth grade was one Caprise made to keep her own sanity, as well as to keep from hurting someone with the unnatural instincts she possessed.

As time progressed she realized that being different caused pain on more levels than she ever could have contemplated. Her parents, for instance, died young. In a car accident—which seemed innocent enough, but there were secrets and whispers and reasons for Caprise to believe that their differences were what had really led to their deaths. After the funeral she found herself despising her genetics even more than before.

Which was why the fact that she’d run to the Gungi was still a mystery to her.

The jeep came to a stop and she hurriedly pulled on the door handle to get out. Seth was at the door when she stumbled from the backseat.

“A lot of help you are. Leaving me with crazed shifters when you’re supposed to be my guard,” she was muttering to him as she stalked up the stone path that lead to the side entrance of Havenway.

The front of the facility looked like an old abandoned warehouse, even though it had been almost completely rebuilt from the inside. Discretion was key, so they’d opted against remodeling the outside. Nobody entered through the front door, and the place was secured by an alarm system as well as being sensor-protected. There were two side entrances and one underground entrance accessed from the back.

Most of the jeeps parked along the back side, or went underground to the garage there. But Seth had parked in the trees. Caprise knew this was for her sake, so she wouldn’t have to walk the distance to the door or take the elevators from the garage. Still, she was too pissed off to even thank the guard for that consideration.

For all intents and purposes she had no problem with Seth. He was just above six feet tall, with a strong, wiry frame and dark, intense eyes that she figured some female would find alluring one day. Right now, however, he wasn’t so alluring as he followed her up the walkway.

He didn’t reply to her remark. He never did. Which kind of irked her because Caprise loved a good argument, or even just a heated exchange at least once a day. It made her feel like her life wasn’t as out of control as it really was. When she was close to the door she heard him mumbling and figured he was speaking into the two-way communications link all guards wore in their ears 24/7. There was a loud click and then what sounded like a boulder being dropped slowly from a cliff as the heavy reinforced steel door opened.

She stepped inside and was welcomed by the cool air-conditioned environment of Havenway. Somebody said good morning; Caprise didn’t reply, just kept walking. Havenway consisted of lots of long halls, with doors everywhere. She still had no idea what was behind every door and didn’t really care. Her room was on the second floor, down another corridor. She took the stairs at the end of hallway number two and walked with quick strides. Her goal was to get inside her room without having to see or speak to anyone. As soon as she punched in the code to her own private quarters and pushed into the room she began to breathe a sigh of relief.

Too fast, too soon.

“Oh, Caprise, I’m so glad you’re back. Were you hurt? Should we go down to the medical center to have a look at you?”

Aryiola Delgado with her beautiful amber-colored eyes, long streaked hair pulled into a ponytail, and protruding belly, stood in the center of Caprise’s bedroom rattling off questions as if this was the start of some great inquisition.

Caprise dropped her bag and purse and pushed her door closed tightly. “I’m fine, Ary,” she told her sister-in-law.

In the weeks since she’d returned and moved into Havenway, she and Ary had become friends, somewhat. For Caprise, female relationships were just as hard as male ones. She’d been on her own without any ties for five years. And before that, her dealings with people not in her family were minimal. That was all due to her differences as well, and she’d refused to bond with the female shifters as her parents had suggested. It seemed, quite miserably, that Caprise was destined to be alone.

No, that wasn’t true. Not if her sister-in-law had anything to say about it.

“Are you sure? Nick didn’t want to tell me what was going on, but I got most of it out of him anyway. When the helicopter arrived and he and Rome left so quickly I knew something bad must have happened. But Kalina came to see me and said that X was fine, that he hadn’t been arrested. She said you’d stayed with him but I told her I’d find out everything from you personally.”

Caprise nodded as she passed Ary to open the wardrobe where her clothes hung. This was how most of their conversations went—Ary talked, Caprise nodded or gave one-syllable answers until Ary grew weary and gave up. Something told her today Ary wasn’t going to give up. And there was something that was bothering Caprise; maybe it wouldn’t hurt to talk about it. What if she gave this sister thing a try? No, not with Ary. Even though she didn’t like talking to her sister-in-law, she did care about her and the baby she carried. Unloading all her issues on Ary wasn’t a good idea.

Still, she didn’t really have the energy to keep dodging her questions, either. As usual, sleep hadn’t come quickly to her last night. But it had come eventually, which was still a little baffling.