A. Arthur - Passion's Prey

She blinked and blinked, then tilted her head to the side as if to say You can let me go now . He removed his hand from her mouth, and she sat back against the seat.

“Just because I’m in love with you doesn’t mean I have to listen to everything you say. But since we’re on your turf, I guess I can bow to your infinite wisdom.”

She’d said all this with the prettiest smile he’d ever seen and X was instantly hard. Damn, he thought with an inward sigh, he was in love with this woman. It hit him just like that in the instant she smiled at him. Sure, he knew now she was his mate and had accepted that, but X had never put too much stock in the word love. Until now.

Behind them, two black vans filled with shifter guards pulled up. When all the vehicles were parked Rome came to stand in the center of the semicircle the shadows had formed.

“The gate was open,” he started. “That’s not a good sign. This facility manufactures defense weapons; there should be guards and locks and alarms, the whole nine yards. But we just drove right up.”

“Setup?” Ezra asked.

Nick nodded. “That’s exactly the way we’re going to play this. Everybody armed and ready.”

“Shoot before shifting,” Rome added.

There were mumbles but when Rome held up his hand they ceased. He pointed to the com link at his ear, signaling they were going quiet, no communication except through their secure com links. Nick and X already knew their jobs and motioned their separate teams accordingly.

X was followed immediately by ten guards, including his personal guard, Zach. They went around the back of the building to find an entrance. Rome and his team would go through the front door. Nick and his team would make their way to the roof.

The night air was stuffy; today had been humid with scattered showers. When X put his hand on the doorknob, it was slick but didn’t turn. He hadn’t figured the doors would simply open for him, so he was prepared. Pulling out a device no bigger than a cell phone, he punched in codes that searched the area for connectivity. He’d designed this device to be able to penetrate any security system, as long as said system used streaming data. Red would indicate no and green yes. For a couple of heart-stopping seconds he stared at the device in the palm of his hand. When it finally blinked green he felt partial relief, then a bigger part concern.

This building wasn’t being monitored at all.

“Clear,” X whispered in the com link. Rome and Nick were waiting for his go-ahead before they tried to enter.

If there had been an alarm system, X would have hacked into the computer system to disarm it. But there was nothing. He wondered if he should tell Nick and Rome, but figured they were already going under the assumption this was a setup. Which to X only meant that whoever was in this building and had brought them here under false pretenses was fair game to shoot to kill.

Slipping his device into his back pocket, X pulled another small metal tool from the utility belt designed specifically for and worn by all the shadow guards. It wasn’t as big as those fanny pack things—he’d been clear, and Nick had agreed, that those were not something the guards would wear—but it held a lot of his tools of the trade. One of those trades being breaking and entering when need be. Of course this conflicted with his job as a federal agent. It also conflicted with Nick’s and Rome’s human jobs, as well as those of all the guards who functioned in the human world. But they couldn’t deny who they were, and tonight’s mission would be protecting the humans just as much as the shifters. They all understood this and would proceed accordingly.

When the knob turned in X’s hand, he pulled the door open and took the first few steps inside. He was about to turn around and signal for the others to follow when he bumped right into Caprise. His gaze narrowed on her but he didn’t say anything.

“What?” she asked. “I’m right behind you.”

That she was, he acknowledged by signaling the others to follow suit. Once they were inside X knew he was in the basement. On the ride into town, they’d been able to find some very old blueprints of this building, as one of the guards worked for the Department of Public Works and had assigned crews to come out and inspect the plumbing after a water main break two years ago. It could have been redesigned since then, but they figured it probably wasn’t.

“I’m in,” X said into his com link.

A few minutes later Rome reported, “I’m in.”

Jax was with Rome. This shifter’s human half hadn’t always been a law-abiding citizen, so X assumed he’d probably done the actual breaking-and-entering part. Should anything ever be revealed about their existence, Rome, as an FL and the Assembly leader, would be protected at all costs—even if that meant another shadow took the fall for him. One of the new standards implemented and voted on by the Stateside Assembly—which consisted of each of the Faction Leaders and two officers from their Zone—was that the Assembly leader and the First Female were to be protected to the fullest extent.

X, Zach, and two of the other guards all used the penlights from their utility belts to search their surroundings while X waited to hear from Nick.

“We’re in,” Nick finally reported.

With that, X motioned for his team to follow him through two large areas that looked like they were used for storage. They were taking the stairs up to the next level when loud popping sounds ripped through the com link. X and the others all stopped on the stairs the moment they heard it.

“Shots fired!” Jax yelled through the link. “Second floor! Second floor!”

Thunder had kicked the door in on Sabar’s orders.

“I want these fuckers to know who they’re dealing with,” he’d said.

Darel knew exactly who they were dealing with and where this deal was heading. He’d shrugged, letting Thunder know from this point on it was his call.

Thunder, who didn’t mind making noise and getting things started, had lifted his size-twelve foot and kicked the door with the entire force of his three-hundred-pound body behind it. The wood squealed with displeasure as it cracked under the pressure and swung open, dangling off its hinges.

They walked in like characters from one of those old mobster movies, four big-ass shifters, two strapped and one drugged almost out of his mind. The other moved with a slow swagger because he knew exactly how this episode would end.

“Took you long enough,” Kensington said. He was the first to move toward the center of the room where Sabar had stopped walking.

“I’m here, now where’s my shit?” Sabar asked, his voice slurring on that last word.

Kensington’s head tilted as if he, too, were questioning Sabar’s stability. Darel knew Sabar was wondering what the hell was going on, had been for the last few days. He’d found a good bit of humor in the turn of circumstances himself.

“You okay?” was Kensington’s question.

Sabar went to take a step forward, probably thinking to get in Kensington’s face, maybe threaten the guy again, possibly scare him a little.

Not.

Tonight was definitely not Sabar’s night. Inside Darel there was a flicker of regret for what he knew was about to come. On the outside there was a smile, like a dying ember in Darel’s dark cavernous form.

“I’m fuckin’ … fuck … I’m fine. Where’s my shit?” This time when Sabar went to take a step his legs gave out.

Before he could hit the ground, Palermo was behind him, catching Sabar in his arms. When Sabar looked up it was into Palermo’s face. Darel knew the moment recognition hit Sabar.

“This guy’s a joke, man. Get him out of here,” Sidney said. “I’m not doing business with no druggie.”