Xavier's Desire Page 18

  It had been three days since the last raid by the panthers, and the pressure was on. Raul had met with Reginald after finally managing to get Tanya and Jeremy on the investigation. The two shifters were going to do their best to get the police to forget about the arson and break-in; but there was an official record of the event. There was no way to avoid it at this point.

  Reginald, the Alpha, was incensed at the possibility that the event might cast a light on the shifter community in general—and the wolves in particular. “This is what those asshole panthers want,” Reginald had told Raul. “They want to expose us to the one-natured, let the humans hunt us down and drive us out so that they can take over.” Having seen the scene of the crime, Raul wasn’t quite so sure; it looked as though the fire that had started at the bakery was possibly an accident.

  Just as before, it was impossible to track the panthers involved in the most recent raid for more than a few blocks away from the scene of the crime. Reginald, the pack’s Alpha, was fed up. As a result, Raul found himself participating in the stakeout himself. “If you don’t catch these assholes the next time they hit one of our own, then you can pick a direction and start walking,” Reginald had told him, the last time Raul had met with the man.

  Technically, Reginald had that power. As the pack’s Alpha, he could throw anyone out that he wanted—but he would have to face Raul in a challenge if he did. Don’t think that way, Raul reminded himself, even as his hackles rose at the thought of challenging Reginald. You’re not ready to challenge anyone—you’re definitely not ready to be Alpha of the pack. Better by far to hunt down the panthers, take them in, and let the Pack deal with them. Reginald had made it clear that the elementals wouldn’t be brought in—it would be a tribunal, the pack taking care of its own business, deterring the panthers from any further predation on Pack-owned businesses.

  It troubled Raul that he didn’t know why the panthers were doing it. We outnumber them two to one, he thought as he looked around the alley behind the boutique. Why would they pick a fight with us now? What’s changed? Raul knew that thinking like that was possibly dangerous; it was the kind of thinking that led a man to forget the chain of command in the pack, the way things were. But he couldn’t help wondering what it was about the situation in Spring Lake, between the supernatural members of the community, that had led to the raids that had been going on for weeks. Whatever it is, we’ll get to the bottom of it, Raul thought firmly.

  He scented the air, reading the smells painted through it; at least fifty people had moved through the alley in the last two days, most of them normal humans. As Raul breathed in more deeply, he caught the faintest traces of shifters: a couple of foxes—not Jeremy and Tanya—a few members of the Pack, and one owl. No scent of panther, which told Raul at least that the reprobates either cased their targets well in advance of their raids, or were going off of information they’d gotten otherwise. They had targeted too many werewolf-owned businesses for it to be simply random—and of course one or two of the attacks had included insulting, inflammatory graffiti: cartoon wolves being eaten by spray-painted panthers, slurs. One or two of the raided businesses had been decked out with wolf’s bane.

  Raul shifted in his spot, looking around the alley impatiently. Assuming that the panthers were going on some kind of schedule, they would strike—somewhere—that night. Raul had taken up a position to watch one of the only pack-owned businesses that hadn’t already been raided; Cam was at another location, and other trusted lieutenants had taken up other positions. Raul didn’t trust any of the lower ranks for anything more than backup anymore. After Reginald’s ultimatum, Raul couldn’t see any other course of action but to stand vigil at the remaining businesses and hope to catch the panthers in the act.

  Raul’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he started, reaching down compulsively and taking the device out. Cam’s phone number flashed on the screen and Raul’s heart began beating faster in his chest, adrenaline flowing freely in his veins. “What have you got?”

  “Three of them,” Cam said, excitement rippling in his voice. “Two guys and the woman. She’s injured.”

  “The other two?” Raul began to smile to himself; even if they hadn’t caught all five of the members of the panther raiding party, three of five was definitely a vast improvement. We can put them before the tribunal. We can ransom them back to their clan and force talks.

  “Got away,” Cam said, briefly sounding disappointed. “We’re taking them to the den.”

  “I’ll meet you there,” Raul said, smiling more broadly to himself. “Good job, Cam. Good job.”

  ****

  Keira scowled at the wolves hovering around her, Lachlan and Gary, fidgeting and squirming against the chains that bound her. The copper burned against her skin, making her ache all over—beyond anything she had felt ever since she’d been in high school and had spent the night at a friend’s house; the girl’s parents had used copper pots to cook dinner, and Keira hadn’t known until she’d eaten dinner.

  “It’s a good thing we had all this copper lying around,” one of the wolves said, snickering with the others. Keira wrinkled her nostrils at the stench of wolves filling her nose. She wanted, more than anything, to break the chains draped around her body, holding her down, sapping her strength. Motherfuckers with copper chains lying around, Keira thought bleakly. Should have fucking known. It was completely in line with what she’d always been taught about werewolves. She tugged against the chains wrapped around her, but every movement sent burning, searing agony through her body. Copper was poisonous to all fire-aligned creatures—the elementals, and the shape-shifters that belonged to that element: panthers, lions, and tigers alike. Silver worked as well, but Keira thought grimly that silver affected wolves too—it indeed affected all supernatural beings except for water-aligned elementals and their few shape-shifting allies.

  “Raul will be here in a few,” someone said. “These assholes are secure.” There was a grumble, but the wolves began to wander out of the room, leaving Keira, Lachlan, and Gary by themselves. Keira groaned as she tried to fight against the influence of the copper tightly wrapped around her.

  “We need to find a way out of this bullshit situation,” Lachlan said, his voice tight and hoarse with pain. “Those bastards are going to kill us.”

  “Why would they do that? They’d do better to ransom us,” Keira pointed out. “Get the clan to stop the raids and pay reparations.”

  “I’m telling you, those assholes will kill us without even losing a minute of sleep,” Lachlan told Keira. “You’ll be lucky if they don’t rape you first.” Keira let out a long, low growl, glaring at Lachlan. She could believe the wolves capable of torturing them; she could even believe that the wolves might—possibly—execute them. But raping another shifter was beyond the pale, more uncivilized than the unaffiliated lions and bears that lived out in the wider world, separate from any clan or pack or pride.

  “How do we get out of this then, Lachlan? Have you discovered some brilliant way for us to be immune to copper?”

  “We have to work together,” Lachlan said. “If we do that we might be able to get the chains off of each other, and get the hell out of here before they bring the executioner in.” Keira considered it; they were back to back, their hands pinned behind their backs, copper chains draped around shoulders down to their waists, and coiled around their legs. She knew that the chains weren’t even particularly tight—but the copper in them made it nearly impossible for her to get free, and the other two panthers in the shed with her would be in the same condition.

  “How much can you move?” Keira turned her head until she could see Gary in the corner of her vision. Gary shifted slightly, groaning as the copper burned him. “What we need to do is to find some way to get them to loosen the chains a little bit. Or get them loose ourselves.”

  “Move as much as you can,” Lachlan suggested. Keira struggled against the copper chains, twisting and shifting and squirming, hissing as the copper came
into contact with her skin and burned her over and over. It was useless; she couldn’t feel any slack in the chains no matter how she tried to find a weakness in the bindings.

  “Fuck,” she muttered. Her preternaturally acute ears picked up the sound of people outside—the scent of wolves intensified. Someone—several people—were coming to the shed where she, Gary, and Lachlan were trapped. “Shit, shit, shit.” Keira gritted her teeth, trying to think. The copper made it harder and harder to focus, the pain radiating through her body in waves. Let me take the lead on this, she thought to the other members of her clan. Let me see if I can get them to loosen our chains a bit. She heard Lachlan’s growl of doubt, Gary’s groan of pain, and reinforced the thought with the urgency of their situation. There was a very real chance that if they didn’t get free, they’d be tortured for information—at least, according to everything that Keira had ever known about wolves. She gathered what little strength she had, sniffing the air to try and detect how many wolves were joining them.

  A few moments later, the wolves filed into the shed; among them Keira saw their newcomer. He smelled like an Alpha, but she knew he wasn’t; there wasn’t the level of respect from the other wolves. Second-in-command, or some kind of enforcer type, she decided, taking him in as he approached. The man was tall and muscular, with dark hair in a mane around his strong-featured face, broad shoulders, and neat hips. He wore dark jeans and a black, fitted tee shirt. Couldn’t be more obviously a wolf if he tried, Keira thought wryly. The non-Alpha came towards them and the other wolves fell in behind him.

  “You three realize we’re going to get your friends too, right?” Keira stared up at the man, refusing to look away. It wasn’t the time to cower or show fear—she was a panther and he was a wolf; she wasn’t about to show weakness to someone like him.

  “You’re all cowards,” Keira said, looking from the enforcer to the rest of the pack behind him. “If you really thought that you were stronger and better than us, you wouldn’t keep us in copper.”

  “You’re sneaky little thieves,” the man countered. “We can’t risk you getting away to attack us again.”

  “Are you going to talk us to death?” Keira clenched her teeth at the sound of Lachlan’s voice. Hadn’t she told him and Gary both to let her take the lead?

  “We’re going to put you to death,” one of the other wolves said. Keira felt Lachlan’s bitter sense of proud triumph; he’d been right about what the wolves would do to them. What surprised her was the fact that the plan—if it was serious—was evidently a surprise to the enforcer talking to them.

  “Shut up, Cam,” the man said quietly, a growl in his voice. He turned his attention back onto Keira. “What’s your name?”

  “Like I’d tell my name to some wolf enforcer,” Keira replied, scowling at him. “Bunch of filthy damned cowards.”

  “We’re cowards?” The man almost grinned, exposing slightly sharper than normal teeth, flashing white in the gloomy light of the shed. “You’re the ones running away from a fair fight.” Keira laughed.

  “Like wolves fight fair,” she said, shaking her head. “If you wanted a fair fight, you’d take these chains off me and we could go at it right here and now.” She raised an eyebrow in challenge. Keira felt the tension rising in Gary and Lachlan, sensed their brains focusing in on the situation—hopeful that there would come an opportunity.

  “You really think you can take me?” The wolf almost smirked. “You’re too proud. I could put you down in three minutes.” Keira smiled slowly, exposing her teeth in an expression that was far from friendly.

  “Prove it,” she told him.

  ****

  Raul glanced to the rest of the pack gathered behind him in the shed, watching him interact with the three panthers. He had been shocked—slightly—at the fact that the woman was actually fairly attractive. The chains wrapped around her body did nothing to cover the full, lush curves; thick, glorious dark hair tumbled down past her shoulders, framing a sharp-featured face with green eyes. Her breasts looked heavy and full, the copper chains only emphasizing their size and the fact that they strained at the fabric of her shirt.

  “Are you serious?” Raul shook his head, smirking at the thought of the panther actually daring to challenge him. “This isn’t a sparring match with one of your cubs, panther,” Raul added. “If you fight me I’m going to treat it like an actual challenge.”

  “I know how to handle a challenge,” the woman said, her upper lip curling slightly in the start of a snarl. “I just don’t think you can actually give me one.” A murmur rose up in the pack members behind him, and Raul felt his body heating up, his adrenaline beginning to flow. He could sense the way that the pack was reacting, feel the doubt in them. Raul felt the suggestion that he would lose status in the pack if he didn’t shut this she-panther up, and fast.

  “Fine,” Raul said. He glanced at the other two panthers. “They stay chained; one on three isn’t fair.”

  “I thought you could take us all,” the woman said, smirking. “But fine. I can take you all by myself.” Raul carefully reached out and began to loosen the chains around the woman, glancing at the other two panthers from time to time, making sure that they weren’t using the situation to try and break free. It would be just like these assholes to stage a showdown just for the chance to sneak out.

  Raul tugged the last of the chains free of the woman and stepped back, watching her intently. “You going to get up and fight me?” the woman shrugged, rubbing her arms and legs, looking bitterly angry.

  “Ever been in silver chains, asshole?” she started to stagger up onto her feet. “It takes a minute.” Raul considered that and nodded, taking another step back and preparing to begin the transformation. He would show the stupid she-panther what she was made of, and then he’d get the chains back onto her before Reginald arrived to inspect the prisoners. Reggie wouldn’t mind if he roughed up the female panther a bit, especially since she had challenged him. Cam’s comment—about the panthers being executed—worried him, but Raul knew better than to believe anything that Cam spouted off in the heat and excitement of the moment. Reginald knew better than to simply summarily execute three rival shifters. The only result that would bring would be war: out and out war between the panthers and the wolves, something that the elementals would intervene on, because it would risk discovery of the two-natured by the regular humans.

  After only a few moments, the woman began to strip her clothes off, and Raul commenced as well; having grown up as a shifter, with part of his consciousness consistently animal, Raul had no qualms about nudity, even among strangers. He felt the change crackling and tingling along his bones, his body gearing up for the transformation that came to him as second nature. He sank down onto all fours as the change intensified, and saw the surprisingly beautiful, full-figured woman doing the same, taking up her position to change into her animal form. The wolves behind him began to yip and howl, excitement overtaking everyone in the room—even the panthers still chained up helpless a few feet away. Raul focused all of his attention onto bringing the change over himself as quickly as possible, feeling his bones shift and transform inside of his body, feeling his face elongate, fur pushing through his skin.

  In a matter of moments, his vision had shifted and Raul let out a long, proud howl, throwing his head back and giving voice to his challenge. He looked at the woman; in her place there was a long, lean, muscled panther with dark, mottled fur and bright feline eyes boring into him. The panther growled, ending on a coughing, hissing note, and began to move, slinking in a slow, appraising circle around him.

  The rest of the pack backed off, and Raul began to circle the she-panther, examining her movements, thinking in the strategic, animal part of his brain about how best to defeat her. There was no reason to hold back; this wasn’t a member of his pack, this wasn’t part of his family. He needed to put her down and then get the chains back on her, prove his point and be done with it.

  The female seemed to be sligh
tly weak in the hindquarters, a slight limp interrupting her slinking steps. Raul growled, low in his throat, hunkering down into a crouch as he watched the panther move. She was beautiful: sleek, deadly in spite of her limp, staring at him with yellow-green eyes that Raul knew were taking in every possible weakness he possessed.

  As the moments of circling, waiting, evaluating reached a torturous peak, Raul launched himself at the she-panther, diving towards her injured hindquarters. She slipped underneath his dive, surprising him with her speed and nimbleness, and sidestepped his attack. Raul felt the rake of claws along his back, the heat of his blood flowing, and roared out, turning quickly to throw himself at the sneaky panther again.

  Everything became a blur; Raul attacked, the woman evaded and countered. Raul hung back, waiting for her to make her strike, and barely shifted away from her attack in time. He managed to get in a few good hits, but in what seemed like mere moments, he was already beginning to tire. He could tell that the panther was beginning to tire as well—she was panting slightly, low growls leaving her throat. The other two panthers were still firmly chained—they couldn’t help their clan-mate—but the wolves were starting to get restive. The human part of Raul’s brain was too proud to give up the battle—he wasn’t going to let an upstart panther, little better than a glorified housecat, best him in a challenge.

  But when he saw his opening, Raul hesitated; he could smell that Reginald was coming. The unmistakable scent mark of the Alpha of the pack hit him like a brick—and with it, the impression of the Alpha’s brain, imposing its presence on the room. In the moment Raul was distracted, the panther struck, launching herself at him, raking her claws down the sides of his body and tumbling him onto the floor. Raul kicked and twisted, knocking her off him, but he hadn’t managed to completely subdue her.

  Reginald’s ear-splitting howl filled the air and Raul fell back, staring at the injured—but still defiant—panther. The panther glanced around the shed, and then launched herself at her two clan-mates in a flurry of movement, transforming into a dark, mottled blur in front of Raul’s eyes. He growled, throwing himself into the battle with her once more, suddenly realizing what she intended to do: break her friends free while everyone was distracted. Raul grabbed the back of the panther’s neck, locking down as tightly as he could without breaking bones.