Hunting Her (The Keeping Her #6) (2 page)

So,
knowing who Logan was, and what he was, not only a male shifter, but an Alpha
wolf in a pack of testosterone driven warriors, she had a fair idea of what his
reaction would be if she had stopped, given him a smile and said, "hey, I
can smell you're my mate but would you mind if we put off the mating for a few
months to a few years while I bring down a dangerous syndicate of humans who
think its great fun to hunt shifters for sport?"

Yeah,
he would have been fine with that.  Right.

"
Can we focus, please?" she
muttered.  They had left behind the guest areas and all the pretty, useless
people Kral liked to surround himself with and were now taking the back stairs
down.  The lush carpets and overdone antiques gave way quickly to more
utilitarian decor once the public sections of the house was left behind.  Definitely
heading for Kral's office.
Excellent.
 

Jeff was
concentrating on the rooms upstairs and the second hidden safe that most people
would overlook for the much bigger safe with all the money and jewels in a
prominent spot behind the Picasso, or the obvious choice of office below ground
where Kral did all his business.  Their Intel on Kral suggested he was anal
about keeping copies of everything away from his office, and off his server. 
Paranoia in this day and age was not without good reason.  If she could keep
both Jiri and his chief of security busy long enough, Jeff would have a chance
to find the safe and they could very well have the information on the hunters
she had been searching for.  In the meantime, she was going to have to do what
she had not the time or inclination to do at the moment.  (Hence her running.) 
She was going to deal with her mate.

Of
course, first they had a Czech bad guy to deal with.  She could not wait to see
how her mate handled this one.

The
swede stopped them at a large reinforced metal door and knocked.  She could
hear the cameras whir as they were, no doubt, checked over by the guards on
duty in the security room.  A moment later, there was a click.  The Swede
opened the door, motioning them inside with a wide sweep of his arm, and a
glimmer of malice showing behind satisfied eyes.  Whatever he thought was going
to happen once they were behind that door; he was planning to enjoy it.

Xena had
a feeling from the smile that came over his face while he took another second to
look her over in her red dress that she would not enjoy what the swede had in
mind nearly as much as he would.

She felt
Logan stiffen just enough to draw her eyes to his.  He was looking at the swede
as well, and what he was seeing had his eyes flashing an extremely pissed and
dangerous wolf gold.  She refused to admit that his alpha warrior look amped
her libido up, but she could confess privately to herself at least, that it was
a good thing her ability to lock down her coyote was unusually strong in a
shifter, because the bitch would have been
all over that
.

Jiri
Kral, (referred to by Jeff as Georgie-boy because his name translated in
English to George and Jeff felt, rightly, that any bad man that fat should have
a silly nick name), was a short squat tub of a man who was as ugly to look at
as he was morally defunct.  His business was making money any way he could make
it, and he had not one thought for the lives he destroyed in the process.  And
right that moment he saw her mate and stood, a happy smile on his bulbous face.

"Dom,
I could not believe my eyes when I saw you on camera," the white slaver
said robustly, greeting Logan as if they were old friends.  "What has it
been?  Six years since that unfortunate incident in Gibraltar?"

Xena
felt Logan chuckle as he walked them forward to take the man’s hand.  She
looked at the clasped hands with dawning dread. 
What the hell?

"More
like eight, but who’s counting?" Logan answered smoothly. His smile, even
to her searching eyes looked genuine.  Xena snapped her mouth shut before the
curse she really wanted to say slipped out.  "Still up to no good I
see," Logan said, as if they were discussing inconsequential matters, and
not Jiri
fucking
Kral’s crime empire.

Jeff,
breaking his long silence finally spoke, saying low and grim in her ear exactly
what she was wondering herself.  "What the fuck is going on down
there?" 

Logan's
wolf was seriously displeased.  Not only was he in a hostile situation with his
mate at his side, but he couldn’t sense her animal.  It was throwing him off. 
He could scent female, and her desire was fucking phenomenal, but her beast was
hiding.  If he hadn’t already sensed her coyote the first time they met, he
would have thought his mate was full human.  Not only that but he could feel
her suspicions beating at him, and whoever the fuck it was that was talking in
her ear was pissing him off as much as knowing she breathed the same air as a
piece of shit like Jiri Kral.  The only thing that was making this situation at
all manageable was that he still had the taste of his mate on his tongue.

Not that
this scene was what he had in mind when he finally tracked her ass down.  But
if he couldn't have her naked and in his bed at the moment, her in that fucking
phenomenal red dress was at least something.  Naked in bed would come, and at
the earliest possible moment.

"I
suppose I should ask how you got an invitation, but I don't think we need to
quibble."  Jiri turned his eyes to Xena and smiled, taking her in from her
long fall of dark hair to her feet in those sexy as shit heels.  "Please,
introduce me to this lovely lady and then we can get down to discovering
whatever business has brought you to my door after so many years."

Logan
gave the other man a blade like smile.  "Jiri, would I miss one of your
parties?" he asked with more than a little sarcasm in his tone.

"Yes,"
the other man answered drily.  "Seeing as how you have never bothered to
show up before."  Jiri shrugged his massive shoulders.  "Not that I
blame you.  I rarely do more than make an entrance myself."

Logan
raised a brow at the other man, his smile still in place, even as he was hyper
aware that Xena had been conspicuously silent for quite some time.  He could
feel her intensity as she stood at his side, but looking at her all anyone else
would see was a bored and probably not too bright beauty if the vacant look in
her eyes was any indication.  She was good.  Logan kept up his friendly facade
and chuckled.  "I always wondered.  Why do you throw these events when you
do not even bother to attend?"

The fat
Russian shrugged again.  "They have their uses."  He looked at Xena
again.  "Meeting beautiful women is one of the best.  Please," he
motioned his arm to Xena.  "Introduce me."

Logan
smiled.  "Of course."  He was saved from having to make up a name by
Xena.

"I'm
Lolita," Xena said, softly.  Logan had to blink at the breathy sound of
her voice, when he remembered it as being smooth and robust.  "You have a
lovely home."

Her
comment was as vacuous as her eyes, which he could see stopping here and there
over the most gaudy and pricey of Jiri's collection.  Which, unlike the hallway
and the stairs to the basement, looked much like the rest of his house:  as in
suitable as a receiving room at a Russian castle.  The man might have been
ousted from Russia, but it appeared he took some of it with him when he settled
in Prague.

'Lolita'
was seeing it all and appreciating the overblown taste in a manner that would
be both flattering to Jiri, at the same time showing herself to be a grasping
beauty that was not smart enough to know she was in over her head.  Logan
blinked at his mate.  He knew she was something very different from what she
was portraying and even he had a moment of doubt.  Shit, she was good.  He was
looking forward to peeling away all her layers of subterfuge and finding the
real woman beneath.

Jiri
shook his head, his eyes inspecting Xena as if he was looking for a flaw. 
"Amazing,” the Russian muttered.   "Had I not been forewarned I would
never have suspected."

Logan
stiffened and his eyes honed in on Jiri and caught the glitter in that man’s
eyes.  That was not a glitter of appreciation.  I was something else.  Before
Logan could figure it out, he felt more than heard the swede come closer.  He
felt his mate stiffen right before he felt the barrel of the gun pressing into
his back. 

Jiri
turned his glittery suspicious eyes to Logan.  "Now I just need to figure
out what
you
are doing here with the lovely American Spy."

Logan
raised a brow but tightened his arm in warning around Xena's slight shoulders. 
He glanced behind him and could not stop the growl from trickling out of bared
teeth when he saw the swede had two massive Sig Sauer’s and one of them was
pressed into his mates fragile looking spine.  They might be shifters but they
could still be killed.

Logan
was suddenly dealing with an extremely pissed off wolf looking to end the
threat to his mate at any cost.  With an effort, he fought against the change
and turned gold wolf eyes from the dead man at their back, to the Russian in
front of them.

"So,
my old friend,” Jiri leaned his considerable bulk against his desk and steepled
his hands like a B movie villain.  "Did you knowingly bring a spy into my
home, or is it possible she fooled even you?"

But
Logan had one priority.

"Your
man doesn't move his guns, I take him out."  His voice in his anger had
turned the hard growly edge of gravel.  "You want to talk after, fine.  But
this is the only warning you’re going to get."  There was no compromise or
fear in his words or tone only banked rage, and his words came out with a steel
hard edge that spoke absolute truth.

Logan
heard the little voice in his mate’s ear as if it was in his own, so he knew
when the man started cursing.  His mate went glacier cold beside him.  He
remembered how fast she had moved the last time they met, and that she had been
dealing with armed humans and shifters then, but he didn’t know her abilities
enough to feel comfortable with letting her act.

He
squeezed her shoulders again and felt her arm warp around at his waist as if
she was scared and seeking his protection, then he felt the hard edge of a
small hard cylinder along her palm and wrist and knew she had drawn a weapon
from somewhere.  He had not seen her do it, nor had a fucking clue where she
could hide such a weapon in that dress.  The door behind them opened and he
glanced over to count four more large muscled humans filing in.

He felt
Xena's eyes on him and he looked down at her face and saw a sparkle in her
eyes, and then she smiled at him, the same smile she had used on him right
before she ran.  She was not going to wait to act.  Even as he watched, her
eyes frosted and all expression left her face. 

Fuck!

Jiri
Kral looked him over and shrugged.  "Ten years ago you had a reputation
for being someone not to cross, but you have been gone from the game a long
time."  Jiri smirked in Logan's face.  "And in truth I never liked
your sanctimonious ways even then.  I promised Sven he could play with the spy
at his leisure.  You, I think we can do without."  He motioned with a
flick of his finger and an eye to the Swede behind them.  Logan was in motion
before the man could shoot him in the back.  He saw Xena leave the swede to him
and move into the other four men, that while human, were still trained muscle,
and every single one of them had a good 100 pounds on her. 

Logan
did not waste time with the swede; he deflected the gun up and broke the man’s
arm when he brought it back down on his knee.  Then, while the human was still
looking surprised and pained, Logan punched him in the throat and made
breathing a memory.  He took the gun out of the Swede’s hand while the big man
fell to his knees grasping for his throat, not realizing the gun was being
turned on him.  Logan pulled the trigger and was already moving away before the
swede’s brains hit the floor, the desk, and his boss standing frozen behind
them. 

Logan
turned to see Xena whirling through the three fighters still standing with an
expandable baton.  It was on the short side and looked incapable of the hits it
was delivering from dainty hands.  But her small stature was deceptive, she was
a shifter so there was true power behind each hit, and she knew exactly where
to hit to cause the most damage. 

Nearly a
blur, she hit the next man behind the knees and then with a follow up into his
friend she smashed a collarbone, making a satisfying crunch before turning back
to the man on his knees and whacking him across the back of his head.  He would
not get back up again.

The last
man still standing she made quick work of, moving in and out of the kill zone
with her baton flying whip fast and decisive across joints, wrist and finally
neck.

Logan
felt movement and pointed a finger at Jiri.  "Pull that gun and I'm
shoving it up your ass."

Jiri
wisely froze.

Logan
turned his head enough to keep one eye on the fat Russian and the other on his
mate.  How she moved so fast and hit so hard in those shoes he had no clue, but
fuck it was beautiful.  When she was finished and not a single assailant was so
much as groaning or twitching, she slammed the baton into the floor and closed
it back down to its original size.  Her eyes when she slowly stood to her full
height were on Jiri.

When she
spoke it was directly to the Russian and in the voice he had heard so often in
his dreams.  "You said you were forewarned about me," she started
mildly enough, the breathy sex kitten replaced with all business.  A business,
judging by the men at her feet that she was good at.  "Who warned you, how
did they warn you, and what specifically was the Intel?"

Logan
spoke before Jiri could open his mouth his words directed at the Russian as
well.  "Do not fuck around Jiri," he warned.  "You won't like
the consequences."

Jiri looked
them both over and grimaced.  "I received an anonymous e-mail warning me
an operative was going to crash my party.  I was given a fairly detailed
description."

"No
other communications?  Phone calls?  Anything?"

"Just
the one e-mail."

“Where's
the e-mail?"

Jiri
motioned behind him at his desk.  Before they had to ask for it, he gave them
the password.  "You will have no luck tracing it, believe me I
tried."

Logan
grabbed the man by the collar of his fat neck and moved him away from the desk
and out of reach of his mate who calmly went to the computer and clicked it
on.  Not that he expected the man to put up a fight.  There was a reason the
Russian had stayed alive and in power as long as he had.  Contrary to his
actions in taking on Logan, he was not normally a stupid man. 

The man
went where Logan led him. Not that he had a choice.  The Russian might have a
hundred pounds on him, but none of that was muscle.

Where he
stood towering over the squat Russian they both had a view of Xena leaning over
the computer.  The man tilted his head, his bulbous eyes glued to his mate’s
ass.

"I
must say the description did not do you justice."

With his
grip on the Russians’ neck Logan flicked his wrist and sent the three hundred
pound fat man crashing into the wall behind them.  He hit with a visible shudder,
his head cracking before he crumbled to the ground in a blubbery mass.

Logan
turned back to his mate at the computer to find she was eying him with an
incredulous brow.

He was
not about to explain that he did not like the way the man looked at her ass. 
"Did you find the e-mail?"

"Luckily
I did, since you just cracked the skull of the only man who was left to give us
further information."

He
shrugged his broad shoulders, dismissing the question in her eyes.  "I
have an IT guy who can work miracles."

"I
know who you mean," she said before he could say anything more. 
"What makes you think I need help?"

Logan
stepped closer, and she stood to her full five feet five inch height, a good
three inches he would guess from the heels.  "If someone sent word you
were coming here, not sure it's a good idea to send it to your own
people."

She
seemed to think on that, then she breathed out a long breath and turned away,
just enough to make it clear her next words were for someone else. 
"Jeff.  Still listening?"

"Yes,"
his one word answer was full of his own unhappy thoughts on the present circumstances. 

"No
mention of anyone else in the e-mail,” she told him.

"So
you were targeted," Jeff murmured grimly.

 "So
it would seem."  Watching her reaction Logan saw her come to a decision. 
"I'm going off grid."

"You
need to come in," Jeff said firmly, by way of answer.  "We protect
our own."

She
chuckled.  "I'm not in your organization remember, and mine works a bit
differently."  Before he could argue, she grimaced and looked aside at
Jiri.  "You can report this line of Intel has been cut.  I don't suppose
you found anything that leads on?"

"No,"
was the grim answer.  "From what I gathered Kral was the middle man who
asked no questions about what he was transporting or why.  Strictly
carry."

Logan
watched Xena curse and then glare her eyes from the dead Russian to him. 
"Make the report to your people. I’ll deal with mine."