Nine Lives of an Urban Panther (2 page)

I took in a breath and exhaled, again formulating the right words to use. “Unfortunately, I will need to use your legal skills. And if you happen to see a little of that chaos, I might want a heads-up.”

Delmont nodded. “Yes, ma'am.”

I grimaced at the ma'am but went on with the same speech that I had given all of my new wards. “I want you to feel safe. I want you to live your life. But I do expect you to be at the next full moon.”

“I'll have my secretary put it on my calendar.”

I smiled. I doubted he could resist the full moon. It was just a line to make him feel more important and used probably out of habit more than necessity. “I'll get her the information.”

He moved again to stand and I nodded. He rose, buttoned his suit coat, and picked up his briefcase. He turned to me and paused.

I expected for him to simply say goodbye, but as of late, I wasn't about to assume anything about anyone. Nearly cost me my life last time.

He spoke slowly and with a little hope, if I was reading his tone correctly. “This was an interesting conversation, Miss Jordan. I'd like to do this again.”

I was in a little state of shock for a moment. “Well, I do have some papers to sign for you.”

“Thank you.” He nodded and walked across the coffee shop, leaving the faint scent of sandalwood in his wake.

As his exit from the shop sent the bells on the door into fits, my entire body relaxed. I was exhausted. The others had been easy. Mothers, students, hermits. No one had set me on edge like Delmont, testing me like he did. And no one else had as much information I desperately needed to maintain this peace.

T
RYING TO DECIDE
on what movie to watch with my boys was like trying to braid hair with seven hands: it's not pretty and nothing gets done. Ultimately, I won and decided to rent an action movie and order pizza. Pizzas. We had to call for another two supremes when the original four weren't enough for Nash, Tucker, Shadow, Chaz, and me.

“It's been a while since I've seen you guys eat like that,” I joked as I flipped through a few of the boxes on the coffee table to grab another slice. I'd been through a whole pie by myself and still was hungry.

“It's been a while since you've sat still long enough to notice.” Tucker handed me another box with two slices sliding around in it and then reached down to see if Shadow was done with his. The dog growled and seemed to raise an eyebrow.

“Okay, okay,” Tucker said as he put up in hands in surrender and sat back next to Nash on the couch.

Shadow chewed on a slice of pizza between his paws. He ate all the way up the crust and then nudged it to the edge of the plate before getting another slice from the box next to him. He was careful to not get the sauce on his black fur and was even more careful about pacing himself. I tried to ignore the irony that the man who had been turned into a dog did not like pizza bones.

My day had been long. My feet still ached from the heels, but being surrounded by my boys soothed every neuron. It almost felt right, all my boys around me, well fed, no demons chasing us down, at least none that we were aware of.

But even in the warm and furry living room, we all felt the missing piece. Tower of empty pizza boxes in hand, I went into the kitchen to throw out the trash but took a moment to lean against the counter.

Tyler was close. Our connection was raw, like an exposed nerve after a broken tooth, but I still knew him. He wanted to be here with us, but he still couldn't look at us. Especially me. Not after I'd practically pushed him back into Cristina's arms. Not after Cristina's death. Not after her sacrifice to save me from myself.

I still saw her sometimes when I closed my eyes. Her dark hair that curled around her sharp chin. Her nearly black eyes that turned white when she saw the future in her tarot cards and the part of her always red lips as she gasped when the Haverty blade was buried between her ribs by Carlisle. The blade that was meant for me.

I sent Tyler a warm thought through our connection, strumming the thick golden strand softly so he'd know that I was still there, we were still here waiting for him to come home. But I knew that it was selfish. I needed to know that he was okay. That I hadn't lost another. I couldn't lose another.

Nothing came back at me. No
I'm alive
. But the sentiment wasn't rejected. That was a first in the past month.

I took in a deep breath and wiped the brief moisture that had formed in my eyes. I got some cold sodas from the fridge, put on my brave face, and walked back out into the living room.

“You need to write for bigger movies,” Tucker said. “The dialogue in this thing is horrible.”

I laughed. “Didn't know we were watching this for the dialogue. I thought it was for the espionage and the slinky cat suits.”

“You know I like me a good cat suit.” Chaz smiled as he reached out for a soda but instead captured my waist and pulled me onto his lap.

I tossed the sodas to the boys and snuggled in to enjoy some action-adventure where I was neither actioning nor adventuring.

M
Y BUTT VIBRATED
with the incoming call. I slid the phone out of my back pocket and frowned at the caller ID.

“Hello?” I answered as I rose from Chaz's lap and walked into the kitchen.

“Prima Violet?”

“Kandice?”

“Um, remember when you said that you could help us?” Her East Texas accent was thicker for the panic in her voice.

“What happened?”

“It's my boyfriend, see he sort of . . . and then I maybe . . .”

I closed my eyes and reached for my power. Sorting out through the dogs and wolves and snakes, I found her bird, a hawk, and strengthened my tie to her. She was panicked but not scared. It was new.

“Are you at home?”

“Yeah.”

“Text me your address and I can be there in ten minutes.”

“Thank you, Prima.”

I ended the call and the glowing phone went dark as I continued to stare at it. This might be my first mission as a Prima. Dallas had been quiet since the battle against Carlisle. The other calls I'd gotten were more like “I'm going to be late” and “Can you pick up dinner, because Tucker ate the last bit of food in the house?” This was a real pack member in need.

Almost giddy with the thought, I turned around to see the four men standing in my kitchen doorway, like a dark, furrowed curtain. They'd abandoned the action movie to listen to my conversation.

“What's wrong?” Tucker asked first.

“Kandice needs a little backup on something.”

“On what?” Nash asked.

“Don't know.”

“Then let's go.” Chaz said.

They all moved toward the front door in sync. They had been spending way too much time together.

“Stop,” I ordered.

The group actually stopped.

“I don't need an entourage,” I said as I walked past them and slipped on my Chucks in the living room.

“You're not going alone,” Chaz said.

I knew I wasn't going to get past the Brow Brigade. I also knew that I was tempting fate if I went alone. I had actually learned a few things from getting my butt handed to me on a number of occasions. “Fine. Thumb wrestle over who's going with me. Taking more than one might blow this whole thing out of proportion. But if the proportion is already blown, then I promise to call.”

As I hopped upstairs to grab a sweater, I was still excited about someone calling me to help out. It felt natural. There was trouble; I was here to help. With a sidekick.

So when did I get that super cape?

 

Chapter Two

“S
O HOW EXACTLY
did you get the short straw?” I asked Nash as he directed me to the address Kandice had sent.

He looked relaxed but cramped in the front of my Miata, his knees hitting the glove compartment. “Chaz got ruled out because it was pack stuff. And Shadow, well, there's only so much a border collie can do. So it was really just me and Tucker, and I told him I wanted more field experience.”

“Contrary to what I might say and how I might say it, we aren't the X-men. There is no field experience needed.”

Nash looked down at my phone and pointed to the next street. “Turn here. And I disagree. I think we need to get more experience in using our powers for good. ”

I followed his directions. “And what's your super power that needs to be honed for good?”

“Hounds have a nose sensitivity three times that of a Labrador.”

“Huh. Didn't know that.”

Nash sat up in the seat. “It's this one.”

I parked at the curb outside of a simple white tract house with three cars in the driveway, two on cement blocks.

Slowly, we got out of the car and approached the house. Chaz had pressed my pepper spray into my hand as we left. And now, I held it tightly. I knew how these dark houses worked. I also knew I could probably kick the ass of anything that went bump in the night. Didn't mean I wouldn't take the easy way out.

I slipped off my dampening charm and stuffed it in my pocket. Like releasing a muscle, I let the borders around my power drop to see if there was anything lurking. As I sent it out before me, the power echoed answers back. The house was cold and dark except for the scared little bird inside.

“Anything?” Nash asked.

“Just Kandice.”

I carefully knocked on the door and listened, with a capital L. Panthers have pretty darn good hearing and the walls of these houses are pretty darn thin, so I what I heard confirmed what my power had told me. The patter of flip-flops echoed across the house and Kandice's energy fluttered on the other side of the front door.

“Violet?” she asked.

“At your service.”

The door flew open and Kandice launched herself at me. “I'm so sorry.”

For a moment, I was on the defensive as I caught the ninety-pound waif easily in my arms.

She tucked her head into my shoulder, sobbing. “I didn't know what to do.”

“It's okay, Kandice,” I cooed. “We're here now. Just tell me what happened.”

She pulled away and wiped the tears from her already tear-streaked face. Her dirty blonde hair hung limp around her face and her pink tank top had seen better years. But it was her wide, pale blue eyes that told most of the story, especially the one with the purple bruise around it. “Better come inside.”

As soon as I walked over the threshold, I smelled blood and beer. It wasn't a good combination. I stopped in the middle of the living room and looked around. I'm not one to judge the state of another's living arrangement, but this place was a wreck. The coffee table had been turned over and there was a broken NASCAR picture hanging sideways on the wall.

And in front of the muted TV was who I presumed to be her unconscious boyfriend. Or at least I hoped he was just unconscious.

I walked between his frame and the TV and focused on his throat. Still had a pulse, despite what the rest of him looked like. He'd been beaten up pretty bad and there were some vicious scratch marks down his cheek and his chest. He wasn't out of shape; his T-shirt spread across his chest pretty well. A tradesman maybe. But the paunch of his belly told me this wasn't his first party.

“Now would be a good time for a story, Kandice.”

“He got into another fight with some of the guys down at the bar” Kandice stood in the middle of the living room with her hands so balled up into fists I thought she might break her fragile-looking fingers. “And then came home and started yelling at me and I don't know what happened. I just freaked out and I hit him back.”

Even with the dim living room lights and the erratic jumping of the TV screen, I saw her already healing bruises on her upper arms and neck. I was getting the feeling that this situation wasn't a shifter thing at all.

“And then?” I asked.

“And I got so mad that I shifted. He doesn't know about any of that.”

My stomach tied into knots. “He didn't know?”

“No, and I know there are laws against others knowing so I shifted back, hit him on the head with an iron skillet and called you.”

I didn't know whether to laugh out loud or cry for this poor girl. “Nash, do we have laws against people from the outside knowing?”

“Haverty had a strict policy and his punishment was severe. There were no exceptions.”

I looked from Nash to Kandice. I'd already broken that rule. My friend Devin had already played doctor for a few of our wilder nights and was pretty understanding when I told him to wear two sets of latex gloves when he sewed up Nash's wounds. Wonder how many other rules I'd done in.

“I'm not punishing you for this, Kandice. But I need a very specific answer and I need you to be as honest as possible.”

I walked toward her, stepping over a pizza box and no less than a dozen empty beer bottles. I focused in on her and her energy and felt her trembling from two feet away. She was so frail. So delicate. Like she would blow away.

“Why did you fight back this time?”

My loaded question hung in the air as she looked down at her hands, at her small purple wrists.

“I didn't want this anymore.” Her voice was careful, slow. “I want a life that I can be proud of and this isn't it. I want a choice like you gave us a choice.” She pointed at her boyfriend's unconscious figure. “He just wanted to keep me at home and . . .” Her voice faded.

I put my hand on her shoulder. The truth hummed across our connection. “It's okay, but are you willing to leave, for good?”

“What?”

“If I said that we could make you disappear, would you stay away from here, from him? We're talking new job, cutting all ties -- ”

“Yes.”

It was her lack of hesitation that convinced me. I stepped away and looked around the house. My creative brain kicked into high gear, looking at props and resources for the scene I was about to create.

“Violet? What are you thinking?” Nash asked.

“I'm thinking he just saw his girlfriend turn into a bird.”

“And?”

When the plan hit me, I smiled. It was flawless and Boyfriend would never come after Kandice again. “I'm going to tell him the truth.”

“Violet, you can't,” Nash gasped.

“In this state, he won't even believe it, let alone anyone he would try to tell.”

Nash stepped between me and Boyfriend. “We've had people come after us before and there really is only one way to stop them from continuing to come after us.”

It surprised me that Nash was advocating violence. My little bookworm. For a moment, I was torn. It was nice to see he was growing a backbone, standing up for his pack, but what had he experienced that this was his Plan A for rule breakers?

I appealed to his logic because I knew he would concede to that. “I need proof. If he tries to come after her, I'll be more forceful next time. I really do like the iron skillet idea. But I'm not going to behead a guy unless he really needs it.”

“Won't do much good. He didn't use it much anyway,” Kandice put in.

I snorted but Nash maintained his stern look before he backed away. “Fine,” he said.

“Thank you. Now. I need you two to get going. Keep your cell phones on and find a pay phone. If there are such things anymore.”

“What are you planning?”

I put my hands on my hips and looked at him squarely. “I write horror movies for a living, Nash. I'll think of something.”

I
CLEANED.
I
would never admit that I was nervous, but after Kandice packed up a few things and Nash took my car keys, I picked up pizza boxes, beer bottles, and junk mail to clean up the living room. Frankly, I needed the room to pace.

I'd checked Boyfriend's wound. He was going to be all right. I'd taken worse hits at the dojo with my wind elemental sensei. This was just a bump on the head.

Along with a few other adjustments to the scene, I secured his wrists with duct tape and waited. I channel surfed. Read through a magazine. Texted Chaz to let him know I was fine and would be home before the movie marathon was over.

Boyfriend moaned and I ran my sweaty hands down my jeans and took my hair out from its ponytail. My dark hair fell across my shoulders and into my face. Though I trusted my plan, I still didn't want to give this guy enough clues to chase. There were a million tall brunettes in Dallas.

I stood between him and the dancing glow of the TV.

His head lolled from one side to the other. His dull brown eyes opened slowly. When he realized he was gagged and taped to a chair, he began to jump around, struggling against his restraints.

“Hey. Stop. You're going to . . .”

He knocked himself over. At panther speed, I rushed to his side to catch him and my super strength almost wasn't enough to get him upright again. Boyfriend had a few extra pounds on him.

“Stop wiggling. I've just got a few things to say and then Kandy and I are gone forever.”

He mumbled something that I interpreted as “Where's Kandy?”

“Well, due to your persistent mistreatment of my girl, I'm going to take her away from this and give her the kind of life she deserves.”

He mumbled something close to “She's a freak.”

“Yes, Kandy is very special. And there are a lot of very special people in this city. Could be your neighbor, the policeman who writes you a ticket. Could be your boss.” I stood before him again. “And us very special people take care of our own and we don't like it when inebriates come home and beat on those smaller than them.”

I leaned in to him and smelled the fear and the liquor as it ran in rivulets down his forehead, down the cleavage underneath his white tank top. I rested a hand on either of his arms.

“I'm taking Kandy and you won't be coming after her.”

Boyfriend yelled something that I was going to interpret as “But Kandy is a lovely girl and she's my pride and joy,” and not what he actually said beneath that duct tape.

“Remember what I said. We protect our own.”

I opened up my power and shifted down into my panther form. It was like relaxing all my muscles at once and falling into my other four-legged form.

The man fought his duct tape ties, screaming through the muzzle as he looked down at my bright green eyes.

I paced around him and looked throughout the house. There was an echo here that I hadn't picked up while on two feet. Not a good one. It was the slime that I recognized from the Haverty estate. Bad things were done here. It had tainted the energy of the place. Where my lair filled with my boys was always warm and welcoming, this place was cold and the ache of it tugged at my bones.

I slinked back around, rubbing against the man's arm as I came to stand before him. I took in a breath and forced myself upward into my two legged form. Fully dressed. Not a stitch out of place and my cell phone still in my pocket. I was good.

“Did you know that a panther's bite is four times as strong as that of a lion?”

The man shook his head.

It was a boldfaced lie, but with the way this man was shaking, I could have told him that pigs actually could fly but chose not to and he would have believed me.

I moved slowly toward him. “So I'm going to take Kandy. You will not come looking for her and if you do . . .”

I ripped the duct tape from his mouth, not feeling bad about the layer of lip that came with it. “Do you know what will happen to you if you come after Kandy, if you tell anyone about this?”

His mouth opened and closed a few times with some false starts. “You'll eat me?”

I smiled. I might have been having a little too much fun with this. “Precisely. So I'm going to go now and you will just tell everyone the truth. Kandy left you because you're a drunk ass. Say it after me.”

“I'm a drunk ass.”

I patted him on the head. “Good boy.”

I let a slender claw slip through my nail and I reached down and with a quick slash, undid the tape at his wrists.

Leaving him frozen in the living room, I wiped my prints from the door handle and then slipped out into the night. As I walked down the dark street toward home, I called Nash.

“Violet? Are you okay? Did it go as planned?”

“Went great.” I walked down a few houses and leaned against a light post. “Think I've got a knack for intimidation.”

It wasn't four seconds later that Boyfriend went screaming out into the night in his tighty whities and hot pink socks.

I smiled. The devil was in the details.

“Do you need someone to come pick you up?”

“Nah, I'll just take a run. Can you call the cops from the pay phone to come pick him up?”

I hung up and shifted and headed down the street after lover boy for just a little more fun.