Spotting His Leopard (Shifters, Inc.) (13 page)

                “Ouch. Silver sucks. I really hate silver. You know what my least favorite metal is?” Gwenneth leaned back into Tyler’s arms.

                The Shadow Lord had bought a medic with him. He’d applied a special antibiotic ointment to her wound to counteract the effects of the silver, and she had an I.V. catheter in her arm. Tyler was holding the saline bag and there was a steady drip of fluids running through her veins. 

                “Silver?” Rhonwen guessed.  She was barely recognizable – to anyone but Gwenneth.  Her hair was shoulder-length, dishwater blonde streaked with brown.  She wasn’t wearing makeup.  She was going for the understated look; whatever she was doing in her new life these days, she didn’t want to be noticed.

              “Very good guess.”

              “So no silver earrings for your birthday then. Check.”

              Gwenneth managed to return a grin that turned into a grimace.  Her ribs throbbed with a dull, steady pulse of pain.

                The queen sat on the floor with Tam on her lap, murmuring into his ear.  Tana and the other children were crowded around Rhonwen, looking back and forth between her and Gwenneth in amazement. The dead bodies of the police officers had been dragged off to one side, and the air smelled of gunpowder and blood and the reek of slashed intestines.

                “Hey, you started the party without me,” Corran called from the doorway. The Shadow Lord’s men stepped back to let him in.

                The Shadow Lord shrugged, giving him a dismissive look as he walked through the room, stepping around pools of blood.

                “Rhonny.” Corran stared at her, with a look of deep hurt; she bit her lip and looked away.

                “You were supposed to wait back at the hotel,” the Shadow Lord said to Rhonwen, with a look of annoyance. “Nice job giving my men the slip.”

                “Please,” Rhonwen said dismissively. “This is me we’re talking about. And you can’t tell me that my sister is in danger and just expect me to stay put.”

                “I thought you were going to kill her. You two are working together?” Gwenneth said to him, disbelieving.

                “I wouldn’t put it like that.” The Shadow Lord scowled at her. He yelled out, in the general direction of the doorway, “Do you have her yet?”

                “Coming,” a voice called from the hallway.

                A bear shifter marched through the door, dragging a frantic, bedraggled-looking Nadette by the arm.  Apparently after she’d stomped off, she’d tried to make a break for it – and hadn’t gotten far before the Shadow Lord’s men had grabbed her.

A copper collar gleamed on her neck and her eyes were wild.

                The Shadow Lord returned his attention to Gwenneth.  “When your sister failed to steal the Eye, I knew something didn’t add up.  And when I investigated and found out that she’d supposedly made major errors in her last several jobs, I knew Nadette and Henri were somehow behind it. They wouldn’t have tolerated one fuck-up, much less multiple botched jobs. And when I found out Henri was in a coma at the time that I assigned the theft of the Eye, then I knew that only Nadette could have been responsible.”

              “He’s in a coma?” Corran and Rhonwen said at the same time.

                “It wasn’t me!  We just felt sorry for her!” Nadette whined. “She was like family to us, so we kept giving her another chance and—”

                “Bullshit!” the Shadow Lord growled at her. “Everyone knew how you felt about Rhonwen. You’d have gotten rid of her at the first opportunity.  You were jealous as hell, and rightly so; she was always a million times better than you.”

                “No, she isn’t!” Nadette blurted out, tears of fury glittering in her eyes.

                “How did you find my sister?” Gwenneth struggled to sit up, winced, and settled back into Tyler’s arms again.

                “Settle down,” he growled at her.  “Don’t hurt yourself.” His fingers were bandaged; they’d blistered where they’d touched the silver bullet.

                “Nobody can hide from me for long. I found her in Africa, where she’d been living under a new name with her baby. Once I verified that she’d been there for the last six months and never left, I knew for certain that she wasn’t the one who took any of those jobs. So I brought her here so I could find out who was playing the both of us. And kill them,” he added as an afterthought.

                All eyes turned to Rhonwen.

                “You have a baby?” Corran cried.

                She met his gaze. “We have a son. He’s still in Africa, being cared for by friends while I came here to straighten this mess out.”

                “Why didn’t you tell me?” he choked out.

                “I tried,” she protested. “As soon as I knew that I was pregnant, I asked you if you’d quit the biz. You were incredibly adamant about it, said you’d never leave. Remember how mad you got at the very idea?” She shook her head sadly. “It broke my heart to leave you, and to leave them…” She looked over at Tana. “But I couldn’t raise my child in this lifestyle. The only way to ensure that my son was never tainted by my past was to disappear completely and leave everything behind.”

                Well, that explained why she’d suddenly gotten all maternal, actually caring about the street kids, Gwenneth thought. Rhonwen hadn’t been running some kind of long con after all; she’d sent them the money because she wanted to help them.

                Rhonwen glanced at Tana. “I wanted to come back for you. I got messages from Farruki assuring me that you were all well, and he said he’d even started a school for you. Was that true?”

                Gwenneth made a scornful noise.

                “He stole most of the money you sent and didn’t do a damn thing for them,” Gwenneth said irritably. “You shouldn’t have left them behind.”

                “That bastard.” Rhonwen let out a hiss of anger. “You’re right, I shouldn’t have.”

                “Well, on the bright side, the Shadow Lord ripped his head off,” Tyler said. “I assume because he found out that Farruki had sold everyone out to the police.”

                “Yes. The Thieves’ Guild doesn’t take well to our members screwing over their own. Keep that in mind,” he added to Corran.

                “I’ve quit,” Corran said firmly. He hurried over to Rhonwen’s side. “Will you take me back? I’ll quit right now.”

                “This is so very touching,” the Shadow Lord drawled, looking at them with contempt. “You know the price?”

                “I can pay,” Corran said.

                “What’s the price?” Tyler asked Gwenneth.

                “The cost to quit is half a million. I paid when I quit.” It had cost her every cent she’d made from her various heists over the years, and it had been worth it.

                “Wait, seriously?” Tyler twisted around to look her in the eye and see if she meant it.

                “Yes,” the Shadow Lord answered for her. “And I believe you neglected to pay your exit fee, which is why nobody knew you’d officially left the game,” he said to Rhonwen. “Did you think I’d just let that slide? Mercy isn’t one of the qualities I’m known for. And that’s the other reason I brought you here. I kept you alive until I had verified what really happened with the Eye…”

                The children crowded fearfully around Rhonwen, trying to block her from him.  Gwenneth sat up quickly, ignoring the pain that lanced through her.  Tyler let out an angry growl, shifting where he sat, ready to spring.

                “I’ll pay her portion,” Corran said quickly.

                “It’s double for her now, since she didn’t pay when she first quit . So that’s a total of $1.5 million for the both of you to ride happily off into the sunset.” The Shadow Lord glanced over at Rhonwen, who’d tensed up and was trying to shove herself in front of Tana. Tana kept struggling, trying to protect Rhonwen with her own tiny body. “Sure she’s worth it? If I kill her, you could always raise your son by yourself.”

                “She is the mother of my child,” Corran bit out. “Yes. I will pay it.”

                “You are an evil, low life son-of-a-bitch,” Gwenneth snapped at him, struggling to quell her fury.

                The Shadow Lord scoffed at that. “You’re being far too kind.” He glanced at his men. “But as an extra special gesture for you all, I won’t kill Nadette in front of the children. Don’t tell anyone – they’ll think I’ve gone soft.”

                His men dragged Nadette towards the door; she kicked and screamed, but he ignored her. “You’re all on your own now. Oh, and let the Witch Doctor know his days are numbered; I know his part in all this.”

               The queen broke her silence. “He’ll be jailed for life by the Island Council.”

                He laughed at that. “That won’t save him. I could order his death right now if I wanted to, but I’m going to wait. It’s more fun that way.”

                A cat toying with his prey. Gwenneth shuddered, then grimaced in pain. Tyler squeezed her hand in sympathy as the Shadow Lord and his men left the room.

                “This would be a beautiful place to get married,” Tyler said, his arm around Gwenneth’s waist. They were sitting on a bench in one of the palace’s many courtyards.   There were classical marble statues tucked among the topiary bushes, and winding pathways led through groves of fruit trees.    Fat tropical blossoms perfumed the air, and a gushing fountain tinkled nearby.

                 They had tickets to leave the island in another week, and the queen had insisted that they come to the palace to recuperate from their injuries. Silver burns healed slowly, even with proper treatment, but they were living the high life while they mended, sleeping in a room the size of a house and waited on by their own personal squad of servants.

                “Oh, yes! You must do us that honor!” Queen Serena spoke up quickly.  King Mahrim was sitting in a wheelchair, with nurses hovering nearby. He nodded weakly. He was still pale and thin, but recovering.

              “Of course,” he said to them. “We will hold a festival in your honor.”

                “I can be the ring bearer!” Tam said excitedly. “Can we have a parade for them? I always wanted to ride on a parade float!”

              “You can have as many parades as you want,” his mother said, smiling.

                Gwenneth barely recognized him with a haircut, a clean shiny face, and wearing his royal robes. 

                His mother held on to his hand as if she’d never let go. He looked up at her frequently with a shy, uncertain smile, and then around at his surroundings, as if afraid it would all vanish.  His brothers and sisters were inside studying with their governess, but Serena had been away from Tam for so long that she couldn’t bear to part with him for a moment.

              The king let out a sigh. “I am fatigued too easily, I fear,” he said.  “I must take my leave of you for today.” 

              The queen and Tam nodded, and bid their guests farewell. They followed the king inside the palace with his nurses.     They were passed by servants heading out to the gardens bearing trays of food and drinks.

              “Man, this is the life,” Rhonwen said contentedly.

                “We’re really going to live here? Really?” Tana repeated for the twentieth time, clinging to Rhonwen’s hand. “I’m like a princess now?”

                “You’ve always been a princess,” Rhonwen said, stroking her hair.

                Tana grabbed Gwenneth’s arm with her free hand. “You could stay with us here too,” she pleaded.

                Gwenneth smiled at her.  “I can’t. But I’ll visit all the time,” she said, glancing at Tyler. Tyler had a job and a home and a family, and her place was by Tyler’s side – now that she knew the children would be safe and cared for. “And I’ll send you presents.”

                Rhonwen, Corran and their son had been invited to move into the palace to raise Tana and her gang and to serve as security consultants. It was a good thing, too, because Corran had spent literally every cent he had, and sold off his royal title to pay for Rhonwen’s departure from the Thieves’ Guild.

                “I’m going to go climb to the top of that tree. Watch me, Rhonwen!” Tana shifted into cub form and raced straight up a palm tree, with several of the other children joining her.

                Rhonwen turned to look at Gwenneth. “Are you actually going to come visit, or are you going to disappear again for five years like you did before?” she said, a faint trace of bitterness in her voice.

                Gwenneth shot her a look. “Come on. You know why I did what I did.  Either you’re in or you’re out – it’s never halfway. And I begged you to come with me.”

                “I felt so alone after you’d gone.” Rhonwen heaved a sigh. “I thought you’d change your mind and come back. For years I thought that.”

                “I did spy on you from afar, if that makes you feel any better.”

                “It does.” Rhonwen smiled at her sister, then waved at Corran, who was walking among the trees, holding their chubby little son Edward in his arms.  They’d flown to Africa to fetch him and then come straight back. Gwenneth had been partly afraid that they wouldn’t return, but apparently her sister was really, finally, ready to put down roots.

                The king and queen were setting up schools for the residents of the shanty town, and running electricity to the town.   The Eye of the Jaguar had been found, in the home of a billionaire private collector, and was being returned; hopefully that meant the island’s good fortunes would return with it.

                “So have you heard anything from the Thieves Guild? You’re definitely free and clear?” Gwenneth asked her sister.

                “Yep, me and Corran.  We’re clear. Oh, and there’s one more thing. Did you hear about the new rule in the Thieves Guild?”

                “What new rule?”

                Rhonwen looked around and lowered her voice. “He met with the other higher-ups in the Thieves’ Guild, and they ruled that there will be no more members under the age of eighteen.  I swear to god, I’d say that he’s gone a teensy bit soft, except that if he heard me saying that he’d have me killed.”

                “I guess I misjudged him. He’s just a big, cuddly stuffed animal of a man, isn’t he?” Gwenneth said with derision.

                “Shhh, for God’s sake. That’s also the kind of thing he’d kill you for, and I just got you back, and my son needs his auntie.”

                She waved at Corran, got up, and headed over to him.

              Gwenneth settled back and leaned against Tyler, resting her head on his shoulder. For the first time in a long time, she felt at peace, and it was the strangest sensation.

              Nobody was looking to kill her or her sister.  Tyler was going to use his connections so she could re-establish her real identity and go to college. Better late than never.

              Belij had been released from the palace unharmed, and the palace had made a generous donation to the temple in gratitude. 

              Maji had been hired by the palace as one of their drivers, and he and his family had been moved into a new home, and his great grandfather was finally receiving a doctor’s care. 

The Witch Doctor and Wife Number Two were in prison awaiting their trial, as had all of Chief Angara’s accomplices on the police force.

                “So, about that wedding,” Tyler prodded her. “I’m thinking two weddings, actually. One at home in California, or my parents will kill me. And one here.  Next summer, gives us time to plan. What do you think?”

                “Just to be absolutely clear, I’d be the bride in these theoretical weddings, right?” Gwenneth grinned wickedly at him.

                “You know you would.” He leaned in and brushed his lips across hers, and she felt delicious warmth flood through her body.  He pulled her close to him, and she stifled a moan of pleasure.

                “Did I hurt you?” he pulled away in concern.

                “No, quite the opposite.” She glanced around. “The pain in my ribs is completely gone. Think we can give everyone the slip for a little while?”

                His eyes lit up and he seized her hand. “I’m sure of it,” he said, and she followed her fated mate through the garden and into the palace.