The Mercenary and the Shifters (The Turning Stone Chronicles) (23 page)

Chapter 33

“Now let me get this straight, lassie,” Eli said. “Ye’ve taken Falhman as yer mentor. Yer trying tae take down the rogue shifter organization OmniWorld—what’s trying tae gobble yer company. Ye’ve committed a felony, and the Mafia is oot tae kill ye. Is there anything else ye need tae tell us?”

Fiona glanced around the semi-circle of shifters who gathered around her, then at LJ and Mike. Rhys had called them all in after her confession. Kyle was missing because she left him out of the equation. He didn’t know about shifters, and didn’t need to know. They didn’t need to know about him, either.

“No.”

“You’re lying, Fiona,” Rhys said. His gaze locked on her, and the pull of his hypnotic magnetic persuasion reached into her chest.

“Kyle,” she said quickly, to keep her brother from probing further. “They’re trying to take over his company.”

Rhys seemed satisfied with her answer and looked at Eli. “We need to help her, Eli.”

“She’s consorting with the devil, laddie.”

“Which we can use to our advantage. We just have to teach her a few things. Like how to hide when she’s not telling the truth. Otherwise, Falhman will read her aura and know she’s not working with him.”

“That’s how he knows what I’m thinking?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“But I’m a shifter, and I can’t read auras.”

“Only high-level shifters have auric skill. But I can teach you how to mask yours. Then your emotions won’t be as obvious.”

“It takes time to learn that skill,” Alexi said. “Time we don’t have. Every minute we waste with Fiona’s problems is a minute we aren’t searching for the children.”

“What children?” Fiona asked.

“Our son, Baron, and LJ’s son, Hugh Jr.—Falhman kidnapped them.”

“He wouldn’t do that,” Fiona said. “He may be a rogue, a very bad rogue, but I don’t believe he’d kidnap innocent children.”

“That,” Mary Kate said, “is the very reason we cannot trust her. She does not see the bad in the man even though it’s staring her right in the face.”

“I was at his house, and I didn’t see any sign of children.”

“What!” they all exclaimed at the same time. Then they broke out in excited jabbering.

Eli waved the cacophony to silence. “Ye were in his hoose? When? Where ’tis it?”

“For my first training session, and I don’t know where it is. A helicopter pilot came to get me, blindfolded me, and we flew there.”

“How long did it take to get there?” Rhys asked, his voice filled with excitement.

“About forty-five minutes.”

“He only sent for you one time?” Rhys asked.

“Just the once. The other times I’ve met him he’s been shifted into different personas.”

“Ootside his penthoose and safe hoose?” Eli asked. “He’s getting brave. I’ve never known him tae wander too far from his safe places.”

“Except when he tricked me,” LJ said, frowning.

Eli studied Fiona. “What ’tis it aboot ye, lassie, that brings the hermit oot ’o his cave?”

“My mother. He told me I look like my mother. I think he still loves her.”

“Aye, ye do fancy her.” He faced the rest of the group. “The devil ’tis getting careless. If we’re crafty, we can catch the coyote. Maybe in his own den.”

“The police captain who came to the house was Falhman,” Fiona said.

“And ye know how?” Eli asked.

“His eyes. Once those piercing, silver eyes have stared you down, you don’t forget them. He called me, ‘my dear’. He always calls me ‘my dear’.”

“Me, too,” LJ said, her voice filled with hysteria. She lunged at Fiona, bunching her blouse into her fists. “We need you to get to his house and find my baby!”

Alexi came to Fiona’s rescue, disentangling LJ. “Fiona will help. Won’t you?” Alexi’s tone was calm, but her eyes nearly as distressed as LJ’s voice. Both women pleading in their own ways.

“I’ll try to get another invitation.”

“One for me, too,” Mike said. “We’ll play the bodyguard card.”

“I’ll be safe there. I’m a shifter like Falhman, Rhys, Alexi, Mary Kate, and Eli.”

“And that’s the problem. You’re not like them. If you’re new to this, like Mary Kate thinks, then they’re all stronger than you.” Mike stared straight into her eyes. “I don’t like shifters and can’t stand deceit, but I can’t let you get killed. So I’m going.”

Did that mean he’d didn’t like her anymore now that he knew she was a shifter? And if, somehow, he could overcome his dislike of her shifter persona, what would he feel about her and Kyle’s deception?

“If Falhman was here incognito as the police captain, he knows the threat is real,” Mike said. “Maybe we can use that to our advantage. If I can get inside I can possibly check out the security system. Find a weakness we can exploit.”

“Do you remember anything else about the house?” Rhys asked. “Something about the exterior? Something Alexi and I can use to search from the air.”

“It was all white. A series of buildings connected by glass hallways, snaking across a green, manicured lawn. I couldn’t see anything else.

“If he’s as cagey as you all say, wouldn’t he be leery of an aircraft over his home?” Mike asked.

“We don’t need a plane or chopper,” Alexi said. “My arm’s healed. I can fly now. We’ll search as hawks.”

Fiona stared at her brother and sister-in-law. Their alter egos were hawks? Not very impressive. “Will I be a hawk, because we’re related?” She’d hoped for something more powerful. Something to take down Falhman and OmniWorld in one swipe.

“Don’t look disappointed, sis. You may not be a hawk. You could be a titmouse, or even a wren.”

“Not funny, Rhys.” Fiona scowled at him.

“Don’t worry. If you’ve only had one training session, it will be a while before you find your animal ego.”

Her brother’s condescending tone pissed her off. She’d show him. She gave Mary Kate the once-over, and in a flash mimicked her. “How’s that, big brother? Do you want to give me more flack?”

Within milliseconds Mary Kate morphed into Fiona’s form. The transformation made Fiona dizzy.

“Ye’ve a bit to go before yer quick as the rest of us,” Mary Kate said.

Fiona willed her own persona back, and Mary Kate followed suit.

Mike retreated, confusion and something akin to aversion on his face. Maybe shifting in front of him wasn’t a smart move. He was not pleased. With either her or Mary Kate.

“Stop showing off, lassies,” Eli ordered.

A knock sounded on the door, followed by Kyle’s voice. “May I come in?”

Rhys waved him in. “We’re done here.” He checked his watch. “Time to get to the hotel.”

“Hotel?” Kyle asked. “You’re letting your brother stay in a hotel? That’s not Morrison hospitality, darling.”

She wasn’t a Morrison. Yet. And he wasn’t asking them to stay at his house. Kyle gave her a shaming frown and urged her with his eyebrow to extend an invitation.

The expectant pause in the conversation demanded she say something. Something nice. Not what she really wanted to say.

“I have plenty of room in the mansion, just down the road.” She smiled at Rhys, a forced half-smile she hoped he’d catch. One she meant to clearly relay,
You’re not welcome.
Working with her brother was one thing. Having him hanging over her shoulder quite another.

Instead, he said, “We’d love to come. Mary Kate and LJ can double up, if it’s more convenient.”

“No problem,” she said, with a grimace. “I have more than enough bedrooms.”

“Now that’s settled, I want to talk to Fiona,” Kyle said. “I had the staff lay out a snack in the kitchen. My butler, Charles, will show you the way.”

“Since I’m having guests,” Fiona said to Kyle, “I won’t be spending the night here.”

“Of course not, darling. It was presumptuous of me to demand it.” He looked at Mike. “You will protect her?”

“With my life,” Mike replied.

“This way, if you please,” Charles called from the doorway.

As the group exited, Kyle drew her to the opposite side of the room. “I’m sorry I deserted you, darling. One minute I’m declaring I won’t leave your side, and the next thing I know I’m letting a bunch of strangers into the room with you, while I’m standing in the foyer twiddling my thumbs. I don’t know what got into me.”

“My brother can be very persuasive. Don’t worry about it.”

“What did he want?”

“To apologize,” she lied. Rhys had, in fact, made no more excuses for his departure than the one line he’d said in the foyer. His entire focus had been on her. What she’d done wrong.

Kyle exhaled loudly. “I was afraid he would question you about the engagement. Persuade you a short courtship couldn’t be real. That would have spoiled everything. He doesn’t know about our plans then?”

“All I said to them about you was OmniWorld was after your company as well as mine.”

“You mentioned OmniWorld? Why?”

“Because Rhys asked about them. He knows they’re dirty. He warned me before he left not to get involved with them. Now he knows how deeply involved I’ve become.”

“Will your brother help us?”

Fiona laughed, the sound short and harsh. “He said he would, but the conversation turned, and suddenly I found myself agreeing to help them with their problem. I got a scorching scolding for going against Rhys’ advice and getting involved with OmniWorld, but we made no definitive plans to get rid of them.”

“Then we’re on our own?”

“For the moment.” She looped her arm in his and moved toward the door. “We should join our guests. I’ll mention the subject to Rhys later.”

Before she agreed to betray the tenuous trust she’d built with Falhman by searching his house for kidnapped children, she had to have some firm plans from Rhys and his shifters to eliminate OmniWorld. Cooperation worked both ways. Rhys had failed her once before. So far Falhman had not.

Chapter 34

Falhman reached for the envelope containing the DNA lab results with trembling hands. If the children tucked in the nursery wing of his estate were not his son and grandson, he’d have to dispose of them. Without the McCraigen, Falhman, and Jordan blood lines flowing through their veins the boys were useless to him. Two children who would be millstones around his neck.

He’d done a lot of evil things in his life, but he hadn’t stooped to murdering children. However, it would be a job he would have to do himself. He couldn’t trust an underling to murder a child. Look what happened to the wicked Queen when she sent the huntsman to kill Snow White. The whole plan backfired.

He placed his palm on the envelope, willing the contents to match his desires. In the short time they’d been in his home, he’d grown rather fond of the rug rats. Their presence at the breakfast and dinner table made life more pleasant. Made him feel like a family man. Something he’d never experienced even though he had a wife.

Maybe he could send the children to an orphanage somewhere instead of permanently erasing them. He thought about his two sons, separated from their mother and father at a tender age. He’d always regretted losing Kayla, and when he’d discovered he had sons he had been overjoyed. At least as overjoyed as someone like him could be.

Heart pounding and unable to stand the anticipation anymore, Falhman tore open the envelope and unfolded the papers. Laying them flat on the desk, because his hand shook too much to read the text, he skimmed his long index finger down the first page.

Ninety-nine percent.

He flipped through the other test results.

Ninety-nine percent. Ninety-nine percent.

The boys were his blood kin!

A yelp escaped from him and the door flew open. His guard bounded through the doorway, crouched and ready to fight. He aimed his weapon, swinging side to side as he searched for an enemy. Seeing none, he holstered his gun. “Everything all right, sir?”

“Fine. Absolutely fine. I just received some wonderful news.” Falhman shoved the DNA results into his desk drawer and leapt from his chair. “Tell my secretary to clear my calendar. I’m spending today with the children.”

Falhman found the boys lying on a comforter spread on the patio outside the nursery. Their nanny sat under the shade of the table umbrella watching them as they played. Falhman’s son tried to stuff round balls into square holes on a toy board. The other tot lay on a corner of the quilt, banging a set of plastic keys on the comforter. Falhman knelt and handed his son a square cube. The child looked at it, then threw it to the concrete and continued to attempt to fit the sphere into the square hole.

“He’s not very smart,” Falhman said, his voice full of disappointment. He needed intelligent children to carry on his legacy.

“He’ll learn,” Nanny said. “At nine months they’re just learning things. Show him how it’s done, sir. Help him figure it out.”

Falhman retrieved the cube. When he had the boy’s attention, he placed the cube in the square hole. It dropped through the board onto the comforter. The child peered into the hole and babbled something unintelligible.

“He’s looking for it,” Falhman exclaimed, happy the child’s curiosity had been piqued.

The baby leaned sideways, then toppled to the ground and reached under the board and retrieved the cube. After scrambling awkwardly to his knees, he dropped the cube in the proper hole and repeated the process.

Falhman beamed. “Smart kid, huh?”

Falhman’s grandson crawled over to where he sat, grabbed the round ball, and shoved it into the proper hole on the first try. Then he grabbed the polygon ball and pushed it through the correct opening as well.

Falhman frowned. Was it a fluke?

“You have very smart boys,” Nanny said. “Both of them.” An awkward pause ensued before Nanny spoke. “Sir, when you brought the boys here you didn’t tell me their names.”

“I wasn’t certain they would be staying, so I didn’t bother.” He studied the two children. They were close enough in age, and looks, they could be twins. Except for their eye color. One had his silver eyes, the other had eyes the color of Rhys’ eyes.

Falhman laid his hand on his silver-eyed son, who, by his reckoning, was the younger by a month or two. “Son number one is Drystan. After the Knight of the Round Table. A trickster, shape-shifting master of deception who was able to outwit the legendary King Arthur. As my number two, his actions will bring riot and tumult.” Then he laid his hand on his grandson’s head. “Son number two is Chance.” Because Falhman had no idea what his grandson would be able to do with the blood of all three ancient lines running in his veins. Even at the tender age of nine months, he appeared to be besting his cousin. Falhman’s tutelage would amend that. No offspring of his would be outdone, even by a cousin carrying all three bloodlines.

Neither tot reacted when he announced their new aliases. “They don’t seem to respond to those names,” Nanny said.

Falhman scowled at her.

“But they will, once they get used to hearing them,” she added hastily, fear flaring in her blinking red and green aura.

He rose, tired of playing with the children and explaining things to the low-life mimic nursemaid. “I’m having guests tonight. Please keep the boys in the nursery and quiet.”

Nanny gathered the children. “As you wish, sir. I’ll see they have supper in there as well.”

As he left, Falhman dialed Fiona. Time for another face to face with the woman . . . and to reassure her he’d taken care of all the problems from her engagement party.

Things were going well. Just a few more carefully orchestrated moves on his part, and he’d have her so knotted with gratefulness he could get her to do anything he asked.

Fiona’s cell rang as she opened the door to let her brother and his entourage into her home. A blocked call. Probably Falhman. His were the only blocked calls she got on her cell. She let the message go to voicemail. She’d tell him her phone was dead, or it was drying out in a bowl of rice. Anything to avoid facing him today.

Waving her hand toward the staircase, she said, “Take any room on the second floor you want, except the last one on the right. That’s my room.”

Eli glanced at the stairs and rubbed his knees. “Have ye anything on the first floor? I’m an auld man and me knees canna make such a long trek.”

A quick glance between Alexi and Rhys told her Eli’s line was a ruse, but she gave in anyway and pointed him toward the rear of the house. “There’s a maid’s room to the left of the kitchen. It’s not fancy.”

“I dinna need fancy. Just serviceable.” He headed in the direction she’d indicated. “As soon as yer settled, we’ll have a meeting.” He stopped and peered over his shoulder at Fiona. “You, too. Dinna be slipping oot o’ here, and making me chase ye. I get a bit oot o’ sorts doing that sort o’ thing this early in the mairning.”

He couldn’t climb stairs but he could chase her? “You’ll have to make it quick. I’m a working girl, you know.” Fiona glanced at her watch. She was already late.

“Call in sick,” Rhys ordered. “We’ve got things to plan, and you need to be here.” His tone told her he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Her cell rang. She checked the caller ID and punched on the phone.

“Morning, beautiful,” Kyle said. “Has the family arrived?”

“Yes,” she said, moving toward the kitchen. “Hang on a minute, please.” She jammed the phone between her shoulder and her ear while she poured a cup of coffee. Then she headed out to the lakeshore where she wouldn’t be heard. After settling herself on the teak bench at the edge of the pier she resumed the conversation. “What did you want?”

“Remember the congressmen who attended the party last night?”

“Yeah.”

“Mike asked me about them. I talked to Mother this morning, and she said she didn’t invite them. Apparently, they crashed the party. Not that she cared. What with her obsession with politics.”

The shifters crashed their engagement party? “If your mother didn’t invite them, then how did they find out about the party?”

“Maybe the socialite columnist Heda Gurley told them.”

Which really meant Falhman told them. Why would Falhman want shifter congressmen at her party?

“Anyway, I thought Mike would be interested, since he asked about them. Are you free this afternoon? Mother wants to meet with us about the caterer and hall.”

Another call rang. “Hold on a minute.” She checked the number. Blocked number. Again. Must be important if Falhman was redialing this fast. She spiked her fingers through her hair and yanked the strands. Great. Falhman, Rhys, and Mother Morrison all tugging at her. What else could go wrong this morning?

As if on cue, Mike appeared at her elbow. “Can we talk?” he asked.

“I have to go,” she told Kyle. “I’ll call you with an answer.” She punched off the cell, jammed it in her pocket, then cradled the coffee mug in her hands. “If it’s something about the meeting can it wait?”

“No. I wanted to clear the air about what happened with us. Give you my apology. If I’d have known you were involved with Kyle, I would have never—”

“It’s not your fault, Mike. I’m a grown woman, and I’m responsible for what I do.”

“I also wanted to let you know I’m not going to say anything to Kyle.”

So not what she wanted to hear. She gazed at him, trapping his eyes with hers. What she wanted to hear was a jealous confession of love. A rant which would force her to tell him the truth—that the whole thing with Kyle was a sham and she loved him, not Kyle. But Mike didn’t rant. He didn’t confess his feelings, and she had no other option than to hide hers.

“Thank you,” she finally said, when she’d released him from her gaze.

“As soon as this thing with the Mafia shooting is settled and we’ve found the children, I’ll be leaving. If you’d prefer, I can recommend another security service.”

“Do you have to go? I trust you and George.”

“It’s up to George if he wants to stay. He’s my subcontractor.”

“Will you ask him for me?”

“Okay.” He moved to leave, but she stopped him.

“About the shifter stuff . . . I feel as if it’s my fault.”

“Hugh would have contacted me even if I hadn’t been working for you.”

“But without my resources you couldn’t have reached Hugh in time to save LJ. Falhman would only have LJ’s son—if he’s the kidnapper.”

“Trust me, he is.”

“Rhys’ son would not have been snatched with Hugh Jr.”

“True. But you’d still be mixed up with shifters, and I wouldn’t have a clue about what was happening.” He stared at her for a long moment. “Were you ever going to tell me what you are? Are you going to tell Kyle? Or are you going to live your life in deceit?”

He said the words
what
and
deceit
with such distaste she knew even if they had remained lovers she couldn’t have revealed her secret. “Some things are better hidden, Mike.”

The expression on his face said it all. He did not want to be with a shifter. He could not live with someone who was a liar. He would never again be with her.

The only bright spot in the revelation was he wouldn’t hook up with Mary Kate, either. Fiona took a twisted reassurance in the knowledge.

A call from the kitchen door ended the conversation, and they headed to the house for the meeting.

Rhys watched his half-sister as she entered. Smoky gray overlaid her aura with spikes of muddy mustard color flashing like lightning in a storm. She was still hiding something and very agitated. He’d suspected she hadn’t confessed everything last night, but he wanted to give her time to let him in on her own terms. Persuading her seemed wrong, even though Eli insisted he do it. He knew he would have to use persuasion skills in the near future. It didn’t mean he had to cross the line and use them on family.

Fiona’s cell rang. She checked the number.

“Do you need to answer?” Rhys asked.

“No.” She punched the screen and stopped the ringing. Then she shoved the cell into her pocket.

The smoky yellow in her aura increased. She did need to answer. Who would be calling that would unnerve her? “If it’s Kyle we can wait until you answer.”

“It’s not Kyle. Can we just get this meeting over? I need to get to work.”

Rhys lost the color of her emotional aura for a second as she answered a question with a question. The first move in masking one’s aura. Had she done that instinctually, or had someone taught her?

Determined not to let her get the best of him, Rhys shot another question at her. “Have you heard from Falhman this morning?”

Dirty yellow flared around her then faded. “Don’t you think I would have told you if I had?”

Rhys glanced around the circle. Eli, Alexi, and Mary Kate all wore disbelieving expressions. Like him, they had seen Fiona’s lie.

“Not bad, sis,” Rhys said, “but you’ll have to be quicker to hide a lie from me . . . or Falhman.”

“I’m not lying,” she protested.

“Dinna deny, lassie. We can all see it as plain as the nose on yer face.”

“See what?” Mike asked. He addressed LJ. “Do you see anything?”

LJ shook her head, frustration creasing her face. “All I see is another family argument beginning when we need to be concentrating on finding the babies.”