“He believes Ben’s a spy for the dokk alfar?” Kendrick said. “That’s interesting.”
“Yeah, we said interesting when we discussed it too,” Jaycee returned. “If Brice is working with the high Fae, Dylan doesn’t need to come out here and have a chat with him. We need to take him down and get him away from the Shifters he’s already corrupted. They’ll defend him if Dylan confronts him, and Dylan and his ‘team’ will have to fight them too. Brice’s followers are just Shifters compelled by an alpha. They don’t deserve to have Dylan and his posse on their asses.”
She was thinking of Casey, Dimitri mused. Casey, as far has he could tell, really was a good guy who was sure the Goddess would save them if they all prayed hard enough. Dimitri was willing to bet many of Brice’s followers were much the same.
Then again, most of them had joined together to drop Ben in a fall that could have killed him if he’d been human—hospitalized him at the very least. Removing Brice’s influence from those Shifters was a good idea.
“I want to know what Brice is up to,” Kendrick said. “Is he a deluded Shifter thinking the Fae are his saviors, or is he going for a power play thinking the Fae will back him? And what are his Fae friends planning? If they’re going to strike, I want to know when and where to expect them.”
“So might the leader of the New Orleans Shiftertown,” Jaycee pointed out. “Should we contact him?”
“Already have,” Kendrick answered. “We’re talking. He’s not thrilled with Brice but won’t move openly against him, knowing he’d have a mutiny, which will attract the attention of Shifter Bureau.” Kendrick went silent a moment. “Dimitri,” he said, knowing Dimitri was able to hear every word. “I want you to cut Brice from the herd and pen him up to wait for Dylan. Brice seems like the kind of Shifter who’d know exactly when Dylan was near, so we want him isolated before Dylan arrives. And then stick around. Don’t let Dylan kill him until we know exactly everything Brice knows. Dylan tends to get . . . intense.”
“We know,” Jaycee said. “That’s why we love you, Kendrick, and are glad you’re our leader.”
“Blech,” Dimitri said, leaning over her shoulder. “Don’t get m-mushy.”
“New orders,” Kendrick said. “Dimitri, catch Brice. Trick him, lie to him, duct tape him, jump up and down on him—I don’t care. But get him away from his Shifters—quietly—and sequester him. Dylan will be there tonight.”
“What about me?” Jaycee asked. “You haven’t said my name. Dimitri can’t do this by himself.”
“I know that. But Ben’s there. You, Jaycee, will stand down. It’s too dangerous, and I can’t afford to lose you.”
“N-neither can I,” Dimitri said.
Jaycee glared at Dimitri. “Hey, I’m your partner.”
Kendrick’s stern tones came from the phone. “You’re also a female Shifter and valuable, not simply for your gender but for yourself. If something happens to you, Dimitri will kill me. So will Addison. I’d like to live. So stay put, Jaycee.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
“You know I can’t obey an order like that,” Jaycee said heatedly half an hour later.
She crossed her arms over her chest—which was now covered with a T-shirt, her legs with shorts—and gave Dimitri her best angry stare.
Dimitri, who’d returned to lounging on the porch chair, his feet up, his strong legs enticing her to touch them, only returned her look calmly. As did Ben, who’d joined them for a confab after Dimitri had told him what Kendrick had instructed on the phone.
“A s-simple end to a boring mission,” Dimitri said. “Ben and I nab B-Brice, bring him here, and l-let the house lock him in. D-Dylan shows up and qu-qu-qu . . .” He closed his eyes briefly. “Asks him about the F-Fae, and then offs him. We go home.”
“You left out the part about you and Ben going up against Brice by yourselves,” Jaycee snapped. “On his territory, guarded by who knows how many Shifters—or Fae, for the Goddess’ sake. Are you just going to tap him on the shoulder and say Hello, we want you to come with us?”
Dimitri shrugged. “Maybe.”
Ben leaned comfortably on a post. “We’ll trap him without too much violence. Brice trusts Dimitri.”
“He trusts me more,” Jaycee pointed out. “Dimitri, you said you think you recognize him from somewhere in your past. Well, he might recognize you too, and be playing you. You don’t remember, but maybe he does. You don’t need to walk into his trap.”
Ben gave her a stern look. “I agree with Kendrick that you’re too valuable to lose in this mess.”
Dimitri held up his hand. “Wait. What did you h-have in mind, Jase?”
Oh, finally, the mighty males were going to listen to her. Jaycee drew a breath to calm herself and hopped to sit on the veranda rail. “I tell Brice I’ve reconsidered about Dimitri’s mate-claim and that I’m ready to refuse it. But I wanted to talk to Brice about it. I can even tell him I’d consider his mate-claim if he wanted to make one.”
“Ah.” Ben looked delighted. “A honey trap. I like it.”
Dimitri growled. “And what if you trigger his mating frenzy making an offer like that? You ready to fight off a bear?”
“That’s why you and Ben will be nearby, just out of scent range,” Jaycee said, keeping her tone reasonable. “Males who are far gone in lust don’t think straight. Dylan himself would probably be able to walk up behind Brice and knock him on the head while he’s trying to look down my shirt.”
Dimitri’s growls grew deeper, and his eyes changed to light gray. “I’ll knock him on the head. But you’re p-probably right.”
Jaycee made a show of gaping. “Really? Can I write this down? Ben, you’re a witness. Dimitri said I was right.”
“I s-say that all the time. We’ll suss it out. If it l-looks like your plan will work, then we’ll do that.”
Ben’s brows lifted. “Kendrick specifically told her to stand down, right? Am I hearing two Shifters questioning their leader’s orders?”
Jaycee answered, “We always do, and Kendrick knows it. If we can get the job done, he’s fine with it. And I bet Addison was standing right next to him, telling him to tell me to be careful.”
Dimitri nodded. Addie was protective of all of them, but especially Jaycee, whom she now considered her closest friend.
“I agree with Addison,” Ben said. “But Dimitri makes sense too. How about I give my advice that if it gets dangerous, you butt out, Jaycee?”
Dimitri rolled his eyes. “Sh-she won’t. That’s why I mate-claimed her. Thought sh-she’d obey her m-mate. But, no.”
Jaycee stuck out her tongue at him and walked past him to the house.
Dimitri’s blood heated. Bring that over here, sweetheart.
Jaycee called back over her shoulder, “I’ll go change into something enticing.”
Dimitri growled after her. “You’re f-fine. You’re sexy no matter what you wear.”
Truth. Jaycee was edible in the T-shirt that hung to her butt, shorts baring her strong legs, her hair scraped into a sloppy ponytail. Any Shifter would fall on her and lap her up.
Jaycee laughed as she disappeared into the house. “You’re hopeless, Dimitri.” She kept laughing, her silver tones floating out behind her.
Ben watched her go, then gave Dimitri a look of sympathy. “You’re in deep, my friend. Congratulations to you. She’ll never give you a dull moment.”
“I know,” Dimitri agreed. His heart burned with joy, but he kept his voice glum. “She drives me past crazy and out the other s-side.”
“I can hear you!” Jaycee’s voice came from the depths of the house, then an upstairs door slammed with vehemence.
Ben laughed at Dimitri, who realized he was staring into the house, picturing Jaycee stripping down to nothing.
“Definitely coming to the sun and moon ceremonies,” Ben said, shaking his hea
d. “I’ll be there even if you forget to invite me. I’m going to make sure it happens. It so needs to.”
* * *
Jaycee knew Dimitri wasn’t happy with her choice of outfits, but he’d have to live with it. She’d put on black leggings that had pink glittery stones down the seams and a leather tunic with a V-neck that showed plenty of bosom. She wore a close-fitting tank top under the tunic to keep male eyes from seeing too much.
The leggings were form-hugging but allowed her greater freedom of movement than jeans would—she could fight in them or quickly slide them off to shift. The tunic and top would also be easy to throw off if she needed to shift, and she liked how the entire outfit drew Dimitri’s eyes to her.
Jaycee commanded plenty of attention as she, Dimitri, and Ben walked down the hot New Orleans street toward the club. Ben was casting a glam, he said, to keep people from noticing him. True, most guys watched Jaycee, most of the women looked with interest at Dimitri, but eyes glazed a bit if they rested on Ben, then moved right past him.
No Shifter Bureau tonight. They liked to be arbitrary, leaving Shifters alone for a time, then springing out of nowhere to see who they could catch. Tonight Jaycee and Dimitri walked to the main entrance without hindrance, Ben quietly behind them.
Angus was on the door. He stood solidly in front of it, focusing on those who wanted to enter, checking ID of humans who looked even remotely too young, growling at those he admitted even as he opened the door and ushered them in. The groupies seemed to find the process exciting, shivering and laughing in delight the more snarling Angus was.
The Lupine’s gray eyes narrowed as Dimitri and Jaycee made it to the front of the line. Angus glanced briefly at Jaycee, deliberately avoided looking at her for long, and returned his gaze to Dimitri. “He’s not here,” he said before either could speak.
Dimitri’s brows rose. “B-Brice? He told us to m-meet him.”
“I guess he changed his mind.”
Angus gave Dimitri a challenging look, his eyes the white-gray of a wolf ready to shift. Something was wrong here. Was Brice in there and Angus didn’t want to let them in? Had Brice told Angus to keep them out?
Jaycee slipped in front of Dimitri before he could stop her. “Do you know where he is?” she asked. She met Angus’s gaze, which she immediately saw unnerved him. He was also trying to avert his gaze from the shadow between her breasts. “It’s important.”
Angus solved the problem of keeping his eyes off Jaycee by pinning Dimitri with a hard look. “Why? You two seem like a decent couple, except for this weird interest in Brice. Why do you want to be one of his Shifters? Go back home, wherever that is, and enjoy life. Keep dickheads like Brice out of it.”
Jaycee glanced past him and up at the balcony where Brice had held court last night to find it empty and dark, the lights not even on. A chill seeped through her. He’d told them to meet him here—why had his plans changed? Without word to them? Did he know Dylan was coming? Did he have Dimitri’s phone bugged? Or webcams at the house?
Jaycee doubted the house would put up with webcams, or even let one of Brice’s underlings in to install them. Jaycee and Dimitri would likely smell any listening devices slipped into their pockets or attached to their phones, so that scenario was unlikely as well.
Brice not being here might have nothing to do with them at all. But Jaycee knew they needed very much to find him, and by the way Dimitri stiffened, he agreed.
“Seriously important.” Jaycee drew a breath. “Where is he? His house?”
Angus kept his gaze on Dimitri. “Why do you want to know so much?”
Jaycee made a quick decision. She had to do that in the field sometimes—decide to trust someone to get the job done. “Let us in, and we’ll tell you.”
Her words were lost when Dimitri leaned toward Angus and said in a rumbling voice. “We want to c-capture him. You gonna h-help us?”
Angus’s eyes widened. Then the belligerence vanished from his hard face, and he opened the door wide, hustling them both inside. Ben scuttled in before the door could bang shut on him.
Angus strode toward the office in the back, where they’d first met Brice, nodding at another bouncer to take his place.
The office was empty, fluorescent lights shining on desks strewn with invoices, a desktop computer nearly drowned in paper of all colors—like a still life depicting the futile dream of the paperless office. A chair had been pushed back from the desk by the last inhabitant and left there.
Angus shut the door, or tried to. It caught on Ben, who shoved his way in. Angus obviously could see him now, because he stepped back, his mouth open, before Ben quickly slammed the door.
“Where the hell did you come from?” Angus demanded.
“I’m with them.” Ben motioned to Dimitri and Jaycee.
“I watched you sail off the balcony,” Angus said, his voice not softening. “You look fine.” He sounded annoyed by this.
“I heal fast. They’re not kidding that we need to find Brice. You know where he is?”
Angus turned his angry gaze to Dimitri. “What is he?” he asked, jerking his thumb at Ben.
Dimitri collapsed into the office chair, leaned back, and planted his boots on the corner of the desk, displacing the invoices there. “We d-don’t know. Now, here’s your choice. Help us g-grab the d-dickhead, as you call him, or at least t-tell us where he is, and we’ll leave you alone.”
Angus didn’t look any happier. “Are you fucked-up crazy? Brice’s fanatics will fight to the death for him, he has them so brainwashed. You’d take your female into a sitch like that? Watch her be torn apart, or worse—given to the dickhead?”
Jaycee broke in. “His female can take care of herself. But we don’t have time to argue. Brice might be making a break for it even as we stand here. Where is he, Angus?”
Angus took in the three of them—Ben’s black eyes like the night sky, Dimitri’s intense gray stare, Jaycee’s golden-eyed scowl—and shook his head.
“You’re serious. Shit.” Angus rubbed his whiskered face, then let out a long sigh. “All right. He was here for a few minutes, then he got a call, and they hightailed it out of here to his house—I overheard a couple of them saying that’s where they were going. You know where it is?”
Dimitri nodded. “More or l-less. We’ll find it.”
“I’ll go with you. I can lead you to it.” Angus gave Dimitri a sharp look. “But only to keep your mate safe. Maybe she’ll figure out to dump you and find a Lupine who can look after her.”
“Not gonna happen,” Jaycee said, her mouth turning down.
Dimitri, damn him, put on his laid-back, red wolf smile. “G-go ahead, try to k-keep her in line. I d-dare you. I’ll laugh my ass off watching.” He banged his feet to the floor and came up in a sweep of long legs. “Let’s g-go.”
* * *
Jaycee clung to Dimitri’s back as they rode south through New Orleans in the direction of Brice’s house. Though the night was sultry, she couldn’t shake her coldness. This weather was meant for lazing on a porch, watching the stars, or being with friends at an outdoor café, drinking wine and laughing. Not for plotting an extraction that might turn into a nasty battle.
Angus led them on his motorcycle with Ben right behind him, Jaycee and Dimitri following. Jaycee felt Dimitri’s tension in his body, though she knew the tension came from excitement, not worry.
Dimitri loved a good fight. He was hard to beat in the fight club ring, and the only reason he ever lost was because he had to follow rules.
Dimitri free of rules was unstoppable. She’d seen him bring down ferals or Shifter hunters without breaking a sweat. One moment his attackers would be pounding at him; the next, on their backs in a state of unconsciousness. Dimitri could be ruthless when he needed to be.
Brice’s house was as dark and quiet when they pulled up as it had been when they??
?d first come here. The blackout curtains were in place, no vehicles in front. The porch lights were on to make the house look lived in, but there was no sign of who actually lived there.
Jaycee had to wonder what the neighbors thought, or if they knew who Brice was and chose to keep secret that Shifters hung out there. Because they were decent people and didn’t want to see Shifters be hurt by Shifter Bureau? Or did Brice have them coerced with threats of some kind?
Angus and Ben waited for Dimitri and Jaycee to pull up around the back, where the entrance was equally dark.
“Sure you want to do this?” Angus asked Dimitri in a low voice. “He’ll know you’re coming.”
“Yep.” Dimitri hung his helmet on the handlebar. “I’m t-tired of this guy. I want him shut away and waiting for . . .” He stopped before he said the name Dylan. Angus only needed to know so much.
“Let’s do this,” Jaycee said softly.
Dimitri, of course, took the lead, too impatient to do it any other way. Angus insisted on walking behind him and wanted Jaycee behind him, Ben to bring up the rear. Ben readily agreed, and Jaycee conceded. It made sense. If Brice got around Dimitri and Angus, Jaycee could bring him down with leopard swiftness, and Ben would be on hand to back her up.
Dimitri waited in the shadows of the garage behind the house. The porch light to the back door wasn’t on, but there were a few lights shining in upper windows.
Jaycee heard Dimitri’s wolf snarl come. He stripped off his clothes, leaving them behind a shrub, then began to shift, arms and legs sprouting fur and claws, teeth and muzzle growing. When he was halfway between beast and man, he turned to Jaycee, giving her a look from his gray-white eyes.
She knew what he meant, what he always said when they went into danger on a mission. Stay safe, sweetheart. See you on the other side.
They didn’t have to say it anymore. Jaycee knew. She gave Dimitri a nod, acknowledging him. You got it. Mate of my heart.
Mate of my heart was new, but Jaycee had always known it was true. It had simply taken her a long time to acknowledge it.