Shifter Wars (Mind Sweeper Series Book 3) Page 21

  I wasn’t sure if he meant mentally, emotionally or physically, so I went with the safest answer. “I don’t think I can move.”

  “If I had my way, we would spend the day in bed, but we have things to attend to.” A shadow flashed in his eyes but just as quickly disappeared.

  “I’m sorry.”

  His eyebrows quirked. “For what?”

  “I was too caught up in what happened to me yesterday to think about your feelings. I’m sorry about Nathan. It’s hard to lose someone.”

  Griffin’s jaw tightened. “Nathan was part of my original security team and had remained with me ever since. I need to visit his wife Saundra today.” He glanced away. “They hadn’t been married long. He had just mentioned something about starting a family.”

  I rested my hand on his chest. “Do not blame yourself for this.”

  “Every shifter in my pack is my responsibility. I’m the one who sent him to his death.”

  He was not doing this to himself. “What would have happened if you had tried to leave the house without your security detail?”

  “He would have followed me.”

  “Exactly. We stopped the poachers yesterday. Hopefully, no one else will have to go through what Trina did after this.”

  He grimaced. “It’s not over yet. Someone else is leading this group.”

  “And we’ll figure that out, too. Who was the shifter yesterday?”

  “Simon worked for my brother, William, when he was alive.”

  “Which is why he made the Cain comment.”

  “Simon was adamantly opposed to having me take over after William died. He was convinced I murdered him.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us about him?”

  “Because I haven’t seen him in fifty years. He disappeared shortly after I took over.”

  “Why would he show up now?” I persisted.

  Griffin flopped over on his back. “I don’t know. Something has changed.”

  “Why would he and the others help the poachers?”

  His chest tensed under my hand. “To undermine my leadership. If I can’t even take care of poachers who are after my own family, what sort of leader am I?”

  “A good leader, who cares about everyone in his pack. While you’re visiting Saundra, I’ll go to the facility and help interrogate Ken. We’ll find out who’s doing this and stop them.” He didn’t look reassured. “We saved Gil last night, and every other shifter the poachers would have targeted.”

  “I need to check on how he’s doing as well.” He reached for the covers.

  I pressed both hands on his chest. “Stay here for a few more minutes.”

  He nestled me against him and rubbed his hand over my back. “You are amazing,” he murmured in my ear.

  “I know.”

  He chuckled and leaned back enough to look at my face. “Modest too, I see.”

  “If I acted modest, you would just sniff me and tell me I was lying. Oh, God.”

  “What?”

  “We had sex.”

  He smirked. “Yes, we did. More than once.”

  “And we’re in a house full of shifters with bloodhound noses.”

  “I’ve told you before shifters are not caught up in humans’ puritanical notion of sex. It’s second nature to us.”

  I raised my eyebrows at him. “Are you calling me puritanical?”

  “No, definitely not. There’s a bathroom over there. You can take a shower if it makes you feel better.” He sat up and looked around the room. “Have you seen my pajama pants?”

  “I think I tossed your fancy pjs in the corner over there.”

  He walked over and picked them up, and I had trouble breathing for a couple of seconds while I drooled over his butt. But all too soon the show was over. He pulled the bottoms on and turned to me.

  “Bea bought these for me. With Tim and his family moving in, I couldn’t very well sleep in the nude.”

  “I knew it!” I exclaimed.

  “Excuse me?”

  “My gut told me you usually sleep naked.”

  He sat down next to me. “You’ve been thinking about me in bed?”

  “I think about most men in bed.”

  He frowned, and I plowed ahead.

  “Don’t get primitive on me now. I don’t mean I think about sex with them, just what they sleep in. Boxers, briefs, commando…you know.”

  “Enlighten me.”

  “I don’t have any proof of this, mind you, but I would say Jean Luc, if he slept, would sleep naked. Misha is a boxers man. Jason wears those combo boxer-briefs.”

  “You’ve thought a lot about this, I see. What about Bruce?”

  “Bruce is a tough one. I think he may be a boxers kind of guy, but I also get the commando vibe from him.”

  “Stephen?”

  “Your security chief? Definitely pajamas, buttoned up to his neck.”

  Griffin laughed. “I don’t want you thinking about other males without their clothes on.”

  “Sorry, it’s too late, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

  “We’ll just see about that.” He reached for me and kissed me, hard at first, then settling down into a sensuous dance of lips and tongue. When he pulled away, my eyes could barely focus on his smug grin. He was right, I wasn’t thinking about anyone else anymore.

  * * *

  I hurried into the dining room to grab a quick bite of breakfast and found Bea sitting at the table sipping tea. She looked up and then away quickly. I frowned. What was that about? Did she know I’d had sex with her brother last night?

  She nodded toward the sideboard. “I had the cook make extra food for breakfast. Thought you might be hungry after last night.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Yesterday was a bit stressful, and unless I’m mistaken, you didn’t have dinner.”

  She didn’t appear to be teasing me. Instead, she was acting more reserved than normal. And then the light went off in my head. Was she worried I wouldn’t accept her now that I had seen her animal form?

  I smiled. “Sorry if what I’m about to say is a shifter-faux pas, but you are one beautiful, kick-ass tiger. You were amazing yesterday. Thanks for saving us.”

  She bowed her head slightly. Was she embarrassed?

  “I won’t tell anyone what your animal is.”

  She looked up at me and smiled. The old Bea was back in play. “I was afraid I might have freaked you out. I should have known better.”

  I sat down next to her. “Can I ask you what it feels like to change? Does it hurt?”

  “Once you know how to change, the best way I can describe it is if you’re submerged in warm water and multiple people are massaging your body, pushing your muscles into new shapes, kind of like clay.”

  “And when you first change?”

  “The experience is a bit more stressful. As much as you might have been taught about shifting, it still can be scary and painful. Kind of like how reading about sex doesn’t completely prepare you for it as well as you think it will.” Her mouth broke into a grin, and her eyes danced.

  I closed my eyes and dropped my head. “Shit.”

  Bea giggled. “I’m not one to say ‘I told you so.’”

  “Right. I’m going to get some food.” I stood and loaded a plate with eggs, potatoes, and fruit. I grabbed a mug and poured a cup of coffee. “Are Bruce and Jason still here?”

  “I believe so. Sabrina had Bruce stay overnight after she stitched him up, so Jason stayed as well.”

  “Doc did say Bruce is okay, right?”

  “Yes, she said he’s fine. The only worry she has is infection, so she gave him some antibiotics.”

  “Are you worried about Bruce knowing you’re a shifter? After everything he went through for us, I don’t feel right erasing all of his memories, but I could make him forget about you, if you’d like.”

  Bea sat quietly for a few seconds before replying. “I don’t think it’s necessary. He risked his life to help us. Now eat
before your food gets cold.”

  * * *

  I peered through the door window. Ken was sleeping peacefully. I scowled. The man was a menace to society. Misha stood next to me.

  “Any luck getting him to talk?” I asked.

  “He hasn’t said anything, other than spouting about his rights.”

  “Moron. This isn’t a police station. I think I should push him a little bit. Is Jason around?”

  “Yeah. He and Bruce are in the other room changing. I brought them some clothes.” He held up a bag. “Brought you some too, in case you want to get out of those scrubs.”

  “Thanks. Bruce is still here?”

  “Yep, said he has a vested interest now. Wants to make sure no one else at the shop is involved in this.”

  “It might make sense for both of us to talk to Ken, really push him over the edge.”

  “I like the way you think, little one.”

  Twenty minutes later, I walked into the hospital room, and Ken jerked upright, flinching. He snarled at me, “Bitch.”

  “Hello, Ken,” I replied sweetly. “I have a few questions to ask you.”

  “I’m not answering anything. I want a lawyer.”

  I chuckled. “A lawyer? Where do you think you are?”

  His eyes widened. “What the fuck do you want?”

  “I want to know who else is in your group.”

  “No one. You killed them all.”

  “I seriously doubt that. Besides, technically, we didn’t kill your men. The shifters who were part of your group killed them.” He blanched, and I continued. “You do realize you were working alongside these so-called abominations, right? Where did they come from?”

  He clamped his lips tight like a small child.

  “Someone betrayed you and brought them into the group.”

  “They knew Mark.”

  “Mark Brennan brought them in?”

  “No, they showed up after he died.”

  I rolled my eyes for effect and walked around the bed. “And you were stupid enough to just let them in?”

  “They knew everything about our operation and said they had worked with Mark out west.”

  “Do they work for a guy named Lucas?”

  He tried to disguise his shock then settled for turning his face away. “I’m done talking to you.”

  The door opened, and Bruce walked into the room, “How about talking to me?”

  Ken tried to launch himself off the bed, but his right arm was handcuffed to the rail. “Son of a bitch.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Wow. I’m a bitch, you’re a son of a bitch. Ken has an astounding grasp of the English language.”

  Bruce laughed, and Ken’s face turned red.

  I continued, “Ken, here, was telling me his poacher buddies are dead.”

  Bruce stopped laughing. “Then no one else at the shop is in on this?”

  Ken scoffed. “Hardly. Those guys are useless, especially your brother.”

  “How did you get involved?” I asked.

  “Mark knew I liked to hunt, so he invited me out one night for drinks with Palmer and DeMarco.”

  “And?”

  “And after a few weeks, they took me hunting.” He smirked. “I was more than a little surprised by what we bagged.”

  I swallowed back the bile in my throat. “What about last August, when Brennan was killed?”

  He glared at me. “What about it?”

  “Did you help Brennan with the hunt?”

  “No, he insisted on going alone.”

  “Was it normal to go solo on a hunt?” Bruce asked.

  “Nothing was normal about it,” Ken answered.

  Why was Trina different? “What do you mean?”

  He frowned. “I’m done talking.” He looked at his shoulder. Blood was seeping through the bandages. “I need a doctor.”

  I walked to the foot of the bed. “You can bleed for a while longer. The more cooperative you are, the faster I get a doctor.”

  Bruce interjected, “You’re on your own, Ken. No one is coming to save you. If I were you, I wouldn’t hold anything back.”

  Ken sat quietly for a couple of seconds before responding. “What do you want to know?”

  I asked my question again. “Why was the August hunt different?”

  “Normally we hunt in teams, at least two people. We would bag them, then bring them to an agreed-upon site and release them. The rest of the team would then track and hunt them down. This time Mark went out on his own. Instead of bringing the animal to us, he hid it.”

  I looked at him shocked. “So you weren’t going to hunt her?”

  “Nope. Like I said, it was weird. Then the next thing we know, Brennan had been eviscerated by these monsters.”

  I gritted my teeth and continued. “Then the new guys showed up?”

  “Yeah. Simon told us he knew Mark and came to help us with the fight.”

  “Do they work for Lucas?” I asked.

  Ken shrugged. “I guess. Someone was supplying them with money and weapons.”

  “Like the sound gun?” I prompted.

  He nodded.

  “Where is this Lucas?”

  “Somewhere in Nevada.”

  “What did they inject the shifter with last night?”

  “It’s supposed to force the animal to come to the surface.”

  “Why?” Bruce asked, although I already knew.

  “We need their pelts. If they won’t turn, then we can’t skin them.” He smiled. “Or we can, but even though it’s fun, we don’t make any money from it.”

  I looked into his smug face, and a red haze dropped over my vision. “You stupid bastard.”

  He jerked up again from the pillow and pushed his left hand against his bandage. When he removed his hand, blood ran down his shoulder.

  “We’re not done.” I turned toward the door. “Misha, get a doctor.”

  * * *

  Doctor Jensen examined Ken’s shoulder and wrinkled his nose like he smelled something foul. “Enough questioning for now. He’s ripped his stitches open. Sabrina is still here, she can sew him back up again.”

  I couldn’t blame him for not wanting to help. Bruce and I stepped out of Ken’s room and into the room next door, where Misha and Jean Luc sat in front of laptops.

  I turned to Misha. “Have we found out anything about this Lucas?”

  “I don’t have much to go on. We don’t know if Lucas is his first or last name. So I am looking for the name Lucas in Nevada. The list is a bit long right now.”

  “What next?” Bruce asked.

  “I think Ken knows more,” I said. “Once he’s stopped bleeding, we can question him again.”

  Jason interrupted from the doorway. “It’ll be awhile before you can talk to him. Doc just sedated him so she could re-stitch his shoulder.”

  “Great. Let’s see what we can find out in the meantime. Have we run anything on Simon to see where he’s been hiding for the past fifty years?”

  Jean Luc nodded. “I have been researching him and have not found anything yet. He more than likely was not using his real name. None of them had identification. So we are running photos of the other dead shifters through the database to see if we can identify them as well.”

  Misha added. “We’ll keep researching. I just don’t understand why shifters would be willing to work with poachers.”

  “I spoke with Griffin about this earlier, and he thinks they’re trying to discredit him as leader. Show he can’t take care of poachers or protect his own family.”

  Jason took a breath, paused, then spoke. “It’s more than that. These shifters were using the poachers to help them test their weapons. What better way to hide their true intent then to have it blamed on the poachers?”

  “What do you think their plan is?” I asked.

  “I hope I’m wrong, but my gut tells me they’re getting ready for a shifter civil war.”

  Chapter 36

  I was rubbing the back of my neck w
hen Doc sank down next to me in a waiting room chair. “Is Ken still out?” I asked.

  “Yes, you won’t be able to talk to him for a couple more hours.”

  “How’s Gil doing?”

  “Better. He seems to have stabilized, but we don’t know about any long-term effects the drug may have.”

  “Is Jensen working on it?”

  “We both are. We’re having trouble isolating the components. It could be pheromone-based.”

  “Only you would think it was based on pheromones.”

  She grinned. “Hear me out. When a shifter changes, chemicals are released into their bloodstream to help with the transition. If the purpose of the drug is to force the change on unwilling shifters, then it would have to trick the body by releasing those same chemicals.”

  “Which makes sense, but what’s the point?”

  Doc frowned. “I thought the poachers were using it so they could collect the pelts.”

  “I don’t buy it. It’s the reason they gave, but I can’t believe that much research and money would be expended for pelts. Did Jason share his theory?”

  “Yes, but I’m not sure how the drug fits into it.”

  “It must be some type of weapon. I’m just not sure what they’d gain from it.”

  “Loss of control?” Doc suggested. “Gil wasn’t in his right mind. He didn’t keep his humanity when he turned into his leopard-self. It puts those affected at a huge disadvantage.”

  “You could be right. I just hope we can stop whoever is doing this before anyone else gets hurt.”

  “How’s Griffin holding up?”

  “As well as can be expected,” I said. “He’s blaming himself for Nathan’s death.”

  “He is a good leader. He cares deeply about his pack.”

  “He needs to worry about himself, too,” I countered.

  Doc smiled. “I see you’ve got some of your fire back again. Is he good in bed?”

  I hung my head. “Have you no shame, woman?”

  “Of course not; I’m a Succubus demon. Now don’t avoid the question.”

  “He’s freaking fantastic, but don’t tell him I said so.”

  A voice echoed down the hallway. “She won’t have to, sweet.”

  I looked up at Griffin, who walked toward me wearing a large grin and tapping his ear.

  “Cocky bastard,” I mumbled, my face burning. Embarrassment was one of my least favorite emotions.