SHIFT (Mackenzie Grey #1) (16 page)

After I rinsed my mouth and splashed some water on my face in the bathroom, I met Sebastian in the middle of Astor Hall. His domineering presence shrank the normally spacious room.

He didn’t say anything to me when I stood in front of him, he just turned around and walked toward the entrance. I silently followed not wanting to stir the pot, but this was getting awkward.

“Where are we going?” I asked once we were walking down 5
th
Avenue.

“To meet the others,” he clipped. He was being short with me but, whatever, I didn’t have anything left in me to argue. I was tired. If anything, I should be the one who was pissed off. I replayed what went down last night and it made me want to deck him in the jaw. A privilege? Get real! This wasn’t a VH1 reality show. I wasn’t looking to fall in love with someone who thought of themselves as important.

The walk back to Central Park was quiet and the only people on the streets were early morning runners. We met back at Strawberry Fields and the rest of our dysfunctional group was already waiting for us.

Amy, ran up to me as if I were a prisoner of war who was just being released.

“I missed you,” she said. Her voice muffled by her scarf that was tightly wrapped around her. I hugged her back just as fiercely.

“Me too, Aims,” I said. We probably looked like a pair of lesbians but I didn’t care. I really needed the comfort of my friend after last night.

“Did he seduce you?” she whispered. Or at least she tried, but I heard Bernard snicker somewhere behind her.

If it wasn’t so cold, I would have blushed, but my cheeks were already rosy.

“No,” I said and didn’t elaborate. She caught my drift and dropped the subject.

Once we let go of each other, I nodded at Bernard and Jonah, who was looking uncomfortable. His hands were in his pockets and he was looking anywhere but my direction.

“So…where to next?” I asked and looked at Sebastian. He was crouched down on the ground and touching a patch of grass.

“It’s faint, but I’m catching a familiar scent,” he said with his back to us.

“Jacksons?” I could see the hope in Jonah’s eyes.

“Yes, but someone else’s. I think it’s his captor.”

“And it’s familiar?” Bernard asked as he approached Sebastian.

“Yes. But I can’t place it.”

“I don’t smell anything, boss.”

Sebastian sniffed a few more times and then his face contorted in disgust.

“It’s wolfs bane,” he said and backed away.

“No wonder,” Jonah mumbled and ran his hands up and down his very tired face.

“What’s going on?” I wasn’t following.

Sebastian ignored my question, so Bernard caught me up to speed.

“Wolf’s bane is our kryptonite. It can’t kill us, but it can subdue us easily. The only strange part about this is that it isn’t grown everywhere and definitely not here in the states. Our mystery person must be a foreigner or have some really good connections.”

“Have you ever been affected by wolf’s bane?” I looked up to him and his face turned grave.

“Yes and it’s worse than death itself. Imagine being paralyzed with fire running through your veins—that’s what it does to us.” His bushy red brows furrowed and I wanted to comfort him from the bad memory he was recalling.

I touched his arm and looked up at the lumberjack giant. “I’m sorry,” I said. He gave me a sad smile and patted my hand.

“There’s only one person I know of with access to it,” Jonah said quietly and we all turned to him. His hands were shaking, but it wasn’t fear—when I looked at his face, it was anger.

“Who?” Sebastian barked.

“Caleb,” Jonah said through clenched teeth. His hands fisted at his sides, I felt the waves of rage that radiated off him.

My eyes bulged out. “Caleb?!” I shrieked. “As in the werewolf that’s part of the Pack—one of the captains?”

Jonah nodded tightly.

“That’s a very serious accusation,” Sebastian said.

Jonah’s eyes snapped toward him. “I’m positive. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. You know Caleb transferred from the European Summit.”

“Are you insinuating that there is a breach between the Summits?”

“No. I just think Caleb is a power hungry bastard who would do anything to be in the good graces of the Summit,” Jonah paused and took a deep breath. “Including kidnapping one of his own.”

“I don’t understand,” I whispered. “How would kidnaping Jackson help him gain power?”

“If he finds him, then he’s a hero,” Amy said beside me.

“Okay, I get that, but what about the vampire and the Fae? How do they factor into this?”

“Maybe he wants to be the one to bring an alliance between the three of us?” Jonah guessed but I think he was reaching by now. Caleb did look scary with that slash across his face but could he really do this? And then it hit me.

“Shit!” I expelled and all four sets of eyes looked my way. “He gave the wolf some weird tangerine tea. When I smelt it, I lost my balance going down the stairs.”

“I remember that!” Amy said as she covered her mouth in shock.

The three werewolves stared at me—motionless.

“Hello? I just said that creep gave me the bane, man!” It sounded like an STD.

Bernard cleared his throat. “Mackenzie, if he did, you would have been paralyzed for at least 24 hours. You wouldn’t be this active.”

“Jonah, I don’t want to accuse anyone, especially a Pack captain, without any substantial proof,” Sebastian said.

“How much more proof do you need? Kenzie just described it without even knowing what it was!”

“It must have been something else, she’s fine! And you know this is not how Pack law works, Jonah.”

“Fuck that! The bastard took my brother!”

“How do you think it will go,” Bernard started and then his eyes trailed over to me, “if we tell the Pack that Mackenzie got a whiff of wolfs bane from Caleb? It’ll be mayhem. After yesterday’s events, they’re going to want to tear into her. They won’t trust her.”

Jonah’s face fell.

“I don’t have to go and they don’t have to know it was me. You guys can go back to the warehouse and Amy and I can hide somewhere. New York is a pretty big place, no one will find me,” I said and the faces everyone was giving me told me all I needed to know. They weren’t having it. I needed a full-time babysitter.
Well isn’t this swell
…

“Do you know where Caleb lives?” Bernard asked Jonah.

“I thought everyone stayed at the warehouse?”

Bernard snorted. “Heck no. Only a few live there, like Bash and Jonah, but we can choose. The only ones obligated to live at the warehouse are the unmated Lunas.”

My insides stirred with fury, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“That’s bullshit!” I exclaimed and the three werewolves turned to me in confusion.

“What?”

“How can you force them to live there?” How could they not understand how barbaric that was? And mainly, how could they expect me to want to join the Pack if I’d be stripped of my right to live wherever I wanted?

“It’s just Pack law, Mackenzie. It’s not a big deal,” Bernard said calmly and I wanted to throttle him. I was shaking from anger and I couldn’t help but think about Blu.
Poor Blu…

Amy grabbed my wrist and I peered down at her. She mouthed,
not now
, and it took everything in me to calm down.

“He has a flat in downtown Brooklyn. It’s where I saw the wolf’s bane.”

“What did he say when you saw it?” Sebastian asked.

“He doesn’t know that I did. He’d left to pick up Chinese food downstairs and I was looking for the bathroom. I found a room filled to the brim with that shit growing.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Honestly, I didn’t think it was a big deal. Now that I think about it, it just seems stupid of me. But the next time I went to his place, the room was empty.” He ran his hands through his hair and I could see the wheels in his head spinning. He was blaming himself. “I figured he might have been growing them for my father. I know he likes to keep some in hand.”

“It’s not your fault,” I said but he didn’t respond, much less look at me. “I get a weird vibe from Caleb, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was him.”

“Bad vibes isn’t proof. We need to find the wolfs bane and if he no longer holds it at his flat, then we need to figure out where,” Sebastian pointed out.

“We can check public records to see if he owns any property,” Amy suggested and the three wolves stared at her. It only made me chuckle. Did these guys know anything about the outside world?

“That’s, uh,” Jonah started, “that’s a good idea. But, where do we check?”

Amy and I exchanged a look. Poor guys, they were so lost.

“A computer,” I said, holding back a laugh. “The libraries are most likely closed so we need to find an internet café or head back to our apartment.”

We all stood awkwardly, avoiding each other’s eyes, as we thought about where to go. My gaze traveled over a set of bushes and I froze. I recognized something that was all too coincidental to not be the same.

Jonah sighed. “I think we may need Lucian’s help.”

“The vampire?!” Amy blurted out.

“Guys,” I mumbled as I followed my line of sight.

“Yes. He has connections that could be of use and since one of his bloodsuckers is missing, he wouldn’t think twice about helping us,” Jonah said. “At least I hope.”

“You guys might want to see this,” I said again, but everyone was ignoring me.

“I don’t know, asking Lucian for help is literally making a deal with the devil,” Bernard contemplated.

“Guys shut up!” I yelled as I crouched in front of the bushes and carefully picked up what caught my attention, forgetting about proper evidence protocol. “She wasn’t lying, she wasn’t crazy.”

“What’s wrong, Kenz?” Amy asked from behind.

I lifted the all too familiar piece of skin and showed it to them.

“What is it?”

“It’s skin,” I whispered as everything started to click into place. “We need to head down to the station STAT. I spoke to a fairy a couple days ago, her son was kidnapped. Her son must be Branwell. I found skin just like this outside her apartment building. We need to talk to her!”

“Mackenzie, slow down. What are you talking about?”

I yelled in frustration. How could they not understand me?

“I told you I’m a criminal justice major, and I intern at Major Cases over at 1PP. The kidnapper is a shape shifter!”

“There’s no way you could know that,” Sebastian argued.

“Which is why I’m telling you we need to get down to the station. We need to talk to my superiors.”

“Wait, they know you’re a werewolf?” Jonah exclaimed.

“No! But they’re holding Jane Hancock in a mental institute because they think she’s crazy. Can you guys just trust me?”

We all looked at each other and I watched as they wondered if I had lost my mind. But I knew I was right. Jane Hancock knew what I was the moment she saw me. I brushed her off as if she were a looney and didn’t think for a second that what she was saying was true. Knowing what I was, I didn’t believe in the impossible. We lost days because I was reckless.

“Whether you guys believe me or not, it doesn’t matter, but I’m heading out. This is a break in our case. I know I’m on to something,” I said as I turned around toward the exit of the park.

“He did what?!” Amy exclaimed and I put my hand over her mouth.

We were a couple blocks away from the station when Amy and I slowed down and walked a few feet behind the wolves. The tension around us was heavy with the bomb I had dropped just an hour ago. Sebastian was having a hard time wrapping his mind around the idea and Jonah just wanted revenge. I couldn’t blame him, it’s his twin brother.

With Amy’s arm looped in mine, we dragged our feet to get some privacy. The guys were talking in hushed tones between each other and I figured this was the best time to catch Amy up on last night.

“Wolves have sensitive hearing, or did you forget?”

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“It’s no big deal, but Amy, I don’t know what to do. This has me freaked out, which is stupid because, why should I be scared about two hot guys liking me? Gosh, I’m such a loser.”

She stopped walking and faced me. “No you’re not, Kenz. This is already a difficult time, and these guys are just making things worse. It’s not your fault, it’s theirs. Do you want me to set them straight? You know I will,” she said, putting her hands on her hips.

I chuckled. “Nah, it’s cool, shorty.” She slapped her gloved hand on my arm.

“Hey! I told you not to call me that!” she giggled. “Okay, Kenz, but seriously, who are you diggin’ more?” She wiggled her pierced eyebrows up and down.

“No way! I’m not answering that,” I started walking again. “They’re both…different. But it doesn’t matter who I like, we’re leaving,” I whispered.

“I know. Now what’s the deal with this shape shifting junk?”

“Amy it’s crazy. I can’t believe I didn’t catch on to this sooner. Michaels and I had a case on Wednesday and this lady was a total whack job. She actually told Garrett she was Fae. I thought she had some screws missing, but it was a cry for help.”

“Kenz, I know how you work. Don’t blame yourself.”

I nodded but didn’t say anything else.

We congregated across the street from the 14 story, One Police Plaza building to come up with a plan. I opened up my sensitive hearing, and looked out for Garrett’s voice which surprisingly enough, was easy to find.

Anderson, I want that report on my desk before I take my next breath!

The man needed a valium.

“Jonah and Bern, I want you to compel the guard at the gate to let us in and keep the attention of whoever is at the front desk. Mackenzie and I will find her supervisor and compel him to give us the report on the kidnapping. Keep an eye on Amy,” Sebastian barked orders, distracting me from my snooping.

“Why compel so many people? I have access to the building and if I just talk to Garrett, he’ll tell me what I need to know,” I said.

“We don’t have time to experiment, we do this my way, Mackenzie. Instead of risking whether your boss gives you the information we need or not, we can just compel him. It’s foolproof.”

Did he not get it? “We cannot just go invading people’s rights!”

“I don’t care, Mackenzie Grey. We do not abide by human laws. This conversation is over.” Sebastian brushed past me and crossed the street with Jonah and Bernard trailing right behind him.

My nostrils flared and fists tightened as I watched their retreating figures. How could they be so nonchalant about controlling someone that way? It shouldn’t matter what our species was, rights were rights, and we’re taking them away from innocent people.

“Kenz,” Amy whispered, “it’s okay. They’re not doing anything wrong, there’s always an exception.”

“There shouldn’t be, Amy! Aren’t you still upset about them compelling you? I know I am!”

“Of course, but in some twisted way I kind of understand. You didn’t object when they had to compel Ollie. Things aren’t as black and white,” she said. Her flaming red hair blown across her face. “This isn’t our world, Kenz.”

“That was different!” With narrowed eyes, I watched my best friend and realized how much being around the Pack was affecting her moral compass. She never would have said that before. I understood things weren’t clear cut, but there had to be rules—boundaries—that shouldn’t be crossed.

We crossed the street together and passed the gate as Bernard compelled the guard. Once inside the building, Amy stood by Jonah who was talking with the female officer at the front desk and I followed Sebastian who was waiting by the elevators.

“Where is he?” he barked.

I hesitated until a growl escaped the Alpha’s throat. I was grating his nerves. “11
th
floor.”

We rode up in silence and I could feel the heat waves of impatience coming off Sebastian, which shouldn’t come as a surprise since he doesn’t like to be questioned, much less by me.

“Are we going to talk about what happened?” I asked, trying to start a conversation.

“There is nothing to talk about.”

“I think there is, asshole. You can’t just try to seduce me and then act like you do that with everyone. I mean, unless you do, then—then you’re a whore,” I said as I scrunched up my brows in confusion.
Shit, did I just call an Alpha a hoe?

Sebastian reached for the red emergency brake on the elevator panel and we jerked to a stop.

“I’m only going to say this once and then this is over. I’m running out of patience, Mackenzie, but have you thought about why this bothers you? Why you can’t let it go like I have? You can try and fool yourself all you want, but I know what’s going on in that head of yours.”

“You don’t know shit, you smug son of a—”

He grabbed my shoulders and slammed me against the elevator wall.

“Unless you want to really see me angry, I suggest you don’t finish that sentence,” he said, not even an inch away from me. “That mouth of yours is going to get you into some serious problems, Mackenzie. Jonah might put up with it, but I won’t. You’ve stated your incompetence for following orders, and it shows very clearly, but you
will
respect an Alpha. I don’t care if you act more human than wolf.”

My eyes were parallel to his chest and I couldn’t look away as it rose up and down in ragged breaths. I trailed up to his neck and some of his veins ticked on his right side.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
They flicked in rhythm to his heart. I could hear it pounding against his chest and I was trying to learn what that meant. My sight moved up and landed on his lips. They were slightly parted, his bottom lip thicker than the top. Before my brain could catch up, I stood on tip toes and leaned in, landing my mouth on his like a feather. I reached around and ran my hands through his jet black hair and griped him down to me. He didn’t resist.

“
Mackenzie
,” he breathed as he pinned me to the wall.

I wanted to blame it on my inner animal—on the wolf—but it wasn’t her. This was all me. The only difference was that it wasn’t an emotional attraction that I had for Sebastian. I barely knew the guy. It was purely physical—and it was a strong pull—one I’d never felt before. It made me feel dirty, wrong, but at the same time, a thrill went through my body like a shock of electricity. My body warmed at his touch as his hands slowly roamed my arms up until he held them above my head. Our fingers intertwined, and he moved away.

“What are you doing to me?” he questioned, his blue eyes shining as if under the sun. His dark features were confounded by my hot and cold personality and I didn’t blame him. I didn’t know what I was doing either.

“This is out of character for me, Bash, but I can’t help myself.” I peered up at him under thick lashes and his face softened at my confession.

He took a loose strand of my hair and tucked it behind my ear—running his rough knuckles down my cheek in a caress. “I know, Mackenzie, which is why I’m going to stop this,” he said and jerked away. A cold front smacked me like a wall as he put distance between us. “You weren’t entirely wrong at the library. I shouldn’t have pressured you the way I did. What you may not know is that you’re going through the stages of a wolf cycle at an accelerated rate since it took so long for the Change to occur. Your mind and body are trying to play catch up and it wasn’t right of me to take advantage of your vulnerable state.”

I shook my head. “No, that isn’t true. I wasn’t like this before I met you.” And Jonah.

“It’s because you weren’t around any other wolves. No matter what, Mackenzie, if you only learn one thing from me, let it be that you will always gravitate toward your own kind. It’s in our nature.”

I watched as it pained him to tell me the hard truth. I could feel my face slacken as I understood what he was telling me and he winced. It was a possibility that this infatuation I had between him and Jonah, may not be real.

“We should hurry up,” I whispered as I tried to avoid eye contact and get my emotions in check.

He nodded and released the emergency brake.

I felt like an idiot. Like an idiotic, hormonal wolf. Great.

As soon as we exited the elevator, I opened my hearing and found Detective Michaels by his cubicle. It was no surprise that he was yelling at someone—the guy didn’t have an inside voice.

The 11
th
floor housed the Major Case Squad, filled with dozens of officers on various cases from kidnappings, to bank robberies. It was never a dull moment here and there was always something to do. I loved working here and felt lucky for getting such a great opportunity. It was not easy getting an internship in this department.

“Grey! What the hell are you doing here?” Garrett yelled from across the squad room.

Sebastian growled beside me.

“You better control yourself. This is how we communicate in here, there is no diplomacy so get used to it or get out,” I said through gritted teeth as I smiled and waved to Garrett.

“Hey, Michaels. I got back from vacation a little early but I had a question to ask.”

“Well hurry up, I have a press conference in twenty and if you’re back you might as well come in later tonight. I could use the extra hands on this case,” he said as he walked toward one of the filing rooms.

While I tried to catch up to Michaels, it only took Sebastian three strides to reach my supervisor and whirl him around by his arm.

“What the fuc—”

“Listen to me carefully. I need the report you filed on the recent kidnappings. Where is it?” Bash said as he stared into Garrett’s eyes without blinking.

In a monotonous voice he answered, “In the Captains office. Third filing cabinet, first drawer.”

“Now, you will return to your work and forget that I or Mackenzie Grey were ever here.”

Garrett blinked and then walked out of the room, never grabbing what he came in for. I stood there motionless for a moment and couldn’t shake the goosebumps that rose on my arms. Michaels would never know we were here and it was all because Sebastian willed him to forget. It was bad enough we pumped him for information, but to mess with his memories? I didn’t feel right about it.

“Where’s the Captain’s office?” Sebastian growled, snapping me out of my daze.

“Follow me,” I muttered and went two office doors down and right to the cabinet that Michaels had said the report was in. Sebastian was by the window, making sure no one was watching us and he was probably going to compel anyone who did.

The drawer was locked and we didn’t have time to look for a key. With a little help from the wolf, I yanked on the handle and the filing cabinet ripped open, as if this wouldn’t be suspicious, but it didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to be working here long enough to deal with the repercussions.

I shuffled through the files and found Michaels report about half way in. I took it out and made a quick copy of it using the computer’s scanner. I made sure to the delete the history and tapped Sebastian on the shoulder, letting him know I was done. I tried to put everything back in place as best I could but it would be obvious that someone had been in here. Hopefully we’d make it out of the building before anyone noticed.

We took the elevator down to the ground floor just as the front desk officer was sliding a piece of paper to Jonah. His one dimple peeked out in a smirk and I couldn’t help feel somewhat jealous of her. Amy stood beside him with a bored expression on her face and the moment she saw us, she started heading towards the exit. As we pushed the doors outside a few feet behind her, Sebastian whistled to Jonah and as we exited the gate, a few seconds later, so did his Beta. We met up with Bernard about a block and a half away from NYPD headquarters and ducked into a nearby diner.

After we ordered a round of coffee, I pulled out the folded copy of Garrett’s report from my coat pocket and flattened it out on the table.

“Alright, so it says Jane Hancock is being held on Wards Island, at the Manhattan Psychiatric Center. That’s going to be tricky to get inside. Do any of you have any suggestions on how to go about that?” I said.

“I think the easiest way in is going to be through the 103
rd
footbridge in East Harlem. We can easily blend in.” Bernard suggested. “My only question is how are we going to get
in
to the hospital?”